Browsing all of posts in Mobile_Marketing
Posted by Jesse Poe on May 25 at 10:10 AM
This post discusses:
- Experience Design & User Experience
- The Golden Circle
- Inspiring people to use
Today I took the F train to work instead of my typical route and got off at the first stop in Manhattan, East Broadway. As I wandered my way to work through Chinatown I was reminded of how quickly you can find yourself in unfamiliar territory. I had to keep checking the horizon to orient myself through what was once the famed
Five Points.
There was information everywhere, but none of it was information I could understand. I was looking for points of reference among this cloud of info and I was thinking about how much it was like the types of systems I help clients through and how quickly they can lose themselves in a maze of backend, CMS, servers and Ftps, and formats, all to achieve the same goal: to get their work done.
This maze of tech can be confusing and no matter how well crafted a system or even your guidance through it, if the User is not the focus of the design, it is bound to end in frustration for all, and that User should be the people who will be using it it not the people building and critiquing it.
Is your user experience meant for only a select few or for a greater audience? In world wide web, it should be the greatest audience as that anyone could find their way to your site, company, program.
Take this ad for tea, I know it's for tea without even understanding the print, I understand most of the add and the call to action without even reading a word, and the scan leads you to purchase. Very effective and simple, yet the technology doesn't get in the way of the ad nor destroy the image and emotional feeling of the ad. And the end result is that this company went from a print add to actually connecting with me via my iPhone and one step away from the point of purchase. The contrast of the two above images says a lot about what we call experience design. Why is that some companies are able to communicate their product or idea so much better than others who are "selling" the same thing? It is the property of the Golden Circle, the positioning of what you believe first inspiring others to believe in you, as described in
Simon Sinek's TED talk: How Great leaders Inspire Action.
If you believe that the user's experience should be an experience they can understand and communicate (sans tech support), then you are going to inspire Users to USE your product or service.
Topics: Internet, leadership, Mobile_Marketing, strategy, web_design 0 Comments
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Posted by Melanie Bender on March 18 at 12:00 AM
Logic might suggest that they are in competition, but is that only considering half the picture?
Topics: Fashion, Internet, Mobile_Marketing 2 Comments
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Posted by Jesse Poe on January 28 at 10:38 AM
(Part 2 of Tomorrow Will Change the World)
Well it’s the morning after the day the world would change and well, has anything changed?
Jobs wrangled his illusive tablet unicorn out of Apple’s enchanted woods and it’s called the iPad. The internet exploded not with acclaim, but with jokes. One thing I learned as a musician was never name your band something that can easily be punned upon. Why? because for lack insight or time to investigate, it’s easier for writers to bash something than to support it. If there’s a joke to made then it’s the first step on that slippery path, and the iPad slid right down it.
Was it a game changer? Not really, but we can’t say until it is implemented. My greatest hope was to see 3G packages for existing iPhone users who purchased the Pad, and bundled subscriptions to newspapers and magazines. But there is still hope, even in it’s highly sterilized control freak OS.
It’s also the morning after one of the best speeches since Roosevelt, and if you watched the ignoble arm folding of the right during or Fox news afterward (just for torture), it wasn’t a game changer either, according to them.
However, this morning I was encouraged as I stopped at my local newsstand, and saw the positive headlines topping almost every paper, and it made me think. It’s not so much the product, but the way we react to it. It is not so much what is given to us, but what we choose to do with it.
So my challenge is this, even though Terry McGraw probably woke up with a horse head in his bed, we can still have bundled content, we can have cool innovation. Who will join us?
I’d like to see my favorite print in full glorious color, hyperlinked, and with video all in one spot. We don’t have to wait for Time or SI to lead the way, what about the
The Baffler, or
Yeti? And new hardware to interface. Adobe, Wacom? How about a slip case that holds the iPad on one side and on the other side a pen tablet to write/draw on, bundled with subscription services for university text books?
