The Digital Consultant

Press My Jacket and Ferrari Clicking

2012-02-17T10:47:00.000-08:00

Here are a couple of new shopping 'incentives', one from the UK and another from Singapore. The first is a sensory sensation from McCain Foods.

Creativity Online reports that to promote its new product Ready Baked Jackets, McCain Foods is tempting UK consumers with the wafting smell of '3D baked potatoes' as they wait at city bus shelters in York, Manchester, London, Nottingham and Glasgow. Already the advertising term 'Smell-vertising' Technology has been coined to describe this development - jargon that is worse than the potato itself.

I am not sure that I would necessarily want to smell baked potato at a bus shop but it would at least be a change from the other smells one associates with a tightly packed mass of humanity waiting to catch the Number 10 to Russell Square or some other location.

The potato poster works by having a hidden heating element that warms the fiberglass 3D potato when you press a button. It then releases the aroma of oven-baked jacket potato throughout the bus shelter. The smell in question was developed in collaboration with a specialist scent lab over a period of three months.

Press my jacket takes on a whole new meaning!

Those of us who have lived in Singapore know full well that the heat of the day can be oppressive and seeking cool respite in a underground subway concourse is one way to beat the heat.

Paypal has seen an opportunity to try out its “Shop and Pay On-the-Go” Pilot in the MRT's. According to their blog, they have doubled theirr mobile predictions for 2012 to $7 billion are a trialing a system that enables Singaporean commuters to shop and pay on-the-go.

The pilot is now live across 15 subway stations island-wide. Commuters choose an exclusive deal by scanning a QR code on a billboard or poster using their smartphone, then pay with PayPal in as little as two clicks.

Making use of a digital wallet is not a new experience in a society that has used smart cards on transport and for retailing over many years.Singaporeans are very techno-savvy.

Smartphone penetration reached 70% in the country last year, and a recent study Paypal conducted revealed that nearly 7 out of 10 Singaporeans were likely to make a transaction on their mobile phone.

Paypal believes that the beauty of its mobile transaction is that no additional infrastructure is required for merchants, retailers and consumers. Their study also revealed that nearly two thirds of mobile shoppers had previously stopped a mobile transaction in the past because of the hassle of entering financial details on a small screen.

They have go around this problem by using scan and click QRCodes. Shopping on the go has never been easier.

More on Facebook's Dominance

2012-02-13T12:48:00.000-08:00

Source: Vincenzo Cosenza

This recent map from Vincenso Cosenza graphically shows the dominance of Facebook in the social media world. Facebook is ranked #1in 127 countries out of a total 136 listed.

Equally interesting is how this landscape has changed in the past three years.

Note how Twitter and LinkedIn are contesting for second place.

Vincenzo Cosenza has also mapped the the connections between Italy’s blogs and their Influence. His aim is to understand the bloggers relationship and how blogosphere is evolving into a complex information ecosystem.

Think Big, Think Local

2012-02-06T13:07:00.000-08:00

Sometimes its is difficult to see the wood for the trees.

The Web is a big place packed full of global opportunities but if current trends are to be believed, thinking 'local' is the best business approach.

A 'localised' online presence develops business growth cultivates greater customer loyalty.

Social media is a critical part of this marketing mix, as are incentives (deals). Group deals continue their rapid rise in popularity, up 33% in 6 months.

By far the majority of people searching online (73%) are looking for local content as this infographic shows.

See the larger version here

The pay off is that 82% of searches online result in off line follow-up, either through a visit to a store, a phone call or a purchase.

So even if your business has a global perspective the greatest success will come from localising your offering - local content on localised web sites, engagement in local social media and forums. One size (of content) does not fit all.

How Agencies Rate Their Clients Social Media Tactics

2012-01-31T16:19:00.000-08:00

Agencies have rated the effectiveness of their clients' social marketing tactics and according to an article by Marketing Sherpa, posting content on company-branded or -managed blogs is deemed either very or somewhat effective by 85% of agencies. This is particularly so when that content is purposely fed into other social media outlets.

