media.connectme360.com

Another difference between the affluent and the...

Thu, 30 Sep 2010 15:19:37 -0600

Another difference between the affluent and the ultra-affluent

The ultra-affluent increased their spending on business-class plane tickets by 114% in the second quarter, compared with a year earlier. Rich consumers also boosted spending on cruises, car rentals and luxury hotels. They spent 12% more on fine dining.

They also increased their spending on fast food by 24%, 3x more than the average consumer.

Here’s the original WSJ article.

Location-based marketing myths.

Thu, 16 Sep 2010 13:22:38 -0600

Location-based marketing myths.

Pushing the boundaries of what a book is…

Wed, 15 Sep 2010 00:06:01 -0600

Pushing the boundaries of what a book is…

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

Tue, 14 Sep 2010 11:38:08 -0600

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...

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 06:05:44 -0600

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...

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 06:00:44 -0600

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

What’s Your Criteria for Success with a Facebook...

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 13:40:00 -0600

What’s Your Criteria for Success with a Facebook Page?

Altimeter just released its latest report under its innovative “Open Research” licensing.

The 8 Success Criteria For Facebook Page Marketing

Nearly half of the pages evaluated failed to achieve word-of-mouth, arguably the most important benefit of social networks.

Link: http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2010/07/27/altimeter-report-the-8-success-criteria-for-facebook-page-marketing/

What’s the ROI of U.S. business travel? USTA commissioned...

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 19:00:00 -0600

What’s the ROI of U.S. business travel?

USTA commissioned Oxford Economics to determine the impact of U.S. business travel on the economy. Their research showed that for every dollar invested in business travel, businesses benefit from an average of $12.50 in increased revenue and $3.80 in new profits. The average business in the U.S. would forfeit 17 percent of its profits in the first year of eliminating business travel and it would take more than three years for profits to recover.

In an era of social media brandjacking, expect more initiatives like this to counteract potentially damaging claims.

USTA letter templates:
http://bit.ly/TravelROI

USTA 13 communication tips:
http://bit.ly/13USTAtips

Jeremiah Owyang’s Forbes interview with Greenpeace social media:
http://bit.ly/greenpeacetactics

Aspen MovieMap Before Google Streetview, MIT produced the first...

Sun, 11 Jul 2010 06:00:43 -0600

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.

A Sneak Peek At Apple’s Latest Retail Experience Apple has...

Sat, 10 Jul 2010 06:00:42 -0600

A Sneak Peek At Apple’s Latest Retail Experience

Apple has quietly begun removing the wraps from the cylindrical glass tower at its new retail store in the Pudong district of Shanghai. Like the company’s flagship store on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, the Pudong store is located below ground level and uses the glass tower as an iconic entryway with a breathtaking glass stairway descending to the store below.

More here.

I love this guy’s magic show. It’s a very clever use...

Fri, 09 Jul 2010 06:00:42 -0600

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...

Sun, 04 Jul 2010 21:38:07 -0600

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

Why do people work?This is a great animated presentation by RSA...

Sun, 06 Jun 2010 06:22:49 -0600

Why do people work?

This is a great animated presentation by RSA that discusses the paradox of incentives when it comes to innovation. If you offer $2500, nothing happens, but at companies like AU-based Atlassian, pizza and beer leads to some amazing stuff.

See more great stuff.

Google VP Marissa Mayer discusses the Physics of Data for the...

Sat, 05 Jun 2010 06:22:48 -0600

Google VP Marissa Mayer discusses the Physics of Data for the Parc Forum.

It’s a great discussion of the growth of realtime data - for example, the average person now uploads 15x as much data as they did 15 years ago - which suggests people need to think about long-term coping skills.

Here’s the original page at the Palo Alto Research Center.

Kate Ray - An Introduction to the Semantic WebI found this via...

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 22:13:00 -0600

Kate Ray - An Introduction to the Semantic Web

I found this via Buhlerworks.

The 140 Most Influential People on Twitter The link attaches to...

Wed, 26 May 2010 10:56:32 -0600

The 140 Most Influential People on Twitter

The link attaches to a rather large PDF, an infographic sorted by #name #handle #category #influence and #activity, along with when they started tweeting and what they first said.

Shannon McDowell of Hilton Worldwide: Implementing a Global...

Wed, 05 May 2010 10:54:06 -0600

Shannon McDowell of Hilton Worldwide: Implementing a Global Social Media Policy

In her BlogWell Cincinnati case study presentation, “Implementing a Global Social Media Policy,” Hilton Worldwide’s Director of Website Management & Communication, Shannon McDowell, shares how they’re working to build a policy that works across their 3,500 hotels in 81 countries.

Shannon explained how they’re sharing best practices, how they created a committee to align their teams, and how they’re beginning to roll everything out across their brands.

What Twitter strategists could learn from call...

Thu, 15 Apr 2010 09:47:08 -0600

What Twitter strategists could learn from call centers » http://is.gd/bu56t (via @mckquarterly)

How To Use Foursquare

Tue, 06 Apr 2010 13:14:50 -0600

How To Use Foursquare

What are retailers doing to empower their workforce? In the war...

Tue, 06 Apr 2010 12:44:00 -0600

What are retailers doing to empower their workforce?

In the war of the retail trenches, the smart companies are gaining speed and capturing share, while the timid are falling further and further behind. There are very few abandoned projects as retailers invest in their long-term survival.