Gamification

Implications - The incorporation of augmented reality into travel-based apps is enhancing travelers' experiences in everything from airport navigation to city exploration. This form of bettering travel experiences benefits consumers by both gamifying the travel experience, and enhancing its educational value.

Homework Question - Conceptualize how your brand could incorporate AR into its product, service or purchase journey. [More]

Implications - The legitimacy of the eSports industry has been established in the last few years with everything from events to education in this space, and the next step brands are taking is creating centers and even stadiums specific to online gaming. These space reveal the importance of long-term investments into seemingly niche consumer interests, as these industry moves have turned what was once considered to be an at-home hobby into a multi-faceted and profitable industry.

Homework Question - Consider an untapped, niche consumer interest (within your brand's area of expertise) that you could invest in. [More]

Implications - Led predominantly by Google, voice-controlled assistants are being used to lead people through various interactive, branded experiences. These pop-up spaces allow consumers to test the brand's product in a way that evokes their sense of play, and caters to their desire to test products for themselves, rather than simply being sold them.

Homework Question - Conceptualize a voice assistant-led pop-up space that your brand could use to market its product/service. [More]

Implications - New apps and platforms are emerging to cater to travelers looking for a safer way to exchange and obtain currency for foreign countries. These new apps help convert funds and even deposit old currencies into other places like PayPal to ease the burden of exchanging money at the bank or in a different country. This new technology will help travelers save time and energy, allowing them to enjoy their time away and cut down on pre and post-travel errands.

Homework Question - How can you help reduce a consumers preparation time for leisure activities? [More]

Implications - Appealing to consumers' desire to realize their full potential, tech companies are releasing products with a focus on their ability to improve productivity. Often adopting a tech-enabled form of gamification to reach that end, this shift is reflective of the increasing role brands have to play when it comes to helping consumers become their idealized selves.

Homework Question - What are your consumers trying to achieve in their lives? How could you better align your brand with those goals? [More]

Implications - The health and wellness movement has led to more consumers than ever paying attention to the way they care for their minds and bodies. With this has come an influx of products and services to help facilitate this, and more recently, accompanying apps to helps consumers track their goals and progress related to self-care. This shift is reflective of a consumer base more willing to invest their time and money into their well-being, and a willingness to adopt technology to accomplish their goals.

Homework Question - What goals are your consumers most focused on accomplishing? What role could your brand play in helping them achieve those goals? [More]

Implications - Aligning with heightened consumer expectations with regard to convenience, food pickup experiences are getting a refresh by becoming more seamless. By introducing apps as well as in-store infrastructure to support the pickup process, brands are improving not only the customer experience involved in this process, but creating a smoother operation for the restaurant brands who adopt this approach.

Homework Question - What steps could you eliminate in your customer's journey? [More]

Implications - Brands taking a stance against wage inequality - race, gender etc. - turn to very public, very blunt methods. Brands leverage their own products and services to convey messages of global equality to build consumer trust, increase transparency and use their status to disrupt social views on equal pay. This daring new approach to marketing showcases how brands can play a role in human rights advocacy.

Homework Question - How can you use your brand to address political or global inequality issues? [More]

Implications - Connotations around aging are evolving, and as consumers look to identify themselves beyond just a number, products and services are arising that allow aging consumers to feel young again. From all-age encompassing outdoor adventures to elements of education, brands are recognizing the desire from consumers to stay physically active, but to take risks as well, especially as they reach life stages that allow for more free time and leisure.

Homework Question - How can you appeal to your aging consumers' sense of play and adventure? How could you incorporate those sentiments into your products and services? [More]

Implications - Consumers desiring out-of-home experiences turn to brand-made games like scavenger hunts to connect more deeply with companies. Including up-leveled scavenger hunts to find physical objects, or augmented reality-based app games, consumers are reliving nostalgic games from their childhood in a modern setting. This unique marketing strategy can play an effective role in a brand’s overall image and engage consumers for extended periods of time.

Homework Question - How can your brand play a role in your consumer's leisure and play time? [More]