Mobile, big data, content and disruption, the usual suspects, were all marched across the stage at the 2013 Ad Age Digital Conference. One theme, close to all our hearts, truly dominated: the humans that give every brand their reason for being.

Whether the motives behind it are altruistic, dollar-driven or both, the result does seem to be better experiences for people. From insights to new levels of convenience to heart-wrenching, real-life adverstories, at this year’s Ad Age Digital Conference, humanity was the bee in every business’ bonnet.

Some were using it to greater effect or on a more meaningful level than others. Google, for example, walked the walk, eschewing any talk of "digital marketing," opting instead to talk about storytelling. They didn’t just talk about it, but presented it in a way that embodied the ideas they were touting, wowing a late-afternoon crowd with a spine-tingling, genuinely engaging and human-pleasing experience.

Before we get too gooey, congratulating our Adland peers on being human after all, let’s not forget what this is all in aid of: sales, naturally. In these digitally enabled times it does appear, though, that the efforts of businesses to appeal to our human needs and desires is actually resulting in a better time for people.

Digital video and original content is a great example. People like watching TV, movies and videos. If we’re to believe the speakers at Ad Age, people just like watching in general. People also like and need to watch on their own schedule, and they don’t want to pay too much or for things they don’t watch.

Starting from these basic human insights and then applying technology to the problem has brought new companies and business models into being: companies like Netflix, Hulu, Redbox and, more recently, Aereo. Aereo, using tiny digital TV antennas, allows consumers to view live broadcast television in HD on any internet-connected screen. Rejecting the traditional bundled options existing cable companies offer, CEO Chet Kanojia said the idea was to create a digital "cable" option from the consumer perspective, "to connect the dots for consumers so they can access the TV they want."

It’s an idea that has caused more than a little controversy among the TV establishment, but has ultimately resulted in more options and better access for the TV-viewing public. Hulu takes a similarly disruptive view, using their digital capabilities to free them from the usual constraints of scheduling and ratings, and allowing them to focus on finding and creating quality content tailored to their wide range of viewers. Again, it’s a new approach to raking in the bucks for business, that absolutely pays off for the viewer.

As ideas go, putting people at the center of any brand endeavor, digital or not, may seem more common sense than mind-blowing. But with brands and businesses properly putting their weight behind the effort, it appears we humans can only win.

Claire Falloon is a Senior Consultant in Verbal Identity for Interbrand.

Pictured: Martin Cooper (from ArrayComm) & Facebook Home

Yesterday the world celebrated the 40th anniversary of Motorola's demonstration of its portable telephone, the DYNA TAC system. Martin Cooper, then Vice President of Motorola, Inc., is said to have called a rival at AT&T's Bell Labs from the streets of New York City. According to an April 3, 1973 press release from Motorola, the new portable phone was expected to be available for public use as soon as 1976. The cell phone took a bit longer to take off with the public, but four decades later smartphones have become part of our daily lives and today president and CEO, AT&T Mobility, Ralph de la Vega was on hand at Facebook's big unveiling of Facebook Home.

As David Vales, Senior Systems Engineer for Interbrand, noted in his recent blog post, Smart Phone Sector Heats Up With Big Launches, with BlackBerry's Z10 now available in the US and Samsung's release of the S4, which Vales describes as "very impressive," the smartphone race is intensifying. Today's Facebook unveiling was the introduction of Home, software designed to "turn your Android phone into a great, living, social phone," according to Tom Alison and Adam Mosseri in Facebook's newsroom. The first phone to come with Home pre-installed will be the HTC First, available exclusively from AT&T on April 12. Home will be downloadable on other Android devices, but won't have all of the features of HTC First.

"Apps aren't at the center, but people are at the center and we bought into that" said de la Vega at the event. The new Home-ready HTC First phone will run on AT&T's 4G LTE network and will cost $99.99. Tech writer Chris Taylor who heads Mashable's editorial team commented, "Great coup for HTC and AT&T -- probably the largest captive audience they've had for a phone announcement." Mark Zuckerberg noted, "By putting people first, and then apps, it's one of many small, but meaningful changes in our relationship with technology over time."

Facebook Home brings its News Feed experience to users' mobile home screen. The new Home experience includes Cover Feed, Notifications, App Launcher, Instagram and Chat Heads. The latter, a mobile messenger that allows users to reply directly to friends instantly or move a floating head image of a friend when not ready to respond, inspired strong reactions in the comments section of Mashable's live streaming of the event. Chris Taylor reacted,"'Chatheads.' -- really?" and "'Chathead.' it really is going to take a while to get used to that word." 