Unusual marketing tactics - Betfair sponsored Bromley Town and the footballers 'adopted' QR Codes

This Week's Cartoon

2012-01-25T15:30:00.000-08:00

Courtesy: Geek & Poke

Think I'll Wear my Blue Computer Today

2012-01-23T10:15:00.000-08:00

This is conductive cotton making a simple circuit. (Credit: Cornell)

I have just discarded my old Tshirt and put on another, pre-purchased at a recent sale. Not an uncommon occurrence. In the future though, my simple cotton garment promises to be replaced by something quite special.

T Shirt computers will be coming to a store near you in the foreseeable future. Material scientists from Cornell University’s Textiles Nanotechnology Laboratory have managed to create transistors and electrical circuits from cotton yarn by coating the threads with gold nanoparticles, and then a conductive polymer.

According to an article in ExtremeTech two kinds of transistor were created: a field-effect transistor (FET), much like the transistors found in your computer’s CPU; and an electrochemical transistor, which is similar but capable of switching at lower voltages, and thus better suited for wearable computers.

But engineer David Forbes is not waiting for this science to mature and has already created a LED television you are able to wear as a shirt. There are a few unfortunate implications of doing so including raising the hackles of airport authorities in Detroit last year when he entered with 160 circuit boards and a mass of other electronics strapped to his body.

David Forbes's TV vest contains 14,400 green, red, and blue LEDs that together make 4,667 pixels.
Steven Meckler

Forbes managed to convince the airport security that he wasn’t a threat by offering to show them The Simpsons on the coat. Bart to the rescue again!

His first effort at wearable television weighted an uncomfortable 50 pounds but his latest version, funded by a small homemade watch business he runs on the side, is far less cumbersome.

Strange Product Of The Week

2012-01-20T15:23:00.000-08:00

Keyboard Thongs (i.e. slippers, jandals) for the Geek who has everything?

Mak'in Bacon

2012-01-15T11:50:00.000-08:00

Can one make a case for Bacon?

Both SPAM and Bacon are 'meaty subjects' and this is no coincidence. As this infographic demonstrates it would take a staggering 52,000 years to unsubscribe from all of the Bacon sent to the world's in-boxes in one day.

It is projected that Bacon will account for 80% of your incoming email by year's end and no, I am not telling 'porkies'!

So Bacon may well be legitimate email but too much of it will give you in-box thrombosis.

Wrist Analysis - QR Code products

2012-01-10T12:15:00.000-08:00

Here's a couple of products with similarities. Both seek to merge online with offline connections to create a visually appealing product; in this case the combination of a snazzy bracelet with QR Codes.

QR Living

Symbol - Cash Flow: Liking your work, not working to live

QRLiving connects you online through a wearable QR code and does so automatically; not a word needs to be uttered by either party.

Whether this idea will kill the art of conversation stone dead is a moot point. The downside of this adornment is that it requires the user to sign up to yet another network, rather than building on existing social profiles.

I am also not that keen on the rubbable symbols that adorn the side of each wrist band but maybe these are designed to appeal to a much younger market.

Skanz

By comparison, Skanz, while linking together QR codes with mobile technology, social media and fashion allows the wearer to make full use of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ social profiles. As they put it "wearing the web".

They are also cleverer than their opposition, encouraging prospects to sign up as product Ambassadors.

The use of two dimensional codes is growing and QR Codes are being used by people in greater numbers. A recent study by Forrester Research found that 5% of adults use 2D codes compared to 1% the previous year.

Forrester also found that too few eBusiness professionals use best practices to offer consumers good experiences once they've scanned a bar code.

Maybe part of that "good experience" could be to give away a free QR Code bracelet?

