Earlier this week, AOL snapped up TechCrunch, a technology blog network started by former attorney Michael Arrington, for an undisclosed amount of money. The final price is said to be somewhere between $25 million to $60 million. The acquisition has sparked a lot of conversation, especially among his peers.
To me, it’s an opportunity to reflect on the past decade and the evolution of blog-based media. Gawker Media and Weblogs Inc., have been the torchbearers of this new fast-paced, slightly quirky, highly passionate form of media.
Michael and I, along with my dear friend Rafat Ali, were early converts to this new kind of media. Like Arrington, I learned much about blogging from Dave Winer and Doc Searls. I married blogging to my analytical and old-school reporting skills, and it turned into GigaOM, the company. Rafat took his love of media and content and started PaidContent, which was acquired by The Guardian. Michael took his doggedness and heart-on-sleeve passion for all things startup-related and turned it into TechCrunch.
Michael is a somewhat complicated man, one who often elicits a very binary emotional response. He can be both a ruthless competitor and an extremely loyal friend, and I’ve been on both sides of that equation. We are competitors, but not enemies. From my vantage point, he worked extremely hard, sometimes too hard, to make TechCrunch something a big, New York company would pay millions of dollars to own.
As I looked back over the past five years, there were some seminal moments that helped shape Michael’s — and thus TechCrunch’s — destiny. With the help of the folks from Column Five Media, we created this infographic, which is the story of TechCrunch.
Earlier this week, when he announced the acquisition, it dawned on me what a pivotal moment in the history of blog-based media entities it was. Five years ago, we were the upstarts, the outsiders and the crazies. Today, we are the media. Go figure!
Related research from GigaOM Pro (subscription req’d):
Thursday, September 30, 2010
'Crunch Cashes In. Be inspired. From GigaOM: Michael Arrington’s Road to Millions
Monday, September 27, 2010
Excerpt: Use the POST Method to Plan Your Mobile Strategy: Tech News «
In the excerpt below, from the book Empowered: Unleash Your Employees, Energize Your Customers, and Transform Your Business by Josh Bernoff and Ted Schadler, the authors discuss how a company can bring its business to the mobile web.
The technological and strategic choices facing you as you deploy a mobile application are complex. You may be highly empowered and resourceful, but you still need a plan. We recommend that you follow the POST method, named for the four steps you follow in building your plan: people, objectives, strategy, technology. If you read Groundswell, you know we use the POST method for companies that are pursuing social technologies; the same basic technique applies in designing a mobile strategy. As with social applications, the key for mobile applications is to examine the people and objectives first, before designing a strategy and choosing a technology.
people: examine your customers’ mobile behaviors
Before you get started, evaluate the mobile behaviors of your target audience. Our survey research shows that E*TRADE’s customers are nearly twice as likely to be connecting with the mobile Internet as average customers. This is the type of research E*TRADE used to decide that a BlackBerry application would be popular with its day traders and mass affluent customers. As you can see from figure 5-1, owners of different types of mobile devices behave differently. And you need to plan not only for what devices and behaviors your customers have now, but for how their activities will change in the future. As a rule of thumb, younger customers are more comfortable with devices like the iPhone and mobile behaviors like texting and downloading content. And of course, in the United States and Europe, BlackBerry devices appeal more to professionals.
One quick way to assess your customers’ profile is to look at the mobile browser traffic to your Web site. When Sears noticed increasing mobile traffic to its site, it designed a mobile Web site that delivered information to these customers better. Another retailer redesigned its mobile site after noting that 80 percent of the mobile traffic came from iPhones. If you’ve already got a mobile Web site, pay close attention to the devices that access it—this mix will tell you if it makes sense to create a mobile application for Apple, BlackBerry, or Google Android phones.
You can find out more with customer surveys or through information in syndicated surveys like Forrester’s Technographics. Regardless of what method you use, though, don’t design a mobile strategy until you’ve gathered intelligence about your customers’ mobile behaviors.
objectives: determine how both you and your customers will benefit
Once you know your customers’ mobile habits, you need to figure out why you’re bothering to connect with them. Mobile applications can help with marketing, sales, and service; to be successful, you must narrow down which objective you’re pursuing. There are three basic categories of mobile objective (and always remember, mobile offerings work only if your customers get as much out of them as you do).Increasing Sales
Mobile applications that increase sales succeed in multiple ways. For example, Pizza Hut’s iPhone application generated more than $1 million in sales the first three months it was live. Targeting a young audience, Pizza Hut built a pizza delivery racing game into the app. Because the Pizza Hut app made it easy to add toppings, iPhone orders totaled significantly more per order than orders coming in by telephone calls.You can also increase sales by increasing the information in interactions. Benjamin Moore’s director of color technology, Carl Minchew, worked on the development of an iPhone app called ben Color Capture so customers could take photos and then find paint colors to match or complement colors in the photos. Inspiration like that can lead consumers from ideas to transactions. Benjamin Moore’s application also includes a store locator, a popular feature that helps drive sales. Target goes a step further on this front; its mobile application actually helps identify whether local stores have products in stock.
