Floor 9

This week on Floor 9, it’s about the Vision Pro! Ryan, Adam, and Chelsea regroup on Floor 9 for an in-depth discussion of Apple’s groundbreaking “spatial computing” headset. From our team’s first impressions of trying it on, to unpacking its use cases and market implications, the Lab team is eager to share our hot takes on Vision Pro. Key topics include:Assessing the Vision Pro launch and initial reception - starting around 0:57The Lab team’s first impressions of Vision Pro - starting around 3:31Discussing Vision Pro’s primary use cases - starting around 7:37Does Vision Pro signal a computing paradigm shift? - starting around 18:57The entertainment value of Vision Pro - starting around 21:40The user experience of Vision Pro: isolating or shared? - starting around 29:24Vision Pro’s impact on the mixed-reality headset market - starting around 34:23The marketing implications of Vision Pro and brand takeaways -  starting around 39:34If you enjoyed the episode, please consider giving us a five-star review on Apple Podcast. Follow the Lab on Twitter @ipglab and on Medium for our latest insights. Thanks for listening! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome back to Floor 9! This week, your hosts Ryan and Adam are joined by Chelsea Freitas from our Strategy team to take a deep dive into the trends and themes from our latest annual Outlook report, which includes:Macro trends in consumer behaviors - starting at 0:42Life's New Beats - starting at 13:36The Remixed City - starting at 24:50The Revenge of the Monoculture - starting at 37:50The Expanding Experience Economy - starting at 45:48Make sure to check out the full version of Outlook 2024 report on Medium here: https://bit.ly/LabOutlook24If you enjoyed the episode, please consider giving us a five-star review on Apple Podcast. Follow the Lab on Twitter @ipglab and on Medium for our latest insights. Thanks for listening! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome back to Floor 9! As always, we’ll kick off the year with a CES episode, in which the Lab team assembles to recap the biggest trends we spotted at CES 2024, including:How the AI hype manifested on the CES show floors, both the good and the bad (1:05)How the translucent TVs wow'ed the crowd and could be interesting for retail (2:56)How interoperability emerged as a major trend for smart home devices (4:25)How digital health solutions continue to be on-demand and home-centric (11:09)How immersive experiences are evolving and supercharging next-gen entertainment (15:17)How some CES exhibitors brought a luxury touch to their products through cutting-edge tech and design (26:10)How the CES showcased the latest trends in play and toy: the rise of educational toys, and AI-enabled play (37:48)How the auto industry is rushing to integrate AI into the dashboard and re-adjust their EV strategies (47:44)And many more!In addition, we also each named our favorite CES product this year!To learn more about CES trends, read our written recap here on Medium.If you enjoyed the episode, please consider giving us a five-star review on Apple Podcast and Spotify. Follow the Lab on Medium for our latest insights. Thanks for listening!Correction: at the 22:21 mark, Richard mistakenly said "Roku" when he meant to say "Roxi" when mentioning their new interactive linear broadcast channel. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

To close out this significant year of innovations, the Lab team assembles for an end-of-year recap of the biggest trends that defined the tech and media landscape for the past 12 months:The rise of generative AI & its impact on creator economy and marketingThe “post-streaming wars” reality & the new opportunities in interactive ad formatsThe shifting social media landscape & the pivot in social commerce The revival of monoculture & the resulting “funflation” on consumer spendingThe emergence of spatial computing and immersive headsets, spurred by the impending release of Apple’s Vision ProListen now to hear what the Lab team has to say about each of these five topics that will continue to influence consumer behavior in 2024 and beyond. You can read more about the trends discussed in this episode in our year-end roundup piece here on Medium.If you enjoyed the episode, please consider giving us a five-star review on Apple Podcast and Spotify. Follow the Lab on Medium for our latest insights. Thanks for listening! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to our annual holiday shopping trends episode. This year, this holly jolly discussion is led by Chelsea Freitas,  VP of our Strategy team, and she is joined by two other members of our strategy team, Adam Simon and Katy Geisreiter. In this episode, the trio shared some must-know stats about this year’s holiday shopping trends and consumer behaviors, highlighted their favorite tech-enabled retail holiday campaigns, and debated the effects of funflation and other marco-economic forces on holiday shopping behaviors this year. Listen now!  