what's web 3.0?

I am SO back!

noreply@blogger.com (Ann Marie Mathis-Almariei) — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 23:03:00 +0000

Ok, so I know I have at least ONE follower still (*insert thank you to husband here*), I thought I'd take a moment and dust off my blog and take it for a spin. I've had a LOT going on and want to get you up to speed so I can get back into my blogging groove and talk about all the neat things I see going on.

So first, some personal business. A lot of people are really surprised when they hear I'm not at Cheil anymore. I left back in November, my choice mostly was due to my husband arriving from France after a long and tedious fiance visa process. Though our courtship allowed us to travel to many romantic European destinations, I wanted to take some personal time to spend with him help him get situated here in NY. Plus I had only 3 months to plan and have our wedding, which was really small, but really nice.

So, fast forward 3 months later, I'm a happy newlywed now known as Ann Marie Almariei (pronounced AL-MAR-YEY). I'll be having fun changing all my RL papers, not to mention my domain names. So this blog will be folded in with my new web presence once I get everything redesigned.

In my time off, I've been glued to my RSS feeds and doing lots of meet-ups and conferences (the ones I can afford anyway!). I'll be at the 140 Characters Conference in April soaking up some twitter inspiration. I've been seeing some great stuff out there (some you'll find if you follow me on twitter, facebook or delicious). I promise now that I'm blogging again to share a lot more. I have some new ideas about things I want to talk about and do. So I promise there are a few good posts coming soon.

I've also begun looking for new opportunities. The interview process so far has been pretty exceptional. Not because I have the job offers piling in (yet!) but rather because I'm learning a lot just from visiting different people and places and talking about the needs their companies have. Having spent about 5 years at each of the last 3 jobs I've had, I haven't been able to see how many agencies out there work. What I'm most happy to see is it seems the industry is thriving, at least in the digital space. Especially smaller agencies where they can't keep up with the workloads because of all the new business they have coming in. So, enough about that for now. If you know a place you think I should contact, definitely let me know.

Enough waxing poetic (for now), next post will be worth coming back for, I promise.

_ Mrs Almariei \o/

The Business of Ideas and Conversations

noreply@blogger.com (Ann Marie Mathis-Almariei) — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 15:01:00 +0000

For my August Director's presentation, I decided to discuss how brands are effected by bloggers. I talked about Dell, Comcast, T-Mobile and Delta as examples. It was a great crash course for me to write. I also liked working with Issuu. Here's my presentation:

Get your own - Open publication

Cheil Worldwide Interactive Experts

noreply@blogger.com (Ann Marie Mathis-Almariei) — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 14:32:00 +0000

The past year has totally changed how I work and think as an interactive marketer. Most everything I know is really no longer valid. As a Creative Director, I'm supposed to be the one who knows it all, has all the answers, and big ideas, right? And of course I do! *snickers* But its hard to keep up. My netvibes page is my homepage. It's up on my screen 24/7. It displays all my data in real time: twitter, facebook, RSS feeds, email, flickr, and so on. It's endless stimilus. There's not enough time in the day to read and see everything I want to absorb.

So I got this brainiac of an idea from a collegue of mine, Mark Kronenberg, who heads up our planning group at Cheil Worldwide in New Jersey. He asked why I'm not delegating the tasks of becoming experts to my team. Hmmmmm. Interesting. *rubs chin*

So. Here it is. The experts group @ Cheil Interactive.

The assignment: Pick an area within the current online landscape, start a blog, del.icio.us, or other form of RSS to track your research and insights.

The outcome: A group of already talented art directors, designers, writers and animators who really know their sh*t. Instead of me being the almighty know-it-all, I now have a team with specialized areas of expertise that I can reach out to for ideas, knowledge and inspiration.

We're into our third month of the project now, and it's really taking shape nicely. I set up a public netvibes page so all their RSS feeds can be aggregated into one place.

The work we're doing really reflects the insights and learning of this group. By the end of the year, I'm pretty confident we'll have best practices in each area that will really strengthen our interactive offering.

THE EXPERTS:
Chris M: Sharing Communities
Matt B: Advergaming and Virtual Worlds
Brian G: Social Networks
Johanna R: User Generated Content and Video
Bernell C: Online Media Trends
Nat C: Web 2.0
Jeff B: Blogging
Kay G: Podcasting
Soo B: Integration

The company is jazzed about it too. Other departments want to get involved and start their own, so I'll be adding their feeds as well as time goes on.

hmmmm, now I've got 10 more RSS feeds to read. =)
Watch us here: netvibes.com/cheil_usa

CES 2008: TV, meet the internet.

noreply@blogger.com (Ann Marie Mathis-Almariei) — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 20:53:00 +0000

In looking at the big hits at CES this year, especially in the HDTV category, several trends stand out: Wireless was big, Super-Slim LCDs, OLED. There’s one trend that stood out to me in a big way. A lot of manufacturers are offering up content solutions and aggregators for the TV. Apple TV was an early entry into this category – but it really never took off. It’ll be interesting to see if consumers adopt this. My computer has taken over my TV viewing almost entirely. I think part of it is just that I spend more time on the computer than I do watching TV. But for someone who’s an Xbox live subscriber, I can definitely see the benefit of having your friends list active while watching TV. Here are some of the featured products debuted at CES.

