love number two

Wanting another generation

noreply@blogger.com (Alex of Melbourne) — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 00:45:00 +0000

The popularity of Instagram, the photo sharing application that adds 'vintage' filters to each photo, is to me another indication of that today's connected generation also has a nostalgic want for a simpler life.

I won't theorise too deeply about this, but I do think that with world markets trembling, youth unemployment consistently increasing and the unfulfilled promises of university degrees there is a wanting for our memories of these times to be more rosy than they actually are.

Using applications like Instagram to remember today's ambivalence with sunbursts, overexposures and hazy blurs, this unfulfilled generation is in effect adding the layer of promise of the post-war 40/50s where these giant leaps in instant photographs were first seen.

The irony that it has taken technology developed in this generation to take today's memories back into a more promising generation has not been lost.

Little things that count

noreply@blogger.com (Alex of Melbourne) — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 01:27:00 +0000

A recent Ford Focus commercial grabbed my attention because 8 seconds into the ad there is an overt reference to Triple J.

In the scripting of this commercial any radio station could have been mentioned, but Triple J was chosen. Why?

Looking at the stats (part of the privilege of working at a market researcher) Triple J isn't the most listened to station by Ford Focus purchase intenders, but it is up there with Fox FM and Nova. I wonder what (or if) the decision making process was to choose this station in the TVC?

Here's the full ad:

The saddest Ad I've seen

noreply@blogger.com (Alex of Melbourne) — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 00:23:00 +0000

This latest TVC for the iPad really hit me quite hard. Most examples shown are what I would consider a natural extension of technological communication and media interaction, but there was one snippet that made me really sad.

The kid learning to write on an iPad in what looks like a crayon style just hit home how removed our future generations will be from reality. If future generations will learn to write using an iPad then what understanding will they have of the crayon 'font' if they have never actually seen or used a crayon.

The gradual extinction of pen and paper and the rapid move to a digital world lived behind a glass tablet is one of the saddest things I've seen recently.

US mobile phone usage - hyperconnected youth

noreply@blogger.com (Alex of Melbourne) — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 11:03:00 +0000

There aren't many digital and media stats that make my jaw drop. Sure, Facebook's stats are staggering, but its walled garden business model has helped it create a near monopoly on family social networking.

Then along comes a Pew Internet study that shows that:

Young adults are the most avid texters by a wide margin. Cell owners between the ages of 18 and 24 exchange an average of 109.5 messages on a normal day—that works out to more than 3,200 texts per month—and the typical or median cell owner in this age group sends or receives 50 messages per day (or 1500 messages per month).

An average exchange of 109.5 text messages per day.

That made my jaw drop. Maybe because now that I'm 30 i'm considered a mobile senior citizen or maybe I just don't have many friends.

Consider the time it would take to receive then send that many messages and then add other social networking activities such as Facebook and Twitter. That is dedication to connection.

The Pew Internet and American Life Project contains plenty of informative research, have a good read.

Development continues in multi-touch

noreply@blogger.com (Alex of Melbourne) — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 07:22:00 +0000

I was pointed towards an article about a mob called Visual Planet that has developed a thin film that is able to turn any screen into a multi-touch screen.

It's definitely an interesting concept (if it is affordable) that could possibly take large format multi-touch a little more mainstream than it currently is. Although I imagine the software and creative development is still fairly costly.

Amnesia have been keeping tabs on the development of multi-touch on their blog which is well worth a read. It goes to show that with the level of development in this space there must be some bright sparks that see that it has a mainstream future.

But my favourite multi-touch application is still Johnny Chung Lee's multi-touch Wii-remote hack. It goes to show with a little ingenuity and a lot of creativity anything is possible.

Here's to Myer's online strategy - I hope it works.

noreply@blogger.com (Alex of Melbourne) — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 08:07:00 +0000

Finally, some positive news out of Myer!!!

As an ex-Myer stock boy it has a small place in my heart and I want to see it succeed, and with the news today that it is pumping $9 million into a re-vamped eCommerce site I can now smile.

