Talk Bite: Facebook Welcomes an App Center

Attention Farmville farmers, Spotify junkies, and Draw Something artists: you’re about to get a lot more company in your world of social apps – courtesy of your friends at Facebook. Last week, Facebook announced their plans of an App Center roll-out, a central hub accessible on the social network’s platform to locate all social apps.

Now, if you’re asking yourself, “Isn’t this already available on my Apple App Store or Google Android Play store?” the answer is, yes… and no. Big names like Words with Friends, Draw Something and Bubble Witch Saga prove that social apps have major mass appeal. And while Apple and Google stores are great for locating and purchasing apps, finding those that have inherent social features can be daunting. This move by Facebook allows users to skip these stores all together and use one central place to find it all, that is: mobile, desktop and web apps with social compatibilities. Is it competition for Google and Apple? Definitely. However, Facebook has stated that native mobile apps listed in the center will still direct users to Apple or Google stores. But no matter where you download, the intention is clear: Facebook wants to make all apps social apps. And since Facebook is 900 million users strong, I think it’s safe to assume that developers will want their product featured in this new marketplace.

So what’s the implication for the Facebook user experience? Facebook is measuring the success of an app listed in the App Center by its quality. They’ll be using a variety of signals to measure eligibility, including user engagement and user ratings. This means if your app isn’t performing,  it won’t be listed. It’s also an excellent way to cut back on those “spammy” apps that can clutter the user interface and interfere with user experience.

The announcement of the Facebook App Center is excellent news for both marketers and developers who are invested in the space. Facebook further expanding their interest in the booming apps and gaming industry allows users to easily discover, play, and share within the Facebook environment, ensuring they won’t have to leave the platform to play in another. This new development also speaks to the platforms commitment to expand and monetize their mobile capabilities. Furthermore, Facebook’s App Center guidelines indicate that the user experience will be prioritized, creating high engagement for repeat use, meaning even more regular traffic to the already popular social network.

So what do you think? Do you want search for your new apps using Facebook’s forthcoming App Center? Do you think we’ve found the be-all, end-all of app stores? Or is this just another Apple App Store/Google Android Play wanna-be in the making?

Power of Gaming: Female Target

If you thought gaming was for the teenage and middle-aged male demo, think again.  Women, especially ages 35-64, are spending hours a day playing casual games online, and it has become a prime place for brands to reach an engaged audience.  Pogo.com, the biggest player in the casual gaming space, reports that women spend an average of 7 hours per week engaging with social and casual games.   Something else you may not expect is that 1 out of every 5 women playing games on the site is 45-64.

One of the greatest advantages for a brand in the gaming space is that, unlike TV and even digital video, gamers are consistently engaged.  Levels of multitasking are minimal in gaming: you can walk away from a TV commercial or digital video to make a sandwich, but you can’t walk away from your game, if you do, you lose.

More and more brands have caught on to the power of gaming and are leveraging the guaranteed engagement and high amounts of time spent.  While in the general display arena, advertisers must strategize in order to lure users to click on even the most high-impact units, gaming is one place where intent to engage is practically handed to you.  Once users enter the gaming experience, they are typically devoting 100% attention and high levels of time spent.  And, in integrating themselves into the games, brands have seen unparalleled spikes in ad recall and purchase consideration among gamers.

An especially effective way for brands to integrate into casual games is through a sponsored virtual good, a non-physical object that can be earned for use in a game.  While virtual goods usually must be purchased, a brand can sponsor a good and allow users to earn it through incentivized brand interactions in the game.  For example, a branded juice machine in Restaurant City that makes juice faster.  Or, a branded paper towel dispenser that cleans your restaurant more quickly.  In associating themselves with a highly coveted good, advertisers realize thousands of hours of time spent with their brand from users determined to earn the items.  And, the advantage that the acquired good brings to users causes continued positive association with the brand.

