RICK MATHIESON: GENWOW.COM

Q&A: Ben Zifkin, CEO of Hubba: One Mobile Marketing Dashboard To Run Them All (Pt 1)

If it delivers on its promise, the word Hubba may soon be on the lips of marketers everywhere.

I recently met with Ben Zifkin, CEO for the Toronto-based startup, as he was making fund raising rounds in Palo Alto. We'd chatted via Twitter on-and-off for months and it was nice to finally get a read on what he's been working on. It sounds very promising.

In short: Hubba is a kind of cloud-based dashboard solution where ad agencies and brand marketers can literally shape what a mobile user sees when searching on Google, checks-in to Foursquare, scans a QR code, activates Shopkick, logs onto Facebook, or otherwise engages with the mobile medium - in real time.

So imagine marketers at a retailer like Macy's or a brand like Coca-Cola deciding to run a promotion just for the next hour, to anyone activating Foursquare Radar, or conducting a Google search, or checking-in on Shopkick, or scanning a Coke bottle within a certain geographic location.

Marketers post once and publish on every platform. All from a single dashboard, in real time. No special apps for the end user. No special tools - other than a cloud subscription - for the marketer.

In fact, it even gets better from there - including mcommerce and social media components.

Over the next few days, we'll talk to Zifkin about this intriguing new solution - now in beta - and what it could mean to how marketers and media teams run their mobile marketing operations. 

Hubba, indeed.

Q&A: BEN ZIFKIN, CEO OF HUBBA (PT 1): THE ULTIMATE MOBILE MARKETING DASHBOARD (PT 1)

Use Player or Click Here to Download: Q&A: Ben Zifkin, CEO of Hubba (Pt 1)

AND DON'T MISS:

PART TWO

PART THREE

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Nike Makes A Splash With 'Explosive Water Projection' (Video)

It's like 3D projection mapping - with water.

Leave it to Nike to come up with something new and exciting, this time for the Jordan Melo M8.

I have no idea how water factors into the shoe, but this is a slam dunk.

Nike just does it. again.

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  "... EXCELLENT ..."

 

“Through persuasive arguments and Q&A's with the major players in advertising, Mathieson makes an excellent case for greater creativity and outside-the-box thinking backed up with solid ideas."

Publisher's Weekly

 

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Anticipation: Heinz Augments Mobile Reality To Wow In-Store Shoppers (Video)

 

Heinz is always hip to trying new things.

In my new book, THE ON-DEMAND BRAND, I look at how Heinz has been running successful consumer-created video contests for years.

Now, New Media Age is reporting that the the brand is turning to mobile augmented reality to wow in-store shoppers. Personally, I don't see many people going to all the trouble to scan a bottle of catsup (well, unless there's some amazing prize involved). But really, that's a breeze compared to limited-edition Heinz bottles sold exclusively through Facebook.

What is cool is recipe feature. I think there are probably easier ways to do this - even QR codes would be an easier way to deliver this kind of content - but this is visually fun and engaging.

And whether it's hot or not, the point of these efforts isn't their individual effectiveness. It's the fact that the brand is out looking for new ways to connect with consumers.

And hey, if catsup can do it, what's holding your brand back?

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>> AVAILABLE EVERYWHERE BOOKS ARE SOLD <<<

  "... EXCELLENT ..."

 

“Through persuasive arguments and Q&A's with the major players in advertising, Mathieson makes an excellent case for greater creativity and outside-the-box thinking backed up with solid ideas."

Publisher's Weekly

 

>>> IN STORES NOW: ORDER YOUR COPY HERE <<<

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Bacardi Real-Time 3D Projection Mapping Coolness (Video)

 

Is that a dragon ripping through that building over there? 

It appears Bacardi is the latest brand to put projection mapping on the map, here with a very cool implementation in Amsterdam. Here, you even have the ability to submit photos for use in the projection.

Seems like an digital outdoor kind of week here at GEN WOW. But when there's so much coolness happening at once, we just can't help ourselves.

But what's your view? Is Dragon Berry berry cool - or just a drag?

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>> AVAILABLE EVERYWHERE BOOKS ARE SOLD <<<

  "... EXCELLENT ..."

 

“Through persuasive arguments and Q&A's with the major players in advertising, Mathieson makes an excellent case for greater creativity and outside-the-box thinking backed up with solid ideas."

Publisher's Weekly

 

>>> IN STORES NOW: ORDER YOUR COPY HERE <<<

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Tough Love: VW Uses Mobile AR To Launch Beetle (Video)

 

Gotta love this new mobile augmented reality experience from VW.

It does involve a special app - which is asking a lot of consumers. But for those interested enough to download it, the experience is fun, lively and goes at least a little way in helping Beetle seem more modern and (almost) masculine. (You can see some of the individual AR experiences by using the interactive functions in the video above.)

I do hope the app comes with a dealer locator and the ability to customize a Beetle using AR, along with the ability to schedule a test drive.

This particular initiative is from Canada, and is part of a larger social+mobile+who knows what else that will run through November 26.

What's your take? Does it get you revved up for the Beetle? Or inspiration in reverse?

Read more, here.

 

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>> AVAILABLE EVERYWHERE BOOKS ARE SOLD <<<

  "... EXCELLENT ..."

 

“Through persuasive arguments and Q&A's with the major players in advertising, Mathieson makes an excellent case for greater creativity and outside-the-box thinking backed up with solid ideas."

