What Apple’s latest product announcements tell us about its strategies in audio, AR, and smart home
Editor’s note: This is an abridged edition of our Fast Forward newsletter. For the full version, please contact our VP of Client Services, Josh Mallalieu (josh@ipglab.com) to send a request.
On Monday, Apple hosted its second fall product event, titled “Unleashed.” During this hour-long event, Apple nominally focused on two…
The at-home economy boom is enjoying the lingering effects of a drawn-out pandemic, and the home remains a valuable space for brands to explore
The last time we wrote about the at-home economy, in June 2020, we charted its lockdown-triggered boom and applied a “Start, Stop, Continue” framework to discern the various consumer behavior trends that had popped up to help brands focus on the ones that will have staying power. At the time…
What Amazon’s Latest Product Event Tells Us About the Future of the Smart Home
Editor’s note: This is an abridged edition of our Fast Forward newsletter. For the full version, please contact our VP of Client Services, Josh Mallalieu (josh@ipglab.com) to send a request.
As we enter the fall, tech companies are starting to share the latest updates to their product lineups in anticipation…
Apple unveils new hardware lineup as it doubles down on Fitness+ service and computational photography
Editor’s note: This is an abridged edition of our Fast Forward newsletter. For the full version, please contact our VP of Client Services, Josh Mallalieu (josh@ipglab.com) to send a request.
On Tuesday, Apple held its first fall event of the year to unveil some updates to its hardware lineup as…
What luxury brands need to know about the cultural trends and technological advances that are shifting luxury consumption for millennials and Gen Z
Luxury brands are the ultimate exercise in brand storytelling. A Chanel handbag is not necessarily more functional or beautiful than a Coach, yet it is seen as a better status symbol, which is simultaneously inferred from and validated by its higher pricing as well as its worldwide brand recognition. …
NFTs are making a comeback in gaming and could become the economic foundation for future metaverses
At the beginning of the year, we witnessed the mainstream breakthrough of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) after digital artist Beeple grabbed headlines in March as one of his works sold at Christie’s for $69 million. Before long, household brands from Taco Bell to Charmin were jumping on the bandwagon and releasing…
Is your brand ready to put on a good show?
Social commerce is poised to take off in the U.S. after years of anticipation and laying the groundwork, thanks in part to the pandemic-driven boom in ecommerce and increased social media consumption. As the mall-ification of Facebook and Instagram continues apace, independent social commerce platforms are also emerging to help…
Challengers to Google’s search monopoly bet on user privacy as a key differentiator, but the future of search is far from clear
Google built its sprawling empire on the foundation of its search ad revenue. Its enduring dominance on the global search market has resulted in its very name being used as a proprietary eponym for online search. Over the past few years, Google has been able to hold onto its market…
Netflix is getting video games, Instagram wants to become TikTok, and TikTok is selling its algorithms — would audience attention stay fragmented for long?
After writing about the diverging paths that the major social platforms are taking to secure their futures, I started to think about the broader shifts happening in the attention economy today that are disrupting the way brands capture eyeballs and engage with consumers. There are a number of factors at…
What brand marketers need to know about ecommerce solution providers like Shopify, Affirm, and Square
Fintech has always been part of the ecommerce infrastructure. After all, running an online shop requires digital payment solutions. Some ecommerce platforms, such as Amazon and Shopify, develop their own integrated payment solutions, while others like Squarespace and BigCommerce rely on fintech partners, such as Square and Stripe to provide…
