Dazzle Ships

Rupert who?

Whatever the reason or intent behind Rupert Murdoch's recent anti-Google musing I wonder what the folk at Mountain View think about this in the context of their longer term ambitions? As recently demonstrated in a bit of an acquisition frenzy, they seem much more interested in the ever-nascent mobile category. They've have been on a near $1bn spending spree of late with their purchase of VOIP provider Gizmo5, and iPhone app supremo AdMob. Safe to say their focus could be on what they see as bigger things!

So what does this mean for the future? Well, in the UK Google have a friend in the shape of the government's Digital Britain project, which counts the liberalisation of radio spectrum as part of its wide ranging remit. A recent report from Ofcom shows just how this could benefit the likes of Google. The report marks the start of the exploration of technology to link up spare bits of radio spectrum "white space" across the UK, accessed by devices that can switch between the best available signal depending on a user's location.

Google would no doubt want to be part of this, and would be unlikely to follow the traditional model of charging users for network access. Rather they'd monetise through keyword advertising, whether they needed to pay the Government for a license or not. This certainly was their intention in bidding in the American 700 MHz spectrum auction last year. Although they were unsuccessful, they managed to force through legislation for the 700 MHz spectrum to be open access. Meaning telcos like Verizon could no longer block content or devices that didn't suit their ends - Google content or devices. And so Google can now go direct to the user, and not have to go via the telcos.

Mind-bending stuff! And certainly would suggest Google have bigger shrimps to barbie than News Corp...


Angus

Where's the tube? Augmented Reality answers

Finally, augmented reality is starting to become a useful reality for the (sort of) masses.  As you can see below, acrossair ("..a hybrid collective combining rockstar application and game developers with corporate infrastructure...") has developed a new augmented reality app for the iPhone (3GS only!),Nearest Tube, that answers that perennial late night drinker's question 'Where the hell is the tube so I can get home?'.

Hopefully this is the beginning of the realisation of the vision set out by Tonchidot with their proposed SekaiCamera ("World Camera" in Japanese) project launched almost a year ago.  Back then, following an very entertaining TechCrunch conference Q&A, one of the big questions was how the hell was Tonchidot going to manage and house all the data needed for the expansive system they proposed. 

This is still a huge challenge however I know of at least one global behemoth that has access to ridiculous amounts of data and the ability to manage it.  Given their moves into mobile with the Android system and the tidal wave of brand specific phones we can look forward to this Xmas, Google must be looking to develop this approach (in fact, rumors are that they are through a German application called Enkin).

Can you imagine Google's auction model in the augmented reality world with retailers (and their online competitors!) falling over themselves to outbid each other to be the first 'airtag' to appear on a user's screen on high streets across the globe?

Now all I need to do is to put forward the case for my company phone to be a nice shiny iPhone 3GS......

Bryan aka ThePersuader

Gaming without control(lers)

Right, I'll put my cards on the table, I'm an Xbox 360 fanboy (which may well bias my position) but Microsoft's announcement at E3 on their new development, Project Natal, will, I believe, see them challenge Nintendo's Wii's dominance in the gaming sector and, like the Wii, entice traditionally non-gamers into the console category.

Okay, so the video is only a vision rather than the real system in action (and we have no timeline on when the technology will finally be released) but in keeping with Microsoft's aim that the Xbox 360 is more than just a gaming console, they're also incorporating it into the wider services Microsoft offer via their NXE (New Xbox Experience) interface.

Want to watch a movie or TV program on demand?  Easy, wave your arms around at the TV screen to scroll through the images of potential choices and select.  Expectations are high that on Friday Xbox will announce a tie up with Sky that will see European Xbox-ers able to access programming on their TV screen through their NXE.  US Xbox-ers have had access to the entire Netflix back catalogue on-demand for some time so this is an overdue and positive move.

Microsoft has long held the desire to become the operating system of choice for the Living Room having, in many people's view, already won the battle for the PC.  The combination of Project Natal, the potential tie up with Sky as well as the frankly awesome games that are available on the system means that Microsoft may well realise this desire. 

