Payments via Gmail – Transferring Money is Getting Even Easier

What marketing philosophy should be …

 

I dream of briefs that lead to this …

http://youtu.be/ZUG9qYTJMsI

Genius marketing in action (usage of social, web and a great affordable product based on a subscription model that has proven to be super effective). People actually enjoy watching the commercial (comments on the video speak for themselves).

I wish more marketers were open to innovation and risk taking.

It takes balls to be authentic/funny and to speak to people in a human/friendly way.

With the affordable pricing of the product and the method of delivery (via subscription), I have no doubt this is going to be a big success.

Infogasm

http://visual.ly/

Multiple infogasms to share. Check it out for yourself.

Mostly Free Tools for Digital Strategists (Updated)

TRENDS:

• Cassandra Daily http://www.trendcentral.com/
• Slideshare and Scribd (for pretty much all topics)
• Following trend forecasters and “futurists” on Twitter (list to be added soon)
• http://www.digitaltrends.com/
• Google Trends(general)
• Mashable
• Trend Hunter
• Trend Land
• http://toptrends.nowandnext.com/

CASE STUDIES:

• https://www.facebook.com/marketinganz?brand_redir=1
• http://www.oneclub.org/#/
• http://www.webbyawards.com/
• http://sxsw.com/interactive-awards-finalists
• Various agency websites (since they feature most of their best work)
• Contagiousmagazine.com
• econsultancy.com

RESEARCH:

• Social listening
  • Sysomos
  • Radian6
  • Facebook ads

Agency Tools from YouTube

• http://www.google.com/ads/agency/toolkit.html

Google

• http://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/insights/tools/real-time-insights/

Segmentation

• Comscore

Secondary

• eMarketer
• L2

http://www.touchgraph.com/seo

http://www.youtube.com/yt/creators/create-better-content.html

Site Ranking

http://www.alexa.com/

Blogs/Magazines:
http://www.psfk.com/
http://www.fastcompany.com/
http://adage.com/
http://www.advertisingweek.com/awx/
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/
http://knowyourmeme.com
http://www.digitalbuzzblog.com/
http://mashable.com/
http://econsultancy.com
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/
http://searchengineland.com/
http://www.creativereview.co.uk
http://adsoftheworld.com/
http://www.nirandfar.com/
http://www.psychologytoday.com/
http://www.uxbooth.com/
http://nextbigfuture.com/
http://www.iftf.org/home/
http://www.geekandhype.com/
http://wearesocial.com
http://venturebeat.com/

Mobile:

http://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/mobileplanet/en/

Presumers are becoming mainstream

Women in Technology

Crowdfunding Companies

Indiegogo

Smallknot

Lucky Ant

Kickstarter

Corner Store Pledge Drive: Small Businesses Look To Crowdfunding

Full list: http://www.strategy-of-innovation.com/pages/List_of_Crowd_Funding_Web_Sites_and_Web_Sites_To_Find_Investors-4605700.html

 

Viral

Twitter Search Updates

“Search autocomplete shows you the most likely terms for your query as you enter it — especially useful if you’re trying to follow the hashtag for an event or you’re looking for a certain Twitter account. You can select your query from the drop-down menu even before you finish typing it.

After you enter your search, you’ll find the most relevant Tweets, articles, accounts, images and videos for your query. We’ve also made several other improvements to make your search experience better.

1. Spelling corrections: If you misspell a term, we’ll automatically show results for your intended query.

2. Related suggestions: If you search for a topic for which people use multiple terms, we will provide relevant suggestions for terms where the majority of that conversation is happening on Twitter.

3. Results with real names and usernames: When you search for a name like ‘Jeremy Lin,’ you’ll see results mentioning that person’s real name and their Twitter account username.

4. Results from people you follow: In addition to seeing ‘All’ or ‘Top’ Tweets for your search, you can also now see Tweets about a given topic from only the people you follow when Twou select the ‘People you follow’ view. Viewing Tweets about a topic from just the people you follow is a great way to find useful information and join the conversation.”

“The Beauty of a Second …

“The Beauty of a Second is an online tribute to celebrate the 190th anniversary of Nicolas Rieussec’s invention of the chronograph, and the luxury Montblanc chronographs named after him. We created an online contest http://www.montblanc-onesecond.com where everyone – professionals, amateurs, cell-phone camera enthusiasts – was invited to enter a one-second-long video.Online, users could also paste and edit the second-long videos of their choice using a dedicated application containing different music scores. The best one-second video and one-minute playlist (like the dials on a chronograph) have both been selected and awarded by Wim Wenders.”

More from Cyber Lions. Love the beautiful website, the competition and all the social elements. Very well done!

‘You’re Not You When …

“You’re Not You When You’re Hungry’ is Snickers’ global campaign. TV ads show people literally turning into somebody else when they’re hungry. But when we launched the campaign in the UK we didn’t use TV. We chose Twitter. Five celebrities sent tweets that were completely out of character. Their final tweet revealed the line: You’re Not You When You’re Hungry with a Twitpic of them eating Snickers. Each celebrity sent just five tweets. Yet the campaign was reported in press, on TV and radio – and was even mentioned in parliament. We spent £70,000 – but reached 26 million people.”

Brilliant execution of a TV/Digital idea via social media. You can go far when the core creative idea has long legs!

