highlighting the best digital advertising campaigns, interactive marketing trends, technological innovation, and anything else that inspires creative thought, pushes the interactive medium, and creates a conversation. by brian o'shea
building a website that’s optimized properly for mobile should be a no-brainer as global smartphone and tablet shipments continue to outpace both desktop and laptop sales. mobile advertising last year, while it only accounted for $1.5 billion in revenue, grew 89% over the previous year. mobile search traffic also quintupled in the past two years and most leading analysts predict that it will continue to explode.
customers are using their mobile devices to search for products and services and they need great mobile experiences designed for completing on-the-go tasks from their small screens. as a result, responsive design has become a new trend among web developers trying to create uniform brand experiences. responsive design is a development technique that allows you to create a single website that adapts to the device on which it’s being viewed. in other words, one site for every screen.
here are some of the reasons why i love responsive design vs the conventional approach of building separate m.obile websites.
every day the number of devices, platforms, and browsers needed to work with your site grows so stop thinking about the likes on your Facebook page and start thinking about the web in terms of systems.
we’ve seen a lot of changes in the online world over the past five years that have revolutionized the way that people conduct business and how consumers spend their time. social networks, mobile phones, and tablet computing have created new marketing opportunities for advertisers to reach their targets and tons of useful utilities for consumers to obtain information about a product or service prior to purchase.
just as i anticipated over a decade ago, digital marketing has finally become a force to be reckoned with as online advertising revenues continue to surge. record smartphone sales across the globe are also an indication that consumers are ready for new forms of marketing and mobile advertising. however, despite the growth in both social media and mobile, one thing has remained the same. CONTENT IS STILL KING!
magnetic content, as it’s being called these days, is branded content that blurs the lines between advertising and content. in a nutshell, it’s content published by the brand that intentionally doesn’t feel branded or try to shill product. the purpose of magnetic content is to engage consumers beyond traditional media in a way that fosters loyalty and increases brand awareness. magnetic content could take the form of a mobile application, short form video, augmented reality game, or other purposeful material that promotes a brand. here’s a flawless example of how louis vuitton recently used magnetic content to promote their brand with a custom iPad application promoting their legendary trunks.
at $18.99 per download, it’s one of the more expensive applications in the app store, but it’s more like a book and chock full of sophisticated features that match the brand aesthetic. if you’re passionate about great design and want to see a perfect example of magnetic content through storytelling that’s relevant, interesting, engaging, and inspirational…this application sets the standard.
i recently read the results of a study that was conducted by kanter media which found that 90% of advertising that exists within content on the iPad is still static and doesn’t take advantage of the interactivity that the medium affords advertisers. as a digital guy, i was bummed out, horrified, and actually not surprised. here are some of the low-lights.
kanter media monitored 150 magazines for their survey that were selected based on their print revenue, digital spends, and their top grossing magazine apps within the iTunes store. 110 of the top publishers analyzed had an iPad app and 65 of which had iPad specific editions with exclusive digital content.
the analysis found that most ads failed to take advantage of the iPad’s interactivity, essentially re-purposing ads on the tablet that were created specifically for print. a few of the ads that were studied took advantage of interactive features or animation. however, most of the ads were static or lazily placed links to the advertisers website’s or social media pages. the ads that utilized the medium were typically in publications like wired or fast company that typically cater to a more tech savvy audience.
few advertisers also took into account the orientation change from landscape to portraits modes on the tablet. most of the ads had slight variations between the two modes, usually showing the same product, text, and images in different cropped positions. in some cases, the reader was required to scroll or swipe the ad in order to fully view it.
some of the notable ads that were featured included tic-tac, which ran an ad that played music when a user shakes the iPad. scion ran an interesting ad that included access to image galleries, videos, and animated hotspots on the vehicle that highlighted automotive features.
it’s a shame that this medium isn’t being used properly as there are so many amazing things that can be done with it that include direct links to e-commerce sites, interactive games, branded content, social media pages, and opportunities to capture consumer data through promotions. here’s an inspirational example from BBDO Almap that ran in auto sporte magazine highlighting the volkswagen tiguan’s “park assist” feature.
this year is shaping up to be the year of social product/image curation 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 product/image curation space.
pinterest seems to have captured a pretty large female audience with it’s etsy-like look-and-feel and navigation. the site allows users to pin and share images on the site’s board which is usually populated with products that skew heavily towards females. i personally don’t have an interest in martha stewart products, adult sized sesame street pajamas, red velvet cupcake recipes, or shabby chic interiors. as a result, pinterest seems to be missing out on an opportunity for a huge segment of potential male users to register and share products with others in their social networks.
