Monday, July 27, 2009

Check the AR, You Like It So Far?



*brownie points for anyone that can correctly name the song I'm referring to in the post title*

Today on the Adweek website, they've posted an article about Augmented Reality (AR). While the technology isn't necessarily new (I remember seeing videos of this type of technology in action years ago, unfortunately I can't recall exactly what the video was called to show it to you), Adweek discusses it's potential as the next big thing in advertising.

The article focuses in on one company in particular:
Zugara is dabbling in this area with its Webcam Social Shopper app. The prototype, which the shop created as a test for clients, lets consumers "try on" clothing -- via their Webcams and monitors -- as if they were in a store. In a twist reminiscent of Minority Report, users can switch to new outfits by motioning with their hands. They can also share their outfits through social networks like Facebook.
It's kind of crazy to think this is the stuff we thought of being way off in the distant future, and it's happening now. And it's cool to see that they're doing something a bit more "practical" with the technology. As new technology is rolled out, we get caught up in doing the flashiest and coolest things we can while losing site of our overall goals, objectives and concepts.

These types of executions have mostly been done using paper, but the article discusses the next step of bringing this type of technology to mobile devices. I think once that is up and running, it'll really take off.

Matt Szymczyk, CEO of Zugara, goes as far as saying that AR will be the big thing in the next year. Yes, he has a vested interest in this technology taking off, but do you agree? Disagree?

Even without the mobile integration, I'd love to start thinking of ways to use that technology. Do you have any ideas off the top of your head?


READ MORE

Friday, July 24, 2009

Twitter 101 For Businesses

As Twitter continues to grow, more and more businesses are jumping on the bandwagon to try and improve their web presence. For a lot of start-up advertisers and marketers (such as myself), creating and maintaining a Twitter account is going to be an increasingly important part of our future.

Thankfully, Twitter has launched a guide called Twitter 101 for Business. Having read through it, it seems like something you should definitely check out if you have any sort of social media work coming your way.

If you're already a Tweet junkie, you can probably skip the basics (such as the lingo section), but the "best practices" section in particular I recommend you check out. Using Twitter as a business tool takes makes your role in the Twitter-verse a bit different, and people's tolerance for your "Twitter-rhea" is minimal. I've removed myself from such accounts cause it was just too many tweets to go through.


READ MORE

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Twitter Trending Topic Pollution

One of my favourite things about Twitter besides telling everyone how awesome my lunch was, is the Trending Topics feature. I've always found it fascinating to see what people are talking about and be part of the "party line" either by reading what people have to say about the topic or jumping into the conversation.

But recently I've noticed a ton of people taking advantage of the system and to me it's really hampering the experience.

Let me pull up one example from a trending topic this instant: Wal-Mart.

Why is it a trending topic right now? Let's see if I can find out.

lcarou2148 Make $20.00 an Hour on Twitter See how here! http://tinyurl.com/mrwcve Michael Jackson harry potter WAL-MART less than 20 seconds ago from web
Swing and a miss. Spam is becoming increasingly prevalent on Twitter and it's really disrupting the conversation. People who throw in trending topics into their tweets to draw attention to their spam are just as evil as any other form of spammer.
chiquitaaa @LegendaryWriter Why the heck is wal-mart in the trending topics??? O.o weird... less than a minute ago from web
It seems like every time something new breaks into the trending topics section, 80% the tweets then become, "Why is this a trending topic?" instead of just hitting the topic button and finding out for themselves. Ugh.
Divas365 I sometimes hook in Wal-Mart parking lots hoping to meet harry potter & Nia long.
Perso
nally the worst to me. The people who think they're clever writing a sentence with every trending topic at that moment are just maddening. Your not clever if everyone on Twitter is doing it. And the idea is dumb in the first place just a shameless cry for e-attention.

I'm about 100 tweets in, and I STILL don't know exactly why Wal-Mart is a trending topic? I found only two bits of news (something about India and something about rating eco-friendly products), but 98% of the Wal-Mart tweets were just garbage.

I'm not sure if there's any solution to spammers or people being...people. But I do miss when it was easy to find out why a trending topic was a trending topic.


READ MORE

Thursday, July 9, 2009

LEADERS OF THE NEW: Craig Brandon



Leaders of the New is an ongoing series at jettlandicho.com that will focus on the future talents of advertising.
Click here to check the archives.



Name: Craig Brandon

Career Path: Art Direction.

Education: Graphic Design 05-07 Creative Advertising 08-09

Advertising Experience: Design Internship at Smack Design (Winter 07) Advertising Internship at Soda&Tonic Advertising (Summer 09)

One Thing About You: I have four first names, Craig Normand Drew Brandon.

