1. Good insight – 10 Principals for Engaging Teens/20 somethings. http://ow.ly/pq90

2. The Ultimate List of Niche Social Networks – http://ow.ly/tjB0

3. Losing To The Social Web: Visualized – http://ow.ly/t6Vg

4. GoodMorning! Twitter visualisation. http://ow.ly/vk9S

5. What brands can learn from Cheryl Cole – http://ow.ly/wclW

6. How 20 popular websites looked when they launched – http://ow.ly/nRUg

7. A great way to see Twitter trends: Trendsmap – Real-time local Twitter trends http://ow.ly/qrZq

8. Outdoor Augmented Reality without the hassle (but still fun!) – http://ow.ly/ub6b

9. Apple finally gets on Twitter – http://ow.ly/vsEx

10. Why Facebook could be the next big news publisher (if they want to be) http://ow.ly/tVjU

Here’s my August Twitter round-up.

Using the power of Hootsuite here are the most clicked links from the Trendplanner Twitter account for August. For other useful Twitter links on similar themes, check out Qapture which collects links shared by various interesting people on Twitter.

1. Nike: “We don’t do advertising any more. We just do cool stuff” http://ow.ly/kGup

2. The Portable Social Graph – the next big thing in social marketing? http://ow.ly/j1he

3. What playing Poker can teach us about using Social Media – http://ow.ly/krqz

4. 41 Shockvertising Campaigns – From Deplorable PSP Posters to Powerful PETA Ads http://ow.ly/lmIo

5. First iPhone Augmented Reality App Gets Past Apple and Appears in the App Store – http://ow.ly/lmLS

6. Ebay wicked sick BMX – Does creativity work? http://ow.ly/jxaX

7. “Don’t make digital strategy a speciality, make it cost-of-entry to all planners”(via @benshaw) http://ow.ly/lxfj

8. Everything You Never Knew About Facebook – http://ow.ly/j2q1

9. Steve Jobs on why Apple doesn’t do market research – http://ow.ly/iyXN

10. 10 ways musicians are embracing digital – Not everyone is fighting change. http://ow.ly/loT9
Image: Wiselywoven

Currently much of the music industries’ efforts have focused on the option of resistance. It appears that many people want the model to stay the same, and will fight against change. In response to file-sharing the majority of activity has focused on short term action to solve the problem. Such action might appear so show some success, but when you look at the bigger picture a policy of resistance is destined to fail. Remember Napster? The music industry managed to shut down their illegal activity, but as soon as this happened people just moved on to different technology such as torrents. Now it appears they have been able to shut down torrent search engine The Pirate Bay, but chances are this will do little to help, people will just use something else.

All resistance appears to do is speed up the rate of technological progress and actually worsen piracy issues. Shutting Napster, inspired people to use torrents which enabled them to get much more content in much less time, closing The Pirate Bay could easily do similar. Recently as a response to the forced closure of The Pirate Bay someone actually uploaded a copy of the entire Pirate Bay site for people to download and in theory run their very own version of The Pirate bay. Closing down The Pirate Bay could actually result in hundreds more versions, which when closed down can simply be restarted somewhere else.

It’s not hard to see how future technology can only make it easier for users to get hold of digital content. As more and more people start to store the majority of their data online in the ‘cloud’, placing restrictions on how and when people can share this content will become increasingly difficult.

The consumer of the future expects to get a large amount of content for free, however there are plenty of things they are happy to pay for and they are not adverse to being exposed to advertising as a form of payment. Research actually suggests that people who source content for free online actually spend more on paid content online than those that do not. The policy of resistance could simply alienate their audience in a time where it is more important than ever that they make use of the technology available in order to engage their audience.

However, not all efforts have been directed towards resistance, some musicians are making the most of all things digital to help engage their fans and spread their music.

1. Radiohead – Pay what you want

In 2007 Radiohead decided to launch their album online, with users able to download the whole album from their site for whatever price they chose. More recently they’ve decided to release the latest single from their forthcoming album as a free download.

2. Muse – Let fans piece together the song

This year Muse released their single ‘United States of Eurasia’ by planting USB sticks all across the world containing 5 second bits of the track. It was then up to the fans to go out and physically find them, work together to upload them onto the web and piece it together to create the final track.

