It’s the biggest football game of the year and the Giants are up 9 to 0; it’s Super Bowl XLVI. Before another play can be made it’s time for a commercial break. At this point Verizon, Bud Light, Hyundai and Pizza Hut have all made their debuts. Then comes an unexpected spot from Best Buy. No A-list celebrity and no tech forced futuristic theme, it’s simple. To showcase their wide array of smart phones, Best Buy went to its agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky (CP&B) to create “Innovators”. The 22 year old fully integrated ad agency decided to depart from the Bieber and Ozzie ad that it made for the 2011 Super Bowl and designed one that would take apart the smartphone and show the innovators behind its every piece.
From the camera phone (Philippe Kahn), text message (Neil Papworth, thank you!), Shazam (Chris Barton and Avery Wang), Instagram (Kevin Systrom), and a few others you get to put a face to your favorite technology. If it wasn’t for these guys, we’d still be using a rotary phone, sending letters, and using a slide projector to show pictures. Although the spot carries a sufficient degree of seriousness, the “Friends with Words” portion is just the right amount of humor to lighten up the commercial. And if you think all Best Buy and CP&B were going to do was a make a 30 second commercial, think again. To get you closer to the innovators, they created video biographies of each innovator. You get to see why they created the technology, what they wanted to be growing up, and the other bits of info that made them successful. I love the commercial and the extra spots because they are like motivation for any potential idea you have lingering in your mind. Thanks to this Best Buy commercial it’s easy to understand how the best pieces of the phone got to where they are now.
I’m Team iPhone and always will be, but I have no shame in crossing over to say the Super Bowl ad for the Samsung Galaxy Note was amazing. Created by 72andSunny, the Los Angeles agency set out to make an ad that would grab your attention—and that it did. To do so, they took a mass deviation from Apple’s simplistic advertising, and created and overtly over the top ad for Samsung. The excessive ad can appear obnoxious, but somehow the final product comes out exceptionally well designed.
Initially it makes very little sense how the groups of consumers are listed as in San Francisco, Boston, and Denver, yet they all end up together in one place. Maybe, when they transported Justin Hawkins of The Darkness and his “I Believe in a Thing Called Love” track from out of 2002 they teleported the three cities together? Ugh, whatever. Either way, when everything is set in the same location you’re given a mass array of excitement circling around the phone. You get Samsung Notes falling from the sky and magically into people’s hands. How no one got injured is beyond me. Then there’s the celebrity cameos of Miranda Kerr (Victoria’s Secret supermodel), Brian Urlacher (Chicago Bears linebacker), and P-Rod (skateboarder). To add to that, BMX ramps are conveniently set up in the middle of a street where moving vehicles are non exsistent. And what could take a semi over the top ad over the top: a person rocket. I knew something was missing! Not to mention all the converted iPhone consumers suddenly know how to use the Note. I won’t even attempt to rationalize it all.
But here’s why the commercial is effective. Even in the pandemonium of everything you are shown the phone and its features. The wide screen, 8 megapixel camera, and S+ advanced smart pen are the main selling points and you get that right off the bat. Another reason is because it takes the well-loved flash mobs and focuses on singing instead of dancing. Flash mobs are slowly transitioning from dance to singing and seeing as 72andSunny has picked up on that, the commercial has a forward thinking appeal to it. Then there’s the song itself. “I Believe in a Thing Called Love” was amazing when it came out and has landed itself on many charts and received recognition from countdown shows by the likes of VH1. The falsetto in Justin’s voice was so memorable and the track was such an exciting song back then that bringing it to the forefront today was like going back to high school—well to the good parts. As crazy as everything is, it works because the totality of the ad signifies the ultimate degree of freedom. There are no rules or restrictions and that’s what the phone is all about.
You know how I feel about it, but tell me what you think: is it an epic hit or a hot mess?
