Three Minds On Digital Marketing @ Organic

I stopped by the 2010 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco last week and saw some interesting things from the expo hall. Here are some of the highlights:
 
3-D Gaming
This was being demonstrated by numerous companies including Intel, Sony and Nvidia. I tried it out and it definitely seemed interesting, but I wasn't blown away yet. I think they will get better and better at this though and it has a lot of potential. It definitely seems like Avatar has spurred 3-D fever in the industry. The downside is this requires the investment in a 3-D enabled TV or monitor. It will be interesting to see if and when this comes to the web.
 
Motion-Recognition
With the Wii's success both Microsoft and Sony are releasing their own motion based games. I got to see the Sony motion controllers and camera (the "Sony Move") in action. It looked very similar to the Wii remote, though there were two of them and they were being used in tandem with a camera. There was a casual painting game that I saw in action. However, it looks like there were some other ones that were a bit more fun. I think Sony and Microsoft are going to be facing the same challenge that Nintendo has, which is having games that are more than just novelty casual games. Unfortunately Microsoft didn't have a demo of their project Natal that I was hoping to see.
 
Brain-Wave Scanning
I tried this out from a company called Neurosky. I saw this one demo where they had someone focusing their mind and it would cause a firework to go up in the air. The more you focused the higher it would go and after you blinked it would pop the firework.

Another game I saw compared two individuals' brainwaves. Each person's brainwave was indicated by a color. So if they thought about similar things, their brainwaves would become more in sync and the colors would match.
 
They had a bunch of other stuff (Virtual Reality, Eye Tracking, Streaming Console Games through the Internet, etc..) there as well, but this was all I could experience in the short hour I had.
 
Harpreet Sandhu

At the end of January, Apple announced another highly anticipated new device, while its rival in Redmond, Microsoft, has come out with a new version of its mobile UI. Named Windows Phone 7 Series, it's an interesting new take on a mobile UI, and while it's officially planned for release only at the end of this year, it's spurring a lot of conversation already.

Apple iPad

Things were different ahead of the iPad's launch than they were back in 2007, prior to the launch of the first version of the iPhone. While many had thought that Apple may enter the mobile phone market even years before it actually happened, no one managed to quite predict what the device would be like. But with the iPad, predicting what the Apple tablet would look like before the company officially announced it was easier. The surprise element of the iPad was smaller than the wow effect that the iPhone caused.

The feeling after the launch was that the iPad didn't live up to the dreams and hopes of many. People who were waiting for something revolutionary woke up to see the new device as "just a big iPhone". However, the tablet also had its instant supporters: some claim it's the perfect computer for their mom, while others simply say that whatever the iPad lacks in its first incarnation (camera, for example) will make it to the next version.

I question the utility of the iPad, even for my mom, as one of her favorite things to do on a computer is to make Skype video calls. I also think she wouldn't respond too well to the on-screen keyboard. But let's keep in mind that the device hasn't started shipping yet, and very few people have handled it, let alone used it in any real-life scenario. The future of it will lie in the hands of app developers - maybe even more than it lies in the hands of the company's own designers.

For interaction designers, the iPad is an exciting new opportunity. Luke Wroblewski has written a number of terrific articles about the iPad, including a list of new multi-touch interactions and iPad design tools and resources. And Matt Gommel, a renowned iPhone developer, challenges a number of preconceptions about the tablet, including the "just a big iPhone" claim, in his blog. While we're waiting for the actual device (and an iPad version of OmniGraffle), let's get our tools and templates ready. Even if the iPad doesn't instantly appear as big of a game changer as the iPhone, it, together with the HP Slate and other, upcoming tablets, is still the beginning of a new kind of personal computing experience.

Windows Phone 7 Series

Microsoft seems to have done what it hadn't really done before: taken a totally new, fresh approach to something it had already built. The new Phone 7 Series looks and acts totally different than previous versions of Windows Mobile, incl. version 6.5, which will now continue to live on as Windows Phone Classic. The 7 Series promises to be, finally, finger-friendly, complete with multitouch, and it looks significantly different than any of the competing touch-based mobile UIs.

The initial response to 7 Series seems to have been positive, though some point out that the bold new design may not work so well in practice. Luke Wroblewski has been exploring Microsoft's new UI as well, and written an excellent post about its information resolution vs. the iPhone. Edward Tufte responds to it here. While at first I find it quite easy to agree with Tufte's comment that "the WP7S layout and typography have a looseness found in commercial art and marketing, an inappropriate metaphor for a handheld information and communication device", I think it may be premature to call Microsoft's idea "inappropriate", when they're trying to redefine the mobile UI so drastically. Let's see how users react to it.

