Managing unrealistic client requests
Working in a digital agency provides constant challenges, particularly when dealing with client expectations. On occasion, one has to exercise extreme caution and develop a profound ability to bite their tongue , in order to maintain relationships while also trying to convey that a request may be unreasonable.
However, sometimes there is no option but to be blunt when responding to unreasonable client requests. Being a creative industry, being blunt can be also be a little bit of fun, as this hilarious example of an unreasonable client’s email interaction with a potential service provider illustrates.
Here’s a little snippet as a teaser:
You can read the rest of this email chain here (a word of warning, some of the language is as colorful as the slices of the pie charts).
Time Magazine’s 50 Best websites of 2009
Time has just released their top 50 websites of 2009.
When I first glanced at this list, I was immediately skeptical that the list was more of a “top 50 sites that the author of this article owes favors to”, as coming at number at #2 was a site I have never heard of before, California Coastline, with hugely popular sites such as Facebook nowhere to be seen within the top 30.
On closer inspection, after investigating sites such as the aforementioned California Coastline, I realised that the author has done a great job of thoughtfully collating a list that not only contains mainstream high-usage sites, but sites that represent great value to users.
California Coastline, for example, contains thousands of helicopter images of the Cali Coast, indexed through a searchable interface, as well as integrated with Google mapping technology. This site is like a private extension of Google Earth, the difference being the entire project is funded out of an individual’s own pocket, which is really great to see ( … and not only is it great to see that, but now I can spot all the best surf breaks in California thanks to this great aerial photography! ) . There are other sites likes this within the list too, sites that are the hard work of private individuals, rather than just a bunch of links to high profile, high budget corporate-backed websites that are over-hyped and offer little long-term value.
My only criticism, is that the Best 50 Website of 2009 list is quite U.S. centric, which I assume is because Time Magazine is of course a publication hailing from the Unite States.
To give you a bit of a taste, here is the top 10 websites of 2009, as nominated by Time Magazine.
- 1. Flickr
- 2. California Coastline
- 3. Delicious
- 4. Metafilter
- 5. popurls
- 6. Twitter
- 7. Skype
- 8. Boing Boing
- 9. Academic Earth
- 10. OpenTable
You view the rest of the top 50 here.
New ground for Google Maps
Google has just launched a new initiative merging offline media with its existing Google Maps system.
They new concept falls within the existing concept of Google Maps Favorite Places, but incorporates the use of QR Code stickers (those crazy looking black and white speckled squares of code unreadable to the human eye).
These Google Maps QR Code stickers are plastered onto the windows of selected outlets chosen by the Google team due to their popularity within the Google Maps application, and can be scanned by any internet enabled device with an internet connection (such as an iPhone) to gain more information about the store.
To see the QR codes in action, it’s probably easiest to watch the video below.
If you want a chance of receiving a Google Maps Favorites window sticker from Google, you must first make sure you are registered in the Google Local Business listings registry. If you’re not, I suggest you click here now to register your business with Google!
Digital Brand Experience Report – 2009
I stumbled across this awesome presentation earlier today, produced by well know digital agency Razorfish.
The Digital Brand Experience report, which you can view below, highlights some extremely useful statistics which any marketer worth their salt should be considering during their upcoming digital campaigns. The report also reveals a couple of the international brands who have successfully promoted their brands using digital channels. The report is written entirely from the perspective that for a brand to be successful in the modern age, it must be experiential in nature.
One of the highlights of the report for me, is the statistics surrounding Facebook users welcoming brand advertising within this popular social networking platform, provided their is some sort of experiential incentive to do so. Personally, I was beginning to think that plastering your brand into a Facebook group was a waste of time, but the statistics in this report show that Facebook can be used to benefit your brand, provided you put some thought into your strategy and objectives.
Another key point I gleaned from this report, was that 97% of internet users have searched for a brand online. So it’s a no-brainer that every brand should have an online presence!
One final important point that I noted from the presentation, is that digital channels should be used as contributors in creating your ‘experiential brand’, and should be tied in with offline campaigns such as events (like Red Bull’s extreme sporting events), or with tangible response-based incentives, such as a Facebook poll to choose the next flavour of Baskin Robbins ice cream. I guess the point I am trying to make here, is that digital channels will never be the be-all-and-end-all of your marketing campaigns, there still must be some ‘real world’ tangibility to any online campaign you undertake.