Google+ Statistics

• More than 170 million people have signed up for a  Google+ account. [from blog post, 4/11/12]
• 100M 30-day actives and 50M 1-day actives. [from NYT article, 3/6/12]
• On average, advertisers see a 5-10% lift in click-through-rate on desktop Google.com search ads when ads are displayed with social annotations. [from NYT article, 3/6/12]
• More than one million Google+ Pages have been created.
• Seeing that people are two to three times more likely to share content with one of their circles than to make a public post. [from SJ Mercury News story, 7/20/11]
• Over 3.4 billion photos have already been shared in Google+. [10/13/11 earnings call]
• +1 button is being served over 5 billion times a day all over the web [from 10/2/11 blog post] [background: this is for publishers’ sites only, not Google search or Google properties]

Cadbury case study : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Jt4fIIHn9k&feature=youtu.be

…

…

Digital Strategy

Monetary Value of Loyalty – Digital

Measuring Social Media

Digital Strategists

Love the Simplicity and Utility of this App

TV Ads’ New Digital Role – Shiv Singh – Harvard Business Review

TV Ads’ New Digital Role – Shiv Singh – Harvard Business Review.

Social Media Jobs Salary Guide

Sapient China: Dove Valentine’s Day Influencer Campaign

Brilliant Marketing Campaign for an Ingredient Brand

- Amazing strategy (this video is part 2) that is beautifully executed and establishes the brand as a clear thought leader. Well done Corning!

 

“Social Media Explained”

GET RETAIL 2012

From a post of Gabe Weiss @ Sapient (with his permission).

“As the combination of anytime, anywhere information and smart mobile and tablet devices proliferate, retail will undertake a massive transformation in the coming year(s). With consumers in control, the omnichannel customer is showrooming – using their mobile devices to point-know-buy – and t-commerce & s-commerce are both proliferating (but probably won’t call it that). News from NRF 2012 (National Retail Federation conference) is that retailers have finally accepted that they need to transform, the technology now exists for them to do so and they are actually focusing on it. While some leading retailers are innovating as fast as they can – see JCPenny’s new management cast which is making innovated moves – others are in a more challenging position – see the recent Best Buy drama Forbes started. If you want a glimpse of where this is all going, check the DEC11 HBR issue and PSFK which both showcase the “Future of Shopping”. If 2012 NRF and CES are any indicators, retail has only touched the tip of the iceberg of transformation and will be radically different in the years to come. A bit of great news for a digital retail transformer like us…”

What is Omnichannel Retailing?
This isn’t your younger-self’s version of multichannel or cross-channel.  No, no…it’s a whole new lingo:
Omnichannel retailing is seamlessly integrating the customer experience across all channels of interaction—including stores, websites, direct mail and catalogs, mobile platforms, social networks, home shopping and gaming.

http://www.slideshare.net/iyadmourtada/omnichannel-retail

Showrooming?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204624204577177242516227440.html

Point-Know-Buy
Why infolusty, spontaneity-loving consumers will embrace instant visual information gratification

http://www.trendwatching.com/trends/pdf/2012-02%20POINT%20KNOW%20BUY.pdf

T-Commerce?
Ok, fine…it’s Tablet-Commerce

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/165923/enter-the-t-shopper-tablets-flex-retail-muscle.html

S-Commerce?

http://www.luxurydaily.com/facebook-commerce-is-the-future-of-ecommerce-tory-burch/

JC Penny Rising
Why JC Penny will be the most interesting retailer of 2012

http://www.forbes.com/sites/lauraheller/2012/01/26/why-jcpenney-will-be-the-most-interesting-retailer-of-2012/

Best Buy’s Drama
“Why Best  Buy is going out of business…gradually” – Forbes

http://www.forbes.com/sites/larrydownes/2012/01/02/why-best-buy-is-going-out-of-business-gradually

http://www.forbes.com/sites/larrydownes/2012/01/09/the-people-vs-best-buy-round-two/4/

HBR + Bain– “The Future of Shopping”

http://hbr.org/2011/12/the-future-of-shopping/ar/pr

http://www.bain.com/publications/articles/bain-2011-2012-retail-holiday-newsletter-issue-3.aspx

http://www.bain.com/Images/Bain%202011%20Holiday%20Series_Issue%233.pdf

“The Future of Retail” – PSFK

http://www.slideshare.net/PSFK/psfk-future-of-retail-report-2011-preview

NRF 2012 headlines
“An interesting inflection point for retail: just when retailers are finally ready to spend on the promise of cross-channel and digital channels and new shopper experiences, solution providers are ready to deliver on most of that promise. A unique opportunity for everyone involved.”
“Retailers at the NRF 2012 event were talking about what it means when consumers use more than one “channel” to execute a single purchase with a retailer – omnichannel retail.  They focused on what it means to their employees, operational processes, and supply chain.” – RSR Research
NRF Themes:
Workforce enablement
The future of the store itself
The impact of new consumer shopping behaviors on the supply chain
Business intelligence and analytics capabilities – with a particular focus on the ability to analyze consumers’ paths to purchase

http://www.retailsystemsresearch.com/_document/summary/1387

NRF – 12 Truths to Guide Retailing in 2012

http://www.slideshare.net/dyohn/dlyohn-12-truths-to-guide-retailing-in-2012

Brands. Please Stop.

