An Evolving e-Landscape: Synergistic Intersections of Technology and Brand Management

Deborah Helman*

DeVry University, North Brunswick, NJ, USA

Leslie de Chernatony Universita della Svizzera italiana, Lugano, Switzerland and Aston Business School, UK

Eric Addeo

Panasonic, USA/DeVry University, North Brunswick, NJ, USA Abstract This paper examines the implications of three imminent “big bangs” in our “universe”: the networking of home appliances, Internet enabled e-health applications for an ageing population, and the emergence of networked intelligent transportation systems. We explore the three environments and the inter-relationships between these environments, and suggest branding opportunities. Emerging technologies, Internet lifestyles and brands are evolving and presenting a new set of marketing challenges and opportunities as the mobile consumer armed with multiple devices and engaged in multiple tasks takes to the road, whilst connected to multiple environments. Keywords Brand Management; Technology; Internet Lifestyle; e-Landscapes; Value Creation, Intelligent Transportation Systems, Home Networking, e- Health * Contact Information: Dr. Deborah Helman DeVry University 630 US Highway Route One North Brunswick NJ 08902 USA Tel: 001 732 729 3951 E: dhelman@devry.edu

An Evolving e-Landscape and Synergistic Intersections of Technology and Brand Management Introduction There is a vision being explored by an unprecedented partnership of industrial research organizations, academia, and government research organizations. The vision encompasses “anytime, anywhere” communications. This incorporates home applications, new intelligent transportation applications, and e-health care appliances and communications services in the home aimed at reducing the soaring costs of medical care for a burgeoning ageing population. These three “big bangs” will likely change the way people work, interact with family members, socialize, and derive health care services over the next seven to ten years. This shared vision is driven by an increasingly large population of sophisticated Internet citizens who seek to leverage enhanced, multimodal communication environments to juggle home, work and personal needs, to have high quality and dependable home health care. The vision was the theme of the IEEE Communications Society 2005 International Conference on Communications. This paper sets out to explore the opportunities that arise as technology and brand management intersect in the evolving e-landscape. Literature Review Our understanding of the immense scope and scale of changes in the e-landscape stems from earlier research on changing patterns of relationships between consumers and organizations. A seminal research project examined the impact of three inter-related revolutions structural, expressive and technological, on the industrialized world in the second half of the twentieth century (Gowler and Walters 1984). The authors explored the implications for consumers and business, and successfully anticipated a range of trends most notably, partnering/strategic alliances and mass-produced individuality. Subsequently, insights were provided about interactive patterns of change between consumers and retailers (Walters 1989). This research linked a number of significant contributions concerned with role changes between consumers and retailers (Hirschman and Stampfl 1984, 1989), ownership of goods as social capital (Douglas and Isherwood 1994) and time use (Gershuny 1986). The Gowler and Walters (1984) model was applied to the development of lifestyle brands in retailing (Helman and de Chernatony 1999). The consumption of lifestyle retail brands was found to be an interactive process where value is co-produced through construction, communication and consumption activities (Helman 2003). These ideas are evolving and remain relevant. The advent of C2C communications via the Internet reflects a major role shift and we now see consumers performing the roles of traditional social institutions in the production and diffusion of popular culture (e.g. retailers) as change agents, gatekeepers, opinion leaders and innovators. The ownership and use of goods connect individuals to society, these links may be strong or weak and certain kinds of goods and services accrue more value. As time has marched on these insights are particularly valuable in building our understanding of the value of information, and social networks as consumers’ build social capital. Gershuny’s (2003) continued work on time use, and changing patterns of work and leisure provides an understanding of critical shifts, and very importantly the notion of the household as a producer of goods and services – in the self-service economy, or the high value-added economy. In the Internet era, the impact of the Internet on the home, has fundamentally transformed people’s use of time and space. This stream of research has been pursued by the

