The Ups and Downs of Tech in 2018

In general, do you think 2018 has been a good year for technology-based creative advertising?

2018 has been an incredible year for technology-based advertising. AI seems to be the hot topic of of the moment, and it’s super exciting to see that such complex technology can be used with such creativity!

What piece or pieces of work that have a basis in tech innovation have impressed you most over the last year?

“Making the world accessible, dot by dot” by Serviceplan. Dot created a Smartwatch to help blind and visually impaired people access content. It’s crazy to think that there were no hugely impactful innovations in braille reading during the last few decades. Anything new was expensive and difficult to use. Creating an affordable object as an open system, where everyone can write their own programs connected to a smartphone, is for me one of the best ways to ensure that nobody is left behind thanks to technology. 

Platforms such as Google and, specifically, Facebook have been getting some bad press across this year; do you think that has affected the way brands think about and use those technologies?

Even with such bad press, Google and Facebook remain two of the biggest platforms for ads (almost 60% of the market share), as they still have the most powerful data driven tools to target audiences, and brands feel they have no other choice than to use them.

As we know, the issue of data usage has been under scrutiny and the public are now aware of how brands were using their personal information. With the Cambridge Analytica scandal and the new GDPR rules coming into effect, data has started to be managed differently. It’s a core element of how brands can understand their customers. The good thing is that we are at dawn of a new era for data, with more ethics.

"Each year we see big improvements in what’s possible with [augmented reality] and the tech giants are really focusing their research and development on it, to make it more powerful and more mainstream."

Virtual reality, despite the continued hype and money invested, has still not really broken through to the mainstream; why do you think that is, and do you think it ever will?

Virtual reality is an amazing tool to tell a story and engage with people in a more interactive way. It’s great for gaming or a really specialised application like learning, or business-to-business and less great for mainstream consumers because it’s still too expensive to have the good devices at home. It requires a powerful computer and an expensive headset to fully embrace the power of VR.

Of course, there are other affordable solutions but the quality then becomes compromised. At makemepulse, we have always thought that VR is more like cinema: most people will experience it occasionally, some will have the equipment at home, but not the vast majority. AR is a much more mainstream-friendly type of immersive technology.

Do you think that the majority of brands use technology as well as they could? 

At the moment technology is used more like a kind of crutch to improve a weak creative idea. How technology can be applied to brand innovation or advertising is still new for a lot of brands, they don’t have it in their DNA and need to learn how to embrace it at all stages. It will take time, but brands should move fast, because those who embrace it quickly will have a tremendous advantage over their competitors. I think that the best example for that is how Tesla, essentially a tech company, made a car that has revolutionised the whole car industry.

Diversity continues to be at the forefront of industry discussions; do you think advertising is doing enough to promote a diverse range of people within the business? What more could/should it do?

It’s not only an advertising industry problem, it’s global and touches every layer of our society. We have to embrace diversity, be inclusive and create a welcoming environment. And, more than ever, we have to be uncompromising with inappropriate behaviour

What do you think the next big trend or leap in technology will be?

A few years ago, AR was just a layer of digital asset on your mobile camera. In 2018, it went from being niche to must-have tech. Today, AR has an understanding of the environment, world surface detection capabilities and even shareable experiences between users. Each year we see big improvements in what’s possible with this technology and the tech giants are really focusing their research and development on it, to make it more powerful and more mainstream. The big leap will be when AR will be sort of the default way to interact with everything, controlled by voice or 3D interfaces.

"Even with such bad press, Google and Facebook remain two of the biggest platforms for ads... and brands feel they have no other choice than to use them."

What do you think advertising’s New Year’s resolution should be?

Well, we always encourage our clients to add emerging tech to the very beginning of the ideation process, at the very conception of creative development and ideas. What if 2019 was the year we really start to see that?

What will be your own New Year’s resolution, work-related or otherwise? 

My focus is on creating a relaxed atmosphere in the studio. We’re incredibly busy, but the right environment is vital for a happy team. Plus, of course, to spend more time with my wife and baby son. I’m still trying to find the instruction manual on how to read the mind of a six month old…