Are Games the New Social Media?

We all know that the last five years, if not the last decade, have been about the birth, growth, and spread of social media. Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, and other social networks and blogs, have transformed not only the internet, but the way people live their lives. Social media isn’t a fad, and it’s not done evolving. Just this week, Apple joined the fray with the new Ping social network that will be included in its iTunes 10 offering. Facebook continues to grow and offer new features, and new social media sites spring up all the time. It seems to be all social media all the time, but what’s next?

Seth Priebatsch, the founder of SCVNGR (a start-up company backed by Google Ventures), thinks the future lies in games. At a TEDx event in Boston, he said the last decade was about creating a “social layer” over the world that actively connected people. The next decade, he asserts, is going to be about the “game layer” that will serve to influence people. It’s fascinating stuff. Check out the video.

Will the iPad Delay Increase Demand or Cause Heartache?

Well it looks like Canadian “early adopters” are going to have to wait longer than expected to get their hands on the iPad. Although consumers worldwide hoped to have access to the new tablet-style computer by late March, Apple announced yesterday that they will have to wait until late May.

Even though this is the second delay for the international launch, I imagine that Apple investors are feeling pretty confident! With U.S. sales of 500,000 in the first week, the level of demand is not only encouraging, but according to Apple, it's “far higher” than expected.

And the success isn’t expected to slow down. According to an article written by eWeek.com, Morgan Stanley has predicted that Apple could sell 6 million iPads in 2010 and roughly 7 million in the first year. Apple said they will start taking orders for the iPad from international buyers starting on May 10. For those of you who can’t wait, you can always take a trip south of the border and try your luck there. With the dollar at parity, there’s no time like the present.

Top 5 Things Online Businesses Can Learn from the Ottawa Apple Store

When the Rideau Centre Apple Store opened in Ottawa, it was a quiet revolution for Mac and iPod fans. Finally they would have a place to go and worship their favourite consumer electronics.

But more than a place for nerds to drool over glossy 27-inch screens and the latest multi-touch devices, Apple stores, especially the one in Ottawa, represent a larger strategy for a company that can often seem based in the distant lands of California and the Internet. And it’s a strategy many online-only companies can learn from.

1. Give your company a face. I don’t know a single Ottawa Apple store employee, but I know what one looks like: Smiling face, colourful T-shirt, and name-tag lanyard. Putting the faces of your employees on your website can reflect a positive image in consumers’ minds. (We do a pretty good job of that here at MB.)
2. Give your company a location. Even in today’s digital economy, where many businesses are internet-based, giving your company a physical location can increase consumer trust and loyalty. Unlike your website, they can depend on your store, warehouse, or home-office being there tomorrow. List address information, or, better yet, include a photo of where you work on your website.
3. Make it shiny. Even if your store is small, it’s got to be eye-catching (that goes for your website too). People wander into the Ottawa Apple store all day long because of its unique layout; bright, open design concept, and grand, all-glass storefront. Potential customers will spend more time on your website if it’s visually appealing.
4. Don’t be afraid to sell your own product. If it’s good enough for the Internet, it’s good enough for the streets of Ottawa. One of the reasons Apple opened its retail chain was because it felt other retail businesses were not doing a good enough job of highlighting its products. If you believe your product or service isn’t getting the recognition it deserves, stepping outside the confines of the Internet can increase your product visibility.
5. Educate everyone. Sometimes it seems like Ottawa Apple store employees are simply there to promote products they believe in—the sale comes later. This ‘soft sell’ can educate customers about your products or services and implant positive selling points in their minds that they will recall later.

This is, of course, a simplified version of just some of the techniques that Apple retail stores employ and no one seems to be doing it better. Incorporating all or just some of these tips into your online business can increase consumer trust and loyalty, and improve brand recognition.

The Friday Breakthrough: Pizza Hut Keeps Its Customers 'Appy

The Friday Breakthrough is a weekly roundup of some of the internet's best marketing and social media articles for a less-than-intense day at the office.

Pizza Hut recently announced that more than $1-million in sales have been completed using its iPhone application. A lesson to all fast food chains out there: The easier food is to order, the more of it people will buy.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs was named Fortune magazine's CEO of the Decade. The article mentions his control-freak nature, commitment to excellent products (rather than profits), and marketplace foresight (see: iTunes), but fails to mention his long-standing commitment to nerdy black turtlenecks.

Should Canada be more aggressive in its H1N1 awareness campaign? Here in Ottawa,we see the plain and simple ads in newspapers and on TV, but in Britain, their ads really play into people's fears and paranoia.

Should Canada's H1N1 ads be more frightening? Let us know! Leave a comment or send us a tweet @marketingottawa.

The Secret's Out!

