Sky Research Reveals Our Daily Digital Diet

The following research into consumer trends was conducted by Sky Ireland. It looks at when and how our digital consumption peaks on a daily basis.

Breakfast: Commuter Snacks
The research showed that during their commute:
· 81.8% of people use their tablet or smartphone
· 49.4% will check their social media sites up to three times
· 51% read the news online
· 46.5% play games
· 44.2% catch up on emails


Digital indigestion
However, patchy Wi-Fi and mobile connections were cited as major frustrations, interrupting commuters’ connectivity. To compensate, 55.5% download books or music in advance of their commute and now the recently launched Sky Go Extra app lets Sky customers download the latest blockbuster films from Sky Movies and TV content from channels such as Sky 1 and Sky Atlantic to watch when and where they want, without the need for a Wi-Fi or 3G/4G connection.


Dining Digitally At home
With recent Comreg figures showing that broadband penetration rates stand at over 65%, people still see the laptop as the main digital dinner plate. However, with ownership of tablets and smartphones set to reach 2.38 million by the end of 2013, we are set to consume online content in a more a la carte way.


Sky seeing strong uptake of its Apps
According to Sky Ireland’s own download figures, this digital diet trend has seen total iOS downloads of its most popular Apps reach over 1.2 million in Ireland, including:
· Sky Go App - 295,782 downloads
· Sky News App - 318,259 downloads
· Sky Sports News App - 144,798 downloads
· Sky+ App - 177,326 downloads


“We are seeing a massive change in our digital diet,” says Mark Anderson, Director of Sales & Marketing, Sky Ireland. “Our research and download figures combined show that Irish users are very discerning when it comes to consuming digital content on the move. More and more often users are using home broadband to download content to mobile devices for later consumption – it’s the digital equivalent to a home-packed lunch! With unlimited broadband now available nationwide from Sky, and increases in multi-device usage by consumers, we expect that our digital diet will feature more media meshing as time goes on.”

Eason’s Virtual Book Shop

This week sees one of Ireland's most recognised high street names take a bold new step in the world of retail. Eason, Ireland’s leading bookseller, who started its retail legacy with news stalls in train stations across Ireland in the late 1800s, is returning to its roots as it launches Ireland’s first ever Virtual Book Shop at Connolly Station in Dublin to allow commuters to buy bestselling books by simply scanning QR codes with their smartphones.

The Virtual Book Shop resembles the shelves you'd see in an Eason store, displaying images of book covers with corresponding QR codes. Once scanned they will bring users to an online mobile shop where they can purchase the book. Everything from bestselling Sport, Food and Drink, Kids and Fiction titles will be available to purchase at the Eason Virtual Book Shop including a pre-order option for what are expected to be some big hits for Christmas.

Speaking about the Virtual Book Shop, David Field, Group Head of Marketing and Retail Development, Eason said, “We’re delighted to be bringing the first ever Virtual Book Shop to Ireland. While the traditional physical store is still very much at the heart of Eason, we recognise the ever-growing need to further develop our online shopping experience and to create a concept that is not only innovative and a first to Irish market but that very much demonstrates that we are as contemporary multi-channel retailer. To bring the Virtual Book Shop concept to life we’ve put social at the heart of the solution by deeply integrating with Facebook.  Not only can people shop in a totally new way, they can share their experience via Facebook, make recommendations and see what titles their friends have bought which really brings that word-of-mouth marketing to social platforms.”

Also speaking at the launch of Eason’s Virtual Book Shop, leading Irish author, Cecelia Ahern said, “As an author there is no greater feeling than seeing your book on the shelves. But today seeing my new release One Hundred Names available in Ireland’s first ever Virtual Book Shop – it’s really exciting and I am delighted Eason has invited me to be part of this.”

Developed by VendorShop Social, the Eason’s Virtual Book Shop takes integration with Facebook a step further than most brands by using the Facebook Open Graph as a key part of the mobile store application. The result is a much more personalised experience for users and a more viral solution for Eason.

“We all know the power of word of mouth marketing and Facebook’s Open Graph functionality enables a business to embed word of mouth into their marketing and e-commerce activities. Open Graph is an extremely powerful tool to turn people’s interactions with your brand and products viral, but many businesses simply don’t realise what is possible”, said Chris Small CEO of VendorShop Social.

