Nurenu Brand Marketing

Winning Social Media Campaigns

2011-11-22T14:32:43Z

Earlier this month we were awarded a Commendation of Merit for our work on behalf of Jack’s Abby Brewing by the Society for New Communications Research (SNCR). The commendation, in the social marketing category, corporate division, was announced at the Society’s 2011 Awards Banquet in Cambridge, MA.

SNCR is a research and education foundation and think tank founded in 2005 to focus on the advanced study of the latest developments in new media and communications, and their effect on traditional media and business models, communications, culture and society. Each year the Society presents the Excellence in New Communications Awards, honoring innovative uses of social media and in the areas of business, media, journalism and professional communications, entertainment, education, social initiatives, government and politics.

This is a great honor for us, and a validation of our holistic brand marketing approach. For Jack’s Abby we used every marketing tool at our disposal, not just the latest or hottest. Social media was a very important part of our campaign to build an audience and market for Jack’s Abby before even one drop of beer was brewed, but it wasn’t the only tool we used.

Of course our social media program was what we were recognized for and for that we are extremely proud. Building a community on Facebook was an important part of building demand for Jack’s Abby and proving to the bars and restaurants in Jack’s market that there was a strong demand for their lagers.

We also created a visual identity for Jack’s Abby with a unique look that reflected the personality of the owners and their dedication to traditional craft brewing. We built Jack’s Abby’s website and blog. We used traditional public relations to build relationships with key influencers and writers covering beer and food in the Boston area.

All of this together provided Jack’s Abby with a strong platform that ensured their success. Which is how it works for most of our clients – a holistic approach, taking advantage of all of the tools in the marketing playbook to set them up for success.

You can read the case study here.

The State of the Internet

2011-11-30T16:27:36Z

When Mary Meeker speaks, folks in the Internet and tech industries sit up and listen. Meeker, currently a partner at Kleiner Perkins, one of the top venture capital firms in Silcon Valley, is widely respected for her knowledge and experience and ability to spot a trend a mile away.

Meeker has been reporting on the state of the Internet and related industries since the mid-90s. Most recently she issued her “Internet Trends 2011″ report at the Web2.0 conference this week in San Francisco. The report touches on the increasing globalization of the Internet, the huge growth and potential for the mobile market, the flow of ad dollars to the Web and mobile and the potential for community building with mobile devices.

Some specifics:

The Web is Really the World Wide Web

In the past three years, China added more Internet users than exist in the US. Growth in Internet use outside of the US is outpacing growth here so fast it isn’t even close. Similarly, more than 80% of users of the top 10 web destinations are from outside of the US.

It’s a Social Web

Social network users today exceed the total number of Internet users in 2006. And, no surprise here, we’re spending more and more time on social network sites like Facebook.

It’s a Mobile Web

Mobile apps and devices are revolutionizing how we live. Now we are no longer tied to a desktop or even a laptop. Mobile has enabled global information flow and action in events like the Arab Spring or the earthquake and tsunami in Japan earlier this year. In fact Meeker calls the empowerment of people through mobile devices the “Mega-Trend of the 21st Century.”

And along with the explosive growth in mobile usage, mobile advertising and mobile commerce is quickly ramping up.

Meeker spends a great deal of ink in her presentation talking about the intersection of local commerce and mobile. Apps like OpenTable, Foursquare, Yelp, Shopkick and products like Goupon and Livingsocial are rejuvinating local businesses. On the flip side, however, shoppers have a world of information – price, reviews, availability – right on their mobile devices. More than 50% of individuals with smart phones who abandoned an in-store purchase did so because they found the same product online for a better price.

If you work around social media or the Web at all, you should give this a read. It’s got something for everyone who works on or with the Web, espcially folks like us who’s business it is to understand trends and how they impact our business.

KPCB Internet Trends (2011)

Why Should I Care About HTML5?

2011-10-07T20:53:54Z

As the Web has grown, so has the need of developers for tools to add more media, interactivity, integration with databases and other advanced features into their website. The Web began in 1990 as a platform for scientists to easily access research across the Internet. It has grown into a platform for entertainment, social interaction and applications.

HTML, the mark-up language that makes websites possible, has been pushed and pulled far beyond its original scope to support these features.

HTML5 – the latest version of HTML – brings the language up to date to reflect the way the Web is used now and to lay the groundwork for future uses.

Better Multi-Media Experience

Previous versions of HTML required browsers to use plug-ins like Flash or QuickTime to play audio or video content or to add movement and interactivity to a website.

HTML5 allows developers to incorporate multimedia directly into a webpage in a way that doesn’t require the browser to use a plug-in or external application. This means that pages will load faster and media will open quicker. In other words a more enjoyable experience for the user and less stress on the server.

Along with this, HTML5 brings new capabilities like slide shows, lightboxes and other visual enhancements to website that previously required Javascript or ActionX.