While gaming can be an extremely powerful platform, advertisers must really understand how to use the space.  With high levels of engagement also comes extreme sensitivity among gaming audiences on behalf of their experience.  Advertisers must follow a couple of crucial rules.  Integrate yourself in a way that brings benefit to the user.  And do not, under any circumstances, interrupt or distract from the game.  One thing is for sure, there is no shortage of feedback among gamers, and advertisers will quickly know their impact, positive or negative.

Considering the advantages of gaming for an advertiser and the wide demographic makeup of users, it would be difficult to find a brand that would not benefit from this type of campaign.  Which begs the question, how can your brand benefit from gaming?

Talk Bite: Brands Flunk At Connecting With Millennial Moms

Brands don’t flatter yourselves, you’re not connecting with the Millennial Mom. In order to make purposeful connections with Millennial Moms you need to first really understand what makes this Mom tick and then create communications that resonate. The word “communications” is meant to be broad as just creating an advertising campaign won’t convince her. She can see through the smoke and mirror. She’s looking beyond the advertising campaign and into the soul of the companies she chooses for herself and her family.

So, who is this powerful woman and what do you need to know about her to engage her and have her on your brand’s side.

The Millennial Mom was born sometime between 1977-1998. She was raised in a child-centric time by Boomers, remembers 9/11 and is surviving a tumlutous economy. She has different values than previous generation’s Moms and she chooses companies on different citeria. She is highly educated (most educated generation to-date), self-confident, tech-savvy and ambitious. Education, technology and the feminist voice of her parents’ generation have made her feel empowered. She’s comfortable with rewriting the rules to create what fits her and her lifestyle the best. Since the Internets launched in her coming-of-age she is a natural multi-taker who uses technology to her advantage. She’s seeking stability and control. She’s pragmatic, loyal and optimisitc. She really will give you the benefit of the doubt but she’s skeptical that you can’t or won’t follow through. You can call her an Optimistic Realist. She values tradition and talks to her mom almost every day on her cell phone. She celebrates diversity (after all Millennials are the most racially diverse generation group) and is more accepting and less judgemental­–­especially of other moms and their parenting choices. And most importantly to her, she’s really into being mom. The sense of connectivity and joy family brings is key to what today’s Millennial Mom is after.

Her key influencers: her mom and/or mom-like figures, other moms in her social circle, online moms in forums, search, tradition, nostalgia, her kids.

So, with this in mind, here are some strategies on how your brand can evolve to better engage the heart, mind and wallet of the Millennial Mom:

• Move beyond the “look at me” image. Don’t just shout at her with superficial claims and benefits selling a product or service. Stand for something greater and more meaningful. She’s into corporations doing good so embrace a purpose or a cause.
• Don’t just make surface changes. A nifty advertising campaign won’t move the needle with this audience. Instead invest first in changing your company culture first. Millennial Moms will be able to cut through the BS. Be transparent.
• Involve her. Ask her for her opinion or idea. Remember she’s bright and confident enough to speak up to share honest feedback.
• Take up Utilitarian Marketing. Give her something useful. Help her be a better mom.

What are other strategies for connecting with the Millennial Mom?

From TV to digital: How Hispanic media consumption habits are affecting brand engagement strategies

Hispanics have always been identified as heavy consumers of online, mobile and social media. Digital technology plays an important role in the lives of Hispanics, as it’s primarily linked to two of their most important pillars: family connections and culture. The Internet makes their lives easier by providing quick access to information, products, and news from their countries of origin. As a result, the Hispanic digital landscape is evolving, and we’re starting to see how media consumption has been influenced by it.

When it comes to adopting new technology, Hispanics outshine their non-Hispanic counterparts in device ownership. A recent eMarketer study showed that 18% of Hispanics own a tablet, versus 8% of non-Hispanics, with similar patterns for Internet-enabled TVs, e-book readers and 3D TVs. With all these options, it’s no wonder media consumption habits are changing, especially when it comes to TV. Thanks to the influx of new technology, consumers have the opportunity to choose how, when and where they watch TV. Although this is where the market in general is heading, it’s fair to say that Hispanics may get there faster because of how they interact with new technology, particularly when it comes to connecting with family in their home countries.

