Rand McNally maps out mobile strategy with QR codes
By Chantal Tode
April 25, 2012
Road atlas is mobilized via QR codes and an app
Rand McNally is recruiting mobile to enhance the functionality and drive engagement for its latest road atlas via QR codes and a new mobile application.
To meet the needs of the increasingly connected car traveler, the new edition of the Rand McNally Road Atlas includes QR codes on several pages, enabling readers to access additional content such as suggested road trips. There is also a new smartphone app called Best of the Road that enables readers to share reviews on specific destinations by linking to the online Best of the Road community.
“Mobile allows the Atlas to be better used as a trip-planning device, allowing for up to the minute information to be communicated,” said Jennifer Cavallo, product manager for the Road Atlas line at Rand McNally, Skokie, IL.
“While on the road, mobile content can be helpful for discovering close-by and unique stops, emergency services, and other information on the road ahead,” she said. “We also plan to use QR codes on our state maps, beginning this summer.”
An evolving strategy
The new app enables users to participate in Rand McNally’s Best of the Road program, which is taking place this summer, by sharing destination reviews and place nominations for the best small town. It is currently available for the iPhone and will soon also be available for Android smartphones.Users of the app can read reviews of the best small towns and view photos, blogs and bios from bestoftheroad.com. They can also find nearby points of interest, watch videos from the 2011 Best of the Road Rally and browse over 250 road trips.
Best of the Road is a community of road travelers reviewing the best stops on America’s roads, nominating the best small towns and discussing points of interest along the way.
The QR codes provide instant access to travel videos and state-by-state overviews with suggested road trips. Users can also scan a QR in the road atlas to access the Best of the Road user review app.
Rand McNally has been using QR codes in its road atlas for several years and continues to evolve the strategy.
“The QR codes allow us to easily direct the user to rich content such as videos, specific editorial, and up-to-the minute destination information,” Ms. Cavallo said.
Essential planning tool
According to the publisher, the QR codes on the front cover of the atlas receive the most scans. QR codes can also be found on the coupons page, the U.S. overview map and all state map pages.Having QR codes enables the publisher to update offers on the coupon pages and tailor information to a specific place.
Travel-related brands such as Rand McNally are increasingly embracing mobile because of the convenience it offers busy travelers who are looking for a restaurant, hotel or other destination when they are on they are traveling.
“We continue to evolve the integration of the atlas to other media in order to increase the relevance to the end user, and make the Atlas an even more essential planning tool,” Ms. Cavallo said.
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Rand McNally maps out mobile strategy with QR codes - Mobile Marketer - Content
DailyDOOH » Blog Archive » First Look At #digitalsignageasia 2012
Digital Signage World Asia 2012 seems much smaller now than its last staging almost 2 years ago.
Exhibition-wise at least it seems that the global heavy-hitters have shied away, leaving their integrators to press the flesh – HP, Microsoft were there by proxy and it looked like only Intel was inside – literally.
Still, there were some reasons to smile. Korea’s D4 showed off its transparent screen, which works to virtually contextualize tangible objects on display behind it – a couple of people have already emailed us to say this is the likely star of the exhibit space, EdMalaysia’s MySignBox boldly announced a bid to break into the US market with its Microsoft Cloud-based ‘DIY’ system that regionally taps the Asian entrepreneurial bent by offering a player for ‘emerging’ retailers and their chains.
Co-founder Tumin Chook (shown to the right here with his device) thinks the DIY market in the US is ripe for his solution.
Day 1 of the exhibition was understandably heavily retail-flavored, considering that the event was co-located with retail, cards and payments events. A good sign perhaps that applications in Asia’s Digital Signage space, seem at pace with its technologies.
The conference proper starts tomorrow.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 25th, 2012 at 07:34 @357 and is filed under DailyDOOH Update. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
DailyDOOH » Blog Archive » First Look At #digitalsignageasia 2012
Digital Signage World Asia 2012 seems much smaller now than its last staging almost 2 years ago. Exhibition-wise at least it seems that the global heavy-hitters have shied away, leaving their integrators to press the flesh – HP, Microsoft were there by proxy and it looked like only Intel was inside – literally.
Still, there were some reasons to smile. Korea’s D4 showed off its transparent screen, which works to virtually contextualize tangible objects on display behind it.Malaysia’s MySignBox boldly announced a bid to break into the US market with its Microsoft Cloud-based ‘DIY’ system that regionally taps the Asian entrepreneurial bent by offering a player for ‘emerging’ retailers and their chains.
Co-founder Tumin Chook thinks the DIY market in the US is ripe for his devices.
Day 1 of the exhibition was understandably heavily retail-flavored, considering that the event was co-located with retail, cards and payments events. A good sign perhaps that applications in Asia’s Digital Signage space, seem at pace with its technologies.
The conference proper starts tomorrow.
@mysignbox are on booth 4010
This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 25th, 2012 at 07:34 @357 and is filed under DailyDOOH Update. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Friday, April 20, 2012
How to make a megaflop | The Economist via PNDy-Liacco
Schumpeter
How to make a megaflop
Three simple rules to ensure humiliating failure
Mar 31st 2012 | from the print edition
MEL BROOKS’S classic comedy, “The Producers”, tells of two crooks who try to cheat their investors by producing a sure-fire theatrical flop. Alas, the production is so ridiculous—a celebration of “the true Hitler…the Hitler with a song in his heart” performed by semi-deranged actors—that the audience loves it.
“John Carter”, Disney’s latest offering, sounds almost as ridiculous. A veteran of the American civil war is somehow transported to Mars, forced to wear a loin cloth and confronted with a succession of monsters. But the other two elements of the equation are reversed. Disney hired one of its most reliable hit-makers, Andrew Stanton (of “Wall-E” and “Finding Nemo” fame), to write and direct the $300m project in the hope of producing another megafranchise. But “John Carter” looks set to be a megaflop, down there with “Heaven’s Gate”, “Ishtar” and “Cutthroat Island”. The film made a pathetic $30m during its opening weekend in America; the studio has taken a $200m write-down.
