Internet was always about faster access- access to content and access to people.

And just about lately- the powerhouses of the web are moving towards real time internet- in an unprecedented manner.

Just when we thought real time location based chek-ins and personalized content dissemination were becoming mainstream and conversation monitoring systems were coming of age- the biggies of the web almost surreptitiously inserted more social, more ‘instant’ features on their interfaces- taking things a step further.

The phenomenon is noteworthy because the net product is more than the sum of its parts.

Shalabh Thinks: Innovation on the web proliferates faster than Moore’s law on processing power of chipsets. Sometimes little steps for the internet can be one giant leap for mankind.

Two examples that caught my attention recently - are Google and Bing- both riding the social wave. And in an unconventional manner (they have been trying their hands at it since some time)- direct integration of Social in search results.

Full on!

I am already impressed by what Google can do with social features integrated with results on search.

Dig the Realtime function on Google- If you haven’t tried yet- go to Google click on the left hand sidebar- Realtime link- and there you go.

It gives you neat little LIVE updates (mostly twitter)-against pre-defined keywords- and a nice little buzz chart at top right. Right sidebar also mentions key/most shared/important social feeds.

What’s more- they just rolled out their Social Search globally. It leverages publicly available data from sites like Flickr, Twitter (something’s brewing with Twitter and Google it seems?) and other Google sites like blogger, gmail contacts etc- and present it you mapping with your social graph.

Neat. More here in this video:

Along similar lines, Bing from Microsoft – leveraged its alignment with Facebook- and did some stupendous work. And they seem to moving in the right direction in nibbling away some of Google’s search share.

So if you haven’t recently- go to Bing. If you are logged in to Facebook- Bing reads it via cookie identification- and you will see your Facebook pic on top right. This means you can now see your friends recommendations (likes etc) on search results- and they can see yours. If you want to. If not- you could disable the function too.

More from this recent video from Bing:

If you are interested- check out the Twitter maps integration with Bing- real time visualization of tweets on a keyword layered on top of a map. Yoiu could grab a code and embed on your website. All good- except it is a bit buggy.

I had suggested earlier that 2010 would be the year of Systematic Web

I sense that 2011 is the year of the Instant Web

And I predict that 2012 will be the year of the Intent web

By God’s grace, in this field, I haven’t trumpeted empty predictions-give or take a year.

So the next most powerful thing after this wave of instant is easy to guess-It is already happening in many ways- and with unification of data across channels – will become a reality soon- is “The Intent Web”. Services guess your intent based on your past behavior and meta data- coupled with those like you. And serve you content and ads based on guessing what will you do or want next.

The Intent Web.

Or call it what you want- but think about it

Shalabh

@shalabhpandey
Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rizzato/3488201179/sizes/s/in/photostream

I can’t stand status quo. Somehow. I want it sometimes- even long for it. But I can’t seem to stop challenging it.

In my many years of working life, I have always found myself at the center of change. From the time I managed marketing for network center solutions (enterprise level networking solutions- mostly to dotcommers of the early millenium years)- to consulting on developing web apps/sites to the time of starting Digital Media departments in a few agencies- introducing search engine marketing and developing digital marketing frameworks for my agencies- to starting a completely new agency in a completely new country- to dabbling with starting-up and independent consulting.

It was not easy. It has never been. But many of these have been successful stints. Satisfying and I have brought value to the table.

The only common thing with these challenges has been the fact that I was brought in to be- or expected to be- or turned out to be- The Change Agent.

Digital Marketing field is a field where you can either be like a monkey- sitting on a tree and making some noise- or you get into the jungle and ride the tiger.

• There were (and still are) few systems in place- which implies you could establish a new paradigm- or wait till someone else does it.I did it myself.
• You had to learn the ropes yourself. Self learn -take time away from family. Be “always on’. Learn to swim or drink the water on your way down. And let me tell you- I drink a lot of water- but somehow always surface
• New storms are always on the horizon – but you have to keep on chasing the storm- riding the tiger. (Oh yes!- and if you survive- you need to train everyone else how to do it- over a weekend)

As a change agent, I have always been commanding positions yet without directions. Performing various tasks, yet resource deprived. A digital specialist but also a planner, suit, salesperson, project manager, ad trafficker, et al. Always in start-up mode- always on.

