Interactive touchscreen billboard !

Waiting, waiting and more waiting. This is a reality for many people in the Netherlands who travel by public transportation. They arrive either too early or their transportation arrives too late. These few minutes are often experienced as boring. A second (general) problem that occurs is that it is getting more difficult for companies to attract consumers’ attention to advertisements and the products or services they are selling.

Therefore we, me and the other groupmembers for the course User Interface Design, designed an interactive touchscreen billboard that will be placed at train stations to improve the fun level of waiting. In addition, it will increase the attractiveness of advertisements for both business people and students. Advertisements can be personalized and users are able to connect with the advertisements by using their mobile phone.

Below you can find a short introduction of the interactive touchscreen billboard, named BeTouchi !

Pink elephants, green dragons & deceptive children

About pink elephants and green dragons: Children's awareness of being deceptive

This is an interview with prof. dr. Marc Swerts, a researcher and academic teacher at the University of Tilburg.

The interview includes his research to children's awareness of being deceptive, based on a digital puppet-show where children have to communicate with a prince and a (green) dragon.

Furthermore, dr. Swerts discusses the pink elephant phenomenon, theory of mind, detecting lies as a parent, differences in lying adults and children, non-verbal communication, Paul Ekman and the truth behind the tv-show 'Lie To Me'.

The interview is recorded and edited by group 24 of the course Business Information Technology.

KLM Tile Yourself; an interactive approach in brand positioning

In order to adapt to the new manners of communication and promotion KLM started using social networks in November of 2010. Once again, the company now reaches for this approach which is being implemented by many other companies at the moment. Research has shown the enormous reach of this approach, but more important are the relationships within Social Network Sites. This makes Social Network campaign a success. A campaign that has been send by a (good) friend is not likely been seen as advertisement. Positive effects on knowledge, attitude en behavior are results of this. Compared to Viral marketing it seems more effective to stimulate redirect-behavior within in a small, but strong qualitative group. In order to let non-Facebook/Hyves users also to participate a general website has been develop. Here the possibility is been provided to make your tile on Facebook or Hyves (for users) or on the website itself. 

The campaign is called "Tile & Inspire” and suits perfectly to brand positioning of KLM; which is trustful, inspiring, Dutch and open.  As Frank Houben formulates, director Communications & Corporate Identity, 'We connect people all over the world with each other – just like social network sites (Facebook, Hyves etc.). This is an unique opportunity for people to get their photo on an airplane'.  Eventually 4000 tiles will be selected and placed on a Boeing 777-200.

The key of the campaign is the active role of the customer within it. Although, it is possible that your tile will not be selected, it still can be shared with the whole world by e-mail, Facebook, Hyves, Twitter. Below you can find a short movie about the campaign.

I really like such approaches, where people are triggered to participate in a fun way and where they can share their creations with their friends and family. People will not recognize that this is a form of advertisement and therefore have a more positive attitude to the message. I think that this is the approach of the future!

Below my own tile !

Humor is the keyword !

Watching commercials is not that terrible .. That is IF there is HUMOR involved !  Below you can find some examples of humoristic commercials, which makes it fun to watch all the stuff companies want to sell us.

It almost makes you think.. Where do I have to sign?

I'm curious to find out, what your favorite humoristic commercials are ?! SHARE (^_^)

Telfort (telecommunication) - Hans "the former millionaire"

Centraal Beheer (insurance company) - Steering column lock

Volkswagen (car manufacturer) - Granny's car

3D Augmented Reality Experience of Nestlé

Nowadays, it is a waste to spend the whole marketing budget on traditional media. Several media should be combined in order to attract the attention of consumers. The 3D Augmented Reality Experience of Nestlé is an example of such approach. I thought it was really innovative and it differs from other initiatives I have ever seen.

So, what did Nestlé exactly do?
They have added a 3D augmented reality video game to 26 million packaging of different brands of Nestlé, such as Honey Stars, Koko, Nesquick, and Trix etc..  So, they combined packaging and the internet. This game has been realized by collaboration between Nestlé and Twentieth Century Fox in order to promote the new animation movie "RIO".
By cutting off a particular part of the packaging and showing it in front of the webcam (internet connection is a necessity) consumers, mainly children, can play a game with the main characters Blu or Jewel of the movie. The players of the game can make the characters come alive in a personal environment with 3-D backgrounds.

Below, you can seen the functioning of the game.

