Jen Quinlan

Agencies: Size Matters

dragqueenpug — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 09:51:00 -0400

You’re client-side. You manage marketing programs, and you’re tasked with also driving a strong ROI of investment made in outside labor. Most likely you’ll have to answer questions like, ‘Why couldn’t we manage this in-house?’ or ‘What is the total cost of ownership of this project?’.

Clients with in-house teams identify projects or programs they desire to engage an outside agency. Often this is because:

Their project is production-oriented, and they’d rather keep their in-house talent on more strategic initiatives.
They’re not staffed sufficiently to meet the needs of a project.
The nature of the project would touch their internal IT department, however the IT department has a 6 months - 1.0 year backlog of initiatives they’re working through. Good luck fitting this in next quarter!
The nature of the work requires outside thinking and innovation. The internal team is entrenched in their day-to-day work, and truly an outside perspective is needed to solve for a problem.

Based upon a client’s requirements, there are a lot of agency models that could be engaged. Below is my short list of pros and cons for each. Bias alert - I work for Springbox, a medium-sized digital agency, thus that model hits close to home.

Case: The Start-Up / Small Company

Size: 15 people and under.
Service: Your account will mean the world to this company. They’re hungry, and they’ll throw all the manpower they’ve got to keep you happy - often at bottom-level rates, because that is what they need to do to grow.
Process / Quality: They’re young. They most likely don’t have everything hammered out on the internal process and quality assurance front. You will have a higher likelihood to need to play a bigger role in proofing or having an in-house project manager to work with vendor and make sure they’re organized and follow through.
Scale: Extremely difficult for this size partner to scale up with you efficiently. They’re small, have few clients, and hiring up to service your account will require a longer-term commitment (at least a year out) for them to increase headcount. They don’t have extra people on other teams they can add to your account if you need burst capacity.

Case: The Medium-Sized Agency

Size: 50+, still relatively flat organization (not many levels of hierarchy)
Service: You’re more likely to get experienced, agency people. This isn’t their first time working with a brand, and they know how to anticipate your needs and deliver results. You might not get all the bells and whistles of a large agency (aka ‘this is our patented global process for XYZ’), however the service and talent will be strong and the agency is small enough that your work matters. Note: unlike the small agency, medium-sized agencies won’t be able to work with everyone. They’ll likely need to turn down work that doesn’t meet a minimum revenue target or client / work profile.
Process / Quality: Yes - dedicated in-house team roles focused on process and quality. Strong accountability.
Scale: Ability to scale up better than a small agency, however likely still require a longer-term contract to staff up. Might be more likely to take on risk to bring in contractors to service your account or move people over from other teams in short-term while working with you on long-term contract.

Case: The Large Agency

Size: 150+, often multinational and owned by a holding company
Service: The more you spend, the better service you get. In other words, if you are not a mega brand and you’re working with a large agency, your work will be lower priority than their other higher paying clients. In turn, your service level has a direct correlation with how important your business is to the large agency. Pro - if you’re a big brand, no worries. Con - if you’re not a mega brand and your work isn’t a good portfolio / award generating piece, you may want to consider taking your project to a medium-sized agency for more love and attention.
Process / Quality: yes.
Scale: More flexibility to scale up, larger talent pool to pull from.

Case: The Specialized Agency / Vendor

Size: variable - assume 50+, example: mobile development company
Service: Depends on their business model. Some vendors have a technology that you’re paying to gain access to (a platform, an API). Other vendors, might have a product that they customize for you (like mobile applications). Service levels can depend on whether they have dedicated account manager functions, technicians available to address integration questions, or how much documentation is available. Also if they only make their money based upon providing access to their technology (no service layer), you may want to consider coupling them with an agency to deal with these types of problems and solve them for you.
Process: yes / no. Depends on maturity of the vendor.
Scale: Not all vendors desire to customize their solution for you, as it may not align with their core business model. You may still need partners to integrate with the vendor solution, customize on top of it, and manage it moving forward.

Is the New iPad Screen Too Good for the Web?

dragqueenpug — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 12:11:02 -0400

Is the New iPad Screen Too Good for the Web?:

Apps and games may look great on the new iPad’s high-resolution “retina” display, but it’s uncertain whether Web sites will get the same treatment. Most Web developers are still considering whether they want to upgrade their sites to deliver higher-resolution images and videos for the new iPad.

Breaking into Digital: Tips for Interns

dragqueenpug — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 23:32:00 -0500

Kudos to University of Texas at Austin, because they are producing a lot of passionate and intelligent undergrads. However, as a hiring manager for internships at a digital agency, it often isn’t the 4.0 GPA or perfectly crafted resume that catches my attention.

Digital.

This is an important point to make. If you are pitching yourself to a digital agency, they live and breathe everything online. In turn, your most relevant experience will be course work, positions, previous internships or jobs that apply to the digital space. If you don’t have digital passion or experience, you probably won’t be a fit.

Another key point is assume you will be researched on Facebook, looked up on LinkedIn, Twitter, Klout and searched in Google before and after your interview. Know your online presence, manage your sharing settings, and control your image. Some students may interpret this advice as deleting or shutting down your profiles. Quite the contrary - students can be strategic with what elements of their personality, interests, and essentially brand are out there to make a prospective employer like them.

Brand.

Think of yourself as a brand. What does your brand represent? What do you want your brand to say about you? Who is your target audience? What is memorable about you?

