The Top Summer Gadgets for 2011

Every six months, I am looking out for the latest gadgets in the world that I think my readers might like as well – and I combine them with a draw. Of all products that I present below you will be able to win one of them. Cool, right…!?

The last time around christmas, I focussed on the 7 brand gadgets. This time, I will keep it more general on holiday gadgets which have a special design or technology feature that caught my attention. And like in December, every product reminds me of one post that I have written in the last six months…

Time is the new ROI – Casio G-Shock

Our days seem to be getting shorter and shorter… Time will become the new ROI. The reason is not that our time system has changed. Our days are challenged by speed of the internet which sometimes is like on an airjet that travels on high G forces in a race to be the first to know and to spread. We want to do much more than only ten years ago. In my eyes, we need to watch out for our own personal resources as well as the environment in order not to waste more energy than necessary.

I like… It’s fresh summer colour, the tough solar power, the multi-band 6 atomic timekeeping and the centrifugal force resistance surpassing 12G. Just an eye-catching gadget…

Gamify the beach – Angry Birds (Rovio)

The success story from Angry Birds is probably comparable to the Tamagotchi hype in 1996-1998 (until 2010 over 76 Tamagotchis were sold globally). If we look at Angry Birds today, there were 300 Mio. downloads for the app, 120 Mio. active users so far according to one of the latest interviews with founder Peter Vesterbecka. And one in seven people in the world seem to be fans of the brand. So, why not win an exclusive The Strategy Web package of their coolest merchandising products?!

I like… It’s easy to play, you can jump to and fro, just the way you manage to play and you are a kid again when you are playing, immediately. Just the game of the year – and not only for kids…

Relax in 3D – Samsung HT-D7200

People think our world will become more 3D with the evolution of screen technology around us. However, although Augmented Reality and barcodes are a fantastic mobile technology as well as an extension for print and TV that connects boths world, offline and online, the technology is more 2D barcode based than 3D. Television has moved ahead in technology and companies like Samsung are heading ino a new era by transforming 2D films in stunning 3D ones.

I like… The white design and built in Wi-Fi technology that makes it easier for our “Homo Buzz” generation” to watch and share on bigger screens. Just a stylish gadget…

Colour your living room – Sitting Bull Sitzsack Candy

Lounging in a nice bean back, listening to great music and enjoying the pictures and videos you have taken throughout your holiday in… Well, how can I know where you are traveling to. ;-)

I like… The colourful Union-Jack spirit, and I think this is a fashion statement – not white and black. Just a relaxing gadget…

Capture your life – Casio Tryx EX-TR-100

Years ago, Europeans and Americans have laughed about people from Asian countries capturing every little piece of their sight-seeing trips. Today, our young generation shares their lives through cameras like the Casio Exilim Ex TR 100, upload parts of events, or even apply for jobs by using cameras like these to describe their lives. Displays will organize our future and are a great tool to describe situations at work, to illustrate products and services without perfect product orchestration. Think about how you could make use of such cameras…

I like… It’s a stylish tech product with an easy twistable 360 degree frame body. Just an innovative gadget…

Stream every song in the world – SONOS Play:3

In the past, we had black stereo systems as big as cupboards. Times are changing. Today, SONOS streams up our lives. Their latest product Play:3 gives the option to use the speaker in a horizontal and vertical position. Thus, the system will fit exactly where it needs to go. Internal motion sensors detect the speaker’s orientation, adjusting the output so that you get the ideal sound wherever you are in the room.

I like…The amazing sound and the smartphone app which allow to use the system whichout another remote control in my dining room. Just a cool sound system…

C3PO saves your data – MIMOCO

This last gadget of this series found my son. As you might imagine from the picture: He is a real Star Wars® fan. When Volkswagen produced the funny commercial video for the Super Bowl, I had to give him my iPhone every time I saw him. He just loved the video. Yesterday, some promotion flyer came into our house and guess what he found… These funny USB MIMOCO flash drives. I had to promise him to write about them. That’s what you do for your kids…

I like…USB drives in most cases are just uncool. Tese are not! Just a geek’s gadget…

How to enter the competition?
Most companies have given me one product for a draw. Just write a Retweet (RT), comment, send us an email, and tell us which product you like most and why. Then you will get a ticket for the competition to win one of the products!

End of participation and date of draw: 31.08.2011. Good luck!

Studies – How women and moms use social media and mobile today…

Are men still the drivers of trends? How do women approach the Social Web, and the new mobile technology? Is the realm of gadgets still a mens’ business? Interestingly enough, a recent study from Women at NBCU found that women are the main drivers of tech trends, particularly on social networks. But there are more studies to obey…

Some findings of a recent study from Women at NBCU show that women are more engaged in social media and the mobile trend than men. The results say that women are the main drivers of tech trends, especially on social networks.