Decreasing Costs
Mobile applications save money by connecting people directly with answers, removing service people from the process. This is a perfect example of a win-win, since the customer gets quicker service while the company saves costs and increases the quality of the interaction. Mobile connections are part of the groundswell customer service we described in the previous chapter.For example, Nationwide Insurance built an iPhone app that walks its policyholders through the process of preparing to file a claim right at the scene of an auto accident.6 The application includes prompts to take all the necessary steps, including calling the police, recording the location with GPS, taking photos, locating a repair shop, and even turning all the pixels white so the phone can be used as a flashlight. Customers get faster service and don’t miss steps since they don’t have to call an agent. Nationwide gets claims with more complete information, saving their claims agents time.
iPhone apps are not the only way to connect with customers. American Airlines delivers information on flights, delays, and cancellations with SMS, email, and a mobile site, the perfect way to reassure nervous travelers.Increasing Loyalty
Even if you can’t increase sales or decrease costs, mobile applications that supply information can generate love— or at least satisfaction. For example, Bank of America’s online site and apps are designed to improve its customer experience. The apps are designed to answer questions like “Where is the closest ATM?” and “What’s my balance?” The experience uses a login and authentication taken directly from the bank’s online banking service, further reinforcing the idea that the company provides convenient service. Notice that these applications are not replacing calls—most of the inquiries conducted on mobile devices would never come into the bank as phone calls—but instead reinforcing the idea that the bank is a service leader.After 1 million iPhone downloads of the Bank of America app—the most of any financial application for the iPhone—the bank began publicizing its mobile phone services with TV commercials.
strategy: what’s the long-term plan for your mobile application?
Once you’ve evaluated your people and objectives, refine your strategy. Remember the focus on immediacy, simplicity, and context, empowering customers with information. In this phase, you’ll want to answer questions like these:
- Where will the information that fuels your application come from? What systems does your application need to touch and coordinate with (for example, billing, customer service, or your own Web group)?
- How will you publicize your application so customers know about it? Consider traditional advertising, customer emails, mobile services like AdMob, and signage.
- Once your application is built, will you concentrate on reaching more people by supporting more platforms, or on extending the functionality for the applications you have already built?
- How will you gather data from mobile users and use it to benefit your business? Who is responsible for that data?
- Is this a short-term promotion or a long-term commitment? If it’s long-term, who will maintain the application?
- What’s your model? Is the application actually a product you can charge for, or will you be delivering benefits to the rest of your business?
- How will you measure those benefits?
technology: what types of mobile application are you building?
Most people start their mobile thinking with technology, because the boss told them to build an iPhone app or his daughter is nuts about text messaging. It’s far better to start by solidifying your people, objectives, and strategy. But eventually, you’ll need to know how you’ll deliver mobile value. Your strategy can include one or more of the following:
- Text messaging. Messaging strategies have the enormous benefit that nearly every phone supports them, and over half of U.S. mobile phone users use text messages.Text messages, also known as SMS (short message service), are suited to the timely delivery of perishable information, like eBay auctions; query responses, like stock quotes; and voting and sweepstakes entries.
- Mobile sites. At this writing, one in nine mobile phone customers say they access the Web monthly on their phones; we expect this to grow to 39 percent by 2014. Reconfiguring your site to recognize and deliver content for mobile phones makes sense, but it’s far more than just shoving content around. You’ll need to identify which bits of information are most valuable to mobile users and design layouts, menus, and graphics to deliver them quickly. The emerging Web standard HTML5 will make mobile sites easier to create.
- Apps. Since the iPhone came out, apps are all the rage. While apps can get access to phone features like location, the camera, messaging, and links to other Web sites, they can cost around $100,000 to develop. Since they take a moment for customers to download and take up space on the phone’s display, you’ll need to spend money to promote them to generate awareness and make sure they have value. Another challenge is the variety of incompatible app platforms from Apple, Google, RIM, and others.
