• by Chuck Martin , Staff Writer, September 28, 2016

The Internet of Things involves connecting countless devices of varying type and degrees, ultimately leading to a new marketing environment with consumers constantly linked with pretty much everything around them.

Some consumer connections are becoming highly personal, such as when a person dawns a virtual reality headset or taps into Pokémon Go on a smartphone for a personal augmented reality adventure in search of the latest little creature in the wild.

Interacting and engaging with consumers participating in such environments involves new approaches and opportunities to enrich branding, deepen consumer relationships and even sell products and service.

At MediaPost’s OMMA VR/AR at Advertising Week conference today, some of the best approaches and methods for dealing with the new realities will be explored in depth by many of those leading the charge. Some details:

• In a keynote presentation, Absolut Labs director Afdhel Aziz will demonstrate how the vodka brands’ marketing unit created a ground-breaking VR video game.
• Eric Grant, creative director of emerging experiences at Razorfish, will lead an in-depth discussion of the new brand storytelling, focusing on the best ways to approach VR and AR to get the marketing messages across. This involves selecting the best platforms and taking a look at some of the early VR-branded content and sponsored projects.
• Dave Meeker, VP of Isobar US, will present on how the next wave of virtual reality will push agencies to produce more robust content, including the different possibilities for VR content.
• Rob Griffin, chief innovation officer of Almighty, a rather accomplished Pokémon Go player in addition to his agency and brand expertise, will lead a discussion on the augmented reality craze brought to the masses by the popular mobile app game.
• Cedric Devitt, chief creative officer of Big Spaceship, will lead a group of agency experts who look at lessons learned and what not to do on a VR project.

We don’t expect all the answers around the evolving world of VR and AR, since the ultimate solutions typically evolve over a period of time.

A likely outcome -- and one of critical value -- will be to identify and clarify the questions that need to be asked and addressed by anyone facing these new realities.