Few articles for consideration on this subject:

On a personal note, I decided early in my career that personality would be part of my package. This decision might not be a fit for everyone else based upon career or personality type. In turn, I’ve chosen to not separate my outside of work personality from my in-work personality. They’re one package, hence the @quirkyinsider Twitter handle and launching side projects like Corporatoons, Drag Queen Pug, Hall and Oates Fever, Quirky Insider, and Imajen Art.

Read.

Figure out what people in digital are reading. Go read those books or blogs too. It’ll make a great conversation starter and you’ll pick up new skills along the way. You may also want to reach out to industry leaders or people you look up to. Ask them what blogs they follow or books they read. Especially on Twitter, you’d be surprised how often ‘important’ people actually write back (because it is easy to do so).

Some of my top favorites for professional reads:

Here are top digital blogs I follow:

Interesting digital folks on Twitter to follow:

One more thing - the higher up the executive, the less time he / she has to read. A good way to get their attention is to not just send an article (link) to their attention, but to send the link AND include a brief recap. 2-3 sentences with a ‘key takeaways’ section will help them in a few minutes skim your email and the article. You’ve added value to their day.

Make.

Start learning - by doing. If you want to learn digital, best way to learn is by jumping in and dabbling.

Here is short list of mini projects you should consider trying out:

Start a blog. Even better - use a site like Tumblr where visual blogging with shorter posts is more common than lengthy write ups. Simpler is better and easier for you to keep up with (consistency and ongoing cadence in blogs is important).
Create a social presence. Pick a passion or make one up. Create a fan page and start creating content at a consistent cadence.
Tweet. Twitter is unique because for professionals it can be a great way to pay it forward and provide positive feedback to peers. If you love a particular writer, send them a Tweet including a link to something you think they might enjoy. I’ve also found it a great best practice if you write about a company or peer (positively of course) in a blog post, send them a Tweet with a link to your post.
Practice building a site from the ground up. Pick a passion. Create a site focused on your primary passion. It could be something simple like cooking, thrift store shopping to retro cars. Or if you’re a student, consider starting a site for a group you’re a member of. Also there are a lot of excellent templated site solutions out there and hosting solutions with low entry points ($60 / year).
After you’ve designed your social presence or site, create an e-newsletter. Write your content and send it to your family and friends. It could be a newsletter about a recent trip or a quarterly newsletter on your family. I’m a big fan of Constant Contact. It is super easy to use, cheap, and has great self-training section.
Shoot a video of your pet and edit it in iMovie. Publish it on Vimeo and YouTube and track the results.
Set up a Google Analytics account and take an online tutorial. Then apply the tracking pixel (code) to your digital properties. For example, on Tumblr applying Google Analytics is as simple as dropping in your UA account number in a field.

Examples:

Allison Funk, a successful intern at Springbox that recently transitioned over to a contractor role, got my attention by creating a blog where she interviewed industry folks. It demonstrated creativity, writing skills, and personality.
http://talesofprosperity.wordpress.com/

Summary.

Digital is an evolving landscape. Get used to continuously learning and rebuilding your skill set often. It is the only way to survive. In digital - if you aren’t feeling even the least bit stupid, then likely you’re getting passed by folks who are getting smarter faster than you.

Digital Agencies: Demand for T-Shaped

dragqueenpug — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 15:35:00 -0500

When I graduated from University of Maryland, my dream job was to work for IDEO. I had the pleasure of studying with Ruth Lozner, a professor at UMD, that taught a design in business course. Half of the semester was dedicated to reading ‘Art of Innovation’ by Tim Kelly, IDEO GM. It was inspiring learning about what good creative and product design can be.

Fast forward ten years later. A peer attended a weekend workshop with Boulder Digital Works and returned with a definition for what good digital agency talent needs to be: t-shaped. Origin? IDEO. See excerpt below from econsultancy.com, ‘Will 2012 Be T-Shaped?’:

The term ‘T-shaped’ was first used by McKinsey & Company to describe the type of person they were looking to hire. The vertical stroke of the ‘T’ described depth of skill in a vertical area (in their case strong analytical skills), the horizontal a broader empathy toward other disciplines encountered in the business. This combination of skills enabled a capacity to learn and an adaptability that made them ideal management consultants.

It was the renowned design and innovation firm IDEO, and notably its CEO Tim Brown who wrote about the concept in his book ‘Change By Design’ (and initially in a well-referenced Fast Company article entitled Strategy by Design) that popularized the phrase. For IDEO, the context was in recruiting designers or engineers who were inquisitive about and empathetic with other skills, such as anthropology.

For Recent Undergrads

If you’re a recent undergrad and desire to commence a career in digital, embrace striving to be a cross-disciplinary or a ‘hybrid’ person. Start a blog. Try building a site. Take free tutorials online on Photoshop and InDesign. Take Google Analytics free online certification course. Cultivate a state of mind of being curious, willing to try new things, and embrace appreciation of other peers’ skill sets.

For Agency Talent

Push for opportunities on the job to learn from people in different roles. It will only make you a more talented designer, developer, account manager or producer. Refine your perspective from ‘That’s not my job’ to being a person that can do anything to different degrees of proficiency. Also ask peers in other roles what they read, what side projects they’re working on, and any books they’d recommend. Some of the most successful and talented people I’ve seen in agencies are those folks that collaborate early and often with their peers, are inquisitive in nature, and often practice other skill sets outside of work.

For Management

People who understand marketing, good design and technology are rare. Demand for this type of talent is high, and t-shaped people can come at a premium. Smart agencies will figure out quickly how to grow junior talent into t-shaped people, craft a culture to inspire and retain them, and go after the type of work they’ll excel at.

