More interesting QR stats that might surprise you (US data):
See the full picture: (more…)
QR (quick response) codes have been popular in Japan since their invention in 1994. But now this two-dimensional barcode system is starting to infiltrate the rest of the world. Already this year, the UK has seen a near doubling of QR code usage since the end of 2010.
More and more we’re starting to see QR codes pop up everywhere, on TV, posters, billboards, in magazines and on all sorts of products from t-shirts to soap boxes. They’ve become the ‘on-trend’ way to attract those people with a smartphones to your website, allowing them keyboard-free access to all the information you serve up online.
And it’s not just access to websites whilst on the move, QR codes can be crafted to generate a phone call, send an SMS message, or simply present an alert on the mobile viewers screen.
Tapping into this trend, the BBC have got creative with a QR code and tailored it to incorporate their logo.
Simple, but I love it!
Introducing Google Catalogues, a new rich, interactive way to browse all your favorite catalogs on a tablet.
The app allows you to swipe through the catalogue’s pages similar to that of a flip book. It then allows the user to extend out each product’s details, through the playing videos and other rich content, while providing a ‘Buy Now’ button to launch the brands online store. As an added benefit there’s also a ‘Find A Store’ button, which instantly links you to store location maps with directions – aiding the growing tend for ROBO.
developed for the iPad – interesting!
Ever since the power sift from a corporate controlled, classically one-way focused TV experience, to a freely ‘user controlled’, highly personalised, social web experience, there’s been a dilemma we have all been faceing:
Users want great content that they don’t have to pay for, but that’s also free from unwanted advertising. And advertisers want to supply great content that users love, but along the way they want to sell some product.
With the groundswell in digital devices allowing us to ‘ignore’ advertising, and a world turning to their ‘fiends’ for advice on what products they should be investing their hard earned cash in, you’d think that advertising really had acquired the evil edge that some would have us believe.
Personally speaking, I don’t subscribe to the theory that all corporate advertising is created to perform some kind of mind control trick, brain washing me into purchasing their product against my will, or at least my better nature.
I also don’t think, although it has many highly endearing qualities, that the social web is the answer to a free thinking utopia, where the individual is unshackled from the influencing powers of the few.
Without advertising we loose so much. We loose the ability to discover products that our friends don’t have. We loose the ability to hear, from the horses mouth, how these products could help us in our lives. We loose the ability to virtually try before we by – seeing the product in action. We loose that ability to decide for ourselves what we want to buy.
Following this path one could imagine a world where we’d all end up with a homogenised set of utilitarian essentials, things that we could all understood, could talk to one another about, but were indistinguishable from one another. That doesn’t sound like progress to me!
And lets not assume that the social web, with all its freedom, is free from ‘social influencers’. It’s not… (more…)
Loving this video created by Everynone exploring symmetry through a set of thought-proving split screen images. The idea is so simple yet the result is simply stunning.
Sometimes you’ve just got to sit back and watch someone’s view on life in perfect symmetry!
Moscow’s Ministry of Internal Affairs have used a mobile app to alert, educate and introduce a heavy dose of reality into the growing issues of Road Safety within the city.
The simple, yet brilliant idea utilities smartphones’ inbuilt location aware capabilities, together with an innovative augmented reality app to virtually show users the ‘hidden’ dangers of the roads they user everyday.
The campaign, created by Leo Burnett Worldwide, just demonstrates the power of the of the medium beyond that of brand promotion.
Promoting the concept, QR code bodies were spread around the city encouraging users to download the app and there was also a web based version for those who didn’t have smart phones.
It’s a clever campaign that takes a different approach to the usual shock TV spots, but is non the less shocking for it.
The End is a great game of self-discovery aimed at 14-19 year olds, which integrated strategy, puzzles and philosophical questions into a world that explores a range of views about death, beliefs and science.
The beautifully crafted game, created by Preloaded for Channel4, looks to engage today’s ‘youth’ in some of the more moralistic issue facing them, in a world lacking of such educational teachings. Perhaps now more than ever, in the aftermath of rioting Britain, we need this type of pedagogic expression.
The game itself is a delight. The smooth navigational control makes game play a breeze, and the stunning visuals confirm that Preloaded really are masters of this type of media. It’s also very informative, pretty addictive and simple good fun.
So you can’t help thinking that The End is simply just the beginning!
Nice campaign from New Balance to promote their first Flagship store in New York.
The ARG based concept drives traffic to store by creating a city-wide ‘urban dash’, challenging players to find hundreds of virtual batons throughout New York, before running to the new flagship store while still in possession of that baton.
Each day they are releasing 20-30 batons, and if you make it to the store with one, you’ll score a free pair of New Balance 574 Shoes instantly, but if you manage to collect the most virtual batons out of everyone in NYC, you’ll take home an exclusive 14k Gold Baton worth over $20k!
via DigitalBuzzBlog
Perfect Fools have create a nice Facebook app aimed at encouraging a friend to start something new — the Start-O-Matic facebook app, created with Wieden+Kennedy London for Nestea.
The idea is to single out a friend you think should get going on something new, and invite up to eight mutual friends to contribute with photos and personalised messages and video clips. The app then assembles everything together with graphics and music from a selected theme into a ‘Start-O-Matic’ film, delivered straight to your unknowing friend!
If you’ve read my previous post 8 Golden Rules for successful mobile marketing and have been developing a mobile strategy, then you’ll be well underway the planning, if not build stages of your very own audience, location and device friendly mobile experience.
But building the perfect mobile environment is only half the story. As with your desktop equivalent, you’ll need to get people to the mobile site or app. It’s time to mobilise your search offering.
The good news is you’re ahead of the curve – but get in whilst the going’s good. It’s currently cheaper to run a mobile search campaign than it is for the desktop, it’s easier to make your campaign targeted, and the results you get from mobile search happen quicker, as searcher on the move are often looking for immediacy and are ready to purchase.
Oh yes, and the mobile web is taking over the world.
According to research undertaken by Google, anywhere between 12% and 20% of all current searches in all business sectors originate from mobile devices. Morgan Stanley is predicting the rise in mobile penetration will lead to mobile search overtaking desktop by 2013.
So how do you go about mobilising your search strategy? Well for starters you can’t simply duplicate what you do for your desktop site, mobile user behaviour is often very different from that when you’re stuck at your desk. You’ll need to develop a clear, considered and effective mobile specific search strategy. You’ll need the 7 Essentials for mobilising your search strategy. (more…)
Why do we remember some things more that others? Why do some campaigns hold our gaze whilst others pass us by unnoticed? Why are we physically and emotionally attracted to certain messages when others attain no response?
We Are Magnetic is an exploration into the magnetism of communications.
It looks to examine the stickiness of messages. Aims to track new and emerging channels. And plots trends in creativity and technology.
Cataloguing intelligent design, digital innovation and clear brand narrative, We Are Magnetic aims to profile great work and great people.
We Are Magnetic is the creative thoughts and findings of its author Gavin Johnson.
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