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Shopping-enabled Display Ads are Blooming Success for 1-800-Flowers.com (Internet Retailer)

Posted: 08/27/2009

Success bloomed for 1-800-Flowers.com during its 2009 Mother’s Day e-commerce campaign, resulting in a 41% spike in sales per impression compared to traditional display ads. The campaign enabled consumers to purchase directly from “buy” buttons planted into display ads powered by Alvenda. According to Alvenda, consumer interaction among the ads, called Shoplets, flourished at more than 10.5 times greater than traditional banner ads. To accommodate the traffic spike and speed up response times, Alvenda shifted the bulk of the floral Shoplet campaign content over to Akamai Technologies Inc’s content management server. “We believe the majority of future online sales will happen offsite. Customers will be able to shop with brands wherever they happen to be, whether they’re on YouTube, a favorite blogger web site, or on Facebook,” says Wade Gerten, CEO of Alvenda.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products, Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic: Creative & Design, E-Commerce, Experience & Interaction, Marketing Communications, Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Consumer, Peer Groups & Communities

Shop Online with Time Inc’s StyleFeeder (Internet Retailer)

Posted: 02/18/2010

Time Inc. has announced its acquisition of StyleFeeder.com, a social shopping site. The acquisition is aimed at increasing Time Inc.’s revenue from referring consumers to online retailers, Fran Hauser, who oversees digital strategy for a group of Time Inc. magazines including InStyle and People, tells Internet Retailer. StyleFeeder offers over 14 million products from well-known retailers including Target and Macy’s and provides a customized shopping experience using a shopper’s location, shopping history, and various filters like product price, brand, color, and attributes. Hauser says, “If you look at apparel and accessories, that market is a $26 billion market. We feel that shopping is really an extension to what InStyle does.” While StyleFeeder will improve InStyle’s current shopping engine, Hauser intends to feature StyleFeeder’s use throughout InStyle’s web site, in addition to other Time Inc. magazines.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products
Topic: Business Intelligence, E-Commerce, Marketing Communications
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Consumer

Shazam! How One Company Plans To Change The Advertising Industry (.net)

Posted: 09/30/2010

Shazam CEO Andrew Fisher recently sat down with Oliver Lindberg to discuss why the company chose to charge for the popular mobile music discovery app and how the company plans to change the face of advertising as we know it. While Facebook may be the most downloaded iPhone app in the US, Shazam is Europe’s frontrunner. The app, which identifies a piece of recorded music via a mobile’s mic, tallied 50 million users across all platforms in October with the goal to double that number by the end of the year and reach 300 million users by 2015. Users are apparently willing to pay the price: the London-based start-up introduced a paid-for version of its iPhone app – Shazam Encore – with a limited free version offering five tags per month for new users. The service offers unlimited tagging, faster performance and a range of extra features such as music search and geo-location ticketing.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products, Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services, Telecommunications
Topic: Business Intelligence, Content Strategy, E-Commerce, Experience & Interaction, Marketing Communications, Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Consumer

Sears Innovates with Multichannel Strategy (Chief Marketer)

Posted: 03/18/2010

Chief Marketer recently spoke with Sears' senior vice president online Imran Jooma to unravel the success behind the brand Sears Holdings Corp’s (Sears and Kmart) aggressive approach to bring merchandise and marketing to online communities (MySears.com) and mobile commerce (Sears2Go). The new campaign, “ShopYourWay”, is a multichannel strategy with new initiatives including Marketplace at Sears.com, which gives online shoppers the opportunity to locate and purchase products from outside retailers. Jooma credits Sears with having a robust fan community at MySears.com, which allows the company to pinpoint and deliver additional categories of interest. To maintain ease-of-use and minimize cumbersome navigation, Sears launched Quick View and ClickSee, which gives customers a quick visual of related and compatible products. The company is in-touch with customer feedback to improve both in-store and online shopping experiences, and recently added an iPhone app to its Sears2Go mobile shopping initiative.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products
Topic: Content Strategy, E-Commerce, Experience & Interaction, Marketing Communications
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Consumer, Peer Groups & Communities

Salesforce.com Expands Service Cloud to Include Tweets (CRM Daily)

Posted: 04/22/2009

As the popularity of Twitter increases companies are struggling for a way to participate in exchanges on Twitter. To address this, Salesforce.com added Twitter to its Service Cloud as a way for their clients to track, search, and even respond to customer discussions among Twitter’s 8 million users with tweets. The service allows companies to sift through millions of tweets and uncover conversations related to their brand or significant to their industry. They can then monitor all related replies to the original post and even use the Service Cloud to direct the appropriate replies back to the original poster. Since launching the service in January Salesforce.com has experienced impressive uptake of the service verifying that this approach symbolizes where customer feedback and response is headed.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications
Topic: Business Intelligence, Content Strategy, Experience & Interaction, Marketing Communications
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business, Business to Consumer, Peer Groups & Communities

SaaS Hits the Sweet Spot for Business Intelligence (Intelligent Enterprise)

Posted: 10/22/2009

You’d be hard-pressed to describe a major business intelligence deployment as fast, flexible, and affordable. Which is exactly why BI service software (SaaS) is primed to change business intelligence. SaaS-based BI vendors aim to get the implementation process off the ground in days rather than the months it usually takes. Shaklee CIO, Ken Harris, views SaaS as more than a stopgap to on-premises BI software deployments. Harris deploys SaaS to stretch his small IT staff and budget by storing data in a PivotLink-hosted data warehouse and using report and query tools to evaluate the data across a network that has expanded from 50 employees to as many as 5,000 independent business people who sell Shaklee products. The cost is perfectly reasonable for small to mid-size companies with limited IT resources.