Women in General
Making purchases, a high number of women (71%) surveyed stated that they have their recommendations from online friends rather than review websites. And even more, they are far more likely to connect with brands on their social networks. According to the survey, women are alsoo more likely to own a smartphone, a gaming app like Angry Birds or a Wii than men.

So, the question will be which social network is dominated by women and which one by men? The Pew Internet Research allows some insights. Except for LinkedIn all other social networks seemed to be ruled by women. Is business is a mens’ domain or just more men in the workforce…?

Females participate stronger and more intense overall and in every other social network. Also interesting, that male versus female usage on Twitter is just the opposite. Another study last year by BridgeRatings said that men prefer Twitter while Facebook is more appealing to women.

However if we take a look at the Google+ stats, it seems that Google+ is a male-dominated platform by a ratio of 3:1. However, Paul Allen, predicts that “Google+ is quickly turning pink”. His view is that the “percentage of women on G+ may soon outstrip the number of women on LinkedIn”. Although women are more thinking in segmented friendship circles, I have heard many women complaining about the complexity of Google+. We will watch this trend evolving…

Women in business
The Women Presidents’ Organization found in a study, based on the responses of 259 women-led companies, that 40% women-led business owners thinks that an increase in revenue was based on their social media efforts. Even more, 10% of the respondents saw a “significant” revenue jump.

However the great figures, 40% of respondents also denied having seen sales improve from social media, but 31% of them remained “hopeful”. They envision other benefits like building credibility or better recruitment opportunities. Still, there were 16% not using Social Media.

Women at home: Moms
Moms are a definiely an emerging and lucrative target group for marketers. We can see this from a NPD group research and Pandora, the streaming service. They are using social networks longer and more frequently to share their views on kids and education, and they are even more heavy mobile users. Mothers make up 20% Internet traffic and are the fastest-growing buyers of iPhones. And also a Nielsen report claims that American mothers are sharing more photos and news on Facebook than anyone else.

“We’ve known about the opportunity of online moms for a while now, but then mobile technology came along and blew everything up”. Marshal Cohen, Chief Retail Analyst, NPD Group

Spot On!
Men are no longer the forerunners of modern technology. Women adapt at least as quickly as men, and seem to be more engaged in Social Media and social networking than men. If this is because men focus and identify themselve more with business topics, or whether there are other reasons like American focus of the studies, the readers of this post might find arguments for or against some of these views.

Share your insights and views. Why are women more engaged in Social Media? Why are they positive about their usage of social networking for business? Or is this a complete wrong picture that we get here?

Ads on iPhone & iPad: Double the click rate to relative Android devices

MediaMind Technologies Inc. today released a new study “Tiny Screen, Huge Results“. The new mobile research finds that the iPhone is the trendsetter in the mobile advertising revolution delivering higher Click Through Rates than devices with other operating systems.

MediaMind reviewed over 230 million mobile impressions in Q4 2010 and Q1 2011. They discovered that devices based on Apple’s iOS operating system result in twice the performance of phones based on Google’s Android operating system, and even five times the performance of BlackBerry phones.

Above that, mobile ads achieved an impressive Click Through Rate (CTR) of 0.61%, while standard display banners for PCs are cited with a CTR of 0.07%.

When Mediamind analyzed the browsing habits of mobile users, the study revealed that people browsing PC screens peaks during business hours between 9 am and 5 pm. Mobile browsing are high during the evenings. Mobile Click Through Rates find their peaks in the evening and gain higher CTR than PC at any time of the day.

The study also found that most verticals achieved a high CTR, beating out benchmarks for browser Standard Banners. Entertainment, Retail and Financial Services are among the highest performing industry verticals on mobile, while Apparel and Government have the lowest CTR.

“Mobile is proving to be one of the most financially rewarding formats in the media mix” (…) This is most likely the result of mobile ads being a new experience for many users, and that they occupy a larger portion of the screen as compared to browser ads.” Gal Trifon, President and CEO, MediaMind.

Spot On!
At this point, however I rate these results as they sound amazing (and need to be obeyed and checked for the future of mobile advertising), it needs to be asked whether these results came together because of the curiosity of users using a new device, fingers are sometimes too big for the tiny screen, or people just not realizing that they are clicking on banners as people are not used to knowing where the banners are placed. It is still early stages in mobile ads. I have clicked on some banners and not intended to do so quite often on my iPad and iPhone. The study would be a perfect seelling piece for iAd, but I am asking myself if these results have any connection to marketers, agency people and creative heads using iPhones predominantly, and thus being more open to marketing messages than Android “developer-minded” people. But maybe I am thinking too far here. Any comments…?

