I’ve been interning at the IPG Emerging Media Lab for the past few months. Little did I know that in addition to my killer subject line (Your Tech Savvy Intern), my resume pegged me as a Zen Tech Warrior. (This was before I had read the Lab’s 2009 Digital Trends and learned what a “Zen Tech Warrior” was).
Here are 4 things that this Zen Tech Warrior learned at the Lab:
Continue reading “Reflections of a Zen Tech Warrior”
Twitter has exploded over the past two years. In March, the site doubled its unique users to reach 9.3 million. In terms of Google searches, Twitter has become more popular than Britney Spears, and is just about even with Barack Obama. The micro-blogging site has gone mainstream. Many of us have started our own Twitter accounts, our moms and uncles and co-workers and parent companies are all on it. (Which has some asking if its star has already begun to fade).
It doesn’t matter if Twitter has gone from geeky to hip and back to geeky just because everyone is doing it; what matters is how we use it, how it evolves, and what role it can play in connecting us to each other, our clients, and consumers. Continue reading “Tweeting for the Man: A Twitter Strategy Guide”
Tuesday came a significant announcement from the mobile world: The leader in emerging mobile technology, the Apple iPhone, announced the new features. And in “new” features, they were essentially playing catch up.
Copy and Paste has finally been added to the device, after much lamenting by users. MMS was another addition – a feature even basic handsets have had for years. The new integrated search is a clear preemptive strike at the Palm Pre, as that “quicklaunch” integrated search was a feature for which Palm received much praise.
The promised Push technology will finally make an appearance, allowing apps to run in a pseudo-background, still getting updates but not consuming as much resources. This too staves off competitive offerings, bringing functionality that most other smartphones offer.
There was little that stood out as unique when viewed individually. However, viewed in aggregate, this update does a great deal in patching up holes in the iPhone’s defenses that competitors on the horizon would have eagerly attacked. Continue reading “iPhone 3.0”
Each year the IPG Emerging Media Lab issues its picks for the top trends in emerging media. Particularly for marketers, its an easy, painless way to get a finger on the pulse of a constantly changing landscape.
How we come to these trends is a journey in and of itself. There are endless brainstorms, weeks of handwringing, then drafts and more drafts. Ultimately, what emerges is a brain trust of sorts–one that comes out of spending a lot of time with new media, and an eye to the future…but not too-distant future, or we couldn’t call them 2009 trends.
You can download a copy of the IPG Emerging Media Lab’s 2009 Digital Trends, or check out this abridged rundown…cause this is where we’re placing our bets and putting our energy this year:
The Lab team is heading to the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas this week to roam the showrooms and take part in the massive gadget brain-exchange. We’ll be blogging live through the weekend–and here are 10 reasons you should stay tuned:
1. It’s like Paris’ Ready-to-Wear event of the year–but instead showcasing gadgets in Vegas. While there will be far more geeky men than hot models in pretty get-ups (I’ve already heard that a fellow digerati femme was one of only 10 women on her plane to Vegas), this is the place to look for what technologies and consumer electronics are coming down the line in ’09. THIS is the place where dreams are made, battles are won, hearts are broken. Okay, perhaps I’m pushing it. But, if you have any desire to keep abreast with technology, stay tuned (preferably here) for all the latest and greatest advances in consumer tech.
2. We might finally learn if this is the year the Internet will kill the TV star. (Check out the WSJ’s round up of reasons how it might). It likely won’t–but this year even a scaled back CES promises some amazing new solutions for watching video and TV via the Internet including two of my favorite new devices: New player ZeeVee is presenting their ZvBox which turns computers into an HDTV channel on your TV set; WhereverTV allows consumers to watch hundreds of international television shows on your television via the Internet (sign me up!)
Stay with me, I’ve got 8 more reasons CES is THE consumer event of the year: Continue reading “Top 10 reasons CES matters”
With the 2009 Presidential Inauguration approaching, we wanted to share our findings on how Barack Obama and other presidential candidates made use of emerging media.
In the 2008 election, Presidential contenders across the political spectrum utilized new media platforms to reach out to voters in unprecedented ways. And voters responded, participating online, via mobile, and across social networks in historic numbers.
What were some of the most notable emerging media triumphs from the 2008 election? And what was the emerging media strategy behind Barack Obama’s campaign? What was John McCain's best emerging media tactic in the race to the White House?
Click here to view IPG Emerging Media Lab's research into the uses of new media in this year's election–and how it has changed political campaigning for good.
Photo courtesy of Beth Rankin via Flickr