BROADBAND ENABLED TVs

Sharp AQUOS Net lets you download widgets to your TV and has a customizable interface as well as a web browser that connects via Ethernet cable.

“With AQUOS Net, Sharp is opening up a world of display possibilities for consumers,” said Bob Scaglione, senior vice president and group manager, Product and Marketing Group, Sharp Electronics Corporation. “AQUOS Net provides the ultimate in convenience, and we intend to allow users access to important information like stock quotes, the local weather and even the ability to receive instant advice and help to maintain the optimal picture on their television - all without ever having to leave the TV.”

The current selection of web-based content for the widgets seems pretty limited at the moment, and it does add a cost of $200 to the TV.

Sony Bravia Internet Video Link will allow users to access Yahoo and AOL content via Ethernet using a set top box that attaches thru the TV’s HDMI link. Users can browse the Internet using their TV remotes enabled by an icon based custom user interface.

Image by Gizmodo.

Samsung debuted the world’s first MS Windows Media Center television at CES along with Samsung’s DMA (Digital Media Adaptor), which works similarly to Sony’s Internet Video Link by attaching the TV to an Ethernet connection. Samsung’s device also functions as a Microsoft Media Center extender.

"People want to bring digital entertainment from the PC to a big-screen HDTV, and with the addition of popular consumer companies such as Samsung to the growing list of Extender partners, Windows Media Center makes that possible for an even wider audience," said Enrique Rodriguez, corporate vice president of the Connected Television Division at Microsoft. "Such growing industry support validates Microsoft's approach of using Extender for Windows Media Center technology to deliver the ultimate connected entertainment experience."

Samsung has also announced a partnership with USA Today to offer news, local weather, and other information from the newspaper’s site. This feature will be available on Samsung Series 6 or Series 7 LCD and Plasma HDTV. The content is accessible thru an RSS button on the TVs remote which actives a customized interface for browsing. I’m not sure if Sharp’s AQUOS Net has this feature as well, but the Samsung will also allow you to continue to watch your live TV programming while browsing the content.

Panasonic’s entry into the category is also an Ethernet connected TV. They’ve partnered with Google to serve up videos via YouTube and photos via their Picasa property. It sounds like it will operate similarly to the way the iPhone does.

Image by Wired.

I think it’s a sign of the times seeing the breadth of internet enabled TVs coming onto the market, but I still feel like the mass audience wont adopt this medium until you can fully browse the internet seamlessly rather than be limited to certain content providers. I want ALL the content on my terms. I’m not likely to buy a Panasonic because I want the YouTube content. MAYBE I’d buy a Samsung because its MS Media Room enabled, but hey, I may be slightly biased.

PC to TV PLAYERS

Those who feel the way I do about wanting it all may end up moving in this direction. There are quite a few options introduced at CES that go more the route of Apple TV with PC to TV players that allow you to take content from your PC and stream to your television. Check out SlingCatcher from Sling Media, D-Link’s PC-on-TV Player and Tivo Desktop 2.5 which allows Tivo Series 2 owners to not only save content from their Tivo to PC, but vice versa.

Microsoft Media Room is going to be a big player in this category. It connects your TV to other devices so you can stream content (music, photos, movies and games) from your PC to your television. It will also be available thru Xbox live, which means you can chat with your Xbox buddies while watching TV. It also has a guide that lets you search through live or upcoming TV programming, in addition to your personal music and photos.

Will people buy it?

Survey says yes. According to a survey by iSuppli, Consumers want to bridge the PC to Internet gap:

Nearly two-thirds of consumers want their televisions to link to the Internet, a sentiment that will help propel rapid sales growth for network-enabled consumer electronics devices in the coming years, according to iSuppli Corp.

“The awareness and demand for media home networking is growing rapidly among consumers,” said Steve Rago, principal analyst, networking/optical communications for iSuppli. “According to iSuppli’s first-quarter 2007 consumer-demand survey, 61 percent of respondents ‘agreed’ or ‘strongly agreed’ that they wanted the ability to network the Internet to their televisions. Male respondents were even more favorable, with a 71 percent ‘agreed’ or ‘strongly agreed’ response.”

According to Cnet “Sharp and Samsung are banking on three factors. One, that people do want to get Internet information through their TVs despite past history. Two, that turning on a TV to get weather or headlines is more attractive than booting up your PC. And three, that they don't want to pay for the service or own another box.”

Check out these articles for more info:
So What the $*@% Is Aquos Net?
Sharp Aquos Net: Widget TV
CES: Sony Introduces Internet TV System
CNET: Samsung streams video and music to your HDTV

A new era? Really?

noreply@blogger.com (Ann Marie Mathis-Almariei) — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 14:50:00 +0000

I got this email this morning from Audi. Don't get me wrong - I LOVE Audi. They've done some great advertising over the years, and I'm an Audi person (I totally love my car). Anyway, back to the email. It's a teaser. For their superbowl spot.