Ireland’s first ever Virtual Book Shop will be situated in Connolly Station from Monday 22nd October until Christmas with plans to bring the mobile shopping experience to other locations throughout the country.

Chinese New Year And Kildare Village

It's hard to believe it's been a year already, but Chinese New Year is here again and Kildare Village is right in the middle of celebrations for the year of the Dragon.

This year, for the year of the dragon, Kildare Village has launched a really cool augmented reality smartphone app*, the “Chic Dragon”, to celebrate the festival. The app, which marks the first use of augmented reality by a luxury outlet retailer, is free to download and features an animated dragon that takes users on an interactive journey through scenes of the nine Chic Outlet Shopping Villages. Customers just scan the code on posters around the Village and watch the dragon come to life on their screens. In addition, everyone who interacts with the app and watches the “Chic Dragon” video are in with a chance to win a €500 shopping spree.

Beyond the app and competition, no Chinese New Year would be complete without the official ceremonies that surround the festival. Kildare Village is getting into the spirit again this year by decorating the pedestrian streets of the Village in their festive best. Fortune cookies will also be distributed in the boutiques, restaurants and the tourist information centre from Friday 27th until Sunday 29th January.

Over the weekend of the 28th and 29th January there will be a number of traditional and contemporary entertainment acts in the Village such as vibrant Lion and Dragon Dance displays and Chinese opera performers. For further information on Dublin Chinese New Year Festival please visit www.cny.ie and for events happening at Kildare Village please see www.kildarevillage.com.


* The Chic Dragon app for iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch and Android is free to download from the App Store and the Android Market from 16 January 2012.

Scott Campbell Backs Bahrain Storm For Galway Plate

Unless you don’t own a TV or a smartphone you’ll know who Scott Campbell is. Well, Ireland’s new fresh face of weather and frontman to Budweiser’s current campaign - The Ice Cold Index - is down in Galway for the Races. Scott, a wealth of information and insight, has turned his weather foresighting skills to the horses for the day and named Bahrain Storm as his pony to win the Galway Plate race this afternoon at 3pm.

Being the generous man that he is, Scott has promised that all his fans can avail of a free pint of Budweiser Ice Cold if Bahrain Storm finishes in the top three of the Galway Plate. Nifty!

Speaking about his visit to Galway, Budweiser Ice Cold Index weatherman, Scott Campbell, said, “It’s all happening this week in Galway. I’ve been doing my research and I’ve heard great things about Bahrain Storm so I’m really hoping he comes through for me – my Budweiser Ice Cold fans deserve a free pint!”

Scott will be hanging out at the Budweiser tent at the Ballybrit race course to cheer on Bahrain Storm but he’ll also be delivering an update as part of the TV3 evening news weather report live from the Galway Races on Ladies Day tomorrow (Thursday, 28th July).

Scott has also extended an open invitation to join him for a special Galway Races Budweiser Ice Cold Index party in The Skeffington Arms Hotel, Eyre Square, Galway city on Saturday, 30th July from 4-7pm. Rugby star Cian Healy and his DJ partner Gordon Johnston will provide music and acting as MC will be RTE’s Jennifer Maguire.

As part of the party, Scott and his crew will be holding auditions to search for Scott’s co-star. Galway is the second of three heats in the search for Scott’s co-star. Scott will finish his search in Cork next month. Each finalist selected from the three heats will win €1,000 on the night and go through to the final heat to win the overall prize which includes starring alongside Scott on national TV and winning the ultimate holiday to Los Angeles. You can pre-register for auditions on www.facebook.com/budicecoldireland.

To check out Scott and keep up-to-date with the search for his co-star, visit the Facebook page where there will also be regular competitions, updates from Scott and invitations to the hottest events throughout the summer. You can also follow Scott on Twitter.

Special Olympics Ireland launch iPhone App

---Press Release---

Special Olympics Ireland are delighted to launch their first iPhone app today enabling supporters to follow Team Ireland at the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games. 126 athletes will represent Team Ireland in 12 different sports at the Games in Athens which will run from 25th June – 4th July. The Team will be accompanied by 49 coaches, 200 volunteers, and hundreds of family members and supporters. The app will also provide information on the ongoing work undertaken by Special Olympics in more than 400 clubs throughout Ireland. The Special Olympics Ireland iPhone app is available to download for free from the Apple App store from today.