Adapted from Empowered: Unleash Your Employees, Energize Your Customers, and Transform Your Business by Josh Bernoff and Ted Schadler (Harvard Business Review Press). Copyright 2010, Forrester Research, Inc.
Related content from GigaOM Pro (subscription req’d):
This spells M-E-D-I-A-D-I-S-R-U-P-T-O-R to me: Paper-Thin Screens With a Twist
By MICHAEL TOTTY
Lots of researchers have been trying to come up with a way to make flexible displays that work like computer screens but with a literal twist—they can be bent, rolled and folded like a sheet of paper.
Journal Reports
Read the complete Technology: Innovation Awards report .
Plus, see the list of the winners and runners-up for The Wall Street Journal's 2010 Technology Innovation Awards, get an update on past winners and read opinions from innovators on what will win in coming years .
The Taiwan-based Industrial Technology Research Institute, or ITRI, won the top prize in this year's Innovation Awards contest for a manufacturing technique that promises to clear the way for commercial development of high-quality displays on flexible materials.
Flexible displays are attractive for several reasons: They're lighter than glass displays, making it possible to build larger consumer devices, such as e-readers or tablet computers, that aren't too heavy. They can also be used in some novel applications, such as interactive newspapers that can be bent or rolled and be as portable as the paper-based versions.
"With a stable, viable and cost-effective flexible-display technology," says Barry H. Jaruzelski, an Innovation Awards judge and a partner at consulting firm Booz & Co., "the door is opened to a wide range of truly new applications in consumer electronics and device interfaces."
But producing flexible displays in commercial quantities has proved challenging. To understand why, and why ITRI's innovation has promise, requires a brief tutorial.
ITRIA flexible display from Taiwan's Industrial Technology Research Institute
Making a flexible display as fully functional as the typical flat-panel computer screen requires layering thin-film transistors on a flexible substrate. Because the flexible material can curl or shift during this process, it's bonded temporarily to a rigid piece of glass. The completed flexible display then has to be detached from the glass without being damaged, which is difficult to do efficiently enough to make the displays on a commercial scale.
ITRI's solution—which it calls FlexUPD, for flexible universal panel for displays—is novel yet simple. It places a "debonding" layer of nonadhesive material between the flexible substrate and the glass. The substrate, which has an adhesive backing, is made slightly larger than the final flexible display and the debonding layer, so it stays steady on the glass. Once the transistors are layered on the substrate and enclosed, the display can be cut out from the excess substrate and easily lifted off the glass.
The idea for the debonding layer, says an ITRI spokeswoman, came from watching cooks prepare paper-thin Taiwanese pancakes, which can be easily peeled from a pan at high temperatures. Cheng-Chung Lee and Tzong-Ming Lee, ITRI division directors, are credited with the idea.
The technique, the institute says, can be used with a variety of displays, including current liquid-crystal-display, or LCD, screens and the next-generation displays made with organic light-emitting diodes, or OLEDs.
ITRI has demonstrated a prototype paper-thin display made with this process, and has licensed the technology to display maker AU Optronics Corp. of Taiwan. The first product using the technology, a flexible display for an e-reader, is planned for release by the end of the year, an ITRI spokeswoman says.
ITRI
Other companies have demonstrated flexible-screen prototypes and plan to bring them to market using a different manufacturing technology. None, including ITRI's technology, have yet seen commercial success, but ITRI says its improvements make its entry more cost-effective than competing technologies. Also, it says, the technology is compatible with existing factories for fabricating displays, so it can be widely adopted by display makers.
Judges for the Innovation Awards, while noting that ITRI is still in the early stages of commercializing the technology, cited the possible benefits of flexible displays. "This looks like a simple and elegant solution to a manufacturing problem," says William Webb, director of technology resources for Ofcom in the U.K.
ITRI, a nonprofit organization, won an Innovation Award in 2009 for its FleXpeaker, a paper-thin loudspeaker system.
Mr. Totty is a news editor for The Journal Report in San Francisco. He can be reached at michael.totty@wsj.com.
And the march of the Code continues... Readable on a Smartphone, Bar Codes Come to TV
From the comfort of their sofas, mobile-phone users can scan a bar code embedded in commercials on certain evening shows on Bravo and instantly obtain additional information about a product and a discount to buy it.
