Gay for Fey
Absolutely loved this hour long Q&A with Tina Fey at Google. Wonderful to see a funny, articulate and ambitious woman achieve so much well-deserved success.
And some sound advice on picking who you work with: "Never work with someone you wouldn't want to bump into outside the bathroom at 3 o'clock in the morning". Fact.
Monday, April 25, 2011
David Armano - Media isn't Social
These days, not many YouTube videos are worth 16 minutes your time, but TED talks are always something special and this TEDx one is no exception. From how to avoid becoming an asshole online, to some pretty sweet and simple graphics on social media, Armano makes some good points.
One part which particularly resonated with me, was his chart on Planning and Improvising. As in life, successful brand strategy in today's world is based on both the ability to PLAN and the freedom to IMPROVISE. Setting guidelines for look, feel, tone of voice, messaging and so on are all vital for the core of a brand, but so too are the more flexible elements which allows the company to respond in real time to its environment.
Right now, social media is one way brands - and the people responsible for marketing them - are able to bring this flexibility to life. But, as Armano goes on to say, "Social media is this hot thing right now. Marketers tend to [go after the new thing] without fully understanding it and doing their homework, or really digesting what's changing." Finding ways to spot and integrate the new and the next, is just as important as being on top of what's hot now.
For a whole treasure trove of charts, graphs and continuums, check out Armano's Flickr set here.
And thanks to Mills at ustwo for Showyou-ing me this vid and disrupting my breakfast!
These days, not many YouTube videos are worth 16 minutes your time, but TED talks are always something special and this TEDx one is no exception. From how to avoid becoming an asshole online, to some pretty sweet and simple graphics on social media, Armano makes some good points.
One part which particularly resonated with me, was his chart on Planning and Improvising. As in life, successful brand strategy in today's world is based on both the ability to PLAN and the freedom to IMPROVISE. Setting guidelines for look, feel, tone of voice, messaging and so on are all vital for the core of a brand, but so too are the more flexible elements which allows the company to respond in real time to its environment.
Right now, social media is one way brands - and the people responsible for marketing them - are able to bring this flexibility to life. But, as Armano goes on to say, "Social media is this hot thing right now. Marketers tend to [go after the new thing] without fully understanding it and doing their homework, or really digesting what's changing." Finding ways to spot and integrate the new and the next, is just as important as being on top of what's hot now.
For a whole treasure trove of charts, graphs and continuums, check out Armano's Flickr set here.
And thanks to Mills at ustwo for Showyou-ing me this vid and disrupting my breakfast!
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
20 Reasons...
Been thoroughly enjoying everyone's feedback to my "20 reasons not to date a digital strategist". Some very funny responses, including a few people who thought they were all very good reasons to date a strategist! Well, we try!
A couple more reasons have been added to the post, so have scroll and check them out. Meantime, thanks to @joesafiend for sending this Twitpic over today - very funny!
Been thoroughly enjoying everyone's feedback to my "20 reasons not to date a digital strategist". Some very funny responses, including a few people who thought they were all very good reasons to date a strategist! Well, we try!
A couple more reasons have been added to the post, so have scroll and check them out. Meantime, thanks to @joesafiend for sending this Twitpic over today - very funny!
Thursday, April 14, 2011
20 Reasons Not To Date A Digital Strategist
In response to 50 Reasons Not To Date a Graphic Designer...
20 REASONS NOT TO DATE A DIGITAL STRATEGIST
1. They won’t date you unless you are followed by someone who follows them
2. They only want to eat at places with Foursquare specials
3. They will live tweet your date. Even the third one!
4. They will start a Tumblr about your relationship, with supporting Twitter feed
5. They will try to send you naughty pics via Photoswap
6. They will introduce you to their friends via Hashable
7. Their idea of a gift is to get you in on the Beta of a new app
8. Their idea of sending flowers is to take a picture of some on Instagram and @ you
9. If you make a joke they will LOL
10. When you have sex they imagine Pete Cashmore
11. They saw the new viral video two weeks ago
12. If they had to choose between saving you or their iPhone from a burning building...
13. They crowdsource where you should go on holiday
14. They have no idea what’s going on in Libya, but will send you 5 videos of cats talking before breakfast
15. They dream in 140 characters or less
16. They still won’t let you shop in Gap because of the whole logo thing
17. They judge the seriousness of the relationship based on the number of platforms you are connected on
18. SXSW is just a chance for them to catch up with everyone they’ve ever slept with
19. When you don’t update your status on Facebook for more than a day they assume you are dead
20. When they #ff people, you only find out later they were Furiously F*cking them
.... 21. They call themselves "Digital Strategists"
.... 22. According to Mashable, "Active Twitter Users Have Shorter Relationships".
20 REASONS NOT TO DATE A DIGITAL STRATEGIST
1. They won’t date you unless you are followed by someone who follows them
2. They only want to eat at places with Foursquare specials
3. They will live tweet your date. Even the third one!
4. They will start a Tumblr about your relationship, with supporting Twitter feed
5. They will try to send you naughty pics via Photoswap
6. They will introduce you to their friends via Hashable
7. Their idea of a gift is to get you in on the Beta of a new app
8. Their idea of sending flowers is to take a picture of some on Instagram and @ you
9. If you make a joke they will LOL
10. When you have sex they imagine Pete Cashmore
11. They saw the new viral video two weeks ago
12. If they had to choose between saving you or their iPhone from a burning building...
13. They crowdsource where you should go on holiday
14. They have no idea what’s going on in Libya, but will send you 5 videos of cats talking before breakfast
15. They dream in 140 characters or less
16. They still won’t let you shop in Gap because of the whole logo thing
17. They judge the seriousness of the relationship based on the number of platforms you are connected on
18. SXSW is just a chance for them to catch up with everyone they’ve ever slept with
19. When you don’t update your status on Facebook for more than a day they assume you are dead
20. When they #ff people, you only find out later they were Furiously F*cking them
.... 21. They call themselves "Digital Strategists"
.... 22. According to Mashable, "Active Twitter Users Have Shorter Relationships".
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Let me Showyou
Most of the time when people ask me what I do in my job everyday, my response is "I blog and I tweet". It's simpler than going into some in-depth explanation about brand strategy, and is far more effective in alienating people who do "real" jobs like saving lives and changing the world. As my friend used to say "It's PR, not ER".
Anyway, an app I did the brand strategy for launched yesterday, so I can finally reveal what I get up to during the week. Showyou is an app for the iPhone and iPad which gives people the fun of serendipitously discovering and sharing new videos via their social graph. The Twitter buzz today has described it as "Flipboard for videos".
You can check out the full case study for the project by clicking HERE.
