Take a look at the evolution of the social web and you will get a glimpse at where it is headed. First Twitter relaunched their site to enable users to view photos and videos within the web interface. Then Facebook introduced EdgeRank, which gives increased weight to multimedia content, with videos ranked the highest followed by photos.

Now with the exponential growth of social new-comer Pinterest, a social platform that acts as a virtual pin board exclusively for sharing photos and videos, it’s becoming apparent that visual media is where the social web is going…and going FAST!

Photo sharing in social media is nothing new, nor is its power to spark conversation and drive social engagement. Long before TwitPic and yFrog, users uploaded their favorite shots to Flickr and Tumblr, curating impressive collections of awe-inspiring images from around the world. What has changed is the new focus on photo sharing and curation.

The statistics tell an interesting story about the sharing habits of ‘Pinners’ (the nickname given to Pinterest users). Dubbed virtual hoarding, Pinterest statistics show a clear trend toward all things food – from luscious food photos to quick and easy recipes.

A recent study by RJ Media showed that the most popular pinboard categories are Home (17.2%), Arts and Crafts (12.4%), Style/Fashion (11.7%), and Food (10.5%) with food being the fastest growing category and the most likely category to be repinned, on average generating over 50% more re-pins than the next most repinned category, Style and Fashion.

How Brands Can Turn this Emerging Trend into Traffic

Expand Your Social Sphere to include sites and applications like Pinterest, Tumblr, Flickr and Instagram. Just as your Twitter and Facebook requires daily attention, make it a priority to continually add and share new and interesting content via these platforms.

It doesn’t need to be all your own content either. Brands are building their social communities by adding user-generated photo content to their social streams and tagging users in the photo credits. A win-win for both brand and fan!

Add a ‘Shareable’ Visual Component to your digital marketing mix. For brands that means anchoring your digital content with highly engaging photography or images that will encourage traffic to flow back to your site. Infographics, visual representations statistical data, are a good example of this concept.

Take Polyvore.com as another example. Polyvore is a social community built around fashion where users create virtual outfits from across a broad range of retailers and share them with other users. By encouraging sharing to Pinterest, Polyvore can attribute a full one million unique visitors to Pinterest referrals.

Connect with Popular Categories – Think home, crafts, style and food as your top picks with honorable mentions going to holidays, humor, travel and kids. Even if you aren’t a restaurant or top chef, you can find ways to leverage the most popular categories on Pinterest.

For example, a travel destination can add images of local fare to their line-up of big open skies and sandy beaches or a paint company can add color palettes inspired by stunning photography and so on.

Include Photo Sharing in Social Media Strategy – Give your other social media platforms an interaction boost by sharing photo and video content there as well. Use it to start up a conversation thread by adding a question to your post.

For example, share an inspiring photo with a famous quote, like this one from Albert Einstein and ask your fans to like, comment and share. The combination of the photo, which gets ranked higher in Facebook, and the likes, comments and reshares will boost it in the news feed making it visible for longer.

Want to know how your brand is performing in social media? Contact Us for a free Rare Method Digital Audit!

Applications range from the practical, adding QR codes to newspapers, magazines and business cards, to the creative, embossing clothing and signage with a QR code, to the downright creepy with this guy getting a QR code tattoo.

With the rise of SmartPhone use, it’s no wonder brands are looking for new and creative ways to exploit QR codes. Like with any technology, what brands need to consider is how to best use QR codes in augmenting their marketing efforts, not detracting from it because of an ill-conceived application of the technology.

QR Code Marketing Basics

The best way to think of QR codes is as a method of extending the marketing interaction from the physical to the digital realm. QR codes can link directly to:

• Plain Text
• Website URL
• Telephone Number
• SMS Message
• Email Address
• Email Message
• Contact Details (VCARD)
• Event (VCALENDAR)
• Google Maps Location
• Wifi Login (Android Only)
• PayPal Buy Now Link
• Social Media
• iTunes Link
• YouTube Video

Wouldn’t this ability to easily generate a QR code mean every form of advertising and marketing would take advantage of its multi-functional purpose? Like the old saying goes, “Too much of a good thing can be bad for you”.

