Read what Bryan Gildenberg, SVP of Commerce at OCG, sees as the most important commerce technologies to emerge from this year’s CES show and the implications it has on future trends.

Well, CES 2022 (Consumer Electronic Show), was certainly interesting – having never been before I have nothing to benchmark it against but was great to connect with old friends and new! Earlier this month we posted a three-part series of thoughts on what I saw there through a decidedly retail and commerce lens. These thoughts ranged from the future of data, analytics the “practical metaverse”, data twinning and simple AR applications to name a few – and of course, it wouldn’t be 2022 without some thoughts on the Metaverse! An internal acronym here for Omnicom is OMC, which I’ve begun to joke it should stand for “Obligatory Metaverse Conversation”. Enjoy reading these “Through A Commerce Lens” observations, as all these trends should be interesting to watch in 2022 and beyond. 

Data science in the 2020s will be less about data and more about science – true science. You will be able to know anything, and EVERYTHING will be easy to measure. The amount of money being put into systems that monitor, record, recognize and process people, things, environments, and body functions is, truly, astonishing. Leaders will have to pick and construct meaningful KPIs out of this ocean of observed phenomena.

Commerce Implications: combining granular metrics into meaningful metrics is the real work of commerce data science in the 2020s.

The gap between omni-present granular data and how resources and capital are allocated in most of the companies that represent most of the GDP in the world is gargantuan. VCs are investing in millions of companies that act as aggregational middleware between this ocean of data and scalable opportunities. Watching players that can be more commercially nimble and less constrained by the old regulatory restricted model outmaneuver entrenched players will be a multi-trillion-dollar re-allocation of market value during the 2020s as improved data gets linked to better health outcomes and lower healthcare costs.

Commerce Implications: retail-centric healthcare will use this new ecosystem of alternative health management models, combined with commercial data, to help shoppers manage their healthy lives better.

Parallel ecosystems are evolving in the B2B metaverse which is “twinning”, or the practical metaverse. The idea is to build an exact replica of something and then observe how it responds to complex stimuli – it’s the metaverse with a purpose. Whether it’s the COVID-19 virus, the human heart, traffic patterns or the composition of the atmosphere, it is now possible to build an accurate model of complex systems, and then test/validate shocks and changes to that system.

Commerce Implications: Using the practical metaverse to predict the impact of anything that happens in a physical/digital retail space, and then modelling those spaces based on how it drives the most important KPIs, will gain traction across retailers.

The other critical part of the practical metaverse is the development of low-cost unobtrusive AR enabled eyewear, allowing a machinist to see exactly how to assemble a hydraulic pump, or closer to home for us, a store associate to see exactly how to planogram a shelf.

Commerce Implications: Planogram compliance will become more like “pick to the light” DC fulfilment – a remarkably accurate and old technology that allows simple visual cues to govern repetitive and highly detailed work.

The metaverse appears to have some much better near-in applications when compared to the world of NFTs/blockchain/Web3.0. A lot of the use cases discussed at CES were around NFTs, particularly NFTs of visual images.

Commerce Implications: The way the visual art world has been able to create an entire ecosystem out of NFT’s, is a harbinger of things to come as it tries to address some key issues that are endemic to creativity in the digital space. Expect the entire world of entertainment & commercial commerce to begin to develop attributes of this. Of particular interest is the ability to enforce commercial terms around resale of an item, which could have massive implications for industries like recorded music and event ticketing.

The underrated critical part of the metaverse is a decidedly un-metaversey comms platform Discord, a community management platform that enables large group-text style chats between friends or people who share an interest. Originally a platform used by gamers interested in the likes of Minecraft and Roblox it is today, according to some NFT experts The Headquarters of the Metaverse.

Commerce Implications: Discord does not support advertising so will require real endemic understanding to participate in the ongoing conversations that surround the metaverse. Parallel ecosystems are evolving as “twinning”, or the Practical metaverse.

The NFT world can create scarcity, uniqueness, and authenticity in a digital world of easy replication, zero marginal cost production and a high propensity to fakery. The art market needs all these things to function, hence where you would see this ecosystem take root.

Commerce Implications: NFTs will be a huge part of the economics of fame, style, and status – in the same way Amazon took root as a bookstore because the economics and user experience of bookselling lent itself to a different solution, the economics and experience of fandom and fame seem ripe for NFTs to take root here.

