Today Apple releases the iPhone 4 to the masses. Or, at least it’s the release date. Stories abound of shortages, long lines, and people weeping either over the glories of their new device or devastating depression at not getting one yet. That’s all well and good – and getting a lot of press – but where does this ongoing battle actually stand?

Back in March, I weighed in on some things going on with the mobile device war that’s being waged between Apple and Google. The heat’s still on. Google posted yesterday that more than 160,000 new Android-powered devices are activated every day. More than two per second. That’s a lot. And nicely timed with that announcement, Google.

Here’s what is striking me now: How similar is this current situation to Apple vs. Microsoft in the early days of personal computers?

Hear me out.

Apple comes up with the Mac. It’s awesome. A mouse. All-in-one computer. Great interface. Easy to use. Kinda expensive. Can only be bought from Apple.

Microsoft’s OS can be installed on any compatible hardware. It’s relatively easy and open to program for. It’s not quite as nice, but it works. And you can buy it anywhere.

Flash forward. Apple’s phone is awesome. Incredible technological advances and a huge WANT factor. Must be bought from Apple and used on AT&T’s network. Google doesn’t have a phone, but it has an OS. It’s available on many different pieces of hardware from a variety of carriers.

The data shows that Android is making decent gains against the iPhone. Quantcast has a nice writeup about market share and the relative growth of the top mobile OS’s in the market. This chart is particularly interesting:

Granted, this shows mobile web consumption, but that’s a good (and easy to measure) indicator of how things are going.

I think it’s worth keeping an eye on this trend. Apple makes a nice big deal about what they are doing and they get a lot of press for it. They set the standard and they set it high. But Google does a lot of things very well, too. And at a certain point, what features are luxuries and which are necessities? A screen with a resolution higher than you can perceive is really cool (iPhone 4) but a nice large display in full color is still perfectly good when it’s a little handheld device.

Ultimately for consumers and marketers, though, who wins doesn’t matter as much. What really matters, and what we must pay attention to, is the accelerating adoption of mobile devices into the marketplace. People can get their data anywhere at any time. And it’s making a difference in personal communications and buying habits.

There are exciting days ahead!

Embrace digital not as a competitor to traditional services, but as a complement.

Digital services continue to be the primary growth engine, but traditional revenue streams are expected to remain significantly larger throughout the forecast period.  Digital spending in the US is expected to account for 26% of all E&M spending in 2014, up from 19% in 2009.  

Overall US advertising is expected to increase at a 2.6 % CAGR from $159 billion in 2009 to $180 billion in 2014.  In the US, Internet advertising is expected to surpass newspaper advertising spend in 2010.  Advertising spending for Internet, television, radio, out-of-home, and video games are expected to be larger in 2014 than in 2009, while consumer magazines, newspapers, directories and trade magazines are expected to be smaller.

These projections reflect the market fragmentation and consumer behavioral changes. The advertising industry is responding to consumers’ shifting attention and migrating towards total marketing or total brand communication.  Brands are changing their focus from advertising on a medium, to marketing through, and with, content.  

Three themes that are expected to emerge from changing consumer behavior and the industry must anticipate and pre-empt the needs and wants of consumers.  

• Rising power of mobility and devices: Advances in technology are expected to see increasingly converged, multi-functional mobile devices come of age as a consumption platform by the end of 2011. By 2014, US mobile Internet access subscribers are projected to increase to 96.1 million, a 40% CAGR from 2009. 
• Growing dominance of Internet experience over all content consumption: Increasingly, the consumer has moved beyond thinking of the Internet as an end in itself, and expects all forms of media to embed the convenience, immediacy and interactivity of the Internet. People are already consuming magazines and newspapers on Internet-enabled tablets, and streaming personalized music services in preference to buying physical CDs.
• Increasing engagement and readiness to pay for content-driven by improved consumption experiences and convenience: Consumers are more willing to pay for content when accompanied by convenience and flexibility in usage, personalization and a differentiated experience that cannot be created elsewhere. Local relevance is also expected to enhance the content providers’ ability to charge.  