Industry: Retail & Products, Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic: Business Intelligence, Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business

Rice University Study: Facebook Fan Pages Excel at Niche Marketing (ClickZ)

Posted: 04/01/2010

The results are in for Rice University's Jones Graduate School of Business study to determine how creating a presence on Facebook impacts businesses. The study incited an article in the March issue of the Harvard Business Review, with the study authors calling the Facebook page a qualified success for niche marketing. Rice professors collaborated with social media virgin Dessert Gallery, a local bakery and café chain in Houston. The study revealed fan pages have impact; however, mostly when targeting niche groups. First, after taking a preliminary survey, 75 out of 700 loyal customers accepted the invitation to fan Dessert Gallery’s Facebook page. Three months later, respondents completed another survey that revealed Facebook had a significant impact on their interaction with the brand. The bakery’s fans stopped by the cafe 20% more than non-fans, spending 33% more. The fan page also seemed to cultivate brand affection and loyalty.

Industry: Retail & Products
Topic: Experience & Interaction, Marketing Communications, Technology Implementation
Region: North America
Audience: Business to Consumer, Peer Groups & Communities

Retailers Dial-In To Smart Phone Shopping Trend (CRM Daily)

Posted: 01/04/2011

With one-third of mobile phone usage to be “smart” this holiday season (Nielsen), retailers are getting dialed-in to e-commerce. The 21 percent increase over last year indicates that retailers can no longer rely on independent strategy for their retail outfits, whether they are bricks-and-mortar stores, Web sites or mobile shopping channels. Heather J. Brunner, chief operating officer of Austin, Texas-based Bazaarvoice, said a phone is "just a mini-computer, and our challenge now is to transfer the Internet experience to a much smaller screen." For instance, outdoor brand Patagonia recently launched a new application that suggests similar items and price ranges while customers browse. In-store, the app will recommend complementary items based on the tag’s bar code. Companies like Neustar are working on types of “second-generation” bar codes for smart phones that are square rather than rectangular while Pronto, a company owned by New York-based IAC, plans to launch a mobile app for product price alerts.

Report Shows That B-to-B Marketers Harness the Power of Social Media (BtoB Online)

Posted: 09/11/2009

B-to-B marketers tend to dedicate a greater portion of their budgets to newer media platforms, so it’s no surprise that the report, “Harnessing the Power of Newer Media Platforms for More Effective Marketing,” shows a dramatic increase in social media among b-to-b marketers. The updated report from BtoB and the ANA (Association of National Advertisers)documents that 66% percent of marketers surveyed currently employ social media, up from 20% in 2007. An overwhelming 57% now target social media, a 42% increase over respondents two years ago. Blogging and mobile are the “newer media” tactics not currently being employed, but respondents claim they’ll begin using both in the next year. LinkedIn is chief among the social networks utilized by b-to-b marketers, while Facebook ranked highest overall. Viral video and podcasts are chalked up to be the next go-to b-to-b marketing tactic over the next year.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications
Topic: Business Intelligence, Experience & Interaction, Marketing Communications, Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business, Peer Groups & Communities

Puzzling Together Business Data: Salesforce.com Buys Jigsaw (CRM Daily)

Posted: 06/17/2010

Salesforce.com’s purchase of contact provider Jigsaw makes it even easier to access, create, and even clean up contact information for businesses all over the globe. Salesforce.com chairman and CEO, Marc Benioff, said it will be “as easy as Wikipedia to source data, as easy as iTunes to buy data, and as easy as Facebook to stay updated as the data changes.” Boasting a 1.2 million member count and a database with 21 million professionals working at 4 million companies, Jigsaw describes its role as “collecting, refining, managing, protecting, and organizing the global list of people in business – so you don’t have to.” Through the use of Jigsaw’s cloud platform, new applications can also be created by software vendors to better use business contact information.

Industry: Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic: Business Intelligence, Experience & Interaction
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business

Pulling Klout: Website Helps Users Measure Their Social Influence (CNN Money)

Posted: 08/19/2010

Users can now discover their social “Klout” by numerical rank by inputting their Twitter name into Klout.com. The San Francisco-based social media start-up is shoring up its position to become the online standard for measuring social impact by partnering with Virgin America to offer a hand-picked group of “influencers” a free flight from San Francisco or Los Angeles to Virgin America's newest destination, Toronto. Here’s how the new type of marketing campaigns (implemented by brands like Starbucks and Cover Girl) work: (1) Users accept product offers; (2) In return, Klout requests for disclosure of the freebie; (3) Klout measures some two dozen variables, including the number of times their comments are retweeted, the size of their Twitter audience, and the influence of those followers, to come up with a numerical value and ranking on a 0-to-100 scale.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products, Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic: Business Intelligence, Content Strategy, Marketing Communications, Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business, Business to Consumer, Peer Groups & Communities

Programming With Screen Shots, Not Just Code (Dr. Dobbs)

Posted: 03/04/2010

Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers have developed a new system that allows one to program with screenshots. For more than three decades, the graphical user interface (GUI) has dominated computer programing, but its underlying reliance on code manipulation means it’s still relatively labor intensive for computer programmers to customize or build programs. The new system, Sikuli, enables programmers to develop programs using GUI screen shots. While it requires some knowledge of Python, the system enables even casual users to create new programs without mastering complex programming language. The user simply draws a box around the desired content, captures the screen shot and then places it appropriately into the Python code. The research team plans to present a paper entitled GUI Testing Using Computer Vision at CHI, the premier conference on human-computer interactions, where they will describe new applications of Sikuli aimed at large software development projects, both for programmers and non-programmers.

