Advertising Aphasia

How do you market to a refrigerator: Smart devices and the upcoming ‘second market’ for advertisers?

2013-05-09T12:35:00.002+01:00

The roles of connected devices are growing within our lives. From smart appliances to the refinement of in car computer connectivity, more and more of the objects we encounter daily allow for connectivity and control. However, what lies beyond this generation of smart devices may truly change the way we buy certain products as consumers and how marketers and advertisers drive purchase. The next

The Traditional PR Model & How Brands Use Social Media

2013-05-08T12:36:00.002+01:00

5 Key Trends from SXSW Interactive 2013

2013-04-28T23:37:00.000+01:00

Canne's 2012 Media Lions show the strength of media demonstrating the message

2012-06-25T16:52:00.000+01:00

So Cannes 2012 has come and gone, leaving behind a wealth of video case studies I've spent the better part of a few hours looking through. Though the advertising/creative lions always seem to get the glory, I was quite interested in some of the themes that were apparent in the media lions highlighted this year. While the consistent presence of the (always quite lovely)

Its okay Mitt, Corporations might be people (according to Facebook)

2012-03-19T16:16:00.003Z

So, its been a few weeks since the reveal of the new Facebook Timelines for brand pages and as the forced migration date looms closer (March 30th), how brands can use this format and what it means has started to become more clear. From the New York Times, to Coca-Cola, Red Bull, Volvo (client) and the US Army, the possibilities to highlight the heritage of companies within social has shown

Media is the Future of Advertising...

2012-01-20T14:55:00.002Z

Back in December, I was lucky enough to be able to speak at an event called "War of the Words" sponsored by Campaign Magazine. The event asked various speakers under 30 from four disciplines (media, planning, creative and brands) to address how their area was the best positioned to fix declining trust in advertising and generally be the future of the industry. While I didn't win, I did get to

Could Nintendo's Wii U finally make multi-screen TV viewing more social (for others in the room)?

2011-06-15T11:39:00.001+01:00

Watching the Nintendo's E3 announcement this week, I was impressed, as I'm sure many others were, by their upcoming 'Wii U' system. Technically, the rumors swirling around the device are quite impressive, from its processing power (reported to be 30-100% more powerful than the PS3 or Xbox 360 depending on whom you ask) and the use of existing peripherals from the Wii, to the most impressive

Twitter, Tweetdeck and what a purchase means for the symbiosis between developers and social networks...

2011-05-18T11:46:00.000+01:00

The relationship between social networks and 3rd party developers is an interesting one. A good working relationship allows networks to expand development capabilities beyond in house resource, allowing their users to, in effect, do "R&D" for them. Looking at this end of the developer/network relationship, everything seems to be pretty advantageous for the company. This sentiment was most

When does F-Commerce Work for Brands?

2011-04-05T16:02:00.002+01:00

The push for Facebook Commerce (known sometimes as the more exciting F-Commerce) has seemingly increased throughout the later parts of 2011 and the early bits of 2012. As more brands embrace the 'F-Commerce' trend, its not only worth stepping back and analyzing exactly when the concept can work for a product, but also what Facebook Commerce actually entails. Stepping away from the most clear

What Losing a Socialbots Competition Taught Me About Humans & Social Networking

2011-03-03T13:24:00.002Z

When social network users consider robots networking, anything from fake Twitter pages spamming links to Chat/AIM bots could come to mind.While 'social bots' may so far be, at the best, still brushing up on their social skills and, at the worst, outright malware, it may not always be like this. A recent Gartner study predicted that by 2015, 10% of users within an individual's social network will

Is there a market for Twitter social gaming?

2011-02-20T14:32:00.003Z

There isn't much doubt about the impact of Facebook on social gaming. With the social gaming market estimated to grow to $4 billion annually by 2015, up from $1.5 billion currently, and games such as Zynga's 'Cityville' garnering 20.7 million daily active users (96.7 million monthly active users), growth for casual & social gaming isn't in question. New Facebook features such as an increasingly

Aiming to Make Your Agency More Digitally Oriented? Look at Google...

2011-01-03T13:00:00.004Z

Now, before you think this post is an analysis of Google's management and knowledge sharing structure, consider that I mean looking at Google in the more literal sense. I really mean that if you and those around you working in the advertising & media field want to 'get' digital concepts (for lack of a better catch all), I believe it begins with actually just going to Google. 99% of anything you

Want to Know Where Facebook is Going in the UK? Look at AOL in the US 1990's...

2010-12-19T12:33:00.003Z

Before you read the title of this and make any early decisions, realize that the similarities between Facebook, now, and AOL, in the 90's, aren't necessarily bad. Given Facebook's current prominence, with 550 million+ users and a penchant for rolling out new product offerings rather regularly, similarities exist between both user bases relative to competitors and rate of development. While AOL's

Mindshare & LG utilize interaction to engage consumers about 3-D TV

2010-12-12T17:43:00.003Z

Disclosure: This is, pretty obviously, client work I was involved with, but I think its an interesting option to talk about how interactivity can be leveraged for education and consumer involvement. Hopefully a bit of follow-up at the end of the campaign might give some insight on where this tech is going. As usual, opinions stated on the site are my own and not the assumed position of either

Can Social Media Drive Positive Behaviour Change?

