Location-based marketing myths. 

Pushing the boundaries of what a book is…

More proof that magic is just technology that hasn’t quite hit the mainstream.

Original post: http://berglondon.com/blog/2010/09/14/magic-ipad-light-painting/

What’s the value of social networking to businesses?

In this excerpt filmed at a recent American Express OPEN event, noted author Seth Godin speaks plainly on what Facebook fans are worth. Well worth the listen.

Forrester on the Age of Experience

I often argue that the 20th Century was about learning how to scale stuff (manufacturing, logistics, etc) and that the 21st Century is about scaling ambition. This Forrester video talks about the importance of learning how to create experiences.

As home theatre became big, theatres got off their collective butts to invest in better sound, Imax, 3D Theatre, and a whole bunch of innovations to ensure they would always be delivering a better experience. Likewise, hotels have been investing in the little touches like bedding and the bathroom. With online shopping bigger than ever before, I predict retailers will invest in the shopping experience to ensure consumers have a better experience in the store than they could have at home. This means little things like better dressing rooms (with adjustable lights and mirrors so people can see how they look in a variety of situations), and big things like time-to-market so people can dress like the people they see on TV. 

Original link: http://blogs.forrester.com/james_mcquivey/10-07-27-we_are_about_enter_era_experience

Aspen MovieMap

Before Google Streetview, MIT produced the first interactive moviemap in the late 1970s.

A gyroscopic stabilizer with 16mm stop-frame cameras was mounted on top of a camera car and a fifth wheel with an encoder triggered the cameras every 10 feet. Filming took place daily between 10 AM and 2 PM to minimize lighting discrepancies. The camera car carefully drove down the center of the street for registered match-cuts. In addition to the basic “travel” footage, panoramic camera experiments, thousands of still frames, audio, and data were collected. The playback system required several laserdisc players, a computer, and a touch screen display. Very wide-angle lenses were used for filming, and some attempts at orthoscopic playback were made.

I love this guy’s magic show. It’s a very clever use of mixing the real and online worlds.

We’re all exploring how marketers can best use the iPad.  Shiv Singh describes some of the latest findings about how people engage with the iPad in a recent post, “Advertising on the iPad. What to Expect.” But just as advertising vs subscriptions may not capture the nuances of the possibilities, the definition of the target market is in play as well.     One of the things I find most remarkable is how it is being used in face-to-face situations. I’m reminded of the early days of the Philips CD-I - magazine salespeople were among the first to use that device to help them sell. Later, the same salespeople would use portable DVD players to help them make the point. People are always sharing ideas, and the iPad is very capable at conveying concepts. It’s faster and more natural than the laptop, which wasn’t meant to be shared.   The “sales presentation” marketplace isn’t new — years ago, I wrote some software for Media Marketing Materials, now Immediate. The idea was to be able to ask the salesperson questions about a sales prospect, then automate the research and production required to assist in the consultative sale. The iPad is different, though. I think people are looking for ways to leverage the most desirable characteristics of the iPad, specifically:

• Fast, intuitive navigation. Flicking, squeezing and pointing are so easy that a baby can do it. 
• HD-quality web video. People don’t want to parse through presentations, they want to select something and lean back. 
• Bite-sized content. I’m amazed at how few companies have landing pages - and even fewer are equally usable on a desktop computer, iPad and cell phone. 
• Sharable links. See something interesting? Save a link to a phone, so they can take the experience away with them. 

Is your company buying iPads to make presentations? What features are you looking for?  

The Story Of Google

Fun video describing Google’s early years. Some interesting recent stats by VP Marissa Meyer indicate there was more content created in 2009 than the sum of all previous 2008 years put together, and about 20% of web content is new every time Google crawls the web.    

Here are the credits for the video: 

Production Company: Across the Pond Productions/Google Creative Hub
Executive Producer: Rachna Suri
Creative Direction/Animation: Nick Scott Studio
Editor: Robert Waddilove
Composer: Si Begg Production
Manager: Amy Gaunt