The 45-second commercials by the online fashion retailer Bluefly show snippets of its “Closet Confessions” interviews with designers and celebrities like Bethenny Frankel, who appeared on “The Real Housewives of New York City,” and the Olympic figure skater Johnny Weir.
When the cellphone is pointed at the on-screen bar code, the user is linked to a complete closet-baring episode, which can run as long as five minutes, and offered a $30 discount on a $150 purchase at bluefly.com, which sells designer and other branded clothing and accessories.
“We see this as a great way to expand our audience in a measurable way,” said Bradford Matson, Bluefly’s chief marketing officer. “This is new for us, but we expect our page views to double.”
Bravo’s audience “is very engaged in fashion and pop culture,” said Mr. Matson. In previous seasons, Bluefly worked with Bravo’s popular television series “Project Runway,” where novice designers compete. (The show has since moved to Lifetime.)
Bar codes have been used more widely in Asia and Europe, including on television, but in the United States, the lack of one standard code — reminiscent of the quarrel over VHS and Beta formats — as well as the relatively small number of smartphone users equipped with appropriate software have slowed the technology’s use, said Michael Becker, managing director for North America of the Mobile Marketing Association, the industry’s group.
“Using bar codes is starting to spread,” he said, “because more people are using smartphones, and many of those phones have the scanning application to read the codes.”
Cellphone fees — whether the user has an Internet access plan or pays for each data download — have also hampered such mobile technologies. Even so, a report last month from Nielsen predicted that smartphones, which now account for 25 percent of the domestic mobile market, would overtake standard mobile phones by the end of 2011.
Mr. Becker predicted that bar codes would become more common because “they are simple and quick to use,” he said, “and they trigger a richer, quicker and more interactive experience for the user.”
The Bravo campaign is using the traditional bar code, called a QR, or quick response, code to connect the user wirelessly to Web sites, photos or videos from an advertiser. Its campaign, created internally and produced with Moxie Pictures, employs Scanbuy software. Competitors like JagTag use a different technology and its bar codes can be colorful.
While Bluefly is the first national retailer to use bar codes in its television commercials, the Weather Channel and HBO also have briefly tested the technology. In February, the Weather Channel ran a promotion to urge viewers to gain access to more local weather data by downloading its Android phone application from the bar code on its screen. The Weather Channel reported that mobile application downloads increased by 20 percent.
In May, in the last episode of ABC’s “Lost” series, HBO broadcast a bar code to promote the third season of its summer vampire series, “True Blood,” to audiences in New York, Los Angeles and Philadelphia. The bar code, which was red and black with a drop of blood, was designed by Warbasse Design and ran at the end of a 30-second commercial to advertise the series.
“For now, this is a clever way to make the commercial last longer,” said Philip Warbasse, chief executive of Warbasse Design, based in Santa Monica. “It’s in its infancy now but within a year or two, this will be mainstream with bar codes becoming the preferred method for television advertisers to deliver extras to interested viewers.”
Those extras, in Bluefly’s campaign, include extended peeks into the lavish closets of Ms. Frankel, Mr. Weir, the fashion designer Christian Siriano, Nicky Hilton, the model Harley Viera Newton and the publicist Kelly Cutrone and her young daughter. The commercials will be seen on “Top Chef,” “The Real Housewives of Atlanta,” “The Real Housewives of D.C.,” “Flipping Out,” “Top Chef Just Desserts” and “The Rachel Zoe Project” through the fall season.
Bluefly hopes that the ease and convenience of clicking on a bar code will encourage more viewers to learn about the Web site. Online “Closet Confessions” fans, Mr. Matson said, have increased their shopping orders an average of 50 percent, from $300 to $450.
“We have added new style stars after the Web video series was so successful,” he said. “We got a half-million page views the first month we launched it.” “Closet Confessions,” Mr. Matson said, “is custom-made for the fashion obsessed.”
Friday, September 24, 2010
From Richard Branson, one of my entrepreneur-heroes: Five Secrets to Business Success
I am often asked if I have found a secret – or at least a consistent answer – to successfully building businesses over my career.
So I’ve spent some time thinking about what characterizes so many of Virgin’s successful ventures and, importantly, what went wrong when we did not get it right. Reflecting across 40 years I have come up with five “secrets.”
No. 1: Enjoy What You Are Doing.