In this sectionRelated topicsFlops are part of business life. They are most conspicuous in the entertainment business, where public taste is hard to predict. But you can find them in any industry that depends on launching products and generating buzz. The number of flops may well be on the increase: seven of Hollywood’s ten biggest flops, adjusted for inflation, have been released since 2000 (only last year Walt Disney produced another red-planet related stinker in the form of “Mars Needs Moms”). There are more products competing for people’s attention than ever before, and on more media. Businesses have less time to break through the noise; big films routinely open on 3,000 screens, but quickly scale down if seats are unfilled. More businesses are becoming like Hollywood: to launch a product they must spend a fortune on marketing, which may all be wasted.
Is there a secret sauce for failure? A guaranteed way for the modern equivalent of Mel Brooks’s producers to produce a megaflop? The answer is a qualified “yes”. There are three principles that have proven particularly effective over the years.
First: slaughter a sacred cow. The most spectacular slaughter, of course, was Coca-Cola’s decision to kill off the drink that gave it life. Coca-Cola was arguably the most beloved American brand ever—“the sublimated essence of all that America stands for,” in the words of one journalist, “a decent thing, honestly made.” But in 1985 the company decided to replace “the real thing” with a new Coke, ostensibly on the grounds that it had discovered a new, tastier “secret formula” but in reality because it was worried about Pepsi’s growing market share.
Coca-Cola quickly discovered that it was merely the custodian of the brand, rather than its owner. Angry Coke-drinkers accused the company of doing the equivalent of redesigning the American flag or blasting Teddy Roosevelt off Mount Rushmore. One group complained that the company was violating their freedom of choice. (“We went to war with Japan over that freedom,” they sputtered.) Less than three months after their foolish decision, Coke’s bosses grovelled to customers and reintroduced classic Coke.
Second: mix oil and water. Theatrical impresarios are the masters of this—over the years they have tried, unwisely, to turn Hamlet, Lolita and Ernest Hemingway’s drunken last days into musicals. ABC once added song and dance to an otherwise formulaic cop drama, “Cop Rock”. Other industries have made similar mistakes, albeit less noisily. McDonald’s spent $100m launching a burger for upmarket customers, the Arch Deluxe. The snag was: who goes to McDonald’s for upmarket food? Ford once produced a pickup truck for the luxury market. Same problem. Bengay tried to stretch its heat-rub brand into the aspirin market. Ouch. Colgate made TV dinners; you could eat one and then brush your teeth with Colgate toothpaste. Few found this appetising.
Third: produce a genuinely awful product. The Ford Pinto had a nasty habit of catching fire if it was rear-ended (the petrol tank was behind the rear axle). Microsoft’s Vista operating system appeared to be incompatible with every other programme. Worst of all was the former Yugoslavia’s Yugo car. It enjoyed such a successful launch that hundreds bought it sight unseen. The trouble began when they tried to drive it. Consumer Reports slammed it: the bonnet (hood to Americans) came loose, the rear window-washer quit, the ignition switch broke and the brakes squealed, the review complained. Motor Trend reported that it even broke down during a road test. “What comes with every Yugo’s owner’s manual?” went one of the thousands of jokes inspired by the car. Answer: “a bus schedule”.
Fear of flopping
Still, the surest way to guarantee failure in the long term is to be so paralysed by the fear of it that you don’t try anything new. The line that separates a hit from a flop is thin. Companies sometimes have to slaughter sacred cows to escape obsolescence: IBM only recovered from its death spiral when it abandoned its focus on building hardware. Some of the most successful products are the result of mixing oil and water—most obviously, phones with computers and entertainment systems.
What looks like a flop can flip into a success. After New Coke fizzled, sales of the original version rebounded, lifting the firm’s stock price and reviving what had been a fading brand. Pringles (the stackable crisps, not the alarming jumpers worn by golfers) started life as one of Procter & Gamble’s greatest flops. They are now munched everywhere, including over this kybard#. This is not to say that readers should put aside their doubts and spend good money watching a civil-war veteran battling monsters on Mars. But the existence of flops such as “John Carter” is perverse proof that the Walt Disney Company is doing something right.
from the print edition | Business
Thursday, April 19, 2012
If 80% of the population is unbanked, the formal economy has to be the shadow. | From PDI: Most Filipinos have no bank accounts
Most Filipinos have no bank accounts—BSP survey
By: Michelle V. Remo
Philippine Daily Inquirer11:49 pm | Wednesday, April 18th, 2012 Posted by clopez-->share28
A bank teller prepares stacks of P500 denomination for the bank’s automated cash dispenser in this file photo. About 8 of 10 heads of Filipino households do not have any bank accounts because they do not have enough money to deposit, according to a survey by the Philippine central bank. AFP PHOTO/ROMEO GACAD
About 8 of 10 heads of Filipino households do not have any bank accounts, and most do not have enough cash saved up for emergencies.
These are some of the highlights of the first Consumer Finance Survey (CFS) conducted by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. Monetary officials said the results of the survey underscored the pressing need for the banking sector to reach out to more Filipino consumers and teach them the value of saving.
Based on the survey, most respondents who said their families did not have any savings accounts also saw no need to apply for any type of bank account because they would not have enough money to deposit. Other reasons cited were the high amount of minimum deposit balance required by banks and the aversion of most respondents in dealing with banks.
According to survey, about 4 of 10 households do not have any cash on hand to be used in case of emergency, while 6 of 10 households have very little cash to spare. Average cash on hand of Filipino families that may be used for emergencies stand at only P1,681.
These results may be traced partly to insufficiency of income. Also, lack of access to banks and the high tendency of Filipinos to spend—rather than save or invest—greatly influenced the results of the survey, the central bank said.
