April 02, 2012 1:37 PM
Posted byKatie
It's important to be consistent. Seems simple, but sometimes brands and campaigns can be led astray by lackluster metrics or feedback.
This morning, I read an (older but good) article from Jeff Perkins of Autotrader, who wrote "Patience with campaigns is a brand virtue."
One of my favorite quotes from the article:"In this age of media overload, consumers are exposed to more than 3 million ads every day. It's as if we are surrounded by a virtual Times Square every minute of every day. How can any brand expect to break through the clutter if they're constantly changing their message?"
What I learned from it:
- Take the time to develop campaigns in a well-formed foundation. Research, strategize and test.
- It can take years for some campaigns to hit their stride; there are some campaigns that have been around for years but still resonate. I personally think of Coca-Cola's Polar Bears every winter.
- Tweaking is okay - but don't stray the course. Evolving may be necessary to stay current, but make sure the underpinnings of your campaigns don't get sacrificed as well.
Check out the article on BtoB online,
here.
December 27, 2011 1:39 PM
Posted byEli
December 08, 2011 8:30 PM
Posted byAndrew Austin
Earlier this week we had the privilege and pleasure to participate, along with 200 industry peers, in the inaugural Event Marketer Event Tech Conference. The event took place in Manhattan – a Mecca for events, technology, creative energy and live communications.
The Event Tech conference designed an agenda focused on the industry’s best practices on connecting live events with technology and social media. The application of this spanned from global marketing and advertisement campaigns all the way to the tradeshow floor. We had the benefit of hearing perspectives from designers, technology experts, social media gurus, innovation leaders and brand marketers, making this event a truly unique assembly of industry thought leaders.
Innovate, combine, and create: as featured in a number of presentations during Event Tech, myriad interactive and social technologies are at our disposal. The ten most relevant to date seem to be large multi-touch interactives, RFID tracking, stereoscopic interactives, tablets and mobile, transparent touch interfaces, telepresence, immersive interactive environments, augmented reality, motion/voice control, and 3d projection mapping.
As interesting and exciting as these technologies are, content is still king – and a messaging strategy that resonates with your audiences is a critical step for success. Often times the key to unlocking a truly unique brand experience is collaborating with brand leadership to create a social engagement that may include the integration of two or more technologies in a completely new way.
Here our Top Tips for successful digital engagements:
- Start with the basics: Know who you are, be real about what you have, know what your audience wants, and agree on how to give it to them.
- Amplification + Genuine Passion = Buzz. A strong media campaign and infinite budget doesn’t necessarily guarantee success. While these things are important, a genuine passion for the product line is needed for sustained brand recognition. Personal conviction from users and consumers drives long term growth.
- Leveraging interactive social technologies, it’s possible to close the gap between point-of-engagement and point-of-sale in both live and on-line environments. People love social applications with a reward element – be it Foursquare or Facebook, incentive drives participation.
- Don’t forget the role of the nerd. Developers have a say too. Those platforms that have made integration easy (Amazon, Facebook, Apple) are winning. User interface designers and users have found it easy to do what they want on these platforms.
In the company of industry thought leaders – making a big difference in how business grow their audiences on and off line – was stimulating for each of us.
Jon DeGorsky, Amy Pesa, Katie Slattery, Andy Austin
November 30, 2011 7:23 PM
Posted byKatie
When you think “technology” and “trade show” – it’s hard not to think iPad.
Regardless of the industry or specific event, this iconic tool is showing up everywhere, and for good reason. It’s adaptable, allows for personalization and as a consumer-facing tool, it can be a less expensive option than others available on the market. And, according to a recent whitepaper by TBA Global, Gartner predicts that the number of iPad users could increase to 100 million by 2012, with an average of 6,000 new iPad apps available each month.
For many, the fact that this tool is quickly becoming ubiquitous is good enough reason to jump on the bandwagon. However, before you sprint to your closest Apple store, follow the next four best practices to ensure that your technology tools are being used in a strategic, thoughtful way that reflects your brand:
Know your audience: How do you want your consumers to interact with your brand? How can you transform your brand in such a way that the technology reflects your values while being engaging, informative and an extension of your sales team?
Content is king: In any platform, this old adage holds true. Just as your communications need to always add value to the interactions customers have with your brand, this needs to be carried over to your iPads and any other technology to bring to the floor. No matter how cool the app you made is, if it’s not smart, don’t bother.
Get your team together: According to the whitepaper TBA Global published, “Welcome to the iPad,” tech experts are a must if you’re going to undertake the app endeavor. Build a clever program, test it, work out the kinks and have ample feet on the ground at your next event to ensure that everything goes off without a hitch.
Data: Determine what you need and why and make sure that it works seamlessly with your existing data management or CRM system. Remember that data is only as good as the next step – whether that be sending information to your reseller, dealer or product teams so that they can follow up quickly, or, your'e able to address customer pain points in a timely fashion.
No matter the execution – product demos, lead retrieval, educational, social media engagement or reporting – make the most of your technology investments by starting with strategy and remaining true to your brand.
November 02, 2011 11:11 AM
Posted byKatie
Nitto Tire U.S.A. Inc., a leading developer of performance tires for enthusiasts, has worked with EWI Worldwide to create a custom Nitto® Digital Passport Program to assist press during 2011 SEMA Show and make their visit to the booth relaxed and informative. Knowing that the week at SEMA is filled with numerous meetings leaving editors short on time, the program was intended to make editor engagement with Nitto Tire even better.
