Communcations agency History Will Be Kind (HWBK), has secured two new technology clients; collaboration tech solutions provider Polycom, and Oneflare, an online platform that connects consumers with local expert services.

HWBK will work with Polycom to strengthen its communications programme in Australia, reposition the brand and drive share of voice by tapping in to the news agenda and the brand’s extensive expertise across sectors.

Building on Oneflare’s spectacular startup success, HWBK’s remit for the site spans communication strategy, content creation and influencer engagement to build both its consumer and trade-facing profile.

Head of marketing for Australia & New Zealand at Polycom Kat Chia said, “We have ambitious plans to accelerate growth in the region and know HWBK’s integrated approach is the right fit to support this vision. The experience, talent and agility within the History Will Be Kind team made them a clear choice.”

Emma-Jane Granleese, managing partner of HWBK, added it’s a remarkable time for the agency and a strong indication of what lies ahead.

“2016 has already proven to be a phenomenal year and continued client growth is a testament to our hybrid-offering,” she said.

“HWBK is committed to delivering high impact, content driven campaigns and our channel-agnostic approach means we can adapt quickly to the ever changing media landscape. We are delighted to be entering the technology space by partnering with Polycom and Oneflare.”

HWBK is part of a four-agency collective, the Deepend Group, an independent, digital communications and innovation consultancy group. The Deepend Group portfolio includes the leading specialist agencies Deepend (Digital), How To Impact (Innovation), Nomad (Mobile) and History Will Be Kind (PR/Social Media).

http://www.bandt.com.au/marketing/history-will-kind-signs-polycom-oneflare

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Google has recently acquired Quest Visual, the company responsible for the development of an incredible app called ‘Word Lens’. Since its development four years ago Word Lens has been a paid app, however following its purchase Google proceeded to remove any costs associated with the app, and make it free in the App Store and on Google Play. It’s even available on Google Glass, leading the Glass one step closer in its battle for basic usefulness.

Unlike many apps I have tried recently this one greatly exceeded any expectations I had prior to downloading. It’s easy to use, and has quite good accuracy. Even reading off a computer screen the app did not have many issues.

In my opinion one of the greatest features here is that it does not require network connection to run. Are you lost on the outskirts of Vladivostok, no network reception, no knowledge of Russian, and a pressing need for a bathroom? You’re in luck – Russian is one of the languages already supported.

Of course it’s not perfect. The more cursive the writing, the more it’s going to struggle. It’s also limited to a selection of six languages (Spanish, Russian, Portuguese, German, Italian and French), however this is something that I feel Google will rectify very quickly given the mantra of Google Translate: “We hope to make information universally accessible and useful, regardless of the language in which it’s written”. It’s able to translate both ways as well, i.e. French to English and English to French.

All in all this opens up an exciting world of potential as Google looks towards bringing this incredible technology to the public, giving this technology far more potential than it could have ever achieved without the support of the Google juggernaut. I don’t believe it will be long at all before we see this software integrated into a variety of areas in our digital experience…

http://www.techrepublic.com/article/google-picks-up-incredible-visual-translation-app-word-lens-and-makes-it-free/

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2630980/Google-set-translate-real-world-firm-buy-app-translate-point-smartphone-at.html

http://translate.google.com.au/about/intl/en_ALL/

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Convert mobile engagements into purchases.

Over 60% of shoppers use mobile devices to purchase products or services. Success in this rapidly changing mobile world will go to those companies that are prepared to effectively engage and convert these highly mobile customers.

With the rapid transformation of consumer behavior, online shoppers are engaging in more ways and on more devices than ever before. Because of this trend, businesses are looking for robust customer engagement solutions that provide the ability to interact with customers on any device, at the right time.

How prepared are you to effectively engage and convert these mobile shoppers?

