Through VideoBoard companies now can promote their job openings in a video (dc, Dutch). Brands more and more communicate in images, in video. Now this is still directly derived from text (in many cases the job opening is literally read from paper - very boring), but in the future we will be able to get a good impression of the company we will be working at, of our future job, and of our future boss. And through an artificial employee who also appears on screen, we can directly ask the most simple questions. To talk to our boss we might have to wait for a little while. This is a small step in that direction.

News site eKudos now offers the possibility to register a network of contacts who share your interest in news. This way, you quickly and easily keep each other informed of news that absolutely deserves attention (dc, Dutch). Brands more and more use personal relationships to be able to serve you on a more personal basis. At the moment many brands start their own services to maintain your social network, later they will connect to personal contact brands, or their archetypes from 2007: social networks. The result is that in the end we will have one central spot for maintaining our contacts, and we will select brands which may use our contact list. This development is a side step which in the end will work out fine.

In the Netherlands, there will be a database of stolen bicycles, to be consulted by consumers themselves (dc, Dutch). Every element in the physical world gets its own space in the virtual world. Every bicycle will get a worldwide unique number, like we will all have a worldwide personal number in the future, and like cars will have their own unique frame number. If we buy something, it will be registered in our name immediately. Has it been stolen, it is registered as ‘stolen’. And if we sell it to somebody else, we will change the registration with a swipe of our mobile phones. Stealing thus becomes a little harder, and the world a little more beautiful. As a result however, brands will even have the registration of the fourth owner in their databases, and will have to be able to answer questions for years and years. The dialogue continues until the end of the product’s life. This database access perfectly fits in that development.

Jeans brand Levi’s launches Levi’s World: its own virtual world (dc, Dutch). More and more often brands with a symbolic function (brands selling products we wear on our bodies) will start creating their own worlds. Worlds in which they invite consumers, who will bring their friends. After all, these are the types of brands they can appear in, which determine their identity, or which at least they like to identify with. This is an example of that development. This type of worlds will grow into complete games for which in the end we will pay. And will be more than willing to pay for.

Interactive broadcasting company KPBS has placed all relevant information about the San Diego County fires on Google Maps. For example huidige fires, evacuation centers, and closed roads (dc, Dutch). All information from the physical world is made available in the virtual world. Consumers and brands will benefit from this, and adapt their plans (or have their plans adapted automatically) to the information they get.

Yahoo from now on determines the position of an advertisement not solely by the highest bid, but also considers the ‘quality’ of the advertisement. This quality is mainly determined based on the click through ratio: the amount of other people having clicked through before (ab, Dutch). In the end the most important goal is to make a fitting offer to the individual. And ‘advertisement’ only becomes ‘relevant’ if the consumer says ‘yes’ instantly. Now we still look at the content of the page, the behavior of other people. In the future personal brands will look at the individual’s behavior, and the behavior of his or her trusted relations (friends, family, or colleagues). Personal brands won’t advertise (yell) any more: they will especially be good listeners. This step of Yahoo is an example in that direction.

BMW now has a car which determines its own optimal directions, and keeps them, as part of a training for drivers. This is based on satellites. We earlier saw a BMW parking itself, a BMW driving into a garage by itself , and a Volkswagen which moves by itself (fc, Dutch).

Cars have become so cool that we almost forgot the basis need it fulfills: to get from A to B. It is just a way to fulfill the need of the free human, the human eternally looking for freedom of movement, freedom to go wherever he wants, and independence. In the future we will only have to whisper to our personal travel brand, and we are taken from point A to point B. Through all means available at that moment. Our own car, a bike, a metro, airplane or bedjak: nothing is excluded. And in the (very) long run we will only have to sit down, while the personal travel brand takes us where we want to go. The development we see here seems to be revolutionary, but before the wheel will completely disappear from the car, it will be 2050.