For Human Resources

The following ere.net article sums up nicely where recruiting of t-shaped people will go:

I believe that we will evolve to focus on roles people can take on, rather than on specific skills and experience. We will look for people who have the ability and the mindset to find where they can add value on their own. And people who can move from technical to soft areas with ease will be in high demand. Many companies are experimenting with putting people into role-based work. Google, for example, often assigns engineers to a team where they work out, with the team members, the role they will play.

"Easy is hard."

dragqueenpug — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 14:50:38 -0500

““Easy is hard.””

- Peter Lewis, NY Times

QSR & The Facebook Struggle

dragqueenpug — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 11:58:00 -0500

Restaurants (casual dining, QSR, etc.) have a tricky situation to navigate in the digital space. Franchisees desire to control local marketing while corporate struggles to maintain brand consistency at a national level.

In passive media like TV or radio spots, this isn’t that big of a deal. Spots run in local markets without reaching folks in other geographical areas. Where this turns into a messy situation is social - in particular Facebook.

Assume there is a regional QSR called Jen’s Burgers. Corporate structures a franchisee agreement to have local market folks control their regional advertising or marketing dollars. Franchisees pay a % of sales into the marketing ‘pot’. There is a regional board including various cabinet roles. The board meets once a quarter, locks on priorities or sales goals, work with a field rep from corporate on their local media plan, and they vote and execute. Corporate creates TV spots and radio spots that local guys leverage. Maybe they customize the last five seconds of the spot with a CTA pertinent to their local market - “Come on down to Jen’s Burgers at South Congress and Oltorf in Austin’.

Problem: Social - Local vs. National Mess

Now. Let’s talk what happens in the digital landscape. Many QSRs leverage online templated services like Fishbowl that serve as a promotional CMS so local markets can send out email blasts vs. corporate pushing national campaigns. Access to this tool is structured as a benefit of being under the franchise relationship.

In social, it gets a lot more complicated and cluttered.

The franchisee perspective - Jen’s Burgers in Austin needs cost effective ways to drive traffic in-store. Social presents an opportunity to incur labor but not hard costs on pushing out messaging to a targeted (geo-targeted) audience. It also represents a “dream marketing medium” for restaurants as they have a perishable inventory. Say Jen’s burgers ordered too many apple pie desserts for the week. A promotion for 50% off apple pie on Thursday afternoon could be executed in a short turn to drive traffic and liquidate perishable inventory.
The corporate perspective - JB Corporate has a different point of view. Their priority is driving revenue, building brand, and keeping franchisees happy. Social is a medium that it makes sense to put the keys to the car in local markets’ hands. Further more, to manage a program that had national and local efforts controlled at corporate would entail a very expensive (lots of labor) team. However, the effectiveness of a local market’s social program is contingent upon the store owner’s marketing sophistication. Are they representing the brand appropriately in the local market or are they negatively affecting brand and sales?
For consumers, the result is a cluttered landscape. Local franchisees compete for social real estate with corporate [insert mental image of looking for a restaurant on Facebook and seeing a list of hundreds of stores in every local market].

Solutions

There are a couple of approaches that can help alleviate this social marketing issue in the QSR / franchise structured restaurant space:

Content Strategy & Guidebook - leverage corporate team to set content strategy for brand. Build management documents that can be leveraged by corporate and local market folks to understand appropriate brand tone, voice, editorial topics / cadence. Think of it as a guidebook to help all contributing team members understand how to navigate the social space effectively.
Training - Franchise owners may have a broad range of backgrounds. Create curriculum so each franchisee can better understand what social is, how it works, what is a brand’s place in the social mix.
Certification Program - Create a certification program to help franchisees become ambassadors of the brand. Once a franchisee has gone through certification in the social space and learned how to leverage corporate’s rules, guidebooks, etc. then they can represent the brand in the local market. However, I’d also call out there should be guidelines on how to handle various scenarios, escalation paths on how and when to involve corporate, and repercussions if local marketing folks don’t adhere to guidelines or training (ability to take down local-level social presence).

Facebook: Where are the CMS Tools for Franchise-Model Brands?

I am thrilled to see a few products coming out that might help alleviate this issue. For brands and agencies, Facebook is the spot to create experiences for users. What I’m eager to see is CMS tools that allow brands to release national and locally-targeted messages without cluttering up the space:

Audience sees messages that are most relevant to them. National content about brand, national campaigns, national contests appear in audience’s feed. Local content targeted to audience’s geographical area tout local store promotions, on-site events, involvement in local community. Experience is seamless and relevant serving up a blend of non-competing messages to the user.
Franchisees in local markets undergo corporate training to understand social and how to represent the brand in the social space. They additionally adhere to editorial / content strategy plans to know what type of content categories they’ll push vs. corporate (to prevent clutter). Lastly, potentially there is a role within the CMS where new franchisees submit content for approval within an agreed time period before publishing. Think of it as training wheels on a social bike.
Corporate pushes via CMS national content, national promotions, contests. Corporate also manages training program for franchisees in social space and holds a super admin role for new franchisees. Additionally responsible for moderation of UGC content on corporate FB page.

Does this tool exist today? Meet Promoboxx. They’re a beta technology that can integrate with Facebook, has a CMS component, and boasts the ability to do local vs. national message. Their solution helps brands manage promotions for example:

Create coupons redeemable in-store
Track success between stores
Easily promote new product launches and regional specials
Get access to your retailer channels
Run one sweepstakes across multiple retailers

This problem is a big focus area for agencies and brands. Kudos to the first start-up that builds the fully baked plug-and-play CMS for Facebook that addresses this need. They’ll be bound to either be acquired by someone like Fishbowl or large agencies.

