Internet & Sons

The Role of Creative Technologist

Wed, 08 Dec 2010 03:32:00 -0800

I fully support Scott's approach, I hopefully offer the creative values myself to agencies. However, one part that was terrible missing was the product itself. The New Product Development (NPD) today is an essential part of what the marketing cake, and a result a part of the marketing agency's responsibility.

For instance, the Fiat eco:drive and the Domino's pizza track your pizza is now actually part not of the a communication but rather of the product itself.

These new exciting opportunities are for creative technologists to serve the clients themselves rather than the agencies. The result would make the Creative technologist more of a consultant and digital innovation manager rather then a hands-on developer. This is what I hope the position will ripe too.

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Nice website with some nice people behind it

Mon, 18 Oct 2010 13:52:06 -0700

This is not exactly why I created this blog, but it is part of what I like about the web.

Today I got a very polite email from a guy named Paul Johnson who asked me to recommend http://www.save.co.uk/

Honestly, this is a coupon site, of some relevant brands. So if you're buying at Habitat or other nice brands, you might want to take a look at it.

But I decided on writing about this site because of a simple UX trick that I really liked in it.

If the users slide with their mouse towards the Tab section in order to switch or close the site, the site will pop-up a message, offering the users to register for the mailing list if they are not already registered for it.

Simple but very polite, the box will only come up once and only if the user is not already registered.

This is all done by simply tracking the mouse movements, and displaying a form when the users' mouse slides off the top end of the browser's window.

I copied this code from their site, with hopes they won't hate me for it. Well... they did get what they wanted, a link to their site:

if(readCookie('rec')!=null){dontgo_shown=true;}

$().mousemove(function(e){if(!dontgo_shown){clearTimeout(dontgo_timeout);

if(e.pageX>0&&(e.pageY-$(window).scrollTop())<10)

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As Ron Burgundy would say: That escalated quickly - Nike+ fights Adidas back!

Tue, 07 Sep 2010 05:33:00 -0700

Well, that didn't take long. Less than a month and two days since my post about the new Adidas miCoach bold move to offer their own version of the Nike+ for free for the iOS platform, and today, Nike+ get back to the game with Nike+ iOS app that allows you to start experiencing the benefits of a Sports Monitoring system without committing for external $60 Nike+ sensor. This app is priced at $1.99 while Adidas's is free, though I suspect with such low prices, people would probably go for the brand name rather then the price. Moreover, I liked Nike's approach of not giving the price for free, differentiating the men from the boys.

Here are some pictures of Nike's new iOS app:

See the full gallery on Posterous

I bet the guys at Adidas miCoach did expect it a move from their competitors, but I don't think any of them expected it to be within a month and two days.

Adidas, your move.

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The best Branded Utility to date

Thu, 19 Aug 2010 18:19:23 -0700

For the past two months now, I've been talking with people in the marketing industry on my favourite topic, know by the people as Branded Utility, or Marketing with meaning or Marketing as a Service. During these amazingly exciting times with these unbelievably smart and gifted people I've many times of Holy Grail project, the one that is mentioned pretty much in every blog post and every book about the topic, the Nike+. The product was massively important to the Nike; the amount of free publicity it got is immeasurable (or is it... maybe do a paper on that). In addition to that, it made a huge impact on the company itself, adding a layer of technology oriented products to a sporting equipment company. And not to mention the impact it did on the jogging/running industry and the experience in general.

Though I want to mention today another super duper Branded Utility, Google Maps. After Google made a huge chunk of money, many wondered what they would do with it, what would be their next line of products and what would be the firm’s next buyout. It started developing and offering strange software product, and started buying nontrivial assets: Google Earth, Blogger, Picasa, Google Desktop and many many more. At the time, everyone wondered about Google’s strategy, for the business people, it didn't seem right. They were just throwing money around in panic, they said.