It's still quite a new arena, but I'm really enjoying working on app brands for several reasons. Firstly, the clients are usually from a tech/digital background so they are well tuned in to the "moving world" and up for taking risks. Secondly, stand alone app companies are generally quite small, if not in start-up mode so you are working directly with the founders. It's their baby, they're really excited and you all want to get the best out of a branding exercise. And finally, app brands by their very nature give you room to think right up to the edge, if not off it. Living on a smart phone or tablet, apps can come to life visually, sonically, gesturally and socially - all amazing opportunities to create ownable, branded assets.
Showyou is an absolutely fabulous app. The designer on the team, Marian, and I spent practically a whole weekend passing the iPad between us, drifting through the 'infinite grid' of Showyou videos. I'm thrilled I got to be a part of how it came to life.
Most of the time when people ask me what I do in my job everyday, my response is "I blog and I tweet". It's simpler than going into some in-depth explanation about brand strategy, and is far more effective in alienating people who do "real" jobs like saving lives and changing the world. As my friend used to say "It's PR, not ER".
Anyway, an app I did the brand strategy for launched yesterday, so I can finally reveal what I get up to during the week. Showyou is an app for the iPhone and iPad which gives people the fun of serendipitously discovering and sharing new videos via their social graph. The Twitter buzz today has described it as "Flipboard for videos".
You can check out the full case study for the project by clicking HERE.
It's still quite a new arena, but I'm really enjoying working on app brands for several reasons. Firstly, the clients are usually from a tech/digital background so they are well tuned in to the "moving world" and up for taking risks. Secondly, stand alone app companies are generally quite small, if not in start-up mode so you are working directly with the founders. It's their baby, they're really excited and you all want to get the best out of a branding exercise. And finally, app brands by their very nature give you room to think right up to the edge, if not off it. Living on a smart phone or tablet, apps can come to life visually, sonically, gesturally and socially - all amazing opportunities to create ownable, branded assets.
Showyou is an absolutely fabulous app. The designer on the team, Marian, and I spent practically a whole weekend passing the iPad between us, drifting through the 'infinite grid' of Showyou videos. I'm thrilled I got to be a part of how it came to life.
Monday, April 11, 2011
Game Changing
I recently read that the Starbucks Mobile Card app has had over 3 million users, making Starbucks "the nation’s largest mobile payment network". Not Amex, not Visa, not Bank of America. Starbucks.
I also read that Google has set aside $100 million to pay for original programming across ten YouTube channels. Fox, CBS, HBO, ABC... looks like you're going to have a new network to contend with - one with in excess of 2 billion viewers per day. That's more than double the prime time viewing figures of all of the major U.S networks combined.
Ten years ago Nokia wouldn't have dreamt that their biggest competitor would be a computer brand. Just as a hundred years ago, Nokia couldn't have imagined moving from making rubber galoshes to mobile phones.
Brands know that competitors emerge from the most unlikely of places and, with today's incredible pace of change, they are doing it faster and harder. It seems if you don't own the platform, the device, or sell caffeinated drinks to Americans, then no industry is safe.
I recently read that the Starbucks Mobile Card app has had over 3 million users, making Starbucks "the nation’s largest mobile payment network". Not Amex, not Visa, not Bank of America. Starbucks.
I also read that Google has set aside $100 million to pay for original programming across ten YouTube channels. Fox, CBS, HBO, ABC... looks like you're going to have a new network to contend with - one with in excess of 2 billion viewers per day. That's more than double the prime time viewing figures of all of the major U.S networks combined.
Ten years ago Nokia wouldn't have dreamt that their biggest competitor would be a computer brand. Just as a hundred years ago, Nokia couldn't have imagined moving from making rubber galoshes to mobile phones.
Brands know that competitors emerge from the most unlikely of places and, with today's incredible pace of change, they are doing it faster and harder. It seems if you don't own the platform, the device, or sell caffeinated drinks to Americans, then no industry is safe.
Monday, April 04, 2011
I saw the best minds of my generation...
Picked up O - The Oprah Magazine at the airport this weekend. It's the poetry issue - Oprah shares her private journals, and there's "words that soothe, ideas that delight". For the most part, it's not a bad read. It's poetry lite or poetry for dummies, and I'm all for getting people into poetry at any level. But just when I started to think this could really impress me, I get to "Eight poets accessorized with snippets of their own verse - celebrate freedom of expression". One up-and-coming young poet has this byline:
"By day, Whited is the communications director for Schools That Can, an educational nonprofit; by night, she's working on publishing her first book of poems. "I write a lot about questioning the boundaries of self," she says. "I like experimenting with new things." Case in point: this suede miniskirt, shorter than Whited would normally wear but comfortably balanced by a long-sleeved oxford and cotton sweater."
I'm sure a pink suede miniskirt is precisely what Stephanie Ann Whited has in mind when writes. It's such a shame that Oprah couldn't get to the end of an issue without commercialising the heart out of it. And, without getting all feminist on ya, it points again to a greater issue with publishing. As women, magazines only offer us reasons to hate ourselves and feel ugly, unfit, unhealthy, poor and bereft of Jennifer Aniston's upper arms.
Wired and Fast Company (the other mags I picked up), however, are packed with men's advertising insinuating I am an interloper to these publications, yet they always leave me inspired and excited. You don't see 10 page spreads of "Tech's Hottest App Developers Programme Pool Side in 2011's hottest swim trends"!
Can't now decide if that's a good or bad thing. There's my feminism argument out of the window.
Picked up O - The Oprah Magazine at the airport this weekend. It's the poetry issue - Oprah shares her private journals, and there's "words that soothe, ideas that delight". For the most part, it's not a bad read. It's poetry lite or poetry for dummies, and I'm all for getting people into poetry at any level. But just when I started to think this could really impress me, I get to "Eight poets accessorized with snippets of their own verse - celebrate freedom of expression". One up-and-coming young poet has this byline:
"By day, Whited is the communications director for Schools That Can, an educational nonprofit; by night, she's working on publishing her first book of poems. "I write a lot about questioning the boundaries of self," she says. "I like experimenting with new things." Case in point: this suede miniskirt, shorter than Whited would normally wear but comfortably balanced by a long-sleeved oxford and cotton sweater."
I'm sure a pink suede miniskirt is precisely what Stephanie Ann Whited has in mind when writes. It's such a shame that Oprah couldn't get to the end of an issue without commercialising the heart out of it. And, without getting all feminist on ya, it points again to a greater issue with publishing. As women, magazines only offer us reasons to hate ourselves and feel ugly, unfit, unhealthy, poor and bereft of Jennifer Aniston's upper arms.
Wired and Fast Company (the other mags I picked up), however, are packed with men's advertising insinuating I am an interloper to these publications, yet they always leave me inspired and excited. You don't see 10 page spreads of "Tech's Hottest App Developers Programme Pool Side in 2011's hottest swim trends"!