Simply adding a QR code to “keep up with the times” is just as foolish as creating a Facebook fan page or Twitter account to establish a social media presence. Without truly understanding how to best use the tool, using it for no reason may in fact do more harm than good.

2 Outstanding Examples of QR Code Use

Tesco: Groceries to Go!
Tesco, a Korean grocery chain, needed to boost sales and move into the  #1 ranking over its main competitor E-Mart.  Their major challenge was increasing sales without increasing the physical number of stores.

Tesco realized that the vast majority of the population work long hours and thus really valued every minute they were off work.  Having to go grocery shopping during their time off work was really viewed as a chore.  Also realizing that the public subway systems were widely used sparked the idea to setup virtual grocery shops in the subway stations.  Shoppers simply needed to use their SmartPhone and scan in the QR code to make a purchase.

Upon check out the items they purchased were packaged up and delivered directly to their homes.  This innovative way of using the QR code to help save time in population dense Korea would likely be successfully similar cities like Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan.  This strategy would not yield much success in North America where the values, priorities and environment are drastically different.

Macy’s: Customer Backstage Pass
Macy’s recently launched a new mobile initiative utilizing QR codes and SMS within their stores. Macy’s Backstage Pass enriches shoppers’ experience by providing essential tips, latest trends, advice and inspiration straight from their favorite style icons all from their phone.

It’s quite ingenious to use the available space within their brand logo Red Star for the QR code. People seem to have an innate tendency to scan QR codes and by positioning a logo outside a display window, Macy’s manages to get people to stop long enough to notice the display.

2 Outstanding QR Code Failures

Red Bull: Technology Oops!
Understanding the environment also means understanding the environment’s technological limitations. In Asia and parts of Europe the underground transportation systems have been equipped to enable continual cell phone use whether for calls, text messaging or internet access.

Red Bull ran a campaign featuring subway ads with interactive QR codes. Sounds like a great idea until the fact that North America underground subways have not been equipped to offer mobile phone connectivity, making the codes inaccessible to users.

Continental: Click-Thru Conundrum
It’s essential to test QR code campaigns for both the user experience and to ensure the QR code functions correctly. Continental learned this lesson the hard way when it failed to fully think through the user experience before making a QR code for its in-flight magazine.

The intention was to allow travelers to link air miles without having to log-on to online accounts. When passengers scanned the codes (during takeoff or landing only), they were directed to a page with two buttons and a pop-up window that was mostly off screen, ensuring that passengers wouldn’t be able to click through.

QR codes create interaction with consumers where the traditional advertising experience is flat and 2 dimensional. It adds depth to a brand experience, extending the brand engagement beyond the split second consideration of an ad. So unless the intention is to add customer interaction while leaving a lasting brand impression, you don’t need the use of a QR code.

Take a look at the numbers and you will understand why so many storefronts donned 50% off signs well before Boxing Day. According to PayPal, 67% of consumers reported planning to engage in mobile shopping. The mobile shopping market is expected to hit $163 billion in worldwide sales by 2015 (ABI Research).

How Mobile Apps are Changing Consumer Behavior

Before smartphone technology changed everything, all retailers had to do was get customers in the door. Assuming they had the right product in stock in the right size, they made the sale.

Now, thanks to smartphones, retailers are competing with online retailers even while customers are in their brick and mortar locations. The ability to compare products and prices, seek peer reviews, and even poll friends is just a click away.

And that’s exactly what smartphone users are doing. According to ComScore, 40% are comparison-shopping while inside retail stores. 14% have actually abandoned in-store purchases and bought via their smartphone while standing in a store. 43% of mobile shoppers have downloaded a retail app (Retrevo).

This doesn’t include consumers who compare prices and read reviews before even stepping foot in a retail location, or others who monitor daily deal sites for opportunities to save big.

Mobile versus Retail in Holiday Shopping Battle

Retail has experienced stiff competition from mobile apps that lure shoppers away from crowds and chaos with promises of earlier access to deals. Starting on Black Friday, online retailers had opened their virtual doors early, allowing customers to beat the rush or opt out of the retail rush altogether.