Thanks to Nintendo's Wii, gaming has moved from being the domain of children and geeks into the mainstream and Microsoft seem well positioned to help drive this wider acceptance further over the next 5 years.  As gaming platforms grow into broader entertainment platforms, the big question will be whether Microsoft will open the NXE to advertisers? And if so, how best can we leverage this content rich, entertainment based environment without alienating and annoying consumers?  I'm betting it won't be through banners and buttons but engaging, entertaining content that adds value to the consumers experience! 

Project Natal may still be a year or more away, but in the meantime Harmonix has finally confirmed that The Beatles- Rock Band is coming to the Xbox 360 in September.  I cannot wait to play Back in the USSR. Does anyone fancy being the Ringo Starr to my Paul McCartney?

Bryan aka ThePersuader

Who wants to be a 'Twillionaire'?

Rivalries are rife in every walk of life but the most recent prize rivalry has to be Ashton Kutcher vs CNN on Twitter with Ashton Kutcher finally winning out last night (Thursday 17th April) by hitting over 1,000,000 followers first.

Initially sparked off by a comment from Kutcher that he would 'Ding Dong Ditch' Ted Turner (former CNN head) if he achieved the magic 1,000,000 first, CNN picked up the gauntlet by releasing a YouTube video of Larry King accepting the challenge.

As way of incentive, Kutcher pledged to personally pay for 10,000 mosquito nets for the Third World to help highlight his support for NoMoreMalria and World Malaria Day (which is 25th April) should he win.  CNN followed this pledge by promising to match Kutcher's offer with a further 10,000 nets funded by themselves.  Further spice was added when Electronic Arts joined in promising to reward whoever was the lucky 1,000,000th follower a copy of every game they publish in 2009, as well as a creating a character of them in the forthcoming Sims 3 game. 

And so the scene was set, the twitterati (and media) were fired up and if you have  29 minutes to spare, you can watch the 'excitement' of the 'final push' unfold in the Kuther/Moore household as they live streamed video of the Kutcher supporters gathered to watch this 'historic' moment.

Is this really a big deal?  I think so.  We've been discussing a lot here at OMD towers how Social Media is bringing together and focusing consumer power to a level that starts to erode the traditional power base held by big business.  I'd certainly argue that CNN has a much larger global reach than Ashton Kutcher but, ultimately, we're entering a world where its the ability to mobilise your base to spread and act on your ideas that counts not just having huge reach.   

I just think it's a shame that Britain's Got Talent didn't start a month earlier since I believe that Scotland's own Susan Boyle would have wiped the floor with both combatants.  Why?  Just go check the view count on the YouTube video of her performance.  It's been up only 6 days and has already gained almost 19million views (when I last looked!).  Maybe she should throw her hat in the ring to be the first person to hit 5,000,000 Twitter followers?

Bryan aka ThePersuader

I believe computers are our future...

Well, at least the guys at Microsoft Office Labs do given this 5 minute long, though strangely soothing, video of their vision of the world we'll live in by 2019.  Despite it being from Microsoft Office, there doesn't appear to be an excel sheet in sight!

If you've seen any of the old Microsft Surface videos, then much of this touch driven world won't be too unfamiliar but it also looks like someone likes using their Wii in Microsoft given the number times people 'flick' data from one device to another.  I especially like their view for the paper of the future that comes up towards the end (now if Press media owners could just fix that trust thing then they'd be flying!).

One obvious question is whether Microsoft really believe that we'll still be using iPhone style devices in a decades' time? Having discussed this with Toby, he's suggested that maybe this is simply a case that we don’t imagine the future at all, we just project an idealised present forwards.   So, for example, the

high point

of futurism was the fifties, when the march of science and technology seemed unstoppable.  We wouldn’t eat food, we’d have pills.  We wouldn’t care about provenance or organic. 