Can't now decide if that's a good or bad thing. There's my feminism argument out of the window.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
The Art of Hotel Living
In art, literature, film and personalities I've always been drawn to doomed decadence. To me, the journey from having it all to having nothing is fascinating. Whether that "all" is money or talent or social standing, I am gripped by people's ability to waste it all in the most dramatic way.
Caravaggio's astounding painting and genius for capturing light was all set against an infamous backdrop of dead prostitutes, brawling and, eventually, exile. Gatsby had everything he wanted except the flashing green light at the end of East Egg where Daisy lived. The Tenenbaum children were prodigies, making them all flawed and flailing adults, unable to cope in the real, chaotic world. And Edie Sedgwick, raised riding horses in the bosom of a large, wealthy family wound up cast out of Warhol's Factory addicted to drugs and dead at 28.
Deviance, decadence, escapism, denial - these base and torturous human behaviours often manifest themselves in one particular place. A hotel. Since the invention of maid service, room service and the mini-bar, checking out of your life and into a hotel has firmly represented that all is not - or is about to be not - well. A person's state of mind must be considerably altered to find solice in arming oneself with just the bare essentials and take up residence in a hotel.
The Chelsea in New York has a long history of writers and artists in residence. Jack Kerouac wrote much of 'On the Road' there. Dennis Hopper met the man who would eventually produce 'Easy Rider' there. And Leonard Cohen wrote a song about it. More recently, The Chateau Marmont, temporary home to Hollywood's runaways, featured as the third character in Sofia Coppola's "Somewhere". The audience quickly learned everything they needed to know about Johnny's character by his disconnected existence at the Hollywood hotel.
My friend Rosanna told me about Patti Smith's autobiography. Rosanna felt that Patti's stay at The Chelsea was more about looking cool than realising that people in hotels often produce great work because they are alone, lonely and without distractions. My friend went on to explain how she believed that "living in an impersonal space makes you want to create things that defines who you are, and express yourself".
As I enter my third week in a hotel, Rosanna's words resonated strongly. With the clothes in the wardrobe the only link to my real life, to myself even, I recognise the desire to define myself through creating things. Hence why this is one of the longer blog posts.
The Shakespeare & Co. bookshop in Paris embraces the traveller's need to create themselves out of a rut. As you roam the Narnia-esque bookshop, tiny enclaves holding typewriters and rudimentary bunks appear through the gloaming. Artists and writers passing through are welcome to a bed for the night so they can gather their thoughts and, possibly, their minds.
Bur perhaps my favourite study of hotel living is Wes Anderson's prologue to The Darjeeling Limited - 'Hotel Chevalier'. Natalie Portman's character tracks down Jason Schwartzman ordering grilled cheese in a Paris hotel room.
Portman: How long have you had this hotel room?
Schwartzman: I don't know.
Portman: More than a week?
Schwartzman: More than a week.
Portman: More than a month?
Schwartzman: More than a month.
Hotel Chevalier is the perfect capture not only of decayed love, but of the cathartic aloneness one finds at the other end of the world in a hotel bathrobe.
All photos by me, except the typewriter which I stole from here
http://www.flickr.com/photos/deanno/3703658172/sizes/m/
In art, literature, film and personalities I've always been drawn to doomed decadence. To me, the journey from having it all to having nothing is fascinating. Whether that "all" is money or talent or social standing, I am gripped by people's ability to waste it all in the most dramatic way.
Caravaggio's astounding painting and genius for capturing light was all set against an infamous backdrop of dead prostitutes, brawling and, eventually, exile. Gatsby had everything he wanted except the flashing green light at the end of East Egg where Daisy lived. The Tenenbaum children were prodigies, making them all flawed and flailing adults, unable to cope in the real, chaotic world. And Edie Sedgwick, raised riding horses in the bosom of a large, wealthy family wound up cast out of Warhol's Factory addicted to drugs and dead at 28.
Deviance, decadence, escapism, denial - these base and torturous human behaviours often manifest themselves in one particular place. A hotel. Since the invention of maid service, room service and the mini-bar, checking out of your life and into a hotel has firmly represented that all is not - or is about to be not - well. A person's state of mind must be considerably altered to find solice in arming oneself with just the bare essentials and take up residence in a hotel.
The Chelsea in New York has a long history of writers and artists in residence. Jack Kerouac wrote much of 'On the Road' there. Dennis Hopper met the man who would eventually produce 'Easy Rider' there. And Leonard Cohen wrote a song about it. More recently, The Chateau Marmont, temporary home to Hollywood's runaways, featured as the third character in Sofia Coppola's "Somewhere". The audience quickly learned everything they needed to know about Johnny's character by his disconnected existence at the Hollywood hotel.
My friend Rosanna told me about Patti Smith's autobiography. Rosanna felt that Patti's stay at The Chelsea was more about looking cool than realising that people in hotels often produce great work because they are alone, lonely and without distractions. My friend went on to explain how she believed that "living in an impersonal space makes you want to create things that defines who you are, and express yourself".
As I enter my third week in a hotel, Rosanna's words resonated strongly. With the clothes in the wardrobe the only link to my real life, to myself even, I recognise the desire to define myself through creating things. Hence why this is one of the longer blog posts.
The Shakespeare & Co. bookshop in Paris embraces the traveller's need to create themselves out of a rut. As you roam the Narnia-esque bookshop, tiny enclaves holding typewriters and rudimentary bunks appear through the gloaming. Artists and writers passing through are welcome to a bed for the night so they can gather their thoughts and, possibly, their minds.
Bur perhaps my favourite study of hotel living is Wes Anderson's prologue to The Darjeeling Limited - 'Hotel Chevalier'. Natalie Portman's character tracks down Jason Schwartzman ordering grilled cheese in a Paris hotel room.
Portman: How long have you had this hotel room?
Schwartzman: I don't know.
Portman: More than a week?
Schwartzman: More than a week.
Portman: More than a month?
Schwartzman: More than a month.
Hotel Chevalier is the perfect capture not only of decayed love, but of the cathartic aloneness one finds at the other end of the world in a hotel bathrobe.
All photos by me, except the typewriter which I stole from here
http://www.flickr.com/photos/deanno/3703658172/sizes/m/
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Stuff hipsters hate
Thanks to Instagram and Picnik, now you too can create emo hipster photos for your blog!
Speaking of emo hipsters - I'm thinking of moving this blog over to Tumblr. Anyone who
- Has a view on that
- Knows how to do it
- Wants to offer moral and emo support
...please get in touch.
Thanks to Instagram and Picnik, now you too can create emo hipster photos for your blog!
