Noise Blog

Social Media-Activated Discounts

April 26th, 2012 / Posted by: Kelsey

A social media trend we might be seeing a lot more of is Social Media-Activated Discounts. It would be great to check-into a business with your smart phone and get a discount by using your credit card. You don’t have to mention the coupon or discount to the business or staff personnel that are waiting on you. How easy would that be?

automatic socil media picGone would be the days of finding, downloading, printing or waiting for coupons to arrive in the mail. I think extreme couponers would be very happy.

American Express, Twitter and Foursquare have joined up to do just this. If you make a purchase using your AmEx card and that business has an AmEx special, Foursquare will verify your check-in on Twitter and will credit your AmEx statement. See the video below for more information.

I think this is a great idea. I am sure you could use Visa which has more customers than American Express and tap into Facebook’s 900 million users to reach a larger audience.

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Quantifying Teamwork

Using tiny sensors to reveal patterns in interpersonal communication

April 16th, 2012 / Posted by: brett

Building the right team for innovation is important in any business. For example,  in the agency world,  there is constant debate on how conduct the ultimate brain-storm session or what resources should be involved in a project team to deliver the best work for our clients.

The folks at MIT’s Human Dynamics lab recently conducted a study (partially available here – expanded view requires a subscription)  at German Bank aimed at generating hard data on daily interactions between team members (product, sales, marketing, customer service,  and management).

Each individual was given an electronic sensor that tracked interactions (tone, length of conversation, angles) over the life-cycle of a new product release and corresponding marketing campaign.

The over-arching conclusion was that patterns of communication are equally important to content of communication. For example, they found that teams that had a higher rates of informal engagement (shared coffee breaks and lunches) and energy (frequency of interaction) were more productive.  They also theorized that an increase in cross-functional team communication earlier on in the development cycle will decrease the volume of help calls in the customer service center.

The authors are careful to extend these conclusions to teamwork in general across all sectors; there are still a lot of soft data variables that affect the productivity and creativity of a team.

The most interesting of this work from my perspective is the study’s methodology (the sociometric sensors). Employing real-time tracking sensors will provide researchers a new lens into human behavior. It’s not hard to imagine researchers employing these sensors on a sample of consumers to quantify the dynamics of their daily lives. This will support qualitative research efforts and paint a more reliable picture of who we are trying to connect with.

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Posted in Financial | Add Your Comments! »

Privacy policy – a marketer’s dilemma or utopia?

March 20th, 2012 / Posted by: Dave

20 day’s old now since Google’s policy changes took effect (March 1st) and with the initial public outrage subsided, it’s still worth noting a shifting reality in terms of how companies like Google, Facebook, and Microsoft will continue to use privacy policy changes to gain market share and position. And how that will change how marketers value them.

As the reality that data continues to provide brands the thread to opportunity that informs real-time digital communication plans and campaigns, policy changes will continue to shift and morph.

google article pic

Not the most mind blowing radically future forward thought leadership topic of the year, but we should be reminded to pay attention to these behind-the-scenes mega competitive business play’s once in a while. Like Moneyball – these competitive moves are played out in the background – collecting, assessing, and assigning the value of Data – or in other terms – value of you; the user. Google’s changes are but the beginning and “remind us what it’s really selling: Us”

As said in the Feb 20th Fiscal Times article “In Google’s New Privacy Policy, a Push for Profits” Shawndra Hill, a Wharton operations and information management professor, says Google had little choice but to make better use of its data. “Strategically, if they want to compete against Facebook, they have to take advantage of the data that they have.” By combining the information collected across its various platforms, Google has increased its value to advertisers”.

By combining and consolidating its various platforms and their separate privacy policy’s, making one blanket policy so that if you as a user agree to share more of yourself on one of their platforms than another – they can make sure marketers can access your “whole” behavior set.

So by making one broad policy, Google effectively can now offer more insights through collecting consumer behavior data across its entire network of owned properties, making it that much more valuable to advertisers.

Certainly not to be trivialized, and I am by no means suggesting they are breaking laws, or disseminating any information that consumers don’t already offer up (although debatable). Some say “Google actually deserves credit for being transparent about the fact that it’s changing its privacy policies and offering its perspective on how it’s still being fair to users”.

