Google Products You May or May Not of Heard of …

April 16, 2012

Google is constantly developing new ideas and then seeing if they stick.  This is a great list compiled by Adam Vincenzini of Paratus Communications.
  1. Google Takeout – No, this is not Google’s food delivery service (although that’d be handy), this is a tool which allows you to download an archive of your data from things like your +1′s, Google+ Circles, Contacts and Picasa Web albums.
  2. Google Mars – While you’re probably familiar with Google Earth, Google Mars is a little less well known. However, what it lacks in notoriety it makes up for in in geeky coolness. It gives you the ability to check out spacecraft landing locations, crater depth and even comes with an infrared option.
  3. Google Health – This is one of the (many) products Google launched that didn’t quite capture the imagination of the public as anticipated. It was designed to be a portal for all of your health and wellness information. This service officially shuts down on January 1, 2013.
  4. Google SketchUp – Now, this definitely falls into the ‘incredibly useful’ category of Google products. Google SketchUp allows you to create anything in 3D from coffee pots to skyscrapers. Check out the community gallery for added inspiration.
  5. Google Correlate – If you’ve been watching the new TV show starring Kiefer Sutherland called Touch you’ll appreciate this one as it allows you to find patterns within data samples. Oooh yeah, go get your geek on!
  6. Google Sites – It’s surprising Google hasn’t done more with this in light of the self-publishing explosion of the last few years. If and when you do need a spot online to share content with a specific group, this is a decent option
  7. Google HotPot – With SO MANY food review and recommendation services in existence, this seems like an odd one to add to the Google bucket list. And although it sits pretty seamlessly on top of Google Places. But I don’t know anyone who uses it, do you?
  8. What Do You Love? (from Google) – You may have heard about this one when it was launched a little while back but if you haven’t, it is worth putting on your ‘to-do’ list. On the back of the ‘interest graph’ explosion, this aggregates content relating to specified topics from across the Google product network.
  9. YouTube Feather – A slight cheat here as we’re looking at a sub-product from the Google-owned YouTube product. While it was released in 2009, it’s still being trialed and this means you may not have come across it yet. In short, YouTube Feather is a ‘light’ version of YouTube that aims to take the strain away from your browser and internet connection.
  10. Panoramio – A photo sharing community that invites people to share their pictures of the world mashed up over the Google maps tool.

Filed under The media and Ad world Tagged with , , , , ,

The 20 most watched TedTalks

April 1, 2012

I’m always inspired by TED Talks.

Here is a list of the top  TEDTalks videos and links.

They’re all great speeches … very inspiring.

Sir Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity (2006): 8,660,010 views
Jill Bolte Taylor‘s stroke of insight (2008): 8,087,935
Pranav Mistry on the thrilling potential of SixthSense (2009): 6,747,410
Pattie Maes and Pranav Mistry demo SixthSense (2009): 6,731,153
David Gallo‘s underwater astonishments (2007): 6,411,705
Tony Robbins asks Why we do what we do (2006): 4,909,505
Hans Rosling shows the best stats you’ve ever seen (2006): 3,954,776
Arthur Benjamin does mathemagic (2005): 3,664,705
Jeff Han demos his breakthrough multi-touchscreen (2006): 3,592,795
Johnny Lee shows Wii Remote hacks for educators (2008): 3,225,864
Blaise Aguera y Arcas runs through the Photosynth demo (2007): 3,007,440
Elizabeth Gilbert on nurturing your genius (2009): 2,978,288
Dan Gilbert asks: Why are we happy? (2004): 2,903,993
Stephen Hawking asks big questions about the universe (2008): 2,629,230
Daniel Pink on the surprising science of motivation (2009): 2,616,363
Barry Schwartz on the paradox of choice (2005): 2,263,065
Richard St. John shares 8 secrets of success (2005): 2,252,911
Mary Roach 10 things you didn’t know about orgasm (2009): 2,223,822
Simon Sinek on how great leaders inspire action (2010): 2,187,868
Chimamanda Adichie shares the danger of a single story (2009): 2,143,763

Filed under The media and Ad world Tagged with ,

Adaptive Marketing … How Brands Can Use Data to Personalize and Market Themselves

February 15, 2012

Google took a lot of heat last month when it announced its decision to incorporate personal data into its search results. The “Don’t Be Evil” people were vilified by commentators and competitors. But its move was just another step in a shift by many marketers toward more actively tracking and responding to consumers.