The Digital RFP Headache

dragqueenpug — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:05:00 -0500

Let me start by stating, there are some cases that a RFP makes sense. However, those cases are outweighed by situations that an honest conversation with an agency would do a lot of good.

When does a RFP make sense?

Large / Federal Company Regulations - Think of a Fortune 50 company with an entire procurement department dedicated to vetting prospective vendors. Or even consider a federal or state-level department having to abide with legislation to ensure government dollars are justly distributed.
You’re Buying a Widget - If you’re evaluating a platform, plug-n-play solution, or straight forward digital services, having an apples to apples comparison of vendors’ solutions makes sense. It will also save your time as the solutions these vendors are providing aren’t consultative / custom.

What are you going to get in a RFP response?

Most of the time in a RFP response a client is going to get a very pretty document that is heavy on filler content. The meat of the proposal will concentrate on the agency’s approach to solve client’s problem with tight scope around a discovery / planning exercise and loose scope around execution.

Why? From the agency’s perspective, to provide a thoughtful solution for your ‘ask’ will require a Discovery exercise (consulting gig). Without this exercise, recommendations may be weak and estimates skewed. Interactive is complex. Client’s environments, marketing teams, personalities, stakeholders, legacy source material, and requirements are even more daunting. Often a Discovery exercise is a great way for teams to ramp-up, provide thoughtful recommendation while mutually controlling risk - for the client not signing a hefty SOW for the full execution without ‘dating’ the agency first, for the agency this time period will assess if the client is a good fit or not (crazy).

I would be cautious with any agency that claims after reading a RFP they have all the answers. This likely means one of the following things will be the result of the project. First - the agency will run out of money since they didn’t have an accurate picture of the ask or scope. You will have the option to pay them more money, scale back scope (get less) for the same budget, or some combination of these two. The second option is the agency is much smaller than they’ve let on or the really need the business. Winning your account will help them grow, however they might not have full-time resources on your engagement or the processes / infrastructure to service your account well. In other words, what you save in cost might add additional risk to project or long-term relationship.

RFP vs. No RFP

Whether RFP or no RFP, the process comes down to:

From the Agency’s POV: is the relationship a fit? Do you have the appropriate expectations, budget and timeline that align with scope identified? Is this project aligned with our core focus areas and team’s skill set? Can we do good work and make money?
From the Client’s POV: do you know what you’re talking about? Do you understand me? Will you follow through on your commitments? Can I trust you? Will you make me successful?

For me personally, I think a client with realistic expectations and budget should engage an agency directly. You’ll get more ‘free’ consultation, have more face time with agency leads that will likely be shaping your project’s strategy, and have a higher likelihood of confirming you’re solving for the RIGHT problems. RFP responses often turn into a one-sided conversation led by agencies that miss the mark on real marketing conversations that need to take place.

Also consider asking agencies to show their work with you 1x1 instead of having to write about it. Agencies in this setting may be able to walk you through work that they can’t share publicly or in a RFP response (work that is under NDA or still in progress). I think it is more powerful hearing in person the nuances of projects, how agencies structure the work and complete the work from the people that worked on the project. Otherwise you’re in a situation to have to read through paragraphs of copy that may or may not tell the story in a way that best connects with your needs.

If you are still issuing a RFP, please consider:

Limit the quantity of vendors you invite to respond - RFP responses are a big investment for agencies, and it is a waste of your time and agencies’ time inviting the wrong players to the table. Pre-screen vendors and have conversations before issuing a RFP. It’ll save you and them time.
Be reasonable. Agencies product = their services and intellectual IP. In other words, have realistic expectations about what you’re looking for in a response. Asking for a fully baked strategy or creative solution is the scope of the ask and often too much to ask of an agency trying to win the business.
Have a budget. Most agencies are structured hourly. We identify scope of a project, and then we match scope against labor needs across roles. All those hours are applied against a standard rate card to generate the cost of a project. There is no magic. The numbers are the numbers, and not having a realistic budget range for your engagement will waste time. Also being up front with budget will help an agency evaluate whether they’re a good fit (based upon how they’re structured or staffed), or even make a recommendation for another agency to bring to the table that might be better aligned for your immediate needs.
Don’t assume a detailed RFP will replace a Discovery phase of a project. It takes time for an agency to get to know you, your organization, and the ask. Discovery is an inevitable part of building a new relationship with a team, although the investment will pay off assuming you’ll stick with this team for at least a few years.
Be clear about what your ask is. In fact, you may even want to consider asking each agency participating for a their best Project Brief template. If you can get the RFP in their language as succinctly as possible, you’re increasing the odds of a strong response.
Timing. RFP responses touch a lot of team members. Despite an agency’s interest to get to know a prospective new client, a 1-2 week timeline from date issued to responses due may not be feasible. Team leads are often resourced for weeks in advance. Keep in mind that your process may take 1.0 - 1.5 month for all steps in the process.

Something To Noodle On

My first digital gig was for Resolution Media, a search engine marketing agency headquartered out of Chicago. My previous boss, Aaron Goldman, wrote an interesting blog post that breaks down the RFP process quite well. He has some great insights on why the system is broken and some ideas on how to make it more efficient.

"You‘ve got to start with the customer experience and work back toward the technology - not the other..."

dragqueenpug — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 23:16:25 -0500

““You‘ve got to start with the customer experience and work back toward the technology - not the other way around.””

