As technology for home automation and entertainment advances, we are starting to see more and more brands take an interest in those spaces. With that interest, of course, comes the question of how they can make money off of this emerging technology. So, how will home automation systems and virtual reality be impacted by corporate America’s ever-persistent plight to capitalize on everything?
Home Automation
Home automation will never see required advertising as part of its systems. The whole point of home automation is for people to be able to easily, quickly, and conveniently complete a task. If you have to start hearing or seeing advertisements before or after completing a task, the entire system that home automation is built on will crumble.
Don’t let that fool you into thinking that brands won’t find a way to capitalize on this market, though. There are several ways that brands can infuse themselves into the home automation space.
One way is that producers of products can make it so their products only work with each other – meaning you couldn’t combine Samsung and Wink products to work together. Of course, there are third party products that help consumers get around this.
Another way brands can find innovative ways to advertise using home automation is to form exclusive partnerships. An example of this would be if a home automation product allowed you to connect it with Amazon’s Echo for voice control, but not with Google Home. If you want to be able to use voice control, you’ll be forced to buy the Amazon product over the Google product.
You may also see home security products pairing with surveillance companies and offering discounts and other specials that motivate more customers to choose them. Sometimes, you can even get a free home automation product when you sign up for other home services like solar panels.
Virtual Reality
Where brand have to get innovative with their advertising within the home automation space, the virtual reality space is a playground. Since virtual reality builds worlds that are either based on real places or completely made up, there is ample opportunity for advertising and product promotion. If the virtual reality scene takes you to New York City, suddenly the developer of the game has hundreds of billboards to sell. Though that is a more obvious example, there are so many smaller opportunities for brands to do this as well. Say the virtual reality experience is a roller coaster. Brands can add their logos to the coaster’s carts and safety bars. If the virtual reality space takes you to a restaurant or a bar, brands can subtly infuse their products all over.
Virtual reality worlds can be sponsored by a brand, or brands, so that everything from the basic colors used to the music you hear is connected somehow. There is really no cap to where advertising in virtual reality can go – it just depends on the creativity of the brands.
How do you think advertising will play a role in shaping the future of home automation and virtual reality?
