Leo Burnett - Cultural Fuel

Image taken from: http://www.knowyourcell.com/features/568563/when_it_comes_to_checkins_ive_checked_out.html

It looks like there’s a new player in the game in the world of mobile location-based services, Uberlife. ‘Great, so what?’ is the first thing that might pop into your mind. These types of services have now been around for years and amidst the jungle of existing applications such as Foursquare, Gowalla, Facebook Places, or SCVNGR, why should this one suddenly be worth talking about?

The truth is, the ever-evolving fleet of location-based services have been largely constrained by the simple fact that most only let you share where you currently are, which is of limited value to users. Think about it, once you’ve checked in to a place, there is often no longer any opportunity for others to come and meet you, all that’s left to do is for them to ‘like’ it or add a comment. For being a form of social media, the often obnoxious element of ‘hey, look where I am, and you’re not’ has a decidedly anti-social touch to it.

This is exactly where the London-based startup Uberlife comes into play, by offering a refreshing twist. Whilst their iPhone and Web app is built on a similar real-life, location-based framework as existing services, it’s more than just the basic check-in. The key differentiating factor is that you’re now broadcasting where you intend to be in the future, creating new events on the go and inviting your friends to ‘hang out’ in advance. These ‘hangouts’, which can be a quick beer after work, a spontaneous cinema trip, a last-minute coffee run or simply chilling in the park, can be followed on the network by your friends. They are able to check-in, add comments, and share images of the meet-up to create a nice little memorabilia of the event.

One might argue that there are of course existing mechanisms already in place that facilitate getting together, such as over Twitter and Facebook, but more often than not these go under in the fast paced way of life or are quite simply far too formal. Uberlife recognizes that meeting up with friends these days involves a great degree of pre-organization and frustrating messaging back and forth until a plan eventually comes together. In comparison, the app presents us with a spontaneous, simple and mobile means to bring people together that taps into and integrates seamlessly in today’s ‘on-the-go’ lifestyle.

Critically, this manages to address a fundamental need. After all, what use is a check-in if it can’t be spent and shared with friends? As opposed to sharing where you’ve checked in to, you’re now sharing plans about where you and your friends can check-in together. It aims to bridge the gap between the often remote nature of supposedly ‘social’ media platforms and actual real life socializing.

This clearly is far more relevant and interesting to not only users but also businesses and brands who may be willing to experiment with location-based campaigns and programs focusing on check-in rewards. From a business perspective, wouldn’t it make far more sense to send out offers to those intending to be at a certain place at a certain time, rather than once they’ve announced that they’re there? If businesses are aware of what you are intending to do and where you’ll be, relevant offers and promotions can be generated and implemented far more strategically.

Keeping in mind what Starbucks cleverly did with Foursquare and its Mayor specials, the future check-in could offer exciting opportunities for experimenting with novel ways of communicating with consumers. After all, surely businesses would be much more interested in the prospect of a group of people intending to show up, rather than simply knocking $1 off a Frappuccino to the single person that ends up being the Foursquare Mayor.

The real question remaining of course is whether or not these apps are actually able to generate business value, where one of the biggest hurdles to establishing themselves as valuable tools for businesses in the past, has been encouraging people to actually opt-in to geolocation. What is of foremost importance to avoid being another unclicked icon on the iPhone, is how engaging a service is and what value it provides users with. So far, in lacking a fundamental social element and raising the question of ‘so how do these services actually help you?’, the basic ‘check-in’ has failed deliver what can be seen as genuine ‘value’ or reward for users sharing their locations.

Another app that is looking to inject a more social element into the field is last years’ start-up We&Co, that has aimed to leverage the power of a simple ‘thank-you’. The iPhone app is designed to allow users to thank service professionals, like their favourite barista, hair stylist or bartender at places they visit. The focus is therefore no longer on solely the place through the check-in, but on the people, adding a distinctive human element to the service. Employees can respond to the thank you and encourage you to drop by again, where businesses can choose to offer discounts or freebies as incentives to regular and the most gracious thank-you’ers, creating further ways of connecting meaningfully with their customers.

When a quantifiable metric can be attached to positive encounters between a brand and its customers, this acts as direct reinforcement for employees to provide an even better service and for consumers to continue to proactively share their appreciation. In today’s cynical consumer environment, a positive reinforcement cycle that is built around enjoyable exchanges beyond simply places or prices, allows deeper connections and enduring relationships to be formed between businesses and their customers.