This past Friday, Vito Pilieci of the Ottawa Citizen broke the news that "Apple Inc. is secretly building a new Apple Store at the Rideau Centre." The word on the street is that it will be opening next month. Pilieci reports that "Apple has refused to comment on the opening of the store, despite having numerous postings on its website giving away the shop's location and tentative opening date." Apple has allegedly "forced the Rideau Centre to sign restrictive non-disclosure agreements forbidding officials from talking about the new retail outlet."

At first, I thought "what's the big deal, Apple?" But then I did a bit of Googling and found that these openings ARE a big deal for some people. Apparently, hardcore Apple fans have been known to fly across the world to attend Apple store openings.

I will definitely be keeping an eye out for any promotion for this new Ottawa store over the next few weeks, if/once Apple decides to start putting the word out. It should be interesting to see what strategies and technology they employ!

Apple Marketing and Advertising Thinks Different

If you know me, I, like many people, have probably blathered on about how great Apple's advertising is. I've probably already blogged about it. Well, I'm going to blog about it some more, because it really is fantastic.

The best part? The advertising is reflected in the products. Take a look at this image of an apple keyboard:



Now look at the box:

There are no headlines all over screaming about discounts, deals, or features I don't really care about. The image conveys the product's main selling point better than any pile of headlines ever could. It's what differentiates Apple from other advertisers out there. Other advertisers like, oh, I don't know, Microsoft.

YouTube user "fredandgus" (Fred and Gus? Users perhaps?) asks the question: what would happen if Microsoft designed the iPod package, and got rid of the simplicity that makes it so unique?

Microsoft Designs the iPod Package:


Yes, Apple advertising has come a long way since the old days of the Apple II. Remember the old days? Well, the Internet certainly does. Check out this old Apple ad:


Browsing through their old ads really is fun. I particularly like the old "Think different." black and white ads.


I wonder how old Steve Jobs was when Albert Einstein signed up to be in an Apple ad. Negative 3 years old?


And, finally, who could forget everyone's favourite 1984 Apple riff?



The only thing I don't like about Apple are their white earbud earphones. They just don't stay in my ear! Steve Jobs, if you're reading this, help a guy out. Design some non-earbud Apple earphones for your iPods.

Please and thanks.

Your pal, Mike.

A Tale of Two Apples

Apple is threatening legal action against the Victoria School of Business and Technology, the Globe & Mail reported earlier this week. According to the lawyers representing Apple Inc., the school's logo reproduces the Apple logo, thereby "falsly suggesting that Apple has authorized [the school's] activities".

According to a poll on the Victoria School of Business and Technology's website, 72% of respondents do not agree with Apple that the logos are confusingly similar. It is this type of public support that the school hopes will discourage Apple from following through with a lawsuit. In our culture, the apple can symbolize knowledge (as Newton's apple), sin (as the forbidden fruit), and health (as we all know, an apple a day keeps the doctor away).

However, over the last thirty years, Apple Inc. has built up a particular two-dimensional representation of the apple to represent innovation in technology. It is most likely not the actual physical resemblance of the school's logo to the Apple logo that is offensive to Apple, but rather the fact that this school sells itself on having expertise in technology AND has incorporated the two-dimensional symbol of the apple into its logo thus capitalizing on Apple's status in the technology industry.

As a sidenote, Apple is no stranger to this type of conflict. The company has endured numerous legal disputes with The Beatle's Apple Corp since 1978. The final settlement came only last year.

As blogger Jeff James explains, "most brands need to fill [its] imagery with meaning over time (what would an apple logo really mean without the history of Apple's brand?)". Apple's very first logo (shown right) depicts Sir Isaac Newton sitting beneath an apple tree... The logo has clearly come a long way since 1976.

The current incarnation of the Apple logo is so well known across the world that the logo speaks for itself and no accompanying text of the company name is required. The logo is so effective that, according to a study stemming from Duke University, "just being exposed to the Apple logo can make you more creative". The implication of this finding is that Apple's logo is powerful, important, and its integrity is definitely worth fighting for.

Like Mark Twain, Microsoft's Demise Has Been Greatly Exaggerated

In a recent article by Dan Kimerling on TechCrunch (Microsoft's Real Problem: Facebook is the New Outlook and Other Ways that Redmond is not Listening to Generation Y), it is stated that Microsoft's future looks bleak and that it will remain an afterthought for Gen Yers, as the company simply cannot keep up with the easy-to-use Web 2.0 stylings and digital distribution methods of Google, Apple, Facebook, etc.

These companies offer everything that young consumers need -- mobility, simplicity, and speed -- and more importantly, a true alternative to the MS hegemony. No longer do they have to buy Microsoft simply because it's the only game in town.

To quote the article:

What has really thrown Microsoft off, is that other companies have shown those consumers both most willing to try new technologies and most willing to open their wallets for technology, the consumers of Generation-Y, that they do not need Microsoft. Companies like Facebook, Apple, and Google, have changed the way that young consumers consume, and therefore purchase, technology. And that is a very dangerous position for a software company to be in, especially one that is not known for being nimble on its feet.

