Why cyberspace isn't, and will never be, nirvana

Back in February of 1995, what did you think of the internet? Newsweek resurrected this really interesting article called "The Internet? Bah!"

It's one mans rant on the web and how useless it is, it's his perspective in 1995. (i wonder if he's changed it?) Take a read through this, it's amazing that 90 percent of what he mentions, actually comes true. Talk about seeing the future, but backwards... Here's a bit of it:

"Then there's cyberbusiness. We're promised instant catalog shopping--just point and click for great deals. We'll order airline tickets over the network, make restaurant reservations and negotiate sales contracts. Stores will become obselete. So how come my local mall does more business in an afternoon than the entire Internet handles in a month? Even if there were a trustworthy way to send money over the Internet--which there isn't--the network is missing a most essential ingredient of capitalism: salespeople."

Apple: so hot right now

What's the best brand to accompany to a dinner party? With whom to get into an argument? Not sure? Looks like you might have to dig deep and appreciate the emotional value of brands in everyday life.

Interbrand's Brandjunkie survey advocated just that earlier this year. They delved into the emotional impact brands have had on consumers with up-close-and-personal questions. The end result? Apple, for the win! (One participant made an interesting point about Microsoft; for a company so fast and multi-faceted, there has been "very little innovation".) Concur?

Read the full article.

Your Tax Dollars at Work

The National Archives have created a really interesting interface to be able to peruse 1,200 historical documents and photographs from their "vault" of over 10BB records at www.digitalvaults.org. It's really slick and every artifact is tagged to allow good reference searching on a topic of interest (like the civil war, kennedy, etc).

What I find most compelling from a digital market perspective is how the National Archives is using the web, and very a non-traditional navigation architecture, to create a "Brand" for itself by developing a great immersive experience, not just creating a public service announcement that you might find in the back of a magazine. I just wish it had more video and web 2.0 functionality (there's no feedback or commentary or sharing capability for instance). But it does point out to me how the traditional "C-Frame" navigation and user experience architecture is slowly melting away.

Mobile Ads - More to Ponder

To take the mobile ads post – DOA or the next big thing - one step further... Although a rational and viable channel for us as marketers, there still seem to be concerns about user acceptance. And despite stats that show high views, recall and response rates, there are still opposing stats that show only 10% of mobile users find mobile advertising acceptable. This latter stat, though, can probably be influenced but I suspect it will come at a cost in terms of plan costs, richer content and ability to “close the deal” so to speak with content delivery.

And if acceptability is not an issue, then are they making sense? Per a recent article in Mobile Insider, there seems to still be a bit of confusion around the relevancy topic. I think that, in the end, reality is most likely somewhere in the middle and varies by audience/age. Regardless, if we ignore the consumer as "boss" and don't find a better way to finely target the mobile audience, we may find that the boost and sprint customers mentioned in the Ad Age article keep the phone's locator buttons disabled intentionally.

In the last couple of days, emarketer also published two articles in a strikingly similar vein: "Mobile Ads Still Taking Baby Steps" and "What's Holding up Mobile Advertising". Worth a read.

Just curious, is anyone else having deja vu to articles written 10 yrs ago about the internet and email with similar acceptance, privacy, measurability and technology concerns??

Hubbard ‘88

JetBlue "Gets It"

JetBlue has long been the poster child of how to do a ticket-less, web-based airline the right way. From the point of purchase at the website, to the terminal, to the on-flight experience; I've always been a fond admirer of their marketing.

In accordance with their strong online presence, JetBlue was an early adopter of Twitter. Yesterday, a recent post alerted travelers to potential delays from the poor weather in NY. Last month, a simple shout-out was given to the 2,000 JetBlue travelers that flew to Austin for SXSW.

The thing that separates them from a lot of other corporate initiatives on Twitter is that - along with typical promotional Tweets - they encourage direct dialog with users. Questions from users are answered, and questions to the user are presented. This active engagement encourages the user to provide valuable feedback and feel valued for being listened to.

A prime example of good social media utilization, indeed.

RSS The Creative Bureau, it's easy.

Just add this URL to your reader and .... Presto!
http://creativebureau.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

About.com's top 10 RSS Readers
And my favorite: Netvibes
and Netvibes for the iPhone

Mobile ads: DOA in 08, or the next big thing?

Here are 2 very disparate articles on the potential for mobile advertising. On the one hand, Ad Age this week points out all the barriers keeping mobile advertising from taking off. On the other, Ad Age, in the same issue, describes advances in place-based mobile ad delivery that will drive growth in Mobile as more carriers adopt this technology.

So, when your client asks, :Hey, should I be in mobile", you'll have lots to consider before giving your answer.

Mobile remains limited article here

Mobile is making great strides on geo-location here

Instore displays

This is my first posting straight to the CB thru my iphone. I took this in my local supermarket and blogged right there on the spot. Sweet!.

More and more I'm noticing the trend of LCD's in the retail environment.

Wendy's puts digital ads in bars.

From AdAge
Late night advertising on screen and at locations close to their restaurants. Not a bad idea, I wonder if they provide drunken coupons that late?

On second thought, that time of the night they could really charge whatever they wanted to their inebriated customers.

the $25.00 cheeseburger? No problem!

The Article is here.

Big Dog the robot mule, or something.

When i first came across this animal like looking robot seemingly designed to carry supplies, i was like wow, this is probably the creepiest thing I've seen. Imagine a forest full of these? It's super Sci-Fi, no doubt.



and when i saw this other version of Big Dog, i frigging laughed my ass off. I love Web 2.0

An old game has a new life online.

Need a break?
Go back in time with this fun little
game reinvented online.

Lite-brite

3D Video Star : Add your face to a video, suh-weet!

This reminds me a lot of the capabilities of the Xbox 360. The ability to map your face to characters in certain games.

This is even sweeter though, adding your face to a video, like Indiana Jones?, Nice! Personally i wouldn't want to watch a movie featuring myself, but I'm sure someone reading this right now definitely would. (You narcissist )

The samples look great (although probably took quite a while to match coloring/lighting etc) check them out here.

Photoshop Disasters

A woman with three hands, that's a pretty big oversight. So, I came across this blog while reading another blog called adverblog, which had an article about another blog, so i posted in on my blog.

What a bunch of blunders. Check out some of these obvious and not so obvious mistates.

Good things come in small coded packages

I came across this great url for anyone on an iPhone who Twitters.

It's simple and really smart. This Twitter URL is designed and coded to be viewed full resolution on your iPhone. How smart, and who said all the good ideas were gone?

https://twitter.thincloud.com/login

MOMA - Design and the elastic mind

The next generation of web technology is likely to be far more powerful than the current crop

Here's a great article on what we can expect online in the future, a whole new way that data is used : check it out here

Social Networking Vs. Content.

Great article at AdAge. Since the 90's content has always been king online and even though the social revolution has been getting all the buzz the past few years, it's interesting to see where things really lie.

When It Comes to Time Spent Online, Content Trumps Community

Echo Gets Adopted

We do a lot of interactive work for Pedigree and this is a big part of the offline campaign. Enjoy.

Make a clickable facebook t-shirt. (What?)

Add to friends gear, it's a facebook/QR thing.

QR Codes Go Global

Here is a great article over at CScout on QR codes. It's pretty much everything you need to know (for now). QR codes are a really exciting marketing opportunity for interactive, retail and marketers in general. We're probably just ahead of the curve as far as implementing a true QR campaign, but hey -- it's good to dream and prepare, the day will be here very soon. QR Codes go global.