The overarching theme that is therefore becoming clear for the successful evolution of location-based services is the crucial need for them to incorporate a genuinely social component into the mix. It is only once you start looking beyond the limitations of the standard ‘check-in’ that these services could really play an intriguing and influential role in creating compelling and relevant consumer engagements through and with the smart phone. More crucially, it opens up the unique opportunity for technology to enable us to actually be truly social again.

Check out the video from 13th Street Universal, where they explain their latest campaign to ‘involve their audience like never before’.  This is one of those promotions that seem to have everything but the kitchen sink thrown in - augmented reality, smartphones, location-based experiences, real-world interaction, scavenger hunt/gaming mechanics and social networking.

I like the tech, and the experience sounds highly engaging, but I’m left wondering: how does this idea achieve any scale?  The depth of experience can’t really be shared effectively with video units like this, and they’re clearly not going to send every potential audience member to Berlin.  Perhaps they are counting on PR coverage to get people to tune in to a more generalized version they’ll release later? Or they imagine that the winners will be influential enough with their friends to spread the word? Or maybe they are only picking winners with high Klout scores?

Via Nick Mendoza’s Dreamstream

Need a quick fix with some facts about global mobile use?  This slideshow is almost 5 months old and still a great resource.

Enjoy!

via http://thecuriousbrain.com/

With the end of the year past, and the countless Top-10/100/etc. lists gone, the online media machine has turned to predictions for 2011 - offering ‘what’s next’ in terms of digital.

Over on Quora (a social network-style Q-and-A platform that is the latest hot thing in digital itself) there are questions like:

What is the future of interactive advertising?

The beautiful thing for a site like Quora, is that the answers to this question will alway be interesting and evolving, since innovation never stops, and the future will go on and on.  But if I can take my crystal ball down off the shelf for a moment, I would say that even for just the more immediate future, things will be plenty interesting:

1. We should see the focus on social move to include location and context much more fully.  The rise of location through Foursquare and Facebook Places hasn’t truly hit mainstream yet, even though industry insiders now look at it as almost old fashioned.  Expect to see a lot of Brands doing their “first” in local-social Acts in the coming year, and more and more of these happening right in the supermarket aisle or checkout line.
2. The rise in tablet and touch computing will continue to make digital interactions more pervasive throughout our daily lives, increasing the number of opportunities for Brands to participate, but also increasing digital ‘clutter’.  The challenge for marketers will be deciding what content and experiences are appropriate for these devices, just as they continue to develop strategies around mobile content and experiences (which will be a strong trend in its own right).
3. Now that High Definition/HD is a common option among video content, expect to see that everything will roll out in 3D - and get used to people trying to get you to wear funny glasses to enjoy their content.  Thankfully there are plenty of newer technologies to save us from this fate.  It can be a fun experience if the content is appropriate, but will require careful planning to ensure it doesn’t feel gimmicky.
4. We will see more major themes running through interactive campaigns about “live”/real-time interaction - with celebrity influencers, sure, but also just regular folks, or niche-leaders. ESPN’s John Kosner stated last year that for their properties, “real-time is expected.”
5. Expect to see Brand activities that offer you a chance to become a virtual part of Campaigns for Good/Sustainability/Green/Etc.  Causes and Responsibility will be center-stage for interactive marketing, and although consumers won’t let Brands get away with greenwashing, they do like to know that their favorite companies (and by extension, themselves) are making a difference.
6. We’ll hear a lot about spam filtering as an industry challenge, but I think this is a red herring. Although there continue to be ways to avoid advertising messages, the key criteria for creating engaging experiences that don’t get avoided is relevance.  If there is not a clear purpose for the activity, and a reason for that specific consumer to participate, then it is doomed to be perceived as noise, and should rightly be filtered out.

These are examples of things to consider in terms of what’s on the near horizon, but any predictions should of course be tempered with the knowledge that the majority of digital marketing budgets in the near future will continue to be spent on slightly more traditional activities - good old Display and Search!

What trends do you see as about to go mainstream?

Cool location-based video game where you play a real-life version of Disney’s TRON: Legacy.

Users carrying their phones build walls for opposing players to crash into.

Via: Bannerblog

Check out the great piece over on the Strategic Marketing blog on the Berry network about Decoding the Consumer.  There, Alan See outlines how marketers need to reflect the consumer’s dizzy journey from awareness to purchase and beyond.

