RICK MATHIESON: GENWOW.COM

Interview: AKQA CEO Tom Bedecarré (Conclusion) - Alternate Reality Games, Location-Based Marketing & Targeting

In the conclusion of this source interview for my book, THE ON-DEMAND BRAND, AKQA CEO Tom Bedecarré offers his view of alternate reality games (ARGs), social media, location-based marketing and that most controversial of issues: targeting.

CLICK HERE to listen to: Tom Bedecarré, CEO, AKQA (Conclusion): ARGs, Social Media, Location-Based Marketing & Targeting

 

 

(Approx. 5:45)

Interview: AKQA CEO Tom Bedecarré (Pt. 3) - On Coca-Cola, Target & AKQA's #1 Core Value

In part three of this source interview for my book, THE ON-DEMAND BRAND, AKQA CEO Tom Bedecarré shares insights on a few more of his agency's most successful initiatives - including Design The World a Coke and the holiday iPhone app for Target - as well as how AKQA organizes itself around its #1 core value: Innovation.

 CLICK HERE to listen to: Tom Bedecarré, CEO, AKQA (Pt. 3): Coca-Cola, Target and AKQA's #1 Core Value

(Approx. 4:56)

   

 

Audi Quattro (Mobile, Social & Oh-So-Miniature) Experience (Video)

 

Talk about driving ambition.

You have to love this interactive display, which enables passersby to race one of three finely detailed miniature Audis using a iPad to demonstrate just how well Audi hugs the road (positioning undercut, unfortunately, by its share of wipeouts) - and memorialized by Facebook shares of personal video.

As Adverblog points out, the fun is in the details: Pay special attention to the miniature roadside billboard that reads "BMWho?"

Get the full scoop (including a great 15-minute making-of documentary), here.

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5 Things Diageo Learned from QR Codes & Personalizable Whiskey Bottles (Video)

 

Maybe it was a cool idea that didn't quite crack the QR code.

Econsultancy is out with an interesting case study on five things beverage giant Diageo learned from using QR codes to personalize whiskey bottles as part of a Father's Day promotion last year.

The idea: Enable consumers to scan a QR code on the back of whiskey bottles that allowed them to customize a little film tribute to dear old Dad. When the bottle is presented as a Father's Day gift, Dad can scan the code to watch the film. IE, a one-size-fits all bottle becomes a personalized gift.

Indeed, the concept of turning offline products into online experiences and services is something I talk about at length in my book THE ON-DEMAND BRAND. But in this case, I think it was a nice concept that was undercut by the current state of technology and adoption.

Indeed, the brand isn't saying specifically how successful the effort was, but from the five things they learned about the initiative, one might assume the experiment provided just as many insights about what didn't work as did.

The first two lessons:

1. "Build it and they won't come": Things like this need to be promoted in other channels if you want people to act on it. Just hoping they discover it won't work.

2. "Keep it lightweight and effortless": Most brands overestimate how much information people are willing to give them do create digital engagement. And new forms of digital media need to be easy to understand and use - and "effortless to act upon."

One might guess that not many people tried this, let alone knew it existed. And while it's actually a fun idea - expecting someone to go to all the trouble to scan a label, personalize the video, and then hope Dad (who would sometimes be a grand dad in this scenario) is going to take out his smartphone, activate his QR code reader, and watch the video.

Hey, good luck with that.

Still, this a great idea that could really be interesting in a few years, through technology we probably haven't even thought of yet, that will truly make such experiences effortless.

Kudos to Diageo for the experiment.

I mean, brands using small scale trials to see how - or if - they'll work in order to learn how to better engage consumers?

I'll drink to that.

You can read about all five lessons here.

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Digital Marketing: 5 Top New Year's Resolutions

 

It's 2013: Do you know what your digital marketing's up to?

Here are five quick resolutions for the new year. Like lots of behaviors, these are practices we know we should keep - like eat less, move more - but rarely do. All of us are guilty of bypassing these common sense rules from time to time.

So if we do just five things this year, let's resolve to:

5. Not Ask How - Ask Why

I said this in a recent post on social media trends for 2013. But it's really true of anything we do. If you've heard it once, you've heard it a million times at agencies and client-side brands throughout the land: Let's do "X" - insert your digital buzz word du jour here - not because "X" is central to a brand's objectives, but because it's considered cool. But saying "we need a mobile/social/viral strategy is akin to saying "we need a brochure strategy," or a radio strategy, or a signage strategy. These are channels & platforms, not strategies. First figure out what you have to accomplish, then decide which approaches and channels will get you there. It's so simple, yet we all get caught up in coolness from time to time.

