As technology becomes more and more pervasive in everything we do, including advertising, in order to come up with new innovation you have to take one of two approaches:
1. Keep tabs on new application in other areas and think of ways to apply them relevantly to the creative marketing challenge at hand.
2. Think of something first, then find the people to build it.
The former you see in things like Subservient Chicken or the Sith Sense for BK. Both of which, as I understand CPG innovated by keeping tabs on cool and nifty new technologies, or applications of technologies from other industries. Subservient Chicken came from the porn industry of all things.
What is really interesting is when you can do the second, think of it then find the people to build it. This happens in certain areas, like visual effects and in particular website design. But it would be safe to presume that this will only accelerate as the pace of adoption or duplication itself accelerates. People will be lining up to find a marketing application when something new gets innovated. But hopefully we will continue to push innovation into what "could" be possible rather than what "is" possible. Then instead of small steps you make leaps. Can't help but to think that's what the R/GA team on Nike+ team did.
Here is a neat example of thinking of something first then finding a way to make it. In a funny way I can't imagine how else could one have thought of this.
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