Mad Men 360: Augmented Reality Breaks New Ground in Advertising

By Ron Callari

Mobile Advertising will set some new ground rules that will differentiate it from traditional ads in other mediums. Brands and advertising agencies are in development now to determine how to engage and target audiences to interact with a product or service using augmented reality overlays. Experience dating back to the Mad Men of the 1960s has shown that engagement moves the consumer from idea and awareness to familiarity and sale. Augmented Reality aids that process in ways not thought of, even a few years ago.

Working with mobile devices, augmented reality is used to overlay information markers from the virtual world onto real-life images. For example, street scenes can be enhanced where augmented reality applications apply overlaid context, images and/or videos relating to a business establishment’s pricing and promotions.

Augmented reality is a valuable adjunct to any type of marketing campaign.  However it hasn’t reached critical mass yet in terms of how many users can and will use it when it’s made available. This year, marketers will be looking closer at integrating AR to move their marketing message(s) forward. While there are presently no ad agencies that devote themselves solely to mobile augmented reality advertising, there are several new firms, consulting groups and brands that are experimenting within this space.

Tina Whitfield, CEO of EquisGlobal is one of the new breed of marketing firms testing the waters in this new arena. Her company is described as “a flexible organization that easily plays a ground game, gets dirty, goes guerilla, and drives impressive consumer acquisition numbers.” In a recent EConsultancy article titled Augmented Reality for Mobile Advertising, she espouses the need for augmented reality to reach beyond the ‘cool factor’ to become a ‘pleasant experience” in motivating new users.
In a recent interview with Whitfield, she talks about a dichotomy as to what software engineers are focused on versus ad agencies. “Creative agencies are trying to dance their way through technology and technology agencies are trying to sing their way through the science of branding,” she notes.

She asserts that mobile marketers need to embrace, hire, and learn from engineering and product management talent that are working on mobile handset development. “The data is there - tons of it - on how users like to engage with the mobile screen.  You don’t spend hundreds of millions of dollars developing a single handset without due diligence,” she says.

With such a small viewing screen, it would seem that smartphones aren’t the most ideal medium to view augmented reality ads. Whitfield disagrees. “Users who just want to see the world through that screen” might find the AR data feeds and overlays as clutter, but those who are seeking out data fields “find value in AR mobile advertising to assist them in finding restaurants, bars, emergency rooms and other types of facilities,” she says.

Users’ experiences vary, “but clutter is the result of the brand not standing out in proper balance to the scenery.” notes Whitfield. Too many, ads dropped into a street scene can be a turn-off and she emphasizes that, “most app developers wouldn’t allow this to happen, nor would most brand marketers.”

5th Finger is a firm that helps brands navigate the diverse technologies in the mobile space. When CEO, Patrick Collins compares AR ads to traditional online ads, he sees them having “less clutter.”  “On the web, most people are attuned to shutting out the clutter of ads around their content. The experience is newer and more engaging on the smartphone and so click-thru rates tend to be an order of magnitude higher with mobile advertising when compared to online advertising,” he asserts.

With the new tablets soon to be released to the public, perhaps the larger screens these devices offer will overcome the small viewing screen hurdle. While Apple’s new iPad will not include a camera, the HP Tablet and the Dell Mini 5 (with a screen slightly larger than and iPhone) might be the answer. While Whitfield dismisses this option due to the weight of these devices being too cumbersome, Christopher Barger, director of global social media for General Motors says “larger viewing screens are definitely a great feature of tablets and they certainly set the stage for a second application renaissance and plenty of opportunities for Chevy products.”

Barger believes augmented reality mobile advertising is another avenue to support brand awareness versus creating a cause-and-effect sales transaction.  He points to the example of cars being a consumer’s ’second largest purchase decision in life.’ While mobile augmented advertising will not sell the vehicle outright, it will “continue to shape the brand’s image in conjunction with wider advertising, marketing and PR initiatives,” says Barger.

Barger’s team recently launched a mobile augmented reality campaign titled, ‘Chevy iReveal.’ It was inspired by location-app games like Foursquare, one of the current location-based social networks. GM’s marketing initiative promotes a virtual treasure hunt for consumers to unlock GPS-coordinates of hidden vehicles in cities across the U.S.