Contact: 416.791.0705 / cbrandon36@hotmail.com

Full interview after the break!


When did you know that advertising was for you?

I trace my roots to this industry back to a couple things. One, my “big present” one year for Christmas was a giant box of art supplies (which made me a very happy child). Two, my elementary school graduation ceremony presented me with the first ever art award. They felt the need to give this to me based on my level of enthusiasm for arts and crafts time (they also gave me the Science Award, and I’m far short of being a scientist!).

However, I would have never known that Advertising and Design was a career option had it not been for my cousin Adam who looked over my shoulder and said “you know you could be getting paid for that stuff” one day while I was screwing around on Microsoft Paint.


Do you think you could have pursued a career in advertising with just your Graphic Design experience?

I have friends that are currently trying to do that with little success, very talented friends. So not saying that it is impossible to succeed with just the graphic design background, but I would do school the exact same way if I had to do it all over again. At the end of the day having both Graphic Design and Creative Advertising makes me more well rounded and polished as an AD.


Describe your creative process. How do you brainstorm? How do you keep track of ideas? How do you know when one of your ideas is good? What do you do when you're creatively stumped?

Creative process-
Well, I feel every brief creates a unique problem. Therefore, every brief needs a new angle and therefore new creative process.

Brainstorming-
Ideally I have someone to bounce ideas off of. Whether I have someone or not, I generally try and get to the most basic idea and then add a twist of originality to it.
I don’t like using traditional ways of brainstorming like creating an idea web.

Keeping Track-
This varies from the traditional notepad, to a napkin, sometimes even the palm of my hand. I occasionally find myself trying to just remember the idea, like when it comes to me via laying in bed at 3:00 a.m. (I’m trying to break this habit because a lot of ideas have died in this process.) The best and most unique way I’ve ever kept track of an idea is drawing on the shower wall using the steam and glass as my canvas.

Good Idea/ Bad Idea-
This is subjective but I base an ideas effectiveness on the waiting game because if I can look at an idea a week or two later and still like it I generally don’t care what other people think of it. Someone will always hate an idea, but there is always someone who likes it.

Creative Slump-
The best way I have to get out of a creative slump is by looking at it in a new angle. A trick I find myself using a lot is trying to place the product at the centre of a joke where as I am the bully poking fun at it. This trick creates as unique of an idea as the product is. If you have a truly unique product this trick is almost always a winner.


How did you go from being a student to being an intern at Soda & Tonic Advertising?

That was a fun process, one day I’m stressing to find an internship the next I get an email from David Barbuto, a teacher of CAB, basically telling me that he would like to have me as his intern. I jumped at the opportunity and have been having a blast there since. I got the email around week 5/6 of semester 4 of CAB.


Describe a day in the life of Craig Brandon at Soda & Tonic.


I have a nice schedule, 9:30 - 5:30. On a day to day basis I hardly ever know what project I will be working on next. Sometimes its an ad campaign, sometimes its a design project. Regardless of what it is I am generally busy during my time at work. When I’m not and I have down time, I spend time doing spec ads that we later try to set up a meeting and pitch.


What have you learned so far from your experience at Soda & Tonic?

I’d say as a creative person, you never stop learning. I’ve learned new ways to approach things, I’ve learned how to handle client demands, I’ve learned that what a client and what your boss asks for are two very different things. Overall I’ve learned that I made the right decision by joining this industry.


Outside of advertising, how else do you express your creativity?


I constantly keep a notebook on me to scribble art into half of which has nothing to do with advertising. I like to draw/ illustrate on my computer whenever I get some spare time. But I would say my biggest creative hobby outside of design and advertising would be the 2 novels that I have on the go. Both of these novels are being co-written with people more polished in the ways of grammar. They both are fiction based stories, think Peter Pan, or Alice in Wonderland style writing.


Where do you want to be in 5 years?


I want to be as high up on the work latter as possible, at a well known industry. I don’t know the industry process well enough to properly estimate whether I’ll be a senior AD, a CD, a partner in a firm, or whether I’ll still be a Junior AD. I do know that the first 5 years of my career will be an uphill battle and I need to work as hard as possible to get wherever it is I will end up.


What do you do for fun?

Outside of work I spend a lot of time watching sports, mainly football and hockey. I like to roller blade, write, hang out with friends, rock climb, swim/diving.


E-Elevator Pitch: Sell yourself in 140 characters or less.

Passion in a career means you’d work for free. I currently do.

If you're an advertising student or are just starting out in the business and would like to be featured on Leaders of the New, send me an email at jettlandicho@gmail.com


READ MORE