Insight: Greenlight Digital – IoT is the most talked about tech trend at this year’s London Tech Week, whilst Google is most mentioned brand on social

Last week marked London Tech Week, Europe’s largest festival of technology and innovation. This year, creativity and talent came together to map out the biggest trends and upcoming tech that brands need to be aware of. However, whilst there may be hype around the top trends, marketers have to be proactive yet cautious when looking to invest their budgets in any new innovations.

Independent research from digital growth agency, Greenlight Digital, has discovered that despite Microsoft being the headline partner, under a quarter (24%) of brand conversation focused on the company. Whilst Google was the most talked about brand coming out of this year’s London Tech Week, with just under a third (32%) of mentions among the most spoken about brands.

Most discussed brands on social media during London Tech Week:

• Google – 32%
• Microsoft – 24%
• Facebook – 13%
• WeWork – 11%
• Huawei – 11%
• Ericsson – 9%

Most discussed tech trends on social media during London Tech Week:

• IoT – 28%
• AI – 27%
• FinTech – 17%
• Blockchain – 11%
• Smart City – 10%
• Big Data – 8%

Out of the leading general tech trends, the IoT is still the hot topic this year with over a quarter (28%) of conversation centring around it, whilst AI followed very closely at 27%. However, experts are noting that whilst the hype of the IoT is now justified with products such as Amazon Echo and Google Home, consumers aren’t necessarily “ready to talk to their fridge” notes Andreas Pouros, CEO of Greenlight Digital. “For the IoT to really take off and for marketers to be able to implement it into their strategies, they need three things to happen: consumers need to be comfortable talking to their tech (rather than typing commands), they’ll need effective methods for them to talk to their tech with and it needs to be affordable.”

Andreas continues: “Household names such as Amazon Echo and Google Home are the game changers and they are starting to make consumers feel that IoT, automation and robotics are normal. Some brands do it really well, such as Kayak using Alexa to track flight numbers and check prices, or Uber accepting bookings through these platforms. That being said, the internet of things is still in its infancy and will need to innovate further, before marketers can put significant budget into it and expect a healthy return.”

“In parallel, but not getting as much attention as it should be is Blockchain – which allows digital information to be distributed but not copied. This is because it has the potential to be the most disruptive technological advancement since the internet. Brands that dismiss cryptocurrencies and blockchain tech fail to understand that this isn’t about currencies, it’s about the easy movement of ‘value’, and value can mean anything – contracts, start-up funding, storage, etc. Its limits are our imagination.”