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Living Brands
Collaboration + Innovation = Customer Fascination

by Raymond Nadeau
September 22, 2006
McGraw-Hill

Excerpt from Part Two, INNOVATION: THE FUTURE OF BRANDING AND THE REVOLUTION OF DIGITAL LABELING
pages 109-116

Victor Chu the CEO of MIL. Digital Labeling Technologies is a technologist and a talented designer with an exquisite aesthetic sensibility. He views technology as another artistic medium. He defines himself as a “fashion technologist.” In this interview, he discusses the role technology plays in creating brands in the fashion industry.

As a designer who uses technology in their work, how do you describe what you do?

VC: For the last 12 years, my professional design and marketing experiences have been drawn from the fashion and technology industries. The fashion industry and the technology industry share similar traits yet they are still worlds apart in culture. Both industries are driven by creating new and exciting products. One industry is driven by beauty and women and the other by machines. Fashion now needs technology to advance and grow. Technology now is utilizing fashion and beauty to sell more electronics and technology. The two are finally converging in a major way. As a fashion technologist, I believe that technology is an accessory. Technology will never live your life for you. It is a tool, an accessory to life, work or literally it is a fashion accessory that matches an outfit; an expression of status, culture and anything else. Fashion is about understanding beauty, cultural and consumer trends which is now very important to technology. Technology is about advancing computerization for more function, communication, efficiency and effectiveness. In other words, creating better tools to enjoy life, which is also applicable to fashion products.

As a designer I have created designs for brands such as Polo Home Collection, Tommy Hilfiger, Brooklyn Mint (Puffy’s first fashion venture), Reebok, Jansport, Nautica, Rocawear, American Express, Dow Chemicals and many others. I have also been a trend and culture researcher for Sputnik where I interviewed the leading thinkers and cutting edge fashion and culture designers as well as thousands of kids off the street to gain information about specific consuming habits and product feedback for major brands such as Coca-Cola, Reebok, Girbaud, Guess, Shiseido, Timberland, Levi’s, CK, etc. In the 90s I started mixing technology with fashion. Cell phones and digital cameras just became affordable, the internet boom was about to start. I became the design director for the Modo wireless information device. I taught computer fashion illustration and cell phone design at Parsons and, most recently, started up MIL. Digital Labeling Inc. In 2004 our first digital labeling customer was Davis, a high-end women’s fashion shoe brand. Davis wanted us to take the girl in the logo and make her dance, so we produced the first “dancing digital Davis label”. Which are used as charms on very sexy and teched out fashion high heels for women. Our first consulting customer was a hi-tech Dow Chemicals spinout called Aveso. Aveso has an innovative thin and flexible display that will eventually replace paper and ink. In working with Aveso, we had the intention of creating a partnership to utilize their flexible displays for digital labeling applications. Today, we are licensing and selling our digital labeling technology to shoe, apparel, soft goods and hard goods companies.

How do you see the evolution and application of technology affecting consumer to brand communication? Do you foresee the day when labels and other technologies such as yours will directly influence how products and brands are created?

VC: Very much so. Most packaging is still the ink printed paper wrapped around a product used for thousands of years. In the twenty first century, we should expect the ink to do something for us. It should move and attract our eyes, entertain us and provide dynamic function. Even today, the only way we can personalize a product with data such as name, weight, age, height, sex, allergies, and any kind of preferences relevant and important to the effective use of the product is only through writing it on the product with ink or etching it. But the ink cannot mix and instruct a person to take this product x amount of times per day and warn against consuming with y because it will create an allergic reaction. And the ink cannot send a message to a preferred retail account where a replacement will be shipped automatically for delivery in one day. MIL.’s digital labeling technology will enable this scenario. Our plan and product development will take product data and individual user data to create consumption data and consumption function. Today, everything is going digital. Products with MIL. digital labels will be able to communicate with each other, with other devices and to larger computing systems. Companies/brands/manufacturers can push and pull all of this data plus dynamic marketing and branding content such as advertisements, video clips, coupons, animations, personalized logos, product updates, new software that enables more product functionality and features.

How does the technology work? Is it primarily decorative or does it have the capacity to eventually become an interactive device?

VC: Refer to the photo of a Davis shoe with a Digital Branding label and story board of the animation sequence. The technology comprises a LCD display powered by a micro-chip and button cell battery. The animation is programmed into the chip which activates the crystals in sequence to create the animation. On the back panel of the display, DAVIS is screen printed so when the battery dies and the girl stops dancing, the label will still display DAVIS. This digital label is decorative. It adds a cute and cool factor since the girl is dancing/posing, animation, motion attracts the eyes for increased shelf appeal. MIL. is talking to other customers about interactivity such as motion activated animation, touch screen illumination; transmitting data, stats and marketing to the label. Davis shoes—meant for walking and dancing—use advanced label technology to deliver an entertaining message like never before.

Might consumers see a day when dietary suggestions could be put on the back of products? Or, when detailed assembly instruction might be included in 10 languages? What are the limitations of the technology today?