Because starting a business is a huge amount of hard work, requiring a great deal of time, you had better enjoy it. When I started Virgin from a basement flat in West London, I did not set out to build a business empire. I set out to create something I enjoyed that would pay the bills.There was no great plan or strategy. The name itself was thought up on the hoof. One night some friends and I were chatting over a few drinks and decided to call our group Virgin, as we were all new to business. The name stuck and had a certain ring to it.
For me, building a business is all about doing something to be proud of, bringing talented people together and creating something that’s going to make a real difference to other people’s lives.
A businesswoman or a businessman is not unlike an artist. What you have when you start a company is a blank canvas; you have to fill it. Just as a good artist has to get every single detail right on that canvas, a businessman or businesswoman has to get every single little thing right when first setting up in business in order to succeed. However, unlike a work of art, the business is never finished. It constantly evolves.
If a businessperson sets out to make a real difference to other people’s lives, and achieves that, he or she will be able to pay the bills and have a successful business to boot.
No. 2: Create Something That Stands Out.
Whether you have a product, a service or a brand, it is not easy to start a company and to survive and thrive in the modern world. In fact, you’ve got to do something radically different to make a mark today.Look at the most successful businesses of the past 20 years. Microsoft, Google or Apple, for example, shook up a sector by doing something that hadn’t ever been done and by continually innovating. They are now among the dominant forces.
No. 3: Create Something That Everybody Who Works for You is Really Proud of.
Businesses generally consist of a group of people, and they are your biggest assets.No. 4: Be a Good Leader.
As a leader you have to be a really good listener. You need to know your own mind but there is no point in imposing your views on others without some debate. No one has a monopoly on good ideas or good advice.Get out there, listen to people, draw people out and learn from them. As a leader you’ve also got to be extremely good at praising people. Never openly criticize people; never lose your temper, and always lavish praise on your colleagues for a job well done.
People flourish if they’re praised. Usually they don’t need to be told when they’ve done wrong because most of the time they know it. If somebody is not working out, don’t automatically throw him or her out of the company. A company should genuinely be a family. So see if there’s another job within the company that suits them better. On most occasions you’ll find something for every single kind of personality.
No. 5: Be Visible.
A good leader does not get stuck behind a desk. I’ve never worked in an office – I’ve always worked from home – but I get out and about, meeting people. It seems I am traveling all the time but I always have a notebook in my back pocket to jot down questions, concerns or good ideas.If I’m on a Virgin Atlantic plane, I make certain to get out and meet all the staff and many of the passengers. If you meet a group of Virgin Atlantic crew members, you are going to have at least 10 suggestions or ideas. If I don’t write them down, I may remember only one the next day. By writing them down, I remember all 10. Get out and shake hands with all the passengers on the plane, and again, there are going to be people who had a problem or have a suggestion. Write it down, make sure that you get their names, get their e-mail addresses, and make sure the next day that you respond to them.
Of course, I try to make sure that we appoint managing directors who have the same philosophy. That way we can run a large group of companies in the same way a small business owner runs a family business – keeping it responsive and friendly.
When you’re building a business from scratch, the key word for many years is “survival.” It’s tough to survive. In the beginning you haven’t got the time or energy to worry about saving the world. You’ve just got to fight to make sure you can look after your bank manager and be able to pay the bills. Literally, your full concentration has to be on surviving.
Obviously, if you don’t survive, just remember that most businesses fail and the best lessons are usually learned from failure. You must not get too dispirited. Just get back up and try again.
© 2010 Richard Branson
See QR codes for more details. Why QR codes are killer app for driving sales and brand loyalty
Why QR codes are killer app for driving sales and brand loyalty
September 24, 2010
The QR codes were found on billboards in NYC and LA
A year ago QR codes were primarily used to complement short-life media such as a newspaper ad. Today’s mobile marketer is taking a more long-term approach to reach a wider audience over an extended period.
We now see QR codes on product packaging of large brands such as Heineken and in the retail environment with retailers such as Gap and Jones New York adopting the technology. Brands finally realize that QR codes give shoppers an immediate connection to additional information that can potentially close a sale.
“The use cases are virtually endless, but Gap has codes in the store to help people decide which jean is the right fit for their body type or Best Buy is using codes to give people product details and user reviews,” said David Javitch, vice president of marketing at Scanbuy, New York.
“A customer already in the store is the closest to making a purchase, so this is a tool that can help them make that decision in one click,” he said.
Mobilizing static media
Marketers can incorporate QR codes to complement traditional marketing efforts.