Take the Amazon Mobile app. It allows consumers to compare prices while inside retail locations. They can scan barcodes, snap photos, or search to quickly compare prices and check availability, and, of course, complete the transaction at any time.

Amazon encourages its shoppers to use their app to price check for deals or take advantage of their many deals in their Black Friday Deals store. In response, tech-savvy brick and mortar retailers are offering exclusive deals to smartphone customers.

How Can Retailers Battle Back against Mobile?

Like the old adage says, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. If you’re a retailer you need to up your mobile and social games by offering consumers what they want: a seamless shopping experience that lets them make the rules. Here are some specific strategies:

#1: Integration is Essential – Instead of separating your e-commerce store from your physical retail locations, offer customers the convenience of a seamless shopping experience. Let them search for products, check inventory, and reserve items for pick up or delivery. If a mobile purchase doesn’t fit, allow them to return or exchange at the nearest local store.

#2: Reward Social Shopping – Connect their physical shopping experience with their social media world by encouraging and rewarding social shopping. Use QR Codes to showcase interesting products or the latest hot deals and offer customers bonuses or discounts simply for checking in or downloading your retail app.

#3: Made-to-Mobile – Deliver a “Made-to-Mobile” experience that let’s customers dictate how they want to interact with your brand. Turn their smartphone into a virtual shopping assistant, offering up unique suggestions and ideas based on their selections or purchases made by their social media peers.

#4: Build Mobile Loyalty – Tie your mobile shopping experience to traditional loyalty rewards programs to turn your customers into social fans. Reward them with insider alerts and exclusive mobile-only deals and coupons. Integrate in-store and mobile loyalty programs that allow customers to earn points wherever they choose to purchase.

Major Findings of a recent Social Twist study reveal:

• Despite the social media revolution – traditional forms of networking like email and instant messaging continue to be the most popular mediums of sharing content across the Internet. Nearly 60 percent of overall sharing happens over emails.
• Since it opened itself to all age groups in September 2006, Facebook has displaced MySpace as the most popular social networking site especially when it comes to sharing content online.
• It is clear that Twitter is perceived to be a news broadcast platform and not a “sharing” platform. It enjoys only 5% of “shared information” traffic among popular social platforms.
• Bookmarks are rapidly losing their significance in the social media space. Only 2% of shares happen over Bookmarking sites.
• Google’s services like Google Bookmarking, Google Talk, Gmail, and Blogger have failed to replicate the brand’s search engine success online, especially when it comes to ’shared information.’
• LinkedIn, as a networking site, ranks the lowest when it comes to social media sharing.

See the study summary at http://bit.ly/43T6eY

This offers an excellent contrast to another study from March 09′ that told us that social networking had surpassed email in terms of popularity. http://bit.ly/3zKoyf . The key thing to note is that social networking surpassed email in terms of time spent, which isn’t necessarily a measurement of a communications channel’s effectiveness.

The Nielsen Online study cites Japan’s social network Mixi as an example of why social networking is eclipsing email – because the Japanese, especially the youth just want to connect with each other, says Alan Hshieh of Harvard University, in an interview with the BBC, September 16, 2009. “When you look at Mixi profiles, most users don’t even have a profile picture and only 7% of users show any of their content outside, even to their friends. Facebook lets people create a bold news broadcast about themselves, whereas Japanese and Korean users just want to connect with each other.”

My experience with using social networks for advertising has shown that this is fairly universal. People are spending significant time in social networks, but within them they’re not responding to ads in large numbers. The lesson here is that a traditional approach to display advertising doesn’t work well in social networks, even though some of their reps seem focused on selling this approach. Don’t get me wrong – there are many ways to use social networks for marketing and advertising (think: PR and outreach, and leveraging their technology investment for your online tactics), but don’t forget that email still leads the way for word of mouth, as opposed to staying in touch with friends.

Keep it Simple Stupid

Hold the phone kids. Although I’ve known for years that agency marketing strategists provide clear and unbiased opinions for marketers, I am happy to report that my faith in the value of my own profession has now been scientifically proven! And it all comes down to how human beings make decisions.

