Superhype

iPad could unleash creativity

The unveiling of the Apple iPad has inspired much commentary among my Razorfish colleagues.  I’ve read tongue-in-cheek reactions from Amnesia Razorfish.  Domenic Venuto, head of the Razorfish media/entertainment practice in New York, has discussed the iPad’s implications for the publishing industry in a MediaPost article.  And emerging media director Jeremy Lockhorn in Seattle has assessed its potential consumer interactivity with Forbes.  At the risk of overgeneralizing, I’ve summarized here some prevailing impressions from the Razorfish media/entertainment practice:

• The iPad will not just be another platform for distribution content but a means to unleash creativity.  That’s because the iPad promises to bring iPhone functionality to a larger device, which makes it possible to deploy richer experiences and immersive content interfaces on a reading device.  The iPad will not be just a larger screen for reading words.

• The iPad will encourage more distribution of interactive video especially as video becomes easier to distribute across multiple platforms.

• The iPad is especially appealing to Razorfish because we create experience that build businesses.  We can expect multi-touch capability to provide no end to the applications that can be created for businesses looking to connect to consumers or improve employee productivity.  What’s also going to change the way brand experiences get created is the likely capability that the device will support interaction by more than one person.

• One of our clients is already looking to roll out iPad versions of titles, which shows how seriously media companies want to embrace the technology.  However, Razorfish counsels our clients to view platform developments like the iPad in context of one’s broader marketing and publishing strategies.  We advise clients against embracing the iPad just for the sake of saying they are deploying a content distribution strategy that utilizes the iPad.

• Apple is not alone in upping the stakes for device readers.  Amazon’s recent announcement that the Kindle will support third-party application development in 2010 opens up the Kindle for experimentation and innovation.

I find these comments by Jeremy Lockhorn and Domenic Venuto to be instructive:

• Jeremy as cited in Forbes: “[The iPad's consumer interactivity] has big implications for advertising as an educational tool and as a sales channel . . . It means that when consumers watch TV shows and movies, they could potentially be able to do more than just play, pause and stop.  When viewing an episode of TV’s Mad Men, for example, consumers could tap on objects, such as Don Draper’s hat, to get more information about the items and where to buy them.”

• Domenic as cited in MediaPost:  “We’re incredibly excited about the increased surface size we get to play with for a multi-touch device.  Whether it’s an advertising or publishing client we’re building new experiences for, this breathes life into the category.”

I don’t think you can overstate a simple truth: the bigger screen is better for consumers who like the interactivity that comes with devices like iPhones but are tired of squinting as they read hand-held devices.  Let’s face it: the older you get, the more likely you’re welcoming a bigger screen.  I wonder if Apple has found the right product at the right time for Baby Boomers?  If so, we’re talking about people with bigger disposable incomes.

Special thanks to Domenic Venuto, Jeremy Lockhorn, and Katie Lamkin for their ideas leading up to this post.

Tags: Apple, iPad, Kindle, Razorfish

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The Top 10 Searches of the Decade

Tired of reading lengthy analyses of the decade we just left behind?  My employer Razorfish has a solution: a visual depiction of the major trends affecting search engine marketing throughout the past 10 years.   A Decade in Search is a rich media experience that touches upon major trends and events ranging from the bursting of the dot-com bubble in 2000 to the launch of Google Caffeine in 2009.  According to A Decade in Search, the top 10 searches of the 2000s were:

1. Facebook

2. Baidu

3. MySpace

4. World Cup

5. Wikipedia

6. Britney Spears

7. Harry Potter

8. Shakira

9. Lord of the Rings

10. Barack Obama

To get insights about the decade ahead for search, please check out Razorfish Search Marketing Trends.  Meantime, do any of the Top 10 searches surprise you?

