The 7 Pillars of Digital Marketing Blog

Pay For The Subway With Your Smartphone September 23, 2010 – 3:20 pm				Abdul Fattah Ismail

According to a report on Mashable, Visa has entered a partnership with the MTA to allow the smartphone carriers of New York to pay fares with the wave of their iPhone, dubbed the payWave system. Visa is also working with Bank of America to bring smartphone payments to retaliers in the the City. Both initiatives would use a touch-sensor at registers or stalls to facilitate quicker transactions.

On the surface, it is not surprising that with the advent of QR codes, retailers are looking to delve deeper into mobile applications to further gage personal data profile.  I have yet to be convinced, however, that paywave systems are the technology of present time.  The MTA entered a partnership with Citibank a few years ago, allowing consumers to wave their card along the 6 train for gate access, but has not really deployed the system across the grid.  Advertising on the project has been scarce as well, leading one to believe that the MTA is still too byzantine to market new services at an efficient level.  I don’t even need to get into their hackneyed fare raise initiatives to justify my point.

I think for those who have trouble remembering their core pocketbook items, the system can be a boon as a backup service.  For all the demands being placed on our smartphone, however, I would recommend a second battery that is charged.   At the moment, Lexington Avenue will experiment with the payWave technology, with future projects scheduled in L.A., while other global destinations such as Singapore, Malaysia, Paris, and Istanbul have jumped on.  To see the payWave system in action, jump on the 1 train below.

Posted by Abdul Fattah Ismail
Posted in blog, green marketing, Interactive Marketing, Marketing, Mobile Applications, Mobile Marketing | No Comments »
Tags: bank of america, Blueliner Marketing, digital marketing nyc, mashable, Mobile Applications, Mobile Marketing, mta

Kraft Plays The Interactive Vending Machine September 13, 2010 – 3:35 pm				Abdul Fattah Ismail

Kraft looks to melt those feelings of anger when the vending machine does not give you a snack or change. We’ve all been at that point, when the office is too demanding to leave, and you dig for change to purchase some Cheez-Its or Lemon Cookies or Funyuns. Then it gets stuck on the way down, unable to be shaken by your forearms or shoulder jab. According to a report from MediaPost, Kraft is testing a machine in the greater Boston area stocked with interactive media embellishments such as a 46” Samsung LCD touchscreen and Bluetooth capabilities for mobile downloads.  Users will be able to get an in-depth analysis of the product with view rotating options and nutritional data. E-commerce professionals and those who loathe carrying change will be thrilled that multiple items can be purchased with credit card or cash, and receiving change in bills.

As the first foodservice manufacturer to tackle this initiative, some things will be surmised about the future of interactive vending machines.  Consumer response has been largely positive in test screenings, but the long-term viability as a source of revenue is unclear.  A handful of states, including New York, are mandating detailed calorie information on menus which could affect sales of certain items.  Part of the vending machine experience relies on dismissal of guilt and instantaneous decision-making.  An elaborate machine with an interactive screen should prove to be another portal to stream advertising, but with a world of mobile applications and reading tablets, are we going to care about an in-depth visual experience of the Wheat Thin? Kraft thinks so.

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Posted by Abdul Fattah Ismail
Posted in blog, Digital Media, eCommerce, green marketing, Interactive Marketing, Marketing, Mobile Applications | 1 Comment »
Tags: Blueliner Marketing, digital marketing nyc, green marketing, interactive marketing nyc, internet marketing nyc, kraft foods, new york interactive marketing agency

Threadless Weaves Marketing Dreams July 2, 2010 – 3:23 pm				Abdul Fattah Ismail

Threadless has gained praise nationwide for their masterful use of online communities to drive sales.  The Chicago-based company does not have professional designers nor online advertising agencies and other distributors to pirate income.  It took them some time for the open source movement to generate results, but they have commemorated it this year with a 10th anniversary campaign.  The Tour Kick-Off Sale ends July 2nd and includes various price points for men, women, and children that fit anyone’s budget.  They will be in a caravan that covers the nation while stopping at the Pitchfork Music Festival and other points in between to Washington D.C. in October.  Here are the dates.

The company’s tight relationship with its community allows for an amalgam of creative designs and products that allow for test marketing before the product is pushed to the website.  The website is also optimized for clean click navigation, search indexing, and a full board of social widgets.  I believe that the crispness of their website is key to their success.  One receives feedback immediately on their designs from the network while making income for their gifts.  It’s a relationship that benefits the consumer and merchant without a lot of database research or bureaucracy.

