PEOPLES INSIGHTS MONTHLY BRIEF: APRIL

Part 2: The Mobile & Wearable Web

Introduction
Wearable tech is the buzz word of 2015, and rightly so.
The fairly new landscape of wearable technology is already dotted with promising
prospects. Emerging trends and innovations are paving the way for a more
connected, seamless and integrated world. Smartwatches, fitness trackers and
wristbands that monitor overall health are quite commonplace today, and are
increasingly becoming a part of peoples everyday lives.
One of the reasons wearables are rising in popularity and preference is their
association with mobile phones and the Internet of Things (IoT).
Most wearables, for optimal functionality, require a corresponding mobile app. This
close relationship with mobiles makes wearable tech much more accessible and
desirable to people. Wearables allow people to know themselves better by
providing insights into their daily habits and activities.
In Part 2 of this two-part series on the rising mobile and wearable space, we explore
eight interesting initiatives - wearables and mobile applications that are changing
the lives of consumers as well as modern business. Click here to view Part 1: The
Mobile & Wearable Web.

Why do we as communications
professionals need to be
abreast of the latest
developments in Wearables?
Adrian Rosenthal (@neurosenthal), Head
of Digital & Social - MSL Germany explains
how we can leverage wearable tech to
offer value to our clients. His article is
filled with key takeaways and insights
from the recent Mobile World Conference
(MWC) and South by Southwest (SXSW).

Photo: Studio Roosegaarde on Flickr

Wearables Enhancing the Quality of Life

While wearables are still - to a large extent - looked at as personal style statements, theyre evolving to offer more
features and value. Were noticing a gradual but definite shift to improve how people live, work and socialise, especially
as the wearable industry expands beyond fitness trackers and smartwatches.

1. Making Events Shareable: Insider Band

The Insider Band uses NFC technology in an innovative way to make social events (like music festivals) more
shareable. The wristband enables festival-goers to perform mobile activities like sharing photos and checking in to
events with a tap of the wrist - without the need for cell phone reception from service providers.

2. Making Travel Seamless: Sesame Ring

The Sesame Ring could change how people use public transport. The ring tackles the challenge of having to spend
time fishing for travel cards in bags and wallets at subway stations. This invention embeds the RFID technology of
subway cards within the rings making getting access to stations as easy as flashing the ring.

3. Bridging the Gap between Virtual & Reality: Oculus Rift

Virtual Reality headset Oculus Rift is turning the world of virtual reality around with applications that go beyond
gaming - for use in healthcare, military training and more.

Wearables Pushing the boundaries of Healthcare

Health and fitness-related wearables dominate the market today, and theyre predicted to grow.
The data collected by health-oriented wearables presents a huge opportunity for doctors and the healthcare community,
and enables them to glean better insights about their patients health. The healthcare industry is already using data
obtained from wearables to a certain extent: research firm IDC says that by 2020, 70% of healthcare organisations will be
using wearables for improved patient care.

4. Predicting Epilepsy Attacks: Embrace Wristband

The Embrace wristband by Empatica could significantly improve the quality of life for those suffering from epilepsy.
Combining motion data with stress levels detected from the wearers skin, Embrace alerts the wearers as well as
their friends, family members and doctor about a possible epilepsy attack.

5. Making Healthcare Safer: Smart Bandaid

Joining the fight against Ebola is the Smart Bandaid a wearable that lets doctors and caregivers monitor patients
health without having to be present next to them. This can bring down the risk of contracting Ebola for those
attending to the patients, leading to better quality of treatment and care.

6. Monitoring Health from Day 1: Smart Diapers

Pixie Scientific, a company that studies biological human data for insights, has created a range of diapers that
unobtrusively track urine from used diapers to detect potential irregularities that could point to the infants risk of
developing illnesses (like type 1 diabetes) and kidney ailments.

Mobiles Seamless Integration & Impactful Storytelling

With more and more of the world turning to mobile phones to do everything from placing a call to tracking heart beats, it
make sense for businesses and brands to integrate mobiles into the communications strategy and the product development
process to become more relevant to people.

7. Catering to the Mobile Generation: IKEAS Wireless Charging Furniture

IKEAs new range of furniture that charges mobile phones without the use of wires is a revolution in the furniture
industry. With its aesthetically designed furniture that caters to the mobile era, it almost treats mobiles as
extensions of our bodies.

