"It's a participatory activity, not purely consumption."

(Good sound byte from Kevin Systrom)

More than 800,000 photos were marked #Sandy on Instagram. Extraordinary. Sandy was the largest event to take place and be captured on Instagram. It was maybe the largest event captured, ever.  In contrast, the 2012 Super Bowl garnered just 85,000 photos with a #Superbowl hashtag. 

"That means people were not only interested in it, but they were documenting it," Systrom says, adding that the hurricane illuminated shifting tides within social media. "It's a participatory activity, not purely consumption."

800,000 photos??? Who said you should never bet on a hurricane. And there's nothing like a Black Swan with some serious wind beneath its wings, to force a step change in social culture. 

The frighteningly common response to corporate 'change' in Dubai

"if I bury my head deep enough, maybe it will all just go away"

Augmented Reality | What's the story? (part 1)

There's a lot chatter about Augmented Reality at the moment. But what exactly is this enchanting new technology, that a recent a Juniper Research report suggested will yield annual revenues of $732million by 2014? 

How does it work? 

Does it have a real future and how can you begin to explore it for your brand? 

Read on…

What is it?

Like all new communication tech platforms, early adopters tend to get carried away and too technical with their lofty descriptions. So for the purpose of clarity,  let's define Augmented Reality simply as: 'the process of overlaying digital content onto a real life, physical environment, when viewed through camera enabled communication devices (CECD) : laptop, tablets and of course, smartphones.

How does it work?

There's 3 basic elements to an AR experience:

1. The Real Life Physical (RPE) environment: This is wherever you're standing in the world, and what ever you are looking at through your CECD. This could be a press or magazine ad, a building, a car, a sign, a person or even just a random 'space'. It doesn't matter, it can all be brought too life.

2. The Trigger: This is the 'agent' that talks to the application software and instructs it to pull the relevant content from the Cloud or Server, and place it over the RPE  in whatever way it has been created. The Trigger traditionally took the form of a Marker; a unique black and white shape that can be easily identified by the camera. However more recently, and more frequently, GPS and GPRS coordinates are being used as The Triggers. This development is behind the AR's quantum leap, from adolescence, to alpha-adult.

3. The Digital Content: This is the content that gets overlaid onto to RPE, and so 'augmenting' it as an experience. This content ranges in complexity from animated text, still photography and video files, through to 3D animated graphics, and interactive 3D content. 

Where is it being used?

The question should perhaps be, 'where isn't it being used?'. Such is its versatility. AR is predominantly a marketing and communications tool; used at POS, direct marketing, collateral, events, exhibitions, presentations and increasingly to add a new level of engagement in advertising. 

Yet with exciting frequency, the technology is now being franchised to improve and solve much more diverse problems such as customer service, out of home sampling (see virtual shopping video), out of store trial, gaming, travel and tourism services (see Olympic navigator video) and perhaps most important of all, medicine and health care. 

The more the businesses and brands start to understand how to use the AR formula, the more we are going to see its presence in all areas of our lives

Why is it being used?

The million dollar question. The why? In it's early days, AR solved the challenge of delivering a fresh and seemingly break thru experience to consumers. It didn't need to be clever or solve a real problem. The magic was in the newness. But as the tech curve starts to flatten out, that space has shrunk, requiring those committed to using AR to adopt a much more creative and strategic approach. 

Having created several AR projects over the last 2 years, I've always worked very closely in the planning stage with my clients to ensure the solution achieves at least one of the following:

1. solves a problem of complexity for the brand or for the consumer: (see the lego video)

2. solves a problem of scale: (see the Alstom video below)

3. Make the impossible, possible: (the Nat Geo video)

4. Stimulates a point of sale motivation in a way that no other media can (see the the Tissot/Selfridges video)

5. Makes a 2D communication experience 'genuinely' more engaging and impactful (see the Audi example)

Not forgetting of course, that any AR solution should always be built around the central themes of your brand, in 'ALL' its aspects. There's nothing more frustrating than seeing a clever AR idea that has little relevance to the brand. We call that the jelly at the party syndrome: it might look nice, but no-one ever touches it.

Here's some examples to help illustrate the 5 drivers:

1) Lego: Genius POS application that answers 1, 4 and 5. 

2)  Alstom: Remains one of the most epic examples of AR, especially it's example of smashing through the scale barrier!



3) The famous National Geo. Some might argue that this is not pure AR, but I disagree. It's magical, enchanting, and certainly makes the impossible, possible.



4) Tissot and the virtual sampling window. Add a whole new layer to out of hours shopping and competitor free trial.



5) Always ahead of the game, VW prove how much 'more' a press ad can become with AR. 



6) Calling all retailers...the potential of this needs no explanation!