It’s the morning after the day the world would change and nothing stopped it from snowing in NYC, but you know the snow looks nice!
Topics: Internet, leadership, Mobile_Marketing, social_networking, strategy, tools 0 Comments
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Posted by Jesse Poe on January 20 at 12:30 PM
So the New York Times is going to start charging for their on-line content.
Makes sense, people have always paid for the New York Times at the newstand or to open their door in the morning and find it waiting there, so why not on-line.
I clicked a survey yesterday on this very topic and the results showed that some 70% thought it should be free. Because journalist should work for free? Absolutely not, but because we have come to believe that everything on the internet should be free. How we got to that idea collectively is the subject of other posts, but it is true, free is the current currency of on-line life.
So is the Times doing something smart?
Well smarter than the Wall Street Journal, in that incidental visitors, arriving no more than once in a while through searches and links, would be unaffected by the new system. This is good as that Wired.com has proven it is the long-tail that is of greatest importance of all. Over 70% of the searches performed leading to their site are for articles more than 2 years old.
Blocking information is like cutting off people’s water, it just seems wrong, but if we can’t afford to pay for serious journalism, we would suffer much greater problems in the future. As an example look at the age of
miss-information that Fox “News” has created.
What is very smart in all of this is that the New York Times is thinking ahead. The deluge of e-Readers that are about swamp the market will most likely funnel down into a paid prescription sort of package, as that internet providers will not be able to squeeze a third monthly charge for access. Your home connection, your phone and your tablet. It just won’t fly. But wrap that up together in a package with different content packages and I’ll buy it.
The most important thing is that as technology steps into this new decade you will see an advance in e-readers that will make the hype for the Apple tablet seem without basis. Flexible screens, that you can fold and shove into your bag will be the tipping point for a complete exodus to digital news, as it will no longer make sense, neither environmentally nor economically, to produce a majority of printed news. Having begun to step into the waters of paid subscription again, the New York Times will, even if running a skeleton crew, still be alive for this new time of jubilee that will once again reposit newspapers as pillars of wealth as well as culture.
Whatever the Apple Tablet may turn out to be, based on the speculation of what it is purported to be, they are missing the boat. I don’t need an expensive one-sided laptop. But an affordable flexible reader that has my choice of content, that I can follow hyperlinks for further exploration or word/fact look ups, email articles to my friends, see videos attached to the news, fold up and shove in my bag; that will be a game changer, and worthy of subscription fees. I’m glad to see NY Times getting ready for that kind of game.
I’m also glad that subscribers to the physical paper will get free access to the site, that is fair and makes sense, I love reading the Times in my hands, but for passing articles and information on to friends and clients, the on-line site is essential. And will hold me over till the future arrives.
Topics: Internet, Mobile_Marketing, social_networking, strategy, tools 0 Comments
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Posted by Jesse Poe on January 19 at 9:30 AM
This morning I was very pleased to see the success of the Mobile Campaign of the
American Redcross. It's simple, texting "HAITI" to 90999 makes a $10 donation. $22 million according the to
New York Times.
The gravity of the need, the compassion of people, and the simplicity of HOW you can help, made one of their most successful campaigns of all time.
Do mobile campaigns work? Yes. Compliments to the American Redcross for not only helping people, but for making it so easy for others to help them help people.
Topics: Mobile_Marketing, social_networking, strategy 0 Comments
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Posted by Jesse Poe on January 6 at 9:53 AM
Geekdom has been drooling over the coming of the Apple Tablet. Why?
The simple hope that it will be a game changer, like the iPod was a decade ago, or the iPhone was just a few years ago.
The important question is what will your website, blog, magazine look like on a tablet and more importantly are you ready for it?
With the late adoption of the iPhone/mobile platform and still complete failure of major magazines such Playboy to respond in a current and creative manner, you can be sure this might be your chance to get a leg up.
Many have already cued up, have you?
Here is an example of what Sports Illustrated is planning:
What will your brand look like on a tablet?