BSP Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. said in a press conference Wednesday that the survey revealed the need for greater effort “towards a more inclusive financial system,” where more people would have access to bank products and services, such as deposits and loans.
Such an effort is necessary, Tetangco said, if the government hopes to reduce poverty incidence.
He pointed out that the public’s savings are what the banking sector uses to extend loans to fund job-generating investments. Moreover, loans granted to microenterprises serve to lift the income of most poor people.
Tetangco said results of the survey also raised the need for tighter monitoring of financial transactions of consumers outside the formal banking sector.
The survey showed that some Filipinos are inclined to deal with informal moneylenders, which may include loan sharks, to finance their needs. One of 10 respondents said they have dealt with moneylenders.
“There is a need to look into shadow banking transactions,” Tetangco said.
BSP Assistant Governor Ma. Cyd Tuaño-Amador said that currently, the government has no sufficient resources to regulate individual moneylenders. She said, however, that what the BSP can do at the moment is to strengthen its financial literacy campaign by making people aware of the risks in dealing with informal lenders.
“Education of the public may help a lot in consumer protection,” Amador said.
Another interesting result of the survey is that 2 of 10 Filipino households depend solely or partly on remittances to support their expenditure requirements, indicating the importance of overseas Filipino workers in financially supporting households in the Philippines.
Moreover, 7 of 10 Filipino households are not risk takers, prefering to rely on fixed income rather than invest in businesses.
The survey, which took a few years to complete, covered 10,520 households nationwide. Data was collected from November 2009 to January 2010.
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Tags: Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas , bank accounts , Filipinos , Philippines , survey
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
From Mobile Marketer: Top 10 QR code campaigns of Q1
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Top 10 QR code campaigns of Q1
By Rimma Kats
April 18, 2012
Taco Bell taps QR codes to drive engagement
Nowadays there is a love/hate relationship with QR codes. However, although many are against mobile bar codes, brands such as Starbucks, Kraft and Taco Bell are proving them to be essential to targeting new and existing consumers.
Over the past year, QR codes have gained momentum. Mobile bar codes are constantly being seen on billboards, bus shelters and product packaging to not only drive user engagement, but sales as well.
Here are the top 10 QR code campaigns of the first quarter, in alphabetical order.
Bath & Body Works
Earlier this year, personal care retailer Bath & Body Works used mobile bar codes to strengthen its social media strategy.More brands are using mobile to ramp up their social efforts. For this campaign, Bath & Body works sent out direct mail pieces that promoted its line of fragrance products that tied in with an in-store promotion.
When consumers scanned the mobile bar code they were directed to Bath & Body Works’ Facebook page where they could engage with other fans, as well as learn more about the company’s new products.
By placing QR codes on its direct mail pieces, Bath & Body works was able to engage its existing customer base.
There was also a prominent call-to-action on the direct mail piece that encouraged users to connect with the brand on Facebook by scanning the QR code.
A campaign such as this is a great way to continue a consumer relationship, beyond just a simple direct piece.
Bath & Body Works was able to keep the conversation going using mobile.
Chili’s
Chili’s Grill & Bar is no stranger to mobile.
The company is proving that mobile bar codes are core part of its marketing strategy by placing them on menus to advertise new products.
Chili’s has placed QR codes at more than 800 corporate-owned restaurants in the United States. The company is also experimenting with mobile bar codes on its children’s menus.
The Chili’s QR code campaign aimed to promote healthier living. The mobile bar codes linked to seven new healthy Chili’s menu items.
Consumers were encouraged to scan the mobile bar codes to view nutritional information and learn more about the dishes.
Coca-Cola/7-Eleven
Coca-Cola’s Powerade partnered with 7-Eleven to put QR codes the Big Gulp cups.The campaign let March Madness basketball fans view exclusive video content.
Each of the four collectible cups featured a mobile bar code that linked to Powerade’s mobile site where CBS Sports Analyst, Greg Anthony hosted a brief video a featured big play.
The mobile bar code campaign was a limited-time initiative.
Additionally, the video content was exclusive to 7-Eleven, compliments of Powerade.
The campaign was a great way for 7-Eleven to engage consumers in-store. Powerade also enticed them to scan the mobile bar code to view exclusive content.
Duane Reade
New York drugstore Duane Reade took an innovative route with its QR code campaign.The company placed mobile bar codes on its store windows to drive social media impressions and foot traffic.
The Duane Reade QR codes could clearly be seen when consumers passed the store location. The “Get Social with Duane Reade” campaign was part of Duane Reade’s major digital push in 2012.
Duane Reade also heavily integrated social into its mobile bar code campaign by placing Facebook, Twitter, foursquare and YouTube icons right next to the QR code.
Placing mobile bar codes on store windows is a great way to stop consumers in their tracks and let them engage with the brand.
Additionally, by adding social aspects, users are able to stay in touch with Duane Reade no matter if they are using Facebook, Twitter, foursquare or Youtube to do so.
Johnny Rockets
Unlike many companies who use QR codes to drive in-store traffic, sales or even their social efforts, Johnny Rockets used the technology to builds its email database.The international restaurant chain placed QR codes on signage throughout its locations to encourage consumers to join its Rocket e-club and receive local updates and deals.
The initiative was a smart move for the company in many ways.
For example, when consumers were sitting in a booth in the restaurant and waiting for their meal, there was a sign on their table that featured a QR code and encouraged them to scan it to learn more about how they can sign up for deals.
When users scanned the mobile bar code they were redirected to a mobile landing page where they could sign up to receive special offers and featured promotions.
Consumers were asked to enter their email address, full name, address, city, state, ZIP code, birthday and which Johnny Rockets location they frequent most.
In addition to QR codes, Johnny Rockets also used SMS to build its database by having consumers text the keyword ROCKETS000 to the short code 99158.
