One of the most fascinating programs that my wife and I watched this year was an episode of PBS's Frontline called "Growing Up Online." We don't have kids yet, but it's in our future, and eventually our kids will be teenagers. I graduated from High School only 13 years ago, and the experience of being a teenager has completely changed. This new generation doesn’t know what life was like before the web.
July 2008 Archives
Main | Culture / Design
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| This is my mom's house: How Google is changing the world!
Have you seen the "street view" feature in Google Maps? It's astounding, really. You enter an address just like normal on any mapping software, and then click on the Street View button and a picture of your destination -- or any step in your route from point A to point B -- appears. Not the angle you're looking for? Just click and drag the image to change your perspective or position on the map.
My wife is not great at directions (I can say that because she doesn't read this blog). She relies on landmarks to find her way, so this feature has been great for her. You can click on any point on the route, then back up a hundred feet or so and see what landmark there might be.
How do they do it? Popular Mechanics shared some info on it. Basically, they've got an 11 lens camera and they shoot lots of video as they drive through the streets. Hugely labor intensive, so they must only do big cities, right? Clearly, they'd start with the most populous areas, but they've managed to make their way to the small town in KY where my mother lives -- that's her house in the picture.
We live in a marvelous time in history!
A friend recently sent me a link to a funny clip you probably have already heard of, or even viewed: "Where The Hell Is Matt?” This four and a half minute video montage introduces Matt Harding, your average Joe, as he dances his way through 42 different countries, vigorously flailing his arms and kicking out his feet in what is now his signature jig. There isn’t too much more to say about the video – it’s simple and surprisingly endearing.
I had read about the viral phenomenon a few weeks back, but at the time, didn’t think it was compelling enough to YouTube. A random guy who’s hit fame doing something wacky? Eh, I’ve heard enough of those Jared the Subway Guy-esque stories. But after my friend emailed me the direct link, I had no excuse not to click on it. So click I did.
For the first time since its launch in 1982, The Weather Channel set has been redesigned. Our Jack Morton/PDG and Jack Morton Exhibits teams designed and built an innovative 360-degree environment featuring HD projection technology and LED lighting, while utilizing low-emitting materials (adhesives, sealants, paints and carpets) to decrease their environmental footprint.
The buzz about new technology for mobile phones is everywhere these days; from the launch of the 3G iPhone to geeks everywhere using Twitter and all its latest spin offs for micro-blogging.
It makes sense, because according to a recent survey by Cisco, "there are three times as many mobile-phone subscribers (3.3 billion) as Internet users (1.3 billion) worldwide." - and most people use their phone all the time.
Many of our clients - like Subway - are now trying mobile marketing in the U.S. that is common in Europe and Asia;
Continue reading "Mobile (cellphone) marketing - it's more than just a phone"
Unless you've been living under a rock or stuck in endless meetings for the last week, you've heard that Apple released the iPhone 3G. The new phone sports GPS capabilities, 3G network access, Exchange support, a slimmer design, and an updated operating system. But all these new features combined pale in comparison to the one thing on the iPhone that is most relevant to brands, marketers and agencies: the App Store.
Like my colleague Eddy Perez mentioned in a previous post, Apple’s new AppStore is the hot new thing. The iPhone’s future success relies on the AppStore's sale of third party applications. It’s also getting hot for another reason, and Apple had nothing to do with it.
It's going to be the next little made up word to change our culture, you know, like blog and wiki. "Knol", as defined by Google, is a unit of knowledge (shouldn't it be "knowl"?)
Google has entered the Wiki space, launching the beta of it's own user-contributed knowledge base. The key differentiator from Wikipedia is that entries identify the contributor -- and even pay them a percentage of ad revenue generated by their page. New model, more transparency, part of Google -- probably has a good chance of succeeding.
How cool is this: Chanel is sponsoring a Mobile Art pavilion designed by the award-winning architect Zaha Hadid that will be landing in New York's Central Park in October (having already made stops in Hong Kong and Tokyo, with London and Paris to follow).
According to the New York Times, more than a temporary art space (not to mention Hadid's first building in New York), "the pavilion is a provocative advertisement. Chanel, the fashion brand, commissioned Ms. Hadid to create the traveling structure to house works by about 15 hot contemporary artists. Each was asked to create a work that was at least in part inspired by Chanel’s classic 2.55 quilted-style chain handbag, so named because it was first issued in February 1955."
For many of us, the idea mobile marketing creates a cringe-enducing association with mobile spam. Images of random text messages waking you up in the middle of the night race through your head. You begin to shiver with thoughts of your cell phone rattling in the middle of a presentation letting you know about “Free Pix”. Well I’m here to tell you – It doesn’t have to be that way.
Utilizing advanced network capacities, refined measurement/tracking capabilities, and a solid strategy, marketers can safely enter the mobile universe with little fear of turning off their valued consumers. The key to connecting with your audience through mobile is to provide valuable and timely content on an opt-in/opt-out basis. If people are asking for you to communicate with them, you have a perfect opportunity to provide an engaging brand touchpoint.
Here are a few tips for entering the mobile space for your company:
When you think of Luis Vuitton, perhaps you think of luxury fashion and exquisitely crafted goods with high price tags and tons of counterfeits all over the world. What doesn't come to mind is a brand that has created one of the more sublime online experiences out there. Through subtitled videos, moody audio and the impeccable photography of Annie Leibovitz, Journeys gives you a glimpse into the lives of various celebrities and their relationships with Louis Vuitton travel products.