3. P Diddy – To succeed you’re going to need a great Facebook page

This year P Diddy launched the latest MTV star finder programme, and this year he was keen to point out the important role the Internet and specifically social media now plays in the industry. He stated “You have to understand how to be able to brand yourself,” he said. “Before, it was just at live shows, now you have to be able to do a great live show, you have to be able to do a great online interview, you need to have a great Facebook page, you have to have a great television performance.” He practices what he preaches and you can find P diddy all over social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook.

4. Coldplay – iPhone app

Recently Coldplay have released their very own iPhone application to help promote their latest single. Created by Babelgum the free mobile application includes the brand new Strawberry Swing video along with the Coldplay video catalogue, a Coldplay news feed and a videogame.

5. Mos Def – The album on a t-shirt

For his last album ‘The Ecstatic’ Mos Def decided to release it as a T-shirt. The T-shirt contained a tag on which was a unique Mp3 download code for album, furthermore the t-shirt had the Ecstatic Killer of Sheep-interpolating cover art printed on the front, and the song titles on the back.

6. No Doubt – Watch them live, get free music

No Doubt are letting people who buy top tier priced tickets for their latest tour download the entire No Doubt back catalogue for free. A great example of encouraging fans to buy experiences they can’t just download as well as rewarding their biggest fans.

7. Bloc Party – Crowd-sourced music video

For their music video to their single ‘Ares’ Bloc Party asked fans to send them their own video clips of the band performing live. These clips were then simply stitched together into a great music video, made for the fans by the fans. This is a great way to engage fans that makes great use of the material available thanks to the ease of video recording via mobile phones, and the ease that this material can be brought together through the power of the Internet.

8. Nine Inch Nails – Band uploads to torrent sites

Back in 2008 Nine Inch Nails put the first volume of their album ‘Ghosts’ onto torrent sites under a creative commons licence. Fans could enjoy this basic version for free and if they wanted more they could go to the official Nine Inch Nails website to download the extended version or go out and buy the standard CD or a variety of special limited edition box sets in store if fans wanted a physical product. A great example of freemium, giving away the basics for free and making the money on the upgraded versions.

9. Simian Mobile Disco – Augmented Reality mixer

Simian Mobile Disco have recently been promoting the release of their new album ‘Temporary Pleasure’ by creating the “first ever-human augmented reality music and visuals mixer”.  The piece was installed at the ‘Temporary Pleasure’ shop on Carnaby Street, London. The installation was an interactive augmented reality experience, which let people interact in a totally unique way with a never-heard-before content.

10. Grum (UK Dance music producer) – QR code posters

Grum has been making use of QR Codes technology as a way to promote his music. He has put up QR code posters up round the UK that people can scan to instantly hear his music on their phone or listen to it with the radio function on the phone. As well as promoting his music the campaign can also generate revenue, as people can then buy full version of the tracks directly from their mobile phone.

Another month – another twitter round-up.

Using the new and improved Hootsuite here are the most clicked links from the Trendplanner Twitter account for July. For other useful Twitter links on similar themes, check out Qapture which collects links shared by various people on Twitter (including Trendplanner).


1. Steve Jobs on why Apple doesn’t do market research – http://ow.ly/iyXN

2. Placement is key: Just look at these 15 Unfortunately Placed Ads http://ow.ly/gmbm

3. graffiti archaeology – brilliant. http://ow.ly/hBXu

4. Fast Food: Ads vs. Reality http://ow.ly/h6Uv

5. Mobile Phones let us change our plans – Geo-location could stop us planning altogether: http://ow.ly/i0Kz

6. Top 10 Augmented Reality Adveritising Campaigns so far. #ar #tech http://ow.ly/dsHv

7. Nike LIVESTRONG – Chalkbot. A great idea from nike for the #tdf http://ow.ly/gEQU

8. Freaky AR business card – http://ow.ly/hjiT

9. Lego:Pretty cool for a 50-yr-old. How has Lego succeeded where so many have failed? http://ow.ly/hmc7

10. Spotify iPhone app: 10 things you never knew. http://ow.ly/ihfR

Image: Monstro

Obviously Lego is a toy of many peoples’ past, but this needn’t be a negative thing. Lego has used it’s history to create a whole new audience for it’s product – people who aren’t kids any more. Lego is retro, retro is cool, so now you’ll find the Lego brand in some rather unexpected places. So people are loving Lego again, but perhaps they feel they’re a bit too old to be making things out of blocks? No problem, Lego has teamed up with fashion label Paul Frank to bring you Lego products that you can wear. You can also get your hands on a section of Lego accessories such as cameras and mp3 players, not all of these are official Lego products, but all go towards keeping that Lego brand in fashion.