Building expensive brand sites that no one ever visits, unless you are providing a needed utility, content that is in demand or you have an ecommerce site.
Solution: Play in the areas where your users/targets are hanging out – social media, gaming, influencer partnerships, etc. Invest in social listening that drives great content, utility and things that make their lives easier or more entertaining.

Thank you

Food Habits of America via Seamless

Internet Week: Missed Opportunities in Social

Marketers often make the same mistake that we try to prevent our own clients from making: not understanding your audience. In marketing parlance, that includes talking above people’s heads, using acronyms, and assuming that everyone knows what you know.

I attended a number of excellent sessions during Internet Week but feel there is still a huge opportunity to develop panels that are more tailored and give specific case studies as to which agencies and clients are doing excellent work in the sphere of social media.

A prime opportunity rests in marketing for highly regulated industries. Marketers in this field face specific challenges due to the complex and limiting nature of the business structures and regulations involved, particularly in financial and legal services. It’s a daily struggle to be able to create valuable, customer-centric, engaging campaigns while satisfying internal compliance demands and external regulation. Clients want to hear ideas and learn about case studies that are directly targeted to their unique challenges.

The nature of social media requires a lighting speed turnaround to inquiries, which makes it extremely difficult for the industry to respond. Some questions to consider are: What channels are appropriate for these industries? What is the brand trying to achieve? The answer usually involves a combination of lead generation, relationship building via the sales force, and brand awareness. These are all valuable opportunities that must be planned out and thought through at length.

It’s exciting to see companies like Morgan Stanley entering this unchartered territory. “In June, Morgan Stanley will launch a pilot programme allowing 600 of its financial advisers to market themselves and to share their ideas and expertise through social media – notably through Twitter and LinkedIn.” Insurance companies have also started to train their agents in building a local presence in their communities via Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

This is a growing space that is going to see a lot of development and experimentation this year. Its important to continue to monitor and create exciting events that are relevant and targeted to this industry.

Favs of the 15th Annual Webby Awards

Its that time of year again where I talk about my favorite Webby winners.

I am absolutely a huge believer that marketing only really works when its an integrated multi-channel approach, hence I really love the Old Spice campaign. TV brought the character to life and social allowed for that personal, relationship building activation in an uber creative fashion. It won the hearts, minds and wallets of consumers (sales are up 107%).
http://nosharpstuff.com/oldspice/response/

The coolest sites seem to still be rocking big visuals with video components as the background and interactive navigational elements. I really loved the Wilderness Downtown site with its super creative use of HTML5 and pop-up windows.  www.thewildernessdowntown.com

The Monet site literally took you inside his paintings, providing a new prospective on viewing his work. A true masterpiece of a digital experience. http://www.monet2010.com

I love the “pay with a tweet” concept as a way to generate buzz. http://www.knarre.com/pwat_awards/

The theme of making people happy was seen in the Coke “Happiness machine” and “KLM Suprise”.

“Walking through” different digital channels seems to be a theme this year with Magnum Ice Cream (not in the Webby awards), Digital Story of Nativity and Sour MIRROR.

Social Media and Corporate Social Responsibility: Who’s In Control?

In June I attended the #promise conference in  New York City, which brought together a congregation of companies that had  promised to do good for the world.  It was sponsored by a number of major corporations who were using social media as a platform for communicating their  efforts in charitable pursuits. PepsiCo, both a sponsor and  a featured panel speaker at the event, spoke at length about the success of  Pepsi Refresh, a social media initiative now impossible to miss.  They  talked about the great brand engagement they’ve experienced with the campaign,  various social capabilities that have allowed them to reach out to consumers  in new and exciting ways, and how giving away millions of dollars to good  causes has, in turn, produced a more loyal consumer.

Not a moment into the Pepsi panel and the live twitter feeds on  either side of the stage were aflutter.  Someone had tweeted asking why  Pepsi had agreed to serve Aquafina bottled water, a plastic bottle made from  BP petroleum, which was currently leaking all over the Gulf Coast?  This  opened up a floodgate and the retweets started pouring in.  To Pepsi’s  credit, they never stopped the conversation.  It just sat there scrolling  on the screen as their marketing rep continued to expound on the work of the  Refresh project.

Consumers and brands never used to have this  type of relationship.  Grievances were either aired to customer service  reps or consumer publications.  CSR programs, if companies had them, were  privately invested in.  In the early days of the Internet, they may have  been a tab on a website.  But companies didn’t have to answer to  consumers.  You either bought their products or you didn’t.  Simple  enough.

But here we are in a new world.  One where the word  on everyone’s mind is “transparency, transparency, transparency.” Brands know  and fear this aspect of social media.  It opens you up to your consumer  in ways that are mutually empowering. You can talk to people more directly  about their interests, their passions, reach them where they are most active,  in the moment, one-on-one.  Consumers, in turn, can demand more from you.   They create a powerful network of influencers and tastemakers.   They expect you to answer to them.  They expect you to be honest  with them.  If they sense you are faking it, they will rat you out.