7) Clever navigation app for the Olympics. For travel and tourism in general, the possibilities are phenomenal




Part 2 coming soon to address:

1) price vs value
2) creative development and planning tips 
3) The future of AR and why you need to be exploring it now 

To make sure you don't miss the follow up article, why not subscribe to our blog now, at the top right hand corner of the page.

C73 provides complimentary AR consultancy and planning sessions. If you'd like to talk to us and a get a more intimate low down of this technology and how it can be applied to your brand, then we're here to help. Contact us here.

To subscribe to The Stream, the C73 newsletter, and regularly receive free advice, tips  and ideas to keep your brand and digital comm's at the edge of the curve, click here

A note on getting back to the basics of Persuasion

The ubiquity of the social web and the transformation of internet access is, and will continue to have an immeasurable impact on the way we live and work. 

Of course, we all know that…

But whilst reflecting over the weekend on how to keep abreast of it all, it occurred to me that while I'm investing all this time in staying on top of the channels and how to use them, am I not overlooking the other, and perhaps more productive aspect of what influences, persuades and motivates us (consumers) all to use these channels in the first place?

As digital marketers, our job is to connect customers and brands, with mutual benefits (broadly speaking). But whether that's through optimizing content for discovery through search, social influence or awareness through media isn't as important anymore, as knowing the difference between the vehicle and the outcome. And the 'why'?  

What brands are in need of most today, is greater understanding of the persuasion and motivations behind social technology adoption, knowledge transfer, community behavior and collaboration. We can be tactical and scientific about SEO signals, social technologies or information distribution platforms but in the end isn't it an understanding of our customers and what influences them that helps most with the process of persuading them to do what we want them to do?

A lot of channel specific marketers over-focus on how communication platforms work vs how customers understand those platforms, or even why they use them. Whether we're reacting to customers, anticipating their needs or leading them - an understanding of what persuades them is essential, to the point of perhaps being more important. Especially today, where choice anxiety and the balance of power makes share of mind, heart and wallet much harder to attain.

So, despite looking for keywords and social platforms being used, shouldn't we also wonder why a customer uses search/social/apps etc..and what influences them to use both and in what situations? And what kind of content is most persuasive and in what contexts?

All these curiosities can be summarized in 2 questions (that I am currently developing a consulting tool around)

1) "How can brands better understand the influences that motivate customers to act in the digital and social space? 

2) "What content and signals of credibility do we need to create, when and why?"

The short hand to this solution is simply to approach each and every digital marketing opportunity, challenge or campaign by asking 6 power questions about the customer groups, (note, any brand communication adventure must fundamentally start with clearly grouping the source of your success…..the customers) within the context of the task.

These questions are:

1) what do they currently belive to be true?

2) what are their objections to doing what you'll be persuading them to do?

3) what/who are their primary influences?

4) what motivates their behavior?

5) what outcomes are most attractive to them?

6) what would limit acceptance of your intended persuasion?

Profiling the information that comes from this, together with creatively translating it into a digital content plan can then be easily transformed into a holistic approach involving a mix of paid, owned, earned and shared media. 

Better still, finding 'stories' that represent examples of your customer segments that have made the transition from the old to the new, desired behaviors and outcomes is a powerful starting point. Making sure the narrative follows the classic sales technique of empathizing with the current situation - or pain points as I like to call them -  reassurance that the new behavior will make things better; provide practical steps to overcoming the pain, as well as clear steps to making the changes. 

Once this type of content and narrative is agreed, the format of the content should then match what media you know the customer is using and wants. In other words, we flip back to what we already do vey well. The 'how' and 'what'. 

Of course then there's the amplification. Whenever there's 'content', there's a need to Optimize and Socialize to facilitate the attraction, engagement and sharing. So make sure you map out how content will move customers through attraction to achieved persuasion via:

discovery

engagement

comprehension

internalization

enhancement

engagement

conclusion

sharing

In summary, there seems to be a big opportunity right now to bring insight and brand story telling into digital and social media marketing.  I believe that by digging more into 'why' customers are motivated and influenced as well as  'why' they use search and social technologies, will significantly help digital marketers and brand owners to better understand how to use content and persuasive storytelling to attract, engage and inspire customers to buy.

For now, be well.

C73 is a brand communication consultancy, specializing at the convergence of traditional and digital media. We make it our business to keep you up to date with the media, content and communication essentials you 'should' be thinking about in todays multi channel world. 

Sign up for the newsletter - The Stream - and keep on top of all the news, tips and advice

The Innocent Folly of Positive Thinking

The other night I chanced across a video on Youtube, featuring a very erudite and articulate scientist called Bruce Lipton. Normally one watches this type of content, get's mildly inspired but then quickly forgets the information as they click off down another digital rabbit hole.

But on this occasion, what - or perhaps how - Mr Lipton delivered his spiel, proved very enlightening. So much so that I thought it worth sharing the main points, with the intention of helping people 'get' a very important part of personal and professional self-development. 

