Before we get into the blog, I offer this: http://www.zdnet.com/blog/emergingtech/why-the-future-of-mobile-is-screenless-touchless/2608

Now the flashback. A week ago, I was horsing around with Siri, Apple’s ubiquitous attempt at screenless telephony, with some colleagues. The commercials make this seem like the easiest, most efficient vehicle for data-gathering. This is not anywhere near the truth for now. In fact given the ease demonstrated in the commercials, Siri acted uncharacteristically obdurate.

But, the matter still stands that screens are not necessarily the de facto mode of technological interaction.

Things at Ignite have gotten more academic lately…in a good way. We started an agency book club, just wrapped up ‘The Creative Process Illustrated’ and are reading ‘Drive’ next. Our new interior design has opened up a massive amount of community space. And the agency has taken an additional charge to find the ‘shift’.

Mike Covert, our president, recently attended a lecture where the speaker went through the Ages of humanity: hunt/gather, agriculture, industry, information. Each of these was punctuated with a shift period before the subsequent one could begin properly. I think we all feel the tension of losing the comfort of our Age. Still, we have to not only look into the future, but act on behalf of it.

I love long bets. So, here’s mine. We are entering the Age of Interaction.

All the other Ages evolve from our relationship with our surroundings and not with each other. Today, our military ponders soft power. Nations are restructured via Twitter. An artist creates her opus out of interviewing people selling items through LA’s Penny Saver. We are just beginning to see what our machines can do.

They are reminding us of what we can do: http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2011/talktome/objects/146363/

You can’t take anything for granted in this industry.

After 10 digital postcards that all encouraged you good readers to go to our blog, we lapsed. Last week, there was no encouragement, hint or solicitation to visit our blog. We thought we no longer needed to direct you to the thinking going on here.

Apparently we were wrong; that void was felt.

So we responded instantly with an awareness tactic. Our copy platform simply said ‘This week’s homework: Click anywhere to visit Ignite’s blog.’ This isn’t new. All of our digital postcards are programmed to take the reader to the corresponding blog entry. We just needed to reinforce that message.

Because what we do with this blog (and the sample creatives that accompany it) is what we do professionally. This is our training camp for simulating real world tactics. We use this online presence to publicize our strengths and, in this case, answer an oversight.

We can hypothesize and experiment all we want on our own time, so long as it guarantees we jump straight to the results for our clients.

Some experts believe a consumer can be exposed to more than 30,000 messages per day. You have seen stats like this several times, but does it really stick with you? Merely stating this fact again isn’t likely to make you remember why it’s important to make your message take root and stand tall in what is likely a very crowded forest.

Perhaps its more important to consider the way we’re saying it.

Perhaps the message is said in a way that challenges consumers to consider it differently. For instance, how many stick puns does it take to make this post memorable? (Keep count). You know the longer your message is actively considered in the mind, the broader the idea branches out.

Perhaps it’s relayed in an unexpected way or place, causing your target to uproot themselves from our busy, can’t-see-the-forest-through-the-trees daily lives. There’s a lot of competition for attention out there – so differentiation and acknowledgement makes your idea grow above the rest. Yeah, you might expect marketing insights on an agency blog like this, but what if the point was made from a flash mob in Grand Central Station?  Pretty sure you’d remember that.

Perhaps it’s the consistency of the message that seeds the idea for the long haul. There’s a reason I write ’tissue’ and you think ‘Kleenex’. Focus and repetition are key to make any message blossom and bear fruit. Being different for different’s sake will cause confusion unless this action points back to the common trunk which supports your compelling marketing message.

With that in mind, we are prepared to make our service and your message stickier than maple syrup.

Ahh, I love a marketing campaign that has brand-building, finger-lickin’ extensions.  In this era of "break-through" and "buzz" and "non-traditional" marketing tactics,it seems that novelty is more valued than the message itself.   Not so with KFC, as they are continually driving home the idea of Fresh. And I mean driving, as they announced this week an effort to refresh city roadways by sponsoring much needed pothole repairs. It’s buzzworthy, warm & fuzzy for the community, and complements other traditional campaign legs like packaging, TV, print and OOH.  Like this ad from Malaysia:

The power of a campaign lies in getting consumers to interact with your brand in multiple ways and multiple mediums.  But if they don’t remember the simple point of difference, like Fresh, what’s the point?  Communicating differently is only half the battle.

I have been going ga-ga for this guerilla stunt since I heard murmurings of it from some friends back in Britain.  The finished product was, in my mind, nothing short of guerilla marketing gold.  I think the clip needs no explanation, but I can’t help but wonder if the video was filmed using mobile cameras.  Watch and decide for yourself.

