Digital used to have it easy.

It could get away with making our lives incrementally more convenient, incrementally cooler, or incrementally more efficient. The ability to hold a few more songs, respond to a touch, or turn on as set by a timer used to be met with awe.

Well that isn’t the case anymore.

Digital is growing up, and its consumer is getting savvier by the minute.

This new era of global connectivity will revolutionize our lives and businesses as we know it and it’s coming fast according to Emily Nagle Green, the President and CEO of Yankee Group and the author of Anywhere.

In 2004, only 4% of the global population could have counted themselves as part of this digital revolution. In 2010 this figure jumped to 22%. That’s 1.4 billion people who are über connected. They are the “Anywhere Consumer” and they are growing in numbers.

This breed of consumers is made possible by the ubiquitous presence of wired and wireless networks. This infrastructure, which most of us in North America take for granted, underpins the ability for consumers to stay connected. Sitting atop these networks are computers, smart phones, e-books and tablets: a myriad of things allowing us to download, upload, share, receive and forward messages, information, products and services whenever we want, wherever we want, and not just because this is convenient but because we now expect it.

The force of this shift in expectations is being felt. Born of the technology before it, digital had been able to improve incrementally by gigs, and features, and consumers had been OK with that. Now, in order to satisfy the growing population of anywhere consumers, technology and those who work in the industry will have to reach further than a simple tweak. Anywhere and everywhere, technology will need to anticipate the needs of its consumer.

Anticipate not just fulfill the needs…Take a second to feel the force of that.

Siri hit this nerve. The software which lives inside the iPhone 4S anticipates the hundreds of possible questions a user might ask of it and all the computations therein. It is of course not perfect, but it is astounding. It had to be developed with its many audiences in mind, their slang, their accents. Consider the example they have on their website “I’m in the mood for Italian food in North Beach”. All at once, Siri has to understand the nuance of “being in the mood” for something, connecting that something to a type of food and then geo-locating the nearest restaurant. This is Anywhere thinking.

What does this mean from a company’s perspective?

1. You better be everywhere. Your website and its contents better be mobile friendly, share-able, pin-able, tweet-able, easy to access and nice to look at.

2. The experience you provide had better be seamless. The average consumer decides within 3 seconds how they feel about content online and whether they want to play along. Don’t waste their time.

3. It better be worth it. The pay-off is everything. It takes one text to spread the word in order to help fill your online booking engine or help make it go bone dry.

4. Above all else, it better be memorable.

Here’s the good news.

The opportunities are endless. At the moment 22% of the population is living in an anywhere environment and they are all looking for relatively the same thing. For products and services to be easy to use, available on-demand, relevant and thoughtful.

If you’re a hotel and a traveler can check your reviews on your website, book from their phone and get an email notification when their room is ready… you are that much closer to winning the battle. Bonus points if you offer applications which help the visitor navigate the local attractions and take their coupons with them on their phone.

At Suitcase we are all about mobilizing brands. Connecting a message with the consumer, anywhere, anytime, seamlessly. Not just because we can, but because that is what your consumer will expect.

The revolution is coming, are you ready?

For most DMOs and CVBs, finding a great agency partner starts with the consideration list. Unfortunately for most DMOs and CVBs, the creation of this list is a haphazard exercise often resulting in poor choices. Let’s fix that.

Part of our core business is helping destinations through the RFP process… everything from selection to integration.

As such, we see a lot of RFPs.

Good, bad and, well, really bad.

Recently, a solicitation hit our desk with 32 (32!) invited agencies. Yes, the DMO in question encouraged 32 different vendors to fill some poor procurement professionals next 8 weeks with an endless stream of marketing persuasion.

Oy.

If I were an agency, why would I want to participate, let alone win the business, with an organization that clearly has no idea what it wants or needs?

So, for the benefit of your next RFP, and the sanity of business development/procurement professionals everywhere, here are 3 suggestions for creating your next agency consideration list.

Creating a great agency consideration list.

1. Understand your needs and goals.

Yes, a lot of agencies perform marketing services. And yes, quite a few build websites. But like a proprietor of sushi, the difference is quality and qualifications.

Building a WordPress site and developing a custom CMS are related, but require different skill sets. CRM and CMS are not the same. Shooting a :30 spot probably should not happen on an iPhone. And no, not all agencies truly understand social media… regardless of that new Pinterest account.

