The Ocean Agency

interactive marketing companies are notorious for buzz words.

With the emergence and mass-adoption of social media, marketing buzz words are now on steroids. So, here at the Ocean Agency, we thought we would help out business owners by translating marketing buzz words and break down how they can improve your business, minus the marketing speak.

1) Augmented Reality

Definition: Augmented reality (AR) is a term for a live direct or indirect view of a physical real-world environment whose elements are merged with (or augmented by) virtual computer-generated imagery – creating a mixed reality.” (Wikipedia)

Our Definition: Mixing technology into physical real-world experiences

Example:

Does augmented reality make sense for you business? Possibly.

Here is one example:

If you’re a restaurant, you could have the food items on the menu reveal themselves in all 3-D glory.

Obviously, augmented reality is expensive to produce, but the future lies in digital experiences mixed in with consumers physical spaces that tell a compelling story, or, more importantly, offer some kind of value.

Biggest take away for your businesses: Incorporate technologies that improve the experience of your customers.

2) Geo-Location

Definition:” Geo-location is the identification of the real-world geographic location of an Internet-connected computer, mobile device, website visitor or other.” (Wikipedia)

Our Definition: Identifying and targeting  customers based on their location.

Examples: Foursquare location targeted specials and advertisements:

Does geo-location make sense for your business? Probably.

This one is definitely living up to the hype thus far. With the expansion of social networking on mobile devices, people are sharing their location data at an increasing rate. Businesses can create relevant ads on these platforms that aren’t intrusive.

With this data businesses can help consumers make decisions, save money, and build brand loyalty. A win-win for both brands and consumers.

Something to keep in mind:

Recently, Foursquare has partnered with a variety of major media outlets like BravoTV and the New York Times. The only incentive for users from these partnerships?

A Bravo TV or New York Times Olympic Badge.

These are great incentives for Foursquare addicted PR, communication and markerting types, but in order to encourage mainstream adoption the incentives will have to increase.

Biggest take-away for your business: Make your place of businesses a true destination. People share their location to gain incentives and because it says something about them. Ask yourself this question: Would people want to tell the world that they are at your place of business? Why? Why not?

3) Brand Utility:

Definition: “The brand utility method is concerned less with feature sets and more with functionality. How can your products make the lives of consumers better? That is the question that a brand utility advertising campaign seeks to answer.”  (Printing and Advertising)

Our Definition: Improving the lives of your customers to inspire loyalty in your customer base.

Example:

ING Direct.

If ING Direct is a bank, why does it have cafes in major cities in the US?

Brand Utility.

The ING Direct cafe offers free wifi, $1 coffee/tea and $1 pastries, in addition to employees who know all about ING Direct products.

They improve the lives of their customers by offering discounted coffee and food and even give those with an ING direct account free coffe or tea on Fridays. The ING direct cafe concept is a perfect example of brand utility, and it makes incentives offered by other banks look lame/miniscule in comparison.

Biggest take away for your business: If you improve the lives of your customers, they will thank you publicly and keep coming back.

What can you do to improve the lives of your customers in a way that fits with your overall brand message?

Alright, now it’s your turn. Business owners:

Would you use these tools in your marketing plan? Why or why not?

If you’re a business owner, social media is tantalizing. For free, you can set up a profile on a variety of different networks and have your products reach a larger customer base than ever before. All you have to do is make something viral, talk to the right influencers, and watch your sales time go through the roof!

While social media experts and consultants may tell you to “crush it” , become a “trust agent” or harness the power of the “groundswell” they generally underestimate  the time, investment, and strategy that goes into effective social media marketing, PR, and branding.

Facebook Fan Pages are becoming more and more ubiquitous, with over 300,000 businesses using the feature. These fan pages go above and beyond, and resemble full functioning websites more than a Facebook profile.

In honor of 9/9/09

These days social media may get even more press coverage than the recession. Most executives and business owners know they should be using social media, but everyday i’m shocked by the sheer number of companies that have little to no social media presence. Based on what we hear in our everyday dealings with clients here are 9 common excuses barriers to entry:

Today on Mashable , Jennifer Van Der Grove reflected upon the results of a a recent study. A study was conducted by Jean Twenge, a professor of psychology at SDSU. The study surveyed over 1,000 college students, asking them about their social media use. In the national poll of college students, “57 percent agreed that that people in their generation use social networking sites (i.e. Facebook, Twitter and MySpace) for self-promotion, narcissism and attention seeking.”

At the Ocean Agency the interactive marketing department and the interactive design department are separated by a wall. The room of designers is 100% male, and the interactive marketing department, minus yours truly, is 100% female. In the latest round of applicants for our interactive marketing and copy-writing internship, all were women. While this evidence is anecdotal, at best, it begs the question, why is our office split along gendered lines? It also raises a larger question ( inspired by a recent post on DShan’s blog): Do men and women use social media differently? Why?

Image via Audible Marketing

Today, I had the pleasure of attending the first ever Chicago social media breakfast. It was an event designed for discussion, with panelists leading tables of between 8-10 attendees on a variety of different topics. I was placed at a table where the discussion focused on advancing your career through social media. Both inspired by this discussion, and recent round of internship hires, here are some tips to those seeking jobs in the interactive marketing or online space:

Today is Day 2 of Mad Men week here at the Ocean Agency. We are counting down to our Liveblog of the season premiere Sunday at 9 PM CST.

If Don Draper was both a real person and alive today (just go with me here people) I feel like he would be fascinated by the evolution of the advertising world. Most of all, he might salivate, in a very cool and debonair manner of course, at the integration of so many forms of mass media.

You read it everyday: Brands need to become more interactive online, but many times, brands don’t know where to start. This is where companies like the Ocean Agency jump in, giving mostly good advice on how brands can be more interactive and successful in today’s marketplace.

While many agencies are great at telling their clients how to succeed in a world of social and interactive media, their own presence is lacking.

At the Ocean Agency, we’ve had a lot of success building interactive web campaigns for clients, but now it’s time to practice what we preach.

Nike marketing is arguably the best in the world, with  hundreds of memorable advertising campaigns. With the rise of the social web they have had fantastic success integrating both online and offline content– with everything from Nike Basketball to the Livestrong campaign.

Their latest integrated campaign is for the release of the P Rod III, a new skateboarding shoe. In an extremely smart move they are generating buzz for both the product and commercial online before it airs on television. Many online marketing companies forget the power of integration–most well known sites and viral hits explode first online and then hit their tipping point because of mainstream  media coverage.