But too much change never worried me. What always scared me though was too little change.Perhaps it is the Indian roots- there is a naturally high tolerance for ambiguity. Mix it with the attitude- “I can do this and I can do this better- because I am passionate about this and willing to go the extra mile”- and the concoction would define a change agent.

But I have been a change agent not just for the sake of change- I have been in situations that demanded change. And someone had to bring it. A start-up, a new set up, an innovation- whatever it was.

Many a times, the challenge was to define change itself.

The times demanded change- and it had ‘something to do with digital’. This was the untold directive. What it actually was, how to leverage and how to solve whatever it was, had to be defined, managed and executed.

Thankfully, leading that change and translating it into something meaningful and demonstrating success was something I have been able to achieve. More in some places, lesser in others. Notwithstanding the degree, it did make some difference. And not without the help of friends and colleagues.

In the initial years- the challenge of making everyone understand the logic of failing fast and failing quick- was immense. As a ‘digital’ specialist- you are expected to know what is going on!

Most of the times, the complexity of the change came not from market forces or even defining the change- it came from internalizing/fitting that solution within the existing dynamics of the organization. That is the biggest challenge.

Life continues throwing new challenges- and with them come some wonderful opportunities.

I am finding myself at the center of another big change agent role- and a wonderful opportunity. I have joined Nokia in Singapore- as the Head of Earned media for South-East Asia and Pacific.

I am getting to define, manage and execute change – all over again- and I do hope to get your support, encouragement and tips.

Chasing the Storm continues to be independent of my professional assignments- and will continue to carry personal thoughts (though a little intermittently) on Ideas, innovations and inspirations.

Happy New Year and god bless.

Shalabh

National sales and marketing congress, an annual event organized by Marketing Institute of Singapore invited me over for taking a one hour session with the audience. The topic? I evangelize (what I refer to as) Engagement led marketing and this seemed to be a good gathering to tackle the subject.

Engagement led marketing, by the way- is exactly that- marketing that is engagement driven. And engagement (to me) is glue that has the potential to tie together different digital (and other) disciplines.

A lot of effort went into this- specially designing and visualization (and I hope it is apparent). I am a bit of a sucker for visually appealing presentations with substance- and I hope I was able to deliver on both.

The presentation was quite well-received and thank God- all that effort was appreciated.

It is said that a one hour presentation requires 30 hours of effort- and I could not agree more. Apart from clearly presenting your own thinking, you need to provide context through research- latest wherever possible, and retain audience interest by making it visually relevant (thank God for photo sharing and creative commons, but finding the right images that tell the story you want to tell is a task- I tell you). Those things take time. (“A whole lot of precious time” as Paul McCartney would say)

On that topic, there are some guidelines I have started following regarding presenting to an audience- and time willing, I’d love to share the key points of delivering a presentation in a conference.

But that later.

I am approached by quite a few people complaining about the pace of technology, fragmentation of media and silo-ised disciplines. This presentation is an attempt to make people appreciate that all marketing disciplines need to work together; engagement led marketing thinking is the common ground/glue- and the key steps in drafting an engagement led integrated marketing strategy.

Think About it

Shalabh

Twitter: @shalabhpandey

Had an interesting session at the MediaMind Digital Experience Day.

The topic I was given was:

The Brand Exchange- Maximizing your reach

Historically exchanges have been widely utilised by agencies and clients as an effective way to drive DR goals… but for building brand? Can this channel ever be utilised to achieve branding goals? Could a brand-focused client take advantage of the available reach and frequency that exchanges offer?

When I got the topic, I looked at it- and the first thought was “What the heck is a brand exchange”? But after a little thought, it was clearer.

We have used digital media as largely a direct response channel. And that will change soon.

Not a visceral prognostication, but the signs are there for those who want to see it. It is coming.