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Oxford Internet Institute (Wajcman and Hadden 2005). The growth of social media networks and the blogosphere have now become the focus of an emerging field in marketing referred to as Marketech (Vanden Heuvel 2009). The current paper focuses on a set of key changes resulting from the interaction of the three revolutions, that have given rise to power shifts in the marketplace resulting in changing directions of market pull and evolving dimensions of brand management. Emerging Dimensions of Market Pull and Brand Management The Internet is the most profound change to impact our environment, as predicted by Gowler and Walters (1984). Consumers can manipulate time and space, redefine power and exchange relationships, and redefine the nature of purposeful activity. Consumers can build, redefine, and possibly destruct brands. All this can be achieved by a mobile consumer from their mobile phone – brand advocates or brand terrorists may emerge. Early in the development of Internet marketing, Hanson (2000) identified three key driving forces. These are: firstly better, cheaper, faster digital devices based on Moore’s law; secondly, networks where following Metcalf’s law, value derives from increases in network size; and thirdly, individual interactivity. Technology-oriented lifestyles have emerged with individuals who are innovators or early adopters of new technologies. Early adopters of the Internet were male, middle-aged with higher education and incomes (Hanson 2000). Times have changed and the use of the Internet and consumer electronic devices have become ubiquitous – to the extent that, technology has become part of the fabric of everyday lives. Consumption of lifestyle retail brands was found to be an interactive process, involving a set of activities including education, symbolism, embellishment, transformation and display (Helman 2003). This is not a passive process, and the Internet enables consumers to adopt a truly interactive role in the process of brand development. Co-production of value has evolved into the development of brand communities, personalization, and partnering (Hanson and Kalyanam 2007). Of particular interest is the huge impact of social media and the importance of the social capital conferred by this. To summarize the characteristics of an Internet lifestyle that have intensified market pull are identified as:

• Consumers expect an interactive experience • Consumers expect to be able to control relationships: the consumer is king • Consumers expect to be able to manipulate time and space: boundaries become

transparent • Consumers expect to be able to redefine meaningful activity: work/leisure • Consumers expect to be able to transform everyday life: to personalize and to create

communities In relation to the purpose of this paper, we want to briefly outline the dimensions of brand management that might concern the brand manager in responding to the dimensions of market pull.

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Supporting the logic that branding ought to be regarded as an output process involving consumer participation (de Chernatony 2006), Helman (2003) explored the links between consumption experience, the retail marketing mix, interdependent brand values, brand identity, and value constellations in the development of lifestyle retail brands. Brand identity creates a frame of reference that guides brand development and guides the brand in the market. Kapferer (2008) suggests strong brand identities provide a sense of direction for organizations and consumers. The shift to integrated brand promotion reflects recognition of the need to project a clear brand identity and cut through the cluttered marketplace. Once again, the Internet is key in providing a forum, and a means of facilitating the development of databases and personalized promotions to provide integrated communications. Olins (2003) has succinctly mapped out brand architecture and the critical aspects of brand creation and sustainability. Rajagopatel and Sanchez (2004) have emphasized the importance of a coherent brand architecture in the international environment. Placing the brand in a broader organizational context, Normann and Ramirez (1993) examined IKEA as a value constellation. Walters (2003) overviews the value chain literature and the various configurations linking value producers. Walters and Rainbird (2007) have examined value creation in the emerging “new economy” and show the importance of information and relationship building as co-produced sources of value that are relevant to multiple stakeholders. As a consequence multiple dimensions of branding become more pressing. These include:

• Brand values • Brand identity • Brand touchpoints • Brand architecture • Brand value constellations

As we shift into the online and mobile environments a new set of challenges emerge. Consumer lifestyles have been fundamentally transformed by the online environment. Consumers are armed with multiple devices and engage in multitasking as they move through their everyday lives. This then raises challenges. For example, how can the multiple facets of brand identity be managed across multiple touch points in the online and offline environments? How can brand durability, coherence and realism (Kapferer 2008) be maintained in a rapidly evolving e-landscape? What are the implications for brand architecture? An Evolving e-Landscape The following sections provide an overview of the salient characteristics of each of the “big” three Applications/Services environments. Examples are given of how these new and evolving environments can be leveraged to establish and/or reinforce brand identity, expand market opportunities, and promote market presence, with useful and usable end-user applications. Each section outlines potential service and application scenarios for each of the three “big bangs.” Examples are given of how these emerging applications could be leveraged by businesses for market advantage with an opportunity for cost sharing of the delivery of new applications and services to the end-consumer. Home Networking Appliances: The e-Home Appliances are essential to modern life in an expanding e-enabled society (Addeo 2006), from the vacuum cleaner for the carpet in the front room, through the microwave oven in the kitchen,

