The article titled Digital Darwinism is something I saw that really made me think about the state of the digital media space.  IMO a must read for all digital marketing heads.  I’ll be doing a post in a few days to address.  Hope you all enjoy….

We’ve all seen trompe-l’oeil paintings in neighborhood Italian restaurants and antique shops. My favorite nail salon has a great painting of a Tuscan vineyard. It’s fun to look at, but nothing special, right?

Wrong.

This video of an installation at a German museum shows what happens when trompe-l’oeil gets a 21st Century makeover.

Talk about augmented reality. I don’t know how anyone could find the motivation to go inside–I’d just sit there and watch the museum change shapes.

Today it was announced the Amazon.com acquired Zappos for 10Million shares in AMZN Stock and an immediate $40Million cash injection in AMZN stock and cash to Zappos employees. The approximate cost to AMZN is $900Million+.

Guess the big question is why? Makes sense to us - its the customer stupid!

How many times have you placed a call to a customer service line and an automated system picks up; or received a branded email message saying Buy This but do NOT reply; or wished that the company had a twitter account so that you could tweet your positive emotions about their brand and come to find they don’t have one?  We have and it has irritated us to no end.

Zappos (as we all know) is all about customer service and that is what (seemingly) Amazon is buying.  Amazon may have felt a little competitive threat from Zappos, but I think it was more about tapping into the “Zappos Culture” more than anything. Amazon identified this as a key to thrive in this new business economy.  Why not then purchase the company that understands it best.   By servicing the customer on every conceivable level Zappos has built extreme customer loyalty through facilitating a superior user experience and Amazon wants to be the premiere e-tailer in the world - a symbiotic relationship in cyberspace.

The key to this relationship is how Amazon takes over the reigns and what is done from a top down approach.  At this time, Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh is saying nothing is going to change and the relationship should be said like the jingle “Zappos and Amazon sitting in a tree…”

Time will only tell - but here are a few thoughts from Jeff Bezos on his take of his purchase.
What do you guys think?

I came across this video from programmer James Alliban who is selling his services through showcasing ARG technologies.  The second I saw it, uses for clients came flying out of me faster than a twitter stream seconds after an international incident: Personalized messages for specific promotions; Virtual recaps of sales calls, Up Sells; Call Reminders; Previews to new launches….the list goes on and on.

Anyway…Just wanted to share this and see if you had any other suggestions or ideas as to how this could be used for businesses?

After hearing Tim’s story about his good experience dealing with Travelers Insurance after a car accident, I got to thinking. I’ve been lucky (knock wood) and never had an accident more serious than tapping the car in front of me (again, knock wood), with no damages (one more time, just to be safe). And I’m a State Farm client anyway. So my main experience with Travelers is through their TV commercials…and I have to say, I like them a lot. It’s kind of a nice change to see an insurance company doing some light-hearted, smile-inducing advertising instead of “OHMYGODYOU’REGONNADIE” advertising. Most insurers run ads about how teen drivers are more likely to die in a car crash, or how you can get screwed over even if you’re not at fault in an accident. So it’s a real breath of fresh air to see an insurance commercial that doesn’t make me want to crawl under the couch next to my dog.

The newest one I’ve seen is the lucky rabbit’s foot commercial:

The “No Worries” one gets the most air time, I think:

The one with the dog’s most prized possession is definitely the most creative:

But MY favorite is this one:

Mostly because Mary Poppins was my favorite movie when I was a kid. It would be hugely embarrassing if the number of times I tried to “fly” with an umbrella ever got out…but anyway, the point is that Travelers combines an inviting advertising campaign with a great product and great service. Now that’s the way to run a company.

I want to give a little shout-out to Travelers Car Insurance. I am actually a State Farm client (and have been perfectly satisfied with their service), but I was recently hit by a Travelers client and they have been an absolute DREAM to deal with. I am considering putting a sign on my car (once I get it back) asking Travelers clients to please crash into me. This is only the second time I’ve had to deal with an accident (well one that wasn’t my fault) and Travelers is in every way better than the other company I dealt with (I can’t remember which one it was). First of all, according to the guy at Enterprise “they give a better rental car allowance than anyone else I’ve seen.” Secondly, instead of a “team” of claims people, which actually means a robot-voiced menu, I got a real-live claims representative and his direct line. Also, after choosing my own body shop, the estimator called me to inform me that he had gone to the body shop and re-inspected the damage with the technician and found additional mangled and otherwise ruined pieces and parts. He then listed them (and noted the new total repairs cost would be nearly $2500) and assured me that Travelers would take care of everything, and then mentioned that “oh, by the way, Steve hear at the shop [I could hear my technician in the background] says your car will be ready next Thursday, Friday at the latest.” This is how accidents should be dealt with. Travelers used a screw-up on the part of their client to convert the other party - as I am definitely considering switching over. I mean, if this how they treat the “other party” how well do they treat those who are actually paying them?

