Creating Next Generation Digital Experiences with Dragable Driving Directions and Photosynth

Thoughts// If you’ve been using Google Maps regularly like I do, you’ve noticed by now that the maps have become more interactive and allows you to add multiple driving points and customize your route by simply “dragging and dropping.”
Kevin (our director or marketing here) and I had a brief chat in the office today about [...]

Interactive Trend Report Partners With Travel Oregon

The Interactive Trend Report was originally created to provide insight into the interactive marketing and travel fields for the Arizona Office of Tourism.
In an effort to broaden the scope and reach of the report, the Arizona Office of Tourism has invited Travel Oregon, specifically Mo Sherifdeen (the resident ‘Geek-In-Chief’), to contribute and collaborate on the [...]

Travel Trends – Email, MySpace, Tacoda, AOL

Addicted To Email – According to a recent survey, the typical user checks their email an average of 5 times per day. In addition, 15% of those surveyed consider themselves ‘addicted’ to email. And most users have more than one email account…half (52%) have two or three accounts, while 22% have four [...]

Virgin Mobile Causing A Stir With Flickr Photos

Virgin Mobile has been accused of breaching people’s “moral rights” after it took images from a popular photo-sharing website without asking permission and used them in a national advertising campaign.
People around the world who posted their photos on the Yahoo-owned Flickr website have objected to their images being used in hundreds of Australian billboard ads, [...]

With Tools on Web, Amateurs Reshape Mapmaking

On the Web, anyone can be a mapmaker. With the help of simple tools introduced by Internet companies recently, millions of people are trying their hand at cartography, drawing on digital maps and annotating them with text, images, sound and videos.
In the process, they are reshaping the world of mapmaking and collectively creating a [...]

Case Study: Trail Blazers’ Use of Twitter to Chat With NBA Fans

I have been intrigued about the buzz around Twitter and curious about its potential use as a tool to engage and interact with consumers. My curiosity was fueled earlier this summer when I saw a campaign by the Portland Trail Blazers who used Twitter (view the site here) as part of a campaign to [...]

Email Defines, Not Defies, Innovation

At least once a year, I have the same old conversation with people who want to zero email out when dividing up the marketing dollars by claiming it’s a stale technology that can’t keep up with innovative digital applications like RSS, social networking, SMS marketing and microblogging (Twitter, for instance) >>Full Story

Thoughts// Sometimes the [...]

Transparency Tyranny

The non-competitive and the downright incompetent have very few stones left to hide under: never before have consumers’ purchase decisions been so strongly influenced by all kinds of transparency. In fact, TRANSPARENCY TYRANNY now rules:
“Old economy fog is clearing: no longer can incompetence, below-par performance, ignored global standards, anti-social & anti-eco behavior, or opaque pricing [...]

What the French Taught Us (Online Engagement in Politics)

Click on the Freestyle Zone, one of 16 video channels on French president Nicholas Sarkozy’s Web site, and you begin to understand how this former candidate’s Internet strategy played a big role in helping him win the May 6 election. >>Full Story

Thoughts// With CNN hosting a one-of-a-kind “YouTube” debate Monday and Tuesday night, [...]

When Fewer Clicks Are A Good Thing

There may be times when a declining click-through rate on a behaviorally targeted campaign is a good sign. When Advertising.com ran a comparative test of three campaigns that used both run-of-network and BT techniques, Brent Halliburton, director of network strategy, was surprised at the results. The targeted ads demonstrated lower CTRs than untargeted ads, and [...]