Daily Links for 02.08.2010

Facebook and Amazon Team Up to Make Gift Shopping Easier | Fast Company

I may be in the minority for alot of the privacy vs. marketing issues given my inherent bias, but I quite like the idea of collaborative shopping and auto suggestions. Now, that being said, I like the ability to share product interests and items across the network more than suggestions (which entail the possibilities of a retailer having a mass of data on me), but I realize the two are somewhat linked. The Facebook/Amazon feature should really have some traction on birthday and anniversary suggestions, though I imagine it will probably have to overcome quite a few hurdles on the privacy front first. TG SEO » Study Says Location-Based Social Network Users are Small but Mighty I think reach vs. 'depth of engagement' is a rather hot topic when it comes to usefulness of metrics for measuring digital marketing effectiveness. The basic instinct is to fall on the side of reach, but as creative examples within marketing communications have shown, with content and a target market that match the chosen channels, reach can be bounced as the defacto metric for all marketing choices. This isn't to say that reaching an effective amount of users isn't important, but as shown in the article, knowing the demographics of a user base can go a long way towards selling emerging networks/channels for marketing communications.

Minority Report-style advertising billboards to target consumers Tailored advertising content is already a given in digital channels, but somehow, it becomes a little creepier when it manifests in outdoor advertising. Given that there exists tangible evidence of what marketers know about you, right in front of you while on the go, it seems like any customization mechanisms need to be as subtle as possible. That's why when you look at the two methods used to tailor ads (facial recognition vs. a RFID carrying data), it seems like the less detail & extra parts involved, the better (at least for now). I'd assume in the near future, tailoring an outdoor digital ad to approximate age and sex of passers by may be more palatable than having individual level messaging.

A Guide to Old Media Tumblrs A brilliant & snarky guide from Gawker on 'old media' discovering 'new media' darling Tumblr. I quite like Tumblr, even though my actual Tumblr has been consistenly neglected for the last 2 years. While I tend to prefer a full hosted blog set-up, I can definitely see the attractiveness of Tumblr given its ease of use and cool functionality. That aside, the principles that come from all forms of mar comms online still hold true on services such as Tumblr. Consistent and interesting content and activity has to give users a reason to visit. Given the state of some of the pages (such as Rolling Stone's), it looks like some media outlets are getting this a little more than others.

Daily Links for 27.07.2010

Sports & Money: Texas lands athletics sponsorship with "green" energy firm (via @Sociablesport)

The Uni. of Texas is going to offer branded green energy provision through their Texas Longhorns Energy program. While branded products for alumni are no big deal, leveraging the alumni network, passion for the university, sponsorship and environmentalism creates a novel approach to moving the UT brand and taking a step forward to a greener Texas. While its partly surprising that this idea emerged from the heart of oil country, I wouldn't be surprised if this didn't signal a novel move in collegiate sport sponsorship.

Twitter Begins Testing Inline Photos And Videos On Its Website It seems Twitter has finally gone the way of Brizzly and is looking at embedding content within the tweet-stream. Such a move may seem to be an easy win for improving the user experience of Twitter, but depending on how this is implemented, it may fundamentally change the way user's approach the network. For one, this adds a value to using Twitter.com that 3rd party clients will have to scramble to compensate for (something that seems to be quite a trend lately). Secondly, this changes the way the Twitter.com user experience exists, as a clean, text based content stream becomes heavily loaded with thumbnails and preview widgets. Will it work in the long run? Probably. But I wouldn't be surprised to see a little unexpected handwringing in the near future.

Diesel Facepark: The Analog Version of Facebook  I like the Diesel 'Be Stupid' Campaign, but this really takes the idea and drives with it. Facepark took a park in Berlin and encouraged people to 'Be Stupid' by creating an analog version of Facebook to rival the 'smart' digital version. What results is some really good viral content, an interesting website and a hope they might do this again in London one day.

Daily Links For 26.07.2010

Foursquare Growth: Two big questions : Online Social Media Data security and opt in user consent are some of the looming issues in geo-location and social networking. The data freely available through APIs such as Foursquare's is rather useful for monitoring relative popularity and activity over time, but granular level user data is where businesses are really going to harness the usefulness of the network. This data is going to require user consent (either tacitly or implied) and this is where the conversation about geolocation & privacy truly begins.

