Creative collateral serves two purposes. First and foremost, it has to be able to garner the attention of the consumer. A logo for instance, has to rely on its basic shape and color to be noticeable from a distance and at a quick glance. Then it has appeal to the consumer for a long enough time to effectively guide their eyes through its message. In digital marketing, these messages often act as an instantaneous call to action – a precursor to a successful conversion.

The importance of solid creative cannot be underestimated. Color contrasts are chosen at times for particular reasons. There’s an old rumor of a fast food giant that uses alternating colors to promote desired consumer action. Red and yellow were rumored to have been chosen for their abilities to quickly grab the attention of a potential consumer.

The colors were also said to have tested positively for hungry customers (red) and to then successfully turn them off to the point of leaving their facilities upon finishing their meal. This was based on the time spent looking at the unfavorable tint of yellow in contrast to red. While the colors used to pull them in were bright and vibrant, and same colors used indoors carried a slightly duller tint. As the consumer leaves the facilities, they have freed up space for a new customer, improving the restaurant’s turnaround time, allowing them to seat more, serve more, and thus earn more.

Weather this was an implied strategy or not, it’s no secret that something as simple as two colors together can influence the way in which a person views, reads, and interacts with a website, a banner, and more. Colors that promote various actions and deliver conversions require various degrees of market testing. Having a wide range of variations to choose from is where any designer wants to start. For those that have a limited imagination outside their current train of thought, the Color Scheme Designer can help you mix things up.

Here is a quick tutorial to guide you through the website that may be very useful:

You can choose the background color with your mouse (step 1) and then compare the different combinations given when you pick 1, 2, 3 or 4 colors (step 2). As you choose the first color, you will be able to see immediately the complementary colors given by the website (step 3).

When you like a color combination, you can click “Light page preview” or “Dark page preview” (step 4) to see how those colors would look like on a web page, as it will display a fake web page using the colors you have picked.

If you like those colors, put your mouse over them (step 5) to get the color code and start using them!

Finally, the top menu allows you to choose from various options (such as RGB or Web colors), to randomize a palette to get a complete random range of colors. It also even allows you to export your palette in order to use later (you can export it as a HTML+CSS file, an XML file or even a Photoshop or GIMP palette)

Remember to use these popular color variations to perform AB and multivariate testing on your website. This can be done simply with Google Website Optimizer. While you can test for several things on any page you want, the webpage color scheme that allows for the lowest bounce rate, the highest conversions, and most time spent on your site is probably the winner!

Google’s 2011 revenues were a total of 37.9 billion dollars… yes, 37.9 billion, with a B. The most interesting fact is that 96% of the revenue came from advertising.

Thanks to companies like StateFarm, Progressive, Amazon, Macy’s, Sears, Quicken Loans, Lowe’s, Booking.com and many others like them that spend millions of dollars per year bidding for keywords like “new york hotels” with average CPC of $7.68 (used by Booking.com), “zumba dance dvd” with average CPC $5.18 (amazon), “self employed health insurance” with a extremely high CPC of $43.39 (eHealthInsurance), “cheap hybrid cars” bidding for average CPC of $15.57 (Cars.com) Google made its billions.

Below you can find the infographic with all the breakdowns and stats…

Source: http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2012/01/23/google-revenues

Do you remember these retro video games that many of you used to play as a child? Few of the readers will not recall these games, but many will remember the endless hours they’ve spent trying to get to the next level on Final Fight or to act like the best team on Earth while playing  Cadillacs & Dinosaurs or Metal Slug.

Below are some of the top 8 retro arcade games that I could remember… let me know in the comments if you can think of any other awesome arcade game that I’m missing…

FYI: If you would like to go back in time and play these games, there’s an app for that! ) j/k, visit rom-world.com and download the MAME emulator. Then download a .zip file of the game you want to play and add it to the Roms directory in Mame32 folder and enjoy. Do not forget to configure your buttons and use 1 to insert coins.
Final Fight

Super Pang

Tumblepop

Snow Bros

Bubble Bobble

Cadillacs & Dinosaurs

Metal Slug

Street Fighter II

A great reminder of why social media was a success to begin with, is AnnMarie Walsh, a homeless woman from Chicago. She recently used Twitter to tweet to over 4,800 followers about her experiences in being homeless. Her insights allowed her to offer pieces of advice for others that may be suffering as well.