Thank you to
Business Insider for these images.
Topics: Internet, Mobile_Marketing, strategy, tools, web_design 0 Comments
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Posted by Rowland Hobbs on December 10 at 2:00 PM
Did you hear that? That was print media, choking another near-final gasp. Today I came across the
Huffington Post's media review of Playboy's new iPhone app. Perhaps Hugh should stop filming his polyamorous exploits for E! and start reading up on his mobile best practices, because this baby is as attractive as a circus bearded lady in a tartain muumuu.
I'll let HuffPo tell you what's wrong:
"The new $1.99 app will give you the cover of the magazine, the table of contents for the issue, its Playmate's intro text and details, along with portions of text from the magazine's monthly features, like the "Playboy Interview" and "Playboy Advisor." Oh, and there's no nudity either, keeping with the Apple store's no "adult content" policy..."
Oh man, it HURTS Playboy. And not in the good way. Why bother creating an iPhone app? What decimated budget did you further decimate to create this sorry thing? As the news announces firings, issue cancellations, and more at Playboy, why waste perfectly good money on this?
Anyone who downloads it will think there will be naked photos on there. Which there aren't. Some people may expect articles... but they'll get a teaser and then a message to go buy the real thing? AND they have to pay $1.99 EVERY TIME THEY GET AN ISSUE?
No. No. No.
There are two ways to make this better, and you better do one of them fast:
1. Unlock full articles. At LEAST give your user SOMETHING to do. If they wanted clothed femme fatales, they would subscribe to Maxim. But if you give them full articles, then there is value to the app.
2. Scrap all the half-way commitments, and start creating iPhone exclusive content. NOW the users have a reason to buy! They are getting something they can't get at the newsstand! Maybe it's a few video playmate reviews. Or maybe it's new content created by your writers. Creating new content is astoundingly affordable. And it creates value, which your app sorely lacks.
Unless one of these two approaches is quickly adopted, expect another round of bloodshed at the raunchy rag. I hope to God they aren't celebrating this thing. I hope this is phase 1 of a glorious app that takes Playboy into the next generation (maybe even allowing it to leave print and start turning a profit).
But a part of me fears that this is it. Playboy thinks it's made the jump to mobile, but all we're getting is a lot of useless foreplay.
Topics: Mobile_Marketing 1 Comment
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Posted by Rowland Hobbs on December 8 at 1:13 PM
All my life, I have never struggled for perfection. For one, I believe it's unattainable. For two, I believe it's a moving target. Nothing is ever perfect. If you ever think something is perfect, you're either lazy or misinformed.
On the web this is even moreso the case. The glory of the web is that we can change things on the fly. Files can be put up, and taken down. Images can be uploaded, downloaded, and deleted. We can create multiple versions of the same page just to test which setup works the best.
Today,
WebMonkey (which sounds a lot less serious than it actually is) posted a blog much to this point, except regarding applications.
And it's true! We need to break free of the unending and deadly cycle of reviews and approvals. It is better to get something up and then work on it continually. Once it's in the real world, you can quickly see what works, and what fails.
If all we do is stare at PDF files of designs that have not been put to the real test of hard code programming, we set ourselves up for disaster when the browsers and connection speeds of the world show us what our actual project will look like.
Of course, this is a bitter pill to swallow. How do you tell a client "let's get it out there, and then fix it?" What's funny is you really can't, it's the worst cacophony to their ears. However, also funny, is that this is how it always is. You launch a site and then begin to notice things.
On the web we so strive for organization. For an easy template to pop our projects into. We want things quick, easy, and clean of the blood of the innocent. This doesn't produce good websites, but it does create award winning ulcers and nights of restless slumber.
So we all need to take a deep breath. Grab our clients by the hand, and tell them it's all right. It's okay. We can fix that. It'll take just a few hours.
Why will this work? Because a website is never done any way. Even books print numerous editions. We can do the same on the web, in a fraction of the time and at a fraction of the cost.
