Tag Archives: advertising

Augmented Reality: The Esquire Case for Marketers

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Technically, augmented reality refers to the technology that layers different kind of information, for example pictures, sounds words, etc. over live video. In its December 2009 issue, Esquire placed augmented reality markers that using a computer with a webcam trigger additional digital content on the computer’s screen. The Barbarian Group provided the augmented reality technology and Psyop the animations.

I scanned the Esquire cover which you can download and print to try it yourself. To run the augmented reality, you’ll need a software which can be downloaded from Esquire here.

In the past I worked on various marketing campaigns that combined online and offline into a comprehensive marketing mix. The Esquire example certainly shows possibilities for a seamless marketing integration between the digital and real world. I can imagine a billboard campaign where consumers point their smartphones and access a tailored augmented reality according to location, time, weather and other info, and that can be also constantly updated with real time offers. Interesting possibilities, yet I believe there is still real friction for consumers: They have to download and install an application (and of course have a smartphone able to run it).

Social technology growth marches on in 2009

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Josh Bernoff, co-author of Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies (Harvard Business Press, 2008) and  Senior VP at Forrester Research released the latest analysis regarding the adoption of social media and its technologies: This year more than four out of five online Americans are active in either creating, participating in, or reading some form of social content at least once a month.

First of, a little background information. Forrester analyzes consumers’ participation in social technologies with a tool called the “Social Technographics Profile” (check my post and use the same tool of this analysis here). The profile puts online people into overlapping groups based on their participation.  Groups and  behaviors are graphically shown in a ladder (Figure 1):

The ladder categories are kept consistent to allow Forrester to make year-to-year comparisons, across ages and genders, and across geographies. Thus, more interesting than the results of 2009, is the trend over the last 3 years (Figure 2):

  • Trend of Creators, Critics and Collectors:
    In the US, social technology Creators and Collectors grew slowly, and Critics didn’t grow at all. Creator activity appeals only to those who like to create or upload content, and regardless of the ease of blogging and YouTube uploading, this doesn’t appeal everybody. As for Critics, those who react to content, this group hasn’t grown at all. According to Bernoff, this is a result of a small but actual decrease in the number of people contributing to discussion forums due to the fact that much of this activity has been sucked into social network sites like Facebook.
  • Trend of Joiners, Spectators and Inactives:
    Joiner activity exploded and Spectators became nearly universal. The explosion in Joiners from 35% to 51% of online Americans reflects the appeal of Facebook, as both press coverage and invitations from friends suck more of us into social networks. Spectators — those consuming social content — reached all the way to 73% of online Americans.
  • Trend by Age:
    Looking at the data by age, the participation among those under 35 is nearly universal (less than 10% Inactives) and even among those 55 and over, is about two-thirds.
  • International Trends:
    Europeans adopt these technologies more slowly than in the US, with about 40% Inactives in the countries where Forrester does surveys. The Netherlands and Sweden have the most participation, Italy has the most Creators, and social networks are most popular in the UK.

Summary:

This data should end any skepticism about whether social media is real. The trend is clear: soon, if a person is online, it will almost certainly be consuming some sort of social technologies. With the level of social content being put out there, it will be virtually impossible for anyone online not to be a Spectator. And last but not least, social media is usually thought to be a way to engage younger generations, but the data shows that participation of older generations is considerable and growing at faster pace than that of the younger ones.

Today a successful digital marketing strategy should always include social media, either in the company’s own site, microsite, etc. or in a social a networking platform such as Facebook, Twitter and the like.

First video ad ever in print magazine

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An upcoming issue of Entertainment Weekly’s print edition will be embedded for the first time with a video player that will run ads for CBS shows and Pepsi.

The video player insert, made by a Los Angeles company called Americhip Inc., will be able to withstand the binding processes and mail delivery. The screen is 2.7 millimeters thick and has a 320×240 resolution. The battery lasts for about 65 to 70 minutes, and can be recharged with a mini USB cord via a jack on the back of it. The screen, which uses thin film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT LCD) technology, is enforced by protective polycarbonate. A speaker is embedded below it.

The cost is estimated at a several dollars per unit,  but the idea behind is to charge a premium for advertising that has potential to catch readers’ attention.

The ad comes in a heavy-paper package resembling the kind of novelty greeting cards that make noises. A roughly two-inch screen starts playing automatically as the page flips open:

This is an interesting development and if paired with other technologies such as RFID, maybe paves the road to the holy grail of all marketers: offline interactivity.

Want to profile your customers?

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Companies often approach Social Media as a list of technologies to be deployed as needed — a blog here, a community there — to achieve a marketing goal. But a more coherent approach is to start with your target audience and determine what kind of relationship you want to build with them, based on what they are ready for.

Forrester developed this tool that allows you to classify consumers into six overlapping levels of participation in various markets. Try it, the results are very interesting!

  • For an explanation of these groups (Creators, Critics, etc.) and in depth analysis of the latest data, read this post.
  • Bars indicate the percentage of the selected demographic that are in each Social Technographics group.
  • The white marks indicate the same percentages for the whole population of the country selected.
  • The index indicates how the demographic compares to the population — a score of 100 means the demographic is the same as the population average.

    • Branding with Facebook’s vanity URLs

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    Starting Sunday, June 28 at 12:01am EST, Facebook has allowed all page owners to register a so called vanity URL.

    With a vanity URL, brands can improve their presence on the web. These URLs can be easily recognized anywhere (i.e. http://www.facebook.com/audi for Audi), and they can help a profile page appear more prominently in search results. There’s another incentive to get a vanity URL: preventing someone else to use a vanity URL with your brand.

    Vanity URLs come when FB is rolling out a number of other public-facing features useful to brands. FB’s new “Everything is Public by Default” setting allows to send out status updates and other information that are publicly available. This is excellent for brands, as a public-facing profile can be viewed by anyone. Companies can now have their social media presence established as a true extension of their brands, products and services.

    FB is also making ads more interactive. For example, you might see an ad for a brand’s page, see a “become a fan” button, and officially become a fan without having going to the page itself. Vanity URLs facilitate consistency with the ad message or title.

    Summary: FB is blending advertising with content users are sharing. The URLs make the brand more transmittable and accessible, while the ads invite users to create and disseminate co-created content. This branded content then becomes increasingly public and relevant.