Borislav

Zdravei!

My name is Borislav and I am from Bulgaria.  After spending 10 years working in China and completing my masters in Madrid, I now spend most of my free time traveling the world.  New York City is one of my favorite cities to visit.  But while I love to take casual pictures of friends and of the city’s skyline in Time Square, I do not like the stares and jeers given to us tourists.

If only there was a way to be a tourist but not promote the “camp hat, huge camera and always stopping, pointing and aiming” persona.  Reaching for my camera every time a good shot appears can be inconvenient and holding my camera in my hands can become burdensome and even susceptible to theft.  I need a solution!

Paul

Hola!

My name is Paul and I am from Madrid, Spain.  I am excited about my new camera! Take a peek at my new 15MP with 16x digital zoom!  If you can’t tell by my photo, that is because I am wearing it!  Yes, my sunglasses and my camera are one: more than just shades, more than a camera.



The people who revolutionized this product really thought it out and implemented the right technology to make it work! For example, the lenses of the sunglasses are also the lenses of the camera.  The focus and the zoom function of the camera are sensitive to the movement of the eyes.  Movement detection scanners built into the lenses and frames make the camera zoom in when both the bottom and top eyelids (of the left and right eyes) are widened and zoom out when they are narrowed. The use of both the left and right lenses of the sunglasses as camera lenses equates to the functionality of  a 135mm lens reaching digital zoom levels up to 16x + without sacrificing resolution. The LCD screen menu of the camera is located translucently on the inside of the lenses of the sunglasses so they that they can only be seen by the person wearing the glasses.

What gets me even more excited is when I snap a photo simply by blinking both eyes (duration of 1 second). Ever heard of taking a mental image of something? Well, it seems this product is doing just that! The only difference is that you have a backup of your mental photo on a removal micro SD card that is placed in the frame. How convenient! If you are a novice or a hotshot photographer, there is no need for your Canon Powershot or your Canon EOS Digital SLR when you travel. These shades will do just fine.

What amazes me is that this digital zoom technology could possibly replace prescription glasses some day.  The lenses also adjust to your prescription automatically regardless of who puts them on and can zoom in and out at your choice to capture the perfect picture.  Truly magnificent! I don’t think I will ever miss the perfect shot. I love my city and even though I live in Madrid, there are still new and unique things that I find aesthetically appealing.  I don’t always carry a camera with me but now I can take photos of my city while maintaining my cool reputation.

What if?

What if IDEO creates a product that revolutionizes the way we see and capture our most treasured moments?  What if capturing the moment was as easy as a blink of an eye?  What if you can snap away on your camera in a big city and not be

Taking a mental photo

categorized as a tourist?  What if you are no longer bummed about that funny incident you missed on your way to work or that beautiful sunset on the horizon you failed to capture because you didn’t have your camera?

What if IDEO eliminates the need for prescription glasses and makes eyewear that automatically caters to your optical needs?  What if the device also allows FULL HD video capture at resolutions up to 1920 x 1080?

What if IDEO creates such a device; quality sunglasses/eyewear with state of the art camera and video functions? Isn’t this something worth taking a mental image of? What if?

Whether Club2020 is a PULL or PUSH strategy could be quite controversial.  Despite of what was mentioned in the presentation, what do you think?

It is easy to see that Clube2020 could be both a PUSH and a PULL strategy based on the fact that advertisers push advertising to the users after the users pull  (opt-in) for the information.

However, the correct answer is PUSH.  The concept is according to advertisers’ point of view and not in the point of view of the user.  The advertisers PUSH messages to the subscribers. Users must always initiate any conversation, that’s the best practice (opt-in). In addition, an opt-in process is NOT SPAM.

Here you will find the official definitions:

PUSH: http://mmaglobal.com/wiki/push-messaging

PULL: http://mmaglobal.com/wiki/pull-messaging

The key is in when the user initiated the conversation.

