The QR Code Invasion

 

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graphic representation of QR code data
as designed by JumpStart and posted by Mashable

Physical and Digital Worlds Collide with QR Codes

We love infographics. But what are these crazy looking things that are showing up in more and more places? A confused crossword puzzle? A psychedelic postage stamp? A bar code gone wild?

This is how a QR code, or Quick Response code, may appear to some people. You may have noticed these black-and-white squares showing up in restaurants or in pages of magazines. Thanks to our growing addiction to our smart phones, you'll likely be seeing more of them.

How do QR codes work? A person with a cellphone with a QR enabled code-reader application takes a picture of a QR code. The app will recognize the code and automatically open the link, video or image in the phone's browser.

When you take a picture of the QR code you'll be brought to the specific cellphone-optimized web page that the company's web marketer wants you to see — usually where you'll find special promotional content. 

In retail, Ralph Lauren is using QR codes to direct their buyers to a website for taking clothing orders directly from their phones. A recent issue of Wired magazine included an ad by watchmaker Tag Heuer that contained a QR code that led users to images of its latest collection. Magazine ads are using QR codes to promote everything from hair-care products to sheepskin boots to diamonds.

Another retail example is the use of QR codes on billboards. Since Calvin Klein's controversial billboards are often met with requests for censorship, the company decided to censor itself for the Calvin Klein Jeans Fall 2010 campaign. 

Calvin Klein Jeans replaced three of its billboards — two in downtown New York and one on Sunset Boulevard in LA — not with another racy montage of scantily clad models, but with a bright red QR code under the words “Get It Uncensored.”

Passersby used their smart phones to snap a picture, pulled up an exclusive, racy and uncensored 40-second commercial featuring (relatively) busty model Lara Stone and a quartet of male models. After the spot plays, viewers can then share the code with their Facebook and Twitter networks. (see the commercial below)  



QR codes are increasingly appearing in advertisements as a way to increase engagement with consumers. Although already common in Japan (where they were originally invented), they do not appear in many advertisements in that country — much less take up an entire billboard.


A few fun facts from the invasion:

• 52% of mobile users have seen or heard of QR codes; of those, 28% have scanned one.
• iPhone users scan by far the most, at 68% (versus 26% of Android users and 4% of Blackberry users).
• QR code scanning rose a whopping 1,200% from July to December 2010.
• Starbucks started a scavenger hunt in partnership with Lady Gaga this week —"SRCH by Starbucks featuring Lady Gaga," as the initiative is called. When customers scan QR codes on in-store banners, magnetic chalkboards and posters, they'll see the first of many clues in the coffee retailer's seven-round scavenger hunt. Both Gaga and Starbucks will benefit — Gaga in album sales and exposure, and Starbucks in netting the allegiance of Gaga's almighty Little Monsters.

Sources:

1. Umike Pidaparthy, "Marketers Embracing QR Codes, For Better Or Worse," CNN, March 28, 2011

2. Katie Hintz-Zambrano, "Calvin Klein QR Code Billboards Mask Racy Ads - But You Can 'Get It Uncensored'," Stylelist, July 13, 2010.

3. Jolie O'Dell, "Who's Really Scanning All Those QR Codes?" Mashable, March 4, 2011
4. Jennifer Van Grove, "Starbucks & Lady Gaga Team Up On Scavenger Hunt," Mashable, May 19, 2011

Email Is Dead! Long Live Email!

How Email Marketing Helps Build Relationships and Increase Sales

Many social media gurus claim that email has had its day and it is now time to move over and let social media have the spotlight.

Let’s get right to it: Email is far from dead. If anything, it has proven more relevant and valuable to those in marketing and sales trying to establish and nurture a customer relationship. If you are in sales, you may have noticed nine out of ten calls go straight to voicemail.

MarketingSherpa -- possibly the best known brand for marketing research and email  -- has just released their 2011 Email Benchmark Report that disputes email marketing is dead. The executive summary alone is worth the visit.

Among the key findings from MarketingSherpa: The most significant challenge marketers face with email is not spam, or subject line length, or time of day to email, but creating highly relevant content in both the B2C (business to consumer) and B2B (business to business) channels. The most effective content strategy is segmenting email campaigns based on behavior. Over 65% stated that highly relevant content is the key to success and it is the greatest challenge to find and create that content.





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According to the report, “Today, 78% rate the use of email to “increase sales revenue” very important.” However, it is important to note that revenue isn’t the only goal: 90% stated that email is effective or somewhat effective for increasing website traffic and building brand awareness.