Press interested in visiting Nitto Tire while at SEMA were asked to pre-register online at the Nitto website. Once registered, a personalized QR code, containing the individual’s contact information, was emailed to them pre-show or could be printed on-site. Then, once press arrived at the show, they were encouraged to use one of 13 interactive tire displays, each showcasing one of Nitto Tire’s products, to browse product information, specs and programs. As they explored, the QR Code captured their experience and automatically provided—at the end of that day—a follow-up email containing detailed information about each of those products and programs. This email also gave Nitto an opportunity to cross-promote its social media channels, such as its
Nitto® Tire Fan Drive Sweepstakes, a unique opportunity that will allow Facebook fans of Nitto® Tire to design a custom vehicle that could be given away as the grand prize.
See picture above for an example of what visitors received.
The program, which debuted this week at the Las Vegas Convention Center, is open to anybody attending the show. Here’s a link to Nitto Tire’s
press release containing more details.
October 11, 2011 8:40 AM
Posted byKatie
In a move applauded by investors and customers,
Netflix has decided to ditch the division of its businesses and keep both streaming and DVD services under one name.
Stock has gone up significantly (although not enough to cover losses incurred during the announcement) and positive feedback has been rolling in. Netflix is also working to recover the 1 million customers it lost when it made the announcement.
For many, the question has been- why? Why would they divide the services on top of announcing a 60 percent rate hike for those that wanted both? Well, they’re different cost structures, and if you only wanted streaming, which represented the majority of new customers, you wouldn’t have seen a price hike at all.
Although the numbers looked right, it didn’t fit the Netflix customer’s needs and the brand’s value proposition. Not every idea can be a success -- this New York Times
piece compares it to the New Coke, remember that? -- but it appears, at least at this early date, that knowing how to come back from that leap is what matters. After all, Coca-Cola is still here.
Another silver lining of this reversal is the sense of brand
ownership and control customers are feeling. I am seeing a lot of
feedback about Netflix really listening to their customers, which sets
them up for future dialogue when creating and rolling out new services. On the flp side, there have been great blog posts written about what Netflix could have
done better to have made this rollout a success.
How do you think this will affect the brand long-term? If you’re a Netflix customer, will you stay with the brand or cancel services? Do you think this move shows that Netflix is being “topsy-turvey,” as some have suggested?
Looking forward to seeing how this decision plays through.
October 05, 2011 10:51 AM
Posted byEli
IBM celebrates its 100-year anniversary, taking us on a
journey where past, present and future collide. A striking 123’ wall captures a
live data stream that artfully evolves into gorgeous data visualizations.
Further down the path are 40 screens that narrate a film featuring
our quest for progress. The visual then turns the screens into a multi-touch interactive
to further enhance the learning experience of the potential of science and
information technology that can make the world work better.
The
THINK Exhibit was open to the public from September 23 to October 23 at Lincoln
Center in New York.
"Eventually
everything connects - people, ideas, objects. The quality of the connections is
the key to quality per se."
Charles Eames
Tags:
Technology,
Special Events,
Pop-Up Retail,
Pop Culture,
Museums & Attractions,
Media,
Interactives,
Innovation,
Creative Inspirations,
Cool Stuff,
Brand Stories
September 01, 2011 4:56 PM
Posted byKatie
A couple weeks ago, I read a blog
post on Fast Company about the
value of B2B social media marketing as a sales tool. The initial question—is it
working for sales?—has produced varying feedback.
The author’s personal observations showed there are fewer people using
social media than the buzz around Twitter suggests, making it a questionable
medium for building business relationships—and sales as a result. The people that he anticipated seeing on
social media, including collaboration experts tech experts and reporters, were not
using Twitter, and he estimates that only 10 percent of a recent SharePoint
conference attendees had access to the platform—a slight bump over the 8
percent national average.
Although my observations are no more or less scientific than this
author’s, I’ve noticed the people following my Twitter account, as well as on
my current and former clients’ Twitter accounts, are typically individuals who were
social to begin with, and social media platforms—whether it be Twitter,
LinkedIn, or any of the myriad social media platforms— is just another tool they
use to communicate (just think of how many sales, marketing and PR peeps have
social media accounts). To focus on the Fast Company blog post’s audience for a
moment, I worked in the tech industry for several years as a PR account
executive, and I was also a little shocked to find that some reporters at
national outlets still have very little social media presence (although a small
piece of me wonders if that’s on purpose so us PR folks can’t find them).
With new mediums, I’ve found that the ability to play, make mistakes, test
and find willing guinea pigs to proof out your theories are crucial to making
it successful. Unfortunately, the very fact that your Tweet or LinkedIn post
can stay with you forever (I always think of the Ketchum
exec who didn’t favor Memphis very much or the F-bomb
heard round the automotive world) can be an intimidating prospect, which is why
I’m a believer that new users should take it easy on themselves, be prepared
for a lifetime of learning and get ready to take a few knocks along the way. However—social media is no different than any
other technology designed to help us communicate in a different way.
For me, the value of social media has always been to be at the right
place at the right time—and conversely, to make yourself available at the right
time in the right place. You never know when inspiration may strike you in the
form of a Tweet from someone you follow—and hopefully, some of my Tweets (for
myself or my clients) have inspired or educated some followers. That’s where
the relationship building comes in, with social media acting as another touchpoint
for your audiences.
Social media is like public relations in that it has a specific role in
the sales funnel: Serving as a prospecting tool. Ensuring that social media plays the
appropriate role will help you manage the effort that you put into it; a
process which requires research, tracking, goal-setting and measurement, regardless
of what industry your B2B company plays in.
Social media is certainly not a cure-all for finding the next big sale,
but it may just surprise you in different ways than anticipated.
December 27, 2010 12:29 PM
Posted byEli
A location-based experience that adds a new layer of interaction and challenge to your check in. And you can create the challenges that a relevant to where you are visiting. See what others user came up with to add to the game.
Tags:
November 30, 2010 1:57 PM
Posted byEli
Tags:
Next >>