GoogleMonster

Reserving judgment on the Google Monster, I am simply calling attention to the way businesses are going about competition through policy changes as another means of competitive advantage. Significant in that access and a greater understanding of how to use consumer behavior data is how marketers will win in 2012. And how those companies that most effectively and efficiently (fairly) collect and offer access to that data will be the go-to for marketers. It ain’t about “click-throughs” anymore – but we knew that already right?!

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#KONY2012 Sheds Some Visible Light

March 8th, 2012 / Posted by: carolyn

Regardless of your stand on KONY2012 it’s hard to ignore. Whether you care about the capture of Kony before December 31 or not what’s really interesting about this campaign is how well this non for profit, Invisible Children has executed their message.

5786aceb49http://blog.noisedigital.com/wp-admin/post.php?action=edit&post=1392#d98ec5da12de3eb51a

By now it’s fairly well accepted that social media is a powerful tool. It can help brands drive a message, inform people of timely events, and in this case, introduce people to an idea. Long have we been hearing now about storytellers influence others by connecting them to a common thought or goal. With the KONY2012 campaign, Invisible Children has clearly recognized a few key things about social media and managed to combine them with a story based on basic human values. This made it worth sharing.

The story they tell in their 28 minute video leverages a few key tools:

1) A Connection to Basic Human Emotions: Including caring, belonging, and love. The video begins by telling a story we can all relate to. It helps us set the framework of how life might have been different had we been born under different circumstances.

2) A Story You Can Relate To: It tells the story of a boy which at first, starts off as nothing new to anyone who has seen a World Vision commercial. What’s different about his story is the moment where he says he would see more value in his death than life. And that’s how you know the situation is desperate.

3) An Expiry Date: This organization not only points out the positive things they have done to make change already, but recognize point blank, the importance of keeping the momentum of an idea going. This is a difficult task. Critics have already pointed out the obvious, within the next 18 hours this will start to fade. But whose to say it wouldn’t have made a pinprick of an impact? At the end of the day, we are all trying to be influencers of something. To at least mention the barrier of time is an honest approach to making people care.

4) The Multiplying Effect of Key Influencers: Another key part of this video viral campaign is that the organization recognized the value of lining up popular influencers. The pop culture icons are meant to be a platform to drive this message through their networks and the political figures are there to set policy in motion.

5) A Simple Call to Action: The video ends with ways to get involved. Most of which are nothing new. Sign up for a kit, get a bracelet and some posters. What sets this campaign apart from others is that it’s hard to ignore the simplicity of their plea: Make Kony Famous. By having people recognize such a simple call to action connected to such a strong message ie: Give the opportunity for others to choose life over death, it’s hard to sit back and not at least click “share”.

Despite how this campaign will end, it has caused a notable splash in our world and of course, anything worth sharing will have its critics. The fact that people are talking about it is an accomplishment that has put Invisible Children on the map. Regardless of your stand on this topic, it holds true that it has made us think. It’s tricky to answer the bigger questions such as: “Should public opinion drive international intervention?” Time will tell how the story unfolds but for now, it’s clear to see this organization has created a social media success.

For those of you who haven’t seen the video yet, take a look and decide for yourself:

KONY 2012 from INVISIBLE CHILDREN on Vimeo.

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Posted in Events/Conferences, Uncategorized, charity | Add Your Comments! »

NFC is on its way …

just give it a couple more years

February 14th, 2012 / Posted by: Nicola

nfc_image

You have probably heard NFC being talked about like it’s the next big thing but what is it and what can it do?  Near Field Communication (NFC) is a high-frequency, wireless technology that allows smartphones and similar devices to communicate with each other by touching them or bringing them in close proximity to each other.

NFC has become a hot topic recently due to the expanding trials and interest in mobile payment.  It allows mobile phone users to ‘tap and pay’ in store with their phone.  We have all seen the PayPass readers at checkouts where you can simply tap your card to make your transaction.  NFC mobile payment is similar to this where you can tap or hover your phone over the reader and hey-presto, item paid for.  However, in order to see NFC mobile payment adapt into the mass market it needs to hold more value.  As Ken Miller, VP of Strategic Risk Services at Intuit said at the GigaOM’s Mobilize conference, currently the well-established leader in payment is cash or plastic, which only takes two seconds to use.  We need to offer something better for mass consumer and merchant adoption.

So what is better than cash or plastic?