8. Using Constraints to Create a Story: Nat Geo Wild on Snapchat

Content on Snapchat self-destructs after 24 hours, making the channel a perfect fit for Nat Geo Wilds campaign to
raise awareness about the declining population of big cats in the wild. Nat Geo Wild chose the Snapchat Story feature
to show its followers images of big cats images which slowly faded away as users scrolled through them, never to be
seen again.

We hope you enjoy this issue. Let us know what you think at @PeoplesLab.

Nidhi Makhija-Chimnani
Director Research and Insights, MSLGROUP @NidhiMakhija
Melanie Joe
Consultant Research and Insights, MSLGROUP @melanie_joe

Wearables Galore But

How Can We Leverage
Them in Our Daily
PR Work?

Adrian Rosenthal
Head of Digital & Social Media, MSL
Germany
@neurosenthal
Based in Berlin, Adrian is a selftracking enthusiast and owns a Nike
FuelBand as well as a Pebble
smartwatch.

Google Glass, Nike Fuelband or smart watches like Pebble smart wearable
technologies are not just on everyones lips, but can also be found more and
more on wrists (or tips of noses for that matter). Although Marty McFly already
sported a smart jacket, we cant go back to the future and are seemingly still
some light years away from wearables becoming a mass phenomenon. However,
they are already more than just a trend or passing fad being hyped by some tech
geeks. New products and innovations are regularly being discussed not only in
specialized blogs or dedicated tech websites, but also everywhere from the NYT
to CNN.
Wearables and other new connected technologies are more than just gadgets and
an extension of mobile communication: they are the epitomes of a megatrend
towards a smarter and connected lifestyle smart mobile health, smart mobility,
etc. via IoT (Internet of Things) technologies.
Thus, even though a majority of people still regard wearables as useless gadgets
for self-tracking geeks, theres no denying that wearables technologies and smart
IoT devices are becoming more and more deeply entrenched in our lives.
We as communications experts naturally have to be on top of the developments we have to follow and analyze new trends to see how to incorporate them into
our work. That is why we attend MWC, SXSW or the IFA in Berlin - that is why we
have to be curious about new products and mingle with experts and developers
alike.

Top: Nike
Bottom: Pebble

Under the impression of both MWC and SXSW 2015, I have also pondered the
question on how we can already use wearable technologies understood as both
the trend and actual products - in our daily work for clients. Here is my top ten
list:

1. We should be curious guides for our clients and

colleagues
As communicators with a focus on digital and tech, we need to maintain a
curious mind for new technologies. Like we did with Facebook, Twitter and other
social networks a couple of years ago, we need to look at how these new
technologies change the modes of communications and our lifestyles, test them,
work with them and then share our insights and opinions with clients and
colleagues alike.

2. We need to tell innovative stories

Wearables certainly have not become a mainstream technology for most
consumers thus far. While some question the value, others voice concerns
regarding data privacy. Thus, our challenge is to communicate the benefits of
these new technologies via creative storytelling and contextualizing these
innovations as well as building trust through transparency.

Photo: Frits Ahlefeldt-Laurvig on Flickr

3. Big Data: Chances and challenges

The collection of personal data is obviously a hot topic and a communicative
challenge for brands and developers, but big data also offers chances, especially
when it comes to targeted marketing and advertising. Furthermore, analyzing
user data and usage patterns can lead to optimized and individualized products
and/or content.

4. Building a community
Many developers of wearable technologies also create communities with
gamification elements around their products. Users of activity trackers like Fitbit
or the Nike FuelBand dont just want to collect their own data and keep quiet
about it, they want to share updates and compete in rankings with their friends
and peers. The creation of communities which enable users to engage with each
other not only creates a bond between users, but also between brand and its
users.
Top: NEC Corporation of America on Flickr

5. Brand love and brand ambassadors

In most cases, users of wearables will also become voluntary as well
involuntary brand ambassadors. They not only share data with
brand/companies, they also share status updates, activities, pictures, via
Twitter, Facebook or Instagram and thus create buzz for the products they wear
and applications they use. iWatch, Pebble and co. also tend to be lifestyle
products, which are talked about and also shown off by its owners.

6. Piggybacking and brand partnerships

Many of the wearables on the market have open APIs which can be used by other
companies. Fitbit for example has a multitude of existing partnerships with
companies ranging from Weight Watchers to Walgreens. Thus, even companies
who do not have their own wearables devices have the opportunity to benefit
from these by programming their own applications and integrating their own
services into existing wearable technologies. This is something we will likely see
a lot more of in the future.

