Living a computer-generated fantasy

There are more and more implications made on virtuality integrated into every day life. Up to the moment the Wii was introduced, game consoles considered entertainment gadgets for children who were great at moving their thumbs; however, the Wii overturned this meaning of virtual reality and adopted a new method of social interaction.

Wii Fit Plus was in UK’s top 10 video games chart this year. Wii Fit worked best when it came to balancing and yoga moves; skateboarding and golf were also seen as fun.

The Wii was almost a window to virtual reality experience.

However, the more up to date version of the experience was commented on by Ian Sample (2010) from the guardian.com. The virtual reality has been used in an experiment to transfer men’s minds into a woman’s body. The "body-swapping" effect was so convincing that the men's sense of self was transferred into the virtual woman, causing them to react reflexively to events in the virtual world in which they were immersed.

In this case, both of those virtual experiences have been developed for positive reasons: social interaction and to stop people being prejudice. However, they could also be argued to having great negative impacts. Gergen (1991) argues that the various social (e.g. work, home, personal) and mediated (e.g., computer, phone, television) environments in which we interact are eroding our sense of self and destroying community attachment and moral development.

One of the main problems with the “out of body experience” is that after having a “virtual perfect body”, it could potentially lead to low self-esteem, feelings of worthlessness and insignificance, even self-destructive acts. 

For us as marketers, a compute-generated experience can be a great way of communicating the emotional side of what a service or a brand is about. This is what making intangible service- tangible is at the end of the day.  

Apple has nothing on it!

Japan has been one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world, where companies producing smart phone applications get 100% return on their investment. This is where Apple has screwed up by introducing the Apple Tax, which unfortunately has had a negative impact on subscribers. In this case, the advanced ICT and independent app subscribers are the reasons Japanese phone market is very stable and hugely growing.

The Telegraph (Skipworth, 2009) have commented on Japanese culture saying that phone as a device has integrated with its user so much that it actually became a part of everyday life. For example, paying for a drink in a local shop can be done with a phone thanks to its integrated Felica system (essentially an electronic wallet). Japanese can board the train by tapping through barriers with thier phone and then watch morning TV on the handsets hi-def screen. Friends exchange details by infra-red business cards transferred between phones and shopping can be done by scanning barcodes from adverts on the train.

The apps level is absolutely way beyond any Western competition; a 4G stuff that has not reached the West and the US.

This is where UK companies have a completely advantaged opportunity to play with so that the country could finally start developing into the real “haves” country. (Stump, R et al, 2008)

Things like Travel cards on your phone (Oyster) or even a Starbucks Reward card for all those Starbucks lovers out there- would make a life so much more convenient! However, there are of course limitations to using this kind of advanced technology in this country. One of them is support by the government: 3G service in England is paid to be used; however in Japan it is free. On the other hand, it could possibly be that the app subscribers are not willing to pay 30% to Apple, when there are cheaper, traditional versions of providing their services.

So I guess for now we would just have to dream of the fact what could possibly be otherwise- having an Oyster card on your phone would save you queuing on a rush hour morning in London Underground; meaning that you could still have time for a Starbucks without the mad queue waiting to pay for their coffee. 

The truth is: It is predicted that by 2015 mobiles will replace PC as the most used method of access to the Internet. However, my point is that by 2015, the mobiles will replace PCs AND half of the manual services, which will convert into a mobile digital services. Hopefully, this hypothesis would not be affected by the Apple TAX.

References:

Skipworth, H, 2009. Five Japanese phones we’ll never see in the West [online]. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/mobile-phones/6537395/Five-Japanese-mobile-phones-well-never-see-in-the-West.html [Accessed 18^th February, 2011]

Online community is my Future!

One of the agencies I would like to work for is Manning Gottleid OMD.

People there are so creative basing their work on digital communications’ strategies. Starbucks is one of the agency’s clients; and I still can not get enough of the Case Study, which is a prime example of how brands could use social network to interact with the audience.