4. Know thy customer - and thy channels

On that note, as I write in my book THE ON-DEMAND BRAND, insight comes before inspiration. Today's most successful digital marekting initiatives typically don't come from a great idea for some hip new experience, or a me-too approach to major trends. Instead, they start with consumer insights culled from painstaking research into who your customers are, what they're all about, how they interact with consumer technologies, and what they want from the brands they know and trust. Just look at the work Unilever's done over the last few years with the Dove brand's "Campaign for Real Beauty" and all its crazy ass work for Axe - including everything from QR code peep holes in bathroom bars to faux "Shower Together" PSAs. These marketers have a firm read on their customers and the channels with which to reach them. In 2013, look for social + mobile + local to be a key to accomplishing this.

3. Always commit multi-plat-fornication

Innovate through as many channels and platforms that make sense for your strategies and audience. It's what MTV calls "multi-plat-fornication." As I show in the book, MINI USA has made an art form of this, using insights on its "fun-tech" loving audience and how they congregate online to use numerous approaches - branded games, especially, but also things like RFID-based key fobs that enable roadside billboards to call out to passing drivers by name - to actually enlist customers to market the cars for them. And Coca-Cola has raised the bar over the last year, with everything from branded iPhone apps to the Polar Bears' social stunt at the Super Bowl to its Kinect-Powered Vending Machine, to a magazine-ad-turned-mobile-stereo-speakers and much, much more. Small wonder the brand has been named "Creative Marketer of the Year" for the 2013 Cannes International Advertising Festival. 

2. Honor traditional as the sizzle to digital's steak

It's heresy these days to point out the obvious. In a fragmented media universe, the channels that still attract any semblance of "mass" are more powerful than ever - with TV being exhibit A. For all our gadgets, we're watching more TV, not less. And whether it's "Walking Dead" or "Dancing with The Stars," TV has communal power like nothing else. As a result, many of today's most innovative integrated campaigns use traditional advertising - old school TV, print, radio, etc - to build awareness and then point consumers to deeper, richer, more meaningful experiences online, or via mobile and other digital platforms. Again, Coca-Cola's Polar Bear stunt at the Super Bowl immediately comes to mind, attracting over 9 million consumers who spent an average of 28 minutes with the brand. And Doritos has effectively done all this in reverse every year, with its Crash The Super Bowl user-generated ad contest - with the chance to work with director Michael Bay at this year's bowl.

1. Never put "buzz" before "business"

Obviously digital marketing is about endless and innovative experimentation. If it were as easy as creating any old viral video, branded game, or mobile app to generate enough buzz to bring in business for our brands, we'd all be rich. For many lifestyle brands, this kind of experimentation is enough - especially in categories where an aura of hipness is a prerequisite for sales success. But while there is obviously a lot of fun and games in all this fun and games, it's important - critical - that we approach digital initiatives with specific objectives in mind (see resolution #5).

As Harley-Davidson's global CMO Mark-Hans Richer puts it to Ad Age, "This is a new gold age for marketers. The shackles are off, and the possibilities are nearly endless. If we aren't conducting radical experiments, trying new ways to engage our targets and adding value to them, then we're not doing our jobs."

But, he adds, "It's not about chasing the buzz; it's about chasing the biz." Marketers who get this formula right - by fueling innovation through substantive consumer insights - weill thrive in the on-demand era.

Those who don't will have to settle for some fun - but ultimately fruitless - experiments.

Here's to a blockbuster 2013 for us all.

5 Top Trends in Mobile Marketing 2013

Mobile marketing is going to make some major moves in 2013 - just not how most imagine.

Following up on our list of Top 10 Mobile Marketing Initiatives of 2012, it's time to look at some trends we'll see emerge and/or evolve in the year ahead. 

Among the most prominent (not necessarily in this order):

5. Mobile Advertising Picks Up Speed (For A Time)

According to Forrester Research, mobile ad spend will boom next year - to $15 billion. Why? Because consumers now spend 10% of their media consumption time on mobile devices, yet mobile attracts less than 10% of ad dollars. The firm reasons that the old school Internet's ad growth from 8% of spend to 22% of spend means mobile must follow course (even though marketers get less and less from that increased Internet spend). But, the firm says, even a small step toward closing the gap will mean big dollars for this medium.

I'm not completely convinced. As a marketer, I find mobile advertising a bore (even some of the newer, much hyped expandable ad units). As a consumer, I find it all a snooze fest.

