Widgets

Widget's give the ability to push relevant content with a brand ' wrapper ' to users through a number of channels, either through desktop or embedding into websites such as Facebook and Blogger. marketing technology

The popularity of these is obvious, with San Diego based Yourmini's having already served a combination of marketing and user created widgets totalling over 700 million since start up

Online ' TV ' - 2007 dawn of a new era ?

More than 3.5 million BBC programmes have been watched using the BBC's online on-demand iPlayer TV service during the fortnight after Christmas Day

Almost half the programmes viewed were outside the top 50 most popular demonstrating the long tail online offers.

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Marketing to the senses

In our real world we rely heavily on our 5 key senses , they influence our conscious and subconscious decisions moods and our behaviour.

For years department stores have played on all of these key elements in promotion and selling.

But what of the virtual world ?

On the web the sense of smell cannot be used, nor taste – these senses have to be evoked from our personal memories or by associations which we bring together in our mind to formulate this virtual picture.

Websites cannot translate the feeling of quality offered by touch, qualities such as weight and feel are impossible to translate through the click of a mouse. Of course these restrictions are not unique to the web, TV and radio have the same issue however the big difference is they are ‘ lean back ‘ mediums.

With the web and it’s interactivity there is an expectation to be provided with relevant and contextual information based on our enquiries, to be engaged, to have a dialouge. The relative infancy of the technbology means it’s full potential with regards to how and what information to present is still being realised.

Video improves sales

A recent survey from Vzaar found nearly 46% of internet shoppers have bought items online to find the item purchased was not exactly what they thought – the key hear is thought.

From a functional point of view this could be ‘ fit for the purpose ‘ – i.e a room freshener which does indeed freshen the room, however it fails to deliver the smell or effect only experience of the product could provide.

An interesting insight from the survey found over half the respondents said seeing a video would make them more likely to buy a product.

This makes a lot of sense, there are many feature comparison sites on the web but how do you convey a products actual size, look and functions in a manner over the web which we can relate – a simple picture is not enough.

Recognising the importance of video Dixons the UK electronics retailer have just collated all of their demonstrations ( it has been producing these for over a year ) into one place within their customer website.

If this were to be coupled with independent reviews from outside the groups website this could make for a great proposition to differentiate itself from it’s competitors.

key survey facts

• Six out of ten believe sites using video are more professional
• Half of all shoppers say seeing a video makes them more likely to buy
• Four out of ten shoppers have more trust in a site that uses video

M-Commerce

' point and shoot '

Nokia has announced a pilot in the UK for the phone to be used for payments. The handsets which will carry an RFID chip will allow users to ‘ swipe ‘ there phone on the London Underground to pay for journeys – presently the ‘ Oyster ‘ scheme operates across the entire underground and allows commuters to use a dedicated card which is ' swiped ' over special readers for the journey and is 'topped up‘ with credits.

marketing technology

In another recent trial in London, Oyster partnered with Barclaycard to allow for low value purchases to be made using the card.With the incorporation of the technology into the phone the UK can start to catch up to the wider use of this kind of technology in the Asian markets.

News International has started to incorporate QR codes on their most popular title ‘ The Sun ‘. QR codes or ‘ Quick Read ‘ codes will be present through the title over the coming months and will allow users to ‘ scan ‘ the codes to then receive content directly to there phones. The software is now incorporate into most new Nokia handsets and is downloadable from the web for other handset manufacturers.

While this still requires a download to the majority of handsets and the fact people in the UK are far happier with SMS codes I am not entirely sure of the viability of this method to direct people to ‘ content ‘ .

Schemes to extend barcodes to mobile are nothing new, however the application of this technology makes far more sense in this context.

1000 Albums to hear before you die

Three great things about this list now that technology is involved.

• You can listen to all the tracks easiliy through music portals


• The list can be changed, voted and ammended over time in a fluid manner with the use of blogs


• Evidences a tradional media channel making good use of new technology to drive people between print and the web.

One thought though - They could have gone one step futher and teamed up with iTunes or Amazon ....

View the list : http://music.guardian.co.uk/1000albums

Radio gets impersonal

radio adds companionship ?

I've covered on several occasions music serving providers such as Pandora and more recently Dizzler but with Last.fm's recent sale to CBS has put these services firmly in the spot light.

Apart from how to monetize these offerings is the fact that all content selection is driven by technology and users, not DJ's.

This personalized targeted approach is exactly what we all want right ? - maybe not.

The future

In the future we will have at our finger tips our own personalized music and TV channels.