Industry: Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic: Experience & Interaction, Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business, Business to Consumer

Professional And Personal Identities: Building Brands Into Your Blog (BusinessWeek)

Posted: 08/05/2010

Who knew that blogging and business go hand in hand? According to eMarketer, a New York based-research firm, “71 percent of bloggers who post for business [create] greater visibility for their companies.” Blogging gives companies a chance to act more like people and connect with their customers by giving posts a personal touch. Employees looking to promote the companies they work for should formulate branding strategies based on personal missions and values. With permission from company managers to get personal with posts, employees can promote new products, mention awards they’ve won at work, and keep followers updated on projects they’re working on. It’s a win-win situation for everyone involved; companies and employees will be recognized and remembered.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications
Topic: Content Strategy, Experience & Interaction
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business, Business to Consumer, Peer Groups & Communities

Procter & Gamble Seeks E-Commerce Innovation (Internet Retailer)

Posted: 07/08/2010

Consumer favorites manufactured by Procter & Gamble are now even more available. P&G’s new retail web site offers 52 products (with more coming) for consumer purchase, including Tide detergent, Oral-B toothbrushes, and Gillette razors. Though P&G made $76.7 billion in sales in 2009, increasing those sales is not the Web site’s main goal. According to the manufacturer, the site will provide a “living learning lab for developing e-commerce innovation.” Data gathered about P&G’s online consumers will provide a better understanding of various shopping behaviors and preferences. “As big and influential as Procter & Gamble is, there is no doubt this is a sign of a broad trend with consumer goods manufacturers,” says Jim Okamura, senior partner with consulting firm J.C. Williams Group.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products, Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic: Content Strategy, E-Commerce, Experience & Interaction, Marketing Communications, Technology Implementation
Region: North America
Audience: Business to Consumer

Powerade Dives Deep In YouTube Social Campaign Video

Posted: 07/08/2010

In preparation for the FIFA World Cup, Powerade will provide players sports drinks and promote the importance of rehydration through a social media campaign. The campaign is a digital, viewer-interactive video of a never-ending football game on YouTube.com. Using the "Deep Dive" technique, viewers are able to click on a player in the video and "get a glimpse of that player’s psyche, showing them what effect Powerade has on his game", according to executive creative director Juan Morales. Click-through hotspots lead viewers further into players' stories providing a deeper level of meaning to the campaign. Following the digital ad world philosophy to "fish where the fish are", Morales says it makes sense to feature the video on YouTube where the viewers already are.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic: Content Strategy, Creative & Design, Experience & Interaction, Marketing Communications, Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Consumer, Peer Groups & Communities

Playing it Safe: Conservative Web Site Design (Fast Company)

Posted: 10/08/2009

There is one critical factor to Web site design that cannot be ignored: the reader rules. Designing Web sites with a conservative approach first addresses readers’ expectations, with just the perfect dose of panache to make your site sizzle. The conservative rule of thumb? Organize your information in a way that flows effectively. Fast moving elements like flash should take center stage while slower moving elements like columns and news bites should flank the outer rails. Smashing Magazine sampled 50 top Web sites to pinpoint the definition of 'readability' and establish some basic guidelines for effective type layout, including font type, font size and link styling. So the next time you try to equate "conservative" with "boring" consider this: sometimes slow and steady really does win the race.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications
Topic: Content Strategy, Creative & Design, Experience & Interaction
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business

Opera Offers Android Users Faster, Nimbler Mini 5 Browser (InformationWeek)

Posted: 04/15/2010

The beta version of the Opera Mini 5 browser for Android is alive and well. The mobile browser features standard Opera features such as speed dial, tabbed browsing, password manager, speed and a slick design. The proxy-based browser is connected to Opera’s main servers, making it capable of remotely compressing data by up to 90% before sending it to the phone, a beneficial feature for low-bandwidth data connections. In addition to highlighting the browser’s desktop-like Web experience, initial reviews from InformationWeek blogger Eric Zeman said, “…the "killer feature," is the browser's speed. Opera Mini 5 loads Web sites dramatically faster than both the native Android browser and the Dolphin browser on both the Droid and the myTouch 3G."

Industry: Telecommunications
Topic: Experience & Interaction, Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Consumer

Opening the Line of Communication with Feedback-Form Analytics (Electronic Commerce Guide)

Posted: 02/04/2010

We’ve all heard of shopping cart abandonment. Until now, companies have had no way of knowing if this so-called digital window shopper’s syndrome was due to Web glitches or other, more personal, reasons. Kampyle is changing that by offering on-demand feedback-form analytics so companies can improve their turnover rates by learning more about their customers. The customizable forms promote open communication between customer and company by directly asking customers relevant questions to reveal why they chose not follow through with their purchases. The software also features “smart pop-ups” that can be personalized to appear when the visitor clicks off the site. Easy to implement, companies can have the service converting clicks into sales in as little as five minutes.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products, Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic: Business Intelligence, Creative & Design, E-Commerce, Experience & Interaction, Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business

Online Game Features Upscale Brands To Give Users A Virtual Retail Fix (BrandWeek)

Posted: 09/02/2010

Popsugar's new online game, "Retail Therapy", merges social gaming with e-commerce to give users an insanely addictive fashion fix. Available on Facebook and at Playretailtherapy.com, the game can be played for free or users can purchase virtual goods priced from $1 to $100. Here's how the fashion-forward game works: players fill empty store shelves with virtual goodies from premier labels like Banana Republic, Barneys New York, Gap and Juicy Couture. Sponsors like Diane von Furstenberg and Topshop have even opted to launch virtual stores in which users can purchase products. Players can also make the leap into any of the retailers' sites to fill their shopping carts with real merchandise. Friends can visit other friends' shops or create unique looks to share among their networks. By modeling aspects of the game after the wildly popular Farmville, CEO Brian Sugar "believes that Retail Therapy can entice users to open up their wallets . . . to purchase virtual goods by promising competitive advantages and overall better game play."

