Lexus - bringing press to life with an app

                                          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=640v8yBcXg8

Interesting example of using an app to bring a press ad to life. This recognises the increasing use of apps and the need to make press ads work harder through technology.

This week at Haygarth

A quick view on what we've been discussing:

How can brands uses social media conversation to dispel myths, inject personality, create new 'advertising

Brands respond...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bpy75q2DDow

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSd0keSj2W8

How can brands leverage events and memes?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFU774q6eVM&feature=player_embedded

What we can learn from the Olympics

Interesting article from e consultancy - I think this gives us a view on channel selection for experience activity:
http://econsultancy.com/uk/blog/10871-60-fascinating-digital-stats-from-the-london-2012-olympics

Possible conclusions:

• Mobile not great for ads or sales but important to web visits and page views per visit
• Facebook was the top traffic referral source after search but interaction huge across Twitter

60% of web visits came from mobile devices. 

On weekdays 35% of visits came from mobile users, but this increased to more than 50% on weekends.

Average page views per visit (PPV) was 8.26
On the smartphone app the average PPV was 23 while on the tablet app it was 29

Two thirds (66%) of traffic to the site came from search. SEO campaign required

Roughly for every 6 unique visitors to your website to 1 app download 

 1.9m Twitter followers  / received 150m tweets 

43% of Facebook users were aged under 24

818,000 Google+ followers

100,764 Foursquare check-ins

The official London Olympics online shop received 1.4m unique visitors with an order volume well into six figures. 5% of orders came from mobile devices.

•  ran 17 online campaigns during the Games, which achieved 5.9bn ad impressions.
• Website CTRs were as high as 0.18%, while average the CTR on the mobile site and apps was 0.3% and 0.56% respectively.

Social Media Fashion Week

Recently visited the Social Media Fashion Week hosted by Engine.

Here is a pic of how much coffee I consumed...

and with that here are some mind fizzing ideas which we will debate at length internally. This top 10 is not fact but interesting to have a chat about :)

1. Social media allows for faster adoption where the best things become viral and everything else becomes lost. The churn of images and the over exposure of creativity isn’t a bad thing as fashion becomes entertainment but you must become the best entertainer.
2. The democratisation of social media is an illusion. The designer or creative leads. The consumer merely uses social media and aren’t the publishers we think they are.
3. Social media is enabling the death of the retailer as brands can engage consumers and drive to their ecommerce.
4. Your community should act as your customer service where possible. They are a lot more powerful
5. Things that are aspirational are consumer hostile. You cannot be accessible and aspirational
6. Conversion online is 3% and offline its 60% and social media has failed to improve conversion. Reviews improve upon the online offering but aren’t a solution for offline. Luxury fashion will always live in the bricks and mortar.
7. Your customer cherishes the exclusive and some brands have ruined product in the minds of the consumer through their openness.
8. Social media isn’t about ROI and isn’t scalable but is a tool to co create.
9. Be brave  - consider mobile only content.
10. Deliver emotion  - that is all you need to do J

Brands and services to check out that got signposted in some of the talks:

• Fashion Daily from Asos  - mobile only!
• Topshop – Instagram in store / social sharing opps in store
• Thre.ad –check it out / download the app 
• http://editd.com/ - stats on all things fashion

AR Band Aid Magic Vision

This feels like an example where the technology really solves a problem. When your kid is most freaked out you can chuck them your smartphone and tears turn into laughter, well hopefully.

Band Aid Magic Vision!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FE2I6G2_ogk

Interesting but is this the next step for online grocery?

Above is a concept for a 3D online Tesco store. However, when you think about the needs of an online consumer and the barriers to purchase you don't jump to a 3D store solution. Click to buy, improved intuitive nav, high res photography and flexible delivery have all helped grow the online grocer market. Shopping in 3D where you can make the physical gesture to pick an item at home just seems a bit weird. Supermarkets should look to further break down the barriers of shopping online  - delivery charges, times, substitutions, exclusive offers, loyalty schemes etc. Furthermore, technology should look to reduce friction in a buying process over enhancing experience. This is why I believe NFC, time saving apps and aggregators  are generally adopted more readily than new tech like AR or 3D. 