Socialnomics – Social Media movie
A colleague recently passed this Socialnomics video presentation on to me. It’s well worth watching if you are a marketer, as it shows how some of the biggest marketing campaign successes in the past 12 months have been influenced or entirely attributed to various social media channels. Included in the presentation are companies such as Ford, Burger King, as well as charities, so it just goes to show social media is can be appropriate for any audience or market, it just has to be used in the appropriate way.
Check it out, just click the play button below:
One Million Hit Wonder
If you’re chatting to a non-internet marketer (a.k.a any ‘normal person’) and you start dropping phrases such as increasing website traffic, or unique visitors, even page impressions, it is inevitable that your mate’s eyes will start to glaze over with disinterest.
Let’s face it, website statistics are only of interesting to nerdy website owners (<gulp>, I had to swallow a bit of my pride typing that). Normal people don’t care how that your website visitation increased by 23% in comparison to the same period last month, or that your bounce rate decreased by 7.8% resulting in a significant rise in conversions. Apparently, normal people have better things to do.
Well here’s an interesting concept, called One Million Hit Wonder. It actually turns the usually dry subject of website statistics into a commodity of public interest and appeal.
The aim of the One Million Hit Wonder ’experiment’, to eventually attract one million visitors the homepage of One Million Hit Wonder each week. The experiment aims to bring more awareness to the general public of the basic principles of website traffic, in a light-hearted fashion. One Million Hit Wonder achieves this, because it’s website statistics are completely transparent to website visitors, being published to the site’s home page and updated in real time. It’s really quite addictive watching the numbers go up (…nerd alert!).
Seriously , click here to see yourself as a website statistic…and don’t tell me it wasn’t strangely satisfying!
Advertising on One Million Hit Wonder
Another interesting aspect which has been incorporated into this site, is the inclusion of a single advertising slot which spans for 7 days. By having just one advertising slot available on the homepage in a very noticeable. To add further intrigue for advertisers, the advertising slots are only available for purchase via a weekly eBay auction.
And the icing on the cake – whomever is the current advertiser when the site reaches it’s goal, will retain the advertising slot for a 3 month period, probably providing them with more advertising exposure then their wildest dreams!
If you have a few spare moments, take the time to check out One Million Hit Wonder. The site will be evolving during the next few weeks with some additional ‘hooks’ to keep visitors coming back , so it is sure to be a very interesting experiment as time moves on.
Surfer dude explains Google Wave
I don’t know about you, but I certainly like hearing complex concepts explained in simple terms. Better yet, I understand new concepts far better when they are spoken in my language (that is, minus all the unnecessary technical jargon).
Google Wave is one of these complex applications, and it’s all over the news at the moment. And with all of the hype surround the release off the app, it’s difficult to work out exactly what the original point of Google wave is!
I’ve come across a great description of what Google Wave sets out to achieve. It’s a YouTube clip, narrated by a chap who sounds like his day job involves cruising the beach in Southern California.
It’s a great video, and I think this style of information delivery should certainly be adapted by other application developers, as it’s certainly a more effective way of getting a message across in an engaging and entertaining way. Check it out by clicking play on the movie below….
Lego USB hub
We all love gadgets. And we all love re-living the delights of our childhood.
Remember the days back when you were a kid, and spent hours upon hours building elaborate spaceships and ridiculous rally cars made from those colorful little building blocks that we will also remember fondly as Lego.
C’mon…as if you don’t feel all warm and fuzzy thinking about how cool your best Lego creations were (and how distraught you were when your next door neighbour ‘accidently’ crashed his toy tank into that amazing Lego car you painstakingly took 3 days to assemble !).
Ok, enough of the reflection time, it’s time to bring Lego back. And what better excuse than the Lego USB hub.
After all, everyone needs a USB hub, right? So you may as well get one that’s a bright colour, so you don’t lose it.
Actually, come to think of it, you may as well get a couple of USB hubs just in case….oh wow, look, they even fit together – look, I just made a cool little aeroplane. And I guess you can’t fly an aeroplane without a driver, I’d better go grab the little lego man with the pilot’s goggles. And his friends, so they can join in…..weeeeeee! Oh @#$%, the boss just walked in. “What’s this silly lego contraption doing in my hand? Oh this thing….don’t worry, it’s just a USB key boss, as if I’d bring silly toys to work…..”
Release your inner child – and go grab yourself a Lego USB hub 