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications
Topic: Content Strategy, E-Commerce, Experience & Interaction, Marketing Communications
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Consumer, Peer Groups & Communities

Online Communities Strengthen Brand Power (Chief Marketer)

Posted: 05/24/2009

No matter your product or service, building online brands means building virtual communities that cultivate customer loyalty and provide lasting value. Shaping customer experiences that allows for custom-control, targeted e-mail follow-ups and strategic communications will not only maximize the time your customers spend with your brand, it will also increase your messaging impact and build mindshare, too. It never hurts to make the experience enjoyable, too, through elements like compelling visual design, intuitive navigation and user-generated content. Take for instance, the Pen Collective, by eROI and Wacom. The group now boasts more than 3000 active members, due to the brand’s intuitive mix of tutorials, testimonials, wit and social networking to create an inimitable personal connection to the brand.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products
Topic: Business Intelligence, Content Strategy, Experience & Interaction, Marketing Communications, Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business, Business to Consumer, Peer Groups & Communities

On-the-Go with Target’s Mobile Gift Cards (Promo Magazine)

Posted: 03/18/2010

Now, with its mobile gift card option, Target, the second-largest U.S. discount chain, makes paying with plastic old school. The retailer is letting customers use mobile phones to redeem gift cards as more consumers use phones with Internet access. Shoppers simply save the account numbers for their Target GiftCards to a PIN-protected area at either online or at the retailer's mobile-optimized site. Customers access the mobile site on their phones, enter the login and PIN for the card and complete the purchase when the cashier scans the unique 2D barcode on the display screen into Target’s P-O-S system, which has been outfitted across all 1740 Target stores nation wide. Customers can also access the mobile site to view merchandise, check product availability, manage gift registries and find locations, among other things. Other retailers like Starbucks and 7-Eleven are testing similar barcode technology to incorporate into their mobile business strategies.

Industry: Retail & Products
Topic: E-Commerce, Experience & Interaction, Technology Implementation
Region: North America
Audience: Business to Consumer

On-Demand Software Adds Flexibility to Direct Digital Marketers (Ecommerce Times)

Posted: 01/21/2010

The robustness of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) products positions them to effectively tackle emerging trends in direct digital marketing. The secret to their success? They share the same “it” factor ideals that often boost the best new businesses to the top of the rung: they are cost-effective, easy to implement and inherently scalable. On-demand products must seamlessly integrate between the three primary channels of direct digital marketing–email, mobile and Web–meaning developers must create software that is simultaneously heightened in usability and simple to implement. The bottom line is that the functionality and flexibility of SaaS and universal profile management systems enhance direct digital marketers’ own flexibility and success in their drive to leverage customer information and boost sales.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products, Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic: Business Intelligence, Content Strategy, E-Commerce, Marketing Communications, Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business, Business to Consumer

Nokia’s “Design By Community”: Hope For Next-Gen Smartphone? (Mobile Magazine)

Posted: 05/13/2010

Former king of the mobile technology hill, Nokia, recently unveiled “Design by Community”, a project intended to tap into the psyche of the techie community and recapture the keys to the kingdom. Nokia’s plan of attack is to use its new website to solicit consumer feedback regarding characteristics smartphone users would most like to see in the next generation of smartphones. Nokia amassed thousands of votes about design parameters in the first round of voting. Future reconnaissance rounds will seek information about characteristics, including: shape, materials, connectivity, video and features like camera. The voting system will reject configuration ideas that are too out-of-the-box or not creative enough. Nokia does not have plans to bring the winning creation to market. They will, however, incorporate them into a design concept.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Telecommunications
Topic: Business Intelligence, Creative & Design, Experience & Interaction, Marketing Communications
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Consumer, Peer Groups & Communities

Nexus One Propels Google Into Online Retail (BusinessWeek)

Posted: 03/04/2010

Google Inc. has entered the world of online retailing with its sales of the Nexus One, an HTC Corp. manufactured and Android mobile system operated phone. Google will also sell additional Android operated devices, like Motorola Inc. phones, with aims to promote further adoption of the Android operating system. With support from Google’s online store, T-Mobile USA and Verizon Wireless will also carry the Nexus One. "We hope that by partnering with us in offering the Nexus One and future phones from Google, operators will be able to drive even more customers to their network and will be able of [sic] offer their customers another innovative Android device," said Katie Watson, Google spokeswoman.

Industry: Retail & Products, Telecommunications
Topic: Content Strategy, E-Commerce
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Consumer

New Tweet Button Simplifies Sharing (Digital Arts)

Posted: 09/16/2010

In an effort to simplify sharing and make retweeting one of its core functions, Twitter recently launched a new Tweet Button, which prompts a pop-up box allowing visitors to share a Twitter feed without leaving the site they are visiting. The feature also allows publishers to incorporate custom text into their Tweet Button box, as well as suggest other Twitter accounts to follow. "The Tweet Button will help publishers grow traffic and increase their Twitter following," reads Twitter's announcement. While TweetMeme will be phasing out its popular “retweet” service, the company plans to launch other Twitter-related services. "We have grown to more than 750 million daily retweet button impressions.... That said, the market requires an official solution that can accelerate this growth. So today Twitter is launching its own Tweet Button and we are very pleased to be partnering with them to continue to grow the overall Twitter ecosystem," reads a TweetMeme statement. CNN.com, YouTube, Time.com, Hulu and USA Today have already incorporated the function into their websites.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic: Content Strategy, Experience & Interaction, Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Consumer, Peer Groups & Communities

New Runa Software Helps Convert Customers Into Sales (Electronic Commerce Guide)