Because we are so accustomed to cash and plastic, NFC mobile payment is not going to excite the average consumer or merchant.  However, paying for items with your phone is not the only thing NFC technology can offer.  It can also host a variety of content such as coupons, loyalty programs and promotions, all of which can be downloaded and redeemed in store.  An NFC Chip needs to be installed on your phone and also somewhere in store or in smart posters for them to communicate with each other.  This real-time engagement can offer countless opportunities for both the consumer and marketers.

How can marketers use NFC?

When Google Wallet was released, Google stated one of their main goals is to combine Google Wallet and Google Offers.  This will help marketers and merchants reach consumers with personalized offers that can be redeemed via their mobile phones.

NFC marketing will focus on behavioral targeting determined by data rather than simply targeting by age or location.  NFC has the ability to target consumers by their shopping habits or purchase history; it can be extremely personalized and tailored to each consumer.  NFC has the capability of tracking consumer behavior in a very unique and highly detailed way which is an incredibly valuable resource for marketers.  Think of it as Google Analytics but for the offline world!

Is NFC really going to take off?

With the rise in smartphone usage and the vast number of sophisticated apps available, NFC has huge potential.  IDC estimates smartphone sales in 2011 to reach 472 million worldwide and rising to 982 million in 2015. However, in order for NFC to take off we need to overcome some hurdles standing in the way.

Currently, only a small number of mobile phones have the NFC Chip installed.  The Galaxy Nexus is the latest from Google which also offers the Google Wallet.  However, the NFC Chip is not installed in the majority of phones which is quite obviously the biggest hurdle of all! In addition, we need to see merchants installing the equipment in store.  According to Brad Greene, the Senior Business Leader at Visa at the GigaOM’s Mobilize conference, only 2% of merchants currently have the equipment installed.  It seems we have a long way to go before we see any kind of action with NFC.

I look forward to seeing some new and exciting interactive marketing initiatives.  NFC will allow brands to reach consumers through real-time engagement at the most crucial time of decision making.  However, we are a long way off from seeing NFC emerge into the mass market so let’s hold tight for now …

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Posted in technology | Add Your Comments! »

Mo-Tech 1.1 – Resources

January 31st, 2012 / Posted by: kenny

Trending Tech

Responsive web design is a trending technique that is immensely popular due to its ability to respond to online ready devices. The appeal is being able to have one website to accommodate all devices; such devices can include desktop computers, smartphones and tablets.

Since responsive web design uses a combination of new and old web technologies, web developers are constrained by compatibility issues according to browsers. Like a mechanic fixing a car, web developers need to know what parts will fit and work.

In life, knowledge is the key to success. Same is applied to web development; so it’s always best to plan things out before you code. Below are some informative resources that will hopefully benefit you in your development.

Get the Stats

Each browser comes with its own constraints. Whether it is a different box model, support for media queries or simple shadows; it comes down to the browser that dictate what your user can see or do.

Knowing what your potential customers are using can strategically help you decide what technologies to take advantage of. Statistic gathering services like Statcounter, W3Counter and Netmarketshare can help you acquire the data you need.

The below image from Statcounter global stats depict Microsoft’s Internet Explorer as the preferred web browser in 2011.

StatCounter-browser-ww-monthly-201012-201112-bar

Know the tech

With the wide array of web technologies available and new ones on the horizon, it is difficult to keep track of browser support.

A great resource that stores this data is caniuse.com. This website takes the chosen tech, and displays an up-to-date compatibility table of desktop and mobile browsers.

Click here to visit caniuse.com

An alternative resource to caniuse.com is html5please.us. This relatively new website is not as informative but delivers information on polyfills and fallback techniques for code that is not supported by all browsers.

Click here to visit html5please.us

Both these sites will help you cut down on time used for Quality Assurance testing.

Move on

Now you have some data and know what your constraints are. Hopefully this has helped give you direction and prepared you for the next phase of your project.

Mo-Tech started in November 2011 during the Movember Charity. Click here for mo information on Noise Digital and Movember.

Until next time “Remember to clear your cache“

Posted in technology | Add Your Comments! »

Social Media Gone Wrong

and how to make it right

January 17th, 2012 / Posted by: Vanessa

Social media breeds a sense of consumer-entitlement and takes “the customer is always right” to a whole new level.  By opening up channels of two-way communication, brands are no longer calling the shots, and therefore have to tread carefully when it comes to public engagement with their consumers online.  There have been several cases of “social media gone wrong” that social media marketers should heed as a warning in being too flippant with their social marketing strategies.