Mobile's far more powerful than just trying to replicate ad models from the old school Internet and slapping them on a small screen of a phone, or even the larger screen of a tablet. But there's just too much potential revenues at stake so, in 2013 at least, mobile advertising will be a hot topic. Until it's someday not (or is at least recognized as one small, nearly insignificant sliver of the amazing things you can do with mobile). But as Ad Age points out today, 38% of clickthroughs in mobile are from fat, clumsy thumbs.

The pub goes onto talk about some ways mobile video and native mobile ads within apps like Foursquare may see success. But in my view, Coca-Cola's Re:Brief integrated campaign is probably the best example of mobile advertising combining with social & traditional media to work cohesively in a compelling manner.

And, as I write in my book THE ON-DEMAND BRAND, using mobile to not just promote but enhance your product - turn it into a mobile service, ala Nike+ and other successful initiatives - is what will define winners and losers in many categories next year and in the decade ahead.

4. QR Code Stores Proliferate (Just Not in The US)

QR code stores in subways and elsewhere seem to have been the surprise hits of 2012, and could seriously take off in 2013. According to shop2mobi, 300 of these virtual stores launched last year - and 2,000 have already been planned for the next 12 months. Still, while these are huge in South Korea, China, Germany and elsewhere, QR codes themselves still mostly elicit quizzical looks from consumers, when they generate any notice at all. I could easily see commuters in New York or San Francisco taking advantage of these kinds of offerings. But it may be a while before they stand any chance in most of the US - and by the time that happens, we'll probably be onto whatever will replace QR codes next.

3. Mobile CRM Gains Strength As Transaction Capabilities Advance

Here's a winner: Use of mobile for customer loyalty programs like Starbucks'. Look for more brands to move beyond just using mobile to replenish cards to having mobile become the entire platform for loyalty. Look for transaction capabilities to advance, and adoption rates to follow suit.

2. More Brands Make the Mobile + Social + Local Connection

The big trend here is that more brands will stop viewing mobile and social as (just) cool new ways to connect with consumers, and start viewing these channels as cool new ways for brands to enable consumers to connect with one another - moderated and empowered by the brand.

In my piece the other day on social media trends for 2013, I point to early examples of this, including Vail Resort's Epic Mix app, which connects real friends in the real world in a highly social, physical world brand experience.

This past year, one look only at Heineken's personalized concert QR codes to see how ad hoc mobile + social + local branded experiences can take shape.

Look for more of this in the year ahead (especially as it pertains to things like social television viewing) - along with a new syllable, as we move from SoLoMo to SoLoMoCo with the addition of Co, which stands for Commerce. In a mobile roundtable I hosted this last August, SAP CMO Jonathan Becher and I discuss what this new dynamic might mean to brand marketers and retailers alike in the year ahead. 

 1. Augmented Reality Gets Really Cool

One look at my list of Top 10 Augmented Reality Initiatives 2012, and it's clear that AR - while quite gimmicky today - holds great promise for brand experiences via mobile and elsewhere. One of my favorite things about mobile AR is that it gets to the heart of the mobile ad debate.

In my view, mobile is far more powerful as an activation mechanism for communications we experience in other media - in print, television, radio, direct mail, outdoor and so on - than it is as an ad platform in and of itself. Mobile AR is an experience activated by the consumer, at his or her own initiative, at the point of communications impression. And it delivers something that literally can't be achieved in any other medium.

Not that many consumers are going to go download an AR app and start using it in 2013. But as standards emerge, these kinds of brand experiences will become more common - and will make up some of the cooler components of integrated campaigns in the year ahead.

For more on these and other digital marketing trends, be sure to pick up a copy of my book THE ON-DEMAND BRAND.

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Top 10 in Digital Outdoor 2012 (Video)

 

Is outdoor the new TV?

Thanks to digital, outdoor is quickly becoming that certain "had-to-see-it" element that, if done well, cuts through the clutter in a way most other channels today (digital or otherwise) simply can't.

One remarkable feature of this year's list is how many slots go to Coca-Cola, which simply owns experiential marketing these days. Another is the innovation in vending machines.

Here are our favorite initiatives of the year so far. Let us know if you agree.

10. Nokia Lumia Live Augmented Reality 'Angry Birds' Game

Flip the bird or just get your boogie on. It's all good.

9. Invisible Mercedes Benz

Not so much cutting through the clutter as phasing through it.

8. TNT's Dynamite Street Promo

Technically, the only thing digital here is the activation device. But the results are priceless.