AnnMarie currently has over 5,800 followers.

How did a homeless woman manage to tweet? She used her cell phone and computers from a local library. She was intrigued by Twitter as it enabled her to interact with people that would not normally listen to her. People were moved by her situation and even offered her as much as two laptops, to pay her cell phone bill, and bus passes.

As this was taking place, a filmmaker reached out to her via Twitter and asked her to be part of his documentary about the homeless. This was just the beginning of her positive experiences, as AnnMarie was invited to some of Twitter’s, 140 Characters Conferences as a guest speaker regarding her homelessness experiences. During one of these sessions, she encountered a case worker who was able to help her find temporary residence.

This is just one recent example. Many will remember the story of Ted Williams, the homeless man whose unique voice went viral on YouTube. He was soon able to find a job and residence after his story made headlines.

The trend seems to just be catching on. A charity in New York aims to give the homeless another chance at life, by giving them pre-paid cell phones and setting them up with Twitter accounts. This organization helps the homeless stay in touch with a world that sometimes forgets them, through Social Media.

These are just some examples of Social Media reinforcing the position that its level of interaction can be used to solve real life problems and effectively communicates the needs to one to another, enabling an action. Within the 7 Pillars, social media is integrated with other forms of communication to replicate this pattern, and enable conversions, whatever that may mean for each business or individual.

In this case, social media allowed individuals were overlooked or looked down upon on the streets, passed by thousands each day, and gave them a voice on a level playing field, where her residential status didn’t matter; where her class or appearance didn’t matter. Social media allows the world to take in a message and to grab onto it – to spread the word for the benefit for the source, in a world where we sometimes forget that the message may be all that matters.

After several months of doubt if Google + could have a positive impact on the world of social media, this growth chart confirms that more and more people have become interested in the network since its launch in June. Google+ is said to currently have around 62 million members.

These figures are only estimations, as Google did not officially release numbers. Nevertheless, with at least 50 millions unique visitors a month in the US alone, this shows that Google+ may have a longer life than expected by some.

In comparison, Techcrunch reported on Comscore figures for the month of November (worldwide):

• MySpace – 61 million visitors
• Google+ – 67 million visitors
• LinkedIn – 95 million visitors
• Twitter – 168 million visitors

And obviously on top, the gigantic Facebook, with a whopping 793 million unique visitors for the month of November.

Google+ is now part of the Big 5, but has still a long way to go before reaching the level of Facebook, the market leader. Stay tuned!

SOPA’s stated intent is to protect copyrighted property from being pirated online. The media industry claims that piracy leads to a loss of profits and comes back to haunt the consumer in the end. Many that pirate media justify their actions with qualms of excessive pricing and the disbelief that their indiscretion could have any affect on a fiscally successful company.

Media, be it music, movies, games, etc will feel the burden in different areas, concurrent with their industry model of fiscal responsibilities. Across all boards, piracy widens the gap between the reach and influence of a product to the profits gained by said product. Companies can have a popular title without seeing the financial compensation to cover their costs of that production. With lower expected returns for their investment, companies are forced to raise the cost of that product to the consumer. The raise in cost allows profit margins to retain original or close to original percentages on a particular title. Going further down the chain, retail outlets cannot compete with pirated pricing, thus selling less of that product, and see a decrease in business which results in them hiring less people (fewer jobs).

It’s hard not to understand why companies want to crack down on piracy, regardless of your stance on it. Among the bill’s top proponents are the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and media giants, the Motion Pictures Association of America and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). SOPA aims to protect industry products and industry jobs by allowing the government and private companies to shut down websites that hold copyright infringements.

Criticism of SOPA has been heard loud and strong from the tech industry, particularly in New York City where several tech startups have thrived. Among the bill’s top opponents are LinkedIn, eBay, Facebook, Twitter, Wikipedia and Reddit. These companies have voiced concerned about 1^st Amendment rights and censorship, among others.

