By Coree | August 17, 2011

You have to watch it on Youtube to even have a chance, and then only if you pause it *just* right. And where does it take you? A site that's only semi-mobile friendly!

It’s rare that I eat out, and one of those occasions recently found me at Buffalo Wild Wings.  If you’ve ever been there you know its loud and animated with 427 televisions all tuned to some sports program or one of those closed circuit trivia games. Try as you might you can’t help but glance up at the screens from time to time (I don’t know why I bothered trying, either).

The intense shredding of renowned surfer Dusty Payne caught my attention, so I paused from my water-no-ice-no-lemon and nachos to watch. It was obviously a commercial, but it was captivating just the same. Graphics were cut in between video of Dusty ripping the waves, appearing for microseconds – things like Volcom’s logo, website, Dusty’s name, board shorts, and a QR code. Wait, what? A QR code?

QR Code Fail

Okay, the ad is striking, I admit. It’s has some power. But placing a QR code in a 30-second ad and showing it for only microseconds…that’s a little perplexing. Sure, you might have your smartphone sitting on the arm of your lazy-boy recliner as you mindlessly consume electronic entertainment, but you certainly aren’t sitting at the ready waiting for a barcode to pop up, right? I mean, it takes half the commercial to load up your barcode scanner app! “Oh look a QR code – wait – hold on let me pull up the app…ok it’s loading…loading, wait wait! Crap!

If you’re thinking of doing something similar in your next television commercial, consider the user and how they might respond to seeing a 2D code. Recognize that while a lot of new technology is fast and convenient, it isn’t that fast and it isn’t always convenient.

Yes, new technology is sexy and you want to be one of the first to use it in exciting new ways. But exciting and new isn’t always effective. Users of mobile devices are generally on the go, a little too busy or engaged to be disrupted by ill-conceived and irrelevant marketing. Flashing a QR code at them on a TV screen is like putting up an electronic billboard in the middle of a desert.

QR Code Win

Tesco Home Plus of Korea understands mobile users. They realized, for this person, the weekly task of grocery-go-getting was time consuming and sometimes difficult to accomplish in a hurry. So they brought the grocery store to where their customers might have some downtime – the subway.

Tesco created a virtual grocery store on the subway walls, each item bearing a QR code allowing customers to shop while they waited. Tesco did their homework. First they studied their customers’ habits, then identified a problem the customer faced on a weekly basis, and finally devised and implemented a solution to their customers’ problem, ultimately increasing sales.

QR codes can be a great tool when used correctly. The next time you are at a creative meeting, don’t be afraid to suggest using them. Just be sure to use them in a way that engages people rather than just riding the novelty wave as Volcom did.

By Ben Lippert | June 7, 2011

There are all sorts of tools that you can use to help your start-up, small business or established corporation grow. Whether you want to improve communication with your employees or provide a better buying experience for your clients and customers, there is probably a tool for that.

It’s no secret, and you’ve probably heard it before – we live in an information age. There are always new gadgets coming out and it can be difficult to keep your business on top of the latest trends. We’re here to help!

These are a few tools that I have found most successful for social and business communications.

1. Skype: This application lets you easily connect with people that you would otherwise never see. Maybe you have a client that lives across the state. Use this tool to improve relations with customers, co-workers and even your distant relatives and family members. Most laptops already come with a built-in webcam and if your …Read more »

By Marsha Ahrenkiel | May 6, 2011

Scanning a QR Code with a smartphone

I first crossed paths with a QR code a couple of years ago. I was in the Denver International Airport, with a long wait ahead before my flight to Rapid City. Displayed at a huge size on a 1stBank billboard, and looking more like modern art than advertising, a beautiful blue QR code was accompanied by an invitation to get free books and Sudoku puzzles. Just what I wanted! Just what I needed!

But with no concept of how to proceed…no free reading materials for me.

By now you’ve probably seen QR codes.  They’re increasingly common these days …Read more »

By Tony Dodd | April 5, 2011

Smart Phones

Mobile devices are becoming more and more popular, and the mobile web is an alluring place for web surfers, offering all kinds of communications capabilities on the go. Yet it’s still a very new arena for many people, especially here in South Dakota.

The capabilities of mobile phones and devices now make mobile a serious contender to traditional website access. In the next few years this technology is predicted to surpass the amount of internet users currently utilizing desktop computers.

Why should I create a mobile website?

There are limitations to mobile web such as limited screen space & slower connections speeds. To date, a large amount of mobile web users are attempting to get to vital information about companies and topics quickly, but they can run into problems because many websites are not ready for mobile viewing.