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome back to Floor 9. This week, we are tackling the hottest innovation territory of the year, generative AI, and its impact on the ad industry with the help of two brilliant UM thought leaders: James Fox, Global Chief Strategy Officer, and Andrew Littlewood, Global Chief Product Officer. Together with the Lab’s managing director Adam Simon, the trio discussed the state of generative AI, especially in terms of where it is in the Gartner hype cycle, the industry leaders in consumer-facing AI, what marketers can do with the new AI tools, and what’s next for generative AI. In addition, the following intriguing questions were also raised and explored:Is generative AI already over the peak of its hype cycle?How quickly will we culturally accept to use private data to train generative AI?Will generative AI cause the ad industry to implode? How far away are we from achieving human-level general artificial intelligence? If you’re curious about generative AI and want to learn about how it impacts the world of advertising and marketing, this episode is a must-listen!Floor 9 is a podcast created by the IPG Media Lab to bring you our latest musings and hot takes at the intersection of consumer technology and digital media.If you enjoyed the episode, please consider giving us a five-star review on Apple Podcast. Follow the Lab on Twitter @ipglab and on Medium for our latest insights. Thanks for listening! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome back to Floor 9. In this episode, we had the honor of having Kara Manatt, EVP of Intelligence Solutions at MAGNA, and Edwin Wong, SVP, Insights & Innovation at Vox Media, to chat about their recent blockbuster research on the persuasive power of podcasters and podcasting’s growing influence. When asked which media figures’ influence matters most, their study found that 75% of listeners say podcast hosts compared to 15% who say social media influencers.Kara and Edwin shared which podcasts they love most, then dived into the most revelatory findings from the joint study, “Podcasts: A New Era of Influence” (starting at 11:07). Some highlights of their discussion include:Why podcasters are now more influential than other types of influencersWhy IPG choose to partner with Vox to learn more about podcastsHow podcasters can help listeners with mental health and self-actualization How brands can harness the persuasive power of podcasters and drive results You can learn more about this joint research here: https://www.voxmedia.com/2023/5/10/23718269/podcasts-a-new-era-of-influence If you enjoyed the episode, please consider giving us a five-star review on Apple Podcast. Thanks for listening!  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode: What the Lab thinks about Vision Pro, Apple’s first spatial computing device, and its potential impact on media consumption habits. Plus, various other interesting tidbits from Apple’s WWDC event this week, including the unified presence of widgets across OS’s, and Apple’s deliberation omission of generative AI. Floor 9 is a podcast created by the IPG Media Lab to bring you our latest musings and hot takes at the intersection of consumer technology and digital media. In this episode, you’ll hear from Adam Simon, our managing director, and Ryan Miller, director of partnerships. If you enjoyed the episode, please consider giving us a five-star review on Apple Podcast. Follow the Lab on Twitter @ipglab and on Medium for our latest insights. Thanks for listening! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome back to Floor 9! As usual, we are kicking off the year with a CES recap episode that features the entire IPG Media Lab team, plus Chad Stoller, Global Chief Innovation Officer of UM Worldwide. Listen now to hear about our team’s thoughts on the biggest trends in digital health, entertainment, mobility, smart home, and vice economy coming out of this year’s CES show floors! If you'd like to learn more about our CES learnings, please check out the Lab's CES content, including an in-depth written recap, here: https://ipglab.com/ces/Follow the Lab on Twitter @ipglab and on Medium for our latest insights. Click here to listen and subscribe! If you enjoyed the episode, please consider giving us a five-star review on Apple Podcast. Thanks for listening! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Come one, come all! ‘Tis the season for our annual holiday episode of Floor 9. This year, we’re closing out the year with a not-so-Secret Santa gift exchange featuring co-hosts Ryan and Adam, along with the entire Strategy team here at the Lab — Chelsea, Katy, and Richard. All the gifts given in this episode have ties to one or more of the Innovation Territories that we track throughout the years at the Lab, while also reflecting what we know of each other. So listen now to find out what we gifted each other, and why we think they are representative of the key innovation trends. Maybe our selection of innovation-minded gifts will inspire gifts for your loved ones, or highlight innovation territories to pay attention to!As always, you can find Adam on Twitter @adamjsimon, and Ryan on LinkedIn. Follow the Lab on Twitter @ipglab and on Medium for our latest insights. Click here to listen and subscribe! If you enjoyed the episode, please consider giving us a five-star review on Apple Podcast. Thanks for listening! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome back to Floor 9! 'Tis the season again to talk about holiday shopping trends. Listen now to hear co-hosts Adam and Ryan walk you through the following trends in holiday shopping and recent news from the streaming services:Highlights from recent holiday shopping reports from Insider Intelligence and the Deloitte holiday survey;The looming recession’s impact on holiday shopping (or the lack thereof);Amex’s Small Business Saturday event and how to support SMBs during the holidays;News on emerging shopping trends: Amazon partnering with Snapchat for Shoppable AR lenses & Peloton’s new ecommerce widget;Latest streaming news on Netflix and Apple adding live sports content, the resulting increase in ad opportunities, and Disney’s broadening ecosystem playWe close out the episode with a quick discussion on the ongoing FTX debacle and a potentially long crypto winter. If you enjoyed the episode, please consider giving us a five-star review on Apple Podcast.As always, you can find Adam on Twitter @adamjsimon, and Ryan on LinkedIn. Follow the Lab on Twitter @ipglab and on Medium for our latest insights. Thanks for listening! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on Floor 9, we welcome a panel of experts on direct mail, including Dave Fink, Founder and CEO of Postie, Paul Tracey, VP of Advisory Services at Matterkind, and Lauren Banks, Brand Marketing Specialist at USPS. Moderated by Ryan Miller, Senior Manager of Partnerships at the Lab, our group of industry insiders dive into the unique capabilities of direct mail as a media channel, dispel some common misconceptions about direct mail among marketers such as addressability and sustainability, and explain how modern direct mail companies (like Postie) have digitally enhanced a century-old marketing channel. If you wish to learn more about how direct mail has become a privacy-first, brand-safe media channel, along with some suggestions on best practices, you won’t want to miss out on this great discussion on Floor 9!Recommended reading:2022 Holiday Marketing Playbook by PostieUSPS Educational Portal: https://uspsmailjourney.comLogistics and marketing insights from USPS: https://www.uspsdelivers.com/As always, you can follow the Lab on Twitter @ipglab and on Medium for our latest insights. Click here to listen and subscribe! If you enjoyed the episode, please consider giving us a five-star review on Apple Podcast. Thanks for listening! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Lab team is back on the mic to discuss the latest announcements from Apple. Host and Senior Manager of Partnerships, Ryan is joined by Adam and Katy from our Strategy team to chat about everything Apple unveiled during Wednesday’s “Far Out” event, from the funky Dynamic Island design for the new iPhone 14 Pro to the rugged Apple Watch Ultra with new emergency SOS features, as well as all the brand implications these new products and features will entail. Listen now! As always, you can find Adam on Twitter @adamjsimon, and Ryan on LinkedIn. Follow the Lab on Twitter @ipglab and on Medium for our latest insights. Click here to listen and subscribe! If you enjoyed the episode, please consider giving us a five-star review on Apple Podcast. Thanks for listening! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on Floor 9, we’re delighted to chat with Jennifer Solomon-Baum, North America Marketing at Microsoft Advertising and Innovation Lab Lead, to learn about how the maker of Windows has emerged as the latest heavy-hitting player to join the digital advertising arena. In this episode, we talked about Microsoft’s growing advertising capabilities (many of which were announced at the Microsoft Build 2022 event), the unique ecosystem of services that Microsoft has at its disposal to reach the “Workday Consumer”, and the myriad of ways that brands can take advantage of their ad offers. You can follow Jennifer on LinkedIn, or watch her in The Download, a video series that she produces (highly recommend the special episode from Cannes!) In addition, you can also read more about the Workday Consumer, a new commissioned research conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Microsoft Advertising, and read more about the future of work on WorkLab.  As always, you can find Adam on Twitter @adamjsimon, and Ryan on LinkedIn. Follow the Lab on Twitter @ipglab and on Medium for our latest insights. Click here to listen and subscribe! If you enjoyed the episode, please consider giving us a five-star review on Apple Podcast. Thanks for listening! