Mad Scientists’ Club Meeting
“Welcome to your 5th grade science class,” moderator Lori Schwartz of Interpublic Group announced to the audience. Awkward pause. Are we supposed to laugh? A few nervous twitters had to suffice.
Luckily, the metaphor didn’t get carried to the point of obnoxiousness - only mild. She did tell us that she was mostly pleased with our test papers and definitely referred to the panelists as “mad scientists,” but other than that I didn’t feel entirely uncomfortable. I also felt moderately good about the system they utilized to field questions from the audience. We were provided with a number to text questions to, courtesy of HipCricket, the mobile marketing agency. CEO Ivan Braiker further showcased the interface by creating a contest: the audience could text the word “gift” to the number and at the end of the session a number was chosen at random to receive a $100 gift card.
But there was very little excitement about this tech development, just a general sigh of relief at yet another convenience for conference-goers. Thank god I don’t have to listen to some dude shouting his question-that-is-not-really-a-question from the back of the room only to hear the panelist respond, “Hmm. That’s a good question.” Now let me not answer your non-question with a non-answer. Yes, this way is much better. Questions that arose during each speaker were periodically brought up on the screen. Comments, too, like “I think your moderator is really smart. Where is she from?” Both clever and constructive.
But the name of this session was not “Cutting Edge Q&A Methods” but rather “Tales from the Bleeding Edge: The New Mobility” - and some of the new options hitting the market are both bleeding and leading. One of the ideas that left a few mouths agape (really. I checked.) was Brand New World Chief Creative Officer Alan Shulman’s explanation of QR codes. Now what in tarnation is a QR code? Well, Quick Response codes are basically grown-up versions of the UPC symbol. Used to store large amounts of data, QR codes are used all over Japan but have not made it here yet - except, as Shulman admits, in the adult film industry. (Don’t ask.)
He gave several examples of how they are used: a billboard in Tokyo that displays the code for all the NWA flights leaving that day; a McDonald’s hamburger wrapper whose code contains a promotion for the meal deal of the day, a Nike poster that, when the viewer snaps a photo with their cell phone, is immediately taken to the website or downloads a free wallpaper. Guerilla marketing tactics in particular could take advantage of QR - imagine you’re walking down the street and see a “code” that your telephone will interpret and read for you. I’m excited already!
But hold your horses: mobile phones with this capability are a rarity in the U.S. and will probably be slow to catch on. Marketers may be all in a tizzy about the potential of SMS, video, and even point-of-sale consumer reach, but it will be a while before we’re all point n’ shooting for information.
3D, however, as Thomas Hoge of Viewpoint declared, is already here. “The experience around 3D is pretty fantastic,” he said with the enthusiasm of a boy discovering Doom for the first time. Noting that 3D content is visually rich enough to be used as other mediums - billboards, banner ads, etc., he concluded that this gives creative agencies more power over the content itself. The user, too, has more control over their experience, as 3D allows for more choices: 360 degree views, social virtual worlds, and finally what he sees as the real future of 3D media, customizable widgets that are independent of the browser.
Matt Matzen presented his case study of Coca Cola and their Unexpected Summer campaign featuring Coke cans embedded with GPS technology. Wildly successful in both Australia and North America, it won multiple awards and more importantly, it worked - they experienced an immediate sales lift of 17% during the promotion. I wonder if Willy Wonka had that kind of ROI on his Golden Ticket campaign.
Finally, we were brought into the world of virtual reality, introduced to something way scarier than fire-breathing dragons or Jean-Claude Van Damme avatars: Sergeant Star, the Army’s virtual recruiter. Though his knowledge base encompasses 15,000 areas and pre-programmed answers, army style, to at least 100 questions, I was not terribly impressed by the guy. To be honest, I was mostly frightened by his downright domineering persona. What was scary to my neighbor, however, was the amount of money all this cost The Government - that is, us.
