Mobile Apps To Help You Plan The Perfect Summer Trip

Wanderfly can help planning your trip by recommending destinations based on your interests, price range and dates. They'll provide you with a dream vacation...that you can actually afford. Visit Wanderfly 

TripIt helps you get your trip research and itineraries under control and into one place for easy access. You can even book restaurants, theater tickets or activities from within the site. Visit TripIt 

Weatherspark lets you look up years of past weather data to see what weather is really like during certain times of year. It can help ensure that the highlight of your vacation isn't cable re-runs. Visit Weatherspark 

AirBnB connects people who have space to spare with those looking for a place to stay by letting you rent lodging directly from locals. It's a great way to save money and have a unique travel experience. Visit AirBnB 

The GasBuddy app searches prices at gas stations near your current location. The results are mapped so you can find the closest and cheapest refueling options. Download GasBuddy 

Using a smartphone abroad? Onavo can help you avoid a mammoth phone bill. It cuts down on the downloading required to use your favorite apps with cloud technology. Download Onavo 

WikiMe for iPhone indexes Wikipedia articles about local points of interest, and then uses GPS and geotagging to show you those articles when you're nearby. It's like a pocket tourguide. Download WikiMe 

Vayable lets you hire a local to give you a guided tour of his or her home city, on a subject your guide knows and loves. Tours cover everything from sailing excursions in CA to pizza tours of NYC. Visit Vayable 

Postagram lets you send postcards made from your own photos right from your cell phone. For just $.99 it's a super-easy way to share vacation pictures before you even get home. Download Postagram 

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Volkswagen’s ‘Think Blue’ initiative aligns like-minded people

Increasingly consumers are defining themselves by what and whom they associate with. To wit, what your brand represents is an integral part of peoples identity by association.  This brand ‘shorthand’ is a testament to ones beliefs and values. It’s a badge and by definition, is a characteristic mark, device (or token) especially of membership in a society or group.  It's also an imperative element to creating an aspirational identity that’s relevant to the consumer (and coincidentally the key in getting people to want to be associated with your brand.)

This is precisely why many savvy brands are focusing on social good today.   A great example is Volkswagen’s ‘Think Blue’ initiative. Volkswagen (Singapore) for example launched a multi-phased campaign centered on its ‘Think Blue’ philosophy of environmental conservation. ‘Think Blue’ is a global initiative from Volkswagen focused on encouraging eco-friendly behavior by making it fun.

The 360 degree campaign features a website promoting the first-ever social media driven virtual road trip integrated with Google Street View‘ – that let’s users invite friends along for the ride.  While educating the masses on the ‘Think Blue’ philosophy in a fun and interactive way, the website also brings people together on an online social road trip, a carefully planned journey that ushers the user through various checkpoints with games and interactions along the way.

Using several of Google’s Open API like Maps, direction and Street View together with Facebook and Twitter, users are invited to go on a virtual road trip with their Facebook friends. They are given options to choose a Volkswagen car, plan a route, and pick three Facebook friends to take along with them across the sunny island of Singapore. With this technological mashup, users can document their journey; mark checkpoints with a personalized message and the whole experience is compiled into a downloadable map, complete with a customized license plate and ‘photo’ of the user and his or her road trip buddies.

During their road trip, users will also get to sample a unique HTML5 multi-windowed gaming experience.  Conceived as fuel challenges, these games teach users how to ‘Think Blue’ while entertaining them with simple yet fun game mechanics. Users who ace all the fuel challenges even stand a chance to win a Volkswagen weekend drive.

 After all the action on the virtual road, users can take a backseat and learn more about the Volkswagen technologies that support the green philosophy. To inject more fun, Tribal DDB took to the idea of getting a child’s perspective and the immensely charming ‘Think Blue Tales’ were born - where users will hear a child’s take on Volkswagen cars and technologies. In the days ahead, users can also expect to hear “Think Blue. Tales” on national TV and radio.  To lets users play with the brand, users can sign up for Volkswagen’s Eco-driving Program through the website and learn fuel-efficient driving techniques from Volkswagen-certified driving instructors.

This is extremely powerful because Volkswagen isn’t just paying lip service to the very real concerns of pollution and global warming.  They have made a formal pledge to ‘Think Blue’ as a corporation and every Volkswagen employee has also made the pledge.  To further reinforce the point, the campaign even featured educational posters drawn by hand using recycled materials.  

Other internal initiatives include a ‘Think Blue’ committee made up of staff representatives from the various departments to explore and implement green ideas from employees, as well as e-mail signatures that remind recipients not to print their emails (and reinforce the value positioning of Volkswagen.

