Wearable technology and the data driven night out

Apple has entered the fray, wearable tech has gone mainstream. With the developer world champing at the bit and the Cupertino marketing machine behind it, the Apple Watch is looking like another smash-hit. But what might this mean for the drinks market?

Opportunities for brands are starting to crystallise. It’s got an accelerometer to track body movements, a tiny screen to summarise updates, a buzzing ‘taptic engine’ to prod users with physical sensations, and crucially, unlike their phone, it’s always on and on display.

For the drinks industry, we think this means that a night out can now be powered by the internet. Socialising will be enriched and enhanced by everything the web has to offer, filtered and presented by the Watch.

What might this mean for user experiences, and how can brands capitalise?

WHO, WHAT, WHEN

Who remembers Carling’s iPint? It was a beautifully simple use of the phone’s accelerometer to create a virtual pint of lager. The utility was low but its entertainment value was high.

Well, the Apple Watch now connects users’ phones with their drinking arms in the real world. Perhaps a brand could track information like drinking frequency and intensity, to measure and visualise drinking behaviours over the course of a night. Like a Fitbit for socialising – “what I drank, where and when, with who and how much”. The potential for post-pub chat here is massive, but it could also have a health & wellbeing potential.

WHERE NEXT?

At a more practical level, instant updates for the night ahead could be an interesting way to organise a night as it develops – VIP entry into a local nightclub, instant drinks promotions for a limited time, updates on what track the DJ is playing – getting immediate night-out updates without having to muck about with a phone seems appealing.

What if it buzzed every time a friend came into the same venue? With the Friends section of the Apple Watch that seems like a reality. Users can send friends an update of their current mood, or even their heartbeat – perfect non-verbal communication potential, crucial for a loud club.

INSTANT REFRESHMENT

The mass-acceptance of contactless payment allows us to think about reimagining the bar itself –a dancefloor customers would never have to leave, bar staff armed with contactless payment tools, allowing users to be instantly refreshed without breaking their funky stride.

A brave new world of barless clubs perhaps? It’s an exciting prospect if you happen to like dancing, which of course the Apple Watch will also be able to monitor.

SO WHAT DOES THE DATA DRIVEN NIGHT OUT NEED?

1. Getting tech into the night out: Until now we’ve not had apps enter this space in a meaningful way, because, well, revellers are too busy revelling. No longer – the Apple
Watch brings apps into the open and into the public realm.

2. The removal of friction to maximise sociability: Harnessing all the alerts, swishes and swipes to ensure users have a great time and are able to think less about logistics.

3. Real-time organisation and coordination of social lives: In the here-and-now, responding and communicating with users, as things happen. Where mobile gave us planning flexibility, wearable tech might make planning a thing of the past.

These are exciting times for the drinks industry. The coming of the Apple Watch and its clear resonance with consumers could herald a watershed moment in wearable technology, and smart brands will ensuring they’re on top of the trend.

Ed Southerden is senior planner at the creative communications agency Bray Leino