Digital

Bill Abel, VP/Director of Digital Development

“Marketers are going to figure out how to deal with large amounts of customer data and business intelligence. Big Data, as it is being called, will bring new technologies and services for tackling data problems across all industries. For marketers, this will mean better tools for collection and analysis, resulting in more data–driven strategy.

“Another thing to watch out for in 2012 will be Apple’s entry in to the consumer television market. Not only will they disrupt the consumer electronics industry, but the advertising industry, cable networks and the cable distribution companies. If Apple pulls it off, it may be the start of a media revolution. Already, companies like Netflix and Amazon have proven large numbers of consumers are willing to pay for streaming video content without advertising.

“Paid content may be on the rise, but will people really prefer to pay premiums for no advertising all the time, or is there going to be a mix of ad subsidized content? The industry has been trying to figure this one out since the late ’90s – don’t expect it to be worked out in the next 365 days.”

Strategy

Jay Waters, SVP/ Chief Strategy Officer

“There are four key factors that will shape 2012. They include:

• Unified multi-screen (television, mobile, online, cinema) approach to buying video advertising
• This will be the worst year yet for traditional newspapers
• More integration of ad content into editorial content
• More focus on using digital to deliver sponsored content and functionality, rather than pure advertising”

Social Media

David Griner, Director of Digital Content

“Facebook will finally extend brand options to mobile. So far, the best options for marketers on Facebook have been engaging applications and targeted ad campaigns. Unfortunately, neither has been optimized for mobile, and even Facebook’s recently upgraded mobile app excludes ads and apps. While there probably aren’t many users out there clamoring for ads, there is a lot of demand for contests, sweepstakes and other tab apps to work easily from a smartphone. The price to pay for that access will likely be mobile-friendly ad units. The first will almost certainly be Sponsored Stories, which are light ad units currently found on the sidebar of Facebook.com. The network already has announced plans to roll out Sponsored Stories into users’ news feeds, and Bloomberg reports that they’ll also start appearing for mobile Facebook users as well. Hopefully, apps won’t be far behind.

“It’ll be a do-or-die moment for Google+. The search giant’s Facebook competitor saw rapid initial growth in 2011, and some are predicting it could even reach 400 million users by the end of 2012. But a lot can happen between now and December ’12, and Google+ seems just as capable of auguring into obscurity as exploding in popularity. By shutting down a myriad of underused applications in 2011, Google showed that it’s done throwing good money after bad, so the first few months of 2012 will be extremely important. Google’s task is to prove that it has something great to offer other than being a solid alternative for Facebook haters. Outside of the ability to sort friends into Circles and the slick Hangouts video-chatting system — both of which were included at launch — Google+ simply has been slow to roll out any killer apps that crumble the foundation out from under Facebook. Hopefully, Google is investing in this level of forward-thinking R&D and not simply streamlining what’s already live. If Google gets serious about social media innovative, the momentum and its motivational effect on Facebook could be great for all of us.

“Pinterest will grow up. Few new social sites have exploded with the velocity of this addictive image-sharing service, but Pinterest still has some growing pains to work through. It remains in invite-only beta, which I’d wager won’t last long into 2012, but for now that simply helps create some aura of exclusivity. But once it goes live, will it have a revenue source? How would advertising or sponsored content work? For now, the site seems little interested in partnering with brands. A site rep recently told us they have no system to let brands secure their trademarked name as a Pinterest username and that they didn’t have any plans to create a system. That may fly for now, but long term, it’s going to chafe on major brands like Pepsi and Taco Bell, both of which have squatters on their Pinterest names.”

Edward Bowser is Community Manager at Luckie & Company. You can contact him by e-mail or follow @etbowser on Twitter.

This year, Starbucks has brought a little more than tradition to the table. This past holiday season, Starbucks released their first major augmented reality app that brings the characters on the red cups to life. “Cup Magic” is part of their “Let’s Merry” holiday campaign.

Augmented reality is all about growing our reality. We could all use a little more imagination and the up-and-coming AR trend is making that a bit easier. Coffee lovers simply scanned their cups, or one of 47 other items at a Starbucks location, with their iPhone or Android, and the phone’s screen brought a character to life. Animations featured five different characters: an ice skater, a fox, a squirrel, Christmas carolers, and a boy and his dog sledding. Collecting all five characters becomes a scavenger hunt of sorts, along with the app’s ability to share them as e-Cards with friends, to receive special offers, or to buy a Starbucks Card e-Gift.