Shoot first and ask questions later. Get that site or app up, and then let's troubleshoot. Until your project sees the light of day, you'll never be able to see it for what it actually is.
Topics: Internet, leadership, Mobile_Marketing, social_networking, strategy, tools, web_design 0 Comments
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Posted by Jesse Poe on December 3 at 11:24 AM
Ok, so to be honest
my google reader is not full of just PR, tech and media feeds, it is a bit of everything, and one of my favorites is GOOD.is.
Today they posted: Just How Inefficient is Our Food System? America, a new study suggests, wastes 40% of its food supply annually, up 28% from 1974.
I had to weigh in about the importance of residual waste as well and to make my point I turned to my job and how here we use all parts of the chicken at DMDxd.
When you are planning an event, what is your residual waste, and how can you then turn that into stock for a great soup?
Here’s a check list:
1. Audio
2. Video
3. Social Media
4. Photos
5. Copy
Audio, interview people there, the speakers, the crowd, little meetings, whatever. Turn it into a Podcast.
Video, sure your filming the talk or the ribbon cutting or ball dropping etc., but what about in the dressing room, in the cab, behind the scenes. Run it through iMovie and put it on Youtube (no more than 2 mins please).
Social Media, do you have an established #ashtag set up for people to follow, or even a twitter account specific to the event? Can people Facebook connect when they arrive, how are you looping these things around your event and back into your business. A guest book can be so many things these days, if it’s fun, easy and there, people will do it.
Photos, yep those are still important, even if you on the same page and have already hired a photographer or two, what about on the fly? Your cell phone? I played a festival where once you got off stage each performer was given a video camera they could keep with them for the next couple hours, now that was cool, and footage everyone wanted to see, places most people couldn’t get and priceless candidacy. What about just leaving disposable cameras at tables, and sticking a Flickr URL on the camera letting people know, the photos they snap will be uploaded. And you can get the ball rolling behind the scenes with a live feed to flickr from your cell or whatever, while the event is going on.
Copy, microblogging the event, compiling that afterwards into a more blown out blog post, straightened up and polished into a whitepaper or article that you purpose to a magazine, or someone else’s blog.
The idea is that if you have an event, use the whole chicken. And remember, that event can be something as simple as a tweet-up or you name it, brangelina doesn’t have to attend to make it an event, just you and your great ideas.
(an example of DMD doing this can be found
here, and more if you like, drop us a line.)
Topics: Internet, Mobile_Marketing, social_networking, strategy, tools 1 Comment
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Posted by Rowland Hobbs on December 3 at 11:22 AM
As the Creative Director of a web, mobile marketing, and social media agency - I would love to talk about us and our brilliance all the time. And hopefully, as we land more and more projects and launch more and more things, I will be able to do that.
But at other times, I just have to give the bigger dogs their due. These days, so many clients are pining for more! more! more! We want MORE functionality! MORE options! MORE lolcats! But
Ogilvy took a page from the upcoming holiday season, and its biblical battle cry for simplicity - and channeled that simple wish into an iPhone Christmas app.
It's pretty fantastic... but it also could do with just a BIT more.
You take a photo, you press a button, and snow is superimposed over the photo you took. Why is this awesome? Because it's an immediate strategic headslap for me (why didn't I think of that??). Because it is not at all expensive. And it is simple, simple, simple. Add to that the fact that it's free and that the web is already talking about it and I can tell you that this will be a successful idea from the company. They sell mobile, marketing, and web. And that's exactly what their app does.
But far be it from me to just lay back and say "good job, other company that isn't mine." Of course I need to step in and offer some "
wouldn't it be better ifs".
So please, indulge me:
I'd love to have an option to
add falling snow to any VIDEO. With iPhone's ability to edit and upload direct to YouTube, that could be fun, as well.
What if I want to turn this into a
mobile holiday card? Can I type a quick message that is superimposed over the image, and sign my name using the touch pad? Another personal touch that increases viral potential.