It seems impossible to care about the future and not have a significant, strategic presence in the Korean market. It became a running joke to ask the companies where they had gone live with whatever technology they were selling – the answer was inevitably, “We have x number of these up and running in Seoul”.

Commerce Implications: Companies should use Korea for what they’re using China for today – a Dr. Strange like portal to see the future through. China’s future is so distinctive to China, and in many ways markedly less certain than Korea’s.

Adaptivity will be critical. Coresight Research [quotes] 24% of Americans identify as having a disability – and this number will only increase exponentially, globally, as huge parts of the world’s population pyramid become more top heavy. Simple tools to assist visual and auditory impairment, mobility or even lamps that are designed to improve reading for dyslexics will be enormous growth areas.

The economics and necessity of labour force management will accelerate robotic development and adoption – one of the simplest and best things I saw was a simple model from Bear Robotics that basically handles the scut work of waiting tables (it delivers food and picks up dirty dishes). Brilliant in that it helps the restaurant manage predictability, improves job satisfaction for the human and improves service levels/tips (slow basic service is a tip-killer). Robotics that doesn’t need hand-like function are WAY cheaper to develop than robots that have to grab things (the human hand is one of the most complex machines on earth). 2022 should permit the narrative around robotic technology.

Gaming remains a strangely isolated ecosystem. Much of the excitement about the metaverse is from people enamoured with Blockchain, but its basic premise is most easily imagined in the gaming world. Think of popculture 30 years ago existing entirely contained within subculture, instead of being its foundation. Add to that the fact that most people’s first experience with the metaverse will be through some sort of gaming experience, yet it remains a mysteriously under-invested platform by marketers.

Written by Bryan Gildenberg, SVP of Commerce for the Omnicom Commerce Group (OCG).

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By Sandra Mardin, Strategy Director TRO UK

New Normals is a content series focused on the rapid evolution of the experience economy in response to the global pandemic. Through our global network, we share stories and insights from around the world, with this edition focusing on how gaming and theatre are combining to create post-COVID experiences.

Immersive theatre pioneers Punchdrunk has announced a partnership with leading location-based gaming company Niantic. A collaboration that has the potential to deliver intimate immersive experiences at a previously unobtainable scale.

Although a UK company, Punchdrunk have already established themselves on the global stage with the performance of Sleep No More to the US and Chinese audiences. In fact, it was precisely this show that inspired the collaboration with Niantic, the US-based Pokémon GO creators.

“We’ve often heard audiences comparing the show to a game. It’s an idea that’s fascinated us for some time and led us to imagine what would happen if we integrated game mechanics and digital technology into our work. We believe that the future of interactive audience experience will be at the cross-section of gaming and theatre,” Punchdrunk explains.

Niantic’s Real World platform gives Punchdrunk the opportunity to take the immersive theatre experience outside of physically bound spaces and disperse it into the wider environment. In a hint of what’s to come, they say they intend to bend the rules of the genre and redefine the norms of mobile gaming.

What does it mean?

Although the COVID-19 lockdown restrictions are beginning to ease, delivering engaging live experiences while adhering to social distancing is still a considerable challenge. Combining theatre-making skills with the thrill and scale of mobile gaming may just be the answer. This type of cross-sector collaboration won’t just affect the traditional theatre experience as we know it but open new avenues for brand theatre.

Cross-sector collaboration in a crisis results in much stronger commercial results, according to Harvard Business Review; as companies are better prepared to solve rapidly changing, complex problems. Rather than falling back on timeworn solutions, immersive brand experiences that used to be bound by physical locations can now be reimagined through the lens of AR gaming.

“We can imagine a future where audiences are individually distanced while intimately immersed in intensive performances and simultaneously connected to one another on a global scale” according to Helen W. Kennedy and Sarah Atkinson; professors of Creative and Cultural Industries and Screen Media, respectively.

During the lockdown, we witnessed many attempts at remote experiences; however, none could quite match the depth of engagement of live, unscripted, two-way interaction. We are now seeing a glimpse into a future where physical distance is no longer a barrier to immersion and where reaching audiences at scale doesn’t take away from the live 1:1 experience.

