Marketer's Lab

The Twitter Experiment

I've been less than wildly enthusiastic about the practical marketing applications for Twitter. In marketing circles this might come off as "unenlightened" or "old-school", I like to think of it more as appropriately skeptical.  In truth, while I've done a ton of reading and exploration on Twitter, I hadn't taken the plunge and signed up for an account.  Finally I've taken the two minutes to sign up for an account and I'm off and tweeting.

Without question, time is my most valuable resource.  I have little patience for anything that consumes time and doesn't really provide value of some sort.  Don't get me wrong, I don't have every moment of my day scheduled and aligned with a project, but I am without question stingy with my time.  My biggest concern entering into Twitterland is the amount of time I'll need to spend to realize any value.  I fully understand the social media dynamic of contributing to the collective to ultimately get something back, this is where I anticipate the greatest time commitment, even 140 characters at a time.

I like to "begin with the end in mind" on any project, I think I'll be more successful with Twitter if I stay focused on just a couple simple goals:

- Finding like-minded marketers - The work we're doing at Upshot Institute and the topics I'm focused on with Marketer's Lab, both rely on an ongoing interaction with tech-interested marketers.  I'd like to use Twitter to find other marketers interested in these same topics. 

- Learn more about marketing technology - There's an amazing universe of brilliant people out there, I'd like to tap into some of that genius and use Twitter to connect with the people shaping the marketing technology space. 

I feel compelled to say "yes, I know I must contribute to the dialogue and I know it's not just what I'll get out of it".  You're welcome Social Media militants.  I have to say I'm excited about some of the early interactions and optimistic about what might be possible.  As a close, if anyone reading has suggestions for good resources on best practices for marketing via Twitter, would love to see them.  Keep you posted, follow me if you like...

Upshot Update - Marketing SuperPlatform Summit

Upshot Institute has been a labor of love for the last year or so.  During that time I've had some fantastic interaction with marketers, marketing technology vendors and a variety of technologists and big thinkers.  The focus of all this interaction has been to shape a suite of resources that can help marketers better understand and utilize marketing technology.    

Today, I am incredibly excited to share the first set of these resources coming online with the launch of our Marketing SuperPlatform Summit. This summit is the beginning of a series that will feature industry experts covering a wide variety of significant marketing technology topics.  You can read the full press release on the Marketing SuperPlatform Summit here, and see what we have planned in terms of future summits here.  Additional summits topics include landing page optimization, mobile marketing, web video, community marketing and approximately another 10 events through the end of 2009.   

Another new Upshot Institute feature we are quietly previewing is our marketing technology resource portal.  Proper disclaimers in effect here, the resource portal is just coming online, it's in preview mode as we work with content providers to load and organize the information.  Beyond the preview period the resource portal will have hundreds of white papers and other resources.  If you're interested in publishing content to the portal, just click here and submit your content.

The Marketing SuperPlatform Summit features a great lineup of speakers and a really interesting combination of insights and practical guidance.  Worth the time to watch the presentations.  Let us know what you think and if you like what you see, tell a friend or 100.   

 

Storytelling and Technology

A friend forwarded this presentation from Nick Bilton, delivered as the keynote at the O'Reilly Tools of Change for Publishing Conference.  Not surprisingly, the presentation has a publishing focus, but it drives home several foundational ideas which are critically important right now no matter what industry you're in.  For me the biggest idea is how much of what we do as marketers is about storytelling.  For a huge swath of marketers/communicators/journalists, our ability to craft and deliver a compelling story that can connect and move people is the heart of what we do.  I'm not so sure a lot of marketers really think about things this way.  Nick does a great job framing this idea and integrating how technology can enable a great story, a preview of how things are evolving.  

Marketing To The Sixth Sense

Sometimes I wonder about whether many of the emerging marketing technologies are really solving the real issues we have as marketers.  There are some amazing new tools out there, but there are also plenty of marketing technology "solutions" I come across that look like a technology trying to find a problem rather than a new tool to address increasingly complex marketing challenges.  I am both a big marketing technology evangelist and a huge marketing technology skeptic.  The presentation below from the TED Conference, aside from being a real jaw-dropper, gave me a new perspective on how technology and marketing really fit together. 

I have no idea who actually said this, but someone much smarter than I once said something along the  lines of "the more powerful technology becomes, the less visible it becomes".  This idea of a more seamless integration of technology to our everyday lives is already happening at an amazing speed.  What we now call "Social Media" is quickly becoming so normalized that it's already almost ceased to be something separate, but rather an extension of ourselves and one of the multitude of ways we communicate and connect on a daily basis. 

As you watch the TED presentation, think about how the experiences and capabilities Pattie Maes and her genius student Pranav Mistry showcase will alter the way we will need to communicate with the world as marketers.  If you're like me, you will come away with new resolve about the need for incredible new tools and a completely new perspective on marketing.  

Augmented Reality Marketing

I've heard some pretty outrageous claims made by marketing technology vendors over the years, probably a whole post unto itself, maybe enough for a book.  When I received an email the other day from Noora at Metaio asking if I was interested in learning more about their new augmented reality product I thought this could either be the coolest technology ever created or the most blatant and ridiculous claim yet.  Either way, I was completely hooked by the pitch and had to find out more about it.

Here's what Mataio says about augmented reality right from their home page - "As a pioneer in the area of augmented reality technology, Metaio develops software products for systems driven by visual interaction in both real and virtual worlds. Our Unifeye software platform not only lets you place 3D animations directly into live video streams, but also supports the seamless integration of images from the external user environment."

Still a little fuzzy?  I thought it was helpful to dig into one of their tactical examples.  For a campaign  with Mini, they created a direct mail piece that includes elements which work with their technology.  When the direct mail piece is held in front of a webcam, a complete 3D "mini-Mini" is projected onto the surface of the direct mail piece.  Huge wow factor!

A similar example in Retail, working with the folks at Lego, Mataio created special packaging which when held in front of special in-store kiosks shows the shopper a 3D image of the assembled Lego toy. Great way to bring the product to life beyond just nice packaging. 

There is a small video segment on the Matiao website that does a great job of showcasing their work and the different possibilities.  It's easy to get excited about the "cool factor", but I do see some extremely interesting opportunities with this kind of tool.  If it can bring a cereal box to life, almost anything is possible (watch the video for this).    

Pricing for a campaign like this is hard to pin down, not surprisingly it varies dramatically based on scope and complexity.  No word on exactly how the use of their technology increased the results of these campaigns, but its not hard to see how Mataio makes any campaign much more engaging.  Yet another new marketing technology to watch.