According to eMarketer, Hispanics spend an average of six hours and twenty-two minutes per month watching online video, while white non-Hispanics spend only three hours and forty-four minutes, and African Americans spend five hours and forty-eight minutes per month. The reason Hispanics’ time spent is so much higher? In many cases, the Internet is the only way they can access programs, novelas and news from their home countries. Also, the Hispanic population tends to be younger than the general population, in parity with the online-heavy user, who is also younger.

A ComScore study revealed that Hispanics’ engagement levels with online advertising surpassed non-Hispanic consumers in 2010. Hispanics are also more likely to find online ads entertaining: approximately 31% of Hispanics enjoy watching online ads, versus 19% of non-Hispanics. Additionally, 36% of Hispanics are willing to click on ads to get further information about a product, versus 29% of non-Hispanics.

This means there’s a huge opportunity for networks and advertisers to connect with Hispanics via online video and web novelas. Univision recently announced a partnership with Hulu to provide Spanish language content to their subscribers, and Telemundo partnered with YouTube to launch a Spanish language video channel. It’s good to see how these networks acknowledge how TV viewing is evolving, and that they’re offering online content in order to better reach the Spanish-speaking Hispanic consumer.

Weekly Social Download: So you don’t have to stress out that everything just changed again

Livehoods

Livehoods offer a new way to conceptualize the dynamics, structure, and character of a city by analyzing the social media its residents generate. By looking at people’s checkin patterns at places across the city, they create a mapping of the different dynamic areas that comprise it. Each Livehood tells a different story of the people and places that shape it.

Twitpoker

In a bid to launch a travel brand on Twitter and Facebook, Columbian agency, YR,  came up with the idea of allowing 5 of the top tweeters in the South American country to “bet” their followers on a live game of poker. Dubbed “Twitpoker”, winner would come away with 180,000 followers. The losers? Nothing!

World’s Longest Lasting Banner Ad

Stride Gum claims to be ridiculously long lasting gum, so naturally, they created a ridiculously long lasting banner ad to match, and it was so good, it’s just picked up a webby award for it!

Foursquare Partners With OpenTable

The foursquare Blog recently announced that its geo-location service has forged a partnership with OpenTable, the online real-time restaurant reservation platform. Essentially, foursquare users can access its Explore recommendation engine to research the restaurants of a specific locality and then go on to book reservations with the new OpenTable integration.

22Trends: APIs for Everything

The next trend (from our infographic on exponential trends) we’ll be taking a deep dive into is APIs for Everything.

“Users are going to consume new material in any way that they want to, wherever, whenever; and your goal as publisher is to make sure that you have a presentation layer that serves them wherever that is.” – Daniel Jacobson, Netflix lead API Engineer

An application programming interface (API) is a set of rules and specifications that software programs can follow to communicate or “interface” with each other. As important digital platforms (like Google, Facebook, and Twitter) open up their APIs and allow developers to integrate them, digital concepts can become more interesting and complex, because there’s almost no limit or boundary to what can be conceived.

The analogy that’s best helped me understand what an API does is a board game versus a deck of cards. With a board game, you essentially have one option: to play a game using the rules and constructs that the game provides. With a deck of cards, however, your game options are practically endless: there are thousands of different ways to play with a deck of cards.  An API takes a digital property from a board game to a deck of cards; it allows users to transform and tailor their experience, using platforms and constructs they may already be familiar with. Want to use Twitter to execute a real world scavenger hunt? No problem whatsoever. Want to host a talent contest and aggregate the entries? Piece of cake. Want to integrate new music functionality into a product with a specific, dedicated fan base? You can, all because of APIs.