The email reads:

02.03.08 The Dawn of a new era.

Soon, a bold challenge to the tired old myths of luxury will be hitting millions of TV screens across the land.

A new viewpoint. A new way of thinking. A new era.

On February 3rd, you will be sent an exclusive preview of the Audi Super Bowl commercial. You will have a chance to witness the moment that will set the nation talking.

The countdown has started. Don't miss the moment of truth. Audi. Truth in Engineering.

Their website also has a countdown on it. I'm a little disappointed in Audi for sending me an email about the launch of a tv spot *yawn*. And lucky me, I'll get a preview because I'm on their email list. If anyone sees any other advertising related to this, please pass it on - I'm curious now. Stay tuned for news about this 'new era'.

ps. I really hate email

I've been tagged

noreply@blogger.com (Ann Marie Mathis-Almariei) — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 19:32:00 +0000

Well, I guess it was just a matter of time before chain letters worked their way into blogs. I get them thru email, text messages, IMs – I even get them in Second Life! Well, I’ve recently been tagged by the lovely Christina Greene as part of the the “8 Things You (Probably) Don’t Know About Me” meme. Normally I just hit the delete button on this kind of thing, but in a weird kind of way, I love that I was tagged by another blogger (especially Christina, who rocks). Makes me feel all warm-n-fuzzy… So, here goes nothin’:

The 8 Things You (Probably) Don’t Know About Me (and will probably wish you still DIDN’T know about me) are:

1. I bought a Samsung 46” LCD TV back in June. It’s still in the box in my hallway. There are 2 reasons for this – 1) I never use my TV. 2) It doesn’t fit in my wall unit, so I need to buy a new one and do a little redecorating. As you can probably tell, I’m not in a big rush to tackle this project.

2. I’ve been fired from only one job in my life, and it was from the GAP. They hated me there – my image was ‘too funky’ and not ‘crisp’ enough to work their floors or register. They did give me a great discount though. In the end, I KNOW I spent more there than I actually made.

3. I have a pretty large tattoo on my back, left hip. It’s 8” high, and 6” wide. I got it when I was 23, and designed it myself. It was inspired by a pair of marcasite earrings I had seen in a catalog – which my mom later ended up buying me as a gift for Christmas. Yes, it hurt and no, I don’t regret getting it since I never see it. This is the original drawing I did which was used by the tattoo artist as a guide. The artist who did it is Eric Rignall who owns 'Ink Stop Tattoo' on Ave. A and 13th street. He's very talented, and I've known him since before he started tattooing oranges. I think my 'friend of Ann Marie' discount is still good there, give him a call.

4. My very first apartment was on the second floor of a funeral parlor. Yes, it was a little creepy, but it was usually quiet! Plus, now I have lots of interesting stories to tell.

5. I can’t play most video games because of vertigo. I once played Wolfenstein ‘till I got sick. So, I don’t do gaming. And, no Second Life doesn’t count – plus it’s NOT a game!

6. I have a storage space full of toys I used to collect. Mostly action figures and play sets from Pixar/Disney films. A few of my favorite pieces include set of Jay and Silent Bob Limited Edition figures I had signed by Kevin Smith, and an original 12” talking Jack Skellington.

7. I was kidnapped when I was 4. I was camping, and I was running down a hill with a friend and fell and skinned my knee. She went back to get my mom, but never came back. A group of men drove up and saw me, and told me to hop in, and they would take me back to my campsite. Which I did (ok peeps, this is where I say ‘PLEASE make sure your kids know not to get into a car with strangers!’). As I directed them to my campsite, they drove right by it, ignoring me. So I started to yell and cry. Finally the man in the back seat said to the driver, ‘OK, [name of driver – which I can’t remember], lets bring her back, c’mon’. The driver turned around and delivered me to my mom. I remember the incident pretty vividly. It wasn’t until years later that I realized how lucky I am.

8. I’m totally addicted to the internet. But you probably already knew that =P. My boyfriend of 3 and a half years (who I met on the internet btw), John, is probably the only one who truly understands the extent of my addiction. He’s a saint for putting up with me. He’s the only man I know who’s competition is a 30” monitor. I think there’s a ‘size matters’ joke in there somewhere, but it might be best to leave that one alone.

And lastly, the 8 people who will curse me for tagging them (hey, feel free to ignore if you like, but I know I’ll sleep better tonight knowing that I have good blogger karma – unless you curse me that is):
1. John McClellan
2. Tommy Kane
3. Alycia de Mesa
4. Aliza Sherman aka Cybergrrl Oh
5. Howard Thomas
6. Johanna Rustia
7. Chris Mogen
8. Capo Freenote

Who's your Juke Box Hero?

noreply@blogger.com (Ann Marie Mathis-Almariei) — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 17:13:00 +0000

Our latest campaign for Samsung Mobile for the Juke is about halfway through. To promote the uniquely styled music phone aimed at a younger demographic, we partnered with YouTube to create a video juke-box online.

