as with many seemingly overnight sensations, the internet of things iot &mdash  the digitization of everyday objects &mdash  has been a long time coming. more than three decades ago, thirsty students at carnegie mellon university famously connected a coke machine to the internet, in order to see whether it had drinks in stock, making it one of the first popular examples of the iot in action.the example is prescient, because the consumer packaged goods cpg industry is a key source of iotrelated innovation, turning science fiction into reality &mdash and marketing is often taking a lead position on this. remember the personalized adverts in minority report in 2015, at least one global cpg brand plans to roll out sensorenabled smart shelves for grocery stores that are able to determine the gender and age of passing customers and then display targeted adverts. but this is far from the only example consumers can expect to encounter in the year ahead, as cpg marketers get up to speed on iot&rsquos potential.in the year ahead, iotrelated investment will focus on two distinct areas. the first is within stores, with a clear aim of increasing sales and bolstering consumer loyalty, as the above example suggests. consider shopkick, a mobile app that rewards shoppers with points called &ldquokicks&rdquo when they enter a specific part of a store, or interact with promoted items, by using location based information via their smartphone. this enhancement of a standard consumer interaction can help unlock discounts on a product if the consumer buys it during that visit, or simply boost awareness of a specific brand. another example comes from a global drinks manufacturer that has used smart packaging innovations to turn bottles of its premium drinks into a personalized consumer gifting and loyalty experience.a second major area lies outside of stores, where iot can help marketers increase user convenience and provide a differentiating experience. one example is the egg minder, a connected device that enables consumers to see via an app how many eggs they&rsquove got left at home, and how fresh they are. or vitality glowcaps, a connected pillbox that reminds patients to take their medication, while automatically ordering refills&mdashand alerts their doctor as to how well they&rsquore adhering to a prescription.brandspecific interactions could go much further, while also helping to gain a more granular understanding of the needs and usage patterns of their consumers. consider a smartphone app that is aware of how many calories a consumer has just burned at the gym, offering up a sports drink promotion, for example. think this is unlikely our 2014 state of the internet of things study shows that nearly half of consumers either already own or plan to purchase a smart watch or fitness device in the next five years, ensuring a massmarket platform to use.marketing is the lynchpinso how to get there the key element is a strong digital foundation within the business, which remains an aspiration for many cpg companies. but what marketers are increasingly realizing is that they hold a unique position to drive their organization&rsquos embrace of iotrelated services. of course, marketing can&rsquot do it alone. first, they need to collaborate with it to ensure the integration of relevant systems, to enable seamless and secure communication with both internal and external partners as part of opening up these new channels. as shown in our recent cmocio study, there&rsquos certainly room for improvement in how marketing and it are collaborating.without seamless systems and processes, iot can easily cause the nonworking costs of marketing to rise steeply, which few marketing budgets can handle. secondly, they can work with both r&d and strategy to proactively set out the overall consumer experience journey, while also considering how such efforts will fit into the company&rsquos broader innovation strategy. the iot has been a long time coming, but in 2015, cpg marketers will realize it&rsquos ready for prime time.source httpwww.mediapost.compublicationsarticle238941internetofthingsreadyforprime…