It’s all very well appealing to new audiences, but this is no good if you end up neglecting your original and still primary audience. Lego are still providing products aimed at children, and key to this is the work they do around these products. Toys such as Lego face serious competition from digital content such as computer games and various online activities. Many brands would try and fight this digital technology, fortunately for Lego they are not one of these brands. Instead of working against digital technology, they have worked with it. Lego can’t stop kids playing computer games, so Lego have made their own, Lego can’t stop kids spending their time online on social networks, and online games, so once again they have made their own online content, and put themselves in the places people already are. More brand collaboration has enabled Lego to turn competitors into partners with the likes of SpongeBob Squarepants and Harry Potter Lego, and take the brand into new markets such as their recent tie in with Kickers school shoes.

Lego have not just been getting involved with the technology their audience are currently using, but they are heavily involved in developing the technology they will be using in the future. Augmented reality appears to be starting to take off, and Lego are one of the brands at the forefront of developing the technology and essentially directing the path it takes into the lives of their audience. Lego has used the technology to complement and assist the current product. Lego has installed AR terminals into their stores (above) in which customers can hold up a box full of Lego pieces to get a 3D image of what the product will look like when it’s finished. Then when the customer gets home they can even use AR to help them build the product.

Lego haven’t been doing the hard work by themselves, some of the best content has been done by Lego fans (see above) and can be found all over YouTube, and other Social Media sites. But then that’s what happens when you’ve built a brand people are happy to associate themselves with and most importantly when you’ve got a great product that lets your audience be creative.

Key to Lego’s success is synergy, isolate anyone element of the Lego offering and its very unlikely to perform at the same level, but together each element works along side one another which benefits the individual elemetent and the brand as a whole. Lego have managed to expand and evolve their product offering while staying true to their brand, be it amazing theme park rides or augmented reality experiences you can always trace it back to those original plastic blocks.

We might assume this spells the end for many traditional advertising channels such as billboards and TV, not if necessarily.

They just need to evolve.

Below is nice example of a billboard which is completely dependent on audience interaction. This digital billboard was recently installed at Brussels airport by the energy company Electrabel, and as people pass by it provides a thermal image of the heat energy given off by each person. A great idea based on what their brand is all about, and as the video demonstrates it clearly engages the audience.

Source: Blogilvy

Another great example of audience interaction in what is traditionally seen as a one way communication context will be provided by O2 in cinemas across the UK in the coming months. Prior to watching the latest ice age film, cinema goers will be able to participate in an interactive 3D game where their hand movements will determine the path of the spaceship O2 through an on coming 3D asteroid storm.

With the latest technology the audience can interact in communication channels that might never have seemed possible. The key of course is giving them the reason to do so. In the examples above the audience is drawn in by the new technology, but when this technology becomes established brands won’t be able to rely on the wow factor of the technology to engage the audience. This of course is true of all marketing using the latest technology such as Augmented reality and QR codes, it’s only so long the technology itself can be used to hook in the audience. Brands will either have to take the technology yet another step forward or they could concentrate on making the most out of the evolved channel and provide a genuinely entertaining or useful experience to engage their audience.

1. Agency site – made in YouTube – BooneOakley.com – Clever. http://ow.ly/altG

2. Top 10 Trendplanner tweets – May 2009. http://ow.ly/al1z

3. Google: Expect 18 Android Phones by Year’s End – Am sure some will be great but problem is they wont be called ‘iphone’! http://ow.ly/akF6

4. Consumer Psychologist: How Cool Are You? The 5 factor cool test… http://ow.ly/akEw

5. The Living Book: The book written entirely in QR codes. #qr #mobile #marketing #advertising http://ow.ly/cM0m

6. 5 Digital Music Trends. Things are changing whether the record companies like it or not! http://ow.ly/akEf

7. Red Bull gives you wings – Paper wings that is. Red bull paper wings weltfinale. http://ow.ly/an4w

8. 10 trendspotting tips in 10 minutes. nice slideshow from @jon_howard http://ow.ly/aCuI

9. Do you really want your TV ads to make your audience mad? http://ow.ly/e7xr

10. Top 10 Augmented Reality Adveritising Campaigns so far. #ar #tech http://ow.ly/dsHv

The Internet, perhaps one of the most useful inventions of all time is going to get a whole lot more useful when we can access it any time anywhere thanks to our mobile devices.

