IanSchafer.com

The Future of Location Based Marketing [VIDEO]

2010-08-26T16:20:28-04:00

A couple of months back, during Internet Week NYC, I sat on a panel called (and discussing) The Future of Location Based Marketing.

I was proud to share the stage with:

Moderator:
Erick Schonfeld, Co-Editor, Techcrunch (@erickschonfeld)

Panelists:
+ Ian Schafer, CEO, DeepFocus (@ischafer)
+ Mike Schneider, VP, Director Digital Incubator, Allen & Gerritsen (@schneidermike)
+ Joshua Karp, Digital Media Manager, PepsiCo (@jkarpf)
+ Mark Ghuneim, CEO, WiredSet / Trendrr (@markghuneim)
+ Ian Spalter, Executive Creative Director, Mobile & Emerging Platforms, R/GA (@ianspalter)

Yup. That's an Ian sandwich.

Check out the full video (broken down conveniently into chapters), and check in (har) to the future of location based marketing.

Thanks to Phil DiGiulio (@holaphil) from Pegshot for the video!

ED NOTE: Be sure to get your tickets to the Location Based Marketing Summit in NYC on September 29-30, where I'll be delivering the opening Keynote.

The Future of Location Based Marketing produced by Future Local Media on WellcomeMat

The Check-In: A MacGuffin Without A Denouement?

2010-07-28T16:13:20-04:00

The ever-brilliant Caroline McCarthy posted a story today on companies rolling-out badge programs to reward things that do not involve location.

The problem with the rush to "reward" consumers with badges and stickers is that they eventually diminish in value as they become a) less scarce, and b) not attached to anything of value.

There's a classic movie term called the "MacGuffin" (popularized by Alfred Hitchcock), which, as wikipedia explains:

A MacGuffin (sometimes McGuffin or maguffin) is "a plot element that catches the viewers' attention or drives the plot of a work of fiction". The defining aspect of a MacGuffin is that the major players in the story are (at least initially) willing to do and sacrifice almost anything to obtain it, regardless of what the MacGuffin actually is. In fact, the specific nature of the MacGuffin may be ambiguous, undefined, generic, left open to interpretation or otherwise completely unimportant to the plot. Common examples are money, victory, glory, survival, a source of power, or a potential threat, or it may simply be something entirely unexplained.

But here's my favorite part of the Wikipedia explanation:

MacGuffins are sometimes referred to as plot coupons (especially if multiple ones are required) as the protagonist only needs to "collect enough plot coupons and trade them in for a dénouement".

And that's exactly the problem. We're not giving people a reason to redeem these plot coupons. There's no dénouement. No series of events that follow the climax of the story we're taking the participant through -- or are asking them to tell.

If we don't tie check-ins to real-world rewards, then we will miss out on a great opportunity to affect consumer behavior by avoiding "check-in fatigue" that will inevitably be brought about by a lack of value attributed to the action. Stickers and badges (even while scarce) will eventually become devalued as they become less scarce and hold less perceived value, and will not be a strong enough incentive to keep people engaged.

We must always be looking for ways to reward activity with things that have material value to our consumers. These are the beginnings of true digital loyalty programs that reward people not just for frequency, but advocacy. We must not delude ourselves into thinking that rewarding consumers' loyalty with a 'virtual' item will be good enough in the long haul. Imagine if all you got from your airline-of-choice was not redeemable miles, but variations on the "Wings Badge". Which one would get you to fly that airline more often? Exactly. Whether it's more product or even virtual currency that can be used to buy more product (see Facebook Credits), the delivery of material value will be necessary to keep consumers engaged.

As marketers, if we want to play in the world of loyalty programs, we need to learn how to deliver not just one, but multiple climaxes that reward multiple interactions and keep our best customers not only coming back, but telling others how great we are. I hear that works.

The Ways You Can "Earn" Facebook Credits Are Expanding.

2010-07-28T11:52:08-04:00

I've previously asserted that Facebook Credits were going to take on a bigger and bigger role for the social networking behemoth.

And it's happening.

According to All Facebook, you can now earn Facebook Credits. As the Facebook Credits page puts it:

“Besides getting Facebook Credits in your favorite apps, do you know that there are also other ways to get them? Thanks to Plastic Jungle, Rixty, Inc., Booyah, and Games.com, get Credits by exchanging gift cards, turning in spare change, checking into locations, and entering a sweepstake. This week, be on the lookout as we feature these other ways.”

The Facebook Credit Economy, and thereby, an advertising world where consumers are given incentives to have a meaningful engagement with a brand, is just around the corner.

Are you ready?

Is This The Dawn Of The Facebook Economy?