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to the mobile phone in the pocket. It is difficult to imagine living in a modern world where these convenient devices do not exist. Consider the functional enhancement of these devices with network support, giving them access to the myriad information and control sources of the Internet. The microwave oven can download recipes and tune cooking cycles to perfection, the vacuum cleaner can report a tight bearing to a maintenance agency, and maybe, as depicted in a subsequent example; the mobile phone can act as the key to the front door. The possibilities enabled by allowing appliances to extend beyond their own domain are limited only by the power of imagination. The demand for networked consumer appliances and devices is large and growing rapidly (Wacks, 2002). At home, in a car, at work or at play, consumers want transparent networking for the systems and devices they rely on for entertainment, information, and communications. Such networking should be on-demand, with whomever or whatever they want, regardless of time or location. To meet these requirements, industry has invested heavily in a variety of wireless and wireline communications technologies, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. This is evident from the emergence of 3G and 4G, WiFi and WiMax, Bluetooth and Zigbee, Ultrawideband and TV-band, Powerline and Free space optical communications systems. The applicability of the networked appliance is not limited to some futuristic world. Indeed, many of the technological underpinnings along with the network infrastructure are already in place. Figure 1 (see Appendix) suggests entirely new degrees of freedom for branding that exploit the inherent communications capabilities in the connected home - to reinforce brand identity and provide insights for product development. Example Scenario: Security service provides alerts for users about soft-failures, or the onset of potential failures of an Internet connected water heater before this appliance breaks-down and floods the basement. This service could be provided by an appliance manufacturer at reduced or no service costs to the end-consumer. Business motivation for provisioning of this service include opportunities for establishing a “presence” in the home that reinforces a market image for reliable cutting- edge technologies that helps to bind the consumer to the appliance manufacturer and/or the local appliance store where the item was originally purchased. Example Mobile–to-Home Application Scenario - Parcel Delivery: In this example, Eric is riding with Alex in Alex’s car and remembers that he was expecting a service person to come and fix the refrigerator; he does not have his Web phone. He asks to borrow Alex’s phone and sends a message to his service provider to notify him if someone rings the doorbell. When the service person rings the doorbell (and authenticates him/herself with an ID badge), a message is sent to Alex’s Web phone for Eric, indicating that the service person is at the front door. After verifying that it is indeed a person from the right company, Eric issues a command to unlock the front door, disable the home security system, and let the person in. Eric can then access any one or a variety of IP cameras and bi-directional audio interfaces, in his home foyer, and kitchen area to see and interact with the service person during the repair. When the repair is completed, Eric electronically signs the service order form, and watches as the repairperson leaves, and then remotely locks the front door and reactivates the home alarm system.

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Intelligent Transportation Systems: ITS Significant initiatives have been underway by governments, transportation authorities, car manufacturers, industrial research organizations, and the academic community, to accelerate the development of an intelligent transportation system for safe, efficient, and convenient driving by leveraging capabilities of enabling wireless communications to provide vehicle to vehicle, vehicle to infrastructure, and vehicle to roadside communication systems (Wang 2006). This is illustrated in Figure 2 (see Appendix). These technological underpinnings hold the promise of a new wave of services including improvement of traffic safety, reduction of traffic congestion, and support of information services to vehicles. Example scenarios are as follows: • An emergency-response vehicle, such as a fire department truck, rapidly

approaches an intersection with a four-way stop. As it nears the intersection, a radio device on the truck sends an electronic message to similar devices located in all nearby vehicles to preempt the crossroad. The onboard computers of any of the receiving vehicles first alerts the drivers about the emergency, and then, if necessary, autonomously slows down the cars to avoid a collision.

• As they drive by the welcome center of the town that a family is visiting for the weekend, a wireless transceiver in their minivan receives an announcement from an access point in the building, advertising free global positioning system maps updated with information about the tourist attractions for that particular weekend. After receiving confirmation that the passengers are interested in this particular information, the transceiver downloads the maps.

• On the way to work and using the speech user interface of her car, the doctor connects to her Web-based calendar application and listens to the list of appointments she has that day.