Government to tackle airbrushed ads For all the noise about regulating airbrushing in advertising, I think it is a really noble idea. That aside, aspirations are always going to be unreasonable and limiting marketing that utilizes these unreasonable (yet societally reinforced) goals addresses a manifestation of the problem, not the problem itself. Does advertising go to far in pushing an ideal, sometimes yes. However, the extreme cases of airbrushing etc. are regulated by societal outrage and the rest just represent what we have brought on ourselves for ideals. The answer to this problem isn't modifying advertising, but turning the mirror on individuals to empower themselves and create/push for healthy ideals.

Daily Links for 21.07.2010 - International Marketing, Outrage & Pepsi Nostalgia

Pepsi Remakes 'Diner' Spot

I love the original Pepsi/Coke diner spot from years ago. It's easily worked its way into the nostalgic lexicon of treasured childhood advertising. This is why I didn't think I'd like the update that much, as I expected it to be rather derivative. That being said, I love the new twist on the old setup. Without spoiling it, it seems to fit the brand well. One could claim that the brand values of Pepsi Max (an incremental improvement over traditional Pepsi for those that want to avoid calories), deserves an incremental update over traditional existing ad content.

Letter from China: Pardon Me, Would You Have Any Pabst Blue Ribbon? Following along the lines of the global marketing trend in several of my recent links, I love the story of how a brand like Pabst Blue Ribbon transforms itself across cultures. Going to uni & growing up in the US, I knew the Pabst brand already meant different things to blue collar workers, college students & hipsters, but within the US, only the image changed. As shown in the NY article, price point seems to rapidly change as well once enough space has elapsed to prevent information asymmetry. I love the fact that seemingly downmarket beer made since 1844 in Milwaukee, saved from possible termination by a hipster renaissance of ironic consumption, can run as a premium product in different markets. Now if I can just get my hands on one of the upmarket versions. Vaseline Issues "Skin-Whitening" App for Facebook - Tech Talk - CBS News I know this has been out for a few days now, but the story touches on an interesting issue about cultural relativism in global marketing. Just as with the KFC Australia ad earlier this year (Google 'KFC Racist Ad' and you should find the story relatively easily), when localized marketing and values are placed on a global stage, we find that misunderstandings can occur. Skin color is always a touchy issue, but vanity products do exist in every culture, representing social norms & values. The challenge, both for society and marketers is how to dance the fine line between localized relevance and (if relevant) global scale. Guide to Foursquare Badges I know my links may be a little Geo-location heavy lately, but I thought this was an interesting entry detailing almost all of the conceivable badges you can earn on Foursquare. Badges as virtual incentives are an interesting concept, so seeing the breadth of how they have been applied so far is rather interesting.

Daily Links (16.07.2010): Who isn't talking about Old Spice

Foursquare Frenzy Interesting piece by Brand Week on the current situation within geolocation. I'm amazed how quickly this has gone from a two or three network battle into dominance by Foursquare. There is also a very insightful position on the usefulness of Foursquare as a platform and not a content publisher (i.e. possibilities coming from the API, etc.).

Old Spice targets Twitter generation The two popular Old Spice virals hit the nail on the head when it comes to deadpan humor and charm. Extending the life of the campaign through mini-content &social media engagement is a no brainer, but its interesting to see how Old Spice leveraged the actor from the content to generate personalized shorts involving Twitter responses to the campaign. Compared to other funny commercial characters of the past (such as last year's 'Most Interesting Man in the World' from Dos Equis), this is a well designed alternative to non-targeted short form content. While the conversational aspect of the Twitter Old Spice shorts may get a little old after a few, its definitely a novel approach to user engagement.

Daily Links for 12.07.2010: AE Gives Away Cell Phones, App News on Phones & more..

App Inventor for Android

The ability to visually create (without required coding) object oriented applications for the Android platform could make this an indispensable part of how droid competes with the iPhone. I love the idea that simple tools and games can be easily knocked together on the platform. I'm also quite excited for how this could be used to teach basic programming, with the ability to make mobile apps as a reward.

On the flip side of it, balancing ease of use and power is always an issue. The way that App Inventor links into APIs and expanded functionality may make the difference on its shelf life.

iPhone Developer Brags: $1,400 In iAd Revenue In One Day At $150 eCPM

I know iAds is still in a phase of incredibly high interest (meaning people are literally tracking down the apps to find the ads), but it is interesting that an application developer has managed to leverage the platform so quickly.