When I decided to try out the app, I was with skeptical friends who did not think expect an amusing experience. While ordering, I let them experiment on their purchases. Suddenly, I heard screams and laughter. The same people who didn’t see the point of augmented reality were walking around scanning everything in sight, trying to play with different characters.

Since the app debuted November 15 it has earned an engagement rate of 91% and more than 450,000 visits. This goal is simply to motivate consumers to buy the various items in order to collect all five characters. The app provides clues on how to get all the characters and allows you to enter to win a currently unnamed prize.

Augmented reality is a burgeoning trend and businesses are still trying to figure out what approaches work best to engage consumers. Buick has been experimenting with this technique in order to boost holiday sales for their 2012 LaCrosse. This summer Krystal’s introduced an AR app that involved dancing penguins. Lego is also using AR kiosks in the toy aisle to show how what items will look like when built. What was once predicted to be a top tech trend did not see explosive growth this year, but with smartphone popularity expanding, augmented reality is sure to be a prominent part of marketing in the future.

About a year ago, Starbucks started the nation’s largest mobile payment program. Since the launch of that program there have been 26 million transactions. I think the success of this app gave Starbucks the motivation to merge their holiday spirit with the popularity of their Starbucks Card app for yet another holiday tradition. Starbucks has really gotten on board with integrating their business and marketing into our smartphone culture.

April Wilson is a New Business intern at Luckie & Company. You can contact her by email or follow her on Twitter.

Photo credit: Tristen.Pelton via Flickr

One of the more surreal moments of my childhood was when I realized that we live our entire lives in the past.

I was in school, learning about the fleeting nanoseconds it takes for your brain to process something you’ve seen or heard, and I realized that by the time we know something is happening, it has already happened.

What we think of as “the present” is actually the recent past. The more you think about it, the stranger it feels to know that our lives happen only in retrospect.

Apparently I’m not the only one who has spent too much time thinking about this. Inventor Scott Thrift has created a clock that takes an entire year to cycle around once. Instead of numbers, the clock’s progression is told in colors that represent the seasons.

Sure, there’s a bit of hokey granola silliness to the idea, but it has obviously struck a chord. Hoping to raise $24,000 through Kickstarter.com so he could mass-produce the clock (which he calls The Present), Thrift has already more than doubled his goal. Nearly 500 people have donated a total of more than $56,000, and there are still two weeks left for donations.

Why are so many people interested in such an impractical invention? Personally, I think it’s a backlash to the frenetic pace of life in the age of social media.

We expect our news to be updated not by the hour but by the second. We multitask ourselves so thin, leaving almost no time to appreciate the good or ponder the bad. When we actually do vacation, we spend less time enjoying moments than we do photographing them and uploading them to Facebook.

So will a glacially moving clock help us break this cycle? What I like about Thrift’s idea is that he doesn’t pitch it as some appliance for daily affirmation. Instead, it’s something that you might only notice on occasion, making you stop to reflect, in the way a framed picture of my daughter can make me realize how insanely fast time is actually moving.

“It would be impossible to actually look at the clock and see it change,” Thrift said, “in the same way that you can’t look at summer and see it change, but you know it will. And as the months pass, I think something really exciting is going to happen when you notice that the hand has moved. The purely meditative simplicity of that will have a powerful affect on the way you understand the present.”

Big thanks to Alex Priest for sharing this invention on his blog.

David Griner is Director of Digital Content at Luckie & Company. You can contact him by email or follow him on Twitter.

In a recent Huffington Post article “Knowing When to Be Anti-Social,” creative marketing expert and author, Sarah O’Leary said: “Shopper Mom influences and or makes over 90% of purchase decisions at retail.” It’s obvious that there is truth to this statement. In recent years, key big box retailers have spent millions, possibly billions, rearranging their stores in an attempt to predetermine Mom’s journey and hopefully increase her shopping time.  The retailer is just a piece of the shopper marketing puzzle. The question is, how should brands target and influence moms? The tendency for ad agencies is to create whiz-bang in-store POP, shelf displays and in-store radio. But the store can’t be the first and last place to share a brand message. So where should a brand begin?  I, a born-and-raised Southern gentleman, believe that both brands and marketers should consider a long-term approach that has been around longer than all brands. Treat a shopper mom like she should be treated, like a lady.