The report also states, “Email isn’t limited to top line objectives. The objective rated as very important second most often is improving customer relations/retention. Email is the communications channel of choice for customers and prospects who wish to be kept informed.” Despite the growth in social media, marketers are still spending on email marketing. The two marketing approaches work well together and will become further integrated over time.

 
 Mailchimp publishes great comparison and benchmark reports right on its blog and site. You can learn about rank by industry, by business size, how to segment your list, and comparing subject lines. The subject line research shows “best open rates” and “worst open rates.” Resources include:

● Email Marketing Benchmarks by Industry

● Email Marketing Benchmarks by Business Size

● Effects of List Segmentation on Email Marketing Stats

● Email Marketing Subject Line Comparison

Mailchimp gives you good home grown advice and candor in their research section. “So what's our advice for email subject lines? This is going to sound "stupid simple" to a lot of people, but here goes: Your subject line should (drum roll please): Describe the subject of your email. Yep, that's it.”

Social media is changing the landscape, that is certain. However, building a relationship, and a potential for a sale, is still the same. You have to nurture and grow a relationship. Email is still alive and kicking. It is the gardener you bring in to keep the yard landscape looking beautiful.

Sources:

1. TJ McCue (American Express Open | Forum), "How Email Marketing Helps Build Relationships and Increase Sales," March 31, 2011
2. MarketingSherpa, http://www.marketingsherpa.com/
3. MailChimps, http://www.mailchimp.com/resources/, http://www.mailchimp.com/resources/research/

Fonts as Fashion

More Than A Pretty Face

If fonts had feelings, this is how Carousel Medium would look. In its new poster series, Fontface, the Gijón, Spain, design firm Atipo created an interesting series of posters dedicated to four type designers.

For this great work they combined facial expressions and black-and-white make-up interpreting Caslon Italic, Clarendon Bold, Helvetica Bold and Carousel Medium.

Click image to enlarge

It was set up by Raúl García del Pomar and Ismael González in the beginning of 2010. After working in other graphic design, web design, and branding studios, the two partners wanted to start a more personal venture.

This new studio allows them to approach projects from different perspectives, freely combine all the disciplines they love, such as typography and type design, photography, illustration, video, and so on. Their project is a series of posters merging the expressiveness of manual gesture and type design in honor of the four outstanding typefaces.

Click image to enlarge

According to an interview with The FontFeed, “The series of posters features four typefaces designed by four outstanding designers. Through the combination of the expressiveness of manual gesture and type design, we made a brief journey through the history of typography.

"We started with an old style roman – the transitional face Caslon (William Caslon, 1725); passing via a slab serif – Clarendon (William Thorrowgood, 1845); a grotesque sans – Helvetica (Max Miedinger & Eduard Hoffmann, 1957); to a fat face didone – Carousel (Gary Gillot, 1966).

"We selected characters that show the main features of each typeface; and, most importantly, functioned well as a mask on the model’s face.”

“We believe that to create without limitations is only truly possible with a self-initiated project, and Fontface is one of them.

"This series of posters allowed us to bring together different disciplines we feel passionate about: typography, painting, photography, and video. Furthermore, we wanted to create a series of posters to decorate our studio.

"This turned out to be more successful than we expected, because we’ve had many reactions from people asking us where to get the posters. Now we are planning to sell them in a limited edition.”

Sources:
1. Atipo (http://www.atipo.es/)
2. Yves Peters, “Atipo Paints Characters on Face For Fontface,” The FontFeed, March 15, 2011
3. Design, "More than a Pretty Face, Time Magazine, April 11, 2011

AP Stylebook Finally Changes "e-mail" to "email"

Antiquated tech terms modified

The AP Stylebook, the de facto style and usage guide for much of the news media, announced today that the abbreviated term for “electronic mail” is losing a hyphen, and with it, a relic of a simpler time when Internet technology needed to be explained very carefully.

The move follows the unveiling of 42 new style guidelines for social media in the 2010 edition of its Stylebook, most notably re-classifying “website” as one word (it had previously suggested “Web site”).

The 2010 entries refer mostly to networking tools such as Facebook and Twitter, standardizing terms such as app, blogs, click-throughs, friend and unfriend, metadata, RSS, search engine optimization, trending, widget and wiki.

Other notable changes included separating out “smart phone” as two words, hyphenating “e-reader,” and allowing fan, friend and follow to be used both as nouns and verbs.

