Monday, January 26, 2009

Finally a 2D Breakthrough!

It finally happened. The standardization battle shifted. The tide changed. Scanbuy's Scanlife application will now be preloaded on all LG camera phones. For the past few years, 2D barcode companies have battled to get shelf space on camera phones to no avail. They won small battles like earning the ability to be downloaded over-the-air, but no one was able to convince a handset manufacturer to pre-install their software...until now. The problem with 2D barcodes is that no one knows anything about them. No one knows anything about them because they aren't prevalent. They aren't prevalent because no one has the software to decode them. However, all this is going to change. "It's one small step for Scanbuy, and one giant leap for the 2D barcode industry."

2D barcodes are nothing new to Japan or Europe, but they will soon be the next biggest marketing tool for brands in the US. Every brand wants their customer base to interact with their brands. Whether it's a Flash microsite or a video game, brands want consumers to spend time with them, play with them, fall in love with them. Be prepared to get barraged with campaigns that have a "snap" call to action. No longer will you have to send in a form to "enter for a chance to win," you'll just snap a photo. Want to add time to your parking meter, just snap. Want to buy movie tickets, just snap. Want to do anything, just snap. The sky is the limit!

You heard it here first, "some brand is going to leverage this technology so well it will change the whole way marketers look at 2D barcodes." The race has officially commenced.

Monday, January 19, 2009

Katie Couric the Brand

Since her big debut a couple years ago as the host of the CBS Evening News, Katie Couric has faded into the sunset. She tried to turn her morning talk show gig into a nightly news anchor position...and it didn't work. However talented a journalist Katie Couric might be, she is a victim of her own brand. For years on the Today Show, Katie perfected her role as the US's morning news gal, and in the process created an incredible brand. She was so good at what she did that no one could see her doing anything else. She was typecast.

Her brand resonated with the demographic that watches the Today Show, not Dan Rather. Katie Couric "the brand" was so well established that it was impossible for people to accept her as someone new. I'll never be able to see James Gandolfini as anyone other than Tony Soprano, and I'll never be able to buy Katie Couric as Tom Brokaw. It just ain't happening.

In what seems to be a last ditch effort to reinvent her brand, Katie Couric has gone to the chopping block. She lopped off her hair! Just the other day I caught a bit of her program and noticed that her hair vanished. She now appears much more chisel, masculine, and serious. I am not sure if this look will get her the kind of respect that she wants, but it's clearly a hail mary.

It's so bizarre that some women need to appear more masculine to be taken seriously. Rachel Maddow, Katie Couric, and Hillary Cinton all have short hair. Many female CEO's wear short haircuts too. It's no coincidence, and it's very interesting. My guess...subconscious sexism.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Tagging Products on Facebook

Many many months ago, July 2008ish, I came up with an idea to tag products on facebook. I thought this could revolutionize the way brands and consumers interact on social networks. For example, if John Smith tags 12 Mountain Dew cans, he can get one free. It's hard to imagine that a large amount of people would be compelled to spend the time tagging their products without some form of incentive. However, assuming the products were tagged, it would transform them from flat images to clickable hyperlinks. So, if you clicked on a Snickers bar you can be taken to their brand page on facebook, snickers.com, or wherever the company choses. Essentially it would completely shift the way we interact with photos on facebook. User generated product placement is the term I coined to describe this idea. I can't figure out why it hasn't happened until tonight.

I predict that facebook is currently scanning its billions of photos with software that detects all major and relevant brands. e.g. Keystone, Budweiser, Pizza Hut, Pepsi etc... and plans to offer the a brand tag/hyperlink to the companies. Let's assume they cull through all the photos and find the Taco Bell logo 12 million times on facebook. I bet they'll establish a "price per tag" and offer it to Taco Bell. Taco Bell can then create promotions, coupons, and microsites that activate once a a facebook user clicks.

Time will tell if this revenue driving platform is currently being stirred in the facebook cauldron.

Sunday, January 11, 2009

The !

As a member of the generation that communicates through our fingers rather than our mouths, the ! has taken on a whole new meaning. After having an insightful conversation with my friends we realized there was something profoundly interesting about the ! Long gone are the days of speaking off the cuff, now we plan what we text, get a consensus from friends, and then express ourselves in 160 characters or less. James Joyce wouldn't stand a chance. For example, a text message that reads "Thanks for dinner" doesn't have the same meaning as "Thanks for dinner!" The ! adds the much needed emotion and inflection to the text message. We're evolving into a culture of concise communication, and we're losing our individuality simultaneously.

Our voices have a range of !'s, but texting makes them all equal. It makes everyone seem similar, when in reality they're not. Sometimes I want to give a 1/2 !, but have to resort to the full ! However creative one might be, they're still limited by text messaging.

In the flirting/dating phases of a relationship, it all boils down to the ! No one wants to be in a situation where someone could have added !, but didn't. It's insulting, painful, and so much more powerful than it needs to be. Maybe the sender had a good night but didn't want to sound too excited; too bad. You have to make a choice. It's either, "I had fun tonight too" or "I had fun tonight too!" Texting is great for people that don't like to communicate, but awful for those who do. We text all the time enough don't talk enough. My advice: rest your fingers!