Posted: 02/04/2010

A huge challenge for e-commerce retailers is getting visitors to actually click through to purchase items. Runa, a company specializing in conversion marketing, is helping companies capture and convert Website vistors into paying customers before they abandon the process entirely. After tracking a variety of “actionable analytics” including key words, transaction history, profile information, products viewed and search patterns, Runa drums up a new dynamic sale price that evolves from the merchant’s criteria and shopper’s preferences. Price is typically the deciding factor for whether consumers follow through with transactions, so the new deal is only revealed once the shopping cart has been abandoned. Retailers can then expect to turn up to 15% of “recapture” offers into sales. Since the dynamic special offers are only revealed to visitors that abandon their carts, those paying full price from the get-go never even get wind of the deals.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products, Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic: Business Intelligence, E-Commerce, Experience & Interaction, Marketing Communications, Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business

New Old Spice Campaign Aims To Go Viral With A Little Mystery (Fast Company)

Posted: 08/19/2010

Ad firm Wieden+Kennedy has taken a successful “Old” television ad concept viral. Old Spice, owned by Procter and Gamble, is leveraging the appeal of its TV spot star, Isaiah Mustafa, by taping 30-second YouTube videos in response to Twitter feeds. The team behind the campaign works in conjunction with technology to scan responses and identify the social influence of those responders to choose messages that will create a wow factor and perpetuate themselves throughout “virally-relevant” communities. Wieden's global interactive creative director Iain Tait asserts that rather than using a dedicated proprietary site, the campaign gets maximum exposure on YouTube, especially since the current spots are being watched and re-tweeted extensively. The ability of embedded material on YouTube to be liked, shared, favored and dispersed quickly factored into the decision for which social medium to use. Heeding the nature of the ‘want it new, want it now” internet culture, the company strives to produce the video responses in real time to the keep the content fresh, relevant to the brand and newsworthy. The content goes successfully beyond pure entertainment value to make “the connection between the content, the product and the experience of the product.”

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products, Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic: Content Strategy, Creative & Design, Experience & Interaction, Marketing Communications, Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Consumer, Peer Groups & Communities

New AT&T Applications Target Enterprise (Info World)

Posted: 12/03/2009

AT&T, the nation’s 2nd largest wireless carrier, launched new hosted applications for BlackBerry and Windows Mobile targeting the merchandising and hospitality industries: AT&T MEAP: Merchandising for the Consumer Goods Industry and AT&T MEAP: Maintenance and Repair for Hospitality. Built on its Mobile Enterprise Applications Platform, the vendor is leading the trend of offering new apps that encourage enterprises to entrench smartphone usage in their daily operations. The merchandising app allows product distributors to submit delivery data in real-time for better tracking, smarter stocking and faster billing. The hospitality app allows hotel maintenance crews to access and update work orders and service requests, report incidents and receive alerts, resulting in quicker response times and more workflow.

Industry: Retail & Products, Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services, Telecommunications
Topic: Experience & Interaction, Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business, Business to Consumer

Mozilla’s Raindrop Seeks to Personalize the In-box Again (CNET News)

Posted: 11/19/2009

E-mail no longer has the last word in online communication. Mozilla's Thunderbird team created Raindrop to consolidate communications channels like e-mail, Facebook and Twitter into a single interface intelligent enough to differentiate correspondence from the high-priority to the pedestrian, from the personal to the pile. Raindrop developers blogged, "We hope to lead and spur the development of extensible applications that help users easily and enjoyably manage their conversations, notifications, and messages across a variety of online services." The smart technology will pinpoint and file messages from e-mail lists, retailers and social media outlets that send continual updates. Unlike Mozilla’s flagship applications Firefox and Thunderbird, Raindrop is a Web application, not downloadable software, but the vendor will also support front-end software, including mobile applications, that can use the Web-based service.

Motricity Delivers User-Preferred Content On-the-Go (CIO Magazine)

Posted: 10/27/2010

Motricity recently launched mCore MobileCast, a service that allows wireless carriers and large companies to define content based on their smartphone users’ preferences. Requiring "zero touch" by the users, the cloud-based service takes a user’s location and prior usage into account before delivering audio, video, text and HTML5 content streamlined to the user’s preferences. For instance, a mobile user purchases tickets to a rock concert via a mobile device. Enter mCore MobileCast: The service ingests the concert data in combination with GPS data to disseminate auxillary information to the user, such as the concert's opening act, parking locations and even places to eat nearby. "All that information is in separate places today, but we aggregate it all up," said Jim Ryan, Motricity’s chief strategy and marketing officer. The company provides mobile infrastructure services to "hundreds of enterprises" and 10 major wireless carries, including the top four in the U.S., Ryan said.

Motorola SmartPhone Targets Social Network Crowd (Internet Evolution)

Posted: 10/22/2009

Motorola’s new smartphone, the Cliq, targets a young crowd addicted to social networking. The Cliq features a dynamic home screen with a collage of emails, tweets and status updates flashing over the sender’s profile pictures. The moderately priced Cliq, estimated to cost around $100, will be available this fall from T-Mobile. Another more expensive version will be available from Verizon. Both phones use Google’s Android operating system, but Motorola transformed the Cliq’s software to include Motoblur–the wow factor that makes the phone stand out from the crowd of Android phones expected to launch in the 2009 holiday season. Users simply supply their account information and the Internet-based service will combine all the information from a user’s e-mail and social networking accounts into one handy address book.