Even till now, banner planning/display advertising planning has always begged for much more than impression/click planning, and intelligent, forward thinking and brave minds have tried to explore beyond what they were being told to.

The event was much bigger than I expected, and I went in a little unrehearsed. I prefer it that ways. It lends a little spontaneity to the show, brings in a raw, conversational element, and if you are comfortable with the story you are telling, things flow.

All said, it went off well. And in an audience consisting of hard core digital media guys, I was glad that it was as well received as it was.

Here’s the presentation:

Privileged to be chairing a day at Social Media World Forum for 23rd September in Singapore.

Will write more about it- though for starters- here is my Introduction note for the day:

===========================

Welcome to the second day of immersing within the Social Media environment.

The Media and Marketing industry is undergoing a paradigm shift, and a quick and clear understanding of the opportunities available today and those shaping tomorrow is extremely important and challenging at the same time. In the course of this two day immersion schedule, you will surely get a flavor of what are some of these opportunities and how to make maximum use of them.

I am excited at chairing the second day of this conference. Social Media has moved beyond the initial introductory stage and has fast climbed the ladder of new media adoption hierarchy. The wide scale interest is converting into adoption and business impacting processes are being developed and deployed regularly.

This discipline has fast become a part of mainstream marketing and the ‘social’ thinking within marketing now spans beyond customer service and ‘buzz’ to more marketing functions like CRM and even demand generation. The social media discipline is also disrupting business models- especially on the agency side. It is redefining the traditional agency outlook and is forcing everyone to ‘think digital’.  Or rather ‘think social’.

The Media industry is obviously feeling a ‘shake-up’ at this point of time, and many media companies are transforming themselves to better incorporate the social element. The ‘social media’ aspect has had impact on technologies too and newer ‘social’ led technologies are to be seen in the near future with integration with television, mobile and across multimedia content platforms.

Asian markets are at a forefront of this revolution. Asian users are creating content and participating in group and personal communication in their own unique ways and across mediums. This landscape is unique – and some models are now shaping global adoption and business models.

From my perspective, the interplay of various elements within the marketing mix is what excites me and understanding the impact of each new medium on overall marketing objectives is my pet topic.

We will discuss all of this in today’s conference. I look forward to hearing thoughts and opinions from industry thought leaders and young executives. Their opinions and understanding shapes the future of this medium and so do your opinions and understanding.

Wish you all the best in sharing and indulging in meaningful conversations throughout the day.

Shalabh Pandey

@shalabhpandey

I just read news on the removal of all Hitler related parodies from YouTube.

There have been tonnes of those Hitler parodies online, especially those built on a scene of “Downfall”- the movie.

One of the initial Hitler parodies that caught my eyes was around Social Media (removed from YouTube it seems- though am sure someone can still find it if they look hard)

But the key is not Hitler, or the movie. The key is that that video/parody was produced by a Digital Marketing person/team- just like yourself. And that tells a lot about the way people are expressing themselves- even busy individuals are spending time to create content- and something with a limited appeal to their industry only.

Lately I have seen quite a few of these.

Though only those from industry would find them funny.

One of them is here- scene from “A Few Good Men”- only in this case, the characters take a different stance on the proceedings. The “You can’t handle the truth” dialogue/speech is probably one the most remembered and known dialogues of its time.

And this parody does a good job- production wise.

Tom Cruise plays the (Premium) Publisher; Jack Nicholson- the DSP (Demand Side Platform). Randall Rothenberg – the IAB President & CEO is playing…well..himself.

To put some ‘context’ to it- those who know me- know that I love to use that word while explaining something- here is the original scene:

That also makes me think- what are the DSPs doing in Asia? Are there any worth their salt?

And the second thing that I want to highlight is- when will my Asian friends start doing this stuff? In their own languages? There’s just so much that could be leveraged- Chinese? Malay? Tagalog? There are innumerable classic scenes and power packed performances from every country.

We need to use Video. Use it in a way that opens eyes wide.

Maybe I’ll do it now- sometime soon- whenever I get a spark.