American Eagle Free Phone Deal: Try On Jeans, Get Smart Phone

Trying on a 40 dollar pair of jeans to net a free smart phone (with a 2 year service plan) seems like a pretty entertaining deal. This doesn't seem to be costing anyone that much as the provider gets the expected revenue of a 2+ year plan, AE gets footfall and PR coverage & the handset makers get some unexpected market penetration. Hooray for retail synergy.

Burger King uses 'musical shower' as latest trick to entice Japanese clientele

Interesting that this doesn't come around more often in the US at different locations. I can imagine that an iphone dock and speakers per booth will have some horrible consequences entailing a cacophony of different Top 40 songs, but its good to see locations encouraging mobile interaction.

Daily Links for 29.06.2010: Facebook, Google ME, Digital Futures (without Banners?) & Marcom's past...

Digital's future is in the past Interesting read about how the governing principles of marketing communications are still present, even in shiny new channels.

Facebook Tests Show SEO May Be Possible With Open Graph So Google may be trying to eat Facebook's lunch (see below), but it seems the network is really onto something with a combination of their advancements. Combining open graph with a search/recommendation capability means that Facebook is very close to creating a possible semantic search engine. The internet of things may be a ways from fully developed, but projecting Friends data on search result rankings as relevance is a good start.

Is Google Gunning for Facebook with 'Google Me'? - PCWorld So after going after email (Google Wave), microblogging (Google Buzz) & previous social networking (Yes, I remember you Orkut)...Google has set its sights squarely on Facebook with Google ME. No real details about this yet, aside from its existence, but three things should hold true: 1.) It will get buzz in the same mysterious way Wave did 2.) It will get tough competition from Facebook's 500 million settled users' network effect 3.) It will probably anger a few folks over privacy through some of its integration Google Me seems interesting, but I imagine Facebook's counter attack has a better chance of landing a serious blow (see above) MSNBC.com Puts on the Banner Ban Intriguing to see MSNBC.com take the banner ad out in favor of more interactivity. Seems an interesting confluence of UX consciousness, greater content flexibility and a better user tech capability has finally driven simple display out for some.

Daily Links for 23.06.2010: Urban Outfitters, Airlines & Oil and Cannes

• Cannes Media Lions - Gold: Mindshare - First Direct "Live & Unedited"
• Urban Outfitters Creates A Fake Neighborhood Block For New York City Store - PSFK
• Airline spoofs US oil disaster

Cannes Media Lions - Gold: Mindshare - First Direct "Live & Unedited" Congratulations to everyone who was involved with winning this. I'm lucky to work in the same company with such talented people, though I must have been busy/out of the office they day they were doing this since I have no involvement with it. It is really quite a cool campaign.

Urban Outfitters Creates A Fake Neighborhood Block For New York City Store - PSFK I'll spare you a conversation about the irony of a multinational corporation replicating the look of mom and pop businesses that lack their scale. Instead, I'll say that I do think its an interesting piece of retail theater, as anything that makes people interested to investigate the retail space is quite cool.

Airline spoofs US oil disaster I'm not too outraged by this, because I think the advert is pretty tongue and cheek, but I imagine a sizable amount of Gulf Coast consumers might disagree with me. Probably better to not spoof the giant environmental disaster, but kudos for being daring.

Daily Links for 21.06.2010: UPC codes, Cloud Computing, Foursquare & South Carolina

• Code Read (Brand Week feature on UPCs & linked digital content)
• Foursquare Check-In Stickers Coming To A Store Window Near You (Video)
• Time to stop sitting on your data ¦ Guardian
• NYT columnist: “I could not name you an under-25 year old who subscribes to a print newspaper” | The Wall Blog

Code Read (Brand Week feature on UPCs & linked digital content) Lots has been said about the potential of UPCs & services such as Sticky bits (which allow content to be linked to bar codes and decoded by mobile app), but I think the strategic partnerships talked about in the article indicate a coming change. The potential to link content to UPCs, to be decoded by consumers during the shopping experience, requires mature ideas and serious brand commitment to deliver an engaging user experience. Campaigns with companies such as Pepsi may indicate that this level of support is finally there for the technology and can help to avoid it becoming just a fad.

Foursquare Check-In Stickers Coming To A Store Window Near You (Video) I'm a big fan of simple things like this to prompt users to engage. I keep finding Qype/Yelp stickers on the doors of pubs & businesses that you wouldn't expect & I'll be excited to see how widespread the Foursquare stickers become.