“The app is a fantastic communication tool for us. This is a unique app for Special Olympics globally and for the first time people will be able to follow the World Summer Games on their iPhone.” said Sahra O’Neill, Special Olympics Ireland Director of Fundraising and Marketing. “Throughout the 2011 World Games, our iPhone app will provide athletes, families, supporters and volunteers with up-to-date information on the progress of each individual member of Team Ireland on their iPhone. The app is fully integrated with Special Olympics Ireland social networks and provides live blogs, results and news from the Games, as well as information on the ongoing work of Special Olympics. We look forward to adding additional functionality and updates to the app in the near future and hope the app provides hours of use for all supporters of Team Ireland.”

The Special Olympics Ireland app was developed free of charge for the charity through the collective efforts of Alan Haverty (www.outlier.ie), Cian Pas (www.creamgraphics.ie) and Roland Gröpmair (www.mapps.ie). Alan, who’s brother Ian benefits hugely from his participation in Special Olympics, approached Cream Graphics with the idea of developing an iPhone app to follow the 126 members of Team Ireland at World Games, and together they brought onboard long term app developer Roland Gröpmair to assist with the build of the app.

“We’d like to thank Alan, Cian and Roland for their enthusiasm, creativity and perseverance in making this happen for Special Olympics Ireland,” said Ms O’Neill. “It’s fantastic for us to be able to reach out and connect with people via their mobile phones, and raise awareness of the fantastic endeavours of the 126 Sporting Heroes who are representing Ireland on the world stage in Athens”.

Cream Graphics
Cream Graphic Design is a professional graphic design consultancy based in Dublin Ireland. A boutique agency, we bring together professionals from disciplines including design, photography, video production, illustration and web development to deliver tailored design solutions from the ground up, which are realised on brief, on budget and on time. www.creamgraphics.ie

Roland Gröpmair
Roland is a freelance software developer, specializing on mobile apps for the iPhone and iPad. His website is www.mapps.ie. He is an experienced IT project manager and technology consultant with more than 15 years industry experience. He has worked with several Fortune 500 companies in Europe, US and Canada.

Alan Haverty – Outlier.ie
Alan Haverty holds close to a decade of experience in consumer focused marketing. He is currently developing a business collaboration forum through his own website www.outlier.ie. His current responsibilities at Blueface lie in the development of customer propositions as well as, the continuous updating of the customer's online experience. Before joining Blueface Alan was a brand ambassador for Microsoft (Australia). He also spent a year as a Rugby Development Officer in Asia, and is a Patron of the Lao Rugby Federation.

Budweiser Ice Cold Index

The hotter the day the less you pay for your pint of Budweiser Ice Cold all summer...

Today sees the launch of Budweiser Ice Cold's latest marketing campaign, the Budweiser Ice Cold Index. The campaign is driven by the Budweiser Ice Cold Index mobile application (available on both iPhone and Android) and aims to create an unmissable summer experience by matching real Irish temperatures to real discounts off the price of your pint. Essentially, the hotter day the less you pay for a pint of Budweiser Ice Cold.

The Budweiser Ice Cold Index App gives these discounts directly through your handset. On days the temperature reaches 20°C and over, you'll enjoy a free pint, if it's 18°C or 19°C you'll get €2 off, and if it's 16°C or 17°C you'll get €1 off. There are a huge number of participating 'Index bars' and you can check the app for daily offers too. The App will allow you to get offers right up until 31st August and to celebrate the launch of Index everyone who downloads the App will enjoy their first pint of Budweiser Ice Cold free, regardless of the weather!

The App also boosts a pub finder to help you locate a nearby participating Index pub and other great features including bar reviews and special rewards for loyal Budweiser Ice Cold drinkers. The App is free and can be downloaded on most smart phones but for all other phones you can free text the word ‘INDEX’ to 50400.

To kick off the Index summer in style, Budweiser Ice Cold have also created a free pop up urban beach experience in Dublin City Centre. At lunchtime today an actual beach appeared at George’s Dock, IFSC. The pop up beach included deck chairs, a hog on a spit, an ice-cream van, a live acoustic performance by Sligo band Túcan and the Irish volleyball team even dropped by for an exhibition match.