What do all these sites have in common and what are they seeing that Congress is not? It requires us to dig into SOPA just a little more. The websites that oppose SOPA are those that are run on user-generated material. Under SOPA, user generated content would become to responsibility of the website itself. Let’s use the example of Pirate Bay. If someone were to post directions on Reddit or Facebook on how to log into Pirate Bay and how to download their favorite movies, Reddit would be accountable for the transgression and held responsible for enabling copyright infringement. The fear is that user generated websites could legally tampered with or worst case scenario, shut down within a few weeks of the bill’s passing.

Sites that rely on user generated content simply cannot exist in their current state under these laws. They are currently not responsible for information uploaded by a user. SOPA changes that. Users fear is that these websites will be replaced with commercialized versions of themselves or be removed/blocked all together.

With millions of pieces of content synchronously being made available, content has become hard to manage in real time. With existing laws in place (Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998), an ISP must remove material from web sites that appear to constitute copyright infringement. This can be requested or flagged by the copyright owner or their representative. Under SOPA, websites could be shut down or blocked by simply being accused of enabling copyright infringement.

The tech industry – specifically those sites running on user generated content have created thousands of jobs in the past few years. Slowing down on innovation is not something the country can afford to do, and not something these young companies want to see happen. They claim Congress will seek to end piracy and hurt the tech industry as collateral damage.

For many, it’s hard to garner support for the RIAA. They’re known for being ruthless in their pursuit of those that illegally download music. SOPA however, is not just about piracy, it’s about property. Including intellectual property.

Aside from tangible products and goods that are protected under SOPA, the bill also addresses the issue of intellectual property. A foreign website selling knock-off purses would be covered under the bill. This is considered intellectual property theft.

This is important for companies, specifically those that pride themselves on providing high quality often high price point goods. Buying bad quality, imposter goods presents a bad image of that company to the buyer, in opposition to the image they have developed and portray and in many cases, in direct opposition to the goods they manufacture.  Associating a supposed ‘high end’ brand with bad quality will damage a company’s image, in turn; damage their brand and their profits.

As the United States cannot do anything to shut down a foreign site, the most they can do is block access to it, under the moniker of protecting Americans into not paying for fake goods. This raises all kinds of questions on censorship, government interference and has even drawn the ire of those that claim this violates the principles of a free market.

Amongst the loudest of SOPA opponents, the Reddit community has displayed the true power of the internet and has collectively raised their voices in protest. They’ve managed to raise awareness to the general population, and have made their feeling felt in the pockets of supporting corporations.

Among the top proponents of SOPA was GoDaddy.com. Having faced public backlash for their involvement, they have since backed off. The backlash? A Reddit user called for a national, ‘Change your Provider Day’ in opposition to GoDaddy’s stance. Within 5 days, GoDaddy lost 74,000 domains due to the Reddit-driven campaign.

As GoDaddy hasn’t been getting a break about this lately, let’s give them one and look at why they’ve supported this. The company was being sued by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (which produces the Oscars each year) for facilitating trademark infringement by allowing domains to be registered by individuals that used it to promote the Oscars (ie. 2011oscars.com), without the consent of the Academy. If SOPA passes, GoDaddy is alleviated of responsibility and those sites can just be taken down or blocked.

Another major concern with the bill is that it does very little to actually target piracy. Taking a closer look, SOPA only targets http, or the Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (one of many internet protocols) and does nothing to target the BitTorrent protocol. This protocol which uses neither http nor DNS accounts for approximately 95% of piracy. Thus, the bill does nothing to actually stop piracy where it thrives and only has a negative impact on the structure of the internet which has prospered in the past two decades under the free exchange of information.

In the game of combating piracy, companies are left to wonder to who to blame. Several tech companies have expressed their desire to see the private sector tackle piracy on their own and resist the idea of government regulation of the internet. The comedian, Louis CK is an example of the private sector taking on this issue. The comedian abstained from the production assistance of a larger corporation and opted to film a comedy special, set up his website, and produce the event by himself.