The first scenario is an example of a public-safety application that implies vehicle-to-vehicle communications. The second and third are instances of private applications that entail a vehicle-to-infrastructure information exchange, and the third example, involves traditional Internet access. J-I-T messaging and context aware devices will create a range of opportunities in relation to product development and integrated brand promotion strategy. Information networking for an Ageing Population: e-Health This is a “problem-set” that is receiving increasing worldwide attention. It is well known that the percentage of older people in developed countries is rapidly increasing, however related health costs are growing at an accelerated rate. According to the US Bureau of the Census:

• In 2050: 33% of Americans will be older than 65 • Post retirement lifespan has increased by 5-7 years • If you make it to 65, you can expect to live another 10-17 years • Most females born in 1980 will live to be 100 • You no longer die young but live with chronic disease

Unquestionably, the Internet and the World Wide Web were the crucial communications capabilities that have enabled recent changes in health care delivery, including portability of multimedia data bases of health records including high resolution imagery of CAT scans, X-rays, patient medical histories, and other clinical information. Recently, advances in wireless networks, sensors, and portable devices offer additional unique opportunities to further improve the quality of health care. For example, ubiquitous computing technologies allow health care

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control to be decentralized from hospital systems and potentially deployed in the home (Koichiro et. al. 2009). This physical realization could enable new classes of anytime and anywhere home-health care applications that can postpone/avoid hospitalization, while providing timely intervention and electronic access to health-care providers. Opportunities arise for transforming hitherto unglamorous devices, appliances and equipment into aesthetically pleasing product ranges targeted at a range of lifestyles. Figure 3 (see Appendix) and the example applications illustrate some of the possibilities. Communications Networking Perspective Technical directions of the Internet suggest that the evolving next generation network will become increasingly intelligent with Application-Aware and User-Aware services that are uniquely matched to the personal profile of the end consumer. This direction presumes that the network will also have a capability for security and privacy profiles that can be specified and ultimately controlled by each end-user. Security is a particularly important issue since the applications and services may be applied to personal environments (home, car, other personal spaces etc.) with personal and private information available online. At a minimum, message authentication and encryption are required to ensure that the appliance signaling cannot be intercepted, modified, or copied. Furthermore, it is likely that multiple service providers and users may have restricted access to appliances within a user’s personal environment. Supporting this type of functionality requires a fine degree of access control. However, an expanded discussion of security/privacy issues and mechanisms is beyond the scope of this paper. Market Pull and Brand Management in the e-Landscapes A multidimensional model that reflects the potential reality of a new era of market pull that spans the complexity of diverse application planes is shown in Figure 4 (see appendix). Market Pull (P1, P2, P3) may span one or more application planes. For example, P1 depicts consumers of networked home appliances (e-Home), Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), and networked health care appliances (e-Health). P2 depicts consumers who have adopted e-Home and ITS applications, while P3 depicts consumers of only e-Home applications. Other consumers may use different combinations of the three application planes. It is appropriate to note that market pull may not occur in a straight line, and more likely, the paths for P1, P2, and P3 will take on a nonlinear constellation through each application plane that is matched to the particular needs of an end–user. Our examples focus on the functional benefits offered to the consumer, consideration must be given to the emotional benefits that will differentiate these product-service combinations. From an organization’s perspective, if you are IKEA where can you go in the e-Landscape? How will you get there, how will this impact your brand? Given the complexity of these emerging markets, new strategic alliances will be needed to provide a forum in which companies can collaborate to understand solutions in a new market around the Internet lifestyle, with the objective of:

• Sharing knowledge about the customer, the technology, the market and the economics • Collaborating on market acceleration opportunities • Understanding emerging value-chain business models

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Examples of this type of business alliance exist (e.g. Internet Home Alliance), but not on the scale and dimensions needed for the complex market envisioned in this paper. These alliances will emerge with a business imperative to:

• Understand the wants and needs of Internet citizens • Learn through the execution of pilots that create and test real-world, end-to-end solutions,

value chain analyses, and business models • Lead through an active voice in industry and government forums leveraging the

collective strength of the alliance membership In the e-landscape managers must consider where their brand fits when a consumer’s everyday life involves simultaneously habiting multiple environments and engaging in multiple tasks, and where the notion of benefits sought changes as consumers seek an optimal set of benefits across multiple tasks/landscapes:

• What range of products and services does the brand extend to and how does this alter the competitive environment?

• How can a consistent brand identity be built across what could be a disparate array of products and services?