Seven Places Where Facebook Isn't Number One

2012-01-06T14:52:00.000-08:00

Clearly Japan is still more enamoured with Twitter than they are with Facebook but the latter is catching up fast. A year from now it is quite possible that Facebook will supplant Twitter as the social media platform of choice.

According to comScore who conducted the research in 40 markets, Facebook reached 55% of the world's online audience in October 2011. It also accounted for three of every four minutes spent networking on social media platforms, and one of every seven minutes on the entire web.

There are six other countries where Facebook is yet to rule.

In Brazil, Orkut still reigns (232 average minutes per visitor) but Facebook (205 average minutes per visitor) is catching up fast. 298.5% growth in Facebook usage over the past 12 months.
In Poland the indigenous Nasza-Klasa.pl is about to lose its ranks as #1 to Facebook
In Russia Facebook does not get a look-in.

Naver.com Cafe and Cyworld are vying for top spot in South Korea
Facebook is not number one in Vietnam although it should be noted that comScore does not collect data from that country
It doesn't have a presence in China

And here is how Facebook has risen in recent years, overtaking locally-grown platforms

Facebook growth remains highest in countries that are often termed "developing markets" e.g. Indonesia, India, Brazil and the Philippines.

The only country in the world where Facebook's presence over 12 months has actually decreased is Canada, which a -1% growth over 2011.

And lest we forget, the global audience for Facebook currently stands at 797,952,700.

Can Social Media Pick The Outcome Of This Year's Presidential Election?

2012-01-04T12:11:00.000-08:00

There are those who think so and clearly all candidates across the political spectrum have learnt the lessons of the immediate past.

All have strong social media campaigns running alongside the more traditional 'pressing the flesh' variety.

Socialbakers has built a dedicated elections monitoring site and its day to day social media results are revealing.

Visit the site

As I write this, the results of the Republican Iowa vote have just been tabulated showing a surge of support for a previously thought of long-shot, Rick Santorum. The growth of his Facebook Fan base clearly pointed to this potential result in advance of the vote.

But is the growth of fans a good enough measure to predict an outcome? The answer is no. Having the largest number of Fans is no guarantee of success. It is the interaction/engagement factor that is critical and who is talking about you that will count for each candidate.

How many people are actually talking about their Facebook page? Interestingly, Viral Reach mirrors the Facebook's Insights measurement 'Talking About This'.

Insights Example - Talking About & Reach

If the presidential hopefuls are measured in this fashion then Ron Paul is the clear front-runner to lead the Republican challenge.

Twitter influence measured through a new tool, KRED, shows that Barack Obama has a high level of influence (998 out of 1000) and Outreach (9 out of 10).

Rick Santorum also has a a high influence score but his total Outreach score is considerably less than the President's at this stage of the race.

Compared to Ron Paul, Rick Santorum has greater Outreach but less Influence.

But Republican contender Mitt Romney has greater influence than both of his challengers but less Outreach than Rick Santorum.

As candidates drop out of the race and their supporters shift allegiance these statistics will change. It is also very early days in the candidate selection process. That said, monitoring social media this year will give a pretty good indication of a likely outcome on November 6th.

Top Tech Trends of 2011

2012-01-03T11:00:00.000-08:00

This Week's Cartoon

2012-01-02T17:57:00.000-08:00

Courtesy - XKCD.com

Share and Share Alike - 2011 Trends

2011-12-31T10:12:00.000-08:00

The dominance of Facebook and the rise of Google's Chrome browser are two points of note in this infographic from AddThis.

The use of Google+ for sharing seems to have lost momentum since the initial enthusiasm of its roll out.

Sharing by mobile continues to grow and this trend will continue but Twitter is still the dominant sharing tool in Japan. Twitter had a stellar year with a 600% rise in sharing.

2012 Predictions - A Year to Digitally Disengage and Plant Vegetables?

2011-12-29T16:44:00.000-08:00

Well at least the headline was catchy but you get my drift; any digital or social prediction for the year ahead needs to be prefaced by the financial realities that our world will be facing.