He promoted the special to his fans and admitted that they could pirate it if they want to, but asked for their support and spend $5 to download the special. The low price countered any claims that it would be too expensive for fans to manage. This honest and genuine request resonated with his fan base and others seeking to support the cause. People forewent on downloading a pirated copy of the event, and opted to pay the $5. All profits went to him and covered his production costs. This social test was a stellar success, and Louis CK made over $1 million dollars in sales off the comedy special.

The question becomes if the private sector can tackle this problem on their own by restructuring their own businesses that have seen financial success in the past, or if a heavy handed government ruling that threatens to ‘break’ the internet is necessary. SOPA draws ire from what it fails to do. Fear of SOPA comes from not what it threatens to take away, but from what is can be used to do. As a law is only as good as its interpretation of those regulating it, SOPA can be used to not only protect the intellectual and tangible property of business owners, but to limit free speech and the free flow of information to and from American citizens.

Like the VCR recorder upon its launch, the mp3 player when introduced, and YouTube even today – the answer of large corporations has always been to stifle innovations that can potentially interfere with their business models and profits by trying to get them banned/blocked. Their latest attempt to censor the internet is no different. Think what the world would be like if it weren’t for those tech innovations. SOPA goes beyond protecting the right of copyright owners and takes a dangerous step into government intervention in the flow of information and freedom of speech guaranteed to American citizens.

Rather than relying on advertising to drive consumers to a mobile shopping experience, Tesco has taken a creative approach to bring M-Commerce directly to consumers. Tesco is global grocery and general merchandise retailer headquartered in the United Kingdom. With stores in 14 countries across Asia, Europe and North America, Tesco honed in on South Korea to launch its M-Commerce solution. Tesco was ranked #2 in sales in South Korea, second to E-Mart. Their mission was to become #1 without increasing the amount of store locations.

Tesco’s initial research found that the population of South Korea was the 2^nd most hard-working worldwide, deeming many too busy to make time to go shopping. This presented the perfect opportunity.

Tesco adapted the moniker of Home Plus and created virtual stores in South Korean subway stations. Users would use their smart phones to shop. By scanning a product’s QR code, users were able to automatically add the item into their mobile shopping carts.

When the user has added all the items they wish to purchase in their mobile shopping cart, the items would be delivered to their home with the press of a button. Tesco managed to successfully replace down time or idle time – with shopping time. Users could do their grocery shopping while on their way to work and have the food waiting for them when they arrived home. This convenient shopping method is quick, easy, and eliminates the need to lug bags of groceries on the train. The displays were able to act as virtual stores; present in locations to remind consumers that they had items to buy, rather than relying on their ability to remember to purchase, and to remember they should purchase from Tesco.

The campaign was a huge success. Online sales increased 130% and over 10,000 people started using their smart phones to buy food online from Home Plus. They are currently ranked #1 in the online market.

The forecast, free to download, explains that in the upcoming years, advertisers will spend more money on interactive marketing because of the excitement about emerging media, the effectiveness of the interactive marketing and the overall customer obsession with online media and mobile devices.

The report contains many interesting predictions, some of them a bit controversial and very doubtful, but still worth taking them in consideration when working on your next strategies and business spending.

Beside concentrating on the mobile and social media expansions, one part of the report that I really was surprised to see was the prediction that the daily deals would die.

The reason for this statement, Forrester is putting in these words:

“Standing out above the clutter becomes harder for marketers as ad exposures grow. So some marketers unable to differentiate will rely on spontaneous coupons through more and more urgent Groupon-like “daily deals” as one way to drive notice. Consumers will grow so conditioned to micro-impulse offers that they’ll lose practice at considered decisions — in all walks of life, not just when buying spa treatments. Facing a cultural descent into maladroit judgment, employers (and spouses) will blacklist impulse deals to keep people intentional.”

Controversal, but yet very interesting forecast. What do you think?

The Brooklyn Museum in particular embraces these platforms and integrates them into their website. These interactive features compliment their rather ‘typical’ website, which is used to provide basic information on exhibitions, operating hours, etc. for a cost effective interactive experience.