This has come to light in a book called “How we Decide”. It’s a fascinating look at the neuroscience of decision making. For a quick overview of the book, check out the review on Boing Boing

When you  think about it, we all always have something on our minds. We are constantly thinking about work decisions, personal decisions, family decisions, short-term decisions, long-term decisions, heck, even what to have for lunch. Could it be true that our brain chemistry may limit our ability to make good decisions? According to this book, the answer is YES. It turns out that the much-used phrase “information overload” reflects an actual fact detectable by neuroscience.

The neuroscience behind decision making seems to make it clear that (thank goodness) our brains are naturally wired to decide. However, research outlined in the book proves that when something goes awry in our brain, (because of trauma, or chemical alterations, information overload, or whatever) we make decisions differently. And differently isn’t always a good thing.

Every day I help clients make decisions about how to spend their marketing dollars, how to position their company, how to integrate social media into their marketing mix, etc. Why is my decision better than theirs? After all, they work for this company, and I’m an outsider. They have more information, more experience in their market, and maybe even more years in marketing (although the older I get the less that’s the case). Shouldn’t they be able to make better decisions than me? And with the wealth of information available to them on the internet, shouldn’t they be able to solve just about any dilemma they face?

So, how do we know that information overload impedes our ability to make decisions?

An experiment demonstrating this phenomenon is cited in the book. One group of MIT business students was given very detailed reports on companies and asked to buy and sell stocks based on what they learn. Another group was only given the stock-prices. The latter group — betting blind — bets better than the “over informed” group, who have so much information that they can’t decide what is and is not important. The science shows that no matter how good we are at multi-tasking, we might not have the right wiring to sift through all of the information provided to us.

Faced with an increasingly complex world of data streams, we’re all looking for ways to do more in less time, using the data available to us to make better decisions. And we’re starting young: studies indicate that people aged 12 – 24 are racking up 23 cumulative hours a day, engaged in up to five activities simultaneously. Sounds like a typical day for me too, but apparently, this isn’t the way to make a clear decision.

How can we make better decisions? Simplify. At the end of the day, that’s what I try to do for my clients: see the problem or decision in simple terms. Don’t over analyze it. Don’t over think it.

So even in the fast-paced information age, there’s still a place for outside perspective that is not burdened with the complex information available inside the business. I guess my dad’s advice still holds true, “keep it simple stupid.”

How do marketers find a balance between push vs. pull media? It seems like marketers everywhere were trying to get their heads around integrated marketing for 10 years, and along came the social web and the new challenge of social media marketing.

Paid placements (push) and earned media (pull, or social media) are fundamentally different (think Advertising vs PR). Naturally, both have costs: Marketers pay for listening, engagement, and participation, or to buy placements. Either way, you pay. Savvy marketers today are moving past this little conundrum. They have allocated budgets within an integrated plan, are paying for both, and have attached success metrics to their campaigns and individual media channels, and as you read this, are optimizing them.

Granted, large media buys are likely going to be more expensive, but let’s assume for a moment that costs are the same and results comparable or unknown. What should marketers do? The utter stampede towards the social web should provide you with a quick answer. Internet use in North America and Europe now reflect population demographics, and social media is trending the same way.

Assuming your head isn’t in the sand with respect to social media, let’s look at how paid media and earned media fit into the categories of awareness, lead generation, and retention. I’d argue that social media marketing (SMM) should be firmly rooted as a retention-type strategy, followed by lead generation (assuming you allocate some budget paid media to promote your SMM effort) with brand-building coming up last. Some examples of success in social media marketing support this. Comcast improved their customer service through their presence and monitoring on Twitter. That’s a great place to start. It provides a foundation for using the social web for lead generation or brand building. What about when customer service isn’t as critical?

Skittles.com is worth examining in this case. I’d argue that the site wasn’t really about community at first – its launch was meant to capitalize on the buzz of web 2.0, and to be new and different. It was a stunt, and design changes had to be made to reduce the fun people had tweeting obscenities onto their home page. I think they saw that coming, and they knew the sting would be overshadowed by the significant (earned) media attention. Moreover, they started to learn what works for them and they built a community they could work with for future promotions. This is now showing positive effects on brand awareness.