- Steve Jobs, May 1997, World Wide Developers Conference

Springbox | Tips for Building a Social Media Strategy

dragqueenpug — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 14:31:17 -0500

Springbox | Tips for Building a Social Media Strategy:

Great blog post by fellow Springbox team member, Katie Kirkpartrick, Content Director, on tips for structuring your social media program.

“As we kick off 2012 and make our New Year’s resolutions, one resolution on everyone’s business agenda should be to develop an ongoing social strategy. As social media platforms become mainstream and your industry competitors settle in for the long haul, there’s no better time to get organized.”

Digital Storytelling for Kids: Meet Storybird

dragqueenpug — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 10:45:00 -0500

About: Storybird
Storybird (@Storybird) is a Brooklyn-based company that self-describes as:

“a service that makes it simple for families and friends to create short, visual stories together that they can share and print. For artists and writers, Storybird is next-generation publishing: global, viral, and instantaneous.”

In The Classroom
The tool has gained momentum in education circles in use cases like:

Fundraising - one student raised $180 for his class using the tool
Classroom assignments - teachers have the ability to disseminate and review assignments via a teacher dashboard
Parents - inspiriting a group of elementary students to get re-inspired about writing

Fundraising 2.0
Of these focus areas, I am intrigued by the idea of inspiring students to create content (write books) that are then sold for fundraising. The experience teaches kids about working hard, being creative, and getting compensated. Hopefully the days of archaic fundraising efforts are over - begging like hobos for donations with buckets at intersections, slinging chocolate candy bars, or doing mediocre car washes. This model builds confidence, inspires kids to create, and creates a product that the participants can enjoy long-term too.

Class Fundraisers turn your students’ stories into a fundraising tool. The premise is simple: you create a Fundraiser, parents buy their child’s Storybird online, and $5 is deposited into your fund with every order. When the Fundraiser is over, students and families receive their stories as beautiful books, and you get to spend the fund on whatever your class needs: supplies, technology, etc.

Self Confidence
I also love that technology-enabled creative tools like Storybird build self confidence for kids - as authors of the digital world. Writing in a composition notebook in one’s room is very different from creating an original book that gets physically produced and shared with the world.

The Artists
Oh, and the days of creating stories on a PC with clipart are long over. Storybird leverages a network of artists (example: Sebastiaan Von Doninick) that do incredible illustration work. Artists get to maintain the rights to their work and earn revenue via licensing to the site. To learn more about how to become a Storybird artist, see application process here.

Considerations for Parents
Overall, parent and teacher reviews were glowing about the tool. Storybird passed the advertiser test - meaning there are not advertisements on site targeting children or any ads for that matter. I did see some comments from educators that the site does not appear to abide with CIPA (Children Internet Protection Act) guidelines via the FCC (note: Storybird has terms in their site guidelines that appear to align with CIPA, although I was unable to specifically understand their moderation guidelines). Under CIPA, sites that focus on a kid audience need to have content moderation (ensuring content generated and posted to site is appropriate, no cursing, no bullying, etc.). It is unclear to me whether there is a content moderation component of site that reviews books submitted before they’re posted to the ‘recent’ section or printed.

12/18/2011 - Update to blog entry:
I did get in touch with the fabulous folks at Storybird, and I wanted to verify that they ARE in full compliance with CIPA. In other words, this is a “certified” kid-friendly site for educators and families!

Storytelling vs. Corporate Speak

dragqueenpug — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 20:29:12 -0500

Via http://www.ishmaelscorner.com/

"I don’t wait for moods. You accomplish nothing if you do that. Your mind must know it has got to get..."

dragqueenpug — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 12:58:13 -0500

““I don’t wait for moods. You accomplish nothing if you do that. Your mind must know it has got to get down to work.”
-Pearl S. Buck”

Perspective Videos & Storytelling

dragqueenpug — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 12:49:00 -0500

Earlier this year, I was blown away when watching a nature program. It was incredible how camera technology has progressed. The documentary was shot from a bee’s perspective by attaching a feather-weight camera to the insect and tracking its flight. This is quite an advancement from two decades ago lugging around my dad’s Betacam that weighed more than a toddler.

As cameras continue to evolve, opportunities will increase to tell stories from unusual perspectives. I’ve included below several YouTube videos told via the perspective of:

A LSU cheerleader while on the field at a game
A dog playing catch on a beach
A therapy dog making rounds in a hospital
Golden Eagle in flight via BBC
A Lego rocket hovering above the Earth’s atmosphere dangling from a weather balloon

"The perfect time never arrives. You’re always too young or old or busy or broke or something..."

dragqueenpug — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 05:02:54 -0500

“The perfect time never arrives. You’re always too young or old or busy or broke or something else. If you constantly fret about timing things perfectly, they’ll never happen.”

- Rework by Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson

Stadium Experiences: Move Over The Wave

dragqueenpug — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 10:39:17 -0500

Give Me a Peanut Please

I grew up in the DC Metro area. I can count on one hand the major sporting events I went to as a kid - two Orioles games, a Redskins game, Capitols, and The Bullets (the last game in fact before they became the Wizards).

While I was a tom boy for an awkward time period (Sambas, Umbro shoes, polos, short skater chick hair), I was not a passionate fan of sporting events. So my experience highlights included eating peanuts, trying to convince my dad to buy me something, or doing the wave… maybe seeing a Hogette if I was lucky!

