Google experimenting with talking shoe

About emotions and dimensions

The story and emotions surrounding a brand are
irreplaceable, but everything can be improved: through digital advertising, brands
could start leading their own lives. With this in mind Google starting
working on some experiments, showing that creativity combined with technology
could lead to a completely new way of advertising or – as Google calls it –
Advertising Re-imagined.

One good example is “Smileage”: an
application Google developed together with Volkswagen to turn a simple car
ride into an adventure. Owners can tag their passengers, share their route and post
pictures online on the go. When they come across other Smileage-users on the
road, they can “punch” them (comparable to poking on Facebook) and even receive
extra points if both are driving the same car.

Talking shoe

This week Google brought their latest
experiment to the American South by Southwest festival: an Adidas-shoe that can measure the activities of its ‘master’. Are you dragging your feet, the
shoe will encourage you to pick it up. Remarks such as “Are you a statue? Let’s
do this already!” shows the shoe isn’t always that subtle.

The shoe also lets your Facebook friends know
how you are getting on and it has about 250 phrases it can use. Maybe luckily
for us, the shoe will remain an experiment for now.

Google worked with Adidas and Volkswagen on
these experiments and was backed by a few advertising agencies and developers.
The company is always on the forefront to explore the advertisement possibilities of new
digital technologies, and for a good reason: according to Cisco about fifty billion appliances will be connected to the internet by 2020.