Finally, does social media marketing sell? Does the social web generate leads? Dell says it does. Tweeters who sent a message using the #moonfruit hash mark and keyword had the chance to win one of 10 MacBook Pros that Dell was giving away. They claim that this campaign generated a 200% return on investment within one month. Representatives from Dell also claim that they’ve seen tangible uplifts in sales directly attributed to marketing on Twitter, and that the brand’s Twitter account has driven $3 million in sales since it began operation in 2007.

Building a social media monitoring, outreach, and publishing machine to “earn” exposure is a complex marketing initiative, and while media placement fees are lower or zero in this category, the people and systems required to earn exposure aren’t free. While different industries and sectors face challenges unique to their offering, marketing leaders will find a way to create a mix of both earned and paid media that supports their marketing objectives, and helps them achieve their sales and marketing goals.

Every marketer would like to get the media multiplier effect that comes from ads that create buzz. These are ads or online experiences that are so good, viewers will not only NOT tune them out or set their PVRs to avoid them, they’ll actively pass them on to friends – via Facebook, email, Twitter, or good-old-fashioned word of mouth.

Despite the old saying, ‘ all publicity is good publicity’, the numbers say that all buzz is not equal. Let’s look at two campaigns, each of which created terabytes of buzz in highly competitive industries.

First up, the recent* “Most Interesting Man in the World” TV campaign for Dos Equis beer by Euro RSCG New York. (See the TV and online here http://dosequis.com/.) Briefly, TMIMITW is a silver-haired Hemingway-esque man of the world, ladies man, and man’s man. Over faux archival footage of our hero’s ultra interesting life (freeing a bear from the steel jaws of a leg trap, arm wrestling a sweaty South American military dictator-type, enjoying a night-time boat ride with Miss Universe contestants – in evening wear) a narrator intones his exploits: He once had an awkward moment, just to see how it feels. He can speak French – in Russian. Police pick him up for questioning just because they find him so interesting. And so on.

TMIMITW has been a YouTube sensation.  And that certainly has played a part in making the campaign a massive marketing success. Sales of Dos Equis are way up in Canada – where beer  is losing ground to wine in the booze market (can you freaking believe it?).  In fact, in 2008, overall beer sales declined in Ontario but Dos Equis sales tripled.

Now let’s look at the work done for Burger King by the gods of cool creative, Crispin Porter + Bogusky. There was the granddaddy of “viral” pieces, ‘Subservient Chicken’, a grotesque big-headed Burger King cavorting with starlets, videos for the fictional chicken-headed thrash band, CoqRoq (get it?), and many more wickedly creative ideas and executions.

But CP+B has taken some heat recently when it was pointed out that their decade-long run of ultra inventive and ultra award-winning work has produced no gain in market share for Burger King.

Mitigating this are the facts that individual CP+B campaigns have produced spectacular sales successes and that Burger King hasn’t lost market share.  But still… any marketer would prefer the TMIMITW result to the CoqRoq result.

So, two campaigns that are likable enough to give them a leg up with free buzz media. But one produced better sales results. What’s the difference?  Here’s where it gets very subjective.

I would argue that  it’s all about how the ad or web concepts relate to the respective products they are trying to sell– not the brands, the products, what people open their wallets and pay money for.

While the Burger King material encompasses many individual ads, micro sites, interactive games across many campaigns, as a whole they went for the “edgy” approach. Funny stuff that often will make you squirm. It’s not friendly – it’s too cool for that. The subservient chicken piece encapsulates the overall ethos. It is a website that allows a user to play dominatrix (or dominator) to a stocking-clad chicken in a B—grade porn scenario. (Chicken, any way you like it. Get it?) It may have kitsch appeal but it does NOT, for this viewer, have chicken nugget appeal. Yuck.

On the other hand, with TMIMITW we are invited to sit at a table with our favorite uncle. He tells great stories, he’s wise, larger than life and funny. And he attracts other interesting (and, yes, very attractive) people into his orbit. He’s making me want to sit down and have a beer. Yum.

Sounds like typical beer ad stuff? Kinda. But the idea and execution are so refreshing it’s like seeing a drink-this-beer-and-you’ll-have-fun-like-these-beautiful-people ad for the first time.