Digital Retail Innovation

Here are some examples of digital retail innovation.It’s quite easy to think how these examples can bridge to social platforms or live on multiple devices.

Starhub Music online: musical Fitting Rooms  - RFID tags were put on clothes which triggered music in the fitting rooms

Fujifilm – using 3d printing to create personal products. 

Unilever Ice Cream Machine - Vending machine that can tell if you’re smiling and when you do it gives you an ice cream http://www.psfk.com/2010/06/unilevers-smile-activated-ice-cream-machine.html#ixzz258bON2FG

Diesel Cam - Interactive installation at Diesel Stores in Spain, being the first store that allows users to share the moment of buying and trying garments on their Facebook profiles from the store. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_P-zA90yI64

Highlights - Crowd sourced location based recommendation app.

Uniqlo Happy Machine  - Online and in store the happy machine drives users to check what item is on offer that day. http://www.biglight.co.uk/Uniqlo2/happymachine.html

Netplenish - Aggregates best prices so customers feel empowered and knowledgable when they shop. Reduces the need to shop around and research.

Goertz - German shoe retailer Goertz installed virtual stores in public places like train stations. Using Microsoft Kinect and a giant screen, people were able to ‘try on’ their collection with augmented reality. 

“I Butterfly”, an app that incorporates augmented reality, motion sensor, global positioning system and location based services. See butterflies through your screen and catch them. Use butterfliers as coupons.

Adidas Adiverse – interactive wall in store

Needle – this could work in store too as an added layer to the experience. Connects existing customers and shoppers via live chat. If you go to the retailer website you can chat to customers who can really help you unlike customer sales people. http://needle.com/needle_skullcandy_social_selling_casestudy.html

Oliver Sweeney - Pop up store where people can personalise their shoes. You can see how they could build an app and site that allows for sharing and personalisation which then translates in store to purchase of a personalised product.

Buyapowa  - Buy products together and the price lowers. Would be cool to see this real time with friends. I have seen this in bars where if you order an unpopular drink it is cheaper – like a stock exchange for products.

Oxfam Shelf life - Every product tells a story. When you scan the QR code you are provided information as to the charity story.

Ushuaia Hotel  - Pay using touch

Peugeot site using parallax

Keep scrolling to reveal the story
http://graphicnovel-hybrid4.peugeot.com/start.html

Everything you need to know about the Social Web

Facebook

The value in Facebook is through on going conversation with a small audience. Use this audience to sample, drive traffic and share messages. By increasing the weight and affinity of posts brands can reach more people and depend less on advertising to drive traffic to their page. Apps can provide added functionality if needed. Look to media agencies to provide a strategy of driving likes and ensure investment is made on community management to inject the right personality on the platform. 

The ROI on this is difficult to measure so use initiatives that make use of the audience like sampling, feedback on products, NPD launch support and retail links. Most people are on Facebook but only 20% go on to interact with brands so partnership with Facebook and using the platform to improve service can be more effective than relying on consumers to come to you to engage or using the platform for awareness.

Twitter

Whereas Facebook is for connecting with people you know Twitter is for connecting with people you don't. It is a more mobile platform with 10m active mobile users in the UK and dominated by the media, celebrity and marketing types. It is used best by brands when they leverage times of heightened media attention e.g. London riots, Olympics, phone hacking scandal, elections etc. Brands do not get the same sort of traction as people but promoted tweets, easily implementable campaigns and the leveraging of influencers can be effective.

Pinterest

A site where users endorse and recommend images or products they have found, and also where they go to look for inspiration. There are about 200k users in UK / largely a female audience. The audience is shrinking currently but the site can still be effective in documenting events or showing off your new catalogue.

What about the rest?

The opportunity for social is platforms that allow sharing amongst like minded people. So the most social platforms with the greatest reach can be effective but then we must look at where the strongest influencers are for your brand and how your conversations can stand out and have an effect on consumer purchase behaviour.