How many times have we heard that before?  WHICH YEAR WILL IT BE!??? WILL IT EVER COME FOR GOODNESS SAKE!!???  Who knows! All we know is Google is looking to expand its market leadership in the mobile sector, which might be something to get excited about.  The search giant had recently acquired the mobile marketing startup, Admob, for $750 million.  First, it was Google’s Android mobile OS that penetrated the mobile market finding its way onto HTC  and Motorola (Droid) phones.  Now, Google has plans to make sure its mobile marketing machine reaches the growing numbers of smartphone users.  Admob specializes in display ads and would bring about a more rich, graphical display of ads to Google’s text based ads.

Yes, Google does have the resources to develop its own marketing channel but instead wanted to get a head start and accelerate its growth in this rapidly growing field ahead of its competitors: Microsoft and Yahoo.Mobile Advertising is estimated at $416 million this year according to emarketer and is expected to grow to $1.6 billion by 2013.  Maybe as Google makes a bigger presence within marketing in this sexy medium sector, marketers will increase their spending on mobile marketing and then we can finally and officially say:

“THIS IS THE YEAR OF THE MOBILE!”

From Digital Evolution to Social Media Revolution!

This Video says it all…..THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING!

Social Media is the new way of communicating at anytime, anywhere, and over any distance!

We are apart of this Revolution.  We are apart of this beginning……

Pic taken by Blackberry

Experts say the act of socializing is essential to our overall health and could make us live longer and better.

It Makes Us:

-Keep Active
-Go out and enjoy life
- Improve our brain health

Now, I assume that no one else knows the importance of socializing like our 5 friends above who were incessantly typing away on their blackberries  and iphones  at Iguana in Midtown while being waited on.  Instead of verbally communicating to each other directly, it was more entertaining to read each others thoughts on their phones while rambunctiously immersing themselves in haughty laughs over mere simplicity. But were our friends just working on improving their brain health by socializing, but not with each other?

A curious air filled both the restaurant and cyberspace as “mutual friends” questioned the abnormal behavior and waiters looked on with perplexed expressions.  The waiters were good sports but were scared to approach the party of 5 because they thought they would only order through the mobile medium.

Some phenomenon had strictly occupied the amigos thus distracting themselves from each other. So who was it? Who could it be? What was so important that these 5 individuals who have been friends since college couldn’t cease to indulge themselves in the 3rd screen?  If the phrase “mutual friends “ didn’t give it away then it is the one and only Facebook!

These days we are so obsessed with Facebook that we take it everywhere we go thanks to smartphones like the iphone and Blackberry.  There is no doubt that Facebook has become a part of our lives but spirals out of control when friends refrain from talking to each other in person but instead do so through status updates.  Yes, it was all in good fun but only Facebook can foster such an experience that one will be mad NOT to blog about it!

Just like the mobile, it is intimate.  Through our photos, videos and status messages, we are defined in the digital world.

“In the eyes of the French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, humans exist first then they are identified through their essence.  I say today we are defined by our Facebook status.”

You eat out with it, you play with it and you sleep with it ☺.  Get your mind out of the gutter. I am talking about mobile phones.  Well, they ARE intimate. Everyone has one and no one goes anywhere without one.  The mobile is a second shadow.  You can say that you and your mobile are connected at the hip, literally!

The Mobile Intimacy

-It is the 1st thing you check when you wake up.

-The last thing you check when you go to bed.

-It’s within arm’s reach 80% of your day.

-It identifies you – determines who you are.

-Its addiction is insatiable (talk, text-send pics/videos, mobile social networks, mobile web, music, email,etc.) May I say more? Are you an addict?

The Mobile Evolution

So what do you think, gold mine for marketers?

Perhaps….

To Marketers the Mobile is a Dream Medium

PERSONAL – always attributable to one single person

UBIQUITOUS – one screen to unite them all

IMMEDIATE – target is reached instantly

LOCALIZED – more segmented targeting based on location (GPS, LBS, Geo-targeting, etc)

The Mobile is a Great Direct Marketing Tool

As you can see from the following marketing campaigns below, the mobile can be a very effective tool when implemented correctly.  Mobile Marketing is not heaven yet and thus it will fail if carried out as a standalone.  The key is to INTEGRATE Mobile Marketing with other campaigns.

