John Antony's Digital Marketing

Have you ever had a dream where you are just walking on a footpath and a burrito just falls from the sky and lands in your hands?? Well, dream no more!

Project Wing, the drone delivery initiative of Google-owner Alphabet’s X lab, has partnered up with Australia’s Mexican food chain Guzman y Gomez and Pharmacy chain Chemist Warehouse to drop of test samples at individuals homes situated in rural areas.

I’m curious as to why Project Wing choice these two Australian chains, I’m guessing it’s convenient for those who get high blood cholesterol from the burrito, will be able to catch some cholesterol tablets from the sky with the help of Chemist Warehouse…haha

Apparently, Project Wing launched a similar program last year for the students of University of Virginia thanks to a Federal Aviation Authority-approved (FAA) partnership with America’s Fast Food chain Chipotle. In this experiment, Project Wing had to deliver burritos to Virginia Tech students in a large open field. However, due to limitations such as lack of testing grounds, FAA regulations and leadership changes made it difficult for them to establish more collaborations in the US market.

Which is exactly why it was an optimum idea for Project Wing to test out this new experiment in Australia as there is more fertile testing ground which allows them to “gather valuable data from having its drones manoeuvre obstacles in real-world neighbourhoods in Australia, while delivering burritos and medicine along the way.” In relation to safely delivering these goods to individuals homes, project co-lead James Ryan Burgess stated that, “The sensors on our aircraft are responsible for identifying obstacles that might appear during a flight or delivery, like a car parked in an unexpected spot, or outdoor furniture that’s been moved.”  Which is an awesome feature to have, as it ensures the requested goods gets delivered to the customer efficiently.

So let me know what you think about this new drone technology coming into Australia? Will it be popular? I know, I’m going to try it. What other stores do you want Project Wing to partner up with? Is this the future of Digital Marketing?

 

 

If you all watched the week 11 online lesson, the  word “blockchain” should ring a bell. For those who are still unsure, blockchain is an “open, distributed ledger that can record transactions between two parties efficiently and in a verifiable and permanent way” and is one of  the emerging technologies that digital marketing will consist of in the future.

Munchee, an app which is like a fusion of both Yelp and Instagram, has given foodies the opportunity to be rewarded with a MUNtoken for leaving a review, with the help of blockchain technology. You may be wondering, “how on earth does blockchain relate to this kind of app?”

Well, usually food review sites are centralised, which results in reviews to be manipulated. For example, a website that profits mainly from positive reviews will be inclined to remove negative ones. The website in this example is is known as a middle-man who controls what gets posted on the site and “we’re forced to trust they are acting in our best interests”. However, blockchain erases the middle-man from the equation and provides a platform which ensures users that the data evident is trustworthy.

Source: TNW

Soon, the MUNtoken will be available to users, restaurants and advertisers. Users, are able to obtain these tokens for not only leaving a comment about a restaurant but also for referring a friend to join the platform. In addition, users can trade in these tokens for awesome discounts and restaurants/advertisers will be able use them to unlock services in the app.

I feel Munchee should come to Australia as there are no other apps similar to it in the market apart from Zomato. I would love to use it and possibly get a free meal. It will be my dream come true!

So, let me know in the comments on what you think about this! Will you use this app? Is there anything you want to suggest to the Munchee digital marketing team? Can you think of any other industries that will profit from blockchains?

Who here owns an iPhone with iOS 11 and have the Uber app as well? I’m guessing, a decent amount of you can relate to it.

Questions such as these will be going through your head right now, “How do these two things relate?”, “I only use the app to hail a ride?” and “Why is this Blogger asking me stupid questions?”

What if I told you that, according to mobile security expert, Will Strafach, Apple has granted a special permission to Uber to record the screens of users, even when they’re not using the app. Pretty Crazy Ey!

In addition, this sinister “entitlement” could be used by Uber or a skilled hacker with the access to the company’s systems to spy on the iPhone users. Security researcher Luca Todesco informed the tech news website Gizmodo, that this tool gives Uber full control over the framebuffer of your devise, which contains colours of each pixel of your screen. Therefore, allow them record your screen and potentially steal private information, such as passwords etc.

Source: TNW

Strafach, also points out that no other third-party developer has been able to get permission from Apple to grant them this type of entitlement but Uber has been able to convince them to do so, despite their past privacy issues. This all being said, Uber has stated that they are currently working with Apple to remove this feature as soon as possible to reassure the privacy of their users.