Caitlin Barrett, Associate Director of Verbal Identity for Interbrand and the creative lead for Naming, responds to the name Chat Heads, "It's hard to say whether Chat Heads will change behaviors and expectations the way the 'Like' button did, but the name is just as absurdly simple—and perfectly aligns with the new chat experience." 

Barrett adds, "Is it awkward? A bit, as it doesn't seem necessary to specify the parts of your friends with which you're chatting. And it doesn't fall naturally into everyday conversation: Will we talk about it like a platform? 'We talked on Chat Heads earlier today…' Or an activity? 'Let's Chat Heads later tonight.' This might very well be the point. If Facebook wants this to simply be the way we chat on Facebook, perhaps it doesn't want to take the hit by trying to brand what could easily become a generic term for this new style of chat. So is it a bad name? Certainly not. We all giggled at the iPad when it was first launched too, but as long as the functionality proves to be differentiated and useful, the name will cease to be part of the story."

What does Facebook Home for Android mean for Apple? Several commenters in Mashable's chat and on Twitter expressed new shifting interest from Apple phones to Android. 

As discussed on CNBC recently, concerns about Apple are growing. Colin Gillis of BGC Financial, CNBC's Jon Fortt and Interbrand's Jez Frampton discussed the slowdown in orders at China's Foxconn and if this is a sign of problems for Apple. Frampton observed, "In terms of the brand, there's no doubt about the fact that Apple still is one of the pacesetters in the market, Samsung are giving them a good run for their money, but this lack of innovation is a concern. To be honest we've been taught as consumers to expect the next new thing every other week almost, and now they're slow on the iPhone 5S. And what's next? Where's Apple TV?"

Gillis added, "The market is still valuing [Apple] well north of $400 billion, but the market is changing. What we're seeing is lower cost competitors are getting traction. ...For Apple to maintain their margins and to maintain the volume units, they need to keep innovating and that's an issue for the company right now."

What does it mean for Google? Commentor Lance Ulanoff asked Chris Taylor during the live chat today, "Has anyone asked specifically about Google+? Chris Taylor responded, "Nope, but this really does seem like another nail in Google+'s coffin." JoeyMartin91 commented, "If I'm Google, I'm nervous. Facebook just took my niche market and rewrapped it." Robert Stephens, founder of The Geek Squad and former CTO of Best Buy, tweeted:

QOTD "@parislemon: Facebook not forking Android -- more like spooning it."

— Robert Stephens (@rstephens) April 4, 2013

The reveal today raises a number of questions about privacy concerns, battery life and, of course, consumer interest. Understanding consumers will have many questions, Facebook has planned for trials of Home before users commit to downloading it or purchasing the HTC First pre-loaded with Home, a smart move. We'll also be following this initial post with more on Home and what it means for the marketplace in blogs to come.

Amy Edel-Vaughn is Interbrand's Community Manager.

Apple earned the number two spot on Interbrand's Best Global Brands 2012 report and the power of Apple's brand value has made the iPhone the top-selling smartphone in the world. The iPhone 5 is facing some competition this week, though.

Today the BlackBerry Z10 is officially available in the US from AT&T. The new phone, garnering positive reviews, becomes available from T-Mobile and Verizon next week. 

Samsung's S4 promises to be a competitor in the smartphone space. Shortly after Samsung's recent launch event for the new phone, Apple responded with marketing on its website claiming, "There's iPhone. And then there's everything else."

I had the pleasure of attending the S4 launch event at Radio City Music Hall in New York, which started with a Broadway-inspired performance demonstrating how the phone's features relate to everyday life. Some in attendance panned the performance as "cheesy," but I found the actual phone to be very impressive.

The screen size is a bit larger than any phone currently on the market with a great resolution at 1920 x 1080, making it a great HD streaming handheld device. The event's emcee, Will Chase, noted there is less to hold on the new phone, but much more to see, a great way to justify the large size of the screen.

Adding "group" features such as group play is a smart move. Group play allows multiple phones that are within a reasonable distance to share and stream music simultaneously in different speaker arrangements depending on how many phones are linked up. 

What I find so cool about this feature is that it does not require any kind of Wifi or hotspot; this can be done anywhere at any time as long as you have your phone charged. I can see this feature being a hit with the youth market. 

Another great feature, but also raises some questions, is the Samsung smart pause. This feature pauses the phone when you aren’t looking at it and then unpauses when you are looking again, all automated. Is it just tracking eye movement or does it look for a full head turning motion?

One of the coolest features presented at the event was "Air Gesture." The name truly expresses what it does. Move your finger in front of the screen and it recognizes this as a swipe on the screen. 

This feature utilizes an infra-red heat sensor. This device can measure temperature changes and act off of heat movements. I believe this is the first phone for consumers to have this type of sensor in it and it will be interesting to see what the hacker community comes up with for this handy sensor. 

