Old Internet, New Technology

There’s nothing cooler than pushing a button on your phone or MacBook, thumbing through the wireless buttons willing your printer to zip out pictures or send the files transporting from your computer to another device. Over the months, I’ve become quite the pro at not only juggling my computer, camera, iPad, music dock, among other things to do just that. We’re talking zero chords and just infinite possibilities. With software such as iCloud, AirDrop, and BlueTooth, it’s easy to ask my new friends exactly what I want that doesn’t require any physical labor and is even good for the environment.  You can imagine everything – not just computers –becoming connected. This digital phenomenon I’ve been experiencing has happened since a year ago in June. Users were introduced to a brand-new version of the Internet and the concept, namely ‘The Internet of Things’.

The answer: IPv6, the new face of the Internet. It accommodates “trillions upon trillions of times larger” space for new smartphones, websites, data center services, and other devices to join the Internet according to Vint Cerf aka father of the Internet who is also chief Internet evangelist at Google. Now the size of the new Internet allows objects to be tagged with a microprocessor or sensor that takes on an IP address and connects to the Internet. Dog collars and railway cars are just the beginning of ‘The Internet of Things’.

In addition to that, sensors are quickly catching on to become the new standard. They can be programmed to sense the environment and share that information over the Internet, such as the location of items, their temperature and so on. I am currently coveting Vint Cerf’s built in wine cellar with sensors. His wine bottles never get lost and if the cellar gets too hot or too cold, the sensors make sure to take good care of this. These ‘smart’ devices are infiltrating homes, cars, and pets down to the water meter in your basement. You can expect more smart devices will be invented and connected to the Internet and soon more devices on the Internet will out-populate humans on Earth. Cisco makes a bold claim that by 2015, some 25 billion devices will be connected and 50 billion by 2020 as opposed to 7.6 billion people in 2018 says the United Nations.

Here are some crazy cool exhibitions of how ‘The Internet of Things’ is on a whole new level.

• Nest learning thermostat that learns and schedules your temperature preference
• Ranchers using wireless sensors for sick or lost cattle
• Ford cars that park themselves and play your favorite music
• Traffic lights that auto-respond to traffic jams or an accident
• Buildings that turn the lights and heat off when they detect no presence in the room

The downside?  There can be problems with the ‘Internet of Things’ such as privacy, reliability, and control of data. Perhaps this speaks to our tendency of being too dependent on technology to a fault, but nobody can deny the extraordinary effects of the ubiquitous Internet. There is much more out there and Wired’s article here also puts it into perspective.

Integration not Interruption

Everywhere marketers see fragmentation.  There is a critical mass of TV viewers, smartphone tablet owners, and mobile web users. In 2013, digital will hit the first phase of its inevitable revolution where advertising and marketing in the communication industry will go entirely digital within a decade. There is a boom. This is the availability of video content and associated advertising across five increasingly used digital screens – desktops, notebooks, smartphones, tablets, and connected TVs. Today, the digital consumer is ever present yet still elusive.

How can marketers navigate this space that is aimed to inform and not overwhelm? As consumers’ attention is more divided than ever, ‘media multitasking’ will become the norm. Mobile, video, and the multi-screen is a top priority that requires a sophisticated twist. An interesting trend is when we dig below the surface to discover micro-audiences.

With the changing digital landscape, consumers are congregating on platforms such as YouTube, Facebook and Amazon to name a few. This takes place within branded spaces on these platforms. The multitude of (media platform) offerings such as YouTube and Facebook are able to win audiences’ full attention. Moreover, consumers has drastically shifted from watching television to video as well, not only short videos but lengthy full clips such as series, webisodes, and mobisodes.

82% of Thai Internet users stream or download online video content monthly and 22% of GroupM’s client brands utilize pre-roll advertising. The integration of pre-roll ad with online video will expand reach of TVC campaigns – creating a need for a successful multi-screen strategy. Let’s get used to a mix of multimedia across all channels with the increasing array of powerful digital tools in marketer’s repertoire/bag for 2013.  The brand will need to integrate various channels leaving the consumer uninterrupted but informed. Happy digital bagging!

