SIX ASIA TECH TRENDS BRANDS SHOULD KNOW IN 2019
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SUMMARY
Tech trends including voice, image-driven search, biometric customization and AR experiences are set to make a splash in Asia in 2019.
- Retouching ‘beauty apps’ are popular across the region for editing selfies to perfection, and there’s a good opportunity for CGI influencers to connect.
- Brand experiences, sales and customer experience can be brought to life using voice-initiated processes.
- Leveraging advances in computer vision, image recognition and other related technologies can aid in applications that lead consumers straight to purchase.
- Biometric product responses are one way for brands to ride the customization trend, as are monitoring fluctuations in the condition of the user, or say, in L’Oréal’s case, DNA-based cosmetics.
- AI is now being used to fight human bias, with strong cases coming from industry players.
- Facebook, for instance, developed Fairness Flow, a tool that detects biases for or against specific groups in their algorithms; this has been used to ensure fairness in job recommendations.
The problem with most trend reports is that they are usually US-centric, often seem like science fiction and have little relevance to brands.
That was the view of MullenLowe group digital director Mark Haycock at his self-confessed “anti-trend” presentation for the 9 for 2019: Trends That Matter To Asia event run by MullenLowe in Singapore recently.
But that doesn’t always have to be the case. Haycock pointed to tech developments happening of late – and how these relate to brands in Asia:
Trend 1: Avatars with gravitas
The first virtual influencers have landed online – and they look uncannily real. Lil Miquela, the Brazilian-American model-musician who went ‘openly bot’ in April 2018, has 1.5 million Instagram followers.
SOURCE: LIL MIQUELA’S INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT
“We have already gone past influencers; we are now creating our own virtual CGI influencers instead,” said Haycock. In fact, Lil Miquela is created by a Los Angeles-based robotics and AI startup.
The potential for computer-generated influencers is big in Asia. In China, the state-run Xinhua News Agency recently launched the world's first AI-powered news anchor; ‘beauty apps’ are also popular across the region among mainstream users for editing selfies to perfection.
Key take-away for brands: With influencer marketing catching fire in recent years, companies have also come under fire for miscasting influencers – a classic case is Pepsi’s diversity campaign with Kendall Jenner, which was heavily criticised for appropriating the Black Lives Matter movement.
“It can be quite complicated to get the right casting – why not just create your own? You can just instil your values in that influencer and use that across markets. They can be multilingual and reach out to people in different ways,” said Haycock. There is also the possibility for re-creating digital versions of existing real-life ambassadors.
Trend 2: Voice comes alive
“This year, voice is coming alive and AI is becoming a lot better at being able to understand the human context of the question,” Haycock said.
A stellar example is Microsoft’s Xiaoice chat bot in China, which has graduated from text messaging to calling users for a chat on their phones. As Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella revealed at a London event last year, the bot is able to hold “full duplex” conversations – where both bot and user converse at the same time, like in human-to-human voice conversations – with Xiaoice having made over a million calls to users so far.
“The interactions… are becoming far more natural, and that opens up really interesting possibilities for us,” Haycock said.
Key take-away for brands: Brand experiences can be brought to life using voice: “Imagine ordering at KFC from the Colonel himself.” Replicating sales people is also possible as consumers can “take that (sales) conversation out of the store and have it at home instead, and have a natural conversation with the salesperson in your house”. Voice can also be used in product tutorials “to talk you through the instructions of the setup rather than just reading it and getting frustrated” or “a recipe that could be talked through, rather than read”.
Trend 3: Image searching
Finding things with no name, as Haycock pointed out, is a trend that “seems quite vague, but when you think about the potential for it, it becomes interesting”.
British low-cost carrier airline EasyJet rolled out the Look&Book in-app function in October 2018, making it possible for users to make an image search for flights through a screengrab of that one wanderlust-eliciting shot they had just seen on Instagram that did not necessarily name the actual destination or even how to get there.
“They made that process seamless from somewhere you’d seen that you want to go, and a way for you to purchase tickets to get there in an instant,” said Haycock.
Using technology acquired from Amazon’s 2016 takeover of Atlanta-based startup Partpic have also led the e-commerce giant to launch the Part Finder feature in its app. This allows users to point their camera at an odd screw, nut or bolt, so that it can be scanned and matched to items from Amazon’s product catalog.
Key take-away for brands: Leveraging advances in computer vision, image recognition and other related technologies can aid in applications “that lead you straight to purchase”.
Besides parts libraries, this trend can also be applied in customer support, such as product health diagnosis. Sensorial selling is also another possibility. For instance, at Singapore’s Tippling Club, bartenders concoct cocktails based on scent strips chosen by customers, making olfactory the gateway to the drinking experience, rather than in the reverse order.
Trend 4: Customisation, right down to one’s biometrics
Consumers are increasingly willing to share their personal data with companies where they see value in doing so. This makes it possible for brands to “customise the product or service… right down to the individual”, Haycock said.
In Japan, the Nestle Wellness Ambassador – a ‘personalised nutrition program’ – allows users to customise their food plan based on the user’s DNA, whether he or she has any ailments, and whether the user is low on vitamins or minerals.
At least 100,000 users have already reportedly signed up for the health-boosting program that allows them to send in samples of blood and DNA for testing. They also send pictures of what they eat – food Instagramming is already a societal norm, making this easy – through the Line app. In return, users then receive AI-powered recommendations of lifestyle changes and supplements, based on their current dietary intake and genetic test results.
SOURCE: ANCESTRY.COM
Over at genealogy company Ancestry.com, a collaboration with Spotify saw the latter help people “experience their heritage rather than just read about it” with unique music mixes related to their origins. Also part of this trend is biometric monitoring within the aesthetics world: in January 2019, L’Oréal unveiled a wearable sensor to measure personal skin pH levels through sweat readings at the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show. It won a CES 2019 Innovation Award.
Key take-aways for brands: Biometric product responses are one way for brands to ride the trend, as are monitoring fluctuations in the condition of the user, or say, in L’Oréal’s case, DNA-based cosmetics. “You can see whether you are drying out, whether you need to apply more lotion, and get this real-time monitoring of your bio-data,” said Haycock. “Where it gets really interesting is how people are responding to your products.”
Trend 5: Responsive experiences
“We are finally finding out the useful ways that AR are providing for us,” said Haycock, of how technology is enabling consumers to interact with the environment for memorable experiences through audience feedback.
“You are in a club and the DJ will get real time feedback on how much the crowd is enjoying the playlist,” he said of PartyBOT, an app that uses a mix of AI, machine learning and facial recognition technology to give DJs real-time information about crowd response and influence their music selections.
Key take-away for brands: “Think about the brand from a multi-sensory perspective… what would it be like to interact with your brand?” was Haycock’s suggestion as a starting point for brands to consider leveraging this trend. For instance, sports brands can look into wearable fitness devices that provide real-time feedback about the user’s form or technique at the gym.
Trend 6: AI gets an ethics boost
AI is now being used to fight human bias, with strong cases coming from industry players. Facebook, for instance, developed Fairness Flow, a tool that detects biases for or against specific groups in their algorithms; this has been used to ensure fairness in job recommendations. In November 2018, the Financial Times launched a ‘She said, He said’ newspaper bot – which determines source genders through pronouns and first names – to increase diversity of sources in its articles.
Key take-away for brands: “What this leads us is being able to remove biased internal decisions, to eliminate the cognitive bias that we have as decision makers,” said Haycock. This also extends to removal of biases when it comes to customers served by brands, such as credit card applications.