In my opinion, this is likely to reduce the demand for Uber as not only iPhone users but other smart phone users might be concerned that Uber will be spying on their phone screens as well. In order to counter all this negativity, Uber’s digital team might try to use this feature to their advantage by locating exactly where the customer is waiting so the Uber driver can find them with ease.

Please share your thoughts on this topic down in the comments. Do you think Uber’s demand will decrease? What can Uber do to prevent it? Is privacy no where to be found these days?

 

Look, up in the sky! It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s a Flying Taxi…

Recently, Dubai has test-flown a prototype designed to transport two passengers autonomously, called the Autonomous Air Taxi (AAT). The city believes that this vehicle will be world’s first “Self-flying taxi service” and set to be launched for the general public by 2021.

The AAT is not only environmentally friendly as it’s powered by electricity but the prototype for it “has a maximum flight time of 30 minutes, at a cruising speed of 50 km/h (31 mph), and a maximum airspeed of 100 km/h (62 mph)”  which are only going to improve when the final product is released. Also, there is a plan to make AAT available to the public via a smartphone app that would allow users to book flights and track their journey.  Which will be a great idea as it will provide the public with a simple and efficient way to test out this new invention.

Source: The Verge

Check out this video explaining a little bit more about AAT in Dubai which has a goal to provide service for 25% of the city’s population by 2030.

Imagine if AAT came to Australia! You would be able to bypass peak hour traffic and never be late to work or Uni again! However, some of you might be worried to get on one of these flying-taxi’s incase it breaks down in mid-air. Hence why the AAT is fitted with a parachute, so users can be reassured that it’s safe and become more lenient to try it out.

In my opinion, I feel the public in Dubai won’t be as keen to use AAT as it can only accommodate two passengers at a time and most likely will be more expensive than regular taxis. The digital marketing team for AAT need to find ways to build up the hype and attract more users attention before it gets launched.

Comment below what you think about this! Will AAT be effective in Dubai? If not, what can digital marketers do? And will other countries adopt it as well?

 

 

 

 

 

Has anyone here heard about the ride-hailing company called Lyft? No? Don’t worry, Neither have I. However, this is mainly because the services from Lyft are only available in the United States.

In recent news, there has been some discussion that the Parent company of Google, Alphabet, who are also one of Uber’s shareholders, have double dipped into the ride-sharing goodie bag by having an intention to enter into a $1billion deal with Uber’s biggest competition, Lyft.  Even though, this contract isn’t set in stone yet but the conversions between the two company’s have been promising on several articles floating around online.

Source: UPROXX

Here is an interesting point that Caitlin White made in her article, “Uber is the leading app in the ride-sharing market, with Lyft at number two, but this huge investment could be enough to help Lyft take the lead”. In addition to this, Uber has recently found themselves in a pickle as they had to “deal with accusations of sexism and is facing several FBI investigations. One of them concerns Uber’s spying of Lyft.”  Which is why I believe that Uber should be concerned about this potential investment threatening their strong position in ride-sharing market and need to come up with new and creative ways to combat the rise of Lyft. Some of the ideas Uber’s digital team could propose are to update the app to make it more user-friendly compared to Lyft’s app or give discount to new and existing riders.

So comment below your thoughts on this topic! How will Uber’s Digital team react to the possible investment in Lyft? Do you think Lyft will drive into Aussie shores as well? If so, will it be popular?

 

 

Why did the chicken cross the road? The answer is not “to get to the other side” but continue to read my blog and you will soon find out the answer!

Is it just me or does anyone else here can’t stop smiling once you set your eyes on some delicious fried chicken? What if I told you that in a KFC located in Province of Hangzhou, China, you can use a new “smile to pay” system to purchase some KFC. How cool is that!

However, this system doesn’t complete the transaction for you as it only verifies your financial information, so lazy people like me don’t have to waste time and effort getting my debit/credit card out of my wallet. But in order to complete the transaction, you must enter your phone number as a secondary security measure.

Source: asiancrush

Check out this video on Mashable that demonstrates further how this cool new systems works!

I initially thought that this system can be easily hacked by randoms wearing mask that looks like you (I highly doubt they will go to that extreme for some fried chicken but you never know these days) or even use picture of you and enter in your number to grab themselves a free meal. So I believe, an addition of security questions as secondary security measure will be more secure. This being said, in this article, Jidong Chen, Ant’s Financial’s head of biometric identification tech promised that “Combined with a 3D camera and liveness detection algorithm, Smile to Pay can effectively block spoofing attempts using other people’s photos or video recordings and ensure account safety.” So you can eat fried chicken coated in the well-known 11 secret herbs and spices without exposing the secret numbers of your credit card!