Since I understand Hindi, I’ll use some examples here. Share some scene stealers from movies/episodes from your language.

One of the hot contenders would be- this scene from a bollywood movie- Shakti:

Or this epic one from Deevar:

Not just parodies. Meaningful, humorous and topical sizzles.

Think About It.

Shah Wadjija, a colleague and expert in User Experience and Interfaces spotted this while surfing on his iPad:

O’Reilly authors Christian Crumlish (curator of the Yahoo! Design Pattern Library and director of the Information Architecture Institute) AND Erin Malone (Principal with Tangible UX) in their book
“Designing Social Interfaces” take examples from my Social Networking profiles to explain a few concepts.

Quite serendipitous.

I remember a few years back, Google used one of my article headlines “The keyboard is mightier than the sword” to explain a concept (It was about 6 years back so no reference where I could point).

Good to understand what prompted them to take a small snippet- maybe the clean caricature, or did they really use a software to check some profiles more relevant for their examples.

Interesting find- thanks Shah.

Update (27th Nov 2010):
I sat down again watching this video. Want to showcase some of the points made in an upcoming conference I am speaking at. But soon as I finished revisiting the earlier presentation, I chanced upon another clip- from the same company and with the same set of people, albeit seeking communication planners’ opinions on a different perspective- While the previous video talks about in General- the skills of planners- this video talks about the ‘human touch’ (understanding the human condition) that communication planners (to me a communications planner need not only be in an ‘agency’ rather could/should be within the brand company itself. At least the marketing people within the company should have a comms planning outlook.

The video below also, in many ways highlights that marketing planning/comms planning need not be discipline specific. A lot of what is being said here is what the ‘social media proponents’ emphasize too. That mainstream planning is now talking about ‘listening’, ‘feedback’ , filtering the right information, putting in emotions (understand your audience like a comedian does!) and other such dictats- which were probably there a few years ago- but either the scale was too small or the focus was on other issues. This one is more enjoyable and universally applicable.

Especially to someone like me who lays the utmost importance to the seamless ‘inter-marketing-disciplinary’ interaction, this is fun.

In past life, I have been a salesperson. As a matter of fact, I still am one. Come to think of it, we all are, in a way.

More so those who have been around in the digital marketing industry (across its various disciplines).

In the founding years of Digital Marketing in Asia (1999-2006), if you had anything to do with digital marketing, you essentially had to sell hard. Everyone loved to listen, but few actually bought what you were selling. Specially ‘digital media’ was an abstract thought in the early days (“it is all a scam”)

So I know what it means to be a sales rep. And just like people from all walks of life, there are some good ones and others who are simply a pain in the butt.

And as a digital marketing consultant and buyer of media and technologies, I deal regularly with publisher representatives/media sales people day in and day out. As someone who has been on both sides of the table, here is what I look for when it comes to setting rules of engagement with salespeople. Applies equally for salespeople across all industries:

1. Bring value to the table- not a hook : The agenda is value- how can you impact my business, my client’s business -and your business in turn. Give me value- not a hook. Better efficiencies? tick. Innovations? tick.  Allowing agency to help media create a better solution? tick. We are all in the business of consulting, innovation and accountability. Even commodities (ad space) can be innovated upon. Lunch/coffee/dinner/beer can wait.
2. Be genuine: Sales is not only about, well, selling. It is about relationships. Work that out- it helps. have genuine relationships. In the Asian context, it works better culturally- and is bound to rub off on the business.
3. Share: Media and agency folks are hungry for knowledge/information. Load them up. White papers, learning sessions, special webinars, the works. Think of a route to share- even if you are in the business of selling ‘general’ content.
4. Don’t (try to) intimidate : Appreciate you are God’s gift to your company. But please. Understand the business you are in. It is not the media business. It is not a ‘sales’ business. It is a business of relationships. It exists due to relationships. So if you have come from a more ‘advanced’ country or represent a big search engine- give me the value- and spare me the attitude.
5. And I should comply because you met the ‘client’?: So you met the client. And are thinking eff the agency. (“We met the client yesterday and they want to go ahead with our solution. Raise the IO”) Guess what? Bad idea. There is a reason Brands trust their agencies. Domain knowledge, accountability, consistency- all the things that an agency brings on the table. Media Strategists meet these ‘James Bonds’ every day. In a B2B2B ecosystem, piss off one party involved in decision making- and say bon-voyage en-route to eternal alienation. Alas, Bond is fiction.
6. Be fast (not furious): Agencies need things fast. ‘As of yesterday’ is more than just a cliche here. Prompt deliveries will ensure that you are top of mind in case of any new business requirement. Fret on deliveries and there is always someone else who is faster and eager to make that sale.
7. Management introduction: Introduce agency partners to your management. It makes you look good and the agency get the bigger picture. Make sure that the conversation is elevated here- and moves beyond nice exchanges. International trends? Bigger partnerships for betterment?