Speaking of emo hipsters - I'm thinking of moving this blog over to Tumblr. Anyone who
- Has a view on that
- Knows how to do it
- Wants to offer moral and emo support
...please get in touch.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Letter from America: Third time's a charm.
I am back in fabulous San Francisco for a couple of weeks with work and, now clocking up a total of 3 months here since May of last year, it really does feel like a very nice home away from home.
On the work side, I'm here doing brand strategy for a super cool app with some very exciting technology behind it. As such, I had the opportunity to do a brand workshop from the client's Command HQ in Paolo Alto. Just south of SF, Paolo Alto is a sweet suburban enclave just riddled with tech start-ups. You can't buy a Soy Latte without overhearing someone discussing their latest round of VC funding.
The client's house is your classic American modern home pimped out to the nines with screens and servers. Every room has been re-purposed to house tech and engineering teams all "wired in" and making the future happen. For someone with a barely concealed Geek Fetish, such as myself, their place is pretty nerd-tastic. The app I'm working on has already launched in Beta, so watch this space to see how the project develops!
Outside of work, there is only really time to eat. So I have been hitting the breakfast, lunch and dinner scenes pretty hard. For breakfast, I can nip out of my hotel to The Ferry Building for a Bluebottle coffee with a goat's cheese and apricot jam sandwich. Lunches, grabbed from nearby South Park in the Soma district consist of "Super Tacos" from Mexico au Park, or a Jalapeno Popper from The American Grilled Cheese Company. And dinner has been anything from hipster pizza at Delfina, Lobster Po Boys at Anchor & Hope, posh fried chicken at Foreign Cinema and even a quick and dirty Burger from In "n" Out. Calories on location don't count, right?
And finally, in this travel journal-esque post, to note that I have just returned from a rather wonderful weekend in Napa. Carrie Bradshaw's response to Mr Big's announcement that he was moving to Wine Country was "If you're tired you take a nap-a, you don't move to Napa!". And how wrong she was. My friend and I left SF yesterday morning with bags under our eyes and full of work anxieties. After mucho vino and mucho lolling in the hot tub in the cool and pleasant rain, we drove back today feeling well-rested and ready for another week.
Working abroad has its downsides - jetlag, disorientation and feeling forced to pull the plug on your life at home. But they are far outweighed by the upsides - new sights, new friends, new experiences and - for those who find it hard to switch-off - the chance to have a change of scene while still showing up for work each day! Clearly Napa didn't quite get its hold on me, yet!
I am back in fabulous San Francisco for a couple of weeks with work and, now clocking up a total of 3 months here since May of last year, it really does feel like a very nice home away from home.
On the work side, I'm here doing brand strategy for a super cool app with some very exciting technology behind it. As such, I had the opportunity to do a brand workshop from the client's Command HQ in Paolo Alto. Just south of SF, Paolo Alto is a sweet suburban enclave just riddled with tech start-ups. You can't buy a Soy Latte without overhearing someone discussing their latest round of VC funding.
The client's house is your classic American modern home pimped out to the nines with screens and servers. Every room has been re-purposed to house tech and engineering teams all "wired in" and making the future happen. For someone with a barely concealed Geek Fetish, such as myself, their place is pretty nerd-tastic. The app I'm working on has already launched in Beta, so watch this space to see how the project develops!
Outside of work, there is only really time to eat. So I have been hitting the breakfast, lunch and dinner scenes pretty hard. For breakfast, I can nip out of my hotel to The Ferry Building for a Bluebottle coffee with a goat's cheese and apricot jam sandwich. Lunches, grabbed from nearby South Park in the Soma district consist of "Super Tacos" from Mexico au Park, or a Jalapeno Popper from The American Grilled Cheese Company. And dinner has been anything from hipster pizza at Delfina, Lobster Po Boys at Anchor & Hope, posh fried chicken at Foreign Cinema and even a quick and dirty Burger from In "n" Out. Calories on location don't count, right?
And finally, in this travel journal-esque post, to note that I have just returned from a rather wonderful weekend in Napa. Carrie Bradshaw's response to Mr Big's announcement that he was moving to Wine Country was "If you're tired you take a nap-a, you don't move to Napa!". And how wrong she was. My friend and I left SF yesterday morning with bags under our eyes and full of work anxieties. After mucho vino and mucho lolling in the hot tub in the cool and pleasant rain, we drove back today feeling well-rested and ready for another week.
Working abroad has its downsides - jetlag, disorientation and feeling forced to pull the plug on your life at home. But they are far outweighed by the upsides - new sights, new friends, new experiences and - for those who find it hard to switch-off - the chance to have a change of scene while still showing up for work each day! Clearly Napa didn't quite get its hold on me, yet!
Wednesday, March 02, 2011
How does Mr. Porter measure up?
Check out my piece on the Pitch Design blog now. Currently available log-in free! Click here.
Check out my piece on the Pitch Design blog now. Currently available log-in free! Click here.
Tuesday, March 01, 2011
Checking out – a new buzz word or the answer to monetizing location-based social networking?
Last week I feverishly posted about Venmo’s new “check out” service without much pause for explanation or analysis. So now, in a slightly calmer state of mind and with a few days spent mulling over the benefits, I’m back with more.
Venmo is an app which “makes it fun and easy to pay and charge friends” and is currently only operational in the US. Venmo acts as a social payment platform by allowing people to exchange money using their phones. Users can then socialise that transaction by attaching a message to the payment and posting it to Twitter or Facebook. It’s this social element which builds unique user stories around purchases – every brand’s dream.
Last week Venmo announced an extra service, which allowed users to attach their location to their socialised transactions – a behaviour Venmo have termed “checking out”. To me, this is exceptionally exciting.
Retailers are already getting on board with the idea of rewarding customers who check-in to their stores and unlock badges associated with offers and deals. A couple of weeks ago, Foursquare launched the ‘Century Club’ badge for people checking in for 100 days on the trot at the same place – rewarding their most frequent and loyal customers. I’m assuming it’ll be coffee shops and delis who will win Century Clubbers – low value purchases which are part of a person’s daily routine.
For any retailer or brand, loyal customers are their bread and butter – a guaranteed flow of trusted consumers. But for retailers with a higher ticket price, or for those wishing to distinguish between frequent, low-spending customers and occasional, high-spending ones, Venmo Places will be right up their street.
In my first job out of university I worked as the wholesale manager for a small boutique food company. After a few months I noticed that I was spending most of my time liasing with, negotiating with, advising and managing a handful of small independent food stores who, together, contributed to just a fragment of yearly sales. Meanwhile, our biggest wholesale customers were being ignored – placing high orders but rarely given the time to be sold in on new products and up-sold on their monthly orders. Having recognized this, I developed a simplifyed order process for our smaller customers, which took the pain out of managing them, and in turn, gave me more time to focus on our more profitable customers.