Bricks and mortar establishments will continue to struggle in shaky economic times and these trends will impact on employment and consumer purchasing patterns. Money will be tight and a lack of resources will make it difficult for many companies to fully assess and capitalise on digital and social opportunities.

Election year in the USA will see political compromise to garner support from the electorate, which may result in the Stop Online Piracy Act becoming law. If it does, it will have a dramatic effect on any form of content creation.

Control
Authoritarian governments will have the ability to monitor all electronic communications in the near future as it becomes increasingly cheaper to do so; "every phone conversation, electronic message, social media interaction, the movements of nearly every person and vehicle, and video from every street corner" says a report from the The Brookings Institution.

"Plummeting digital storage costs will soon make it possible for authoritarian regimes to not only monitor known dissidents, but to also store the complete set of digital data associated with everyone within their borders. These enormous databases of captured information will create what amounts to a surveillance time machine, enabling state security services to retroactively eavesdrop on people in the months and years before they were designated as surveillance targets. This will fundamentally change the dynamics of dissent, insurgency and revolution. "

eCommerce
2012 will be a year of continuing financial uncertainty which will affect business confidence and reinvestment. Paradoxically these conditions also present opportunistic for those willing to take a calculated gamble and we will see more mergers and the ongoing growth in eCommerce.

Crowdsourcing
These platforms will show strong growth and provide opportunities for micro-economies to circumvent the challenges of the global macro economy. Examples include Quirky, which takes submitted product ideas, filters through community engagement and produces them, letting the idea creator 'cash in' at the end of the manufacturing and sales process. Kickstarter which is a funding platform focused on a broad spectrum of creative projects is such another example.

Ideas to Revenue using Crowdsourcing

MicroPayments
Sites that promote 'design to product' will increase. Examples such as Zazzle and RedBubble allow the creative amongst us to upload a digital file while they take care of all manufacture, shipping and customer service.

Browsers
Google's Chrome browser will continue its rise and surpass IE as the #1 ranked browser

Gamification
The design and interaction lessons learnt in online gaming will become increasingly mainstream appearing as social apps in your mobile device and browser.

Influence
Converting digital influence into business value will remain a challenge but platforms such as Klout and the new kid on the block, Kred, will be there to provide some guidance. However, the focus for the year ahead will be less on the measurement and more on how to achieve greater online influence with a variety of techniques and tools.

Social
Taste Graphs (things a consumer is actually interested in) rather than a person's social connections will provide better insight for marketers engaged in social commerce. This will give rise to the use of 'tastemakers' - experts who are recommended to a consumer.

Twitter's growth and revenue will continue rapidly in 2012. This will mean more Twitter 'Promoted' ads appearing with some experts predicating an 80%+ revenue growth as a result. The proviso is that Twitter doesn't fall prey to an acquisition takeover and that Google+ does not perform better than expectations.

Social Burnout - Facebook growth is slowing and people are already starting to question their own social existence and activity. It could be a question of too much of a good thing when it comes to social and digital activity in 2012. Users will be re-evaluating their social lives with issues of privacy being top of mind.

Quantifying the true value a business creates for online clients will remain one of the biggest challenges for companies in 2012.

Media
Trans-media campaigns such as the Jello Pudding / Twitter / billboard will increase in 2012 further expanding the definition of the term "social".

Sharing
Social sharing capitalises on the fact that social networks have 'turned people into bragging machines' (as David Armano has so eloquently expressed it). The integration of social sharing opportunities on corporate and brand web sites will gather pace in 2012 as more businesses seek personal endorsements of their products and services across personal networks. Adding sharing options to content ensures better status in search results and a greater number of page views.

Television
Social TV will take off in 2012 predicts the Harvard Business Review. Socially integrated shows such as the X-Factor, where people voted using Twitter, point the way to what will be happening more frequently. The TV's themselves are more likely to be of the 3D variety particularly if you are in Asia, although those in the USA still prefer the cheaper, lower spec'ed models.
70% of video is consumed on Internet connected devices so revenue models for television advertising will change.