If engagement with consumers is the next wave of marketing, 10 companies are doing a particularly good job of it, according to brand and communications research agency Hall & Partners.

In conjunction with a new tool that measures consumer brand engagement on an emotional level, the Omnicom-owned company determined the 10 most engaging brands in the U.S.  The 10 most engaging brands are (in order): 1. EBay 2. Google 3. Amazon 4. Kraft Foods 5. Microsoft 6. Facebook 7. Coca-Cola 8. Pepsi 9. Yahoo 10. Dove

Coca-Cola and Pepsi have employed many marketing tactics over the years to build strong brand communities, using everything from experiential marketing to forays into social media.  And while Kraft may be initially surprising as a brand with high consumer engagement, the company’s recent efforts to broaden its image “beyond the refrigerator” — particularly with newer tactics.

Source:  MediaPost Communications

According to the latest edition of The Nielsen Company’s Three Screen Report, over the last two years, ownership of HDTVs, DVRs and smartphones have increased at double and triple digit rates. More than half of US TV households now have HDTV, up 189% from the first quarter of 2008, and more than one-third now have DVRs, up 51%.  High-speed broadband Internet access, now in 63.5% of homes, has created a better user experience for watching online videos.

Nearly a quarter of households have smartphones, enabling consumers to “place shift” and watch video wherever they are.  Despite the common perception that viewers of videos on mobile phones are predominantly teens, more than half are adults aged 25-49. While mobile online video viewing is still fairly limited, year over year growth is notable at 51.2%

Video viewing across all major media platforms continues to be fueled in part by the adoption of technologies that improve the consumer experience whether it be quality or convenience. Penetration of HDTVs, DVRs, broadband and smartphones increased at double- or even triple-digit rates during the last two years.

• HDTV: More than half of US TV households now have a high-definition television and receive HD signals; between Q1 2008 and Q1 2010, HDTV penetration grew 189%

HDTV’s rapid growth is important for a number of reasons. First, high-definition raises the bar for programmers and advertisers and increases consumer experience expectations on other platforms. Second, HD sets still tend to be found disproportionately in high-income, highly educated households that are often characterized by lower viewing. HD-capable households actually watch 3% more primetime TV than  HD-non-capable households, which may help drive viewing among segments of audiences marketers find most important.

• DVR: More than a third of homes have a digital video recorder, up 51% from Q1 2008 to Q1 2010, making it possible for more viewers to watch TV programs on their own schedule

Timeshifting, including DVR and Video-On-Demand, is another technology which appears to be bolstering consumption. The timeshifting audience increased by 14%, to more than nine and a half hours per month. As timeshifting increases, the rate of commercial viewing during playback remains steady. On average, viewers watched 45% of commercials during timeshifted playback in Q1 2010 compared with 43% in Q1 2009. At the same time, the continued growth of timeshifting is creating more opportunities for viewers to catch missed programs or try new ones.

• Broadband: 63.5% of homes now have broadband Internet access, with high-speed connections that improve online video delivery

Beyond the TV, technology is helping drive video use on the “second” and “third” screens. The proliferation of broadband access is bolstering online video, creating an alternative mass outlet for distributing television content and “timeshifting” long-form TV.

• Smartphones: Nearly a quarter of households (up 38% year-over-year) have smartphones (mobile phones with advanced operating systems), making it easier for consumers to “place shift” and watch video wherever they are

Source:  Center for Media Research June 20^th

Struggling social network MySpace is gearing up for a relaunch of the site later this year, but the question remains is the site worth saving?

Once upon a time, MySpace was THE social networking site on the Internet.  Back in June of 2006, it was the most popular social networking site in the United States.  In April of 2008 however it was overtaken by its competitor, Facebook. 