This is exactly what Venmo Places can offer – visibility on who your most valuable customers are. Not just those routine-orientated Foursquare Mayors who will stop by and check-in every day regardless.
By seeing spend against check-ins, retailers can map tailored rewards to a broad range of customers. They will have invaluable insight on the customers who spend $4 a day every day for a year ($1,460p/a) deserving little treats, and the customers who come in once a month and drop $250 ($2,400p/a) and who, with a little bit more attention and incentivizing, might be upgraded to a bigger monthly spend. It’s business basics with a modern flair. Call me geeky, but that seems like pretty powerful stuff.
Last week I feverishly posted about Venmo’s new “check out” service without much pause for explanation or analysis. So now, in a slightly calmer state of mind and with a few days spent mulling over the benefits, I’m back with more.
Venmo is an app which “makes it fun and easy to pay and charge friends” and is currently only operational in the US. Venmo acts as a social payment platform by allowing people to exchange money using their phones. Users can then socialise that transaction by attaching a message to the payment and posting it to Twitter or Facebook. It’s this social element which builds unique user stories around purchases – every brand’s dream.
Last week Venmo announced an extra service, which allowed users to attach their location to their socialised transactions – a behaviour Venmo have termed “checking out”. To me, this is exceptionally exciting.
Retailers are already getting on board with the idea of rewarding customers who check-in to their stores and unlock badges associated with offers and deals. A couple of weeks ago, Foursquare launched the ‘Century Club’ badge for people checking in for 100 days on the trot at the same place – rewarding their most frequent and loyal customers. I’m assuming it’ll be coffee shops and delis who will win Century Clubbers – low value purchases which are part of a person’s daily routine.
For any retailer or brand, loyal customers are their bread and butter – a guaranteed flow of trusted consumers. But for retailers with a higher ticket price, or for those wishing to distinguish between frequent, low-spending customers and occasional, high-spending ones, Venmo Places will be right up their street.
In my first job out of university I worked as the wholesale manager for a small boutique food company. After a few months I noticed that I was spending most of my time liasing with, negotiating with, advising and managing a handful of small independent food stores who, together, contributed to just a fragment of yearly sales. Meanwhile, our biggest wholesale customers were being ignored – placing high orders but rarely given the time to be sold in on new products and up-sold on their monthly orders. Having recognized this, I developed a simplifyed order process for our smaller customers, which took the pain out of managing them, and in turn, gave me more time to focus on our more profitable customers.
This is exactly what Venmo Places can offer – visibility on who your most valuable customers are. Not just those routine-orientated Foursquare Mayors who will stop by and check-in every day regardless.
By seeing spend against check-ins, retailers can map tailored rewards to a broad range of customers. They will have invaluable insight on the customers who spend $4 a day every day for a year ($1,460p/a) deserving little treats, and the customers who come in once a month and drop $250 ($2,400p/a) and who, with a little bit more attention and incentivizing, might be upgraded to a bigger monthly spend. It’s business basics with a modern flair. Call me geeky, but that seems like pretty powerful stuff.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Magazine apps fail to stack up (Via Design Week online)
For those of you without a Design Week log in - here's the copy from my vox pop on magazine apps. No copyright infringement intended
"At a time when print media is having to pull its socks up on the digital front, most magazine apps fail to stack up to their digitally-native competitors. The Net-Ã -Porter magazine looks great and is regularly updated with new fashion tips, but many of the things that an app interface offers have been neglected. It is not possible to ‘shop the look’ by tapping on certain elements, nor can you share pages to your social network or through email. It’s not even possible to pinch in to get a closer look at the clothes. With iPhones and Blackberries now as much as an accessory as a piece of tech, fashion magazines have a real opportunity to collaborate with brands to develop profitable apps that mix great editorial with the chance to share, comment and buy."
For those of you without a Design Week log in - here's the copy from my vox pop on magazine apps. No copyright infringement intended
"At a time when print media is having to pull its socks up on the digital front, most magazine apps fail to stack up to their digitally-native competitors. The Net-Ã -Porter magazine looks great and is regularly updated with new fashion tips, but many of the things that an app interface offers have been neglected. It is not possible to ‘shop the look’ by tapping on certain elements, nor can you share pages to your social network or through email. It’s not even possible to pinch in to get a closer look at the clothes. With iPhones and Blackberries now as much as an accessory as a piece of tech, fashion magazines have a real opportunity to collaborate with brands to develop profitable apps that mix great editorial with the chance to share, comment and buy."
Monday, February 21, 2011
Then I saw his face, now I’m a Belieber
Last night I went to see the Justin Bieber movie – Never Say Never. In 3D. Now, before you forever delete Camilla’s Store from your Google Reader, please give me a few paragraphs to explain myself.
I’ll admit, it just sounded like a fun thing to do with @celialikesbooks on a quiet Sunday night. But more importantly, as a digital strategist it’s important to know what’s going on with the kids (da kidz) and millions of hysterical teenage girls worldwide can’t be wrong.
Bieber may be a study in poorly managed ADHD but he is also a carefully curated, expertly executed, cross-platform brand who rose from a few YouTube videos to an 86 gig tour culminating in a sell-out show at Madison Square Gardens. There’s got to be some social media strategy lessons in there somewhere. And if they’re delivered in 3D, so much the better.
Firstly, The Bieb. He’s alright – ticks all the boxes of cute, non-threatening, triple threat youth dynamo. But it’s his team – consisting of Mom, grandparents, vocal coach, costume designer, manager and “jester” (their words, not mine) – who really run the show. This is pushy parenting taken to whole new levels, and you are left wondering whether stardom is an excellent outlet for Bieber’s effervescent energy, or a depressing theft of his youth.
In the film, Justin is joined on stage by other celebabies Myley Cyrus and Jaden Smith (“my papa is a guy named Will”), both of whom have an unnerving world-weariness. Poor Jaden only found out his parents had made the helicopter to NYC moments before he went on stage at The Garden. And to think I freaked out if I lost my mum in the supermarket.
Secondly, the film. I hate to admit it, but part of me feels it belongs in the “Films of our era” drawer along with The Social Network. It’s by no means as beautifully crafted, but it’s the first example of large-scale storytelling via YouTube videos, Twitter updates and comments sections I’ve seen.
Justin is the perfect product of the “Digital Instinctive” generation – discovered, followed, and loved by a dedicated online community. And he gives the love back – tweeting his fans to let them know how he’s feeling, giving away front row tickets to kids outside the venue, and regularly updating his YouTube diary. His hit “Baby” has had 468,497,309 views on YouTube. 21,665,394 people “like” him on Facebook”. And he has 7, 481,097 followers on Twitter. That is power. That is a massive slap in the face to any brand who thinks it doesn’t need to engage its customers – and most importantly its future customers – online.
