November 2011
1 post
The Social Uncanny Valley →
Got to see an excellent talk this weekend called Facing Up to the Uncanny Valley. If you’re not familiar with the term, it is a feeling of creepyness you get when a computer created…
September 2011
1 post
A Like Is Not A Contract, But It’s Very Nice →
More and more I’m getting the feeling brand marketers hold the assumption that when a person clicks “like” on your page or site that it is the equivalent of subscribing to you, like email or…
August 2011
2 posts
Twitter Poised to Leapfrog Google →
There’s a real significant possibility that 2012 might be the year people started searching Twitter as their entryway to making decisions instead of Google.
There are two reasons why this could…
Designing for Social? Remember Zynga’s Recipe →
Now months removed from the presentation that Brian Reynolds (Zynga’s senior strategist) delivered at sxsw, his main points are still resonant and useful.
Here’s what I’ve boiled down, which I…
March 2011
2 posts
SXSW: What is She Doing With That Sheep? →
It’s all about the power of innuendo.
Yesterday’s memorable SXSW talk, the one that will be ringing in my mind for some time was “The New Frontier of Social Gaming,” delivered by Brian Reynolds…
5 tags
#zyngasxsw brimming with behavioral observations
What’s the most sharable word on facebook?
It’s “sex.”
The second most is “facebook.”
“like” is a distant third.
In the talk about what makes social successful, presented by zynga, offered a treasure trove of data-driven insights about peoples behavior.
Aside from what we know, that there has to be ways to represent what’s unique...
February 2011
2 posts
Why Facebook’s New Photo Viewer is a Big Deal for... →
Not sure if this has rolled out to everyone yet, but there’s new functionality that pops-up photos in Facebook instead of taking people away to a different screen.
As mentioned in this…
Transform Your Loyalty Program From Bank to Park →
There are a lot of discussions with clients going on about how to create loyalty in a world where the next best offer is a click away. Should we change the cadence or targeting or content of our…
November 2010
3 posts
Is “Share” a Bad Label? →
Everyone and their mom and their Website has decided that the best way to get social, or to get their content to go “viral” is by adding a button that says “share” on it.
I’ve been going back and…
What I Learned About Adopting New Tech From A... →
Whether it’s social media or UX or any new technology / methodology that companies need to adapt, there’s always someone getting attention for making divisive statements about what something isn’t….
The Case For Client Comms? →
There’s been a lot of consolidation in the advertising industry, and for good reason: at the Forrester Consumer Forum two weeks ago, Kellogg’s mentioned that it had over 100 agencies across the…
August 2010
2 posts
Overlap10: Scalable Solutions →
In the last post, I tried my best to describe the challenge of Overlap10: solving for Wicked Problems. Now, I can tell you the story of scalable solutions (or, How To Solve For Wicked…
Overlap10: Wicked Problems →
About ten days after Overlap10, I have finally started processing what about 50 of us went through over a hot, humid, and intellectually exhilarating weekend around New York city.
The…
June 2010
3 posts
Globally Local →
Two recurring themes I’ve seen lately that have me thinking Macluhan:
Big Web brands are accelerating targeting, and now content creation that is hyper-local. From location-based services to ad…
All The Web’s A Game: The Presentation →
If you’ve ever asked yourself, “After about 20 years of work, will someone pay me to watch game shows?” The answer in my experience is a resounding, “Yes. Yes they will.”
Seeing Andy Baio at SXSW…
Now Sponsored By DraftFCB →
Figured that this space has gone quiet long enough, it deserves something to preface the articles which will follow.
Since April, I’ve left my own practice to join DraftFCB as Vice President,…
April 2010
2 posts
3 tags
Are Developers the new MommyBloggers?
Having watched Chirp and thought about what went on there, maybe what Twitter is doing more than anything is showing just how influential developers are to audiences and brands.
Where Mom bloggers are sought-after for their influence via content and literal relationship in an audience, are developers fundamentally more important in facilitating an influence in relationships of scale?
Just...
Agencies Love Bright Shiny Objects: Now What? →
David Berkowitz posted the question today on AdAge with “Agencies Will Be Tempted by IPad’s Sizzle, Not Strategy,” and as you’ll see in the article, laments Apple basically creating a new…
March 2010
17 posts
SXSW Postgame: All The Web’s a Game →
In one of the sadder moments of SXSW, as I was feverishly typing away on a live post about Gaming the Crowd: Turning Work Into Play presented by Andy Baio when the Wordpress iPhone…
SXSW Live: A Whole New World. Of Music. →
In the second full day of the music portion of SXSW, the format is completely different, and pushed into a whole other gear.
The SXSW Interactive conference is very much at the convention center,…
SXSW Live: th-th-that’s all folks (from... →
With the social game business discussion that just ended on the always illusive third floor of the Austin convention center, that closes the panel curtain on SXSWi 2010.
The last panel was…
SXSW Live: Balancing the Overload →
Can any session compete with Jared Spool as Cornholio?
Last time around at SXSW in 2008, the challenge was keeping it going through the many presentations I saw, not knowing many…
SXSW Live: Beyond the Desktop →
We are entering a world where controlling a computer goes beyond a keyboard and mouse. The Wii, iPhone, iPad, bluetooth, wi-fi, microsoft surface, multitouch. The computing paradigms are changing.
We’re looking at clips of Iron Man and Minority report of future computing systems and interfaces.