The built-in rear camera has 13 megapixels, which is also the highest megapixels on any phone released to date. The associated features with the camera are quite useful and unique.  When recording video you can use both cameras on the front and back, enabling you to add the camera man to the video. This dual camera feature is also available for video chat. 

On the business side, the phone supports Microsoft Active Sync and in addition to supporting the widely used business mail systems, Samsung has added a very useful application called Samsung KNOX. This KNOX software can separate your applications securely so they can only be accessed via password. 

The Samsung software truly makes this device capable of supporting business and personal use at the same time with one smartphone. The hardware is superior to any other phone on the market right now and the camera features invite all kinds of creativeness to the table. The group features add a new dimension to social networking, allowing connectivity without requiring an internet connection. 

The "7 sensor innovation" is only the beginning for Samsung. These sensors can be applied to many facets for many industries. 

The smartphone sector is definitely heating up.

David Vales is a Senior Systems Engineer for Interbrand.

Speculation is heating up today in the wake of Apple’s announcement that it’s developing a smart-wristwatch. Well, actually, Apple didn’t so much as announce it, as the media – The New York Times included – announced it for them, “according to people familiar with the company’s explorations.”

Absurdity of what this type of hype-driven-brand means for Apple long-term aside (see my posting from Sept 27, 2012), the specifics of what is being developed are the interesting part. I’m not necessarily ready to join Apple fans looking to trade in their retro Casio calculator watches, but it reflects something pretty amazing in terms of how we relate to technology, and therefore, technology brands.

Not so long ago (for me at least), before we had touch screens, before we had laptops with 8-hour batteries, before we had cars with built in navigation/infotainment centers, there were the things we used in everyday life (cars, soap, food, clothes) and there was technology. We had TVs with remotes we couldn’t use, VCRs we couldn’t set, computers that could run programs and maybe even get on AOL.

Today, I can ask my phone how to get somewhere and it tells me. I can watch more than a lifetime’s worth of video online. I can set my thermostat using an app on my iPad. More importantly, my kids can talk with my parents who live 2,444 miles away—not just talk on the phone with them, but look them in the eye, show them their painting and hang out.

Just as we can’t imagine life without electric lights and indoor plumbing, technology, or, more specifically, the results of technology are things we effectively take for granted. Why? Because technology no longer requires us to conform to it in the ways we have in the past. We’ve reached the point where it doesn’t just let us do stuff; it helps us do everything.

The role of tech brands is changing. Apple is as much a consumer brand as Nike is a tech brand and vice versa. Humana uses technology to keep people healthy. IBM uses people to make businesses healthy. Whether we look at American Airlines or Amazon.com, Ford or Facebook, Zara or Zappos, we will find technology playing as much a role in how we engage with, experience and benefit from the brands that surround us.

Nirm Shanbhag is the Managing Director of Interbrand San Francisco.

As a first time attendee at CES, I was expecting to wait in lines to see the latest TVs, tablets and smartphones. Sure there was a big crowd jockeying for 3D glasses to experience the LG OLED TVs, and of course there were the regular masses listening to the DJs spinning, showcasing the latest audio technology for speakers and headphones alike.

The longest line I saw was at the Trojan booth. Yes, they were there, giving away free vibrators. There was a nearly equally large crowd gathered around the booth for the HAPIfork, the fork that buzzes when you eat too fast. And the HAPIfork certainly wasn’t the only thing buzzing at CES. The crowd at the GoPro booth, showcasing the versatile, adventure camera that can attach to equipment such as skis, helmets and surfboards, was exploding into the aisles and even into neighboring booths. Along with the crowds, I found myself trying to capture a photo, touch the products and even ask a few questions to someone working the booth. I asked myself what did these products have in common? Why were they generating what seemed to be more buzz than the usual TV and tablet suspects?

They inspire. They’re rewarding. They make life adventurous. Sure, life can be exploratory and entertaining through TV screens, audio equipment and mobiletechnology. But it seemed that the brands that were able to capture the buzz of the crowds were those that really inspired people, whether it was to lose weight, to be healthier or simply to enjoy life more.

As consumers, we now have access to so much incredible technology. It’s almost as if the most advanced products don’t even shock and surprise us any more. But we still crave things that inspire us and make us feel good about ourselves, now and in the future. Those were the brands that really appeared to capture our attention. They showed us how and let us experience it. The ones that did it right, left us with a little kick in our step and enough energy to make it through the seemingly endless aisles of gadgets.

Caren Williams is Associate Director, Brand Strategy for Interbrand San Francisco.

Photo from Huff Post Tech.