We throw around the term “exponential ideas” a lot, because that’s what we’re striving for in all of our work here at 22squared. There’s no one set of rules that makes an idea exponential, but one thing that does seem to set exponential ideas apart from the rest is problem solving. It’s hard to engage consumers: most lead busy lives and aren’t focused on what a brand is trying to tell them. But if a brand can give them a tool to solve a problem that they have (whether they realize they have the problem or not), that’s where the magic happens. That’s where being intrusive stops and being exponential begins. APIs give brands the option (and opportunity) to organically integrate where their advocates already are. What it comes down to is simple: know your customer innately, and use APIs to add value to their experience with your brand.

Talk Bite: From Snake to Siri, A Mobile Revolution

For the past few years, mobile execs have made the bold statement “THIS year is the year for mobile”. When in reality, we haven’t seen it yet. There are still so many developments that need to happen before advertisers can truly embrace all of the revolutionary aspects of mobile advertising. Targeting being one of the MAIN elements that needs to be perfected then standardized across networks. That by itself is a post so I’ll save my opinions on that for later. It is expected that by 2013, more consumers will be accessing the internet via their mobile devices than their desktop computers. This statement alone really puts the evolving media landscape in perspective. To think that 14 years ago, having the game Snake on your Nokia cell phone automatically put you ahead of the game. Fast forward to 2012, feature phones are still prevalent with smart phones only owning half the U.S. market. It is anticipated that this year, smart phone sales will reach 1.8 billion units and by next year, smart phone penetration will increase from 50% to 70% in the U.S. What this means is that if you do not have a phone that can remind you to get the dry cleaning, locate your friends and video chat you might as well go back to playing Snake on your Nokia. Clients are slowing embracing mobile technology and advertising whether it be by optimizing a site for mobile screens, taking advantage of location based services or providing engaging experiences within the ad in case a mobile site experience is not available. For brands to stay on top of evolving mobile offerings, clients should start preparing for how media will work with these emerging trends. A few things to consider to get ahead of the market – how could brands eventually take advantage of Apple’s new patent that allows Siri to go online and make purchases for you? Or how Siri could be used in your brand’s app? Or how mobile ads can be served using Google’s patented technology that would allow for targeting based on environmental factors such as temperature, humidity and speed of movement? What about mobile video – how can your client best get ahead of this curve? Everyday there is new news regarding mobile so the only way to be a leader in this space is to stay on top of it and ask “How can our brand best use this news worthy technology?”

5 Things Keeping Brands Up At Night

1. The Mainstreaming of Latino Culture

Not only will marketers need to connect and engage Latinos directly, they’ll need to allow Latino culture and insight influence their general communications. With 60% of the US Latino population under the age of 35, they are formative force in determining mainstream culture.

Last year, U.S. Hispanic purchasing power reached $1.1 trillion, according to estimations from the Selig Center for Economic Growth at the University of Georgia. That power is projected to exceed $1.5 trillion by 2015, the equivalent to a stand-alone economy with more buying power than Indonesia, Australia and the Netherlands and of all but 14 countries worldwide. About 50 million people — 16.3 percent of the U.S. population — are Hispanics. The Hispanic population is expected to grow by 167 percent from 2010 to 2050, compared with 42 percent for the overall U.S. population.

2. Social Integration Across All Channels

“Social Media” is no longer it’s own platform or marketing channel.  Social is threading itself through all consumption of media and how consumers behave.  So brands not only have to commit to the space, they have to figure out what role social plays in all of their communications…from TV down to the retail experience.  Every communication is social and should contain a social element.  This will change how we set strategy, plan media and create effective work.

3. Marketing  Is Becoming More Local

Shaping national perceptions to influence local actions will continue to be less effective.  Consumers expect local solutions in real-time.  While the social web has connected us globally, it has also enabled marketers to become more local.  Check-ins, inventory, meet-ups, charities, product sourcing…it’s all relevant and can be very local.  Every brand needs to have a local marketing footprint and hyper-target local audiences with relevant local messaging, offers and engagement.