Moon man Ken Ring, New Zealand’s famous weather predictor and astrologer, has shared his predictions for the Budweiser Ice Cold Index summer ahead and it seems that Munster and Leinster will be hotting up this summer enjoying more than 30 days from 1st May to 31st August of 20°C temperatures or over. Ulster is expected to be 20°C or more for approximately 17 days and while Connaught is the coolest province, Ken still expects the temperature in the West to hit at least 20°C for 9 days.

Speaking about the Budweiser Ice Cold Index Campaign, Christopher Wooff, Senior Brand Manager, Budweiser, commented, “This is a really exciting time for Budweiser as the brand goes from strength to strength in Ireland. Budweiser Ice Cold Index is an innovative concept, which we feel will excite consumers and we are thrilled to be the first brand to bring mobile vouchering to the Irish on-trade. We have had such a positive response from our on-trade customers with over 2,500 participating bars nationwide. Weather has always been a sore point for Irish people but if Ken Ring’s predictions are true, this really will be a summer to remember.”

Consumers can find full details on the Budweiser Ice Cold Index here and also on the Budweiser Ice Cold Ireland Facebook page where there will be regular competitions, Index updates from the Index weatherman Scott Campbell and invitations to the hottest events throughout the summer. You can also follow us on twitter @icecoldindex.

The Budweiser Ice Cold Index campaign is supported by ATL, POS, Digital, and PR and the following TV commercial, which was shot on location in South Africa featuring the Index weatherman Scott Campbell.

Notes:
* The temperature is taken from Met Éireann, the Irish National Meteorological Service, and fans will be notified of their region’s temperature at 1pm daily via the Index App.
* On an Index day, consumers can redeem their free or money off voucher between 1pm and 11.59pm (or closing time of a particular bar) on that day. It cannot be stored and redeemed at a later date.
* Once consumers have download the voucher, the participating Index bar will provide them with a pub code and they will then have two minutes to redeem their voucher before it expires.

Champion To Offer Facebook Deals

Well it looks like it's quite the day for Facebook Deals in Ireland. Just an hour ago I posted about Meteor's Facebook Deals and now I have a second bit of Deals news.

This afternoon Champion (Sport) announced that it is participating in Facebook Deals from today. Champion will be offering people special discounts when they check in to Champion stores across Ireland using Facebook Places.

To celebrate the launch of this new initiative by Champion, they will be offering the first 500 people to check into a Champion store through Facebook Places a top class football.

There are 23 Champion Sports stores around the country where people can check in and full details of the Facebook Deal are available on the Champion Facebook Page.

“Facebook is a great way for us to have conversations with our customers,” said Emily Barry of Champion. “So we are delighted to be participating in the launch of Facebook Deals, as it’s another opportunity for us to engage with our customers and give something back to them”

Meteor's Facebook Deals Offering

[Press Release]

Dublin, Ireland – 30th March 2011

Meteor today announced it’s participation in Facebook Deals, a new feature offering people special discounts when they check in using Facebook Places on their mobile in Ireland. To celebrate Meteor’s involvement in this new offering , Meteor will offer €5 free phone credit to the first 250 customers who check in at one of its 43 stores nationwide. The offer goes live this Friday, 1st of April.

Facebook Deals works by harnessing the power of your mobile phone by finding nearby deals using Facebook Places. This gives people another chance to get more value from businesses they visit or are near to.

Meteor’s, Dee Currid, marketing communications manager said, “Meteor, your social network, has always embraced online and we are lucky to have a fantastic community of Meteor customers on our Facebook page. Having just reached the 40,000 active Facebook fan mark in Ireland, we are glad to be able to give something back to our loyal community and hope that as many people as possible will avail of Meteor’s ongoing special deals. As always, it is important for Meteor to continue providing the best blend of technology and value for our customers.“

Meteor has enjoyed much success on Facebook and was one of the first companies in Ireland to launch an online shop as well as offering its customers the chance to top up on the social networking site. In 2010 Meteor was also awarded the Irish web award for the category of “Best Facebook page” for a business in Ireland.

Meteor now has over 40,255 fans on Facebook www.facebook.com/meteor since it’s launch last April.

Meteor and Barnardos Launch Christmas Text Appeal

Last Thursday Meteor CEO Fergus Finlay and actress and Barnardos Ambassador Sarah Bolger launched the Meteor Christmas text appeal for children's charity Barnardos. This is the first time that this type of appeal has been run between the two organisations although they have shared a strong partnership for the past number of years. Through simple texting, Meteor customers can donate directly to the charity.

