MARKETING SAUCE

Game Over for QR Codes? I think not.

I've been a huge fan of qr codes for ages now (no shit I hear you say, having taken a look down the page).
Being a direct marketing guy by trade I think this technology could be to the physical world what the link is to the internet. Its the notion of digital touching (and hopefully enhancing) the real world that tantalises. Whats also interesting is that response to codes is getting bigger and better by the day. I'm astounded that already QR codes can exceed SMS response when used in a direct response context.

So QR codes are a great direct response tool, they clearly make a promise of value 'on the other side'. And as the mobile internet continues to grow and get faster the experience will only increase in value. Plus, no more conversations about making the 0800 number or URL bigger in the ad.
These things stand put like the proverbial dogs bollocks (much to the chagrin of some Creative Directors).

In my day job I just posted some results from some of our QR campaigns - check them out if you're interested.

Learning for Pizza

I've always had a passion for pizza.

So I decided to build a pizza oven, and decided in the process it was a great opportunity to get to grips with Wordpress. So I found a theme I liked and installed it with Go Daddy, even got my hands dirty with PHP (not to mention lots of wonderful clay). What fun. Here's a video I made from the stills. Great pizza too - even if I do say so myself!

Here's the blog.

Portable Pizza Oven

When tech meets art.

I absolutely love this piece from the guys at Holler. Nuff said.

Time Bomb - Interactive Graffiti (StupidKrap & Holler) from Mike Hill on Vimeo.

A lot of application I think beyond the visual feast - particularly in the interactive out of home space.

Designer QR Codes - form AND function

I've been working recently on adding logos to QR codes, tweaking formatting and generally trying to 'push it' creatively with these fascinating pieces of technology.

No wonder then that this piece of work really caught my eye. A lot of debate on line as to whether this code can be read with most current QR code readers. Apparently in Japan, it's all good.

We've seen some very interesting results in Australia using QR codes, in some cases codes outperform SMS keyword response, despite having less than 10% of the active user base.

Why? IMO it's simply down to the fact that this is a responsive community - we're talking people who want to engage and interact with advertising.

Let face it, to the initiated QR codes scream a promise of content beyond.

Personally I think Loius Vuitton, Set japan.and Takashi Murakami have done a great job - certainly I can see the conversations with creative folk going much further now compared to the somewhat typical "Are you f(*^&ing kidding - I don't want that crossword puzzle anywhere near my beautiful ad"...

Quietly Confident About Mobile

Writing a presentation to a client who wants to get better at Recession Marketing.

It's been a while...

Ok, so it's been a few months. I've had every intention of posting some longer-form thoughts I've been developing with, but well.. it just ain't happened. "Builder's house" and all that.

Twitter has become a quicker outlet (and a reason why my frequency has dropped off everywhere)... follow me here: @sim_on ...but I've also been blogging at Publicis Digital, Myne and working on a new site for a permission marketing concept we have been developing for Australia.

Lastly I've been playing a lot of Ukulele lately, this is a pic of me playing with the BUKaneers (Balmain Ukulele Club) at the start of Accoustica Week Balmain April 2009 - this song a Dean Martin Classic, Sway.

Oh and some of the videos I had on Brightcove have disappeared - funny how I just assumed they would be there forever and that these were effectively my 'back-up' copy. Note to self: never trust company that reinvents it's model every few months.

Cheers.

[P.S. Yes, Brightcove did send me an email explaining they were changing their terms of service, but not with enough notice IMHO and the option was go from our free service to paying two grand a year. Then a few months later they contacted me to participate in a research piece about another new pricing model - clearly the last one didn't work - no shit.]

In 3s

I put this mood edit together for a recent pitch. We didn't win it, but liked this bit. The idea we had which i can't share unfortunately was around combining three current trends. Data visualisation (interesting stuff here here ) with the notion of radical transparency wrapped into a cause-related context, boy it was powerful stuff, at least I thought so.

To Microsite or not?

Recently I found myself in yet another debate about advertising campaign microsites versus pointing campaign traffic to the existing destination site.

My first instinct is to try to integrate with existing sites partly because I’ve always thoughts it’s a better way to go but also because it’s counter to what most agencies tend to do. By going the microsite way you can avoid the perceived constraints of the current site architecture and underlying technology. It’s all care and no responsibility...and for many that's an excuse for elaborately rich flash-based experiences some good and some just, well crap. Of course it really depends on what you're trying to achieve. This 15MB initial load, flash-based site for LG is designed to be an immersive, gamelike experience - I think it works great as an entertainment piece (the guys who did this are part of the agency group I work for).

Here are a few thoughts in support of microsites.

1. Templated destination sites by definition cannot stray too far from pre-arranged design guidelines. They are created to provide a consistent experience throughout a site which can be at odds with the need to amplify unique product or brand attributes.
2. Because Microsites exist outside of a main site, they are unconstrained by template guidelines and can provide a much richer more ‘on brand’ experience.
3. A micro site allows designers to focus on a specific purpose or required action, such as driving an information request or test drive, or communicating some selected key messages. This means that people can get to what they need (or see what we want them to see or do) much more quickly.
4. This means designing around a narrower set of need states rather than having to cater to all types of browser. Info seekers, ready to buy etc.
5. Direct response marketing learning’s also tell us that specific pages that are built in the same experience as the creative that triggered the response succeed better. It says – “you are in the right place” and encourages people to proceed.
6. The experience can be more tailored to the specific audience of the product – this is especially relevant when this differs from the ‘average’ profile of people hitting the site.
7. Search visibility (an argument often used to dissuade against microsites) can be retained if they are still part of the core domain, and there is some upfront planning.

Righto.

A fun night

How good is typepad for iphone?
I'm curious...so here goes.
Great night at Olympic park last night although the kiwis lost their second in a row. A long time since that has happened!

Almost 80,000 shared the experience with poor lad Ritchie having to sit the game out on the bench.

The Aussies were impressive, it must be said, and a great night had by all (Morgan family ex-youngest and some friends).

Not sure about that camera Steve. Otherwise, love yer work.

Are you QRious abour QR Codes?

Telstra's QR Code launch teaser campaign broke yesterday.

It's great to see this technology finally arrive in Australia, and as I've said, before, I'm convinced this new tool will change the face of media activation and response marketing. Coupled with the arrival of iPhone in a few short weeks we clearly also about to see some big behavioral changes in the way that people use mobile devices.

Where every year for the past five has been labelled by forecasters as 'the year of the mobile', the next 12 months will certainly see some dramatic changes.

Two recent stats that reinforce this.
1. In a recent MNet study - 40% of Australians have accessed Mobile Data Service and more specifically the mobile web in the last month.
2. A recent US study from M:Metrics found that 84.8 percent of iPhone owners use the device to browse the web as compared to 13.1 percent of people who own other mobile devices.

It will be interesting to see how quickly marketers move this time to follow customer adoption of this technology. I'm picking that it will be much faster than the market took to the web.