10 Trends To Watch In 2010

BEFORE WE BEGINIt is hard to believe another year has come and gone. So manyinteresting trends have emerged this year, and many more arelikely poised to do so next year.At Luckie & Company, we spend a lot of time observing andstudying trends that impact consumers’ lives. The following is alist of 10 trends we feel have potential to continue growing,maybe even enter the mainstream and start to play an emergingrole in daily life in 2010. If nothing else, they’re pretty cool andworth keeping an eye on.For hipsters, trendsetters and early adopters, some of these aregoing to be old news, but for the majority of us in the masses,some pretty interesting things will start to pop up into oureveryday routines.#1 AUGMENTED REALITYAugmented reality (AR) is a term and application that has been around since the 1990s. To date, it hasmainly been used by engineers and researchers to supplement their work and in very simple manners inthe visual world for consumers. However, that has started to change with the mainstreaming of webcamsand smartphone cameras that allow individuals to unlock AR content and provide a three-dimensionalexperience for the user, bringing the real and digital worlds together.Earlier this year, Doritos introduced a For the 2009 holiday season, line of Late Night chips. To promote The Home Depot has released a the chips a limited-edition AR symbol special AR gift card. When lined was printed on the back of the Late up with a webcam, the card Night chip bag. Users visited a shows a continuous stream of special Doritos Late Night Web site, possible gifts and saves the gifts lined up the symbol with their in a special section of the Web webcam and unlocked a never-site for further viewing and before-released song and video from information.popular pop-punk band Blink-182.There really seems to be no limit to the potential of AR. In addition to those from Doritos, The Another cool AR Home Depot and Zugara, lots of interesting and application is unique AR ideas are starting to pop up. Papa from Zugara, John’s and Starbucks are using AR to help where online iPhone users find store locations. The December shoppers can try issue of Esquire featured an AR cover that clothes on before unlocked an interactive video with Robert they buy them.Downey Jr. and a commercial from Lexus. GE has featured AR when promoting their smart grid technology. Walmart has used AR to sell tween furniture.#2 P2P MOBILE PAYMENTPerson-to-person payment (P2P) has been happening since the first cavemen exchanged beads forservices rendered. In more modern times, friends or acquaintances have exchanged checks or cash whena payment between two individuals was needed. PayPal helped mainstream P2P payment in the onlineworld. Now mobile digital technology is taking this concept to the next level with a variety of applicationspopping up that allow friends, family and neighbors to easily exchange money via their always presentmobile devices. For example: three friends go to dinner and one picks up the tab with his credit card. Theother two can simply text or SMS their share of the bill to the party who paid the bill. Will this technologyrender cash and checks obsolete? Probably not, but it will make them a lot less necessary.POPMoney (pay other MasterCard has launched MoneySend, allowing Citibank is the longest-tenured people money) is a new cardholders to exchange P2P funds via SMS, provider in this space, having bank-centric P2P mobile browser or mobile app. launched the U.S.’s first real-time service that will allow P2P service in October 2008, banks to stay in the allowing account holders to send loop with the growing money to “virtually any U.S. P2P trend (versus mobile phone number.”allowing credit card companies and third-Coming at this trend from another party payment angle is mobile device maker companies to process Nokia, which recently launched these transactions). Nokia Money, a mobile financial POPMoney allows bank product that will allow users to customers to link a In September, Wells Fargo Bank launched a mobile transfer money to their friends checking account to customer-to-customer P2P payment system that and pay bills. Nokia has stated their mobile device and allows Wells Fargo customers to transfer up to their that their goal is to become pay friends seamlessly.$1,000 per day between fellow customers. the world's largest mobile bank.Picture: www.labs.wellsfargo.com#3 2D BAR CODES (AKA QR CODES)2D bar codes (also known as QR codes) have been widely used in consumer marketing applications inEurope and Asia for the last four to five years, but they are just now starting to make serious inroads inNorth America. To read one of these codes, consumers use their smartphone camera in conjunction witha bar code reader program to unlock data stored in the code. It might lead to a special Web site orprovide extra information about the product, a coupon, ringtone, wallpaper, song or any other bonusfeature that can be thought of. These codes can appear in any number of places, including magazines,signs, movie posters, outdoor boards, taxis/buses or anywhere a user is liable to see and scan one.The July 29 In September, JCPenney issue of Sports flipped the idea around Illustrated had and sent mobile 2D bar the special 2D code coupons to bar code at shoppers, who then right, which flashed the code on their unlocked 14 mobile device at checkout extra swimsuit for a discount. This was a During the fall of 2009, pictures.pilot