MWC Barcelona, previously known as Mobile World Congress, takes place every February in Barcelona. It is the world’s largest mobile technology exhibition in the world. Themed ‘Intelligent Connectivity’, this year’s event focused on the high-speed 5G networks, as well as new smartphones, robots and other Internet-connected devices.

Welcoming more than 100,000 attendees on 25-28 Feb 2019, MWC Barcelona 2019 saw over 2,400 participating companies showcasing their latest technologies, some of which particularly caught the eye:

HoloLens 2

With corporate clients in mind, Microsoft unveiled its new augmented reality headset, HoloLens 2. An upgrade to its predecessor that came out three years ago, Hololens 2 has demonstrated improvements in terms of eye-and hand-tracking. Coming with a USD 3,500 price tag, the device is targeted at businesses with access to Dynamics 365 Remote Assist, helping professionals like medical researchers and mechanics work remotely.

Holoscreen 3D Screen Protector

This screen protector, when used with a special app, turns phone display into 3D and allows you to take 3D photos (provided you have two or more rear cameras). When the app is not in use, the screen protector works just like a normal screen protector. The best part? This amazing invention by Lucid and Holitech costs only USD 30!

Foldable Phones

Another feature of the event was foldable smartphones with the latest bendable displays, the emerging mobile trend:

Huawei Mate X: a 5G-compatible phone with an 8” screen and three cameras. The design even allows preview while taking a selfie.

Samsung Galaxy Fold: a two-screen phone which closes like a book with six cameras.

Robots

Taking advantage of the speedy 5G networks, Chinese player ZTE exhibited a robotic band, comprising a drummer and a pianist, which played music throughout the event. Meanwhile, CloudMinds Technology presented robots that served drinks at a bar.

Mercedes-Benz User Experience

Utilizing artificial intelligence (AI), Mercedes-Benz User Experience (MBUX) is a teachable, individualizable infotainment system to be used in the new A-Class. Its features include navigation— display with augmented reality technology and ’Ask Mercedes’ — a virtual assistant from the German carmaker.

If you’re kicking yourself for missing such an exciting event, don’t worry. Just make sure you mark this on your calendar — MWC19 Shanghai on 25-27 Jun 2019 and MWC19 Los Angeles on 22-24 Oct 2019.

In its effort to promote the realization of 5G by 2020, Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications put together a video clip, titled Connect Future ‘The world connected by 5G’, which offers a glimpse into a future with 5G and an array of other information and communication technologies in use.

Scenes from the clip include: Watching a soccer game through a pair of smart glasses while idling on a driverless vehicle. A medical consultation via a mirror-like screen. Patronizing an unattended store with payment automatically taken care of. Communicating with a foreigner instantly using a multilingual translation system. Delivering a band performance with band members from multiple locations using stereoscopic images.

With the arrival of 5G, all these mind-boggling scenes will become reality one day.

Explanation on 5G

BEEP BEEP — Time to get back to reality. What exactly is 5G and what can we expect from it with our current technologies? Known as the fifth generation of wireless technology systems, 5G provides lower latency and larger bandwidth, enabling much faster transfers of massive amounts of data. In other words, 5G will support a more efficient connection with reduced delays.

Low latency also gives your devices longer battery life, as it frees up high-performance processors, which used to be a big power suck. Plus, 5G is more reliable, meaning that transmission of data is possible even under extreme conditions.

So the question is, are we ready for more evolutionary changes, including those depicted in the above video? Mobile operators and the telecommunication industry play a major role in this miraculous transformation of 5G networks and technologies. In 2019, smartphones and mobile devices that claim themselves 5G have started rushing in the market, but the magic is yet to be seen. Check out the latest mobile innovations to watch in MWC19 Barcelona. 5G is generally predicted to tremendously benefit Internet of Things (IoT) innovation.

Impacts on IoT

By 2020, according to Gartner’s estimation, more than 20.4B IoT units will be installed, while IoT-related spending will grow to nearly $3T. Powered by technological breakthroughs, widespread networks and compatible devices, something more powerful is expected to wow the world in the future, to name a few:

Immersive entertainment

Super-fast downloads made possible by 5G’s low latency and high level of bandwidth will trigger a shift from streaming towards mobile downloads. Quality VR and AR applications will also be more widespread than they are now.