KFC
KFC was out of the mobile scene for a while, but when it came down to promoting its new Classic Pot Pie, the fast food giant went full force.In addition to running mobile ads that promoted the new product, KFC also placed QR codes that let consumers vie for a chance to win hundreds of prizes given away every hour.
Prizes included a trip to Las Vegas, KFC chicken for a year, Dr. Pepper for a year or a one year premium Slacker Personal Radio subscription.
When users scanned the QR code they were redirected to a mobile landing page where they could enter the code featured on their soft drink cup.
Consumers also had the option of sharing the sweepstakes with friends and family through Facebook and Twitter. If they shared it, they received another free code.
The campaign was innovative because instead of placing the QR codes on in-store signage, KFC put them on its soft drink cups where more eyes would see it.
Additionally, by linking to a sweepstakes consumers are more inclined to scan the mobile bar code.
Kraft
As part of its multichannel marketing campaign earlier this year to promote the company’s line of cheeses, Kraft decided to add a QR code component.Kraft put mobile bar codes on five different cheese products and announced plans that it would place QR codes on more products in the future.
Each product has a unique mobile bar code. When consumers scanned the QR code, they were taken to a mobile landing page where they could view a recipe about the particular cheese product.
In addition to placing mobile bar codes on its packaging, the company is also placing QR codes on print advertisements.
The campaign was a smart move for Kraft because it featured recipes that consumers could make using the company’s products.
By using mobile, Kraft was able to engage consumers and have them coming back to buy more of its products to use on future recipes.
Samuel Adams
Samuel Adams placed QR codes on where its targeted customers would see it best – bar coasters.Samuel Adams parent company Boston Beer worked with Wall Printing Co. to create interactive four-panel coasters that folded in a series of directions to reveal the different panels.
A QR code was featured prominently on one of the panels and encouraged bar customers to scan it for a special offer.
According to the company, the coasters were meant to make people notice the Samuel Adams brand and the special offer.
The campaign was also a great way for Samuel Adams to learn more about consumers by having them enter their name, email address, mailing address and date of birth after they scanned the QR code to receive a coupon.
Starbucks
When it comes to mobile, Starbucks is always ahead of the game.When it came to promote its new coffee roasts, Starbucks used QR codes.
The coffee giant let consumers find their favorite roast via a new campaign. Starbucks handed out bookmark fliers throughout its in-store locations to promote its Blonde, Medium and Dark coffee roasts.
In addition to including a coupon on the bookmark flyer, there was also a mobile bar code that let consumers vote for their favorite roast and watch a video to learn more about the company’s coffee.
The bookmark fliers were a smart move because they not only featured a coupon that consumers were able to redeem, but the QR code was also prominently included and there were directions that let consumers know that they could scan the mobile bar code to learn more about the new products.
Taco Bell/Doritos
Taco Bell has been heavily using QR codes in the past year.To promote its new Doritos Locos Tacos product, the fast food giant placed mobile bar codes on its packaging, as well as ran targeted mobile ads.
Music played a key role in the Doritos Locos Tacos campaign.
Taco Bell integrated its brand and Doritos Locos Tacos at the Feed the Beat Concert Series.
Those that did not attend the show could still view performances by scanning the QR codes featured on the Doritos Locos Tacos holsters, which led users to exclusive video content showcasing performances from the Hype Hotel.
A new performance was featured each week.
By placing the QR codes on its packaging, consumers were able to clearly see the call-to-action and scan the mobile bar code to engage with the brand.
Final Take
Rimma Kats is associate editor on Mobile Marketer, New YorkAssociate Editor Rimma Kats covers media, television, research and social networks. Reach her at rimma@mobilemarketer.com.
Related content: Software and technology, Taco Bell, Doritos, Samuel Adams, Starbucks, Chilis, Kraft, Bath and Body Works, KFC, Duane Reade, Coca Cola, 7 Eleven, Johnny Rockets, QR codes, mobile bar codes, mobile marketing, mobile
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Let's hope Remittance Rates start falling fast now... From TNW: TransferWise Scores $1.3 Million From PayPal Co-Founder, Others
There’s probably not a single person on the planet who thinks foreign-currency transfers are cheap, or even priced reasonably, unless he or she works for a bank.
Yet surprisingly, there hasn’t been that much innovation in the space so far. A new European startup co-founded by one of the people who joined Skype when it was still a cute little baby company aims to change all that, and they’ve received backing from some heavy-hitters who would like to see them succeed as well.
TransferWise, as the Estonian company is called, is today announced seed funding to the tune of $1.3 million for its crowdsourced money transfer service. The capital injection is one thing, but in this case it’s also worth noting who invested.
Backed early by Seedcamp, TransferWise has received new funding from IA Ventures, Index Ventures, PayPal and Slide co-founder Max Levchin in addition to a group of unnamed ‘strategic’ angel investors (including the people behind household names in the financial tech industry, such as Wonga, Betfair and PayPal).
Seedcamp participated in the funding as well, along with early-stage investment firms Kima Ventures and The Accelerator Group.
TransferWise’s mission is, or sounds, deceptively simple: to make moving money from one place to another securely and quickly at a minimal cost.
It employs a peer-to-peer model to get the best foreign currency exchange and transfer rate for end consumers, bypassing banks, and has already saved its early users over half a million pounds since its launch in January 2011.
All TransferWise money transfers are handled according to the real mid-market exchange rates that traditional, big banks receive on the interbank market, only they will charge a heap more for (often hidden) ‘services’ rendered.
Instead, TransferWise uses the mid-market rate, and charges only a low, nominal flat fee on small transfers (just £1 on transfers up to £300).
Currently, the startup only supports payments through its digital platform between the UK and eurozone countries, but they are obviously looking to expand to other currencies in the near future.
Importantly, TransferWise is licensed by the UK Financial Services Authority as an Authorised Payment Institution.
A video embedded below shows you how it works.
TransferWise’s early-adopting users include expats, international students, pensioners who moved abroad but also, increasingly, small to medium-sized businesses looking to steer clear of the red tape and high cost involved with money transfer today, the startup tells us.