2010-07-06T11:40:34-04:00

This story was originally featured in Advertising Age.

If you start looking closely, there have been a series of developments that are pointing to Facebook Credits, Facebook's "virtual" currency, becoming something much bigger than what it is today.

One way to explain what Facebook Credits are and how they work is by hearkening back to the arcades we used to visit as kids, where they would re-interpret the classic "change" machines into "token" machines. We'd put dollars into them that we could spend anywhere, and get tokens out that were only good at that arcade. It's brilliant. They get your money, even if you don't spend it all there.

Well, that's pretty much how Facebook Credits work. Today, they are only good at existing merchants (mostly those that sell virtual items, such as Zynga, who have just signed a five-year deal with Facebook to keep this going). But that list is expected to continue to grow, and as usage increases, online merchants may eventually have no choice but to accept Facebook Credits at checkout. If we get to that point, the business of e-commerce and m-commerce may get a huge jolt, and the discussion around Facebook and privacy may just be getting started. Here's what it may look like in the very near future:

Facebook Credits are backed by actual national currencies and will render exchange rates at points-of-sale moot.
Facebook Credits have the potential to be one of the strongest standardized debit systems in the world, because each credit used has actually already been spent by a consumer in a transaction. This isn't Facebook extending "credit"; it's actually creating its own currency that can be bought at a particular exchange rate.

You may be already familiar with the "Gold Standard," where each unit of currency has a value that corresponds with a certain unit of gold. You may be less familiar with the "Gold Exchange Standard," which, as defined by Wikipedia, "may involve only the circulation of silver coins, or coins made of other metals, but the authorities will have guaranteed a fixed exchange rate with another country that is on the gold standard, hence creating a de facto gold standard, in that the value of the silver coins has a fixed external value in terms of gold that is independent of the inherent silver value." In other words, countries get together and agree on a fixed exchange rate for gold, allowing the same gold standard to apply everywhere, regardless of paper currency. The same applies to Facebook.

You can currently acquire Facebook Credits by using several different currencies. But each has its own de facto exchange rate; so three Facebook Credits for someone in the U.S. have the same value as three Facebook Credits for someone in Italy. No more complicated calculations at checkout; the exchange rate was already applied upon purchase of the Facebook Credits. Anything that can make the checkout process easier may result in increased sales.

Facebook Credits may become the one global mobile payment platform.
If Facebook continues its growth on mobile platforms, then Facebook Credits will have the opportunity to become the default mobile payment currency accepted worldwide. Half a billion people would not have to sign up for an account to use them, because they already have the account. And anyone with a mobile phone could potentially use Facebook Credits at points-of-sale in physical locations. The data, learning, market research, and point-of-sale advertising implications are potentially limitless.

It may spell the end for PayPal and Google Checkout, or they may become re-energized as the Facebook alternatives.
PayPal is the leading non-credit card third-party way of processing online payments via e-mail or electronic account. Google Checkout has aimed to compete in this space as well. But a widely-accepted Facebook Credit economy has the potential to severely limit the usage of these other services out of convenience. But for those looking to still spend money the old-fashioned way (which may still ultimately be the way people choose to spend their money), these could earn renewed support and usage as payment (and Facebook) alternatives.

Purchases can be shared as part of the Facebook experience. But will people want to that?
When not only the information about the transaction, but the transaction itself happens via Facebook, it gives Facebook access to much more user data that can be used to deliver more targeted advertising. It can also lead to more information about transaction being shared by people as well.

But you don't have to look further than Blippy or Facebook's old "Beacon" strategy to know that people have been burned or are iffy when it comes to automatically sharing purchase behavior with others, even their friends. Much of that has to do with there not being enough reward for doing so. The opportunity for Facebook Credits is to reward people for engaging with brands and retailers. If using Facebook Credits more often, or sharing information about their purchases results in discounts or even the earning of more Facebook Credits, you can count on consumers to reveal more to their friends and Facebook, as long as the value exchange is clearly identified.

This kind of access to purchase habits and behaviors may finally be able to help justify using Facebook as a true CRM tool for brands, allowing for the tracking of sales back to influence and relationships, making them better marketers in the process.

The foundation is being laid for Facebook Credits to potentially be one of Facebook's biggest revenue opportunities, and its extension into social gaming is made even more obvious with the recent Zynga deal. It will be difficult for merchants to decline accepting Facebook Credits if adopted en masse by consumers. Incentives will ensure that they will at least be a heavily considered option for brands looking to reward engagement.

This will all present a new privacy hurdle for Facebook to overcome, as even more data will be attached to Facebook accounts, and more security will need to be added to a platform that has had its share of challenges in that area.

