Marketers set to lead the Internet of Things movement?

The Internet of Things (IoT) is often discussed in such visionary, dystopian terms that it can be hard to attach examples of how IoT is presently and pragmatically evolving.

However, during its annual stateside Summit, Adobe has announced a more practical update to its product range that gives a glimpse of what can currently be achieved with IoT, from a marketing perspective.

In updating its Marketing Cloud platform, the creative technology provider has given marketers the opportunity to now extend their interactive content campaigns to new devices such as vending machines, cars, hotel room doors and retail outlet displays, which in turn can interact with consumer personal devices such as smartphones.

The new Adobe Experience Manager Screens product allows marketers to combine their campaigns with mobile apps and brand connected devices consistently across the web, and in turn, bring together data sets across channels to ensure that the experience is personalised.

It’s potentially a big leap towards the connected devices vision that IoT projects, and is perhaps being highlighted best by the hotel chain Starwood, which is currently using the new technology to provide its guest with a number of new options through their smartphones, including unlocking their hotel doors and receiving personalised content promotions based on their use of amenities.

Clothing range, Under Armour, is also in the process of using the tool to develop more personalised and interactive digital displays in its stores:

“Adobe Experience Manager Screens allows us to redefine the way clothing lines are designed and displayed,” said Jody Giles, senior vice president, product integration for Under Armour.

“Instead of physical samples, we are able to create rich digital designs and experiences in record time and extend them to our catalogue app. We can also see customers using the technology in our stores and engaging with our brand on life-size touch screens.”

With so much customer engagement involved, the concepts being trialled are likely to further increase the synergy marketing departments are fostering with their customer service teams.

Professor Steven Van Belleghem recently wrote an article on MyCustomer about the consumer expectations IoT was driving into customer service, and that if every device has a sensor in it which is connected to the web companies will soon be expected to monitor the performance of their devices and solve problems before they occur; or “faster than real-time customer service”, as he coins it. 

“In the future, people will come to expect customer service that is faster than real-time," he says. "Businesses will be expected to solve a customer’s problem before the customer even detects that there is a problem, which could lead to customer contact centres that only do outbound communication, pushing solutions towards clients.”

And with Adobe’s latest release, this philosophy is seemingly already being pushed towards clients in a marketing context too.