This was all one thing when it was just about selling  products.  But now companies have to work harder to sell themselves.   Consumers are more and more are demanding for brands to be “good”– to do  the right thing by your suppliers, staff, give back to the community and be  environmentally friendly. Its no surprise that Undercover Boss became such a  runaway hit. It’s as if the digital consumer is demanding, “Don’t just tell me  what you do.  Show me who you are and I will tell you if you can play in  my world.”  Facebook and Twitter provide easy and fast ways for companies  to appear to be doing the right thing, while continuing to drive profit and  brand loyalty.

Innovative new companies are leading the wave with  social good being part of their business objectives. David Dorfman, the  founder of Itzso, works with artisans in developing countries to create  fairtrade fashion and accessories.  While creating high-fashion products  that will appeal to the consumer is crucial, Itzso was primarily created for  the purpose of establishing sustainability in underdeveloped countries.   “These days the consumer isn’t given many fair trade, non-mass produced  options in fashion,” says Dorfman, “The more people connect with the fabric  they are putting over their bodies and the accessories they are decorating  themselves with, the more they connect with themselves and the world around  them.”  Dorfman believes it is not enough just to have a beautiful  design, it needs to be made in a way that honors everyone involved.  The  process of any company should be fair from beginning to end.  Imagine if  every company did its part, what would our consumer society look like  then?

Here is video of David speaking about being fashionably responsible:

Both  companies and consumers are continuing to define what it means to be socially  responsible in a social media world.  And each side is proceeding with caution, wondering who they can trust and just how much.  As companies  work harder and harder to campaign “goodness” in the social media space, consumers also have to work harder to ask themselves – are the right people  benefiting here?

We, too, have a responsibility to the causes we  support.

Highlights of the Social Media Strategies Conference

Huffington Post
- Growth in one year has been from 1.5 to 3.6 million comments.
- They are trying to stay really lean
- Editors are required to be familiar with SEO/SEM
- 135 people on staff w/ 10,000 freelance bloggers
- Twitter knows whats hot 12 hours before Google
- People want to be moderators and are given badges to cover certain sections of the site

Pepsi Refresh
- 120,000 refresh ideas
- 4.1 million registered users
- 50+M votes in total

H&R Block
- Social media team motto – “our business and our job is about helping people” – VERY SMART
- Have a great process in place to deal with their various channels and platforms
- Beliefs:  Two big ears to one mouth + one brand voice
- Properties include – Q&A community (typically respond to questions within an hour), iPhone apps, Twitter handles, Facebook pages and Blogger outreach
- Community has 1.5M visits between Jan and April of 2010
- They have the highest rated financial services app
- YouTube – 101 tax prep info
- Policy for content creation – creating content once and using it at least 3 times
- Focus heavily on social listening (using Radian6), building trust and leveraging their subject area experts.

What’s Hot
- geo-mobile
- social to real world activities
- emerging companies GroupMe+Fast Society

Gaming
- Social gaming is most popular with women aged 35-50 who watch soap operas
- A big gaming hit is $1M for developers
- 40M people in 30-40 countries

Coke
- Shared the case study of their successful viral:

Formula for viral – unexpected, relatable, funny

IBM
- Shared their social strategy and properties, too many to mention but they seem to be doing a great job at driving innovation and empowering their communities

Small businesses such as the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck, J&D Foods and Cheezburger.com shared their stories – very inspirational. One thing they all have in common is the ability to be fearless, nimble and niche.

My favorite peeps – Threadless shared their story of being a brilliant, engaging and empowering community – creating a new partnership with Disney around Tron shirts.

Wikipedia shared its philosophy of being “something very special…a national park, a temple of the mind” – the founder, Jimmy Walesthat, does not want advertising (agreed).

Additional Lessons Learned:

An overarching theme we’ve heard across these conferences is that we have to educate our clients at the same time we are educating ourselves about the social media realm.  The ask from clients should not be for a Facebook page or a Twitter handle.  What we need to know is what clients’ business objectives are and where across all media are those objectives going to be best accomplished.  The trick is often not to be new or first, but to be innovative in existing spaces.

Another cool insight was why user generated (organic) content creators in communities are sooooo PASSIONATE (Wikipedia, Stickybits, YouTube, etc, etc.) and willing to do the hard work for free (in some cases). === Creation is the closest thing that human beings have to Godliness and creating something that can be shared with a community and appreciated is even more powerful.

1.  Facebook is a fast-growing utility – so beware

Brands are growing increasingly dependent on Facebook to build relationships with their followers.  But Facebook only answers to itself.  If it wants to change its design one day, it will.  If it wants to go public one day, it will.  If its servers go down for a week, we are all at its mercy.  Brands still need to invest in other earned and owned media in order to remain nimble.

2.  Location based services are going to grow in big and diverse ways

Places and Foursquare are just small examples of what LBS can accomplish for consumers.  Newer platforms like Group Me and Fast Society are making instant connections between groups of people in the moment.  Big opportunities here, especially for sports marketers.

3.  Consumers want experiences, not just deals

Coupons alone won’t do the trick.  In fact, Pepsi found they don’t even drive initial trial.  Consumers want a more immersive experience from discovery to purchase.

4.  A strong internal social policy is the strongest guarantee for a successful social experience for your consumers

Companies like Threadless and IBM have done so well in social media because their engagement with their employees .  IBM considers each of their employees’ Facebook pages and Twitter handles part of IBM’s social reach – as such, they encourage their employees to be active brand reps and social media participants.