When the user is in the immediate vicinity of a vehicle, the ‘virtual’ car will be revealed and appear in the real world setting. Once unlocked, it may be a Camaro in Times Square, or a Volt in front of Mann’s Chinese Theatre.

The incentive to keep using the app, is the ’surprise factor’ relating to the updates GM will be adding with each new vehicle they include in the program, as well as new functionality that will offer users the opportunity to view ‘interiors’ and hear new ’sound effects.’

The Beta version of this mobile app will debut at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Festival in Austin, Texas beginning March 12. GM will incorporate learnings from the Beta and enhance the application, releasing the full application in Detroit, New York and Los Angeles in April. New vehicles and new locations will be added subsequently throughout 2010. Updates will be posted to Facebook.com/Chevrolet.
The Chevy iReveal initiative is similar to an AR Ad campaign launched by Ikea in 2009, where their AR ‘Portable Interior Planner’ application gave customers the ability to see exactly how Ikea furniture could look in their homes prior to a purchase. Designed by the advertising firm of Ogilvy in partnership with the development group Mindmatic, photos of a room in one’s home taken by a smartphone merge with the app to insert the ‘un-purchased’ furniture into the room.  In this case, a clock was placed into a potential consumer’s living room.

Since AR mobile advertising is a relatively new marketing technique, there has not been a lot of tracking or analysis pertaining to ROI. Collins notes that “to track ROI on early technologies like this is simply too difficult given the early experimentation occurring - no two experiences are the same, so trying to develop standard measurements for them is less useful.”

Barger also feels calculating ROI should not necessarily be the sole objective. App downloads, vehicle awareness, positive branding, app rating reviews, user time spent on the app and positive press about the app are all important components, but these types of campaigns will pay dividends over time, as GM continues to live and engage in this new technology. “This is not a comprehensive, catch-all application for Chevrolet. It is just one (fun) way for Chevy to engage with tomorrow’s car buyers on their own turf,” he says.

In my recent article titled, “Real-Time Augmented Reality: Future or Fantasy?“ it was apparent that the AR language was still under development and at present there was no universal standard code accepted by all developers. Similar to HTML, it will probably take a number of years before a consensus is reached on ARML. However Whitfield did not see this as a hindrance for agencies and brands in using this new technology. “Advertisers should not be picking up ‘AR for Dummies’ to code an app,” she jests. “They need to hire a development shop or developers who are skilled in mobile software development with engineering degrees and expertise in the field to develop their apps and embed the code into the advertising.”

Barger believes it would be easier if “it were standardized to paint all smartphone users with the same brush.” However, with a segmented audience, it forces us to look closely at our core demographic and how to best reach them, no matter what device they are using,” he adds.

For those looking to learn more about AR in mobile advertising, Whitfield suggests attending Cellular Telecommunications Association and Mobile World Congress annual events while both Barger and Collins recommend SXSW that’s held in Austin every March.

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Gaming Consoles: Stop-gap Technology or Mainstay Trend?

By John Greaves

Gaming consoles have enjoyed a unique niche in our culture fueled by a fairly loyal and growing fan base. Now they face challenges to their product offerings on several fronts. Blu-Ray players and set-top boxes continue to compete with consoles for streaming video and television content and OnLive has emerged as a contender in the video game world with partnerships with game developers like Electronic Arts, Take-Two, Ubisoft and Atari.

The advantage game consoles have is a pre-established fan base, one accustomed to the world of online content, Internet streaming and more than stand-alone set top boxes like Vudu can offer. According to blogger Michael Wolf in a 2008 post for eHomeUpgrade, “The price tag for standalone boxes is more than most would pay, especially if they can get similar (if not equal) services through another box like a game console (which also, it goes without saying, plays games and DVDs)”.

According to Netflix vice president of corporate communications, Steve Swasey, his company is aware of the value consoles add industry wide. “There are three jewels to the crown and Netflix is wearing the three jeweled crown with three devices the Xbox 360, the Playstation 3 and we announced that we’ll be available on the Nintendo Wii in the spring. The Wii has sold 22 million units in the U.S. alone. So we are able to reach a lot of subscribers through these consoles alone.” This adds a lot of value for these consumers as Swasey points out that Netflix revolutionized the video rental industry by saving people from going to video stores.