But lets look at Google Maps and at how much it grew throughout the years, what is the purpose of such a product for the company?. At the time they might have thought that they can turn it around into a profitable business faster that it actually does. Well it might become one, maybe even soon. But until now, it has been the perfect Branded Utility ever created. Its light colours and simplified interface are graceful yet playful (just like the Google logo) which enforces the company’s perceived brand and values, but more importantly, it is usable. And massively. In fact, in today's blog post by Google, it states that Google Maps had passed the 100m users a month milestone with just its mobile users!

Unfortunately I could not find the exact sum of buying ZipDash, Keyhole, Inc., Endoxon and ImageAmerica, the four companies that served as the base for Google Maps, but my estimates would circa $100m over a period of five years and still left with some change. Considering even adding development and support for the product, we might even double that. Now lets take another piece of interesting data, the business insider's chart dated May 2010 showing How Much Tech Companies Spend On Advertising:

What’s interesting is that Google allegedly doesn’t spend almost any money on advertising, especially comparing to the other boys, but is that true?

I think Google is just tapping in to the new stream of advertising I so passionately support. Advertising through people’s experience. Letting an over the top satisfied customer, be the driver and advocate of your business. If we look at the bottom line, at a fraction of the cost, they are buying consumer usage and belief and further down the road, a revenue-making asset that will no doubly find itself as one of the companies most earning products.

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TBWA\Tequila Hong Kong and Levi's Hong Kong has invented a new way for youth audiences to express themselves with Soundwash

Thu, 12 Aug 2010 11:50:00 -0700

TBWA\Tequila Hong Kong and Levi's Hong Kong has invented a new way for youth audiences to express themselves with Soundwash, a concept developed for its Square Cut collection featuring five new styles of jeans.

Soundwash is a multi-dimensional interactive brand and music experience that lets the audience choose their favorite jeans style and then "Soundwash" the jeans to their favourite style of music including rock, hip hop and canto pop across multiple platforms.

Creatively, Soundwash cleverly rediscovers the authenticity of the classic American laundry and collides it with cutting-edge music styles to create a completely original brand experience using a Soundwash "machine".
The concept is supported by limited edition packaging and gift accessories, a special Soundwash Laundry pop-up store in high traffic Tsim Sha Tsui, a branded iPhone game app, website and online viral video featuring local music band "Mr".

The Soundwash iPhone app includes a highly engaging game where friends can compete with each other and see who can Soundwash the most number of jeans in 30 seconds. The top scorer of each week will receive a pair of Levi's Square Cut jeans.

I like the idea of giving an identity or personality to your clothes, but I do defiantly see that as a more suitable proposition for a washing powder, Say Ariel Jazz, a cube holder that you can pick your music while you mom is doing the laundry for you :) Maybe that will open a new market for young people to buy their own washing powders at places such as Urban Outfitters.

Is this a complementary product / product innovation or is it just a communion stunt to get free publicity on national TV?

What do you think?

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Adidas MiCoach, a year old device gets a free iPhone and Android promotional version

Wed, 04 Aug 2010 16:31:00 -0700

See the full gallery on Posterous

While awareness might already exists for a Community Driven Sport Monitor Device especially for a competitor's product, even a company as big and strong as Adidas will have hard times persuading its customers to purchase and experiment with an alternative product. While Nike+ has been enjoying being a synonym name to Community Driven Sport Monitor Device, being a legendary product in the Marketing with Meaning school on its own, there are still a quite a few novice sports loving people that have shown interest in such a product but has yet choose to invest their money in such a device.

The reasons for not purchasing such a device, is as always, our uncertainty of our intentions and our devotions. Simply put, we're not sure we're going to use the product, and if we will indeed benefit from using it.

In my opinion, Adidas has acted rather smartly by releasing a free app that will let smart-phone mobile users, that are anyway in the exact same consumer segment as the potential miCouch crowd, trial their product without having to spend any money on it, allowing users to Trial and build confidence and belief in both the product and themselves.

