Multimedia Consumer Insights

Implications - While most designers are focused on innovating micro-media players based on MP3 format, other designers are trying to bring back the phonograph. Reviving retro technology appeals to the aging, affluent boomer demographic who enjoy spending money on gadgets that help them relive their youth.

Implications - To cater to the popularity of portable music, companies are competing in the accessories market, particularly in headsets. We have featured earless headphones, fashionable audio earrings, and luxury sets made of gold and coated in diamonds.

The demand for portable music is clear, as is the rise in companies offering products to enhance the audio experience. The bottom line for the world of headsets is that unique or luxurious enhancements offer consumers a way to personalize their experience and sense of fashion.

Implications - No longer just available in select movie theaters, 3D is penetrating all areas of entertainment. In addition to several 3D media debuts in 2009, the dawn of several next generation 3D entertainment devices at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show shows this immersive technology promises to have mainstream influence.

Implications - For Generation X and Y, and millions of others around the world, music is a part of daily life--if not a necessity. The result is an increase in products built with audio capability, regardless of their primary function. While sound systems become more sleek and complex in design, everything from clothes to furniture becomes increasingly incorporated with docking systems and musical technology.

Implications - Why stop at 3D innovation when you could go one step further? Holograms surpass the "reality" of 3D, instead bringing the user to a completely different world that plays on futurism, fantasy and science fiction. Hi-tech gadgets that actually contain functioning holographic qualities are one way to appeal to the most future-focused of today's consumers.

Implications - Bridging the gap between virtual reality and reality, augmented reality intensifies what is already in existence to create a unique combination of real and virtual. It allows for interactivity through digital means, augmenting real-world elements but not going as far as to make the new reality impossible. Thus, augmented reality allows users to imagine an "enhanced" world that could also be very well within reach.

Implications - Fashion designers are no longer just fashion designers, nor are tech brands simply devoted to tech. As more consumers value both beauty and function, fashion and tech are coming together to offer the best of both worlds. From joint partnerships between established tech brands and haute couture houses, to sole ventures into the world of tech by traditional fashion labels, two seemingly different industries are inevitably converging.

Implications - Though listening to music and music only was once enough, Generation Y's shortened attention span demands a more holistically stimulating experience. Thus, consumers and artists alike are finding ways to combine sensory experiences to make for a new-aged, comprehensive method of entertainment. This abstract distraction suggests that today's youth is growing restless with the digital realm, seeking more tangible methods of entertainment.

Implications - More TV programs are combining social networking with entertainment, allowing consumers to watch programs “with” as many friends (and strangers) as they choose. As interactivity and social connectivity become essential to everyday living, the ability to share real-time opinions and comments with peers during a TV show or live event will become a valuable, and maybe necessary, addition to the enjoyment of entertainment.

Implications - Through the influence of pop culture, individuals are getting dramatically more creative with their ideas on how to “pop the question.” By incorporating movielike scenes and concepts into their proposals, they are in effect setting the bar higher and higher when it comes to unique engagements, showing the effects media has on a viewing audience.