Seatguru tells you exactly where to sit in the aeroplane. After selecting an airline the consumer receives information about the planes used by that airline and how the seating is configured.

Dutch mobile operator Telfort lets you do almost everything online: receiving bills, keeping control of your contract or pay-as-you-go connection. In the case of theft you can block the sim card as well as requesting and activating a new one. This removes the need to call or write to the company. The developments have lead to a 36,5% increase in logins (via mc, Dutch). In the future brands will be built in dialogue. Currently we talk about self service, but it’s just service: the consumers questions are answered more quickly and they receive a visual overview of their calling habits which could never be given over the telephone. Now it’s done with an eye to cost saving and the interaction is pretty business like and cold, soon emotion will play a role. Only then can dialogue in brand thinking really get started.

This new telephone recognises the users fingerprint, useing it to give acess to aplications (via fc). Now it’s used for securety, but this development means that brands will be able to directly recognise consumers using a fingerprint, a face, a voice or a combination of identifiers. This will be used to continue the dialogue from the previous contact.

Nokia will soon be releasing a shoot-to-translate function that translates all the text found in a photo (via nu, Dutch). Mobile phones are becoming virtual screens over a physical world. Now we need to aim our mobiles, soon we will only need to look at something to have a translation spoken into our ear. Later the text will disappear because we will be able to ask everything in our own language.  ‘Where do I need to go?, ‘what’s this, ‘who’s that?. The world reacts to us, understands us, anticipates us. The era in which personal brands can come into full bloom.

Caterer Sodexho has changed it’s name worldwide to Sodexo and visualises this in a logo animation. The letter ‘h’ that originally stood for ‘hotel’ has been removed as the company now operates more broadly. The change makes the name easier to pronounce and spell (via mf, Dutch). Brands are choosing to make their communication increasingly visual and now show changes in their organisations in a totally visual way. This is a nice example of the trend.

Via Augmented Reality 2D can instantly become 3D. In this demo you see the packaging for a Lego car with a 2D image on the box, when the box is filmed a 3D image appears, namely the same box but with a 3D car on it (via dc, Dutch). Everything 2D, paper, a brochure, packaging, a wall, a quote, a manual, we only need to name the brand and we get a 3D addition. Also, everything that is already 3D, as we ourselves are, can get an extra layer. An elf on the shoulder is mentioned in the video, but it can also be a different pair of glasses or another hair style. It will be a fun (mixed) world.

Reuters Labs, the laboratory of the news agency Reuters, automatically recognises people in video with advanced pattern recognition software. If you search for George Bush(you get a choice of two people with the same name), George Clooneyof George Harrison you are very quickly presented with a list of the videos in which those people appear (via dc, Dutch).

Sounds advanced, but soon we’ll be able to walk down the street, point our camera at our surroundings and use face recognition (and other characteristics such as the ‘walk’) to see who is walking past us. We won’t need to tag any more photos or videos because it will be done automatically. The online identity and the real identity will meld completely. It will have an enormous impact on society. For example, in maintaining public order or restricting access to offices. But you could never again walk straight past a friend who you hadn’t seen for 30 years. Your personal contact brand will know exactly who it is.

In a restaurant in Israel it is now possible to place your order directly from a display on your table. A waiter is no longer necessary. It is also possible to play games. Visitors think it’s fun and are pleased that their children are included. The owner of the restaurant is certainly happy with the 12% extra turnover (via dc, Dutch). We gather more displays around ourselves. Now they have set content, but soon we will make content with our personal food brand for personal advice. Or check our e-mail. Or evaluate the furniture we saw earlier in the day. All that whilst enjoying a delicious meal that passes perfectly in our diet. In a couple of years this will be the most normal thing in the world. 

Online company guide iLocal puts companies on the mobile map. With a special program that can be downloaded to your mobile phone, you can search via company category and your location is pin pointed by GPS or GSM antenna locations in the area (via dc, Dutch). Brands are looking for a dialogue with us via every possible screen. Search and directory functions are first but soon all brands will be findable. They give us information about the location, or about the (brand) products we find whilst shopping or products that we can find in the area. This is a step in that direction.

Online golfretailer Golfers voor Golfers lanceert een golfwidget. This allows golfers to easily share their current golf handicap with others on the social networking sites or portals that they use (via bm, Dutch). Brands have ever more understanding and control of the art of tribal thinking . They let other spread their word and Golfers for Golfers easily finds new customers. It’s a very different way of thinking, a way that every brand will soon begin to use. It will be the most successful for brands with a symbolic function, brands that say something about their users.

Shoppers who park at P1 Parking Mathildelaan in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, now receive a message on their mobile phone via bluetooth when leaving the car park. It contains virtual discount slips and details of special offers for shops in the area (via am). In the future brands will always be at our sides and ready to choose the optimal moment for communication. Now with generalised offers, but soon personal brands will know what we buy regularly, what we are looking for and what we’re open to. Then we will receive tailor made offers at exactly the right moment. This is a step in that direction.

ApriPoko is a prototype living room robot who will operate all sorts of devices for you. ApriPoke receives the infrared signals from remote controls and uses a voice to ask for the action requested by the remote control. The user can give an answer such as “I turn the radio on” or “I mute the sound”. The next time you want to mute the sound you ask ApriPoko and he does it for you (from pt). Our environment is becoming increasingly responsive to our behaviour, our movements and our voice. We are becoming more used to an environment that adapts its self to us. In the long term brands will be able to anticipate dialogues with us. This development is a step in that direction.

The Royal Dutch Organisation of Midwives (Koninklijke Nederlandse Organisatie van Verloskundigen) KNOV have animated their logo to show their central function: the birthing of babies (tip: ej).

Brands are developing the art of animating their logo as a part of their interactive visual identity, as part of their visual brand worlds. This is a nice example of the trend.

In the Netherlands 2007 has seen a 4% increase in working from home (via am). Working at home, working elsewhere, you make a contribution to the world for which you are paid, that is the essence. We used to work on the land, so close to our homes. Then came the factories, then the offices. That’s what we call work now. Soon work will once again be an activity that you do during the week, in the places which happen to be convenient at the time. Naturally we will still need to meet the people with whom we are working, but we will plan those meetings in a more flexible way and at all sorts of different locations. Everything will become a lot more flexible. Most important is leaving behind the idea that work is something that you do in the physical presence of the boss. 

Via Laat zien waar je bent lets the Dutch social networking site Hyves, in co-operation with Dutch telecom operator Hi, show where your friends are on a Google map (from am, in Dutch. Hyves facilitates ever better contact between people. Now only for Hi users, but soon for everyone. Although currently via SMS, soon Hyves will always know where you are (and share that with others too, if you want). We are sharing more and more information about ourselves with brands who will handle it sensitively. This development is an example.