The central theme of the good Dr's delivery was Positive Thinking. More specifically, how dangerous -  and a little tragic  - it is that so many people have been swept up by the great PT movement without knowing the full story. Canonised by The Secret and the central tenet to perhaps every form of personal development content, Positive Thinking seems to have defined a large part of the last decade. Yet for many people, myself included, when used as tool to intentionally create/manifest/acquire certain 'things' we want, PT often proves to be the proverbial chocolate fire guard. 

Before I break down Mr Lipton's explanation of this, let me affirm that I'm all for PT, and am in no way mocking it. It's actually common sense that one should spend his days thinking good, positive things. Especially when working towards a goal or intentional acquisition. But the disappointment and frustration arises when we use it in isolation, and expect the skies to rain money (cars, houses, careers etc..) on us. 

So, here's the rub on why positive thinking is not enough to create the things you want in life, and what we can do really make the changes we want 

// 2 minds are not equal to one //

When we're exercising PT, we're using our mind. Modern physics now proves that those thoughts create energy patterns that affect physics and biology: our inner and outer environment. In other words, it is now scientifically proven and accepted that the world inside and outside of us, at an energy level, moulds around the shape and texture of our thoughts and intentions. 

But there are two parts to the human mind. The conscious and the subconscious. And whilst many people consider these one and the same, the fact is they are two very different entities working on two very, very different levels. 

The conscious mind is what we use to think. Discern. Reason. Choose. Create. Analyse etc. It's what makes us Human. Individual. We are directly connected to it, and can control it at will. Some better than others.  Our subconscious mind however, is quite different. Although it belongs to us, we are only connected to it by association, and in fact it can be most accurately described as a tape player.  

// And this is where it gets very significant //

The subconscious essentially records experience, beliefs and patterns and plays them back, on loop, relentlessly. So we have a thinking mind, and a tape player mind, and the difference is very profound. Firstly, the subconscious is a million times more powerful at processing information than the conscious mind. Second, the subconscious is running our biology 95  - 99% of the time. So regardless of how actively we exercise our conscious mind, its the subconscious that's running the show, 95% of the time. And here's the thing; the subconscious is neither good nor bad. It runs on programs. And its these programs that are either good or bad. It's the programs that this machine is running on that are taking away, or indeed giving, us our behaviours, powers and abilities.

So what is the relevance of this to Positive Thinking?

Positive Thinking is a creative process that comes from the conscious mind . But whilst you're creating and visualising all these wonderful thoughts from the mini processor of the conscious mind, you're competing with the super computer and the programs of the subconscious mind. Which is a million times more powerful, and running the show 95 - 99% of the time!! So if your conscious thoughts and intentions are not supported by equivalent programs in the subconscious mind, which one do you think is going to win?

For example: if you want to have that perfect body and have created HD visualisations and powerful thoughts of you in possession of that body, but your subconscious is running on a program or belief system that doesn't support your ability to active that. It simply isn't going to work. You behaviour will quickly support that program and before you know it you're back where you started, staring down at the scales, laughing back at you.

Now here's the thing; to free up our conscious mind so that we are able to be the creative, pioneering race that we are, the subconscious has learned to run the show automatically. And if we aren't paying attention, which we very rarely are, we don't notice it when the subconscious mind is playing back negative, destructive and counter productive programs to what we are consciously trying to create! Ever met someone who behaves exactly like their parent, although vehemently denies it....there you have it.

So what happens when we do the all the conscious work and PT, and don't get what we want? We blame the outside world. We look for reasons and things 'out there' as the cause, because we miss, or have not been paying attention enough to the fact that its the programs 'in here', being played back by the super computer of the subconscious mind that have been causing us to sabotage and keep us from what we want. 

So once we learn to recognise our self-limiting and self-sabotage programs in the subconscious, we can start to stop blaming 'out there' and start doing the work 'in here' to change those programs, and so start changing our lives.

But here comes the next problem...

Many, if not most of us bought the idea that we can talk to our subconscious mind. That like our conscious mind there is someone directly attached to it; able to listen and reason. Which is where, like PT, the limitations of self-affirmations come in. You can no more have a dialogue with your subconscious (using your conscious mind) than you can stand over a stereo and reason with it to stop playing. The more we try, and oh have I tried in the past, the more frustrated you become, the less confident you are, and the less you believe in your ability to change. And so the sabotage loops on, getting stronger with every fail.

The 'aha...'

There is only one way to manipulate the tape player, and purposely begin to realign your subconscious programming with your conscious PT. And that is, quite simply, to engage it in 'record' mode. 

Knowing how to press record is the absolute basic foundations of intentionally changing our lives. Once we've pressed record and started the reprogramming, PT, self-affirmations and all the other creative conscious manifestation tools we have access to start to work in turbo mode. And you will change your life.