However, just being interactive is not enough. Rafaeli (1988) recognised three pertinent levels when it comes to defining interactivity, and one of them is the reactive level (or quasi- interactive). Therefore there is an importance of conversing with the audience and making sure they respond back.

                     

As Starbucks was named to be “The Third Space” with a slogan:

“There is home. There is work and there is Starbucks”

The agency’s strategy was to create “the fourth space”. A space where all the fans would get together, share pictures, discuss ideas, state what their favourite drink is and any concerns raised towards the brand. Starbucks in return would notify them of the up coming events, give out freebies and vouchers.  The “fourth space” was created as a FACEBOOK page.

This was so called “A modern day marketing team” creation generated some phenomenal results. It was said to be “the most successful marketing piece of social media activity Starbucks has run ever in the world to date” (Alexander Wheeler, Starbucks US Digital Strategy Director)     

It became No1 UK High Street Group in less than 6 months. It had 1000 wall comments and 900 visits per week.

This is to me, is how interactivity is measured.

However, if consumers become the new “marketing team” of a brand, what do we as marketers left to do? If Starbucks lovers can facebook, blog and twit about the brand (which are the ways of FREE PR and have been identified to be more effective for influencing attitudes towards the brands rather than the old school advertising); what would be my profession’s purpose at end of the day? Would it involve me seating and counting how many visits Starbucks will get per week? Does not sound that exciting!

As Deighton, JA and Korenfelt, L (2008) have stated “A new philosophy of marketing will be needed as the digital interactive era matures”.  I definitely agree; and therefore for now just have to live with the thought that counting visits and tweeting at brands’ followers is potentially the future of my career to make sure that the brand remains in the game.

References:

http://ukgroup.omd.com/mgomd/index.aspx

http://www.facebook.com/#!/Starbucks

New kids on the virtual blog

Apple does not yet have a clear presence on Twitter and Facebook. However for a company worth 300 billion dollars and being in the heart of generating social media devices- does it really need to…

Rupert Murdoch’s new launch of The Daily, iPad’s only news publication, makes me think how many more opportunities there are around the iPad Boom. Journalists and media seek more and more from Apple, even the public is excited to hear about the innovations.

I had doubts when the iPad first came out, however considering my 84 year old grandmother now owns one and it being named “The Times Best invention of 2010”, I think it has done well. Now, I hope she does not get Facebook, because I already have my mother on my case and I do not need my grandmother as well. However, she is part of the new target audience for digital communication, as the use of over 50s market is increasing. 

Andrew McStay (2010) stated that “media consumers are no longer passive but instead active and are actively involved in meaning construction for brands”

Meaning that as huge brand as Apple is not in need of social networking activity, the audience is so active, that as soon as media raises the awareness- the audience starts sharing, blogging, twittering and commenting on news publications.

Going back to “The Daily”, as soon as it was launched, the news tabloids were already leading a discussion of the next step in media empire and what to expect from it (Jemima Kiss, 2011, “The Daily: is Murdoch's iPad newspaper any good?, http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/pda/2011/feb/03/the-daily-murdoch-ipad-newspaper-review)

From my point of view this is a great channel of B2C communication, as Guardian.co.uk allows the audience to comment on journalist’s publication.  However, Apple’s B2B communication mostly comes from its website and brand image. Why do businesses choose to have Macs and not any other PCs in their offices? The message is clear:

“Down to business, up for anything. When you run a business, work & life cross paths throughout your day- as the office, at home, and on the go. Use one computer that is powerful, secure, and flexible enough to allow you to work and live on your own terms. The Mac platform brings it all together.”

http://www.apple.com/business/

Apple is very clever when it comes to communicating with the audience, whether it is my grandmother (B2C) or Roasting Plant Coffee Company (B2B), Apple will find a way to create that need and make it as personal as possible

(Week commencing January 31st, 2011)