February 2012
2 posts
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the fancy is so much cooler than pinterest
this year is shaping up to be the year of social bookmarking sites and marketers are already scrambling trying to figure out how to properly leverage them to promote their brands and products. sites like pinterest and the fancy have garnered the most attention, but one of them is head and shoulders better than the other and should emerge as the dominant player in the social bookmarking space.
...
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shazam and turbotax. really?
i was watching a television show the other day when a :15 spot for turbotax interrupted my viewing at the commercial break. the spot seemed timely, as we’re in the midst of early tax season. however, it was the brand’s use of shazam’s mobile tag service in the spot that felt so disconnected and left me scratching my head.
to anyone who isn’t already familiar with...
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tips for designing a perfect iPad app
“design is not just what it looks like, design is how it works.” - steve jobs
the magic of an iPad comes from the perfect marriage of utility, it’s ease of use, and smart design. creating an app that goes beyond a disposable gaming experience that actually tackles a functional problem takes time to develop. an app must be easy to use and equally easy to set up. it must also...
January 2012
2 posts
4 tags
bmw i-magazine london 2012 app
kudos to bmw on the launch of their new i-magazine dedicated to the london 2012 olympic and paralympic games. the free magazine features exclusive content and interviews with bmw’s performance team members and olympic gold medal winners putting bmw vehicles to good use on several different test tracks and obstacle courses.
the app also includes tons of video content and a beautifully...
October 2011
1 post
3 tags
building brand communities
if you walked down the street and randomly asked people how they like to spend their free time, most would say hanging out with family and friends. as human beings, we’re communal in nature, which is why a vast majority of us live within a 30 minute drive of a city. It goes back to our early roots as hunters and “gatherers.” whether we’re illustrating the narrative on...
June 2011
3 posts
4 tags
marketing to the constantly connected consumer
walk down any city street these days and you’re bound to see someone who’s either sending a text message, checking-in, browsing the mobile web, updating their facebook page, or using some kind of utility on their smartphone. mobile devices are everywhere, as is the ability to be constantly tethered to the web. by the end of this year, over 1 billion people around the world will be...
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the future of smart phones
the technology in smart phones seems to be improving by leaps and bounds due largely to advancements in processing power and faster networks. mobile devices are getting smaller, thinner, and faster. despite that, i have yet to find a mobile device and carrier network that is reliable and doesn’t consistently drop my calls. however, there are some incredible advancements that are on the...
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May 2011
3 posts
5 tags
how to earn social currency
my last posting prompted a conversation with a friend about the definition of “social currency” and what it does for a brand. a lot of marketers tend to think of social currency as “buzz,” their number of friends, followers, youtube views, and the number of likes they have on their facebook pages. social currency consists of that and much more. it’s easy to fall...
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pepsi's "social vending" machine
last week pepsi introduced a new social vending machine system, a networked unit with full touch screen interactive technology. the system enables users to gift a friend by selecting a beverage, entering the recipients name, mobile number, and personalized text message notifying them of the gift. there is also an option to send a personalized video greeting recorded at the machine. the gift...
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April 2011
3 posts
5 tags
how to increase your mobile app downloads
5 billion mobile applications were downloaded in 2010 and 21 billion are projected to be downloaded by 2013. In other words, optimization and testing is imperative to ensure that your well developed app isn’t lost in a sea of sameness as the space race continues. just because your app has placement within iPhone’s app store, that doesn’t necessarily guarantee traffic to and...
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facebook for business: is the juice worth the...
i realize that this might be contrarian to how many brands and businesses currently view facebook, but i think that facebook for business is totally overrated. over the past couple of years marketers have flocked towards facebook and employed a variety of different tactics in an attempt to gain “fans” or “likes.” most have been met with lackluster results, yet the...
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@ my breaking point with tipping points
every day my inbox is flooded with a barrage of daily deals and i am getting kind of sick of it. sure, it’s my fault having signed up and opted-in to offers from jetsetter, gilt group, gilt city, lot18, mercantila, dailycandy, urban daddy, groupon, livingsocial, snique away, and others that i am probably forgetting. i spend more time deleting these daily deals from my inbox that i do...
March 2011
2 posts
5 tags
last call for #tiger blood
it’s hard to tune out the dramedy that’s unfolding this week regarding charlie sheen and the train wreck that’s sadly become his life. sheen’s been tabloid fodder for a while due to his antics, sexual exploits, and other bizarro addictive tendencies that make scott weiland’s look tame. sheen has been able to get away with his manic behavior for so long now that...
February 2011
1 post
January 2011
1 post
Use Twitter to Gain Competitive Advantage
twitter has become one of the most popular social networks for companies to use as a broadcast vehicle to introduce new products, manage customer relationships, and to both start and monitor a brand discussion. because so much of the twitter data is public, it can be easily used to help your company gain a competitive advantage.
here are a few simple ways (and tools) that can be used to get a...
December 2010
2 posts
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it's hip to be square: the QR code revolution
thanks to the digital innovation group at engauge for this nice piece. agreed, marketers should be focusing their efforts on optimizing their existing sites for mobile use and integrated QR codes and SMS campaigns for activation - NOT MOBILE APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT (unless you can provide us with a branded utility we absolutely cannot live without).
November 2010
4 posts
Watchralph lauren’s “polo” brand has been heavily experimenting with social media, mobile commerce, custom content, and other digital marketing tactics to create awareness and raise their brand’s profile for a while. a leader and innovator in their category, this recent presentation in both new york city and london uses a radical approach to architectural mapping to create a...
gartner's "hype cycle"
fiften years ago gartner introduced their “hype cycle” as a commentary on the human response to technology. the hype cycle provides a snapshot of the position of technologies relative to a market, region, or industry vertical. the tool that gartner created is used to identify which technologies are hyped and which are suffering from disillusionment. it also identifies which are...