Presumably there will be tight integration with their MyerOne program which accounts for two-thirds of sales. It'd be great to buy online using my points and not have to carry around plastic gift cards.

Now, I must sound out a word of warning though. While they say that they will increase SKU availability on the site to 250,000 by November, I hope that these will be meaningful and new SKUs - not just the same old thing.

Myer needs to remember that an online store is not just like building another department store - an online store should be a global hub of products. A department store competes with its close physical competitors, an online store competes with its global competitors.

Myer, if you want your online store to take my hard earned, you'll need to offer me what I want - and what I want isn't currently one of your 250,000 SKUs.

For your book department - have a look at Book Depository because that's where the books I buy are. For clothing, check out Asos or Urban Outfitters. And for electronics, I'm afraid to say you're competing with a zillion online retailers that compete on rock-bottom price.

Unfortunately with the high Australian dollar it's probably not an ideal time to start a domestic online store. Hell, even with $40 shipping, overseas purchases are usually cheaper than domestic department stores. But you have to do it.

Just remember - you're competing with the world. eCommerce means speed to market - if it's available in the US/Europe then you need it to be on your store too. eCommerce means variety - brands/sizes/colours.

Basically what I'm saying if you want to be an online department store in the modern day then you have picked a shit of a fight with a retail market that is fragmenting at light-speed. You want to be everything to everyone? I wish you the best.

In a down-turn focus on the optimistic of us

noreply@blogger.com (Alex of Melbourne) — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 23:27:00 +0000

While there is doom and gloom on the economic horizon with debt crises in the USA and job losses in Australia, one thing I've heard talked about from a marketing viewpoint is that in times like this you should focus on the optimistic people in the economy.

The people that feel safe in their job and positive about the future will continue to spend. This is reflected in the chart above from Gallup. It shows that in the USA those earning above $90k per annum have actually increased their year-on-year spending to July 2011.

Similarly in Australia look at your research and find your optimistic customers and focus your efforts on them. You will be able to put some money towards stemming losses from pessimistic customers (possibly through discounting) but focus the majority of your effort on optimistic customers, possibly by direct marketing to high-value customers.

QR Codes and merging print and digital media

noreply@blogger.com (Alex of Melbourne) — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 13:14:00 +0000

The guys over at Marketing Magazine asked the question whether QR codes will ever take off in Australia and I think they will, in-fact they may have already. Just this week four catalogues in my letterbox had QR codes linking print media to its digital cousin.

Woolworths promoting more recipes online
Mitre 10 promoting DIY videos online
Bunnings, similarly with DIY videos, but also with store locators
Bras 'n Things with a store locator QR code

Without stats I can't say whether this has taken off or whether it's just the marketing department trying out new things. It does make me happy, though, that there seems to be a concerted effort to provide a more connected experience between the brand and the customer.

Finally, a question that I have had bubbling away for a while is, 'have we already surpassed qr codes?'.

Taking a logistical tool and turning it into a marketing key to the digital world was a great idea and it has been one that, overseas at least, has had great commercial success. But with the advent of Google Goggles and augmented reality (AR), where applications can now 'read' real-world objects, have 2D barcodes become obsolescent?

Google Goggles still has a long way to go before it is accurate enough to surpass QR code readers, and with no accepted standards in AR, I think that QR codes will have a healthy life yet in Australia. But we have already seen the future and for marketing at-least I think it is one without 2D barcodes.

Teamwork

noreply@blogger.com (Alex of Melbourne) — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 03:06:00 +0000

Photo credit: Ian Joyce

I love the Tour de France. The teamwork required to complete a race of over 3,000km is astounding. Mark Cavendish has summed it up perfectly:

"I crossed the finish line first, and I've done that 19 times now," he said, "but that's because there's only one person who can cross the finish line first. I did 200 metres today in a 200‑kilometre stage. Two of my team‑mates rode for 190 of those kilometres and the rest took over and delivered me to the line. So although it's my name on the list, it's for the team."