More than 5,500 mobile device owners worldwide shed light on how their mobile shopping habits are changing. In this webinar, we’ll provide essential insights on how to convert mobile engagements into transactions and the unique needs of today’s multi-device consumers, including:

· 5 strategies to build effective mobile engagement for 2014 and beyond

· Key factors that contribute to a positive mobile experience

· Insight into mobile shopper expectations

· Top communication channels to drive mobile success

Register now, and you’ll also receive a free copy of the Effective Mobile Engagement report.

https://event.webcasts.com/starthere.jsp?ei=1034223&sti=logmein

Join 20-year ecommerce veteran Lauren Freedman, President of the e-tailing group, to discuss the findings of the 2014 Effective Mobile Engagement Study. This report is essential for anyone who is trying to stay ahead of a rapidly transforming mobile environment and convert mobile engagements into purchases.

5 Strategies for Building Effective Mobile Engagement

May 15, 2014 10am PDT| 12pm CDT | 1pm EDT

https://event.webcasts.com/starthere.jsp?ei=1034223&sti=logmein

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I recently went to the Sydney IoT meet up where we heard about Google Glass, robotics in art and making PCBs with fritzing. I used this opportunity to chat to loads of people who were interested in our Shitbox Rally connected car and the types of technology we plan to work with.

Andrew Maggio from Locstep, an IoT consultant working specifically with car diagnostics, has offered his time and services.  He has already provided a wealth of information and has kindly given us access to his ODB2 data emulator to test our setup with.

Thanks to Nick Farrell from Rock 7 Mobile for donating a month’s line rental and credits for our sat link – https://www.rock7mobile.com/

We have planned to present back to IoT Sydney after the rally.

Image: Andrew Kelly trying out Google Glass at the Sydney IoT Meet up.

‘Rally The Future Against Cancer’ is a joint initiative by digital and innovation consultancies Deepend and Nomad as part of the Shitbox Rally, a charity rally to raise money for the Cancer Council of NSW. Deepend and Nomad owners, Matt Griffin and David McGowan, will attempt driving 4,000km across the middle of Australia in a car (a ‘shitbox’) worth less than $1000. Both agencies and staff have joined forces to transform the ‘shitbox’ into a hyper-connected car with emerging technologies to help raise funds for the research and treatment of cancer.

Get behind them, get behind the wheel.

You can donate here: https://shitboxrally2014.everydayhero.com/au/the-internets-shitbox-rally 

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Every designer probably has their own method to preview their responsive or app designs on a phone.
I used to export my mockups as jpgs, copied them to a server and started Adobe Edge Inspect to be able to check if my designs were mobile friendly.
The other way was to send a jpg to my own email address and save the jpg in my camera roll.
There are probably some other ways to do it, but you probably get where I am going with this – it is a pretty annoying work around.
With every new Photoshop release, I was hoping that Adobe sensed my pain and would release a LiveInspect panel in Photoshop.

For Mac users, tools like Scala or LiveView or Designer Preview have been around for some time now.
Although these are pretty cool, they all have a flaw: they all require that you install a desktop client and an app on your device.

This is were Ps Play shines as it uses Photoshop inbuilt Remote Connections.
All what you need is to install the app on your phone and be on the same wifi network.
Open Photoshop and go to Edit/Remote Connections and set up a password.
Open the app, enter the password and your ready to go.
So easy and it’s even free.
For iPhone, iPad and Android devices.

Try it out and let me know what you think.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ps-play-for-photoshop/id651937919

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By now we know that we have to embrace the fact that the Web is fragmented, with multiple devices, different screen resolutions, various input-types and input devices, and many browser(s) versions. How to best embrace it remains a challenge, and it was quite liberating to discover that most people (and speakers) in the room at the Respond Conference in Sydney, are facing similar challenges. The solution cannot solely be found in the technology and code, but more so in the process and team communication around RDW.