In short, Value, Relationship and Delivery -three key issues to engaging well with your prospective clients (b2b or b2c or b2b2b or b2b2c or whatever….)

That said, not that agencies do everything alright. They have their share of jokers too. More on that later.

Think About It

It’s that time of the year again. Conferences. forums and industry gatherings – some large scale and some niche ones.

ad:tech falls in the former category. For those within the digital marketing industry, it is not just large scale. It is BIG.

I have attended ad:tech events in the past and have shared my experiences. (Can’t believe its been a year since I wrote on this topic). This year, it opened today (in Singapore- 3rd June 2010) and what a bummer- I had to miss the first day.

However thanks to tweets from my group and the update emails from Si Ting Sng from Bite Communications (thanks!), I at least have a flavor of the event.

From one of the email updates- this section summarizes the event proceedings- reproducing verbatim:

ad:tech Singapore 2010 consists of 6 keynotes and 24 breakout sessions with over 30 exhibitors and sponsors including publishers and media owners taking part.  Among them, technologies and solutions from mobile marketing to analytics, e-mail marketing to Search Engine Optimisation will be showcased.

Seem to be everything I spend a regular day on. Hope to visit tomorrow- on the second day of the session and whet my appetite for Digital Marketing information.

What is also interesting is one full stream dedicated to advanced marketing and branding.  ‘Digital’ as a branding medium still has a lot of miles to cover- but really, that is the imminent future. Add to this the fact that leading brand marketers-  alongside consultants/agency representatives are now speaking on this topic- sends the right signals. Measurablity is an inseparable part of digital marketing – but the real power of digital will arrive when it moves towards a balance of brand metrics and hard RoI metrics (both of them dear to  me).

Consider this- the sessions started with this keynote:

• The Future of Brands on the Internet: Alex Hunter, Independent Brand Consultant

and the second day will cover a similar subject, though it seems more specifically in context of a brand

• Driving Marketing Excellence Through Digital – The Kraft Foods Asia-Pacific Journey

Keynote by Shawn Warren, VP Marketing, Asia Pacific, Kraft Foods: who will discuss the important role digital marketing plays in building power brands across Asia Pacific.

Great stuff.

Another thing I missed the first day- keynotes on ‘Digital in South east Asia’. I am a huge ASEAN proponent- and it sucks that I missed the first day keynotes on this topic.

But there’s always tomorrow. Hope to be there. And write about it if I do.

Think(ing) about it.

Shalabh

One of the most misunderstood and favorite punching bag of all. Online Display advertising. Also mistakenly called “Banner advertising”.

Mistakenly because there’s more to display advertising than banner advertising. Why, there is more to Banner advertising than just “banner” advertising-but more on that later.

Display media, as it matures, is undergoing multiple transitions. It still commands majority of media ad dollars though sources claim- at declining growth rates. But this will soon change, as metrics related to brand awareness/positive predisposition attribution, and advertising’s role in defining a holistic web strategy evolves.

Till then, digital display advertising is ridden with demand generation implications. Banners are a commodity- and there is a reason why ad networks are making the hay while the sun shines.

There are undue pressures on Banner advertising, and because it is treated like a commodity, there is always a price ‘push back’ phenomenon- buy cheaper for better conversion attribution and RoI.

