The Internet of things (IoT) is defined as a network of physical devices embedded with electronics that enable these objects to collect and exchange data. It’s also a new phenomenon that promises to revolutionise how these things interact with people…..but what about our dogs? Yes dogs.
If you think seeing puppy pics means just going ‘oooh and ahhh’ think again. Pups are big business. Australians are spending $12Billion a year on their pets.
There’s a lot of ‘IoT’ chat about talking fridges for us humans, like the latest one by Samsung with advanced voice technology that Samsung said in a statement allows “Users to issue voice commands to learn the weather and time, add products to shopping lists and order groceries online, manage to-do-lists as well as calendar schedules”. That’s quite a fridge, but the dogs aren’t missing out either.
What about a GPS enabled dog collar from Petbarn that tells your smartphone or laptop where your dog is at all times? Or a blue tooth enabled collar that monitors your dogs’ behaviour throughout the day? Growing up I always suspected my every so french black poodle was reading the paper and smoking a cigar at home while I was at school. Kyon and Felcana are suppliers who can get to the bottom of this with their latest IoT innovations.
If you feel a bit weird about spying on your dog, you could take the direct approach and have a two-way Skype like conversation via the Petchatz ‘Great & Treat’ video phone. This device streams Dog TV, dispenses treats and has a gaming feature called ‘Pawcall’ that allows your dog to actually phone you while you’re at work.
“Excuse me Miss, it’s your hound on line two. He says it’s urgent”
This might sound funny, but the increased interest and demand in our pets and pet related technology has come about because of some serious reasons as explained by Chief Executive, Alex Thomas at Petsure in that animals are becoming “humanised” as an increasing number of people do not start families.
BI Intelligence expects there will be more than 24 billion IoT devices on Earth by 2020. That’s approximately four devices for every human being on the planet.
If you have a dog, the number of your devices may go up. If you don’t have one, perhaps you should consider it. If only to be more popular.
In its first years on the Pedigree account, BBDO advertising agency in Brazil had conducted a social experiment called “get a dog, get a girlfriend.” The agency created two Tinder profiles for the same man – one in which he appeared alone and one in which he appeared with a dog. The profile with the dog received three times as many positive reactions, suggesting women – and perhaps all of us – look more kindly on a person with a dog.
