On Sept. 30, PepsiCo was at POPSCI Live, a close-up look at the future of consumer electronics, in conjunction with DigitalFlashNYC. I sat in on the New York City event where Jacob Ward, west coast bureau chief for Popular Science magazine, gave a stellar talk on where technology trends are taking us. He wowed the audience with a presentation of some of the latest and greatest electronics — it was like entering a Best Buy store in the year 2020. Gadgets ranged from 3D home TV sets and camcorders, which are just now becoming popular, to GPS alarm clocks that make sure you don’t snooze past your train stop!
What really caught my interest though was Jacob’s focus on how the living room is going to transform over the years. New products like streaming TV and mini projectors that attach to your cell phone offer content to bring us back to the TV and, yes, back to product advertising. I was intrigued (and envious) when tech guru Jacob admitted to us that he doesn’t own a cable box in his home. What’s the point? Apple TV provides hours of pay-per-play content and soon Google TV will let us search for programming based on topics of interest.
At PepsiCo, we make sure to remain at the forefront of these trends so we can keep our consumers engaged. We rely on insight from trendsetters like Jacob to make sure our brands stay fresh and we are in the discussion with the new wave of tech-savvy consumers!