There has been an interesting shift in who uses the sites. MySpace began with a big preference for teenagers whereas Facebook was designed specifically for college students.  As the two sites have grown up, their users have changed.  These days teens, professionals, moms, dads, grandparents, etc. all make up online communities. 

MySpace has a lot riding on the relaunch and branding campaign especially with the fierce competition of Facebook & Twitter.  

I have to believe that the days of MySpace are numbered.  The cool kids have  jumped ship and established new homes elsewhere leaving MySpace a virtual wasteland.  

The social networking site has simply run its course with the overwhelming majority.  Where MySpace might be able to shine is with music and this niche audience but will this be enough I don’t know.  Facebook does not have a music player or the customizable layout options that MySpace does prompting many music enthuasists to travel to MySpace. 

For me there are two paths that MySpace can take: Integrate into TV and mobile devices or fade into irrelevance like Friendster.

R.I.P Friendster

Foursquare is dealing with a landslide of queries from business owners and marketing agencies that want a piece of the fast-growing service. It has already developed integrations with a range of brand advertisers in various verticals, including Starbucks for retail, Bravo in entertainment, Pepsi in packaged goods, and Bing for technology and online services.

What is Foursquare?

Foursquare is a service that helps find where your friends are hanging out and offers tips from other users on what to do once you get there. You use your phone to “check in” at different places you visit, from bars and restaurants to parks, museums and even the grocery store! Foursquare rewards you for checking in with badges, points and mayorships.

Foursquare is just one of a number of new mobile social networks — Gowalla, Loopt Star, Where, Buzz, Dream Walk, BriteKite, MyTown, PegShot — that use GPS-driven location tagging to allow users to check in, post tips and, more importantly, share that information with their friends. Each check-in rewards the user with a badge, passport stamp or points.

There are also social good-focused geo location services such as CauseWorld and Scavnger that allow users to check in and redeem their points for causes they support. And, more recently, Yelp and Facebook announced that they, too, will join the fray with their own location-based service.

How do I get started?

Download one of Foursquare’s mobile apps on your phone. They provide apps for iPhone, Android, Blackberry and Palm phones.

Register for an account on Foursquare’s website or through the mobile app. Be sure to upload a profile picture so you can be eligible for mayorships! Link your Facebook and Twitter accounts to make it easy to find your friends and share your current location on your favorite social networking sites.

Check in at the places you visit

Checking in lets your friends know where you are. To check in, open the mobile app on your phone and Foursquare will use your phone’s GPS to find your current location. Click the “places” button or tab to see a list of nearby places where you can check in. If the place you’re looking for isn’t in the list, add it directly from your phone.  You’ll have the option to share your location with your Foursquare friends and with Facebook and Twitter.

Check out tips and leave them for others

One of Foursquare’s greatest features is the ability to leave tips on a venue. People leave tips about their favorite dishes, things to do, how to get a discount and even where to find clean bathrooms. You’ll find tips like “the Gyro Pizza is the best you’ll ever eat” or “avoid the hot and spicy burrito — it’s neither hot nor spicy.”

With Foursquare the primary premise is around rewarding users with three different merit systems.  Mayors, Badges and Points.

1)  Mayor – A mayor is a user who is in 1^st place on the location leader board.  First place defined as most check-ins

2)  Badges – Badges are awarded for achieving various milestones tied to either the number of check-in’s at a given location or the amount of check-in’s throughout the day or other criteria. 

3)  Points – Points are awarded at varying increments based on multiple factors such as a new venue may yield a higher point allocation. 

 Get a Discount

Some businesses have started to use Foursquare as a “digital loyalty card” to track users who visit their stores. To reward you for being a regular customer, they might offer you a free drink every fifth visit or 10% off your bill the tenth time you check in. Other places offer discounts to the mayor. You’ll see any specials a business is offering in your mobile app when you check out the list of nearby venues.

