Manchester City FC launch the ‘Connected Scarf’ to track fan emotion

A Manchester City FC flag.

Sports and entertainment creative agency, Octagon, has partnered with Cisco to launch the 'Connected Scarf,” a new project in support of their partnership with Manchester City and City Football Group.

Unit9, a global production and technology partner, also helped spearhead the initiative. As part of Cisco’s ongoing efforts to power a more inclusive future, drive innovation, and better connect fans globally with the clubs and players they love, Octagon helped bring to life...

27 July 2022 | Customer Experience

How microsites are the surprising weapon for in-store customer engagement

Point-of-purchase displays were once all the rage in marketing. The same can be said for print, radio, catalogue, and TV, but those too have all cooled in their ability to drive awareness and sales — at least when compared to digital. Social media, websites, influencer marketing, and the like are where you’ll find the sizzle today, resonating even more than the good old in-store channel with consumers.

But microsites — something the average consumer is probably already...

28 April 2021 | Commerce

Has social distancing helped usher through the age of immersive digital?

As brands around the world respond to the ongoing disruptive trends and scrabble to re-shape the way they engage with their customers, what we are witnessing is an explosion of immersive digital experiences.

It might seem that up until a few months ago immersive digital interactions were more of a cherry on the top rather than the actual bun. Has the recent enforced social distancing changed our daily habits for good?

On the one hand we have seen a surge of digital...

1 June 2020 | Commerce

VRJAM and Agora partnership aims to provide sleek – and sustainable – VR event experience

The events industry in the UK is worth somewhere in the £40 billion area today. 2014 figures from BVEP put it just below that figure, while an AV Technology piece from last year spiked it at £42.3bn. 

This includes everything from the events themselves to travel costs - many readers will understand the 'on the road' mentality that comes with frequent executive international travel. But with climate awareness continuing to gain traction - Greta Thunberg...

26 August 2019 | Customer Experience

Why virtual reality needs to become the new reality for marketers

Virtual reality (VR), an immersive computing technology that submerges consumers in a virtual world, is predicted to completely transform the shopping experience. Goldman Sachs estimates that investments in VR, along with augmented reality, will reach a staggering $1.6 billion by 2025.

While brands are clambering to become part of the virtual environment, there is very little known about how to enhance the brand experience for all consumers and where to employ VR technology. Thus,...

22 July 2019 | Advertising Technology

Just how realistic a goal is augmented reality marketing?

Marketers are always looking for new and innovative practices to attract new customers and business. And in the tech world, there are few concepts more innovative than virtual and augmented reality. This blog will detail the differences between virtual reality and augmented reality, and how the latter can be used in marketing. We’ll then look at whether augmented reality is yet mature enough to be used on a broad scale by B2B marketers.

The difference between virtual and...

14 September 2018 | E-Commerce

Where will wearable tech go in 2018?

When the wearable technology trend took off a few years ago, brands promised smart glasses, smart clothes, smart everything. We were told that if we could strap it to our bodies and track it, we’d soon be all over it.

Now that the dust has settled and expectations have been tempered by reality, it’s clear that only a few products have really stood out from the rest: most notably Fitbit’s smart watches.

But that doesn’t mean that some of the other ideas...

27 October 2017 | Wearables

Is there a future for marketing? The change will come quicker than we think

There is no future for marketing.

AI, VR, VRS, holography, real-time marketing, branded apps, brand-based gaming, interactives, drones (UAVs), wearables, personalisation, targeted video content, autonomous technologies, expanded and manufactured social media networks, marketing technologies and data scientists. All will be (are and have been) slowly deconstructing, destroying what we today call marketing.

In its place will be a hybrid, a fusion, and a convergence of life...

5 July 2017 | Advertising Technology

Wearable tech and the opportunities for marketers

(c)iStock.com/Piotr Adamowitz

With 250 million wearables predicted to be in use by 2018, the opportunities for marketers to look into push contextualised content via this medium has never been better.

The wearable tech market is maturing. New, more advanced devices are becoming available to consumers - including Apple’s upgraded Watch operating system - and virtual and augmented reality are already leaving their footprint on the marketing...

23 June 2016 | Personalised Marketing

Global digital ad spend to hit $285bn by 2020

Global digital advertising spend continues to soar, with the latest predictions from Juniper Research estimating a $285bn spend by 2020. 

The figure is a near doubling of the $160bn estimated spend for this year.

Whilst ad blocking adoption may be affecting the market on one hand on the other the report, Worldwide Digital Advertising 2016-2020, found that better audience targeting will still help to drive higher click through rates and increase publisher...

21 June 2016 | Advertising