7. Campaigns with a focus on wearables

Although the amount of users for may still somewhat limited, some brands have
already started PR and marketing campaigns revolving around wearables
technologies. Kenneth Cole for example called upon Google Glass users to
accomplish a set of actions and document them via Google Glass. Likewise, Nike
placed vending machines at certain spots in New York where runners could get
goodies by way of their accumulated fuel points. Thus, even though the initially
targeted group was limited: Using wearable technologies in a communications
campaign is still a newsworthy novelty factor. Once Mashable and the like pick
up a story, broad coverage is guaranteed.

Photo: Krlis Dambrns on Flickr

8. Communication on the run

Nike is not the only company which has started a context- and location-based
communication with fans and customers. Another example is the dog food brand
Granata: They put up advertising billboards which animated people walking their
dogs to check in via Foursquare to get some samples of the food right on the
spot. With the advent of the iWatch and other smart watches in combination
with new technologies such as iBeacons, we will likely see a lot more of contextand location-based marketing and PR campaigns.

9. Wearables in internal communications

Various companies have already started implementing different wearable
technologies as part of their internal communications. Salesforce has started a
distinct developer program for smartwatches and Google Glass which has
resulted in applications supporting CRM or approval processes. Another example
is the corporate health app Keas, which aims at animating employees to be
mindful of their health and well-being at work by incorporating gamification
elements and incentives. Our role as social business consultants is to be strategic
advisors and recommend the right tools out of an ever-evolving wearable
toolbox.

Photo: Tayla Lyell on Flickr

10. Creation of own wearable technologies

The supreme discipline would of course be conceiving, designing and creating
your own wearable device, thus going beyond the programming of an app which
can be integrated with wearables. Disney for example is not a brand known for
producing hardware and thus being predestined to creating a wearable device,
but has ventured into this sphere by launching the MagicBand, which can be used
as a payment or reservation device among other functions in Disney Worlds
across the globe. Again, cooperation between brands are another possibility here
as Fitbit and Tory Burch have co-created and launched a set of wearable
accessories. We should be creative catalysts, nudging ideas and launching the
process of thinking about potentials and possibility for wearable technologies.

Photo: General Physics Laboratory on Flickr

Inside
Wearables Enhancing the Quality of Life
Insider Band

16

Sesame Ring

18

Oculus Rift

21

Wearables - Pushing the boundaries of Healthcare

Embrace Wristband

25

Smart Bandaid

27

Smart Diapers

29

Mobiles Seamless Integration & Impactful Storytelling

IKEAs Wireless Charging Furniture

32

Nat Geo Wild on Snapchat

34

Wearables Enhancing the

Quality of Life
+ Insider Band
+ Sesame Ring
+ Oculus Rift

Photo: kris krg on Flickr

Insider band

Photo: Mashable

#ExperientialWearables
Being always connected, people have
developed the habit of sharing their most
memorable experiences with others in an
instant.
Music festivals see some of the most
social and tech-savvy millennials in the
world as attendees. Unfortunately for
music festival lovers who want to share
live updates with the world, the venues
for such events are almost always nonconducive to proper connectivity.
This is why the Insider Band was
introduced to the hugely popular Outside
Lands music festival in San Francisco. It
works on NFC technology (near field
communication).

Video: The Insider Band

Auto insurance company Esurance, in a

collaboration with ClearHart, installed
eight 14-foot towers with NFC-enabled
Nexus 7 tablets mounted on each of
them, around the venue. Attendees could
tap their Insider Bands to the tablets to
share their festival updates with friends,
in real-time.
Read: Why do people share their lives
online?

A Tap to Stay Connected

Attendees to the festival could register online for an Insider Band prior to the
festival and connect it to their Facebook profiles. After collecting the band from
the venue on the day of the festival, they could tap the activated bands on the
towers to check in on Facebook, find friends at the venue and message them,
and also win goodies to exclusive events all without having to rely on their
service providers network reception.
As per ClearHarts data, during the three-day festival, 8,060 registered users
tapped 29,753 times and uploaded 4,780 photos. Thats a lot of tapping!

