the connected brand white paper

© 2013 Critical Mass, Inc. All Rights Reserved

New opportunities for content brands to deliver value in our multi-modal world

THE CONNECTED BRAND

By Critical Mass January 29th, 2013


Today, the screen a brand chooses to engage its audience with is less important than the value and content that screen delivers. The screen is just the conduit for an experience created through interaction.

Having more screens to engage with is only one variable of the new equation – smarter screens is another.

In this new reality, content brands are facing a

fundamental choice. They can fight the inevitable

– or embrace the opportunities in this hyper-

connected, ‘turned-on’ world.

At CM, we believe that brands must embrace

this multiplicity. We believe that ‘better together’

experiences are a space for really building a

brand. We believe that 2+2 does in fact equal 5.

And changing customer behaviour adds to (or even multiplies) the complexity of what brands need to solve.

More and more, customers are expecting plurality and amplified value from their screen experiences, and they demand content that rises up to meet their elevated expectations.

WELCOME TO THE MULTI- MODAL WORLD

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Last year, Nissan, Sony Playstation® and the

television channel SPEED debuted an epic reality

TV show promoting the Gran Turismo racing

video game. As part of the campaign, Critical

Mass created an immersive, 360-degree digital

experience that transported people from their easy

chairs to the driver’s seat of a GT racecar, leveraging

the iPad 2 and iPhone gyroscope technology.

This year, to support the launch of the second

season of GT Academy, Critical Mass amped

up the interactivity to make the GT Academy

experience more personal and social by putting

the user right in the middle of the action. Nissan

wanted to offer gamers and fans an enhanced

viewing experience by putting them into the heart

of the action and creating branded companion

content to complement the TV episodes.

GTAcademy.us is a mobile-first, second screen

experience that transforms people from passive

viewers to active participants via exclusive time-

synced content that drives deeper engagement

and tells the full GT Academy story. Viewers can

turn on the TV, then use their smartphone or tablet

to access companion content while continuing

to watch the show on SPIKE TV. Every episode

has its own unique content to complement the

show, from videos and interactive maps to polls,

tutorials and fun facts. This adds an extra layer of

entertainment and participation for viewers and

inspires social media sharing.

Experiences like this are redefining connected

brands: disrupting the conventional model of

content creation by delivering amplified customer

value via a connected experience.

But this is only a first step. We believe that the

potential for Connected Brands will continue

to evolve.

NISSAN GT ACADEMYSecond screen experience that transports fans from living room to silverstone racetrack

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THE EVOLUTION

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EvErywhErE is a scrEEn

EvErything is connEctEd

EvEryonE is a contEnt crEator

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THE EVOLUTION

It’s no longer about the big 4 (television, movie screen, smartphone, and tablet). Screens are everywhere and everything is a screen. With augmented reality, NFC, QR codes and more, we are living in a world of digitized everything. Our streets, buildings, walls, billboards, even our washing machines, can be interfaces.

In Lviv, Ukraine, there’s a building that doesn’t

just look like an empty crossword puzzle – it is

one. Visitors to the city can go on an interactive

scavenger hunt to find clues and submit those

findings via mobile phone. When night comes,

answers are revealed on the building using special

lights. The residents of Lviv have transformed

what would have been an ordinary façade into

something interactive – a screen.

The opportunity here is not in what screen to use – it’s in how these screens will interact with each other and how, where, and why consumers will engage with them. Brands need to think optimization, context, and how to create the ‘magic’ that comes when these screens work together.

LvIv’S PuzzLE TowErAny surface is now a blank slate

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EvERywHERE is A sCREEN


The Pebble Watch has transformed a device – the watch,

a traditionally static and uni-functional device – into a fluid

multifunctional screen that’s always available and visible to

consumers. Aside from showing the time, the Pebble device

can alert users with a silent vibration to incoming calls, emails

and messages, track how fast and far users run, bike or walk,

and control music remotely. Because it is open source, its

capabilities tomorrow are unlimited.

PEBBLE wATCHConsumers’ digital life is now always on hand

Evolving from providing functional or entertainment value to generating real-life value, the new capabilities of these screens present the opportunity for brands to pump up productivity, save time and even help their customers be a better ‘me’.

5© 2013 Critical Mass, Inc. All Rights Reserved


THE EVOLUTION

Screens have gotten a whole lot smarter. Our screens can now talk to each other in ways we hadn’t imagined. Content is no longer tied to any device or programming mode, and

emerging technology lets content be pushed, pulled, and shaped based on customer interaction.

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Google Glass is essentially a computer inside a

pair of glasses that acts like a conduit for multiple

devices. The glass enables content to move back

and forth between devices, delivering maximized

utility through the input and output of information

that’s totally user-controlled. It can display content

from smartphones by showing calls, maps and

other features right in front of the user’s eyes. The

glass can also take pictures and then share them

via Google+.