Jason Grigsby opened the day and talked about ‘Mobile First Responsive Web Design’. RDW is mostly considered from a layout perspective, often not from a performance and interaction point of view. Performance was mentioned by multiple speakers during the day, agreeably an issue with web design. Statistics show that the average size of a website in 2009 was 320 kb. This month, the average site is 1.7 Mb. Top ecommerce websites are 22% slower than last year, even though we know slow sites make users abandon carts. Now, it’d be easy to say that that’s an indication that it’s not possible to design ‘fast’ loading sites with responsive. Not true. Nothing inherent about RDW, makes websites big.

The responsive image dilemma was another returning subject. Images make up a large part of websites (54% of webpage content are images) and the way they are handled influences performance. Two approaches can be taken to images: resolution switching (load different sizes of the same image based on device) or art direction (crop images contextually).

Content was discussed by Sally Bagshaw, who addressed the slow process of content. Not just the creation of content, but also the delivery of content and then the process of fitting that content into a model that was created for it. She quoted Cleve Gibbon saying “no model survives first contact with real content”, no matter when in the process the real content is introduced to the model. She suggests that one way to smoothen the content ‘quandary’ is to focus on the top 10% copy first, and get a copywriter on it. She also described how content often inherited instructions from the time when people weren’t as familiar with the web, such as: fill in the form below, or click on the button on the left.

Andrew Fisher is an interaction analyst and talked about measuring different actions based on the context of a user, and then using that to analyse and optimise a user’s experience for different devices. Instead of just measuring time spent on a page, it might be desirable to measure scrolling behaviour, i.e. total distance scrolled, scroll back distance, scroll back to top, or rate of scrolling.

Ethan Marcotte, half philosopher, half developer, spoke beautifully about what the vision for RDW is moving forward. He talked about the ‘health of the web’ looking at users in emerging markets that access the web on ‘old’ devices with slow internet access. These users are no longer confined to Asia and Africa. They will soon be ‘our’ users too, and we need to consider them and design for reach.

Like John Allsopp, I feel fortunate to work in the digital space during a time in which we are (still) shaping the ‘new’ medium, that is the Web.

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Responsive design can be a fiddly and time consuming process. Designing and developing a single site to support a large variety of sometimes fundamentally different devices at multiple resolutions often requires substantial time investment across all steps of the process, starting with UX and wire-framing and carrying right through to final testing. But a little forethought and preparation before you begin putting pen to paper (or pixel to PSD) can help alleviate potential risks and prevent your developers from getting lost in a messy quagmire of media queries, shims and polyfills.

Educate yourself

Responsive design is THE thing in digital media right now. Drop by any coffee shop in Silicon (Surry) Hills in Sydney and you’re bound to overhear someone throw the term around, likely followed by other terms like advertainment, gamification and synergy. But few people truly understand exactly what the term ‘responsive web design’ means, or even why it’s becoming such a requested aspect of digital marketing. And that’s okay. No one is expecting every business executive or marketing manager to know the difference between EM’s and REM’s – that’s why agencies and digital professionals exist.

However, when it comes to planning your business venture with a digital agency a little bit of knowledge helps. Start with Google. Search the web for some articles, demonstration sites, whatever you can find. Don’t worry if you don’t understand some of the terminology or acronyms, your digital partners can help you solidify and grow your knowledge over time. Here are a few good places to start:

http://alistapart.com/article/responsive-web-design
Considered by many to be the article that birthed the term ‘responsive web design’. Highly recommend.

http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/responsive-web-design-war/
This article cuts through a lot misconceptions of responsive design and its drawbacks; a must read for people across all aspects of digital marketing.

Reconsider your audience, brand and ideal experience

Before even considering a responsive site, take some time to consider your core requirements, your target audience and the ideal experience you want to present to them.  I’d argue that responsive design isn’t really a feature – it’s a solution to a problem. The problem being how to serve your business’s offerings to an audience that will be accessing your site from a range of different devices, from different locations and in different environments. And responsive web design isn’t the only solution. Consider also the experience you’d like to offer your users. Would the ability to take and share photos help strengthen engagement? It is difficult (and in some cases impossible) for a mobile friendly responsive site to access device hardware such as cameras, so a native application might be a better solution. When choosing a digital partner for your next campaign or site launch, discuss your options with them to gain a better understanding of the available solutions. Don’t ask for a responsive site just because your competitors have one or because you watched a TEDX presentation on responsive design. Do it for the right reasons.