Oh, and one more gem from the TMIMITW,  perhaps the brightest one: the sign off.  It’s delivered by our hero, sitting at a table, surrounded by women too beautiful for mortals. “I don’t always drink beer, but when I do I prefer Dos Equis. Stay thirsty my friends.” 25 seconds of zany hyperbole capped with a 100% relatable truth about the place and value of beer in most folks’ lives. The truth feels nice, in fact it’s worth passing on. And it’s making me thirsty.

We started working with Ivanhoe Cambridge (the parent company of CrossIron Mills) back in January, when the mall was basically a patch of land and a few posts in the ground. Partnering with their offline agency, Rare Method ventured to design and develop their ‘best in class’ mall website. Have you ever looked at a mall website? Don’t bother. They really are horrendous for the most part. At the very least, they all need work.

To date, CIM has received a ton of positive feedback on the website, especially the interactive map. I personally have been interacting with this map for a while. I should know this mall inside and out by now. I’ve seen photos, floor plans, a tenant list, etc. But nothing could have prepared me for this Grand Opening experience. Although they did warn me.

A couple of weeks before the Grand Opening, my client called me and said that we needed to communicate alternate ways of getting to CIM, other than Deerfoot Trail. Apparently the police were concerned about traffic volumes. With a tinge of disbelief, but trusting our client to know better on this one than us, we created enough attention on the homepage to beat visitors over the head with alternate ways to get to CIM. And it’s a good thing we did.

When I arrived at the mall, there were hundreds of cars already lined up to park. Luckily, our lovely clients gave us VIP parking, so I skirted past and found a spot immediately. My colleague, Eleanor, was not so lucky. She took a wrong turn and ended up amongst the hordes of people. I walked in, registered, and grabbed a green tea. I ran into a reporter friend of mine, had a chat, grabbed a chocolate covered strawberry and then moved past the front entrance.

Once I found my colleagues, we set out on a self-guided tour. Now, I have to ask… can a mall actually be beautiful?  Because this mall is stunning. From floor to ceiling, the design and layout of CrossIron has been so well thought through. Eleanor and I were also discussing one of the first things we noticed, which was that all the stores were of a decent size and quality. The themed artwork found in all the Neighbourhoods is incredible too. The Ranch Neighbourhood has this sculpted bonfire, with flames leading up to the sky, a corral with straddling cowboys hanging from the ceiling, and huge cowboy silhouettes guarding each path. The Neighbourhood at the Resources entrance has an operating oil derrick that pumps water into a fountain. The Neighbourhood at the Sport entrance has a sitting area with at least a dozen flat screen TVs each showing the latest on a different sport. (We nicknamed this Neighbourhood the ‘Boyfriend’ Neighbourhood… ‘Husband’ Neighbourhood for you married gals.)

As we were enjoying our leisurely stroll through the mall, we heard an announcement: “CrossIron Mills will open in 5 minutes.’ I stopped dead in my tracks. Oh dear… the doors are about to open. We walked a bit further, strategically directing ourselves away from an entrance. Or so we thought. CrossIron is very well planned. There are entrances at every corner. Distracted by all the eye candy, we forgot about the 5 minute warning. Suddenly there was this high hum sound and I saw people running! Was there a fire? No. The first visitors to CrossIron had been given a gift bag filled with deals that were for the first arrivals at any given store. It was a stampede!! We braced ourselves, took the crash position and waited out the storm.

After the air cleared, we made it back to the Happy Trails Food Neighbourhood (I mean, how can you dis’ a Food Neighbourhood called Happy Trails?) for the Opening Ceremonies, emceed by Kelly Hrudey. We met up with our clients, Belinda and Aleisha, took some pics, gave them our congratulations, heard about how well received the website has been, and then let them do their thing.

The opening ceremony included a funky little dance troupe to kick things off, speeches by a few of the cats from Ivanhoe Cambridge and ended off with the 10 second count down, a big boom and some sparkly confetti! We finished our visit off by visiting some of the malls great retailers such as Cork, Just Dogs! Gourmet and our favourite Buttercream Bake Shoppe.  We had to pick up some cupcakes for the team back at the office. Ya, that’s right… for the team.

All in all, it was a classy event and we were proud to be a part of it.