Time to stop sitting on your data ¦ Guardian As cloud computing becomes a more viable option for companies, the interesting focus comes on how this creates opportunities up the food chain (in design & development). While cloud computing may not seem to make a direct impact on marketing communications, the ability for startups and smaller agencies to utilize processing power and data flexibility which previously was out of their resource range can only bode well for greater efficiency and content creation.

NYT columnist: “I could not name you an under-25 year old who subscribes to a print newspaper” | The Wall Blog The New York Times has a chance of making its paid content plans work, but you have to guess that at least one contributor doesn't rate the paper's chances too highly. If the only people who buy newspapers in large numbers, and are prepared to pay online, are the over 25-year old age group then paywalls are going to have some serious issues when so many free alternatives still exist. Can Anyone Explain How Alvin Greene Actually Won? I know this is a little off topic for a marketing blog, but with the current push towards Behavioural economics & advertising, I thought I would throw in a little bit of consumer behaviour. For those not versed in South Carolina politics (of which Alvin Greene is the democratic nominee to run for senate), a virtual unknown beat an established candidate without any real advertising, speeches or campaigning. While the logical answer for this is some type of fraud, the newsweek article attempts to attribute some of it to illogical behaviour on the part of voters. While this isn't exactly an advertising application of consumer psychology, it contains interesting insights into individual behaviours.

Daily Links for 16.06.2010

• Coke Greenlights Mello Yello Expansion With Retro Look
• Exxon Blogs About BP Spill
• E3 2010: Nintendo reveals 3DS 3D gaming console - Telegraph
• How Justin Bieber Caught a Contagious Syphilis Rumor

Coke Greenlights Mello Yello Expansion With Retro Look 3 Things: 1.) Mello Yellow is still around....thats kinda cool 2.) Being outsold by 603 million cases (by Mountain Dew) may indicate that more than a throwback look is required 3.) Dr. Pepper vintage designs would be much cooler, but Mello Yellow does lend itself (as a brand) to some late 70's/early 80's mystique

Exxon Blogs About BP Spill This is a pretty exciting gambit by Exxon. On one hand, some effort is necessary by the sector to address concerns over the 15,000 deep water wells still operating. However, alternatively, people who live in potentially oil soaked houses, shouldn't really throw tar balls....

E3 2010: Nintendo reveals 3DS 3D gaming console - Telegraph Nintendo's 3DS looks to be only the first, in an increasing line of handheld consumer goods sporting 3D within this current wave of development. While the 3DS alone may not drive 3D content adoption, coupled with other devices coming out, we may see 3D mobile as a viable content format soon.

How Justin Bieber Caught a Contagious Syphilis Rumor Gawker clearly illustrates how the cycle of curiosity and reporting on the internet can take a Google trends prank and manufacture a quickly reported rumor.

Daily Links For 10.06.2010 (Spotify on TV, Foursquare, the APP store & More)

Spotify is now on TVs (in Sweden and Finland)

Spotify is continuing to move between platforms in a way that shows how streaming music should be done correctly. I love the service and while keeping a laptop out to hear music isn't too much of a pain, Spotify TV should be great at extending the service's reach

Winning The App Store Lotto: What A Week At No.1 In The App Store Looks Like

Incredibly useful analysis of how CPM & CTR breaks down for applications on the uptick within the App Store. The power of associated cross-selling shown through this is a good guide on how to encourage multiple consumer actions within the platform. In a channel where robust case studies are hard to find online, this is quite useful.

Can Foursquare and Gowalla put mobile ads on the map?

The location based networks seem to be hitting on all the right cylinders for progress in mobile advertising and sales promo., but the spectre of Facebook's location based service launching has to be worrying.

Twitter to Change Links and How They Are Displayed [UPDATED]

After Twitter stated their aim to develop more traditionally external features for the network, link shortening seemed like the logical first step. Now that Twitter has started to rollout the t.co service, its interesting to see how they can enhance the overall service with it. As t.co allows for a plus 140 character text limit (before shortening of links), the experience should be closer to what Tweetdeck currently offers with auto-shortening.

Daily Links for 08.06.2010

• Adobe and Greystripe partner for ads that convert Flash to HTML5
• NYT: Online Ad Rev Trends Remain The Same; No Meters On The Homepage
• The Economist 'Where do you stand?' by AMV BBDO
• Heavy Users Are Big Spenders on Facebook, Twitter

Adobe and Greystripe partner for ads that convert Flash to HTML5 A cross platform ad solution can definitely help to utilize scale in development, but encoding Adobe Flash into HTML 5 (to make it Apple palatable), probably won't sit well with Cupertino. Interactive ads (including iAds) are utilizing HTML 5 in a way that shouldn't allow for an outright and quick ban of this workaround, but I wouldn't be surprised if something happened along those lines in the future.