News Update – Best of the Day

Looking to increase the number of people who access your Facebook apps? A recent MIT study gives three insights marketers should watch out for…
1. Adding a personalized message feature (such as, “Hey! check out my new favorite app”) substantially increases adoption (three times more effective per message).
2. Notifications and invites outperform ad campaigns used in their recruitment phase on Facebook. Viral strategies are up to 10 times more effective than banner ads in converting users and around twice as effective as email advertising.
3. If companies and brands are looking to secure the most amount of committed users inside of a campaign app, personalized messages might be the way to go.
The study could be summarized that we are still in a trial-and-error mode in what works, what doesn’t work, and “how to improve–instead of choosing one strategy and praying it was better than all of the others”.

Finding valueable Augmented Reality apps is a time-consuming effort. Tripwire Magazine has done a trip through the AR world and found 45 (I would say 20) interesting iPhone apps that are worth exploring. My favorite five ones are… Star Walk, Yelp, Golfscape GPS Rangefinder, Theodolite Pro, and the best branded apps Stella Artois – Bar Guide.

Do you know what sharing means? One of the greatest sharing campaign comes from Casa do Zezinho: Share Project. Watch it, spread the idea, and support the campaign, so it can be expanded throughout the countires that could need it…!

News Update – Best of the Day

Does social media activity during work distract employees from productivity? Shel Holtz knows why blocking social networking (48% of companies still prevent people from using Facebook and Twitter at work), is less distractive than email processing and switching windows (for further reading have a look at Social Engagement & Jobs). He quotes that email or answering a cell phone call account for 83% of in-meeting interruptions which I think is even worth, when you see people in meetings being engaged on their iPhones and Blackberries.

“There are issues with the study as well, which reports that the hour spent each day on distractions accounts for “$10,375 of wasted productivity per person annually,” which translates to $10 million per year for a 1,000-employee company. (…) It’s worth noting that today’s productivity levels are considerably higher, and that studies like the one from the University of Melbourne prove that unobtrusive breaks increase productivity by up to 9%.”

In the last three years, I have told many managers why productivity won’t get lost if employees use the Social Web during work. Just think about how much loss in productivity you have with Football World Cups, people smoking or chating during work. Well, I would rather prefer finding the eager Gen Y and Z generation, and having them engaged as brandvangelists in conversations…

Ever thought about the value of a fan? Of course you have as your bosses want toknow what ROI metrics your Facebook brings to the retail activities your business is engaged in. A study by Hitwise tells us…“1 Facebook fan = 20 additional visits to your website over the course of one year”. What sounds good for retailers, still does not mean that all Facebook Fanpage sites can rely and profit like those companies covered by the study. It is important to understand the metrics behind the figures, so you better read carefully before you start spending on advertising straight away…

If you think wireless technology is critical to our health, while music is good, then watch out for The Human Jukebox by Pause in Stockholm. No pain, no gain? Or just a great idea…?

News Update – Best of the Day

Are you suffering the FOMO effect with your Social Media efforts? Don’t know what FOMO means? No it is not “Female Only/Male Only Fellowships” or “Former Mormon”… It is the “Fear of Missing Out” that Millenials describe in a study conducted by MTV. Colleen Taylor quotes that 58 percent of study participants agreed that “when I’m unplugged, I worry that I’m missing out on something.” And although 66% stated that “what I post online defines who I am,”, they also admit that being always on is exhausting. One of the drivers for FOMO is the fear of Social Rejection. And what that causes can be read here.

A lot of media companies think about the future of publishing these days. Hugh Macleod cites Seth Godin and his theory that “The book doesn’t matter. The conversation matters”. I especially love the idea of the global microbrand which will become more and more relevant in the future. A shame that there is not really an easy way to monetize these tiny brands the way we have done it for decades…

Reporters without Borders wants to report about the real (life). Publicis Brussels created a nice augmented reality campaign that is another version of the extension of print to mobile. In the campaign the journalists talk about what is really happening in countries by using the pictures of leading politicians of different countries and replacing their mouth with an iPhone that tells the journalistic truth…

Google Survey: 39% US mobile users take their mobiles to the bathroom

Google published a survey (in partnership with the independant marketing research firm Ipsos OTX) and present insights into how U.S. consumers use their smartphones. A video presents key findings from “The Mobile Movement: Understanding Smartphone Consumers”.

The research, conducted at the end of 2010 among 5,013 US adult smartphone Internet users, was meant to better understand how smartphones are used in consumers’ daily lives and how smartphones have influenced the ways consumers search, shop and respond to mobile advertising.