So let me know what your thoughts are about this new initiative that KFC introduced. Do you think customers in western countries will be keen to try it? and will other fast food places introduce this system as well?

OHH! and the answer to my “Joke” is… So it can be purchased at KFC with a smile :)… Thanks for Reading!

 

 

 

 

 

Picture this…

You walk into your favourite retail store and you see Robots working instead of humans. What would you do?

• Option A. Get freaked out and leave
• Option B. Continue shopping like it’s normal
• Option C. Add it to your Snap Story

Recently on an article I read, there has been discussion about AI(Artificial intelligence) replacing retail jobs in the future. Tristan Greene, in this article is in favour of this change, as he believes from his personal experience, retail is an emotionally stressful job and “no amount of compensation is enough for the people who are forced to take that kind of abuse from the general public everyday.” He also stated that Amazon has physical related spaces that provide a people-free shopping experience, which gives us a teaser of how retails stores will look like if AI takes over.

Source: Google images

I personally, don’t think retail jobs are going to be replaced by robots. I have worked in retail as well and not everyone is abusive to you. It’s illogical to assume that because of abusive customers we should be in favour of robots in the workforce. I don’t know about anyone else, but I will find it awkward getting help from robot instead of a human.

However, in this Forbes article, it lays out some interesting points to examine both sides of  the topic. First being, Alex Dayon, the president and chief product officer at Salesforce stated that “Robotic manufacturing has accelerated close to 60%”. Furthermore, “Salesforce and other vendors that are using AI  and machine learning to better automate mobile payments, more personalised marketing and better search software.”

Even though, these are helpful for online retailers, they don’t improve in-store experience, which is essential for bricks and motor retail stores. Moving forward, physical stores need to collaborate with vendors like Salesforce to create the best shopping experience for customers, either its online or in-store.

Let me know what you think on this topic. Do you think robots will replace retail job? Do you prefer the in-store shopping experience? How is going to effect the stores digital marketing?

How many of you are avid gamers or just play to pass time when you’re bored? What if I told you that these games know exactly when you quit playing….creepy right?

In this article it states that, when we play games, we create traces of data which provide information on how we play, how long we will stay interested and even when we quit playing as well.  THEY WILL KNOW.

In recent times, international team of researchers have been investigating the relationship of players behaviour and psychological traits such as what stands out as fun and engaging to enable game creators to foresee what players would do in the next level or what can be improved.

As this industry is generating around US$100 billion per yr, it is paramount that they gather relevant knowledge to create a game that not only satisfy gamers needs but is popular amongst a competitive industry.

Source: thenextweb

In addition, researchers across academia and industry have implemented machine learning techniques which is a “method of computer programming that allows the programme to change when exposed to new data”. In doing so, it trains models to narrow down to an individuals play style, predict what their next move will be and identify key problems they may face which will prevent the player from enjoying the game. This model is also known as the prediction model, which is used for example, in complex game such as Destiny (cost US$500 million to make) to see how long gamers will continue playing for.

I, Myself enjoy playing games in my spare time and would love to see how my gaming experience will change after more games opt for the prediction method.

Do you think more gaming companies should introduce this method into their games or would you be concerned that these games would be able to trace not only your gaming patterns but your private information as well? Let me know what you think in the comments below!

Some of you may of heard this already but few weeks ago the CEO of ANZ Bank Shayne Elliot joined the most popular social media platform, Facebook.  You make think why Facebook? Why not any other social media? As Shayne Elliot is already on Twitter, he believes joining  Facebook is “just a great way of communicating particularly for somebody like us with thousands of people all over the place and millions of customers” and he is interested in “Twitter and Facebook is that the digital impact on our business is profound and you have to be part of it.”

The purpose of this Facebook page is to shape a future where people and communities thrive and allows him to connect with new people about ANZ and what ANZ is achieving in the community today. On this page he is planning to post interviews and discussions that he has with ANZ staff, customers and general public as well. In addition to this, it allows him to interact with customers on a personal level by responding efficiently to their needs and providing them with great service in the near future.

Source: http://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/9a3688a38d660cf54bdf25eb09a9a295

I’m keen to see how effective the inclusion of Facebook in ANZ’s business strategy will be in the long run. As I’m an employee as well, I’m looking forward to contribute to this new way of working and satisfy all customers I deal with. I personally believe, there will be a positive change to the bank.

As Shayne Elliot is the first CEO out of the top 4 banks to create a Facebook page, Do you think the other CEO will be thinking of joining Facebook as well to try to compete or what else will they do? Also, what do think the pros and cons will be for ANZ in the long run?

 

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