Geary Interactive, WD-40 Loosen up the Holidays

Rick Lyon and WD-40 Company wish you a lubricated holiday season courtesy of Displacement Records (water displacement that is).

This year WD-40 wishes their fans a merry holiday through the power of song and video marketing. Mimicking the infomercials we all love and hate, Rick Lyon’s alternate personality Rick McSlickerson sings campy songs like “It’s Beginning to Lube a lot Like Christmas.”

The video has garnered over 90,000 YouTube views in about a week. The voiceover talent alone is worth a view.

See it for yourself.

8 things we loved in 2009

1. The plethora of iPhone apps that make life a little easier and a whole lot more fun.

2. Facebook vanity URLs. There’s something about seeing our names included in a URL that makes us feel merry.

3. Augmented reality. Thank you Google Goggles and Monocle. With you, 2010 might just be the year of mobile.

4. Twitter lists.

5. The Adobe-Omniture acquisition. We’ll now get a more comprehensive view at how Flash assets impact website behavior.

6. Bing! Not that we don’t like Google. We love the Google, but we also like to root for the underdog.

7. Coca-Cola adopting a performance-driven marketing model. It proves Geary’s mantra of Real Results as Coke was one of the first international brands to steer away from time + materials contracts.

8. I Wear Your Shirt. Who would have thought leasing out your wardrobe could be so profitable? We had too much fun working with Jason on our contest, and we have already booked our date for 2010.

Google Goggles–Visual Search for Android

Google held a press conference yesterday, and in true Google form, they didn’t disappoint. The video below is a demonstration of Google Goggles, a visual search engine that will take what we love about Google (i.e.-they find what we’re looking for) and add a new visual, interactive component.

To sum up, with Goggle Android users can take pictures with their phone and Google will use that image to conduct a search. Examples in the video demo include books, business cards, landmarks, and other things we all stumble across during our day. Images can be stored for later use or discarded after ac search is completed.

What does this mean for users? Thier Android phone just got a lot cooler, and Google is adding features that the iPhone isn’t. Competitive edge anyone?

What does this mean for marketers? Their companies and products just got a lot more searchable. If users are going to be using this technology, they better be prepped and ready to be found.

2010 Digital Marketing Predictions

2010: Moving beyond the year of “will you be my friend?”

“Unfriend” is Oxford Dictionary’s newest word of the year, which proves that social media was the hit of 2009. Budgets might not have been large, but marketers spent a lot of time mulling over how their companies fit into the social media landscape.

2010 will see evolutions in several facets of digital marketing, and here’s Geary Interactive’s list of what to look for in the coming year.

Mobile on the Move

With Android, Apple and more than 100,000 iPhone apps, 2010 might be the year of mobile we’ve been waiting for. Looking forward, the new Flash software may make app design easier so look out for an app for everything- including your brand. With connection everywhere and increased mobile TV, mobile marketing will reach new heights and its marketing potential.

Adobe Analytics

Web analytics has been a tool to answer the question: how do I measure my marketing? But now with Adobe’s acquisition of Omniture, analytics will be baked into creative executions from the get-go. This means data will be more comprehensive and optimization can be made in a timelier manner.

Consolidation of Social Networks

Instead of updating 13 different profiles and status updates, users will be able to sync multiple platforms with a single action. This will encourage users to be socially active and connected with their peer and marketers alike. Moral of the story: social media isn’t going anywhere.

SEO + Social Media Unite

Social media marketing will start incorporating SEO tactics to make the most of the off-site traffic and buzz generated by social media. Whether it’s SEO friendly headlines or embeddable code for bloggers, marketers will use quality content to drive users from social communities to their sites.

Search Engines Get Real

MSN/BING is now incorporating both indexed pages and real time updates in their search engine results. This will have a huge impact on how websites compete with social media streams for who will rank #1 on search engines and how quickly those rankings change.

Smooth Landings

Search engines are now taking into account how relevant landing pages are to search queries in their ranking algorithms. This will help build campaign relevancy from click to conversion–boosting conversion rates and return on advertising investment.

Display Stamp of Approval

Moving forward marketers will have additional insight and verification into ad placements through ad networks. Reporting from ad networks will provide marketers with more detailed information about exactly where advertisements are displayed.

Augmented Reality–Can you dig it?

Augmented reality sounds like a mouthful, but in actuality, its pretty nifty. A sneaky and sparkling example of augmented reality is the new Yelp app for iPhones.

It’s sneaky because programmers were able to sneak an Easter egg–or hidden code–passed Apple’s app reviewers. (Augmented reality applications aren’t supposed to be available until at least the release of iPhone OS 3.1). The snazzy part is that it uses the phone’s GPS capabilities and camera to overlay an application on top of real images. See below.