4. The Changing American Man

Female sensibilities will continue to dominate the workplace.  Skills like empathy, teamwork, negotiating and relationships are the path to success…skills inherently more present in women.  Men are in a state of flux, feeling out what it means to be successful, fulfilled and responsible.  More men are staying at home.  They are less focused on job success and more focused on collecting valuable experiences that prove their worth and value to their friends and family. Connecting with the values of the American male isn’t as simple as it used to be.  And while women still are the major shoppers, expect to see retailers appealing more to male shoppers.  The Millennial Generation shows that evolution best: among 18 to 34-year-olds, 66 percent of women consider being successful in a high-paying career or job is one of the most important things or very important, compared to 59 percent of men.

5. The Potential for Another Recession

Things are slowly improving: unemployment is down, the housing market has stabilized (we’ll see).  But it’s as if we’re teetering on the edge of another financial downturn.  All the while, we watch countries in Europe struggle.  It seems that any small act or occurrence could throw the U.S. into another recession.  So while brands are doing their strategic planning based on a recovering economy, there will likely be some contingency plans if the economy turns south. Cost of goods, consumer confidence, the job market and the housing market are all being watched closely with lots of anticipation.  One thing is for sure, the values of American Consumers were shaken by the first recession.  If another occurs, brands will need to brace themselves for a different kind of consumerism. One that places even less value on purchasing things and more value on experiences.

Yes, CMO’s are indeed worried about more things than I’ve listed.  But strategically, these are the things that should be keeping them up at night.  And it should be things keeping their agencies working through the night.

Talk Bite: Click Here to “Like” the First Amendment

Though it usually is used to express feelings on such super important matters as the cutest thing your college roommate’s dog did the other day, the Facebook Like button is also used by millions to show support for politicians and political causes.  However, a Like in and of itself is not protected political speech under the 1st Amendment, according to the first federal judge to consider the question.

Several Virginia sheriff’s deputies were fired for Liking their sheriff’s electoral opponent, so they predictably sued.  The judge said that “Simply liking a Facebook page is insufficient. It is not the kind of substantive statement that has previously warranted constitutional protection.” Status updates and other written activities on Facebook would be protected, but clicking Like is apparently not expressive enough.  What about Liking a written status update regarding a political view?  Are purely commercial advertiser pages different, even though politicians as well are essentially brands?  Since this is social media, should we be talking about freedom of assembly rather than freedom of speech?

I guess we can just add this to the list of legal issues keeping digital marketers awake at night, a list which includes online privacy and data tracking, SOPA/PIPA, net neutrality, etc.  Though these will be hashed out in courts and legislatures over the next few years, we digital professionals may have to add a constitutional law degree to the resume just to keep up.

TALK BITE: WHEN SOAP GETS IN YOUR EYES

This Sunday is Mother’s Day, so this one’s for the Moms.

You’ve probably seen this TV spot. Nearly 3 million have watched the US version on YouTube alone.

Best Job / P&G London 2012

This two minute TV soap commercial isn’t an anachronism. It’s a strategic trifecta. Here’s how: 1) the Olympics are coming, so P&G has tapped into the cultural conversation (again). 2) Launched before Mother’s Day, the timing has become the greeting card we all wish we could give our own Mom. And 3) most importantly, they’ve managed to elevate the conversation to mean much more than soap. (I admit, I got a little teary at about 1:40.)

What you may not have seen, is the Facebook app. It lets anyone write a heartfelt message to their own mom and share it with their social media circle. Over 7,000 posts so far.

So, now. Think of the project you’re working on. Will it launch near any cultural event, or holiday? Can you connect with that conversation? More importantly, is your brand speaking on an elevated level, touching people emotionally? And finally, if your shoppers become fans, how can they participate?

Mad props to Wieden+Kennedy for this flawless campaign.