Tablets and Ultrabooks
Android vendors are continuing to challenge the dominance of iPads and Apple's premium pricing for its products. 2012 will see an increase in tablet computer sales but more likely a dramatic rise in sale of Ultrabooks which are powerful laptops with the advantage of being thinner and lighter than their competition.
And while we are on the subject of Android, I predict that the sale ofAndroid mobile devices will surpass Apple's iPhone in the coming year. Web sites will be optimised for Tablet and Ultrabook use as mobile commerce will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 39% through to 2016 (Forrester Research).

The Rise of Ultrabook - Google Trends

Augmented Reality
This adds a virtual experience to the real experience of our world and we are about to see exponential growth for Mobile Augmented Reality (MAR) according to Mashable's Lance Ulanoff. Visiongain predicts that the the advent of MAR will have a profound and lasting impact on the way that people use their mobile devices. It will push the telecoms industry towards ubiquitous computing and a technologically converged paradigm.

Big Data will be Big Business for Small Business
At the moment much data is still contained in silos. Storing data in the Cloud and using systems such as Bime will put the necessary tools at the fingertips of SME's (Small to Medium Enterprises). They will be able to get a clear and consistent query model across all of their data.

Marketing departments will be employing analytics experts who can monitor real-time data from web sites, social media and industry-leading news feeds but simply monitoring will not be sufficient. They will be expected to provide accurate data on visitation to web & social media sites, what content people are engaging with and how quickly they get to the product, service or messaging that the company is pitching. Human language interpretation of unstructured conversations will help this process.

"Companies will need to centralize Business Intelligence to feed every aspect of the business – marketing, product, innovation and customer service. Only then will BI help companies transform themselves into true social businesses.” Brian Sollis.

Publish or be Damned
Businesses will increasingly bypass traditional media outlets and go directly to their target audiences themselves by creating branded niche media properties. They will not only publish their own content but also disseminate it themselves predicts Sandra Fathi of AffectStrategies.

Freemium at a Premium
One hopes that in the year ahead other companies will see the value in building business, by offering a free option of their product or service, albeit with less functionality than the paid version. Mailchimp is an example of this digital strategy. People who like the product and embed it in their daily use are more likely to upgrade to the paid version with all the bells and whistles.

Scheduling
This will increasingly be on the Cloud using platforms such as Schedulicity. Founder believes that the traditional pen and paper appointment book is dead in the water. "Over the next two to five years, the physical appointment book will be gone altogether and replaced with online counterparts".

Some companies are already using scheduling options to great effect and dispensing with more traditonal methods. Emerson Salon for example is sourcing up to 75% of its business from Facebook, Twitter and its blog.

Text Messaging
Text messaging is growing quicker than most have predicted and is highly prevalent in 19 of the 21 countries surveyed by Pew Research, with a majority of mobile phone owners regularly sending text messages. Many use their mobiles to record personal videos and this growth trend will continue.

Deal or No Deal
Deal and coupon sites mushroomed in 2010/2011. However, as business realise they cannot manage their offers and cover all the coupon bases, we will see a rationalisation of these platforms with the likely outcome being that the major players such as Groupon will gobble up the smaller fry. Deals by mobile which don't require a pre-purchase are likely to grow at the expense of those that do.

Business Process
Faced with financial challenges and the impact of social business, companies will need to restructure and refocus. Those that don't will whither on the vine.

"Companies of all sizes will need to transform their business and existing infrastructure, and reverse engineer the impact of business objectives and metrics. Businesses will have to embrace all of the disruptive elements, such as mobile and social technology, in a new, cohesive organization that is focused outward and inward." Brian Sollis

Bernie Borges believes that 2012 will be the year that more organisations embrace the convergence of employee personal branding and corporate branding through content marketing strategies.

