As far as marketing is concerned, Apple events are great feats of show. The buzzworthy extravaganzas and the news they bring with them are rumored about for months on end before invitations with official dates even go out. In fact, at this point, they may have even become a little predictable. Yet while today’s announcement of an Apple Watch may have been expected, the possibilities presented by Apple’s entry into the wearable tech market only reinforces the direction that display and connectivity are taking, and the surprising opportunities that await marketers there.

For the last two years, wearable technology has been declared the darling of the international SXSW Interactive festival, stealing the dreams of every app developer looking to leave Austin as the next must-have new thing. With such a massive audience at the taste-making technology festival, it’s also become an advertising bonanza; so it makes sense that the next buzzed about and innovative opportunity for marketers would take over the news coming out of the annual event for two seasons in a row. Until today, the most recognizable names in wearable technology have been Google Glass (only ever prevalent in public if you’re standing on the corner of Cesar Chavez and Trinity in downtown Austin mid-March), Oculus Rift, Samsung and a variety of similarly-featured wristband fitness trackers. With the introduction of Apple Watch, the capabilities of the common and widely popular wristband fitness trackers are not only being incorporated into a better device that can do what they can plus some, similarly to the evolution from e-readers to more functional tablets, but the wrist is being turned into a bracelet billboard and data trove for potential advertisers.

For marketers, the most intriguing thing about the possibilities offered by wearable technology isn’t necessarily the delivery method – we’ve been delivering messages through some sort of screen for decades – but it’s the ability to target such a specific customer in such a specific way at the exact right moment. When you think about it that way, Apple Watch can certainly do more than tell time; instead it can tell you when you need something and what that something may be.

Wearables also present an interesting opportunity for marketers to receive and evaluate feedback from their audience that has proven difficult to get to in the past. Even more so than online or social advertising where every action is tracked and analyzed, the behavior of audiences subjected to real-time advertising from wearable devices will provide feedback on how these customers live and interact in their daily lives outside of a controlled situation such as browsing an industry news website or doing what they do when on Facebook. The future of advertising lies in delivering the most relevant content to the right people when it’s most convenient for them. If we can achieve that, then there’s no need to hard sell. And today’s announcement proves we’re moving in that direction.

Bought. RT @mikeykolberg: Apple Watch. Google Glass. What's next? Twitter Hat. Twitter Hat is next.

— John P. Churchill (@jpchurch) September 9, 2014