We're not in the same context, and not working on exactly same things, but we're certainly on the same wavelength.

Put together by Sidekick Studios.

Tags: interaction, internet, technology, marketing,

Ok, this is very much an Ogilvy ad*. But also very much worth sharing. This is very relevant, and very fundamental for any future communication. How to create values for your customers? Through your communications. This is what your brand should aim for, at least in the digital arena.

As you may know, even the simplest ideas such as a banal game or whatever can create values for some users. It can also be a very specific application solving a real problem. But that's not the issue for now, it's more about the fundamental idea about how your brand can be the sender of meaningful content. 

*At a first glimpse yes - but also a great formation of branded utility. Thanks Ogilvy! 
From Giles Rhys Jones

Tags: ogilvy, branded utility, digital marketing, interactivity

We want to take the opportunity to push for an event we're doing in Sweden, at Marknadsf�reningen i Stockholm on March 8th. This is where we're basically going to bring forward and present the issues we've raised in previous posts. I.e. where is the digital marketing heading with new interactive technology changing the behaviour of how we're consuming media. New interactive devices and applications are leading the way, within the consumer sector, and marketeers need to look at the opportunities this brings forward for creative market communications.

The best bit is that we're bringing Samsung along - This way we're actually going to present concrete examples to illustrate the possibilities.

Please register here and bear in mind that these events fill upp rather fast.

We hope to see you there! 

Tags: marknadsföreningen i stockholm, yooba, samsung, interactive communication, ipad,

Very cool use of  a signpost from Nokia. The traditional sign gets interactive.

The World's Biggest Signpost from adghost on Vimeo.

Tags: interactive, signpost, nokia, digital

I want to continue on our previous post on Digital Media, and obviously pick up on the recent release of the Apple iPad. What's interesting here are the relationships between changing media consumption, new technical devices as carriers of media and Internet as the new distribution platform for (digital) media.   

I think Faris Yakob conducts some interesting reasonings over here. The theory is that "Up until digitalness, you couldn't separate the content from the distribution platform". This is clearly touching our thoughts as well. With the iPad these these discussions gets interpretationed and tangible.  Now we can consume (read) the book either from a physical book or from the iPad. In the analogue time the distribution of the physical book was quite an isolated process. Simplified; from publishing house to book store. Now with devices like the iPad, and with digitalized media, it's the Internet which the central platform for distribution of content.

For marketing purposes we need to adjust to these new media consumption patterns as well as the possibilities with digital media. Traditional advertising became on-line and today these disciplines can be merged to communication with digital media and through new interactive devices. These are certainly exciting times for new technology and distribution of all things digital.

Tags: digital media, ipad, consumption, content distribution, technology

Very busy over here, not really any excuse for lack of blogging but that's the way it goes.
Found this one from Paul Isakson, well worth snatching, repeating and spreading.

Tags: marketing, strategy

The author in this article from Econsultancy advices of the need to start reflecting on the growing accessibility for digital (marketing) platforms. "All this digital convergence has to make you wonder: are there still digital channels, or is digital just becoming, well... just plain digital - a channel unto its multiplicity of selves?"

How we are going to relate to this matter, define, measure and optimize, personalize and target for all new emerging channels? - Let the time tell. The issue has been raised.
One thing is for sure; there are going to be technology enabling duplication of content for various digital channels. That is one great advantage. Once it's digital it can be adjusted for new devices, formats, channels etc. Without the cost- and time lag.

Watch this space.

Tags: digital communication, signage, content management, yooba

First of all let me just say that I believe that it's required in most cases to use SEO.

Having said that, I have a number of different topics I would like to discuss with the SEO community.

First of all, why are there so many people still preaching that you should never ever use Flash because it isn't indexed by Google? In July 2008 Google announced that they indexed Flash and in June 2009 Google's Flash indexing got even better. Why then can you still read in countless blogs or comments in forums that you shouldn't use Flash for indexing reasons? If you still doubt that Google can index Flash content read this, which answers many of the questions you might have on how Google's Flash indexing works.

One thing I often come across when talking to SEO experts is the opinion that you shouldn't even bother creating a site or a single page without SEO in mind. I refuse to believe that every site and every page would benefit by maximizing the number of visitors. There are many cases when it is more important that your existing visitors or customers get the right content at the right time, and not as important that you get loads of new visitors.

There is little debate over the importance of incoming links to your site for high ranking. It is also rarely disputed that an incoming link from New York Times is worth more than a link from a fake blog created by an SEO expert. The Google ranking value of a link from the Times is in fact so much higher than a fake-blog link that one could argue that it would be much more efficient to spend all your time and money to get organic links on trusted sites. This is achieved by traditional PR, not by SEO.

When everybody has purchased services from SEO experts, who will be ranked highest?
The most SEO friendly site is black text on white background and no graphic elements, but how do you build a brand in a black and white world? An old truth is still a truth, content is still king. If you have an interesting site with great content, people will want to visit your site. To get people to link to your site, you must have interesting content.

Tags: seo, flash, internet marketing

Now is the time for various reports and predictions for 2010 and onwards. Recently the European Interactive Advertising Association published their bi-annual report on the current trends, and future trends in on-line advertisng.

Some key findings:

• "The evolution of consumer habits appears also to be influencing allocation of advertising
  spend"
• Up to a quarter of all Europeans now use TV and Internet simultaneously
• Due to customers' multi-channel media usage, marketing budgets are encompassing both digital and traditional elements.
• "Mobile is a rising star."

The trends:

• "83% of all marketers surveyed stated that online advertising spend during 2009 has been greater than in 2008"
• 94% expects growths in 2010 and 93% in 2011

• "A 7.6% year on year rise in online advertising spend in 2010"
• An increase of over 15% forecasted for 2011

Source: EIAA (The report)

Reflections:
Changing media consumtion also relates to 'the connected consumers' appearing in this previous post on how 'Digital brand experiences can create customers'.  I.e. how customers gets increased broadband accessibility, spends more $ online, regurarly visits community sites, 'creates' some sort of digital media (video, photo, music or news) and how all this relates to positive and digital brand experiences.

Tags: eiaa, online advertising, media consumption, branding

This is very interesting stuff from Razorfish. I don't want to 'construct' any relation to what we do or our service (besides from posting it here), I just want spread this information.

Some key conclusions:

• 65% of consumers have had a digital experience change their opinion about a brand
• 65% have played a branded, browser based game
• 40% have "friended" a brand on Facebook, and or MySpace
• 44% of consumers who follow a brand on Twitter do so for deals 

Tags: razorfish, brand experiences, digital marketing, customer conversion