Before sending out the invitations to bid, understand exactly what you are asking for and who provides best-of-breed services in that area.

To start, ask yourself this question: By hiring an agency, what are we expecting to change?

2. Discovering quality agencies.

Pulling your consideration set from a list built upon paid memberships is not an ideal way to find a quality agency.

This is not to say that quality agencies do not participate in such lists, but endorsement by association should not be viewed as a vetting process, rather an advertising expense.

Quality agencies, like quality sushi, are most often found via referral. Who should you ask? Start with these people:

• Industry Peers: They are in the same line of work and should know quality from crap.
• Non-Industry Peers: Your accountant may seem like an odd choice, but the external perspective should provide a new set of possibilities.
• Your Current Agency: Oh, they know who their competition is. And if they have any confidence at all, should recommend a good list.
• Local Influencers: The organizers behind your local Social Media Club or Travel Massive are likely connected and willing to share a few industry tips.

Oh, and don’t rule out agencies working with peer brands. Their experience will enhance your relationship, rather than cause additional stress.

3. Focusing via research.

Goals, check. Recommendations, check. Now, let’s complete a bit of research to focus our list.

Yes, the agency should and most likely will submit a nice informational packet with the submission, but additional research is valuable to help form your own opinion about the vendor.

Where to look? Start here:

• Website: Did they agency take the time to develop a cohesive and coherent site?
• LinkedIn: Business page?  Employees?  What did the CEO do in a previous life?
• Social Sites: Not a requirement, but a nice resource to learn about the philosophy of the agency. (If it is a social media agency, then yes, it is a requirement.)
• Ad Age: Have they been written about?  Have their campaigns, creative or ideas been introduced and discussed by someone other than themselves?
• Ads of the World: How active are they in the agency segment of social media?

Considering the length of your future vendor commitment, spending 30 minutes to learn about the recommended agencies is well worth it.

::

Ah, that feels better. No need to invite all 32 vendors for that next RFP. By creating a quality agency consideration list you can avoid unnecessary work load, while building a greater understanding of your own project goals.

And perhaps find the perfect marketing partner in the process.

Destination brands like retailers and restaurants have employed points-based loyalty programs since the early 1980’s. They are so prevalent that the average consumer is enrolled in over a dozen of them. Unfortunately, they’ve become so lacklustre that most “members” utilize less than five of the programs they’ve joined and say that only one or two actually inform their purchase decisions.

Suitcase helps companies re-think the concept of loyalty. We don’t build decade-old, ‘me-too’ loyalty constructs so commonplace today. Rather, we architect programs that integrate online and offline channels, blend social and mobile media with more experiential rewards better aligned to core brand attributes, and more closely linked to business objectives.

We forge deep, personal connections between consumer and brand that persuade and reward desired behaviour instead of incentivizing existing behaviour.

We don’t call this loyalty. We call this customer engagement.

Increased frequency of visit, larger basket size, higher customer lifetime value – these are worthwhile goals but no longer the result of traditional loyalty/rewards programs. Although oftentimes calculated, coordinated and strategic in their attempt to motivate and reward intended customer behaviours, traditional plastic cards with their collectable points or two-tier prices are so typical they’ve become white noise in the sea of businesses clamouring for increased customer attention.

So how should modern brands encourage and reward patronage to build more meaningful and sustained relationships?

From Loyalty Programs to Customer Engagement Platforms

Brand loyalty in the 21st century is has changed since most brands launched their loyalty initiatives. Technology, consumer demographics and macro-economic trends have changed consumer behaviour, and Suitcase has been pioneering how marketers adapt. Whereas the CRM team or a ‘special projects’ task force has historically managed loyalty efforts, it now requires a fully integrated enterprise approach to engaging customers by harvesting intelligence that creates opportunities for greater intimacy and personalized experiences, which in turn motivate a measurable response and advocacy from individual customers.

True loyalty, we believe, is about forging a mutually beneficial relationship, one that rewards both the brand and the customer. Real relationships grow and change over time, and they don’t just take place at the point-of-sale. They are nurtured across an integrated spectrum of touch points, both online and off, which serves to remind customers of the value of the relationship daily.