Threadless has begun to develop partnerships with Griffin Technologies and Havaianas Footwear to stretch their product portfolio into smartphone cases and flip-flops, amongst other things.  With a rich community of designers and a 10-year anniversary book to cement brand equity, Threadless is an emerging force. Heavyweight marketing executives have wondered for some time about the open source model, and now see it come to fruition.  They should be very afraid.  For more details on Threadless, read this interview from VP of Marketing, Cam Balzer.

Posted by Abdul Fattah Ismail
Posted in blog, Business News, green marketing, Interactive Marketing, Marketing, web 2.0, web development, Website Design | No Comments »
Tags: Blueliner Marketing, cam balzer, griffin technologies, haivaianas, Interactive Marketing, new york interactive marketing agency, pitchfork music festival, social media, threadless

Digital Conservation for Your Web Design August 25, 2008 – 11:26 am				Arman Rousta

As we all know, green design is no longer about light bulbs and electric cars. Windmills and solar panels play an important part in sustaining energy and our future, but what about conserving our digital economy?

From producers to buyers and everything in between, all of you are powering web 2.0. and everyone will have a role in determining the shape of the next generation Internet. As more people get directly involved in producing content on the web, we all have the option to implement best-practices in ‘digital conservation’.

We know about the greening of data centers. Instead of busting out a new tech meme for green coding practices, let’s reuse some older terms. Below are some familiar terms to get you started thinking green in your designs, work-flows and coding practices. This is not meant to be a definition of sustainable web design but it could lead you to more research.

Reduce

Power requirements in web servers are going down. Energy Star compliance for computers was the beginning but data centers are now driving cooling, energy and bandwidth requirements. Hosting control panels are reducing the amount of support required by giving more control to the site owner and site designers. Better designs which include mature, standards-based languages and coding practices help insure we get the most logic from the least amount of code.

Web standards like XHTML 1.0 and CSS 2.0 help reduce the amount of code on a page. Emerging standards like POSH and other Microformats help designers write semantically-correct code leveraging existing standards. Spending less time learning new standards shortens learning curves. Shorter learning curves free designers to focus more on user needs and sustainability.

Recycle

Design patterns help recycle code, imagery, and media based on past-project requirements. One example might be shopping cart code that is recycled from product sku to product sku. The same JavaScript is reused while the variables get updated for each product skew. The associated graphical elements, like “Buy Now” and “Add to Cart” buttons might be recycled from other navigational aids found in the site design. Rich Media such as product video introductions can be recycled from product to product using the similar titles, intro and credits.

One key to recycling code is the separation of code from presentation and style. Themes are a great example of site design recycling since a theme can be easily duplicated, and recycled through designer customizations.

Reuse

Hot-swappable hardware such as hard drives are refurbished and disk images are reused across entire server farms. Virtualization software and platforms help optimize the entire process. Even though we’re just in the beginning stages of green design, the techniques we’re employing in the technology sector are amazing. It seems to have started in the data centers.

Data centers themselves are now being located near renewable energy sources and some web hosts are entirely off-the-grid. Just as the data centers were driven to go green by cost-savings, green design is beginning to take hold as standards progress.

Another example of “reuse” is the popular one-click installations offered by many web hosts. Entire websites are now installed with just a few clicks and an ever-increasing amount of code in site designs are reused. Portions of your site design may be reused on other sites such as social networks. Your CSS, product descriptions and contact information may be simply cut and paste between many sites.

In sum, conservation starts with a mindset and we all have the power to contribute in different ways.

Additional Reading

Web Standards Project

Sustainable Web Design

Sustainable Web Community

Seven steps to a green data center

Sustainability Defined at Wikipedia

Posted by Arman Rousta
Posted in blog, Graphic Design, green marketing, Interactive Marketing, Marketing Agencies, Public Relations, web development, Website Design, World | 1 Comment »
Tags: green web design, recycle, reduce, reuse, sustainable

Going Green – the 21st Century’s Biggest Corporate Trend April 15, 2008 – 1:04 pm				Arman Rousta

An old cliché is catching on in a whole new way

Dell’s ad campaign is just the latest in a string of “go green” initiatives that are seeking the favor of environmentally conscious customers by focusing on minimizing the negative effects that products can have on our world.

The idea of “green” and keeping the planet safe from the effects of pollution is as old as the ’60s, so why is it only now that major corporations have caught on? As with most things related to business, the answer lies in cash and in consumer demand. Over the past couple years, a small but strong set of customers have proven that they are willing to spend more money on products that benefit the environment, and they are more likely to shop with companies that do the same. That has sent a direct message to corporate America – going green is profitable.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by Arman Rousta
Posted in blog, Business News, green marketing, World | 1 Comment »
Tags: business, environment, go green, green marketing, technology, trends, twenty-first century