by James Mowery Comments Off on Digital Marketing & Developments in Social Media
Many people believe that it’s fair to say the marketing industry has changed more so over the past decade or so than it has since its inception. Classic marketing techniques such as direct mail, print and radio advertising are no longer considered to be nearly as effective as they were in the past, and have been eclipsed by digital marketing. The advent of technology has changed how people consume media, which has had a direct effect on how marketers reach their target audience. Digital marketing is without a doubt the future of the industry, and it is best for agencies to jump on the bandwagon early before it is too late to get with the times.
Social media is perhaps the most popular aspect of technology to emerge in the last few years, and has quickly become an institution. With websites such as Facebook and Twitter, people have never been able to integrate their online and offline lives together better than they can now. Since so many people spend a good deal of time visiting and updating their profiles on sites such as these, marketers have come to realize that there is no better way to reach people these days than through social media. Taking advantage of social media sites can make marketing easy and inexpensive.
Marketers use social media in a variety of different ways. Most social media sites sell ad space, which can be used to target either a national or local market. Marketing agencies are learning that since these sites can target someone based on their location it is not much different than advertising in print, yet it costs a whole lot less. On top of these methods, marketers are also starting to set up their own Facebook and Twitter accounts so that they can report any type of news or events. If the page is fun and interesting to read, it may even be possible to develop a following of people that you can market to on a regular basis. Using social media to this effect is perhaps the single most important thing agencies can do.
About the author: James Mowery is a computer geek that writes about technology and related topics. To read more blog posts by him, go to online dating.
I tweeted last week for help to understand diving in soccer. I treasure international sporting competitions like the World Cup, and well, there’s little like the World Cup. But I have a difficult time not finding myself very frustrated during the seemingly wussy behaviour when a player sobs and grits his teeth while rolling on the grass in anguish after a little fall to the ground:
What I’ve Learned
I got some useful replies, but basically theatrics are just as important a part of soccer as fighting is a part of hockey, and you just have to get used to it. John Doyle (MisterJohnDoyle on Twitter) wrote a great piece in The Globe and Mail:
The fact is, in some countries, mainly Latin nations, soccer is as much theatre as it is athletic endeavour.
[…]
They are men. They intend to win. By any means necessary.
[…]
The World Cup is the biggest sports event on the plant. Applying our small notions about manliness and sportsmanship is unsophisticated and small. Get over it.
Basically, just get used to it, because it’s an intrinsic part of the sport. And it’s not going to change anytime soon. In most countries, it’s not frowned upon — if you don’t scoff at it, you might even be considered more tolerant of different cultures and ideals. Got it.
But, My Issues
The number of referees in each game: it looks like there’s only one ref (other than linesmen?) on the field, possibly two. How can they expect this one person to cover the whole match?
Athletes are simply very, very bad actors: this point doesn’t need much more explanation. They’re good with their feet, and well, that’s about it. Bad actors who are actors just don’t get jobs.
Ronaldo is not known as a sneaky performer but as someone who always falls down. Does that just make him clumsy?
And most irksome to me, by diving, you are playing to expect the referee to direct important outcomes of a game through mistakes and not through your own abilities. I have a huge issue with that. I will clearly never fully accept this part of soccer.
One More
Just because it’s so comical to watch, here’s one more exceptional dive from one of the greatest: Rinaldo.
Still the tournament has just begun, and if you can get beyond the non-creative and non-musical drone of the vuvuzelas, the skill of these athletes, the aesthetics of the game, and the rarity of pitting country versus country cannot be matched. I’ll be watching. Very closely.
Afterthought
Ultimately, sports usually fall into the classes of those judged, those raced, and those refereed. You don’t always have the simplicity of a clean race. This is just the inventiveness of sport. What are your thoughts on this?
Funny of the day
The BP oil spill is a terrible thing, but if we’re talking about spilling coffee, it’s too funny and, of course, at BP’s expense. Credit: UCB Comedy
by Daniel Wolfe Comments Off on Blogging from 36,000 feet
This US Airways flight from Philadelphia to Orlando is on a brand spankin’ new (well, at least it looks that way) Airbus A321. The interior is beautiful – so 2010-esque, the lighting is targetted and pleasant, the seats comfortable, more legroom, and, best of all – WiFi baby, WiFi!!
