Why would you want to spend a lot of $$$ to build a site to permeate your brand into the mind of the public, and then never really show the brand itself? In the case of the Sound of Color, The GAP has a great concept, beautifully presented and meticulously executed, to support their “Color Redefined” campaign, yet the site never refers to the campaign, the logo, or Gap products. Not a stitch of denim anywhere! It does leaves the viewer with a strong and, more importantly, a new impression of the Gap brand. While still perceived as youthful, The GAP is seen as an idea generator, a patron of the arts, a catalyst for creativity, and in tune with technology and communication.
The message is delivered through the language of music and video, which the target audience speaks fluently. To their credit, The GAP has focused on the viral possibilities of the site and music downloads, rather than the more traditional use of media placement. The site will live for only a month, but the music will be woven into the fabric of daily life as its passed from friend to friend. The strong response elicited in their audience is one that will persist. That’s $$$ well spent.
I am a fan of biking, just ask any of my coworkers who have had the pleasure of seeing me haul into the office after a nice jaunt. I am also a application developer and web addict. Given the ubiquity of cheap wi-fi, the pleasure of not having to park or follow most traffic laws, and an investment in a laptop which weighs 3 pounds and has a 5 hour battery life, I tend to do a lot of work on the trail.
This has lead to an interesting problem. Most of my job is creating web applications which fail when you do not have any internet access. Now not being able to check my email when I am on the side of Stone Mountain may not be a problem, but not being able to update my spreadsheets, compose mail, or save my changes to the next great American novel is.
Many sites do not see the need for dealing with intermittent connectivity and instead take an all or nothing approach. Things are changing, needs are changing, and this attitude should change. Over the past few years there have been several technologies developed and proposed which mitigate these issues.
One that I have worked with is the Dojo Storage API. This API is a part of the Dojo project, an open source Javascript library. It provides wrappers for Adobe Flash’s shared object functionality which means that I can write Javascript code which will call Flash and save data to the user’s machine even if I am not online.
There are a few downsides to using the Dojo Storage API. First, a user must have Flash installed and must not have disabled shared objects. This is not a very large concern because of the large userbase of flash, however; Apple’s iPhone does not have a version of Flash and is not capable of using this API. Secondly, this API is part of the Dojo Offline SDK which has not had a stable release.
Of course this is still a far cry from an official, supported, implemented standard such as ones being proposed by the W3C (and subsequently ignored by Microsoft, Apple, Opera, Mozilla or bascially whoever DIDN’T propose the standard), but it offers a general step in the right direction.
Everyone is trying to figure out online video these days. We know that every day more and more people are turning to the web to view content that they used to get from their television. Look no further than the once popular TV show, “America’s Funniest Home Videos”. Today that’s called YouTube. And most of the popular TV shows today are broadcasting their episodes on their websites soon after the episode runs on TV.
I recently found two blog posts / articles that talk about how to get online video right. The first is by YouTube Celebrity (he probably hates me calling him that), Kevin Nalts. If you missed it, Nalts recently pranked us at Spunlogic and you can see it on YouTube (of course).
In his recent blog post entitled, “The Marketer’s Cheat Sheet to Viral Video” (which, if you are at all interested in viral video and how it should work with marketing, you should subscribe to his blog), he goes through eight steps to making a successful viral video. This post is a must read for any marketer trying to figure this not-so-new medium out.
Taking a different tact on the online video space, Esquire magazine has an article that talks about the qualities that make a successful webisode. I had to post about this article because it talks about Michael Cera, which gives me yet another opportunity to mention that Arrested Development is the greatest show of all time.
And if you haven’t checked it out yet, take a look at Clark and Michael (pic above). Excellent example of what a webisodic show should be and yet another Cera masterpiece. He’s the really cool looking guy on the right.
This past weekend, I attended SoCon08, an unconference on social networking. During one of the breakout sessions, we outlined the various ways that we as consumers or businesses communicate with businesses. The complete list of communication mediums is below for review.
I found it interesting that as the group shouted out suggestions, it took 4 tries for us to mention email, which is an essential means of communication. I consider email essential because I can safely predict that one of the first things that you do each day in both your work and personal life is check your inbox for new email (well, maybe it’s actually the second thing that you do after sipping your coffee).
This exercise also signaled to me a major shift in way we think about email. Obviously, social networking is leading the charge in the way we think about traditional two-way conversations. But more importantly, I think that the internet continues to play a greater part of our everyday lives and social networking is an incredibly efficient means of communicating when we’re on the internet. In other words, we’re online so social networking allows us to have an online conversation whereas using email feels more like an offline conversation during an online experience.
So am I predicting that the death of email and email marketing?
We’re clearly provided with more opportunities these days to jump on the internet. For example, Starbucks allows you to jump online for free as you sip your latté. We’re also hooked on BlackBerry and iPhone devices to stay connected with colleagues and friends. That means that we’re at the crest of the email “wave”. So in my opinion, email is becoming less relevant as a communication means — instead it is becoming a means to set up to-do lists and archiving. However, I still believe that email will continue to serve a purpose in business communication and this means that the art of crafting, delivering and measuring the response from these emails will become even more important.
I recently came across an interesting article featuring portfolio samples and an interview with Dan Wheaton, one of the matte artists from the films Babel, Stranger Than Fiction, and The Number 23.
The amount of imagination and attention to detail associated with matte painting never ceases to amaze me. View his website & portfolio here.