 John Seely Brown said it best :  “Fifties futurism managed to miss the significance of feminism, civil rights and student protest while continually pointing to the imminence of the videophone and the jet-pack”

A final observation is that is looks very quiet in 2019.  The plane is pretty much empty (will fuel costs mean only the super rich can afford to fly?) and the concourse that the guy is walking through is utterly devoid of life.  Is this a post nuclear holocaust vision of the world…or maybe post Zombie attack?  Futurism tends to over-emphasise technology trends, and underestimate social trends.  So no reference in the Microsoft film to a world brought to its knees by ecological collapse and religious wars (though this isn’t a big surprise…).

I still feel somewhat cheated that we never got our jetpacks and spacehome like The Jetsons suggested but placing this disappointment to one side, if even half of the stuff in the video comes to fruition I'll be a happy little geek! Check it out, at the very least, the soothing tunes will calm you down.

Bryan

Interweb the rainbow

Yesterday was a busy day in the world of Social Media thanks to Skittles relaunching their main site using Twitter as the key content driver.  Mashable was one of the first to break the news via Friend Feed and followed up with a more detailed view a few hours later.

Where once was corporate PR masquerading as cool, hip brand now we are greeted with real time search listing for 'Tweets' that mention the word 'Skittles' combined with a delightfully frustrating navigation 'widget' that sits permanently in the top left of the screen allowing users to jump to other skittle specific social media channels on Myspace, Youtube and Flickr.

Strategically, this is a very brave and interesting approach.  Brave because, by the very act of using a service like Twitter, which has no editing control other than an individual's own personal morals, for content means there is a strong risk of inappropriate content ending up on the page. In fact, this has been a key topic amongst a number of Social media watchers, though arguably Skittles have entered this with their eyes wide open given the need to 'prove' you are 18 before you are allowed access to the site.

And interesting because, in the world of FMCG's, recency of message and being front of mind are key to driving that all important impulse purchase.  Prior to the relaunch, Skittles was a non-existent 'hashtag'  but leapt yesterday into the Top 3 most used tags in Twitter so it would appear that this is something that people, well the Twitterverse and Blogosphere at least, want to talk about.  Skittles are no doubt hoping to drive widespread word of mouth and ensure they attain a more continuous front of mind position without having to spend vast budget on a continuous advertising campaign.  Scobleizer took this view when he replied on twitter to a question bout whether this would translate into sales saying 'Wrong question @afairfield (she wondered if it would translate into sales). Of course it will. Skittles is now THE candy for the Twitterers.'  At the very least, I'd agree that there are likely to be very few Twitter users who haven't had Skittles on their mind at some point in the last 24 hours and a few may even have succumbed to purchase.

The biggest challenge for Skittles is going to be maintaining traffic volumes beyond what they've attracted over the last 24 hours to make this a continuous pillar in their communications rather than a short lived PR tactic.  The fact that they've open their website up to anyone with a twitter account would suggest they are hoping to tap into the 15 minutes of fame mindset that Andy Warhol famously proffered.  Already there are a number of regular individuals who seem to be spending most of their day constantly trying to get onto the first screen so this may have legs....but only if more join in their fervor.

Sure, there are lots of discussion going on that maybe the implementation could have been better (people seem to universally think the fixed placement of the navigation widget for the site is deeply annoying) but advertisers (and agencies) all over the world are wrestling with how to 'manage' social media channels to their advantage and becoming an aggregation point for all related content, as Skittles.com has become, may well be one way forward.  

Bryan

Tweet Branding

Everyone is all a Twitter of late, so thank you to Sam Phillips for forwarding me a blog post that touched on the question of how brands can best use Twitter. 

Twitter is interesting from a targeting and Influence perspective.  There are your friends you follow, people like Stephen Fry who 205k follow, those that like to shout out their views and those that just like to sit back and listen.  Understanding who is doing what and how they influence others is going to be more and more valuable to us.

There are some purists out there that will argue that brands have no place on Twitter because it is all about people to people communication, but as Cohen (@obilon on Twitter), a writer and social media strategist points out on mashable, Twitter is opt in, so there is no reason why brands and people can't live side by side.  If you chose to opt in, it simply demonstrates the level of Permission you have given a company to speak to you.

