Top 5 Internet of Things devices

Today is the fifth annu­al Inter­net of Things day. IoT day is a** **world­wide event that brings togeth­er indus­try lead­ers, con­sumers, and mar­keters to dis­cuss the emerg­ing trend of con­nect­ed devices.

With that in mind, here’s a look at some of the recent tech to come out of the IoT trends and what they may mean for the future of marketing.

1. Watches

It’s may seem an obvi­ous one, but smart watch­es are one of the most inter­est­ing upcom­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties for marketers.

Although an exten­sion of your smart­phone, smart watch­es are phys­i­cal­ly by your side all day, and being a pri­mar­i­ly visu­al medi­um the abil­i­ty to dis­play con­tent at any time spe­cif­ic to the users imme­di­ate sit­u­a­tion is an excit­ing prospect.

2. Lighting

At first glance, remote con­trolled light­ing solu­tions may seem like a gim­mick, but applied in the right way they can be used to enhance con­sumer expe­ri­ences tenfold.

In the home, they can be paired with TVs to extend the view­ing expe­ri­ence with ambi­ent light­ing. Using colour to rein­force mes­sages and cre­ate immer­sive envi­ron­ments is just the start of how con­nect­ed light­ing can be used cre­ative­ly with­in the home.

3. Refrigerators

Know­ing what’s inside your fridge wher­ev­er you are will mean nev­er be short of a meal, but also means your fridge has access to your ter­ri­ble diet and mid­night snack habits.

The fridge is the focal point of many house­holds and being remind­ed to buy milk, or hav­ing a recipe sug­gest­ed to you may be help­ful on the sur­face, but more help­ful for mar­keters is the amount of data col­lect­ed and the insights it holds into con­sumer habits.

4. Televisions

Anoth­er focal point of the house­hold, and arguably the most impor­tant for many fam­i­lies, is the TV. Con­nect­ed this to the inter­net opens a world of pos­si­bil­i­ties, how­ev­er with many fea­tur­ing always-on cam­eras and micro­phones pri­va­cy is a big con­cern.

5. Cars

One of the more sen­si­tive devices, if you can call a car a device, to be con­nect­ed to the Inter­net because of the inher­ent trust we place in cars to keep us safe.

The abil­i­ty to pre­pare your car for use before you start the engine is an excit­ing one, espe­cial­ly dur­ing win­ter months, but more excit­ing is the data col­lect­ed through track­ing and the poten­tial to sync with road­side bill­boards to deliv­er per­son­alised mes­sag­ing wher­ev­er you are is sure to have every mar­keter on the edge of their seat.

The oppor­tu­ni­ty all these devices have in com­mon is their abil­i­ty to col­lect data for greater insight into behav­iours that mar­keters can use to inform their cam­paigns. How­ev­er, with the amount of poten­tial data avail­able, it’s impor­tant that the tools to make use of this infor­ma­tion aren’t left behind and that mar­keters think cre­ative­ly and human­ise the data.

If you’re inter­est­ed in the Inter­net of Things and how it will impact mar­keters, I would rec­om­mend ‘The Inter­net Of Things Des­tined To Be A Mar­ket­ing Game Chang­er’ on CMO.com from my col­league Mar­cel Boucher.