Search Results for : Wearables

Amazon is trying a new way to take its Alexa digital assistant mobile by developing wireless earbuds that mirror Apple’s popular AirPods. The Seattle-based e-commerce giant is readying earbuds with built-in Alexa access for as early as the second half of this year, according to people with knowledge of the plans. The headphones will look and act […]

International digital and direct agency Flourish has added the Samsung Gulf Electronics CRM account to its client list following a competitive four-way pitch. The work will encompass digital CRM strategy and delivery, as well as creative across the entire consumer product portfolio including mobile, tablet, wearables, television, audio and home appliances. Flourish first started in […]

Any partly sane mind in the tech industry knows that making predictions about the future of technology, even a year out, is an exercise in vanity. Still, it pays to forecast what the future holds for us vivacious marketers, so we can prepare our clients, FOMO psychs and, oh yes, our clients. From an ‘innovation-evangelical […]

“Calling me the head of innovation is too far-fetched,” says UM MENA’s head of innovation, Rasha Rteil, rather modestly. Innovation is present across the agency because it is more of a philosophy than a discipline – although it is being developed as one at the agency. “It is a DNA that needs to be bred […]

UM MENA, through its innovation and technology division UM Labs, is launching three playbooks covering wearables, proximity marketing and the creation of dynamic content in the MENA region. Currently, Empowered by Wearables is available online, while Proximity Matters and When Technology Pilots Content will be available in October and November respectively. The playbooks are the result […]

Last year was the year of mobile. You blinked? Well, you missed it. We moved from multiple screens to one – the mobile – and now, we’re again including new screens through wearables and virtual reality, resulting in a shift in consumers’ consumption habits and technology adoption. The one interesting element that governs this seismic […]

The year of mobile. Cross-device targeting. Geofencing. Personalized marketing. Identity-based targeting. The small screen revolution. These are just some of the phrases that do the rounds when people talk about mobile – if not digital – advertising. However, there seems to be a certain bubble surrounding mobile advertising in the MENA region, where smartphone penetration […]

For the first time, UM MENA has launched its annual trends for 2016 in a report titled “Next Thing Now”. The report features the insight of media specialists at the agency as well as professionals from Coca- Cola, Google, DMS and Yahoo! Highlights from the report include: Technology & innovation For 2016, brands must approach […]

In a world where Kim Kardashian rules social media and Donald Trump runs for the US elections, it might seem rather easy for things to be misunderstood. However, people aren’t always the cause. Sometimes it’s just the context. For instance, the quote, “Rather thicker than one usually sees…quite rigid…ten-and-a-quarter inches,” didn’t sound wrong at all […]

  What did you think of Festival of Media coming to the region for the first time this year? I think it’s about time. Due to the way awards are structured here, they generally tend to lean more toward creativity, so they lack a certain level of rigor. What media companies have done here – […]

Bank Audi and MasterCard launch the “Tap2Pay – NFC Wearables, ” a first-of-its-kind payment solution in the Middle East, during a press conference held at Bank Audi headquarters in Bab Idriss on Tuesday, March 31. This modern payment solution marks a new era for credit card payments in the region as it introduces MasterCard’s contactless technology that can now […]

The new digital trends 2015 research conducted in UAE from Microsoft has revealed that the modern consumer is putting pressure on brands to use personal information collected online to tailor services and help them get more done. The research – taken from Microsoft Advertising’s bi-annual Digital Trends report – found that 74.2 percent in the […]

Usually, around this time of the year, some colleagues and I peer into our crystal balls to predict the year ahead in media and advertising across the MENA region. This year, I’m taking a slightly different approach. Without a doubt, I will peruse the countless predictions and forecasts, discussing with others what they mean for […]

Research firm Euromonitor International recently released its report titled: “The top 10 global consumer trends for 2015,” authored by Daphne Kasriel-Alexander, consumer trends consultant, Euromonitor International, UK. As consumers increasingly make choices based on creating a positive impact on community and the world of digital and real life converge, consumption patterns are set to see […]

Following Active PR  and Hotwire PR’s  launch of their first Digital Trends Report 2014 for the Middle East, Communicate sat down with Active PR’s managing director, Sawasan Ghanem to glean some more insight into the changing landscape of digital in the Middle East. Can you tell us about the methodology, duration and location of the research? We […]

When self-proclaimed “brand futurist”, acclaimed author and Time magazine’s 2009 Influential 100 list honoree, Martin Lindstrom, set out to unravel the subconscious motives of addictive smokers in a neuromarketing study (neuromarketing explores cognitive, emotional and sensorimotor responses to marketing stimuli) of unprecedented scale and size in 2004, his drives were, quite oppositely, very conscious. Lindstrom’s mother was […]

Payment solutions provider Visa Inc. has created Visa Digital Solutions, a suite of offerings that facilitate secure payments across a broad range of Internet-connected devices and wearables. In 2014, commerce initiated with mobile phones and tablets is expected to total $114 billion in the US alone, according to research firm Forrester. Two-thirds of those sales will happen via […]

  WPP‘s global media agency Mindshare has set up a global wearable technology group called Life+ to help brands take advantage of the nascent technology. Life+ will be headed by Jeff Malmad, managing director of mobile at Mindshare North America, and is designed to help brands understand the opportunity that wearable technology presents, whilst ensuring […]

  Under the title “10 Mobile Trends for 2014 and Beyond”, JWT has released its third annual report on trends in the mobile sphere, mapping out how the world of mobile connectivity is evolving The report spotlights key themes that came out of this year’s Mobile World Congress, Consumer Electronics Show and South by Southwest […]