Meet MegaPhone Labs

Earlier this year the Springbox team leveraged MegaPhone Labs technology to create a group gaming experience at our SXSW party. We had a blast building the game, and our guests enjoyed playing it too. That same technology is behind a recent interactive window display we launched in our office’s front windows at 708 Congress Avenue. This experience lets guests dial in to create a snowflake set against a wintry backdrop via their mobile device.

FITC 2010 Demo: Audience-Controlled Pong Game

I love this example by MegaPhone Labs at FITC 2010. Front End Platform Architect, Colin Moock, walks the audience through a group game experience playing a round of Atari classic Pong:

Possibilities
Ballparks are already using this technology primarily for voting. Audience can be quizzed on trivia questions and utilize their phones to dial in and provide a response. I recommend checking out MegaPhone Labs’ demo reel to see some additional possibilities on how to connect with their technology:

Audience at a rock concert have to scream into phone to make the largest avatar character on a screen
Play against a virtual tennis pro
Group sports - call-in to be a player on a virtual hockey team via a lobby screen

Considerations
Questions a marketer would need to ask themselves when considering whether to create this type of stadium audience experience:

Wireless Network Access
Will have dedicated internet connectivity with all these people in one place?
If this is a concern, what are costs to bring in temporary dedicated wireless network for 20K+ users?
Audience Profile
Will most of your audience be in a demographic that will have smartphones?
If not, determine ways you can build a feature phone experience as well.
Intuitive
Experience should be intuitive for users of all ages.
If instructional copy is needed, there are options ranging from voice instructions on the phone, leveraging large digital signage at events, or even consider seat wraps on the chairs in front of where the user is sitting.
Multi-Users & Gameplay
Does your gameplay scenario make sense for several thousand of people to play?
It would be a poor user experience to have thousands of cars racing on one large digital display at a football event. However, you can break out audience into larger groups (home team vs. visitor team / left site vs. right side) to have them as a group control characters or elements of a game.

The Springbox team demoed this evening our interactive holiday...

dragqueenpug — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 23:13:00 -0500

[Flash 10 is required to watch video.]

The Springbox team demoed this evening our interactive holiday display. With Austin temperatures still in the balmy 70’s, the team wanted to bring snow to the downtown Austin area via our wintry interactive display at 708 Congress Avenue (7th and Congress).

Guests can stop by in the evenings and use their phones to call in to a toll free number. They’ll see a snowflake appear identified with the last four digits of their phone number in Springbox’s illuminated windows. Guests can then use 1-9 on their phone to modify the design of the snowflake and hit * to keep the snowflake active.

When their snowflake design is completed, guests can either hang up or let the snowflake hit the ground. Then they’ll receive a text message with a picture of their custom snowflake to share with family and friends.

Springbox’s display is part of Downtown Austin Alliance’s Holiday Sing-Along and Downtown Stroll, an event taking place this Saturday, December 3 from 6:00 - 9:00pm. The experience is intended to be fun for family members and friends of all ages.

Austin locals - stop on by in the evenings to play with our front windows now through December 31!

Video: Courtesy of Channel 7 news, Austin.

Visually Impaired & Smartphone Applications

dragqueenpug — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 11:39:00 -0500

Smartphones tout sophisticated features (camera, GPS, voice controls) that developers have tapped into to create increasingly useful applications to enhance our daily lives. Upon playing with iPhone4 Siri technology, I started thinking about how this technology will be of use to visually impaired audience. According to the American Foundation for the Blind, this audience represents 8% (25M) of the US adult population is visually impaired - that is about 1 in 13 of us will have visual impairment affect our lives.

Meet Austin Seraphin

Before diving into the latest smartphone applications and technologies for the blind, I wanted to better understand how blind people utilize smartphones.

I came across Behind The Curtain blog by Austin Seraphin. I would highly recommend reading up on him. Excerpts highlighted below are from a blog post he wrote on his first 24 hours owning an iPhone and how it changed his life:

“Last Wednesday, my life changed forever. I got an iPhone. I consider it the greatest thing to happen to the blind for a very long time, possibly ever. It offers unparalleled access to properly made applications, and changed my life in twenty-four hours.”

“She [his mom] pulled out her phone, and sent me a text message. Within seconds, my phone alerted me, and said her name. I simply swiped my finger and it read her message: Hi Austin. She almost cried. “Leave it to Apple.” I said.”

“I have seen a lot of technology for the blind, and I can safely say that the iPhone represents the most revolutionary thing to happen to the blind for at least the last ten years.”

Visually Impaired Audience: Stats
Stats were pulled from American Foundation for the Blind

More than 25 million American adults report experiencing significant vision loss.
More than 18.7 million American adults between the ages of 18 and 64 report experiencing significant vision loss. Additionally, 6.5 million American adults 65 and older report experiencing significant vision loss.
Approximately 12.6 million of Americans who have vision loss are married, 2.7 million are widowed, 4.2 million are divorced or separated, 4.0 million have never married, and 1.6 million live with a partner.

Mobile Applications Innovations
Below I’ve included two applications that highlight examples of solutions developers have created for the blind. It seems to me as augmented reality / object recognition technologies get more sophisticated, we’ll be in a position to provide technology-enabled life changing solutions for the blind.