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monster hunt augmented reality game
i recently stumbled upon an augmented reality game that launched in the uk last month to promote an annual sci-fi festival in manchester called “grimm fest.” participants were asked to download a mobile app, supported on both iphone and android platforms, and use their mobile device to hunt and slay zombies, werewolves, ghosts, witches, and vampires around their city. points are...
October 2010
1 post
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September 2010
1 post
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the social media bandwagon
over the past 18 months a veritable “space race” has been waged in the social media space. agencies, marketers, and corporations are tapping into the medium as a tactic to transform broadcast media monologues into social media dialogues. i like to equate social media with the high school locker who’s inside door students personalize with things that are meaningful to them,...
July 2010
1 post
5 tags
when smart tactics are poorly executed
as a fan of professional sports, and an even bigger fan of smart marketing, lebron’s “decision” and all of the buzz culminating and leading up to last night’s prime time announcement is at it’s best a great case study in how not to market your product and promote your brand.
lebron’s decision to abandon his hometown in favor of sobe is irrelevant. what we...
June 2010
3 posts
5 tags
my thoughts on 3-d tv
these days it seems like a lot of media and technology companies are irresponsibly “leaping” before they really take a close “look” at 3-d television. it wasn’t too long ago that consumers made the expensive and inconvenient switch from analog to digital television. the switch was an economic boom to electronics manufacturers and retailers who capitalized and...
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some notable campaigns
here is a small sample of some of my favorite projects that i’ve worked on over the past few years. enjoy! Porsche - this website commanded ridiculously high opt-in rates by site visitors requesting additional information from porsche with visitors spending large amounts of time on the site interacting with the brand. the site went viral and was featured in Gizmodo, the LA Times, Road...
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is the ipad a "must have" device?
there has been a lot of buzz around the ipad since it’s release about a month ago. in it’s first day in stores, apple claims to have sold more than 300,000 units. sales fell short of analysts expectations, but that’s still pretty impressive by most new product release standards within the category.
with so much hype surrounding the release of this product and a myriad of...
April 2010
3 posts
8 tags
why brands should focus on mobile web, not apps
with smart phone adoption rates higher than ever, a veritable space race is being waged by developers to create the next “killer” brand app for the iphone and other mobile devices. true, there is tremendous value in providing consumers with branded utilities that make our lives easier and more manageable. nike has done an amazing job creating smart branded mobile utilities that...
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foursquare + groupon = awesome!
after foursquare blew up last year at sxsw it became one of the most highly anticipated mobile applications ever. many, myself included, were anticipating a more robust version of jack dorsey’s twitter. a social media application that would allow us to track our friends, update our status, and truly stay connected to our social network in real-time. however, while i do see some merit...
March 2010
2 posts
6 tags
the space between
it’s been interesting to watch the digital agencies evolve over the past decade. there still seems to be a huge gap between the small web development agencies and the behemoth internet consultancies. the void is filled with a few agencies doing “groundbreaking” digital work, but in large part considering the myriad of “digital agencies” out there in existence, most...
February 2010
1 post
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7 critical factors in building a successful brand
i thought this was worth highlighting; the seven main factors critical to building a successful brand, as referenced from professor david jobber’s strategic management journal.
1. quality - quality is a vital ingredient of a good brand. remember the “core benefits” as the things that consumers expect, which should be delivered consistently. an expensive washing machine that leaks, ...
December 2009
4 posts
virgin galactic and gatorade tiger?
this was almost the grand prize for the gatorade tiger brand launch that i worked on couple of years ago. believe it or not, pepsico legal approved the grand prize which would have sent a lucky contestant to space. however, branson, the king of shameless self promotion declined to take part in the promotion.
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"squareup" iPhone app
seriously, this might be the coolest iPhone app that I’ve ever seen. it was birthed by a local artist in san francisco who was unable to sell a piece of his art glass because he couldn’t accept credit cards as payment due to the high processing fees, cost of equipment, and long credit application process.
backed by twitter creator jack dorsey and khosla ventures, squareup allows you...
October 2009
9 posts
4 tags
visionaire magazine goes electric
new york based limited-edition fashion and art publication visionaire magazine goes electric this month for it’s 57th issue, drawing inspiration from Daimler’s fortwo smart car. visionaire 57 “2010” is the plug-in electric issue of the publication. 52 internationally renown curators and art collectors were recruited to select 365 works of art, making this issue, in the...
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love this site! great design and interface! →
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nikon's d700 digital ooh campaign
i’ve been blogging for a little while that digital and ooh (out-of-home) merging will be the next “big thing” in brand marketing. on may 23rd in 2005 nike through their partnership with r/ga launched an interactive ad on a 23 story billboard in the middle of times square to promote their new nike id product. the campaign allowed pedestrians walking by the reuters sign to call a...
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Watchi love the sprint “now network” campaign with it’s real-time data visualization, but i think i just discovered the inspiration for the creative concept. ”the kingdom” was not a very good film, but the opening credits are the best i’ve ever seen.
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September 2009
5 posts
5 tags
starbucks...now on your iphone!
yep, there’s finally an app for that. in an effort to increase sales, provide utility and convenience, consumers can now get two great free applications that bring starbucks to their phones.
the mystarbucks app allows you to find the closest starbucks location with the amenities you want, build your own drink, learn about different blends, and pre-order food.
the starbucks card app...