And largely because of this, a whole ‘big scale’ cottage industry now thrives to  make Display advertising more accountable for conversions.

The landscape below:

Look at tools that provide ‘Data Optimization’, ‘yield optimization’ and ‘Creative optimization’.
Ad exchanges, networks and performance networks (another variety of ad networks) are thriving and mushrooming- and that is a good thing as well as a not so good thing.

While I discuss that at another time, what is important to note is how the Digital media planner’s skill set changes due to the introduction of these new variables and tools in media planning.

Think about it
Shalabh

Time flies.

Its been about 8 months since I last participated in Social Networking World forum Asia, the Asian chapter of the popular forum from the UK.

A voice over from my last year’s talk on “Video Social Networking” here and a post on it about a year back here

The Social Media World Forum (SMWF) Asia this year is scheduled for the 22/23rd September at Suntec, Singapore (before the F1 Singapore night race). The event will showcase the leading social media trends taking place in Asia through a combined conference and exhibition.

The good folks organizing this conference (Six Degrees events- thanks Ian, Richard and Dee) asked me to chair the second day of the conference – and of course it should be fun doing it.

The agenda of the conference could be found here

I am also on the panel of advisers for the forum and hope to contribute.

This time around, apart from the ‘big’ speakers and participants, we also have on-the-ground managers- people who are in the thick of the things. Expect a little more action.

A promo video to get a ‘feel’ of the event:

Enjoy, participate and contribute. Hope to see you there

Think about it

Shalabh

This is one thing India was missing on till now- but I see some traction building up now.  And its about time.

Karam Lakshman, this year’s programme manager for iAccelerator (an incubator of internet & mobile startups in India) introduced me to this relatively new but exciting programme they have come up with.

The Centre for Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE), an IIM (Indian Institute of Management) Ahmedabad endeavour, has invited entrepreneurs in the internet and mobile space to submit application under its iAccelerator incubation programme.

The incubation programme runs from June 1st to August 1st this year, and the deadline for submitting application for the iAccelerator’s current edition is April 10, 2010.

iAccelerator have their own building in the IIM campus, and the programme has run thrice in the last 2 years, and have already funded about 16 companies.

What to expect from the programme? Verbatim from Karam here:

Its fairly simple. You send us an application for funding saying that you want a startup that does xyz. We read every single application that comes in. If we like your application, we’ll get in touch with you via email and then meet you if the email conversation goes well. We’re funding companies in Delhi, Hyderabad, Bombay, Bangalore & Mumbai.
We offer living and working space in each of these cities if the startup needs them. Once you get selected, you spend 10 days at IIM to sort things like your business plan, get your company incorporated, etc… After that, you spend 3 months building the first version of your product.
We’ll have weekly meetings with mentors & inspiring speakers in your cities + free dinner !
After 3 months, we help you get your first set of customers so you can see if your product is actually viable.
We’ll take it from there after that… if you need funding and your customers are happy, we’d be happy to fund you ourselves or introduce you to other investors too.

The programme will be run by experienced professionals and CEOs from the Indian internet and mobile space.

The selection criterion:

According to iAccelerator, all you need to have is brilliance and a good idea. More here.

This differentiates their programme from other incubators in the present landscape.

More. (Verbatim again):

I think there’s a great story around the fact that there are extremely few incubators in India who are willing to fund a startup even if all they have is just an idea.

The other thing is, given that we’re backed by IIM-A… we can do a tremendous amount to help startups apart from just funding them.

If they apply from a place like mysore for example, we can give them living and working space in Bangalore.

We’ll get them in touch with mentors to advise them if they come across any difficulties and I think the greatest value we provide is the fact that we’ll help them get their first set of customers once their product ready.

The other great thing is that we’re the only incubator that can support a startup across the country, We’ve got amazing partners in Delhi, Bangalore, Bombay & Hyderabad apart from our own facility in Ahmedabad.

And no Red tape.

The best thing I can say however is that we’ve got zero in the way of red-tape even though we’re technically a government organization. That and we read every single application that comes in.

