When the first two connections of the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (Arpanet) were joined between Leonard Kleinrock’s Network Measurement Centre and Douglas Engelbart’s NLS system in California on 29 October 1969, neither man knew the monster they’d created.
It wasn’t until the mid-Nineties that the network, known today as the Internet, made its impact on popular culture. Today we take it for granted and it is, undeniably, one of mankind’s greatest inventions, ushering in a new age of knowledge.
There are no hidden Internets being built by the exhibition industry as far as EW’s scouts can tell, but nonetheless there are plenty of new creations on the way, many of which revolve around the need to lighten visitor welcome packs; the bane of visitors and environmentalists the world over.
The challenge for people creating these new products is convincing the market of the need for the product, taking new technologies from “Did you see...” curios into “Where is the...” necessities.
Take Poken’s wireless data capture and exchange technology. The company has set out to change the way delegates and exhibitors interact with one another, offering a device with one simple goal; removing the need for business cards and promotional literature. You press a USB-enabled fob against that of another to swap contact details and store potential leads. The need for the tool is certainly apparent – who wouldn’t look favourably at any tool that achieves what this sets out to do?
The only problem is that it requires uptake by the vast majority of attendees. What happens when you produce your Poken and the person in front of you produces a card? The two mediums don’t intermesh.
Other companies need to create a market before people understand the benefit of the products. PAL Robotics’ semi-autonomous meet and greet platform Reem, unveiled in Abu Dhabi last year, is impressive but it’s not going to be for everyone. At last year’s UFI Congress, Reem was certainly a talking point but, judging from EW’s conversations, not one that was likely to resound positively on PAL’s bottom line.
Stéphane Doutriaux, the founder and CEO of Poken, says the biggest challenge he faces is convincing users the technology is fun and intriguing.
“Marketing is just as important as innovation – but perhaps not in the traditional sense of marketing,” he says. “We’ve built our marketing into the products by making them a conversation piece, surprising users and making them want to tell others about them. It’s sometimes more challenging to build the right image and excitement into the products than to deploy marketing campaigns to draw attention, but it’s far less costly.
“This is often the domain of startups – we’ve got to be more clever than the guy with lots of money.”
It’s a gamble, but a sound idea creates its own buzz, turning people into brand evangelists, spreading the word and accelerating the adoption of your new technology.
Now – who’s got a good idea?
Any comments? Email arc@mashmedia.net
