The future feels real: Brands must master art of blending innovation with real connection

As technology reshapes our world, the line between digital and physical is vanishing. Digital is no longer confined to screens – it’s woven into the fabric of daily life, transforming how we engage with brands and the world around us. From haptics that let us feel online interactions to spatial computing that fuses digital with the tangible, we’re entering a new frontier where the tension between convenience and real-world connection defines consumer engagement. This shift demands we think beyond digital – tangible tech is now essential. Brands must grasp the delicate balance between technology and human experience to get these use cases right, ensuring they enhance, not disrupt. Explore 4 examples of how technology and tangibility are intersecting in new and nuanced ways.

The IRL hack

In an age dominated by digital marketing and commerce, we’re witnessing a consumer countertrend: a rising embrace of nostalgia and anemoia (nostalgia for a time/place you never knew) and desire for tangible experiences. Young consumers who grew up surrounded by the internet, social media and on-demand services are seeking something more grounded, real and analog. Beyond these digital natives, however, all generations are seeking (and spending on) in-real-life (IRL) experiences.

In Brooklyn’s McCarren Park, for example, singles are opting out of dating apps in favour of “dating walls” in parks, where physical notes replace digital swipes. In small cities in Canada – often seen as havens for monoculture – subcultures are starting to change the face of main streets. For instance, amid banks, dollar stores and restaurants, Belleville’s Doki Doki (a Japanese term for a beating heart) is sharing its love for anime subculture and cosplay fandom and creating a tangible outlet for community building.

Concerns about loneliness and disconnection are rising as the digital realm, while efficient, can feel isolating. People crave genuine human interaction and spaces that foster presence. Yet, people often find their truest selves online. This tension between technology and tangibility, connection and identity, presents opportunities for brands to thoughtfully blend online and offline experiences – especially as AI forces us to re-examine what it means to be human.

While digital is ubiquitous, it doesn’t guarantee consumer happiness. Brands seeking a bigger hit of oxytocin need to consider all facets of brand experience, not just convenience and marketing automation. Physical experiences, like in-store shopping or events, foster emotional connections that digital struggles to replicate. Even incorporating tactile elements into digital campaigns, like direct mail, resonates with nostalgia-seeking audiences.

Brand opportunity: Think about brand building and marketing beyond digital. Create spaces, both online and offline, that together are less transactional and more tangible for people.

Picking up the vibe

In a world saturated with visual and auditory stimuli, haptic technology offers a tangible way to cut through the noise and create bio-feedback that improves memory structures and conversion. Haptic technology is rapidly expanding across industries, from luxury goods and gaming to health care and beyond. By providing tactile feedback, haptics enhance user experience in digital and physical realms.

Most people experience haptics through the vibrations in their phones or gaming consoles. These cues not only boost engagement but also improve usability. Picture banking apps using vibrations to confirm transactions, or games delivering realistic tactile sensations. Haptics are even being used to enhance mood, promote relaxation and sharpen focus, often combined with sound to create autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) experiences.

In product design, haptic technology is being incorporated to differentiate offerings and enhance user experience. For instance, automotive manufacturers are integrating haptic feedback into touchscreen interfaces and steering wheels to provide drivers with tactile cues without taking their eyes off the road.

In ecommerce, haptic feedback is being developed to enhance the online shopping experience by allowing customers to “feel” products virtually. From a social commerce perspective, translating emojis into distinct patterns of vibration is already underway (you might be familiar with the birthday celebration in iMessage).

Media companies are leveraging haptics to create more immersive content experiences. Streaming platforms are exploring haptic-enabled videos where viewers can feel explosions or other sensations while watching content on their mobile devices – this heightened sensory experience boosts viewer engagement and recall.

Brand opportunity: By engaging the sense of touch, brands can forge stronger connections and enhance emotions and behavioural responses to leave lasting impressions that transcend sight and sound and passive digital ads.

The age of merch

Once an afterthought for most brands, merchandise – lovingly referred to as merch – has now become a cornerstone of brand building and engagement. Once a tertiary promotional tactic, offering little more than logo exposure, merch has evolved into a critical strategy for expressing identity and creating social currency – especially for brands struggling to establish a tangible presence. It also happens to drive a brand’s demand economics in a big way, acting as product, cultural artifact, digital amplifier and demand generator all in one.

More than a piece of clothing or a branded object, merch is now a tool for fostering a sense of community and belonging. When customers buy or wear merch, they aren’t just supporting a brand – they’re expressing their values, affiliations and identity. As we move into an era of consumer participation and collaboration, merch provides a building block for consumer collaboration, personalization and creating a collective cultural experience (hard to come by in digital niche communities).

Brand opportunity: Evolve merch from a superficial tactic to a strategic part of the brand’s identity expression and experience, creating interdependencies between culture, consumer and brand. To work, merch needs scarcity and cultural context, or it can become a commodity.

3D marketing

Spatial computing and wearables are ushering in a new era of immersive marketing, blurring the lines between digital and physical strategies. Technologies like augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and mixed reality (MR) allow brands to blend digital content with the real world, creating personalized, context-aware experiences.

Imagine trying on makeup virtually with AR or receiving personalized recommendations through your smartwatch as you walk past a store. Brands like Wayfair and IKEA already use AR to help customers visualize products in their homes, while smart mirrors enhance fitness routines and clothing try-ons. This seamless integration of digital and physical makes brand experiences more participatory, immersive and on demand.

Wearables, from smartwatches to AR glasses, provide real-time information and enable brands to deliver hyper-targeted messaging based on user behaviour and location. This transforms consumers from passive recipients into active participants, deepening engagement and loyalty.

Spatial computing also redefines omni-channel commerce. AR-enabled in-store navigation, for example, guides shoppers, displays reviews and facilitates purchases – all within a single, seamless experience. This “phygital” approach creates immersive experiences traditional retail models can’t match.

These technologies demand a fundamen­tal shift. The implications are significant in terms of how we think about marketing from brand building, data collection and channel experience. As spatial computing and wear­ables merge the digital and physical worlds, the future belongs to brands that can think post-digital – ones that are able to see and inhabit the convergent space between digital technologies and physical environments and online channels.

Brand opportunity: Brands must break down traditional silos between online and offline strategies and channels.