2013 is 3G-Geddon for Thailand

There’s nothing better than fast service on the Internet, flicking through social media channels and thumbing on your phone as you find that 3G was actually made just to do this, make people’s lives fast, easy, and convenient. Luckily this time of the year for Q2, Thailand is set to officially launch the 3G network and marketers are gearing up for the long over-due arrival in Thailand. With mobile Internet usage on the rise, the timing could not be more perfect at a growth rate between 50 and 70 percent by mid-2013, according to Niklas Stalberg, mInteraction’s chief operating officer. The wait for the 3G is almost over and with the significant ad spending on mobile devices such as the Samsung Galaxy, latest iPhone, or mini-Ipad infiltrating stores; it is predicted to take center stage for Thailand for keen advertisers eyeing this phenomenon without having to sacrifice their budget.

Effective marketing campaigns for 2013 demonstrate the potential of 3G in the Thai mobile market, however, the downfall is the speed and coverage may be limited and often times too slow to function on devices meaning advertisers will need to become quite the pros to operate at the international level for their brands. Case in point, Audi UK was the first of its kind to use 2.5 and 3G back in 2005 for its rich media mobile marketing to push its TT Quattro Sport model. Smartphone users were able to use the technology provided by MindMatics and MassOne in order to exhibit the content related to the car model with one simple short-code text. The self-contained data packet is designed to run on 2.5G and 3G smartphones on networks in the United Kingdom. By using their keypads viewers were able to take a tour of the entire car to zoom on particular features, wallpapers to download, and options to send the content to friends, in addition, print direct marketing and online advertising were also used as collaterals. Audi quickly became the quintessential modern high-performance car through its timely and advanced marketing.

Will Thai marketers feel the cross-effects of 3G across the variety of media? What does this mean for digital? Here are some ways the introduction of 3G will create infinite possibilities in marketing: the convergence of marketing tools (software, telecommunication, broadcasting etc), a more fully integrated marketing communications, more online and less offline, going viral, measuring campaign effectiveness, more effective CRM applications, detailed demographics, and the proliferation of smart apps in general. One area that cannot be emphasized more is the increase demand and usage for mobile video that will be possibly the next biggest thing in the kingdom. In short, with the right system in place, solid 3G connectivity will be able to easily connect people with their brands and serve as the major impetus in mobile marketing for Thailand for marketers who get it right.

A Digital Guide to a Single-Proof Valentine’s Day

The sappy romantic stuff on Valentine’s Day can be overwhelming for couples and singles are just as happy grabbing burgers and beers on this Hall Mark day. Unlike the traditional love offerings such as exchanging cupcakes, writing sweet notes, and sipping on champagne, we’ve rounded up some tech-savvy digital apps that ensure you’re giving your sweetheart some digital love. Single-proof your valentine’s day by making the process of doing little things easier and enjoyable with this compilation of winning products.

We can learn a thing or two from guys over at HBloom about snagging your admirer’s heart with their Hero and Superhero packages in the form of flowers, flowers, and flowers. By ordering the variety of bouquets online, the boys will deliver the goods to the leading men in our lives who can be the ‘hero’ and show up at our doorsteps with an irresistible fresh floral arrangement. The hero packages vary between a $60 assorted bouquet or $120 assortment of 18 long-stem red roses. The Super Hero package is for the more extravagant gentleman, three separate bouquets on three separate days with the option to bring flowers three days in a row or pre-plan for special occasions such as birthdays or anniversaries, starting price at $165 to $225.

A black car filled with roses as the perfection solution? Craving ice cream during Ice Cream National Month? Mariachi Bands for Cinco de Mayo? You got it! Enter Uber. This app just keeps getting better and better the more I dive in. For those who request the service on February 14^th, the  #RomanceOnDemand package in the app has got you covered with a glorious over-the-top Valentine’s extravaganza. As soon as your Uber arrives, you receive a set of boxed roses with a card waiting for you followed by the special surprise that comes along with it by each city. Unfortunately there is no special discount… just like love and it can be a bit expensive. We promise, the splurge is worth it in the end.