the fancy on the other hand is a visually stunning collection of beautiful images and products like tumblr. however, instead of pinning images and adding them to your board or feed, users can “fancy” them and add them to categories for others to “fancy” and view. the fancy has more of a unisex feel to it like fab or gilt groupe. the emphasis is on simplicity, beautiful images, and an elegant user interface that feels premium, modern, urban, and cool in comparison to pinterest.
the differences between each site’s content are glaringly apparent as well. some of the brands currently on pinterest include lands end, laura ashley, cabot cheese, and martha stewart. some of the brands currently featured on the fancy include gucci, yves st. laurent, balenciaga, alexander mcqueen, and several others. if you represent a premium home decor or luxury fashion brand, adding products to the fancy is a great strategy.
unlike pinterest, the fancy is also trying to drive sales through their site. users on pinterest must click on a pinned image twice to reach the original site to make a purchase. the fancy has a more intuitive user interface and makes it easier for consumers to purchase items they like by clicking on a “buy it” button on the right side of the page once an object has been “fancy’d.” the focus of the fancy is on discovering cool new products that you will never find in a retail store, which adds an element of surprise and discovery for the user.
the fancy also has the feeling of an easter egg hunt as new products and deals from retailers can be unlocked. users are rewarded for clicking “fancy it” on product photos with discount codes that can be redeemed at checkout on the retailer’s site. deals are also clearly marked in a special “deals” tab at the top of the page that makes it simple for users to find. pinterest does not currently have a list of retailers and their buying experience feels completely disconnected and buried beneath the pin board.
the fancy has also taken a valuable page from facebook’s playbook in that it allows retailers to place a “fancy it” button next to products within a website. users have the ability to like, tweet, +1, and now “fancy” the things that they wish to share socially.
in summary, comparing “the fancy” to “pinterest” is like comparing a bombardier q400 to a cessna 152, a ferrari california to a fiat 500, or a weekend stay at the hotel du cap to a new england bed and breakfast. sure, pinterest may be trending and growing, but their business model is weak and the user experience is lame compared to others in the category like the fancy, svpply, and dro.pt.
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 shazam, it’s a pretty cool service that allows mobile users to identify songs and artists. once the song has been identified it will then allow the user to purchase that particular song and download it to their mobile device. the mobile tags can also be used in television spots to direct the viewer to exclusive web content or music tracks that are being used in the commercial that are available for download.
old navy and cp+b have done a great job integrating mobile tags into their “old navy records” campaign. the mobile tags are used as an entry vehicle into a brand experience that allows the user to unlock style tips, download songs featured in the commercials, shop the band’s look, receive coupons and special discounts, and get access to other exclusive video content on their mobile device. it’s clever, it’s smart, and it’s so perfect for the demographic that old navy is targeting, which brings me back to turbotax.
the turbotax campaign and their partnership with shazam feels forced and ill-contrived to me for several different reasons.
it’s not your demographic - admittedly, while i don’t specifically know the demographics of a turbotax user, i am fairly confident that they aren’t tweens or millennials. the old navy spots and their mobile tag integration works so well because they hit the bullseye target of who shazam users are, which is primarily millennials. this is a demographic that embraces music, cool technologies, they are tethered to their mobile device, and apt to share content with their social networks if it’s cool.
it’s not cool - there’s an inherent cool factor in using a new or emerging technology like shazam to connect and engage with a consumer on a more emotive level. agencies and marketers often fall in love with shiny new marketing toys and find ways to force-fit them into their strategy. employing new technologies is fantastic when they address your brand challenges and are supported by deep consumer insight. turbotax might simplify my tax preparation and filing, but the brand isn’t cool, the spot isn’t engaging, and taxes will never be fun or interesting. smart utilities that simplify and streamline my tax preparation are.
it’s not fun or interesting - shazam is typically used to tag “music” not voiceovers. if the voice was a recognizable one, like snoop dog’s, i might be more apt to tag the spot to see what else he has to say. users don’t have a compelling reason to tag the spot because it isn’t engaging and holds no promise that participating in the activity will have been worth the time spent.
it’s not worth my time - my favorite thing about the “old navy records” campaign is that the program delivers on the promise of something better and something totally unexpected. providing a download link to music featured in the spot is a no-brainer. however, it’s the extra content and exclusive offers that really payoff and reward the user for participating. if a user is going to make the effort of tagging your spot while it’s on air, please reward them for their behavior. using shazam to direct me to a mobile website that I could point to with my browser is lame.
using shazam, essentially as a qr code, in a television spot is interesting. there are some obvious benefits and risks involved with using mobile tags. before you fall in love with “any” tactic think about who you are trying to reach, what are you are trying to convey, how you want the end-user to engage, and define the metrics for success before you execute.