So how do we press record? That's coming next. But if you can't wait and want some immediate help with unearthing your negative programmes, and begin the reprogramming process, we'd standing by to help. 

Click here and drop us a mail, and we'll be in touch to discuss how we can help.

For now. Be Well.

5 tips to keep momentum going during Ramadan

With Ramadan taking out most of the month of August this year, businesses across the region should be mindful of the opportunity the new 4 month clear stretch to year-end represents. And in the same token, be careful not to lose momentum over the next few weeks, especially in their marketing and communications.

Ramadan will end on or around August 22nd/23rd, immediately followed by the Eid break which should see most organisations fully back in the saddle week commencing Sunday 26th. Question is, how fast will you speed out of the gates?

Here's 5 suggestions to keeping the momentum going behind your business and communications during Ramadan; stay ahead of the competition and place your business in good stead to have a killer end to 2012.
 

1. CONTENT // use the time to review, plan and start creating fresh content for your web site and social media channels.  We all realise how important fresh, relevant content is to keeping customers engaged. But in the heat of the day to day, its often the first thing to get left down the agenda. You'd be amazed at how much compelling content there is across your business and media assets. Taking some time next month to both create your content calendar, and prepare the content itself, will mean a) you can remain focused on your core business for the rest of the year, and b) your digital assets will be fresh and engaging during that crucial period.

2. EXPLORE // When was the last time you pulled together a collection of your staff, clients or even suppliers, and simply asked: "how can we be better?".  Open brainstorming and innovation sessions can be wildly enlightening, open up new opportunities for growth and cultivate that vital sense of enthusiasm and creative energy in your business. And don't think your businesses isn't suitable. If you don't ask, and create an environment for this type of thinking you'll never know what opportunities and breath through ideas are waiting to be unearthed. 

Alternatively, why not engage Creative Innovation specialists to give you some fresh perspectives; share new media opportunities and engagement ideas.

3. GET SOCIAL // Use the period to set up, or fine tune and populate your social media platforms. Despite its continued growth and dominance, it's amazing how frequently I still hear comments like "it's irrelevant for my business" or "it's simply not worth the time".  Granted, for certain industry sectors the fit might feel uncomfortable, and measuring return on any social activity is neigh on impossible. But what many businesses fail to understand is that an effective social media strategy is equally about reputation, search engine optimisation and credibility as it is about awareness, engagement and value exchange.

4. REVIEW THEIR JOURNEY // Use the time to zoom out and put yourself in your customers shoes. Map out and understand the journey they're taking to do business with you, and how you can better serve their needs; before, during and after they're with you. Then recalibrate accordingly to ensure it's as easy, convenient and positive experience as possible. They'll notice. Appreciate it. And pay the love back in loyalty.

5. LOVE YOUR PEOPLE // It doesn't need to be said really, but your business is your people. Take the time check-in on your staff next month (NB not check up!). Create an open forum to measure sentiment, motivation and commitment. Make sure they're happy, inspired and all working towards the goal and mission of the business.

If necessary, use the time to bring in training experts to assist in improving sales and presentation skills, goal setting, productivity and other performance metrics. Investing in your people is priceless.  Especially before a crucial season, like Q4 in the UAE!

See you at the starting line....

C73 is in an independent brand communication consultancy. We make it our business to keep our clients up to speed with the latest trends in marketing and communication; take advantage of new media opportunities and keep innovating to stay one step ahead of the competition.

www.confluence73.com 

Christian@confluence73.com

Dubai 3.0. Inspiring production.

Dubai III timelapse from Richard Bentley on Vimeo.

This Dubai timelapse represents over 20,000 still images taken over 3 weeks at night during May 2012. I wanted to bring things full circle with this 3rd in my 'trilogy' of Dubai.

The music was composed especially for this timelapse by Athar Saeed. Please do him the honour of listening with the sound up on some really good speakers! https://vimeo.com/atharsaeedmusic the music really is half of the story here...

I also owe a great debt of gratitude to Sebastian Opitz, an amazing photographer based in Dubai. He was generous with his time and local knowledge and was able to get me to some really great locations. See his work at: www.ablazewithlight.com

I set myself a challenge with this new timelapse (well, a few actually):

-Build a pc from the ground up to edit it on
-Learn some new software
-Follow a completely RAW workflow
-Upgrade my camera from 7D to 5D mkII

Equipment list:
-Canon 5DmkII
-24mm 1.4LII
-14mm 2.8LII
-Several litres of water walking the streets every night!

Software:
-Adobe Lightroom
-Adobe After Effects
-LRTimelapse
-Avid Symphony
-Adobe Media Encoder

Many thanks for watching,
Richard.

PS. Content is copyright Richard Bentley (this means no re-uploading to youtube etc please).