But any way you look at it, the implications for brands is tremendous as a new way of buying, selling, measuring, and rewarding is born.

The Peril of Sponsored Trends on Twitter?

2010-06-29T23:43:01-04:00

I love it because it shows naked conversation. But if you're a brand, you should know that this can happen. I say, embrace it, and use it to get better or engage in conversations about how to do it.

See Me At OMMA Social [VIDEO].

2010-06-21T12:28:00-04:00

Last week, I spoke at MediaPost's OMMA: Social on the topic of using social media to build an audience and drive engagement with content, brands, and between consumers. Here's the full video in unedited glory:

Jobs! No, Not That Jobs. These Jobs!

2010-05-18T11:20:52-04:00

Deep Focus is hiring! As we revamp the official website, it was actually quicker to post some recent job openings here. Besides, if you see them here we all know you read my blog (or did at least once) and it makes a good interview ice-breaker. Or interview-ender depending on how you reference it. Just kidding.

We take the hiring of every open position at Deep Focus very seriously. Each new team member is potentially the next great leader in this industry. If you've got that kind of aspiration, we want you to meet with us right now.

So without further ado here's what we've got open right now. If these interest you, email jobs(at)deep-focus(dot)net with the open position's title in the subject line, why you're awesome, and mention you read it on my blog.

Senior Account Executive
Responsibilities include the following:

Act as the primary point of contact by managing client expectations as the liaison between internal team and the client.

Coordinates with Media, Creative, Communications and the Account group the recommendations for the advertising campaign to be used.

Consults with internal teams to communicate client goals and to develop alternative strategic solutions.

Works with Finance to negotiates proposal and budgets for the client, making necessary modifications and arranging contract signing.

Oversee successful launch of campaigns by providing master campaign schedules and alerting internal teams to any client changes.

Helps to oversee junior members of the account team, by actively mentoring and inspiring them.

Spearheads brainstorm sessions and compile ideas for new campaigns with strategy group and creative team.

Coordinates the development of advertising activities in accordance with clients objectives and budget.

Guides day-to-day development of advertising activities within approved plans, and helps to inform team of any potential changes or new client objectives.

Qualifications:

3-5 years experience, at least 3 years directly managing a team and a client at an agency

BA/BS

Working knowledge of MS Office and both Mac and PC platforms

Must have a strong understanding of the internet

Strong writing and communication skills

Ability to juggle many campaigns at different stages simultaneously while maintaining confidentiality

Ability to prioritize, multi-task and organize in a fast-paced and demanding environment

Must be a self-starter and take ownership and initiative with projects

Working knowledge/understanding of and/or all of the following online agency practices a HUGE plus (online media buying/planning, banner creative development, website development, online publicity/promotions)

Account Director
Responsibilities include the following:

Lead development of clients digital strategy and ensure that all work is on strategy

Ensure the delivery of the highest levels of service and client satisfaction

Provide team and client leadership across multiple, integrated disciplines on assigned accounts and account teams

Establish performance metrics and measurement that map to clients business objectives and strategy, ensuring client requirements and met and surpassed

Translate new technology and products into actionable marketing strategies and concepts that inform creative, media planning and communications plans

Create and lead necessary research to aid the development of strategy and creative, especially around social media behaviors, competitive analyses and new technologies

Manage account resources, budgets and teams

Assists executive management with new business proposals as needed

Performs other duties as assigned

Requirements

8+ years experience in management consulting, interactive account management, planning, strategy or agency business development role

Experience working on online social media community development, management and marketing campaigns

Experience managing multi-disciplinary integrated agency teams

Strong people manager that is able to sell and execute a vision

Bachelors Degree or higher from a four-year accredited college or university. Agency or Management Consulting experience preferred

Strong analytical, writing, critical thinking and problem solving skills

Structured thinker with experience writing client-ready presentations

Solid project management and presentation skills

Strong, strategic customer-service orientation and the ability to form long-term relationships with agency colleagues as well as client partners

Positive attitude, drive to succeed in a competitive role and strong work ethic required

Self-starter who demonstrates considerable initiative and commitment to producing high quality work

Excellent verbal and written communication skills

Well versed in online creative & media

Expert knowledge of Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Power Point)

And we're always looking for interns with great aspirations. Spread the word!

Video From THE CONVERSATION: Attracting Audiences Through Social Media

2010-05-13T00:45:46-04:00

Here's the full video of me and awesome panelists Arin Crumley (FOUR EYED MONSTERS), Jason Spingarn-Koff (LIFE 2.0), Ryan Werner (IFC), and Nina Paley (SITA SINGS THE BLUES) at Scott Kirsner's THE CONVERSATION conference back in March here in NYC.