Meteor customers just text ‘Barnardos’ to 57502. These texts cost the customer €2 and every cent goes directly to the charity. For the appeal Meteor are waving all costs.

Meteor’s Chief Commercial Office, John Penberthy Smith, said: “Our Meteor Christmas Campaign this year is focused on ‘Spreading the Christmas Spirit’ and we really hope to do exactly that for people who need it the most at this special time of year. We have been charity partners now with Barnardos for a number of years and really hope to raise lots of funds for this very deserving charity. Our sponsorship of The Spirit of Christmas Ball and The Today FM ‘Us2’ book which will be launched later this month are just some of the other projects that we’re working on together over the coming weeks. We hope that our customers will join with us in supporting Barnardos this Christmas. Every cent will go to making Christmas special for families and children that are suffering the most, especially at this time of year.”

The text activity is also being supported with a range of other fundraising activities taking place over the next couple of weeks by Meteor staff. These will include a collection day in Connolly station, volunteering at Barnardos Christmas project parties and the ‘Give a Gift Campaign’ where staff members buy gifts for Barnardos to distribute to children this Christmas.

Speaking at the launch, Barnardos’ CEO, Fergus Finlay said: “We truly appreciate the support of Meteor. For many of the children and families we work with, Christmas is an exceptionally difficult time. It’s great to know that every cent of the two euro donation will go directly to the children and families that we work with. Support like this will help us to continue our work with more than 5,500 children and hopefully bring them some comfort this festive season and it really couldn’t be easier to help out, simply text ‘Barnardos’ to 57502.”

The Meteor Barnardos text appeal is fully live and available to all Meteor customers.

The Carphone Warehouse 2010 Appy Awards

Last night saw the inaugural Appy Awards take place at the Gibson Hotel at the Point Village in Dublin. The awards celebrate innovation and creativity in the app development industry, rewarding its best practitioners for their hard work and business achievements. The Appys are the only dedicated awards programme in Ireland for app development and design, and are open to anyone who developed or paid for the development of a mobile app, on any platform (iOS, Android, Bada, Symbian, Ovi, etc.). The awards featured 17 categories ranging from Best Branded App to Best Travel/Tourism App, as well as a Grand Prix to the best overall app from the last year.

The first ever Grand Prix winner from last night was the RTÉ News Now iPhone app. RTÉ, who were up against a host of innovative and creative apps, were judged to be the best app out of 170 entries.

“I’d like to congratulate RTÉ and the agency that developed the News Now app, DRG, on the Grand Prix win,” said Stephen Conmy, editor of Digital Times and co-founder of the Appys. “The competition for the top prize was quite fierce, there were some great apps entered and most of the apps that made the shortlist show the creativity and utility now abundant in the Irish app sector. I’d also like to thank all our judges for the hard work they put in.”

The full breakdown of category winners was as follows:

Category App name Company Best Augmented Reality / Location Services app Daft.ie iPhone/iPad App Daft Media Ltd Best Branded app Paddy Power Mobile Paddy Power Best Business Solutions app Smartgrid Redwind Software Best Consumer Experience / Retail app Betfair for iPhone Betfair Best Entertainment / Gaming app Movie Challenge Redwind Software Best Media app RTÉ News Now DRG Best Medical/ Healthcare app Pocket Heart eMedia Interactive Ltd. Best Social Networking app Absolut Fringe eightytwenty/interactive Best Sports app RTÉ GAA Furious Tribe Best Tourism/Travel app Ireland's Blue Book Ireland's Blue Book Best Education / Learning App FIS Training Furious Tribe Best use of the Irish Language in an App Greann Gaeilge Miranda Corp Best Developer Daft - Ciaran Maher Daft Best Andriod app Today FM Communicorp Digital Best Bada app Munster Rugby iMobile Best OVI app Mowbli's Halloween Axonista Best Apple app RTÉ News Now DRG GRAND PRIX RTÉ News Now DRG

While each app was judged on seven different attributes including design, relevance to target market, utility and innovation, Des Doris, founder/organiser of the Appys and MD of Alchemy Events said, “We’ve been really impressed with the standard of entries for such a young media sector, and the app sector is a media sector in its own right now. While this year we’ve concentrated on mobile apps, next year we'd like to see tablet apps, social media apps and even Web TV apps entered. The app sector is changing the media landscape and the way many companies do business and the Appys with The Carphone Warehouse aim to showcase the best Irish apps and their developers.”