Beach balls, LEDs, live music, creators projects

noreply@blogger.com (Alex of Melbourne) — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 10:42:00 +0000

Can't believe it's taken me this long to discover the Vice/Intel Creators Project.

Creative and inventive minds together, a great combination. Looking forward to watching more videos like this one:

Installation using real-time data feed

noreply@blogger.com (Alex of Melbourne) — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 07:17:00 +0000

This is really mesmerizing stuff, I think if I was at this museum I could sit still for a few hours and watch this installation.

Make Magazine has featured a video of this installation that takes real-time data from one of the remote oceanic buoys and uses it to create this simulation.

The way the poles snake up and down, it really does look like waves but at the same time if you dressed the poles up a bit you could be fooled to think it was a snake or even Falkor.

tele-present water from david bowen on Vimeo.

If you want to dig a little deeper, you can surf the worlds oceanic buoys at the NOAA.

Luna Park My Experience - social networking, RFID and NFC

noreply@blogger.com (Alex of Melbourne) — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 12:03:00 +0000

For a long time now I've been fascinated by the Internet of Things (a long post to come) and one concept that has just come to life is happening at Luna Park in Sydney.

Through the use of RFID and NFC customers can interact both IRL and virtually with their experiences on all the rides.

It's spot-on as far as delivering a richer experience for the demanding youth market and plays to show-of-to-my-network mentality that can been seen in hyper-connected kids.

On the flip-side to the individuals experience is of course the combined experiences each ride provides. I can imagine that a future iteration of My Experience will be the story as told by the ride - the Internet of the ride.

Great work Luna Park.

OLED sphere for data visualisation

noreply@blogger.com (Alex of Melbourne) — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 10:46:00 +0000

From Tokyo Tek...

The gigantic globe features 10,362 OLED panels which cover an aluminum sphere hanging 18 meters from the floor. The 6 meter orb is an upgrade to a previous model which featured regular LED panels. This spanking new OLED version features a resolution about 10 times greater than LED, more than 10 million pixels!

Is Google Search on the right path?

noreply@blogger.com (Alex of Melbourne) — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 04:23:00 +0000

Just a question I had to get out there onto the webs. I ask this because the emphasis Google Search's Panda release places on original content to rank seems to me out of step with placing emphasis on the *best* content.

My understanding of the update is that it rewards websites that create good regular original content and penalises static sites, sites that re-purpose others content or sites that re-purpose content across their site.

My fear is that websites (many small business websites for example) that do a perfectly good job of saying what they're about and have products or content that perfectly answers the need some might have, but don't update their content regularly, may be penalised.

I'm a big fan of Google from way-back and many of their innovative products have changed the way the web works, but I just wonder that if you tinker with the recipe too much it might all become a mess.

Company awards to customer rewards

noreply@blogger.com (Alex of Melbourne) — Tue, 31 May 2011 12:49:00 +0000

Gamification. There I said that over-hyped superficial term, maybe it'll get me up the Google rankings just by having it in this post. Yes, individual gratification has its place in society but I think that the bulldozing of games into the workplace might be a bit of a square peg in a round hole.

For the workplace I prefer to think about old-school awards, the one's that you really needed to put in sustained effort to really be the best in your field. Some of the best rewards that you can achieve are ones that recognise group effort and company wide strategies that have been at work for months if not years.

I'm going way-back -- pre-digital -- to bring your the original awards individuals and businesses aspire to. Some of these are not here any more, some have always been around and always will be and other you might not even think are rewards - but to some people within some companies they're the best rewards they can aspire to.

Tech industry awards
The technology industry, with its service based pricing models and inherently intangible products relies heavily on peer recognition to convince potential buyers what they're buying is not just "vaporware". Check out Atlassian software and iiNet for two companies that proudly display their peer recognised achievements.

Financial services awards
Another intangible service industry where awards can create the recognition brands require to give consumers peace-of-mind when selecting between multiple features and variables across a crowded market-place.

