It may seem like a contradiction in terms, but brands must embrace the precision of technology to realise the power of being human.
It’s a digital world. Even traditional offline media apertures are getting digitally enabled to get closer to the customer, more interactive and responsive in their communication. Technology, especially in a pandemic-rocked market, has come to play a role beyond expectations. Work from home as a concept relied on it. Customer service was only possible because of it. Proactive brands, however, saw the pessimistic landscape and set out on a positive path to fixing it. What’s your tech strategy? How cyber-smart is your brand?
An eye on automation, a finger on the supply chain
When processes begin to work on auto-pilot and stringent quality checks punctuate seamless performance, there’s more than just cost-effectiveness at play. There’s time saved, effort saved, adaptability and measurement metrics built-in. At the end of the assembly line or supply chain is productivity, accuracy – and, to top it all, a rich cache of insights on what needs real-time change, where leaks need to be plugged, when intervention needs to happen, how innovations need to be effected.
Artificial intelligence, real human connections
The AI space is telling us how to cut through straight to customer issues on the one hand and how to enhance consumer experiences on the other. But technology must be predicated on human experience design for it to create a lasting relationship and start a meaningful conversation. At the end of the day, it is all about the residual impact of the interaction – and a bad human-tech dialogue can erode brand love.
The internet of things, among other things
Intelligent devices, digital ambient media, pop-up cyber engagement spaces, interactive TV, intuitive apps, the list goes on. When online blurs into offline, brand magic can happen. When devices talk to each other and then to consumers together, they improve the quality of everyday life both at home and at the workplace. It helps deepen community bonds, increase professional performances, induce excitement and engagement and add a sheen of affinity to brands.
Virtual reality, real virtuality
Immersive experiences bring alive brand promises in visceral ways. AR and VR have heightened this through simulations and flights of imagination. Such amplifications while taking consumers into a surreal space often bring them back to a very real brand realisation. This engenders a deeper appreciation of what a brand stands for and commits to stand by. Technology that can bridge the digital and physical, the real and the virtual can empower transformational brands.
Some of the most successful brand campaigns are those that have used technology to solve a felt or unfelt need, to showcase a yet-to-be-imagined possibility, to show consumers what can be if we bend our minds and lives to it. The important thing is maintaining the delicate balance between audiences and interfaces, between enablement and engagement. And that is the fundamental reason why technology needs to be humanised.