McDonald’s did a great job by incorporating SMS messages within one of their many “Buy McDonald’s & WIN Prizes” contests.

Coldplay used bluetooth and location based marketing to beam album information and songs to passers-by from their billboard.

Google puts more emphasis on their mobile search engine and mobile versions of Google’s products (Youtube, Gmail, Google Talk, Calendar, etc) become more prevalent.

Mobile Marketing has Several Challenges!

For the user  Mobile Marketing has been anticipated to be very irritating as other advertisements.

90% of US users are not all interested in mobile marketing.

79% of consumers are annoyed by the idea of mobile marketing.

Mobile web is costly for users:

For marketers, Mobile Marketing is also expensive.

It has a higher CPM than other traditional media.

Some marketers are not considerate of users’ privacy on mobile.

Marketers make the mistake of using push strategy marketing campaigns.

The Solution

As mentioned above, so far Mobile Marketing is NOT a standalone campaign.  It is a very effective strategic campaign that complements other digital or traditional media.  It is best to incorporate Mobile Marketing within a 360 (blended) marketing campaign.  Mobile Marketing falls under the Digital Marketing umbrella which means PUSH STRATEGY is a big NO NO!  Because the mobile is such an intimate device, marketers must be cognizant of users’ feelings towards privacy.  For this, marketers must abide by the 3 Golden Rules to lower the pain of advertising.

3 Golden Rules (Pull Strategy)

• Choice – Opt-IN User should have the choice to accept advertising on their mobile phones.
• Control – Opt-OUT User (prosumer) is in control and should be able to cease the process of receiving mobile advertising.
• Consideration – Entertainment, Information, Interactivity  – Keep it interesting and relevant!
  

What will happen in the year 2050?

OLD MEDIA VS NEW MEDIA

Old media dies including, the traditional radio, TV and Newspaper, as the growth of  IP based phones and TV increases .  Everything becomes digital.  Digital radio, newspapers and encyclopedias become prevalent (ex. BBC online, Wikipedia, Podcasts).  Old media fights back with bans, restrictions, taxes and lawsuits (ex. ban on Napster) but is overpowered by the Web 2.0 consumer.

The power of the consumer begets Personalization. The consumer becomes the prosumer-both the producer and the consumer.  During the Web 1.0 phase and the birth of Netscape in 1994, consumers were only able to read information. Now with Web 2.0, we can not only read but write information as the customization of social networks and minicoopers online (http://www.miniusa.com) have shown us. But what will Web 3.0 bring?  We will have the ability to read, write and execute data: the usage of search bots to seek out  information at a certain time or place then retrieve that information whenever and wherever we need it.  Sounds good? We’ve seen the tip of the iceberg of personalization through RSS feeds of blogs, online newspapers, etc.

How about plastic replacing paper as digital pamphlets?

Gadgets like the kindle 2 become popular, trees are safe and the EPA throws parties every week.

As consumers, we are living during the Golden Age of convenience and interactive experience .   For the marketer, new opportunities are created  to engage and interact with the consumer on a whole different level. We’ve seen examples with advertisement in social networks or product placement in online virtual reality and console games.

THE SAGA CONTINUES…….

Newer Technology along with the merging of big media companies will bring about new customer experiences and interaction. People would be able to go back in history and live through historical battles or famous sports games.  The consumer would become who they want and share their experiences.

But Charles Darwin’s theory of Evolution once again becomes eminent as Google exercises its Pacman-like behavior in taking over these companies and launching Prometeus-the ultimate consumer experience and interaction empire.

EXPERIENCE IS THE NEW REALITY - We would be able to know what it feels like to be Hugh Hefner, to win the Superbowl or Neil Armstrong when he walked on the moon….or go places without ever leaving the living room….consumers, addicted to new media like it is a drug.  The urge to socialize, interact and simulate our fantasies on this new media phenom becomes a widespread disease.  The Pringles Theory becomes the perfect explanation of our insatiable hunger.

But what will become of us? Will the controller (consumers) become the controlled? Is google..

Would we subdue to a life of endless virtual reality to the point where reality becomes obsolete?…Remember the Matrix!