Timothy’s Coffee

Recently, Timothy’s Coffee offered their Facebook Fans free packs of instant coffee in exchange for their personal information.  This exchange of information for freebies is nothing new, but the Canadian company sparked a social media backlash after it underestimated how many people would sign up, and due to a “technical glitch”, accidentally sent an email to all of them saying the coffee was on its way.  When it became clear that Timothy’s wouldn’t be able to deliver on its promise, the company eventually offered their Fans a “great email offer” – a buy one get one free deal…better than nothing, right?  Wrong!  Consumers were furious they had sent out their personal information and would have to purchase a Timothy’s product before receiving their promised freebie.

timothys

ChapStick

where_do_lost_chapsticks_go_social_media

With ChapStick last fall, the brand posts a potentially provocative image on Facebook of a women leaning over a couch, with her bum in the air.  (She is looking for her ChapStick.) The tagline for the image is “Be heard at facebook.com/chapstick” which is kind of ironic as Chapstick deleted negative reactions and objections to their image, including the comments of a vocal, disgusted blogger.

The more comments they deleted, the more Fans wrote back, wondering why comments were obviously being deleted by the brand.  ChapStick got itself stuck in a social media death spiral, a vicious cycle where the more a brand tries to control its Fan’s opinion, the harder the Fans push back to make sure they are heard.

Nestle

Nestle_Killer

Similarly with Nestle in 2010, Greenpeace protesters got a hold of their page and manipulated the Kit Kat logo into “Killer”, referring to the company’s policy of buying palm oil and its apparent support of deforestation and threatening the Orangutan monkeys with extinction.  Greenpeace created a video (half a million views to date) which compared eating a Kit Kat bar to killing an Orangutan. Nestle moved to have the video removed, as well as removed comments where the user had changed their profile photo to one of the altered Nestle logo.

What happened next? You guessed it.  The more Nestle attempted to censor the activists, the more of them flocked to the Nestle Page and changed their profile photos to the offending, altered logo.

From the above examples, here are five lessons we’ve learned from these social media disasters and how to make it right:

  1. Don’t be flippant with your social marketing - take your social media strategy seriously – it’s a business strategy and should hold the same weight, (if not more), as other forms of company marketing.
  2. Plan ahead - before launching any social media promotion, plan carefully for multiple scenarios and do your forecasting research and planning.  What happens if your promotion exceeds expectations (like the Timothy’s giveaway did)?  What if your promotion generates a negative reaction (like Chapstick’s advertisement)?  Think of all what-if scenarios and how to best deal with them – it’s better to plan ahead than to be caught off guard.
  3. Be accountable - if you promise something, you are accountable to delivering on your promises.  And because social media is so public, your Fans are going to hold you accountable.  If Timothy’s had just given all their Fans the promised product (like they eventually ended up doing anyway), the entire ordeal would have been dealt with much more quietly.  Assume that your good intentions can go wrong and be prepared to deal with miscommunications.  It’s better to under promise and over deliver instead of the other way around.
  4. Listen to your Fans – after all, they are your customers (and potential customers), and they are the ones you are trying to win over.  So if your practises and values don’t align with theirs, be prepared to make changes or find a different audience.  After Nestle’s run-in with Greenpeace, eventually, Nestle announced their intention to use only sustainable Palm Oil by 2015.
  5. Take ownership of mistakes – in both online and offline marketing, people make mistakes.  Deleting comments won’t make the issue go away; it’ll only make it worse.  You’ll find more people asking why the comment was deleted and they won’t be satisfied until you give them an answer.  Instead of making excuses, take the blame, your Fans will appreciate the honesty.

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Posted in Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) | 1 Comment »

Let’s Get Digital!

January 16th, 2012 / Posted by: Alene

OLIVIA 3It’s January. The holidays are officially over, and though we’ve entered a new year, I find I’m still carrying about five pounds of turkey weight from the old one.

To kick off 2012, I (like many others) want to commit to exercising regularly. Yet, I’m realizing that with a full time job, it’s hard to find the motivation to workout. When I leave work, all I really want to do is go home, lie on my couch and watch Extreme Couponing. So in looking for ways to get in shape, I recently discovered digital workouts. If you want to exercise but don’t want to leave your house, there’s a whole world of smartphone apps and online programs that can give you a great in-home workout.