Kudos to Volkswagen (and Tribal DDB) - for making ‘less about the moment and more about the movement’.  They’ve successfully extended one powerful unifying, overarching idea (facilitated by the brand) that seeks to aggregate and align like-minded people by extending something other then (and bigger then) the brand itself. Very impressive indeed.

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SOCIAL MEDIA CASE STUDIES [GB_V43.0]

American Express, PepsiCo, and Disney share how they're using location-based services to connect with their fans. - Inc. Technology  

McDonald's discuss how they turned negative chatter on Twitter into a positive, trending experience for all of the restaurants' fans. - Chief Marketer 

During their 2011 Summer Scoop Truck Tour, Ben & Jerry's is delivering ice cream to local fans who tweet a request to stop near their locations. - Ben & Jerry's 

Orange who are becoming known for their creative uses of Twitter, are at it again with their campaign that has a movie voiceover guy reading tweets from fans. - Adweek  

MTV are exploring Tumblr, a platform they hope to use to feature niche content. - AdWeek 

InterContinental Hotels are welcoming and engaging guests directly on Twitter to ensure a pleasant stay. - Communications Passionista 

Boeing has launched a YouTube channel to give fans an inside look at how their products are designed, built, tested, and delivered. - YouTube 

An interesting evolution of social integration (at point-of-purchase), Diesel have introduced QR codes into their retail stores that enable customers to “Like” a product just by scanning a QR code (which then posts to your Facebook wall) – Video

 As a part of their Click For Kids campaign, Northwestern Mutual is donating a total of $200,000 to three nonprofits. Each time a fan likes their Facebook page, they are giving $10 to a nonprofit of the fan's choice. - Facebook 

According to a study by Buddy Media and L2 Think Tank - BMW, Clinique, Audi, and Lexus top the list of luxury brands on Facebook based on how they used the social networking site to grow their business. - Buddy Media Blog 

Paramount is using Twitter's Promoted Trends to drive movie ticket sales for Super 8 by offering sneak-peek viewings and easy access to tickets. - ClickZ 

JAYS.se's 'Behind The Wall' Promotion - To demonstrate the significant difference in binaural sound recordings (on Jays.se headphones) 10 interactive sound installations (by Hyper Island students) were placed around Stockholm providing listeners with a unique brand experience – Video 

Nike's newest campaign is encouraging athletes to submit videos of their team on Facebook. Winners will travel with the Nike team and will be determined by fan support, Nike, and Nike athletes. - EyeballHQ 

CNN incorporated social media into the GOP debate coverage by allowing viewers to comment on the issues via Twitter and Facebook. - SocialTimes 

JCPenney is challenging student designers to submit runway styles for today's modern women on YouTube so others can vote and pick the winning design. - YouTube 

To amplify the STOCKHOLM PRIDE FESTIVAL in a fun, viral way, a FB app (http://bit.ly/kXQ3li) was developed that allows users to (figuratively and metaphorically) "get on the bus" - by uploading their photo and sharing with friends. Kudos to Hyper Island's Mikael Näslund on his first live project at his Saatchi & Saatchi internship - Video

  

Procter & Gamble is giving Facebook Commerce another try and adding "shop" buttons to several of their brands' Facebook pages. - Ad Age 

As the championship series plays out, the NBA shares tips on how their social media team engages fans on Twitter and Facebook. - Fast Company 

Intel's new "Museum of Me" app lets fans create a visual archive of their social life by gathering photos, data, and quotes from their personal Facebook page. - PCWorld 

H&R Block shares how they are focusing their social site efforts on the customer experience - Vimeo 

Part of the chain’s in-store “Summer of Beer” push; T.G.I. Friday’s extended fans a “Buy a Beer” Facebook tab and app that allows users to send their Facebook friends a virtual gift card for a beer at T.G.I. Friday’s.  They’ve seen a 25% lift in page ‘likes’ since running the promotion - Facebook 

Tracking Down Twitter's Best Rumor Spreaders - A new approach could help marketers target users with the most influence – More 

Renault brought Facebook liking to life at the AutoRAI motorshow using RFID-equipped smartcards. Whenever a visitor liked the car they were viewing, they swiped their smartcard on the nearby reader and the action was updated on their Facebook page. - TNW 

The ROI of Social Media - Slideshare 

Tiffany & Co. is using Facebook, Twitter, Google Maps and other social tools to lure couples in-love to buy an engagement ring  - More 