What is behavioral targeting?!

Movie 1 -What is Bahavioral Targeting?

Movie 2 -2020 The Future of Behavioural Targeting




To be continued..

The Dutch Phone book and Yellow Pages .. No future left?!

IMAGINE.. You are looking for a telephone number of an acquaintance or the contact information of a company. Where are you going to search? In your personal address book, on the internet or in the well-know phonebook/Yellow Pages?


Figure 1 - The printed Yellow Pages of the Netherlands.

Research has shown, that 40-45% of all phone calls and clicks is generated by the information found in the old fashion manner.. the printed variant as displayed in figure 1. The amount of active users of these printed media has decreased dramatically from 7/8 million users to 5 million users in a couple of years.

Ben Legg, COO of European Directories Benelux, explains his choice of not immediately stop the production of phone books and Yellow pages. He states that immediate discontinuation have negative effects on smaller companies for whom many calls are being generated by the printed variants. However, the fact of decreasing usage is not being disregarded and therefore the production will be phased out in the coming three to five years and also a total disappearance is imaginable. Another option is changing the format in order to generate more turnover. Examples of adapted Yellow Pages, include topics, such as city guides and more specific topic related areas like beauty and health.

What do you think? Should the printed variants be banned? Do you use them yourself regularly? Let me know :)

Product placement.. succes or failure?

Dear readers/followers..

Long time no see !
Unfortunately I was not able to post a new interesting story earlier due some personal inconveniences , I apoligize !
A new blogpost is in the making and will be posted soon..


Ever wondered how much is being paid for the consumption of certain drinks/foods by actors in James Bond, or in a typically Dutch serie " Goeden Tijden Slechte Tijden" ?

Take a glance at my blog this week and you will find out!

You and 6234 others (real-life persons) Like this .. SowiSocial “where offline meets online”

It was in my search for some cultural events in Amsterdam, that I found this article. Visitors of the “ Stadsschouwburg” (a theatre) in Amsterdam have the possibility to inform their Facebook-friends, whether or not they like the theatre, its plays and other facilities. Put shortly, a real-life Like-button. This has been made possible by special key ring which contains a RFID-chip (Radio Frequency Identification). This chip will be linked to the personal Facebook account of the visitor and will send information to their Facebook page including the “like” announcement, pictures and a link containing more information. This linking can be done in terminals on location, or at home online with a personal code. In the theatre there have been installed several SowiSocial-spots at which visitors can hold their key ring against (see image and movie). The key ring will be returned and reset at the end of each visit. 



Image 1 - How SowiSocial works

    

Movie 1 -  A SowiSocial-spot at which visitors can hold their key ring against

It will not be unlikely that this sort of linking systems between online and offline are the future.  Since several years it is possible to like online things, such as websites. Now it is also possible to “Like” things real life and make this public online. Imagine cinemas, restaurants, public transport and festivals equipped with SowiSocial spots and where it is possible to give your opinion as a customer.

In my search for more information I found out, that one of the world’s leading companies Coca-Cola implemented this already in the summer of 2010 during a summer camp for Israeli youth. More functions and possibilities of this concept are shown in the trailer below.

Movie 2 - The real-life Like button implemented by Coca-Cola

Will these real-life Like-buttons will be as successful as their forerunners? After all, the success and importance of online Like-buttons for companies and institutions has been discussed often and I share this opinion.  Facebook has millions of users who use Facebook on a daily basis. As a company or institution you should try to use Facebook as a medium to redirect a part of these users to your website/company. This can be done by Facebook pages and profiles, but also by integrating the Like-button onto your own website, and nowadays also into real-life activities. Below you can find some advantages of the online Like-button, which mainly will also apply for the real-life Like-button.

1. First, the Like-button will be associated with Facebook, a website which nowadays is very popular and also known as a reliable and important website. Users will assign these features also to your company and its online or offline activities. Or as Peter Garety said: “When people see the Facebook logo and like button on your site, they will feel that assurance that your site and its content are legitimate. “ In my opinion this statement will also apply for the real-life Like-buttons. Imagine such spots in restaurants, where you can see that 4,550 other people Like that particular Italian restaurant…

2. Like-buttons are also an excellent example of worth-of-mouth advertising, which has been made very easy by the coming of the internet. When a Facebook user “likes” something it will be shown to all their friends through that person’s Facebook newsfeed.