Web
While the Internet itself remains robust, the World Wide Web will suffer as further as consumers and general users move on to dedicated platforms that deliver their personal preferences better. This trend will accelerate, although the company web site will remain the bedrock brand statement and the place on which many depend; as the definitive source of company information.

Social Media Content Marketing Predictions 2012

Reference:
2012 Social Marketing & New Media Predictions (Awareness)

Original iPhone Case Design

2011-12-28T12:40:00.000-08:00

Available Here

Social Commerce Psychology

2011-12-27T11:35:00.000-08:00

There are six universal heuristics or learning methods that have been seen in shoppers and are now being seen in social commerce according to studies by psychologists.

Or as Paul Marsden of Socialcommercetoday puts it, "Understanding why it makes commercial sense to help people to connect where they buy and buy where they connect provides businesses with a strategic advantage; the opportunity to reap the rewards of a powerful insight-led social commerce strategy, as opposed to merely deploying social commerce as a set of tactical tools."

Summarised these heuristics are as follows:

Social Proof
The Rule: ‘Follow the Crowd’
Authority
The Rule: ‘Follow the Authority’
Scarcity
The Rule: ‘Scarce Stuff is Good Stuff’
Liking
The Rule: ‘Follow those You Like’
Consistency
The Rule: ‘Be Consistent’
Reciprocity
The Rule: ‘Repay Favours’

This infographic from TabJuice illustrates the above:

Click here for a larger version

Reference:

How Social Commerce Works: The Social Psychology of Social Shopping

The Difference Between A Brand And A Product

2011-12-26T17:55:00.000-08:00

Brand (left) & Product (right)

At the risk of sounding 'corny', it is still the same old cereal.

McLobster And L'Affaire DSK - The Best & The Worst of 2011

2011-12-21T09:47:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year, a chance to look back over the preceding twelve months and review what worked and what did not. And maybe, just maybe, take a sip of Xmas cheer to dull the pain.

Twitter has recently released details of its 2011 highlights and once again sports dominates the re-tweets per second ratio.

Tweets Per Second

In terms of actual topics, the year was dominated by political upheaval and natural disasters. Cairo, Egypt, Japan, Libya and Tokyo all featured in the top ten cities and countries list.

As the Twitter blog states, "from news of Mubarak’s resignation in Egypt to buzz about which McDonald’s restaurants serve McLobster, the top trends that emerged on Twitter in 2011 reflect the diverse things that matter to us in our daily lives.

Among other things, we saw history unfold in the Middle East, mourned the passing of Elizabeth Taylor, celebrated National Whipped Cream Day, and cheered for the Dallas Mavericks, Texas Rangers and Wayne Rooney.

We wondered about Charlie Sheen, speculated about the Sony NGP, and raved (or raged) about Rebecca Black. And we tYp3ed LyK tHi5."

Various luminaries put aside their aversion to social media and signed up to Twitter in 2011. Each no doubt had a different motive for doing so.

Who Joined Twitter in 2011

In its Ten Worst Tweets of 2011 Time ranks the Anthony Weiner on ... Anthony's 'Weiner' as being the biggest faux pas tweet of the year.

Comedian and actor Gilbert Gottfried made a complete 'twit' of himself by tweeting 'jokes' about the Japanese earthquake which included tweets such as "Japan is very advanced.They don't go to the beach. The beach comes to them". Not surprisingly he was fired from his role as the voice of the Aflac duck as the manufacturer of said product does 75% of its business in Japan.

Don't shoot the messenger or should that be 'elephant? The largest U.S. web domain registry company, GoDaddy, received a massive backlash when its CEO, Bob Parsons, tweeted a link to a video of himself shooting an elephant in Zimbabwe.

Meanwhile over at Facebook their "Memology" (a terrible piece of IT jargon if ever there was one) echoes many of the Twitter findings.

