Cameron Worth, founder and director of Internet of Things agency, SharpEnd will discuss IoT-enabled creativity at Packaging Innovations London 2017. Here, he outlines the brand potential for a smarter, more connected world.

There is an enduring mystique around the concept of the Internet of Things (IoT), which needs to be explored and broken down so that brands, creatives and marketers better understand its potential and possibilities.

Take the idea of, what we call Smart Spaces for example - activating the space around the product to deliver intelligent services and experiences. This could be applied to the home, retail stores, bars, hotels, nightclubs, or any space where products are consumed or engaged with.

Too many people still see the IoT as the connected fridge that re-orders the milk or the talking washing machine that recognises a red sock in a whites wash.

However, if Smart Spaces are properly integrated into a brand’s strategy, they can enhance brand interactions and garner valuable information, whether that be about consumer buying habits, or the way people navigate a store or environment.

Both Smart Packaging (turning physical products into digital touch-points) and these Smart Space environments can be used to offer creative, personalised content based on location, actions, dwell time or other factors.

Content can take the form of offers, fun facts, a chance to win or something as simple as an alert to tell drinkers in a bar that the barman has finished making their cocktails.

The IoT allows brands to communicate with an ‘always on’ audience, which fundamentally changes the marketing dynamic.

In the past, brands have always had to create shop windows across multiple platforms so that their logo, banner ad, email marketing, point-of-sale, out-of-home or TV message is seen by as many people as possible. But once that brand has asked you to buy its product, the marketing relationship usually ends.

The IoT means that the marketing relationship with the consumer will begin to take place more and more post-purchase. Brands can engage with consumers through Smart Packaging or within Smart Places, where consumers are more open to innovative brand interactions.

This seismic shift will see the creative move away from brand messaging and focus on the brand’s behaviour, and how it engages with its audience.

Currently, creatives don’t understand the latest IoT technology capabilities and therefore aren’t able to advise and help brands exploit this new connected world. The technology platforms themselves realise the importance of their offer but don’t speak the language of brands and marketing.

As a dedicated IoT agency, SharpEnd is able to help brands with creative IoT technological solutions, both on-pack and in-store, which will fundamentally change the way they engage with their audiences both today and for the future.

Smart Packaging has a huge role to play in this connected future. I look forward to sharing the opportunities for supercharged on-pack creativity during my talk at Packaging Innovations London 2017 in London this month.

‘Technology-enabled creativity’ will be presented by Cameron Worth, founder at SharpEnd at 14.45pm on 14 September at Olympia London.

Image: Cameron Worth.