Additionally, the AP defined some acronyms that are commonly used in texting and instant messaging, including ROFL (rolling on floor laughing), BRB (be right back), G2G (good to go), and POS (parents over shoulder).

Today’s news, fittingly enough, was first announced on the AP Stylebook’s Twitter page, where they tweeted: “Language evolves. Today we change AP style from e-mail to email, no hyphen. Our editors will announce it at #ACES2011 today.”

Look for the change to be in effect immediately in the online version of the stylebook and in the 2011 print version.

Source:

AP Stylebook on Twitter, "Stylebook Online reflects the change to "email" today," March 18, 2011

Hummus and Hookers, Oh My!

Provocative ads featuring a
tough-talking grandmother

Saucy Ads Draw Attention

Kraft Foods has drawn attention — and some criticism — to a new ad campaign promoting its Athenos hummus.

The brand's new spokeswomen are a bunch of cantankerous "Yiayia's" (Greek for grandmother) who enjoy ridiculing their grandchildren.

In the first television spot, a young woman serves her friends Athenos hummus. In response, her Yiayia comments that the hostess dresses like a prostitute. The hostess does a verbal double-take and the Greek grandmother repeats the word "prostitute" for good measure.

In a second spot, another Yiayia tells her granddaughter she's "going to hell" for living with a guy before marriage. Yiayias are apparently renowned for this kind of malevolence, and their descendants love them for it!

The campaign - aimed at going viral - is raising eyebrows for its saucy language and stereotypes of Greek culture. The spots close when the narrator points out that at least Yiayia endorses Athenos hummus. "Athenos may be the only thing approved by Yiayia."

Jill Baskin, director of advertising at Kraft, says the brand means no offense. "While these ads may be controversial, for the most part people will see them for the light-hearted fun they are having," she says. "Any Greek Americans we ran them by thought they were really funny."

The ad was created by the agency Droga5/New York, which said in a statement that it is “thrilled to be working with a company so willing to push creative boundaries.”

See the other Athenos commercials

They apparently did not run them past Maria Anagnostopoulos, program director at The Greek Institute, who says: "These commercials are not appropriate from a Greek perspective."

The Athenos line is targeted at women in their 20s. Sales of Greek foods are off the charts, with Greek yogurt sales up 160% over the past year, to $589 million, Nielsen reports.

Public relations guru Katie Paine says the ad will have strong appeal to the brand's young target but won't likely meet Kraft's goal of going viral. "You just can't plan to go viral."

Sources:

1. Bruce Horovitz, "Kraft Ads With Criticizing Grandma Get Criticized," USA Today, February 28, 2011

2. Lewis Lazare, "Athenos Ad Authentic, Amusing," Chicago Sun Times, March 1, 2011

3. Tim Nudd, "Bitchy Old Women Promoting Kraft Hummus," AdWeek (AdFreak.com), February 28, 2011

Are Press Platforms Worth It for Small Businesses?

Creating buzz for a small business is difficult. Most small companies don’t have the time to do their own PR and even fewer have budgets big enough to hire outside marketers. That’s where websites like NewsBasis and Help a Reporter Out (HARO) come in. Both claim they make it easier for businesses to connect with reporters who need sources. Today thousands of reporters and businesses find each other on these websites (for free), but will news platforms work for your business? Can you really see a return worth the required time investment, however minimal?

While both HARO and NewsBasis are tight-lipped about their in-house metrics, several users of the sites agreed to share their experiences and tips. Here is what they said:

Staying on Topic Pays Off

Evan Fray-Witzer, a lawyer at the law firm Ciampa Fray-Witzer, has been responding to reporters' requests on HARO for two years. According to Fray-Witzer, who has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post and TheStreet.com thanks to HARO, the service is easy to use, doesn’t take much time, and has generated welcome publicity for his firm.

“I try to be very targeted to reporters’ specific requests,” said Fray-Witzer. “If someone is looking for an expert in nuclear science, I don’t respond and say, 'I’m not a nuclear scientist, but I’ve defended them in employment law cases!'”

Fray-Witzer suggests being sensitive to deadlines, but first and foremost have something interesting to say. “I was able to relate the story of how I helped one of my corporate clients deal with an administrative assistant who had taken to opening her mail with a butcher’s knife and telling co-workers that a mass murderer was her idol,” he said. That anecdote ended up in the Wall Street Journal.

