If you look around the streets, conference rooms or the gym, you can see them everywhere – the wearables. A hype? It may be, but in spite of everything, it is a currently serious growth market. Especially the Smartwatches are experiencing their rise. The Apple Watch and its contemporaries from Motorola, Huawei or Samsung, they all increasingly drive the classic wristwatch away from people’s wrists. According to a current study, around 28 million Smartwatches are to be sold worldwide in 2016. There is no better reason for companies to extend their marketing to this segment. Everything is still in the mantra of the current communication age: “Mobile first”.
For marketers, wearables open the door to unknown personal data and information. Big Data will thus become the key factor for wearable marketing. Advertising messages can be individually, temporally and geographically perfectly placed. Spreading losses? Not a word that has a place in data-driven marketing. But it’s still all companies’ dreams, because it’s not only unlikely that the app and hardware providers will share and link all their data – it’s also a privacy nightmare. In spite of everything,
45% of German marketers see the future of marketing in 2020 in the Wearables
In the study “The rise of the marketer – Western Europe”, the Germans consider this insight as a pioneer of a vision, because other countries in Europe, such as France or England, prefer the Internet of Things or virtual or augmented reality. So what drives German marketing? What are the options for addressing customers? Two areas seem to me to be very obvious:
Email Marketing
Smartwatches have so far had a big disadvantage for marketing – their monitors are too small. The transition from desktop computers to mobile devices has already presented the advertising industry with challenges. Web pages had to be responsively designed, images and texts had to be compressed in terms of both file size and content. The trend of minimalism continues with regard to wearables – it must become even shorter. The sender of a newsletter, especially when it comes to advertising, must be quickly and clearly identifiable, the subject matter concise and seductive. The positioning, as the basic instrument of marketing, will undergo a change – but it remains exciting, because extreme creativity is required in the tightest of spaces.
Geomarketing
One marketing sector that is set to experience an upswing is geomarketing. Previously used in the form of location-based services, the data streams of wearables will open up completely new possibilities and opportunities. The paths of the users can be recognized better than ever. This refers not only to the current position of the wearable user, but also to his or her daily jogging distance or the way to work. Routines, habits and patterns of movement allow for a tailor-made and target-group-oriented approach through this individual data. Advertising on the Smartwatch can thus very quickly become a part of daily life, as it will fit seamlessly into the existing processes with the background knowledge of the data.
However, there is still a lot of technical work to be done before this happens. The number of mobile everyday helpers must increase. Announcements like Samsung’s contact lenses or other practical wearables beyond the Smartwatch can change the game fundamentally – but one thing is certain:
With every technology and innovation, marketing opens up a new method to reach its customers. You just can’t close your eyes and let the chance pass you by.