Amazon gives shoppers personalized recommendations. Nike lets runners customize their trainers via Nike ID. Coca-Cola has introduced Freestyle vending machines, which enable patrons to create their own beverage by mixing together existing Coke products and then sharing their favorite creations with their friends via Facebook.

Consumers are increasingly comfortable providing their information with companies they know will use it to help personalize their products and communications, or companies providing essential services such as insurance. According to a recent study in the U.K., 75% of consumers that have an existing relationship with a company are happy to share their information with it, while 62% would share their information with a company selling products or services they need.

At Mindshare we have a name for this accelerated data-driven and consumer-focused mentality:adaptive marketing. It’s an approach that enables marketers to truly tailor their activities in rapid and unparalleled ways to meet their customers’ interests and needs based on data. It’s not just about advertising, but adapting every part of the marketing mix as well as the product itself to connect more consumers with the brand, make it more relevant to everyone and deliver more benefits.

Why is this the most exciting development in marketing in decades?

Adaptive marketing allows you to create more personalized brands, thereby eliminating commoditization. Adaptive marketing rips apart the concept of “the consumer,” a label that marketers have used to conveniently aggregate a picture of who they are trying to sell to. It assumes a classic model of mass-production, mass-appeal products promoted in mass media. The problem with this model is that it speaks to the most basic of needs, resulting in lowest common denominator marketing. This drives brands towards commodification, resulting in downward pressure on pricing… every marketer’s doomsday scenario.

You can personalize your Kleenex box.

You can personalize your Kleenex box.

KLM lets you link your network with your seat.

KLM lets you link your network with your seat.

Adaptive marketing looks to debunk that model. Personalizing a product to a customer increases its relevance and customer satisfaction, making it less likely they will want to switch brands.

Kleenex has introduced personalized packaging to great effect. M&M’s allow you to order customized candies. Dutch airline KLM has just introduced a service called “Meet & Seat” to help travelers decide who they might want to sit next to by linking your Facebook or LinkedIn profile to your flight. (Presumably, you could also use the service to decide who not to sit next to.)

Behavioral pricing is an interesting idea that’s being discussed where brands could differentiate pricing based on data collected. For example, consumers that “like” a brand could in theory conceivably be prepared to pay more. For prospects which have searched or visited a brand online, a marketer might be more willing to provide a bigger incentive to purchase.

Adaptive Marketing is about being more responsive to customers more quickly Communication is an essential part of the approach. Whirlpool responds individually to people complaints raised online about their appliances. Companies such as Starbucks and Apple for years have been crowdsourcing for new product and service ideas within communities on Twitter and Facebook.

Today’s media, technology and data provide the channels to facilitate adaptive marketing. In a way media has always been integral in steering marketing strategy. National broadcast TV helped broad branding and awareness drive advertising. Magazines create opportunities to segment the market and promote products to niche targets. The early days of the internet ushered in e-commerce marketing.

Of course direct-response agencies have preached some element of response-based marketing for years. But the coming availability of addressable TV, location-based and hyper-local media platforms, digital out-of-home and the multitude of tablet and mobile media devices is making adaptive marketing a universal brand marketing opportunity.

Becoming an adaptive marketer can require serious structural changes. The entire media process — budgeting, planning, buying, and optimizing — needs to become more fluid and “always-on” rather than static and sporadic. Brands need to develop a library of creative assets — images, calls-to-action, applications — that can instantly be deployed into advertising units when required.

Aggregating, then mining, buyer and audience data to allow personalized product development, marketing and messaging is the key to unlocking adaptive marketing gold. That’s going to be the next space race for marketers and their agencies. We hope you’re ready.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Antony Young is CEO of Mindshare North America, a WPP media strategy and investment agency. Norm Johnstonis co-global digital lead of Mindshare Worldwide.

Filed under The media and Ad world Tagged with , , , , , , , , ,

Why Marketers Had to Be at CES

January 25, 2012

Immersion Is Worth the Trip, Says Mindshare CEO Antony Young

By:  Published in AdAge.com : January 18, 2012
In a world where everything at CES is blogged, posted on YouTube or tweeted, you could be excused for questioning the value of making the trek to the scrum in Las Vegas each January.