Effective Engagement Begets True Loyalty

A modern “loyalty program” blends the traditional incentive-response-reward model with highly personalized experiences that take place in-store, online and on the go. The true incentive and value to the customer is derived not just from price discounts, but also from higher intimacy (you know me and what I like), greater convenience (“you know how and where I like to buy”) and more engaging experiences (“you know how to communicate with me and give me something I value”).

As evidenced by the success of Starbucks’ mobile apps, consumers are readily embracing new loyalty solutions. Starbucks has transformed their customer engagement offerings with social media and mobile commerce at point-of-sale – and by blending incentive with entertainment, and reward with convenience.

Starbucks' mobile app affords customers the speed and convenience of quick checkouts and reward-points collection via their smartphone.

Fusing High-Tech with High-Touch

The opportunity lies in fusing the high-tech of customer relationship management with the high-touch of using intimate customer knowledge to deliver engaging, personalized brand and buying experiences. Starbucks has taken steps in the right direction with a mobile app that affords customers the speed and convenience of quick checkouts and reward-points collection via their smartphone. Other cafés like Peet’s Coffee & Tea have followed suit with their own mobile rewards programs, and even QSR chains like Dunkin’ Donuts are leveraging online as part of their loyalty strategy.

Social and mobile are also effective ways of engaging customers with interactive brand experiences that motivate word-of-mouth and encourage brand advocacy. Consider the added entertainment value of the Starbucks Cup Magic App released for the holiday 2011 season as an example of giving customers another reason to emotionally connect with their brand beyond their everyday product and service.

Rewards are Key to Loyalty; But Ongoing Engagement is the Key to Success

Loyalty is something that’s expected. It’s about customers obediently following signals that reward desired behavior with compelling (and ideally personalized) perks. But if done incorrectly you’ve held customers hand’s down a path of never-ending, richer and deeper discounts that eventually are difficult to justify.

Engagement is something that’s fostered through intimate relationship. It involves learning about customers’ individual preferences and applying that insight to personalize marketing and fulfillment in ways that forge a stronger bond over time. It rewards desired response instead of existing behavior. Ultimately this will result in higher customer lifetime value and a uniquely fortified competitive position.

Engagement is about enrolling customers in an idea that plays out in their daily lives and through their brand interactions and buying experiences. It’s an ongoing dialogue. It’s a friend with fringe benefits.

3 Pillars to a Holistic Customer Engagement Plan

1. Value Proposition

This pillar defines what’s in it for the customer — what benefits does the customer receive by participating in a dialogue with your brand? Answers are based on consumer research and business intelligence, and guided by the strategic objectives behind the initiative and the alignment with the overall brand. Specifically, we seek to define:

• Above the water benefits: Are rich offers made up-front to enroll customers en masse or are they saved for the most desirable members to be attracted?
• Below the water benefits: What kinds of incentives or rewards do members receive that non-members or lower value customers don’t receive, and is the perceived value high enough to compel?

2. Infrastructure Requirements

This pillar defines the requirements needed to execute and implement the program – what tools and infrastructure is needed to pull it off?  These elements of the program could be:

• Core elements, including: Member website, a call center, POS presence, member database and a loyalty engine.
• Optional elements: Social media management tools, digital marketing engagement platforms and analytics dashboards, or mobile applications.

3. Maximizing Program Benefits

This pillar defines how to best leverage the program through:

• Meaningful customer intelligence that informs all enterprise decisions. Analytic insights that inform operations and marketing, pricing strategy, new product offerings – knowing your customer better is the Holy Grail that makes everything better.
• CRM: Intelligence must inform a shift in the media mix towards tailored communications to individual customers that motivate desired behavior. We seek to build good one-to-one markets.

Latest move in agency reinvention establishes a truly full-service firm.

Exciting times are upon us as we proudly announce Suitcase’s joint venture with Watermark, one of Alberta’s most established, full-service marketing communications firms.

This new alliance means more than just new competition on the ping-pong table or on the Nintendo. We’re mostly looking forward on integrating our teams and respective competencies in traditional and digital media to provide a truly unified marketing approach for our current clients and new ones on the horizon.

We’ve already seen early success from this union in our recent campaigns for Mark’s securing Michaels, the premier North American arts and crafts retailer and Regis Corporation, a worldwide leader in the beauty industry. We aim to continue these successes as we venture into the ever-changing marketing landscape together.