Here’s a few that I really like:

FitnessClass for iPad – This program lets you search for and stream over 300 fitness videos ranging from Kickboxing, to Yoga. With such a wide variety of classes, you can keep changing it up, and try a new one every day.

iWorkout Muse for iPhone, iPod touch, iPad – What’s cool about this app is that it lets you create a custom interval training workout guided by your favourite music. You just set your work and rest periods, your desired workout length, and choose the songs you want to jam to – your music will automate the workout, and tell you exactly what to do.

Runmeter GPS for iPhone, iPod touch, iPad – Should you decide to venture out for some fresh air, my favorite part of this app is that it records your workout results (running time, distance, speed) and routes, so you can not only compete against your previous runs, you can also import and race against other people’s workouts while the app announces if you are leading or trailing behind your virtual competitor.

If the ability to exercise in your pj’s isn’t motivation enough to try these digital workouts, you can always resort to what I like to call Social Humiliation Motivation. The above programs all contain social media components that allow you to post your fitness results for all to see. Thus, if you tell yourself that no matter what the outcome, you are going to post your progress on Facebook, you can be sure that you will run a little longer or do a couple more sit ups. To really up the ante, you can even challenge your friends to a digital workout and then post your results to reveal the winner.

Instead of sucking in your holiday gut, suck it up and give these digital workouts a try. As difficult as it may be, we should all try to incorporate physical activity into our everyday lives because (here’s where I get all Deepak Chopra on you) exercise is not just good for your body, it revitalizes your mind, and adds to your overall well-being. Whether you decide to jog, lift weights, do Pilates or Jazzercise, may your 2012 be a year filled with health, happiness, and BUNS OF STEEL!

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Posted in Sports & Fitness | 1 Comment »

Marketing to Nations

(Not States)

December 14th, 2011 / Posted by: brett

Marketing to Nations (Not States)

Real_Map_of_North_America

A state is a political body.

A nation is an ethno-cultural group of people who share common values/traits. In marketing speak; nations are analogous to segmentation of a population into groups.

Up until now, most brands have overlooked nations and focused too much on states. I’d argue that it’s time to start conducting research and writing strategies for the real nations that make up North America.

State-centric thinking is a problem for two reasons:

  1. Cultures and values cross state borders.
  2. What it means to be ‘Canadian’ or ‘American’ depends on which ethno-cultural group you ask.

We are missing key insights by conducting consumer segmentation studies on a country basis instead of a North American basis. Additionally, we are wasting a lot of money by thinking ‘What’s our strategy for Canada’ instead of ‘What’s our strategy for the libertarian cultures that make up the western interior states and provinces of North America’ or ‘How are we connecting with folks in the Cascadian region’.

Author Colin Woodard tries to describe the nations that make up North America in his book American Nations:  A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America. Although there are limitations to his very thorough analysis of reams of historical and attitudinal data, it is an eye-opening look at North America from a  historical and strategic perspective.

Of course, all this is not to say states don’t matter. Canada and the United States have different laws that must be followed (as do the states and provinces within those countries) and state-based narratives and values are still important considerations.

Key Takeaway:

There is more to regionalizing your marketing communications than replacing baseball with hockey in your T.V. spot then calling it a day. It’s time to deep dive into the nations that make up your consumer base and craft strategies that are built off a true understanding of North America.  You may be surprised at what your flag-waving mind has over-looked for all of these years.

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Posted in General | 1 Comment »

Looking Fanstachetic

November 29th, 2011 / Posted by: david

Team Make Mo Noise - Movember

It’s Movember (the month formally known as November), and we the members of team “Make Mo Noise” decided to risk our dignity and grow some stellar moustaches.

Why? To be part of the global Movember movement that aims to raise awareness and funds to find a cure for prostate cancer.

Our team consists of seven amateur mo-growing men, and two very supportive ladies who are giving it all they have. We began the first day of Movember clean-shaven, and dedicated ourselves to growing the best 4-week Mo ever. Now that the end of the month is near, we finally feel our Mo’s are thick enough to show the world. Luckily, most of us have managed to grow much more than just baby fluff. The semi-successful members of our team (left to right) are Mark, Kenny, Dave, Carolyn, David, Vanessa, Maarten, Peter and Kodi.

If you’re interested in contributing to team “Make Mo Noise” and this great cause, donations will still be accepted up until, and even after Movember has come to an end.

Make your donations here: http://mobro.co/makemonoise

*UPDATE*
Thanks to many generous donors, team “Make Mo Noise” has raised over $1,300 to support the number one male cancer, prostate cancer.

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Posted in charity, noise | Add Your Comments! »

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