3. Most importantly, the online Like-button is very easy to implement. This can be done by making a Facebook page (people can like a company and institution there) OR a Like-button can be implemented on the website of the company itself. The real-life Like-buttons are also relatively easy to implement, because of the usage of Radio Frequency Identification.This a method which has been used by millions of companies/institutions all over the world yet witch many advantages and only some minor disadvantages.

Would you LIKE real-like Like-buttons? Why?  Where would you  like to see such SowiSocial spots? Let me know and lets get the discussion started!

QR codes… A social media trend for 2011

Last week I met some friends for lunch and while eating my bread I saw some remarkable signs in a magazine. A friend of mine made a picture with her Smartphone of one of the signs and she was redirected to a website. I was amazed!
That same day I started looking for a new subject for my blog and I found a blog describing social media trends for 2011. One of these trends were QR scans. Before, I had never seen these signs and on this day I suddendly saw them twice. This made me curious and I went out for research and learned some interesting thing about QR codes, which I would like to share with you !

So what is a QR (Quick Response) Code?
Wikipedia defines QR codes as followed

a specific matrix barcode (or two-dimensional code), readable by dedicated QR barcode readers and camera phones. The code consists of black modules arranged in a square pattern on a white background. The information encoded can be text, URL or other data

How does a QR code look like?
Below you can see two examples of a QR code. As you can notice they look very similar to each other, and yet, they are different from each other.


  

Figure 1 - QR code containing a url to my blog




Figure 2 - QR code containing data about latitude and longitude of the city Tilburg, Netherlands



How does it work?
Nowadays, more and more people have smartphones, which contain QR scanners. So pictures can be made of the QR codes and people will be redirected to the information saved within the code. As mentioned before this can be an URL, text or other data, such as phone numbers and adresses. Figure 3 shows us the concept of scanning QR scans in a very simple way.



Figure 3 - How a QR works

Qr codes are even finding their way into popular TV series. Here an example of QR codes being used in the popular crime TVserie CSI.

                                                               Movie 1 - QR codes in CSI


Are QR scans really the future?
In my opinion they are! They can be put everywhere. On billboards, direct mail, bus stops, on businesscards  and so on on on..

A research on smartphones was conducted by The Future Labaratory and revealed that smartphones have enormous influence on the way people live, think and feel. One of the most important outcomes was that smartphones no longer are associated with geeky people indoors. Instead, smartphones are getting more and more accesible for everyone and are being associated with discovering more and also in a more easily way.QR codes contribute to this in such manner, that it becomes easy to load information onto your mobile by simply making a picture of a QR code.
For marketers QR codes are a way to fill the gap between print and mobile marketingcommunication and to respond to the changing needs of their (potential) customers. Advantages are the ability for marketers to track the response of "clickers" and the response rate. Also ROI (return on investment) can be calculated easily and marketingexpenses can be justified.


Make QR codes yourself!
There are many sites where QR codes can be made. I found this website of Kaywa QR code and thought it was very practical. So go one and find out yourself!

I'm curious to find out where you have seen these QR codes? Do you think they are practical?
Let me know!

The usage of Social Media.. MSN, Hyves and then Facebook?

Hi everybody,

Welcome to my first blog! My name is Desiree Peters, 22 years old, living in Tilburg and studying Business Communication and Digital Media. During the next couple of weeks I will be writing blogs about interesting subjects that have been discussed by lecturers of different courses. This first blog is about Social Media.


Nowadays we spend much of our free time on the internet and also on Social Media. Giving examples of Social Media is easy. We all know Twitter, Hyves, Facebook, and MSN.. You name it or most people are using it or have used several forms of it. However, looking back at the past years makes me wonder whether there is a sort of logical order in which we tend to use Social Media. During my entire High School period I mainly used MSN and in my last school year I started using Hyves as well. My personal usage of Facebook started later on, after I went on an exchange to Germany three years ago. Many exchange students were using Facebook at that time and I did not want to differ AND of course I did not want to miss out on the opportunity to snoop in the life of others =). Although I'm still using MSN, Hyves and Facebook, I have noticed a reduction in time usage. I have got the feeling that Facebook is a more appropriate and accepted form of Social Media for somebody of my age (22 years) and that MSN and/or Hyves are more childish. Do you also think that we grew over some forms of Social Media? Or do you think it depends on your personal preferences?

Let me know what you think !