ConvoNYC - Attracting Audiences Through Social Media - Part 1 of 3 from Scott Kirsner on Vimeo.

ConvoNYC - Attracting Audiences Through Social Media - Part 3 of 3 from Scott Kirsner on Vimeo.

Facebook May Not Be Skynet, But It Is Getting Smarter. And That's Bad For Google.

2010-04-21T23:37:08-04:00

Remember the computer network in THE TERMINATOR that progressively got so smart, it became sentient and thusly attempted to annihilate the human race? That network was called Skynet, and its goal was to remove the possibility of human error and slowness of reaction time to guarantee fast, efficient response to enemy attack.

Today, at F8, the annual Facebook Developer Conference, Facebook announced its open graph initiative to take Facebook to its next logical evolution -- everyplace other than Facebook. The initiative is designed to use people's social interactions (when logged into Facebook which is like always, natch) to shape their experiences across every possible connected environment. On the Facebook blog, Founder Mark Zuckerberg stated that "the power of the open graph is that it helps to create a smarter, personalized web that gets better with every action taken." Imagine visiting Pandora and it would already know how to program your station. Or visiting CNN and having it know what kind of news to display to you first. As a consumer, there are potentially many benefits of the initiative, making many experiences you have more and more relevant the more interactions you perform.

In order to make all of this happen, a significant amount of non-personally-identifiable data will be collected from consumers and made available to approved developers and publishers (75 at launch). As you might imagine, there will probably be some backlash from people concerned about privacy (heck, people made a fuss over the census). But the promise here is that your experience on the web will be better, thanks to Facebook and its delivery of more customized, relevant content. There's a nifty little chart that explains it here.

This is all a very big deal if it's successful. Bigger than you think. And It makes Facebook a direct competitor to Google. Facebook has managed to succeed where Google has failed -- turning your social behavior into actionable intelligence. Google's major attempts at insights into webwide consumer behavior (Orkut, FriendConnect, Checkout, Buzz) have not had anything close to the success that the Facebook platform has had. The intelligence collected from relationships with others, social micro-interactions (e.g. 'likes', 'shares', comments, updates), location (yup, Facebook's working on that) and even transactions (see Facebook Credits) will be inherently more valuable to advertisers than clickthrough and search behavior (as advertisers get smarter themselves about what those kinds of behaviors mean to their bottom lines). And make no mistake, this data will be collected en masse. Facebook expects to serve 1 billion 'likes' in just 24 hours. By applying this kind of statistically significant intelligence to its Engagement Ads, Facebook can deliver even more efficient, impression-generating advertising for its customers.

And what the open graph suggests is that what happens off of Facebook may be even more important as what happens on it.

It seems to be an inevitability that all of this intelligence will one day soon be applied to power a socially-targeted ad network as big (or bigger than) Google's AdSense. It would be a network that would theoretically deliver even better results for advertisers, resulting in higher CPMs/CPCs/CP-whatevers that can deliver higher payouts to publishers, making a choice between the two platforms a not-too difficult one for those publishers.

Facebook took a huge step today towards becoming a lot smarter, and a lot more powerful. If you're an advertiser, you should take the cue. Start getting smarter about how social relationships and interactions impact your business. The brands that figure this out first will be the ones that are ready to take advantage of the new Facebook open graph initiative, and the inevitable developments that will ensue.

At a recent dinner, a group of friends of mine discussed whether or not Facebook's market capitalization would ever eclipse Google's. If this plan is successful, it may not be a question of if, but when.

Oh -- and if it does (and achieves sentience)? Please don't annihilate humanity, Facebook. We wouldn't ~~be fans of~~ 'like' that. BONUS SNARKY CONSPIRACY THEORY: Former Facebook Chief Privacy Officer (and genuine, great guy) Chris Kelly is running for California Attorney General. California's Governor is Arnold Schwarzenegger. Ahnold was THE TERMINATOR. Circle. Complete.

UPDATE: Adage weighs in on this, and I have some comments in there too.

Hear/See Me Talk About Location Based Services on BlogTalkRadio and BBC World News.

2010-04-21T10:03:20-04:00

Thanks to MediaBistro and AgencySpy for letting me talk about the advertising and marketing opportunities that Location-Based Services (like Foursquare, and Gowalla) are bringing to light, and for the opportunity to tell the world a little bit more about GEOFocus, our location-based marketing practice.

Check out coverage of the piece (and hear it, if you'd like) at AgencySpy here. Or, you could just grab a listen right here:

Thanks also to BBC World News America for having me in their segment on Foursquare (along with one of their founders, Dennis Crowley) which you can watch here (I wish I could embed it).