Leo Burnett - Cultural Fuel

I had just read this article about marketers not sure how to take advantage of Location-Based Services, specifically ones that are Social-Network based, and one of our Account people popped their head in my office to ask “What’s up with FourSquare? Is it worthwhile? And is it significant for Marketers?”

Good questions all. Foursquare allows you to “check in” to locations and awards badges for different user activities. The Article correctly states that some restaurants and bars are already embracing it, but the activities and offers are still in early days. Note the offer from Wow Bao in my building below:

Yeah – it’s a freebie offer, but I find it interesting that there is such a conversation about “is this interesting for marketers” and “how will marketers use it” – since it should make sense to pay attention to if you’ve got at least some of your audience that uses these kinds of things, and you’re worth having a relationship with in the first place (which, granted, is a big question for some marketers).

Here’s why: think about why restaurants and bars already jumped on the bandwagon. They have to develop relationships with their customers – they don’t have a choice. They don’t have a retailer that will put up POS material, or vast amounts of online ad spend (generally), and most of the places I’ve seen don’t do TV. For them, the relationship with the person in that establishment is everything, and finding new ways to prolong and enrich that relationship is the key to their success. For them the only question would be “why would I not get involved?”

Now I’m looking back over the last 12 months and thinking about the times I’ve mentioned doing something like this for a marketer, and thinking “You know what? My Client needs to break out from the shelf, their target is pretty well-connected digitally, they are not always getting the POS attention they want, or always deserve, they want more engagement, and since their relationship with the consumer is everything for them as well … so Why not?”

Bonus topic for further conversation: How different would the strategy for the marketer be from what they use for Facebook and Twitter?

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Loving the Google goggles:

I know that there have been some iphone apps like this for a while now, and they will get better, but I think it will only really take off when the platform wars go to another level.

Most people have some natural fear to pick a platform based on capabilities like this - since they are afraid that they will end up with “Betamax” - or the losing technology in a format war.

For sure - marketers would love to pick this kind of functionality up and make great experiences for their consumer with them, but many will also be hesitant, until they know that a significant installed base can enjoy them.  Who’s feeling brave?  Let’s get going!

via: Nico Nicomedes on the TechCheck GoogleWave.  Thanks Nico!

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Fresh off the presses, we have uploaded a new version of TechCheck for your enjoyment here.

And just let us know if you’d like to have us put together a version just for you, including recommendations for how to apply these ideas towards your business.

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There are several good articles out now about the race to create applications (apps) for mobile phones, with the iPhone leading the charge for most agencies in the rush to create branded applications.

Ad Age: Insisting on an iPhone App? Not So Fast

Media Renaissance@mediablog.com: Going Ape over iphone apps: will the trend last?

These articles all tend to point to the somewhat obvious conclusion that apps don’t kill people, short-sighted marketing plans do.  In other words, too many marketers skip the step of making sure that their app has a reason for being before setting it loose upon the world and expecting to be on everyone’s phone tomorrow.

I think the outcry is a little exaggerated (after all we’ve really only started to see examples of obvious app abuse - there likely will be much more), but there are some basic considerations that do need to be put in context to have a successful trial of app technology.  For the most part, what we are seeing is still people testing the waters, given the lower penetration of the types of phones that run apps.  But the articles are dead-on about one thing - there are many more coming.  In a few years every phone will be app-capable, and campaigns without an app will get scoffed out of the room.  <shudder>  Yes, get ready for that to be added to the checklist, kids.

The Ad Age article at least has a smart collection of 5 reasons you might want an app:

Engagement 101. If done right, an app is an opportunity to deeply involve the consumer and a way to extend dialogue after a campaign has ended.

It can raise brand loyalty. The more times consumers interact with a brand, the greater the chances they will gravitate toward it when they’re ready to buy.

You’ll be ready when the app market really explodes. Within five years, In-Stat expects handset makers to ship a total of more than 100 million units that are app-compatible, so now is the time to gain some experience.

It’s where the eyeballs are. The numbers are compelling: some 800 million downloads from the iPhone App Store.

IPhoners have great demographics. Their income specifically makes them a very desirable target, and they’re ravenous multimedia users. According to AdMob, iPhone generates half the smartphone traffic in the U.S.

As we covered in TechCheck last year, mobile applications are going to keep exploding, and first movers will generally have the advantage, especially if they really focus on creating smart value for the user, and make sure that the use of the app resonates with their Brand.  Our opinion and recommendations to clients remain rooted in human behavior:  what we do must be relevant for the person, feel like the Brand, and have a clear reason for being.  (I’m not sure how the iFart app rates on these items, but it’s funny as hell.  For about a week.)

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While reading a recent interview with Lars Bastholm about creativity, he speaks about how creative technologists are getting more and more involved in the creative process, and earlier and earlier.

A lot of the technologists here are really considered part of the creative team.

Often, we’ll also go down to the guys in tech and say, “You know what? We have this really crazy idea — is this doable?” The great thing about our tech guys is that normally, they’ll be like, “Huh. I can’t think of how to do it right now, but I’ll find a way to make it happen.” We never get a “No, that’s not possible.” We always get “I might not know how right now, but I will certainly crack that.”

This experience mirrors our own over the last several years in our agency, where it is clear that we have to stay ahead of what is being done technically, in order to continue to innovate creatively.

Read the full text here

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The results from the last quarter of 2008 are in, and available for your perusal here.

Enjoy!

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Easily read out data from your car.

In the 1990s, car mechanics started to say things like “This vehicle needs a driver update”. And they didn’t mean the owner needed additional training. Modern cars are increasingly software controlled and this software also collects drive statistics from miles to malfunctions. These are usually read out by garages and manufacturers and fed back into the product development cycles.

Fiat’s now gone and made (part of) this data available to the people who own and drive the cars. And that’s not just Excel-sheets for the statistically inclined, either … Fiat Eco:drive embeds the data dump into a campaign for efficient, eco-friendly and sustainable driving, complete with visualization, data-interpretation, a learning module and an online community for a worldwide effort to reduce emission. The initiative comes with a pretty neat website that explains the concept and houses the online community: Eco:drive.

There are several ways for brands to connect with people online:

• Seek Proximity: Place your logo next to popular content (or popular content into your brand’s space) - everything from banners to adgames.
• Afford experience: create ways for people to experience your brand or product in the digital realm - 3D panoramas, simulations, blogging customer service representatives, you name it …
• Evolve a digital core: Innovate your brand or individual products to benefit from and give benefit to the digitized, networked part of people’s lives. That’s high art. Fiat’s done it. Sweet.

To us, definitely a product innovation that has people at the center.

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