One-to-One: Consumer Marketing and PLM have a Baby - 3dswym

I had the chance to attend
… a Dassault
Systemes‘ event recently to learn about the direction DS
is taking their business. One point I touched on in my writeup but
didn’t cover in any depth was a new venture called
3dswym
(for 3D “see what you mean”). It is interesting
enough to devote a bit more time to here.

Who are They?
Imagine if PLM and consumer marketing got married and had a baby,
what would it look like? 3dswym is that baby, a joint
venture between PLM heavyweight Dassault Systemes and marketing
powerhouse Publicus
Groupe. For more on Dassault, you can see my previous
blog entry. Publicus Groupe is a very large (over 4 billion
euros) marketing and advertising firm, that works with a “who’s
who” of consumer-oriented companies.

What do they Offer?
What they offer, in short, is the ability to use lifelike
simulations to simulate customer experience. This can take
a number of forms, but examples given were using 3D models to
simulate a customer’s trip to the store, which can be used to
determine and validate such important things as product placement
and how attractive a product is on the shelf. The key is that this
is not a canned walk-through, it is a live simulation that
the consumer can control (and the company can monitor).
Which product will they choose? If the product is packaged in a
different shape or color, will it be viewed more frequently? This
is really the marriage of gaming technology and lifelike
simulation of the physical world applied to consumer
marketing.

Note that this goes way beyond advertising. 3D in advertising is
becoming much more commonplace. Interactive 3D is increasing as
well. This technology applies there as well, but goes further
because it leverages DS’ efforts to make the virtual world match
the physical world. And just like digital manufacturing solutions
(these simulate a virtual 3D product being produced in a virtual 3D
plant), it allows companies to make multiple iterations in
the digital world before committing to more expensive physical
prototypes or making expensive mistakes in the real
world.

What they plan to offer (I expect this will evolve as they find
their sweet spots):

• Virtual product tests
• Store layout simulation
• Putting products or packaging in context (in store, at
  home)
• Simulated shopping experience

Why Should you Care?
I imagine many of the people reading this are (like me) primarily
focused on application software for the manufacturing industries.
Other than the fact that I think this is pretty cool, I also think
that this is still about the product lifecycle. It’s about the
customer experience with the product - and simulating it digitally.
It leverages existing 3D assets and simulation technology that can
be used to enhance manufacturability. It is all a part of a
large continuum of technology helping companies develop and manage
more profitable products. And that is something we should
all care about, even if the upfront marketing doesn’t fall into our
daily activities.

What you Should do?
First, run the
demo. You will have to load the DS 3DVIA player to run
it, but it will give you a good idea of what this is all about.
There isn’t much explanatory audio, but the I have seen it before
and you can read the screen around the demo. The demo shows the
consumer having the chance to experiment (in 3D) with what the
packaging, logo and labeling will look like and see there results
in real-time. You can change the shape and resize it, pick between
different graphics, etc. You can also click on the
shopping cart to try different store layouts and the “home” icon to
see what the product looks like in your home.

Maybe share it with a buddy from Marketing if
you have one. I know it’s a stretch, but I think it’s important for
all of us to stretch into adjacent areas to see what’s coming next.
And it’s pretty cool.

So that’s what I heard from DS and 3dswym. I hope you found it
useful. What do you think?