The codes could link consumers to product demos, videos, the brand’s Facebook or Twitter page, and some are linking directly to mobile commerce sites.Window displays armed with QR codes
In Esquire Magazine, Brooks Brothers has a multi-page spread where the reader can scan to purchase any of the items highlighted in the brand’s fall collection.
“QR codes are very close to the ‘tipping point,' and the fourth quarter will push us over the top,” Mr. Javitch said. “We will be releasing some data next week from our ScanLife platform, but one key stat is that we see more scans in a month than we did in all of 2009 combined.”
That explosive growth is driven by a number of factors.
A QR Code
Smartphone and mobile application adoption is growing quickly.
Additionally, carriers are doing their part to create awareness. For example, Sprint is preloading the application and Verizon is using codes in marketing.
“Consumers told us three years ago that they will scan if the infrastructure and the codes are there, and that is what we are now seeing,” Mr. Javitch said.
Awareness is up
Greater proliferation and awareness has probably been the key for 2D bar code campaigns over the past year – with a range of extremely diverse use cases, according to Laura Marriott, Denver-based acting chief marketing officer of NeoMedia Technologies Inc.There is definitely a trend towards adoption by major global brands and retailers such as Calvin Klein and McDonalds.
Marketers are beginning to take advantage of the ability that QR codes provide to bring engagement and interactivity to marketing and advertising campaigns.
“We are also seeing increased use of QR codes in other areas of enterprise such as logistics as they’re extremely useful mechanisms for track and trace delivery solutions or ticketing,” Ms. Marriott said.
“Mobile ticketing solutions, such as those supplied by NeoMedia, also enable the easy validation of 2D mobile tickets from mobile phone screens – granting consumers immediate access to events and/or transportation, without having to search for paper tickets,” she said.
By embedding QR codes into product or delivery packaging, suppliers and courier companies can establish easy means of tracking workforce progress or keeping their warehouses up to date on stock information.
QR codes are becoming a necessary element for brands to integrate into their cross-media initiatives whether out of home, online, television or print.
For example, by embedding a mobile bar code on a billboard, brands are able to activate the advertisement and engage the consumer on the go.
Once they have established the dialogue with the consumer, whether around product information, movie times, trailers or coupons, they can then continue to correspond, based on consumer opt in, and continue to communicate their brand message.
Analytics based on the consumer scan of the code including time of day and location help brands make better purchase decisions around their advertising and ensure optimal utilization and communication of message.
“Although in their infancy, the potential for brands to leverage mobile bar codes in all of their initiatives is enormous,” Ms. Marriott said. “I don’t believe we have reached a tipping point for QR codes.
“Although we have seen a larger number of brands trialing the mobile bar code capability, the tipping point will come from broader consumer awareness and education on how to scan codes and activate and engage with this new functionality,” she said.
“We are certainly close and brands/agencies are doing a great job of showing the potential for using this hot, new mobile media.”
Anna Kim-Williams, senior global media strategist of the Startup Business Group at Microsoft, Redmond, WA, said that mobile bar codes provide fast access to more information.
Retailers, specifically, can give visitors to their brick and mortar stores immediate access to the same types of in-depth product information they have come to expect online.
“[Tags can be used to] integrate sales channels for a unified experience,” Ms. Kim-Williams said. “Connect various sales channels, including your brick and mortar stores, online stores, and catalogs to provide a more cohesive experience for shoppers.”
Retailers could also use mobile bar codes to create interactive gift cards.
With a QR code on a gift card, retail customers can easily check their balance, find the closest store, or view or listen to a message from the gift giver – and turn those interactions into merchandising opportunities.
QR codes for holiday marketing
A number of retail-related campaigns will be launching this holiday season, per Mr. Javitch.Codes offer a great way to drive people into the store, or incite purchase on the mobile device.
All traditional media from newspaper ads to catalogs should include codes to help make the purchasing decision easier.
For the holidays specifically, marketers can use QR codes to connect consumers with store locators, holiday store hours or to get people sign up for exclusive offers.
“We have seen a few basic best practices that really drive results,” Mr. Javitch said. “Place codes on traditional media that will be relevant to an on-the-go consumer.
“Print, direct mail and point of sale are performing best,” he said. “Take a strategic approach so the code seamlessly links from the traditional placement to something of real value, like an offer or user reviews – and don’t forget to make the content mobile formatted.
“And finally, it’s still important to include a simple call to action next to the code which tells someone what they will find by scanning, and how to get a code scanning app if they don’t have one already.”
