BRANDING UNBOUND

Perfect Fit? Urban Outfitters Expands Its Mobile Brand Initiatives

If the phone fits, sell with it.

Defying gravity, Urban Outfitter's has seen decent sales of late.

But with increasing turbulence in the youth retail market, it's hoping to expand to new revenue streams that appear to include expanded mobile operations, according to MarketingVox

Currently, the brand's mobile activities have centered on text messaging customers. But with help from Acuity Mobile, the company, known for targeting the educated, urban-minded individual in the 18 to 30 year-old crowd, intends to use consumer data to send targeted marketing content based on specific factors such as customer interests, time of day and geographic location. It also plans to target content at the national, regional and local level, and to eventually offer mobile shopping.

It's unclear what all of that time of day and geographic location stuff will really amount to, but a robust customer-interest solution could prove interesting.

Personally, while I think this is a good start, I also think a far more compelling offering might be an app - iPhone or WAP-based - by which a customer coming into the store can essentially let the store know they've arrived. Items of interest to them - with their location in the store - could appear on the screen and might help generate sales.

M-commerce is fine, too (see the mobile site here), but a tricky proposition in the clothing space. Time and location are moot if the customer activates the app when they enter the store, and revenue generation opportunities are increased since the customer is indicating they're here and they're interested in trying on new products.

Now that's something an educated, urban 18 to 39 year-old could get excited about.

Read more, here.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

BRANDING UNBOUND WAS JUST THE BEGINNING:

----- CLICK HERE FOR A FIRST LOOK -----

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Quick Links:

Generation Wow: Expanding the conversation to multi-platform marketing
BRANDING UNBOUND The Book
ADWEEK Magazines Excerpt
Rick Mathieson.com

Hardee's Wants You To Name Its Holes

I guess desperate times call for desperate promotions - mobile or otherwise.

Fast fooder Hardee's has launched a new mobile marketing effort as part of its integrated campaign for its Biscuit Hole product.

You have to try hard to come up with a name like Biscuit Holes, but that appears to be the big idea. The campaign's tagline: "Sounds so wrong but tastes so right." The concept: Have consumers enter names for the product, which apparently is some kind of biscuit rolled in cinnamon and sugar and served with icing for dipping.

The multimedia, integrated platform including advertising, online, mobile and social media: Centered around TV spots where suggested names include "Breakfast Holes," "Frosty Nuts" and "Heavenly Balls." Key among the campaign elements is a new microsite called www.NameOurHoles.com, where consumers can submit their own name ideas.

“We love to entertain our customers, but we also like to create ways for our customers to interact with the brand to entertain themselves,” says Brad Rosenberg, Hardee’s manager of digital strategy and marketing, in a statement. “The NameOurHoles.com microsite does just that. Think you can come up with a funnier or more creative name than Biscuit Holes? We want to hear it. If it makes the cut, we’ll share it with all of our online fans.”

After submitting a creative hole name to the microsite, visitors can then automatically Tweet their hole name to their followers or post it on their Facebook wall for their friends to see. Visitors can also make video submissions, some of which will be pushed to the Hardee’s YouTube channel where there are additional options to share with friends.

The mobile component: A mobile site developed by iLoop Mobile, where consumers with web-enabled mobile phones can name their Holes, and a mobile ad buy via Jumptap. Mobile fans can also see product information and photos, watch the Biscuit Holes commercials through streaming video, share the site and even send personalized Hardee’s mobile greeting cards to friends.

Insert your own "this campaign leaves a bad taste in my mouth" joke here.

And read more about the effort exerted on Hardee's Holes, here.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

BRANDING UNBOUND WAS JUST THE BEGINNING:

----- CLICK HERE FOR A FIRST LOOK -----

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Quick Links:

Generation Wow: Expanding the conversation to multi-platform marketing
BRANDING UNBOUND The Book
ADWEEK Magazines Excerpt
Rick Mathieson.com

AdMob Report: Most Free, Ad-Supported iPhone Apps Have Fewer Than 1,000 Users

A new report from AdMob indicates that 54% of the 2,300 free, ad-supported app available for the iPhone had fewer than 2,000 users in May.