Still it is significant that Netflix is not exclusive to consoles. “The goal here for Netflix is to be ubiquitous on any device to watch movie and TV episodes on. The game consoles are one way for us to reach that level of ubiquity. We also have deals with Blu Ray disc manufacturers and TV manufacturers like LG Electronics and Samsung and then of course stand alone devices like the Roku and TiVo, now we have more than fifty devices which stream instantly from Netflix,” Swasey says.

Add to that the fact that Boxee, arguably one of the fastest-growing software solutions for internet streaming content, doesn’t currently run on any game consoles. Andrew Kippen, vice president of marketing for Boxee, says he doesn’t know what technology issues would have to be addressed to get Boxee on game consoles but they’re interested in working with manufacturers to make it happen.  “We see Boxee as the Android of the living room - software that runs on TVs and any device that connects to them.  With game consoles already sitting underneath millions of TVs - we’d love the opportunity to provide our media experience on them.”

While Kippen acknowledges the attractiveness of the large footprint Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo have, he says Boxee is also watching a newcomer to the space. “I like the idea of something like OnLive as well. If we look at a platform like that, the minimum requirements that Boxee has probably gel pretty nicely with the minimum requirements that that platform has, so I hope one day we can create a Boxee OnLive box. We haven’t had any formal discussions with them but I think it would be a great customer experience to get that kind of all in one box for all of your entertainment.

Rob Green of Imagine Communications says, “I think consumers want the content they want, how they want, where they want it.” So in order to remain relevant it appears that consoles are going to have to do more.

Encouraging news for Sony and Nintendo at least is that Netflix appears open to the idea of coming to the PSP and Nintendo DSi handhelds at some point. “Long term we want to stream on any device you want to watch on,” Swasey says.

This means at least two of the big three can hope to increase the attractiveness of those platforms. Nevertheless, consoles cannot rely on pushing sales across their platforms to save them. As the danger of “box fatigue” grows the resulting push for cross- functional devices means that the race is on to plant flags in prized living room real estate and consoles need to be among those running. Console manufacturers seem to be reacting dynamically to the threat.

Microsoft which was the first gaming company to partner with Netflix, and has planned an IPTV offering since 2007, has announced that Xbox 360 owners in the U.S. will be able to get AT&T’s Uverse offering by this spring. Xbox Live members already have access to Zune, last.fm and social networking through Twitter and Facebook integration. According to blogger Michael Mahoney Microsoft also has a deal with British broadcaster Sky to leverage Xbox to stream live television programs, including sports, TV shows, and movies.

Mahoney says Sony and Nintendo are working with BBC’s iPlayer to provide recent television shows to their consoles. According to Mahoney, “A major benefit of console subscription-based service is it eliminates the need for set-top boxes and satellite dishes, a huge cost-saver for Pay TV operators to deploy, service, and upgrade.”

Another major offensive strategy is gaming consoles’ encouragement of social networking in their fan base. According to a December 17, 2009 Sony press release, “10 million users around the world have visited PlayStation Home to play games, attend special events, watch videos, listen to music, meet new friends, and launch into multiplayer PS3 games — averaging 60 minutes per visit. Over 250 community events have been held in PlayStation Home since its launch, many organized by the PS3 community.”

Sony is sweetening the deal at Playstation Home by giving Playstation 3 version 3.10 users the ability to “easily showcase their game accomplishments to friends and family, and post information about the PS3 games they purchase from PlayStation®Network to Facebook.”

It’s not clear whether these moves will be enough or whether current game consoles will join the Sega Genesis and Commodore 64 as museum artifacts.

Pirates Beware: eBooks Are Not Songs

By Rebecca Henely

For the customers of Lori James, chief operating officer for AllRomanceEbooks.com, the suave, swashbuckling pirate is a favorite literary trope. However, James makes sure to teach her customers that “Not all Pirates are Sexy.”

On the AllRomanceEbooks.com’s website, readers and visitors are invited to sign a petition to fight eBook piracy. The petition has 218 signatures as of this writing. Yet while James is committing herself to fighting the problem, she — and others — are unsure of the scope of eBook piracy.

