Jen Quinlan

Almost ten years ago Aaron Goldman shared an article with me. It described the future of search. Search in the future was envisioned as a medium that would transcend search engines and extend across mobile devices, images, and even TV content. The article painted a picture of users being able to watch TV, pause, zoom in on an outfit a character was wearing, and then click-to-buy.   

The Opportunity

The future feels like the present when learning about start-ups like Stipple. Stipple allows users to tag images with embedded information. When images are shared, the information tags are retained. In a sense, a digital image can be transformed into:

• A banner ad - provide information about a product or service and encourage users to click to learn more. 
• An ecommerce tool - pricing feeds are integrated with images. Once implemented, the tag will pull the latest pricing information to allow users to click-to-buy. 
• A reference tool - imagine a travel photographer tagging photograph content with Wikipedia or Google Maps information to allow users to enjoy the image and click to make their own travel plans. 
• A creative footnote - provide additional layers of information to readers about the creative process behind making the item, supplies utilized, or even what music you were listening to when you created it. 

“More people look at the brand’s images on the open web than those who visit the brand’s websites and view its ads — combined,” he said. “Images are the web’s largest channel in terms of audience. But no one has had the ability to actually remain connected to and in control of their images on the open web.”

- Rey Flemings, CEO / Co-Founder, Stipple

Image = Website

Over the past few years, interactive leaders contend Facebook would “kill” websites. SEO experts fought back and explained there was still a role for websites, however it was transforming to more of a reference material or a central hub of activity. 

If images can be tagged with relevant information to drive users to act (to buy, to increase awareness, etc.), then what will websites’ role entail? Instead, will images be regarded as mini website “modules” that the sum of those fragmented images stretching across the Internet equals an actual “website”? 

Is this really new? 

A technology that feels similar to Stipple is Polyvore. Polyvore allows users to create a ‘style board’ compiled image that allows individual objects in the image to be clickable (while on Polyvore’s site). However, once a final style board image is created for say Pinterest, it is shared flat JPG with a link to the compiled image.

Stipple’s beta solution will be made available to Etsy shop owners for testing. While it is projected that Etsy has 15M members and over 800K sellers, the largest application of this technology will be integration with Pinterest. Of Pinterest’s 10.4M members, already 21% have purchased an item after discovering it on Pinterest (source) and on average users spend 81 minutes a month on the site as compared to 12 minutes a month on Twitter.

If Stipple can allow publishers or shop owners to embed multiple links within an image versus just driving to one product-level page, one could imagine the lift in conversion from the site. Ultimately I’ll be curious to see if Stipple will create a way to solve for Pinterest, as that is currently the main image sharing tool for the masses. 

Content Creators’ Challenge

Another consideration is the images themselves. The challenge for content creators won’t be to tag their images with relevant information, but to make the photos beautiful and engaging - something users would WANT to share.

People are taking more photos and gaining experience with photo editing applications (in April Instagram had 30M users). A generation of users are growing up taking more photos, allegedly with better photography skills, easier access to cameras via cheaper digital cameras or their smartphone cameras, and a preference for edited images (the days of finger shots or cropped off heads in images are gone *sadness* - heck I even read parents are paying to have their kids’ yearbook photos touched up these days).

Uninteresting, not beautiful, and certainly not low-resolution images of products will suffice. Instead brands and products will be pushed in a more editorial direction to generate magazine quality images that people want to engage with and repost. 

What’s Next: Tablet, TV and Real World?

If this technology can be fine tuned to work online, the applications of image-based search and information tagging can be tremendous when extended across TV and physical environments. Previously I wrote about when everything becomes a store, and Stipple in addition to some of Metaio’s advancements indicate we’re close to the “future of search” scenario described above becoming a reality. 

Through a client engagement earlier this year, augmented reality company popped up on my radar - or more likely, took it by storm. Since then, I’ve explored common applications of AR technology to refining my predictions on AR maturation and how we’ll all be out of a job.

What is AR?