An important caveat: AdMob can only count apps that use its ad network, so this study is not reflective of the entire universe of ad-supported iPhone apps.

It does suggest, however, that either there's still huge growth potential for such apps, or that they're simply not generating much interest (or both). Eleven iPhone apps have over 1 million users, so it's not like large numbers are being generated by a large number of apps anyway.

In my view, ad-supported apps are uninteresting anyway. Far more compelling are branded apps like the one from Nationwide Insurance offer far more compelling models. Very few people will download the app, and fewer will ever use it. But for those who do, it will be a much appreciated utility that builds true brand equity. Ditto for branded games like Audi's A4 Challenge iPhone app, which is a game based on the new A4 automobile. And, for that matter, outbound marketing efforts like the one from BMW that recently achieved a 30% response rate.

As longtime readers know, I am skeptical that replicating media and ad models from the Internet will work especially well in the mobile medium. Many smart people are working to prove me wrong.

But in the end, mobile's so much more powerful than (just) that. My book BRANDING UNBOUND looks at how mobile is far more compelling as a response mechanism to commercial messages we experience in other media - outdoor, broadcast, print, direct mail and so on.

Time will tell which models prevail. But over the near term, it appears ad-supported iPhone apps have yet to gain much traction.

Read more about the AdMob study, here. And learn more about BRANDING UNBOUND the book, here.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

BRANDING UNBOUND WAS JUST THE BEGINNING:

----- CLICK HERE FOR A FIRST LOOK -----

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Quick Links:

Generation Wow: Expanding the conversation to multi-platform marketing
BRANDING UNBOUND The Book
ADWEEK Magazines Excerpt
Rick Mathieson.com

New Book Goes Beyond 'UNBOUND': Mobile's Role In Shaping 'THE ON-DEMAND BRAND'

As the promo puts it, BRANDING UNBOUND was just the beginning.

In my new book, coming spring 2010 from AMACOM Books (publisher of UNBOUND), I'll look at mobile as one channel among many for reaching today's iPhone-toting, blog-hopping, videogame-fragging, Twitter-tapping, I-want-what-I-want, when-where-and-how-I-want-it" generation.

Best of all, you'll get insights and inspiration from today's top innovators and thought leaders, including Alex Bogusky, the ad world's ulimate rock star; Laura Klauberg, the $4 billion a year Queen of All Media; Courteney Monroe, EVP of consumer marketing for HBO; Adrian Si, head of interactive for Toyota's youth-skewing Scion brand; Tome Bedecarré, CEO of AKQA; Andy Bates, CEO of Interbrand and many, many more.

Click below for a first look. A full site is coming soon, as will more information, the ability to pre-order the book, and the chance to win signed galleys months in advance of the book hitting stores.

If you liked UNBOUND, you're going to love THE ON-DEMAND BRAND.

Click here or below for more.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

BRANDING UNBOUND WAS JUST THE BEGINNING:

----- CLICK HERE FOR A FIRST LOOK -----

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Quick Links:

Generation Wow: Expanding the conversation to multi-platform marketing
BRANDING UNBOUND The Book
ADWEEK Magazines Excerpt
Rick Mathieson.com

'G.I. JOE': A Real American Mobile Game

I was kind of hoping the upcoming GI JOE movie would be pre-Kung Fu Grip, but alas, the film will be based on the Cobra years - and it's getting a mobile game to help promote it.

EA announced today it is launching a slew of Hollywood related mobile games, from Star Trek to Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince to X-Men Origins to Joe.

“There are a lot of great movies this summer that translate into exciting mobile entertainment experiences, including these phenomenally popular franchises,” Adam Sussman, VP Worldwide Publishing, EA Mobile, tells reporters. “These are four of the hottest films this year, and EA Mobile is proud to bring fantastic game companions of each title to mobile phones.”