This experience has reminded me that, regardless of the forum, little CRM details really do make all the difference for your clients and/or potential clients. So whether going the extra mile as an auto insurance claims estimator, or tweeting on behalf of a giant cable company - people will remember and reward those who treat them well.

The SekaiCamera app is all about function and bringing the user experience to life in both the real and virtual worlds.

This was prototyped at TechCrunch’s Top 50 Conference a few months back and from what was written, it was the talk of the conference. You can see the actual presentation that was done here.

Anyway, we came across this execution in our research and just thought it was so amazing.  Plus, the team here just started rattling off potential uses and ideas around this app.  Honestly the possibilities are endless!

But we see one major obstacle to overcome: Tagging.

As noted across countless blogs and by industry insiders, this will be crucial in facilitating mass adoption of these types of technologies.  If we don’t have a “Dewey Decimal” system of sorts for tagging we all will get lost in the virtual shuffle.

z4

Can you guess what we’re working on?
Another find that we wanted to share with everyone: BMW’s UK Z4’s online launch collateral.

This “campaign” is sick to say the least. It integrates on and offline campaign elements to highlight the goal of selling the car and customizing it to a user’s preference. Plus, there is a very nice tie into the arts as well.

This IS the next level of advertising and we wanted to share some of our finds with our people.

ps this is all Shawn…shout out to our nyc crew!

As we here at nostrum, inc. continue to investigate and research new and emerging technologies, we like to share some of our findings with our friends.

Augmented Reality Apps are out in full effect now and are becoming more and more mainstream (at least to us geeks). This recent addtion to the app arsenal is one of the best uses yet for it.

Check this out and let us know what you think. And if you have any other finds, please share; we love this stuff…

Just came across our desks today…

Nike has innovated again!  This time with Lance Armstrong and the Tour De France.  The two entities have teamed up with the development of Chalkbot - a robot messaging system of sorts.  This robot lets users send 4o character long messages, texts, emails or tweets to a server and then relayed to the Chalkbot.  Then throughout the course of the Tour, the messages are PAINTED (yes painted) on the streets that the cyclists travel on!

According to our friends at vanskengroups blog “culturebuzz” The Chalkbot was developed by Deeplocal and StandardRobot for the Nike Livestrong campaign, created together with Lance Armstrong in support of the brand’s cancer foundation.
It allows fans to disseminate their messages of hope and encouragement, as well as joining the fight against cancer.
Simon Prestidge UK Marketing Director at Nike was quoted as saying: “We don’t do advertising any more. […] We need to become part of people’s lives and digital allows us to do that.” We’re sure you get it, the cause is laudable and the concept is truly innovative.

So visit wearyellow.com and/or text LIVESTRONG followed by your message to 36453 to participate in this very innovative campaign.

I saw the craziest commercial this morning: Evian’s “Babies on Skates.” A group of infants on old-school skates break dance and roll across a park to the beat of “Rapper’s Delight.” It’s an interesting commercial, and it’s getting lots of views. It was even one of the top trends on Google this morning.

The question is, will anyone buy the water?

Personally, I think the “making of” video is much cuter.

I saw this recently and it made an immediate impact on me and the team here. By blurring the lines between online and offline social interactions, it is a must see for an CMO who is reticent that this “social media thing” is just a fad.

Props to Sour and their directorial team: Masashi Kawamura, Hal Kirkland, Magico Nakamura, and Masayoshi Nakamura for their innovated and inspiring work. I am just waiting to see how many “copy cats” will be “sampling” this execution over the course of the next few months.

A few weeks ago we wrote about Twitter being sued by MLB’s Tony La Russa

Today, TechCruch is reporting that LaRussa has dropped the suit outright and no monies have changed hand by either party.