Experiential retail

From shelf-monitoring to inventory coordination, smart technologies have been playing a prominent role in the retail industry. However, the data required for all these services have proven to be overwhelming to existing infrastructure. Not only will 5G make these issues go away, the technologies that 5G brings, e.g. augmented reality and cashier-less retail, are set to revolutionise shopping experiences.

Autonomous driving

At the moment, driverless vehicles rely on onboard computers and radar to scan the surroundings. With 5G’s ability to process vast amounts of data, instead of operating individually, driverless vehicles will operate by communicating with each other, as well as with traffic lights and construction signs, taking autonomous driving to a whole new level.

With the dramatic increase in the number of IoT in recent years, demand for fast, smooth, reliable networks is unprecedented. What transformations 5G will unleash remain to be seen. But one thing is certain, life will never be the same.

What is omnichannel marketing?

Successful businesses don’t idle about and wait for customers. They reach out to them via multiple marketing channels. To take a step further, consider omnichannel marketing — a cross-channel content strategy to optimize user experience, enabling a seamless switch from one channel to another.

Gathering a team of UX design and creative experts, New Digital Noise launched a blog on healthy-living for Cigna Hong Kong, a global insurance provider. Aiming to raise health awareness of the public, the website promotes the need for protection against unexpected illness by starting a healthy lifestyle.

With the website interface and content all set, the next task was to get them delivered to the public and establish audience loyalty. One of the best marketing channels would be a monthly newsletter via email.

To kick start the email blast, we collaborated with a luxury lifestyle guide app to build our first batch of subscribers. Our UX team then worked around with user-friendly layouts and buttons, experimenting with transitions from email to other marketing platforms. For instance, the audience will be given not only access to their chosen web articles, but also suggested articles on similar topics, and an insurance offer to generate sales leads.

The well-established website today, in turn, introduce new subscribers to the newsletter, opening up to a broader range of potential clients.

The role of email in omnichannel marketing

Email often acts as an initial touchpoint in an omnichannel strategy, leading potential clients to other marketing channels on a regular basis. Email marketing has always been widely employed by companies and considered to have a high potential in return. According to the latest Market Email Tracker report by DMA, for every $1 invested in email marketing, the estimated average return is $32.28.

Despite the opportunities in email marketing, let’s admit this: we receive tons of email every day and few actually get opened and read. Knowing how to capture our audience before they skip and scroll down is the real challenge. Feel free to consult our specialists regarding omnichannel solutions.

Facebook recently launched their podcast series 3.5 Degrees. Another big player moving into the voice space through podcasting. There are countless opportunities in this area and voice technology is just at its infancy. Convenience plays a great role. Different from video, it does not require people’s full attention. It allows listeners to multitask while they are on-the-go.

Easy-peasy Podcasting requires a lot less equipment and setup compared to shooting a video. All you need is a good microphone, headphones and a good soundproof room. Softwares are often freely available online for you to do post production so forget about investing in expensive equipment. It is a cost-effective way for you to promote your brand, retain and reach out to your customers.

Steady audience base

Once listeners subscribe to a podcast series, they tend to stay and listen to it regularly, creating a relatively steady audience base. Listeners may even recommend your channel to others.

Build rapport

Listeners often develop a feeling that the podcaster is someone that they know and trust, even though they’ve probably never ever met in person. Such was the case even back in the radio days. This bond between the podcaster and listeners is highly effective in building brand credibility.

Podcasting certainly is a marketing force to be reckoned with. A survey of 300,000 podcast listeners by Internal Midroll has found that 63% of people had made a purchase because of the recommendations made by their podcast hosts.

With the popularity of podcasting and the rise of voice technology like Alexa and Siri, many believe voice is set to be the next disruptor in digital innovation. Comment below to let us know how you see the future of it!