An educated customer, will surly now research the options at hand. Just with Nike+ system on the other side of the river, being the system you heard of but never experienced with.

Congratulation Adidas. Nice move.

via TheNextWeb

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First post with a new mission - ohh, and GE Mood Cam

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 03:01:00 -0700

So... Here we go.

With my new mission shaped up and hopefully articulated clearly (i'd love your comments on that), I'll start posting some of my past and more contemporary notes that have led me to this blog and I current passion.

I'll kick of with a relatively new product, GE Mood Cam.

Since their description is so eloquently written, I'll just copy-paste from it. You'll get the point:

The GE Mood Cam™ app allows users to snap pictures of indoor environments, such as a kitchen, living room or bedroom, and change the mood of the room by sliding the Moodometer™ tool to adjust the look from warm (cozy) to vibrant (energetic/creative).

The free app provides a Three-Step Bulb Finder that helps users quickly find the right light bulb for the right fixture. Users can produce a shopping list of bulbs that will create a particular mood, and save the list in an at-a-glance format for simple viewing in the lighting aisle of their favorite store. They can also email themselves their custom photos and bulb shopping lists for even easier reference at the store. Insider design tips are offered to help round out the user's vision for a mood-inspired room.
“At its core, this app helps to emphasize for iPhone users how lighting is as important as the paint, furniture and other décor in a room,” adds Sroub. “The advent of general lighting with LEDs and the ever-increasing variety of CFLs now available to consumers can make navigation of the lighting aisle pretty daunting. We're here to help consumers better understand how to do more with lighting in their homes. We're empowering them.”

Core Product/Service: GE Light bulbs
Addition: Design and Experience choices before you buy
Borrowed from: Paint Catalogue
Price: Free

I'd love to know who initiated this idea, was is a wiz-kid at GE or was it an agency driven, if you know, just comment or send me an email to: tal[at]internetandsons[dot]com

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Your order from is due for delivery between 13:53-14:53 #DPD #WIN

Thu, 17 Jun 2010 01:12:00 -0700

Look at that. Now that's what I call service. DPD a company I had no idea that existed, are doing the job right.

These guys give you a "Stay at Home" one hour window gap for their delivery guy to knock on you door. Perfect!

Amazon's Service as a mean of measure (which I have been using quite alot these days), makes you wait the whole day 8:00-17:30 at home (can't even go for a snack). Think of how annoying it is for fragmented shipments

Anyways, Good going DPD! Yey!

Your order is due for delivery
between 13:53-14:53 today

Your order from is out for delivery today and is due to be delivered between 13:53-14:53. Can you please ensure that someone will be available to sign for the parcel at:

Mr Tal Oron
Flat --
--------------
---------------------
London
--- ---

If today is not convenient, please click below to change the date.

To view the current status of your order at any time please click below.

We trust that you are happy with our service and thank you for your order.

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The shift has begun

Mon, 14 Jun 2010 03:59:00 -0700

Inspired by some facebook thoughts in from Asi Sharabi yesterday, I had some myself.

I've stumbled upon some interesting picture in the Tube the other day:

I remember the times when all those billboard ads where all about "Search us on Google" an interesting shift has begun indeed.

I'll start by a proper disclosure. I don't really like Facebook, actually I kind of hate it. As a Microsoft user I know the paradigm, I'd thought all of their UI cumbersomeness (is that a work?) is just legacy driven by "don't bother users with major change". But Facebook it seems, just lack genius in design. Each iteration is a step forwarrd, but dude - as much as I like computers. I always preferred the geeky guy rather than the nerd, and I think most people agree on that.

In order to strengthen their position, Google should start considering a breakout strategy. Personally, I think they need now to shift from their old Nerdiness to the Geek Chic of our times. But what is Geek Chic in computers? In my opinion:

Friendlyness
Playfulness
Humility
Invent your style over and over again. if you're a visionary style should be innovative just as other part of your business.
Ohh and Glasses of course

Android is a way forward. Google Theme background is another. But lets face it, Google is functional and many of the users are not "Googlers" (google users with emotion to the brand) but rather just a google user. This I think, needs to be fixed.