NYT: Online Ad Rev Trends Remain The Same; No Meters On The Homepage Reconciling how advertising placement is classified and measured relative to online & application channels should make for an interesting time as iPad ownership continues to grow

The Economist 'Where do you stand?' by AMV BBDO I've loved this campaign since I saw it in Clapham North Tube station last week. AMV captures the spirit of intellectual debate by juxtaposing two sides of an arguement on alternate OOH posters, showing the way that a similarly intellectual publication can interrogate an issue.

Heavy Users Are Big Spenders on Facebook, Twitter Socialized shopping through Facebook & Twitter seems to have more impact than just enhancing the brand experience. Interesting figures on how tangible spend can come from social media interaction.

Daily Links: (02.06.2010)

• Internet Explorer 6 finally nearing extinction
• Wal-Mart, Target think small as they grow as grocers
• Web 3.0 A Documentary
• Turning Consumer Loyalty Into a Cellphone Game (Loopt Star)
• AppleInsider | iPhone OS 4 beta 4 Places geotagging feature now works
• Where are London’s Foursquare check-in hotspots?
• The Coming Data Explosion - NYTimes.com

Internet Explorer 6 finally nearing extinction The death of IE6 can only breathe more functionality into every user's internet experience. Developing web content for a browser which managed to break almost every standard of design was horrible on its own, but the staying power of IE6 over the last 8-10 years has done massive damage to where Internet usability could be. The browser, mostly propped up by corporate usage over the last few years, has seen its time pass well by. Now, if we could only get Firefox's browser share above one of the other IE versions. Wal-Mart, Target think small as they grow as grocers Its amazing to see traditionally huge retailers, which are used to crushing the competition with scale and large locations, considering the idea of 'right sizing' retail formats.The approach that grocers like Tesco & Sainsbury in the UK have used, seems to be catching on. Trading just large locations for a mix of corner store/local to hypermarket mixes seems to be the way forward. Its become true that not everything has to be a big box destination location and consumers will trade selection for convenience in some circumstances. Web 3.0 A Documentary Really straightfoward yet informative look at what makes up the 'semantic' web everyone is talking about. Semantic & Web 3.0 get banded around alot, but I think this video starts to break down what it might be about and the different ways to get there. Turning Consumer Loyalty Into a Cellphone Game (Loopt Star) Its interesting that Loopt has 3.4 million users to Foursquare's 1.4 million, as it seems that Foursquare has captured the geo-located zeitgeist in a more pronounced way. The advent of Loopt Star (the integrated gaming/retail incentive) element for the network should increase attractiveness (and the facebook integration is a plus), but I'll be intrigued to see if they can do anything that hasn't already been done. I don't want to be the mayor and the boss of my favourite pub, I just want to know where my friends are around it and maybe get a free round. It seems like this market will contract before/during its rise in popularity. AppleInsider | iPhone OS 4 beta 4 Places geotagging feature now works So first everyone is talking about possible Facebook integration into the iPhone/iPod OS and now these pictures arrive from the OS 4 Beta. Between integrated geotagging of pictures and the 'places'/'event's headers, it seems like the next offering is moving towards a heavily unified content sharing platform.

The Coming Data Explosion - NYTimes.com The 'internet of things' seems to still be a rather unclear concept, but as our devices become more and more connected, the reality of it is becoming more and more tangible. I love the juxtaposition that more data can generate greater insights, but also requires much more complex ideas and techniques.

Daily Links: (26.05.2010)

• BP beaten in social media stakes by fake tweets | The Wall Blog
• BBC links iPlayer to Facebook
• Chick-fil-A - Reserve A Spicy Chicken Sandwich

BP beaten in social media stakes by fake tweets | The Wall Blog The fake BP twitter page @BPGlobalPR is showing, once again, how users can hijack a brand presence on a network. I'd like to say that BP's Official brand presence could do something to prevent this, but given the circumstances, there isn't much that can be done. It seems like BP is just going to have to sit back and take the PR damage from this angle as well.

BBC links iPlayer to Facebook With Spotify doing social listening & iPlayer doing social watching, it has really come a time where content is better enjoyed with others. I like the idea that the BBC is making it to where their shows aren't just finite episodes, but objects to be passed on.