Tags: Baidu, Britney Spears, Facebook, Lord of the Rings, MySpace, Obama, Razorfish, search, Shakira, Wikipedia, World Cup

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Help Haiti

Through social media, we’ve become virtually real-time witnesses to the earthquake in Haiti, but more importantly, we can become active participants in helping out.  As reported by CNN, the Red Cross is mobilizing support via Twitter.  All you need to do is text “Haiti” to 90999 to donate $10 to Red Cross relief efforts.  You can also spread the word by re-Tweeting posts from @RedCross.  I am sure there are many more ways to give; in the interest of time, I’ve cited the @RedCross effort.

Tags: Haiti, Red Cross

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The face of a great brand

The best-selling album of the decade?  Not Eminem.  Not Usher.  But The Beatles 1, a collection of Beatles Number One singles that has sold 11.4 million units since its release in November 2000.  Pretty astonishing for a group that broke up decades ago.

One can argue that the lack of Beatles music in digital format contributed to the sale of the physical CD. But I think there’s a lot more to the popularity of The Beatles 1: quite simply, the Beatles created an enduring brand.  I’m not talking about successful marketing (although the band has been well marketed over the years).  No, the Beatles created a great brand by creating a great experience — the songs and albums that delight us over and over each time we hear them.  Without compelling music, the Beatles might have enjoyed success initially but not this kind of long-term loyalty from one generation to the next.

Sound obvious?  I hope it sounds so obvious that all of us aspire to create something great.  I’m not saying we can all be Beatles, but we can follow their example — by trying to create something memorable for others, whether you are publishing content, providing a service, or marketing a product.

It’s worth pointing out that the Beatles enjoyed wild success during its 1964 invasion of the States after the band’s music began to take hold. The music (specifically the song “I Want to Hold Your Hand”) ignited the interest among American consumers.  The promotion of the band built off that interest, in turn.

To build a great brand, don’t get obsessed with generating buzz or influencing the influencers.  Create something great first.

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Word-of-mouth supergeniuses

I walked away from the 2009 Word of Mouth Supergenius event with many ideas and impressions, a fraction of which made their way to my Twitter stream in real-time.  The event, hosted by Gaspedal, brought together leading word-of-mouth practitioners who shared tips for marketers seeking to build their brands in authentic ways.  Some take-aways:

• Coca-Cola empowers its employees and associates to become brand ambassadors through social media instead of trying to control them.  Adam Brown, Coca-Cola’s group director for digital communications, discussed how Coca-Cola is revising and disseminating its own guidelines, not just for employees but for bottlers.  It’s encouraging to see a major brand like Coca-Cola realizing the power of its own employees and business partners to create word of mouth.

• Starbucks isn’t afraid to fight back when unfairly attacked by rumors that spread via word of mouth, as discussed by Matthew Guiste, Starbucks digital strategist.  When Starbucks notices a nasty rumor like the false story about its attitude toward military personnel, the company uses word-of-mouth tools like Facebook to push back — and hard.  The brand is not afraid of looking like a “corporate big brother.”  And when Starbucks fans notice Starbucks speaking up, they join in to defend the company.  I found Matthew’s points to be inspiring to any major brand in the public light.  If your critics are using word-of-mouth unfairly to attack, it’s OK to fight back.

• Too many brands worry about transparency.  Brands should not participate in word of mouth to be transparent.  They should use word of mouth to build credibility, with transparency being a means to doing that.  Transparency was one of the many topics discussed during a free-wheeling discussion hosted by Mitch Joel, author of Six Pixels of Separation.

• I also appreciated what Mitch had to say about “in praise of slow.”  The digital world is fast-moving, obviously.  But it takes time — and a lot of patience — to build a true community especially through word of mouth.  Mitch challenged bloggers in the audience to focus on creating meaningful content over a period of time instead of worrying about how frequently blog posts are written.

• Buzz does not create evangelists; evangelists create buzz.  And the key to inspiring evangelists is creating a great experience, a key take-away from a discussion by John Moore.

