By Thornton May
Futurist, Senior Advisor with GP, Executive Director & Dean - IT Leadership Academy

The Church refused to contemplate Galileo’s heliocentric view of the world. Some may question Darwin’s portrayal of evolution. But NOBODY can argue that our world has digitized. Eric Schmidt, the über-suit-in-residence at Google was recently in London and told journalists that “In the future, children will either be online or asleep.” What does our increasing digitization mean for the future of marketing?

Apple is moving BEYOND the technologies set forth in Stephen Spielberg’s dystopic future thriller Minority Report. [Can anyone recall anyone ever bringing a utopic future to the big screen]? They have filed patents for technology that could make inferences about people’s mood in real time. “If an individual is pre-occupied or unhappy, the individual may not be as receptive to certain types of content,” Apple said. This is one of the things that so bugged me about Minority Report. Remember the scene where Captain John Anderton played by Tom Cruise is fleeing the PreCrime police? He moves through a gauntlet of sic “intelligent” billboards seeking to verbally connect with him. As he passes a Guinness ad he hears: “John Anderton, you could use a Guinness right about now.” [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bXJ_obaiYQ] If the ad was smart; if the ad was truly targeted, a fleeing felon would be offered a cloak of invisibility – not a beer!

In a later scene upon entering the Gap, a hologram sales person inquires, “Hello Mr. Yakimoto, how did those tank tops work out for you?” The store recognition system is keying into the identity of the original owner of Tom Cruise’s eyes. The world we live in today has the capacity of moving beyond these kinds of rookie marketing mistakes.

Tweets say a lot about our mood [See Microsoft research http://goo.gl/CyXDq9]. Facebook “likes” indicate whether our parents were divorced and our sexual proclivities. Our quantified selves are open books to those skilled in analytics. Combine the rate we click our keyboards/smart phones/tablets, “likes” and comments; the order in which we open applications; and the date, time and location of our online actions when combined with physical indicators gathered from wearable technology that can measure heart rate, blood pressure, adrenaline levels, perspiration rate, body temperature; voice level, pattern, stress, movement and facial expression leave little to the marketers imagination.

At this very moment EVERY marketer on this planet has available to them the technologies and techniques to render each and every customer interaction with Disney Magic. What amazes and concerns me is not what is possible with all these sensors. What I find absolutely mind boggling is the fact that so few organizations have mobilized to delight the customer.

Think about your last airline trip. I know for a fact that not only did US Airways and American have no clue about my preferences, the crew which “forgot” they had another leg to fly and [because they worked for travel partner Republic Airlines] were impossible to reach via cell phone to remedy the situation have failed to embrace the possibilities of the digital era.

The utter cluelessness of certain animals in the marketing forest was further brought home to me poignantly when – after spending the night in a hotel best used by farm animals because of airline incompetence - I was digitally contacted by said airline and asked if I would like to spend green-cash-money to “buy up” and enjoy the benefits of a higher status. Unbelievable!

I am looking forward to when the transporter technology portrayed in Star Trek is available.