In the JOE game, a JOE operative faces off against a Cobra commander. At least it sounds cooler than Glu's Transformers "cyber toy," or "digital action figure," whatever that was supposed to be.

Read more, here.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

BRANDING UNBOUND WAS JUST THE BEGINNING:

----- CLICK HERE FOR A FIRST LOOK -----

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Quick Links:

Generation Wow: Expanding the conversation to multi-platform marketing
BRANDING UNBOUND The Book
ADWEEK Magazines Excerpt
Rick Mathieson.com

Dunkin Donuts' New iPhone App-ettite

While Starbucks is still trying to figure out how to make its Facebook page useful, Dunkin' Donuts is busy launching its new iPhone app.

With "Dunkin' Run," "runners" initiate group orders by alerting the runner's list of friends or co-workers, telling them when a trip to Dunkin' Donuts is planned, along with a personal message inviting them to place an order online. 

Here's how it works, according to a special promotional site called DunkinRun.com:

INVITE: Start a run at DunkinRun.com from your computer, mobile device, or our iPhone application . You are now "the runner", and pick which friends you'd like to invite by providing their email or mobile phone number (no spaces or dashes e.g. 1234567890).

ORDER: Select what you want from the menu, and we'll contact your friends and tell them to do the same.

RUN: Go get the goods. We'll compile all orders for you, and you can print it out or have it sent to your mobile device (if you print it, just hand the print out to the Dunkin' crew member at the shop and they'll take it from there).

ENJOY! Bring the goodies back, and enjoy the deliciousness, along with the hero worship from your friends.

Maybe Starbucks could launch a similar app, called "Starbucks Starin' At The Person In Front of You," in which group orders are sent to "liners," who have already been standing in line for half an hour, and who can order "Venti Double Half-Caff Latte, Banana Vivanno and an Apple Cranberry Muffin" without being humiliated.

Actually, Dunkin's been quite aggressive in the mobile space for quite some time. In BRANDING UNBOUND the book, I look at how Dunkin' used one mobile promotion to boost sales 22% at participating locations.

Sure, Starbucks is using Twitter (to apparently unfortunate effect) and 2d bar codes (to much better effect), but Dunkin' seems to be doing all this stuff better.

Read more about the Dunkin Run app, here.

And read more about BRANDING UNBOUND the book, here.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

BRANDING UNBOUND WAS JUST THE BEGINNING:

THE ON-DEMAND BRAND: The New Book By Rick Mathieson - Details Coming Soon

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Quick Links:

Generation Wow: Expanding the conversation to multi-platform marketing
BRANDING UNBOUND The Book
ADWEEK Magazines Excerpt
Rick Mathieson.com

Mobile Transforms The Brick & Mortar Experience 3

More on AD AGE's piece about how retailers might use mobile to transform the in-store experience, and what they got right in spirit, if not in fact.

In the article, AD AGE postulates that retailers may soon be using augmented reality to enhance the shopping experience.

Well no, retailers ARE ALREADY using it to great effect.

IconNicholson's Social Retailing concept enables consumers to "try on" clothes using special mirrors that project the garments over the shopper's image, and is already in use at stores like Bloomingdales.

And AR solutions for the handset, like Layer, already make this a reality on the mobile phone - though to be fair, I'm not aware of a real world trial yet.  Point is: Mobile isn't just a cool concept for transforming the retail shopping experience. It's a reality that smart marketers are already using today.

Read the AD AGE piece here. And see how retailers are already using mobile in innovative new ways, starting here.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

BRANDING UNBOUND WAS JUST THE BEGINNING:

THE ON-DEMAND BRAND: The New Book By Rick Mathieson - Details Coming Soon

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Quick Links:

Generation Wow: Expanding the conversation to multi-platform marketing
BRANDING UNBOUND The Book
ADWEEK Magazines Excerpt
Rick Mathieson.com

Transformers iPhone 'Cyber Toy' Hits App Store

Yes, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen hits theaters today (mostly to tepid reviews), and yes I mentioned how much I don't love the LG-driven mobile marketing campaign (such as it is).