The first half of the campaign called for independent artists to submit a musical performance. The prize is $10k in music gear (not too shabby, huh?). We decided not to go with the traditional YouTube voting, but rather engage the consumer on a deeper level by allowing for playlisting. Users who create playlists can also win prizes like a home theater system and a really cool jukebox (not your mom and dads model - this one has a digital interface and won't look out of place in your livingroom).

We took it up a notch by allowing users to share the videos (and shortly will include your own playlist) in this widget.

So, now that our submission period for indie musicians has ended. Now we look to you, our online judges, to help us crown the Juke Box Hero. I'll be posting my faves ;-)

Check out the website and create your playlist @ samsungjuke.com

The Virtual Thirst Launch: Nov 8, 2007

noreply@blogger.com (Ann Marie Mathis-Almariei) — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 04:18:00 +0000

Well, today was the big day. People have asked me why I hadn’t posted work in progress on my blog up until now. And why it’s taken so darn long to complete! I couldn’t really release any details prior to launch. So, I figure I owe a nice long blog post dedicated to this promotion. I’ll do a little step-by-step from my perspective (not only as a winner, but as a marketer and resident of SL). I’ll talk about my experience overall working with Millions of Us, Crayon and Coca-Cola on the project. And of course, a little about the Virtual Thirst launch and how you can now participate.

First, why I entered this contest.

I had so many reasons to do it. I had just spent 8 months on a second life project that had fallen through for another client. In the process, I had really become enamored with SL. I learned to build and I wanted the time I had invested in SL to be put to something productive. Opening a small store of my own in world was definitely an accomplishment for me, but I had spent so much time on looking at brands and how they affected residents. I really kind of wanted to put those skills to the test. I figured my building skills and everything I had learned about Second Life and brands entering the metaverse gave me a leg up.

There’s one other thing that probably given me an edge. One of my first 15-minutes of fame in my career was also given to me by Coca-Cola when I designed Cocacola.com back in 2001. Now, that was a long time ago. Coke was my first consumer packaged goods client. Trust me, it isn’t easy selling soft drinks. Especially when there are so many beverage choices out there. But Coke isn’t just a drink. It’s a brand. People feel connected to it. They are one of the few brands I’ve worked with that really put brand experience at the top of their business strategy. Those experiences have changed exponentially since my first Coke experience, but one thing I have to say about them – they are always willing to take a risk. Try new things, and make people care. I know that somewhere at Coke, there’s a guy (or gal) who’s job it is to wave the ROI finger. Well, I don’t envy them, especially since you cant really track if a TV spot, banner ad or bottle you saw in Second Life really made you buy that can of Coke at lunch today. But they consistently make an effort to keep their brand experiences fresh and relevant. SO – I know a little about Coke, and I’m a fan of the brand. Figured I had a pretty good shot of winning this one. So I entered *grins*.

I set to work on my entry. I spent about a week on it. Carefully crafting an elaborate brand experience that I felt would really make Coke relevant to SL-ers. I did some layouts and did a 2-page write-up on all the different elements. When I finished it, I figured it didn’t stand a chance because it was too elaborate. There was one element I had worked into it that I thought stood on it’s on though. They were small bubbles hidden around the island that you could interact with to win a prize. I decided to switch that up a little into a bottled brand experience and submit that on it’s own. I mean why not, it took me maybe an extra hour or so. Well, that’s the one that won.

Winning Virtual Thirst.

Well, you probably know all about what I won already, and if not, there’s an earlier blog entry where I covered that. In the end, my experience working on this project far out-weighed the trip and the lindens.

The trip to San Francisco on July 31st was basically the kick off for the project. I spent 2 days at Millions of us (MOU) working on the start of the build. I wasn’t sure how it would all play out, me being a contest winner, but a Creative Director by trade. Oddly enough, in the beginning it felt a whole lot like being at work! Working with MOU, Crayon and Coke to make sure the bottle experiences were engaging and the prizes cool and relevant (without upsetting indigenous businesses already within SL). We needed to iron out our distribution method, how much of it would be viral, etc. So back in July, I guess we all sort of knew our work wasn’t done. For those of you in the biz, it’s like this. I had just gotten sign off on the concept. Now we had to make it a reality.

The launch was originally set around the SLCC Convention in Chicago on August 24th where crayon and Coke would be speaking about the project. Steve at Crayon had asked me if I planned on going. I knew since my SL project had been put on hold, it would be on my own dime, but I did have 500,000 lindens layin’ around. So I decided to go.

We kicked it into high gear, but we all pretty much knew we wouldn’t be done by SLCC. SLCC was where a good majority the fun was on this project for me. I went there on a whim figuring it would be fun to see the Coke presentation. Meeting and spending time with the guys on the project there was great. I got to spend some time with CC Chapman and Steve Coulson who were both with Crayon (and now The Advance Guard), and Michael Donnelly, Director, Worldwide Interactive Marketing at The Coca-Cola Company. These guys are a new era of marketers. I bow to their social media know-how and brand 3.0 moxy. I still don’t get twitter – even after watching them do it all day and night. One of these days maybe I will enough to say throughout the course of the day – and enough people who actually want to listen, and I will make that leap! Until then, I’ll stick to micro-blogging on facebook.