program at 16 Coors Light Canada Houston-area stores.introduced a 2D bar code feature to its Book publishers have been quick to pick up on this trend. The first Mystery Mansion book to carry a 2D bar code, BrandDigital: Simple Ways Top Brands promotion. The bar Succeed in the Digital World, allowed mobile users to buy the book codes, containing directly from Amazon.com after scanning the bar code with their exclusive Mystery mobile devices. More recently, publisher HarperCollins has been Mansion content, were experimenting with these codes. The L.A. Candy book jacket features placed on the outside a 2D bar code that takes readers to a special video and Q&A session of Coors Light cases.with the author. The Amanda Project has a special code on the last page of the book that gives readers clues to the mystery from the perspective of one of the main characters.#4 SOCIAL MEDIA STOREFRONTSMost retail brands have a social media presence on one or more of the major social media sites. Theytypically use these social destinations to push news, offer customer service or otherwise engage theircustomers/fans in conversation. To date, social media e-commerce from these brands has beenextremely limited, but may grow very quickly as marketers realize the potential of not only reaching, butalso selling to, consumers where they are spending more and more of their time. Facebook and Twitterare likely to be the initial proving grounds for these types of efforts. Recent usage data shows thatFacebook’s 300 million users spend a combined 8 billion minutes per day on the site, which has potentialto make it one of the biggest shopping destinations ever.In August, Facebook While Twitter is still wrestling In June, Dell was the first announced the planned with how to make money major brand to announce launching of 20 virtual themselves, that hasn’t direct sales from its Twitter storefronts where users stopped numerous account, reporting $3 will be able to shop businesses from exploring million in sales from click-without ever leaving the ways to make money via thrus to its Dell Outlet that respective Facebook Twitter. Having recognized started on Twitter. While page. 1-800-FLOWERSthis trend and need, Twitter that’s sofa change for Dell, was the first of these posted a business tutorial to it shows how Twitter has virtual social media help brands discover ways Mega-retailer Searspotential to be a viable storefronts to open, with to move past conversational and Web T-shirt maker sales portal.others expected to roll engagement with their Threadless have tested out in the coming months. customers on the platform.limited e-commerce functionality on their respective Facebook Southwest, JetBlue and United have all experimented pages, allowing fans to with using their Twitter accounts to announce short-shop on Facebook, but term “Twitter-only” fare sales that are completed on check out on their their respective Web sites. branded Web sites.Picture: www.business.twitter.com/twitter101#5 21ST CENTURY VENDING MACHINESVending machines are nothing new, having been around since the 1880s selling basic staples such assoda, sandwiches and snacks. But lately, some brands have grasped onto the time-pressed, 24/7 natureof the 21st century consumer and begun to create machines with an increasingly amazing array ofoptions. While DVD rentals and iPod/iPhone machines have become fairly common, they’re really just thetip of the iceberg for this trend. Below are just a few examples of how the ordinary vending machinemight bring even more options to life in 2010.The Magnificent Wonder Pizza Vending Hotels are getting in Closed Jeans Machine offers three 9-on the trend too. The Machine is selling inch pizza options that Standard Hotel in Los “instant denim” for are kept cold until Angeles recently $40 a pair. The ordered, then cooked in installed a swimwear machine sells two a high-intensity oven vending machine styles in multiple and delivered in under selling Quicksilver sizes and they’re two minutes. Each board shorts and guaranteed to fit.machine can hold 102 bikinis. For the more $5 pizzas.recession-proof consumer, the U.K. company Afterheels is Some industrious Mondrian South installing shoe vending German farmers Beach provides a machines in nightclubs. have found a wayvending machine Targeted at young female to sell fresh eggs, offering 60 items patrons, the machines vend butter, sausage, milk priced between $10 “comfortable flats” for when and produce directly and $1.2M. From heeled shoes start to hurt. to consumers toothpaste and T-And there’s already a through Regiomatshirts to gold competitor, Rollasole, which vending machines.necklaces, condos offers a similar product/ and a Bentley.buying experience.#6 CROWDSOURCINGCrowdsourcing is not a new phenomenon. It has been used by artists and writers for years. It was famouslyused by Russian artists Vitaly Komar and Alexander Melamid to create “the most and least desired”paintings for a number of countries in the early 1990s. Today, the mainstreaming of social media andcomfortability of sharing information and ideas within networks and with the world have quickly allowedcrowdsourcing to become a popular source of inspiration and collaboration in many areas as the firstdecade of the 21st century comes to a close. Many marketers are testing the crowdsourcing waters withcontests to create commercials, new flavors, new products or product extensions, but some brands havealready moved beyond this crowdsourcing entry point and truly tapped the power of collective thinking.Food52.com is using The Royal Opera Several bands have crowdsourced recipes House in London created crowdsourced to create a cookbook. recently used Twittermusic videos. The Each week the site to crowdsource the latest is Sour, a names a theme and libretto for a new Japanese band who holds a contest in “people’s opera.” On asked their fan base to which readers vote on August 3, the opera create a video for their submitted recipes. After house provided a brief single “Hibi no Neiro.” 