Editor’s Note: On Nov. 15, 2012, Western News celebrated its 40th anniversary with a special edition asking 40 Western researchers to share the 40 THINGS WE NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE NEXT 40 YEARS. This is one of those entries. To view the entire anniversary issue, visit the Western News archives.
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“More pressure on the accelerator,” Brenda suggests playfully. “You want to accelerate out of a turn, especially on sunny roads overlooking treacherous shorelines.”
The next turn comes so fast I can’t risk even the slightest glance away from the winding road ahead.
Brenda maintains her professional demeanor as I almost drive us off the cliff. “The energy storage and kinetic renewal technologies run the length of the vehicle, centered along its chassis, creating an even weight distribution that – when combined with the proper tires – produces the ultimate handling experience,” she proclaims proudly as I pull over to wipe the sweat off my forehead.
“I think I’m done for now,” I tell Brenda. “Maybe I can try it again tomorrow night?”
Brenda smiles, “You can try again anytime. I’m not going anywhere.” She hands me her business card. “Be sure to analyze your stats to see how you can improve next time,” Brenda instructs me, her voice trailing off as my eyes slowly open to the heat of the early morning sun.
“Good morning, Dave, you have a card from Brenda. Would you like me to project it?”
The soothing fairy godmother voice belongs to the amazing EnCon (short for Engaged Consciousness) add-on to my bedroom’s Personal Health and Wellness Suite of technologies. EnCon’s multiple sensors throughout my living quarters constantly scan for my facial features and respond to my various moods throughout the day with customizable tweaks to the environment – from soothing audio if I’m sitting down to unwind with a glass of wine to automatic lights-out when I lay in bed and close my eyes.
When my eyes open for a set period of time after having been asleep, I am greeted by whatever voice I choose, but I like the fairy godmother and haven’t thought about changing it.
Amazingly, EnCon lets me know to go back to sleep if I happen to wake up too early (based on when it knows I tend to wake up). If you can believe this, it also acts as something of a guardian angel, alerting medical personnel if I fail to wake up or am unresponsive for an extended period of time.
My grandfather tells me that before I was born in 2023, personal digital assistants still lived in antique devices people carried around and used primarily to call other people. In 2052, however, digital assistants are like genies out of their bottles. They travel across the Internet of things and can communicate through any connected furniture or appliance in the home – from beds to couches, stoves and more.
Still in bed, I sit up and remove the PDS (Programmable Dream State) add-on module, an extremely light and flexible apparatus that fits around my head, and lay it on the bedside table. It communicates wirelessly with the Personal Health and Wellness Suite of technologies to deliver custom or random dream state content (DSC for short) based on my expressed wants, needs, preferences and desires.
I’ve been thinking of buying a new car lately so I’ve programmed my desire and have been solicited with exhilarating experiences for the past five nights.
I’ve been told – again, by my grandfather – that in the past, advertisers tried to convince people they needed their products or services, often through annoying or interruptive means. Today, we are rarely if ever interrupted by advertisers because we have so much control over our technology and environments.
Today, we express our hobbies, wants, needs and desires in the hopes advertisers are listening and ready to serve us with experiential advertising using technology. Some of my friends don’t drive because they’re totally into hugging trees and protecting what’s left of the environment. They’re not complete Luddites, however, because their dream state content revolves around hiking or canoeing trips to far-away locations or trying on the latest pair of Birkenstocks before they’re released to the general public.
My point is we’re all consumers of something or other, and rather than being hounded to buy into things we may not really want, today our wishes are fulfilled by advertisers who know how to use technology to engage us in ways that are most meaningful to us. Before experiential advertising, static images and scripted video represented preconceived norms for mass consumption and adoption.
The best part of experiential advertising is the fact that even though certain products or experiences may be out of reach financially, they can nevertheless be experienced in our dream state consciousness for free in consideration mode, or a small fee for extended and enhanced experiential mode.
For instance, if I can’t afford to travel to Hawaii but want to experience being there, I can pay a small fee to go to Hawaii (while I sleep) over a span of five dream states. In fact, I’ve slept all the way through Hawaii each summer for the past three years, but am thinking about New Zealand this summer.
“Yes, please project Brenda’s card.”
My bedroom wall illuminates with a Tranz Motors logo which fades to Brenda, the digital persona of a real-life brand representative who has shown me two different vehicles over my last two dream states. I’m curious to know how I did with last night’s vehicle because – as powerful as it was – it felt difficult to control relative to the first car Brenda showed me.
“Stats,” I command, and the projected image on the wall flips to reveal acceleration, braking, maneuvering, degree of control and other stats for each of the two vehicles I test drove. Just as I thought, even though the second vehicle was much more powerful, I did far better with the first vehicle.
“Deborah,” I command and the projected image flips back to Deborah and her smile. “Hi, Deborah, the last vehicle was too much for me and while I can see how to improve if I want to master it, I would like to try the third car tonight.”
Deborah blinks and replies, “Sounds great, I’ll have it ready for you. Any particular track you’re interested in?”
I think for a few seconds and respond, “Surprise me.”
Raymond Pirouz is a Marketing professor in the Richard Ivey School of Business HBA and MBA programs.