Chick-fil-A - Reserve A Spicy Chicken Sandwich With Fast food restaurants offering more upmarket menu items, its great to see somewhere bring out an upmarket/unusual experience (if in a mostly novel/tongue & cheek manner) to promote a normal product. It seems like this should be a nice promo for hardcore brand fans and the sporadic Chick-fil-a customer.

Daily Links: (25.05.2010)

• Domino's launches Foursquare campaign
• Twitter to begin charging publishers
• Best Buy advertising higher than regular prices as sales?
• Online election campaigning influenced 40 per cent of voters

Domino's launches Foursquare campaign I can't wait to see how the logistics of this work out on a National level. Checking in to get rewards (free pizza for mayor, free sides for check-in) should get people using Foursquare for the incentives, but the policing of how its implemented will be the really interesting point. Check-in fraud and tying purchase to check-in should be key to getting this working successfully.

Twitter to begin charging publishers After yesterday's announcement that 3rd party advertising networks won't get access to the network, Twitter's latest move, claiming a share of ad revenue from gadgets & viz using network data, isn't that surprising. They have managed to quickly lock down access to their greatest asset, user generated data, and the moved on to taking a share of the derivative product. These moves should definitely silence some of the lingering doubts about the network's profitability, but I can't imagine some developers are happy about the pace of it (at least those that are still developing after the company turned their sites on traditionally 3rd party functionality).

Best Buy advertising higher than regular prices as sales? Posted: 24 May 2010 11:11 AM PDT This might be the best example of illustrating the power of a sale sign ever created outside of a social psych lab. Best Buy apparently took a regularly priced item, raised the price and then advertised it as on sale 'as advertised'. While its not the most effective use of 'premium comparison pricing', it does highlight the power that information asymmetry & visual cues have on purchase decisions. Logically it seems like some stocking/coordination error, but interesting implications.

Online election campaigning influenced 40 per cent of voters Interesting that while the UK General Election wasn't the digital PR fest that some predicted, the channel was rather effective at changing intentions in some target segments. I'm intrigued that only 5% of respondents said they engaged with political content on Twitter, but This may stem from possible biases towards Facebook/other more established platforms and those with a greater depth of presented content. Facebook tends to present a greater amount of content that exists within the perceived page, while Twitter's external linking may mean respondents believed in a disparity between the political content & the network. Regardless of details within the digital channel, data like this shows that the next election could possibly be much more digital in its comms.

Daily Links: (24.05.2010)

• Nokia and Yahoo announce 'worldwide strategic alliance' on email, IM, maps, and more
• Broadcast TV's Youth Market Starts at 44
• Apple removes 'Get a Mac' ads from site, finalizing end ...
• Google tries where others failed: shaking up TV biz...
• Logitech To Create First Google TV Set-Top Box In Fall 2010 - HotHardware

Nokia and Yahoo announce 'worldwide strategic alliance' on email, IM, maps, and more Considering the UX on some parts of Yahoo's Mail/Maps & IM , this really saddens me. I think Nokia has put out some of the more amazing things (outside of Apple) in terms of usability for the mobile market, but this can't bode well for continued success.

Broadcast TV's Youth Market Starts at 44 "Older masses are better than none at all" seems to be the sentiment about US broadcast TV within the article and I agree with the sentiment, but not the idea. Upfronts are a great idea of illustrating how a traditional media channel buying system is being shoe-horned into a new media world. Until a fleshed out, cross platform, buying system (and more importantly sales culture) is fully implemented, it seems that buying for reach without full efficiency will continue to be a fact of life.

Apple removes 'Get a Mac' ads from site, finalizing end ... It had to happen sooner or later, but I'm surprised that the ads won't still be hosted by Apple. Apple's 'Get a Mac' ads will go down as a brilliant entry to the recent history of advertising, but it seems like a combination of time, Microsoft's Windows 7 ad approach (actually the subject of my 1st post last year) & an orientation towards the iPad's promotion finally did them in. Good on Apple for not running a successful idea into the ground, but its also amazing how many were actually made and what they achieved.

Google tries where others failed: shaking up TV biz... I waited a few days after first hearing about this to post, as I believe my knee jerk reaction to Google TV may be wrong. In a world filled with Boxee's which can't access Hulu (meaning content still isn't as platform free as hardware is currently allowing) & Microsoft Xbox media extenders (who's implementation was bad enough that open soure X-box media center & a cracked Xbox destroyed them functionally), its easy to look at the Google TV idea and scoff. Perhaps this initial reaction will end up being true, but for the moment, I'm optimistic that Google may march through this particular elephant grave yard and place the flag where others have failed. With 3rd party support, a true content across mult. platforms approach and a clear, non-dilluted value proposition, Google may actually succeed where others have failed miserably.