To an extent, yes, this is very much true. Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google Docs are all quite popular and useful applications. But will professionals and business users really abandon Outlook and Office for Facebook and LinkedIn? I'm not so sure about that.

How much money does the Facebook business model actually take in? Facebook ads aren't exactly setting the world on fire. Meanwhile, how much money does Microsoft make on sales of Windows, Outlook, Word, Excel, etc. to professionals and businesses? Ballmer knows who butters his bread, and it's not Gen-Y. So why make products with them in mind (especially when so many of them are already hardcore anti-MS to begin with)?

Now, is there room for Microsoft to improve? Certainly. There's a reason I switched to a Mac, after all, and any piece of software can be made better, faster, simpler, and easier to use. Nobody likes to use a program so complicated and packed with so many hidden and useless features that it makes your brain hurt. But I'm sure that Microsoft will be just fine without pandering to the Twitterers of the world.

Now if only they could do something about those utterly ridiculous ads with Gates and Seinfeld ...

I’m from Gen Y and these are the things I want

Hi.

My name is Mike and I’m from Generation Y. I’ve read a fair bit about what people are saying about Generaton Y, and after some introspection, I’ve realized that a fair bit of is true. So let me tell you a little bit about myself.

I’m 21-years-old and I’m university educated. Towards the end of high school, everyone told me to get a degree. Before heading off to university, I never thought about learning a trade, even though there are more and more “big money jobs” in the skilled trades.

My upbringing was pretty relaxed, actually. Both sets of my grandparents lived through the Great Depression, and they were extremely conservative in their finances and in how they raised their children. My own parents, as a consequence, were a lot more liberal in how they raised me.

In truth, like most of Gen-Y, I’ve never had it “tough.” I’ve never been extremely worried about finances. When I worked a summer at a moving company and didn’t enjoy the erratic 17 hour days followed by two hour days I didn’t grit my teeth and soldier on – I quit.

I guess because I’ve never worried about finances too much, I’m not always looking for the highest paying job there is. I’m looking for great benefits and room for growth in an awesome work environment. Provide that and I’ll be more loyal than you’d expect.

Look, my parents work long, long days. They don’t relax much. I’ve enjoyed a fair bit of material wealth because of it, but I don’t want to lead the same kind of life they do. I want to balance my career with my personal life. Guarantee me 150k/year if I work 100 hours every week in a small cubicle and I’ll tell you to get lost. Half my friends have divorced, “career-driven” parents, and I’m not walking down that path.

You might think I’m lazy, but I’m not. (No, really.) I’m willing to work hard – just not in a dead end job. I want to know my work makes a real difference at your company. Maybe it’s a bit presumptuous to want to make an impact and have a personal life, but so be it. I still think I have something to offer the right employer.

And whether you’re trying to sell me a work environment or a new cologne, please don’t try and BS me. It’s not that I can smell it a mile away – I just get so much of it these days that I ignore it. I don’t care much for random testimonials or buzz words. I care what my friends think. In one way, I’m actually very susceptible to trends - I own an iPod Touch, an iPod Shuffle, and I really want an iPhone 3G.

My ego certainly isn’t big enough to let me claim I’m immune to marketing. I just appreciate great ideas. I admit I never thought all that much of Burger King’s Subservient Chicken, but Pepsi’s Mentos videos on YouTube are pretty neat.

It would be very hard for you to repeat the sucesses of either of those unique campaigns. And the last thing you want is to look like you’re trying too hard. What I really appreciate (and what I suggest) is a bit of honesty. Show me your product’s benefits (but stay away from the hyperbole) and I’ll listen.

For example, take those Apple ads on TV with the hip Mac kid and that office drone PC guy (you know, he sort of looks like a chubby Bill Gates?). Sometimes I think that it almost seems like Apple is trying too hard with those ads, but I let it slide because:

1. They’re amusing.
2. They bring up good, salient points. Gosh, now that I think about it, I am tired of Windows asking me if I’m sure I really want to do such and such a task.

Really, all you have to do to appeal to me is get rid of the obvious fluff and buzz and give me the information related to your product that I’m looking for.

Also, everything I’ve read about “Generation Y” tells me that I want things like information fast. I guess that’s true, but all this really means is that it’s nice if your website has the relevant information I’m looking for in an organized format. Heck, I’ll even subscribe to your online newsletter and let you blatantly try and sell me stuff if the newsletter is also filled with quality information.

Oh, and about wanting things fast: you really need to offer a cheap, expedited shipping option (if you ship things).

No, really – this isn’t a joke! I order a lot online and I can’t stand having to wait more than a week. Please don’t try and make me wait. If you do, I’ll probably just find a store that does have the option.

So that’s who I am, and that’s what I want. I don’t think it’s too much. I don’t think it’s too unreasonable. Is it?