Industry: Telecommunications
Topic: Creative & Design, Experience & Interaction, Technology Implementation
Region: North America
Audience: Business to Consumer, Peer Groups & Communities

Mood Guides Consumer Choice For The Perfect Cup Of Tea (Strategy Magazine)

Posted: 12/16/2010

Tea-maker Tetley discovered surprising results in their focus group testing, namely that tea drinkers are primarily motivated to buy tea based on their current mood. In response, the company launched a new “Colour Therapy” campaign. The campaign allows consumers to discover which herbal tea colour best matches their personality. The site features two threads: “Find your colour” and “Find everyone’s colour,” and recommends the perfect cup of tea based on visitors’ answers to criteria like the current weather, time of day and even the customer’s state of mind. The site also incorporates a social element that allows visitors to share their “tea” colors among social networks. Users can view the color mood of Canada, which is based on Twitter posts, via the "Everyone" stream. A "Colour Therapy" page for Facebook launched on November 11.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products
Topic: Creative & Design, Experience & Interaction, Marketing Communications
Region: North America
Audience: Business to Consumer, Peer Groups & Communities

Mobile Commerce Sales Grow Exponentially In 2010 (Internet Retailer)

Posted: 02/17/2011

Reports from research and consulting firm ABI Research indicate that total U.S. mobile commerce sales, excluding travel, exceeded $3.4 billion in 2010, up 143% over $1.4 billion in 2009. Previous skyrocketing growth also occurred between 2008 to 2009, up over 253% from $396.3 million to $1.4 billion. Mark Beccue, senior analyst, consumer mobility, at ABI Research said, “Mobile online shopping growth in the U.S. has been fueled this year by the massive migration of consumers to smartphones, the explosion of highly innovative use-cases deployed by retailers and third-party players, and a significant shift in consumer behavior as more consumers choose mobile shopping over traditional online shopping.” Rather than being driven by one or two product categories, mobile shopping crosses all retail boundaries (and product and service lines), helping brands connect directly to their customers in meaningful ways across all types of mobile marketing campaigns.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products, Telecommunications
Topic: Content Strategy, E-Commerce, Experience & Interaction, Marketing Communications
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Consumer

Mirror, Mirror On The Wall: Macy’s Magic Fitting Room (CNET News)

Posted: 12/01/2010

Looking for an interactive dress-up experience without actually taking your clothes off? Clothes shoppers had the chance to, quite literally, tap into a 21st-century shopping experience at the new Macy's Magic Fitting Room in the retail chain's New York's Herald Square flagship store. The 72-inch multi-touch screen let shoppers select clothing items like tops, dresses, bottoms, and coats and then superimpose the pieces on their reflection. Macy's hired LBi International to create the interactive mirror, heralding in a new era the company deems as “the future of retail.” The experience becomes even more interactive and social when customers share their new looks on Facebook, or via SMS or e-mail.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products
Topic: Creative & Design, Experience & Interaction, Technology Implementation
Region: North America
Audience: Business to Consumer, Peer Groups & Communities

Mini 5 Mobile Browser Means Big Business for Opera Software (Internet Evolution)

Posted: 11/08/2009

Norway's Opera Software, the leading maker of mobile browsers, recently released Mini 5, a redesigned, more user-friendly instrument. According to John Strand, chief executive of Danish consultancy Strand Consult, “Opera Mini has been the main driver of growth for Opera.” New features are designed to simplify web surfing: like speed dial, tabs and a password manager. Statistics from StatCounter show that Opera captures 25% of global mobile internet traffic, while Apple (22%) and Nokia (21%) are close behind. Google’s recent entry into the market and Mozilla Foundation’s plans to enter soon promises to widen the playing field. Opera, which markets its browser to cell phone makers and operators, gained 22% for its shares over the first three quarters of 2009. The browser can be downloaded directly by consumers for free.

Industry: Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services, Telecommunications
Topic: Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business, Business to Consumer

Microsoft Vine: A New Twist on Social Marketing (CNN Money)

Posted: 06/05/2009

In an effort to untangle a new path toward social networking prosperity, Microsoft Vine is branching out into unchartered territory: charging subscription fees. Hailed as the 911 for the 21st Century, the new platform will focus on climbing the social networking ladder into the public safety and emergency information arenas by limiting activity to two actions: alerts and reports. Users can customize profiles and bunch their friends and family into groups, creating a virtual safety net to keep informed about events as major as hurricanes or national crises, or as minor as a snow day. The testing phase offers the opportunity to discover how city emergency management agencies across the country might implement this new communication tool. While the basic service will be free, premium services like smartphone access will come with a price tag.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic: Content Strategy, Experience & Interaction, Technology Implementation
Region: North America
Audience: Business to Business, Business to Consumer, Peer Groups & Communities

Maximize your Web Site’s Mobilization with CSS (Practical eCommerce)

Posted: 09/11/2009

With mobile internet use and mobile-friendly browsing on the rise, expert Armando Roggio is encouraging businesses to consider his “Web Design Tips” before redesigning their e-commerce sites to address their mobilization. Simple techniques such as adding a second style sheet or slightly revising a page’s HTML can enhance mobile shopping experiences without wasting time to register new mobile domains or create mobile-specific styles. The best solution? According to Roggio, it’s more efficient to redesign your current site to render well across multiple platforms including mobile, desktop, RSS, and more, using CSS. To illustrate his advice, Roggio creates a home page for an e-commerce comic book store with an instructional video demonstrating how to create mobile-friendly background images.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products, Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services, Telecommunications
Topic: Creative & Design, E-Commerce, Experience & Interaction, Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business, Business to Consumer

Mastering The Whole Customer Experience (.net)

Posted: 04/15/2010

In a recent interview, Oliver Lindberg caught up with Paul Dawson, EMC Conchango’s experience director, to discuss the company’s methodology. EMC Conchango concentrates on what it calls “total experience design,” taking a comprehensive look at the customer journey from beginning to end, and all the points in between. EMC Conchango operates as the European arm of EMC Consulting, allowing it to leverage its global reach and cast a wider net to capture more global business. Based on fact, the experience planning process incorporates Agile methodology, regularly released software and eye tracking to analyze how people interact with the content of a page. The agency is also experimenting with electroencephalograms that are literally wired to reveal what consumer’s brains are thinking and feeling. The agency also partners with Microsoft to adopt new user-facing technology to better understand customer behavior and devise ways to prolong consumer interactions with brands and products.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products, Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic: Content Strategy, Creative & Design, E-Commerce, Experience & Interaction, Marketing Communications, Technology Implementation
Region: Global, Europe
Audience: Business to Business, Business to Consumer

