The Future of Innovation in Purpose Communications

Each year, we say the same thing: technology is transforming everything. And each year it’s true.

In a rapidly evolving communications industry, technology affects us across the board, all of the time.

The new paradigm presents a bevy of new challenges and opportunities for all organizational communications. For purpose-driven organizations, however, innovation has the potential to redefine the way they share stories, illustrate their impact, and inspire audiences to action.

Compelling creative content sits at the cornerstone of successful communications. Consumers expect to be met with bold storytelling, and as we shift to an increasingly digital lifestyle, it’s imperative that communicators bring their creativity to those places and platforms.

Whether it’s an immersive out-of-body experience or fixed to a smartphone in the palm of a person’s hand, organizational purpose can reach audiences like never before.

If communicators want to capitalize on the technological advances in front them, they need to be prepared to move as quickly as innovators do. As we prepare to turn the page from 2017, here are three key trends in technological innovation that all communicators should be mindful of:

Leverage the Increasing Versatility of Virtual Reality

Defining Virtual Reality (VR) can be tricky — the varying types of technology are a lot to unpack.

Ultimately, it’s an immersive experience that digitally transports the user to a different place, time or environment, allowing them to explore and interact with virtual objects.

There is a plethora of hardware that organizations can utilize, from head set devices and controllers by Oculus Rift to the HTC Vive for fully-3-D interactive experiences. Even mobile phone headset devices such as Samsung Gear VR or Google Cardboard can provide passive 360° video experiences, making VR an experience that can be tailored to the resources at your disposal.

VR’s ability to create a sense of presence, give insight into new worlds and evoke empathy through the experience is incredibly powerful. Organizations are finally using this technology to make emotional, meaningful connections with audiences.

The UN has created a handful of short VR films, including one titled “Clouds Over Sidra” that transports the viewer to the Za’atari refugee camp in Jordan. The film draws attention to the Syrian refugee crisis by chronicling the day-to-day life of a twelve-year-old girl and placing the viewer in environments that she and 80,000 other refugees live in.

Another example comes from Alzheimer’s Research UK, which created “A Walk Through Dementia,” an experience that places the viewer in the shoes of someone living with dementia. The film immerses the viewer in three everyday situations, each focused on daily challenges that go beyond memory loss, giving them the opportunity to understand firsthand the complexities of the disease.

Use Augmented Reality to Meet the Audience Where They Are

Whereas VR transports you somewhere else, Augmented Reality (AR) is a window on top of your world, layering computer-generated objects and information over your surrounding environment.

This creates a sense that they’re actually in that space, and these objects can be displayed using smartphones or tablets.

Because all that’s needed to experience most AR apps is a smartphone or tablet, this technology comes with a built-in user base in the hundreds of millions. Recently released AR development tools from Apple and Google enable developers to build their own AR platforms and experiences, and many purpose-driven organizations are already putting this to use.

NHS Blood and Transplant created a Virtual Blood Donation event to highlight the life-saving impact of donating blood. Using an AR app at an event, participants were able to use their smartphone to see an overlay of an IV on their arm.

Virtual donors watched as blood flowed down the tube from their arm and up onto a huge billboard screen featuring an empty donation bag and sick patient. As each donation bag filled up, the virtual donors watched sick patients gradually returns to health before their eyes, utilizing a digital representation to illustrate their collective impact.

Put Artificial Intelligence to Purpose

In many ways, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the future of computing. Coders are building machine systems that are able to analyze and learn from observed behaviors, and the uses are practically endless.

So where do these advanced systems fit in the communications landscape? And particularly for purpose-driven organizations?

Because AI is opening the door to dramatic economic and social change, leading tech companies (including Amazon*, Google*, IBM and others) have aligned to form the Partnership on AI, an organization that advocates for the responsible education, development and application of AI for all variety of uses.

These investments are meant to go beyond driving the progress of AI systems; but also to articulate a clear sense of purpose for such technology.

Just this year, the Partnership on AI announced its first set of public initiatives. These range from a Civil Society Fellowship that will support AI efforts from non-profits and NGOs to sponsoring an AI Grand Challenges series that will support entrepreneurial efforts to use AI in addressing long-term social issues.

Efforts like these illustrate the opportunity that AI presents, as well as the important ways that purpose-driven organizations can leverage the technology to advance more than internal efficiency — but genuinely drive change throughout society.

As new technological mediums and methods come to the forefront, the expectation will be for communicators to understand them quickly, and put them to practice even quicker. For corporations, nonprofits and NGOs it’s a big ask — but it presents an even bigger opportunity to bring purpose to the forefront.

*Indicates Weber Shandwick Client