More Layout and Typographic Controls

The development of HTML5 ran in parallel with the development of CSS3, the next major upgrade to the language that adds style and formatting to web pages.

CSS2 freed us from complex table structures, spacer gifs and HTML files so weighed down by style information they took ages to load even in the most advanced browsers. CSS3 promises even more control for designers over the look and feel of a web site. New design items like transparencies and rounded corners are a snap with CSS3. The new language offers better control over typefaces, meaning your well thought out typographical scheme won’t degrade to Arial or Times New Roman in most browsers.

Along with new tags and elements in HTML5, CSS3 gives designers control over the look and feel of everything on a web page down to the pixel. For example, the controls of a video player set up under HTML5 can by styled to your liking with CSS3.

Semantics

Using the right HTML tags to identify the parts of your web page has always been the key to good web development and design practices, and the fact that it helps SEO is certainly important. With HTML5 there are a whole host of new tags to better identify the parts of your page so they can be easily parsed by other computers and most importantly by search engines.

One Code, Many Platforms

HTML in its traditional form works fine for browsers on computers but what about smart phones or tablets? The combination of HTML5 and CSS3 ensures that your site will look just as good on your iPad or Droid as it does on your laptop and desktop computers.

What Does This Mean For You?

For starters, your site can be easily brought up to date to take advantage of the HTML5 elements already in use. This can add a great deal of interactivity to your site, offering your customers a better user experience. And of course it can help with SEO.

By incorporating HTML5 into your site you are ensuring it will be ready for the newest browsers and the browsers to come for a long time.

It’s A Steve Jobs World

2011-10-06T14:38:27Z

Some of us at Nurenu are old enough to remember what computers were like before the Macintosh. Others can barely remember a time before the iPod.

We are an Apple shop

All of our work is done on iMacs or MacBook Pros. We communicate on our iPhones and use our iPads in meetings and at demonstrations (or just to play Angry Birds, we admit it).

But in many ways beyond the way we work and use technology, Steve Jobs had a tremendous impact on all of our lives.

He had the vision to see the future when computers were still big boxes that filled entire rooms in universities. He saw how technology could enrich our lives in countless ways and had the courage (some say stubbornness) to drag us along for the ride.

Oh we complained plenty when he took away our serial port and floppy drive (iMac), our optical drive (MacBook Air) or keyboard (iPhone). We wondered why we would ever need an iPod or an iPad and then we complained when the iPhone 4S launch didn’t meet our expectations. But then we realized he was a few steps ahead of us and right all along.

Jobs was found of quoting a line from the Whole Earth Catalog that we think fits his legacy perfectly. “Stay hungry and stay foolish.”

Photo Credit: Robert Koehn provided this poignant photo.

Let’s be ‘Open’ to the Facebook Changes

2011-09-23T18:24:05Z

Don’t say we didn’t warn you but Facebook has changed yet again.

The other day we all checked our Facebook pages and found that everything was different. The first and most obvious change is the real-time feed of your friends’ updates on the upper right-hand side of the page. Some are calling this the ‘real time Facebook’ while others are calling it distracting.

Facebook has also eliminated the links for “Top Stories” and “Most Recent,” changing the News Feed to adjust its content based on the last time you checked it. You also have the option, via a pull-down menu at the top of the Feed, to change what stories actually appear

But Facebook saved the biggest changes for yesterday’s F8 Developers Conference.

The Timeline – Your Life Online

The change that’s getting the most attention is the Timeline. This is a radical rethinking and redesign of the profile page. Visually and functionally, it’s a whole new profile. Facebook is calling the Timeline the place “to tell your story from beginning, to middle, to now.” Users will love the new layout options and the new class of apps that lets them share the music they are listening to, the food they are cooking or the movies they are watching. Privacy advocates will no doubt hate it for the exact same reasons.

Open Graph – More Than Just Likes

Along with the Timeline, Facebook introduced a new version of Open Graph allowing for deeper and more meaningful connections between users and the things they do and like. Now you can connect to anything in any way that you like. You don’t need to ‘like’ a song, you can just ‘listen’ to it.

This makes possible a whole new class of apps to share lifestyle and media (music and images) and new ways to help you discover new things through your friends’ connections. For example, you can play and share your friends music though the new Spotify app and watch movies from the movie link through the Netflix app. If you see one of your friends is listening to a song on Spotify, you can click on that update in the ticker and listen along with them.

In short, it’s all about verbs – like, listen, read, cook or run instead of just like.

The Future of Search is Social

What does this all mean? Discovery is moving from a search function to a social one. What started with Amazon reviews and tagging has now grown into a whole ecosystem of recommendations based on what our friends and relations have chosen to like, watch, buy, listen to or read. This is what Google is betting on with its +1 button on Google+ and Facebook is right there next to them.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns on how you can use Facebook to promote your business, we are here to help!