Edward Conmy, event director and co-founder, commented: “We’re extremely happy with the response, not just from all those who entered but also from our sponsors and the general digital media/marketing community. The app sector in Ireland is thriving and we hope the Appys will shine a bright light on this creative and energetic media sector. Well done to all those who made the shortlist, who won their categories and of course well done to the Grand Prix winner. For those who are a little disappointed on the night, there’s always next year.”

A huge congratulations to all those who were nominated and especially to all those who won.

Have You Claimed Your Place?

The following is a blog post that I wrote for the Betapond Blog. I wouldn't usually cross-share posts but in this case I think it's worth it. Hope you enjoy.

Have You Claimed Your Place?

Every now and again one of the ‘big players’ does something, well, big. Remember when Apple launched the iPhone? Or when Twitter redesigned its layout. Unless you’ve been living under a rock I can’t imagine the latest ‘big’ thing has passed you by – Facebook launched Facebook Places. The world’s biggest social media platform gave us their take on location-based social media, but unfortunately it’s not available to everyone just yet. Or is it?

A quick search of the interweb will reveal that beyond the US and UK, where Facebook Places is up and running fully, the rest of us don’t have to wait for our countries to get placed. By signing up to one of the many free, or paid, VPN (virtual private network) services out there, you can make Facebook think you are in the US or UK and use Facebook Places from any location.

In fact, as it turned out our team here at Betapond, while being based in Ireland (not a location currently placed), were able to develop two of the first Facebook Places Applications with our ‘I Spy Places’ and ‘LoyaltyBuilder’ Apps. So clearly those of us that want to explore this new location-based service from Facebook can.

What we quickly noticed though was that there weren’t any places on Places. Although Facebook has signed agreements with existing geo-location services like Gowalla and Foursquare, there are probably no places showing up in your location if it hasn’t been officially placed. Of course that’s no obstacle, it just means you needed to add places yourself.

Something happened in the last week, however, and I suddenly found that the number of places showing up increased massively. Even while up in Drogheda at the weekend I found that there are now hundreds upon hundreds of Irish entries on Facebook Places. So what you ask? Well for one this is interesting as it may point to an Irish launch of Facebook Places far ahead of the New Year timeline that Facebook previously, candidly outlined. More importantly though it puts the ball suddenly into every Irish business’s court to claim their Facebook Place.


Whether you have one premises or many, each physical location can be claimed as a Facebook Place. Using Betapond as an example, we have two office locations and both have been claimed. We can now use them in the same way as a Fanpage, including the addition of customised tabs (see above). The advantage, before you ask, is that as soon as Facebook Places does go live in Ireland we will be in full control of our properties and could have promotions, competitions or other location-based activities up and running.

So, as I initially said, have you claimed your place?

Absolut Drinkspiration 2.0

You may remember last July I wrote about the iPhone App launched by Absolut: Absolut Drinkspiration. The post got a huge amount of traffic and I thought you might be interested in an update of the campaign. Drinkspiration version 2.0 is now available for download and it features a host of updates including even more drinks based on mood, time of day, bar vibe, drink colour, etc. However, this time around Absolut has also launched an Android version of Drinkspiration for non-iPhone folk.

Drinkspiration by Absolut
A sophisticated drink application combining the latest mobile technology with GPS, Twitter and Facebook. Drinkspiration by Absolut is an interactive encyclopaedia of recipes, that helps you find and share personalized drink recommendations based on taste, weather, time of day, bar vibe, sound volume, real-time drink trends and much more. The application gives you a glimpse of the international nightlife scene, allowing you to see what drinks are ordered in real time across the globe and highlights in global drink trends and top lists – all made possible by GPS technology.

“We wanted to create the first interactive spirits application of its kind, combining top-of-the line mobile technology with social media interaction and user generated content,” said Fredrick Tallroth, “Drinkspiration by Absolut solves any drink dilemma quickly and in an inspiring way.”

- Drinkspiration by Absolut for Google Android is available for download in the Android Market
- Download the update of Drinkspiration by Absolut for iPhone here
- Please visit www.absolutdrinks.com/drinkspiration for more information

Nike True City iPhone App

Last week Nike launched a new iPhone App, True City. The App provides users with user-generated content on six European cities. Nike bill the app as "making the hidden visible through the knowledge and insight of Nike Insiders—local tastemakers". Basically local 'experts' provide the information on each city. Nike considers these individuals as being at the forefront of their cities.

