A book cover that catches your eye; a treasure hidden at the back of the sale rail; a pop-up shop on your walk to work that makes your day. These chance happenings are something that the digital world is playing catch up to recreate. As our relationship with technology evolves, we’re expecting more and more opportunities to be pleasantly surprised by digital technologies that know us so well. It’s more than recommendation or discovery. It’s the immense satisfaction of receiving something at the right time and place, having not even realized that you wanted it.

“There are all these opportunities for technology to begin not only to present more natural ways to interact, but also much more natural ways for technology to anticipate my world and my life and what I’m about to do. Even to anticipate things that I don’t know that I might want yet.”Steve Clayton, Storyteller and Digital Anthropologist, Microsoft Key measures55% of global online consumers expect technology to deliver surprising experiences that are uniquely tailored and “feel like coincidences.” This is highest among younger groups (18-24 year olds).

20% love digital devices and services that provide them with new recommendations or content without actively seeking them out.    .

Age ofSerendipityI expect the unexpected

And 61% of consumers are much more willing to buy a product or service from a brand that delivers pleasantly surprising experiences

Big opportunitiesRetail, technology, entertainment, alcoholic beverage, CPG, and leisure and tourism brands can all win big by delighting their consumers with pleasant surprises. By combining information from many different apps with insights from other trends like Value Me, My Analytics, and Niche Networks, brands can make coincidences even more rewarding.

So now…?A florist monitors a social media site, to find users it believes might need cheering up. It then contacts them directly to get their postal address and sends a bouquet of flowers as a surprise.

What if…?Brands and technology worked together to become experts on you. They might know the perfect outfit for you to wear, the tastiest food for you to eat, and the most exciting ways to spend your time.  

Microsoft Digital Trends

Find out more: contact  http://advertising.microsoft.com/international

changing behavior and attitudes to technology and digital services.

All respondents completed a three-day online diary exploring the role of tech/digital services in their lives prior to taking part in in-depth interviews to provide further understanding of their motivations, behaviors, and attitudes to these technologies.

These “switched on” consumers were both males and females between the ages of 18 and 44.

One-hour interviews with experts across Microsoft and IPG Mediabrands were also undertaken.

Quantitative explorationAn online survey with regular and heavy Internet users in UK, USA, China, Brazil, Sweden, Czech Republic, Russia, and Germany was conducted. We interviewed circa 1,000 respondents in each market, 8,055 in total.

We measured their awareness, engagement, and intent to participate with trends in the future, as well as their likelihood to engage with brands who deliver experiences that align with these trends.

Further validation of the trends and their brand implications were captured through a series of workshops with Microsoft and IPG Mediabrands.  

How did we find all this out?The Microsoft Digital Trends study was several years in the making but commenced in earnest in January 2013 when Microsoft Advertising partnered with IPG Mediabrands and The Future Laboratory to help brands understand the future of digital behavior and technology. To align with Microsoft’s consumer-first vision, our ambition was to uncover, capture, and track emerging digital consumer behaviors and attitudes that we believe will grow into a global phenomenon.

Combining expertise with common research practices across Microsoft Advertising; Microsoft Business Groups; Microsoft Research; and Microsoft Office Envisioning, we created actionable brand toolkits. These can be used by key clients and internal teams to instruct media planning and product development based on consumer data.

MethodologyTaking the lead from Everett M. Rogers’ theory of Diffusion of Innovations, which identifies that new ideas are adopted and passed from early adopters to the majority and laggards, we undertook a series of qualitative and quantitative steps.

Qualitative explorationInterviews with 45 early adopters were conducted across the UK, USA, China, Brazil, Sweden, and Czech Republic, covering a range of topics including