The Critical Mass White Paper that accompanies our panel presentation at the Yahoo! Provoke Session at Advertising Week.

1. THE
CONNECTED
BRAND
New opportunities for content
brands to deliver value in our
multi-modal world
By Critical Mass January 29th, 2013
© 2013 Critical Mass, Inc. All Rights Reserved

2. Today, the screen
a brand chooses to
engage its audience with is
less important than the value and
content that screen delivers. The screen is just And changing customer behaviour adds to (or
the conduit for an experience created through even multiplies) the complexity of what brands
interaction. need to solve.
Having more screens to engage with is only More and more, customers are expecting
one variable of the new equation – smarter plurality and amplified value from their screen
screens is another. experiences, and they demand content that
rises up to meet their elevated expectations.
WELCOME
TO THE MULTI-
MODAL WORLD
In this new reality, content brands are facing a At CM, we believe that brands must embrace
fundamental choice. They can fight the inevitable this multiplicity. We believe that ‘better together’
– or embrace the opportunities in this hyper- experiences are a space for really building a
connected, ‘turned-on’ world. brand. We believe that 2+2 does in fact equal 5.
© 2013 Critical Mass, Inc. All Rights Reserved 1

3. NISSAN GT ACADEMY
Second screen experience that transports
fans from living room to silverstone racetrack
Last year, Nissan, Sony Playstation® and the synced content that drives deeper engagement
television channel SPEED debuted an epic reality and tells the full GT Academy story. Viewers can
TV show promoting the Gran Turismo racing turn on the TV, then use their smartphone or tablet
video game. As part of the campaign, Critical to access companion content while continuing
Mass created an immersive, 360-degree digital to watch the show on SPIKE TV. Every episode
experience that transported people from their easy has its own unique content to complement the
chairs to the driver’s seat of a GT racecar, leveraging show, from videos and interactive maps to polls,
the iPad 2 and iPhone gyroscope technology. tutorials and fun facts. This adds an extra layer of
entertainment and participation for viewers and
This year, to support the launch of the second inspires social media sharing.
season of GT Academy, Critical Mass amped
up the interactivity to make the GT Academy Experiences like this are redefining connected
experience more personal and social by putting brands: disrupting the conventional model of
the user right in the middle of the action. Nissan content creation by delivering amplified customer
wanted to offer gamers and fans an enhanced value via a connected experience.
viewing experience by putting them into the heart
of the action and creating branded companion But this is only a first step. We believe that the
content to complement the TV episodes. potential for Connected Brands will continue
to evolve.
GTAcademy.us is a mobile-first, second screen
experience that transforms people from passive
viewers to active participants via exclusive time-
© 2013 Critical Mass, Inc. All Rights Reserved 2

4. THE EVOLUTION
1 Everywhere is a screen
2 Everything is connected
3 Everyone is a content creator
© 2013 Critical Mass, Inc. All Rights Reserved 3

5. 1
Everywhere is a screen
THE EVOLUTION
It’s no longer about the big 4 (television, movie The opportunity here is not in what screen to
screen, smartphone, and tablet). Screens are use – it’s in how these screens will interact
everywhere and everything is a screen. With with each other and how, where, and why
augmented reality, NFC, QR codes and more, consumers will engage with them. Brands
we are living in a world of digitized everything. need to think optimization, context, and how
Our streets, buildings, walls, billboards, even to create the ‘magic’ that comes when these
our washing machines, can be interfaces. screens work together.
Lviv’s Puzzle Tower
Any surface is now a blank slate
In Lviv, Ukraine, there’s a building that doesn’t
just look like an empty crossword puzzle – it is
one. Visitors to the city can go on an interactive
scavenger hunt to find clues and submit those
findings via mobile phone. When night comes,
answers are revealed on the building using special
lights. The residents of Lviv have transformed
what would have been an ordinary façade into
something interactive – a screen.
© 2013 Critical Mass, Inc. All Rights Reserved 4

6. PEBBLE WATCH
Consumers’ digital life is now
always on hand
The Pebble Watch has transformed a device – the watch,
a traditionally static and uni-functional device – into a fluid
multifunctional screen that’s always available and visible to
consumers. Aside from showing the time, the Pebble device
can alert users with a silent vibration to incoming calls, emails
and messages, track how fast and far users run, bike or walk,
and control music remotely. Because it is open source, its
capabilities tomorrow are unlimited.
Evolving from providing functional or
entertainment value to generating real-life
value, the new capabilities of these screens
present the opportunity for brands to pump
up productivity, save time and even help their
customers be a better ‘me’.
© 2013 Critical Mass, Inc. All Rights Reserved 5

7. 2
EVERYTHING IS CONNECTED
THE EVOLUTION
Screens have gotten a whole lot smarter. Our emerging technology lets content be pushed,
screens can now talk to each other in ways pulled, and shaped based on customer
we hadn’t imagined. Content is no longer tied interaction.
to any device or programming mode, and
Google Glass
Transforms line of sight into
‘your’ screen
Google Glass is essentially a computer inside a
pair of glasses that acts like a conduit for multiple
devices. The glass enables content to move back
and forth between devices, delivering maximized
utility through the input and output of information
that’s totally user-controlled. It can display content
from smartphones by showing calls, maps and
other features right in front of the user’s eyes. The
glass can also take pictures and then share them
via Google+.
Image taken from: https://plus.google.com/+projectglass/posts
© 2013 Critical Mass, Inc. All Rights Reserved 6