TransferWise was co-founded by Taavet Hinrikus, who played an instrumental role in getting Skype off the ground back in the day after working as a product manager for Joltid, the company that basically invented the P2P content delivery network that is still the foundation of Skype today.
The other co-founder is Kristo Kaarmann, a financial services expert who previously spearheaded strategic efforts with Deloitte and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
The startup has set up shop in East London at TechCity UK.
Roger Ehrenberg, founder and managing partner at IA Ventures, will join TransferWise’s board of directors. Which makes sense:
Ehrenberg used to be president and CEO of DB Advisors, Deutsche Bank’s internal hedge fund trading platform, before becoming an angel investor, and later a venture capitalist. He’s invested in companies like bitly, Buddy Media, Clickable and TweetDeck and serves on the boards of Datasift, Metamarkets and Simple.com.
With this kind of backing, it’ll be interesting to see how far TransferWise goes in its quest to bring transparency to the world of foreign money exchanges and transfers.
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Monday, April 16, 2012
Good news! Wasn't too happy w/ Moodle. | From TechCrunch.com: 1M Users Strong, Schoology Grabs $6M To Take On Blackboard, Moodle
Schoology, the makers of a one-stop, cloud-based learning management system for primary and secondary schools, is announcing today that it has closed a $6 million Series B round of venture funding. The round was led by FirstMark Capital and includes a contribution from existing investor Meakem Becker Venture Capital, bringing the New York-based startup’s total funding to $9.3 million.
For those unfamiliar, Schoology is building on the concept behind services like BlackBoard, Moodle, and Edmodo by way of a collaborative learning platform that allows schools to integrate online education, classroom management, and social networking through a good-looking, Facebook-esque interface. The cloud-based solution is available both for free, as a stand-alone product, and as a fee-based, enterprise-grade solution for schools and districts.
The appeal of Schoology for teachers is that they’re able to sign up for the service in a few minutes and can easily invite their students into the system using a unique access code. Therein, teachers can build a curriculum, create lesson plans, assign tests and quizzes, while students can submit their homework and join groups to participate in collaborative study projects, etc. Teachers can then grade assignments and also have the ability to take advantage of collaboration and content sharing with other educators within their school or school district, as well as adding apps into their workflow.
Schoology believes that its value proposition is in the way that its platform can be used across schools and spaces, allowing a diversity of organizations to participate in shared classes, groups, and discussions. In this sense, as FirstMark Managing Director Amish Jani says, Schoology doesn’t need to spend months and years convincing heads of a school system that the technology suits their needs, instead, “users simply adopt it, and Schoology then has the privilege of notifying districts or universities about additional capabilities available to them with a few clicks of a button.”
The goal is to push schools towards the adoption of Open Educational Resources. As education adopts digital textbooks, adaptive learning, and the flipped classroom, there will increasingly be a need for platforms that bring these next-gen technologies together. Schoology wants to be that platform, much in the same way that Boundless Learning is approaching the problem through creating open, expanded digital textbooks as the framework for the future of educational platforms.
Schoology hopes that the fact that its system integrates with existing platforms (the startup offers teachers the ability to quickly export their Moodle courses directly into Schoology) and offers social networking functionality, will result in a network effect. And there’s reason to believe that it’s beginning to work, as Schoology today has nearly one million users on the platform, across 18,000 schools.
Next, as content can be built, shared, and purchased from directly within its platform, Schoology wants to encourage developers to get in on the action and begin building a wider set of smart, educational apps for use by teachers and their students. Jani also pointed out that teachers can “be given micro-credits to personalize the system for their needs, and parents can be invited to participate in the educational process,” which can, in the long run, significantly contribute to this network effect, as well as offering that much-needed customization layer that adds to the appeal of enterprise-grade services.
Schoology’s vision for its technology also extends beyond the classroom, as any organization that wants to offer continued learning or on-the-job training can use the platform as an educational tool for its workers. Groupon, for example, has been using Schoology for sales field training, offering sales managers the opportunity to quickly educate new employees by sharing its own proprietary materials that need to be learned. They can then offer quick quizzes and tests on the material, upload new guidelines, and offer a general resource for revisiting sales, best practices, etc.
It’s no easy feat to offer an interface that remains intuitive both during basic, say, homework sharing, and in its more complex user management functions. Keeping the barriers low enough so that it can be used effectively in classrooms or at a corporate level to train and educate employees, while offering enough customization for both use cases is a difficult line to walk. But Schoology seems to be finding the balance as a full-service, cloud-based learning management system that looks good and is actually easy to use.
For more, check out Schoology at home here.
Learn moreSchoology provides a SaaS course management system built on a social networking platform, marketed toward K-12 schools and higher education. Schoology enables students and educators to manage classroom work while having the ability to seamlessly communicate and collaborate through a safe and secure network. Schoology allows for individual subscriptions and school-wide packages. Individual subscriptions allow schools to try the system in a limited number of classrooms before deciding to implement on a larger scale. Teachers and professors can sign up...
Learn moreFirstMark Capital was previously named Pequot Ventures. Pequot was the $2 billion venture arm of hedge fund Pequot Capital Management, but in March 2008 it was spun off as a separate business and renamed. Over the past dozen years, the venture firm has opened seven funds, and it currently has $1 billion in actively managed and unallocated capital. The fund focuses on emerging media and advertising, data and analytics, and infrastructure startups.
"Music is both content and media." Nail hit right on its head. From Fastcocreate.com: 4 Rules For Making Music Work In Marketing
Brands have leveraged music in marketing for a long time, producing iconic spots such as Coca-Cola’s “Hilltop” commercial in the ‘70s and the last decade of Apple iPod ads featuring bands from U2 to Feist. There’s no denying that an effective way into a consumer’s heart is through their ears.
