Mobile Behavior: an Omnicom Group Company

It's not easy for an advertisement to stop people in their tracks these days (especially in New York City), but a new interactive installation promoting the Discovery Channel's Stormchasers is doing just that.

Their "Urban Tornado Experience" caught our attention while we were walking down Broadway this weekend. We saw a moving image of a storm projected on a the side of a building. Upon walking closer, our image appeared within the storm clouds — it was like looking in a mirror to see an alternate reality reflected back.

Our first inclination, and that of fellow passersby, was to take out our phones to snap a picture. Right then, a call-to-action popped up:

• Text 0700 to 646-535-8432
• Receive a link to your photo on Facebook
• Add your email to the text to have the photo sent to you
• For example: 0700 name@mail.com

By texting in, you were also consenting to have your picture displayed on Facebook. We assume they time-matched the text with the image taken, not an exact science but a workable solution. And it definitely yielded a lot more content than having people text in pictures themselves.

This is a great example of "post-digital" advertising i.e. taking the interactive, participatory nature of digital and creating brand experiences that engage people in the real world. Increasingly, marketers are breaking down barriers between "online" and "offline," and mobile can be the glue between the two. For one, the mobile phone can allow people to interact with digital signage and installations (see Locamoda's apps for some great examples of what's possible). Secondly, people constantly use their phone to share cool experiences in the moment. The team that created this Discovery Channel ad recognized this. They leveraged this reflex and made it easy to turn their experience into a social one. Social media hinges on giving people something worth talking about and sharing online. Capturing their reactions creates great content for the brand too. They were also smart to direct people to where their images lived on Facebook, allowing them to easily Like or Share them.

You can see the images on Facebook here.

4Food is a new restaurant opening in Midtown Manhattan that could be from the future. In addition to serving a Jetson-inspired menu, it builds Internet culture into its core experience, positioning itself as "an Apple store meets Chipotle."

Social networking and collaboration will play roles, as a 240 square foot display built into a wall will show both Foursquare check-ins to the location as well as Twitter updates. Customers will be encouraged to share the customized burgers they make and can even get 25-cent credits for every burger sold based on their choice of ingredients.

And these aren't any ordinary burgers, they are scooped out and filled with veggies. 4Food's mission is to make fast food healthy and eco-friendly. According to their site:

• We upgrade food that people already eat-burgers, nuggets, fries, salads and teas - transforming them into new menu items that are convenient, and almost infinitely customizable to our guests' lifestyles and cultural preferences. Our food is measurably healthier than existing products.
• Dynamic Menu Boards reduce waste and enable us to feature seasonal and occasional products.
• Advanced, web-based technologies allow us to make personalized recommendations that meet our guest's nutrition and lifestyle goals.
• Fresh, local produce is transformed into our menu offerings in the Community Kitchen Commissary-a vocational training center.
• We build with natural construction materials that are abundant and regenerative.

Restaurants want customers to share with their social graph, to lure people in "like the scent out of a bakery window," and we suspect that is the sort of place that we suspect people will love to talk about online. The physical space is designed to encourage this through place-based social media, i.e. digital screens in venues (see: Locamoda).  We'd hope there is free Wi-Fi. And did we mention they take your order via iPad?

[via eater]

Like the #undergroundpuzzle campaign, McDonald's is using the ubiquity of camera phones to engage on-the-go consumers.

DDB Stockholm created this clever and simple interactive billboard game for McDonald's. Menu items bounce and fly through the screen. If you're quick enough to capture one in a cell-phone pic, it's yours free at a nearby McDonald's.

Using this ability to connect mobile phones with digital out-of-home, brands are providing memorable interactive experiences. Other recent examples of this include Nokia's Biggest Signpost, Motorola Droid in Times Square, and Locamoda's place-based social media.

Watch it in action here.

[via adweek]

Last week we covered LocaModa, a company that uses digital outdoor to create place-based social media. Most recently, they've installed their system at the Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. Now users can check-in on Foursquare to become mayor, and be seen on the massive display next to the Bellagio Fountains.

[via theweboutside]

Locamoda just integrated Foursquare into their Wiffiti product, which publishes in real-time multimedia from Flickr, Twitter and texted-in messages. The new screen has been live at Toscanini’s in Cambridge for awhile and, thanks to Jayne at Locamoda, we set it up on the ceiling at Foursquare co-founder Naveen Selvadurai's birthday last week:

In addition to tweets about the party, the screen dynamically displayed the picture of the mayor, the number of check-ins, and tips about the venue.

Stephen Randall, founder of Locamoda, sees a much larger potential for Foursquare and other location-based services to live on DOOH (Digital Out of Home) screens. In a post entitled "Why Web-Based Services Are Important for Place-Based Screens, he says:

The user experience is fun and engaging, and it’s obvious why some enterprising venues have started to reward customers who use these apps to announce their presence to their friends. The merits of displaying location-based services for locations should be apparent – they are a user-generated marketing tool for the venue. It is therefore ironic that location-based services are not designed for place-based screens at all, but for web and mobile screens.