52 weeks of reader-opening line and let the Fans from around the selected winners, they Twitterverse take over, world were given will publish The Food52 Recently, hip London restaurant successfully performing specific instructions on Cookbook. Not only is L’Anima used crowdsourcing to the completed opera in what to do using only this a fun contest, but it select part of their wine list, early September. A brief their respective web-also creates a huge utilizing online video and Twitter video outtake can be cams to record their database of great to let patrons and fans help their seen here. Over 900 actions. London-based recipes for readers to wine experts finalize the list.people contributed.Bloc Party released a come back to.fan crowdsourced live video shot entirely on mobile device cameras.Picture: www.orbitalrpm.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/crowdsourcing.jpg#7 MOBILE CONTACTLESS PAYMENTContactless payment (via a linked credit card) has been around in one form or another for around 15years – think of those keychain fobs that Shell and Mobile introduced, allowing customers to keep theirwallets in their pockets when paying at the pump. The technology is made possible by a RadioFrequency Identification (RFID) device implanted in a credit card or payment device. Now, the nextevolution of contactless payment is rapidly approaching in the form of mobile contactless payment,which will use Near Field Communication (NFC) technology to complete payment transactions. That’sright, your mobile device can now pay for your many purchases and may be one step away fromcompletely replacing your wallet (at least your wallet’s role as a cash and credit card storage device). Theonly real holdup is getting cell-phone equipment makers to build units enabled with NFC technology.Currently, Nokia is the leading mobile equipment manufacturer for building NFC-ready phones, while other manufacturers lag behind. As consumers wait for these mobile devices to become more readily available, several alternatives have popped up that allow mobile users to convert their existing phones into contactless payment devices. MasterCard has partnered with Blaze Mobile and MetaBank to introduce a sticker that can be applied to any mobile device, activating MasterCard’s existing “Tap & Go” PayPass system, usable at 141,000 merchants. And Mobile Payment Skins has developed a customized mobile skin (the Phoolah), which comes equipped with an NFC Earlier this year, Nokia, chip and is simply used to “wrap” the user’s mobile device.Visa and Malaysia’s largest bank partnered MasterCard has also been aggressively running to introduce the trials of their mobile PayPass contactless world’s first full-scale payment system, with trials running with partner NFC mobile payment banks in 28 countries. In the U.S., MasterCard system. Once set up, has been working in New York City with Best Buy, Nokia handset users can use their device to Duane Reade, Walgreens, CVS, United Artists pay at over 1,800 Theatres, Regal Cinemas, 7-Eleven, Arby’s and merchants in Malaysia.McDonald’s to perfect the technology.#8 APP WORLDApple pioneered the idea of mobile applications (apps) with the launch of their iPhone App Store in June2008. In just 16 months, the App Store has grown to offer over 100,000 apps in 20 categories and hasexperienced more than 2 billion downloads. But the iPhone only represents a little over 10% of the entiremobile phone market and sits right at 30% of the smartphone market. Currently, smartphone usersrepresent 39% of all mobile users, while recent research shows that nearly 12% of mobile users plan tobuy a smartphone in the next 90 days. With the explosive growth of smartphone usage and other wirelesscarriers finally catching up with their own application offerings, the app life will soon be the way of life forthe masses. Currently there are five emerging competitors to the iPhone App Store domination, which aredetailed below.Launched in June 2009, The Google Android app the Palm App Catalog market, known as The Market, currently offers 97 apps in is likely poised for the most 16 categories.rapid growth with the massive launch of Android-based In October 2009, Microsoft operating system smart-launched Marketplace for phones (20 phones this year Mobile, featuring an initial and 30 in 2010). Some predict offering of 249 apps for the this platform could overtake Windows Mobile platform.the iPhone platform in the next couple of years. The Market, Nokia Ovi Store was Picture www.apple.com/uk/itunes/billion-app-countdown/launched in March 2009, launched in May 2009 and currently offers over 10,000 BlackBerry App World was launched currently offers 2,161 apps apps in 15 categories.in April 2009 and currently offers 3,183 focused on five core areas: apps in 17 categories.games, maps, media, messaging and music.Unless otherwise noted, al app store counts are as of the second week of November 2009.