The first week of GoGo In-Flight WiFi aboard US Air’s fleet of A321 jets is absolutely FREE to use – that is from June 1st – 8th 2010. After this, it will be about $10 to connect for your flight. Some notes:
– Web browsing speeds are satisfactory.
– Skype connected, but I’m not popular enough to have had any friends online to test with. The “test call” with the Skype system worked like a charm.
– My SIP phone (through Acanac, using X-Lite) disconnected after I heard “Hello?” on the other end of the line – I guess bandwidth isn’t high enough.
– I couldn’t get online in Mac OS X – thank the lord for Bootcamp (I run XP Pro, and it connected on my first attempt)
– For more info, check out US Airways’ WiFi page and GoGo (by Aircell).
Adios from somewhere 36,000 feet over the Carolinas!
Hellmann’s is launching a campaign that is bang on. Our food imports in Canada are growing way too quickly, and that’s not just exotic fruits. We need to do something about this. Ask — where does our food come from? Look… ask… buy Canadian food whenever and wherever possible.
Today, WIND Mobile has finally launched in Vancouver. They held an opening day launch event at their Yaletown store this morning. We at NorthGeek really appreciate having a new player in Canada to offer mobile services to the masses and finally to bring some competition to the stale Rogers, Telus, and Bell. However, it seems there’s still much confusion over what exactly WIND is.
WIND Mobile is NOT:
An MVNO, or Mobile Virtual Network Operator, like Virgin, the major success around the world, and unfortunately a flop (shuffled under the Bell rug) here in Canada. An MVNO piggy-backs on a carrier’s network, is the front facing entity to the customer, but doesn’t own the network themselves. “MVNO” has become a taboo term, especially in Canada, with their spectacular flops (Amp’d in the US).
IS full carrier. WIND Mobile paid $442M for wireless spectrum (as auctioned in 2008) in pockets across Canada, but none in Quebec. They are spending more than that (to date) on network infrastructure (switches, base stations, etc). Oh and they’ll need much more. Building a mobile network in a country as spread apart as Canada is no small task. However, they have the backing of Orascom (global group of telecom companies) WIND affiliates, and other foreign investors (hand-cuffed by Canada’s stifling foreign ownership policy. They paid big money for network gear from Huawei and Alcatel Lucent — unfortunately nothing from Canadian vendors. Boo.
NOT just offering regional, urban coverage. When Fido originally launched as Microcell in 1997, they only had coverage in urban areas. Well, 2010 is very different. Consumers expect coverage everywhere: talk, text, data.
IS full coverage across Canada, however you’re going to pay an additional cost outside of the (current) five zones. They’ll be adding more zones in the coming months/years, and have plans including this “roaming” — you just wouldn’t be advised to get WIND yet if you live outside of those five current zones.
And it was no small feat to get coverage across Canada. Rogers, Telus, and Bell were evidently extremely uncooperative allowing WIND Mobile to share their cell towers (common practice across the industry). In fact, appealing The Big Three on this is a one-by-one incident affair. What a waste of resources. Outside of WIND Mobile zones, customers will roam on Rogers. I believe this is only talk and text, unless your phone supports both WIND’s 3G frequency (1700MHz) and Rogers’ 850MHz.
International roaming is looking good. In the US it’s currently just 25 cents a minute — what a bargain versus Rogers’ robbery of $1.50/minute! Around the globe, it looks pretty similar to anyone else.
NOT an iPhone carrier. Currently the iPhone 3G doesn’t work on WIND’s 3G frequency. You can still use your iPhone on WIND if you’re willing to unlock the phone AND accept EDGE data speeds. iPhone is just not available in 1700MHz (a bane for US’s T-Mobile as well), and don’t hold your breath for that to change.
Will your phone work with WIND? Most phones support multiple bands. For one, it has to be a GSM phone (has a SIM card in it). If it supports 1700 (check the specs), you’ll have 3G (fast data) access, otherwise just talk and text. Get in touch with customer support to find out. They want to hear what phones you want to use.
