Floor 9

Modern marketing has primarily been a game of influence via mass media channels. But thanks to the ongoing digital transformation, consumer attention is getting increasingly fragmented and spread across multiple platforms. The old guards of media are losing their grips on consumer attention and has been ceding grounds to the rising digital influencers. In this week’s episode, Scott sits down with the Lab’s strategy team to talk about the shifting source of influence, the status quo of influencer marketing, where this space is going, and how brands most effectively tap into the power of influencers.

What We Covered:

• The democratization of media influence as attention fragments
• The parallel between the rise of social media influencers and direct-to-consumer brands
• How the influencer marketing space has evolved and where it is heading
• Brand takeaways
• We laugh about checking Instagram at work

Related Links:

• Virtual Influencer "Lil Miquela" becomes a contributing editor for British magazine Dazed [link]

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Last Mile Delivery is a growing logistical challenge as consumers are demanding ever faster delivery of their food, packages and parcels. This week, Lab’s Partnerships Team is behind the mic again to discuss a few different startups that are looking to disrupt last mile delivery. From small autonomous delivery robots to fully autonomous grocery stores on wheels, we break down the current competitions and point out how brands can get involved.

What We Covered:

• Background on the Last Mile Delivery challenge
• Benefits and challenges faced today by these startups
• An overview of the different startups building last mile deliveries solutions in our partner showcase.
• Brand opportunities
• We laugh about our growing need for instant gratification

Related Links:

• Starship Technologies
• Marble
• Robomart
• Nuro

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Don’t listen to this episode when hungry, cause all we talked about is food! The food industry is going through an exciting phase of technological innovations, where incumbents and startups are racing each other to find new integration points in the value chain and bring more convenience and value to consumers. Starting with the big trends in the food industry today, we dissect what, how, and where we will be getting our fills in the near future before diving into some of the existing challenges that hinder the food innovations from going mainstream. Even if you don’t work for a food brand, this episode may still worth a listen because the disruptions in the food space offer valuable lessons for other industries as well. Click here to download and listen.

What We Covered:

• The food value chain
• Big trends in the food industry
• What we will be eating in the future
• How and where we will be eating
• The innovation challenges facing the food industry
• Brand takeaways
• We laugh about the universal need for fresh avocados

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This week we turn our gaze to the rise of the Super Bundles. As more and more content services become subscription-based and unbundle themselves from the existing cable bundle, we are seeing some early signs of a wave of bundling around the horizon. Except this time, the bundle will likely get even bigger and expand outside just media content over time. Companies like Disney and Apple are uniquely positioned to launch their own “super bundles” soon, resulting in implications that will test consumer loyalty and rebuild every industry. Is your brand ready for the age of the Super Bundle?

What We Covered:

• History and Definition of bundling
• Amazon Prime – the proto-super bundle
• Disney’s super content bundle and beyond
• What an Apple service + hardware bundle may look like
• Another round of unbundling that may follow
• Brand takeaways

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Overview: September is here, new iPhones have arrived, and Floor 9 is officially 1 year old! There is no better way to celebrate than talking about Apple’s latest product announcements. On this episode of Floor 9, we discuss the trio of new iPhone X successors, their advanced machine learning capabilities, the redesigned Apple Watch, and speculate why there weren’t any AirPods or AirPower announcements. We close the episode looking forward to a potential iPad event next month and some brand takeaways.

What We Covered:

• Apple Watch Series 4 updates including industry-first AFib and ECG capabilities 
• iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max & iPhone XR machine learning capabilities, impact on AR and future implications for a lightweight headset.
• New AirPods, Macs, iPads, and more were missing from the event; we speculate why and when we will see them
• Brand takeaways
• We laugh about the new iPhone names

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This week, we had the pleasure of chatting with Tony Parisi, Global Head of VR/AR Brand Solutions at Unity Technologies, on what is going on right now in Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR). Starting with the VR space, we dissect the challenges that VR faces in consumer adoption, discussed the enterprise applications of VR, and debated the best option for VR experiences at the moment before moving on to the AR space. Tony shared some interesting insider takes on the Magic Leap headset, what surprised him, and why we remain a bit skeptical about its prospects. We also talked about how and why mobile is driving AR adoption and whether AR/VR headsets will converge in the future. This is a fast-paced episode jam-packed with great insights, which you can download and listen here.