The Royal Wedding featured highly as did the deaths of bin Laden, Steve Jobs and Amy Winehouse.

There was some regional variation with the UK Riots coming in at #2 in the UK and two abbreviations (lms & tbh) ranking #1 & #2 in the USA. The Aussies seemed to be more fixated on 'planking' which was their #1 while the French followed the seemingly sordid goings on of Dominic Strauss Khan with great gusto. 'Affaire DSK' was their top status trend.

Finally, Mashable reports that Twitter topped the list of most-buzzed about social networks this year, replacing 2010′s most-buzzed network, YouTube.

"The annual rankings by digital marketing agency Zeta Interactive measure volume (number of mentions in more than 200 million blogs, social media outlets and online posts) and tone (comparing positive and negative buzz). The Zeta Buzz score is calculated by the volume ranking multiplied by the percent positive ranking divided by 10, using data pulled since January 2011."

A Social World

2011-12-16T10:15:00.000-08:00

The daily social activity of various social networking sites
Original Source: XKCD.com

Download a copy of the large version here.

As the article at DailyInfographic remarks: "Not surprisingly, the ubiquitous Facebook sprawls across the top of the map, dwarfing its neighbors, and leading to the “Northern Wasteland of Unread Updates.” A place I have been, many times."

Chicken Blood and The Geek Evolution

2011-12-15T11:00:00.000-08:00

The humble origins of the term "geek" includes a reference from the 1500's to someone who could be regarded as food and three centuries later, to biting the heads of live chickens.

The evolution of the term is therefore a mystery as the modern Geek tends to fuel up on snacks and Cola, forgoing the primeval pleasure of chicken blood dribbling down their chins.

The first reference to technology and the cultural context came in the 1950's as this chart from Flowtown reveals.

Unfortunately though there is a serious gender imbalance in this infographic and female geeks are not acknowledged.

Time Wasting with HTML5

2011-12-05T12:37:00.000-08:00

Daniel Puhe is a freelance creative developer based in London, with a love for cutting-edge interactive experiences.

If you in the middle of a long and tedious telephone conference call perhaps a 'play' with one of his creations might help.

The Sticky Thing

The Sticky Thing in HTML5 relieves the boredom. Use the options to adjust the gravity and stickiness of the Pink Thing.

Or try out Space Noodles; especially for those who were fans of Op Art in the Seventies.

Space Noodles

This Week's Cartoon

2011-12-03T16:59:00.000-08:00

Courtesy Geek and Poke

There's Nothing 'Cheesy' About This App

2011-12-01T11:41:00.000-08:00

Alex James, Blur bassist turned cheese maker has partnered with Microsoft, Together they have launched "INTO" by Windows Phone, an innovative new social rewards programme for UK Windows Phone owners, their friends and family, and anyone who wants to share and get rewarded.

Launched alongside the availability of Windows Phone 7.5 (codename Mango) and recent handset announcements by Nokia and HTC, "into" by Windows Phone adopts the mantra of Windows Phone, putting people at the centre of their phone experience, by helping them.

By doing all the regular, daily things on their Windows Phone, such as interacting and sharing with their friends, consumers can unlock an array of exciting offers and experiences.

In the opening weeks following the launch of into by Windows Phone, fans and others who want to get involved will be able to view exclusive content from Alex James and other guests and unlock special offers from the likes of Coggles, the designer fashion specialist.

In addition, they’ll also have the opportunity to win an arctic adventure for two people to Finland (plus two new Nokia Lumia 800 Windows Phones) and tickets to the debut into insider social – an unforgettable evening hosted by Alex James on 5th December 2011.

So..whatever your INTO, this is the app for you. Click on the video to learn more.

Sponsored post

Just When Is The Internet Awake?

2011-11-28T16:17:00.000-08:00

The circles above are sized according to the number of broadband subscribers in each country, as measured December 2009 - June 2011.

See the full interactive presentation here.

The Digital Consultant

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