The full press release, written by Watermark’s Tricia Murray, is below.

Calgary, ALBERTA (October 18, 2011) – A joint venture between two top Alberta marketing communications firms has created one of Canada’s largest full-service independent agencies. Venerable Calgary advertising firm Watermark has joined forces with Suitcase Interactive, Canada’s first digital marketing engagement agency, to provide advertising and marketing services integrating traditional and digital media. The privately owned firms will operate the joint venture under the name Suitcase.

“Watermark has always known how to create compelling communications,” explained Chris Kneeland, President and CEO. “But marketing is more holistic these days. It’s about connecting with the right people at the right time in the right way. This joint venture means our clients will get robust, relevant solutions—all under one roof.”

The prospect of a joint venture took shape as Watermark and Suitcase Interactive collaborated on several successful campaigns for national retailer Mark’s. Out of their shared philosophy and complementary competencies came targeted campaigns that really connected with Mark’s customers. Remarked Kneeland, “It’s a testament to the power of integrating traditional and digital tactics—and of our companies combined. It’s like 1 + 1 = 3.”

“Marketers are demanding synergy among all their marketing channels,” explained Ryan Gill, one of three founding partners and CEO of Suitcase Interactive. “It’s time for a truly collaborative model that galvanizes traditional advertising methods and digital disciplines. We are determined to spearhead this sea change and ensure our clients’ success in the new marketing frontier.”

Already, Suitcase has secured accounts with two major U.S. retailers. It is working with Michaels, North America’s largest arts and crafts retailer, to enhance its Canadian digital presence and with Regis Corporation (MagicCuts, Mitchell’s Styling, FirstChoice Haircutters, Vidal Sassoon), a global leader in the beauty industry, on its customer relationship marketing.

About Watermark
Watermark is a full-service marketing communications firm, including creative conception, media planning, account and brand management and end-to-end completion services. Working with brands such as Mark’s, Imagewear, Wholesale Sports and CIBC, Watermark helps clients with destinations market themselves more effectively across all consumer touchpoints. Watermark is privately owned, has 33 employees and is headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

About Suitcase Interactive
Suitcase Interactive was founded in 2002 to serve Calgary’s growing web design and Internet marketing needs. It is renowned for its pioneering integration of mobile and social marketing channels. In 2010, Marketing Magazine named Suitcase one of Canada’s hot digital marketing shops, and Digital Alberta awarded it Best Digital Marketing Agency in 2011. Suitcase boasts a client roster of high-profile Canadian brands and destinations, including SportChek, WestJet Airlines, Mark’s, Niagara Falls Tourism, Spruce Meadows, Shaw and EA Sports.

Contact
Chris Kneeland, President & CEO, Watermark
403.541.8673
Ryan Gill, CEO, Suitcase Interactive
403.243.9935

It’s not too long ago we were hearing of brands racing to a million followers, and seeing their efforts focused on growing an enormous Facebook following on their corporate Page.  We must question if this the right approach for brands with a presence across hundreds of markets. It seems foolish to think that a post made in Halifax can be relevant to someone in Victoria, and in social media, where relevant content is king, this simply isn’t the case.

Brands on the leading edge of social media have already started to shift towards a local social engagement strategy, look no further than Walmart for proof of that. Engaging with fans on a local level helps brands create a more personal and relevant connection with their customers.

Think of it this way, Sally-Jane from Penticton, BC doesn’t go all the way to Toronto to buy a new patio set from Canadian Tire. Instead, she goes down the road to her local store on Railway Street and makes her purchase there. Sally-Jane is more likely to have an appetite for information specific to that location than to the brand as a whole.

Practicing a local engagement strategy offers brands the ability to share relevant promotions, deals and events with their customers, and inevitably leads to a deeper level of engagement. In most cases, brands going local can see up to 10% higher engagement. It isn’t that simple though, brands still need sound strategies to govern and align these local pages to overall communication strategies to get this level of engagement.

This type of strategy requires local managers or employees to be empowered to speak on behalf of your brand on a local level. I know this might seem like a prescription for disaster, but once the proper guidelines and training are in place, success is at your fingertips.  Maintaining an official social media policy and establishing rules of engagement are tools that will help set ground rules for your employees’ and will help build the social media sandbox they’re allowed to play in.

