‘va6r20%8 ‘The future of advertising: what will 2025 look Ike? | Media Network | The Guarcian guardian F E i " a The future of advertising: what will 2025 look like? Amore personalised, digitised, slicker and quicker future awaits for the world of advertising, writes Amy Kean of Havas Media Amy Kean Mon 16 Feb 2015 1157 GMT The award-winning film, The Theory of Everything, has plenty of touching moments. From stumbles and diagnosis to academic brilliance and passionate final exchanges, this is a film that ticks every emotional box. I cried like a baby for most of it. For me, the defining moment of the whole film was when the proud creator of Stephen Hawking’s world-famous, eye- powered computer and hardware voice synthesiser turned it on and announced: “Welcome to the future.” Rarely has a single moment summed up so wonderfully the extent to which technology can change lives for the better - allowing us to interact in ways beyond any initial realms of possibility. But Hawking’s wife’s reaction on hearing the voice for the first time (“but American?”) perfectly encapsulates the mainstream’s relationship with technology: but I need it to be better, faster, perfect!” Progress, regardless of how clever, needs human buy- in to happen and become the future. The consumer is hard to impress and the next10 years of advertising relies completely on them buying into our largely tech-driven, utopian vision of making every single advertising message relevant to the receiver. If you consider yourself able to predict the future within any reasonable degree of accuracy, you'll know that a solid human understanding is absolutely essential. bps heguarin comimeda-netwos201SHeb!16thesiur-ck-vertsing-what-wlL20254ooK ke 1‘va6r20%8 ‘The future of advertising: what will 2025 look Ike? | Media Network | The Guardian Over the next 10 years, advertising will move from communicating to predicting, and emoting, based on human needs. According to a 2014 study by neuroeconomist Paul Zak, three out of eight people now love brands more than their spouses, because thinking of brands releases more oxytocin - the same reaction generated when being hugged. Without a doubt, we're going to witness a shift from obsessing over what advertising looks like, to what advertising feels like. And in 2025 we're going to have the technology to make people genuinely happy. Just to give you some context, the bulk of your liaison with businesses in 2025 will be digital, clever and all about you. Life will be more automated, slicker and quicker. Customer service operatives will be a) holograms and b) created based on what each individual finds attractive - those nice ladies in airports and train stations in London and NYC are just the start. In 2025 you'll be able to buy a robot lover and even use a small chip to measure how many times a day you blink to assess your eye health and find the perfect mascara. Not every car will be Griverless, but you can bet your bottom dollar that most public transport will be. In 2025, Uber drivers will simply be an interface on a dashboard. The term we use to describe this is immersive creativity. Virtual reality (VR) is already big business - it’s estimated the VR market will be worth $5.2bn by 2018 - but over the next few years it will become the business, simply because the experience is unparalleled, taking the user into another mind-blowing world that feels real. How will brands use it? Content and advertising will become so interlinked we won’t know which is which. People will “step into” brand experiences and ads will be filmed with 360- degree cameras. Marketers will sponsor rides at theme parks and then bring them into your home via Oculus Rift so you can enjoy them in your living room, at no cost. This is just one step in the new emotional journey that brands and consumers are about to embark upon. The most used word in social media last year was the heart emoticon, but in 10 years’ time most of our words will be emoticons and customers will give feedback in Snaps. Advertisers will know how much we like their ads because our pulses via our smartwatches will tell them. And because of this close relationship with brands, every ad you see will be based on who you are. Screens and posters will display different images based on the information on your mobile - your purchase history, the brands you like on social platforms, who your friends are, as well as your gender and age. Already 75% of consumers expect and want retail experiences to be personalised, and over the next 10 years most marketing will become like the Amazon Recommends feature on steroids. Hawking described the future as “indefinite, existing only as a spectrum of possibilities”. Unexpected things will occur; we don’t know the name of the next big entrepreneur, nor what the biggest platform will be in10 years. But if we understand people now, then we're likely to take a good guess at what will excite them tomorrow. Amy Kean is head of futures at Havas Media To get weekly news analysis, job alerts and event notifications direct to your inbox, sign up free for Media Network membership. All Guardian Media Network content is editorially independent except for pieces labelled “Brought to you by” - find out more here. Since you’re here... hitps:ihww heguardian,comimedia-network!2015Heb/ ithefuture-of-advertsing-what-ui:2025 look ke 218‘va6r20%8 ‘The future of advertising: what will 2025 look Ike? | Media Network | The Guardian ... we have a small favour to ask. More people are reading the Guardian than ever but advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. And unlike many news organisations, we haven't put up a paywall - we want to keep our journalism as open as we can. So you can see why we need to ask for your help. The Guardian’s independent, investigative journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce. But we do it because we believe our perspective matters - because it might well be your perspective, too. [appreciate there not being a paywall: it is more democratic for the media to be available for all and not a commodity to be purchased by a few. I’m happy to make a contribution so others with less means still have access to information. Thomasine F-R. If everyone who reads our reporting, who likes it, helps fund it, our future would be much more secure. For as little as £1, you can support the Guardian - and it only takes a minute. Thank you. Become a supporter Make a contribution —— om») Peal Dl = Media & Tech Network Future of advertising hitps:ihww hoguardian,comimedia-network!2015Hfeb/ithefuture-of-advertsing-what-wil:2025-look-ke 38