Augmented Reality (AR) is a growing trend in the digital space where reality is augmented with another information layer. Majority of people these days have a smartphone device that has internet connectivity and a camera. These two features open up a world of possibilities regarding how brands, marketers, businesses, artists, musicians - you name it, can add an experiential or information layer to the real world.

AR: Use Cases

While some marketers claim augmented reality is a fad, there are very specific examples of ways it has been leveraged to provide usefulness for people. Take US Postal Service. A common challenge for the postal service’s audience is determine what size box they’ll need to ship an object. Postal service listened and created a handy simulator that allows users via webcam to get a feel for box sizes in comparison to their desired object to ship. 

Geographical or local mobile experiences are likely the AR experience consumers are most familiar with. As users rely less on GPS devices, yellow pages, and restaurant guides, their mobile device becomes all of these services in one. AR streamlines users’ experience to date of conducting a search via Google mobile browser for a restaurant, launch and leverage an app for recommendations, and launch Google maps to find it. Now applications like Yelp or Zagat consolidate these steps and apply an information layer (What are ratings / reviews of local businesses on this block? What are restaurants on this street and how are they rated?) to the user’s camera phone to better understand what is around them and make rapid decisions.

In the entertainment and education niches, augmented reality is gaining momentum. I personally love history AR applications like The Museum of London‘s Streetmuseum app. Users can learn more about the history of city blocks by viewing 100 years ago via their smartphone camera. MOMA launched an art exhibit only accessible to those visitors with a smartphone device. I just also found this demo video including clips from movies accessible when you visit the actual spot in which that scene was shot.

Retail AR: Current

Retailers and CPGs have tested augmented reality and are striving to find useful applications beyond user entertainment. See Metaio videos on retail solutions leveraging a webcam to an in-store kiosk for Legos (love this experience - it is useful because it shows what the actual built Lego scene will look like AND it is fun). Another smart example I liked was a Nestle cereal box that brought to life games and entertainment on the packaging (I do however question why a kid would want to hold a cereal box up to a webcam, when if Nestle had a kid-friendly microsite with games that would probably be a stronger user experience).  

Everything Is A Store

Most interesting product demo I’ve seen to date is an execution Metaio led to demonstrate ability to recognize a real object via a camera (not just a trigger like a QR code). In this example, a user leverages her smartphone to recognize a particular model of printer. Then via her smartphone, she sees an ‘x-ray’ image of the inner workings of the printer to learn how to install an ink cartridge.

While the concept may seem simple, the implications are huge. When technologies mature (as this prototype hints at) to the point when actual 3-D objects can be recognized by a smartphone camera, anything, anywhere can be monetized.

Let’s pretend this technology exists today and has 100% degree of accuracy. I’m a big fan of Tokyo Bay watches. Let’s say, I leverage this “technology x” that recognizes has a database of every make and model of Tokyo Bay watches. As a marketer, I then marry that product information database with an ecommerce system so any watch we’ve ever produced can be recognized, purchased and fulfilled.

I build an AR application that leverages “technology x” that can recognize a Tokyo Bay watch anywhere, on anyone / anything, anytime. What does this mean?

It means, that bricks-and-mortar stores and websites have an expiration date. As AR technology matures, users will have the ability to recognize and purchase a product anywhere. The “store” will be dead. Store 2.0 will equal real-world experiences that can be monetized.

Use cases:

• I can be in a business meeting, look across the table at a peer wearing a watch I like, focus my camera phone at it with my application, then be driven to a screen to get more information and buy.
• Imagine later in the day a bus goes by with an advertisement on the side with a watch. Picture - snap - buy / share.
• I’m looking in a magazine… picture - snap - buy / share.
• I’m watching TV later that evening. My favorite character on Modern Family wearing a watch I like. Freeze the screen, picture - snap - buy / share.
• I look at a family photo on Facebook, decide I want to buy the watch my cousin is wearing… picture - snap - buy / share.

If there ever is an industry to watch, smart marketers will keep an eye on augment reality emerging technologies and integration with ecommerce systems. It is just a matter of time, before this marketing bomb hits.