Mastercard Campaign Praises Hockey’s “Unsung Heroes” (Strategy Magazine)

Posted: 06/09/2010

“Unsung heroes” are typically the faces behind the scenes, eschewing the limelight to help launch others to the top spot. In an unexpected turn, Mastercard’s new campaign casts new light on the "unsung heroes" of the hockey world. In support of its title sponsorship of the 2010 MasterCard Memorial World Cup, MasterCard’s saucy, mockumentary-style campaign features live-action vignettes that pit inanimate objects against each other to battle it out alongside real athletes. The digital campaign celebrates mundane objects like alarm clocks, cups of coffee, garage doors, dumbbells, slush and shock absorbers, whose efforts are often overlooked in the hockey player’s quest to meet challenges. Designed to be dynamic, memorable and cost-effective, the campaign extends the creative theme with trading cards featuring each item and rich media ads on TSN.ca, Sportsnet.ca, CHL.ca and NHL.com, as well as the major Canadian portals that drive visitors to the Mastercard.ca site to vote on their favorite videos. Mastercard will run the "Unsung Heroes" campaign until the end of the Memorial Cup on May 23.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications
Topic: Content Strategy, Creative & Design, Experience & Interaction, Marketing Communications
Region: North America
Audience: Business to Business, Business to Consumer

Market Intelligence the Smartphone Way (CRM Daily)

Posted: 02/04/2010

Context-aware software tries to connect the real world with the vast stores of information about places in a virtual world: the Internet. The technology channels the knowledge amassed to provide useful tools to the smartphone user. Consumers gain more control over their buying experiences and save time when they purchase from vendors who have critical insight into their shopping habits. The software’s diverse industry applications include retail, business management, hospitality, and food and beverage. Research firm Gartner projects the market for this technology will grow to $12 billion by 2012, with Google standing in prime position to address and profit from the new wave of demand. Other companies that stand to benefit are Nokia, Cisco Systems, Avaya, large telcos like China Telecom or potentially even social networks such as Facebook, Gartner says.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products, Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services, Telecommunications
Topic: Business Intelligence, Experience & Interaction, Marketing Communications, Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business, Business to Consumer, Peer Groups & Communities

Like This: Google Acquires Like.com (InformationWeek)

Posted: 09/30/2010

In an effort to fortify Google’s search and e-commerce capabilities, the mega-search company recently purchased visual search company Like.com. Like.com’s computer vision and machine learning technology allows users to search and conduct visual comparisons for goods as they shop, making it particularly user friendly for mobile devices. Like.com CEO Munjal Shah confirmed the deal, stating, "We were the first to bring visual search to shopping, the first to build an automated cross-matching system for clothing, and more. We see joining Google as a way to supersize our vision and supercharge our passion." Google’s likely goal in the purchase is to beef up it core search products and image recognition services (Google Goggles), as well as intensify its social capabilities (Jambool and Slide.com) to make search more “social and more deeply integrated with e-commerce.”

Industry: Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services, Telecommunications
Topic: Experience & Interaction, Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Consumer

Legally Broadband: Finland Declares High-Speed Internet Access a Legal Right (CNN)

Posted: 11/19/2009

Finland recently declared broadband Internet access a legal right. While it is a view shared by the United Nations, Finland is the first country to actually make it legally required for telecommunication providers to supply connection speeds of at least 1 megabit per second for all 5.2 million Finnish citizens by July 2010. The mandate is an intermediary step to reach Finland’s real goal of reaching speeds 100 times faster–100mbps–by 2015. "We think it's something you cannot live without in modern society,” said Laura Vilkkonen, the legislative counselor for the Ministry of Transport and Communications. While the majority of the Finnish population (95%) is currently wired, the new law aims to stretch the Web to internet deprived rural areas.

Industry: Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services, Telecommunications
Topic: Technology Implementation
Region: Europe
Audience: Business to Consumer

Latinos Make Up Huge Piece Of Mobile Marketing Pie (ClickZ)

Posted: 03/31/2011

Mobile phone use is on the upswing among the Latino population, rising 26 percent from 2006 to 2010 compared to 18 percent of the general population. Three key markers indicate that the Hispanic population will continue to drive mobile marketing: they care about social connectivity, they are actively seeking fun experiences and they are open to innovation. The proof is in the pudding: 82 percent of the market has been penetrated; mobile phones are outpacing landlines among this demographic as the primary source of communication; this group is more interested in mobile web browsing than the average population; 24 percent of mobile users have downloaded at least one app; and the group has demonstrated that enhancing their lives through social connectivity is a priority.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Telecommunications
Topic: Content Strategy, Creative & Design, Experience & Interaction, Marketing Communications
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Consumer

Kitty Crowdsourcing? New Service Helps Businesses Collect And Rank Innovative Ideas (Fast Company)

Posted: 09/02/2010

When Princeton sociology professor Matthew Salganik came across KittenWars.com, he knew he found a valuable model for his own crowdsourcing website, All Our Ideas, which merges sociology and computer science techniques to enable organizations to collect ideas and rank them more effectively. A virtual idea factory, the service allows users to launch their own question and answer websites. If neither answer presented is acceptable to visitors, they can simply add their new ideas to the mix. Those new ideas then get filtered into the voting pool. Salganik explains, “If you ask for suggestions, especially online, you may get thousands of ideas that can take weeks to sort through. On the other hand, if you use a survey with preset questions and answers, you can get lots of data but few new ideas." The service is already gaining traction with organizations like Princeton’s class of 2008 student government, which used the tool to pinpoint the most pressing issues on undergrads minds.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic: Business Intelligence, Content Strategy
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business, Business to Consumer, Peer Groups & Communities