Logitech To Create First Google TV Set-Top Box In Fall 2010 - HotHardware [See Above] If more 3rd party hardware makers like this can get on board, the risk can diffuse off Google a bit for the Google TV scheme. Integration across multiple platforms is key for this to work, since Web over TV is only one aspect of an all encompassing media solution. Selling anything less will begin to seem cheap and unappealing in the long run, regardless of short term benefits. 25 Most Attractive Black & White Websites I don't normally include a ton of web design examples in the blog, but the way addition and subtraction of color was used in these was really inspiring. Its always useful to keep up on what people are doing in web design, even if one isn't directly related to it, and these serve as a reminder of what a good designer can do while still staying simple.

Daily Links: (20.05.2010)

• 35 social media KPIs to help measure engagement
• BK debuts ribs meal for as much as $8.99
• JetBlue tests the social media credibility of ad agencies vying for its account

35 social media KPIs to help measure engagement I don't know if I agree with every KPI on list as being incredibly important (or moreso significant in measuring performance), but it is interesting of metrics to possibly consider. the idea of social media analytics being amorphous is pretty outdated and counterintuitive to the strengths of the channel.

BK debuts ribs meal for as much as $8.99 BK has been moving into more premium products for quite some time, but this is still pretty surprising. The upside is that premium pricing makes a Whopper meal look pretty cheap, the downside is that you'll realize halfway through your meal that you paid 18 dollars for a meal for two at Burger King...

JetBlue tests the social media credibility of ad agencies vying for its account JetBlue, which heavily leverages social media in its campaigns, decided to test the search ability of agencies vying for the account on Twitter...It seems like a pretty straight forward addition to the existing pitch process and I'm definitely surprised by some of the negative comments mentioned. Granted, astuteness on Twitter isn't a dead on indicator of digital savvy, but this falls to the categories of interest and due diligence in pitching.

Daily Links: (19.05.2010)

• Selfridges debuts first-ever augmented reality window display
• GQ sells 365 copies of its Apple iPad — or $1,091 in sales
• Twitter Outed its Official Twitter app for iPhone | Gadgets DNA
• Facebook launches free mobile access site for emerging markets... and Denmark
• [White Paper] - Recognition of Sarcastic Sentences in Online Product Reviews

Selfridges debuts first-ever augmented reality window display Really innovative way to utilize AR in outdoor, but its a shame we can't do the same without passing out paper place holders which limit the times it can be used. I know the webcam needs something to map against, but hopefully in the future.

GQ sells 365 copies of its Apple iPad — or $1,091 in sales Posted: 19 May 2010 02:34 AM PDT Compared to WSJ's 64,000 downloads, its looking like free is the initial way into the iPad. I guess everyone needs to hold off on the 'saved publishing' tag for the device until the kinks are worked out.

Twitter Outed its Official Twitter app for iPhone | Gadgets DNA The announcement that Twitter was dedicated to making its own external apps had to be a pretty worrying one to application developers. The services they've made helped Twitter expand its audience over the last two years, but with <45% of the users utilizing a 3rd party client (probably more, but thats the figure we had from UK research last year), it was only a matter of time before it turned its sights on development. Now, the strategy is coming to bear with Twitter rebranding 'Tweetie' for the iPhone and rumors of a URL shortener and other clients in the works. It looks like developers are facing a choice between acquisition (best case) or obsolescence

Facebook launches free mobile access site for emerging markets... and Denmark Facebook's 0.Facebook.com 'text-only' version of their network is intriguing, but puzzling at the same time. Limiting network content to status updates and text may allow you to offer a no carrier charge option, but it basically reduces the content offering to sub-Twitter levels. This may work in very developing markets, but I'm puzzled that its being pushed so hard in the UK and others.

[White Paper] - Recognition of Sarcastic Sentences in Online Product Reviews I was going into reading this as pretty skeptical, given my normal position on automated sentiment analysis, but it seems that by skimming down the various emotional aspects that one would look for, it may be onto something. I'd love to see this expanded into a spectrum of sarcasm that could be applied to snippets of conversation like Twitter...or would I?