Creating experiences, not one-way messages, resonates with my employer Razorfish.  We’ve placed a heavy emphasis on helping clients like Mercedes-Benz USA bring their brands to life through compelling experiences, mostly in the digital world.  In 2010, you can expect to hear more from Razorfish about the importance of experiences that build businesses — in commentary from executives like our chairman Clark Kokich, in thought leadership, and, of course, in the work we do for clients, to name a few ways.   Meantime there are many lessons to be learned from the supergeniuses who spoke on December 16.

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Escaping the social media echo chamber

Embracing social media is like speaking in public.  Technically any company can do it.  But doing it well is a different story.  On December 8, my employer Razorfish announced the development of new offerings for those marketers who want to employ social media and influencers effectively.

The Razorfish Social Influence Marketing strategy offerings help clients create approaches for employing social media and influencers to meet their business and marketing needs.  The offerings build on experiences gained during the past several years with clients ranging from Carnival Cruise Lines to Levi Strauss & Co.

Although Razorfish helps companies employ social in many ways, our latest set of offerings focus on formulating strategies to use social in a measurable manner.  Why?  Because too many companies have told us they have been pushed into building Facebook pages and Twitter accounts without even knowing why or to what benefit.  They tell us they wish they had created a coherent strategy for linking social to their real business needs instead of implementing a bunch of tactics and asking questions later.

So, here are a few things Razorfish is not doing through our offerings:

• Promising to increase your Twitter followers by 900 percent.

• Using stories about Motrin moms to scare you into adopting Social Influence Marketing.

Rather, we are:

• Helping clients formulate sustainable and measurable approaches to social.

• Ensuring that our clients’ social strategies break free of the vast social media echo chamber.  Razorfish helps clients connect social to their larger marketing and business needs.

To be clear, Razorfish has been actively involved in Social Influence Marketing for quite some time.  What we are doing now is formally packaging our intellectual property around social strategy in a more repeatable way.  My colleagues such as Shiv Singh can tell you even more about our new offerings.

Tags: Carnival Cruise Lines, Levi's, Razorfish, Social Influence Marketing, social media

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The Tiger Woods brand will be just fine

Tiger Woods might be in a world of hurt, but his brand is going to be just fine.  For a famous athlete, he has a bland, anonymous public persona.  His image is built purely on sports performance and not much else.  His self-described “transgression” has not tarnished his image because, well, he lacks one.

It would have been a different story if:

• He had done something to tarnish his image as an athlete, like, say, smoke crack or take steroids.  Putting his health at risk would have been in greater conflict with his brand as an athlete than cheating on his wife because his entire public persona is wrapped up in his success as a golfer.

• His behavior had alienated the middle-class Americans that corporate sponsors worry about.  But marital infidelity is too common among mainstream society to tarnish his appeal.  Contrast his situation with the scandal that resulted from Michael Vick’s involvement in illegal dog fighting.  It’s not so much the illegality of dog fighting that turned Vick into a pariah to corporate sponsors — but rather middle-class America’s perception of dog fighting as repulsive, fringe behavior.  Chances are the target demographic for Accenture (a former employer of mine) or Nike know someone personally who has had an affair.  I doubt that few, if anyone, in that demographic know someone personally involved in dog fighting.

• He was a female athlete.  An unspoken “boys will be boys” attitude prevails when it comes to celebrities misbehaving, a standard that does not apply to women.  How marketable do you think the married Danica Patrick would be if a story broke that she was cheating on her husband, replete with saucy texts to guys and hush-hush voice mails to alleged lovers? Do you think Dara Torres, a mom and successful Olympic swimmer, could have survived a revelation about marital infidelity during the 2008 Summer Olympics?

Bottom line: Tiger Woods the brand will be just fine because Tiger Woods did nothing to hurt Tiger Woods the athlete.

Tags: Accenture, Danica Patrick, Dara Torres, Michael Vick, Nike, Tiger Woods

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A clever product for clever (digital) moms

How do you discuss diaper pails in the digital world?