Ms. Marriott provided some best practices around the use of QR codes for holiday marketing:
Integrate mobile bar codes into existing digital and traditional media
2D mobile codes are most successful when they are an integral part of the overall campaign – included in both digital and traditional communication channels as a significant element.Focus on consumer education
Given their relatively recent entry into the market, consumer education also needs to paramount in the campaign, with clear instructions on how to scan 2D codes and what kind of information will be received as a result – otherwise consumers may be hesitant to participate.Ensure consumer privacy
Ensure that the consumer’s experience and privacy of interaction is safeguarded in all instances.Ensure code integration is effective and appropriate for medium
2D codes should also be printed in black and white, and if utilizing on a media that has a reflective element, adapted appropriately for the medium.Ensure campaigns are fully tested
Test and test again to ensure that the code works accurately and efficiently. Indeed, any content or service that is triggered by scanning a mobile bar code should be tested to ensure that it works, that it is optimized for mobile and delivers on the value promised to the consumer. This is absolutely fundamental to the consumer experience and interaction with your campaign.Utilize global, open standards, not proprietary technologies or codes
The deployment of proprietary solutions should also be avoided as it can limit consumer access or market penetration, which will clearly impact on results. The use of mobile bar code solutions that are based on open standards is therefore vital.Define your expected results
Prior to launching the campaign, ensure you have an understanding of success metrics for the campaign and how to measure them so that you and your brand are able to confirm and assure success.Have fun!
Mobile bar codes provide an easy means for the consumer to interact with your brand. Have fun and get creative in the campaigns that you deploy to ensure efficiency and high response rates for all participants."There are a variety of ways Microsoft Tag can be incorporated into holiday mobile initiatives whether through contests, coupons or information about holiday sales," Ms. Kim-Williams said.
"Marketers can also provide additional product information and help consumers make purchasing decisions through Tags posted at POS or on store shelves," she said.
Use cases
Last month Verizon Wireless placed QR codes throughout a multichannel campaign to promote its Droid devices and the Warner Bros. film "Inception" that included print ads, in-store displays, direct mail, Web sites and iPad ads.The campaign achieved 175,000 bar code scans (see story).
Heineken has placed 2D bar codes on all packaging for Heineken and Heineken Light, including six-packs, 12-packs and cases, across the United States for the summer season. Consumers who participate in the sweepstakes scanning a 2D bar code can win a free application or music downloads, t-shirts and Fender guitars (see story).
Warner Home Video Canada placed 2D bar codes on pizza boxes to promote new DVD and Blu-ray releases (see story).
Simmons Bedding Co. has rolled out an in-store QR tagging application to simplify the buying process for consumers as they shop for mattresses and bedding at JCPenney stores (see story).
Jones New York launched a smart store design in its Macy’s Herald Square location to enhance the shopping experience by letting consumers interact with apparel using their smartphones.
The store design uses Microsoft Tags to direct consumers through the shopping experience, from selecting a suit to styling it. It is targeted at time-starved women who are balancing work and family while trying to find time for themselves (see story).
Tips
Ms. Kim-Williams suggests "Tag-rich" environments. If an end user sees multiple bar codes in their environment, they are way more likely to interact than if they see one or two.Experiences optimized for mobile are key.
On occasion, companies try to take the easy way out and not optimize the content for mobile. This is not a wise decision.
End users have a low tolerance for bad user experience on their mobile device. Simply linking to a PC Web site is one of the quickest ways to ensure failure, per Ms. Kim-Williams.
Mixing it up is also key.
Bar codes is interesting because they can be can linked to a broad range of experiences.
Marketers can mix it up and link to mobile Web sites, video, slide shows, contests and promotions.
The phrase, "content is king," plays an important role in the practice of QR codes.
"I know this is an old saying, but it still holds true with 2D bar coding," Ms. Kim-Williams said. "You have to provide end users with compelling content at the end of a scan.
"If the content isn't seen as valuable to the scanner, there is a high likelihood they won't come back for more," she said.
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Friday, September 17, 2010
New Paradigms. New Models. New World. Inspiring. From NYT:Leaving a Giant Agency to Start a Boutique
Co:, with a colon, is the name of an agency being opened in New York by Ty Montague and Rosemarie Ryan, who surprised Madison Avenue in March by disclosing that they would leave their senior posts at the giant JWT for an entrepreneurial venture. The name — perhaps one of the pithiest for any agency — is meant to suggest the Co: business model by evoking words like co-creation, collaboration and co-venturing.