Revisiting Existing Technology with Creative Ideas

The idea worked because of an intelligent approach to the existing NFC
technology which enables connected devices to establish radio connection with
each other by touching them together or being in close proximity. It gave people
the opportunity to tell their story in a fun and interactive manner, without
having to compromise on the quality of their experience which is what happens
when festival-goers struggle to establish connections on their cell phones. Users
could check in and post photos to Facebook, which would also later be available
in an online memory bank.
Being relatively new, the full potential of NFC technology is still to be realised. It
also is an idea thats scalable because it brings together, in a fun manner, what
the millennial generation is most familiar with experiential events and
wearable tech.

Photo: Mashable
Infographic: How to Use NFC technology in Your
Marketing Strategy

Sesame ring

Photo: ringtheory.com

#SmartTravel
The Sesame Ring, designed and developed
by MIT students and the Singapore
University of Technology and Design, is an
interesting invention that aims to
introduce smart travel to public transport
systems.

What is the Sesame Ring?

A unisex ring that passengers can easily
slide on to their fingers, The Sesame Ring
is designed to work as a replacement for
the CharlieCards that are required to gain
access to the trains and buses in Boston.
Having missed the train many times
while fishing for our CharlieCardswe
looked for a solution in wearable
technology, say the founders of the ring.
Its interesting how the rings are made
through 3D printing, which gives the
makers the opportunity to produce larger
quantities of the ring quickly and easily, if
the idea becomes popular.
Video: Learn more about the Sesame Ring

The rings are equivalent to other fare cards and can be used on any T machine
that accepts a CharlieCard. These rings are embedded with the same tap-and-go
technology used in CharlieCards issued by the MBTA (Massachusetts Bay
Transportation Authority), the fourth busiest public transportation system in the
US. Similar to CharlieCards, the rings with an RFID chip inside each one can be
recharged at the several designated kiosks across train stations.

Kick-starting hassle-free and efficient travel

Born as a Kickstarter project, the idea received several backers on the website,
and also caught the attention of the MBTA itself, whose approval was
instrumental in lifting the project off the ground.
The ring has already become popular, with more than 1,000 rings shipped out
after the initial testing. Theyre available in several bright colours at the
moment, and the makers have promised to make it customisable. The rings are
also resistant to natural elements a feature that makes sense for a product
thats susceptible to significant wear and tear from daily use, in a city notorious
for snow storms and strong winds.
While the rings can only be used in Boston now, the founders goal is to make it
available for use in public transport systems across the world, and eventually
replace smart cards altogether.

Photo: Sesame Ring on Kickstarter

Photo: Sesame Ring on Kickstarter

Disruption in Travel
The Sesame Ring makes for a telling
example of how wearable tech is
gradually but surely blending seamlessly
with various aspects of our daily life.
Its a product with potential for success
because it blends utility which is no
longer looked at as an advantage, rather
as a necessity in wearables- with style.
Experimentation to transfer this
technology to more products like
keychains, smartphone covers and
personal accessories like bracelets is
already on.
Could we soon see a future where access
to public transport made possible with
train tickets, subway passes, etc. will be
granted with our wearables?

Oculus rift

Photo: Oculus

#VirtualReality
Virtual Reality (VR) the simulation of
real-world physical sensations while
involved in an activity like playing video
games is a concept thats been around
for decades.
One company thats made waves in this
space is Oculus, with its groundbreaking
virtual reality headset, the Oculus Rift.
Designed to provide a fully immersive
virtual experience to gamers, the headset
boasts of cutting-edge technology thats
changing the face of gaming, and more.
How does virtual reality tie in with
social communication?

Social giants are realising the potential of

virtual reality which Facebooks
acquisition of Oculus Rift in 2014 clearly
shows. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is
one of the most vocal advocates of the
Oculus Rift.

Video: Founder Palmer Luckey on the Oculus Rift

Oculus has the potential to be the most

social platform ever, he says. Imagine
sharing not just moments with your
friends online, but entire experiences and
adventures.

With features to match its futuristic looks, the Oculus Rift has been creating a
buzz in the gaming industry since the company unveiled the product. Though still
available only in developer versions its slated to be launched for commercial
sale in 2016 the wearable has piqued the interests of individuals and
corporations alike.