Android devices will be coming to WIND soon, likely the first from Huawei. Maybe even the HTC EVO? There are two Blackberries in the current lineup.
NOT just another Canadian mobile carrier, we hope. WIND is trying to promote value and transparency. That is their shtick. It’s no gimmick, but is certainly missing in Canada.
IS going to fight hard to make inroads into the market. Some might say they’re even desperate. They’re offering a $150 porting bonus (check for details, this deal is on the down-low), 6 month half price on your plan, no contracts yet discounted phones, and plan prices to compete. There are no contracts, so these are big gambles. The cost per new subscriber is quite high in the wireless business. WIND’s could be even higher.
Is it sustainable? For one, today they were offering $1 hot dogs on the street. Did you get one or ten?
WIND Mobile selling $1 hot dogs at their Vancouver launch
IS… Even if WIND fails, it will have a significant effect on the current Canadian market. Rogers copied them with their Redboard — an online forum for Rogers customers to communicate with the marketing folks and vice versa (well, they listen and reply, but don’t really do anything).
CONCLUSION
Canada needs this. Canadian mobile consumers desperately need something fresh. Rogers, Bell, and Telus have dragged their asses for too long. I want to support WIND (and Moblicity and Videotron and any other upstart) for that simple reason. And it’s going to cost WIND a whole lotta dough to get mindshare and understanding in Canada. Bring on the marketing team!
Are you out of a contract? Consider joining them. I would, but alas I’m one of the suckers who signed with Fido for 3 years just to get the iPhone, that being my first mobile phone contract ever. I’m certain I will never do that again. Bring on open Android devices and upstart carriers like WIND.
UPDATE
Here are some other things I really like about WIND and you should like too:
Simple plan choice. Have you ever tried to wade through the Rogers website to figure out your plan?
Fair usage: “If you exceed 5GB of data usage within any given month, we won’t cap your usage but we may slow your speed so that all customers can better share the network.” That’s on the $35/month Infinite data add-on.
Treating pre-paid customers the same as post-paid. Both have access to the same plans. Pre-paid customers are no longer second class citizens.
Update: WIND Mobile has tweeted a correction to our published promotion. Don’t quote us on the deal above, but keep in mind that they are offering some great promotions this early:
by Daniel Wolfe Comments Off on Best World Cup ads of all time?
We’d love to know what World Cup ads (doesn’t matter if they’re for the actual World Cup or just for some big-spending apparel brand, as long as they hold the World Cup theme) you think are the best of all time. We just posted this one – which I, Daniel, think is the greatest. EVER.
Let’s hear your voice! To get you started, here are some more that NorthGeek really enjoyed:
by Daniel Wolfe Comments Off on Nike writes the future – in time for FIFA World Cup 2010
This is a bold statement, but I’m going to go on record and say this is the single greatest ad I have ever seen – and just in time for FIFA World Cup 2010 in South Africa. Special thanks to my friend Ariel for the heads-up. Wow.
Here are two videos that Google put together to officially introduce a couple of their announcements to the world. The first is for Google TV, and the second is for their mobile operating systems’s latest iteration, Android 2.2 (Froyo). My thoughts follow the videos. Enjoy!
This, while very cool and exciting at first glance, isn’t exactly anything BRAND NEW. Maybe this will be the first web-connected TV initiative to be adopted buy the masses, as it’s being backed by some little company called Google – but it certainly isn’t the first and only device (or service) of its kind. Have a quick Google search session (ironic? What other search engine do you use) for Popcorn Hour, Western Digital HDTV, MythTV, TViX, Apple TV, and… dare I say, Playstation 3. Oh, and there’s Windows Media Center PC’s – I know, you’re all yelling at me. But, if you want a TRUE home theater experience, then you’re going to need to support the real players in the game – and they all support Microsoft’s MCPC OS.
This is very exciting – although I’d be much happier if 2.2 was released yesterday, as opposed to just announced. We all sort of knew all the specs Froyo was going to be boasting. 2-5 times faster overall performance, WiFi hotspot-in-a-box, etc – and some things we assume but they didn’t mention, like Flash support. What about my battery? Will it make my Nexus One battery last longer than 4 hours? Pretty please?