My employer Razorfish helped Munchkin Inc. address this challenge by involving social influencers (moms) through the new Diaperpail microsite that launched in November.  The work is a good example of how Social Influence Marketing can help a company roll out a new product.

Munchkin designs and manufactures infant and toddler products, relying mostly on print ads to raise awareness with consumers.  Munchkin asked Razorfish to figure out how to use digital to launch a new product, the Arm & Hammer Diaper Pail by Munchkin.  The Razorfish project team did its homework and knew that Munchkin would need to tap into expectant moms’ natural concerns about making the right decision when it comes to products they trust for their newborns.  The Munchkin/Razorfish approach: involve the voices of independent mommy bloggers.  (TwitterMoms helped.)

“A Clever Product for a Clever Mom” (a theme Razorfish devised for the product launch) celebrates clever tips that moms share for their nurseries.  The first phase of the campaign, the Diaperpail site, features tips from mom bloggers on how to keep one’s nursery clean and fresh.  For instance, Missy W (gearheadmom.com) discusses how adding a few drops of lavender to baking soda can make your nursery smelling more fresh when you are cleaning a diaper pail.

The tips reveal themselves as you explore a nursery:

The moms do not hawk the diaper pail in any explicit way; they help create an atmosphere of trust and usefulness through their tips for nursery maintenance, thus helping the brand connect emotionally to moms in a more subtle way.

The next step is for Munchkin and Razorfish to launch a digital advertising campaign that will increase product awareness and drive traffic to the microsite.  In January, print advertisements created by Razorfish for American Baby and Fit Pregnancy magazines will also raise awareness and drive site traffic. (Lisa Sugar, founder of the Pop Sugar network, will appear in the ads.)

Arm & Hammer Diaper Pail by Munchkin is also an example of how an agency can help a client launch a new product, as Razorfish in November 2008 with the Intel Core i7 microprocessor and earlier this year by supporting the launch of the Mercedes-Benz USA E-class sedan and the Coors Light cold activated can.  In all those cases, the clients are making digital (and a digital agency) an essential part of the launch.  With Munchkin, digital takes the lead.

To be sure, Munchkin and Razorfish have their work cut out for themselves.  The leading diaper pail product, Diaper Genie, enjoys a 90-percent market share according to Brandweek.  Since the effort launched only weeks ago, results are still forthcoming.  We’ll follow up down the road with results.

Tags: Digital, Razorfish

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Razorfone takes retail from ho-hum to fun

Recently I discussed how technology helps marketers create experiences that build businesses.  As if on cue, the Razorfish Emerging Experiences team just released Razorfone — an application that shows how multitouch technology can turn the boring process of buying a mobile phone into an immersive experience.

Razorfone uses the Razorfish Touch Framework and interactive 3D technology to make it possible for customers to view mobile phone devices from any color and angle, explore crucial details like carrier service (via an interactive map), and personalize their devices with applications and features — all before leaving the store.

Luke Hamilton, creative/experience lead on the Emerging Experiences team, told me in a phone interview, “Consumers are faced with complex buying decisions in retail, especially considering the wide assortment of products and technologies available.  Razorfone is all about simplifying the purchase decision in the store.”

Hamilton, chatting on the eve of the holiday shopping season, added, “Razorfone gives consumers and store associates an interactive experience to simplify the process of buying a wireless device and plan, but Razorfone can apply to other products.  With Razorfone, customers can easily compare devices and have fun doing so.  One of the major advantages of a solution like Razorfone is that customers can personalize the product with designs and content before they walk out of the store.”

And why is it so important to personalize a device with designs and content in the store itself?  Luke explained: “It all comes down to lowering return rates.  Not only are we giving customers the tools necessary to make an informed buying decision, we are also empowering customers to personalize their devices before they walk out of the store — thus making buyer’s remorse less likely.”