Here’s a solution for real life couples for keeping the spark alive in your relationship with Dejamor. In the words of the founders, ‘We strive to reconnect people through romantic and intimate experiences’. To post-Valentine couples, this can mean having more than just a sexy Valentine’s Day. By joining you can subscribe to monthly boxes of romance whereby Dejamor will send a his and hers box complete with a set of instructions and love ingredients to light passionate and romantic dates. Simply sign up monthly for $34.95 or save a bit and activate your love account for a year bringing down the cost to $29.13 a month.

For all the single men and ladies, there are a slew of amazing apps with the proper hook ups for everyone. OkCupid launched their standalone ‘CrazyBlindDate’ for blind mini-daters who can sign up with a username and take a picture of themselves. Once logged in, your profile picture is scrambled like a puzzle and users can gauge your skin/hair color, revealing very little to nothing. Punch in your free time and where you’d prefer a crazy blind date and browse other user’s proposed dates. An hour before the date, the app will unlock the chat feature to let you enjoy a little text-based foreplay. Download the iOs here and Android here.

No matter how many years of experience you have dating, it never gets easier. There are copious amounts of apps on the web to make your spring fling, romance, or potential marriage a definite possibility. These dating apps and sites will secure safe and fun dating in more ways than one and an experience unlike any other offline.

2013 Digital Focal Points

In 2012, we highlighted four focal points that we had our eyes on. For 2013 digital trends, we have seen a proliferation of investment in the online space. Here are the next four key pillars that will be shaping up the digital industry in Thailand for marketers prepared to dive in.

1) Selective Paid Media

-          This year will be all about mobile ad networks and target-ability. A majority of the big players will understand more on the ROI from paid media. They will determine the number of people they can reach and gain an understanding more on cost per reach. Once they are clear, next is to measure the cost per reach effectively (as per their target audience). After forming a better picture, it’s guaranteed they can reach their target much more effectively through specific media planning tactics. For example, users can filter the ad to be displayed only to a certain group of consumers. By doing so, this enables them to utilize more advanced technics, re-targeting in particular, and in turn players can finally begin to optimize their campaign through ‘Demand Side Platform’ Solution (DSP) in order to achieve the best effective cost per reach.

2) Integration through purchase journey

-          The more our clients become educated on search always on and the campaign based concept, the more they will realize the significance of search. The next logical step for them is to try aligning their SEM budget and keywords with their ‘Above the Line’ (ATL) execution.

-          We also foresee a big rise in search and social media. Marketers will pay more attention on Search volume and Social mentions before- between- and after their ATL launch. A case in point is the ‘choose’ features as well as characteristics of the product to match with a low level of competition in search and social. Not only that, they will create new ‘words’ during ATL campaigns that were not previously used online. This is exhibited in the viral campaign for the launch of Sun Snack’s new “Hypercharged Spicy Duck Flavor” sunflower seeds. The newly coined term ‘Ped Pon Fai’ from the intriguing film clip infiltrated online searches for months.  This film was shot with intention of resembling an authentic Chinese newscast filming a story about a farm whose ducks mysteriously emit flaming gas from their behinds.

-          Also, clients are taking full advantage planning the combination of ATL, Search and Social in tandem. Out of Home advertising coupled with mobile search will also set the stage for this year. TVCs will most likely be searched via the mobile and tablet like all hand devices on the go.

3)      VDO usage

-          Three main factors will drive the usage of VDO ad in Thailand (a) wider access of broadband internet through fixed line expansion and possible 3G launch (b) the need of air-time to maximize the return of VDO content development (c) the growth of VDO content in general will increase the amount of inventory, hence, signal the push from publishers.

-          Advertising opportunities will be abundant in a multitude of forms such as pre-roll, mid-roll and post-roll. Consumers have shifted from watching television to videos as well, not only short videos but prefer lengthy full clips such as series, webisodes, and mobisodes.

-          Viral videos will be here to stay as well as the rapid development of measurement, reach and frequency, and planning tools with a focus on videos.