You may not feel a slow-motion hair flick in 3D is an entirely necessary part of the cinema experience, but if you’re wanting a crash-course in the art of digital strategy driving both brand and comms, Bieber is your guy. Never say never.
Photo credit: @celialikesbooks - you keep me real.
Last night I went to see the Justin Bieber movie – Never Say Never. In 3D. Now, before you forever delete Camilla’s Store from your Google Reader, please give me a few paragraphs to explain myself.
I’ll admit, it just sounded like a fun thing to do with @celialikesbooks on a quiet Sunday night. But more importantly, as a digital strategist it’s important to know what’s going on with the kids (da kidz) and millions of hysterical teenage girls worldwide can’t be wrong.
Bieber may be a study in poorly managed ADHD but he is also a carefully curated, expertly executed, cross-platform brand who rose from a few YouTube videos to an 86 gig tour culminating in a sell-out show at Madison Square Gardens. There’s got to be some social media strategy lessons in there somewhere. And if they’re delivered in 3D, so much the better.
Firstly, The Bieb. He’s alright – ticks all the boxes of cute, non-threatening, triple threat youth dynamo. But it’s his team – consisting of Mom, grandparents, vocal coach, costume designer, manager and “jester” (their words, not mine) – who really run the show. This is pushy parenting taken to whole new levels, and you are left wondering whether stardom is an excellent outlet for Bieber’s effervescent energy, or a depressing theft of his youth.
In the film, Justin is joined on stage by other celebabies Myley Cyrus and Jaden Smith (“my papa is a guy named Will”), both of whom have an unnerving world-weariness. Poor Jaden only found out his parents had made the helicopter to NYC moments before he went on stage at The Garden. And to think I freaked out if I lost my mum in the supermarket.
Secondly, the film. I hate to admit it, but part of me feels it belongs in the “Films of our era” drawer along with The Social Network. It’s by no means as beautifully crafted, but it’s the first example of large-scale storytelling via YouTube videos, Twitter updates and comments sections I’ve seen.
Justin is the perfect product of the “Digital Instinctive” generation – discovered, followed, and loved by a dedicated online community. And he gives the love back – tweeting his fans to let them know how he’s feeling, giving away front row tickets to kids outside the venue, and regularly updating his YouTube diary. His hit “Baby” has had 468,497,309 views on YouTube. 21,665,394 people “like” him on Facebook”. And he has 7, 481,097 followers on Twitter. That is power. That is a massive slap in the face to any brand who thinks it doesn’t need to engage its customers – and most importantly its future customers – online.
You may not feel a slow-motion hair flick in 3D is an entirely necessary part of the cinema experience, but if you’re wanting a crash-course in the art of digital strategy driving both brand and comms, Bieber is your guy. Never say never.
Photo credit: @celialikesbooks - you keep me real.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Sorry – not available in your country
I thought the days of being the odd kid no one wanted to play with were over. But no, turns out that just living in England can keep you out of the metaphorical sandpit of tech start-ups popping up Stateside. Already this year, I had to suffer the indignity of asking an American what The Daily app interface was like. Ok, it was the guy that designed it, but still.
And today I find out that app-based payment service, Venmo, has added an incredibly exciting feature which, you guessed it, “isn’t available in my country”. Sometimes I wonder why my ancestors couldn’t have just stayed on the boat from Russia for another couple of stops across the Atlantic. Show me the apps Granny!
Anyways, enough whining. Until I get the call from MB SF, I must live vicariously through Mashable and Fast Company. And that new Venmo feature? Location-based payment publishing.
“The Venmo apps for iPhone and Android make it super simple to settle the bill evenly (to the penny, if you like), and given the number of people that are using Venmo to split the bill when they go out, we have integrated with Foursquare and Facebook places to allow you to attach a location to every payment you make.
Venmo Places also makes it really easy to see how often and how much you are spending with your friends at your favorite spots.”
The money shot? This: “Plus, when you publish a payment tagged with a place, it’s a fun way to share your experience with any of your Facebook, Twitter, or Venmo friends who might not have been there. We like to think of it as the “check-out” followup to a Foursquare or Facebook “check-in.””
VERY exciting. Watch this space.
I thought the days of being the odd kid no one wanted to play with were over. But no, turns out that just living in England can keep you out of the metaphorical sandpit of tech start-ups popping up Stateside. Already this year, I had to suffer the indignity of asking an American what The Daily app interface was like. Ok, it was the guy that designed it, but still.
And today I find out that app-based payment service, Venmo, has added an incredibly exciting feature which, you guessed it, “isn’t available in my country”. Sometimes I wonder why my ancestors couldn’t have just stayed on the boat from Russia for another couple of stops across the Atlantic. Show me the apps Granny!
Anyways, enough whining. Until I get the call from MB SF, I must live vicariously through Mashable and Fast Company. And that new Venmo feature? Location-based payment publishing.
“The Venmo apps for iPhone and Android make it super simple to settle the bill evenly (to the penny, if you like), and given the number of people that are using Venmo to split the bill when they go out, we have integrated with Foursquare and Facebook places to allow you to attach a location to every payment you make.
Venmo Places also makes it really easy to see how often and how much you are spending with your friends at your favorite spots.”
The money shot? This: “Plus, when you publish a payment tagged with a place, it’s a fun way to share your experience with any of your Facebook, Twitter, or Venmo friends who might not have been there. We like to think of it as the “check-out” followup to a Foursquare or Facebook “check-in.””
VERY exciting. Watch this space.
Friday, February 04, 2011
New post now live on Eye Magazine blog. Click HERE.
Re-posted here...
The Self as Brand
I recently wrote a post on the Moving Brands blog about living in the era of the over-share, about how, with so many life-casting tools at our fingertips, we are able to share anything and everything as we go through our day. But just because we can, does it mean we do? Or do these platforms actually allow us to create a rich brand around who we really are by carefully curating and broadcasting a life that is, in fact, a slightly heightened version of the truth?
Most users probably don't think of themselves and their behaviours in terms of 'brand', but that is exactly what social media enables. Apart from those deviants and sociopaths, we've evolved from creating entirely new selves online - like the Barbie and Ken avatars on Second Life. Today, most of us have learned how to portray a pretty accurate interpretation of reality through who we follow, what we 'like', what links we share and the content we post.
As social networking platforms proliferate and the lines between our different selves (the work self, the friend self, the family self) blur and break, it is no wonder that we feel compelled to control how the online world sees us. We wouldn't go to a glamorous party in a pair of old pyjamas, so why would we project anything other than our best selves online?
http://www.howardgrey.com
Today I came across a blog with the mission statement 'This is a blog intended to trick strangers into thinking my life is more exciting than it actually is'. The blog may be called "Slutever…" but the author's frank admission is not so shocking. Who isn't guilty of de-tagging the odd Facebook photo to ensure we look cool, fun and attractive in every picture in our profile?