I call this idea “brand chivalry” and below are a few ways to court shopper moms with a series of marketing tactics and hopefully, over time, wind up in her sack.

Say hello!

Have you ever wondered how that goofy-looking dude got the supermodel?  It’s because he had the balls to go up to her, say hello and woo her with his amazing personality.  The same goes for communicating with the shopper mom.  Just because you think your product looks the best, tastes the best or is the best, doesn’t mean that it will fly off of the shelf. There has to be communication!  Why not start slow by telling her the benefits of your product in places she frequents (Facebook, blogs, TV).  Tempt her into giving you a shot with an in-store special or on-pack coupon.  One thing to remember: Don’t OVERDO it. Emails at 3 a.m. won’t save the relationship.  Work with your shopper insights team and target an appropriate time when she may be more willing and excited to connect.

Love is an emotion, and great relationships take commitment.

We all remember staying on the phone until the wee hours of the morning with nothing more to say than “I REALLY like you.” Shopper mom brand relationships are the same way.  In order to keep from getting dumped a week later, both parties have to be committed.  This starts with subtle love notes like a product sample “just because” or asking her to help name a new product, flavor or scent.  Don’t be complacent. Be innovative in your marketing approach and invest in nurturing the relationship.

Find true love.

Now, I have spent countless hours working with wonderful brands that are extremely sexy but have trouble finding true love with their core shopper.  Take a step back and examine your marketing approach with brand chivalry in mind.  After all don’t we all, need a little relationship advice? Especially because of “Jersey Shore.”

Will Flowers is Senior Account Executive at Luckie & Company. You can contact him by email or follow him on Twitter.

Photo credit: Imperfect Perfections via Flickr

This has been a confusing and unpredictable year for Google’s users and observers, who can’t tell if the search giant is focused on shedding weight or expanding its reach.

On one hand, Google made the wise decision to drop more than a dozen underused products (Aardvark, Sidewiki, etc.) in 2011 while also launching the mega-successful social network Google+.

But looking at the tech company’s other launches, including this week’s liftoff for Google Flights, a disturbing trend becomes apparent: Google seems perfectly comfortable to be a copycat, not an innovator.

Just look back at some of the more recent Google projects:

• Google Offers: A knockoff of Groupon, which was already being copied by upward of 500 competitors.
• +1 Button: Google’s stab at a “Tweet” or “Like” button. Didn’t really make sense until Google+ came along a month later — and even then wasn’t integrated for another two months.
• Music Beta by Google: Great potential, but still showed up late to the party, launching two months after Amazon CloudDrive

And now we have Google Flights, which lets you find and book air travel. Who’s heard of such a thing? Oh wait, everyone. Back in 2007.

Don’t get me wrong. This product was destined to become reality, seeing as how Google recently completed its purchase of ITA Software, which powers the flight search tools for most major airlines.

But the real issue is that Google simply isn’t bringing much to the table. The execs saw Orbitz, Expedia, Travelocity and Kayak making money, and they wanted to swipe some of that money. Hey, that’s life in a capitalist society. But a company like Google has to do a lot more than just show up.

Google Flights is a speedy but altogether mediocre tool, one that drives you to airline sites for purchase. This is a model pioneered by Kayak, which also lets you scan other third-party sites like Travelocity and Priceline.

In a head-to-head comparison, The New York Times found Kayak to be a better option, though the writer gave Google credit for speed and simplicity.

But this is the very thing that’s wrong with Google Flights: It’s OK. It’s fine. It has potential.

That’s great if you’re talking about some startup graduating out of Ycombinator. But this is Google. When Google decides to go into a five-year-old industry already filled with strong competitors, why should we expect anything less than a generational leap forward? Instead, we get what we’ve recently come to expect from Google: a faster, whitewashed version of someone else’s idea.

Google Flights isn’t bad. But the message it sends sure is.

David Griner is the Director of Digital Content for Luckie and Company and contributing editor for Adweek’s blog, AdFreak.com. You can reach him by e-mail or follow @griner on Twitter.

Photo credit: Toprankonlinemarketing via Flickr