The number of people owning wearables keeps growing. According to IDC, the wearables market grew by 1.7% by 2023. The slow pace of growth is mainly due to slow innovation and fast adoption. Simply put, there's a lot more demand for such products than tech companies can meet.
There's no wonder Apple, Samsung, and many more companies are working on wearables. Following the success of its AI-glasses, Meta has allegedly started working on a new wearable product called Camerabuds. Let's find out what Camerabuds are, and if they or similar products are going to make marketers notice.
What are Camerabuds?
Tech news and reviews site Engadget reported that Meta is making AI-enabled headphones. Meta's trying to put two cameras in headphones or earbuds. The name Camerabuds comes from that. The idea behind the product is to detect the wearer's surroundings and power AI in real time. According to reports, the product uses AI to identify objects in real-time and translate foreign languages. This product seems to be designed to collect a ton of personal data about wearers and everyone they meet. In other words, Meta wants to build another wearable with multimodal AI. Meta is said to be working with Ear Micro to explore the possibilities of developing the product.
Why is it noteworthy, especially for marketers?
There's always a new tech product with bleeding-edge technology. Most of them don't make it to market. So what's all the fuss about Camerabuds? For one thing, Meta's smart glasses in collaboration with Ray-Ban, a luxury eyewear brand, have been pretty successful. It wants to replicate the success on new products.
Secondly, Meta's trying to get ahead of the competition. Mark Gurman reported earlier this year that Apple is exploring new wearable products like fitness rings, smart glasses, and cameras on AirPods.
The third possibility is Meta trying to create a bundle of products that enable extended reality through AI-powered versions of the stuff people carry around now. They can be standalone glasses or earbuds, or they can be a connected alternative to a VR or mixed-reality headset.
With wearable devices powered by AI, the possibilities are endless. Wearables like glasses or earbuds can be turned into information-generating devices with AI. A hyper-personalized and convenient advertising experience could be created from this information.
Apple Watch is a good example. Apple turned a centuries-old watch into one that tracks real-time health info, fitness performance, location for emergency responses, and much more. Different brands have already started using creative marketing tactics to reach and target their customers with the product.
How are brands already taking advantage of wearable marketing?
Marketers have found a lot of opportunities with wearable devices. I found some examples where wearables like fitness trackers and smartwatches helped brands deliver targeted fitness challenges and rewards; offer location-based promotions for nearby stores; and personalize notifications.
Nike, for example, partnered with Strava so Apple Watch users could win exclusive rewards once they hit a certain running distance. This was part of Nike's efforts to improve running safety as they donated to two organizations that create safe, inclusive spaces for people of all ages and abilities, especially women.
Telefonica O2 partnered with mobile marketing company Placecast to send geo-targeted SMS and MMS to its subscribers. Through the campaign, O2 was able to rotate multiple brands like Starbucks and L'Oreal and increase average revenue per user. By combining Placecast's location-based experience with O2's 22 million customers, brands could target their audiences and give consumers relevant information and offers. Because only opted-in customers were targeted, privacy concerns didn't arise.
Adidas leveraged user data from its Runstatic app available on smartwatches, to provide a more holistic and personalized fitness experience. It offered fitness products or personalized coaching tips based on the user's running habits, like distance, pace, and heart rate. The data was sourced from its own app and possibly on-device, so any possible privacy violations were avoided.
Considering the limited information we've got through public sources, Meta's Camerabuds could capture visual and auditory data that marketers can use to understand consumer behavior and preferences if and when they come out. These data can help companies understand the environments and contexts in which their products are used, making marketing more targeted.
Built-in cameras and AI capabilities could make these headphones into augmented reality (AR) products, allowing for interactive and personalized ads. Think about a scenario where a user is listening to music and they get an overlay of a nearby store's special offers.
Real-time, context-aware marketing is possible with AI and cameras. Users can get fitness-related ads or promotions instantly if their headphones detect that they're in the gym.
AI can analyze a user's listening habits to deliver personalized audio content like music, podcasts, and ads. Using this capability, marketers could create audio ads that resonate with individual users, improving campaign effectiveness.
What can wearable marketing look like?
Wearables have the potential to create a symbiotic relationship between users and brands as more products are introduced to meet unmet demand. Brands could provide hyper-personalized and convenient advertising with adequate user content.
Since wearables are on the customer most of the time, they can deliver more contextually relevant ads. The ads could be triggered by real-time user behavior and surroundings. There could be interactive experiences that go beyond notifications. This would boost customer engagement for brands. Deeper AI-powered understanding of customer preferences and buying habits could lead to more personalized targeting.
The wearables could provide seamless, richer, and interactive advertising experiences that captivate users and drive up customer engagement if they're integrated with virtual reality or augmented reality.
Wearable marketing has huge potential, subject to a few things
New technology comes with a lot of marketing promises, but also some caveats. In order for wearable marketing to succeed, it needs to give users control over the data collected and how it's used. Compliance with data protection regulations like GDPR and CCPA is essential. Additionally, it should offer incentives and relevant information personalized for individual customers so that it stands out from intrusive SMS and MMS ads. In addition, it has to make interaction with ads easy and smooth.
Whether it's Meta's artificial intelligence-powered headphones with cameras, or similar products offered by other tech brands, wearable technology offers marketers exciting new ways to interact with customers.
As wearables become more affordable and ubiquitous, marketers will be able to reach a wider audience through engaging and innovative methods. Wearable tech has a great future, promising more immersive, contextual, and data-driven strategies that will transform how brands connect with their customers.
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