What does 5G mean for brands: 3 takeaway meals from MWC

There has been a lot of "wow" at the MWC's 2019 event this week. Robots have done everything from dancing a template to imitating humans in real time wire needles. Holograms were a slice of the future life more important than ever. And on Thursday, a participant even inserted a chip under the base his forefinger so that he can better use his automated home. Change is on the way, and the world of technology was boiling at the Barcelona show, which generally attracts more than 100,000 participants.

For brands, most of the relevant discussions focused on the impact of 5G networks, an important topic at the MWC in recent years, but which is now closer to reality. AT & T should deploy 5G in a dozen US cities. And in five years, 5G will account for 50% of US connections, while consumers will forgo the Internet at home for the latest technology.

It's time for marketers to plan 5G in the future. Here are three great things to remember from this year's CMM.

1. The IoT will generate richer experiences and data

The 5G's data will be more dynamic for several reasons. The main reason will be that the number of global IoT connections is expected to triple to 25 billion by 2025.

The automotive industry is ripe with opportunities on this front. BMW has announced to the MWC its goal to combine the data of its voice recognition systems with the latest tools of artificial intelligence, gesture control and eye recognition. Here's how it works: If you talk while driving, you can use hand gestures and your gaze to turn down the speaker volume, open vents, or adjust the sunroof. In other cases, you may want to use your voice to do the same things.

In the era of smartphones, the talk of the industry is too often centered on the idea that consumers will stop talking on the phone or having voice conversations. BMW has the right idea: how, when, where and why we use our voice, it evolves because of technologies such as connected vehicles and smart home systems. Whether consumers talk to a smart speaker, a refrigerator or a car, the captured data will help brands create a better customer experience.

2. 5G Phones Will Open New Ad Formats

Smartphone manufacturers are venturing into the 5G. The new phones introduced this year include 5G versions of popular models, such as the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G and Huawei Mate X.

For brands, 5G represents new possibilities for mobile marketing and interactive content. TV and movie marketers, GIC players and retailers should determine which customers are using the first 5G phones. They can obtain this information by querying customers who are already on their SMS / MMS list.

Marketers can then test one of the most interesting opportunities of 5G: the ability to stream long-term video content via a multimedia messaging service (MMS) to anyone with a smartphone . Branded films are extremely effective during the holidays and seasons of the Super Bowl. Providing such immersive content – that you do not need to create from scratch for brands with sophisticated video operations – via MMS will be a new type of brand experience to the consumer. Are consumers willing to use long video? With 5G, brands can know it. The download time of a 30 minute video will be a few seconds rather than several hours.

3. Foldable phones reinvent screens

The phones listed above, as well as competitors such as Motorola Razr 2019 and Royole FlexPai, do not only come with 5G versions. They also bend. These flexible supercomputers the size of a tablet allow you to use separate screens to look at two things at once or look at a single screen on both sides of a table.

Brands that create mobile content will have to completely rethink the screen experience. Marketers will need to consider whether to prepare content differently when the screen is folded or unfolded, and what kind of screen-sensitive technology they will need to take advantage of the customer experience. Brands will also need to understand the impact of these screens on the design of their mobile sites and where they place calls such as phone numbers.

These devices, which currently cost about $ 2,000 or more, are unlikely to reach critical mass by the 2019 holiday shopping season. But industry watchers predict they will be popular alternatives to smartphones and tablets. classics by 2021.

CMM offers a window on the next decade

The 32nd edition of the Mobile World Congress gave an overview of the future. 5G and IoT offer many new possibilities for connecting to other people and devices – it's discouraging. In this next phase of mobile, marketers will need to think about the different ways consumers interact with the world, with each other and with content. It will be essential to follow.

Ian Dailey is senior director of product marketing for Invoca's Call Tracking and Analysis platform company.