The vOICe for Android

The vOICe for Android turns any Android camera device into a smart camera companion, a stand-alone computer vision system where all real-time image processing and audio synthesis is done by the device. Analogous to the fovea of the human retina, The vOICe for Android applies a foveal mapping to offer blind users a higher resolution central view and a lower resolution peripheral view. For best augmented reality experience, The vOICe for Android should be applied with low-power camera glasses and stereo headphones, much like the video visor in ”Big data: The next Google” (Nature, 2008). Camera glasses for Android are not yet on the market, but ZionEyez LLC (zioneyez.com) has announced their “Eyez” camera glasses supporting USB and Bluetooth, and compatibility with The vOICe will be investigated at a later stage. The Looxcie wearable camera cannot work with The vOICe for Android for lack of an API or SDK.

LookTel Object Recognition
See video demonstration here

LookTel is a planned suite of assistive solutions for people with visual impairments or blindness. Designed for the accessible iPhone, LookTel will automatically scan and recognize objects such as money, packaged goods, CDs, DVDs, and medication bottles, as well as landmarks. Recognition will happen in real-time and without delay – there’s no need to hold the device still or take a photo and wait for a result.

Reference Materials for Additional Reading

Forum for Nonvisual Development
http://empowermentzone.com/NonvisualDevelopmentFAQ.htm
Blind Bloggers List
http://www.visionaware.org/blind_bloggers_blogs_by_people_who_are_blind_or_have_low_vision

Convergence of AR & Retail: When Everything Becomes a Store

dragqueenpug — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 22:36:50 -0500

Through a client engagement earlier this year, augmented reality company popped up on my radar - or more likely, took it by storm. Since then, I’ve explored common applications of AR technology to refining my predictions on AR maturation and how we’ll all be out of a job.

What is AR?

Augmented Reality (AR) is a growing trend in the digital space where reality is augmented with another information layer. Majority of people these days have a smartphone device that has internet connectivity and a camera. These two features open up a world of possibilities regarding how brands, marketers, businesses, artists, musicians - you name it, can add an experiential or information layer to the real world.

AR: Use Cases

While some marketers claim augmented reality is a fad, there are very specific examples of ways it has been leveraged to provide usefulness for people. Take US Postal Service. A common challenge for the postal service’s audience is determine what size box they’ll need to ship an object. Postal service listened and created a handy simulator that allows users via webcam to get a feel for box sizes in comparison to their desired object to ship.

Geographical or local mobile experiences are likely the AR experience consumers are most familiar with. As users rely less on GPS devices, yellow pages, and restaurant guides, their mobile device becomes all of these services in one. AR streamlines users’ experience to date of conducting a search via Google mobile browser for a restaurant, launch and leverage an app for recommendations, and launch Google maps to find it. Now applications like Yelp or Zagat consolidate these steps and apply an information layer (What are ratings / reviews of local businesses on this block? What are restaurants on this street and how are they rated?) to the user’s camera phone to better understand what is around them and make rapid decisions.

In the entertainment and education niches, augmented reality is gaining momentum. I personally love history AR applications like The Museum of London‘s Streetmuseum app. Users can learn more about the history of city blocks by viewing 100 years ago via their smartphone camera. MOMA launched an art exhibit only accessible to those visitors with a smartphone device. I just also found this demo video including clips from movies accessible when you visit the actual spot in which that scene was shot.

Retail AR: Current

Retailers and CPGs have tested augmented reality and are striving to find useful applications beyond user entertainment. See Metaio videos on retail solutions leveraging a webcam to an in-store kiosk for Legos (love this experience - it is useful because it shows what the actual built Lego scene will look like AND it is fun). Another smart example I liked was a Nestle cereal box that brought to life games and entertainment on the packaging (I do however question why a kid would want to hold a cereal box up to a webcam, when if Nestle had a kid-friendly microsite with games that would probably be a stronger user experience).

Everything Is A Store

Most interesting product demo I’ve seen to date is an execution Metaio led to demonstrate ability to recognize a real object via a camera (not just a trigger like a QR code). In this example, a user leverages her smartphone to recognize a particular model of printer. Then via her smartphone, she sees an ‘x-ray’ image of the inner workings of the printer to learn how to install an ink cartridge.

While the concept may seem simple, the implications are huge. When technologies mature (as this prototype hints at) to the point when actual 3-D objects can be recognized by a smartphone camera, anything, anywhere can be monetized.

Let’s pretend this technology exists today and has 100% degree of accuracy. I’m a big fan of Tokyo Bay watches. Let’s say, I leverage this “technology x” that recognizes has a database of every make and model of Tokyo Bay watches. As a marketer, I then marry that product information database with an ecommerce system so any watch we’ve ever produced can be recognized, purchased and fulfilled.

I build an AR application that leverages “technology x” that can recognize a Tokyo Bay watch anywhere, on anyone / anything, anytime. What does this mean?

It means, that bricks-and-mortar stores and websites have an expiration date. As AR technology matures, users will have the ability to recognize and purchase a product anywhere. The “store” will be dead. Store 2.0 will equal real-world experiences that can be monetized.

Use cases:

I can be in a business meeting, look across the table at a peer wearing a watch I like, focus my camera phone at it with my application, then be driven to a screen to get more information and buy.
Imagine later in the day a bus goes by with an advertisement on the side with a watch. Picture - snap - buy / share.
I’m looking in a magazine… picture - snap - buy / share.
I’m watching TV later that evening. My favorite character on Modern Family wearing a watch I like. Freeze the screen, picture - snap - buy / share.
I look at a family photo on Facebook, decide I want to buy the watch my cousin is wearing… picture - snap - buy / share.

If there ever is an industry to watch, smart marketers will keep an eye on augment reality emerging technologies and integration with ecommerce systems. It is just a matter of time, before this marketing bomb hits.