Foursquare has just hired several staffers whose job is to plow through the long queues of business requests. They’re each currently processing hundreds of such requests a day.  On the list are a huge number of mobile businesses that want to verify their listings – a process by which Foursquare confirms a person owns (or represents the owner of) a food cart, cafe, corporate office, or any other business. Verification is a prerequisite for offering specials – like, for instance, a free Italian sausage with onions and peppers on your fourth check-in.

Red Robin Gourmet Burgers has become the first major national restaurant chain to launch a checkin special on Foursquare. Any Foursquare user who shows their server they’ve checked in will receive either a Big Melt Bacon Burger or a Honey Mustard Chicken Sandwich for $6.99.

Bing joined CNN in sponsoring a badge for this year’s World Cup. Users are able to unlock the badge by checking in at world cup viewing locations in select U.S. cities like New York, Atlanta, Las Vegas, San Francisco, and Seattle.

New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met) has launched a partnership with Foursquare to encourage visitors to check in when they visit the museum. Foursquare users who check in twice will earn the Met Lover badge.

Six Flags amusement parks have announced a partnership with Foursquare to offer a new badge and other incentives to guests who check in through Foursquare. The Funatic badge can be unlocked by checking in 10 times at the same Six Flags park this summer.

Foursquare Benefits?

6 reasons to care about Foursquare as a business

1) Customer insight and word of mouth – You can gain invaluable insight into the behavior patterns of your customers. You can analyze visit trends as well as gain insight into their views of your brand.

2) Customer service – With the ability to get near real time feedback as users interact you can gauge the sentiment of your users.

3) Customer retention/ Loyalty Program – Forget about punch cards, track loyalty via check-in’s and reward those who frequent establishments with special offers and recognition.

4) Viral Effect – With the auto post of updates to Twitter & Facebook with badge unlocks and options to post your check-in’s the viral impact of check-in’s is amplified with this service moreso than other geo-services to date.

5) Big Brands are taking note – Starbucks & Dominos have already started campaigns with Foursquare and with various media partnerships this trend will quickly continue to rise.

6) Measurement – One of the powerful elements of the service is the analytics option that is currently being rolled out. As a business owner it is possible to track: Total checkins, unique visitors, when and if users shared their updates (twitter, facebook) as well as analysis of demographic breakdown and ability to track usage over time .

4 reasons to care about Foursquare as a consumer

• Technology powered digital memory jogger:  We are all prone to memory lapses. How nice to have a record of your travels on your phone. No need to remember the address; the geo location service automatically populates. If you use the comment section to record a note about something you especially enjoyed or despised — a bottle of wine, a helpful sales clerk, etc.

• Tips from known reviewers: I know the people who have left tips at places I check in to.

• Real-time ability to connect in real life with friends and colleagues: Each of these services offers the ability to see what’s trending at any given moment near your location — as well as where your friends and colleagues have checked in (if they enabled sharing).

• Onsite retail rewards: delight factor of receiving an on-site reward or discount for checking into a location.

Staying atop the rapidly changing media environment within the advertising industry is critical for agency business.

 Outsell, which provides research and advisory services to the publishing and information industries, surveyed more than 1,000 US advertisers in December 2009 for its annual “Marketing and Advertising Study 2010.”

• Companies will spend 119.6 billion dollars on online and digital strategies and 111.5 billion dollars on newspaper and magazine advertisements and other print campaigns
• US spending on advertising and marketing projected to increase by 1.2 percent in 2010 to 368 billion dollars
• Spending on newspaper advertising expected to drop 8.2 percent to 27 billion dollars
• Print media, on the whole, continued to lag the overall ad market. Consumer Magazine spending fell 3.9% from a year ago while Local Newspapers dropped 5.6%. There was improvement in some narrow segments as Sunday Magazine expenditures jumped 13.7% and National Newspapers increased 9.1%, primarily from gains at the Wall Street Journal.
• Spending on print directories would fall 8.3 percent to 11.6 billion dollars
• Spending on print newsletters would be flat at 11.4 billion dollars
• Spending on direct mail marketing campaigns could rise 2.7 percent to 24.4 billion dollars and spending on custom print publications would be 3.0 percent higher at 19.3 billion dollars
• Spending on television advertising was forecast to drop 6.5 percent to 59.6 billion dollars
  • In Q1 2010, Spot TV surged 22.0% on a torrent of additional money from the automotive, retail, financial service and political categories. Despite this growth, current spending volume in Spot TV has only recovered to a level last seen in 1997.
  • Other television media types also performed strongly in Q1 2010. Network TV expenditures finished the period up 11.6%. Cable TV (+8.2%), and Spanish Language TV (+7.2%) each benefitted from selling more ad time and strengthened demand among across a broad range of package goods and retail advertisers.

