Floor 9

This week on Floor 9, it’s about the Vision Pro! Ryan, Adam, and Chelsea regroup on Floor 9 for an in-depth discussion of Apple’s groundbreaking “spatial computing” headset. From our team’s first impressions of trying it on, to unpacking its use cases and market implications, the Lab team is eager to share our hot takes on Vision Pro. Key topics include:Assessing the Vision Pro launch and initial reception - starting around 0:57The Lab team’s first impressions of Vision Pro - starting around 3:31Discussing Vision Pro’s primary use cases - starting around 7:37Does Vision Pro signal a computing paradigm shift? - starting around 18:57The entertainment value of Vision Pro - starting around 21:40The user experience of Vision Pro: isolating or shared? - starting around 29:24Vision Pro’s impact on the mixed-reality headset market - starting around 34:23The marketing implications of Vision Pro and brand takeaways -  starting around 39:34If you enjoyed the episode, please consider giving us a five-star review on Apple Podcast. Follow the Lab on Twitter @ipglab and on Medium for our latest insights. Thanks for listening!

Welcome back to Floor 9! This week, your hosts Ryan and Adam are joined by Chelsea Freitas from our Strategy team to take a deep dive into the trends and themes from our latest annual Outlook report, which includes:Macro trends in consumer behaviors - starting at 0:42Life's New Beats - starting at 13:36The Remixed City - starting at 24:50The Revenge of the Monoculture - starting at 37:50The Expanding Experience Economy - starting at 45:48Make sure to check out the full version of Outlook 2024 report on Medium here: https://bit.ly/LabOutlook24If you enjoyed the episode, please consider giving us a five-star review on Apple Podcast. Follow the Lab on Twitter @ipglab and on Medium for our latest insights. Thanks for listening!

Welcome back to Floor 9! As always, we’ll kick off the year with a CES episode, in which the Lab team assembles to recap the biggest trends we spotted at CES 2024, including:How the AI hype manifested on the CES show floors, both the good and the bad (1:05)How the translucent TVs wow'ed the crowd and could be interesting for retail (2:56)How interoperability emerged as a major trend for smart home devices (4:25)How digital health solutions continue to be on-demand and home-centric (11:09)How immersive experiences are evolving and supercharging next-gen entertainment (15:17)How some CES exhibitors brought a luxury touch to their products through cutting-edge tech and design (26:10)How the CES showcased the latest trends in play and toy: the rise of educational toys, and AI-enabled play (37:48)How the auto industry is rushing to integrate AI into the dashboard and re-adjust their EV strategies (47:44)And many more!In addition, we also each named our favorite CES product this year!To learn more about CES trends, read our written recap here on Medium.If you enjoyed the episode, please consider giving us a five-star review on Apple Podcast and Spotify. Follow the Lab on Medium for our latest insights. Thanks for listening!Correction: at the 22:21 mark, Richard mistakenly said "Roku" when he meant to say "Roxi" when mentioning their new interactive linear broadcast channel.

To close out this significant year of innovations, the Lab team assembles for an end-of-year recap of the biggest trends that defined the tech and media landscape for the past 12 months:The rise of generative AI & its impact on creator economy and marketingThe “post-streaming wars” reality & the new opportunities in interactive ad formatsThe shifting social media landscape & the pivot in social commerce The revival of monoculture & the resulting “funflation” on consumer spendingThe emergence of spatial computing and immersive headsets, spurred by the impending release of Apple’s Vision ProListen now to hear what the Lab team has to say about each of these five topics that will continue to influence consumer behavior in 2024 and beyond. You can read more about the trends discussed in this episode in our year-end roundup piece here on Medium.If you enjoyed the episode, please consider giving us a five-star review on Apple Podcast and Spotify. Follow the Lab on Medium for our latest insights. Thanks for listening!