Amanda Steinberg, the founder of DailyWorth.com, started using HARO last year and has so far received three mentions on SocialMoms.com. “Most entrepreneurs don't personally know journalists working for national publications, making it difficult to break through the noise, especially when you're competing with savvy, experienced PR representatives with large Rolodexes,” said Steinberg. “I'd say it's tied with e-mail for effectiveness; it's free and it works -- what else can you ask for?”

Perhaps HARO’s biggest advantage is its wide net. The site boasts nearly 30,000 journalists and more than 100,000 sources. According to its founder Peter Shankman, HARO is responsible for publishing more than 75,000 journalist queries, facilitating nearly 7,500,000 media pitches, and promoting close to 1,500 brands.

Bigger Isn't Always Better

Help a Reporter Out (HARO)

Ken Shuman, the head of communications at the real estate search engine Trulia, said he first started using HARO two years ago and has netted multiple mentions in USA Today on issues dealing with foreclosures, first-time home buyers, and government incentives. But Shuman pointed out that bigger isn’t always better. “HARO is so widely-used and reporters get bombarded with pitches, so your chances of success are more slim,” he explained. With so many sources using HARO, it’s clearly a buyer's market. Few of the individuals I spoke with had their first pitches successfully picked up.

Recently Shuman began using NewsBasis, which launched this spring, and he’s already scored exposure in Men’s Journal. "They contacted me because we are real estate experts and they asked us to create a list of thriving cities for 2011 where housing will see a positive increase," said Shuman. “I think it is worth it for companies with specific expertise to be on NewsBasis. When reporters are looking for a reference, this a great way to be front and center.”

Unlike HARO, which divides its users into two camps -- sources and journalists -- NewsBasis takes a more nuanced approach, asking sources to also list their expertise. Thanks to that additional information, journalists can search for specific sources in addition to releasing a mass request. “I think if you have a 'specialized expertise,' NewsBasis will be the gift that keeps on giving,” Shuman said. “The media struggles to find good resources and being listed in NewsBasis is a great way to be found.”

Well-known tech analyst Stowe Boyd is another specialized source who has had success with NewsBasis. “I've been contacted about mobile use, future operating systems, and pieces on social technologies,” said Boyd. “I have been in three or four articles already. [And] it took only a few days.”

Less Time, Better Results Than Twitter

NewsBasis

Although journalists can turn to other social media tools to pinpoint specialists, Brian J. Greenberg, an IT consultant at General System Dynamics, said platforms like NewsBasis are a superior avenue for promotion. “Twitter, etc. is a crap shoot and journalists have to troll the pools of tweets, blog posts, etc. for qualified sources,” said Greenberg. “NewsBasis provides an option for PR without having to have a large PR budget. Since NewsBasis is currently free, there’s nothing but upside for a small boutique firm like ours.”

Fray-Witzer had a similar experience. “Twitter is fine, I suppose, if you can spend the time to develop a million followers. That’s not really practical for my practice,” he said. “We spend our time representing our clients. The nice thing is that HARO requires very little in the way of a time investment to show really outstanding results.”

While these publicity platforms may not spell the end of the press release, they certainly have made it easier for enterprising businesses owners to get press. For his part, Fray-Witzer recalled a recent breakfast with a friend who runs a high-end PR firm in Boston: “I told him about the Wall Street Journal article, the Washington Post article, and the others and he shook his head and said, ‘You know, it used to be that to get that kind of coverage you would have had to hire someone like me.’”

Source:

Alexander Hotz  (Mashable), “Are Press Platforms Worth It for Small Businesses?”, American Express Open Forum, February 10, 2011

Imported From Detroit

Chrysler, Eminem Super Bowl Ad Says Detroit's Back

Eminem: "This is the Motor City. And this is what we do."

What impact can an ad really have? Can it actually make a city feel better about itself? The answer the day after Super Bowl XLV seems to be yes, thanks to Chrysler and ad agency Wieden + Kennedy.

The relationship between America’s car companies and the city that originally made them has been awkward for years. The city of Detroit housed and raised the factory workers of Chrysler, GM, and Ford. But the car companies discouraged diversification of the city’s economy, and city residents will tell you that the Big Three pretty much just stood by as the unemployment rate soared, the school system went sour, violence reached epidemic proportions, and city government became a piggy bank for the friends and family of city officials.