What We Covered:

• Main challenges hindering mainstream VR headset adoption
• The enterprise use cases and adoption of VR technologies
• The best option for a first-time VR experience
• Evaluating the new Magic Leap AR headset release
• How and why mobile is driving AR adoption
• The future of AR headsets and if AR/VR will converge
• Some great takeaways for brands exploring VR/AR
• Tony shares exciting news about Unity's latest AR ad product

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In this episode of Floor 9, we had the pleasure of chatting with Jort Possel, Managing Director of Digital Marketing at management consulting firm Accenture, on the growing importance of brand trust in the digital age. Starting with how social media has vastly changed the online discourse around brand narratives, we quickly dived into the many ways in which digital technologies interplays with how brands can earn and maintain consumers’ trust. This is a can’t-miss episode for all brand marketers, because trust, an increasingly rare commodity today, is the key to consumer access, and Jort has many great suggestions that you need to hear.

What We Covered:

• What is brand trust and why it is so important
• Facebook’s trust crisis & brand trust in the age of social media
• Brand activism as a tactic to build trust and its limitations
• The problem with placing trust in AI and algorithms
• How consumer privacy concerns impact brand trust
• A summary of brand takeaways
• We laugh about how everyone seems to have an opinion about everything on social media

Related Links:

• The “Brand Trust” section in the Lab’s 2018 Outlook [Medium]
• How Tech Companies Are Failing The Trust Test [Medium]
• A Moment of Truth for CPG Brands [Medium]
• TED Talk on how Apple inspires consumers by focusing on the “why” [TED Talk]

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Welcome to Floor 9! This week we take a look at the rapid development of autonomous vehicle technology, the major challenges it is facing, and its potential impact on consumer behavior. From how cities are designed to the next retail evolution, autonomous vehicles will usher in a whole new level of convenience not just in transportation, but all aspects of our lives. Joining us this week is special guest Mauricio Angulo, the America’s Marketing Communications Manager for ExxonMobil Fuels.

What We Covered:

• Potential challenges facing autonomous vehicles
• The transportation bundle of the future: Multimodal Transportation
• Impact on consumer behaviour & urban planning
• The next retail revolution  
• We discuss how city and suburban infrastructure will be changed
• Gas, electricity, or algae — what will power the AV’s of tomorrow? 
• Brand takeaways
• We laugh about oil ruling the world!

Related Links:

• IPG Media Lab CES 2018 Recap [Medium]
• Our take on the future of transportation and mobility services [Medium]

You can follow Mauricio on Twitter @MMangulo2003

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Welcome to Floor 9! This week, members of the partnerships team here at IPG Media Lab (Angel and Scott) host our first ever partnership-exclusive episode. Listeners get an inside look at the role that the partnerships team plays at the IPG Media Lab and learn about the key criteria the team uses to evaluate startup technologies. In the newly minted Partnerships Highlight section Scott and Angel discuss four esports and gaming startups that you might not have heard of but should know about.

What We Covered:

• Background on the Lab’s Partnership Team
• Key criteria we use for startups evaluation
• Partnerships highlights on esports and gaming startups
• Bonus: cool startups of the month that are all about personalization
• We laugh about having to play in the seniors league of Tespa

Related Links:

• Genvid [Link]
• Challengermode [Link]
• Tespa [Link]
• Super League Gaming [Link]

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Welcome to Floor 9! This week, we are honored to have Brian Hughes, the SVP of Audience Intelligence & Strategy at our sibling agency Magna, with us to discuss their latest Media Economy Report on the evolving ecommerce landscape, which is set to debut at the 2018 Cannes Lions Festival this week. This insightful report from Magna breaks down the average ecommerce shopper, where and how they are shopping, and the new value drivers that are changing the way consumers shop online and off, and Brian is here to tell us all about it.

What We Covered:

• Background on the 2018 Media Economy Report Ecommerce
• We discuss the demographics of the average ecommerce shopper
• Where consumers start their online ecommerce journey
• Hypotheses as to why desktop is still the preferred method of online shopping
• The trend of digital-native brands expanding into brick-and-mortar retail
• Trends in grocery shopping as it continues to move online
• Hot takes on Walmart’s new luxury shopping service Jetblack
• Brand takeaways on how to stay connected to consumers as ecommerce takes over

Related Links:

• MAGNA’s 2018 Media Ecom Report [MAGNA]
• Walmart announces concierge shopping service, Jetblack [Bloomberg]

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