MARKETING SAUCE

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.]

QR Code Buzz Building

They've been talked about quite a bit over the last 12 months in Aus and to a lesser extent in NZ.
Soon QR Codes (or whatever they end up being dubbed in Aus as Densu Wave owns the trademark) may be widespread in Australia.

Given the rise of this technology in other markets, and the sheer utility offerred by these cool-looking objects I genuinely think that QR Codes could revolutionise response marketing in Aus. Perhaps even in the same way that its humbler 2D barcode cousin did for the retail business process in the 80s and 90s. That is assuming that a relatively open standard can be established, rather than having many competing barcodes and their associated readers.

I've been lucky enough to have trialled the beta for Telstra's  code reader and have to say it is a great app. Once booted it takes about three seconds to load up. From there the camera literally needs only a fleeting glimpse of the QR code before triggering the action - in this case (the code above) it reads my name and phone number into contacts. Believe me it is seriously cool. If you want to try this for yourself the i-nigma reader will work on some phones (but not as well as Telstra's reader).

No firm news yet on when they will be launched in Aus, but one assumes that when they are, readers will be baked into phones base configuration, making adoption rapid.

The marketing applications for QR codes are vast.  Actions that can be triggered from QR codes include: opening a WAP site, transferring contact or text details, communicating product ingredients, triggering a download and so on. To give an idea of how much information can be contained in this format - its about 25 times more than a standard SMS.

What's really interesting to me over and above their ability to activate marketing campaigns in a superior way, is the sheer utility that QR Codes can unlock. Yes its that useful question again.

This from a punter commenting on the Amplify Blog

"I live & work in Japan, I use QR codes regularly for a range of services, the main one is to setup and automate many of my travel renewals, ID, flight boarding pass, purchases, membership and purchase discounts at cafes and bars. Sounds mundane and unglamorous for a high-tech application, but it’s the fasted growing retail sales sector in Japan. I find myself exposed to new brands, information and discount vouchers, which I use or refer to friends.

Now you're talking!

AdTech Sydney is away.

So its away. The second year in Sydney.

Fantastic to see so many Kiwis making the trip over and great to connect with so many friends.

This time a much more  panel-based approach - the jury's out as to whether this is the best way to go.
Most of the people I spoke to actually WANT SOME POWERPOINT (never thought I'd see that line).

Enjoyed the first panel session: some memorable quotes from Warren Lee, CEO of APN online, around UGC - "we cast the first stone into the water and the ripples it generates are consumer participation. We're in the Stone Business".

Looking forward to more stimulating chatter.

Game On Folks

I managed a fleeting visit to this exhibition in Melbourne last week.
If you're even remotely interested in gaming then it's a must see.
I had less than an hour, but could easily have spent four or five.

Go. Its on for three months.