The internet is scary

Whilst I’m sure we’re all tired of hearing about how ubiquitous the internet is, there are still times when the audience numbers that it produces, absolutely blow me away. This Counter is activated when you land on the website and it shows “how active & dynamic the Social Web, Mobile Industry and Game Business is”. It counts the number of interactions in various spaces that are occurring by the second.

More than ever this demonstrates that if you’re not active in this space, you’ll be left behind. Consumers are engaging in various platforms online and the speed at which emails are being distributed (shown in this counter) demonstrates that, the innate ability of the internet to afford creation.

CHECK OUT THE COUNTER ITS CRAZY NUMBERS...

The first tablet specific newspaper launched

Rupert Murdoch & Steve Jobs announced a first of its kind partnership this week – The Daily. A tablet-specific newspaper that can be purchased through the app store for 99 cents per week or $39.99 for a year-long subscription. It is a general interest newspaper (US national) that will be updated daily with ‘short-bite’ content and lots of interactive features. It is an attempt by Murdoch to engage an audience - expected to be 50 million strong in the US by the end of the year - that has long abandoned traditional newspapers.

The implication for advertisers is greater pressure on agencies to produce engaging advertising. The temptation will be to replicate print advertising in apps but the reality is the audience who subscribe to content via this channel expect that it will provide a better experience for them, tailored to their desires.

For the beauty industry, consumers will demand instantaneous product information and instructions for replicating a celebrity’s look as soon as it hits the red carpet – the opportunity will be to harness m-commerce and close the loop between engagement and sales.

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The ultimate source of consumer-generated ideas

In Melbourne, many of our clients are retail focussed and one major retail problem for communicators is; "How do you add value to the consumer experience in an increasingly commoditised and price sensitive world?"

So, when I landed on this website I felt like all my dreams had come true.

It basically aggregates comments from people who tweet along the lines of "I wish the internet..." or "I wish I had an app for..." It is a brilliant source of consumer generated desires just waiting for brands and developers to deliver the answers.

A-for-Awesome Fun!

This is one of the most fun executions I've ever seen. VW and their Fun Theory stuff is great but I love that most of the time its a pretty literal interpretation of a recognised consumer problem.

The executions here are aimed at people who like to speed things up.

Skate-Trolley is A-for-Awesome!

Hat-tip to Content Kids.

Here's a cool idea...

For those that are into fashion this site (polyvore.com) will push you buttons.

Basically, it takes fashion inspiration, catalogues, creativity and e-commerce and mashes it altogether.

With basic drag and drop technology you can create your own mood boards - a dream for any aspiring fashionista or mag-hag.

Whilst the fashion space may not appeal to you, the applications for this type of technology are huge. I can see it working for music, automotive, luxury brands... anything really that has some aspirational appeal.

From a media point of view, its a pretty useful tool for creating a mood board or archetype when you don't have time to trawl through various sites for different pictures.

Digital as an adjective NOT as a noun

I read an interesting article today by Nigel Walley, MD of UK media strategy consultancy, Decipher. His article focuses on advancements in digital technologies that have expanded advertiser's capabilities in many 'traditional' media channels.

He argues that many media agencies have turned the word digital into a noun rather than allowing it to remain as it was originally intended, as an adjective. I think he makes a good point.
Digital technologies have pervaded almost every aspect of our lives and certainly EVERY traditional media channel so referring to online activity as digital is a disservice to the capabilities of our industry.

As consumers become more and more used to receiving content tailored to their needs, their expectations around how they interact with this chosen content increase and it is digital technologies that will allow advertisers to rise to these expectations.

I would argue that whilst it may seem scary recommending a little-used digital feature to a client, it is a disservice not to because if we don't recommend it, one of their pro-active consumers will.

Check out Nigel Walley's article here.