5.  Consumers can educate you about the boundaries of sponsorship

Threadless has partnered with Disney.  Huffington Post runs sponsored content on their page.  The Kardashians affectively product plug.  The importance here is not to over-saturate and to stay authentic to your community.  Their response will tell you how far you can go.

6.  Bar code technology is cutting out retailers and brands

Companies like Shopkick don’t require big brand strategies in order to initiate bar code technology.  Consumers can attach any kind of digital content they want to bar coding.  Brands need to make sure they have in-store presence if they know their consumers are going to be using this technology to engage with their products.  Huge opportunities here for Foot Locker.

7.  LISTEN

At the heart of all successful strategies is insightful listening across all platforms.  Conversation is happening everywhere.  Even the smallest tweet can mean the difference between making a deal or losing a customer.  It also can’t just be about being talked to.  Brands need to be actively looking at conversation and getting involved even when they aren’t asked.  H&R block monitors tweets to see how people are feeling about their consultants and get involved when they see negative experiences, even without their consumers knowing their listening.

8.  You can’t be afraid to fail

One insightful quote we heard was that the first man to cross the Andes was not considered an “Andes Specialist.”  Social media is a continual experiment.  As the line between virtual and real experiences grows more blurred, the full definition of social media is also expanding.  Small risks can often be free and great litmus tests for future campaigns.  And big risks can often result in big rewards.  It seems more imperative than ever that all marketers understand what social media looks like now to better navigate where it’s going – wherever that may be.

Digital Case Study: Threadless

Since I am a big proponent of the “fun theory” on all activities in life, why shouldn’t an entire company be based around that principle. Case and point – Threadless. The design “crowdsourcing” t-shirt site has been around 10 years. Yes folks, they are the real deal. The company has a lighthearted, creative and community feel – which in my opinion is the way of the corporate future – no more oppression, greyness, cubicles and monitoring of what websites employees visit. It’s time that companies learn that they can get a lot more productivity and free social media PR from their staff, if they treat them well and give them some personal and creative freedom.

Playtime is a part of their company culture, their new locale “will include the pool and pingpong tables, arcade machines, basketball and bowling games, and photo booth”. “Giving employees the freedom to take a break to play a game or socialize lets them know that management trusts them. ‘If you want people to do work that’s inspired instead of just punching a clock, you have to give them some freedom to do so on their terms,’ Nickell said.”

Threadless is also super successful at social media, creating an active and engaged community. “It’s actually a community of more than one million people who collaborate to design the t-shirts. Each week designers submit their design and the community votes on their favorites.”  Currently on Facebook they have over 150,000 fans and 1.5 million followers on Twitter.

The Threadless team motivates and gives their community tons of freedom and rewards from creating their own contests to fantastic prizes for design winners. The company is also a testament for quality, not needing to advertise for the first 8 years – WOM was the way people found out about the product.

My opinion about success in social media has always been that you have to have a real personality as a brand, and your staff and customers need to believe it. That is why you need a culture with a passion and character! Companies that force it won’t do well – social media does a great job of exposing fakes. I think Threadless is an excellent case study on what smart, innovative, re-defining corporate culture companies are doing – engaging their staff and clients for one fun shared vision. That my friends, pays off on so many levels. Cheers!

Client/Agency Relationships

A very thoughtful article – how clients can better treat their advertising/PR agencies. Having worked on both sides its nice to see someone express the entire nuances of the relationship. I believe that the best campaigns and work come from a mutual understanding, consideration and respect between the client & agency – elevating and empowering each other.
http://www.commscorner.com/2010/09/i-client-take-you-agency.html

Data Visualization for Flickr

Super cool site that lets you search for images on Flickr via tags and displays results a beautiful data visualization mode.

http://taggalaxy.de/

Wohooo, more love for data visualization!

The superb eloquence of telling a story by visualizing data. How much more powerful can information be perceived through this method!

http://www.ted.com/talks/david_mccandless_the_beauty_of_data_visualization.html

Social Media Strategists and Creative Thinking

Social media strategy just like all digital marketing does not work in a silo. It needs to be integrated into a large scale program. To do that effectively - your social media strategists need to be  involved with creative brainstorming from the projects inception. So that the entire creative idea generation fits together seamlessly. The best ideas tend to breed in cross functional teams anyway, so its a win win for everyone on the team. Also, there is the chicken and egg situation – sometimes the social media strategy can a drive creative idea -  in the new era of marketing there are no rules. So be open to new ideas.

14th Annual Webby Award Nominees – My favorites Part 1

http://www.webbyawards.com/webbys/current.php?season=14

These are my favorites from the nominees:

WEBSITES:

Activism:
http://battlefront.co.uk – I love to see people fighting for their believes and changing the world, this site is very approachable and gives people inspiration and an outlet for their causes. I also like the way its split between campaigners and mentors and its very visually appealing and fluid.

https://www.microplace.com – A micro finance site owned by eBay that connects investors with the world poor to help them get out of poverty. “A loan of a $20 can allow a poor woman to start a business and work her way out of poverty.” A while ago I read about Grameen Bank that was started by Muhammad Yunus and was really enlightened about this wonderful plight of social finance and how much positive impact it can have on the developing world.

http://www.stemcellfoundation.ca/ – A website that shares the plight and encourages people to sign for the very important cause of stem cell research. Stem cell research “Stem cell research holds the potential to revolutionize the way we treat diseases like MS, cancer, diabetes, blindness, stroke….”.

http://tcktcktck.org – Activism and stories about climate change around the world.