8. Microsoft xbox
SmartGlass
Content is now elastic
for certain shows and movies. It creates
simultaneous content when gamers use it
as a map or to look at user stats. And most
Image taken from: http://press.xbox360.com/ importantly, it allows content to transfer back
products/1321p211/xbox-smartglass-on-windows-8
and forth between devices. Music can be
Xbox SmartGlass illustrates how technology is played off of the SmartGlass surface using
shifting dual content screens from companion headphones, and then seamlessly transferred to
experiences to simultaneous and elastic a TV using the Xbox. This fluid transfer redefines
experiences. This application within Xbox provides the nature of content because it can be picked
consumers with pop-up style supplements up and experienced anywhere, anytime.
SAMSUNG T9000
The connected household
manages itself
This connected household refrigerator, from
Samsung, can immediately update a digital
shopping list whenever someone looks in the
fridge. Using Evernote, the person at home
can update a shopping list based on the
inventoried contents of the fridge. The fridge
then alerts whoever is out shopping that an
item is missing. All of this communication is
Image taken from: http://www.samsung.com/us/news/ done screen-to-screen, no humans required.
newsRead.do?news_seq=20346
These technologies are making content and brand experiences fluid. Consuming content has
changed from a conscious, time-based action to a constant part of our lives. One specific piece of
content can be experienced anywhere, anytime, on any device.
© 2013 Critical Mass, Inc. All Rights Reserved 7

9. 3
Everyone is a content creator
New content creators are entering the game Brands, in their desire to provide their
with different business mandates, broadening customers with solutions instead of merely
the arena well beyond the traditional content delivering marketing messages, are not
creators like television studios and expanding only creating new forms of content but also
the definition of content. extending the multiverse of screens.
Nike+ FuelBand
Augments existing brand value to
create new customer value
Not only is it one of the most important new
‘screens’ created in 2012, the Nike+ FuelBand
proves how being a connected brand can both
extend and reinforce a brand’s promise. Nike
has always been in the business of motivation,
and the FuelBand is another proof point of this,
encouraging customers to ‘move more.’ But it FuelBand only creates value when it is connected with
also shows the necessity of brand-customer the consumer. Without them, it’s just a ‘dumb’ piece of
interaction, not one-way messaging, since the plastic.
Increasingly, it is the consumer that is the content. Consumers are arguably the biggest
collective authors of digital content today, whether that is through their online communications
with each other, the data their lives are producing, or the experiences they are co-creating with
companies and brands.
© 2013 Critical Mass, Inc. All Rights Reserved 8

10. This image is the property of Facebook
Facebook
Facebook Connect lets users log onto third-
Connect party websites, applications, mobile devices and
Makes the consumer gaming systems with their Facebook identities.
the hero everywhere
This represents a tremendous relationship shift,
but more importantly, it blends device capabilities
with brand content and consumers’ digital
lives. This opens up the opportunity for a hyper-
personal Connected Brand experience.
Nintendo 3DS
Turning brand content into
consumers’ content
With Nintendo’s AR Cards for the 3DS, users
can use the AR Games™ application to view
characters and game content through their 3DS
camera in the environment around them. These
digital assets, unlocked through AR, also make
it possible for consumers to use their Mii™
characters to create stop motion video.
Image taken from: https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=OGwH1p7EH9g
Consumers want to be Connected Brands should recognize the potential of
thinking ‘open source,’ giving more power to consumers
the heroes. They are looking
to co-create experiences. The consumer shift from
to be immersed – to contribute
passively consuming fixed brand messages to creating
and not just consume.
personal connections via brand properties has already
started, so embrace it.
© 2013 Critical Mass, Inc. All Rights Reserved 9

11. The New Rules
for Connected Brands
No one likes to be told what to do. So think of these rules as
guidelines. Together, they’re a go-forward mantra, challenging you to
break the conventions of connected content and unlock the potential
to become a Connected Brand.
If content is king, then context is
queen and magic is created in
their union. Don’t do matching
luggage content. Instead, create
optimized ‘in-the-now-where-I-am’
experiences.
Think simultaneous, not
companion – it’s not about the
old hierarchy of screens. Create
experiences that are better when
consumed together.
© 2013 Critical Mass, Inc. All Rights Reserved 10

12. The consumer should be the hero of
everything you do. Integrate consumers and their
data to deliver hyper-personal experiences that
forge connections.
Tuned in and turned on. Consumers will get
more value out of experiences that they can
take part in. This means evolving beyond the
conventions of a click or a touch. A broader
array of actions are now in play; gestures,
voice, and body movement will make
customers not just consumers of content but
ultimately participants in a brand’s experience.
Solve problems. Deliver solutions. Move
beyond what you want to say. Create an
indispensable experience.
© 2013 Critical Mass, Inc. All Rights Reserved 11

13. I n t e r e s t ed in transforming
YOUR BRAND INTO A
Connected Brand?
Critical Mass
would love to help.
As a marketing agency in an increasingly
digital world, our job is to create extraordinary
experiences. Experiences that bring together
creative thinking, smart ideas and emerging
technologies to drive our clients’ businesses.
For more information, please contact:
Diane Heun
Phone: 508-541-5336
Email: dianeh@criticalmass.com
© 2013 Critical Mass, Inc. All Rights Reserved 12