With new technologies in the digital and mobile space, today’s consumer is more connected--and sophisticated--than ever before. They are barraged with marketing messages throughout every waking moment. Correspondingly, consumers have become more discerning and more skilled at controlling and curating the media they consume.
Today’s fan takes their music with a side of social as demonstrated by the rise of Spotify. They are creating living communities of music on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. They are discovering and evangelizing new bands before the recording industry is aware of them. A fan today is not just a passive listener; they expect their favorite artists to tweet them back.
But just as consumers’ access to music has changed over the decades, so must brands’ relationship with music. Marketers must singularly focus on creating an authentic connection that consumers respond to. Be it via social, mobile, content, or loyalty programs, marketers must create a music environment that speaks honestly with consumers, not at them. Fortunately, artists are looking for partners to help them create new platforms and touch points to communicate with their fans, which gives brands the opportunity to align themselves accordingly. It’s a brave new world, but one thing remains the same – authenticity in music marketing is king.
Take The Dave Matthews Band and UPS, for example. Last year, we partnered with the logistics giant to help “green” up the movement of some of the festival stages for Dave’s “Caravan” tour. UPS assumed the responsibility for the logistics planning and shipment of select festival stages. This alliance made it possible for the tour to reduce its carbon footprint; a goal the band has been championing for over two decades. It was an authentic partnership that made sense for everyone involved: the band, the brand and the fan.
These deeper partnerships are also allowing brands to address strategic business objectives beyond building awareness, to creating social connections. Last year you might remember that Google and Lady Gaga partnered on a number of promotional elements including a 91-second fan-sourced commercial for Chrome, a YouTube Q&A with fans, and Lady Gaga joining Google+. Mutual admiration between brand and artist led to campaigns that leveraged social networks and technologies to connect with fans/consumers, and re-confirmed Google’s position in search and social by bringing in one of the most socially-savvy pop stars on the planet. Tapping an artist who has built an entire community, The Little Monsters, via the web, was a smart move by Google to create a strategic and authentic music partnership, while simultaneously bringing together the worlds of tech, music and marketing seamlessly.
We all know that music continues to be an effective way to create personal and meaningful connections with desired consumers. Here are four tips to consider when designing your next music marketing campaign:
1. Music is both content and media
Media can be defined in paid, earned and owned categories. Music provides a vehicle that delivers all three. Converse Rubber Tracks is a grassroots program that provides unsigned bands with free recording studio time and sound engineer services. Converse then retains limited rights to use the songs on its website and social media channels. Converse is trying to be a part of the fabric of young artist discovery while delivering PR, impressions, and engagements through music.Think of music as a language and a culture that connects your brand to fans. The success of using music content as a way to gain consumer mindshare parallels the traditional metrics of media success. However, the key to success is commitment to a long-term value proposition. Brands cannot do just one program, sponsor just one tour and expect to deliver “brand fans” via music. If you want to create a long-term bond with music fans, you need to make a commitment for the long haul to retain authenticity.
2. Music is social
Music naturally brings people together and gives them something to talk about. But social media provides a platform that inspires actions as well as words. Smirnoff and Madonna recently partnered on a promotion to celebrate the importance of dance in great nightlife, and developed a global competition to find a new dancer to join Madonna’s upcoming tour. Bucking the Hollywood trend of reality TV dance shows, Madonna took her search online with social media channels and even hosted the promotion on her website as part of Smirnoff’s Nightlife Exchange Project. Through the partnership, Smirnoff was able to demonstrate its generations-long commitment to global nightlife culture, generate original content, and drive social media engagement.When designing your music marketing strategy, consider going one step beyond the event, and give fans a channel to re-engage with your brand. This could happen via Facebook, Twitter, or other digital communities. Leverage artist affinity to connect to them, and provide exclusive and added value such as content and access to keep them in the fold.
3. Music drives loyalty
Music fans are among the most loyal and passionate people in the world; they will travel far and wide to support the artists they love the most. We have worked with Starwood for several years to enhance its Starwood Preferred Guest program with “once in a lifetime” music experiences such as karaoke on stage with Sting and a pre-show eat-and-greet barbeque prepared personally by the Zac Brown Band.The benefit of music as a currency is that it can be as common as a song download or as extravagant as a personal face-to-face with a favorite artist. Music fans continue to stay at Starwood Hotels because of the points they can earn and the perks they can get. It’s a value exchange for both fan and brand. If you’re thinking about developing a loyalty program, consider music as your hook. Then, identify your loyalty goals and the lifetime value of your potential customers to develop the best toolkit to deliver ROI.
4. Music is data
Because of technology available online, through mobile devices and apps, marketers have unprecedented insight into the data and preferences of music fans. Brands now have the ability to analyze consumer behavior in macro and CRM levels. With the proliferation of data available today, we can not only track trending songs and artists across retail, social, broadcast and file-sharing channels giving brands a real-time chart of trending music before it hits traditional top 100 lists, we can match ticket sales data to demographic and household information empowering brands to target offers, benefits, and rewards based on preference.As we continue to become a more fragmented culture, marketers should consider unlocking data to understand music fans and their preferences and triggers to create a successful music marketing program.
In short, successful music marketing is a blend of art and science. Just as important as data is to creating a successful CRM program, authenticity is to matching the right artist with the right brand. Music can be a powerful component to your marketing mix, but must be handled with care to convert music-loving fans to brand-loving customers.
Russell Wallach is President of Live Nation Network.
Thursday, April 12, 2012
It’s all about relevancy, baby!
Every now and then, I get into discussions with people selling digital marketing products and services, who complain that “they” – media buyers and other clients – just don’t “get” them. I sympathize with that. I feel their pain too. Perhaps there’s another way of looking at things.
Faced with an avalanche of digital marketing pitches, agencies and clients may just be suffering from information overload. The onus for vendors is to dig deeper for relevance. Call it “solution selling”. My take is this: we should pitch products, not platforms; projects, not possibilities.
