 August 8, 2008
 Let the (digital) games begin!Tagged as: O.P.E.N., creative, digital millennials, engaging, iCitizen, mobile, networked, new consumer journey, on-demand, personal, retail, social web, technology, trendsPosted by: Dan Shust
Here are my podium picks: Bronze Medal: McDonalds "The Lost Ring" In March 50 bloggers received a mysterious package in the mail. It contained an Olympic poster and a ball of string that, when unraveled, revealed a web address. Thus began “The Lost Ring” an Alternate Reality Game (or ARG) that is currently being played in 7 languages across 100 countries. The players work together to hunt for clues to solve an ancient Olympic mystery. Immersive gameplay leads them to websites, blog posts, wikis, podcasts and even Twitter. 4 million people and counting have visited the launch site. Silver Medal: Lenovo "Voices of the Olympic Games" In an attempt to bring attention to a variety of less mainstream Olympic sports, Lenovo has given laptops and Flip video cameras to 100 athletes. (No other compensation is being provided.) Their only direction was to tell the rest of the world about their Olympic experience. Their blog posts are revealing, touching and sometimes humorous. Mainstream media will blast us with Phelps, LeBron, Kobe and Torres, but Lenovo's athlete bloggers allow us to partake in the "common" Olympian's experience. Gold Medal: NBC - Digital Coverage In 2006 NBC streamed one hockey game live form the Turin Winter Olympics. This year the network will stream over 2200 hours of live coverage and 3600 hours of on demand video will ultimately be available. Their custom video player is ground breaking, allowing the user to enjoy such features as closed captioning, expert commentary even for less popular events, integrated trivia, picture-in-picture and a "control room" view in which you can enjoy up to 4 live events simultaneously. NBC's coverage also includes a robust mobile web site, text messaging, e-mail alerts and mobile video. So, there are my “Digital Olympics” medal winners. Each effort is game changing in its own way, but just imagine if they were all on the same team. When you do, you can almost see the future… August 7, 2008
My media is completely controlled by me – I choose my RSS feeds, my FriendFeed friends, my Twine groups. You name it. I’m in control of it. I don’t have time for surprises. But with my world at my fingertips, it’s easy to lose track of the rest of the world. And yet, everyday I pass by a snapshot of what’s on the collective minds of the universe. Today, for example, I learned via Google Hot trends (on my way to my RSS reader) that Brooke White released an album (on fire), The Jets might cut Pennington (on fire), and a Emily Robinson’s divorce is final (volcanic). At times, I’m dismayed that so many people care about this stuff. What about Scobleizer’s latest post on Meebo? Here's the moral of this story. When deadlines are tight and budgets are tighter, it’s really easy to forget the following: “I am not the average user”. I spend my day talking about the next great digital experiences – but most people won’t care until we make it useful, relevant and easy. I consider Google Hot trends my daily reminder. August 1, 2008
I'm sure the folks at J.Crew would be pleased at the overall positive effect it had on her, mainly, I think, because she'd never received an apology from a retailer before. Certainly they are rare, so I won't squelch the brand's effort too much, but if J.Crew REALLY cared about how its customers felt, well, they could have tried just a little bit harder. I thought Free People's response to an accidental email was great--and meaningful in a Personal way, mainly because it was relevant to the mistake the brand made. Based on J.Crew's apology, I'm guessing they've gotten an earful from customers, so how nice would it be to offer opportunities on-site to let customers share--or air--their input? Ratings and reviews are a great place to start but they're nowhere to be found on this somewhat closed brand site. |
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