Fittingly, Mr. Montague and Ms. Ryan had been co-presidents of the North American operations of JWT, part of WPP; she arrived at the agency in 2004 and he joined a year later. Mr. Montague had also been chief creative officer for North America. They joined a lengthy list of top executives of large agencies who have recently left to open their own shops, take ownership stakes in smaller agencies or, in some instances, quit advertising.
“We’re in a period of great change in the business,” Mr. Montague said in an interview. He and Ms. Ryan, who are both 47, are “in a period of our lives to do our own things,” he said.
Ms. Ryan, who joined Mr. Montague for the interview, chimed in, “Or never do our own things.” (They frequently finished each other’s sentences during a 30-minute chat, discussing their plans with a reporter for the first time since they left JWT.)
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The pair said they knew the world was not waiting for another agency, but one with a nontraditional approach may be welcomed by marketers looking for different approaches to solving problems and selling products.
Mr. Montague and Ms. Ryan, whose titles at Co: are co-founders, described the agency as a “brand studio,” likening it to a movie studio that provides money and infrastructure to a continually changing lineup of actors, writers, directors and producers.
At Co:, “teams are formed around individual client needs,” Mr. Montague said, “and when the needs are satisfied, the teams are dispersed.”
To form those teams, Co: will draw from a list of “co-conspirators” — 40 agencies, consultancies and firms that specialize in tasks like media services, digital and interactive marketing, public relations, social media, design, brand identity, event marketing, technology, ideation and gaming.
“It’s forming relationships with specialist experts,” Mr. Montague said, or, he added, laughing, “coalitions of the willing.”
Those potential collaborators — a mix of established and fledgling agencies — include Big Spaceship, Blue State Digital, Campfire, Collins, Consigliere, Creative Feed, DKC Public Relations and Integrated Marketing, Horizon Media, MediaLink, Naked Communications, Powell Communications, Propellerfish, Red Bricks Media, Vast Ventures and Victors & Spoils.
“Ty and I have always been looking for something to work on together,” said Brian Collins, chief creative officer at Collins in New York, which works on design, brand experiences and brand strategy.
Mr. Collins compared how he will work with Co: to when he led the Brand Innovation Group at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide and collaborated with agencies like AKQA and Wieden & Kennedy on assignments for clients like Coca-Cola. Co: is opening with four clients, two of which Mr. Montague and Ms. Ryan named: Madison Square Garden, for the New York Knicks, and MTV Networks, for the Spike cable channel. The others are a “luxury conglomerate” and a consultancy, Ms. Ryan said.
Howard Jacobs, senior vice president for marketing and ticket sales at the MSG Sports unit of Madison Square Garden, said he was attracted to Co: because the task he confronts — “how do you reignite the deeply passionate relationship that existed between the City of New York and the Knicks?” — is “so clearly not an ‘advertising exercise’ ” but rather requires “a multidisciplinary approach, part strategy, part storytelling, part brand creation, part technology, part design.”
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“We’re going to access the various resources Co: offers and throw some of our own in there,” Mr. Jacobs said, to determine “what is the future of fan engagement” with the team.
Co: is also interested in generating revenue through investing in or starting businesses, which agencies like Anomaly and Bartle Bogle Hegarty also do in addition to marketing work. That explains the presence of Vast Ventures on the list of collaborators.
“I’m an adviser to Ty and Rosemarie and plan to be a ‘co-conspirator,’ looking at opportunities with them to potentially invest in,” said Doug Chertok, chief executive at Vast Ventures in New York.
“And I plan to invest in Co:,” he added.
Co: is opening with two senior executives in addition to Mr. Montague and Ms. Ryan. They are Neil Parker, 45, chief strategy officer, who was most recently global head of strategy at Wolff Olins, part of the Omnicom Group, and Richard Schatzberger, 33, chief technology officer, who was most recently director for creative technology at Bartle Bogle Hegarty.
There are plans to hire a fifth senior executive, Ms. Ryan said, a chief commercial officer who would “help us run the co-venture side.”
Mr. Montague said the pair “had a great run at JWT,” but “it just felt it was time” to “cast our lot outside” the realm of worldwide agency networks.
As for being entrepreneurial in this economy, tough times often bring on “a period of innovation,” he added.
“Starting a business is energizing, exciting and a little bit scary,” Mr. Montague said. “When you wake up every day, you don’t quite know what’s going to happen next.”
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