Jeff Fortune, Senior Strategic Planner

Another Consumer Electronics Show (CES) has come and gone, and it has given us a glimpse of how rapidly technology is leaping through time. It's almost unbelievable to see some of the gadgets we once saw highlighted on The Jetsons finally coming to fruition. Consider this year's entries; we saw computer operating systems and mobile devices that can be controlled solely by tracking your eye movements, a high-definition TV capable of displaying two images at once, and at long last a significant update to surface computing worth getting excited about.

What's it Mean

So, what do these incredible technological advancements really mean for the future? Well, for the tech geeks out there it's going to mean plenty of opportunities to blow hundreds of dollars to hold on to that "early adopter" label they so cherish. For us regular "Joes" it means we're going to start seeing a host of products that not only focus on totally connecting all of our mobile devices to one another, but also devices that seamlessly capture information about our environment and in real time can alter the method in which we control our devices and display and receive content. And for advertisers, it represents the Holy Grail in communication, highly contextual messaging that's not only personalized and intimate but in the moment relevant.

In recent years we've seen the emergence of things like QR codes and Near Field Communication (NFC) chips that have used very basic contextual queues, such as location, proximity, time of day and measurements of routine behavior in order to personalize messaging. We've seen this best executed in things like walking past a retail store and a mobile coupon being sent to your mobile device. Or scanning a QR code on the street and the content relates on a very basic level to your relative location. But as technology on our mobile devices becomes more sophisticated and capable of recording information about our actual environments in real time, advertisers will be able to communicate with consumers on a much deeper level.

Today

For instance, Forrester (Market Insights Resource) predicts that in the near future our mobile devices will come equipped with barometers, microbolometers, chemical sensors, speedometers, thermometers and other gadgets that could be used to gather real-time information. Brands then could potentially develop apps that sit on your phone or tablets that collect and analysis this information in order to send you highly contextual offers. Here's an example of how it could work.

Let's say New Balance develops an app that takes advantage of some of the aforementioned technology on your mobile device. Instead of sending you a mobile coupon whenever you're in the proximity of the store, they can now analysis the distance, speed, average weather conditions, and altitude of your individual workouts and make a real-time shoe recommendation tailored specifically for you. And if they really wanted to blow your mind, they could even take this a step further by automatically having the phone send this information to the closest flagship store. Then the next time your within a close proximity of the store, they send you an invitation for a custom shoe fitting featuring the shoe recommended from the app. All you have to do is accept the appointment, and the shoe and a New Balance expert will be waiting for you to arrive at the store. Now that's a heck of a lot more engaging then receiving a generic push notification just trying to sell you something!

What's to Come

Of course there are a lot of challenges that will come with this new technology. Anytime you have this level of connectivity and personal information sharing among devices consumers will have strong concerns with security. And if marketers really want to build these tailored experiences, they will have to find a way to overcome consumer fears and have them choose to opt in to the program.

One thing is for certain; as technology continues to push the boundaries of what's possible marketers will be challenged with finding new and innovative ways to make their messaging more contextually relevant to individual consumers. Eventually these types of engagements could become more than just cool novelties from cutting-edge brands, but rather table stakes for any effective mobile communication.

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