Associations:
http://www.thesedays.com/awards/hank/ – A movement to help people choose glass (which is 100% recyclable) over plastic by the the European Glass Federation.

Automotive:
http://panamera.com/#/home – A beautiful visual and audio experience through the Porsche brand

http://awesome.good.is/ecosystem/index.html#/home – An experience of creating a greener earth with Prius “there are people, organizations, and businesses working to reset the balance and create a greater harmony”.

http://awards2.digivault.co.uk/?p=493 – “The GTI Project: a game that allows people to relive the boyish fun of their youths by tapping into the nostalgia of when they first learnt to love driving.”

Banking:
http://www.webbyawards.com/webbys/current.php?season=14 – I really love the design and playfulness of this site but I find it to be a bit overwhelming, nevertheless, thumbs up on a great experience for a younger demographic.

http://www.billshrink.com – “free, personalized savings tool that helps you save money on your everyday bills.” Great interface and platform.

Best Copy/Writing:
http://www.TED.com
http://www.nytimes.com
http://mashable.com

Best Home/Welcome Page:
http://www.hellomonday.net – Love the color palette, interaction and portfolio display of this site.
http://www.life.com – This historic magazine retains all its original print beauty that made it famous in its web format.
http://malecopywriter.com/ – Awesome, fun design that truly shows his personality I would hire him!

Best Navigation/Structure:
http://theymakeapps.com – Great idea and functionality website for finding the perfect (or good) developer.
http://wechoosethemoon.org/# – A great interactive experience that takes you through the 40th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission. The mission is recreated in real-time through the site.

Best Use of Animation or Motion Graphics:
http://www.hf3.coca-cola.com/ – Beautiful, colorful dreamy imagery and a lighthearted, interactive experience.
http://www.shapeshifter.co.nz – A new approach to a promotional site for a band though this visual and audio experience.

Best Use of Photography:
Really stunning and simple use of displaying photography – easy to navigate, crisp and interactive.

http://www.seohiroshi.com/

http://www.nytimes.com/onein8
http://thinkingspace.economist.com – Gorgeous navigation and 2D display of photography

Best Use of Video or Moving Image:
http://www.bluebelljeans.com – LOVE, LOVE this, but I have always been a huge fan of using interactive video in sites. (Reminds me of the old “This is Grow” website.)

Best Visual Design or Aesthetic:
http://www.nike.com/jumpman23/historyofflight/ – Great way to tell a story (corporate sites can learn a lesson on how to tell a visually striking story with their company history)
http://summitonthesummit.com/#/basecamp/ – Putting you in the shoes of the climbers, this site does an awesome job of making you feel like you are there .. Great visual and interactive experience.
http://www.wereallfans.com – Great campaign and site that aggregates fan data via an exciting and beautifully displayed experience (I love interactive data visualization).

Blogs:
http://kara.allthingsd.com
http://mashable.com – an excellent destination for all things social media
http://1000awesomethings.com/

http://anthony-bourdain-blog.travelchannel.com – Love his show, book and blog
http://designobserver.com/

http://www.nytimes.com/themoment

http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/
http://www.truthdig.com/

Broadband:
http://www.hulu.com – the future of television

Celebrity/Fan:
http://www.jimcarrey.com/ – beautiful visuals and use of video

Community:
These guys have been around:
http://www.COLOURlovers.com
http://digg.com/
http://www.flickr.com

http://www.vimeo.com
http://www.indiegogo.com/ – “A collaborative way to fund ideas”

Consumer Electronics:
http://engadget.com – I like this site for the way it displays and organizes content.
http://www.thisisgrow.com/archive/photosmart/en_us/ – Beautiful visuals and organization of content (I like the “video real hand mouse”)
http://labs.tribalddb.nl/Cinema219/ – “At any point during the film you can compare the 21:9 format to a normal 16:9 TV or toggle Ambilight on and off.” to your connection speed, as did the corresponding soundtrack. Once loaded, if users liked what they saw, they could hit share to publish the movie across the web.”

Corporate Communications:
http://award.i-studio.co.jp/2009_garra/jp/ – Ohh, be still my heart. Love the concept, visuals and flow of this site which teaches you teh various skills of being a “tailored man”. Well done!

http://www.avealook.com/brightdancing/campaign/ – Great, interactive, engaging and viral campaign that supports the platform on which its marketed.

http://www.wk.com - I am biased here, I love W+K from the bottom of my heart, so .. of course I love the site )

Cultural Institutions:
http://awards.argonauteng2.de/philharmoniker/dch/en/ - “the worlds first digital concert hall.” “Every seat is the best seat in the house.” The sound and visuals make you feel like you are a part of the concert.

http://demo.fb.se/e/opera/homepage/ – This site really reminds of the gs.com website. Big bold visuals, type and iconography.

Education:
http://www.msichicago.org/fileadmin/Activities/Games/simple_machines/ – great educational game for kids, beautifully designed

http://waterlife.nfb.ca/ – Striking sound, visuals and narrative about a movie called Waterlife which tells the “epic story of the Great Lakes.”

http://www.pbs.org/your-life-your-money/ – I like this site more for the fact that it teaches young people how to manage their money. A very important skill set that is not learned in school.