But it’s also crucial that the technology support a transaction.  Luke stressed the importance of the shopping cart feature that employs RFID to enable the purchase of the device while the customer is in the store.

“It’s essential that Razorfone employ complete point-of-sale integration,” he added.  “Marketers in the retail industry are adding digital to the sales experience, but they don’t necessarily know how to make the experience succeed commercially.  Razorfone shows the marketer how to convert a sale through the digital experience.”

So what does an agency like Razorfish need to deliver a Razorfone experience?  According to Luke:

• Consumer insight — an understanding of the consumer behaviors that inspire the solution

• Strategy capability to ensure that the experience solves a specific business problem (for instance, simplifying complex buying decisions in a retail environment)

• Designers to create an elegant experience

• Technologists to implement not only the front-end technologies but the behind-the-scenes integration (including content management and RFID) to make sure the customer experience works well

The next step for Razorfone?  Implementation for clients.  Luke indicated that Razorfone, based on Razorfish client work, is opening doors already with companies that want to create the right digital experience for their customers.  According to Luke, although Razorfone focuses on the purchase of a mobile device, as a proof of concept it can work in any retail setting where complex products need to be explained — a significant consideration especially among big retailers where staff turnover and constantly changing product features are the norm.

Maybe we can even hope for happier holiday shopping this time next year.

Tags: Razorfish, Razorfone, Surface

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Technology = customer experience in 2010

AT&T Retail Surface Experience from Razorfish – Emerging Experiences on Vimeo.

Recently my employer Razorfish appointed Ray Velez to the newly created position of chief technology officer — a move that underscores the importance of information technology to the agency business.  As my Razorfish colleague Joe Mele wrote, “You better have devs in your creative department.”  In 2010 you can expect more talk about technology coming from agencies and marketers — but what we’re really talking about creating great experiences that build businesses.

Much has been said already about how agencies need to possess strong “back-end technology skills” in order to compete effectively — as if technology is supposed to be an invisible support tool.  It’s certainly true that the ability to link a web store front to an ecommerce booking engine requires gritty technology lifting skills beneath the surface.  But in addition, technology helps clients create memorable customer experiences in highly visible and innovative ways.

Clients and agencies are at a crossroads.  Customarily agencies have helped clients say things more effectively.  But clients need agencies to help them do things more effectively, like launch new products and services, create great consumer experiences, and participate in the social world.  As Jeff Bezos said, “Your brand is formed, primarily, not by what your company says about itself, but what the company does.”

Technology is essential to empowering brands to do things, especially in the creation of great experiences in the digital world.  For instance, Mercedes-Benz USA and Razorfish applied CGI to bring to life the luxurious nature of the new E-class sedan via a digital campaign and immersive microsite.  Three-D technology was essential to a recent effort to demonstrate the features of the new Coors Light cold activated can on the Project:Cold microsite.  And AT&T has turned mobile phone shopping into a playful experience by applying Microsoft Surface in-store.

To be sure, the real innovation occurs when technology is coupled with customer insight, creativity, and strong user experience skills.  But technology is the catalyst, front and center.

When he was announced as CTO, Ray Velez discussed the importance of cloud computing at Razorfish.  He was thinking of companies like H&R Block, where Razorfish used an existing cloud infrastructure to create the Don’t Miss It Game (instead of building a video hosting infrastructure).  In February 2010 Razorfish will give a more complete insight into the importance of cloud computing to the marketer at our third Technology Summit in San Francisco.  Throughout 2010, multitouch will continue to play an important role in the work we do, too, shown to great advantage on the Razorfish Emerging Experiences blog.

You can get a better sense of the Razorfish technology vision on the Razorfish Technology blog, hosted by Ray Velez.  And of course through our work throughout the year.

Tags: 3-D, AT&T, CGI, cloud computing, Coors Light, Mercedes-Benz, multitouch, Razorfish, Surface

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