Interesting article from the NY Times this week about the fractured state of marketing and why successful brands are evolving with the media they use to promote advertising messages.

Several good points are made throughout, but my faves:

1. Flow: Media as a general flow (like Prime Time TV for instance) is all but gone.  With more options than ever, watchers/consumers are creating their own flow of messages on their terms with more outlets at their disposal.

2. Touch points:  It has always been critical for a brand message to understand how people consume media, and then activate a single compelling message in the best way for each medium. There’s just more mediums at play now, and less opportunity to get undivided attention.  Therefore, we have to facilitate the opportunities for consumers to piece together the story themselves.  Simple, disruptive and authentic… 

3.  Authentic: Consumers have all the power with information access.  Brands are truly transparent. Brands say something, and consumers instantly check it out on the internet, or social networks, etc. etc.  While I’ve always felt it important, more than ever, brands have to be authentic to survive.  Consumers demand it and will certainly call brands out on it. Without authenticity, you can forget brand relevance… and growth.

Get registered to vote today – seriously.  I double checked this morning at the DMV, and today is the last day in Texas.  Or Don’t Vote, like this incredibly viral video says:

This works on many levels from a marketing standpoint:

1. Interesting content: Borrowed interest using an array of celebrities

2. Authentic message: Don’t vote unless you care, using honest-to-goodness speak you don’t normally see in the public domain

3. Call to action: Simply tells you how to register quickly, and to send the video along to five friends.  Makes it all too easy to jump aboard. 

It certainly feels like tough times are ahead, and perception is everything when trying to understand what drives your customers into action.  A lot of businesses are settling into a wait-and-see mode when it comes to company initiatives, including marketing investment.

I learned early on that one of the last things businesses should do is scale back marketing  in times of economic uncertainty (sounds self-serving as an agency guy, I know).  But, think about it, if you’re feeling a little hesitant, so are your potential customers.  They are even more guarded than usual, and it’s going to take a more compelling offer to inspire them to action.

Time to be smarter with marketing, not skimpier.  We have to analyze which of our customer groups are most valuable to the business and how we can better differentiate our message to them.  Better conversion emerges from better use of the touchpoints we invest in. 

Check out today’s post from Duct Tape Marketing about tips for marketing in a recession.

Baseball fans and non-baseball fans, y’all know the importance of singing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" during the 7th inning stretch.  Well, to celebrate the MLB All-Star Game and farewell to Yankee Stadium, Baby Ruth ran a user generated content (UGC) competition inviting fans to sing their way to the sing before the masses in NYC. 

For Video Friday, check out the winning entry here. 

A lot of marketing folks are tired of UGC contests, which have become more and more common over the past few years.  I can understand, as there are a lot of really bland and poorly executed ones out there. However, I think Baby Ruth got this one right in the following ways:

Authentic for brand and fans

• Baby Ruth belongs in baseball (not because of Babe Ruth, who was shut out of any royalties way back when, but because the brand has built equity with MLB for years)
• Commemorates a big baseball milestone for fans (farewell to Yankee Stadium)

Give fans something money can’t buy

• The target craves fame (and there’s no bigger way to be involved in the game on the national stage) 

Simple to participate

• Just sing on video. Done.

Clear creative direction for submissions

• Sing actual lyrics (provided online btw)
• Include Baby Ruth branding (sponsor’s not doing it for their collective health)
• Be original (make it interesting, people)

Let the people decide

• Your vote counts (can’t give consumers control and then take it away when it counts)
• Easy to participate (judges narrowed down the field of entries for voting b/c no one will take time to watch more than a few videos)

One major fault: Not letting the people vote in the winner; votes just counted for the final 3 to go to New York for the audition.  Too much CYA for the brand, ensuring the "right" finalist would represent the brand.  Erodes the authenticity of the contest and makes the whole thing seem more even more commercial (in a bad way).

Interesting news about a new search engine called scour.  Another good example of the macrotrend of "Consumers in Control."  It’s becoming more and more expected and less and less delighting to just to give customers a voice – it’s ever more paramount to embrace their opinions and reliquish some of the decision making control of the product.  Here power searchers are rewarded with cash for participation and with the ability to help decide which searches are most relevant.

According to EContent Magazine: 

Scour.com launched as a "meta" social search engine, which encourages voting and commentary on search engine query results called from Google, Yahoo! and MSN. Scour differentiates itself from other social search, ratings, and community sites in that it lets users vote and comment on search results, provides privacy control, gives weight to preferred engines, and lets people redeem search points for VISA gift cards. Scour pulls search results from the top three search engines. From there it relies on feedback to make the results ever more relevant. After enough votes on results, a search result can rise or fall in ranking which will make listings across all the engines more relevant on Scour."