VC: Absolutely! You could also display styling suggestions such as “Use this lotion with specific shampoos and conditioners to create the hottest new looks”. For example, a popular look for girls now is the trampy, over tanned, under fed, over fashioned heiress style; i.e., the Paris Hilton look. To achieve this look, the digital label on a product can suggest using this lotion along with a skin bronzing agent with a certain shampoo, conditioner and styling gel to achieve the hair style. For the face, the label can instruct the consumer to use very specific makeup, eye liner, mascara, hand and nail care and even perfume, teeth whiting regime, etc.—all with animated icons and pictures and text. A consumer can choose the look they are going for by selecting the celebrity endorser or the digital label can select a look based upon input of personal user data. Either way, for a Cover Girl product as an example, a user can select the Eva Mendez look, the Mila Jovovich look, the Halle Berry look, etc. and the digital label can display the entire beauty regime through product suggestions. This is displayed through a mixture of icons, images and text which can be communicated in any language and dialect. How many languages depends upon the memory of the digital label. Memory is very inexpensive

What limitations exist currently to the practical application of this technology?

VC: All the technology is available right now to make this happen. The biggest limitation is imagination and boldness. Executives have forgotten that their companies were founded on innovation and the commercialization of new products which tend to be expensive at first. However, the average consumer can recognize and appreciate true innovation which will always translate directly into successful adoption and sales. This leads to costs dropping and profits rising. It’s naïve and arrogant to think that all of this is craziness and too expensive and that it will never happen. It is not about it never happening it is about who will do it first, second and third. The first to do it will establish a market leading position. The second time around will profit. The third will standardize and profit more. It is a natural progression and evolution of products, culture, technology and events in modern consumerism. Just in the last 150 years there has been incredible progress through innovation and market competition. The prevailing advancements such as the airplane and electricity resulted from bold ventures created by the partnering of inventor and entrepreneur. Innovation happens when there is trust between business and visionaries.

What motivated this concept? What is your vision of its ultimate evolution?

VC: I realized that if everything is going digital and electronic then eventually we will need “digital labels”. The main points of interest for us at MIL. are (which are also current macro issues/trends) 1) Authentication/Secure Identity and 2) Consumption Data.
In the first point, brand and product authentication is a huge problem for luxury items and people’s identity. We are creating digital labeling solutions that work for immediate authentication in parallel to net based authentication systems.
For the second point, consumption Data = Product User Data + Product/Labeling Data + Product Consumption History + User Preferences. The ultimate evolution of the digital label will be a labeling device that will process dynamic consumption data on the product and provide more features for the product user. Going back to the lotion example, with all this input of data such as how much water you drink, weight, sex, how often you shower, skin type, etc. the digital label can process all this data and create a personalized mix of lotion at the precise amount per pump, dispense the lotion electronically and advise the user as to where to rub it in and when. The ultimate version of this digital label will be made of recyclable electronic components and printed onto the bottle.

Do you agree that in the future that the creation of brand biospheres will mandate a more participatory consumer culture? Do you agree, at least in theory, that products such as yours might one day truly blur the lines between consumer and creator?

VC: I cannot tell you how happy I am to be living in the twenty first century! I have waited all my life for this! Also, yes to a participatory consumer culture. The current American consensus suggests that no matter what you do for a living, you can still be a star and celebrity. The consumer groups age 19 to 35 have all been exposed to the explosion in fashion, hip hop bling culture, reality shows, and plastic surgery, instant status through affordable luxury and material goods and making the average looking girl into a cover girl. This group is extremely celebrity driven so their participation is based upon the culture of celebrity and how they can interact with or become a celebrity. So if this type of consumer can “create” or have their stylist remix their own version of a celebrity endorsed product through choice or input then they will buy, buy, buy. For example, with a digital label a consumer can input their name into a designer handbag and her name will be interacting on the same label with names such as Louis Vuitton and Prada. The consumer can also choose what type of animations, logos, graphics and features that the label will display. For consumers 12 to 18, they have grown up exposed but are less affected by celebrity culture. They value the computer and internet as a tool for knowledge and really know how to use all kinds of electronics, devices and computers; quickly and efficiently. They want to continue onto college and challenge themselves intellectually; create and produce. These consumers will be able to program their products with digital labeling. For them, a modern product of let’s say 2010 will be a product with a digital label that prompts the user to upload user data and preferences by placing it near a laptop or cell phone. The laptop or cell phone sends the data wirelessly and the product calculates the most effective usage plan for the product and the consumer. The product and computer will also prompt the user to select certain upgrades or features that can also be uploaded into the product for more features and functionality.

To conclude, where are you now with the project and where would you like to take it?

VC: Currently, MIL. Digital Labeling is selling our Digital Branding labels. These labels display animated brands and logos for any type of product such as shoes, outerwear, and hard goods. We are also about to finish our first Digital Authentication prototype for luxury handbags. This digital label will display authentication data for the consumer inside the handbag. The consumer can also personalize the bag by entering their name and information, digital monogram and by choosing what animation or graphics to display from a selection of art. The big picture is to digitally label everything and have all products communicate and interact with other devices and systems—and the consumer too of course!

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