But the difference between attending CES and reading about it is like the difference between going to a football game and watching it on TV. Like a football game, actually, CES offers massive crowds, underwhelming food and good odds you’ll miss something from your limited perspective. All that said, however, nothing beats just being there.

The visibility and insight you garner from being up close to the players, sharing conversations with other knowledgeable spectators and the encounters outside the main event, in my mind, make this a “must attend” venue for marketers.

So why is CES a valuable event and what does it bring for marketers?

It’s a tech show, but really it’s about understanding how content will be consumed
CES 2012 really hammered home to me just how technology and media continue to intersect in new ways. Tablets, smartphones, notebooks, TVs and the odd internet-enabled fridge are portals to entertainment, media and social interactivity. Smart mobile devices are poised to become the lead media consumption platform sooner or later. With a truckload of smarter, interconnected, smaller and cheaper mobile devices being showcased at CES, consumers will expect content to be smarter, on the go and 24/7. This is disrupting the way marketers have to think about creating and distributing marketing content.

But consumers are also going to be seeking free content to make the most of their new devices’ capabilities. I predict this will be the biggest opportunity for marketers in 2012.

There’s value in getting wet
Across their busy work schedules, marketers have been accustomed to getting information in drips: The odd article off a news feed, a chance meeting or visit by a vendor, a one-off panel at a conference or a half-year agency update on the latest media trends. Information comes dribbling in like a leaky tap. But CES is like standing under a high-pressure shower head that immediately gets you totally soaked. That’s when you really start to immerse in the media world and think more about taking action instead of being a spectator.

Speed dating … CES style 
It’s what happens outside the exhibit halls that really adds value to the week. The likes of Facebook, Google, Yahoo, AOL, Microsoft and Twitter were all in attendance again this year, bringing their top execs to town. The clients that chose to attend the conference got to hear firsthand the latest offerings in a Silicon Valley-meets-upfronts-style event. I was impressed with AOL’s Huffpo HD, its venture into online social TV, a fresh alternative to a tired television model in need of updating. There were plenty of sidebar conversations that offered more individual and specific conversations for clients’ brands.

A chance to set New Year’s resolutions
Because CES takes place in early January, it gives marketers and agencies the opportunity to jointly engage in discussions at the start of a new year and lay down some resolutions. It’s a great platform to set some big goals about how you’re going to change and embrace the shifting landscape … a potential catalyst to make one or two big ideas happen.

I’ll see you again next year.

 

 

Filed under The media and Ad world Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , ,

Forbes.com interview Antony Young

January 23, 2012

An interview with Jennifer Rooney of Forbes.com on the bigger opportunities in media for marketers …

click this link to view.

http://video.forbes.com/fvn/cmo/antony-young-mindshare

Filed under The media and Ad world Tagged with , , ,

The Top 12 More Interesting Gadgets From CES 2012

January 16, 2012

Courtesy of Wired Magazine
Having toured the floor at CES it’s hard to distinguish the cool bits versus the dross.  So Wired magazine gives a good pick of the 10 most interesting and quirky gadgets worth viewing.

My favorites are the Fitbit Aria Smart Scale that measure weight, BMI and body fat in which sends the stats wirelessly to a handy app or website; and tag pet tracker – which is a smart GPS tracker for pets or kids.

1. Nokia Lumia 900 – Nokia’s windows enabled smartphone

2. Victorinox 1 TB SSD Pocketknife – doubles as a flash drive

3. Huawei Ascend P1S – The world’s thinnest smartphone

4. HP Envy 14 Spectre – HP’s new ultrabook

 

fitbit-scale-f

5. Fitbit Aria Wi-Fi Smart Scale – measures and tracks weight, BMI and bodyfat

6. HTC Titan II – a super charged smartphone

 

lenovo-foldable-f

7. Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga – a hybrid notebook and tablet

8. Mimoco MimoMicro figurine Flash Drives

9. OLPC XO 3.0 tablet – low cost tablet for under $100

10. ZIK Parrot by Starck – wireless bluetooth smart headphones

tagg-gps-f

11. Tagg Pet Tracker – GPS monitor of pets (and kids)

12. Yurbuds Inspire Pro Earphones that never fall out

 

Filed under The media and Ad world Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

How to Package Traditional Media to New-Age Marketers

January 15, 2012

Maybe They Could Borrow Some Sizzle from Silicon Valley

By:  Published in Ad Age on January 10, 2012

In my last article for Ad Age, I wrote about how new-media companies weresuccessfully employing very traditional media tactics to gain a larger share of ad spending.