Yelp's Augmented Reality

In Yelp’s case, their application overlays user ratings and comment on top of the reviewed business. For example, if I am walking down the street deciding where I should grab lunch, I can initiate the Easter Egg (called Monocle), point my camera at restaurants I pass, and ratings will show up on my phone.

Pretty snazy.

Most think that the options are endless for these type of augmented reality applications, and I tend to agree with them. However, developing useful apps is another situation altogether. How would you like to see augmented reality implemented? Would you use AR apps?

Do you own your brand name?

When Internet marketing first took off, there was a mad dash to buy up domain names. At the same time, squatters were buying URLs in the hopes of making a few bucks selling them to marketers. The same “gold rush” mindset has been in effect with Twitter handles. Several of the nation’s top brands are in the process of reclaiming branded handles. Bank of America, Volkswagon and Disney are just a few of these brands that do not have control over their namesake’s Twitter handle.

The social media landscape is always changing–especially from a technology perspective. Tomorrow there could be a new platform that renders Twitter irrelevant. Just as soon as you get your profile up and running, the platform might be outdated. When the next “it” thing comes around, will you be prepared to protect your brand?

Another evolution in the marketing name game resulted from a decision by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. They ruled that URL names no longer need to be restricted to Latin characters, which means Hebrew, Hindi and Korean characters can now be used in URL names.

International brands are now faced with the challenge of owning a whole new set of URL names to keep squatters off their territory. What’s the moral of this story?

It’s imperative for marketers to keep their ears to the ground to stay ahead of opportunistic squatters. If there is a chance that you might need a URL name or social media name, get it. It’s better to own your name, but not use it, than have someone outside your organization in control of it.

Is 2010 the Year of Mobile (FINALLY)?

Its about the time when industry experts make their predictions for the upcoming year. An explosion of mobile usage (and marketing to go along with it) has been among the forecasted trends for the past few years. Are we actually on the verge of the year of mobile?

Things are looking that way.

Mobile usage is definitely up. No question about that. With rumors that the iPhone will drop AT&T as its exclusive provider ( just like the dropped calls plaguing its subscribers) and Google’s Android platform on the way, things are definitely progressing.

What would it take to proclaim 2010 as the year of mobile? And is it going to come to fruition this year?

Do Advertisers Need Manners?

Manners and social etiquette are a cornerstone of society. Of course, there are those that bend or break the rules. There are people who stand too close for comfort, folks that always under tip and guests that wear out their welcome. When unstated social rules are broken, social invitations fall by the wayside and offenders are written off as “weird”.

What happens when advertisers break codes of conduct?

Unfortunately, the brand usually suffers.

A recent example is the uncouth Fox/ Burger King advertisment that included fat jokes about Jessica Simpson, digs at Tony Romo’s performance and the chances of Wade Phillips coaching next year. Besides not being funny, it doesn’t make sense for a fast food chain to bring up fat jokes. As an AdAge article points out, this makes even less sense when the brunt of the jokes is skinnier than most of its consumers.

Burger King’s long time advertising agency had nothing to do with the production of this skit. However, if they had, Burger King would have faced the backlash–not the agency. The lesson learned here is that taking jabs at celebrities can be funny, but they can also cross the line. In my opinion, this one did because the jokes didn’t make sense from a comedic or strategic viewpoint. Going for a shock value is one thing, but if you intend to mock someone, at least loop your advertising agency into the discussion. You pay them for strategic council after all, and hopefully, they went to finishing school.

How will Twitter Impact Holiday Shopping?

Will Cyber Monday have a banner year with the growing adoption of Twitter?

It’s quite possible.

Online research and purchases are a large part of consumers’ holiday shopping process. The social and interactive aspects of it make it a great avenue to gather information, purchase and ship gifts easily. Will this tradition spike this year, as consumers and brands are engaging with one another via Twitter? I think so. Now more than ever, consumers expect to hear from and interact with brands online. If I want to rave about an inspired purchase, I used to go to a review site. Now I send out a tweetcast.

One key difference between Twitter and social shopping sites is that consumers can proactively engage with brands. On a blog or review site, content is geared towards other shoppers, but on Twitter users elicit responses directly from brands.

How do you think Twitter will impact holiday shopping? Here are a few speculations:

1. Shorter limited time offers/ sales

2. Brands will dedicate handles to customer service

3. Lower traffic to product review websites as this will migrate to Twitter

4. Users will ask followers for feedback/ review before a purchase

Social Media is not a Fad. Here’s the Proof.

Social media is a force to be reckoned with–we all know this by know. Watch this video to see the magnitude of this force. As the title implies, it will blow your mind. Here are a few highlights:

1. If Twitter were a country, it would be the forth largest.

2. 25% of search results for the World’s Top 20 brands link to consumer generated content

3. If you were paid $1 per Wikipedia post, you would earn $156.23 an hour

4. YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world

5. 1 out of 8 couples married in the US this year met via social media

Case and point = social media is not a fad

Source: http://socialnomics.net/