Randall goes on to say that "place-based screens have a range of miles not feet (i.e. that they connect venues across channels to brand websites and social network fan pages etc)." Indeed, if you could click over to a local restaurant's website to see their "digital blackboard" with daily specials--the same thing restaurant patrons see on a DOOH screen--that would be pretty valuable. And if you are sitting in a restaurant, it would be interesting to see tips and comments posted online by people who'd been there. The point is that on-screen content need not stay within the confines of a venue's walls, an application, a website, a social network, etc. It can spread across these screens and create new opportunities for interactions, with the added bonus of saving time. Most everything could be automated or just updated in one place. "Location-based services are an excellent example of cross channel engagement and are therefore likely to be a mainstay of many place-based networks," says Randall. It will be interesting to see if location-based services tailor their products to these screens, not just the ones in our pockets.

Ask young people what the are passionate about, and music will come up across the board. It's a universal language, the sort of "water cooler topic" that the weather is for older people. A song can speak for them at a time when they can't speak for themselves. But this doesn't mean they are collecting CDs, to "own" is to have "access" anytime. It's more about discovery and experience, which are both inherently social.

Since phones are the ultimate social enablers, mobile can sit at the center of these experiences. A number of  "music community tools" bring music to life beyond just ringtones and downloads. These new services and strategies are creating social experiences and fostering more sustained interactions with audiences.

• Take for example Nellymoser’s Music Companion, a great tool for the true diehard or the just curious. Leveraging selected artists and locations, the Music Companion MAP presents news, charts, tour information and new tracks of interest for fans, or just lets you browse through and sample music. The MAP also allows you to rate artists, vote on issues, and participate in polls, joining the larger fan community.

• Another tool, PocketFuzz, creates value for both fans and bands. For one, it lets any artist create and sell a ringtone, giving them control of the pricing and a percentage of each individual sale. Beyond ringtones, PocketFuzz connects fans with artists through text-to-screen campaigns, artist-to-fan texts and in-venue messaging.

• Touchtunes teamed with Locamoda to make music social in local bars and retaurants. It's digital jukebox technology lets you ask it what song is playing or cue of the next track, all with your cell. Universal tapped Touchtunes for a unique way to launch Beck's latest album, Modern Guilt: pre-release listening parties. These were held at places with TouchTunes jukeboxes across the country. Beck fans could just text their location to a shortcode to find the nearest venue. The campaign drummed up excitement among fans online, then extended the conversation and engaged fans in their own world.

These are just a few possible answers to the equation "mobile + music + community." It's an incredibly powerful trifecta--each one is a key passion point for youth. As the old-school music industry struggles, we're going to see incredible innovation in this space as a result.

See previous top mobile trends

No phone is an island. It needs to connect with other phones, otherwise you're just talking to yourself. The same can be said of mobile marketing. As a stand-alone medium, the handset is a relatively ineffective communications platform. But in conjunction with other forms--print, broadcast, out-of-home--it can be an incredibly powerful way to reach the consumer.

Just think about how put off people are by the concept of push SMS (i.e. getting pinged with marketing messages). No one wants spam to come to the cell phone, especially not the mobile industry. Phones are personal device (not to mention expensive) so we want full control of them. Not only do we customize them with colors and sounds, but we choose who we speak to, how, and when. Just look at how popular texting is becoming; it's more popular than voice for young mobile users. There are even services like Slydial that let you dial up voicemail--no conversation required.

So how can brands market to consumers using their phones without pushing to them? Through engaging content and branded utility, basically providing something they want. This can be a mobile alert (your VP pick) or a mobile poll (your favorite performer). But unless there is some outside trigger, how can a brand generate awareness, let alone action?

The key is integration with other platforms that already have the consumer's interest. TV shows like Top Chef and American Idol have done a great job of using airtime to promote their mobile components. Heart, Conde Nast and Wenner all include shortcodes and QR codes in their magazine's ads. And services like ShifD (from the New York Times) and Instapaper let readers easily "bookmark" items on both their PCs and phones.

One platform still in its infancy, yet perhaps with the most potential, is out-of-home (OOH). This term, which includes advertising outdoors and in public venues, makes perfect sense for mobile. Billboads can do more than create awareness, they can include an IMMEDIATE call to action. Digital signage can enable a two-way interaction. In fact, any screen can become a touchpoint. Here are some examples in action:

• Where's Koodo? is an interactive game that allows commuters to interact with out-of-home advertising displays. Touchscreen kiosks in Montreal's subway stations let waiting commuters play a Where's Waldo-like game as well as check out Koodo Mobile's phone and additional rate plan information.
• Applications from Locamoda, a "social platform that connects people and places," are appearing everywhere from Times Square to your local pub.

- Jumbli is a simple word game you can play on the big screen.
- Wiffiti is their text-to-screen solution
- Fotowall lets you send pictures to screens in bars, restaurants and other venues
- Touchtunes lets you chose what song you want to play on the jukebox.

Once they have people's attention, then they have valuable real estate.Advertisers can include a call to action on the screen through Locamoda's shortcode so you can can get, say, the number for a taxi or a free drink. A smart campaign for Beck integrated with social networks to draw crowds to listening parties at local bars.

Such services will be immeasurably important. Digital is a young person's main source of communication and entertainment. But (prior to some popular belief) they do NOT want to be sitting in front of their computers all day. They'd prefer to use their down time (commuting, waiting in line) to do things like IM, read sports news, or just kill time with a game. These emerging platforms are letting mobile users interact with their environments--and brands--in ways never before possible.