Monday, January 24, 2011
Trends 2011 - Internet of things
Call it the internet of things, online and offline colliding...I don't care. There have been some pretty cool campaigns this year using collision between the real world and online world beginning with the Nike Livestrong Chalkbot http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNg-rQR6z84 and on with local initiatives like the Coca Cola Real Life Like machine based on RFID technology http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkz15wAc6Ew.
My bet is this trend is just gonna get stronger. Look out for new applications.
Trends 2011 - Random acts of goodness pay off big for brands
orange have come up with a plan to help you cheer up your mates and gbeat winter gloom. Send a winter warmer to a friend - tweet #WinterWarmer with your friend’s name or Twitter name. They’ll ask you for their address and race over to your mate with a van full of hot chocolates and scarves.
So if you're in the UK - give it a shot.
2011 Agency Predictions | Forrester Blogs
Over the past couple of years we’ve seen some dramatic shifts in the agency landscape. In what Forrester has dubbed as “The Great Race For Relevancy”, virtually every type of agency is now competing with each other like never before. Social media has become the great land grab and all just about all agencies are claiming to be “digital” in some ways. We don’t expect the agency landscape to shake out and make sense in 2011. In fact, we expect more dramatic shifts. Here are some agency predictions for this year:
- Agencies continue to hire and develop talent outside of their heritage. In 2010 some interactive agencies like Razorfish and EVB began hiring“earned media specialists” while some PR agencies like Waggener Edstrom and The Horn Group built out interactive creative services. Meanwhile, some agencies with traditional creative heritages like Weiden + Kennedy, were pioneers in developing content that is truly agnostic to digital and traditional channels while also interactive (see Nike and P&G’s Old Spice). Expect to see these trends become mainstream in 2011.
- Media planning and buying agencies begin to broaden their horizons. While other agencies have been making fundamental changes to adapt to the ever changing digital environment, media planning & buying agencies are still very much focused on paid media (and are still compensated on volume of spend). While some have been successful integrating online and offline media teams, 2011 will open the window for dramatic change. These agencies will begin to take advantage of new digital media tools (e.g. DSPs, RTBs, exchanges, etc.), the growth of connected TV’s, and analytics platforms to move beyond just planning and buying advertising to expanding communication planning services that make them key strategic advisors to their clients. Look for agencies like Starcom Mediavest (with help from the Publicis Vivaki group) to pioneer this space, while those agencies that fail to evolve will become less relevant.
- Agencies mature with social media. Certainly the great majority of marketers have a long way to go in figuring out how to integrate social media into the organization. But overall we’re seeing marketers mature in this space and their agencies are maturing as well. While many different types of agencies are still battling for the overall strategy, many are now falling into place in their core skill sets: PR agencies tend to manage word-of-mouth and crises, interactive agencies tend to build strategy and applications, traditional creative and media agencies leverage social to compliment campaigns, etc. Expect this trend to continue as marketers continue to mature.
- Mobile (along with tablets) becomes the next big land grab. With the massive growth of smart phones and tablets and the continued focus on emerging markets like India that have high penetration of mobile ownership, agencies are already fighting for mobile work. With their technology know-how, interactive agencies are in the best position to help marketers navigate The Splinternet but considering the opportunity in this space you can expect all agencies to have some form of mobile expertise in 2011 and beyond.
- A whole new crop of specialists appear…again. Technology is moving so fast that new shiny objects are being created almost every day. 2010 was the year of social media boutiques like Big Fuel, Ant’s Eye View, and Powered (recently acquired by the Dachis Group). New types of agencies (or non-agencies) are constantly popping up. 2011 will spawn new types of agencies in the emerging space. Consider Breakfast, an agency consisting of what you might consider inventors that focuses on futuristic experiences or Zugara, a firm that specializes in augmented reality. And many of these agencies will be scooped up by the big holding companies looking to fill out their skill sets. (Speaking of acquisitions, let’s not forget that some big digital agencies like AKQA, Rosetta, and IMC2 are still independent and will become increasingly attractive to the holding companies looking to expand their digital portfolios in a highly competitive environment).
- Everyone continues to (pretty much) fail at analytics. Analytics positions are hot at agencies right now. Every type of agency is trying to improve their capabilities. But the truth is marketers themselves are still very much fragmented in their approach and, until that is sorted out, the great majority of agencies will be stuck managing the data in their corner of the world. Expect improvement, especially with real time metrics, but agencies will continue to struggle to tell the full story through analytics in 2011.
- Technology innovation becomes the new creative. Agencies are often hired based on their ability to generate “ideas” (though I would argue it is only one of many reasons they’re hired). This won’t change moving forward, but the way those ideas are manifested is changing dramatically. And while you don’t need to be an engineer to come up with ideas in the digital age, it helps dramatically when the agency has the ability to understand what can and cannot be built. That’s why agencies like SapientNitro are succeeding in expanding their business model – because they can balance the head in the clouds ideas with the feet on the ground know how.
So what does this mean to you as an interactive marketer? Well first you can expect more agency confusion as it will continue to be difficult to determine which agencies excel at the many different digital services. However, it also opens doors to working with new types of agencies. For instance, interactive marketers have always been more comfortable with building and buying media (i.e. owned and paid), and if your interactive agency isn’t up to speed with earned media, then you have the opportunity to work more closely with the PR agency to learn new skills. To succeed in this environment you should commit to your agency relationships (i.e. don’t hire them to be strategic and then treat them like vendors or vice versa), set clear roles with the agencies, and constantly evaluate your agency performance and knowledge.
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Just went throught the Ad Age A list and thought that the agencies listed on it were telling to this article and how spot on it is.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Your Life is a Transmedia Experience
This is probably one of the best transmedia presentations I have come accross in a long time. Well worth the read - via Propagation Planning
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
10 business models that rocked 2010 | Board of Innovation
Coming up with new Business Models is a challenge, one that requires reframing the question and looking at things from a new angle. This year some remarkable new models that have emerged - Groupon that you no doubt have all heard of (with an army of copycats sprouting up all over the world) and my personal favorite 'Pay with a tweet' - a kind of forced viral where if you want to access the proposed digital concept, all you need do is tell you friends about it. Enough said. Take a look at the preso here by @nickdemey
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
256 Ways to love a music clip
This is a new music video clip from an Israeli Artist called Yoni Bloch.
The clip filmed in 24 hours, is an interactive experience that allows you at certain crossroads of the song to choose the pathway you will follow. You can choose the protagonist to follow throughout the clip, the music style you prefer to hear the song in (acoustic vs. rock), the solo you prefer to listen to (guitar vs drums vs voice vs keyboards). All in all, there are 256 different ways of listening to this song and viewing this clip. An experience that will keep the viewer coming back for a fresh experience over and over again.
Well enough said - have a look and take a shot at at it:
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