'Diesel Cam' Facebook Integration - Interactive installations (by Fullsix) at Diesel Stores in Spain let customers share and show the garments they purchased (and tried on) with their Facebook profile from the store –Video 

Magnotes' by Sharpie - Social Annotations - A 2011 Future Lions finalist, 'Magnotes' by Sharpie (by Miami Ad School) is a social annotations app that allows iPad users to make their own interactive annotations, doodles and sketches while reading their favorite magazine – Video 

Pushing the Ad industry to invest in Passion and Ideas - In the new advertising and marketing economy, it’s a shame to let all that talent and creativity to be directed solely by the client. In this panel, we’ll hear three top agencies discuss how they’re generating their own IP, and with it, new revenue sources – Video 

To co-promote the movie “Super 8”, 7-Eleven is using FourSquare to unlock prizes. Everyone who checks-in is entered to win a trip to space. Every 88th check-in who participates can win a free movie ticket and every 88,888th check-in can win a Zero-G Experience weightless flight to suborbital space – More 

“Establishing and Maintaining Brand Relevance” – A discussion with David Aaker - Author, Professor Emeritus at Berkeley’s Business School, and Vice Chairman of the brand consulting firm Prophet - on the state of brands today - Podcast 

Orange's 'The Feed' Campaign - Feeling your summer plans lack a little gravitas? Just tweet them to #thissummer and a professional voiceover artist will give them that iconic summer blockbuster sound. More fun from Poke London for Orange – Overview 

"The Art of Immersion" - Frank Rose - How the Digital Generation Is Remaking Hollywood, Madison Avenue, and the Way We Tell Stories - More 

Unilever's 'Share Happy' Vending Machine (by Sapient Nitro)- Facial recognition technology determines gender, age, and whether you're smiling. If big enough, users get a free ice cream and share their (AR modified) picture with Facebook – Video 

'Le Club Perrier' Campaign - Perrier has just launched a pretty stunning campaign on YouTube that incorporates the concept of group buying, and turns it into group viewing. Its new YouTube channel features a video of a club scene, accompanied by a thermometer on the right hand side. The more that people watch the video, the more scenes will get unlocked and the hotter the video will become. – YouTube Channel 

Nine Lessons From Successful Brands on Twitter - Twitter is a crucial part of any social communication plan. Here are nine companies that know their stuff, along with lessons you can put to use – Article 

Intranet 3.0 - SharePoint® and the Social Intranet – Article 

The Evolution of Transmedia Storytelling- What’s transmedia storytelling? In transmedia storytelling, content becomes invasive and fully permeates the audience's lifestyle. A transmedia project develops storytelling across multiple forms of media in order to have different "entry points" in the story – Video 

BMW 1M vs Concrete Walls Viral Video - BWM Canada have released this video, which has had over 450,000 views (at time of posting) in a few short days. It became the number one worldwide auto video on YouTube after just 2 days – Video 

Kalles "Egg Timer" Mobile App - This app has already has more than 50,000 downloads and is the third most downloaded in the free app section in the Swedish iTunes AppStore – Video 

“Love is out there, if we’re organized” - It’s not the first of it’s kind (i.e. http://bit.ly/izGEyY) but Zonacitas.com’s ‘Singles Finders’ app (by Ogilvy Argentina) identifies the exact amount of single people at any given bar/ club location at any given time -  Video 

The 'Atavist' and the Future of long form Journalism - Atavist is a term meaning “the reappearance of a characteristic in an organism after several generations of absence”. In this case, we’re talking about journalism longer than typical magazine articles but shorter than books – Video 

NOTE: For more articles and posts from the last week please visit us on Twitter at both @goodbuzz and @disruptbureau.  Also, if you have info, articles, case studies or other examples of participatory marketing bliss - please feel free to either post via Facebook or send via e-mail and we’ll take care of it for you.

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Pushing the Ad industry to invest in Passion and Ideas

In the new advertising and marketing economy, it’s a shame to let all that talent and creativity to be directed solely by the client.  In this panel, we’ll hear three agencies discuss how they’re generating their own IP, and with it, new revenue sources, operating models, and a portfolio of innovative work to expand their expertise and client offerings.  The video's below are from a panel discussion at Creativity and Technology Conference (CaT) in NYC featuring Ed Brojerdi, Chief CD, Kirshenbaum, Bond, Senecal + Partners, Michael Lebowitz, Founder and CEO, Big Spaceship, and Chris Vance, Managing Director, ZAG NY, BBH Labs.  Note: The discussion is moderated by Ad Age’s Kunur Patel. 