Events:
http://www.TED.com – brilliant conference that I dream of attending one day.
http://www.tribecafilm.com – one of my favorite movie festivals.

Family/Parenting:
http://www.babycenter.com/ – great one stop shop for all things baby.
http://www.parenting.com/ – same applies here for parents.
http://www.themotherhood.com – great place to discover a modern/hip community of moms

Fashion:
http://www.hoodieremix.com – exceptionally produced, fun, customizable and interactive. Similiar to the latest web fashion trends of customization, this site takes its roots from Nike ID. I love the fact that the hoodie design is a contest and once you participate you get a coupon for a purchase.  What is missing is the ultimate payoff – how can you actually purchase my custom product?
http://lift.puma.com/ – personalized. big video visuals. cool. clear call to action > buy
http://eu.wrangler.com/bluebell/#/collection – its fun undressing the models

Food & Beverage:
http://www.cheeseandburger.com/ – tasty fun
http://www.epicurious.com/ – a world of info for people who like to eat well (like me).

Games:
http://apps.facebook.com/onthefarm – Zynga is a very smart company with some very successful games – so they have my vote.

http://awards2.digivault.co.uk/?p=710 – Monopoly teams up with Google. $3,000,000 virtual monopoly money and a chance to earn some bragging rights. Very very smart and a great use of the Google mapping platform.
http://www.recordtripping.com – clever fun

Government:
http://www.nasa.gov/city – great educational tool to help us understand how space exploration is present in our daily lives

Green:
http://www.loveletterstothefuture.com/ – very nice design and use of video
http://www.seventhgeneration.com – love the products, love the cause, love the visualization of the fellow “crawlers”
http://www.yoink.com – a more interactive version of the free items on Craigs list. “Get free stuff from your local area and give away things you don’t need.”

Guides:
Oldies and goodies-
http://www.tripadvisor.com
http://www.yelp.com

Health:
http://www.pbs.org/thisemotionallife

IT/Hardware:
http://www.everyclickmatters.com – great entertaining piece about identity theft.

Great article: “50 Free UI and Web Design Wireframing Kits, Resources and Source Files”

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/02/05/50-free-ui-and-web-design-wireframing-kits-resources-and-source-files/

Social Media Content Production

I have been thinking a lot about the issue of content creation lately due to social media. These days it is becoming necessary for companies and agencies to have a 24 hour “news/content desk” with partial or full production crews on hand (writers, editors, photographers, video cameraman, producers, etc). This is due to the fact that for the brand to stay popular, relevant and viral through the social media channels – it constantly has to supply audiences with “witty” copy – that carries the brands voice, crisp beautiful imagery and other media like videos, podcasts, etc. It also needs a 24/7 operation because of the necessary interaction with potential and existing clients. The more personalized and responsive you are, the more of a following/fan base you are going to receive and that translates into brand loyalty and sales.

On another note, this presents a great opportunity for all the out of work journalists, writers, photographers, etc. to shift their experience in a new direction – the “Social Media Content Production Studio” (due to the dying print publication world). Essentially, the principle of this type of content creation set up is the same as having a newspaper or TV studio, just tweaking it for the bite size content that today’s users demand.

Social Media Tools to Research Influencers

Since conversation/influencer monitoring through social media outlets is such a hot topic these days, I thought I would list the tools for finding these individuals in the marketplace. Influencers are the people who basically affect our purchasing decisions because they are well connected, popular and usually an early adapter of new products and technologies.

Here is a current list of some popular tools:
http://tweetlevel.edelman.com/
http://twitter.grader.com/search
http://www.retweetability.com/
http://klout.com/
http://facebook.grader.com/
http://technorati.com/
http://boardreader.com/
http://www.whostalkin.com/
http://www.socialmention.com

INFLUENCER ROLES:
- from Wikipedia

“Message Path Chart of a Single Idea” from a great article by Red Ant: http://www.redant.co.uk/community/blogs/building-a-digital-strategy–planning-investigated/

Digital Case Study: Foursquare

I have always preached that the best utilization of the interactive space is in real life experiences. By that I mean, using digital as a tool for people to have real interactions with the world; not to sit zombie like in front of their computer, waisting away all their social skills on buying people virtual drinks. That is why I have always loved Nike Plus, Meetup, etc.

This means I am truly psyched about Foursquare, a “… location service-based social network-come-game. What it does in effect is to tell you where your friends are and add a little fun to going out in the evening. It’s like Google Lattitude meets a little bit of Facebook, a touch of Twitter, a dash of Qype and even a twist of World of Warcraft. And if that’s not a cocktail for hopeless addiction, then we’re not sure what is.”

It’s a social game that you play using the platform in real life via your mobile – it’s fun for customers and brings in $$$ for small business owners. “Think: 50% friend-finder, 30% social cityguide, 20% nightlife game.  We wanted to build something that not only helps you keep up with your friends, but exposes you to new things in and challenges you to explore cities in different ways…”

People earn badges and “mayor statuses” by checking-in to various establishments.  “If you tell us where you are, we can tell you which of your friends are nearby.  We call this “checking-in”.  You can check-in from a park, bar, museum, restaurant, whatever. Badges are little rewards you earn for doing interesting things – e.g. staying out late on a school night or visiting places far outside your neighborhood.  A mayor is when “you’ve got more checkins than anyone else at a particular place, we deem you “The Mayor” of that place.  But once someone else comes along who has checked in more times that you, they then steal the “Mayor” title back from you.”  In certain location the Mayor gets special discounts, privileges, etc.