“I’ve yet to see numbers presented [that] I felt were a true reflection of the scope of the problem in terms of the initial theft or lost sales,” James says. “I know some publishers and authors look at the number of downloads and count those as lost sales, but there are people who will download a book for free just because it’s free and never read it. That doesn’t really represent a lost sale because the person never would have purchased the book.”

Nevertheless, some technical measures have been put into protecting books from being pirated. James states many of the books sold on AllRomanceEbooks.com have some sort of digital rights management encoded in them.

Stephen Cole, managing director for Ebooks Corporation Limited, says that eBooks.com utilizes Adobe’s Content Server system to protect against piracy. “Because of the protection provided by Adobe Content Server, very few books are pirated as a result of people buying an ebook and somehow hacking it,” he says. “There are pirated books out there, but as far as we can see they arise from people scanning or re-keying.”

Cole says Ebooks.com has been working to prevent piracy by offering incentives with eBooks that can’t be pirated. Most pirated books come in a pdf format. While these can be uploaded to popular e-readers like Amazon.com’s Kindle and Barnes and Noble’s Nook (just as Kindle or Nook eBooks can be backed up on a computer as .pdf files), Cole says Ebooks.com’s new reader for the computer The Amigo Reader, will give readers an interactive experience they can’t get from a pirated book, like the ability to share notes with others and a live chat about the book.

“In an age of rampant piracy, it’s important for book publishers to keep adding value to books, which cannot be included in a pirated book. Amigo Reader goes some way toward that goal,” Cole says.

Take-down notices have also been a tool for the distributor. James says this has helped her company, AllRomanceEbooks.com, and has been very successful for book publisher Macmillan, which has been diligent about takedown notices. “A service like this could be especially valuable to small or mid-sized presses who don’t have staff dedicated to this function, so we are considering it,” she says.

Cole states that piracy will continue to be a problem for eBooks, although most likely not on the level of music piracy, as most eBooks are copy-protected. “Books are not songs,” he says. “When the Internet happened, there were 2 billion people out there in possession of CDs that had unencrypted, easily copied music on them. In effect, everyone who owns a CD and a PC, even an untutored technophobe, is a couple of clicks away from forwarding a song to their 500 best friends. This is not the case with eBooks.”

Yet James states when it comes to pirates, there are two types: “those [who] can perhaps be persuaded not to [pirate] and those who can’t.” She says the best way to prevent piracy is offering eBooks at legitimate sources and combating illegitimate ones. ”I firmly believe that the vast majority of our customers and readers are honest people,” James says. “They understand piracy is stealing and they understand that re-distribution of content contributes to the erosion of an industry that brings them countless hours of joy and entertainment.”

To Tether or Not To Tether: Is it Even a Question Anymore?

By Alan Smodic

Tethering your mobile device, in the current format, could be completely gone within the next couple years, according to one mobile device analyst.

Jeff Orr, a senior analyst of mobile devices for ABI Research, believes that current form, which is connecting a smartphone to another device (typically a laptop computer) to use its data services as a modem, will cease to exist mainly because of convenience.

“For one, it’s convenience and mobility,” he says. “People don’t want to be tied down by cords. That won’t always work.”

Orr’s vision one day sees service providers, such as AT&T or Verizon, opening up data plans that will allow connectivity between multiple devices. He compares it to a family plan of calling minutes usage - only with this plan the family is all your mobile devices accessing the same pool of data minutes.

This revelation rests more on simple progression than the threat of more 3G/Wi-Fi-bundled devices such as e-readers or the Apple iPad expunging the use of tethering.

Currently, mobile consumers are able to use most smartphones to tether with another device. For example, a USB cord can connect your BlackBerry and laptop to allow you to access the Internet through your BlackBerry’s data plan.

Service providers, however, are quick to want in on the data action and usually charge an extra fee to access this. Workaround programs such as  HYPERLINK “http://tether.com/”Tether (which boasts a BlackBerry and Android app), though, exist to offer you these opportunities without going through your provider. On its end, it just sees data being used but not necessarily how.

This option has felt a major push since Tether created its BlackBerry app in March 2009.

“More than 60,000 customers in 114 countries use Tether to connect their laptops to their smartphones, ensuring a fast and affordable tethering option anywhere they have cellphone coverage,” says Tim Burke, Tether’s director of development.

