Avatar amazement – and the other motion picture breakthrough.

By Ted Page, Captains of Industry
Sometimes technological changes creep up on us, and sometimes they seem to occur all at once as a revelation. Last week, when I saw Avatar in Imax 3D, I experienced both forms of technological advancement. The movie took my breath away. The huge, engulfing screen, excellent sound, and amazing special effects all created a sense of reality for the world of Pandora that I had never seen before. Hype aside, it really is a breakthrough, even if the plot is basically Fern Gully meets Dances with Wolves. Other movies with great special effects, from 2001: A Space Odyssey to Jurassic Park, certainly paved the way for the further advances in Avatar, but the sheer scope of Avatar made it feel very new all at once.

It was while I was waiting for the movie to start, however, that I saw the other – less subtle – technological breakthrough. In the relative dark of the theater, the shimmer of dozens of small screens from handheld mobile devices flickered like fireflies. Each of these device, like the iPhone, had the capability to play video from the web. In some ways, the ability to experience motion pictures anywhere, at any time, on a tiny personal screen, marks an even bigger technological milestone than more realistic animation on a small number of large screens.

For businesses that are trying to connect with customers, the opportunity to use motion pictures displayed on mobile devices is vast. The technology, recently reported on by the Boston Globe, has progressed so fast that I don’t think companies have had time to understand what’s possible with ubiquitous video. Many people still think video is just something funny they might see on YouTube. But any website can play video these days, from a corporate video to a testimonial. Any website is its very own TV channel. Instead of placing an ad in a magazine, or running a commercial (big $$$), companies can create video for their website channel that’s tailored very specifically to the customer they want. They can save money, build customer engagement, and get measurable results. So the question to ask in your company today is, “Do you have web content in the form of video or other rich media that can engage your customers now, anywhere, any time?” If the answer is yes, the next breakthrough will be for your company: better customer engagement at lower cost.