American online physicians community Sermo (30,000 members) opens up its website to suppliers. Pfizer is the first of several drug makers that will partner with Sermo to interact with the physicians who share insights on the site. Pfizer’s collaboration will come in the form of ‘HotSpots’: a place for physicians to interact with the industry while no advertisements are allowed. Sermo is still determining a pricing model for the feature (cz). It gets harder for brands to gain entry to the world of consumers, of small companies, and of mediate companies. Brands who have access to the consumer, like this type of communities, therefore get more power. This type of brands determine the rules, on behalf of its members. Product suppliers, like Pfizer, take the role of transaction brands. They will completely focus on the product, and take on a service role. This is an example of that.

Through Best4c (Best for Chart) people now can draw diagrams directly on websites, without having to download software (c2). The web becomes simpler and simpler. In the future we will just call what we want to do, and we can directly replace and/or enlarge files through our fingers. There is no software installation or a mouse involved any more. At the moment, we see more and more software move to the web. This is an example of that.

English company Goldstriker makes a golden version of every product. Lighters, pens, or mobile phones: Goldstriker makes the golden edition. They even gild certain car parts. They now also made a golden edition of Apple iPhone, as the first company in the world (mc). Brands with a symbolic function, brands that carry products to carry on or against the body, come in great designs. As long as the technology is new, the product often still has a technical appearance. The first eye glasses witnessed that, but also the first shoes, the very first laptops, or the first mobile phone. Apple now already has a product you can be seen with, but Goldstriker takes it a step further with this golden version. Of all technology to be carried on the body, we can expect design versions. Design VR glasse, to name an example.

Pest control company Rentokil sends its clients a text message when a mouse is caught (mc, Dutch). All (brand)products will be connected, with each other and with the virtual world. To start with all products operated through plugs or batteries. Other products will follow. Through these links completely new applications evolve. Through the link, the brand manufacturer stays in touch with her products and their owners forever. So they can add more value to the lives of these people. This is a great example.

Chinese civilians show the practice of child slaves through American video sharing site YouTube.This English video, named ‘Child slaves, Shanxi China’ is placed by somebody using the name daughterofchina. From a western point of view, it is horrible to see what happens (vc).

Nowadays, Fair Trade is a popular principle. Naomi Klein’s book ‘No Logo’ from 2000 initiated this. Just before that, the term ‘company behind the brands’ had come up. Companies experience a brand coming out: they operate more open and transparent. English videos will make the western consumer more aware of the welfare of people who produce their products at the other side of the world. People who after all also just want to live a happy life, like we all want. In a next step, personal environment brands will show us at the purchase how something has been produced. In the end this will lead to a more balanced world in which richness, welfare and happiness is for everyone. This however will take at least a (couple of) generation(s). It is a long process which unfortunately will take lots of victims first.

A research team of the Keio University Biomedical Engineering Laboratory has developed a BCI (brain-computer interface) which makes it possible for users to walk the streets of virtual world Second Life purely based on imagination. Thinking of arms, head or feet, the avatar walks like the user imagines (ab).

People think visually, people think 3D. We have know this for thousands of years: there are all kinds of (oldO meditation techniques using this insight. Through this type of techniques we will now also get a much better scientific insight in the way people think. Not just for the physical orientation of people in a physical space, but also for the orientation of abstract concepts like ‘relationships’, ‘politics’, or ‘brands’. This will lead to people finding new spirituality. But it will take a while before we will see the first mass products using these insights and possibilities.

The biggest newspaper in Singapore, the Straits Times, offers TV through video phone. It can also be tested from abroad. You call (+65)64039838 and you see a simple menu with the choice between City news and Crime news, both offering four video clips which start directly (mb, Dutch).

We call our favorite brands like we call our favorite contacts. We get them on demand. Later we will be recognized, and we simply go through a personalized menu. Supported by audio, text, or video. And if we have questions, the brand agent appears, or we connect to a real colleague. We pay per minute. It is just a service. This is how simple it can be.

Through Japanese Megane Top you can fit glasses with your mobile phone (ab). Now glasses, in the future all kinds of clothes. If you then see somebody wearing a jacket, shoes, or skirt you really like, you just point your mobile phone at it. Your personal fashion brand then appears, who estimates if these clothes will look good on you, asks what color you would like, gives advice about combining these clothes with your existing ones, can say if you can get it somewhere in the neighborhood, and can directly reserve it for you, or order it and have it delivered at your doorstep if you like. This development is part of that.