As Seth Godin would no doubt tell you though, the important thing about Permission Marketing is that when someone has given you permission to talk to them, it needs to be very carefully managed, valued, and not wasted.  Smart brands use it in ways that are meaningful, adding value to peoples lives. With this in mind, the blog sent has kindly summarised 40 of the best Branded Twitter campaigns for us to learn from. 

The examples highlight that like people, brands have personalities too.  In short, the Twitter community will decide whether you are worth following or not, so here's a few tips:

1) Learn from those doing it well

2) Be relevant, interesting, entertaining and informative

3) Don't just talk about your brand, think about related topics that will interest people

4) Be human, not corporate

- Sam

'Facebook grabs rights to photos'

Shrieked the front page of Metro this morning.

Er.  Not quite.

In a rare blog post from Mark Zuckerberg himself, Facebook announced yesterday they were reverting to their previous terms of service and not instituting the new proposals, after a poll on the site indicted that only 6% of users supported the changes.

What's to be learnt here?

First, after the Beacon fiasco, which felt like it dragged on for weeks, they've clearly learnt that time is of the essence.  And reacted quickly, defusing the 'crisis' in a matter of hours.

Second, in a very smart move, they've have set up the Facebook Bill of Rights and Responsibilities, a forum in which they can clearly articulate their terms of service and, most importantly, can answer questions and begin a dialogue with users about how these could be developed.

Third, don't believe everything you read in the newspapers (but it seems the majority of people don't anyway).

Actuall, this whole episode is symptomatic of how we are losing the argument about 'data' and how we use it, something we've written about before, but will update on soon....

-- Toby

Pirates in th' dock

   

Thank ye t' Data Jedi Jago fer sharin' this seafarin' hearty tale.

Yesterday th' guys at Th' Pirate Bay sailed on trial in Sweden fer copy infringement, wi' th' Swedish Music industry lookin' fer US $13m in booty an' ham.

The booty be nay th' interestin' thin' about this case however. What be interestin' be that one o' th' defendants, Peter Sunde (aka brokep) be tweetin' away whilst sat in th' dock. In fact, he’s still tweetin' as I write now. Th' case has become a hot topic online as this post on TorrentFreak highlights. Numerous Twitter users be very kindly translatin' th' proceedings from Swedish into English so that th' world wide, social web can follow what be goin' on in court, makin' "#Spectrial" th' most searched tag in th' Twitterverse.

As Bryan pointed ou' t' us, 't looks like Th' Seafarin' Pirate Bay be takin' the'r approach o' helpin' swabbies t' connect together into th' courtroom wi' them.

  

The trial, Christian Engström,Vice Chairman o' th' Swedish Pirate Party believes, be more than jus' a prosecution o' Th' Pirate Bay. He feels 'tis a question o' th' future o' communication.

“Should the Internet be a place where everyone can communicate or should it not? That’s the question of this trial, and no court can answer that question. Even if The Pirate Bay would be freed all the way through the court system, the problem isn’t solved. The Copyright Lobby will demand more restrictions and tougher laws and the only way to protect social media culture in the long run is to work politically” (clearly nay a propper swashbuckler, as his lamnguage be all wrong).

The next step could be legal experts on Twitter who support Th' Pirate Bay offerin' the'r own advice. 'Tis a social media trial th' world be followin', an' while Peter Sunde recently tweeted "how the hell did they think this was going to be something else than EPIC FAIL for the prosecution? We're winning so hard", the reality be someone could end up walkin' th' plank at th' end.

That spake, wi` th` trial beein` scrutiniszed by thousands worldwide, maybe th` gentleman o` fortunes will win, and th` anitpiracy lobby will all get scurvy.

Keep watchin' ya scallywags,

- Sam (a buccanneer at heart)

If ye too want t' become a seafarin' hearty click here

 

 

Social Media inspiration

 

We have given plenty of examples of brands using social media well before in Dazzleships and in our trends programme, but here's a nice list by Mashable of 10 of the smartest Big Brands using Social Media. Good inspiration or presentation fodder.

Stephen