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DERTY TRENDSSeptember ’11

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CEWhile the appetite for online retail is ravenous, 83% of shopping is still done in the real world. With the ease, speed & added extras of e-tail offering a threat to the high street, brands are blurring the lines of On/Offline shopping.

It’s not restricted to fashion though. Online supermarket, Ocado, created a virtual shop front in London. Customers with the Ocado app simply snap pictures of grocery items to have them delivered to their house. Meanwhile Amazon announced the launch of order collection lockers in UK shopping centres. Aimed at office workers, it removes the barrier of having to wait at home for your delivery.

Topshop looked to gaming to hook its audience. Partnering with location based game ‘SCVNGR’, shoppers earn points through fashion-themed tasks i.e. snap a pic of the best going-out outfit in store to get 20% off your purchase.

Supersized shopping centre Westfield aims to tie the shopping experience together with its mobile app. With a personalised retail map, route planner to your favourite stores & reminders of cinema/restaurant reservations, the app hooks you into the experience before you leave home.

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The bed time story has evolved and it’s now all about the iPad. It’s also about some rather beautiful visuals and an interactivity that causes excitement way beyond children.

Morris Lessmore is a great example. A digital reinvention of storytelling, the interactive book is the first by Moonbot Studios. Whether tumbling through a storm, playing the piano or flying through a magical world, the app lifts the story from the pages and puts the reader in the middle of it. Created by an ex-Pixar designer, the ‘book’ uses rich computer generated animation, original music, games and innovative interactivity to create a story like no other.

Offering interactivity of a different kind is the Infinite Adventure Machine by David Benqué. Developed as a Microsoft project, it’s a computer program that generates crude outlines for an infinite number of children’s stories where the reader fills in the blanks. It works by randomly aggregating 31 basic narrative elements. The synopsis is then spread over the virtual pages, each giving a basic plot alongside an illustration, the reader then fills in the details. A prototype at this stage, but an exciting pointer to the storybook, iPad style.

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YThe acceptance of the Toyota Prius onto the driveway of many a Hollywood A Lister helped propel hybrid car technology to mainstream notoriety. Over the past few years, the associated shift in attitudes has led each of the car makers to make real progress with the technology. And now this has trickled down (or up) to those with the big bucks, as hybrid goes high-end. Unveiled at the Frankfurt Motorshow, the Jaguar C-X16 concept uses a Kinetic Energy Recovery System that would usually be found in an F1 racing car along with a lightweight lithium-ion battery. The system stores enough energy for an extra burst of power & improves fuel economy. This all sits alongside a traditional petrol engine. While billed as a concept, it’s rumoured to be launched to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Jaguar E-Type.

Joining Jaguar in flying the flag for eco-friendly driving fun is the BMW i8. Also making its debut at Frankfurt, the supercar is set for production in 2013 and sits at the top of its alternatively-powered range. With a plug-in hybrid engine capable of doing 104 miles per gallon, it also houses impressive power with a speedy 0-60mph time of less than 5 seconds.

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2011 has seen the number of music festivals rocket, with one having occurred in the UK almost every weekend this rainy summer. Often attended by the trendiest Brits with a healthy disposable income, big brands have long wanted their piece of the pie.

With consumers savvy to the brand tactics, this summer has delivered a demanding playing field where brands have had to shift their thinking. Despite paying a hefty amount for the privilege, simply handing out a free breakfast or drink isn’t enough. Festival goers have shown that they want to be actively engaged, not just sold to.

Divine is a great example of one of this summer’s winners having brokered a deal to be the official chocolate bar of Glastonbury. A special festival edition of the bar was created, with a golden ticket prize for one winner to get behind-the-scenes access to the main stage on closing night. A relevant, natural and engaging fit, it proved a hit with Twitter and Facebook fans.

This summer upped the stakes & showed the need for a shift in thinking. Brands need to cultivate a genuine conversation, using social activity to build communities around the event on-site and online.

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ELThe popularity of Ebooks & Ereaders has rocketed during 2011 with Amazon now selling more Kindle titles than paper versions. In the UK, the sale of digital book products has risen by 20% to £180m in the last year.

So it’s little surprise that we’re now seeing the more traditional publishers and retailers looking to carve a role in the digital publishing model. Amazon is the big boy in the playground, shifting the tide again with recent suggestions of an e-book rental system akin to Net-Flix. It’s also got the industry’s eyes on it with the expectation of a tablet device on the horizon.Barnes & Noble have joined the party with the launch of the ‘Nook’ e-reader, a move which they claim will net them £1.1bn by the end of the year. Backed by a partnership with Appcelerator, a cloud platform to fastrack the deployment of apps, it’s a move which has inspired others to tap into the broader opportunities. Waterstones is a case in point, having announced its intention to launch an ebook reader in 2012. As the business model shifts, the main players are likely to try and own as much of the ecosystem as possible in order to stake their claim.

www.edelman.co.uk www.thenakedpheasant.wordpress.com