Karri Ojanen

Life Beyond Facebook
Carnegie-Mellon professor and game developer, Jesse Schell, offers an extremely insightful and thoughtful perspective on how Facebook and "reality-based" social platforms are going to affect our lives as consumers and marketers.

His conclusion, everything we do will be part of a game wherein we earn points toward rewards (social, virtual and real). Brush your teeth? +10 points! Walk to work? +100! Someone link syncs with your Tattoogle AdSense tattoo? +500!

He believes "...It's possible that they'll inspire us to be better people -- if the game systems are designed right."

Do you find yourself --- consciously or unconsciously -- altering your behavior based on virtual rewards?

Thanks to James Vreeland for the link.

Sam Cannon

So I have gotten a chance to start playing with Google Buzz. It has a nice "low bar, high ceiling" design.  Your average American who is used to posting or reading status updates on Twitter or Facebook will find it familiar (very different the entirely weird GoogleWave). On the other end of the spectrum, shareaholics will find value in the ability to stream content from multiple properties through Google profile similar to social aggregators like FriendFeed or SocialThing! Where Buzz starts to get more interesting is the ability to post from Google Maps with attached location data. This video shows all the details.
 

 
While each of these features pose a threat to competing niche startups, looking across the breadth services crammed into one platform, the only real competitor is Facebook. 
 
If, like everyone in America, you already have a Facebook account... why would you use this?
 
I can think of four good reasons. If you...

1. Already use Gmail as your main email address and are connected to many friends through this, Buzz allows for one-stop-shopping communications.

2. Have a specific social group associated with your Gmail account, it makes even more sense. For example if you use Gmail as your work email Buzz becomes like Yammer only with much broader functionality built in. 

3. Would like to simplify and share your content from social sites (and do not already use a social aggregation platform). Buzz makes this easier than Facebook, but your friends have to be on Gmail too.

4. Use Google Maps and have a smart phone. This is definitely a platform to consider since you can right from this app - pictures, reviews, etc. If you have an Android platform phone it is a no brainer.

The exciting thing about Google Buzz are the integration possibilities with other Google tools. In the launch press conference, Google promised corporate support in the near future (look out Yammer). I imagine there will soon be deeper integration with Android platform phones. Youtube, Google Trends, Goggles and of course Search all have exciting new functionality when paired with Buzz.
 
The real potential to disrupt the current Facebook monopoly is the fact that Google has sworn to make this an open platform. That means all of the data will be open and free for everyone to play with. The decision to be an open platform was one of the smartest moves Twitter made early on and spawned many innovative services that dramatically increased the value of their product (Twitter clients, data visualization tools, etc.). 
 
User adoption will determine whether this will be an important marketing platform in the future. Are these reasons compelling enough for you to try it? 
 
Russ Hopkinson 

image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/beauteous/

Consumers Are Choosing Life
In advertising, campaigns - series of messages that share a single idea and theme - have for decades been the central concept for forming promotional activities.

The advertising industry has been rooted in the idea of the campaign - that is what agencies, by and large, do. And campaigns come and go, while a few overarching themes in them are constantly refreshed with new pieces of creative.

Now, even as ad agencies have been migrating into the digital space, most of them have continued to approach what they do through the idea of a campaign. And the idea of a campaign is the idea of ups and downs. When the campaign is running, there's media in the market, and the audience grows. But as soon as the media ceases or as soon as all the people have seen the campaign, the audience breaks up and drives off. And then the agency and the client are on to the next campaign. That's what the entire advertising business has largely been about.

But those who see the future of this business in the digital age are starting to see the rise of platforms. Platforms that are built to last. Platforms don't necessarily go into the market with a bang, with lots of media buy, but they grow over time. Platforms are rooted in utility, and they provide something that the customer, the audience, will feel like using, and using again and again. The best and most pervasive platforms become a part of the audience's lives. They're more like services and tools than a 30-second spot or a clever billboard ad.

And when the platform encourages the audience to create and distribute their own content and when it aggregates it from various sources, it then becomes a media engine for the advertiser. The content, the comments, and overall enthusiasm from the audience feeds back into the platform, which can then churn out the content back to the audience again. And that content is much more real, much more authentic than traditional advertising material, because it comes from the audience itself. That content is what is called earned media.

The most well-known example of this kind of platform is the Nike+ which Adweek awarded as the Digital Campaign of the Decade (noting the irony).

The problem with these platforms to many in the advertising and media buy+sell industry is that they don't match the idea that we've had for so long of what is advertising. To envision, design and develop these platforms, it takes a different kind of a team, a different set of talent than what's been used in traditional advertising. And it takes a different mindset. The way that people consume media, the way that they connect, is now driven much more by technology than it was before. To develop platforms, a new breed of creative technologists need to get a real seat at the creative ideation table. And, perhaps even more importantly, to make sense of all the different connections, links and experiences across different technologies and devices, agencies need Experience Leads to replace the old definition of Creative Directors. It's an opportunity, rather than a threat, for all of us, whether we're coming from the "digital" or the "traditional" side, to grow and explore new things.

