I've always been fascinated by the way in which technology is constantly changing the way in which we interact with our environments, our friends and family, our workplaces.
The catalyst of this post was reading in the WSJ over the weekend that the world's final telegram was sent last week, after 150 years of history. In 2005, only 20,000 telegrams were sent via Western Union globally.
What is today commonplace was unheard of even 20 years ago. I don't consider myself to be (very) old, yet I can still remember the first fax machine, the first laptop, my first email address (it was a bunch of numbers separated by a comma @compuserve.com, I think).
I still remember my elder daughter coming home from school one afternoon several years ago and questioning "what was the that big black CD that my teacher used today?", of course referring to a vinyl LP. And my younger daughter may only vaguely remember CD's in a few years. To her music is digital files that she downloads from the internet - to her phone, future generation iPod, or $100 laptop. She'll have music Bluetooth-beamed from friends, or from other media sources we haven't even imagined yet.
Canadian recording artists The Barenaked Ladies recently released a new album not only on a CD and through the iTunes store, but as digital files on a USB flash memory drive with additional exclusive content and videos.
Constantly changing technology is also going to completely change the way customers interact with retail stores. And digital signage is only the thin edge of the wedge.
When we at DW+P are making presentations, we often speak to the changing way in which people consume media now vs. ten years ago. Today's consumers now have a considerable amount of control over how they receive content - and increasingly they are using this control to avoid having content (of any type, including commercial messaging) 'pushed' at them. They are now able to 'pull' only that content that is relevant to them, at a time they choose, on a device they choose. They watch the latest episode of American Idol on their iPod on the subway. They set up tonight's dinner via SMS messaging on their telephone. And they never watch network television in real time.
These consumers are going to insist on our improving their shopping experience by using new technologies to make shopping easier (wayfinding, for example) or delivering relevant information to them when they want it.
RFID tags that know what garment the shopper has in her hand, and suggests complementary items on a nearby LCD monitor. Smart cameras attached to displays that will identify the sex, age and even size of a shopper, and show appropriate products. Smart shopping carts that allow shoppers to upload their grocery list from their PDA and show them where in the store to find the listed items are already here.
The DW+P prediction? It is only a matter of time before static wayfinding signage and directories; and promotional marketing material that is shipped to retail stores; become the next telegrams.
Quaint technologies, whose time has clearly past.
Written at: DW+P offices, Toronto
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