The entire team treated me like one of them, not just a contest winner. They were very respectful of my opinions and ideas. As a group, we refined and blew out each and every element. And 3 months in the making, today we unveiled the 3 Coke Puzzle Bottles.

The Bottles.

The essence of my idea is this: have the bottle be a vehicle to the experience. Make it immersive and cool, and then give me something to take away that adds to my everyday Second Life experience. I wanted something that residents will like and use. Not just some branded piece of advertising that we push. It was our mission to do it right and make it fun.

Each of the 3 puzzle bottles stands about 10m high. They start out in solved-mode, and scramble when a user clicks to interact. One the puzzle is solved, a stream of particles escapes the bottle and it presents the player with one of 3 prizes (which you are free to share with friends since they are copy/trans). It also rezzes an experience for everyone to interact with, not just the avatar who solved them. Some of the experiences also have some neat accessories you might find yourself using long after the Coke experience *coughs*snowball*coughs*.

If you could only see the original list of prizes we had. I think at one point it was 3 pages long – lol. OK, I confess, it took us 3 months because I wanted a ka-gillion prizes. Can you blame me? I was like a kid in a candy store. Anyway, we narrowed it down to 3. Here’s a run-down on them:

Puzzle Bottle 1:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Style/171/79/30
This bottle rezzes the Penguin snow-globe experience. Grab one of 4 bottles on the side and play with a penguin, go ice fishing or go ice climbing. It’s totally awesome for taking snapshots. This puzzle bottle presents you with a cute life-like little Coke bear buddy.

Puzzle Bottle 2:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/crayonville/197/75/541
This bottle rezzes the Bubble machine. Grab a parachute, and hop on a bubble. You’ll take a ride up through a monster bottle of Coke and then parachute down once you come out the top and your bubble pops. The parachute will definitely be a keeper, and this puzzle bottle presents you with a very cool Coca-Cola scooter with custom AO (animation over-ride).

Puzzle Bottle 3:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Heathrow/61/203/22
This one just happens to be my personal favorite – and not just because it’s located at my store! This bottle rezzes the snowball fight. Two machines dispense snowballs. There’s only 2 mounds of snow to hide behind, but this one will get everyone involved trust me. Attached the snowball, go into mouse look, aim and fire. Pelt everyone and anyone you please with snowballs. Plus this machine gives you a totally tricked out Coke electric guitar. Just wear it and choose a rockin’ move from the HUD. Also one of my fave prizes. I just love the reactions from people when they see them for the first time.

The launch event today was great. Packed the sim, fought the lag and spread a little slice of Coca-Cola - Second Life style. If you missed it, here’s some links ya’ll can check out because I think I’ve blabbed on long enough.

> My Virtual Thrist Flickr Set

> The Flickr Virtual Thist photobucket

> Greg Verdino's Blog post and audio download

One last thing before I go:
MoU – Reuben, your team got *mad skillz*
Crayon – Virtual Thirst was a great idea – big kudos on bringing this project to fruition
Coke – You’ll always be one step ahead of the competition, cuz you got Mickey Douhet.

Thanks for the great experience.

Taking a Shakespearian ballet to the streets of Amsterdam

noreply@blogger.com (Ann Marie Mathis-Almariei) — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 17:41:00 +0000

Seems like ambient media and SMS wouldn't have been the obvious choice, but thats just what the Dutch National Ballet did for the launch of their new production of Romeo and Juliet.

They used projections of the characters and missing image posters, some of Romeo, some of Juliet, each seeking their counterpart. The telephone number on the poster gives you a pre-recorded message asking for an SMS if they've seen their lost loves.

"This is Juliet. You are listening to my voicemail. If you have the answer to my heart-felt yearning and can tell me where I can find my beloved Romeo, please send me an SMS with details of where you have seen him, so that I can go to him straight away."

Callers who sent an SMS received a text in return from the Dutch National Ballet and pushed users to the website for a chance to win a free set of opening night tix.

What I love about this campaign is the fact that it takes something classic, and brings it to current day through use of new media. I also love how it integrates - each piece linking to the next and providing a pretty unique experience.

I gotta give the ballet company major props for pulling this off. I suspect this wasn't an easy campaign to sell in.

Be our Juke box hero: win $10k in music gear

noreply@blogger.com (Ann Marie Mathis-Almariei) — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 15:03:00 +0000

Cheil and Samsung have just launched our follow-up UGC contest to Upstage. This time around,we're creating a mash-up with independent artists to create a virtual music video jukebox. The winner will walk away with ten thousand bucks in new music gear. So tell all your musically inclined friends to come and submit.

For the non-musically inclined, we have an equally tasty prize for helping us crown our hero by making a playlist.

Here's the links y'all:

The YouTube Contest: youtube.com/samsungjuke
Our Virtual Jukebox and Juke site: samsungjuke.com

Discovery's Live Billboard

noreply@blogger.com (Ann Marie Mathis-Almariei) — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 21:21:00 +0000

A banner created by Discovery Channel for a new show "Everest" featured climber Philip Junaeus, who lived on the banner a week prior to the launch of the show. Great PR stunt to get exposure using a limited budget.