4)      Driving Engagement through Owned and Earned media

-          The power of social media should not be underestimated for 2013 for its efficiency, ease, and frugality. In lieu of traditional paid approach, the continuous growth of social media will increase limitless opportunities from doing O+E approach instead of simple P planning. Many advertisers will realize that it will be difficult to engage consumers as they are bombarded by various forms of ad during the day. Then engagement will be an integral component and may be driven better only if they create a great “O” and then we can plan the “E” out together.

-          The % of spending will surely shift from paid to owned and earned. Content creation should not be ignored ranging from photos, videos, music. We can expect to see collaborations between celebrities, influencers, and the products through the distribution of social channels, both owned as well as other huge social media owners.

Credit: Siwat Chawareewong, CEO of mInteraction

10 things about our CEO

Our always-inspiring CEO answered our questions yesterday and we had a wonderful time reading his favorite things.

1. Electronics Shop: To Home (Thailand’s leading and largest online retail store here)
2. Gadget : iPhone 4 (Tech specs here)
3. Loved App: Instagram, Foursquare, Twitter, and definitely Facebook – Oh yes! I like One2car too. Don’t know where to browse for second hand cars? Download the app here.
4. Digital Campaign: Dog-A-Like (Pedigree NAILED IT here!)
5. TV-Series: Sorry I didn’t watch any series (Even our CEO deserves a break from technology)
6. Film: WILL (Discover more about the movie here)
7. Coffee: Doppio Espresso Macchiato (Who doesn’t love doppios?)
8. Drink: Cold water, Heineken, and Vodka Redbull
9. City: Bangkok
10. Game: Scrabble!

And from mInteraction: Thanks to everyone who was curious to ask. We hope everyone has wonderful weekends and happy hump day!

(Strangers into) Friends with Your Permission

Seth Godin said, ‘The first rule of permission marketing is that it’s based on selfishness: Consumers will grant a company permission to communicate only if they know what’s in it for them. A company has to reward consumers, explicitly or implicitly, for paying attention to its messages.” Based on this quote and the term popularized from his bestselling book Permission Marketing (Simon & Schuster, purchase here), we, as digital consumers hope advertisers offer more meaningful and compelling ways to learn about their products and experience their campaigns.  We tackle the key question – can brands assume consumers support them merely by clicking the ‘like’ button? Should there be more invested effort and/or attention?  Unlike interruption marketing, which is exactly that, Godin discusses his new model, which changes consumers’ attitudes towards brands and forging strong and personal relationships easily in the process. The chart below exemplifies the common tools for permission marketing.

We are all aware that the net is the ultimate form of permission marketing and the go-to for most digital campaigns. Sure ad agencies can persuade customers to initially click the like button and share with friends, however, we need to be astounded by the incredible value of the product (although having entertaining content is a start). One effective way, recommended by the marketing genius, is through the usage of sweepstakes and contests. Promotions involve information about the products in an engaging way while keeping people excited and on their toes. Here are three shining examples from Godin himself.

1. H&R Block introduced a new service targeting upper-income customers, Premium Tax. With attention grabbing headlines, ‘H&R Block: We’ll pay your taxes sweepstakes’, these banners were published on various websites. More than 500,000 tax payers and H&R Block customers clicked on the banners leading them to an interesting contest. All H&R Block asked in return was to teach users about its new service after users granted permission all the while having fun answering trivia questions about taxes on a weekly basis. They received three emails per week for 10 weeks involving fun facts about the history of taxes linking back to the company’s website to find the answers.  Promotional messages about ‘Premium Tax’ were included within each email. The results? Throughout the promotion, 97% players stayed with an average response rate per message of 40%.

2. Carter-Wallace, the personal care company, followed the same lead with its campaign, Arrid XX ‘Get a Little Closer’ for its deodorant. Players were given the chance to score an all-expense-paid trip to the Caribbean. They discovered the sweepstake through traditional print ads and web banners. 30,000 players participated and the average player received 24 emails. In order to stay in the game, participants only needed to read the messages. Towards the end of the game and 700,000 emails, the likelihood of purchase grew by double digits from 24% to 49%. 25% of those players even purchased Arrid XX during the game.

3. The last example is the ‘Million Dollar WebCrawl’ crafted to persuade individuals to use AOL’s search engine. Offering a prize of $1 million, players visited specific websites then to register their email addresses. This campaign alone attracted more than 350,000 players resulting in 2.7 million unique web visits during the course of sweepstake.