Gamification & Online Content: Meet BigDoor

dragqueenpug — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 13:26:00 -0500

Well before my nerdy girl crush on Jane McGonigal, gamification of experience has been a topic of interest to me. So when I heard about BigDoor this past year, I was very excited to see a start-up with a smart solution that could be integrated with clients’ existing content.

Seattle-based BigDoor was founded in 2009 by Keith Smith and Jeff Malek. During a call with them earlier this year, I learned they boast past lives in the publisher space. Their solution provides gaming technology to non-gaming sites.

About BigDoor

BigDoor’s goal is to provide the means for an overall healthier and happier internet ecosystem. This means more enjoyable and relevant time online for users, and more creative revenue opportunities for businesses. When employed skillfully, gamification builds a strong bridge between user desires and business objectives, making the internet a more desirable and valuable place for everyone.

BigDoor is accomplishing this goal by developing a virtual economy platform that helps web developers and digital publishers add customized game mechanics to their sites or apps, thus allowing them to increase user loyalty, better monetize user interactions, and more effectively target new and existing customers.

Big Brands

Brands are catching on. At Dell’s ‘Dell World’ conference this past October, BigDoor was tapped to enhance event attendees’ experience. Keith Smith writes on Dell’s blog:

As an industry, gamification has come a long way since we started our company two years ago. Today we see predictions that by 2015 70% of Global 2,000 businesses will have a gamified app (Gartner, April 2011) and the gamification market will reach $2.8 Billion in US by 2016 (M2 Research, September 2011). At BigDoor we found the concept of using game mechanics to engage communities online to be really compelling. What we see as being truly meaningful to an audience and creating deeper brand loyalty is our utilization of directed user engagement experiences that enable users to earn rewards that are valuable to them.

Keep an eye on BigDoor as a leader in the gamification pack for big brands and publishers into 2012.

WinMo Metro UI Gains Momentum

dragqueenpug — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 11:46:07 -0500

Although WinMo phones represent a small market share, its Metro UI is gaining momentum.

As of September 2011, 2-in-5 Americans own a smartphone according to Neilson. Of that smartphone audience, only 7% have a WinMo phone - trailing Android 40%, Apple iOS 28%, and RIM Blackberry 19%.

Despite market share numbers, one of the most innovative aspects of the WinMo phone experience is its Metro UI - a series of tiles that present real-time updates of content pulled from users’ apps like weather updates, Facebook notifications, etc.

In the desktop / tablet world, Microsoft announced Windows 8 will pull from the WinMo UI experience. Win8 will feature a new start screen that is a wild departure from the current desktop icons and horizontal navigation bar with start button to launch menu. Win8 will leverage the WinMo phone Metro UI that includes a “personal mosaic of tiles” that pull content from users’ applications and data feeds. Watch video on YouTube here by the Microsoft design team explaining key features.

“The Start screen is not just a replacement for the Start menu—it is designed to be a great launcher and switcher of apps, a place that is alive with notifications, customizable, powerful, and efficient. It brings together a set of solutions that today are disparate and poorly integrated.”
Alice Steinglass, Microsoft, Core Experience Evolved Team

In September, Microsoft also released the SDK (software developers’ kit) for language EN. To read more about the project, visit their Building Windows 8 blog or see Tech Radar’s detailed review of key features.

Feedback and reviews have been mixed:

Metro’s informative tiles are pretty nice for keeping you up on emails, new tweets, the weather, upcoming calendar events, and so on—it actually makes a cool screensaver, of sorts.
Lifehacker

“Latest of a number of failed attempts by Microsoft to turn the Windows desktop into more than just a place to store files.”
zdnet.com

“Another feature demonstrated was integration with social media and cloud services. We were shown how Microsoft’s cloud brings together contacts from different sources such as Facebook and Windows Live, and how Microsoft’s SkyDrive storage lets you share content.

The review version of Windows 8 with Metro was clean and responsive on the developer machines, and based on a quick look, Microsoft really has created a version of Windows that works properly with touch control.”
Guardian

Microsoft acknowledges there is room for improvement:

“There are things we’re still working on, that aren’t yet finished in the Developer Preview. For example, we know there are bugs in interacting at high speed with the scroll wheel on the mouse, and we’re working on fixing these. We’re also adding the ability to instantly zoom out with the mouse and keyboard, and we’re looking at ways to make scrolling faster and easier. And, we are working on fixing a bug in the Developer Preview that causes inconsistent and slow page-down/page-up behavior. We’re also looking at making rearranging more predictable for mouse, keyboard, and touch.”
Alice Steinglass quoted in CNET

Metro UI has all the elements of where the market is going:

Customization / Personalization by users
Dashboard feel
Real-time updates
Grid system / flexible UI across multiple devices
Touch
Intuitive navigation (for touch)

Metro UI also drives hope for Flash community’s future.

“We expect Windows desktop to be extremely popular for years to come (including Windows 8 desktop) and that it will support Flash just fine, including rich web based games and premium videos that require Flash. In addition, we expect Flash based apps will come to Metro via Adobe AIR, much the way they are on Android, iOS and BlackBerry Tablet OS today, including the recent number one paid app for the iPad on the Apple App Store, Machinarium, which is built using Flash tools and deployed on the Web using Flash Player and through app stores as a standalone app.”
Danny Winokur, Flash Platform Blog

Side note: I did some digging for sources of inspiration of the WinMo Metro UI. The Microsoft design team cited King County (Seattle) metro signage (pictured below) as a major source of inspiration.