The location-based check-in services FourSquare and Facebook Places has added an interesting element to personal content curation. The privacy activists may well be concerned about broadcasting their exact location to strangers but, for the self publicist, there are bigger concerns at play, namely where to be "seen" online. The average Londoner could dutifully check in at their tube stop, their place of work and Pret a Manger day in day out, but what's aspirational or taste-making about that? Better, surely, only to check-in at the more exciting places. The places that tell your followers something about you and the kind of person you want to be seen as.
Furthermore, as we identify the self as 'brand' via our allegiances to brands, so companies are reflecting our choices back. More than ever, brands are listening and watching our moves online and rewarding their biggest advocates. From the people who start great Facebook fan pages, to those who become Mayor of their local Starbucks on Foursquare, brands are reaching out and giving them the tools to do the selling for them. As Sheryl Sandberg, the COO of Facebook, said recently, - "What marketers have always been looking for is trying to get you to sell things to your friends".
From the Middle Eastern beads found in ancient burial sites in Suffolk, to the tribal people of Papua New Guinea using Pentel pens as nose decorations, to the young people of Berlin whose first goal, once the wall came down, was to eat a Big Mac, we have used trading, shopping and brands as a way to enlarge our sense of self. So, is this digital age turning us all into products? Or is it simply another platform on which to communicate a very basic human urge - self-expression? Are the selves that we can create and control online in fact more 'ourselves' than in real life?
Re-posted here...
The Self as Brand
I recently wrote a post on the Moving Brands blog about living in the era of the over-share, about how, with so many life-casting tools at our fingertips, we are able to share anything and everything as we go through our day. But just because we can, does it mean we do? Or do these platforms actually allow us to create a rich brand around who we really are by carefully curating and broadcasting a life that is, in fact, a slightly heightened version of the truth?
Most users probably don't think of themselves and their behaviours in terms of 'brand', but that is exactly what social media enables. Apart from those deviants and sociopaths, we've evolved from creating entirely new selves online - like the Barbie and Ken avatars on Second Life. Today, most of us have learned how to portray a pretty accurate interpretation of reality through who we follow, what we 'like', what links we share and the content we post.
As social networking platforms proliferate and the lines between our different selves (the work self, the friend self, the family self) blur and break, it is no wonder that we feel compelled to control how the online world sees us. We wouldn't go to a glamorous party in a pair of old pyjamas, so why would we project anything other than our best selves online?
http://www.howardgrey.com
Today I came across a blog with the mission statement 'This is a blog intended to trick strangers into thinking my life is more exciting than it actually is'. The blog may be called "Slutever…" but the author's frank admission is not so shocking. Who isn't guilty of de-tagging the odd Facebook photo to ensure we look cool, fun and attractive in every picture in our profile?
The location-based check-in services FourSquare and Facebook Places has added an interesting element to personal content curation. The privacy activists may well be concerned about broadcasting their exact location to strangers but, for the self publicist, there are bigger concerns at play, namely where to be "seen" online. The average Londoner could dutifully check in at their tube stop, their place of work and Pret a Manger day in day out, but what's aspirational or taste-making about that? Better, surely, only to check-in at the more exciting places. The places that tell your followers something about you and the kind of person you want to be seen as.
Furthermore, as we identify the self as 'brand' via our allegiances to brands, so companies are reflecting our choices back. More than ever, brands are listening and watching our moves online and rewarding their biggest advocates. From the people who start great Facebook fan pages, to those who become Mayor of their local Starbucks on Foursquare, brands are reaching out and giving them the tools to do the selling for them. As Sheryl Sandberg, the COO of Facebook, said recently, - "What marketers have always been looking for is trying to get you to sell things to your friends".
From the Middle Eastern beads found in ancient burial sites in Suffolk, to the tribal people of Papua New Guinea using Pentel pens as nose decorations, to the young people of Berlin whose first goal, once the wall came down, was to eat a Big Mac, we have used trading, shopping and brands as a way to enlarge our sense of self. So, is this digital age turning us all into products? Or is it simply another platform on which to communicate a very basic human urge - self-expression? Are the selves that we can create and control online in fact more 'ourselves' than in real life?
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Shoreditch Beat Poetry.
For those of you missing out on the feted Project 10 circulation list, here is my contribution.
And So This is Christmas, And What Have You Done?
This year I learned that a film which makes your CEO look like a ruthless jerk can only make people love you more. I learned that in an age where we're obsessed with privacy, we're actually sharing more than ever. I learned how being on a horse changed advertising forever. I learned that having over a billion hits on YouTube means you don't have to worry about being in the charts. I learned that touchscreen devices can be beautiful. I learned that augmented reality still has some way to go. I learned that a new logo can divide opinion and that crowdsourcing in a crisis makes you look desperate. I learned it all first on Twitter.
I've blogged, tweeted, updated and checked-in. I've Googled it, Bing-ed it, Yahoo!-ed it and gone back to Googling. I swiped, pinched, tapped and flicked. Booted up, started up, switched on, signed in, accepted, allowed, downloaded, friended, followed and liked. I forwarded it, I tagged it, I attached keywords and uploaded it. I was always-on, on Skpye, on Twitter, on Facebook, on LinkedIn, online. I declined, ignored and turned off. I was offline and IRL (in real life).
I did 14 hour days, 10 hour flights, 8 hour jet lags, made four 2 minute films, and wrote seven brand strategy documents. Gave two talks, got 5,000 followers across 3 Twitter accounts and posted over 200 blog entries. I ate my 5 a day, topped up my Oyster, got my Nectar points, paid my council tax, my mortgage, my phone bill, my gas bill, my water bill, my car insurance, my MOT, my parking permit, and waited 2 months to get broadband. I did coffee and lunch and dinner and drinks and networking and schmoozing and catch-ups and crits and conference calls and feedback and sign offs.
I bought clothes and shoes and accessories and apps and magazines and chocolate bars and stuff for my house and ingredients to cook and take-out so I didn't have to cook. I loved Mad Men and X Factor and 30 Rock and Glee and celebrity gossip and mexican food. And hated the cold and the dark and the early mornings. I saw my old friends and made new friends and worked with the best and fancied the wrong people.
I have been energetic and excited and hyperactive and inspired and nervous and frustrated and absolutely exhausted… and so this is Christmas and what have I done? I've done my best and my hardest and with focus and with passion and I've tried and I've failed and I've tried again and I've succeeded. And I'm bloody glad it's Christmas because I intend only to do two things til January… Eat. And Sleep.