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome back to Floor 9! This week, we welcome back Joshua Lowcock, UM’s Global Chief Media Officer, for an in-depth discussion about all things metaverse with our SVP, head of strategy, Adam Simon. From where the metaverse currently sits in the hype cycle, to the competitive landscape of the platforms with “metaverse aspirations," to understanding the metaverse as a operating system, Joshua and Adam talk through the various key aspects of this hot-button concept and, more importantly, what it means for brand marketers eager to enter the metaverse.As always, you can find Adam on Twitter @adamjsimon, and Joshua on LinkedIn. Follow the Lab on Twitter @ipglab and on Medium for our latest insights. Click here to listen and subscribe! If you enjoyed the episode, please consider giving us a five-star review on Apple Podcast. Thanks for listening! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome back to Floor 9! This week, co-hosts Adam and Ryan bring you the must-know highlights from the 2022 WWDC keynote that Apple gave on Monday. From new lock screen UI design to new Apple Wallet features, they chat about how Apple continued to show commitment to creating seamless user experiences, with a newfound emphasis on customization and shared experiences. Innovation-minded brands know that Apple’s WWDC announcements often offer a sneak peek into the future, and we hope this episode will help you better understand the new features coming soon to millions of consumers.As always, you can find Adam on Twitter @adamjsimon, and Ryan on LinkedIn. Follow the Lab on Twitter @ipglab and on Medium for our latest insights. Click here to listen and subscribe! If you enjoyed the episode, please consider giving us a five-star review on Apple Podcast. Thanks for listening! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on Floor 9, we’re delighted to welcome audio ads expert Alyssa Meyers, who works as a reporter for Morning Brew's Marketing Brew newsletter. Adam Simon, US Head of Innovation at UM, talked with Alyssa about the state of podcast advertising, a booming ad market that is forecast to exceed $2 billion in revenue in 2022. From major growth drivers like Dynamic Ad Insertion (DAI) and programmatics to newer formats beyond host-read ads, Alyssa shared with us her insights on how and why brands should consider leveraging podcasts to reach an increasingly mainstream and diverse audience.You can find Alyssa on LinkedIn and follow her work on Morning Brew for the latest insights on audio ads.Follow the Lab on Twitter @ipglab and on Medium for our latest insights. If you enjoyed the episode, please consider giving us a five-star review on Apple Podcast. Thanks for listening! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to another recap episode of Floor 9! This week, Adam and Ryan will walk you through all the major announcements from the latest Google I/O developer event, where the search giant announced several brand-friendly features on visual search, voice assistant, digital wallet, data privacy, and more. In addition to these software updates, Adam and Ryan also talk about Google’s hardware news from the event, including the all-new Pixel Watch and a pair of AR glasses that Google subtly showcased in a demo video (which may or may not be vaporware). Listen now to hear our take on Google’s announcements and their implications for brand marketers. You can read an in-depth recap of this event on our Medium site here.As always, you can find Adam on Twitter @adamjsimon, and Ryan on LinkedIn. Follow the Lab on Twitter @ipglab and on Medium for our latest insights. If you enjoyed the episode, please consider giving us a five-star review on Apple Podcast. Thanks for listening! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For this episode, we had the pleasure of chatting with Randall Rothenberg, Executive Chair at IAB, and ​​Chris Bruderle, Vice President of Research & Analytics at IAB, about the insights on social commerce from their brilliant annual Brand Disruption report. Together with your host Ryan Miller, we discussed the rise of direct brands and storeless commerce, how social media has become the new TV, the role of micro- and nano-influencers in social commerce, and the best practices for brands to tap into social commerce. If you’re a brand looking to understand how shopper behavior is shifting in the age of social commerce, this episode is a can’t-miss!You can find Randall on Twitter @r2rothenberg and on LinkedIn, and Chris on LinkedIn. You can find the Lab on Twitter @ipglab and on Medium for our latest insights. Click here to listen and subscribe! If you enjoyed the episode, please consider giving us a five-star review on Apple Podcast. Thanks for listening! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Floor 9 is back with a special post-event recap episode! Co-hosts Adam Simon and Ryan Miller are joined by Chelsea Freitas, our VP of Strategy & Innovation, to discuss the 2022 Snap Partner Summit. Listen now to hear our thoughts on the new creator tools and brand-friendly features that the Snapchat parent company announced during its annual media event, in addition to some brand suggestions on how to utilize AR to deliver brand value, today and tomorrow.If you enjoyed the episode, please consider giving us a five-star review on Apple Podcast. Thanks for listening! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.