What about a
drawer of stick-on imagery? I'd love to drag an Ogilvy snowman onto my photo, and shrink or grow him appropriately to add to my faux-snowy scene.
Now... you may say... but then it's no longer simple! I disagree. A few SIMPLE additions I mentioned here, streamlined with a slick UI, could certainly keep this snowy and simplistic... while adding more value.
Because, while simplicity is key, too much of it isn't a good thing, either. You need to give something a bit more flair to give it that extra push from one user to that user's friends and family.
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Posted by Rowland Hobbs on November 30 at 6:00 PM
As I was getting set to post my blog today, I had a whole concept in mind: admitting (with shame) that over the weekend while I was with my boyfriend and my family on Long Island, I barely went online. My Twitter lay fallow. My Facebook practically untouched. My LinkedIn LinkedOut.
And I was going to say "what kind of an Internet wonderman am I if the second I am off from work, I don't go into my Google Reader and tweet my face off?"
But then I stopped for a second and thought: I DID use the Internet this past weekend. I used it plenty. Just not as a professional. Nor as a social media maven.
No, my relationship with the Internet changed this weekend in that I transformed from an Internet Strategist to a consumer. And now I'm reflecting back on it.
I spent time on YouTube with friends. I surfed Amazon to buy Christmas presents. I Googled for churches so I could check out a mass on Sunday morning. I was what all of our target audience usually is: rushing around, not paying much attention, and clicking to get my hands on information that I needed in the moment.
I was using the sorry mobile Google Maps app on my Verizon enV to find the closest Barnes and Noble to the Roosevelt Field Mall.
And you know what? I think it's good for this to happen to us on occasion. So long as we remain conscious of what we are doing. So often, we get caught up in web strategy and design. We make sure that every last pixel is perfect, that there are tons of words on every page and that there is much complexity and connectivity on our sites. This is good.
But one thing Mastermind Nielsen always tells us is that this is not how Joe Blow (and Georgina Blow) American Two-Pants view the Web. No, they are not pouring over every page like it is an ancient tomb they unearthed. They don't care about the cropping of the photo we put on top of our site. They just want to know when "The Real Housewives of Monmouth County" is on. Or when the next train to Podunksville leaves. Or how many eggs go in a chicken fried steak batter.
So let's all make an early New Year's Resolution to put on our Consumer Goggles in the coming months. To make sure that everything works as best it can... but then to look at other sites with rushed eyes and hurried needs, so that we can see what works, and what does not.
Cheers!
JR
Topics: Mobile_Marketing, web_design 0 Comments
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Posted by Jesse Poe on November 9 at 12:41 PM
One of the great things about blogs is that you can find out about so many wonderful and user specific posts, but primarily after the fact. It’s always the morning after.
Twitter has helped with that, but micro-blogging is also a deluge that can sweep your night away without you ever getting out to enjoy it. (or you day for that matter!)
In yesterday’s
Twitter API Announcements Raffi Krikorian announced that soon we will have local Twitter Trending Topics.
Not only will this elevate the aforementioned, should have, could have scenario, it is an amazing possibility for business.
Thinking about how to use this now, will allow businesses to be ready at the gate when Twitter launches this.
Ok we know that at first it is going to be for certain locations using Yahoo!’s Where on Earth IDs (
WOEIDs) such as NYC, London, San Francisco etc. as mentioned.
But just because Boise Idaho may not be the first place to launch, doesn’t mean that you can still get your ideas ready and in motion, and be all the more effective for it.
Here are few ideas as to how your business can start to game plan for this wonderful opportunity.
- A tweet screen or kiosk where people can tweet that they are there at your place of business and receive a discount, free appetizer, etc. Much like Foursquare, but in a in house immediate response way, that would then drive the number of tweets about your specific business location into the local trending topics.