Have your colleagues been disappearing en masse a couple of times a day for 15 minutes each time? Don’t worry, they’re probably just playing trivia game — the online game app of the moment.

The Rise of Trivia Game

Trivia game is a live Q&A style game show app where you can win real cash prizes. The best part? You can play for free! It’s a rather simple game. During each of its 15-minute episode, each player is given 10 seconds to answer each question. If the player gets the answer right, they move along to the next question. If the player gets it wrong, they are out of the game. There are 12 questions in each episode. Players who get all 12 answers right get an equal share of the jackpot.

Launch of QQAA

QQAA is great to engage customers and build brand awareness. You can localize content easily by hiring emerging influencers or celebrities to host the episode, asking the latest questions in lifestyle, entertainment, music, or link to your products. All you have to do is make the questions interesting and fun. Players just need to login then they can start playing.

It is a win-win for both the player and sponsor. Player gets to play for free, while sponsor gets to promote their message subtly into the quizzes. A good way to engage customers and build awareness.

Trivia game shows great potential to replace TV. To start with, anyone can now be the star on a live quiz show. Imagine extending this to reality shows where you can be the judge or direct the camera to where you want it to be. TV will no longer be TV as we know it.

Whether you want to initiate a partnership with something cool or want to market your products and services through gaming experience, QQAA is an opportunity you don’t want to miss. Get in touch now for more details.

When working on target marketing, online marketers often go all out to solve a key puzzle in mind: How to maximise efforts while minimising errors? With a simple digital tool, we’ve found a solution for one of our clients.

We worked with fast food franchise Subway on the promotion of Everyday Value, a combo launched earlier to compete with fellow fast food chain’s meal set deals. With only 24 stores in Hong Kong, Subway was set for an effective online campaign that reached out to the right customers in the right place — with the help of Geo-targeting. 

Geo-targeting is a technology that makes online ads relevant to target audience based on their physical location. We activated seamless touch points at 18 of Subway stores and some of its nearby competitor stores, collecting anonymised data from the mobile phones of visitors every day.

This system identifies potential customers and classifies them into different segments, allowing us to re-target ads on Google Display Network, Facebook, Line and Weibo accordingly with A/B testing. 

We prepared two sets of ad creatives for the given market segmentation, one highlighted the discount, the other on a brand new food item. Effectiveness of the two ads is quantifiable by the number of purchases prompted by respective ads. The campaign ran for three weeks and was a great success. 

When done right, Geo-targeting is a highly accurate and cost-effective way to maximise ad efficacy, especially in the fast-moving retail and F&B industries. It adds value to a brand’s initiatives by gaining a better understanding of customer behaviour and essentially, helping to designate budget and resources to the right audience. Reach out and learn more from us if you are interested!

Travel marketing is about providing an outlook for escape and adventure. Taking to social media, marketers make sure to achieve the following in one single entry — it should entertain potential travellers, inform them about something new and most of all, incite anticipation. From our collaboration with Tourism Australia, we’ve garnered some tips on prompting Likes, Shares and ultimately, actual visits.

1. Include videos

Videos tell stories. The mixture of visuals, motion and sounds is the best way to showcase Australia’s treasure trove of beautiful landscape and natural wonder. Moreover, multimedia content not only connects with audience sensuously, but also emotionally. People are more likely to share video content on social media than any other formats mainly because they connect with what they watched.

2. First-person perspective

Audience want to know what it’s like to really travel there. When the browse travel content, they love to picture themselves in that situation. Develop content from a traveller’s perspective will help generate empathy among your target audience. That’s why the Tourism Australia Facebook page often features content by other travellers. That first-hand account is instantly relatable to anyone.

3. Find the USP

For Tourism Australia, it’s easy to be different. The country’s unique aquatic and coastal offerings, fauna and flora all contribute to powerful visuals. Paired with fun, sensory-focused copywriting with insider tip on travelling there and you’ve got content that easily stands out in the news feed. And yes, cute animals still sell.

In this project, our team works with Australia’s key competitive advantages to produce socially compelling content that appeals, engages and builds connection. Talk to us if you are also interested in generating share-worthy content on social media.