The stunt was accompanied by a web-cam and blog, and he had a laptop and called into a radio station with daily updates.

More Info, click here.

Virtual Payday

noreply@blogger.com (Ann Marie Mathis-Almariei) — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 20:12:00 +0000

Mike Donnelly from Coca-Cola delivered my 500,000 lindens from my Virtual Thirst Winnings personally from his avatar in Second Life, which was very cool. He's a very nice guy - looking forward to meeting him sans-avatar at the SLCC Conference in Chicago this coming weekend. On Sunday, Aug. 26th from 1:30 – 2:30 C.C. Chapman and Steve Coulson from Crayon & Michael Donnelly from Coca-Cola will be presenting a case study on “Coca-Cola: Virtual Thirst”. I think it will be fun to be there for that.

You can check out more info on the conference here: http://slcc2007.wordpress.com

Virtual Thirst Update

noreply@blogger.com (Ann Marie Mathis-Almariei) — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 20:12:00 +0000

We had an action packed day at MoU yesterday. The whole experience has been pretty cool so far! We've had limo service since the moment we left my house in New York. First class Flight, and we're staying at the Fairmont in San Francisco which is pretty opulent. When we arrived, there was a Coca-Cola Swag Bag waiting for us along with some spending money (thanks Coke).

Our first day at Millions of Us was more brainstorming and figuring out some of the dynamics of the object and how we want to distribute it. I think we got most of the kinks ironed out. It was fun being behind the scenes and watching some pro builders at work. God I feel like such a noob! Anyway, we're making some progress - but I still don't want to spill the beans.

My schedule left us enough time for a little road trip down to Napa Valley for a little tasting. We went to a small boutique winery called Delectus and was invited by the wine maker and his wife to do some barrel tasting which was totally cool. Their wine is amazing. I have no idea how I'm getting it all home!

Well, I'm on my way to Millions of Us for Day 2 of our collaboration which includes a call with Coca-Cola to talk thru how we've evolved the idea. I'll add some shots to flickr to keep ya'll up to speed ;-) Check it out for a sneak peek:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/emerie/

Cannes [isn't just] for Creatives

noreply@blogger.com (Ann Marie Mathis-Almariei) — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 20:58:00 +0000

I just had my inaugural Cannes Lions experience. The Cannes Lions festival is widely known as being a “creative” awards show. But once I was there, I found it to be a melting pot of not only creatives, but of planners, account directors, developers – and clients.

As I walked the seemingly endless sea of blue walls, sat through seminars and workshops, and analyzed the accolades, there were several things that struck me. It’s not just the way we work that’s evolved. It’s the way we think. The way we talk. The way we generate ideas. Our audience has changed. As marketers, we should no longer be talking at consumers. They are empowered. They decide how and if they want us in their lives. “Integration” has taken on an entirely new dimension.

In the past, integration has been about how well different elements of a campaign work together. Does the online look and feel similar to the offline? The old school model of integration was made up of a pretty cut and paste media mix too: TV, print, website, banner and email. Today, it includes a much wider set of deliverables. Advertising is in places that are new and different (and even immersive enough to not feel like advertising). Today’s media mix can be enormously diverse, depending on your idea. One example is the Titanium Grand Prix awarded to Crispin Porter + Bogusky for Burger King for developing a series of video games for the Xbox 360 where users are actually immersing themselves into the world of “The King” and paying for it.

“ Titanium stands for breakthrough ideas. It might be a brand new idea, or it might use an existing idea in a brand new way. ” – Alex Bogusky

In order to reach “the people” we have to speak their language, interact with them and give them meaningful experiences. Integrated is now defined as how well a campaign utilizes these different mediums to tell a story. It’s about context. Where you are and what you’re doing makes all the difference. These mediums don’t just coexist harmoniously, they feed off each other in order to form a collective whole.

The industry trends we face as marketers and brands were evident at the festival. The Titanium & Integrated category received a 60% increase in entries. The Cyber Lions and Media categories also contributed to the overall growth of entries this year. As a creative director, I looked at their work and asked myself, “How did they do this?” Unique use of media is quickly becoming a creative solution. Our Samsung Shout-Out campaign, which short-listed in the Media category at Cannes, used online elements working synergistically with in-stadium placements. Winners in this category included ambient, outdoor, direct, mobile and cinema (and when I say cinema, I mean that the product plays a lead in the movie itself – not just as a placement or cinema spots).

One might say the only thing that limits us is our own imagination. The truth is, it also depends on the people required to help turn a great idea into reality.

Today’s marketing mix brings big ideas into emerging and ambient media spaces such as online widgets and customized outdoor, guerrilla and events.

I looked at work through this filter while at Cannes. As a creative director, I not only have to believe in my team’s ideas and visions, but inspire others to want them just as badly. Samsung Shout-Out was one of these challenges. It was a challenge to pull together and pull it off. I think short-listing at Cannes makes it all worth it. I came back with a new attitude about believing in ideas and how important it is that others around me do the same.