A prime example of their willingness to interact with a younger, social media savvy audience is none more evident
than on Twitter. With over 320,000 followers, the Brooklyn Museum updates their account on an almost daily basis, using it to interact with potential visitors, as well as promote their new exhibitions. Unlike some companies, interaction is not only based on their ability of the business to directly relate to the tweet by nature of organization, but on a personal level. The Brooklyn Museum takes on the role of a friend as much as it takes on the job of promoting their institution.

The Museum’s Facebook Page takes a similar approach, and effort that has gained them over 45,800 ‘Likes’. The account is primarily used to inform the public of their featured events and to answer questions. There is less direct interaction than on Twitter, but they manage to still interact with their base. The comments and answers received on both ends create a nurtured community of museum fans.

The Brooklyn Museum treats their YouTube account like educational television. It provides a look behind the scenes for those that want more information on the features they’ve seen or were thinking of seeing.

This behind the scenes access is reinforced in the Brooklyn Museum blog updated once to twice per week. With several contributing authors, the museum’s employees share their intimate relationship with their work with the public.

The blog allows readers to access animated podcasts, stories, and pictures of how employees set up their public art experiences. It also shows their dedication to the museum and their efforts to constantly improve and bring life-long memories to its visitors; inspiring readers to visit.

The museum has used social media to reach out to potential and repeat visitors by making it an operational tool in its business. By more than just having a presence, they have been able to attract thousands of new visitors. Art will always be art, but the museum as a corporation with employees, expenses, assets, and liabilities have used social media to sustain and improve its business model. They are a prime example of a business that has been willing to change as people and the way they interact with brands/activities has changed.

To many people, Archive.org is just another repository like Google’s index that stores historical data in their timeline. Many Webmasters and Search Engine Optimizers (SEOs) fail to recognize this free feature as an effective SEO Tool. Well, for those non-believers, here are 5 compelling reasons for them to admit that the Wayback Machine is a very useful SEO Tool:

Reason-1: Powerful Tool for SEO Diagnosis

Archive.org’s Wayback machine can be used as a great tool for SEO diagnosis. Have you experienced a recent fall in traffic after updating a site? You and your webmaster can’t tell what happened to the site, and what codes you may have changed, since they were not tracked.

With the Wayback Machine, you can go back and have a look at the code in previous versions of the site, before you made the update. Using a simple code comparison tool like WinMerge will allow you to see the changes in codes side by side. By looking at the changes in code, you can easily diagnose SEO for your site.

Reason-2: Site and Link Aging

Old links are like a fine aged wine in SEO, and helpful in obtaining Search Engine rankings. After changing a site to new Content Management System (CMS), you might create a lot of new links, but forget about the old links. I have seen many webmasters forget about the old links and suddenly web sales start dropping.

You can search for old links through the Wayback Machine and manage the aging of the links in the current site through 301 Permanent Redirects, which is very Search Engine Friendly. Here is a nice article on how you can improve SEO from old links.

Reason-3: Fixing Old Broken Links

As you site evolve, you throw away old links. But, there may be many sites and bookmarks out there that had a link to your old link. Not having the link there or having a 404 page instead, is a very disappointing thing for both visitors and search engines.

You can use the Wayback Machine to track back the old links and hunt down the broken links though Xenu’s Link Sleuth software. This will ensure visitor friendly, smooth browsing from other sites or bookmarks. And the Search Engines will love your site for that.

Reason-4: Source of Unique Contents

Previously, Content was King. However, after the Duplicate Content Filter update by Google, Unique Content became King. As you have probably had different content over the existence of the site, chances are you have created unique content most of the time. Moreover, to keep the site always fresh with content, many webmasters and site owners do this to get the SEO benefits.

If you are doing that, then you can use your old content elsewhere and build inbound links for your site. The best way to find your old content is through Archive.org’s Wayback Machine.

Reasong-5: Evidence for Claiming Copyright

Many people believe that you need to apply for copyright. But, the fact is you don’t need it. Rather, you need a good and strong evidence to claim for your rights. Your archived page in the Wayback Machine may not be a very strong evidence, but it is really a good one.