Using the right tool for the job will also help quell your uneasiness about letting your brand’s voice rest in the hands of local employees, and at Suitcase we use Expion to ease those uncertainties. It’s formed around a hub and spoke model where governance plays a big role. The hub is formed around a social media centre of excellence that as Jerimiah Owyang describes, facilitates resource sharing and cross-functional communications via the spokes to the eventual end consumer. Corporate can share their best content with local managers and local managers can share their best practices.

This tool also helps us set parameters and implement different layers of approvals to ensure that any message being pushed out in your social networks is appropriate and on-brand.

Letting go of your brand voice in the social space can be a chilling thought, but as more brands move onto Facebook, the ones providing relevant content to their followers are more likely to find success. So when you’re thinking of how you want your brand to interact in the social space, keep Sally-Jane in mind, and think if she’s willing come all the way down to your head office to buy the latest and greatest product you’re offering.

Through our Decision Mapping process, Suitcase helps to define a Customer Journey that enables marketers to engage and motivate consumers by delivering the right message through the right media to the right person at the right place. We call these the Four R’s of engagement. This new infographic published by AdAge is a great snapshot of who’s consuming what media, and when.

Effective engagement marketing has a lot to do with how, when and — most importantly — where brands and consumers interact. A consumer’s location provides a context for engaging with a brand, and is a factor often overlooked in advertising execution. This infographic shows how different generations consume different media throughout their day, and wherever they are. Very helpful information that can be used to craft compelling location-based experiences that foster brand engagement.

With nearly 400 stores across the country, Mark’s Work Wearhouse has become a Canadian retail icon. And Mark’s has worked hard to achieve this. Their relentless pursuit of quality, comfort and innovation in clothing and footwear is a mantra the whole organization puts into practice every single day. Just step into any Mark’s store (there’s certain to be one near you if you’re in Canada) and you’ll discover a world of stylish, functional apparel that looks good, fits great and performs well from the office to the toolshed.

As the chain has evolved, there’s a growing segment of Canadians who need to be introduced to Mark’s… and many former shoppers who need to be reintroduced.

That’s why Suitcase has been working with Mark’s to help reach and engage these consumers in new, more meaningful ways. Our recent Spring ReStyle campaign is a great example of the partnership and Mark’s has leveraged digital media to engage current customers and nurture new ones.

A New Audience Awaits

Early in the year, Mark’s challenged Suitcase to find a way to boost the brand’s following on Facebook and Twitter, and in doing so, also ignite interest among a new audience in Mark’s 2011 spring fashion line-up to motivate store visits.

“Bring it on,” we said.

Through our Digital Diagnostic process, Suitcase discovered that many of Mark’s current customers are quite vocal about their loyalty, when prompted. Consumers appeared primed and ready to engage Mark’s in new ways and in new places, through social and mobile media. This group represents the next generation of Mark’s customers.

Impressions: Measuring Digital Tactics with Traditional Metrics

The evolution of the Mark’s brand and explosive growth of their retail footprint over the past few years is testament to the savviness and innovation of the Mark’s marketing team. A “smart” bunch, to say the least.

An investment in digital and social media during the critical spring shopping season had to at least deliver high impressions to make sense. Monitoring impressions in the social mediasphere can be a challenge, so we dug deep into our digital toolbox to find the right measuring tape, so to speak. The most important thing was knowing what to measure from the get-go.

Our Solution: Mark’s Spring ReStyle Contest

The idea behind the ReStyle campaign was engaging in itself: Let’s ask online Canadians why they think they’re most worthy of a spring wardrobe overhaul from Mark’s – and let other Canadians decide who should win. Watch this quick video for an overview.

Two finalists would choose from one of three themed prize packs holding high appeal with our target audience, which included trips, Apple® iPads, a backyard makeover and a Mark’s shopping spree, of course.

The campaign microsite showcased contestants' stories and ranked entries by the most points.

To keep things fair and competitive, build credibility and help spread the word, we enlisted the help of several reputable bloggers to form a judging panel. They would review the authenticity and worthiness of contestants, and ultimately help pick the final winners.