Sure, old style campaigns will most likely still be made for a good while, as this giant industry slowly changes, just like VHS tapes were sold for a time after the coming of the DVD. But forward thinking individuals, agencies and clients have started to realize the change that is taking place. And this change is driven by the consumer, the audience, who, ultimately, is our real source of income. If we lose the attention of that group, we lose our business.

Change is often scary, but think about it: wouldn't it be nice to get away from the ups and downs of the campaign era, and enter a new era of sustainable growth?

Karri Ojanen

I'm not much of a User Interface geek (that is, I enjoy a pointless but entertaining way of getting around a site as much as anyone), but as a web designer I'm always interested on how to convey maximum amounts of information/direction to users as simply and cleanly as possible.

So I thought this was a pretty cool blog post sent by colleague Craig Ritchie, about how icons become less effective as they become more "realistic." It's like as humans we have this sweet spot with symbols: too much detail, or too little, and they stop becoming useful to use as clues to their meaning. The challenge for us as visual communicators is finding that sweet spot.

Anyway, I liked that in itself. But then right below on the same blog was this demo (above) of a 3D style computer desktop. Unintentionally, it kind of proves the point of the article above it. Really, do I need a 3D representation of my desktop in order to use my computer better? It has some cool tools, I'll say that, but there's a point in the video where the guy has all these stacks of documents there, and I couldn't help thinking, "I don't need a computer to replicate the stacks of crap everywhere, that's what real life is for!"

Who knows, maybe it's the future and I'll have to adapt. After all, my father still puts up a spirited defense of the superiority of the Command Line Interface over these stupid "icons" all over his iMac screen.

Do you think 3D representations like this go too far?

Elliot Smith

Reading Traci's post on the Kindle, a gadget that I have never even thought about buying, despite being an avid reader and a total tech geek, made me ponder: Why have I never considered the Kindle?

The real answer is much for in the vein of... well... vanity.

Shelf Envy
I have already switched to storing most of my music on my computer instead of on a shelf (with the exception of my small record collection). If I stop reading, and therefore collecting, actual books, I will have no way to quickly show my varied interests to my houseguests.
How will they know that I have read a wide array of both classic and contemporary fiction? That I am interested in vintage interior design and National Geographic books? That my book collection shows what an urbane, interesting and well-informed person I am? HOW? HOW WILL THEY KNOW THAT I AM WORTHY?

Likewise, it terrifies me that I won't be able to judgmentally peruse the book collections of others. I have a friend who is often at the same parties as me, and we inevitably end up standing together as we silently stare at the bookshelves of the party host, too socially awkward to be talking to other people. Please, don't force us to talk to people.

Spinal Tap
The closest solution that I've seen was a distinctively analog one: A friend of mine made color copies of the spines of all of the library books he read for several years, artfully arranged them on paper, and framed them. It was like the flat-screen version of the home library.

In terms of social networking, there have been some soft attempts addressing the desire to broadcast one's tastes in hope of favorable judgment. There are online book clubs, and there are apps that let you share what you're reading or your favorite books on Facebook. But I hate Facebook apps; they clutter the page and rarely look good.

But none of these can be displayed in my home. So it comes to this: The majority of my social networking, thank goodness, still takes place in the offline world. I need to hang on to something so I can update my real-life profile.

Jordan Miller

Since the OS 3.0 release for iPhone last September, the number of available mobile augmented reality (AR) apps has grown quite a bit.
 
We've talked about a few of them on threeminds throughout the year:
• Yelp's app 
• Nokia's Point and Find 
• Virtual Tennis 

AR is a new type of UI (and user experience), so bugs and features are changing rapidly -- similar to web browsing back in 1994. Remember that?

One cool piece is that Layar's AR app now supports third party 3-D objects. That means that technologists can now build in overlays. And users get new controls that allow them to select multiple layers and control the radius better -- all in a new, less-cluttered interface.
 
It will be interesting to see how these types of interfaces (Yelp, UrbanSpoon, Twitter 360, etc.) are refined and expanded in the future.

Still, there are a few things that might make these interfaces really take off.

1. An aggregator.  A service that aggregates (and filters) content from multiple providers would allow AR to take off - as a publishing platform (similar to the ease of access and standards for Google Maps).