Daily Links: (18.05.2010)

• Commuters travel to work on the Tube NAKED to Promote Virgin Series
• Travel brands seize on ash cloud flight chaos
• IS Parade
• Openbook - Connect and share whether you want to or not
• New Apple Patent Also Points to Tighter Facebook Connection
• Eine Frage der Perspektive | Spreeblick

Commuters travel to work on the Tube NAKED to Promote Virgin Series So this one is slightly confusing for me. A TV show which promotes team building through going to work naked utilized a PR stunt where people rode the tube naked (with strategically placed bags). Hmm....if you take out the mentions of PR & TV out of the previous statement and replace them with 'I' and the past tense, then how do you think this would end....Apologies for the Daily Mail link...

Travel brands seize on ash cloud flight chaos Posted: 18 May 2010 04:20 AM PDT It was only a matter of time until travel brands (esp. alternatives to flights) started to cash in on the ash cloud. The risk in doing so though (esp. for train operators) is that overcrowding during a flight down time or routine delays/inefficiencies can not only quickly negate any benefit from the message, but also cause consumers to see them as inept, hypocritical or disingenuous. Glass houses and all that.....

IS Parade Japanese Twitter Visualization....I don't what else I can say about it other than entertaining for a few moments and properly inspired.

Openbook - Connect and share whether you want to or not Openbook is doing for privacy on Facebook what 'Please Rob Me' attempted to do (and pretty much failed) for privacy on Geo-location. The site shows what can be done when you start aggregating public status updates in a pretty brutal manner. The timing of the site's growth serves as yet another hit to users accepting Facebook's ubiquity.

New Apple Patent Also Points to Tighter Facebook Connection Facebook integration into the Apple 4.0 OS? It seems like there isn't much that Facebook will be directly linked into soon. It seems that moving beyond basic member volumes to become even more indispensable through integration is the name of the game.

Eine Frage der Perspektive | Spreeblick I know visual effect websites in German aren't really my normal fare, but I thought the visual effect that comes from painting the bars of this fence was incredibly creative. It really illustrates what can be done with a space.

Daily Links: (17.05.2010)

• iPad takes to the skies with Bluebox Ai this July
• Foursquare killer Booyah! raises $20m
• Publicis London launches iHobo app to raise homeless awareness
• How Do Buses, Trains Get Wrapped in Ads? | NBC Chicago
• Digital Domain - World’s Largest Social Network - The Open Web - NYTimes.com
• Word of mouth beats ads in US and China - Warc
• BBC News - YouTube hits 2 bn daily downloads

iPad takes to the skies with Bluebox Ai this July Seems like seatback TVs were cool just a few years ago....

Foursquare killer Booyah! raises $20m I like the idea that one of my favorite services is popular enough to have a 'killer rival' now, but I think the entire competition between the two may be a bit overblown. Mytown has pretty much never worked for me, but that aside, its purely a game. The utility vs. game adoption/lifecycle curve is quite different, meaning that whatever competition its providing against Foursquare (and vice versa) should change rapidly.

Publicis London launches iHobo app to raise homeless awareness I've been thinking about this one for the last week and I'm still undecided on bits of it. Hands down, its an amazing idea which makes the normally ignored noticeable. However, I'm still curious if the target demographic for this will donate given any impetus.

How Do Buses, Trains Get Wrapped in Ads? | NBC Chicago Interesting piece on the actual implementation of the Super-sides, etc. that we all see everyday (if you happen to live within public transport range).

Digital Domain - World’s Largest Social Network - The Open Web - NYTimes.com The 'conflict' between Facebook & the Open (i.e. almost all else of the) Web is an interesting one. The article sums up the different points pretty well, but I think the debate about Facebook's place is the most interesting part. Is Facebook just another layer set within the Web framework or, through its content distribution network and ease of use/user base, slowly displacing open/functional aspects of the web?

Word of mouth beats ads in US and China - Warc While we can all intuitively guess that WOM recommendation carries more validity to the consumer than advertising claims (deriving from the general strengths of PR), its really interesting that the efficacy of WOM in the modern age is so similar across cultures. The fact that individuals both utilize Social Media & WOM over ad claims in a traditionally individualist (US) and a collectivist culture is definitely noteworthy fact.

BBC News - YouTube hits 2 bn daily downloads 2 Billion Daily downloads is quite impressive no matter how you slice it, but I do wonder about comparing it with broadcast TV as they are different experiences. A Youtube video is a minute or two minute clip, while a broadcast TV show involves a more extended viewing experience. That said however, it is still an incredibly impressive feat that shows the direction media is moving in.