The 'Atavist' (and the future of original nonfiction and narrative journalism)

Atavist is a term meaning “the reappearance of a characteristic in an organism after several generations of absence”.  In this case, we’re talking about journalism longer than typical magazine articles but shorter than books.  The Atavist website therefore publishes original nonfiction and narrative journalism that are longer than typical magazine articles but shorter than books.  Articles are written by experienced reporters and authors and optimized digitally for multiple platforms.  Each story is layered and embedded with supplementary video, audiobooks, information and a host of other features.  

Evan Ratliff is the Editor and Co-founder of “The Atavist” website.  His presentation (attached in two video's below) discusses the impetus for starting the “The Atavist” and the current long-form writing platform. An award-winning journalist and contributing editor at Wired, Evan's writing appears in The New Yorker, Outside, Men’s Journal, National Geographic, and many other notables - as well as co-authoring “Safe: the Race to Protect Ourselves in a newly dangerous world.”  

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The Evolution of Transmedia Storytelling

What’s transmedia storytelling?  In transmedia storytelling, content becomes invasive and fully permeates the audience's lifestyle.  A transmedia project develops storytelling across multiple forms of media in order to have different "entry points" in the story; entry-points with a unique and independent lifespan but with a definite role in the big narrative scheme. Each distinct element makes distinctive contributions to a fan's understanding of the story world; "entry-points" through which consumers can become immersed in a story world. 


The three video’s below are from a recent discussion between Frank Rose, author of "The Art of Immersion" (and a contributing Editor at Wired) and Jeff Gomez, President and CEO of Starlight Runner Entertainment at Ad Age's "Creativity and Technology" (CaT) Conference in NYC June 9th, 2011.

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SharePoint® and the Social Intranet

Microsoft SharePoint is a powerful enterprise solution and platform that is designed to be very flexible.  It offers solutions to many business challenges faced in organizations today. This flexibility, however, drives a certain amount of complexity for deployment planning and execution. 

Implementing SharePoint requires a clear definition of the desired end result to avoid user frustration, improper organization of corporate information (and possible challenges with future enhancements or upgrades) - all things that lead to reduced ROI.  In order to address these concerns and drive overall implementation success, a comprehensive approach to deploying SharePoint is required that leverages experience and best practices developed over many implementations.

Our approach is specific to SharePoint and includes the following components:

1. Strategy
2. Architecture
3. User Engagement
4. Execution
5. Governance 

1.  Strategy

The deployment begins with a comprehensive analysis of your business objectives in order to develop the strategy for the solution. The strategy provides guidance and direction for the implementation team and your organization throughout the lifecycle of the solution – not just the implementation.

2.  Architecture

The architecture represents the physical and logical structure for the solution. Since the physical and logical architecture are interrelated and critical to solution adoption, we typically focus on this directly after developing the strategy to ensure alignment.

3.  User Engagement

User engagement includes both how users will interact with the solution such as the interface and overall look and feel as well as the management of change within the project. In our experience, projects are successful when there is a strong partnership with the users and our approach is to begin building this partnership at the inception of the project.

4.  Execution

The execution focuses on developing a detailed plan for achieving project objectives. We leverage the tools, templates and processes included in our True North Methodology to ensure that a plan is developed that will move in the direction dictated by the strategy and achieve project objectives.

5.  Governance

Governance relates to the processes used during the project execution as well as the ongoing processes developed and deployed for the management of the overall solution. Governance represents the framework for the project and is a critical component to the success of the solution after deployment.

6.  Methodology

Complex technology projects are delivered successfully when you combine a detailed development and implementation process with a highly capable and disciplined team. Goodbuzz leverage an industry-leading team of business analysts, BI consultants, project managers, SharePoint and .NET developers, creative designers, quality assurance engineers, trainers and related personnel to repeatedly drive measurable ROI for our clients. 

We bring the people and the process to the table to guarantee a successful engagement.  The diagram (below) graphically represents a high-level overview of our Methodology.

By combining business and technology expertise, Goodbuzz extend value-added solutions for our clients across the North America.  Our partnerships extend strong expertise with enterprise Microsoft technologies and platforms including SharePoint, the .NET framework, SQL Server, ASP.NET, Windows Server, Exchange, OCS, and other related technologies.  Below is an overview of our capabilities, solutions, management services and training offerings.  Note:  Additional information is available by specific capability by request.

The Big Picture

Goodbuzz extend enterprise excellence through collaboration, productivity and business insight solutions as well as the ongoing support, management, and monitoring in a flexible model that provides results and proven ROI.  What can we help you with?  For more information, please contact info@goodbuzz.ca.