Consider Browser Support

The rise of responsive design is directly tied to the growth of modern hardware technologies such as tablets and mobile phones. This growth of hardware in turn pushes the software and underlying code used in responsive design. As a result a lot of this code isn’t supported in older browsers. Rapid release browsers like Chrome and Firefox for the most part have excellent support and make development substantially easier. The undying dinosaurs like IE7 and 8 however, have terrible support and this makes developing a responsive site to support these browsers time consuming and consequentially, expensive. In order to assist your digital partners develop a lean, well performing responsive site you may need to consider dropping support for older browsers. This isn’t always an option, I know, but doing so will free up your developers to utilize a much more modern and flexible set of tools. Knowledge of your target audience can help you make this decision. If you’re relaunching a site, look to your analytics data (you do have analytics, right?). By very definition responsive design aims to be forward thinking – you can’t look to the future whilst keeping one foot in the past.

Content is King

In an ideal utopia of web design and development, every client would have all copy and content written and ready to go at the onset of a project. However this is rarely the case; it’s usually the last thing on the list. Whilst this can be frustrating, it is totally understandable. Copy writing and developing a ‘voice’ takes time, and in the early wire-framing and design stages of a project our old Latin mate Mr. Ipsum will usually suffice. However, when considering a responsive web project, copy and content are far more important. Designers will need to know how much content they need to design for and how copy length will respond to multiple page layouts and browser / device resolutions. A tagline of 12 words might look great on a desktop but scale that down to a mobile phone and you’re quickly running out of real estate. Lengthy, excessive copy can break mobile designs very quickly. It’s every designer and developer’s worst nightmare to proceed with the assumption certain content areas will be limited to 8-10 words, but what if one of those words turns out to be floccinaucinihilipilification? Yep, the designer is head-desking and I just tore out my sideburns in frustration.

While final copy isn’t mandatory – a word or letter count should be sufficient – perhaps more important is the strategy behind your content. If your business is a blog or news channel, then obviously your users are coming to your site to consume that content. If you’re a bricks and mortar retailer however, there’s a good chance your mobile users are looking for specific information, be it a contact phone number, or store locations and opening hours. One of the major drawbacks to responsive web design (as it is commonly understood) is that the same content is served to all users, regardless of how they’re accessing your site. There are ways around this (they’re worth investigating and using, here’s a start (http://www.lukew.com/ff/entry.asp?1392)) but for most part content is the same; it’s just presented in a different way, to suit the users device.

This presents another issue – losing your users due to unwanted or unrelated content. Don’t make it difficult for the users to find the information that they need by obscuring it behind lengthy copy extolling how awesome your business is. Consider the content your users are likely to be seeking under different environments and discuss ways to provide that content. A strong content strategy will help give your team a clear goal and make the initial wire framing steps a lot easier. This will carry right through design, development and testing, resulting in less bugs and amends and ultimately, a better service for your customers.

The mobile web is here; it’s loud and demands to be acknowledged. Delivering a site that functions and performs well across the ever growing spectrum of internet connect devices is challenging, few people will argue against that. But proper planning, a little bit of initiative and forethought can help make the bumps in the road a little smoother. Do some research yourself. Try to look to the future. Most importantly, don’t be afraid to talk about it and ask questions. Talk to your digital partners about how they handle responsive design and its many hurdles. Every agency will have a different approach and different tools, but if they can’t discuss it with you, then chances are they can’t deliver.

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BY SAMANTHA MURPHY KELLY

Ryan Seacrest is notorious for having his hands in just about everything these days, so it’s no surprise he’s now eying the tech industry.

