The commoditization of computer chips will lead to the omnipresence of the internet, with our clothes and walls being connected, experts predicted.

This will not only create countless new communications channels, it will also produce an enormous amount of data, which, when harnessed, will allow brands to communicate with every consumer on a one-to-one basis, they said at the the 2011 edition of PHD BrainScape, the network’s regional conference.

Presentations by Dr Michio Kaku, renowned physicist, author and broadcaster; and Mark Holden, global strategy and planning director at PHD Worldwide, provided details of hundreds of predictions.

Designed to cover the way we will live, work and communicate in the future, the event provided its 192 delegates with a vivid and exciting preview of the technologies about to come out of the labs and into our lives.

Starting with flexible screens and contact lenses, all connected to the internet and giving us access to the information we want or need, Dr Michio Kaku, professor of theoretical physics and the City University of New York and host of “Sci-Fi Science” on Discovery Science, delivered predictions with a 20-year horizon, such as our ability to control machines by thought rather than by action.

“Because computer chips and the internet will be ubiquitous, consumers will have perfect knowledge of prices and products everywhere in the world. Our knowledge of how much things cost will become infinite,” Dr Kaku predicted. “This will revolutionise society and lead to perfect capitalism.”

He advised countries and companies to move from commodity capitalism, where wealth is measured in goods with prices that fluctuate or fall, to intellectual capitalism, where the mind produces wealth.

Dr Kaku also offered his vision of what success will entail in this technology-driven future and while it presents challenges, it also offers countless opportunities. “What we will see is another version of reality, through extra layers or immersive media. This is where advertising will live, in a non-linear and individually targeted environment tailored for each individual,” he elaborated.

Echoing the predictions and revelations of Dr Kaku, PHD’s Mark Holden highlighted the technologies that will become significant in the next five years and their impact on society and marketing professionals.

He highlighted connected TVs, markerless augmented reality, enhanced voice-recognition, Natural User Interface (NUI) and NFC (Near Field Communication) and how, coupled with the acceleration of social media usage, they are changing the actual physics of marketing.

“With one in every two people in the developed world connected to a social network, there are now 1.2 billion independent media owners all linking to each other. They are influential, given that peer recommendations are more trusted than any form of advertising,” Holden argued.

“Since social networks affect the entire web, they leave a print on ‘social graphs’.” In other words, consumers will increasingly transcend their individual weight and the greater their network, the more value they will hold for a brand.

By 2016, we will be living ‘just-in-time’, using our smart devices, be they phones or tablets, to book restaurants and flights, and answer questions simply through voice recognition. Purchases will be more fluid, based on user reviews and even brand sentiment data, with this data being fed into real-time dashboards.

By 2016, Holden forecasts the advertising industry will largely be considered as much a technology industry as it is considered a creative industry, as investment decisions will be made in real time on the basis on analysis of various data sources. Algorithms will be everywhere and force the distinction between agencies that go for upscale services, largely based on content, and those going for the automation of media services.

During the panel discussion, Hilary Jeffrey, president of PHD EMEA, summed up by describing the speed at which technology is re-shaping the media and marketing landscape as “phenomenal”.

“The future will require more of a test and learn culture, what we at PHD call being in perpetual beta. This means a need for even greater collaboration between clients, agencies and media owners and more willingness to share in both the risks and rewards that follow,' she concluded.

“The combination of a scientist and a strategist of the caliber of Dr Kaku and Mark Holden has proved extraordinarily powerful, in that it has allowed us to dream wide awake,” commented Elda Choucair, the general manager of PHD Dubai. “Not only have we visited the future but we’ve also been given the means to manage the transition and capitalize on the opportunities these new technologies will create. This is eminently actionable and precisely what our clients expect of us.”

“This has been a fantastic eye opener and brought technologies into a great deal of perspective in terms of timing, impact and implications on the way we need to communicate with consumers,” added Fadi Assaker, regional category manager at Arla Foods. “It has been a privilege to listen to such gifted and insightful speakers such as Dr Kaku and Mark Holden. I also enjoyed Ms Jeffrey’s pragmatic and useful take on this. PHD must be applauded for putting on such a show!”

The event was produced in association with Rotana Media Services, Ipsos and The Economist Group.  - TradeArabia News Service