Campaign Components

Suitcase brought the ReStyle campaign to life online through targeted ads, digital video, and, naturally, Facebook. Visitors who “Like” Mark’s official Facebook Page could unlock the contest promotion and click-through to a specially-built, socially-integrated contest microsite to enter.

The contest landing page on Facebook.

Suitcase took great care in architecting, designing and building the ReStyle website. Our user experience team made it easy for contestants to post their personal story and a few photos, and integrated numerous ways to “share” their entry with their social networks.

Amplifying Evangelists

The response to the ReStyle campaign was impressive. Canadians by the hundreds each shared their personal stories with Mark’s, with their social networks, and with each other. From busy single parents to newly slimmed moms, many stories were emotionally intriguing and touching. Not surprisingly, Mark’s core customers used their ReStyle entries to evangelize about the brand and the products, all of which was shared through their social networks.

Motivating Participation & Engagement with Game Mechanics

So, how do you turn an enter-to-win contest into an engaging brand promotion?

Our strategy team helped turn the ReStyle contest into an ongoing game by creating weekly “challenges” by which contestants could earn virtual badges and points while simultaneously spreading the word about the contest via social networks.

Contestants shared their stories, and scored points and virtual "badges of honour" by earning votes.

Suitcase also designed and built a ReStyle mobile app for iPhone that provided alternate ways of winning points. The app included a location-based feature rewarding contestants for “checking in” to a Mark’s retail store.

The Mark's Spring ReStyle Mobile app for iPhone enabled contestants to engage and enjoy the contest in new ways.

Weekly challenge winners were rewarded with Mark’s gift cards, while a leaderboard on the microsite homepage showcased the overall points standings to motivate participation. All of this kept engagement levels high throughout the competition.

Results

The Mark’s Spring ReStyle campaign performed extremely well, capturing an estimated 22,823,180 impressions over it’s duration, from April 15 to June 15, 2011.

Hundreds of contestants entered the contest, each sharing their entry with thousands of friends on their social networks who visited the campaign microsite to vote – or enter themselves. The Mark’s Facebook Page nearly tripled it’s following, receiving 9,745 new ‘Likes’, equating to a 3,722% increase in new followers.

An additional 1,155,718 impressions were generated on Facebook through ongoing fan interaction and chatter throughout the campaign.

Ongoing communication with contestants and weekly challenges throughout the campaign boosted the level of engagement among active Facebook fans by an astonishing 7,045%! Engagement and conversation levels remain high weeks after the campaign ended.

The contest garnered some very positive feedback. One contestant wrote: “I entered my story and shared it with friends who in turn shared it with their friends and before I knew it I was in the top 10. I started to receive emails of encouragement from all over the world. People I had never met were sending me their wishes and congratulating me on my fantastic lifestyle change. They were saying I was an inspiration – and that made me cry. I have never felt like an inspiration to anyone in my entire life and here are these strangers looking up to me. I started to realize that even if I didn’t win the contest, I was a winner and needed to be proud of myself for how far I’ve come and how I’ve touched the lives of people I don’t even know. I am so grateful to Mark’s… I have won my dignity and have realized I am a worthy person who is now proud of herself and feels good about herself. Thank You Mark’s, you have changed my life in more ways then you will ever know.”

Destination marketing organizations and CVBs have long though of themselves as the most knowledgeable guide to a particular tourism area. But that claim of expertise just got a little smaller.

Yesterday, Google launched a novel little experiment called Hotel Finder.  With the coverage from most tech sites being simply cut and paste, the Tnooz article being the exception, you might have missed a few subtle hints on Google’s potential plan for travel and tourism.

Before we get to that, the basics on Google Hotel Finder: a new experimental search tool specifically designed to help you find that perfect hotel via a new mapping selection tool and comparison shopping.

So, like Kayak, just more aesthetically pleasing.

However, beyond the threat to Kayak and CVB booking engines, there is one major, yet seemingly unnoticed, implication for destinations.

Google knows more about your destination than you do.

Let’s look at the first highlight from the Google blog entry: “To help you figure out where the action is, Hotel Finder shines a “tourist spotlight” on the most visited areas of U.S. cities. We select an initial shape for you based on what’s most popular…”

One more time, but just focus on this part: “We select an initial shape for you based on what’s most popular…”

Yeah, Google places that nifty little shape for the user.  How?  Because they have a wealth of data on the user, and specifically the tourist.