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World Cup 2010 Calendar

Thu, 10 Jun 2010 06:24:00 -0700

If anyone's interested in the world cup, I've added a Google public Calendar. You can use it on your Gcal,iCal or Outlook.

And, no. I'm not the disturb person who punched this in, though I do thank him for that.

Instructions:

In Google Calendar:

Download this file to your desktop: http://bit.ly/afLh5T
Go to Settiings --> Calendar Settings
Go Calendars Tab
Press the "Import calendar" link (mid way on the page)
Choose the file on your desktop, and press "Import" button

Voila!

Source of file: http://www.hotukdeals.com/item/550573/fifa-world-cup-ical-schedule-downlo

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#hashtag as the new icon

Wed, 09 Jun 2010 15:15:00 -0700

In the last couple of days, I found myself communicating with a lot of my hipster friends. It seems that since Twitter was introduced with its crippled interface & crippled functionality, and with the move from Instant messaging to broad publishing, people needed to adapt their old communication ways to a new limited platform.

The result: all those funny little somewhat vague icons had turned into long, self explanatory, verbal and sophisticated #hashtag.

No more happy faces, but faces that actually means something.

#loveit

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Virgin Active FAIL

Mon, 12 Apr 2010 12:00:00 -0700

This email message was received after I asked for a 15-20 min talk with someone within the Virgin Active management team.

"They Declined my request for help" --> Not helping out a student for 15min? really? come on!

I was a member of one of their club up until a year ago, and I must say I was not surprised by this reply. Their attitude in this email is just the same as they treat a paying member. They give a rats ass about them.

So here, thank you Angela and the rest of the VirginActive management team. You Suck!

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Angela Schwartz <Angela.Schwartz@virginactive.com>
Date: Fri, Apr 9, 2010 at 3:31 PM
Subject: FW: Imperial College Business School Students need your help - please
To: "Oron, Tal" <tal.oron09@imperial.ac.uk>

Dear Tal

Thank you for your email and apologies that we’ve taken some time to respond.

Your email was forwarded on to Product and Operations team for consideration and, unfortunately, we are going to have to decline your request for help at this point in time.

We wish you all the best with your project.

Many thanks

Angela Schwartz

PA to UK Directors and Office Manager - Milton Keynes Head Office

VIRGIN ACTIVE HEALTH CLUBS

Telephone: 01908 546 606

www.virginactive.co.uk

From: Tal Oron [...]
Sent: 08 April 2010 16:26
To:
Cc: Vasudevan, Sundara; Francesco Assettati
Subject: Imperial College Business School Students need your help - please

Hi,

My name is Tal Oron, and I am a student at Imperial College Business School. I am part of a business group who are developing a business venture within the school's program. The future possibilities of the project upon success are to be adopted by one of the universities business bodies.

We are exploring the technical and business feasibility of a performance measuring swimming aided device and system. We are hoping the data gathered by our proposed system, supplemented with real-time and on-line coaches training, would help to motivate and track performance of re-creational and competitive swimmers.

A derivative of the system may also prevent ‘silent drowning’, which would be an added value for pools and regulators.

We would really appreciate it if you could refer me to someone within the Virgin Active UK company that could advise on such a project from the Virgin Active prespective.

The best options could be the Business Development, Marketing Manager or Operation Manager from the main offices.

Thank you
Best regards,

Tal Oron
FTMBA Student
Imperial College Business School

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52 words

Sun, 11 Apr 2010 10:36:00 -0700

Yes, we all know it - Twitter char limit is just not satisfactory for me these days. I do have some ideas that I want to express but really, I find my self digesting news feeds and random thoughts.

I here by suggest a 52 words limit platform. you ask why 52, I say, why not? it has a familiar scent to it.

Opinions only. No news

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