Image taken from: https://plus.google.com/+projectglass/posts

GooGLE GLASSTransforms line of sight into ‘your’ screen

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EvERyTHiNG is CONNECTED


This connected household refrigerator, from

Samsung, can immediately update a digital

shopping list whenever someone looks in the

fridge. Using Evernote, the person at home

can update a shopping list based on the

inventoried contents of the fridge. The fridge

then alerts whoever is out shopping that an

item is missing. All of this communication is

done screen-to-screen, no humans required.

SAMSuNG T9000The connected household

manages itself

Xbox SmartGlass illustrates how technology is

shifting dual content screens from companion

experiences to simultaneous and elastic

experiences. This application within Xbox provides

consumers with pop-up style supplements

for certain shows and movies. It creates

simultaneous content when gamers use it

as a map or to look at user stats. And most

importantly, it allows content to transfer back

and forth between devices. Music can be

played off of the SmartGlass surface using

headphones, and then seamlessly transferred to

a TV using the Xbox. This fluid transfer redefines

the nature of content because it can be picked

up and experienced anywhere, anytime.

MICroSofT xBox SMArTGLASS

Content is now elastic

These technologies are making content and brand experiences fluid. Consuming content has changed from a conscious, time-based action to a constant part of our lives. One specific piece of content can be experienced anywhere, anytime, on any device.


Image taken from: http://www.samsung.com/us/news/newsRead.do?news_seq=20346

Image taken from: http://press.xbox360.com/products/1321p211/xbox-smartglass-on-windows-8


EvERyONE is A CONTENT CREATOR

New content creators are entering the game with different business mandates, broadening the arena well beyond the traditional content creators like television studios and expanding the definition of content.

Brands, in their desire to provide their customers with solutions instead of merely delivering marketing messages, are not only creating new forms of content but also extending the multiverse of screens.

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Not only is it one of the most important new

‘screens’ created in 2012, the Nike+ FuelBand

proves how being a connected brand can both

extend and reinforce a brand’s promise. Nike

has always been in the business of motivation,

and the FuelBand is another proof point of this,

encouraging customers to ‘move more.’ But it

also shows the necessity of brand-customer

interaction, not one-way messaging, since the

FuelBand only creates value when it is connected with

the consumer. Without them, it’s just a ‘dumb’ piece of

plastic.

NIkE+ fuELBANDAugments existing brand value to create new customer value

Increasingly, it is the consumer that is the content. Consumers are arguably the biggest collective authors of digital content today, whether that is through their online communications with each other, the data their lives are producing, or the experiences they are co-creating with companies and brands.

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Connected Brands should recognize the potential of thinking ‘open source,’ giving more power to consumers to co-create experiences. The consumer shift from passively consuming fixed brand messages to creating personal connections via brand properties has already started, so embrace it.

Facebook Connect lets users log onto third-

party websites, applications, mobile devices and

gaming systems with their Facebook identities.

This represents a tremendous relationship shift,

but more importantly, it blends device capabilities

with brand content and consumers’ digital

lives. This opens up the opportunity for a hyper-

personal Connected Brand experience.

fACEBook CoNNECT Makes the consumer the hero everywhere

With Nintendo’s AR Cards for the 3DS, users

can use the AR Games™ application to view

characters and game content through their 3DS

camera in the environment around them. These

digital assets, unlocked through AR, also make

it possible for consumers to use their Mii™

characters to create stop motion video.

NINTENDo 3DSTurning brand content into

consumers’ content

Consumers want to be the heroes. They are looking to be immersed – to contribute and not just consume.


Image taken from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGwH1p7EH9g

This image is the property of Facebook


If content is king, then context is queen and magic is created in their union. Don’t do matching luggage content. Instead, create optimized ‘in-the-now-where-I-am’ experiences.

The New Rules for Connected Brands

No one likes to be told what to do. So think of these rules as guidelines. Together, they’re a go-forward mantra, challenging you to break the conventions of connected content and unlock the potential

to become a Connected Brand.

Think simultaneous, not companion – it’s not about the old hierarchy of screens. Create experiences that are better when consumed together.



The consumer should be the hero of everything you do. Integrate consumers and their data to deliver hyper-personal experiences that forge connections.

Solve problems. Deliver solutions. Move beyond what you want to say. Create an indispensable experience.

Tuned in and turned on. Consumers will get more value out of experiences that they can take part in. This means evolving beyond the conventions of a click or a touch. A broader array of actions are now in play; gestures, voice, and body movement will make customers not just consumers of content but ultimately participants in a brand’s experience.

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Interested In TRANSFORMINGYOUR BRAND INTO A

COnnECTED BRAnD?

Critical Mass would love to help.

As a marketing agency in an increasingly digital world, our job is to create extraordinary experiences. Experiences that bring together creative thinking, smart ideas and emerging technologies to drive our clients’ businesses.


For more information, please contact:

Diane Heun

Phone: 508-541-5336

Email: [email protected]

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