HotHouse’s head of copy, Alan Curson, has written an opinion piece that is stirring up some lively debate on Campaign Brief. He argues that the old mainstream is dead and that smart brands realise that rather than using the internet to support TV and print, it’s now far more effective to do it the other way around and put digital at the centre of things. See if you agree by reading the story on Campaign Brief.
Simon van Wyk, Founder of HotHouse, reflects on a week at SxSW 2012
In amongst the circus that is SxSW, with at least 50 other talks or events happening simultaneously it’s easy to get side tracked and lost in the frenzy. So I did my research up front and carefully selected the sessions that I thought would be of benefit to the work I do here at HotHouse.
However, after sitting through some less than stimulating sessions from agencies and social media companies, I decided to focus on sessions that would expand my world view in some way. And while I may have only scraped the surface of the ideas, trends and insights being discussed, these sessions were all incredibly thought provoking.
Indeed, a festival like SXSW can’t help but get you thinking of the future now. We’re in the middle of a revolution. It was kicked off by the Internet and fuelled by the rise of mobile. The entire language of the conference is about the revolution. Anything’s possible and chances are that any of these ideas could be the next big thing (and your newest competitor).
So whether it’s your business model, how you go to market or how you use your marketing data, the intensity of this revolution is forcing us all to reinvent. The only businesses to survive are those prepared to innovate relentlessly and leverage marketing technology and data insights. read more
In October 2011, Mary Meeker, the feted venture capitalist at KPCB, released her highly-regarded Internet Trends 2011 report. The report captured 11 key trend s and what she labelled as the Mega-Trend of the 21st Century: The empowerment of people via connected, mobile devices.
Of course, this trend is a reality everywhere. More and more of us are armed with our mobile devices of choice and use them more or less non-stop, 24×7. Just walk down any busy street and take a look around - almost everyone, regardless of their demographic, is interacting with their mobile devices.
And the more we interact with our mobile devices, the more we will want to explore the mobile web. We’re already hovering tantalizingly close to the point where more people access the Web using their mobile devices than they do using a PC. To me, it’s clear that 2012 will be the year the mobile web comes to the fore.
And so, brands will start to realise that their mobile strategy can no longer be treated in isolation. From now on, every digital experience will need to be built with mobile devices as the starting point and brands will have to develop digital experiences for three screens: the smartphone, tablet, and personal computer.
Alan Curson, Head of Copy at HotHouse, takes a look at how corporate speak is befouling the art of good copywriting.
It’s not swearing I object to. In fact, so long as it’s inventive, interesting or being done by someone bigger than me, I don’t mind it at all.
The bad language bringing me out in a rash, is the incessant, ‘corporate-jargo-speak’ infecting every written aspect of marketing communication.
For instance, when the bank wants to switch you to email statements, they don’t come out and say so. Instead, they tell you for your convenience as part of their ongoing commitment to enhance service offerings to valued customers, they have streamlined administration practices with a commitment to a targeted migration from paper-based communications to digitally focused information streaming, going forward. read more
Xander Black, Creative Director at HotHouse, discusses why great work online is so much more than specific technologies or beautiful visual design
The internet is a breeding ground for ideas. New ones emerge every day. ‘Memes’ come and go on a daily basis and the good ones linger on… go viral and become part of the language of the internet itself.
Whether it’s Lolcats, the Star Wars Kid, or the history of dance, we’ve all seen them, laughed at them, and passed them on to others to enjoy. The internet has become the best vehicle the world has seen for the genesis of ideas and their proliferation. A single idea can spread across the world in a matter of hours.
These days, when you want your new campaign to be seen, you’re not just trying to stand out from a page of news content. You’re not even just competing against your competitors. Online, you’re competing against the very best that the internet has to offer.
The traffic numbers you see for social media sites can be staggering. But what do those numbers really mean? Besides getting into the conversion rates, it’s crucial to ensure that your data is accurate and that you understand it in the way it was intended to be interpreted. CNET has recently reported on an apparent reporting gaffe involving YouTube and Warner Music Group. The surge in numbers reported by ComScore certainly suggest that the numbers are not as they appear.
After all the fear mongering that’s been going around about the hazards of social media, this heartening article in smh points out how iPhone applications, Facebook, Twitter and Google have literally been saving lives in Haiti.
There are always quick links and informal email conversations of new technology that get floated around the office. One that recently gained attention is the new HTML5 technology available on the iPhone and used by nextstop.
“Nextstop for the iPhone is a browser based application.”
Marketers know that incentives are the key to finding ways of influencing people’s behavior. Thefuntheory.com reminds us that often the best incentive is to make the Boring become Fun. Throwing out rubbish, walking up stairs… they may seem like small things, but by making them a bit more engaging we are reminded of their purpose and the difference our behavior can make. The online environment is the perfect platform to incorporate the theory of serving a greater good while offering something fun and new to the end-user. Check out some of the digital inventions like the Digital Graffiti Wall on thefuntheory website.
We recently had a lively discussion here at Hothouse that was sparked by the mention of Flash website indexing. HTML has traditionally claimed superiority when it comes to Google’s ranking, but now Flash is fighting back and is walking the walk in a number of cases. Here’s (roughly) how the discussion flowed: read more