I thought I’d flip that on its head this week, as the tech, media and marketing worlds converge at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

One could argue traditional media too have been too “traditional” in how they pitch themselves, making it too easy for advertisers and others to peg them to the past. Perhaps they’ve been doing themselves a disservice. What if we relooked at a medium such as radio, using the sizzle employed by the very best of Silicon Valley to promote this 90-year-old advertising medium?

Here’s what a sales pitch for radio could look like.

Let me introduce you to a groundbreaking media channel, a medium with the potential to rival Facebook as a new-media darling …

A powerful mobile medium
This medium is available on just about every mobile device, including those running Android and iPhone operating systems. It is accessible in 100% of today’s cars. This medium is a powerful channel to engage very desirable, hard-to-reach and mobile millennials. Its distribution also extends to out-of-home venues including retail outlets, fast-food restaurants, car dealerships and sports venues, making it a powerful medium at point of purchase.

Drives word of mouth
We can incorporate personalized brand messages to our audience to create buzz and word of mouth. We use the credibility of our celebrity announcers to drive the conversation around your brand, retail events and promotional offers. We also will generate consumer participation and engagement via brand-based competitions.

Hyper-local targeting
No need for wasteful national campaigns that can’t be customized based on your local retail-store distribution. Our medium gives you the flexibility to target at a hyper-local level. We can also deliver specific localized messaging.

Delivers across multiple platforms
We distribute across broadcast, online and mobile devices. Our medium is always on.

Provides scalable campaigns
Our advertiser promotions can deliver programs across literally millions of consumers in a short period of time. Our medium has a reach of nearly 300 million uniques in the U.S. across a month. That makes this medium bigger than Facebook.

A viable revenue model
We operate a free-content, ad-supported model that ensures high uptake and that our research confirms consumers prefer over a paid-subscription model. Advertiser units provide marketers with 100% control of the message. We also offer advertisers a branded content model. We will work with advertisers to deliver customized content that brands can be integrated with or associate with.

Yes, that’s right, I’m talking about radio … a unique mobile, hyper-local, multi-platform channel that delivers scalable brand marketing campaigns for advertisers.

Now doesn’t that make radio seem just a little more interesting!

Filed under The media and Ad world Tagged with , , , , ,

Ad Age … Five Questions With Mindshare CEO Antony Young

January 3, 2012

Not All Agencies Are the Same, According to This Industry Veteran

Share Email Print RSS

After a 15-year career at Publicis Groupe, where his specialty was importing and exporting global insights and new business, Antony Young last fall joined a longtime competitor: WPP’s Mindshare.

Mr. Young served in various roles at Publicis’ ZenithOptimedia, including CEO of the Asia Network, where he helped launch and oversee Zenith China. Before that, he was regional media director forSaatchi & Saatchi, where he led media-planning duties for Procter & Gamble in Asia. Most recently, he was CEO of Publicis’ Optimedia in the U.S.

Antony Young
Susan J. Chen

Antony Young

Mr. Young, who officially succeeded Phil Cowdell as chief of Mindshare in September, talked to Ad Age about the move and the changes he plans to make. Don’t expect any deals, though. Mr. Young says he’s out to build, not buy.

 

Ad Age: How have your first weeks been? Any culture shock after spending so much time at Publicis? 

Mr. Young: They’ve been great. It’s refreshing after 15 years in Publicis Groupe to come into WPP. Anyone who tells you all agencies are the same is completely wrong. There’s a different kind of feel here. There’s a lot of investment going into the media businesses. WPP definitely feels much more connected in that they see the overall businesses as a whole group of agencies working together in a strategic fashion. For example, WPP has Team Detroit and an IBM team. There are a lot more integrated groups and client solutions here. … What’s impressed me is we’re prepared to make investments to bring broad communications solutions and expertise that span owned- and earned-media channels.

Ad Age: Tell us about some of the changes you are planning. Any acquisitions on the horizon?