I downloaded the app and had a play around with it, and it's definitely worth a look. My only negative would be that it's only six cities and there's no immediate indication that it will be expanded. On the plus side, however, the app does integrate very well from a social media point of view.

You can download it here.

For those that don't want to download the app to have a look, check out the following video...

Axe: Day & Night

Spotted this over on AdGoodness. Great example of how to drive mobile engagement from Lowe Ginkgo.

Starbucks: iPhone Apps

Today Starbucks have launched two new iPhone Apps: myStarbucks and Starbucks Card Mobile. Both are free to download and are designed to enhance the Starbucks experience. Have fun creating your own Starbucks drink or use your iPhone to load your Starbuck's Card or even look up the nutritional information of their beverages. The mobile team in charge of App development for Starbucks have hinted that an online ordering app may not be too far away either!

More information and both downloads are available here.

Obama's Digital Marketing

It may be tough to imagine Barack Obama not getting elected, but only 4 years ago he was virtually unknown both domestically and certainly internationally. So how did this unknown Junior Senator from Illinois get elected as the 44th President of the United States?

The folks behind Obama's Digital Marketing Strategy were Blue State Digital. They were responsible for designing and running all online marketing, and ultimately in charge of directing the technology and digital elements behind the campaign. Baring in mind, it was a campaign that generated record-breaking fund-raising and drove 13 million followers.

Here, Blue State Digital's Managing Partner, Thomas Gensemer, discusses the digital tactics behind the success of Obama's marketing campaign. All four clips come from Silicon Valley Insider as part of their Innovation video series, sponsored by Mercedes-Benz.

How Was E-Mail The Most Successful Tool Of The Obama Campaign?


How Did The Obama Campaign's Marketing System Work?


What Were The Three Keys To Success In Marketing The Obama Campaign?


Are Republicans Catching Up With The Obama Campaign's Marketing Tactics?

Augmented Reailty: Yelp Monocle

At the end of August Yelp released what is the first iPhone Augmented Reality app. The latest version of Yelp allows users to access a features called Monocle. The app gives you a real time overlay of Yelp's business listings within your field of view, utilising the iPhone's digital compass and GPS to provide geo-location.

The most interesting thing about the app is that it's actually an Easter Egg activated by shaking the handset three times. The feature is considered an Easter Egg as Apple don’t actually provide an open API to allow developers to access a live video feed from the iPhone’s camera. This essentially makes it impossible to develop Augmented Reality apps for the iPhone without hacking their software development kit. The Yelp app is available to download here.

Mashable's Jenn Van Grove demonstrates Yelp here...



Also check out Jenn's personal blog here.

Contagious Magazine

For those unfamiliar with Contagious Magazine, it's just about one of the best publications (online and offline) that you can lay your hands on. Contagious describes its purpose as being "to explore the shifting relationship between brands and consumers, to predict the impact of new technologies and to make sense of the fragmenting media landscape". Contagious says it "exists to simplify and to advise. It is the global marketing industry’s early warning system; an intelligence resource for those attempting to stay ahead of all this change". Contagious comes out quarterly with a free DVD showcasing over 100 pieces of creative work per issue. The DVD highlights each of these campaigns in a ‘challenge/solution/results’ format.

The following video is the Q3 promo featured on the most recent issue's DVD. Shown are Ken Block's DC csampaign, Evian's Skating Babies and the Nike Paul Rodriguez 'Today Was a Good Day' ad. Also shown are previews of some augmented reality features and a Technophilia showcase.



If you enjoyed this, check out Contagious's YouTube channel.

Nokia and Mobile Banking

I recently noticed a lot of mentions about Nokia coming through on Google Alerts, and following that I've found that I've been spending quite a bit of time trying to figure out what happened to them and where they're going. It wasn't that long ago that Nokia were the Coca-Cola of the phone industry - they were the first choice of almost everyone and that did what they were meant to do brilliantly. Then something changed. Now Nokia seem to have slid quite a bit and many of their advocats have jumped ship to Apple or LG, or anyone of a host of alternative mobile phone manufacturers.

Having said that, they may just be on the verge of something really cool.

