Brand Identity Crisis

Instabook?

In one of my earlier courses in marketing we were tasked to create a social media strategy plan for a local business. My group chose a small but specialized boutique in the heart of Gastown. In order to better understand the message that this particular business was trying to convey to it’s client, we had to extrapolate it’s key characteristics and create a persona.

This persona was only a representation of how we, as consumers (we did not communicate with the business owner for this exercise) view the the brand, which essentially makes this its identity. Just like in humans, a brand’s identity is (or should be) unique from all others.

As you may or may not know, Facebook has recently bought the popular mobile image site Instagram. This may seem just like any other corporate acquisition done by one company to eliminate potential competitors, and for the most part it was. If Facebook ended it there, and decided to just let Instagram be Instagram it would have been fine. But since then Instagram has had one major change, you can now view your feed on your PC. Is this a bad thing you ask? Maybe.

Instagram started out as a purely mobile photo sharing site. To some this was an inconvenience, but to others this is what separated it from all the other photo sharing sites. Users have developed habits of when they check their Instagram accounts, just as they have developed it for other social sites. They check it on the go because that’s how it was designed to be used. Take a picture with you mobile device, add and effect and post, all while your free of your desk. With the new functionality this could all change eventually, and Instragram will loose its identity. And since most people already cross post their Instagram photos to their Facebook profiles, its essentially going to become a “photos only” filter for their Facebook news feed.

A brand’s identity is extremely important, it how it attracts and keeps consumers. Imagine if Apple decided to start making Polaroid cameras? It sounds like something you would buy, but just think about it for a minute. Or imagine Facebook limiting your posts to a 140 characters or less. The other argument would be you don’t have to check your Instagram on your PC, you can just continue to use it as you always have. That maybe true, but that’s like buying your grandma a smartphone and telling her that she can just use it to make calls if she wanted to. The simple fact of the matter is, if it’s there it will be used. It may be that this will be good for Instagram in the long run, but the question is….where does it end?

Online video ad spend continues to grow.

Online video ad spend continues to grow. #SEW #socialmedia #onlinemarketing http://ow.ly/fvpti

Remembering the riots

Remembering the riot….

One year ago the city of Vancouver exploded in violence. But from the ruble came a new and touching sense of community. Aided by social media, a small group of dedicated  individuals quickly organized a clean up campaign. Showing the world that for everyone person that acted disgracefully that day, there were a dozen more willing to show their love and pride for their city.

The picture above is small tribute to what was once called “The Great Wall of Vancouver”. As individuals searched for a way to channel their support for their scarred city, it was the boarded up windows of the vandalized shops that became their outlet. As hundreds, maybe even thousands of people wrote their thoughts, wishes, and regrets on the plywood hiding the destruction, it truly was a “Great Wall”.

Civic Plaza side walk ad

Side walk ad in Vancouver for a complex in Surrey. III Civic Plaza has brilliantly used a geo-targted ad to boast it’s new units.

The Uni-Verse Project

A tribute to our fallen music legends. Join us by sharing your favorite song, and help keep honor the great ones!

“Michael Jackson….Amy Winehouse….. Etta James…….and most recently Whitney Houston. In the last few years we have lost some of the most influential names in music history. In their honour we would like to introduce you to the Uni-Verse project. The Uni-verse project is meant to bring people together, people who love music, love life….one verse at a time. So join us by sharing your favourite song. You can sing it (like us) and post a reply or just write it for everyone to see in the comments section below. Together we can honour the great ones. One verse…one voice…one goal…..

RIP QR codes

I’m sure that at one point or another you have run into a little square black and white label that resembled, what could be some type of bland alien technology. And if you haven’t then your powers of observation are disturbingly lacking. These are a called QR or “quick response” codes, and are used to embed links specifically designed for mobile technology. In other words scan these little monochrome images and they will take to sites, images or even videos directly related to the product or services that they have been placed on. Sounds convenient? Well it is, but the only problem is there are those that feel they won’t last. More specifically a Mr. Jon Barocas, founder and CEO of bieMedia. He recently wrote an article for Mashable.com basically denouncing the hype for QR codes, and comparing it to Mobile Visual Search technology (MVS).

 

As its name implies, MVS also relies on mobile technology to work its magic. But unlike QR codes it does not rely on a single black and white image to initiate its function. Instead you can simply use an MVS application to scan a product or logo to find out more about it, which brings us to why MVS can potentially kill QR codes.

If Pinterest has thought us anything, it is that we are very visual creatures. We like colors and shapes and all things shiny, all traits that unfortunately QR codes are not. One of the main reasons I believe QR codes are not as popular as they should be, is that they look too much like plain old UPC codes that we see on all products, and nobody ever scanned those with their phones. With MVS you can scan pretty much scan any product right off the shelf, or any marketing material you may run into and viola!, you’re on your way to being influenced/marketed to.

There are also a few other aspects that are worth mentioning about these technology. One of the main setbacks of MVS is that it is still relatively unknown, despite the fact that it has been around for a while. In fact the Google Goggles app came out in 2009 and yet very few know about it. I believe that the lack of call-to-action is what’s holding it back. At least with the QR codes it invites you to scan it to see what it’s all about. Until everyone becomes more familiar with MVS technology, we won’t exactly be running around taking pictures of ketchup bottles at random, hoping it’s the one with the contest you saw advertised in the middle of your Youtube video this morning.

Who dictates what? Media vs The Public.

A recent point of discussion in one of my courses was whether we thought the media influenced public opinions or the other way around. And though the opinions varied, the majority believed that it was the public who held the power on what makes it on the news.

Most argued that the news, much like everything else we see on TV, print, or radio is a product. A product that must be sold to the masses in order to be deemed successful and by extension lucrative. There is of course truth in this, but I believe that it is not such a black and/or white issue. I agree that the news outlets must satisfy their audience, but I think that there are those who go to the news to be told what to think. Unfortunately not everyone has strong enough opinions so they turn to their most trusted sources, often the media, to form and shape how to view the world around them. Much like the retail shopper going shopping for nothing in particular, waiting to find something that will catch their eye.

I would like to think that the media isn’t just churning out stories based on what they feel is the most popular. Let’s face it, if that were true then all we would have are entertainment magazines. I would like to think that there are editors out there that recognize the importance of certain stories. Ones who will publish articles that they feel would affect people and make a difference. But then one could argue that if editors used purely personal opinions to make decisions, then they would be the ones directly influencing the huddled masses. But that’s a rant for a different day.