2. Standards.  APIs that make it easy to create AR content, as well as standards for AR interfaces will make AR more of a must have app versus a novelty. A good example is the horizontal gridline seen when using the UrbanSpoon app's AR feature. Instead of AR content moving up and down in the frame as you change the angle of your mobile device (being handheld, sensitive mobile devices will translate all movement into the UI), all content snaps to that horizontal line. 

3. Accessiblity.  AR doesn't necessarily require a visual interface - applications like HearMe are audio-based A' and could work very well for visually-impaired users, as long as the menu systems to get to the AR feature are very easy to use or voice-based.  Conversely, AR content rendered visually could be very empowering to hearing-impaired users looking for information about their immediate surroundings.

What would you like to see?

Jay Bain

Editor's Note: Congratulations to Jonathan Cohen on the birth of his daughter

In the past few years, numerous businesses have popped up offering innumerable products and services for the Internet catering to the business traveling set. As a pretty frequent business traveler, I have benefited from services like GoGo inflight wireless as well as Wi-Fi from a variety of providers inside airports. I can buy books via wireless, check my Facebook profile, send emails and even watch videos on YouTube via my iPhone. And I do, frequently!

The problem is such constant Internet connection inevitably leads to the need for electricty, and as most computer and wireless device users know, there's never enough. You might be able to access Wi-Fi on Virgin America, Delta or American (not everywhere), but you'll probably have a great challenge with a drained battery.

In fairness, Virgin offers 110V outlets - 2 per row of 3 seats - but if you're last to break out your device, you have to delicately ask to "power share". At most airports, it's often a struggle to find power (though I must give kudos to US Air at LaGuardia, which has power stations at each bank of seats); in other airports, I've seen countless travelers sitting on the ground, connected to an outlet most likely placed to power cleaning machinery. This is not particularly convenient, even if you're fortunate enough to spot a free one.

Having spent 3 days at the hospital after my daughter was born, I was struck by how such a great hospital (NYU - amazing doctors and nurses!) lacked outlets in patient recovery rooms. I have been in ICU units where the use of wireless devices are prohibited, but not in a maternity ward, where moms and dads are constantly connected via mobile phones and email devices. I was able to find an outlet next to the area which piped oxygen to patients in need. [Again, I know this is low priority to having the best in healthcare.]

There are other examples where access to power is lacking and definitely more in demand: restaurants, coffee shops, etc. where one might want to connect.

Nice observation, strategy guy. So now what?

I think that there is an as-yet unmet opportunity for individual businesses, electricity utility companies and maybe these Wi-Fi businesses to partner to develop an offering that will undoubtedly be an ever-increasing consumer need. The demand for broadband access might be unquenchable, but knowing that devices will have finite power and require an electric umbilical cord, I believe there is an amazing opportunity to develop an offering. I'd first work on business travelers whose livelihoods often depend on connectivity while on the road.

Jonathan Cohen

Google recently released Goggles which is arguably the broadest reaching AR program available to date. If you are not familiar, it allows you to do two things:

1. Snap a photo of anything and automatically search for results based on images and text within the photo
2. See location and direction specific google maps results by pointing your camera in any direction

The potential of this tool is that of most augmented reality: quick, easy and highly relevant information. This is also another avenue (along with voice recognition software) for mobile devices without a keypad to access search functionality. To see Google's description of benefits check out the video here.

From my tests the text processing works well so things like book covers, business card, and anything with a URL on it return useful results. Goggles was able to identify flat logos but had much more trouble with 3D object logos, for example it immediately identified a Dodge logo on a sticker, but was not able to identify the Dodge logo on the grill of a Nitro.

While many augmented reality apps have been released recently, Goggles is the strongest indication that augmented reality is coming to the masses quickly. If using the camera on you mobile device to gather information and navigate on foot becomes a commonly adopted behavior this has significant implications to marketers.

How Google Goggles Could Impact Marketing
Many things can be done (or not done) with regard to products and storefronts to provide more value to customers and make shopping easier. An analogy is the way natural search, paid search, and search engine optimization work in concert. Users will see naturally occurring results regardless of where they are.

At some point in the future those results could have paid listing next to them or could be enhanced in some way. For example if a person is walking down the street looking for a place to get a coffee they see a Starbucks .25 miles away and next to that appears an ad for Mom and Pop Coffee Shop .5 miles away. So the person is made aware of a local option just a little further away.

Finally products and store fronts will be able to be optimized to better market themselves. For example logos could be optimized to be easily photographable (make them 2D not 3D). Search results could be specific to a model number to provide end users the most important information. For example if I were in market for a new car and saw one that I liked on the street photographing the trim level/logo could return results of fast it accelerates, the mpg and the cost if search results were properly optimized.

My guess is that Layers on Google maps will offer a lot of opportunities for augmented reality marketing through Goggles. Definitely a product to watch over the next year.

Russ Hopkinson
@rhops