Not Just A Game Anymore

Customised tracking technology in the headset allows for subtle head movements
of the user to create corresponding movements in the game, making it as close
to reality as any gaming experience has ever been. The combination of
stereoscopic 3-D viewing with wide field view makes it possible for the headset
to provide a seamless experience that has the power to evoke real-world
emotions in the virtual space.
Though created primarily for taking the gaming experience to the next level,
Oculus Rift has the potential to make an impact beyond only gaming. It has
already started sharing its technology in development kits with a number of
industries for testing and use.
Virtual reality the likes of which Oculus Rift headsets make possible could be
used in conducting training via simulation for high-risk industrial jobs, providing
more efficient customer service, and even in healthcare. Doctors note how
simulation therapy can help trauma patients strengthen and rebuild their
neurological pathways. It can also be extremely useful in education especially
for remote learners who dont always have access to classrooms.
5 Amazing Non-Gaming Ways People Are Using Oculus Rift
Virtual Reality Vs. Augmented Reality. Click here

Photo: Sergey Galyonkin on Flickr

Photo: Sesame Ring on Kickstarter

Virtual Reality Potential

game-changer in
communication?
Heightened social experiences through
virtual reality will change how people
interact with technology and the world
around them. It can in the very near
future become a part of peoples
everyday lives.
This also means newer and more exciting
opportunities for brands to connect with
their audience. Experiential virtual
activations with a focus on creating value
for the consumer through innovative
and creative storytelling can strengthen
the brand-consumer relationship.
Its not too early for brands to start
evaluating the relevance of VR technology
for their communication. Virtual reality
may just only have made a serious splash,
but it helps to be prepared with a
strategy in place for leveraging existing
messages through this new and very
promising medium.

Examples of brands already using

Oculus Rift in their promotions

Wearables Pushing the

boundaries of Healthcare
+ Embrace Wrist Band
+ Smart Bandaid
+ Smart Diapers

Photo: Charlie Llewellin on Flickr

EMBRACE WRISTBAND

Photo: Embrace on YouTube

#PredictiveHealthcare
Wearable technology has permeated the
health and fitness space - there are more
health-related wearables today than in
any other area.
Wristbands that track physical activity are
the most common, since they are the
easiest to use.
Empatica, a company which builds
wearables to measure and study the
relation between biological signals and
emotions, has developed the Embrace
wristband to detect seizures in epileptic
patients.

A crowdfunded initiative, the idea for

Embrace was launched on Indiegogo, and
has raised close to $700,000 in support.

Video: How Embrace Works

While it also tracks fitness and sleep

patterns like other wristbands, most of
the technology is dedicated towards
measuring both movement and
physiological signs to detect and alert
patient about seizures, before they occur.

How Embrace Can Save Lives

Embrace picks up motion data from the from the bands accelerometer and
gyroscope and combines it with conductance data from the wearers skin. This
enables the device to accurately predict the onset of epileptic attacks based on
stress levels.
On detecting a possible attack, the band sends a minor vibration to the user,
which they can turn off if its a false alarm. In the event of no response from the
user, the band alerts the users friends, family members and doctor through an
accompanying mobile app.
Users can also set the band to track their stress levels and alert them whenever
they cross the levels that are suitable for their bodies.

Wearables The New Face of Health

Medical-quality wearables like the Embrace could lead the way in health
technology the data these devices collect could give patients, their caregivers
and doctors highly personalised insights into the individual patient behaviours
that trigger certain ailments. By keeping patients up-to-date about the factors
that have the most potential to trigger an attack, it also can help improve the
quality of life of those suffering from epilepsy.
This is one avenue where we will see wearable technology will veer towards
eventually moving beyond tracking to making an impact.

Read: Wearable Tech Your Doctors New Assistant

Photo: Indiegogo

Smart bandaid

Photo: Ebola Rising

#SafeHealthcare
The recent outbreak of Ebola and the
fight against it has been a complex and
taxing one for the human race.
With no vaccine or medicines developed
yet, the fatality rates have been as high
as 90%, and more cases are being
reported every day.
The ones most at risk are the doctors and
caregivers who work at dangerously close
proximities to the patients. One of the
challenges the international health
community faces is safeguarding the
health of the caregivers of Ebola-stricken
individuals.
As of April 2015, as many as 864
caregivers have been infected in the
African countries, with 503 deaths.
This challenge may just have a solution
soon.
At South by Southwest (SXSW) this year,
The U.S. Agency for International
Development (USAID) unveiled a
Multisense Memory wearable one that
can help doctors monitor Ebola patients
from a safe distance.