Here’s a list of some great things, that thanks to mobile can be made even better.

1. Social Networking

Create an event on facebook, but then want to change the venue, fine if it’s two days before the event, not so good if it’s 2 hours. But with mobile people can keep up to date just before the event. What’s more you’ll even be able to create an event just hours before. See an old friend at such an event, but don’t remember anything about them? No problem just have a quick check on facebook on your mobile and you’ll get all you need, checking the relationship status can also avoid those inappropriate questions!

2. Uploading digital photos

Take photos on your internet enabled camera phone, or maybe just your internet enabled camera. No longer do you have to wait till you get to a computer and go through the hassle of uploading, just upload in real time via your mobile device. What’s more thanks to GPS technology have your mobile device automatically geo tag each one of your photos. With things so instant and easy, more and more photos will become available many with real time relevance. Want to check out what a place looks like before you go, these days you should be able to find an image but soon they’ll be many more, and many showing you exactly what it looks like that very day.

3. Shopping comparison

Out shopping on the high street, see something you like, but not sure if it might be worth waiting to get it cheaper online? Just check on your mobile, to find the answer. With the latest technology from Snaptel (currently USA only) you simply take a photo of the item you want and the Snaptell application will run an instant price comparison, find it cheaper then you can buy it online then and there.

4. Online reviews

These days nearly everyone uses online reviews, but still only a small proportion of people actually contribute any reviews themselves. This might be for various reasons, the main issues are likely to be related effort and the fact that by the time you get to a computer after the experience the issue is no longer in the forefront of your mind. Now people can review things as they experience them, not only will you be able to find more reviews, but for things not previously available. For example thinking of going to a club, just check the latest reviews from people already there. Twitter is proving to be a great platform for such reviews, people are sharing their experiences as they happen in 140 characters and these are available for people to view just by searching for the relevant hash tag in Twitter search.

5. Searching for telephone numbers

It’s not hard to get a telephone number these days, get on the computer, and search the company name and the word phone, and google will magically find it for you. Could it get any easier? Yes! With mobile internet there’s no need find a computer, just go to google on your mobile, put in the company name and google will recognise you’re on a phone and display the phone number without you having to go to all that effort of typing ‘phone’ (actually on some phones this can be pretty useful), then there’s no need to go and find your phone (it’s in your hand!) or even type in the number just click (or touch) on the number and you’ll be chatting in no time.

6. E-tickets

Thanks to E-tickets we can buy tickets for things closer to the event (or departure time) than postage times had previously allowed us, without actually having to make a journey to go and buy tickets. But thanks to mobile this process can be further improved. No longer do we have to print off tickets, codes can be text to our phones, and internet enabled phones should even be able to display full tickets including images and barcodes. What’s more thanks to the mobile internet we order E-tickets even closer to event, if you’re already out and about you needn’t try and find a computer or a ticket office, just purchase on your phone and receive your E-ticket straight away. Some services also operate which allow you to simply order your ticket and payment can be taken off your mobile bill.

7. Wikipedia

Thanks to wikipedia debates such as how many different flavours are there in a bag of skittles, or what was Christmas number 1 in 2000, need never go unanswered. But where do most of these questions arise? Down the pub of course! You need never lose £50 (or your currency equivalent!) on your misguided faith of your knowledge of Angelina Jolie’s age, or how many league cups Man Utd have won.

8. Augmented reality

Augmented reality is the merging of the real world and the virtual world into one, this is often done using a webcam to film ‘reality’ and this is presented on a computer with virtual elements included. This can look great presented on a computer or laptop, but it’s when you get mobile involved that real possibilities emerge. Digital information can be attached pretty much anything in the real world, and mobile phones can be used simply as a tool to view this. Point your mobile camera at a view and you’ll be able to see all the digital information attached to that scene, such as road and building names. This isn’t just a future possibility, it’s something that is already being developed for phones that run google android.