- Reverse search, find the people who might be in your part of the city or neighborhood looking for the ball game or a quiet place to study for exams, reach out to them with twitter and invite them over, with clear and timely calls to action. (how much I would have loved this for the presidential debates)
- Run specials on what people want and when. I’m looking for a new notebook to journal in, you’ve got them in your coffee shop, free cup of coffee with the purchase of a notebook. Once I’m there in your coffee shop, then the play yours, is the light right, is the coffee good, is the staff friendly and warm. No technology can make up for that, but it can get people in your door to find out!
The thing is to start now. Start thinking, how can I use local trends to engage my public? To find my public? To help my public find me? To give them what they want?
Start now, and remember that if the fit is not right, both you and your public will be uncomfortable with it. It should be a natural and creative adaptation of your brand.
If you need help, we’re
here for you.
Topics: Internet, Mobile_Marketing, social_networking, strategy 0 Comments
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Posted by Jesse Poe on November 2 at 10:38 AM
Yesterday all eyes were on New York. Over 40,000 runners and for each runner how many came out to support? How many watched on TV?
A lot. Most of the world.
I was there with my friend Patrick Phelan cheering on his girlfriend Meg (one of NYC’s finest pastry chefs) who finished the Marathon in 4 hours.
Overwhelming the humanity of the Marathon. What a beautiful thing we all get together to make, collective joy, it sort of flies in the face of what the acidity of what most media tells us to believe.
People cheering each other on, calling out the names they read Sharpied onto runner’s shirts as if it were their own friends they were cheering on. Parades of high-fives, bands, people running for causes, people running for themselves and for each other.
What is the percentage of people who win? Well if you’re talking about the money prizes, pretty low, but without saying it we know who the winners are.
Take Aways:
There are so many lessons to take away from this kind of event, but there were two that I wanted to share.
We were at the official halfway point waiting to cheer Meg on and in the mean time the others before her. A band was playing covers of the Stones, Springsteen, Steppenwolf, the basic coverband cannon.
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While they were soloing on the sidelines, I saw a slower runner stop a faster runner and ask him to take a picture of him. He did, the moment was captured, they gave each other high fives and the faster runner took off.
How valuable is your time? So he lost, maybe 2 minutes, 5 tops off his marathon time, but did it matter? It did to that
slower runner. It did to me.
Made me think about social media/marketing/PR. There are so many out there doing it, it would look something like the NYC Marathon to see them all together, but the number of opportunities to work are legion in comparison (if you’re doing good work), so really what is 5 minutes to stop and help someone slower than you, to follow someone on twitter who doesn’t have many followers so far, somebody new to the game.
We always want to help the winners, the faster ones, because they can help us, but what if we stopped to help the slower ones, would it take bread from our table. Probably not. What do you think?
And who knows, who those slower ones will become, remember the story of the Tortoise and the Hare?
As I was thinking of this and how maybe people should make twitter lists for people who are just starting, a we’re rooting for you list, or for example how some one like @chrisbrogan who’s following to folllowers is nearly 1:1 and then for example someone like @Armano is 1:4, I was broadsided by another take away from the Marathon.
A runner ran right up to me and gave me this card: 
She gave me a few, so I shrugged and passed them to the couple standing next to me. So she was running the Marathon for her brand. And for her, too.
As we looked at the cards, we all said the same thing, “hey wasn’t that the lady who just gave us these? Cool.”
So she was running the marathon for her brand, she was running the marathon for herself. She is her brand.
And now she’s in the homes of the people she gave her cards to, and she’s on this blog.
Shameless, maybe some might say, but real, very real. She got out there and made it happen, I’d believe her if she tried to pitch me that she’s willing to go the extra mile for her customers, she was walking the talk when I "met" her, well running it actually.
And once I went to her site (listed on the card http://sofiaheadstrong.com) her site and what she does was consistent with the woman who ran up and put the card in my hand.
Are you out there where where your audience is, running up to them with a warm smile and your brand? And if you are are they finding a consistent image in person, in deed and in image?
