Archive for the ‘Interactive’ tag
Jaffe Juice #167 – Jaffe & Joel tackle Rise of Machines vs Scaling Humanity
In this episode of our monthly debates, Mitch and I tackled the "Rise of Machines" i.e. automation of marketing & advertising versus "How do you Scale Humanity?" with respect to investing in talent and "humans" to serve "other humans." It's The Matrix meets Sixth Sense. Creepy! @mitchjoel and @jaffejuice
Listen live or download here.
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Photo credit: Bigstock Photo
Domino’s New Site Lets You Watch Live Stream of Pizza Being Made Somewhere in Utah
Life just got more stressful for the workers at a Domino's Pizza restaurant in Salt Lake City. That's because that particular location is the guinea pig for the chain's new Domino's Live experiment, dreamed up by Crispin Porter + Bogusky. The agency has installed five cameras at the store to show workers making the pizzas in real time—kneading the dough, adding the toppings, popping the pies in and out of the oven. All through the month of May, anyone who orders a pizza online from any Domino's nationwide will be directed to DominosLive.com, where they will see … well, people making someone else's pizza, not yours (unless you happen to live near that location). The single-store pilot program went live today at 1 p.m. ET (11 a.m. local time), and so far we can see … hmmm, yep, there's some pizza being made. The footage is almost comically boring, but I suppose that's what you get with "transparency"—an inside look at a pretty tedious process in action. CP+B should have used hidden cameras instead. Then we might be in for more of a treat.
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From Z.E.R.O. to Hero via Kickstarter
It's hard to resist making this a looooooooooooong post, so instead I'll do my best to be as brief and succinct as possible, so here goes…
My good friend and ex-client, Maarten Albarda and I are co-authoring a book together. It's my 4th book (after Life after the 30-second spot, Join the Conversation and Flip the Funnel) and Maarten's first. Besides sharing the same vision and passion for the subject, we're bringing a 1-2 punch to the table in the form of advertising-agency perspective on the giant elephant in the room: media or rather paid media.
The book is called z.e.r.o. and the sub-title, "zero paid media as the new marketing model" kind of says it all (and in less than 140 characters).
The book posits that in a perfect world, your paid media budget would be z.e.r.o. – literally, but also figuratively in the form of an acronym which stands for Zealots (advocacy), Entrepreneurship (innovation), Retention (customer centricity) and Owned Assets (moving from tenant to landlord)
On one hand, it's me returning to my "Life after" roots, but on the other other (and more poignantly), it's our set up of our premonition of a perfect storm approaching in marketing; one in which the bottom could conceivably fall out of the media model. Fortunately, the world is not perfect and change takes longer than we expect, but then again…just look at how your world has changed in the past few years to validate the fact that sitting and doing nothing is not a viable solution.
For me, it's a bold move for two reasons:
- I've made the move from being a 3-time published author to self-publishing (thanks to Richard @ Wiley for everything to get me this far and props to my new home, Archway Publishing)
- We're kickstarting this revolution and here's how you can play a key role.
Kickstarter component:
- Go to Kickstarter and visit our page or just search Kickstarter for Z.E.R.O. or zero
- Check out the video and the overview of the book
- Review the various pledge rewards and become a backer. We've named them after famous misers.
- From the Hetty Green and Warren Buffet (digital and hardcover copies respectively) to the maximum reward, which delivers 10 autographed books and an in-person keynote from either Maarten or myself (only 2 available per person)
- The no-brainer and value rewards are the Mr Burns and Mr Krabs respectively, that also include a 140-character acknowledgement (plug) in the book itself
We just pre-launched the book and Kickstarter campaign at the Festival of Media in Montreux, but here's the crazy part…in just over 24 hours after I hit the publish button (in stealth mode), we've almost hit our initial funding goal of $10,000. With your help, we'll push this over the edge and see how far we can take it.
The wild thing is that the book will become it's own case study insofar that it will demonstrate how we were able to self-publish our book for "z.e.r.o." by tapping into our advocates and leveraging our owned assets. It's U.N.M.2.P.N.M. circa 2005 retooled for 2013.
So…if you're part of my community and/or appreciate my content, show your support on Kickstarter with the pledge amount (or more if your heart desires). I will post regular updates over the 6 week period to acknowledge my backers (which would be you)
And all things being equal, Z.E.R.O. will launch in September of 2013 and will contain the 10-point action plan towards implementing this bold vision towards helping marketing evolve, normalize and allocate scarce resources to a re-prioritized hierarchy of connection points.
Lagerfeld’s Concept Store Provides Holistic Digital Experience
March 2013 saw the
Kaiser of Fashion unveil a brand new concept store in Paris that offers ready-to-wear
collections for men and women, along with a selection of limited-edition
accessories, design, and photography books.
The 200 square meter black and white shop cleverly mixes baroque-inspired and state-of-the-art
digital features, paying tribute to the off-the-wall personality of the high-profile
fashion designer.