Dubbed the Smart Bandaid, this wearable could be a game-changer in the

treatment of Ebola.
While working with Ebola-affected patients, doctors note that using medical
tools like stethoscopes becomes a challenge, because they bring caregivers in
closer proximity to the patients.

Caring with Safety

A flexible, sensor-rich rubber patch, the Smart Bandaid can be attached to a
patients sternum to take a baseline vital rating of heart rate, temperature and
oxygen levels, and makes it possible for doctors to eliminate the use of a
stethoscope.

This helps caregivers to track patient progress and even administer treatment,
all from outside the area of risk. At the moment, the beta version uses a USB
cable to transmit data, but the final version is slated to be Bluetoothcompatible. The readings can then be done on a screen in a room thats at a safe
distance from the affected patients.
In addition to the specially-constructed suits that Ebola caregivers use, this
invention can significantly improve safety of the caregivers. Eliminating the risk
of infection puts doctors and other caregivers in a better position to fighting the
disease in the long run.
The Smart Bandaid is a testament to how far wearable technology has come
from personal style statements to being aides in fighting deadly diseases that
plague mankind. And this, is only the beginning.

Photo: Next Billion

Smart diapers

#SmartDiapers
The talk around usually revolves around
devices like fitness trackers and smart
watches.
Contenders in the race for the most
innovative technology in quantified self
dont usually involve diapers.
Until now.
Pixie Scientific, a startup from New York,
is redefining the wearable market with its
Smart Diapers which rely on data to
monitor and detect health irregularities.
The data that these wearables measure is
one of the most reliable when it comes to
studying human health urine. The
technology is designed to analyse the
urine from used diapers and scan it to
detect possibilities of infections, kidney
problems and even type 1 diabetes in
infants.

Photo: Pixie Scientific on YouTube

Video: What Smart Diapers is all about

Could this be the product that could

establish predictive infant care?

While it looks like any other disposable diaper, the Smart Diaper has several nontoxic square panels on the outside of the diaper, which when wet, react to
leukocytes, nitrates and other agents in the childs urine that are useful in
detecting the health of the child. The reaction causes the panels to change
colour, and parents can use the accompanying mobile app to scan the QR code on
the panel.
The app collects daily readings and over a period of time and checks for
emerging patterns that may point to health anomalies. If it detects a problem, it
alerts the parents to visit their paediatrician.

Smart Diapers New Best Friend for Parents and

Peadiatricians?
Due to its feature of daily tracking and storing of data from the childs urine, the
Smart Diaper can alert parents and doctors before any serious illness actually
sets in. Pre-empting an illness based on data can go a long way in improving child
care at the day-to-day level.
Though under testing now, once it is launched for sale, the Smart Diaper can play
a significant role in providing better care in NICUs and peaditricians offices
which see the most number of infants who are in need of constant health
monitoring.
The Smart Diaper is interesting in how it turns something as simple as a diaper
into a device that brings together wearable tech and human data to create
superior services in healthcare a direction the wearable tech market will
increasingly take in the near future.

Photos: Pixie Scientific on YouTube

Mobiles Seamless Integration &

Impactful Storytelling
+ IKEAs Wireless Charging Furniture
+ Nat Geo Wild on Snapchat

Photo: Helen Capstick on Flickr

Ikeas wireless charging furniture

#WirelessCharging
Mobile phones have not only taken over
most aspects of our lives, theyre also
changing how the world innovates
innovation to make the usage of mobile
phones more seamless and integrated into
our daily lives.
This is no more evident than in IKEAs
latest range of furniture with wireless
charging. They do exactly what the name
suggests charge your phone without the
need for external wires or cables.
With a range of tables, lamps, desks and
standalone charging pads, this new series
is IKEAs attempt at creating perhaps the
ultimate connected home.

What IKEA offers

Photo: IKEA

Video: How does wireless charging work?

Made with inbuilt wireless charging spots,

each of the items in the range have a plus
sign onto which the mobile phone can be
placed for charging. The furniture still
needs to be connected to a wall socket
and isnt completely wireless in the true
sense, but it does eliminate the need for
clunky cables for the mobile phones
themselves.

The mobile phones need to be compatible with the Qi wireless charging standard
to be able to make use of the charging pads. Most smartphones these days come
with an inbuilt compatibility to this technology.