The American Idol host and serial reality TV producer, who is known for using both an iPhone and BlackBerry device, invested $1 million in the Typo Keyboard, an iPhone accessory that aims to make typing a lot easier. The case snaps on to the top of an iPhone and turns the touchscreen keypad into one that resembles the BlackBerry’s qwerty keyboard.

The Typo Keyboard ($99) targets for those who carry two phones: one for typing and correspondence and an iPhone for most everything else. The concept makes sense for BlackBerry lovers who have resisted switching to the iPhone because of loyalty to the qwerty keyboard.

“One night, Ryan and his friend Laurence Hallier, CEO of Show Media, were out to dinner and both had phones on the table. Two people, four phones!,” the press release says. “They looked at each other and thought there was an easy solution to the problem, a keyboard for the iPhone.”

The Typo Keyboard, which works when Bluetooth is enabled, adds less than 1 inch to the iPhone’s length.

Although the concept isn’t entirely new — companies such as BoxWave and Dobi have dabbled in the space — but Seacrest and his business partner said the solutions on the market fell short of what they could be to make typing as easy as possible.

To pre-order the device, which ships in January, click here.

http://mashable.com/2013/12/06/typo-keyboards-ryan-seacrest

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Via B&T

New social media app, HeyLets.com, that says it will “change the way we review online” has launched in Australia. Launching locally on November 21, due to launch in US soon, the app connects you to recommendations tailored to your interests and lets you share your experiences, in only 140 characters and a photo, with friends and like-minded people who are nearby. The app aims to make “the process of discovery more social” and is a positive platform, with only experiences worth trying shared. Users can follow experts and celebrities and can also search ‘trending’ experiences. HeyLets, a free iPhone app, was created by Justin Parfitt, the founder of Fast Impressions, with Zanui’s co-founder Dean Kelly brought on board to help launch the app.

http://www.heylets.com/home/

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As someone who is currently stuck on the last level of the Candy crush Saga before the next update, I can attest to the highly addictive nature of the game.

In an article posted today by Forbes, the six marketing lessons that can be learnt from this game are:

- Scarcity Increases Desire

- “Free” Motivates

- Our Brain Like “Easy”

- Candy is likable

- Rewards keep you going

- It has Community

None of these are really new concepts in todays marketing strategies but as we can see with the success of Candy Crush (it generates close to a million dollars a day) the right balance between them can be very profitable.

Each of these concepts can be found in other products:

- Limited edition Tee shirts by Johnny Cupcakes has done wonders for this Boston based entreupreneur.

- Free trials of most software products reduces the risk and fear of the purchase and entices you to then upgrade to a paid version if it suits your needs, or in the case of Candy Crush an extra life.

- Keeping it simple has always worked wonders, for example playing ‘noughts and crossess’ is easier than learning to play chess. Similarly, the path to purchase can make all the difference in abandonment and/or upsell rates of a site.

- Associating the design/ imagery to an object that everyone likes; just like candy in Candy Crush The Original Cute Bear on Hallmark card’s gives us that warm fuzzy feeling.

- Rewards are motivating, just like in the real world when we are praised for doing something well we are motivated to keep going, push a little harder and give a little more of our time to it. The concept is central to gamification, a great example is Badgeville which has done a great job in integrating this into the workforce practices.

- Finally, the social integration ensures that Candy Crush is not only getting more exposure but also fullfilling people’s need to belong while also tapping into the competitive nature of some. Many digital campaigns utilise this, but one I love from work is the Ferrero facebook community page.

I do wonder, as someone who will surly suffer from whithdrawl symptoms shortly if there is no update, if the right balance of all these marketing concepts will ensure the longevity of the game or like so many dwindle to just the fanatics…anyone remember farmville?

http://www.forbes.com/sites/rogerdooley/2013/11/19/candy-crush-lessons/?utm_campaign=forbestwittersf&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social

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