Nokia has announced that it will enter the mobile banking market. Following Nokia's recent purchase of a stake in mobile payments company Obopay, the mobile giant have confirmed they are ready to launch Nokia Money. The new service will allows users to access their finances in a number of innovative and convenient ways, while on the go. This will range from the ability to pay for products to checking balances, all using their mobile phones. In addition, the service will inable customers to make money transfers just by using another person's mobile number.

Initially the service will rely on traditional banks to provide the interface for customers to deposit and withdraw actual money, however Nokia have confirmed plans to build a network of Nokia Money agents. These will essentailly become banks, allowing customers to deposit or withdraw cash directly from their Nokia accounts.

While this may seem like a move completely out of the blue by many people, mobile banking is a concept that is actually relatively old in terms of mobile communication. Following the boom of digital networks in the early 90's, many futurologists predicted that mobile banking would be common place by the end of the decade. While they may have been slightly off in their predictions, Nokia now predict that mobile payments are key to bringing accessable banking to hundreds of millions of people in urban and rural locations, who are restricted by current payment systems that necessitate credit facilities (especially in emerging economies). Nokia say this is the next big thing in the financial services industry.

Mary McDowell, Nokia executive, said: "In many countries, mobile phone ownership significantly exceeds bank account usage, suggesting that many mobile phone users have very limited or no access to basic financial services. With more than 4 billion mobile phone users and only 1.6 billion bank accounts, global demand for access to financial services presents a strong opportunity to combine mobile devices with simple but powerful financial services such as Nokia Money."

The service will be rolling out in Germany this month (September), with a full launch planned for 2010 (depending on operators and markets).

Nokia and The Future

Historically Nokia have always been the leader in the mobile phone market. They have nearly always had the largest range of phones, and have catered for everyone's wants and needs from high-tech high-end smartphones to basic call and text handsets. Basically Nokia made a lot of really clever moves early on in the early days of the mobile boom. Not bad for a company who's primary business as rubber and lumber!

Then something happened. Something changed in the mobile market and Nokia started to lose that historic first choice preference and users started looking to other handsets. The best example of this is the US mobile market. The US mobile market is probably the largest mobile market in the west, and certainly the most important.

Most articles I've read lately would have you believe that Nokia's single major failing has nothing to do with handsets or technology. As a provider Nokia has a huge suite of mobile devices. Nokia is falling down in the US due to a failure to partner with the US mobile networks, and to be honest Nokia's relationship with US mobile networks is well documented. But there's more to it then that. People want smaller, smarter, faster and completely integrated devices. They don't want to have to carry a laptop, a phone, a music player, a camera, an organiser etc. They want to have a device that offers all of these things. Nokia, however, are still approaching their devices from the position of building phones.

The most exciting thing to come to the mobile market in some time, is with out doubt the iPhone. The most important thing to realise about the iPhone is that, contrary to what its name would have you believe, it is not in fact a phone at all. The iPhone is a mobile mini computer that offers the ability to make phone calls, among a host of features.

Building phones is what is truly holding Nokia back. So how will Nokia effect such a change? How will Nokia achieve their goal of becoming "the largest interactive media network in the world."

Nokia's campaigns over the last year have all aimed to grow social media presence, facilitated by conversation. Nokia want people to use their technology to express and broadcast themselves. To support this, Nokia launched a web service called Ovi. Ovi allows Nokia users to get apps like Facebook, Twitter and Bebo for their Nokia phone. While this is far more expansive for smartphones such as the Nokia N97, there are options for even the simplest handset. Nokia have also made major inroads to developing their music offering. Fast Company's article Nokia Rocks the World: The Phone King's Plan to Redefine Its Business gives an overview of Nokia's recent musical advance and the following interview...



So mission accomplished? An app platform in place, partnerships established, advertising ready, and a strategy thought out - Nokia stand poised to take over the world once and for all?

Well not quite. Unfortunately there is a lot of fine tuning still to do for Nokia to accomplish their goal. Nokia's platform, Ovi, is far from brilliant. It is unintuitive and lacks any sort of dynamicism. Coupled with this, the efforts that Nokia are making "to counter music piracy and offer an easy music access service", don't actually address the fact that people want to listen to music on a music player, not on a phone. This brings me back to the point that Nokia are failing to recognise exactly what their competition is really offering.

Once Nokia realise that they need to make more then just phones, they may stand a chance of regaining the premier position they once held for mobile devices.