The challenge for marketers is apparent as we have seen the shift from brand building using 30 second advertisements targeted at a passive audience, to brand building in a dynamic, mobile, and interactive environment unfettered by time and space. Future Research This paper has mapped out the landscape of e-Life – Internet lifestyle. Our intention is to stimulate dialog and generate future research. We have indicated an extensive range of applications, these are focused on functional product attributes, but what is the form of the value proposition that should be delivered to consumers in the e-landscape? Research should be undertaken to gain a deep understanding of consumer lifestyles and the meaning and value creating opportunities in the e-landscape. More specifically, future research should explore shifting attitudes towards security and how this could manifest as functional or emotional brand benefits. There seems to be an important opportunity arising to gain a full understanding of how the increasingly fragmented supply chain can be managed to deliver a consistent brand message by integrating the consumer into the virtually integrated organization. Beyond personalization, what role will consumers play in developing product-service, and brand concepts in the e-Landscape? Will the end-user ultimately drive the evolution of applications and services? Will end-users be in control with intuitive user interfaces that are common across applications? What implications will there be for value chains and value creation? What will be the role of operators of converged applications? Will we ultimately see the emergence of converged digital industries with information technologies, broadcasting, media and content industries and consumer electronics all using the same digital content and same kind of applications and services? How will this convergence take place and what are the new rules of the market place? The authors envisage an opportunity to address these issues through the development of a global research coalition and the development of case studies of organizations as they embark on brand building in the e-Landscape.

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Conclusions Marketers must understand the impact of technology at a high level and the notion of ubiquity to be able to leverage the promises of technology. We anticipate that branding opportunities as they intersect with technology will change dramatically in a very short space of time. This paper postulates how the e-landscape might look and how brand building approaches could evolve. The challenge will be to manage brand building in rapidly changing environments and to seek new attribute configurations within and across the e-landscape environments. The notion of a seamlessly integrated consumption experience takes on new dimensions and possibilities. Organizations need to consider this new taxonomy of technology and build a brand architecture that fits.

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Appendix Figure 1: The Networked Home

Equipment Operation Status Checks: - Checks the ON and OFF status of appliances - Transmits an emergency stop command when necessary

Video Images around the House: - Multiple IP cameras (Internet accessible cameras around the house could be accessed remotely with capabilities for time-lapse recording)

Failure analysis/Maintenance service: - Aggregates data on operation status in case of a malfunction - Automatically reports to the service person at a contracted service company

Monitoring for Signs of Life: - Checks use of bathrooms, water services and other requisite facilities. If not used for a certain period of time, it is reported to the nearest public institutions

Equipment Operating Instructions: - Operating instructions are easily misplaced or lost

Security Checks: - Checks any abnormality at entry points of the home

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Figure 2: Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Ubiquitous Broadband Scenarios RoadRange: Wi-Max  

  

Internet Access: With shared access to the Internet, appropriate security services, content rating, and payment services  

Personal Communications:  New services can be created like automatically turning down the music when an incoming call is answered 

Health Care: Communications and alarm functions   

Energy Management: Remote monitoring and control of home appliances (e.g. set home temperature before arriving at home, defrost and cook supper so it is ready when arriving at home) 

Security: Home security systems can provide status information from a number of home sensor devices  

Entertainment:  Access to licensed content such as games, paid TV, and Mp3 files 

Information Management:  Aggregate management of shopping lists, calendars, to‐do lists and J‐I‐T messaging 

Pay‐Per‐Use:   Printing services from the automobile  

Synergistic Services:  Location‐aware services   

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Figure 3: e-Health: Health Monitoring and Health Advice

Health Monitoring: Sensors built in the toilet read values for weight, blood pressure, body temperature, pulse, and checks via urinalysis if he or she has a chronic disease. The data is then transmitted to the family doctor.

Health Advice with High Resolution Teleconferencing Capabilities: On the basis of the health monitoring data and diet, advice for maintaining health on a regular basis is provided. Usually this service takes the form of an exercise menu and recipes in the form of pictograms. When necessary, physicians give on-screen advice, applies a questionnaire when someone falls ill and provides medical care to patients after their first visit to hospitals via the video conferencing function.

Nursing Care for Homebound Patients: Provides advice on nursing via images to bed-ridden elderly and patients undergoing rehabilitation. Artificial intelligence decides which advice to provide to specific cases.

Home Delivery of Meals: Provides meals according to diet requirements, with links to hospitals to assure healthy menus.

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Figure 4: Dimensions of Market Pull and Brand Management in the e-Landscapes

    e‐ Home

            ITS

  e‐ Health

       P1P2 P3 

Brand Dimensions

Dimensions of Market Pull 

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