Providing an
interactive brand experience through digital devices, the whole store
revolves around the iconic figure of the creator, epitomized by the neon lights
forming Lagerfeld’s outline. Each fitting room, dubbed “Karl’s Booth,” comes
equipped with a camera, allowing visitors to snap a picture of their look, apply
a filter to transform the look and feel “Karl’s way,” and finally share it with
friends through e-mail or social media.
The Karl’s
Interactive display also invites shoppers to share their thoughts and feelings
about the store in a digital guestbook, to discover the brand’s offerings via
iPads, and to browse items through a giant wall of screens.
Leveraging a growing
demand for convenience shopping, clothes hangers feature mini iPads to help
customers explore the collection and then look for items that have run out of
stock in store. And customers no longer need to stand in an endless line
waiting for the checkout because each associate is empowered with a mobile device
to make the payment easier.
“Change is the
healthiest way to survive,” Lagerfeld once stated. This chic and revolutionary concept
store happens to be the perfect incarnation of this motto, bringing together
the luxury brand’s timelessness and the immediateness of social media. The
main challenge is how do we harmoniously integrate the luxury industry with the digital world without falling into the trap of fast-fashion?
Contributed by Integer Paris
Old Spice Rolls Out World’s First Scratch-and-Sniff Banner Ad
More goofiness from Old Spice and Wieden + Kennedy—a scratch-and-sniff banner ad, which of course they're calling the world's first. It's running over on The Onion's sports section. Clicking on it takes you to a form you fill out—after which they'll send you something in the mail that will let you "smell the Internet." It lacks the immediacy of real scratch-and-sniff gimmicks, perhaps, but spares you from looking like an idiot at the office with your nose to the computer screen. It promotes the Wolfthorn line of products.
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50 Lessons I’ve Learned as an Entrepreneur
Editor's note: Appsolute Genius founder and CEO Brian Cauble recently began posting a daily list on Facebook of five lessons he's learned since launching his Alabama-based mobile-app development studio in 2009. Although the list was intended for friends, family and colleagues, Cauble agreed to let Adweek publish the full list of 50 lessons that have shaped his personal and professional life.
1. Your significant other's support is hugely important. They can hold you up or pull you down.
2. Building a powerful business network is 100 percent essential. Much of your business will come from being known.
3. This job is really, really hard, and you just won't know the answers some days.
4. Being passionate about at least a few things is very important, but you don't have to be passionate about every aspect of running a business.
5. You aren't good at everything, no matter how smart you are.
6. People will help you … if you ask.
7. Partnerships can seem like a good idea, but they take a long time to really pan out, and differences between companies can still cause them to fail.
8. Caring about your business partner and your employees can really help your company.
9. Sales is so important. If you don't figure out your sales, you will fail.
10. Picking a growing, flourishing market is just as important as your product and talent. If your market is good, it improves your margin for error quite a bit.
11. Being an entrepreneur can make you feel bipolar. You will have good days, bad days, good afternoons, bad mornings and vice versa.
12. Building a strong team is critical. A strong team isn't just smart people; it's a group of people who complement each other's strengths and weaknesses.
13. Admitting and understanding your strengths and weaknesses is a must. Take every personality and strengths assessment you can find.
14. You have to learn to balance work, family and taking care of yourself. You will probably let one of them slip a bit, and it will suffer.
15. The best characteristic I've seen for success is pure determination.
16. The second best characteristic I've seen that predicts success is determination to learn and ask questions.
17. You will feel really stupid some days.
18. Each stage of a company's growth will bring different challenges.
19. You will truly understand what "busy" means. And then you will find that there is another level of busy that you didn't think was possible.
20. The purpose of your business, your passion and your support system will carry you through the bad times.
21. The best way to build a strong network is to really get to know a lot of people and help them however you can.
22. You will be burned by at least one person you help. Don't let your temptation to stop helping people take over.
23. You will feel very lonely at certain times because it will feel like no one really gets what you are going through.
24. Your salary will go way down before it goes up. The financial payoff of being an entrepreneur doesn't come for a long time for most (even really smart) people.
25. It is a tough balance to know when to change your strategy or be determined.
26. Generally understanding every area of your business is very important, but you don't have to have your hands on everything.
27. The word payroll takes on a new meaning.
28. Hiring is VERY hard. You will try your best but you will still make mistakes.
29. Firing is also VERY hard, but it is necessary. Once you know in your gut you've made a bad hire, just end it. It will be tempting to keep the person on, but don't do it.
30. Understanding what kinds of customers you can best help (industry, size of company, personality type, etc.) will really help you grow your company. If you haven't learned about niches and segmenting, learn about them now.
31. You will feel like a proud parent certain days, and you won't believe what you've accomplished.
32. Everything takes soooo much longer than you think it will.
33. Starting and running a company will be terrifying at times. That is OK!
34. The amount of mistakes you make will be humbling. However, just don't make catastrophic mistakes that cause you to go out of business.
35. Learn to manage your cash flow. If you don't know what a rolling cash flow forecast is, you'd better learn what it is.
36. Fire really bad customers. You will be worried about losing the revenue, but they aren't worth it. Finish the job you started if you can, but discontinue the relationship as soon as you can.