Mr. Young: An area I’m particularly passionate about is how we build out communications strategies to play a personal-shopper role at the agency. I’ve been reaching out and talking to as many clients as I can, trying to understand what other kind of big opportunities they’re looking for from a media partner. I consistently hear clients asking, What’s my business strategy, my communications strategy, my digital strategy? What else can I prioritize? How do I differentiate in this market? Companies are more competitive, so there’s more pressure to drive big businesses. We’ve got to evolve our business rather than buy our way into it. It’s not a solution I would even think about. If you look at a media agency model today vs. five years ago, it’s changed dramatically. I think the solution is within us vs. outside. We can evolve and build those skills.

Ad Age: What would you say is your biggest challenge right now?

Mr. Young: Getting there more quickly than our competition and driving innovation. We’re asking a lot more from our people in terms of skills and responsibilities. In the old days, media people only had to do three things: planning, buying and organizing tickets for clients. Now we’re called on to do so much more. Client leads have to manage big and varied team planners, buyers, digital people, etc., and then also have to take on more of a role of account management versus service. The next [challenge] is becoming more converse with digital and learning other skills like social content. We also need to be focused on building better collaboration with the creative agency.

Ad Age: One knock we hear from a lot of media-industry executives is that shops under the Group M banner are indistinguishable. Do you feel that way at Mindshare?

Mr. Young: You’re right. We need to come out more distinctly and define our positioning, but it’s not a Group M issue. It’s a media-agency issue. What’s impressed me about Group M is its go-to-market strategy on trading and implementation. Take it from a guy who ran an agency and has had to compete against Group M over the last five years. The way negotiations are centralized and managed, we’re able to consolidate the scale of media buying across all the agencies.

Ad Age: Are you noticing any trends that might have a significant impact on media?

Mr. Young: We’re seeing things we’d traditionally call stunts and one-off events much more in scalable media. With the power of social, there’s now a legit strategy to create an event. In China, Greenpeace did a promotion with 80,000 pairs of disposable chopsticks. They turned them into trees, filmed the building and put it online. Millions saw that. We’re opening up and broadening media. Now we can drive more global audiences, and new media is making it scalable and more valuable to market.

Filed under The media and Ad world Tagged with , , , ,

My top ten list of top ten lists for 2011 …

December 21, 2011 2 Comments

This is that time of the year when everyone comes out with their top ten list of 2011.  I’m never been a great believer in re-inventing the wheel, so have curated my top ten top ten lists of 2011 … Enjoy!


1. Forbes.com top ten social media lessons of 2011 by Christopher Barger

Part 1  and Part 2

Lesson #7: People in social platforms not only want to feel “part of” events or phenomena, but social networks allow them to feel like they truly are part of a collective.

2. ZDNet’s 2011’s Top Ten Pirated TV Shows by Steven Vaughan-Nichols

3. Most viewed videos on YouTube

Ultimate Dog Teaser 75.8million views

4. Search Engine Watch’s Top 10 Most Significant Search & Social Marketing Stories of 2011 by Guillaume Bouchard 

#4. Facebook Becomes Biggest Site for Display Ads on Earth

5. Ecopreneurist’s top 10 green marketing campaigns by Jennifer Kaplan

#5. HSBC “No Small Change”: A highly successful campaign elevated HSBC’s environmental credentials and consolidated their environmental leadership position; it exceeded all expectations without TV or radio

6. Ad Age’s Top 10 Viral Advertising Campaigns of 2011

# 8. Google: “The Web Is What You Make of It” Agency: Google Creative Lab Launch date: May 2 Views: 21.2 million

Google’s Chrome browser is becoming its second-most successful product, behind Search. It passed Firefox and is closing in onMicrosoft‘s Internet Explorer. Google enlisted Lady Gaga, Johnny Cash (posthumously) and Justin Bieber, among others, in 11 creative executions. Some have been promoted to TV from YouTube.

7. Adweek’s Top Ten TV Commercials in 2011 by Tim Nudd

#2 CHIPOTLE • Back to the Start

8. Hubspot’s top ten marketing infographics for 2011

#3. Top Email Marketing Irritations

9. The Faster Times top ten marketing stories we’ll still be talking about in 2012 by Mat Zucker

#6. Twitter as customer service channel

10. Mashable’s top ten iPad apps by Christine Warren

Filed under The media and Ad world Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Infectious …

December 19, 2011

A great site for infectious communications ideas … http://infectiousonline.tumblr.com/

Filed under The media and Ad world Tagged with , ,

← Older posts

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 1,080 other followers