7. Tic Tac's 'Bad Breath'

More of like a flash faint than a flash mob. But it's for a good cause.

6. Ford Pinball Park

Pinball wizardry meets the pitfalls of parking on a busy street.

5. 'Axe Anarchy': Outdoor Ads Visible Only If You're Wearing Sunglasses

Attention voyeurs of the world: Has Axe Anarchy have an ad for you.

4. Shafted: Elevator Riders Get Big Surprise from LG

Call it Schadenfreude in the elevator shaft.

3. Coke Zero '007' Vending Machine Turns Passersby Into Bond (tie)

Hold the martini and make it a Coke Zero - shaken, stirred or otherwise.

3. Let's Eat Together; Coca-Cola Happiness Truck (tie)

Talk about a Coke and a smile.

2. Coca-Cola's Kinect-Powered Vending Machine

Bust a move for a free beverage.

1. Giant Tourism Vending Machine Dispenses Kayaks, Bikes in San Fran

As if we needed any more reason to love British Columbia, this new tourism vending machine has hit the streets of San Francisco (video at top).

 

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Top 10 Augmented Reality Initiatives 2012 (Video)

I know, I know. It's still early in the year-end roundups season, but we couldn't wait to get started.

First up, 10 (well, okay, 11) of the best augmented reality initiatives for 2012.

 

 

11. Net-A-Porter: Augmented Reality Meets Window Shopping 

Who knew fashionistas would go ape sh*t over AR?

10. Holiday Inn: World's First Augmented Reality Hotel

Just in time for London's 2012 Olympic Games, patrons of one hotel find the place crawling with athletes.

9. Nokia Lumia Augmented Reality 'Angry Birds'

For me, 2012 was really the year Live AR started to really take off - and this is just one way consumers get in on the action, no special glasses or mobile devices required.

8. Marco Tempest Makes Magic with Kinect-Powered AR at TED Conference

Say goodbye to PowerPoint; this is a glimpse of the future of live presentations.

7. Ikea Brings Augmented Reality to 2013 Catalog

This is a brand with 211 million ways to make an impact on how we use augmented reality to sell.

6. Angry Birds Augmented Reality Game

While Nokia's promo was just that - a promo, this effort shows us where gaming's going fast.

5. Boo-Boos Be Gone: Kermit & Piggy Bring AR to BAND-AIDS

If a BAND-AID and a kiss won't cut it anymore, maybe Miss Piggy can do the trick.

4. Wonderbra Decoder App Gives You X-Ray Vision

School-age boys the world over rejoice.

3. 'Mission Impossible's 'Action Movie FX' Mobile App Puts You In the Action with Big Time FX

Can't tell you how many hours of fun this created for kids ... like me.

2. Magazine Cover Becomes Interactive Video Game

This is one way to make print relevant in the mobile age.

1. BBC/National Geographic 'Frozen Planet' Live AR Promo

Very cool, indeed (see video at top).

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Kit Kat Launches A GPS-Based 'Golden Ticket'-style Promotion In UK

Kit Kat will do a heck of a lot more than just give you a break.

It'll helicopter 10,000 pounds/12,000 euros right to you where you stand in what is billed as one of the largest ever location-based promos ever (see browser screenshot, left).

Sure, the promotion's title is creepy - "We Will Find You" - but this campaign has a lot going for it, including special high-tech packages with GPS trackers inside that the brand will use to literally fly a helicopter to your location.

There's even a set of billboards where you can use use QR codes and NFC to enter the competition and see how many GPS Kit Kats are left.

In my first book, BRANDING UNBOUND, I look at how Coca-Cola did the same thing in the UK several years ago, featuring specially-constructed cans with a button that would activate a signal so Coca-Cola helicopters can come find you.

So sure, there's nothing new under the sun. But it's definitely new for chocolate bars in a post-modern update on Willy Wonka's Golden Ticket competition.

Find out more, here.

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Lil Wayne Uses Projection Mapping To Promo New Fashion Line (Video)

 

Call it mannequin madness.

A few weeks ago, Lil Wayne teamed up with Pearl Media to create a projection mapping experience to promote his Trukfit fashion line.

Not sure I get this particular song for this video, but the experience seems very cool - and just the latest awesomeness from Pearl (listen to my interview with CEO Josh Cohen on initiatives for brands like Evian and Lexus, here and here). 

In fact, we're so amped by Pearl's work, we're teaming up with them for a first-of-its-kind project this fall.

Stay tuned for more on that. Enjoy a little Lil in the meantime.

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