SMEG fridge in exclusive data partnership with Stella

The IAB’s CEO, Guy Phillipson, offers his vision for marketing as the world embraces the Internet of Things.

The Internet of Things ain’t what it used to be. Already predictions about connected devices found in dozens of end-of-year articles feel dated. Life moves on apace.

CES showcased more varieties of wearable tech than the entire NFL could don on any given Sunday and now the Apple Watch has materialised and caught the attention of fashionistas.

In the world of white goods Amazon is now trialling the Dash Button – an adhesive strip you connect to the home Wi-Fi and place on appliances like washing machines. With the press of a button you can tell Amazon to send more washing powder without the need to log in to a platform, apparently.

Of course, the ultimate dream is for the customer to do sweet F.A. and the appliances to be intelligent enough to order products without any input. That’s when the longed-for smart fridge orders a six pack of lager for delivery to the front door within the hour while you are still drinking the last can.

But this could happen soon – apparently Amazon’s ‘Dash Replenishment Service’ is on the way and in only five short years, says Gartner, the world will contain some 25 billion items that are connected and ‘talking’ to each other (let’s hope they have some good jokes to share to lighten the digital dialogue). Imagine the contextual targeting opportunities when everyday items are constantly feeding data to each other and to service providers and retailers.

Just for starters head for the bathroom where you’ll find a toothbrush that can feed personal oral hygiene data to the manufacturer. This connected toothbrush is actually free to the consumer because it is sponsored by a hygiene brand, a little like Sky giving away set top boxes in ye olden days. A small embedded screen in the brush will deliver personalised ad messages promoting a mouthwash brand along with useful brushing tips – or similar messages might go direct to your mobile.

Then it’s time to leap into a driverless car. But what to do with all that free time you used to spend half-listening to news about traffic jams and hold-ups on the M25? Imagine windows that turn into screens and show sponsored interactive content, games and other kinds of programming. You could place a bet on the Champions League before arriving at the office.

Basically, there’s a media opportunity and a whole new consumer mind-set to consider – the non-driving car commuter.

Marketers should take full advantage of the myriad opportunities to collect and use data as consumers embrace these smart devices, be they smoke alarms or flower pots. There is no time for complacency. The value of data-derived insights to drive media planning and buying has been championed for several years now – but there’s a risk the message is becoming background noise.

It’s time to smell the coffee (from a smart coffee jar that knows when you are two scoops from finishing your American Light beans).

Brands transacting online are sitting on veritable goldmines of first party data. You don’t have to put on a white coat and call yourself a ‘data scientist’ to start working with this stuff. And you don’t have to be fearful of ‘big data’. There’s plenty to learn from interrogating small data sets and by experimenting with manageable projects.

This is how companies build up knowledge and begin to craft the right planning, buying and targeting strategies so they can take the lead in the data-driven retail revolution. The ultimate goal should be for your products to join the millions of smart devices chattering merrily away feeding back essential data into the marketing and media strategy.

This is the future – where ad spend is optimised through IoT for maximum ROI.

Now, that smart can of lager – do you think it knows a fine Rosé to bring to the party?