The Cannes Lions festival is a must-see for anyone in the business at least once in his or her career. It will challenge you, it will educate you and it will inspire you. I’m considering spending the weekend doing some COOK uploads to make sure I get to go back next year.

Quenching My Virtual Thirst

noreply@blogger.com (Ann Marie Mathis-Almariei) — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 15:32:00 +0000

My entry into Coke’s Virtual Thirst competition has been selected as the winning entry! WOOT! I got the call from Coca-Cola on Tuesday – and I’m flying out to San Francisco on July 31st to begin work on the project with Millions of Us. Since Coke hasn’t posted the idea anywhere publicly yet, I’m gonna hold off letting the cat out of the bag for a little while. This is a really exciting opportunity for me as a creative, a marketer, and as a Second Life resident. I think my idea is one that will contribute to the SL environment in a relevant and fun way. I’ll keep you posted...

Here’s the announcement from Coke on the Virtual Thirst Blog.

For more info on the competition, visit Coca-Cola’s virtual Thirst site.

MoU: Emerie is just gonna hang out here till you're ready to get started ;-)

Consumer Generated Advertising Revenue

noreply@blogger.com (Ann Marie Mathis-Almariei) — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 15:46:00 +0000

Well, we knew it was coming. UGC has pretty much taken over the web. Up until now, they were doing it for fun, and not getting paid for it. That’s about to change. The new generation of content creators will also be advertisers – or at least conduits to it.

Online Advertisers years ago started programs where users could embed banners into their websites, and users would get discounts based on the traffic they sent to sites, such as Amazon. Well, lets step that up a notch. Google is now paying users to serve relevant ads. See those ads on this blog under “ADS BY GOOGLE” - bottom of right column? I get paid based on click thrus. OK, well, we all know I’m not driving major traffic here, but that’s not the point. What if users could capitalize on views of their own content? Imagine users who get a million views of their content on YouTube – right now that user doesn’t benefit from any of the advertising on that page.

Here’s an example: a new site, currently in beta, called LiveRail is throwing their hat in the ring. They host video (in high-quality, fast loading, flash format), same as YouTube. They allow you to use an embed code to embed the video on your own site, same as YouTube. There are 2 big differences between LiveRail and YouTube. The first is that the videos appear only where the viewer places them – allowing them to maintain control of ownership. I think this will be an area of contention for some. The second, and key differentiator is this: The embed code includes relevant ad placements below. The ads, when clicked, stop the video and show brief content by advertisers. When finished, it resumes the content that was being watched. The creator of the content gets paid for each view.
Check out the LiveRail beta here.

My Wired: 1 of 5,000

noreply@blogger.com (Ann Marie Mathis-Almariei) — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 21:41:00 +0000

When I first started this blog, I mentioned Wired's co-promotion with Xerox aimed at current subscribers. In the first 4 days, Wired received 11,000 submissions. Only the first 5,000 "appropriate" submissions were printed. I'm glad Emerie made it in. I've never anticipated the arrival of my Wired mag as much as I did this month.

The customized Wired covers are actually created using a Xerox iGen3 110 Digital Production Press (and the company's newly acquired XMPie PersonalEffect software). The press itself looks like the biggest copy machine I have ever seen. This could be the beginning of personalization on a much deeper level than just magazine covers. Imagine if your entire Wired issue were customized based on your preferences. OK, OK... maybe that won't be happening right away. But look at reality TV, and the new model for social networking and user created content on the web. It didn't take long for big sites to adopt personalized versions of their sites for readers and even starting charging for online subscriptions. I personally can't wait to see where this goes next.

Check out the Xerox iGen3 110 Digital Production Press here (just trying to help boost your ROI guys!)

How hard is it to win a Lion?

noreply@blogger.com (Ann Marie Mathis-Almariei) — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 20:33:00 +0000

It's damn hard. My recent trip to Cannes for the 2007 Lions gave me a hard dose of reality. The Lions are a collection of pure creative genius. It was a week of yummy brain candy (with a chaser of gutter bar of course).

When we were short-listed in the media category for our NFL project, I was estatic. OK, so it's not a cyber-lion, but a lion is a lion, no???

The work I saw at Cannes was a mixed bowl of insights, strategy, creative and media... served up fresh. NOT various pieces of creative that look and feel alike. It's how they work together to form a collective whole. In terms of our NFL project - maybe we weren't worthy (if we were, I'd have a shiny lion on my desk rather than this stinkin' souvenir mouse-pad). But being shortlisted is still a big deal, right?

Well, this got the left side of my brain going (since the right side is currently full). I decided to do a little digging into the odds. Of the 25,660 entries received for the 2007 Lions, only 2,812 were shortlisted - and 795 Lions awarded (not including agency of the year and young creative awards). 169 Gold. Check out the numbers (these are not official numbers by the way... Tom Eslinger, if you're reading this, I would be HAPPY to update my info *wink*):

Dynamic ads in Google Street view ? ? ?

noreply@blogger.com (Ann Marie Mathis-Almariei) — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 15:15:00 +0000

I came across this article on ClickZ today about Google Street view. I know the buzz has been about the candid shots its captured, but this article talks about how it could potentially utilize (or not utitize) advertising.

