Creative Corner - Feb08

Can touch this?

What do the Apple iPhone, the new HTC phone, and Coca-Cola have in common? They all have the ‘magic touch'... literally.

Apple has always viewed hardware and software as interrelated parts of the overall-consumer-experience. It makes technology compatible with people, not devices. By making products that look, feel and work good, they don't have to brag about their technology. It becomes a change-agent - transforming how people approach and embrace gadgets. Technology becomes intuitive, rather than alienating.

HTC, on the other hand, uses emotion to position itself. To launch its touch-technology-enabled phones, it rolled out a nostalgic campaign around the idea of ‘first touch'. A baby's first tactile experience, and a first kiss were used to illustrate the intense emotion associated with touch. Reducing technological benefits to simple emotions makes technology more approachable and also conveys the implicit simplicity of the product.

We are, after all, feeling animals as much as thinking ones. Only recently have brands capitalised on this human truth - through emotional, sensory and tactile experiences, technology is becoming more human.

At Bates, we have been tracking the change from 'hardware' to 'designware' to 'feelware'. This is as a changing point where technology, through more direct tactile experiences, is brought down to a less intellectual, more personal, intuitive and usable level.

As advertising agencies ‘go digital' and touch technology becomes more pervasive in mainstream categories, we need to remember that technology should not be used as a panacea for engagement. Touch technology offers more convenience but consumers don't necessarily want to exchange human touch and interaction for control. People find comfort in the familiar. Sometimes the challenge to creativity is not to do something new, but to use old, familiar paradigms to make a new idea easier to accept.

In a visually saturated world, a good old tactile experience can add enormous depth to the brand experience - allowing us to touch base with consumers in ways that e-commerce can't. Yet.

As a kid, when I was out shopping with my Mom, she would tell me, "Touch with your eyes only". My folks are no marketers, but they knew beyond the risk of accidentally breaking something, tactile sampling gets people closer to buying.

Touch, on the deepest levels, engages the consumer in the product. Brands should consider creating touching zones where shoppers can ‘see and feel for themselves'. By adding a touch screen on its range of T-Touch watches, Tissot has encouraged people to touch their watches rather than just look at it - hence changing their behaviour.

After years of lame metal cans and plastic bottles, Coke's latest campaign in Singapore brings its iconic bottle back. Before it lost its mystique by dropping its familiar glass bottle, it had both visual appeal and tactile advantage. People knew the feel of the bottle in their hand, and holding that it meant drinking from a historical piece of American pop culture. Maybe that's the reason for its longevity.

'Feelware' could prove increasingly important for brands in the future. As Asia ages, demographics shifts show in 2050 about a quarter of the population will be over 65 in China, Japan, Korea, Thailand and Singapore. Making products more intuitive could just be the most obvious killer application for seniors.

Just imagine. What if the next campaign you create doesn't just touch consumers... but actually makes them want to touch back. It could happen. Touch wood.

Frederique Covington

Executive Planning Director

BatesAsia 141