Hasta La Creative!

Marketers with multiple storefronts have good reason to be fired up about the Apple Watch. Apple Watch should make it easier for consumers to find places to shop, eat and do business with brands that have invested properly in local marketing. Apple Watch will also accelerate the path to purchase as people appreciate the ease of buying groceries and cups of coffee with a simple flick of their wrists.

Progressive businesses that sense and respond to the Apple Watch might be tempted to integrate an aggressive offer strategy to encourage those purchases. Imagine an offer for a discounted cup of coffee popping up on a person’s Apple Watch as he or she happens to walk by a Starbucks. Well, the temptation to dial up the location-based deals is understandable — and a recipe for a marketing fail. Instead, the early-adopter businesses need to put their customers at the center of the experience, not the transaction. Doing so means understanding how a wearable such as Apple Watch fits inside your customer experience, rather than rushing into the creation of a device-centric “wearables strategy.”

Make no mistake: A big change in consumer behavior is coming as we move from a tapping to a swiping mentality. The change is already here for marketing giants such as Disney, which has instituted its proprietary wristband technology at Disneyworld. Apple Watch will accelerate that behavioral change from fumbling around in our pockets for smart cards and iPhones to purchasing goods and services with a device conveniently located on our wrists. No business wants to be left behind, which is why we’ve already witnessed a proliferation of Apple Watch apps for brands ranging from Fandango to Uber.

Continue reading at AdAge.com