The Tech of Our Lives
| 180 | Pieces of Coverage |
The wonder of technology
When I was consulting with the creative team at Aira, a well-respected digital marketing agency in the UK, one of the team came to me with an idea about the future of technology for their client, RS Components.
We started discussing how we could present the information, when I was immediately reminded of a conversation I’d had with my Grandad.
One day, when he was in hospital, I asked my Grandad if he had seen the Scotland rugby game the day before.
There was a small TV in the ward he was in, but he told me he hadn’t seen the game because one of the other patients wanted to watch the football instead.
So I pulled out my phone, looked up the highlights on YouTube and handed it to him, with my headphones.
He watched the clip, and even sang along (quite loudly!) to the national anthem, much to the amusement of everyone on the ward. When he finished watching the highlights, he handed the phone back to me and said:
“You know, Mark, that’s amazing – you’ve got this thing in your pocket that isn’t connected to anything, you can look up whatever you want, and watch it right here and now. The speed that I’ve seen technology change in my lifetime is incredible. And it keeps getting faster!”
And that’s true!
I have no idea how mobile phones work, not really. And years ago, even simple things like video calls were the subject of futuristic movies. And now they’re here.
But we get used to it all so quickly.
And we lose our sense of wonder.
So this got me thinking…
What other things – that seem futuristic and out of this world – will actually become a reality in our lifetime?
Sometimes businesses (and agencies) make interactive content for the sake of it, in the hope that the shiny thing will help draw people in.
But there are better reasons to make things interactive. One of them is to allow people to put themselves in the picture, by making the content more relatable to their own lives.
With this principle in mind, here’s a brief snapshot of the content we created…
There are plenty of futurists’ predictions available online, saying certain devices will be available by 2040 or 2050 or whenever. But that isn’t quite the same as saying ‘By the time you’re 43, this thing will be a reality. It will be out there in the world. You might even be using it.’
That’s far more personal, relatable and emotive than some abstract year that sounds way off in the future.
It was this small change in the way the information was presented that made all the difference.
And this idea came with an added benefit – something I always like to see – it opened itself up to a repeatable series of content.
As well as the first piece, The Futuristic Tech of Your Lifetime, the team at Aira went on to make The Future Tech of Your Home, The Future of Travel, The Future of Wearable Tech, and more.
In total, the content series earned over 180 pieces of coverage for their client, RS Components.
I wasn’t involved in the ins and outs of the production on this, but I did help the team craft the visual concept and execution, which they then ran with, to great success.