But a Super Bowl ad from the company that is now 25%-owned by foreigners has the whole city buzzing. Chrysler, which is run by Fiat chief Sergio Marchionne, delivered a rousing two-minute spot that summed up the hopes of everyone who believes the city can come back strong. The ad made the front page of the Detroit Free Press, with the headline “Motor City Pride." On Facebook, Detroiters across the country are raving about the spot, reflecting the affection they still feel for the city they left. 

The ad was ostensibly for the Chrysler 200, and it roared out from the pack of silliness during the third quarter. It did so much so right, offering so many details that showed a real understanding of Motown. Opening shots of factories; interstate road signs to introduce the name “Detroit;" cutting to downtown as the narrator begins to discuss “luxury,” a downtown still resplendent with buildings and architectural detail from a time when Detroit was the richest city in America; straight ahead references to the fact that the city has "been to hell and back"; and finally a ride down Woodward Avenue, ending up outside the beautiful and majestic Fox Theatre.

The tagline, "Imported from Detroit," is perfect. It blends luxury and quality with Motown pride, while at the same time acknowledging just how much America has wanted to pretend that Detroit is from a different country, an "unAmerican" country that would allow its citizens to live in such despair.

On EW.com, the Entertainment Weekly Web site, Annie Barrett had the Chrysler ad among her five favorites for the game, writing, “I liked the mystery of this. Was it about effort? American values? People were lifting things and there was figure skating. Something about drive and determination. All of the above!”

There’s a moment early on when viewers could see Eminem at the wheel of the car, creating a level of disbelief that it’s actually him. But the pulsing music behind the whole thing is the great intro to “Lose Yourself,” whose propulsive beat has always seemed to me the best modern expression of what’s at the heart of the city.

Rick Rojas of the Los Angeles Times wrote in a blog post Sunday night that the ad was “a magnificent tribute to the city that has been plagued by all the ills that an urban area could possibly face. And it's a message to stay strong … it's honoring a time when America was about making things — real, hulking tangible pieces of machinery. It stood in contrast to the rest of the ads for things we click on, things made far, far away …

"Chrysler seems to say that Detroit isn't dead, and maybe the spirit of Americans making things isn't dead either.”

The extraordinary two-minute commercial, believed to be the longest ever aired during a Super Bowl, was developed by Chrysler’s new ad agency, Widen + Kennedy of Portland, Ore., the folks who gave us Nike’s “Just do it” campaign. Fox was charging $3 million for 30-second Super Bowl spots, but Chrysler boss Sergio Marchionne would only say last week that the company spent less than $9 million for the airtime. The Drum, a British-based creative marketing Web site, said in a report Sunday it was the most expensive commercial in TV history.

Update: Plagiarism, the Sincerest Form of Flattery
Did Audi Rip Off Eminem's Chryler Ad?
(6/2/2011)
A German auto commercial is hitting a little too close to home for some folks in Eminem's camp.

Eight Mile Style, the Ferndale, MI company that handles song licensing for the Detroit rapper, alleges that a new Audi ad uses an unauthorized interpretation of Eminem's "Lose Yourself."

The firm says the Audi spot appears to borrow in general from the Chrysler's 200's "Imported From Detroit" campaign which uses "Lose Yourself" as its centerpiece.

Eight Mile Style filed a motion in a German court this week to quash the Audi ad, which shows a driver touring an urban landscape in a 2012 A6 Avant. The A6 Avant is not being marketed in the U.S.

"It's stunning," said Eight Mile Style manager Joel Martin. "What makes it extraordinary is the similarity to the way Chrysler is using (the song). We saw it and said, 'This has got to be a joke.'" 

The video debuted May 18 at a media event in Berlin and has been posted on YouTube by several auto news services.

A German attorney representing Eight Mile Style said the company will seek damages from Audi.

Sources:

1. Rick Tetzeli, "Super Bowl Ad Stories: Chrysler, Eminem Break an Awkward Silence in Detroit," Fast Company, February 7, 2011

2. Ron Dzwonsowski, "Did you feel it? Chrysler Super Bowl ad says Detroit's back," Detroit Free Press, February 7, 2011
3. Rick Rojas, "Super Bowl Ad Tracker: Chrysler, Eminem proclaim Detroit is still alive," Los Angeles Times, February 6, 2011
4. Annie Barrett, "Super Bowl XLV: Best and worst commercials," Entertainment Weekly, February 6, 2011
5. Brian McCollum, "Audi Ad has Shades of Chrysler-Eminem Hit," Detroit Free Press, June 2, 2011