Integrating Aesthetics With Technology

While IKEA isnt the first company to make wireless charging products, its entry
into the segment may change how the concept of wireless charging is viewed.
With its globally acclaimed sense of design and powerful reach, IKEA could
leverage this technology to make it a fixture in homes worldwide.
It could also come in handy in commercial settings malls, coffee shops,
restaurants which look to increasing the quality of customer service.
Although theres lots of room for this technology to develop, its a step towards
making the mobile experience more seamless than it is now. People love staying
connected to their devices, and furniture that blends with mobile phones to offer
effortless connectivity could prove to be popular.

Different Types of Wireless Charging

Photo: IKEA

Nat geo wild on snapchat

#SnapchatStory
More and more brands are waking up to
the importance of reaching their audience
directly on the mobile this includes
innovating ways of distributing content as
well as newer platforms to feature them
on.
Snapchat is a unique social network for
brands to explore. Its feature of limited
content storage could help in pushing
marketers to be more innovative in their
content approach than they might be
otherwise.
A good example of leveraging this
Snapchat feature is Nat Geo Wilds
awareness and teaser campaign for Big
Cat Week, their annual week-long event
on the channel.

Photo: Nat Geo Wild on Shorty Awards

For five days leading up to Big Cat Week,

Nat Geo Wild created a Snapchat Story a
series of images for each day. The
images were of big cats in the wild, and
as users scrolled through the story, the
images would fade a hard-hitting
symbolic representation of the declining
numbers of these animals in the wild.

As each story ended, the screen faded to a black background with a statistic
about the falling numbers in the wild. Five different big cats were featured, with
a different statistic each day.
The message that Nat Geo Wild wanted to convey that of the alarming rate
with which these animals are perishing was made all the more real by the fact
that all stories on Snapchat are auto deleted after 24 hours.
The campaign was impactful, with 91% of the users viewing the story to its
entirety. Nat Geo Wild received positive feedback as well, both on Snapchat and
Twitter, where the campaign was cross-promoted.

Using Creative Constraints to Storytelling Advantage

Snapchat has more than a few times been at the receiving end of criticism about
the kind of content that gets circulated on the network. It also isnt looked at as
a platform with the power to make a lasting social impact.
With this campaign, one can see how even Snapchat where content is
permanently deleted can be used to create powerful, riveting content that
makes people sit up and take notice. It also is an example of how its important
to leverage a platform the new mobile generation understands and is
comfortable with.
Nat Geo Wild demonstrated how with the right idea and execution, storytelling
can be intelligent, concise and relevant.

Read about how constraints can actually be aides to creativity, in our report
The Future of Creativity.

Photos: Nat Geo Wild on Shorty Awards

Peoples Insights The Voice of SPRINT

Peoples Insights is a collection of inspiring initiatives, insights and foresights
shared by MSLGROUPs SPRINTers our global team of 100+ strategic
planners, researchers and insights experts.
Peoples Insights covers the latest trends in engagement on both consumer
and corporate sides.
We feature the best of these initiatives as Peoples Insights monthly briefs,
and original insights and foresights from our SPRINTers and other MSLGROUP
experts - in our Peoples Insights reports. We share these on our social
platforms and distribute freely to inspire more engaging campaigns.
Check out our latest report, The Future of Creativity:15 drivers for engaging
creatively in 2015.
*
Peoples Insights is available as a blog, powerpoint decks, infographics, white
papers and magazines, a Kindle eBook and even an iPad app.
Follow us on Twitter at @PeoplesLab or subscribe to our newsletter to
receive our monthly briefs and quarterly magazines.

Peoples Lab
Peoples Lab is MSLGROUPs proprietary crowdsourcing platform and
approach that helps organizations tap into peoples insights for innovation,
storytelling and change.
Peoples Lab helps organizations build and nurture public or private, web or
mobile, hosted or white label communities around four pre-configured
application areas:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Expertise Request Network

Innovation Challenge Network
Research & Insights Network
Contest & Activation Network

Our community and gaming features encourage people to share rich content,
vote/ comment on other peoples content and collaborate to find innovative
solutions.
Peoples Lab forms the core of our insights and foresight approach, which
consists of four elements: organic conversation analysis, MSLGROUPs own
insight communities, client specific insights communities, and ethnographic
deep dives into these communities. The Peoples Insights reports showcase
our capability in crowdsourcing and analyzing insights from conversations and
communities.

Thank You!

For more, visit: peopleslab.mslgroup.com/peoplesinsights