Some examples of financial services peer reviewed awards

Travel and tourism

Travel and tourism has its share of peer recognised awards. The leading air travel industry awards are Skytrax, the service that monitors airlines and airports. The travel industry has also probably seen one of the greatest effects of the democratisation of rewards and recognition now that everyone that stays in a hotel can rate and review their stay. The leading consumer travel review site, Trip Advisor, has created their annual Traveler's Choice awards to take advantage of democratised recognition.

Consumer products

More tangible consumer products can generally sell themselves well with in-store display models and good salespeople. That's not to say that they don't need to be stacked up against each other, after all many consumer products can be just as mystifying as intagingle products. This is where Canstar has seen a gap in the market and developed its Canstar Blue ratings website differentiating from its financial products ratings.

For consumer products it is not only about the average Joe rating the performance of the latest product. Sometimes consumers want the satisfaction that a product has been peer reviewed too. For consumer products we can see this recognition come through in the various design awards given to exceptional products. Two such awards to be given to products include the Australian International Design Awards and the Good Design Award.

Engineers get a Guernsey too
Recognition can come in many forms. True, consumer choice awards can be seen as the ultimate recognition by those that end up buying the product, but then so can dollars in the till. An engineer might take heart to know in a small way they put into the customer satisfaction award, but just as likely the engineer would like to hang their hat on a 5 star water or energy efficiency rating. These energy ratings are also an important part of the consumer buying decision and therefore may be the highest recognition that an engineer would like to achieve.

The ultimate B2B peer recognised love-fest
And while they may be some of the most widely watched televised events in the world, entertainment industry awards like the Oscars are ultimately a B2B awards ceremony with peers of the industry voting on their counterparts. Us movie-goers might only be interested in Best Picture but as an industry and a team pulling together over long hours in often miserable conditions the award for Best Best Boy or Best Set Design will be just as highly placed as the Best Actor award.

So while individual recognition might be the hot thing in social media circles and while it might be bulldozing its way into the workplace, don't forget that some of the most rewarding recognition can come from peer recognised awards that require a whole-of-business approach to achieve.

Mobile email

noreply@blogger.com (Alex of Melbourne) — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 21:57:00 +0000

In November 2010, 70.1 million mobile users (30% of all mobile subscribers) accessed email on their mobile devices, an increase of 36% from the previous year. Daily usage of email showed an even greater increase, growing 40% as 43.5 million users turned to their mobile devices for email.

These figures (US data) quoted in a Marketing Charts article show that while social networking (poor Google Wave, not you) may eventually lead to the obsolescence of email, for the time being email is morphing as its users engage with it differently.

The concurrent rise of smart phones and mobile workforces has seen email morph into not only desktop media, but also mobile media. And publishers are realising this too. While I've only seen a small number of examples, I think there is a growing trend to provide email newlsletter subscribers with mobile friendly email formatting.

Just like those that have locked down work email clients that need to 'view on the web', the option to 'view on your mobile' is creeping into a number of email headers. Here are two examples:

Have you thought about creating a mobile friendly version of your marketing emails?

Video production for online continues to grow

noreply@blogger.com (Alex of Melbourne) — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 22:45:00 +0000

The bear rouses, from his slumber... yes, it's been a while between posts, but hopefully you can excuse me!

I've read a number of articles this week that have driven me to post again, and surprise, surprise, its another post about online video production (I just can't get enough of it!).

Here's whats got me all excited...

MangnaGlobal, media strategists and forecasters have predicted that online advertising will overtake newspapers as the second largest advertising medium by 2013.

ComScore, have released the latest online video consumption figures with stating, "In Australia, 10.3 million unique viewers consumed online video content during the month, averaging nearly 8 hours per viewer."

And finally, here's another example of big brands taking to the Internet with custom videos designed for the online world... Kevin Bacon for logitech and Google.

