Meet Mark Meadows...
... aka Pighed Stonecutter, one of the many avatars he drives in a variety of virtual worlds. This one is his favourite, second only to Mark Stephen Meadows. But then again, he had no choice to drive that one: he was born into that particular, bodily representation of himself. Until Mark joins us at our Amsterdam office to offer us his full-day workshop to the MediaCatalyst crew, Stonecutter is all we have to go on. So let's check him out...
Note the piercing gleam in his eye? Don't let that put you off. If anything, says Mark, he is observant: "It's the same simple talent that makes one an artist." It's this quality too that makes us welcome Mark as our expert - to instruct and delight - come February fifteen.
(Read more...)Keywords: Mark,Meadows,avatar,emotional,user,interfaces,virtual,media,workshop
Canon EOS 400D is Webdesigner's Site of the Month
Yet more praise for the Canon Eos 400D campaign site, chosen by Webdesigner magazine as Site of the Month. In the words of these kind folks:
"Welcome to the playground indeed! As far as productpromotion websites go, this site to advertise Canon’s latest camera, the Canon EOS 400D, is a good example of a great concept, executed beautifully using stunning photography put together to form each of its unique environments. The site’s highly sensitive interactivity takes you around the Wilderness Wonderland, Urban Paradise and the Discovery Woods, where you are given the chance to learn more about the camera’s unique features while immersing yourself in the overall experience."
Crossmedia or Multimedia?
On January the 24th, I attended the conference Effects of cross media marketing organised by Euroforum. As the title suggests, I expected insights in the elements of successful cross media marketing. Unfortunately, it didn't live up to its promise. The image above tells you about as much about the effects of cross media marketing as the conference itself...
The conference kicked off with two presentations that were theoretical in nature: both Kobalt and ABN Amro reported on the results of research they conducted. Next, seven companies (VNU media, Philips, Endemol, Amsterdam Partners, Douwe Egberts, Sanoma and Ohra) presented their cases. So, surely, the work that was presented exemplified cross-media marketing in full effect?
Not quite. My overall impression was that these cases were typical examples of multi media rather than cross media marketing. It is easy to confuse the two and I won't offer an exhaustive definition of either here. Suffice at this point to highlight two key diferrences between multi and cross media marketing:
- whereas multi media marketing expresses the exact same thing via a multitude of media, cross media marketing may express a part or an element of the overall message via a medium that is particularly suited to it. All employed media combined then form the cross media message. It is thus a matter of specificity: playing to the strengths of each medium and matching it with its particular (piece of) the message.
- secondly and related, cross media marketing then allows for interaction between its elements, whereas in the case of multi media marketing, each medium simply reiterates the same thing: there's no exchange between the parts, and their sum therefore is not greater.
Of the presentations, only three showed (slight) characteristics of cross media marketing: the Burendag (DE / Burendag), "Starten? Stop hier" of Bizner/Sprout campaign (VNU media) and "Deal or no deal"/"Julia's Tango" of Endemol. Nonetheless, these presentations didn't disclose any information on what we were there to hear: a measure of their effectiveness. With effectiveness I refer to ROI both in financial and non financial terms (e.g. brand value, brand activation). If this conference is representative of the actual state of the industry knowledge about cross media effectiveness, than I must conclude that our industry doesn't know much about it or is still consistently avoiding to measure effect effectively.
In my opinion cross, media marketing means communicating a certain proposition with several media using their individual strengths orchestrated in the right way to optimize the marketing value. In this definition I also use the ideas of Indira Reynaert and Monique de Haas as presented in the cross media entry on Wikipedia. It is important to acknowledge that the target audience is likely to move from medium to medium to achieve his/her goal. Maybe it's for that reason that they call it transmedia in the United States.
The effectiveness of combinations or integration of media should now be measured for any cross media campaign to understand the real value of cross media marketing. Kobalt is using the ARF model to collect this data. It is promising, but at the same time, it shows the long way we still have to go to fully understand cross media effectiveness.
Besides falling short on quantifying the effectiveness of cross media marketing, some of the cases discussed did hint at the key to succes of cross media marketing: always place the concept right in the center, and then tell the story by using the right media for the right purpose. Internet itself often serves as the glue between different media and remember that (final) conversions can be achieved by any medium. Creating a concept including the storytelling combined with the right media approach will make the difference in future campaigns.
Look at Frankwatching.com (sorry, only in Dutch) for those of you interested in more details of the cases during the conference. You will find two posts (deel 1 and deel 2) by Daphne Dijkerman describing the conference case by case.
Postcard from Japan the sequel!
Flavour of the month
Name: Wynn ‘in it to Wynn it’ Thomas
DOB: you try and pry that one outta her…
Title: Account Director
Origin: All over the place in the US of A
At MC since: January 7th, 2008
‘Didn’t we go to the Oktoberfest in ’98?’
Not your average pick-up line, but it landed Wynn Thomas a husband. Their love story could have started – but didn’t just yet! – in Maastricht, where both Wynn and her future husband spent a semester abroad at university. Sparks didn’t fly and each continued on their separate way. Yet 10 years later, after many a peregrination, they find themselves back in the Netherlands again, and this time around as husband and wife.
(Read more...)Keywords: Wynn,Thomas,fourteener,Denver,Amsterdam
A postcard from Japan
Keywords: Japan
Flavour of the Month: New faces, new tastes
Name: Nadav Cohen
Hometown: Netivot, Israel
Title: Assistant System Administrator
At MC since: November 1st, 2007
Avatar: VRND
Website: www.freq-lab.com (under construction); and don’t forget MySpace
He’s helpful, he’s willing and he’s able… and he’s so darn mellow.
One wonders how in the world he does it - and with such a pleasant look on his face.
Especially when his job requires running around at the drop of a hat, fixing things before there’s any time to read the manual, and detonating technical time bombs with the craftiness and tools of MacGyver...not to mention supporting System Administrator Dayan Mogul as he runs around like Wile E. Coyote.
Maybe it is because he grew up near the beaches of Southern Israel. Or maybe it is because he has travelled to many a place around the world and has developed an appreciation and understanding of his fellow man. Hey, it could even be due to his naturally low blood pressure.