37. Get a good CRM and use it. Seeing the deals you get and don't get will tell you a lot about your business.
38. Offering a product and offering a service are very different. It will be tempting to do both, but it is difficult, and you should be wary.
39. Be focused on doing one thing great. Every opportunity you look at will dilute your focus.
40. Your business can do different things like not having standard hours or having work-at-home employees. You don't have to do it the same as everyone else.
41. You will truly hate at least one thing about running a business. (For me, that's doing taxes.) Find someone else to do most of this for you.
42. Having a business partner feels a lot like being married. You will spend a ton of time with this person. It better be someone you genuinely care about and trust. But you don't have to like each other all the time.
43. It really helps if you and your business partner are good at different things.
44. You will not be able to be there for all of your family and friends as much as you like, and they will have a hard time understanding.
45. Selling your products and services becomes easier as you show a track record of being successful.
46. Good employees make your life easier. Bad employees make your life harder. There is no middle ground.
47. You will think about your business a lot. You will probably even dream about it.
48. Paying yourself a smaller (but regular paycheck) is better. You can always give yourself bonuses and raises when you have a surplus of money.
49. Having a master plan is important, but the details will change often.
50. It is all so worth it. Even if your business fails, you will be better for it.
—Brian Cauble is co-founder and CEO of Birmingham, Ala.-based mobile app studio Appsolute Genius. Since launching in 2009, his seven-person firm has developed more than 100 apps.
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smart beer
A Whole Lotta Pointin’ Going On in Band’s Crowdsourced Music Video
Get ready to have your mind blown. Dutch band Light Light has created one of the most amazing interactive music videos ever, housed on a site called DoNotTouch.org. The site tracks your mouse pointer throughout the video and shows you where everyone else pointed, as well. You're asked to signal your answers to certain questions, such as where you're located on a world map. But you're also given challenges along the way, like following a narrowing path or not touching a naked woman (thus, it is possibly NSFW). The result is both hypnotic and engaging, which is a rare combo indeed. Watch the video here.
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2013 Trend Sighting—Interactive Retail
Back in January, we posted about some of the top trends you would see in shopper marketing this year—one of which was interactive retail. Retailers and brands are not only striving to bring fun to the shopping experience through interactive retail but also efficiency. Case in point, the recent installation of Me-Ality (a self-billed “digital sizing station”) in five Bloomingdale’s locations.
These installations aim to solve the chronic shopper problem of finding the right pair of jeans in the right size. I know from experience that trying on jeans is one of the most daunting shopping tasks. It requires the right mindset, knowledge, selection and setting to achieve the goal (buying the perfect pair of jeans). If even one thing goes wrong that can result in a no sale situation (which is not good for retailer or brand). That said, I would take the 10-15 seconds to give Me-Ality a shot. It appears to offer a fast and efficient way to get some knowledge (size and style recommendations) to aid the ever-daunting jean shopping experience.
Have you encountered other examples of interactive retail that have helped make your shopping process easier and more efficient?
Photo source: Mashable.com
Australian Road Trip Ends Badly for You, and Horribly for Your Facebook Friend
The Transport Accident Commission of Victoria in Australia hits the road once again to promote safe driving. TAC has taken many different, well, tacks in its previous efforts—ranging from goofy humor to wretched depression and all-out shockvertising.
"Roadtrip Forever," created by media firm SCA, constitutes a change of direction in form, though not function, as safety education remains the goal, with teens and young adults the target. There are traditional elements, including TV and radio, but its centerpiece is an immersive, highly personalized Facebook experience that lets you log in and pick one of your FB friends to take on a three-minute virtual road trip. Well-crafted cinematic video storytelling is skillfully intercut with bogus status updates and chats involving your various friends. Men experience one trip; women another. Since TAC is the advertiser, it's not giving anything away to say that both journeys end in vehicular tragedy.
"The core idea is to make sure it has an impact, and that at the end of it the user goes, 'Whoa!' " SCA creative director Angus Stevens says in a behind-the-scenes clip. If the campaign alters the way they drive and inspires young people to share the Facebook experience with peers, all the better, he says.
I'm not sure any TCA effort could have as much impact, literally or figuratively, as the "Swap" commercial from a few years back. But "Roadtrip Forever" does pack a punch, albeit in an eerie, thoughtful, almost melancholy way, rather than through sudden shocks or blood and guts. (Sure, it's manipulative, but most PSA efforts of this type are, and the personalized Facebook approach gives "Roadtrip Forever" a more "realistic" immediacy that others lack.)
The first-view "Whoa!" factor does depend, to some extent, on surprise. Still, taking the trip a second time, even when you know what's coming, doesn't significantly dampen the effect. This particular drive delivers on multiple viewings and actually gains emotional resonance as details and nuances begin to register more deeply.
If there's a flaw, it's the basic concept of letting users choose their road-trip companions. Plugging in a beloved friend yields a sad, moving journey. Choosing a "friend" you don't know so well, or picking someone you don't really like—and we all have plenty of those among our FB connections—cushions the impact considerably.
Via Adverve.
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