This is certainly a compliment to permission marketing and a fun experience for all participating users if executed properly by any digital campaigner. Tried and true favorite campaigns such as these are able to ‘turn strangers into friends, and friends into customers’. Although the cost and effort may be a challenge in the beginning, these simple steps create a big impact, yielding significant results.

The Digital Olympics

The Digital Olympics

This month in Thailand has been deemed ‘Digital Olympics’ for the advertising industry, which proves the serious online consumption surrounding the masses for social media. We would be happy if the Olympics were a yearly event and noticed the significant shift in brands actively utilizing their sponsorship license in regards to the London Olympics compared to 2008. With the world’s largest brands investing 15% of their marketing budgets on digital, it is estimated that a single Olympic campaign costs anywhere from $30 million to $50 million equating to the cost of ten 30-second Super Bowl commercials.   We’ve rounded up some main brands leaning towards digital and social media, driven mainly by the change in the media landscape.

Brands can expect more leniencies when it comes to Olympic licensing as they are allowed to acquire more rights to use branded content.  Brand sponsorships in the form logos, music, mobiles, micro, and other kinds of social media are yielding significant results on ROI and garnering more fans for companies. Such content oriented media are popping up all over social media channels such as YouTube, Google, Facebook, Twitter, among others, which are becoming more valuable in terms of gaining social media presence.

The radical change in medium can be attested by comparable figures from this graph exhibiting YouTube as an expansive video viewing outlet with over 4 billion YouTube views per day opposed to 133 million in merely four years rivaling any country population in both size and scope. Not surprisingly enough, even the official Olympic Channel up over on YouTube has over 46 million views and 360,000 subscribers.

Also the brand winners for the top Google search results are P&G, Visa, and Coke in that order. We did a quick search on Google and the first three pages were infiltrated by the above brands embracing the search engine.

Also, this chart points out the channels used by top Olympic sponsors, with corporate sites in the lead followed by YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook pages close behind.

Visa also launched the first global Olympics digital marketing campaign in May, the first of its kind, the ‘Go World’ promotion. The card purveyor used its digital channels allowing fans the chance to score a trip to future Olympics games, promoting sweepstakes while engaging fans through a Facebook application to cheer on their favorite athletes. Didn’t win anything? Don’t worry; fans have the experience of sharing their personal Olympic experience with the world, courtesy of Visa. The company has been a Worldwide Olympic Games Sponsor for over two decades and this special Olympic-themed global campaign is no exception. All Visa cardholders , Olympic and Paralympic Games fans, and even Team Visa sponsored athletes can happily take full usage of Visa products worldwide.  Visit the Facebook page here to submit photos, videos, and text cheers (one-click cheers via Visa’s Cheer application, over 28 million cheers!), and watch the ‘Go World’ video here.  Also view and share video content on Visa’s ‘Go World’ YouTube channel here as well as tweet the campaign’s hashtag #VisaGoWorld on Twitter @TeamVisa here.

As the Olympics comes to a close and we already anticipate the next one, all of the world’s population will be more connected on their smartphones and tablets meaning bigger opportunities for brands to fully take advantage of the global audience. Brands will have to recreate and come up with entirely new innovative ways to utilize cross-digital platforms to build long term brand affinity centered around ginormous events as such.

Credit: Pappas.com, infographic here, FastCoDesign.com, original article here

2012 Digital Focal Points

In 2012, we highlighted four focal points, encouraging clients to shift their digital efforts into the areas of mobile high-speed, always ON marketing, power consumers, and intelligence tools. For Thailand, merely a fraction of 3% goes into current digital spending, which equates to 3 billion THB. In the next year or two, this number is expected to 5% and will continue to grow.

The Mobile High Speed market is rapidly growing thanks to faster networks, higher penetration of smartphones and popularity of mobile applications. By the end of 2012, there will be 10,000 3G enabled base stations in Thailand. Mobile phone operators will collectively invest THB 20 billion this year to improve 3G network developments. Moreover, smart phone penetration in Thailand is reaching 16% and there will be 1 million tablets by the end of 2012. The Apple iPhone dominates at 10.1% leading the handset share of impressions. In terms of smart phone applications, there are 25 billion downloads, 500,000 (IOS), and 450,000 (Android).