9. Maps

Pretty obviously it’s much more useful to have virtual map with you rather than back at home as your navigate your way through this world, you could of course print one out, but that can’t locate your position via GPS, and who want to go to all that effort of pressing the print button. What’s more with your virtual map you can get up to date changes such as traffic problems, you can search the internet for information about the area you’re in, and soon you might even be able to see the location of you friends in your map view.

10. How to guides

These days you can pretty much find out how to anything just by searching on the Internet. Anything from how to cook a chocolate soufflé or how to fix a bike tyre, it’s all their with all the text, images, or videos you could ever need. But the problem is we don’t always have access to these guides when we might need them the most. It’s not very practical to take your computer outside while you change that tyre, or that you don’t have that computer on you when you get a puncture miles from home! But with your mobile you need never be without your help guides ever again.

Of course there’s many more things about the Internet that mobile access will improve (we could have had way more than 10 based on search alone), and there’s many more things that we’ll be able to do unlike anything that was possible before. But what this relatively short and simple list does demonstrate is just how important mobile internet access is going to become.

Here are 5 of the best examples that demonstrate what can be done and where this is going.

Lego

Lego have really embraced AR, as well as this advanced instruction programme, they’ve put AR terminals in stores where customers can simply hold a up a box full of bits and see a digital version of the completed model. Read on to see how BMW have taken this to the next level.

Ray-ban

A great idea to really boost the e-commerce potential for sunglasses. Put off buying shades online because you can’t try them on? Well now you can.

Carcade

Created by a group of students at Berlin University, this is a game that uses the real world as the in game environment. Very clever and not a bad way to pass the time on those long car journeys!

Wikitude AR travel guide

It’s all very well having all this clever technology, but if it only works when you’re sitting at your desk then it not actually that accessible or useful. But thanks to Google Andriod we can now experience AR through mobile phones. This clever application lets you see information about your surroundings by simply pointing your mobile camera.

BMW

So we’ve done mobile, but during complex tasks (say like fixing a car) using a mobile isn’t very practical. So BMW take things to the next level with the concept of wearing some clever glasses that let you see the digital content. They could even develop this for more complex tasks like putting together ikea furniture…

I recently threw together a list of things that might be ‘big in 2009′. On of which was Augmented Reality (AR). One of the best ways to get your head round it is to see it, so check out the video above.

So what is it?

‘Augmented reality (AR) is a field of computer research which deals with the combination of real-world and computer-generated data’

Sound like something you’ve only seen in films?

Not exactly, you’ve actually seen it all before. When we watch the weather report we’re experiencing augmented reality (AR), in reality the weather man (or girl) is just standing in front of a blank wall, but in the augmented reality we view through our TV they’re in front of a fancy image of the country informing us that those dark clouds are on their way. But in 2009 we’ll be seeing AR bring us a lot more than just rain.

Lego are already using the technology in their stores. Customers can view themselves on a screen, and when holding a specific Lego product box, their image will include a fully assembled model seemingly on top of the box so they can see exactly what all those bits should end up as. So AR can bring you the product before you actually have it in it’s physical form. Of course this could be extremely useful for those selling online, you could see exactly what that sofa looks like in your living room, or what that hat will really look like on you without actually having the product.
The mobile phone and the Internet are changing the way we can use AR. Our mobiles provide us with a portal into our augmented world, and the internet is building and maintaining this world. Soon (or now at a basic level on some phones) you will be able to point your mobile at anything in the ‘real world’ to reveal information from the ‘digital world’. For example walk down any street and point your mobile camera viewer to see a world that includes information about the things in front of you such as road names, shop names, restaurant review ratings, or any other information the internet might have.
It might not be long until our desire to view AR drives us to have devices that allow us quicker access such as glasses or even contact lenses. Look at anything and be delivered all the Internet has to offer, look at the cup of coffee a person is holding to find the nearest coffee shop, or look at the person to see their facebook profile.
We might not be there yet, but you might want to make sure you’re a firmly established part the digital world before it becomes fully augmented into the real world.