• National Spot Radio advanced 19.0% and was paced by higher spending from the telecom, financial service and auto categories. Local Radio and Network Radio were also up.
• Methods generating the highest B2B ROI are topped by advertisers’ own websites, followed by conferences, exhibitions and trade shows; direct mail; search engine keywords; and e-marketing/e-newsletters.
• B2B advertisers see cross-media marketing as most effective; 78% combine three or more major marketing methods.
• 51 percent of B2B marketers rate Facebook as extremely or somewhat effective, followed by LinkedIn (45 percent), Twitter (35 percent) and MySpace (25 percent).

Just one year ago, June 1, 2009, Microsoft changed the name of its also-ran search engine from Live to Bing. On Friday June 6, 2010, I, like many others, received an email notice announcing that Microsoft has canceled Bing’s “Cashback” promotion effective July 30. Read More

Like many other metro areas, Nebraska needs additional area codes to keep up with the exploding number of requests for new phone numbers for cellular phones, pagers, fax machines and additional lines for computers. Read More

I’ve been seeing promos for Splice for weeks now – maybe even months – and I just wanted to let Dark Castle (Warner Bros. genre label) know that their money is not being wasted. I now know after numerous paid reminders that I would rather take my chances dangling by a badly frayed rope over a hungry shark tank than going to see that movie.

Which is fine since I’m quite certain I’m not in the target demo. So it’s all good. They’ll attract the younger bloodthirsty crowd and keep away those of us who would recoil in horror and bolt out of the theater. Right?

Actually, what I’ve read about Splice tells me that I might be jumping the gun. Were I to dismiss my instincts and brave the theater on Friday, and assuming that I could make it past all of the gratuitous scare tactics, I might find a heartwarming albeit bizarre tale. I’m still not convinced it would be worth it.

As I read on it became clear that reviewers are wondering if the bloodthirsty aspects are enough for the ghoulish youthful demographics. Is the time right for the “softer side of horror” or are men 18-24 in for a real letdown? Are they attempting to broaden their core audience – is that why so many of the promos are reaching me? This is indeed a mystery.

Has Dark Castle plowed enormous resources into a movie that – like their part human part alien creature in Splice – is only part horror and part poignant drama with a dash of dark comedy for luck? Will it prove to be the next breakthrough genre? Sounds risky. And expensive if they’ve missed the mark.

I don’t know about you but I’m on the edge of my seat – and that’s without any plans for a trip to the movie theater.

I quite often hear clients talk about how non-tech savvy their customers and prospects are. While I agree there are individuals that simply have a hard time comprehending a web interface or are just too scared to try, they make up the very small minority. If we let this small group dictate how we communicate with the larger audience we are doing the majority a great disservice. If you ran a restaurant would you stop accepting credit cards because you have a couple of customers that only pay with cash?

We also need to look at the rapid growth and adoption of Internet technologies in our every day lives. While a few years ago it could have been considered a trendy and youthful medium that is no longer the case. Most Americans are connected and use the web on a daily basis for communication, research and purchasing. If everyone were as ignorant as some like to portray this would not be the case.

Lets give our users a little more credit. After all, 74% of the U.S. population currently has Internet and uses it regularly. Instead of dropping our efforts to the lowest common denominator let’s help move everyone forward and create solutions that not only work today but also help drive business into the future.