STAY COMM

On Thursday, December 3, six teams of six in five cities throughout the world participated in the Smartbox Hunt and had the pleasure of trying out several of their "experience" offerings during a competitive scavenger hunt.  Those of us in New York were fortunate to do the New York Skyride, learn how to arrange flowers at Arison Floral Boutique, take salsa lessons at Zamora School of Dance, and even explore Ripley's Believe it or Not in Times Square!  The good people at Smartbox fed us well at each stop, with delicious treats like breakfast pastries, gourmet sandwiches, and (my personal favorite) cheese, wine, and champagne to close out the event.  Smartbox invited bloggers, media professionals, and frequent users of social networks like Facebook and Twitter to participate in the Smartbox Hunt.

After spending a day enjoying Manhattan with Smartbox employees, who were enthusiastic participants and team leaders, I can say with confidence that this group of people knows how to have a good time and deliver an Unforgettable Experience.

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In today's world of information overload, getting the attention of a potential customer requires creativity.  It's true that email marketing continues to be an effective way to reach a massive number of customers and prospects at a time, but we are all familiar with the drawbacks.  Purchasing lists is expensive and often not targeted enough to be effective, and even opt-in lists within a company's database are subject to fatigue if marketers aren't careful.

Fortunately, the Internet gives organizations many avenues towards lead generation.  One particular strategy, creating contests to engage an audience and generate leads, is now feasible for companies of all sizes thanks to a few easy-to-use platforms that have recently emerged. 

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A few recent tech features have gotten us thinking - are we relying too much on technology?  According to these articles, your iPhone will be able to recognize images, baseball players' speeds and locations will be tracked, and artifical intelligence will fight terrorism!  Oh, and your brain could get hacked.

And it's all within the reach of innovation!

From Wired Science
The Next Hacking Frontier: Your Brain?

• In the past year, researchers have developed technology that makes it possible to use thoughts to operate a computer, maneuver a wheelchair or even use Twitter — all without lifting a finger. But as neural devices become more complicated — and go wireless — some scientists say the risks of “brain hacking” should be taken seriously.

From Mashable
The Future of the iPhone: Intelligent Object Recognition

• How would you like to be able to point your iPhone towards an object – the Eiffel Tower, for example – and instantly see the admission price, working hours, its height and other information?

From New York Time
With New System, Digital Eyes Will Chart Baseball's Unseen Skills

• A new camera and software system in its final testing phases will record the exact speed and location of the ball and every player on the field, allowing the most digitized of sports to be overrun anew by hundreds of innovative statistics that will rate players more accurately, almost certainly affect their compensation and perhaps alter how the game itself is played.

From Forbes
Can AI Fight Terrorism?

• Artificial intelligence (AI) applications in the field of counter-terrorism are among the fastest growing components of security programming for both government and corporate entities.

Years ago, traditional marketers viewed social media as a second-class, low-budget alternative to proper (and costly) branding.

By 2009, a company that wasn't harnessing the power of the Internet, particularly social media, as a marketing and branding tool would be at risk of falling to competitors who keep on their social media A-game. Yet until now, there has always been one integral caveat to trusting social media professionally: the inability to produce hard data and lack of analytics (read: tangible evidence that it works!).

Enter Viralheat, a startup that just made Mashable's "Spark of Genius" series with their affordable solution to tracking social media marketing campaigns.

From the Viralheat website:

• Monitor social media like never before. Viralheat tracks hundreds of video sharing sites, twitter, blogs, social networks, groups and forums in real-time
• Viralheat goes above and beyond monitoring by delivering analytics that help you optimize your outreach and engagement on social media platforms.

Watch their video tour and see for yourself how Viralheat can provide amazing insight into social media trends.  We're impressed.

Now check out the Viralheat website to search social trends for free!

Twittering away this morning, we noticed another Sponsored Definition on Twitter: Cin-e-ma Tweets.  Upon clicking, we were delighted to find that the link was to www.cinematweets.com, a forum sponsored by Bruno and Universal to promote the upcoming sure-to-be hit.

Using the Twitter API, Bruno created a space that displays his own Twitter feed, as well as a feed of comments posted by the Cinema Tweets audience.  The chatter isn't limited to Bruno, but Cinema Tweets asks that comments be relevant to the film industry.

Twitter is monetizing.  Twitter Sponsored Definitions appears to be making money by partnering with other applications that use the Twitter API.  Interesting, because Twitter is famous for claiming that it will not succumb to using advertising.  Maybe that's why they haven't been reporting on the new feature?

In all fairness, I don't think the advertising is quite invasive.  Twitter has been using the definitions feature for a while, so it's nothing new to look at and at least they are keeping it relevant.  Why shouldn't Twitter get a cut of the profits that others are making off of them?

STAY COMM plans to keep a watch on this; though we don't expect Twitter to move into the realm of intrusive, irrelevant advertising, we'll let you know if they do.  In the meantime, enjoy Cinema Tweets and hit up @Brunovassup to tweet with Sacha Baron Cohen Sacha Baron Cohen's Funkyzeit mit Bruno Freelance Copy Writer Twitter Personality.

Once the Bruno fad subsides, do you think they'll use Cinema Tweets for other blockbusters?  We're guessing yes.

One of the best things to ever come out of Canadia is this 2007 animated short, "I Met the Walrus" produced by Jerry Levitan who at the young age of 14 snuck into John Lennon's hotel room for what would become a 40 minute interview with the Beatles legend.

Though it's almost two years old, we were surprised at how little mainstream and viral video buzz it has received after sharing it with several devoted pop culture fanatics who had never seen "I Met the Walrus".  Thus, STAY COMM deemed it blogworthy.

Illustrators/animators James Braithwaite and Alex Kurina deserve big ups for capturing Lennon's stream-of-consciousness-like musings about revolution and peace in imagery.  The combination of pencil illustration and computer animation is quite unique, and even inspired Microsoft's "It's Everybody's Business" ads.

"I met the Walrus" was nominated for an Oscar this year but fell short of the win, however, the American Film Institude and the Middle Eastern International Film Festival both gave it the Best Animated Short title.

Recorded in 1969, the interview remains timeless as many of Lennon's words about war and the establishment are just as context-relevant today (Iraq) as they were then (Vietnam).