So that’s about it. if you are an Indian entrepreneur, go ahead and try this out. Best of luck to iAccelerator and all the applicants.

Keep on Chasing The Storm.

Governments are largely reactive in nature. Things move with a heavy foot, there are processes to be followed, and ‘corporatization’ is frowned upon. By ‘corporatization’, I largely mean ‘marketing’.

The fundamentals governing this thought process have ground in the fact that governments need to be largely ‘welfare’ units, ‘not-for-profit’ organizations. Which they should be- but with a broader perspective.

Marketing is so synonymous with greedy profit churning and pushy sales calls, that it is almost a bad word- and because of lack of hard data supporting usefulness of each marketing initiative, governmental organizations find it easy to leave it alone. Not to be touched. From a useful discipline that allows one to make their ideas reach relevant people, it becomes a cryptic, pseudo-relevant science.

There is little specialist talent, therefore, within governmental organizations to proactively take marketing initiatives.

Things, however, are changing. Not only do we see political parties and political candidates using the power of new age marketing techniques and tools, we also see some governments taking a pro active approach towards connecting with their stakeholders.

And from what I have seen in the recent few years, fewer government organizations have used new marketing  opportunities than those within Singapore.

Specifically from the ‘Social Media’/engagement standpoint, there have been some recent successes that I noticed- I will list some of them here- mostly from top of mind recall, but I am sure there are more cases out there.

Like most new things, these initiatives have not been without their share of criticisms (ample to find that in Singapore) and execution hiccups.

But the highlight is not about how great the campaigns were, how flawless the execution was or how measurable were these campaigns.

Many of these campaigns were none of these, and many probably failed miserably at achieving the desired results.

But what is worth highlighting is that they tried. It is BIG DEAL in governments. These are government or quasi government (aided or assisted with government control/stake) organizations. These are not nimble enterprises. The fact that they take this ‘risk’ of venturing into hitherto unknown territory and risk mockery or failure, is HUGE. To me, it is important enough that these campaigns saw the light of the day.

Time does not permit to dissect these campaigns, but I hope to, sometime in future. And also, my point of view on how they could have been better or what could be the next steps following up from where they left it.  As of now, just listing some details on these campaigns.

• Singapore Tourism Board (STB):
  • Aided by their agency partners, STB seems to have undertaken a few non-mainstream initiatives
  • STB Crowdsourcing Ideas from public: Following up on their roadmap to year 2020, STB launched a website asking the common person on their vision of how to improve this sector in 2020.
  • STB blogger connections: STB now has a section on their website featuring Blogger perspectives on Singapore.  Bloggers talk about new stuff, their experiences, and bring in a slightly different side of the life in Singapore- which could be of immense interest to the visitors who want to get the story from individuals not corporations.
• Reach Singapore: The organization entrusted with community development in Singapore, had launched early some basic steps in connecting and reaching out to the community, specially the youth. Setting up the ubiquitous Facebook and Twitter communities were basic attempts, but the fact that some initiatives were as early as 2008, is interesting to note.
• Senior ministers in the government now actively engage digitally- and participate in forums. This is seen even ‘offline’. Last year, at the omy.sg (a bilingual site in mandarin and english) Blogger award night, the Chief Guest was Mr George Yeo- Minister of foreign affairs in the Singapore government. Attending a congregation of largely teens or tweens!
• NTUC Fairprice : Less known as a “trade union corporation”, more as a supermarket chain, their facebook page now boasts more than 26k members. Frankly, it is quite basic, slightly unkempt (“What’s up” section has nothing inside (!)) and seems a lot more could have been done than promoting a contest and their TVCs. But still worth a mention.
• SingPost: This is what happens when an old school service tries to appeal to the new age consumers. Singapore Post or SingPost is essentially a postal service (actually they have a lot more to their repertoire) and here is what they tried:
  • In the wake of Youth Olympics in Singapore, they decided to undertake a stealth marketing campaign.
  • Some graffiti artists were hired and in full public view, were made to paint graffiti on Singpost postboxes. In Singapore, that is BIG DEAL. Any graffiti on public properties is treated as serious vandalization and is punishable by law.
  • The morning after effect assumed was that people would talk about it, it would spread- followed by Singpost admitting it was a publicity stunt -and all will be hunky dory. Only it went the other way- complaints and social media buzz derided the act as distasteful and counter to the values we should impart to the youth.
  • To me, it was Classic germFeed- created an opportunity to talk- bystanders created content- took videos/took snaps, shared it and commented on it.
  • Good or Bad- to get a postal service get talked about by the youth is a huge deal. I am not sure if kids nowadays would think of Post Boxes as something to be like a fire safety poles. If kids were all about sharing and compassion and love and the spirit of games- gaming and cinema would have died long back.
  • Could it have done in a better way? Sure it could have been. Was graffiti necessary? Sure it wasn’t. But the idea of doing a radical exercise- something out of the ordinary- by itself is worth a mention.