Welcome to our annual holiday shopping trends episode. This year, this holly jolly discussion is led by Chelsea Freitas,  VP of our Strategy team, and she is joined by two other members of our strategy team, Adam Simon and Katy Geisreiter. In this episode, the trio shared some must-know stats about this year’s holiday shopping trends and consumer behaviors, highlighted their favorite tech-enabled retail holiday campaigns, and debated the effects of funflation and other marco-economic forces on holiday shopping behaviors this year. Listen now! 

Welcome back to Floor 9. This week, we are tackling the hottest innovation territory of the year, generative AI, and its impact on the ad industry with the help of two brilliant UM thought leaders: James Fox, Global Chief Strategy Officer, and Andrew Littlewood, Global Chief Product Officer. Together with the Lab’s managing director Adam Simon, the trio discussed the state of generative AI, especially in terms of where it is in the Gartner hype cycle, the industry leaders in consumer-facing AI, what marketers can do with the new AI tools, and what’s next for generative AI. In addition, the following intriguing questions were also raised and explored:Is generative AI already over the peak of its hype cycle?How quickly will we culturally accept to use private data to train generative AI?Will generative AI cause the ad industry to implode? How far away are we from achieving human-level general artificial intelligence? If you’re curious about generative AI and want to learn about how it impacts the world of advertising and marketing, this episode is a must-listen!Floor 9 is a podcast created by the IPG Media Lab to bring you our latest musings and hot takes at the intersection of consumer technology and digital media.If you enjoyed the episode, please consider giving us a five-star review on Apple Podcast. Follow the Lab on Twitter @ipglab and on Medium for our latest insights. Thanks for listening!

Welcome back to Floor 9. In this episode, we had the honor of having Kara Manatt, EVP of Intelligence Solutions at MAGNA, and Edwin Wong, SVP, Insights & Innovation at Vox Media, to chat about their recent blockbuster research on the persuasive power of podcasters and podcasting’s growing influence. When asked which media figures’ influence matters most, their study found that 75% of listeners say podcast hosts compared to 15% who say social media influencers.Kara and Edwin shared which podcasts they love most, then dived into the most revelatory findings from the joint study, “Podcasts: A New Era of Influence” (starting at 11:07). Some highlights of their discussion include:Why podcasters are now more influential than other types of influencersWhy IPG choose to partner with Vox to learn more about podcastsHow podcasters can help listeners with mental health and self-actualization How brands can harness the persuasive power of podcasters and drive results You can learn more about this joint research here: https://www.voxmedia.com/2023/5/10/23718269/podcasts-a-new-era-of-influence If you enjoyed the episode, please consider giving us a five-star review on Apple Podcast. Thanks for listening! 

In this episode: What the Lab thinks about Vision Pro, Apple’s first spatial computing device, and its potential impact on media consumption habits. Plus, various other interesting tidbits from Apple’s WWDC event this week, including the unified presence of widgets across OS’s, and Apple’s deliberation omission of generative AI. Floor 9 is a podcast created by the IPG Media Lab to bring you our latest musings and hot takes at the intersection of consumer technology and digital media. In this episode, you’ll hear from Adam Simon, our managing director, and Ryan Miller, director of partnerships. If you enjoyed the episode, please consider giving us a five-star review on Apple Podcast. Follow the Lab on Twitter @ipglab and on Medium for our latest insights. Thanks for listening!

Welcome back to Floor 9! As usual, we are kicking off the year with a CES recap episode that features the entire IPG Media Lab team, plus Chad Stoller, Global Chief Innovation Officer of UM Worldwide. Listen now to hear about our team’s thoughts on the biggest trends in digital health, entertainment, mobility, smart home, and vice economy coming out of this year’s CES show floors! If you'd like to learn more about our CES learnings, please check out the Lab's CES content, including an in-depth written recap, here: https://ipglab.com/ces/Follow the Lab on Twitter @ipglab and on Medium for our latest insights. Click here to listen and subscribe! If you enjoyed the episode, please consider giving us a five-star review on Apple Podcast. Thanks for listening!