It’s a great post - with a version of what I have been repeating for a few months now: a sort of mantra that helps my clients consider how we’re integrating the experience across some specific areas that customers are really into right now.  It’s a mantra because it always contains about the same elements, but naturally gets reconfigured and recreated as needed based upon the Brand purpose I’m working against.  Alan talks about the ‘primary combination key’ for decoding customers as having Search, Social, and Mobile components.  These are all areas that do require serious consideration, given the world we live in, and are also powerful trends that continue to shape it.

I would only add, however, that Site and Retail/Place might belong on our decoder ring - expanding it to be Site, Search, Social, Mobile, and Retail/Place.

Site and Search need to work together to provide quality content to land on for the user who’s looking for you - and that’s true whether you have a Brand.com or not. For example, if the Brand has a great partnership then the search needs to support people who are looking for that partnership information.  And some Brands use their Facebok page as their landing place.  The point is that there has to be a place where the Brand expresses the purpose that gives it meaning and a reason for being.

Retail/Place is all about making sure that there is a continuous consideration of the customer journey all the way to the location where they buy or experience the brand first-hand - which often times can be supplied by mobile, but there can be a role for in-store as well, so I like to consider it separately.

Do you have a mantra?  What do you use to decode the world?

After languishing in ‘too-techy-for-me’ territory for the last several years, retailers are starting to figure out how to get people to use QR codes (here’s a good refresher if you’re wondering what the heck a QR code is.)

Here’s a picture from Molly Garris of the latest in-store signage from the North Ave Gap in Chicago.  You can download their ScanLife app to check out new pants or read product reviews

One of the biggest challenges for most marketers was getting people to download the code reader software - which had lovely names like Quickmark, Kawa reader, and the super sexy sounding J2MEQRCode for example.  But now that retailers are starting to get people to download their own apps, they have begun embedding the reader software into their own apps - sneaky!  Target’s app is a good example of this.

Check out more from Molly about QR codes here.

Via Leo Burnett Blog

In a recent post on Retail Customer Experience.com, Jeff Weidauer speaks about how mobile couponing is heading in the wrong direction.  He references the fact that marketers trying to replicate a coupon bar code on mobile devices can be compared to Henry Ford’s famous comment that if he had asked the public what he should build they would have told him - “A faster horse.”

While I agree with his well-thought-out points on the dire situation of mobile coupon display technology, I think the revolution is almost here - where the mobile channel becomes a serious contender in the value chain.  And it all comes down to customer behavior (just like it always does).

Couponing has never been ideal for marketers or the public - with most coupons distributed willy-nilly in broadcast print media, and the vast majority of them never used.  And people hate having to remember to clip and carry - not even willing in most cases to print at home with the slew of online coupon outfits.

Marketers also have to do a careful dance with couponing - realizing that they will unwillingly subsidize a portion of purchases that their loyal consumers would have already planned to make.  And the higher the value, the more possible that they will shift the ideal price point in the consumer’s head for the product or service.

But when couponing is thought of differently, and more personally, we can get to a place where it starts making sense for everyone.  For marketers the only realistic position is personalization - if they can’t customize the coupon value for the individual, then they don’t have any way to assist in developing any real relationship with the person.  Once you are committed to personalization, the mobile channel starts to look more and more like the right place to be, and if you maintain focus on ease of use for the user, you’ll avoid the replication of real-world ‘Faster Horse’ mentality that the article takes issue with.  For retailers, they will continue to push for solutions like Kroger has, that tie manufacturer value-off deals to their existing loyalty cards - creating frictionless experiences for the big chain shoppers.

Via: RetailCustomerExperience

A pretty interesting and recent case of how to do a social media led campaign is the Who Killed Summer campaign by Vodafone.

The idea is that you can follow a bunch of contestants who were invited to a 9 week stint of parties across Europe. The last one standing this excessive party-trek and can hunt down the biggest celebrities wins. What the contestants don’t seem to know: as time goes on, they are actually have to work for Vodafone to organize the parties, and the whole thing becomes a bit reality show (reminiscent of “the apprentice”). On the youtube channel the campaign is described as

Who Killed Summer? is a groundbreaking multi-platform drama set against the backdrop of an online reality show.

Strategically, the whole thing seems pretty well thought-through and planned in terms of awareness/reach, target relevance, multi-platform spread, content, drama, the works… However the youtube channel only got 300+ views so far. Maybe it is the lack of participative elements.

So far, the site traffic rank is 30,000 in the UK, 90,000 in Germany. Average time on site is under 2 minutes. 40% of traffic comes from and goes to facebook and twitter.

We’ll see…