The more the pitch describes, the less it defines. The more the pitch is about the what can be done, the farther removed it is from being actionable.
A few years ago, we rolled out a digital signage network at one of the malls in Metro Manila. We thought it was an easy sell for spots – online screens serving shopper information and advertising to a high-traffic retail establishment. But it just didn’t bring in the advertisers. Several months after, we pulled the plug on the mall project, and moved the screens to a mass transit setting, reinventing it as a medium for job postings. Then the phone started ringing, with prospective employers seeking placements the screens.
In essence, the offer remained the same – a networks of screens displaying relevant content and advertising. On hindsight though, the two installations were markedly different.
At a time when our local market was just being introduced to digital signage networks, we initially let loose a platform and naively expected clients and agencies to just pick up the ball and run with it. We should have worked with them to more closely identify marketing needs that could be addressed by our platform.
When we repositioned the network for job offerings, it became a product – one that targeted specific segments of advertisers and audiences.
Products and projects are great because they are definite. They have a use, they have limitations, they have a beginning and an end, and they have a cost. Products and projects are starting points to a conversation that has a vendor effectively saying, “this is useful to you because it will accomplish your objective of…”. If the offering is truly relevant, the conversation should naturally graduate to a negotiation, which should then lead to a transaction.
One of my favorite quotes comes from professor Philip Kotler in his book Marketing Management (9th Ed.): “A carpenter isn’t buying a drill; he is buying a hole.”
Kotler underscores the need for relevance. Before even walking into a pitch, a vendor has to already have repositioned his offering into the right tool, to bore the “hole” that the client needs.
Today’s digital marketing environment gives fresh insight to the phrase “death of a salesman.” We all have to be consultants first; salesmen, second.
“A carpenter isn’t buying a drill; he is buying a hole.”
Wednesday, April 04, 2012
Interesting take on a value-add for mobile payments. | GoPago’s line-skipping mobile payment system launches in SF — Tech News and Analysis
As we’ve mentioned before, the key to mobile payments isn’t in providing an alternative to a credit card swipe or a cash transaction. It’s in providing additional value that you can’t get right now from existing payments. That’s what makes GoPago an interesting player to watch in what is fast becoming a very crowded mobile payment market.
The company is launching its cloud-based mobile payment system in San Francisco on Tuesday, the start of a nationwide rollout that will spread to Dallas, Chicago and New York City later this year. The service, which previously had a small pilot in Mountain View, Calif., and Las Vegas, allows consumers to order and pay ahead from their mobile app and essentially skip the line at all kinds of businesses, from restaurants and hair salons to dry cleaners and coffee shops. That’s where it’s trying to make its mark: by helping people streamline their shopping experience, not just their payment experience.
Users will just download the GoPago app (iOS, Android and BlackBerry), find a participating business and then browse through their selections, adding any orders to their cart. If they’re a regular at a business, they will get prompted to buy their usual orders. They can alter orders or put in special requests before checking out with a credit or debit card on file. The order gets routed into a business’ system and the user gets a notification confirming the order and the expected wait time. When it comes time to pick up their order, they just flash a digital receipt to the merchant.
Leo Rocco, CEO and founder, GoPago, said it wasn’t enough to just take on credit card transactions. He said he looked to build a smarter system that provided more value to consumers than other mobile payment systems.
“The fact is I get the usual at the same business so why am I even standing in line? Let me own the menu,” Rocco said. “I don’t think we should replace credit cards for the sake of that. We don’t have a mobile payment problem, we have a mobile shopping problem.”
Designed for merchants too
The system isn’t just designed to make life simpler for consumers. GoPago is also working to make it easier for all kinds of businesses to adopt the system by doing a lot of back-end work, so companies can quickly integrate GoPago into their existing point-of-sale systems. The platform works with 80 percent of the existing POS systems, or merchants can handle sales through their own GoPago tablet app. With about one hour of work, businesses can map their product fields to the GoPago consumer app and configure the look and feel of the app. Once the system is in place, businesses can notify users, push out custom offers and reward their customers through a process that can be automated.
Businesses can expect to pay anywhere from 2.5 to 5 percent on transactions in lieu of traditional credit card transaction fees. They can also get rich analytics on their sales and performance through GoPago’s tablet app. GoPago is getting a good initial response from merchants. It has signed up more than 520 businesses in San Francisco in the last two months and will be gradually activate their services over the course of April.
Chase provides cash and more
The San Francisco company got a big boost in February from JPMorgan Chase & Co, which announced it was investing in the startup. But the bank is also providing additional support by encouraging its merchant customers to sign-up for GoPago. Rocco believes that with Chase’s help, it can ramp up business sign-ups to more than 1,000 a week.
GoPago will have plenty of competitors, from NFC-based systems like Google Wallet and Isis to more cloud-based competitors like PayPal, Dwolla, LevelUp and Square. Start-ups like PayDragon and Yorder are also in the mobile ordering and payment space as well, as is food services like Seamless and Grubhub. Rocco believes that GoPago works because it doesn’t require major hardware upgrades like NFC and has better backing from Chase than other startups. And he believes the back-end work separates it from Square, which handles transactions through its smartphone and tablet apps. PayPal could be a big competitor and is also targeting ordering ahead through upcoming changes to its mobile app. But Rocco believes many small merchants are still wary of PayPal’s parent company eBay.
Trying to differentiate by enabling pre-ordering and payment sounds good, but my sense is that many cloud-based systems will work to enable the same features. Also, not every business can really take advantage of pre-ordering to the same effect. The fees charged by GoPago could also give some businesses pause if they’re not convinced the service is worth the extra charge. The key will be in making the system really pain free for both consumers and merchants. In that sense, I still think GoPago can do well because they’ve done some heavy lifting to make it easy for many businesses to get on board. And it helps to have a trusted name like Chase behind you, who can help convince business customers and consumers to come on board. Chase will also let its cardholders that use GoPago receive exclusive offers and discounts from Chase merchants. GoPago faces a lot of competition but it’s showing it can be a serious contender. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of them emerging and it’s still early days.
Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.
- The future of mobile: a segment analysis by GigaOM Pro
- A near-term outlook for big data
- Monetizing music in the post-scarcity age
Monday, April 02, 2012
The changing face - and experience - of retail indeed! | JCP Express format debuts in downtown Chicago
This week, J.C. Penney sent postcards to parts of downtown Chicago announcing its alliance with FastFrame. The kiosk at 300 W. Grand Ave. is among 500 it has installed in a variety of independently owned and operated retail stores nationwide as it looks for alternative ways to use brick-and-mortar outlets to serve consumers who don’t live near a full-service Penney store. (Michael Tercha, Chicago Tribune / March 29, 2012)
The Next Generation of Digital Signs Will Interact With You | DigitalNext: A Blog on Emerging Media and Technology - Advertising Age
In an age of content, nobody cares much about how it gets to us. But the recent Digital Signage Expo in Las Vegas showcased the thinking -- and hardware -- that is reshaping the way we, as brand managers and marketers, are engaging consumers.The most important thing right off the bat: the signage industry has come a long way, and that growth is only going to continue. Some estimates put the number of digital signs at 20 million by 2015. That's a whole new world of brand interactivity on the streets, and it's just around the next corner.
It's important to understand where we've been. Signage evolved quickly. At first it was about grabbing attention and awareness, but as the number of brands shouting for our attention increased, awareness alone didn't cut it. Next came commands: turn here! And the neon rush to be bigger and brighter. It didn't last very long. You can see some of these a few miles from where I was speaking at the Expo: a museum on the outskirts of Vegas that serves as a graveyard to neon.
Just as citizen journalism has allowed anyone to report the news, technology has put the individual at the center of the new signage experience. It's not look at me anymore, but interact with me. If a board or sign doesn't change the game, if it doesn't directly engage as it entertains, the finicky consumer will walk on by. And if it isn't on brand, marketers will pull the plug.
In Times Square, American Eagle broke new ground with its 15-seconds-of-fame LED display. As technology advanced, both Forever21 and Disney found innovative ways to make individuals the real stars of Times Square. Right on! Don't we all like to see ourselves on screen? Doesn't the sight of a camera make even the youngest kids sit up, smile and perform? It's human nature.
At retail, touch screens have evolved a long way, thanks to what we've learned from human experience. Early ATMs taught us how to navigate touch screens chapter by chapter, but the innovation today is about how and where information is served to the consumer.
We've become a self-serve society where we want information at point of sale -- even on the shelf. Connection speeds, high-resolution screens and 3D are offering invaluable opportunities to engage the consumer in-store. Content pushed directly to their mobile devices can help drive sales without even a team member nearby.
The fast-improving science of facial recognition was also on display in Vegas. The debate about privacy is still in full swing but, as marketers seek new ways to serve up customized messaging and track behavior, this technology introduces a whole new era of ultra-target marketing.
Some early applications of this were recently launched in a London interactive bus shelter that recognizes gender and serves appropriate content The most interesting example at the Expo was from Rhonda Software. MyAudience measures variables such as gender, age group, emotions and time spent. No images are stored, only statistical data, thereby protecting privacy.
The use of mobile devices to control messaging has already founds its place. We don't typically associate the dog-food industry with digital innovation, but it's happening. Take GranataPet, a personal favorite. Here a simple poster billboard has one unique twist: the board is hung on the side of a building with a bowl at dog height. When the owner checks in on their phone, a sample of dog food is dispensed for the pet.
As the marketing industry continues to wrestle with the third screen, we should really figure out how the sometimes overlooked digital sign itself factors into the equation. The messaging ecosystem will grow rapidly, consumers will get a lot more personal with interactive brands -- and who knows maybe one day we'll all be using our mobiles as personal billboards.
ABOUT THE AUTHORMarcus Fischer is CEO space150, the digital agency with offices in New York, Los Angeles and Minneapolis. He can be reached at marcus.fischer@space150.com.
Sunday, April 01, 2012
From Digital SignageToday.com | CETW12: Using other media to push mobile
We've all heard the staggering stats about the increased use of smartphones, but industry experts discussed today how that use has changed the way people interact with the world.
Consumers' rapid adoption of texting, chatting, emailing and shopping via mobile has transformed the retail experience so much so that retailers failing to embrace mobile will not survive, said Steve Gurley, during a Customer Engagement Technology World panel called, "How to Navigate the Complex Mobile Ecosystem."
"If you are not delivering your services on mobile, do not expect to engage this next generation," said Gurley of Symon Communications, a digital signage manufacturer.
Digital signs and kiosks going mobile
One way to successfully implement mobile is to use other media, such as kiosks and digital signs, as catalysts. For example, Victoria's Secret deployed digital signs that played music videos and also featured a call-to-action asking customers to text their ideas for funny pick-up lines to appear on underwear. The digital signs displayed each text message. Jeremy Lockhorn with Razorfish spoke about how his digital marketing firm partnered with Akoo, the social music television network behind the music videos, to create the campaign targeting college students.
"You gotta focus on the audience," he said in the panel sponsored by the Digital Screenmedia Association. "You must remember the consumer from both a media and a creative/experience perspective."
It's also important to align the engagement mechanics to the channel. For example, people interact with Akoo via SMS, which is one reason why the company went with texting.
Lastly, a simple, clear call-to-action must be present for the duration of the spot. A big mistake retailers often make is to flash the directions for only a few seconds, Lockhorn said. People need more time to process the requests.
Connecting a variety of technology platforms to convey one message is no simple task, but the panelists agreed that the smartphone can be a tool to accomplish the goal.
"Digital signage and mobile can work together to increase engagement," Lockhorn said. "Next, we need to link to sales."
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