Mobile applications turn static comms into engaging experiences

Technology provides the vehicle that turns paid advertising into owned and earned value.   Autonomy, a UK search technology company developed application called Aurasma that allows a user to point their iPhone or iPad at a static image and generate a video.  essentially this allows you to bring a print ad to life and creates a richer more engaging brand experience for the consumer.  This type of technology falls under the augmented reality category and Google offers a similar tool in it Goggles application.  I think we will see more of this integrated advertising made possible through the growth of smart phones.  The FT recently used this technology in a partnership with Wally Yachts, it turned a still image into a film of boat racing.  http://www.brandrepublic.com/news/1075744/Ad-recognition-app-feature-FT-super-yacht-campaign

I love the internet because of the things that I get to see that I wouldn’t without it

Time and technology + story the new model for modern marketing

The new Audi Le Mans ad premiered tonight before the Champs League kick off.  The 2.5 min ad tells the story of what it is like to be an Audi driver in the 24 hour Le Mans race.  The ad in shot in 2d and 3d (viewable on Sky and in cinema).  It is beautiful and engaging, it is an ad that you want to watch.  Longer time lengths, smart use of technology combined with a story gives a brand stand out but will it pay back on the media cost (at circa £160k per 30 secs)?

From what I can see they have a fabulous piece of owned content + an incredibly high quality paid media spot but have made very little effort to maximize the earned media value….  In my opinion if you are going to spend that much on one spot it should be supported by digital media in the paid and earned space.  The YouTube film has not been posted publicly so that it is discoverable and there is not any paid search to overcome the lack of natural visibility.

I really believe this is the new model for marketing in a POE world but you have to get all the elements working together to make the most of the new media ecosystem.

Made for me – BMW owned driving earned

I enjoyed reading an article in the FT this morning about BMW’s built to order business that is starting to take off in the US .  For some years now BMW have already sold cars on a  made to order basis in Germany but now the US consumers can also get involved.  From their Spartanburg factory you can order an X3 and with over 70m possible configurations you can get quite personal.  Allowing your customer be part of the product creation without actually having to change anything that you do is a smart way of making your owned assets work harder. In this example BMW have been clever in also giving their customers a film that shows their car being built at various stages of the production line.  The built to order models are no more expensive to the consumer and actually are potentially a better business model for dealers to avoid them having speculate over which cars to have in the showroom.  This product gives people a reason to choose BMW and most importantly gives them motivation to talk about it.  If you ‘designed’ your own car you would tell all your friends wouldn’t you? and you may even want to show them the film…

Very tweet bit of co-creation

http://thefeed.orange.co.uk/2011/2/7/isnt-it-tweet/?page=34

Orange created little aminated stories based on the sweet love stories shared with them on twitter for valentines day to create new content their ‘the feed’ project.  You just have to tweet us #feedlovestories  https://twitter.com/search/%23feedlovestories#search?q=%23feedlovestories

The social network

I went to see The Social Network last night, the cinema was packed full of young people, it is not that often that I see film where pretty much every seat in the theatre is taken, I suppose this is indicative of just how big an impact Facebook has made on our lives.  Most book lovers always claim that the book is better than the film but I am not sure that stands this time.  This is  story where who you know and what you know take equal measure in their contribution to success.  Genius can exist in small pockets and never penetrate our culture until someone with connections and an understanding of what the next big thing looks like comes along.  I am continually amazed by how the ‘geeks’ of this world can fluently speak the language of the web and how it flows out of them like it is their purpose in life to code.  I am now reading “The Facebook effect’ a slightly different take on the story in the first half and the second part is more about Facebooks effect on our world.  Go see the film if you haven’t done yet…

A match made for owned heaven

Heston and Delia, maybe an unlikely combination on first glance but I am emjoying Waitrose’ current comms strategy that has put a content partnership at its heart.  This campaign has been executed with consistency across multiple channels and it is encouraging me as customer to spend more time thinking about waitrose.  Delia and Heston can be experienced in store, in their weekly newspaper, on the website, on youtube and on my iphone.  What a brilliant example of making your ‘owned’ assets work for you, i think is more they could be doing to drive earned media from this activity to make it even more powerful.  Focusing on ‘owned’ i like the fact that however I choose to access this content the story is simple to follow and it provides me with something useful whether I see it first in store, or read about it in their newspaper or discover it on my iphone. The new iphone app allows me to view the recipes and add to my shopping list (not to buy via iphone but to use in store) if i want to watch the chefs in action I can go to their new Youtube channel.  I also read that waitrose are launching a cooking school later this year.  In my mind Waitrose are now a premium brand but now also really demonstrate their value by offering me more products and services that I would have expected from a supermarket and just in case I still feel that I should be more careful with my grocery money then the new ATL campaign is making me feel better that on over 1000 products they are same price as Tesco.  Another example of a brand who gets the new ecosystem and how each layer of content can contribute to how I feel about them… just need to be a bit more in the earned space….

Yeo Valley, paid, owned and earned

If like me you love the X-factor then you will have probably witnessed the new feature length Yeo Valley TV ad.  I am not quite sure how I feel about the ad itself but it got my attention and stopped me leaving the room.  At the end of the ad it said search for Yeo Valley and I did… The google results served up an interesting combination of ‘owned’ and earned.  Top of the list was a blog post from Hippy Shopper talking about the new ad, then came live twitter comments and below that the natural link to the Yeo Valley website.  Twitscoop showed Yeo trending alongside Cheryl, X-factor and the contestants so people were definitely talking about the ad.  Mixed views over whether or not people loved the ad and whether it was original but that aside I think this was a smart move for a brand this to get cut through by using a combination of POE. Now, what they do next is critical, they have got some consumer attention so will they reveal the next part of the story of ‘down on the farm’ or have they spent all the money on one ad in one spot….

Flipboard does it for me

The new iPad flipboard has got me all excited about the future of magazine style reading on the iPad. It is the first app in this sector that I have seen that has surprised and impressed me. They have seamlessly integrated social technology into the product allowing you to comment and share, this is something that has been missed by other major publishers so far. I also really like the idea of building my own mag based on my interests that can simply flip between each channel of content without leaving the app. The format works really well allowing you to browse headlines and then dive into articles that interest you, i have just lost an hour of my evening enjoying the flip tech content. There seem to be questions on whether what they are doing is legal but assuming that they are pulling open feeds of content then what is the problem. One thing that I am not sure about is how are they planning on making money?

The Sunday papers got me thinking

I enjoyed reading The Sunday Times this weekend, I sat in the sun with a glass of champagne and some strawberries, all sounds normal (maybe not the champagne bit, I was on holiday) but this week it was on my iPad. I really like the new format as I have talked about before and it works brilliantly on the iPad.

Worth noting that as a non paper buyer The Times have gained me as a new reader, certainly for now until they start charging me.

As I was browsing I was thinking the app and wondering that with such a strong web experience why would I bother paying another £9.99 for the app?  Surely the information is the same just presented in a different format.   I assume it can be accessed offline which is a bonus but potentially not one worth paying for in my opinion.  I think that apps developed for iPad will have to offer something very compelling for a user to not just use web based content that they know and love especially as increasingly websites will be updated and developed with mobile access in mind.  It is different on the iphone because of the screen size and apps make the content more digestible.