IoT and brands: “It’s not just a f*cking fridge ordering milk”

Brands using the Internet of Things (IoT) for the sake of it risk annoying consumers, industry has heard – and that building brand value and improving consumers’ lives should be at the forefront of all connected strategies.

Speaking at Mediatel’s annual Connected Consumer Conference on Wednesday (10 June), Cameron Worth, founding partner of IoT agency SharpEnd, warned advertisers that just because they can make something ‘connected’ does not mean that they should – and that the focus should be on enhancing people’s lives to build meaningful brand relationships.

“The Internet of Things is a pretty vague and meaningless term,” said Worth.

“What it’s really about is connectivity and distributing intelligence. It’s not thinking about this conceptual ‘Internet of Everything’ where the glass is connected to the light which is connected to the heating which is connected to the table.

“It’s a spiderweb of connectivity. It’s not just a f*cking fridge ordering milk.”

With between 20 and 100 billion connected devices forecast to be used by 2020, Worth said brands need to start thinking about where the new digital touchpoints are arising and whether they can design products and services that can meaningfully harness their potential.

“Utility trumps entertainment in brand terms so brands need to think about the service layers they can deliver on behalf of consumers to make their lives better, because what that then does is drive this new type of brand value which isn’t built on advertising or messaging – it’s actually built on behaviour.”

However, despite the anticipated boom in connected devices, consumers appear to remain sceptical, with almost half saying that they do not need an Internet of Things.

A recent Toluna study of 1,000 consumers highlighted a number of key concerns surrounding connected devices, with security cited as the greatest issue (67%), followed by reliability (62%) and behavioural issues such as distracted drivers and constant interference (47%).

A separate study released by Time Inc. UK, however, revealed that eight in 10 consumers are interested in buying a smart tech product for the home, but the purchase journey can take up to three months.

“[Brands need to think about] what happens when you embed connectivity and intelligence into a physical object,” added Worth. “What does that do to your service value? How does it drive potential revenue streams?”

Mark Cross, Founder of Chartroom and a judge for the 2015 Connected Consumer Awards, noted that “anything is now possible”, but warned that it is not just about pushing the limits of the technology.

“It should be about going with the flow of human behaviour,” he said. “It is about understanding the value of that experience and making that work.”

Cross added that effective brands that step into the IoT space will need to undertake “smart experimentation” and take gradual steps – warning that anything that “steps over the line will trigger feelings of a loss of control, and anything that people think is not on their terms will be rejected.”

Rory Sutherland discusses the Internet of Things