What would I have done? Here is what I would have done- stick color codes or Augmented Reality code stickers on all Post boxes- promote it across media channels- encourage people to snap it with their camera phones- wherever they saw the boxes and create engaging content to engage with it. Maybe show the journey of a parcel,maybe show profile of Youth Olympic atheletes- tonnes of things to surprise people with.

Actually, as I said, none of these are examples of ‘great’ initiatives. But if they evolve from hereon- it is what will make the difference. If they continue trying it is then they will make that difference.

They have had their share of criticisms, let us allow them to entertain and engage us.

Think About It

Shalabh

In my about to be launched book- “Think About It”- Ideas shaping digital media and marketing in the new decade, I discuss something that is just one step behind Augmented Reality, and if used correctly, could really boost interactive marketing processes and adoption.

I have also mentioned in the past, that Augmented Reality is cool- though a technoolgy whose time was not there yet. I saw its adoption increasing from mid 2010 onwards- specifically in Asia.

AR is used across touchpoints now- like with printed codes, webcams and computers but to me the real coming of age would be interactive usability via camera enables mobile devices.

However, I see signs of Augmented Reality coming up faster than expected- with usage that is more practical than just ‘cool’.

Though when you see advertisers like Nike and Adidas using this technology, the ‘cool’ automatically associates.

I discuss some good campaigns around AR here:

Nike (via marketing interactive): This one is from Asia- Hong Kong.

Nike launched this programme (mcCann+hyperfactory) to target teenagers- for strengthening its soccer products.

For four weeks, Nike plastered a series of secret codes around Hong Kong, in Nike stores and at the Causeway Bay MTR station.

The codes invite users to download a mobile application that allows them to view its T90 soccer boots and ball in 3D through their mobile screens.

So this is simple- but an early entry into this market- makes it newsworthy and upholds the innovative/cool factor of Nike.

There are some other campaigns as listed bby Devora Rogers on iMediaconnection

Samsung:

This is a simple, yet great use of Augmented reality and we could see more such stuff in the near future.

Samsung’s AR execution, which helps consumers figure out what a TV will look like on the wall, before they hang it. Users print out an image that they then show to their webcam, which faces the wall on which they want to hang the TV. The screen recognizes the AR trigger, and instead of seeing the printout, users see a TV laid over their wall through their screen.

With these examples, this technology seems perfectly well suited for home improvement and decoration industries- but the potential goes much further than that.

Home Depot:

This US retail giant has reinvented the humble gift cards.

Simply put, when you receive a gift card, displaying it in front of a webcam enables users to browse and buy products online or plan for their next project.

Here’s more- in video:

Ray Ban:

Another really cool yet practical usage by Ray Ban.

Rayban Virtual Mirror application demonstration. Using key points on your face the app maps pairs of augmented reality shades onto your face. Then you can click straight through to the store.

Ordinary people:

Well you could use this on your resume or on your business cards. Imagination is the only limitation here. Of course being a bit flamboyant helps

The real coming of age of this technology will be when it is more end user focused rather than being inward focused.

Think About It

Shalabh