Thank the Lord - someone finally came to their senses.

Because of VQR’s findings about Anderson not sourcing Wikipedia correctly - a point that Tim so eloquently highlighted in his last post - Anderson and the his publisher Hyperion have both issued statements to fix the “issue” going forward.

Love it when bloggers, publishers, and authors all come together to fix a common goal.

It should have never happened but that’s a whole other post!

It’s no secret that sex sells just ask Ad Age. I’m not naïve enough to refute that—it’s just the way of the world. But fast food chains are taking it WAY too far, and in the process, they’re alienating half the fast-food-buying, money-spending population.

We’re all used to seeing steamy Calvin Klein ads on LA billboards and Paris Metro stops, and sexy liquor ads in glossy magazines. But when brands start using sex to sell SANDWICHES, you know things are starting to skew in a weird direction. I enjoy a nice, juicy burger as much as the next girl, but I never got aroused by one. Not to burst your bubbles, guys, but girls don’t get spontaneously turned on eating a hamburger or a “seven-incher” sandwich (paging Dr. Freud) any more than we have pillow fights in our undies or go from “cat-fights” to make out sessions (or ride roller coasters in lacy lingerie, much to the dismay of UK theme park-goers).

Unfortunately, Burger King and Carls Jr. disagree.

Now this is getting out of hand. When a toaster asks a Quizno’s “sandwich artist” to “put it in me” completely without irony you know the audience’s IQ has deteriorated to an embarrassingly low point. This kind of campaign might work on the “South Park” watching, Juggz-subscribing, Axe-wearing crowd, but it doesn’t work on anybody else.

And a word to the wise, guys—buying any of those products, including the “seven-incher” sandwich, will NOT make girls spontaneously swoon and start licking barbecue sauce off your fingers. So, as Ken Wheaton of Ad Age pointed out, “A sandwich is just a sandwich, so quit trying so hard to make it a penis.”

Seth Godin’s recent blog post, in which he defends Chris Anderson’s ideas from his book Free: The Future of a Radical Price (it can be yours, but not for free - try $26) against Malcolm Gladwell’s less-than-agreeable review, is just plain nonsense. The core of the debate is the future of content. Will people stop paying for all information because they can get it for free? Godin (whose blog I normally love) and Anderson seem to think so, while Gladwell disagrees, and so do I. If YouTube is the poster-child of the Free Revolution, then the whole thing is going to be one giant failure (as YouTube costs Google almost $1 Billion annually).

I understand where Anderson and Godin are coming from, especially regarding news and the written word. Given the staggering growth of blogs and the speed at which bloggers and other online outlets can get the news to its readers, the current situation doesn’t appear all that great for newspapers and magazines whose “news” isn’t news by the time people read it and whose consumers must pay to get it. However, Godin and Anderson don’t consider quality and deepth of coverage in their arguments. They say that soon there will be so many part-time writers who make enough money to cover there costs of writting through advertising that the need for paid content won’t be there. I disagree. The more blogs and other free sources that are out there on the same subjects, the less the bloggers will make on advertising - as they will be splitting their audience. Also, speed isn’t everything. People need qualified, professional journalists to contextualize major events and to lead them through complex issues.

When people aren’t making any money for their efforts they start doing something else, when people aren’t making enough money the quality of their work goes down and ethically journalism goes by the wayside - as it apparently did in Anderson’s book when he lifted pages right out of Wikipedia.

The future of information is not that it will all be free, the future of information is that the tabloid and breaking news will be free, and they will push towards the editorial content which will always cost something (after all, even Anderson thinks Free will make people money). IMO (on this issue) Anderson and Godin are what Gladwell calls “technological utopians” who at times swap their marketer hats for economist hats and write long diatribes essentially explaining why Vegas comps rooms, only drawing the conclusion that somehow the gambling should be free too.

The seed merges 2D and 3D stop motion animation for all to see.
Just something we happened upon and wanted to share:

Combining online and offline ideas based around a solid goal is paramount for marketers in today’s economic environment.
Check out what Coca-Cola did for their new bottle redesign for customers in France.

Executions like this one and others are great, but my only question is why do all the coolest and most forward integrated “marketing ideas” seemingly happen outside the US?

I have many reasons why I think this happens but what do you think?