Today’s a big day in the Facbook world as the f8 conference in San Francisco is going on as you read this. If you were busy at work, school, or doing anything aside from watching the conference and want to know what’s going on don’t worry that’s where SLTF comes in. This whole conference isn’t new. Facebook has held the annual f8 event since 2007 and it’s designed to bring together developers and entrepreneurs around the world to discuss the future of the social web. It’s kind of like the world’s G8 summit, but instead of countries coming together over world issues it’s techies discussing web stuff. Tomato, tomatoe. This years conference was available to both attendees and viewers as it was streamed live on the f8 Facebook page getting over 200k viewers st some points. The purpose of the conference was to unveil the changes that will be rolled out to the Facebook world. If you thought you saw some new things recently with the addition of the ticker and new photo display, there’s much more to come. Expected changes will range from an updated layout redsign, new terminology, and larger tools. Ultimately, Facebook will be completely different from here on out.
So the big thing with Facebook now is that it’s putting a great deal of focus on user engagement. Facebook already achieved over 750 million users, acquired advertisers, and mile stoned with ½ billion users online simultaneously in one day—so its hit many of its goals. Job well done. But they also have competitors coming in with their own unique characteristics like Twitters tweets, Google+’s hurdles, LinkedIn’s professionalism, and Myspace’s….um, what does Myspace have? Anyways you get the point. But to truly separate Facebook from all the other social platforms out there, it’s bringing three new additions: enhanced user experience, Timelines, and Open Graph. Let me give you the Cliff notes, as best as I can.
USER EXPERIENCE
In Mark Zuckerbergs keynote speech, he presents the notion of an enhanced Facebook experience where your profile is the heart of it all. With each person’s profile page as the center of Facebook, the experience will be amplified as you will be able to easily share everything. Currently we been sharing information, but who really goes back to read it all. Since people have to scroll and click repeatedly to see as much as they can very few get past a weeks let alone months before tapping out. Instead, Facebook will now organize everything we’ve said and did online from the day we joined to today. That means status updates, pictures, videos, maps, and anything we’ve clicked on will be filtered in years and dates to quickly be clicked and viewed. So that sidebox that told you what you said on this day in 2009 or 2010 is transforming so you can access what you said on any day of the year.
On top of that, the layout’s changing (see right). We now have a cover story which is basically a large picture at the top of your profile page which tells visitors something you’re really interested in without words. Your wall will also be rearranged to fit more photos, maps, and updates all in one continuous reel—goodbye to clicking “Older Posts” to see more. And remember how the right side of your profile page would tell you about events, birthdays, and ads? That’s being replaced with your years so you can see what you did in that time.
TIMELINE
The newest integration to Facebook is the Timeline. The Timline is a tool that will tell the story of your life through your updates, pictures, apps, and more. How it’s different from what you do today is that it congregates and classifies everything by importance and can be filtered by type. If you want to see all of your updates you can filter that to the very first status update and so on. The purpose of the Timeline is so when people come to your page they can immediately see who you are as a person and what is significant to you; granted that you make such information available. All the information in the Timeline is everything that you’ve curate; so if you want it known, you put it up. Mark considers this Timeline to be a “completely new aesthetic for Facebook” as it is supposed to add a feeling to each user’s profile. From the giant cover photo you have at the top of your profile to all the images that you include and places you visit you are technically creating a virtual feeling for people to feel, enjoy, and maybe be a little envious of. Not really getting it, then let the video show you…
OPEN GRAPH
One of the last main changes brought up in the presentation is Open Graph. Open Graph is a platform that was designed to create a more engaging, personalized, and intelligent web for users. To do so, Open Graph will allow sites and apps to share relevant and interesting information in a public (open) map (graph) to users. This primarily benefits brands and retailers and then us as users. The graphs are basically connections around the world linking people based on commonalities. They have multiple functions but let’s look at it via the information you share and applications. When it comes to information you share such what you “Like”, open graph will let you like something in its most accurate form. Instead of saying, “Danielle likes Moulin Rouge (movie)” it will now be “Danielle’s watching Moulin Rouge”. Open graph incorporates verbs and changes our terminology to make it more realistic. This information will pop up in that person’s profile page and the ticker on your Facebook home page. This info doesn’t come on your “recent stories” so you don’t get overwhelmed by your friends’ constant activity. A big thing with Open Graph is the application of music. Facebook goes a step further when it comes to music applications such as Spotify, VEVO, and soundcloud and how it works with music. What’s new is that when a friend of yours is seen listening to say “Buddy Holly” by Wheezer, you can click it and listen too. The idea is that Open Graph is supposed to instill discovery and exploration by making it easier to do some of the things your friends are doing. To see it in action click play…
All these changes are slated to take effect soon and will be rolled out gradually. That could mean the totality of the changes happen at once by region or alphabetically or it could mean they all come about bit by bit, who knows. But the point is they are happening. Knowing what’s coming and what it means for you, are you still down for the ride?