TED on why web video powers innovation

noreply@blogger.com (Alex of Melbourne) — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 02:04:00 +0000

Hot on the heals of my last post, here's another great example of web video powering innovation, from one of the Kings of web video innovation - TED.

Online video innovation from catwalks to tennis courts

noreply@blogger.com (Alex of Melbourne) — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 23:59:00 +0000

Credit: Jim O'Connell

Two great articles in the New York Times have again highlighted how much online video is driving innovation and, "has democratized the access to excellence."

First up is New York Fashion Week and the Times' analysis of how fashion labels are now skipping the middle-man and using the web to take the catwalk to the customer. Livestreaming fashion shows straight into retail stores or websites, many brands from Burberry to Marc Jacobs have embraced online video. The integration of live event and retail mediums means that these labels are now ready to make sales as soon as the new design hits the catwalk.

Second, the Times hits the tennis courts and shows how everyone from the juniors to the agents are using online video to study the professionals and find out what it takes to be the next Nadal. Juniors are using online video to study the techniques of the professionals, searching for videos of today's pros when they were juniors. Talent agents are also scouting the web, taking a short-cut to the courts by scanning highlight reels of juniors from across the globe.

As I've said plenty of times before, we're a visual society, we obtain so much meaning from what we see and I think these two examples further prove how online video is driving innovation across the board.

Online communities for accountants

noreply@blogger.com (Alex of Melbourne) — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 06:24:00 +0000

So, the time has come that I finally get my name into the press (the printed press I mean...). Here is the article from CPA Australia's InTheBlack magazine (circulation 124,858).

Read it online here.

3D Projection Mapping

noreply@blogger.com (Alex of Melbourne) — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 23:38:00 +0000

Every couple of weeks a new example of 3D projection mapping is filmed and amazes me. Known also as architectural projection mapping and event outdoor amongst other terms, it is developed by mapping a real-world object with 3D animation software and creating artistic projections within and around the constraints of the real-world object.

It's an awesome example of augmented reality and from the examples below you can see it can be used for advertising, story-telling, live music, outdoor events, gallery spaces... so many incarnations of this fascinating cross-over art.

Can we have our 21st Century public infrastructure now?

noreply@blogger.com (Alex of Melbourne) — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 00:26:00 +0000

How refreshing to read an article about the NBN that links the roll-out of this infrastructure to broader economic and social policies.

Throughout the whole federal election campaign punters were subjected to red-herring analysis showing us how much it is going to cost us to get broadband in our home - $150 p/m!! $5000 per household!! We'll be broke!! All misleading, all missing the point.

When rail lines are built what unit of measure do we use? Is it cost per user? But what about the vital role rail plays in moving freight? Perish the thought the miners would be without rail line access to ports (well, that's a whole other infrastructure argument). When a (public) road is built do we measure it by how many mums take their kids to school on it? No, because these roads are also used by public transport, businesses, workers, and so many more people.

Fibre-optic broadband connectivity is the 21st Century's vital public infrastructure, it is not just another Foxtel or Bigpond. With even a casual look past this scaremongering it is pleasing to read commentary that actually identifies the following iniatives:

The linking of all schools to the network
The Smart Grid/Smart City project in Newcastle
Telstra and NEC have signed agreements with medical organisations to deliver e-health services to 17,000 GPs and 28,000 retirement villages (and through them to patients via broadband-based monitoring services)
Medicare services will be provided to regional Australia, including video-based medical consultations.

Finally an article that shows that the economic benefits of the NBN will be spread throughout all industries, and more importantly throughout an individual's life (not just their home internet connection).

Contact you, but who?

noreply@blogger.com (Alex of Melbourne) — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 22:29:00 +0000

OK, I'm writing this post as if I'm writing about the last living dodo huddled in my hutch on a blustery deserted island, but I still feel it is important to write about. This near extinct creature that I write about today is your website's Contact Us email address.

Over the years I have been amused by some, delighted by the simplicity of others and shocked by the sheer randomness or internal focus of a few.

