Social Media monitoring and the spectrum of online relationships

I got talking to the COI the other day about online PR, Word of Mouth and Social Media and the conversation turned to the problems of ROI and monitoring.
I’ve sat in too many Social Media presentations that promise a bit about ROI at the end but instead of a practical approach just mention “the power [...]

Augmented reality future of mobile search and other AR applications

Back in summer 2008 I wrote a whitepaper for some of our clients about Cloud and Crowd based creativity and the need to break digital out into the real world away from screens and desks. Back then I included an image by the excellent Petit Invention as a concept vision for the future of mobile [...]

Twitter and The Machine Stops

It is an old cliche that the fictional inspiration and vision of our modern interactive world stems from the typewriter of William Gibson. While to some extents this is true – after all Neuromancer inspired a fair number of technologists to go out and create their own interpretations of “Cyberspace” – perhaps the truest reflection [...]

Potential impact of the recession on online advertising

In the next phase of the recession there is going to be even more pressure for blunt, back to basics messaging.
Much online advertising is already crammed to bursting with USPs and “brand essences”, proof points and CTA keyframes but it is often the phatic element – the charm, the entertainment, the engagement and the smile [...]

7. Augmented reality/digital magic (2009 Trends)

Augmented Reality – the manifesting of virtual 3d objects into the real world via cameras or projectors – is probably one of the biggest buzzwords among digital creatives at the moment with the examples of Boffswana and GE’s Smart Grid site definitely inspiring the imagination and offering up a new tool with which to play.
However, if [...]

6. On is off/Off is on (2009 Trends)

Dirt cheap, lightening fast & “always on” internet. An unconnected device is odd, this offers a potential for a social element to be added to objects creating an “Internet of things”.

Flex, AIR and Silverlight, Google Docs & the new MS Office function on your desktop and on the web, this is an extension of the [...]

5. The semantic web & social periphery (2009 Trends)

Of all the potential trends for 2009 I think Social Periphery is the most interesting. It effects everything we do and changes everything we will do. It influences the future form of interactive creative work as well as the way interactive narratives or campaigns should be structured.
It also encompasses another old favourite of mine – [...]

4. Sitting back with broaderband (2009 Trends)

TV over the internet has been a theme for years and attempts at platforms have come and gone – mainly because they focused on the technology more the the content. But the content – thanks to the likes of the BBC and hulu – is finally here. The only thing that can hold it back [...]

1. Clouds and Crowds (2009 Trends)

OK, I know this has been a favourite subject of mine for a while but…

The cloud is…distributing, accessing and publishing everywhere and sharing with everyone – including and especially yourself on all your devices

Your machine does very little, it contacts the net and displays information/applications in the most appropriate fashion to the device at hand.

It [...]

2009 Interactive Creative Trends

Predicting trends can be notorious woolgathering for creative and strategy folk, often coming across as a mix of someone guessing the end of a detective thriller while taking a peak at page 400 in a choose your own adventure novel. But when you’re confronted with the annual “What’s next?” question it is a chance to [...]