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New Facebook Profile Page Image: Danielle Salmon
“Timeline” and “Open Graph” Video: TheOfficialFacebook YouTube channel
I recently stumbled upon Entertainment Weekly’s Must List app all thanks to an article on Advertising Age. After reading the managing editor Jess Cagle (right) discuss the app, I had to check it out myself. The Must List originally began as a column for Entertainment Weekly where editors compiled their top 10 popular picks in movies, TV, music, books, games and apps—basically everything trending in pop culture. It was soon turned into a mobile app to bring the hottest entertainment news to your fingertips. Now available to download for mobile devices, the Must List is the app to have on your phone or iPad.
The app allows you to read, watch, listen, and download the editor’s top picks and even create your own list. After checking out the app, you’ll find picks include content such as ‘The Soup’ on E!, Tina Fey’s book Bossypants, Source Code, and Sade’s “Still in Love with You”. The great aspect about the app is that it brings together everything you need to know in pop culture each Friday.
This is the app for you if you don’t know what’s important in pop culture, if your can’t catch up with your DVR recordings, and if you just want the facts in a succinct version. If you fall into one or more of those categories then the Must List is for you. Since the app is free and you’ve been reading this far, there is no reason why you shouldn’t get it.
Your wallet, credit cards, and cash have some new competition and its name is Isis. Isis Mobile Commerce is the next wave in point of sale payment where consumers can pay at the register with their cell phones. Think about it: we carry our cell phones everywhere, they are always on our ear or in our pocket, and we check it every chance we get. Since they’re basically an inseparable appendage we might as well make purchases with it. Isis CEO Michael Abbott advocates and stands behind this unique technology due to its highly progressive attributes. Such attributes include Isis’ ability to allow you to make a purchase with a simple tap of your phone, set preferences so you get offers and updates straight to your phone, and save your spending history so you can track your balance and transactions—all in one place.
Abbott explains that the idea behind the technology is to “provide an enhanced, more convenient, more personalized shopping experience for consumers” so shopping can be shopping and not shopping and fishing through your purse or pockets to find your card. The new technology will work with the three (soon to be two) big wireless service providers: Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile. The collaboration with the providers will give Isis a platform called near-field communication (NFC) which is a mobile communication system for the wireless providers, merchants and retailers, consumers, and of course Isis. Consider it a massive web of communication weaved seamlessly by Isis for our benefit. Isis will then be rolled out to work in all merchants across the United States. Isis won’t stop there, the next installment after mobile payment will be a mobile wallet that aims to reduce the need to carry additional items such as coupons and transit passes. It has the potential to be the next best thing.
If doing transactions via cell phones seems a tad risky, just look at it as another installment in quick pay transactions. When you think about it, we’re already used to changes in methods of payment. Consider the apps where you can buy music or products over the phone and you enter credit information to finalize the transaction. Scary at first, but remember how you wanted to order that Inception DVD so badly that you just did it over your phone. No? Maybe that was just me. If not that, then think about the way banks like Chase have created the point of sale Tap feature on cards (right). Instead of swiping your card you could change it up and tap it. Still too much for you? Well if so, you have until about summer 2012 to get ready because that’s when Isis is expected to go live. Ready or not, Isis is coming and you’re wallet just might get a bit lighter. I know mine will.
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