'Imagineering' consumer behaviour: a proposed methodology for visualizing futures

Abstract

Contemporary research methods within the marketing arena rarely enable or capture creative cognitions that potentially generate new insights at the holistic level. Such insights are particularly pertinent where a clear understanding of the overall marketing environment is lacking because of its rapidly evolving but ad hoc nature. The Internet of Things (IoT) is a case in point. Given the rapidity of the emergence of the IoT and the novelty, diversity and scale of its potential applications, a key challenge will be to identify and research issues that will accompany its proliferation and permeation into potentially every aspect of consumer lifestyles. In an attempt to address this, this paper outlines an innovative approach to research design that draws on cross disciplinary experts within the fields of science, technology and arts to use ratified visualisation techniques to identify current applications of technologies and crucially, imagined future uses within the IoT context. The results of this research are subsequently captured using a series of machinima animated films. It is intended these will be used to engage consumers in discussions that identify key issues for future research ensuring such research will not only remain pertinent but aligned with evolving applications and practice