I am about to start testing this tool as a client and on a business, will let you know how it goes and I am excited!!!

Digital Strategy

Below is a very important statement by Advertising Age in a recent article entitled “Does the Industry Need Big Digital Agencies Anymore?”
http://adage.com/agencynews/article?article_id=140549

Tactics driving digital are over. Digital strategy is now a major component of the marketing mix since consumers are spending such a bulk of their time engaging online, especially through social media. The digital strategy has to go beyond microsites and banners (they are good methods to support an overall campaign but not be the campaign itself). We need to start bringing superb customer experience through these digital channels, providing tools and services that make consumer’s busy lives easier. These tools can live on mobile devices, though Facebook apps, Twitter “coupons”, etc.

“Big or small in the digital space, three major trends are changing the game at this very moment requiring marketers to play catch up.

1) Smart mobile devices will outnumber computers in 2010;

2) Social Networking has proven out to be the place where customers spend the most time on-line;

3) Digital is too big and value priced to be overlooked any longer.

The net of all three trends is that the days of tactics driving digital are over. The numbers and the competition are getting too big. Every marketer must move forward with a sound digital strategy to meet the bigger goals and returns they are attaching to digital plans, as digital is becoming a more significant part of the mix.

Customer insights married with business objectives must now be used to formulate overarching digital objectives and strategies. Once those are well defined with the ability to measure and adjust in real time, execution and success are much easier to develop and achieve.”

Digital Case Study and Winner: Chanel N.5

What an amazing job was executed on the first ever Chanel online campaign. Stunning, crisp visuals, brilliantly produced in a superb and detailed integrated online campaign. Kudos to “London Creative Agencies Feed and Hi-ReS!, along with Media Agency MEC Global”. I love the overtake with the train timetable and the animation mirroring how the information changes. The moving train loop with Audrey daydreaming in the background and the banner are great elements that wet your appetite for the “Night Train” spot. The microsite also does an excellent job of being the campaign hub – such as providing behind the scenes footage, Chanel story, etc. It is super romantic and totally captures the essence of the brand, using the peak of the story as her scent (in a subtle, non-intrusive fashion).  It’s also perfect for an international audience – no dialogue just pure visuals, senses and fluidity. Beautiful!
http://creativezone.eyeblaster.com/?ItemName=Chanel%20No5

Introduction to Interaction Design at SVA

For all those interested in understanding the very important discipline of interaction design/ information architecture, I took this good short class at SVA that goes over broad strokes principles (Introduction to Information Architecture & Design). Here is the ppt that the cool Professore (Anh Dang) presented: http://www.slideshare.net/sva.ia/sva-intro-to-information-architecture-design-fall-09
The key concepts and techniques concepts that were discussed: “organizing information, designing interfaces and creating interactions” + “heuristic evaluation, card sorting, analyzing and organizing content, sketching & wireframing, paper prototyping and user testing”.

Great article and sites listed on the history of social media

http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2009/10/the-history-and-evolution-of-social-media/

“The Way Forward (9/21) – incl. Bob Greenberg (R/GA) and Barry Wacksman (R/GA)”g

“There has never been a year quite like 2009. The simultaneous impact of technology and the global economic downturn have disrupted the advertising industry. What are some agencies doing and what do…”

Great slide on digital “diversity of output:”

Digital Case Study: Urban Daddy

The “exclusive and illusive” tone of Urban Daddy is one hot commodity – the email newsletter will generate around 5-10 million dollars in 2009. Not bad for an email publication (check out my posting on Daily Candy for another email cash cow). The company founded in 2005 by Lance Broumand and has 1.1 million subscribers. The publication is targeted to a ” style-conscious young male with a high income living in a big U.S. city.” Daddy has also changed it’s strategy a bit – originally being invitation only and now open to everyone to increase its subscriber base. “UrbanDaddy has sought to set itself apart with highly selective offerings, coupled with its increasingly customized sponsorship campaigns. As a result, UrbanDaddy claims to deliver higher metrics across the board, including click-through rates as high as 15%.”

Overall, I really like the look and feel of the site and the newsletter, clean and bold with large imagery and short but to the point commentary.

Interactive Physical Spaces!!!

The blog is back from summer vacation! Great article about how digital is even transforming physical spaces and making them interactive (users are playing games on buildings) !!! http://adage.com/digitalnext/article?article_id=138725

Google’s Education Portal for Agencies

Google has created a portal for ad agencies  “to educate their staff on Google Advertising and also help bridge the gap between Google and the agencies which may have been ‘wary’ of using Google ad planning as opposed to traditional media buying techniques.” This will be a great asset for Digital Ad and PR companies to learn the ins and outs of Google. Tools such as “webinars, a searchable library with more than 200 marketing case studies and short, on-demand video segments” will be offered.

Peace!

“Best Free Website Analytics Tools”

Great great posting about free analytical tools for the web: http://webdesignledger.com/tools/best-free-website-analytics-tools