Are you taking the time to help those slower than you?
Get out there, Do it!
Topics: Internet, media, Mobile_Marketing, strategy 3 Comments
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Posted by Rowland Hobbs on October 21 at 4:45 PM
Running north on Second Avenue, I was a man possessed. I weaved my way past strollers and drunken frat boys, turned sharp at 86th Street, and bounded west towards my local Gamestop store. According to my cell phone the time was 9:50. According to a text message on my cell phone, I had to get to the Gamestop by 10PM to finalize my pre-payment on my order for WWE Smackdown Vs. Raw 2010 for the Playstation 3.
Nothing would stop me. I would have my game. Granted, I would have to return to the store at midnight to pick up the game. And yes, it seemed odd that I would have to stop at the store in advance to pay before coming back two hours later to pick up, but the text message from Gamestop on my phone told me explicit rules and I would follow them.
I got to the door at 9:50 and pulled on the handle. It didn’t open. Inside, the employees looked at me, confused. I held up my phone. They mouthed some things that I couldn’t understand. I pointed at my phone, and then held up my hands to count to 12.
“Be back at 12?” I asked.
They nodded, if they understood me.
And so I stomped off, furious. I had ran uptown from a party in Chelsea to get to the Gamestop before 10. I had left my friends behind at another bar uptown to get to the store on time. I was starving and I had to go to the bathroom. But I couldn’t address any of these needs because I had to make the arbitrary deadline.
A deadline that ended up meaning absolutely nothing.
Now, you read accounts of mobile strategy – the greatest thinkers of our digital generation. If they heard of this situation – people driven to act by an incorrect mobile marketing message, they’d probably come down with the vapors, and maybe pass out. “They’ll leave you in droves!” they’d scream, scrambling for their smelling salts. “You have violated their trust!”
So, was I angered enough to not return to the store? Of course not. I was there at midnight with the other wrestling video game nerds to pick up my precious game. Why? Because I had already put $20 towards it, and because it was the only place that was open where I could get it.
I even asked the employees at the counter about the text, they hadn’t heard about it and hadn’t been told it would be happening.
So maybe you think this is proof that you can jerk your customers around and they’ll stick with you. Well, maybe they will. If you are the only horse in town, you won’t see the local cowboys deciding to try and saddle up the local bar wench. But trust has been lost. You can bet your ten-gallon hat that I will be taking future mobile communications from Gamestop with a grain of salt. They are liars and are not to be trusted.
What’s funny is that I hadn’t even signed up for a mobile alert. It must be something the store now does when you give them your phone number and they enter it into their system. I was actually pleased, shocked, and excited when I received the unexpected text earlier in the day. Of course, that rapture drained out when it proved itself to be 140 characters worth of rotten, terrible lies.
So what’s the lesson here? It’s a simple one. But, since it just happened, clearly it bares repeating:
1. Hold true to your word.
Even if it’s written on a cell phone screen, it is still your word. Don’t say something you can’t deliver on, and don’t write checks your assets can’t cash.
2. Make sure one hand knows what the other is doing.
I don’t think Gamestop lied to me on purpose. Though, if they did, that makes them a very respectable form of evil that should be studied by cartoon villains. Don’t automatically send out a text message that your employees do not know is going out.
3. Streamline your requirements.
I ended up paying the rest of my purchase at the store at midnight when I picked up my game. There was no reason for me to pay it at 10. I was actually angry when it seemed like my acquiring of the game lay in the balance of whether I’d get there in time. That anger turned to unbridled rage when I came face-to-face with a locked door and ignorant employees.
Mobile marketing is a very powerful tool. It creates an almost instant, strong, bonded form of trust between you and the recipient. But, unfortunately, that trust can be almost instantaneously obliterated.
You’ve got a strong weapon there in your hands, corporate Jedis. Use it wisely.
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Posted by Jesse Poe on October 8 at 10:41 AM
Welcome to the third installment of our 4 part interview with Author of
Six Pixels of Separation Mitch Joel.
