Bridging the Gap Between Digital, Mobile and In-Store Experiences

Posted by Jon Thomas, 15 Jan 2013

This post originally appeared in our January '13 issue of “Live Report from the Future of Marketing,” our monthly Post-Advertising newsletter. Subscribe for free here.

In the mid-’90s I was a teenager just entering high school. I loved computers, and the emergence of the Internet simply astounded me. I would spend hours on Prodigy, then AOL, chatting away and browsing every corner of the emerging web.   

My big prediction was that there would come a day when we’d go to the mall online. We’d walk a character through the mall, entering shops where we could buy real items. Turns out it wasn’t that bold a prediction, as I wasn’t far off.

Today e-commerce has become a formidable challenger to brick-and-mortar stores, which rely on customers getting dressed (it’s harder than you think), leaving their houses, driving to the store, finding parking and dealing with store employees who are too eager or absent to be of any assistance, only to realize the item is out of stock. But in the early days of the web, it wasn’t clear that anyone would ever buy anything online. Who would you be buying from? How would you pay, and would it be safe? Did you need that item now, or could you wait six to 10 days for shipping? Why buy online when you could get everything at the mall (or so you thought) in one day? What if the items didn’t fit? What if they never arrived?

Share

Three Ways the Second Screen Is Shaping the Future of Television

Posted by Luke Dringoli, 23 Feb 2012

Have you heard of the second screen? If not and you’re a marketer of media, you’d better listen up and learn fast; a number of television networks and individual programs have started taking this concept seriously and are, as a result, tightly weaving audiences into a more dynamic viewing experience. If fantastic recent examples like NBC’s The Voice, CBS’s 54th Grammy Award ceremonies and WGN America’s syndication work continue to crop up, the second screen will soon enough become your new first priority.

Share

The Future of Publishing Begins with Survival

Posted by Jon Thomas, 28 Dec 2011

Storytelling is a tradition that will exist as long as humans inhabit the Earth. It’s in our DNA. The tools we use, however, have changed and will continue to change. We’ve moved on from cave paintings to the written word, from parchment paper to word processors. We’ve even seen the printed word slowly disappear as we move on to electronic readers, like the Kindle and Nook, which allow users to store hundreds of books on a single device.

Another monumental change has occurred just in the past 20 months or so. With the introduction of the iPad and other tablet devices that followed shortly thereafter, readers are able to dive deeper into content than ever before. So it’s no surprise that when Razorfish chairman Clark Kokich wanted to write a book, he decided that the only appropriate way to do so was to bypass traditional publishers and create it as an interactive application. See the demo below.

Share

Will Mobile Rule the World in 2012?

Posted by Katie Edmondson, 21 Dec 2011

You know Grandma Mildred’s annual holiday proclamation "Everyone is using them dang cellular telephones!"? You can say that again, Grams. And while she may still be resisting the constant influx of newfangled tech and software, almost everyone else has embraced mobile with open arms. A while back, predictions had Internet usage on mobile devices overtaking the same on desktops and laptops by 2015. We happen to think that at least for millennials, mobile may already have usurped more traditional devices, thanks in part to a number of key apps and events.

Join us as we take a look back at mobile’s massive growth this year as a way to forecast 2012: the year in which mobile takes over and rules the world.

Share

Television’s New Sidekick: The iPad

Posted by Karen Nagy, 15 Feb 2011
The iPad just may be TV’s latest and greatest sidekick. With new iPad apps for both ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy and Fox’s Bones that sync with the show in real-time to offer exclusive bonus material, television networks might have just uncovered the next best trend in making old media new again. The technology first version appeared back in September for My Generation, but when ABC cancelled the show in October after two episodes, the app also disappeared. But ABC's brought it back for the more-established Grey's, and Fox has recently followed suit with their own app for Bones.
Share