Some newer devices, like that of Apple’s iPad or 3G-bundled netbooks, will carry their own accessibility to wireless data networks in addition to Wi-Fi. To those devices, tethering would be unneeded, but that’s where Orr’s vision comes into play.

He, along with many consumers, see no reason why someone who is already paying for an iPhone data plan from AT&T couldn’t use that same data for their iPad (or other devices), rather than adding on another fee.

One possibility could be that of better data plans with a small device that could be used as a hub that would allow for instant data access for a user’s mobile devices. It’d be wirelessly tethering to each device with one-click access.

But that’s just one possibility and is by no means the correct answer. Orr says the industry just isn’t quite there yet to open up the data usage, but that it’s close. Whatever the solution may ultimately be, it’ll need to cater to the consumer.

“The solution will need to be convenient, but at a price point that won’t scare people away,” Orr says. “People don’t want to be paying another $60 a month every time they get a new mobile computing device.

“So what will these providers do to encourage me to get all of these devices connected?”

As more devices are added to everyday use - from mobile phone to iPad and laptop computer - the need for constant connectivity will continue to rise, especially for the mobile worker.

For now, tethering (through Bluetooth or USB) remains the best choice. But advanced options will be desired and consumers won’t want to pay too much of a premium. It’ll be up to the providers to make all this happen in a reasonable fashion.

And Orr expects consumers to experience this type of data evolution within two years. “Those problems of combining capabilities are being addressed right now by the providers,” he says. “Tethering is a challenge, but they recognize the market needs to evolve.”

Desktop in Your Pocket: Citrix’s Nirvana Phone

By Sheila Shayon

Nirvana has arrived on your smart phone. Citrix Systems, Inc., a leading provider of virtualization, networking and software-as-a-service (SaaS) technologies, recently unveiled its nirvana phone. You can leave your laptop at home or at the office, and use your smartphone for full access to your main system - just plug in full-size peripherals and have access - not to pared-down mobilized apps, but the full nirvana.

A mobile worker simply docks his or her smart phone and enjoys the full functionality of a desktop PC. “The paradigm shift is adding video out functionality, and a large screen and keyboard. Previous attempts to make smaller PCs or handsets failed, as they were too big, too heavy and too expensive,” says Chris Fleck, VP of community and solutions development. Nirvana enables computing locally, with a small form factor and compatibility envelope.”

Citrix’s nirvana phone is a critical advance in the convergence of mobile devices and cloud computing. Its reference architecture comes from a partnership with OK Labs and several ecosystem partners including semiconductor suppliers, handset OEMs, enterprise IT suppliers and mobile network operators (MNOs).

OK Labs, the global leader in virtualization software for mobile devices, consumer electronics and embedded systems, is backed by the largest independent team of microkernel developers, and OKL4 is deployed on more than 500 million mobile phones worldwide.

The architecture leverages Mobile-to-Enterprise (M2E) virtualization, cloud computing and wireless connectivity (3G, WiFi, Bluetooth). It includes emerging functionality in mobile chipsets and handsets such as full video resolution and HD output.

According to Citrix, first adopters include:

• Power Users: people who work from several locations, using fewer devices
• Road Warriors: travel without your laptop and deliver presentations easily
• ER Heroes: quickly plug into a display anywhere in the hospital
• Selective Shoppers: BYOD (Bring Your Own Device)
• Roaming Consultants: select a cubicle, dock and work.

Although first adopters are primarily IT and mobile workers, the nirvana phone applies equally to consumers. “Instead of connecting through a company cloud, you can be at work and connect remotely to your PC at home. You can use it with your HDTV living room display; it works with digital picture frames. Most hotels have in-room flat panel displays, and guest business offices - all are compatible with the nirvana phone,” Fleck says. “Movies may be one of the first built-in capabilities for the consumer.”

According to Citrix research, 70 percent of people would prefer to leave their laptops at home when traveling. Nirvana phones, dubbed a “virtual desktop in your pocket,” use mobile virtualization to deliver the “full productivity experience” from any location with wireless coverage.

Citrix is in talks with all the major carriers, Fleck says. “We don’t take sides. We are device agnostic and connection enablers.” Asked about the name, Fleck says, “We looked at the current limitations of smartphones, and looked at what the ideal phone could be - taking it beyond what is, to nirvana - right in your pocket or your purse.”

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