On the Inbound
2011-11-01
It's always been true that you can catch more flies with honey, and the newly minted term that exemplifies that axiom is Inbound Marketing. Mashable states that the old way of Outbound Marketing (Direct Mail, TV Spots, Banner Ads) is on the outs, and creating fun and entertaining content that draws people in, hence the term, is on the rise.
The snazzy infographics are exec-friendly and definitely speak volumes, but the actual paragraph of words at the end sums it up best. "The new age of inbound marketing is about providing added value and earning customer loyalty instead of simply pounding a message into consumers heads and hoping it will stick."
At AI, we've always been about creating added value around a brand, whether it be a game, an app, or a viral video. It's fun to expand the world around entertaining properties and to watch how people engage in the 'digital expansion packs', to coin yet another phrase.
Simplicity of UI in a many-screened world
2011-09-05
In today's world we've got a big screen at work, an iPad for when we're traveling or in meetings, and an iPhone or Android when we're on the go.
User interfaces need to be designed for all of these screen sizes and resolutions.
For that to happen, simplicity must be adhered to. For our latest opus, TonyBennett.com, we knew that we needed a robust site to feature the massive amount of content from his 50+ year career. But because of the demographic of his audience and the fact that there's an app version of the site on iOS and Android, the UI had to work everywhere.
We kept the design elements to a minimum, the navigation consistent, and the fonts BIG. With the numbers we've been seeing, it's seemingly working well.
Check it out here and see for yourself: http://TonyBennett.com
Gamification
2011-07-21
Marketeers love to make up words. Usually these are abhorrent combinations, like phigital (physical+digital), but in the case of gamification, there's a ring to it that makes it bearable.
Games are fun. And in our digitally addictive culture, gamification should inherently make the mundane more enjoyable.
Earning points and badges for things we would do anyway is a nice reward for investing our time in something. It's kind of like being in the Scouts as adults.
With our HarryPotterTheQuest.com site, we put up the content that Potter fans want and then rewarded them with points that go toward unlocking more content. This has had an amazing affect on Time on Site and interaction rates with the content. It's been an amazing campaign to watch and see what people do on the site.
With sharing of each content piece through Gigya.com, the 'virality' has been through the roof.
Our Top Muggles have several hundred thousand points each, earned 5-10 points at a time. You do the math... they're interacting at levels usually only seen on Zynga games.