It fancinates me that they have gone to the extent of retouching out branding in street view (such as bluring out an Office Depot and a McDonalds).

But the idea that the future could be dynamically driven ads that get placed into real-world placements is pretty cool, and highly probable.

Read the article here.

Wanna buy my TV?

noreply@blogger.com (Ann Marie Mathis-Almariei) — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 17:54:00 +0000

Each day we get closer and closer to a world where digital broadcast will edge out traditional networks. The pubs and blogs are all over new partnerships between content and internet providers. Joost isn't the only player out there making some headway. Just today I was reading about Warner, EMI and Apple TV's newest moves.

Warner Music is planning to launch its ENTIRE archive of music videos. FREE. It will be funded by a combination of advertising revenue and user downloads. The service itself will function similar to an online broadcast channel allowing users to sort selections by artist, genre or label. Read more on CNET here.

EMI finalized their deal with YouTube which allows the site to feature their music video collection and artist performances. They join Warner Music, Universal Music, Sony BMG, CBS and the BBC who already have deals with YouTube that allow the online network to feature videos - and compensate artists. Read more on ZDNET here.

Another YouTube partnership is in the works with Apple. AppleTV is planning to launch wirelessly streamed YouTube videos starting in June. YouTube members will be able to log-in from their TVs. The service will only launch with a limited selection to start. I for one am not sold on the whole "Internet on your TV" thing. But who knows... it may have something to do with the fact that my monitor is actually bigger than my TV! Read more on AP here.

ASCII EMERIE

noreply@blogger.com (Ann Marie Mathis-Almariei) — Thu, 31 May 2007 18:25:00 +0000

I stumbled upon this neeto site: Lets you upload an image and turn it into acsii art. They should add an archive to it so people can share their creations.

Click here to check it out at http://www.typorganism.com/asciiomatic.

ManiaTV Live Concert: RL and SL

noreply@blogger.com (Ann Marie Mathis-Almariei) — Thu, 31 May 2007 14:08:00 +0000

Online broadcast channel Mania TV broke some ground yesterday by simultaneously broadcasting a live concert on the web and in Second Life. The concert featured local bands in Denver. CO.

The ManiaTV site allowed 40,000 viewers to watch the live show and switch to see the virtual version (also live).

The Second life concert attracted 1200 viewers. Some may think that number isn't very impressive, but I think this breaks some serious ground because Second Life's sim limits restrict large numbers of simultaneous experiences. Mania TV accomplished this number by setting up 25 simultaneous shows in SL.

Check it out on ManiaTV.com.

Read the article on CNN.

What's the big deal about a virtual concert? ok... here's a little eye candy for you naysayers... this is the virtual U2 (sort of like a cover band) who perform U2 concerts in SL.

AdAge: How to Succeed in Second Life

noreply@blogger.com (Ann Marie Mathis-Almariei) — Wed, 30 May 2007 17:44:00 +0000

Good article in AdAge about Second Life marketing. Nice Do's and Don'ts at the end:

DON'T BUILD A PRESENCE JUST TO BE THERE.
"When you do it for the buzz, when you force that viral marketing, that's when you go off course. Great content and great ideas will naturally be viral."
-- Joseph Jaffe, president-chief interrupter, Crayon

DO TRY TO OFFER SOME VALUE TO THE COMMUNITY OTHER THAN JUST A PRODUCT.
"This is not the kind of place where you have a salesperson avatar trying to collect leads. ... That's not correct for the culture. You have to stand back and let them explore you."
-- Mark-Hans Richer, marketing director, Pontiac

DO KEEP IT FRESH.
"You have to keep it fresh, not unlike a blog. Make it interesting. Or do something that has a limited timeframe."
-- Giff Constable, VP, Electric Sheep

DON'T EXPECT A DIRECT LINK TO SALES IN THE REAL WORLD.
"So much of our metrics aren't about sale, but they're about brand love. Brand value and brand love are our key metrics."
-- Michael Donnelly, director-global interactive marketing, Coca-Cola Co.

Read the full article here.

We created a Second Life brand manifesto that you can get from our brand wizard at our Agency in Second Life. You can also find them on page 10 of our company newsletter here.

Who knew?

noreply@blogger.com (Ann Marie Mathis-Almariei) — Wed, 23 May 2007 00:26:00 +0000

When I asked Sharon and Mey to let me shoot this video, I jokingly said 'I'll make you famous'. Little did I know. 24 Hours and 1,045,592 hits later, they have the number one video on YouTube. Way to go PixlChix!

Check out our website for the Upstage Phone here.

Go to see the rest of the YouTube Contest here.

Brands to aquire Virtual Worlds

noreply@blogger.com (Ann Marie Mathis-Almariei) — Thu, 17 May 2007 20:14:00 +0000

Two of the most popular virtual worlds: Club Penguin and Webkinz might be snatched up by Sony and Disney respectively. These virtual worlds are hugely popular among teens - and are web based rather than independant software like Second Life.

Read the article on MarketingVox here.

Check out Club Penguin here.

Visit Webkinz here.