2010-11-15T12:20:00.000Z

Social media marketing commonly uses the medium to leverage the power of our friend networks to drive purchase, get users to engage with a brand/campaign or spread recommendations. While examples of the power to drive behaviour through community engagement are readily available for brands, NGOs, political parties & charities, does the power of social media extend to positive health behaviour for

The Top London Ad Agencies by Foursquare Check-in (21.10.2010) [Infographic]

2010-10-25T16:18:00.000+01:00

London Foursquare Ad Agency Rankings (21.10.2010) Well the only thing scarier than the psudo Halloween motif we've gone with for the pre-Halloween version of the infographic might be the clustering in the bottom left of the graph. This might be forgiven though, as McCann's immense check-in growth is a problem to scale no matter how you cut it. It really seems to illustrate the

How Consistency gives Insight into Efficient Use of Facebook's 'Like'?

2010-10-19T15:07:00.002+01:00

Facebook's 'like' feature has already become a ubiquitous part of almost any social network user's consciousness. The button, which replaced 'become a fan' functionality on Facebook pages and extends externally to websites outside of Facebook, has become one of the de facto ways to express approval for content, as well as sharing it with friends. As the prominence of the 'like' feature extends

Scarcity and Online Buying: Digital Behavioural Economics

2010-09-21T16:00:00.001+01:00

The current advertising & media industry push towards a greater understanding of Behavioural Economics isn't a new thing. From Walter Dill Scott's succinctly named "The Psychology of Advertising: A Simple Exposition on the Principles of Psychology In Their Relation to Successful Advertising" in 1908 and John Watson's transition from academic to VP of JWT in the 1920's through to the en vogue

Customer Service & Online Presence: A Personal Example

2010-09-18T19:42:00.006+01:00

The rise of social media brand presence has led to greater levels and variety of engagement with the consumer. However, just as a brand's social presence is on 24 hours a day, a branded level of engagement must be ever present more of the time. In this way, engagement itself is a double edged sword, enabling in depth and different types of consumer messaging, but requiring more resource to

Foursquare Places: 5 Reasons Foursquare Shouldn't Worry...

2010-08-27T13:23:00.000+01:00

Given that its been a week since Facebook's launch of their geo-located functionality, 'Facebook Places', in the U.S., I thought I would give a quick overview of my thoughts on what it means for other networks and the UK market. As there is already an amazing depth of articles describing what 'Places' is and where it is taking Facebook, such as this great one by Mindshare's Ciaran Norris, I' m

Recommendation in the age of collaboration...

2010-08-18T16:06:00.001+01:00

Recommendation has and always will be one of the most powerful drivers for product purchase. The power of friends & family singing your brand's praises will always resonate more than a basic advertiser's message. In the age of social media however, the way we communicate has fundamentally grown, and subsequently, so has the way we recommend products to others. The consumer of today has

The Top London Ad Agencies by Foursquare Check-in (06.08.2010)

2010-08-08T11:38:00.002+01:00

I decided to do something a bit different than the normal top 30 infographic with the Foursquare check-in data. While the infographic may still come out at some point, I thought it might be easier and more useful to try out Tableau public and visualize the data as a dashboard. First attempt is below, though I may modify it for more functionality as time goes on. Foursquare Agency Dashboard (

Outdoor Advertising Takes Us One Step Further to Living in a Sci-fi Movie...

2010-08-04T14:27:00.000+01:00

Movies always seem to utilize outdoor advertising in some bombastic ways whenever they need a 'dystopian' future-scape. From 'Blade Runner', 'Idiocracy' & 'Robocop' to 'AI', 'Back to the Future', 'Minority Report' & 'They Live', outdoor advertising plays a role in conveying an emphasis on the conspicuous consumption & promotional opportunities of the future. However, this week, 2 stories in the

Media, Advertising & Data Visualization: Its actually been with us all along...

2010-08-03T12:54:00.003+01:00

Data Visualization seems to be one of the keywords of the moment within advertising and media, fueled by the industry's admirable intellectual hunger for greater efficiencies & the 'next big thing'. However, as with all manner of zeitgeist within business, the concept seems to have become popular before its been fully quantified. We can take the amazing work of David McCandless and his book '

Daily Links for 02.08.2010

2010-08-02T12:13:00.000+01:00

Facebook and Amazon Team Up to Make Gift Shopping Easier | Fast Company I may be in the minority for alot of the privacy vs. marketing issues given my inherent bias, but I quite like the idea of collaborative shopping and auto suggestions. Now, that being said, I like the ability to share product interests and items across the network more than suggestions (which entail the possibilities of a