Karmaloop’s Online Roots Run Deeper Than Facebook And Twitter (DIRECT Marketing Online)

Posted: 03/17/2011

Long before Facebook became synonymous with social marketing, Karmaloop’s rep program was successfully hawking its line of streetwear to its audience of teens and young adults. Nearly a quarter of its $100 million in annual sales is generated by 6,500 reps across the globe. Assigned a customized code to track sales and earn points, reps essentially build their own customer base by promoting the brand via personal blogs, Websites, Facebook pages, and other social networks. “We have our built-in audience and the trust and loyalty of millions of 18- to 24-year-old kids, and they’re going to follow us, because peer-to-peer is how we do that,” director of lifestyle marketing Giovannah Chiu said. The same philosophy led to the creation of KarmaloopTV.com in 2008, which has since expanded to include channels devoted to specific brands and regularly scheduled programs.

Jruby is a Gem for Gilt.com (CNET News)

Posted: 12/03/2009

In a conversation with the Gilt Groupe’s CTO and co-founder Michael Bryzek, Software, Interrupted’s Dave Rosenberg unearths how Jruby powers the luxury shopping site. JRuby’s ability to seamlessly integrate and leverage mature libraries entices Java developers seeking additional productive frameworks to turn to the high-performance platform. Because Gilt.com deals with spikes in traffic when new items are released and items surge in popularity, the IT infrastructure must have the capability to scale and burst in order to meet customer demands. The company is gearing up to deploy Ruby on Rails 3.0, which offers great performance, scalability and the ability to write and expose elegant APIs written in the Ruby language.

Industry: Retail & Products, Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic: E-Commerce, Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business, Business to Consumer

J.C. Penney Makes Mobile Holiday Move (Internet Retailer)

Posted: 01/04/2011

J.C. Penney Co. is initiating a major multichannel mobile push with holiday retail plans that include the launch of an m-commerce site, enhancements to its mobile applications, location-based app promotions and an iAd campaign. Along with the full suite of m-commerce functionality such as browsing, searching and buying—the mobile site also includes a Find Near Me button and updated applications for iPhone and Android users that lets shoppers browse the weekend sales circular; create portable shopping lists; find the nearest store to either their current GPS location or to a ZIP code or city name; and sign up for mobile coupons. Location-based services Foursquare, Brightkite and Facebook Deals also play a role, allowing shoppers to cash in for $10 off a $50 purchase when they check in at one of the retailer’s 1,100 stores. In addition to its ongoing mobile coupons program, the campaign will also include mobile display ads on Apple’s iAd network, featuring a treasure hunt through a variety of J.C. Penney gifts as shoppers search for a $10 off $50 coupon.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products, Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services, Telecommunications
Topic: Content Strategy, Creative & Design, E-Commerce, Experience & Interaction, Marketing Communications, Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Consumer, Peer Groups & Communities

It’s Super Bowl Sunday: “Time to Wear the Pants” (BrandWeek)

Posted: 02/18/2010

Watching the Super Bowl and wearing pants went hand in hand on February 7th. During the big game, Dockers presented a 30-second ad to promote its ongoing “Wear the Pants” campaign. The ad portrays childish men, marching and chanting “I Wear No Pants”, who are interrupted with the message “Calling all men, it’s time to wear the pants.” "We’re sending out a humorous call to manhood . . . The campaign celebrates the reemergence of the khaki... as an everyday way for men to convey masculine pride," said Jen Sey,VP of Dockers global marketing. The ad’s incorporation of Shazam mobile technology will allow consumers to use their smartphones for direct interaction with the ad’s content. Downloading the Shazam application and “tagging” the spot will direct consumers to the content page and its various offerings. "We’re on a mission to reinvent khakis and consumers’ relationship to the category, which has been passive in recent years," said Sey.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Retail & Products, Telecommunications
Topic: Creative & Design, Experience & Interaction, Marketing Communications
Region: North America
Audience: Business to Consumer

Is Real-time Internet Worth All the Buzz? (New Media Knowledge)

Posted: 08/27/2009

You may be wondering what’s behind all the real-time Internet buzz. Before you determine the real worth of real-time Internet, consider Dell’s success with their @DellOutlet platform on Twitter, the front-runner in the real-time game. The company has experienced real financial gain (to the Tweet of $3 million dollars in revenue) from real-time marketing, “Tweeting” followers a mixture of exclusive content and time specific discount incentives. According to Joe Hughes of Yomego there are two key elements to real-time Internet: (1) practically no delay between composition and publishing and (2) the ability for users to discover content in real-time. With an estimated three to four hundred million people currently using some version of real-time Internet (across platforms like Facebook, Friendfeed, Yauba and jabber), the numbers are too large to ignore as merely a fad.

Industry: Marketing, Design, & Interactive Communications, Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services
Topic: E-Commerce, Experience & Interaction, Marketing Communications, Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business, Business to Consumer, Peer Groups & Communities

iPhone App Enables Paying with Plastic (CNN Money)

Posted: 03/18/2010

Operating businesses remotely just got even better. While credit card transactions were standardized in traditional business settings long ago, paying with plastic was only a pipe dream for those conducting business on the road. Now, a host of software is on the market allowing mobile businesses to process credit card payments on their cell phones. From Apple's iPhone applications to Inner Fence, which developed the first iPhone app for processing credit cards, there are a slew of applications out there that allow proprietors to issue refunds, review sales, and email electronic receipts for transactions.

Industry: Retail & Products, Technology, Consulting, & Professional Services, Telecommunications
Topic: E-Commerce, Technology Implementation
Region: Global
Audience: Business to Business, Business to Consumer

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