For those of you missing out on the feted Project 10 circulation list, here is my contribution.
And So This is Christmas, And What Have You Done?
This year I learned that a film which makes your CEO look like a ruthless jerk can only make people love you more. I learned that in an age where we're obsessed with privacy, we're actually sharing more than ever. I learned how being on a horse changed advertising forever. I learned that having over a billion hits on YouTube means you don't have to worry about being in the charts. I learned that touchscreen devices can be beautiful. I learned that augmented reality still has some way to go. I learned that a new logo can divide opinion and that crowdsourcing in a crisis makes you look desperate. I learned it all first on Twitter.
I've blogged, tweeted, updated and checked-in. I've Googled it, Bing-ed it, Yahoo!-ed it and gone back to Googling. I swiped, pinched, tapped and flicked. Booted up, started up, switched on, signed in, accepted, allowed, downloaded, friended, followed and liked. I forwarded it, I tagged it, I attached keywords and uploaded it. I was always-on, on Skpye, on Twitter, on Facebook, on LinkedIn, online. I declined, ignored and turned off. I was offline and IRL (in real life).
I did 14 hour days, 10 hour flights, 8 hour jet lags, made four 2 minute films, and wrote seven brand strategy documents. Gave two talks, got 5,000 followers across 3 Twitter accounts and posted over 200 blog entries. I ate my 5 a day, topped up my Oyster, got my Nectar points, paid my council tax, my mortgage, my phone bill, my gas bill, my water bill, my car insurance, my MOT, my parking permit, and waited 2 months to get broadband. I did coffee and lunch and dinner and drinks and networking and schmoozing and catch-ups and crits and conference calls and feedback and sign offs.
I bought clothes and shoes and accessories and apps and magazines and chocolate bars and stuff for my house and ingredients to cook and take-out so I didn't have to cook. I loved Mad Men and X Factor and 30 Rock and Glee and celebrity gossip and mexican food. And hated the cold and the dark and the early mornings. I saw my old friends and made new friends and worked with the best and fancied the wrong people.
I have been energetic and excited and hyperactive and inspired and nervous and frustrated and absolutely exhausted… and so this is Christmas and what have I done? I've done my best and my hardest and with focus and with passion and I've tried and I've failed and I've tried again and I've succeeded. And I'm bloody glad it's Christmas because I intend only to do two things til January… Eat. And Sleep.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Checking into to Hauling
In this month's edition of UK Wired magazine, there is a fascinating article called "Commerce Gets Social - How Your Networks Are Driving What You Buy". The piece looks at different ways innovators and consumers are sharing their purchasing data. From Blippy - a site that lets you share your purchases and see what your friends are buying online, to Groupon - a location-orientated deal-of-the-day site, the race, according to Wired, "is on to monetise the social graph".
Furthermore, and in a move that made me feel like the Winklevoss twins to Wired's Zuckerberg, the piece went on to mention the phenomenon for "hauling". In low-fi YouTube videos, girls share their latest purchase, or hauls, with the world. Stars of hauling have earnt hundreds of thousands of views and lucrative promotional deals. Not so low-fi now.
History tells us that technological advancement and consumer behaviour will continue to evolve. So, can we hypothesise on a potential future based on the evidence around us? We are already hardened "We Live Like This" consumers - surrounding ourselves with the brands, products, services and content which seem best to convey who we are and what we like. This brand-orientated peacocking while pretty normal to us, is instinctive to the digital generation. The 'Like' button is testament to that. Combine this with the new behaviour of "checking in" and something interesting presents itself.
In 2010 alone we went from tentatively checking in to locations on Foursquare in January, to happily checking in to TV shows on Get Glue in December. The fast pace of technology is shortening the distance between the absurd and the mundane. So, what if we can start 'checking in' to products? What if "hauling" goes beyond bedroom videos and onto the highstreet? The scope is huge - from checking in to a new purchase to detailing entire outfit.
So, what data sets could we be sharing with our friends, our network and the brands themselves?
Our username
Our location (place and time)
Our context (captions and comments)
Our spending habits (how much we spent, what partner brands we are pairing alongside)
And the exact moment all the brand's marketing efforts translate into a purchase. That's kind of exciting.
Struggling within the confines of "You are not "creative" therefore you may not have In Design installed" as set by the MB IT department, I have attempted to visualise how this future might look. See below.
Maybe checking it to all this data will prove too much. Maybe registering our every move will render us stationary, but - as Wired states - "The new generation want to scream from the mountaintops what they've bought, and to the largest audience" this hypothesis may not be too far from the truth. Time will tell.
In this month's edition of UK Wired magazine, there is a fascinating article called "Commerce Gets Social - How Your Networks Are Driving What You Buy". The piece looks at different ways innovators and consumers are sharing their purchasing data. From Blippy - a site that lets you share your purchases and see what your friends are buying online, to Groupon - a location-orientated deal-of-the-day site, the race, according to Wired, "is on to monetise the social graph".
Furthermore, and in a move that made me feel like the Winklevoss twins to Wired's Zuckerberg, the piece went on to mention the phenomenon for "hauling". In low-fi YouTube videos, girls share their latest purchase, or hauls, with the world. Stars of hauling have earnt hundreds of thousands of views and lucrative promotional deals. Not so low-fi now.
History tells us that technological advancement and consumer behaviour will continue to evolve. So, can we hypothesise on a potential future based on the evidence around us? We are already hardened "We Live Like This" consumers - surrounding ourselves with the brands, products, services and content which seem best to convey who we are and what we like. This brand-orientated peacocking while pretty normal to us, is instinctive to the digital generation. The 'Like' button is testament to that. Combine this with the new behaviour of "checking in" and something interesting presents itself.
In 2010 alone we went from tentatively checking in to locations on Foursquare in January, to happily checking in to TV shows on Get Glue in December. The fast pace of technology is shortening the distance between the absurd and the mundane. So, what if we can start 'checking in' to products? What if "hauling" goes beyond bedroom videos and onto the highstreet? The scope is huge - from checking in to a new purchase to detailing entire outfit.
So, what data sets could we be sharing with our friends, our network and the brands themselves?
Our username
Our location (place and time)
Our context (captions and comments)
Our spending habits (how much we spent, what partner brands we are pairing alongside)
And the exact moment all the brand's marketing efforts translate into a purchase. That's kind of exciting.
Struggling within the confines of "You are not "creative" therefore you may not have In Design installed" as set by the MB IT department, I have attempted to visualise how this future might look. See below.
Maybe checking it to all this data will prove too much. Maybe registering our every move will render us stationary, but - as Wired states - "The new generation want to scream from the mountaintops what they've bought, and to the largest audience" this hypothesis may not be too far from the truth. Time will tell.
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