Publisher's Weekly

 

>>> IN STORES NOW: ORDER YOUR COPY HERE <<<

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Pop Star Matt Hunter Rocks With Wristband QR Codes (Video)

 

Why just scan a QR code when you can wear one, too?

Who knows if QR codes are the most elegant or cool way to do this. But the idea, powered by Skanz, of enabling musicians (and brand sponsors) to link concert goers to exclusive content - and enabling fans to build their own scanable profiles - is superb.

As it happens, the demographics of QR codes - 1/2 of all code scans come from people between the ages of 18 and 34 (53.4% of all scans, according to comScore), and the young people who scan tend to come from wealthy families.

So here the band/brands get something, and the fan gets something they can use on their own, fitting nicely into their digital lifestyles.

With apologies to Hunter's Latin Pop motif, Rock on.

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>> AVAILABLE EVERYWHERE BOOKS ARE SOLD <<<

  "... EXCELLENT ..."

 

“Through persuasive arguments and Q&A's with the major players in advertising, Mathieson makes an excellent case for greater creativity and outside-the-box thinking backed up with solid ideas."

Publisher's Weekly

 

>>> IN STORES NOW: ORDER YOUR COPY HERE <<<

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Heineken Light: The Occasionally Perfect Billboard (Video)

 

Love this new outdoor campaign from Heineken Light. Truly brilliant. And while there's nothing inherently digital about this particular initiative - it's not like there couldn't be.

One could see Heineken setting up a hashtag, Instagram, Tumblr, Facebook or some other connection for people to share their camera phone videos from the event. Or even participate by sending their camera phone images or even song requests or just shout-outs to the billboard behind the band.

AR old old-school video could project concertgoers to the billboard.

Or a video of the event could be compiled in real time, shown on the billboard and shared later online or in ad campaigns.

Better yet, part of the teaser billboard could be the opportunity to share the upcoming event with your social network for the chance to be on-stage when things go perfectly.

My point here is that The Occasionally Perfect Billboard is perfect as it is.

But it could also become the jumping off point for a whole lot more.

Perfectly played, Heineken.

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>> AVAILABLE EVERYWHERE BOOKS ARE SOLD <<<

  "... EXCELLENT ..."

 

“Through persuasive arguments and Q&A's with the major players in advertising, Mathieson makes an excellent case for greater creativity and outside-the-box thinking backed up with solid ideas."

Publisher's Weekly

 

>>> IN STORES NOW: ORDER YOUR COPY HERE <<<

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iLoop On-Demand: Catch The Last Webinar on Mobile & Hospitality Marketing

(SPONSORED) Hospitality’s customer is today's increasingly tech-savvy traveler.  

For reaching this mobile customer with relevant messaging—time, location, context— mobile is the only channel for many initiatives.

Get the inside scoop on how to reach the on-the-go, want-it-right-now traveling public, from Michael Ahearn, VP of Strategic Marketing for iLoop Mobile:

View and download the complete presentation here!

Apple Launches First Post-Jobs TV Spot, For Siri

 

Here's Apple's first spot from the post-Jobs era, this time, for Siri.

I don't yet have the 4S, but I've tried this on others' phones, and it's actually very cool.

But it's also fun to see some of the hilarious things Siri says.

What's your take? Is Apple still full speed ahead? If this is any indication, the answer appears to be yes.

Of course, as I posted about a couple weeks ago, Jobs demoed iPad and Siri in a video - back in 1987. It even mentioned it'd be 2011 when we saw it all happen. (Watch this prescient video, here.)

So who knows? Maybe Jobs has another 20 years mapped out for Apple. In which case the post-Jobs era may really start in 2032.

Read more about the new iPhone 4S/Siri spot here.

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>> AVAILABLE EVERYWHERE BOOKS ARE SOLD <<<

  "... EXCELLENT ..."

 

“Through persuasive arguments and Q&A's with the major players in advertising, Mathieson makes an excellent case for greater creativity and outside-the-box thinking backed up with solid ideas."

Publisher's Weekly

 

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'Let's Do This': Chevy Goes Social + Mobile In Hopes of a 'Sonic' Boom (Video)

 

There's nothing like the first time - again and again and again.

At least, that's what Chevy is proclaiming, with a new campaign to kick off the new Sonic with a boom.

The initiative includes a "check-in" style mobile app where you complete fun tasks - like weightlifting in a supermarket, and a real world scavenger hunt, ala SCVNGR, where people pair up to complete tasks in their hometown - for a chance to win the aforementioned car.

Games like this have been going on for years, of course. Even as far back as my first book, BRANDING UNBOUND, I was looking at how Jeep was using mobile-based geo-caching games to promote the brand.

This new effort, from Goodby, Silverstein and others, capitalizes on the new wave of mobile gaming crazes and social media to take it all to a whole new level - including dropping the car out of an airplane just for kicks.

The brand message throughout: To prove you're up for anything to when the car that's up for anything.

What's your take? Is this a lively new way to engage the on-the-go masses? Or is Chevy just spinning its wheels?

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>> AVAILABLE EVERYWHERE BOOKS ARE SOLD <<<

  "... EXCELLENT ..."

 

“Through persuasive arguments and Q&A's with the major players in advertising, Mathieson makes an excellent case for greater creativity and outside-the-box thinking backed up with solid ideas."

Publisher's Weekly

 

>>> IN STORES NOW: ORDER YOUR COPY HERE <<<

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