SXSW Live: Expression Engine 2.0 Total Domination! →
This panel is exactly why I come to SXSW. I know vaguely about Expression engine, know that it has been gaining momentum, but that’s it. Now I get the chance to hear from real programming rockstars…
SXSW Live: Social Search: A Little Help From My... →
Though our wide-ranging crepe-based discussion panel on Saturday morning was a highlight, I’m seated in the cavernous ballroom A for Brynn “No relation to Will or Bob” Evans is sitting…
SXSW Live: Right Way To Wireframe →
Only got to see the tail end of RWTW part one.
Fred opens by saying it’s time to nut up, He also admits that he loves prototyping, and can’t think of a situation where prototyping can’t help your…
SXSW Live: We f’d up with happy cog →
Hyping right in with Kevin Hoffman and the happy cog crüe talking about projects they’ve been in that have failed, and how to identify and eliminate those f-ups in the future.
They’re starting…
SXSW Live: Who Will Win as Most Absurd Brand? →
Guys in suits on bikes. What brand is investing in this?
As noticed by Amy Cueva as we walked around Austin, looking at this bunch of oddly adorned bicyclists, there seems to be a…
SXSW Live: Harsh Lesson #1: Get To Sessions Early →
Margot is the tiny dot hundreds of ballroom miles away, laying down some serious content strategy
Psyched since yesterday to watch Margot Bloomstein open SXSWi with her…
SXSW live: walking the green line of registration →
And hello to badge pickup and our warm up for many, many, many long lines. Looking forward to Margot bloomenstein at 2pm, and maybe some BBQ lunch. Here we go!
Related posts:
SXSW Live: The secret to lineless coffee and snacks
SXSW Live: Touchdown →
After four hours of southwest, and maybe my second-ever time on one of their planes, it seems the way to keep your fares cheap is to skimp on sound insulation. Loudest. Flight. Ever.
But……
Programming Note: SXSW Begins Tomorrow →
Very ready to dive back into SXSW this year, and write this as a warning. Over the next two weeks, I’ll do my best to fill this blog with the same kind of coverage I did two years ago.
Mostly I do…
Join the IDEArmy at SXSW →
Join the IDEArmy at SXSW!
If you know me, you know that I volunteer my time to lead sponsorship and marketing for the IDEA conference because I believe it’s an incredibly valuable…
Will The Least Efficient Win the Race For The... →
Reflecting on my recent experience talking with a range of senior agency leaders, as well as senior practice leads in traditional shops across PR and Direct marketing, the race for the middle (as…
Watchthatssodigital:
And then there was Salsa (via my friend Ken Hurd).
Pretty awesome example of a page takeover.
Really like the way they maintain the constraints of the screen to provide depth on transitions. Quite well done. Would love to see the storyboards.
February 2010
11 posts
What Value Do You Attribute To Your Personality? →
So Nick Jefferson at LikeMinded wrote this excellent post, but their CAPTCHA is hidden without scrollbars under an iframe on their blog. I did not realize this until after I was compelled to write a…
The Cognitive Dissonance of Web Metrics →
One interesting aspect of watching societal computing habits right now is around metrics. We all love them, we like to see who the influencers are, how many unique vistis happen over a…
5 tags
RE: Inventing Email
Very cool to see Chad inspired by my Email is Killing Your Business article (http://su.pr/3XymN9) to sketch his own solutions:
chadhietala:
Lets face it, email sucks as it is known today. While valiant efforts are being made by Google to re-invent online communication, the fact remains that there is a large user base of desktop based email clients. The problem with email is that it’s very top...
Email is Killing Your Business →
Email has become the elephant in the room. For just about every single business and education institution, the utter dependence on email as a primary communications and knowledge sharing channel is…
Getting Ready for SXSW 2010 →
Holy moly, it’s less than a month to SXSW. Going back after skipping last year, I’m starting to mentally prepare for the nonstop everything of interactive that makes it such a worthwhile…
Weather and Opportunities Pass By Marketers →
So, how many major markets were “paralyzed” by snow these past few weeks?
As this latest front has only passed a few flakes by my window, it looks as though my children will go to…
Narrative Design at UXSears →
This past week I had the pleasure of being invited by Dennis Schleicher to visit Sears and host a discussion on visual and narrative techniques found in dramatic storytelling, and how they apply…
Snowed in? Here’s A Discount Code and Badge For... →
This is my favorite infographic from the last storm in December
On the eve of yet another paralyzing snowstorm, I think back a few weeks ago to the last time we were snowed in for a…
The Three Colorful Circles of Social Media... →
oooh… pretty colors
With so many people coming up with fancy acronyms for social media methodologies, I figured it was time to write about where I see social’s major areas of focus in…
Video: The Right Way To Wireframe →
Yesterday, I helped get Will Evans ready for IXD10 by making a video for his Right Way To Wireframe panel with Russ Unger, Fred Beecher, and Todd Zakiwarfel (the panel will also be…
January 2010
10 posts
Is iPad Built for Two? →
Today, the radio industry publication Music Week published Dan Thornton’s thoughts on the iPad’s impact on commercial radio. As Virgin’s Absolute Radio Digital Marketing Manager,…
iPad: The Greatest Gift You’ll Ever Give a Client →
Let me start by saying that I really don’t plan on getting an iPad for home. We own every other class of Apple product and it doesn’t do enough anything to justify the cost.
Having said…
Brands, Start Your Common Engines →
What a lot of brands are missing in their digital marketing strategy is common-engine thinking. As brands chase social media and leave a trail of long-forgotten campaigns in their wake,…
Get On The Shopping List →
People in marketing constantly chatter about “getting a share of wallet,” or “midshare,” or any other myriad metaphors for being so ingrained in a potential customer’s habits and awareness…