Brands are starting their Always ON Marketing campaigns to meet growing demand. There is a 290% increment of search queries in Thailand from 2010 to 2012. More consumers are relying on Google and seeking out others’ opinions on forums on a daily basis. There are over 4.7 million key words per day, 18.5 million times per day, and Google dominates with a 99% share. 60% of smartphone and tablet users have adopted search daily as well. For GroupM Search Thailand, we had significant growth on the search area for all categories jumping from 27 to 52 brands from 2011 to 2012. The social platform is becoming a key engagement area where consumers expect immediate response 365 days a year. Search and social will continue to drive incremental traffic and strengthen the campaign performance of brands.

Thirdly, with tremendous usage of social media, ordinary consumers nowadays can create media, which reaches more than one million people in just a couple of months. The top Thai Facebook page that collected almost 2 million fans just started 4 months ago. We have defined these new media owners as Power Consumers. Marketers must place importance on this as there are real opportunities to reach out to their target audience in more effective ways. The much raved about YouTube video series, VRZO, is comprised of 22 clips, which have garnered over 1 million views.

As the Thailand digital landscape has changed quite significantly, it’s time for marketers to become better equipped with Intelligence Tools, including measurement and monitoring in order to improve their digital planning and campaign performance from time to time. This year, there were over 1 million ad serve impressions, almost 40% increase from last year. What’s next? Comprehensive video and in-streaming seem to be the two next biggest things. There is a need for a wide variety of video ad formats and an extensive across-the-board video metrics to better accommodate the objectives of brands.

Tribal Thoughts

We’ve all heard of the recent popular phrases like ‘neo-tribe‘ and ‘digital tribe‘. Today, online marketers have redefined these brand tribes, namely groups of individuals dedicated to evangelizing the brand and its values and attributes in the digital world. In June, we explore how Nike revamped its marketing strategy to spark its loyal online brand tribes and the 6-year digital campaign that made marketers and consumers think twice. Drawing from our two favorite brands (Nike and Apple), we’ve documented the digital campaign worth more than $1 billion (dropping 40% of its TV and print spending from the overall marketing budget of $2.4 billion last year).

Nike’s digital marketing was in full force after the set up of its new division, Nike Digital Sport, which hired a slew of talented engineers to create technology for digital communities this year. In 2006, when mobile demand started to kick off, Nike introduced the Nike+ multi-channel and sensory platform blending Apple and Nike technologies to let individuals track their performance that marked the beginning of an exciting brand tribe. Nike’s tribal community became the platform where customers shared personal conversations with the brand while serving as a laboratory where Nike investigated its customers’ behaviors and patterns.

Exhibition #1: Nike Plus Motivation

Exhibition #2: Nike+ Sportwatch (Purchase here at the official Nike store)

Fast forward today: Exhibition #3: Nike+ FuelBand

Enter: Nike+ ‘FuelBand’, your own personal coach. The sports company has successfully appealed to multiple tribes, in particular sports and health aficionados, fusing all the different personalities of these individuals with the single identity of the brand. Nike reinvented itself in the process by channeling and supporting members to stay active by syncing their iPhones with Bluetooth, which provides on-device feedback. You can integrate the Path technology with the (free) iPhone app here and ‘Nike Plus’ dashboard here. The FuelBand is a rubber wrist bracelet worn during exercise and sports activities to measure ‘steps, calories, time & Fuel metrics (a currency measured by oxygen kinetics)’. To further engage fans, the brand launched a series of interactive digital campaigns to replace traditional advertising such as 30-story billboards that post fan headlines from Twitter captured in a Nike’s YouTube video here. In addition, its major commercials are executed by Oscar-nominated directors and launched first on Facebook before primetime television. Visit the main website to purchase the product and experience the tribal-induced digital campaign here. Merging technology, the online platform, and data together, no matter how you decide to work out, Nike fans will certainly feel inspired to hit the gym, live out their passion, and feel extra fueled.