Today Mitch talks about:
- Reading War & Peace standing up
- Snackable Content
- Retro-fitting
- Radio to TV to Mobile
- Metallica
- Kanye West
- Being Nice
Listen to Part 3 of Interview with Mitch Joel
Join us tomorrow for our final segment with Mitch Joel, part 4 of this 4 part interview, where we discuss: The mystery of Bono, who to follow on Twitter, metrics and his book Six Pixels of Separation.
@dmdxd
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Posted by Jesse Poe on October 6 at 7:32 AM
Good Morning and welcome to the first installment of our 4 part interview with Author of
Six Pixels of Separation Mitch Joel.
Today Mitch talks about:
- Should we blog?
- Mass Media vs. Mass Content.
- The Beatles.
- Creating Content.
- When is prime-time and when is it ok to not be creating content.
- and more!
Listen to Part 2 of Interview with Mitch Joel
Join us tomorrow for part 2 of this interview, where we discuss, mobile marketing, our generation, and his
new book in progress!
Topics: Internet, leadership, media, Mobile_Marketing, social_networking, strategy 1 Comment
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Posted by Jesse Poe on October 2 at 10:42 AM
Have you ever started down a street and then got a strange feeling, turned around, walked back to the corner and went down another street for no other reason than, the street felt wrong?
I make a point to always follow my intuition even if means I might look a bit silly, or have to go out of my way sometimes. The thing is though, there are no metrics on these things.
I never know if a piano didn't fall on my head because I don't go back to check, and then if I did go back to check how would I keep from getting into some sort of Schrödinger's cat paradox.
The good thing is that there are metrics on the T-Pain App I wrote about on
9/4 and
9/9.
300,000 + downloads in 3 weeks
14,000 + downloads a day
66 mins the average time spent on the app
12.5 the average times each have opened the app
4. 1 MILLION user-generated songs made by the users of the app
Now they have branched out with the release of I'm on a Boat by Lonely Island featuring T-Pain, lowering the price creating an engaging and fun
youtube contest.
Amazing how simple success can be, and that it can actually be monitored, measured and maintained. The key is the simplicity, in contrast look at the failure of
Ralph Lauren's recent QR code 10 step fiasco.
Reminds me of my first lesson on composition in high school art class: KISS keep it simple stupid.
Kudos to Smule for keeping it simple and on their success!
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Thanks to
Ben Parr for his metrics over @mashable
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Posted by Jesse Poe on September 28 at 11:40 AM
Originally published as a Sidewiki on Read Write Web article
A New Venue for Indie Films: Your iPhone by Sarah Perez
A couple weeks ago we blogged about Mobile Marketing and how such an intimate mouth piece is so often poorly used. A few good exceptions being
Hyper Factory’s Motorola “Say Goodbye” or United Nations “Voices” campaigns.
Now, we have a new paradigm for film makers to actually create for this new platform. Brilliant! Instead of retro-fitting film to the phone, art house director Sally Potter has filmed for the phone. The right size, length, and even screen composition.
This will be the future of film and a new wave of directors and content in general. Not because it is a new idea, there are new ideas every second. But because this is truly embracing a device that so many own and keep by their side at all times, and thinking what you can do for the device and the people who use it, as opposed to the stagnant business model of what can the device do for us.
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Posted by Jesse Poe on September 9 at 10:56 AM
If you’re a Star Wars geek (not that I am, but I did see the first 1977 run of it at the drive in, and then many times after), you might have participated in tweaking scenes from the Star Wars saga, when George Lucas put them on-line. A winning strategy which helped insure that previous fans would become acolytes in his re-tuning of the holy trilogy.
Audience participation is not kenneled to sci-fi fans or people who love to cross-dress and sing show tunes with Frankenfurter snarls. Participation grafts a brand to a participant’s life. Even the word audience becomes tricky because their participation makes them a part of the brand itself.
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