The Internet has already captured a majority of the wealth of human knowledge. Big ideas (both emerging and established) can be accessed and processed via an increasingly wide array of electronic devices. Still, this huge ocean of data is often only visible from the portals of our desktop or laptop screens. We are approaching a unique watershed moment where we will soon breach the Fourth Wall separating us from this information.
Imagine walking into a bookstore to find a title that focuses on a particular area of professional interest. You’re browsing through the “Software” section of the store because you’re interested in learning more about software development. You pick out a book that looks interesting and you snap a picture of it with your cell phone camera. Your phone will display a synopsis of the book, an average reader-rating score with further access to user reviews, and recommendations for further reading. You decide from this information that the book you’re holding in your hand is not the one you’re looking for, but given the recommendations you’ve just received, the book on the shelf above it will give you what you want.
This type of instant access to Internet intelligence is already possible and will one day be de rigueur.
Here is one of the necessary ingredients:
A two-dimensional barcode (also known as a QR Code) can store over two megabytes of data, more than enough storage capacity to hold things like book synopses and other detailed product information. A mobile phone user simply snaps a picture of the QR Code and the phone will extract the data (provided the phone has QR Code-reading software installed on it). The barcode can also transfer a URL to the phone, thus providing a bridge between the Internet and the physical world.
These QR Codes can be placed anywhere: billboards, magazine ads, TV ads, websites, etc. Accordingly, this technology will have a huge impact on marketing. My colleague Amy Griswold recently blogged about the dearth of website links displayed during Super Bowl ads. Part of the problem with displaying a URL during a TV spot is that unless the viewer is actively typing the link into a web-browser (granted, TiVo would make this easier), this information is effectively lost on them. However, snapping a picture of an on-screen QR Code is immediate and has the added benefit of storing the link into the cell phone for future retrieval.
This technology is poised to have a profound impact on the way we acquire information from the world around us. The combined data of a “QR-encoded” physical entity and the personalized information that can be stored on a cell phone provides vast potential for directed marketing opportunities. Major US mobile service providers are already advancing their own QR Code initiatives and we’ll soon start noticing more of these codes around us, providing avenues to a further digitally enhanced life.
Here in the Behavioral Research Department, we always have the opportunity to uncover unique and interesting discoveries. So, when we were tasked with planning a surprise Second Life engagement party for Spunlogic Account Manager Nalini Humphrey, we thought we had a pretty good idea of what we were in for. Unique and interesting definitely weren’t lacking, especially with Batman, flying watermelons and….Well, take a look for yourself … click on the video below. =)
Believe it or not, fonts have a distinct persona that visually communicates something about who you are or what you are trying to verbally express.
For this reason, designers must carefully select fonts that are appropriate for the occasion or brand. Various societal associations, such as standard industry fonts, as well as the usage of a font in other industries play a vital role in influencing the audience perception of your brand. Other important factors that a designer must consider are audience, readability, and the “fontosphere” (what fonts and graphics currently exist within the design).
Consider illustration 1.0 of the Archer font by Hoefler & Frere Jones. What associations come to mind for the Archer font in a and the handwritten Akbar font in b? What are some differences in the actual performance of the font (legibility, style)?
What do your fonts say about you? Look for your font on signs, online, in the market, and in literature to discover more about how people may be perceiving you or your brand.
Want to learn more about typography? Check out the links below.
Ever since I could remember, I’ve watched the Super Bowl strictly for the commercials. Not being a huge NFL fan, the game doesn’t really all that much matter to me (however, I did pull for the NY Giants this year). But in the past few years I feel like the commercials have gone downhill, and from what I can gather, I’m not the only one. This year I took notes on the commercials and did a bit of analyzing.
Of the 60 commercials I kept tabs on (I excluded all FOX commercials and may have included locally shown commercials), it broke down to 41 brands who spent the dollars (approximately $2.7 million dollars for 30 seconds!) to air several sub-par commercials. It wasn’t until yesterday that I realized there wasn’t much integration with the online channels that many of these brands have created. Only 23 brands listed URLs in their commercials! You’d think with spending that much money on a commercial(s), they’d do everything possible to extend the brand experience online. Of the 23 URLs displayed along the way, 13 were direct links to the brand’s website, 3 were URLs that either mirrored or redirected to the same page used as the homepage, and 7 were microsites dedicated to the campaign.
What’s even more surprising to me is that many recognizable brands didn’t include their website URL on their commercials (Coca-Cola, Bud Light, Budweiser, Victoria’s Secret, and Gatorade). Yes, we’re familiar with your brands, but are we familiar with what you’re doing online? Maybe, but why chance it? With the way marketing is heading, it’s safe to say all of the brands have a website, but is the URL known? Make it easy for consumers to find you and put your address in front of them when they’re captive!
I have to admit, my favorite commercial was the Tide-to-Go talking stain, it was priceless (and so true). I have a hard time focusing on what someone is saying if there’s a stain on their shirt, so distracting! In case you missed it, you can view the commercial here. The microsite allows visitors to watch the ad again, participate in contests, as well as take part in filming a spoof and interacting with their channel on YouTube. To me, Tide-to-Go got it right this year: entertaining commercial, microsite dedicated to the commercial, and social/interactive/engaging aspects of the site. Way to go!
And in case you missed any of the other commercials, you can view them on MySpace – they have them hosted for your convenience. And if you’re interested, I’ve listed out the brands (and linked to their sites) that make up the numbers mentioned above.
At Spunlogic, we have a lot of great experience and unique ideas to share. From work with clients to new approaches and trends, in this award winning blog you'll find Spunlogic experts sharing their opinions and ideas on all aspects of interactive marketing.