Some of the key findings of the study don’t show special new insights. However it illustrates that we are not alone anymore in our bathrooms any longer. We are taking our friends, business partners and our social graphs to the bathroom… by using our smartphones like we used to read our newspapers or magazines in the past. Google states that 39% admit to having used their smarthone while going to the bathroom.

Some more findings…
- 93% use smartphones at home
- 81% browse the Internet
- 77% do search for information
- 72% do parallel use of smartphone and other media (over 30% like watching TV)
- 45% use smartphone to manage their daily lives
- 20% would give up their Cable TV for using their smartphone

Obviously, Google wanted to find out how smartphone users access search via their mobiles. And no suprise there as well. Search is the leading website type accessed (77%). It helps consumers access information like News (57%), Dining (51%), Entertainment (49%) , Shopping (47%), Technology (32%), Travel (31%), Finance (26%) and Automotive (17%).

Spot On!
Interesting from a marketer’s perspective is that the report actually finds that mobile advertising is engaging. The research states that after seeing an ad (on print, online or mobile) 71% of users search on their smartphones. A remarkable 82% of users notice mobile ads, and of those 49% purchase (!), 42% click on it, 35% access the website, 27% contact the business. This shows the new power of mobile marketing for companies and that marketers should have a close look at mobile marketing opportunities in the future.

PS: And if 39% of people use their iPhones in the bathroom, I don’t want to know how many use their iPads to read the latest news or watch a video, and how this increases the average “bathroom staying time”…

Hey parents! Kids cannot swim and tie shoelaces but use tech tools…?

It definitely was something I can confirm for me. I learned my basics like brushing my teeth, riding a bike without training wheels before I got access to technology. No surprise, Artari became popular when I had already finished my elementary school. Then computer technology exploded, also in my life…

Now, a poll by AVG of 2,200 mothers with children between 2 and 5 who have Internet access states their kids knew how to play video games (58%) than knew how to ride a bike (43%). Kids were able to open a Web browser (25%) than swim unaided (20%). An important gender divide could obviously not be found: Girls (59%) and boys (58%) ranked nearly equal in their tech skills at playing computer games. I was surprised to hear that French kids age 2-5 can use a computer mouse but only 67% of US kids.

Obviously there is a change in the lives and development of our kids which parents should be aware of. The results of the poll demonstate that younger mothers seem to be putting more effort on technology. Or do kids just draw their wrong conclusions from our extensive use of tech tools? Children with mothers age 35 or older tend to be better at most life skills (i.e. writing their own name). Younger kids with mothers 34 or under show higher skills in tech abilities.

In my eyes as a father it was quite estonishing to hear that 19% of kids knew how to play with a smartphone app but most of the children cannot tie their own shoelaces (9%) or make breakfast. Our big son was unlucky (the iPhone came out too late for him). He had to learn the show thing first. I will definitely assure that my little son learns to make breakfast first so that we can sleep longer at weekends. Just joking… ;-)

Spot On!
The study is part of AVG’s efforts to show how important early tech education is for children. The question is wether we need to have that proof or if kids just learn and copy how their parents behave and thus put more effort in the tech skills. In October last year, AVG released their first insights. They spotted that many babies have online Facebook and other profiles by the time they are six months old.

Now, what can you say about your kids? Would you say these findings apply to your kids as well? How is your emphasis on handling and learning new technology?

News Update – Best of the Day

Do bank customers want ads in their checking accounts? Whether or not we like it, banks think about ways for new monetization opportunities but also try to strengthen loyalty programs of other companies. The big alignment of the industry and the end of the plastic loyalty card? Banks just ad links to the last transaction and you get the voucher for some benefit at the next check-in.

Apple released some numbers that every iPhone user has approximately 60 apps on their device which sums up in 10 Billion app downloads from their store. It took Apple 31 month compared to 67 month to sell the same amount of iTunes songs.

In their latest commercial, MINI battles vs. five-ton monster truck. Can a monster truck jump really clear the whole MINI family becomes the question? And just watch the feelings and what happens to those who watch the challenge. Can love be described better?

News Update – Best of the Day

The new report Social Media and Online PR Report 2010 by Econsultancy and bigmouthmedia shows that 95% of companies have tried Social Media and 40% didn’t really get it. The main findings on tactical use can be taked in this picture…: Facebook. Twitter an Youtube rule.

Marketers and PR people often ask what are the mian pitfalls in B2B blogging. Jeremy Victor has put together a 10-point list which I do fully support…

In the morning I was talking of the revival of the print ad if used with social or mobile elements. AXA insurance just brought it to life the idea with the ned of an iPhone.

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