Searches, check-ins, reviews, directions, mobile interactions, etc.

Google knows what the tourist is looking for in, I would venture to guess, every major tourism destination in the world.

That said, I would also assume that most of our tourism peers already knew this.  Google has a lot of data, about a lot of things, including tourism.  But, start adding together a few more pieces and picture becomes a bit more interesting:

• Google buys online travel guide Ruba
• Random Thoughts: Google City Tours
• Three quarters of consumers use Google Suggest to begin their travel search

Lets review.  Google buys the people and technology from a travel guide start-up, creates an experiment around city tours, knows how people begin their vacation search and has enough data to draw a box around the tourist hot spots in a location.

Take the basic travel planning / purchase funnel (Absorb – Research – Plan – Explore – Share) and it strikes me that Google is establishing a presence in 4 of the 5 segments.

Research = Search.  Plan = Hotel Finder / City Tours.  Explore = Mobile / City Tours.  Share = Picasa / Google+.

Is the Google plan truly domination of the travel planning process?  Probably more coincidence than evil plot.

But considering the increasingly robust offerings from Google, where does that leave the destination in the travel planning / purchase process?

Still a factor, but the influence of destinations just got a little smaller.

Digital Alberta bestows high honours on Calgary-based marketing engagement agency.

Calgary, AB – Suitcase Interactive Inc., a digital ‘engagement agency’ specializing in social and mobile media marketing, was awarded “Best Digital Marketing Agency” at the Digital Alberta Awards on Monday, June 6, 2011 at Hotel Arts in Calgary.

“This award is a big win for us,” noted Ryan Gill, CEO of Suitcase. “I feel it recognizes the success we’ve achieved for our clients by helping them engage their customers in new ways and new places through new, digital media channels.” Suitcase edged out international agency Critical Mass and local start-up Evans Hunt to win the award.

Based in Calgary, Suitcase has been developing and executing award-winning digital marketing strategies for such high profile brands as Shaw, WestJet, and Mark’s Work Wearhouse since 2002. Digital Alberta is an association that represents Alberta’s thriving digital media industry, and honours the year’s best in digital marketing, gaming, entertainment, education and social impact at their annual awards gala.

“Suitcase has worked very hard to establish themselves one of the province’s leading digital marketing agencies,” remarked Digital Alberta President, Michelle Sklar. “They’ve really been instrumental in rethinking and reshaping the old advertising agency model away from ‘push’ style marketing towards true engagement through things like social media, mobile devices and touchscreens. Their work really stands apart.”

Digital Alberta also awarded Suitcase with “Best Social Impact” for their work with United Way of Calgary on their BeCause campaign to engage a younger generation of volunteers and donors. “Often, marketers forget about the customer and how they really want to be communicated with,” explained Gill. “We define a new journey for their customers that targets key decision points, then we craft experiences around those points that move them to the next step, but also bring them closer to the brand.”

Others have also acknowledged Suitcase’s contributions. In 2010, Marketing Magazine named Suitcase one of Canada’s hot digital marketing firms, and Business in Calgary magazine will be honouring Gill at their upcoming Leaders of Tomorrow awards. “For Suitcase, innovation is our edge,” added Gill. “Our focus on uncovering insights about consumers, then blending those with new approaches to engaging and persuading them through interactive media gives our clients a huge advantage.”

With this recent award and the opening of their new office in Kingston, Ontario, Suitcase joins the ranks of Canada’s top independent digital marketing agencies. As the firm approaches it’s tenth year, 2011 seems full of promise for Suitcase. “Watch for us to do some even more amazing things,” exclaimed Gill.

While Suitcase focuses on growing it’s presence in eastern Canada, they maintain committed to Calgary with a modest staff of twenty-five. Digital Alberta asserts that Alberta’s digital media industry is a key contributor to the province’s economic strength, contributing nearly 60,000 jobs, and generating over $9.4 billion in annual revenues. The association’s mandate is to accelerate the growth of the digital media community in Alberta and empower it to be highly competitive in the global marketplace.

PSFK posted an interesting infographic today on the power of the mobile consumer. The graphic was done by Microsoft Tag and it covers a number of ways that real-time information is changing our behaviour.

(larger version)