But we need to do the obligatory coverage of the new iPhone app, this time a new "cyber toy" from Glu Mobile.

From screen shots at the app store, this "cyber toy" or "digital action figure" concept involves being able to manipulate the construction of your Transformer. There's a puzzle mode and whatnot.

But I'm thinking .99-cents might be a little high here. The studio should have just commissioned the app and used it as a free marketing vehicle.

Looks like minutes of fun for the whole family to me.

Then again, judging from some of the reviews, so does the actual movie.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

BRANDING UNBOUND WAS JUST THE BEGINNING:

THE ON-DEMAND BRAND: The New Book By Rick Mathieson - Details Coming Soon

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Quick Links:

Generation Wow: Expanding the conversation to multi-platform marketing
BRANDING UNBOUND The Book
ADWEEK Magazines Excerpt
Rick Mathieson.com

The New York Times May Start Charging for iPhone, Mobile Content

If the New York Times offers all the news that'll fit your iPhone, they may as well charge for it.

First USA Today woke up to what I've been talking about for quite some time - that it's hard for print publishers to get upset over declining revenues when they seem hellbent on giving their content away for free, especially in rich experience such as iPhone apps. And now the New York Times is potentially following suit. 

"For publishers to offer their content for free in the mobile platform forever without getting paid very much money, I don't think it's going to be tenable," Martin Nisenholtz, head of the NYT's digital operations, tells Marketwatch.

In BRANDING UNBOUND the book, I interview Nisenholtz about mobile as a delivery content for mobile. At the time, he found the whole idea interesting - and, perhaps presaging delivery mechanisms like Amazon's Kindle, he said he felt that the handset experience was really just the beginning of new ways to deliver content wirelessly.

None of which is to say that content should be delivered free of charge. But really, why stop with mobile. As I posted recently over at GEN WOW, Hearst has been quietly succeeding by simply ignoring the Web all together, keeping its print content available solely in print.

Now that might juice up the revenues.

If they can grow a pair and execute. 

Read the Marketwatch piece here.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

BRANDING UNBOUND WAS JUST THE BEGINNING:

THE ON-DEMAND BRAND: The New Book By Rick Mathieson - Details Coming Soon

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Quick Links:

Generation Wow: Expanding the conversation to multi-platform marketing
BRANDING UNBOUND The Book
ADWEEK Magazines Excerpt
Rick Mathieson.com

IBM's Mobile Augmented Reality App for Wimbledon: Grand Slam, Or Junk Ball?

IBM is hoping attendees at Wimbledon will be staring into their camera phones instead of at the court.

TechCrunch is reporting that the official technology partner for Wimbledon is serving up an augmented reality app that will give fans the ability to hold their camera phone up and access player stats along with information on the nearest restroom, food concession stands and more, layered atop whatever it is they see through the phone screen. GPS helps the app, built using Android Seer, anchors information to physical objects and locations. 

Which is all very cool, but the sight of people doing what the guy in this video is doing seems like stretching it a bit. Seems like far too much effort - and really, how hard is it to find the concession stand?

Frankly, IBM would have achieved more user interest if it had created an augmented reality game like Fanta's, which enables you to play 3D holographic tennis using your phone as your racket, ala a real-world/virtual world version of Wii. You can even connect with an opponent via Bluetooth.

By comparison, it seems like advantage: Fanta.

But it's not too late for IBM to get into the game.

Read more here.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

BRANDING UNBOUND WAS JUST THE BEGINNING:

THE ON-DEMAND BRAND: The New Book By Rick Mathieson - Details Coming Soon

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Quick Links:

Generation Wow: Expanding the conversation to multi-platform marketing
BRANDING UNBOUND The Book
ADWEEK Magazines Excerpt
Rick Mathieson.com