A traditional website won’t always work. …Read more »

By Marsha Ahrenkiel | January 13, 2011

check in anywhere

Shades of The Island of Dr. Moreau! (hint: Google H.G. Wells)  Modern-day mad scientists (let’s call them “software developers”) have been merging social networking concepts with a range of other technologies and rolling out new hybrid beasts that could eventually change your marketing and public relations strategies.

One that we’re keeping a close eye on here is a species known as “location based social networking” (LBSN) – combining short message service (SMS), aspects of gaming, smartphone technologies and GPS capabilities.

Location-based Race

A number of competitors are active in this marketplace. You might have heard of or use Gowalla, Foursquare, Facebook Places, or forerunner Brightkite – free  services that allow users …Read more »

By dnorfolk | November 16, 2010

[This guest post from Darcy Norfolk at Adworkshop was originally posted on the Alliance of Marketing Communications Agencies blog.]

In this age of web-enabled Smart phones and other “Smart” devices that are flooding the market, we here at Adworkshop have noticed that the number of “apps” (applications) and mobile sites being downloaded is skyrocketing.  As a matter of fact, our advertising agency in upstate New York came across an eMarketer report on a recent survey conducted by Adobe which found that most mobile users prefer to get their content from mobile websites rather than mobile applications. The only categories that showed a higher mobile application download preference were games, music and social media.

It seems to us that the same businesses that were saying a year ago “we need a mobile site!” are now starting to think “we need an app!”, but may not be aware of the details involved in developing either one.  Apps are generally easy to download, but research by Pinch Media recently revealed that unless the app is a game, “less than 5 percent of downloaded apps continue to be used 20 days after being downloaded.”  That means that the life cycle of an app has run its course in under three weeks, which loosely translates to a wasted investment.

Adobe also found this to be true. Two thirds of the surveyed group preferred to download an app for a game rather than browse a mobile website for one. eMarketer’s report noted that …Read more »

By Tarah Heupel | June 28, 2010

We are excited to announce the winners of our first Good Ad, Bad Ad Facebook contest! Congrats to Jackie and Gina, who posted ads deemed the best and worst of the bunch by our esteemed panel of judges (our Search Engine Marketing department, clearly).

Good Ad: Jackie won the prize with the latest commercial in the “Search Overload” campaign from Bing:

We can relate – and now our office is jamming out to Freak Nasty’s “Da Dip.”

Bad Ad: Gina caught our attention with something very, very bad to win the Bad Ad prize:

Okay, it’s not exactly an ad, but close enough. Read more about this British Airways faux pas,  which appeared in an internal staff magazine with an article about mobile boarding. Whether it was a mistake or a prank gone awry, that’s one heck of a PR mess.

Congrats again to our winners, and thanks to everyone for playing. Be on the lookout for more contests in the future!

By Kyle McCabe | May 27, 2010

...since sliced bread.

Q: I get a lot of clients asking me a number of variations of this question: “What’s the Next Big Thing?”

This is good! They’re interested, they’re anxious – they observed the boom of social media and they want to get in on the ground floor of whatever new craze comes along.

A: So here is the answer: it doesn’t matter. The corollary is that no one really knows for sure. Yes, you can speculate all day long – and people have – but the reality is no one knew Twitter was the Next Big Thing until it was.

Well I can tell you the Next Big Thing is data and communication implants, but it’s nothing more than wild speculation. Also, scary.

Among people who are reluctant to get involved in the web, social media, SEM, and mobile marketing, I get the sense they think they’ve already missed the boat, and so they ignore it. They’re waiting around for the Next Big Thing, instead.

Well yeah, you’re missing the boat. But guess what: Das Boot is a ferry – there’s always another chance to hop on and join the party on the other side. Stop waiting around for the Next Big Thing, because if you’re not already involved in This Big Thing, chances are you’ll completely miss the next one.

–

Photo courtesy of cogdog

By Aubrey Watts | January 5, 2010

While driving through town on your way to work, you notice a billboard advertising a new coffee shop somewhere in the city. In great need of morning blend, but passing the sign too quickly to write down the web address, you seize the next chance you get to pull out your phone and do a mobile web search for the coffee shop.

Within the search results you not only get a link to Google maps for directions, but a link to the coffee shop’s site. Upon entering their website you are automatically eligible for a mobile discount: a free latte, which is redeemable at the register by simply showing the mobile coupon code you will receive in a text message.

Does your website work for mobile?

Does this scenario seem a little crazy or far-fetched to you? Well, it is more realistic than you might think. In fact, it’s already happening.

Mobile Marketing Today

Mobile websites are not only used as a quick way to find information, but they have become yet another avenue for marketing campaigns. …Read more »