It might seem like a small point, but I think in the eyes of someone seeking the right information, the email address can say a lot.

If there is a specific purpose to the email address its great to somehow capture that purpose within the address, maybe something like Tumblr's support@ email address - it gets to the point. If there may not be a specific reason that you're contacting the business then something nice could be called for, I really like the welcoming nature of UBank's hello@ email address. Or if you'd like to reflect the nature of your business, maybe do something like creative agency, Breakfast, their email address is tiffany@ (get it?).

I'm optimistic about AR

noreply@blogger.com (Alex of Melbourne) — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 03:16:00 +0000

credit: jntolva

Long time between drinks, I know, but I've now forced myself to get on with blogging about something that has been nagging at me for weeks.

Augmented Reality. There I said it. I've said it before too, and I'll say it again and again.

I want to keep saying it because I was very disheartened when watching this video by recruiter La Volta in which many of Australia's leading digital figures deride augmented reality (AR) as a gimmick or fad. Summed up, I think this is un-imaginative.

Sure, if you're trying to create a snappy campaign for the latest Hollywood blockbuster the ideas to hook an AR app into the campaign will run dry pretty quickly. But if that's all you're thinking about when discussing AR, then you've kinda missed the point altogether.

AR provides a very real tangible layer between the physical world, its objects and locations, and the meta-world with its information and vast possibilities. Taking these meta topics, let's look at AR again.

Objects, information and vast possibilities
Getting further information regarding real-world objects is now within the capacity of AR. An example being the Metaio museum app, without needed to create those odd black and white objects, AR apps can now recognise detailed images such as paintings and overlay or direct you to web-links with info on that painting. The uniqueness of objects in the real-world shows us that AR might even be an alternative to QR codes in non-logistical industries.

On the vast possibilities end of the spectrum you have bright sparks thinking up uses such as the US Postal Service virtual box simulator. For real-world objects it just goes to show that AR can have tangible and practical applications, you just need a real-world problem to solve and a bit of creativity.

Location, information and vast possibilities
Just like objects, places have info we need to know about too, so it comes as no surprise that two of Australia's largest banks have released AR property-finder apps. Both Commonwealth Bank and St.George Bank now let you see real-estate information in situ.

More practicable, are examples such as the one pointed to me by Pete Williams by Open Australia Foundation. Called PlanningAlerts.org.au, this AR layer takes local council planning permits (high-rise apartments, anyone?) and overlays the information in the real-world. Used in conjunction with one of the property-finder apps, I can see a really good case forming for AR in what is one of our biggest lifetime purchasing decisions.

Going down the vast possibilities path but sticking with the home, GE has created an AR app that let's you form the mood of your home using lighting but without needing to spend a cent on light-bulbs until you've got it just right. Using the GE Moodcam you can take a photo of a home location and modify the lighting quality until it's right, then the app will point you in the right direction as to which lights will get you in that mood.

**********

Australian's are so good at creative problem-solving so I am sure that any cynicism towards AR will pass as soon as the right problem is found - much like the examples above. I'm really optimistic about AR, I hope that the Australian digital industry will jump on board too.

Things that get me down about Australia

noreply@blogger.com (Alex of Melbourne) — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 05:50:00 +0000

Each day when I flick through the newspaper (those old things!) I like to form my own narrative around what the day's stories mean in the wider picture.

In today's Australian two stories, put together, really show to me what is wrong about Australia's current economic policies.

Picture one: Hoards of coal carriers parked outside Australian ports waiting to run-off with their fill of Australian coal. I have no doubt that the coal they just ran-off with was sold to them by a partly, if not wholly, foreign owned miner.

Picture two: Avaya closes their Australian R&D lab in a global consolidation. And dedicated local researchers get retrenched and probably move overseas.

This is what gets me down - Australia sitting back comfortably reaping the rewards from rock-kickers and hole-diggers while important industries like innovation and manufacturing gets shipped overseas.

When will the Australian government really act to retain and encourage the building of an innovative and highly-transformed economy?