These will be built from combinations of our existing habits from viewing, subscriptions and recordings and be delivered with some form of advertising ( still debate how this will work ) but one important element is missing, people.

Will our lives be then just one single stream of entertainment with absolutely no human element ?

Inject

You can Partner with social networking sites to increased the social element but you still need to have the timely injection of the DJ and TV presenter.

We have to remember that people listen and watch TV not just for the specific content, but also for companionship.

Why virtual TV will be a success , but for different reasons

Eletronic Arts and Endemol announced a interesting partnership which will expand traditional TV programming to the virtual world, with the release next month of their Virtual Me platform

EA the company behind such classic hits such as the SIMS, Endemol is the company responsible for bring the ‘ reality ‘ TV show Big Brother which now has local variations in over 70 countries.

Taking the concept from MySpace participants are able to create virtual selves ( or aviatars as they are commonly known on the internet ) to compete and take part in variations of these hit TV shows – not in person, but with virtual representations of themselves.

I have to say it is interesting Endemols decision to partner with EA rather than leverage and already established community that is second life, however it shows an interesting transition of thought by expanding the tradional position of TV programming onto the Web.

Money

Big Brother’s revenue comes from advertising ( not product placement ) and also mainly from the SMS voting that takes place to evict or keep the contestants ( know as housemates – ironically by the are at the end , they are anything but ).

But how would this work in the online space when this will not be an audience lead activity.

As yet there are no successful examples of pre-role ( the short advert placed before content of value / interaction ) on the web. Most is ignored through the ability to close or skip, the remainder is mostly irrelevant in either context or content, this therefore leaves :

Sponsorship

Pure and simple association to raise awareness, but without engaging in dialogue with these participants is there any real value in what will be in the short term at least, a niche market ( in both volume and type of player )

In game – virtual brands, signage and clothing.

Levi’s is apparently doing a roaring trade in 501’s online, how long will this last ?

In this lean forward world where people are participating rather than sitting back and observing using traditional signage such as posters cannot prove to be effective, the ability to clutter this restricted space is also a threat and could all but trash this opportunity.

Also, while engrossed how much awareness does this bring ? Ask a professional footballer what adverts were around the side of the pitch while he was playing.

Payment upfront

This seems the more likely , in order to win / participate you pay. Pure and simple gambling , all be it wrapped up in a different wrapper.

Exclusive

On the internet there could be 1,000 big brother virtual shows happening at any one time - nothing is exclusive on the internet , it needs to work the numbers.
Combine this and the fact no matter how advanced the technology, people have a wonderful ability to express and behave in subtle ways which at the moment cannot be replicated online – I challenge anyone to be entertained for any length of time sitting watching Second Life.

The one thing the TV has over the internet is exclusivity and to a degree, authenticity.


Know your enemy

Generally game shows are run with a degree of ethics, although not perfect as Who wants to be a millionaire cheat Major Charles Ingram will contest, they do through the ability of “ seeing is believing “ remove some of the trust barriers the internet cannot break down .

Virtual icons

Above is a virtual concert with star performers U2, although the virtual Bono has some fancy dance moves I would not pay to watch these unanimated objects for any length of time.

Would you pay to watch a virtual game of soccer, would these virtual avitars be the next location for marketing and promotion deals, will we ever have a ( god forbid ) virtual David Beckham?

By making the barriers to entry too easy, by leveling the playing field, it removes the draw and passion along with the appreciation of the attributes that make these people great and thus the desire for us to watch and appreciate – this will therefore never be an audience led medium no matter how much the technology fools us visually, therefore the revenue generation models should reflect this.

As Buddy ( aka Syndrome ) said in the incredibles ‘ I'll sell my inventions so that *everyone* can have powers. *Everyone* can be Super!

And when everyone's Super... No one will be.

SMS - dead and buried..... not

Mobile Life survey conducted by YouGov, raises some statistics, which fail to surprise and demonstrates their proliferation :

Of 16,500 adults surveyed

• 14% have two or more phones they use regularly
• On average they make 2.8 calls per day, with an average of 3.6 text messages
• Using data from the mobile data association , during the month of July 3.5 billion text were sent - which equates to 50 text messages per day for every woman, man and child for Great Britain
• 70% replace their phones every 18 months , choosing function as the most important decider
• 64% would be happy to use the phone to pay for small items , such as bus and tube tickets – at present 20% of people pay the London congestion charge in this way.
• An overwhelming majority of people cannot survive a day without their mobile phone
  

And finally , only 14% of those surveyed would turn there phone off during sex…….