Tag: Josh-Lovison

Eight resolutions for the new year

Posted on by Lab Team

mobile2009resolMobile phones have seen astronomical growth, and with the year-to-year increases in use from 2007 to 2008, the industry shows no signs of slowing.  With that in mind, I have a handful of resolutions I’d like to see the mobile phone industry make for itself in 2009.  Some are likely to happen, others quite unlikely.  But all of them would be great steps forward for the industry as a whole. Here are my top eight mobile resolutions for 2009:

Better browsers: The numbers can’t be more clear.  One in ten RAZR owners use the mobile Web on their devices, and over 80 percent of iPhone users regularly use the Web on their mobile devices.  It is high time for all phones, across the board, to be building in full functional browsers.  2009 is the year for this transition to happen. Continue reading “Eight resolutions for the new year”

Gaming’s next YouTube?

Posted on by Lab Team

LittleBigPlanetThis is part of our best-of 2008 series, previously featured on our newsletter, Advance. Imagine, for a moment, a universe that does not yet exist. A flying saucer navigates a galaxy of oddly colored planets and moons teeming with life. The saucer slows upon reaching one particular world, and moves in closer. It is a lush green landscape, and scattered around the planet are cities – sculpted from Coke bottles. Moving closer, vehicles created from Coke bottle caps race back and forth between the buildings. And zooming in reveals the townspeople of this foreign land to be none other than the creatures from Coca-Cola’s "Happiness Factory" commercial.

This imaginary planet sits in a galaxy created by Spore, EA’s new hit game. Or rather, it could. There’s a trend beginning to hit mainstream in-video game design: User-generated content. September saw the release of EA’s aforementioned Spore. a "universe simulation" that allows players to create and share entire worlds with other players. In late October, Sony released LittleBigPlanet for the PS3, a highly anticipated title for all ages and both genders where the user generated content provides levels for sack-puppets to play through. Continue reading “Gaming’s next YouTube?”

Not “Made in Japan?”

Posted on by Lab Team

MobileJapan“In order to understand the future of the mobile market in the US, look to Japan.”  This has been the common perception for years, so recent numbers in the smartphone market pose an interesting question.  North America saw a 78.7% increase in smartphone sales between Q2 of 2008 and Q2 of 2007.  During the same period, Japan saw a 24% decrease.

Why is there such a split, and what does it mean?  In the United States, the best and newest features exist primarily on smartphones.  In Japan meanwhile, all handsets have similar features and the primary difference between smartphones and normal mobile phones is the QWERTY keyboard – an input method most Japanese find cumbersome in comparison with the keypads on standard mobiles.  However, the nail in the coffin for the Japanese smartphone market is aesthetics. A look at the site for docomo’s upcoming mobiles demonstrates this point clearly: they are works of art.  All highly functional, choice in the Japanese mobile market is influenced by how the phone works as a fashion accessory.  According to a MyVoice survey, over 70% of respondents considered design an important factor in choosing their mobile phone. Continue reading “Not “Made in Japan?””

Gaming’s next YouTube?

Posted on by Lab Team

ugcgamingImagine, for a moment, a universe that does not yet exist.  A flying saucer navigates a galaxy of oddly colored planets and moons teeming with life.  The saucer slows upon reaching one particular world, and moves in closer.  It is a lush green landscape, and scattered around the planet are cities – sculpted from Coke bottles.  Moving closer, vehicles created from Coke bottle caps race back and forth between the buildings.  And zooming in reveals the townspeople of this foreign land to be none other than the creatures from Coca-Cola’s “Happiness Factory” commercial.  This imaginary planet sits in a galaxy created by Spore, EA’s new hit game.  Or rather, it could. There’s a trend beginning to hit mainstream in-video game design: User-generated content. 

September saw the release of EA’s aforementioned Spore, a “universe simulation” that allows players to create and share entire worlds with other players. In late October, Sony released LittleBigPlanet for the PS3, a highly anticipated title for all ages and both genders where the user generated content provides levels for sack-puppets to play through. Continue reading “Gaming’s next YouTube?”

The mobile app is the new webpage

Posted on by Lab Team

mobilecontentThe iPhone. Android. These two platforms are reforming the mobile industry, and have been considered as agents of change long before their launches. What’s received less attention is how they are fundamentally changing the concept of mobile content and altering the infrastructure of mobile ad networks.

Books are now applications. Next generation smartphones are driving a reversal of what’s occurring in the online space. Whereas cloud computing and advancing browser technologies are shifting content from specialized applications into browser-centralized spaces, content on phones is being packaged into on-device application downloads within app marketplaces. The most extreme example of this repackaging was seen shortly after the iPhone launch – one developer offered electronic book releases, with each book packaged as a standalone application. Continue reading “The mobile app is the new webpage”

World of Adcraft

Posted on by Lab Team

wowMore than 10 million people play World of Warcraft (WoW) for nearly fifteen hours a week, but the game was previously an untapped focus for brands. While some brands have targeted the game’s audience, for the first time ever, a brand is entering into the World of Warcraft.

World of Warcraft, Activision Blizzard’s massive multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG) borders on a worldwide phenomenon. With an expansion pack adding more content in November, WoW shows no signs of slowing down. While most games may occupy a gamer’s attention for 60 hours, WoW players measure their game time in days.

Considering the media consumption habits of these primarily 16-24 year old males, it would make sense for marketers to be involving themselves with the World of Warcraft. But there’s a major obstacle. The world is one of fantasy – of magic and dragons – not of real world brands. So while there has been a considerate amount of successful branding surrounding the game in “out of game advertising” such as Toyota’s viral video or South Park’s Emmy award winning “Make Love not Warcraft,” brands haven’t entered the game.

Until Bejeweled. Popcap just sponsored an integration of their highly successful casual game Bejeweled into the World of Warcraft environment. Particularly interesting is that this was done without participation by Activision Blizzard, the creators and maintainers of World of Warcraft. Perhaps an explanation is in order. Continue reading “World of Adcraft”

In-game scavenger hunt proves itself

Posted on by Lab Team

tropicIn-game advertising has taken a big leap with a new campaign for Paramount Picture’s new film Tropic Thunder. This month the action film is being advertised through an in-game scavenger hunt within Rainbow Six: Vegas 2. The hunt is comprised of nine dynamically inserted display ads, starting with a lead-in, and then follow-up clues until the final placement has a call to action to text in the user’s email address to a short code. This final step enrolls the user into Ubisoft’s VIP service, and automatically enters them into a sweepstakes.

I’ve long been a proponent of embedding calls to action within in-game ads, believing that dynamic in-game advertising is far more effective a platform when incorporated into a larger strategy. As the campaign is ongoing, there are no metrics to be discussed, but there are a few key points to examine in this campaign to better understand how in-game advertising can be leveraged successfully. Continue reading “In-game scavenger hunt proves itself”