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Three UK and Gravity Road launched its first ever interactive 8-Bit video game for Instagram Stories, yesterday.

Epitomising Three’s latest brand campaign #PhonesAreGood, the new 8-Bit game celebrates phone culture and features a character whose aim is to make it through three levels of obstacles without looking up from her phone.

The game comprises a series of stitched-together stories across three levels of increasing difficulty – a gym, a train and outer space. Each story contains an obstacle, which can be avoided with timely tapping. Failure to tap at the right time results in collision. Once players successfully complete all three levels they get the chance to win a Razer Phone 2, a handset specifically designed for gaming and widely considered one of the best phones on the market for mobile gamers.

Drawing on the insight that gaming has moved beyond being an in-home experience and into the mobile world, the Instagram Stories game throws back to the 8-Bit style of games the audience grew up with and feels nostalgic about. A celebration of mobile gaming on today’s ubiquitous platform – Instagram, players can get a quick and fun fix even when swiping through Stories.

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Basketball fans flocked to Westfield London on Friday 10th and over the weekend for ‘NBA Crossover.’ The free exhibition brought the music, fashion, art and entertainment of the game to life, also offering fans had chance to meet NBA player John Collins. The NBA Crossover ran in partnership with Westfield London, Foot Locker and highly anticipated video game, NBA 2K19.

The event, created to showcase the convergence of the NBA and popular culture, took place at the leading retail and entertainment destination from 10-12^th August. The immersive exhibition featured a section on ‘style’ and how players have become trendsetting fashion icons from the court to front covers and catwalks. Other dedicated zones highlighted the sport’s major influence on music, art, film and celebrity. Alongside enjoying virtual reality experiences, visitors also had the chance to have their photo taken with the iconic Larry O’Brien NBA Championship Trophy, currently held by San Francisco’s Golden State Warriors.

Myf Ryan, CMO Europe and Group Director of Brand and Strategic Marketing for Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, said: “We’re thrilled to welcome basketball fans for NBA Crossover. Basketball is a sport that goes hand in hand with popular style, culture and entertainment – the very same things at the heart of our own expanding offer, and which make Westfield London the ideal destination for experiences like this.”

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Lucozade Energy is temporarily changing its name to Larazade in celebration of Lara Croft, the iconic fictional character and the main protagonist of the video game franchise Tomb Raider. This activation comes as part of Lucozade Energy’s new partnership with the upcoming game release of Shadow of the Tomb Raider, the twelfth and much-anticipated entry in the franchise which has sold over 63 million copies worldwide. With 27m adult gamers across the UK, this is set to drive additional sales of Lucozade Energy.

The campaign was delivered by brand owner, Lucozade Ribena Suntory, in partnership with Tomb Raider publisher, Square Enix.

The limited edition bottles, designed by BrandMe, which hit shelves in July, will feature an on-pack competition that gives adult gamers and Tomb Raider fans the chance to win from The Prize Tomb which features guaranteed prizes every day. Prizes to be won will include Xbox One X consoles, Tomb Raider games, over £40,000 of cash prizes and in-game currency with every bottle.

For a limited time only, more than 80 million of these promotional Larazade bottles will be available in Lucozade Energy Orange and Original flavours. To further drive the buzz around the new bottles for shoppers, a special edition flavour, Larazade Croft Apple, will also be introduced at Tesco and independent retailers.

Steven Hind, Head of Marketing from Lucozade Energy at Lucozade Ribena Suntory, stated that: “Putting Lara Croft and a competition on our bottles presents a great sales opportunity for retailers by ensuring the brand is front of mind in the run-up to the game launch, while also giving all drinkers the opportunity to win some amazing prizes. Building Lucozade Energy’s association with the Tomb Raider franchise provides retailers with the chance to capture a unique new audience and boost their soft drinks sales.” Lara Croft has featured in Lucozade’s advertising since its sponsorship in 1998. Following its recent successful partnership with the new Tomb Raider film back in March, this new promotional activity continues to build on Lucozade’s association with the Lara Croft character.

Recently, Square Enix, publisher of the Tomb Raider game series, appointed Brand & Deliver, entertainment marketing specialist agency, to secure UK brand partnerships for the upcoming game release.

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