Personalizing Mobile Experiences – GPS and Sensors Need Not Apply

August 11, 2011 by

Terrific post over @paidcontent today:

http://paidcontent.org/article/419-mobile-advertising-personalized-ads-coupons-score-with-users/

Highlight:

According to a new survey, it’s not location-relevant advertising that is most valued by mobile consumers; it’s mobile ads that are personalized to a users’ tastes.

So, let’s look at our http://contentAI.com Mobile Retail demo with a virtual clerk.  In a couple of quick messages, the Brand derives market research data and the User is delivered a personalized mobile coupon specific to their needs that day, at that place, at that time.  All without GPS, accelerometers or Ouiji Boards.

Just ask them.

Filed Under: conversational mobile entertainment Tagged With: , , , , ,

QR Leads to AR’ish Experience without AR – Nice Mobile Campaign

July 29, 2011 by

This was an interesting post from @RickMathieson over at:

http://mathieson.typepad.com/genwow/2011/07/trident-lates-to-use-qr-talking-heads-video.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+GenerationWow+%28Generation+Wow%29

Showing a Trident print ad, with QR, that leads to an “AR’ish” experience without AR.  Near as we can tell, it’s just a video being pushed from the QR scan.

Here’s the Youtube link directly:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X62xhsDqdBQ&feature=player_embedded

What interests us about the format is how we could FIRST engage in a quick “chat” with the end user and then deliver, for example, one of ten, different videos so that it is a more unique and personalized experience for each end user.   It’s a very clever format to expand upon.  Let’s hope we see more uniquely mobile experiences coming off of QR codes (and NFC) rather than shrunken internet experiences.

How this could be applied to our mLearning apps is also interesting to consider – particularly, the ESL apps where we could add a pronunciation feature that would be fun and engaging for the children’s content.

 

Filed Under: converged media, ESLai.com, interactive story Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Mobile Experiences — Keeping it Personal

June 20, 2011 by

This post from @gomonews caught our attention this morning:

http://www.gomonews.com/your-mobile-device-phone-web-browser%E2%80%A6-secret-lover/

With this line standing out in particular:

“People are experts at “humanizing” their devices, attributing human characteristics, moods and behaviors to their communications devices. Now, it’s nothing like the connection you have with an actual person. You can never feel as close to your phone as you can to a real person. But those feelings are there, even if they’re only faded reflections of the real thing. And I think that advertisers and marketers would be wise to pay heed to that…”

How does this apply to our mobile content and platform?

http://contentAI.com – conversational mobile marketing and entertainment

http://ESLai.com – conversational mobile simulations for mLearning

It’s about 2-way communication that’s PERSONALIZED.  For mBooks, each reading can be personalized by the user.  For mCoupons, a User gets a coupon for their personal needs, not a one size fits all.  For mLearning, it offers the safety of practicing learning with a virtual character in a personalized conversation.

Mobile and personalization = peanut butter and chocolate.  Yum.

Filed Under: converged media, conversational mobile entertainment, ESLai.com, interactive story Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

More Thoughts on NFC — A New Mobile Lifestyle Story

June 16, 2011 by

We’re technology agnostic when it comes to “how” people reach our mobile content and interactive storied experiences.

But, we want the entire experience to be intuitive and part of a broader shift in how User’s perceive their mobile devices and what’s possible with it.

QR-2D Tags have tried to demonstrate how a “bridge” between the real-world and a mobile experience could happen.  But, the QR-2D industry is fairly fractured and haven’t told consumers a compelling story about why this is part of a new mobile lifestyle.

Along comes NFC. . .

Lots of collaboration and a lot of money (primarily because “payments” is going to be lucrative), but this crosses over to advertising, marketing and even mLearning — Because NFC ventures are creating a compelling story about how mobile devices are essential to someone’s daily lives.

We posted in detail about this over on:  http://contentAI.com/blog

There are  range of new initiatives that incorporate geo-data with NFC scans — all creating a new platform for mobile stories and engagement.  We believe that QR-2D ventures and platforms will benefit from the NFC story, provided they jump on board; rather than argue technology formats.

 

Filed Under: converged media, conversational mobile entertainment, interactive story Tagged With: , , , ,

Waiting on NFC – Triggering Mobile Entertainment Experiences and Stories

June 8, 2011 by

We spend an extraordinary amount of time discussing “how” people quickly and intuitively access mobile web sites – particularly those that incorporate our interactive narrative experiences.

Much of that discussion is around QR, 2D and image recognition coding – combined with printed URLs (and type recognition options!) – and, even sending SMS messages with URLs.

In the wings, with a building momentum, is NFC.

Most of the discussion is around “payments,” but, already the applications for mobile marketing are emerging:

http://www.trustedreviews.com/news/new-x-men-film-uses-nfc-advertising

http://www.mobilemarketingwatch.com/%E2%80%9Cnfc%E2%80%9D-%E2%80%93-not-always-synonymous-with-mobile-payments-15638/

http://www.nearfieldcommunicationsworld.com/2011/04/28/37158/hotels-com-and-new-york-times-back-nfc-advertising-venture/

While NFC can’t work in the print publications space, it does work when there is near physical proximity and that’s one of it’s pluses — It’s nearly tactile and is a physical gesture that’s simple and could become habitual.  Particularly, if the same physical habit and motion is used for payments, dare we project, this could become a “standard.”

The other theory that’s kicking around is how NFC will improve QR/2D campaigns.

What?

No, really.  NFC mobile marketing campaigns will bring in a whole different creative group and money to this space; and, many hybrid NFC/QR campaigns should emerge from this.  QR (or 2D) campaigns should improve and generate more traffic and awareness.

How does “conversational mobile marketing and entertainment” fit into the picture?

For us, it’s about being a part of intuitive mobile experiences.  2-way conversations (messaging) on phones remains User’s primary, habitual engagement.  If NFC fulfills the role of being the most intuitive format to reach our applications, that’s a good thing all around.

Certainly, as we envision the hypothetical cereal aisle full of children chatting with the characters on  cereal boxes via Mom or Dad’s mobile, NFC is going to make that an easier future to fulfill.

Filed Under: conversational mobile entertainment Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

zyntroPICS will be at Ad:Tech San Francisco – Let’s Connect

April 7, 2011 by

Interested in connecting in person during Ad:Tech in San Francisco from 11-13 April 2011?

Want to learn more about conversational mobile marketing, entertainment and mLearning  from the team?  We’ll be showing some private Beta demos with new features and discussing how our integration with apps will further expand the platform.

Yes, most of the emphasis of attending is on the contentAI studios side of the coin with regard to mobile marketing and entertainment.  But, we’re also looking at mLearning relationships that can reach a significant number of International users.

Pop us an email and let’s connect.

Filed Under: converged media, conversational mobile entertainment Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Conversational Mobile Marketing, Entertainment and mLearning – Fresh Thinking…

March 29, 2011 by

[Reposted from contentAI.com]

We attended the MobilePortland gathering last night that addressed Mobile as a Platform for Change.

It was an unusual tech event for Portland, in our opinion, because it (a) thought bigger, (b) inspired outside of the box thought, and (c) was global in scope — local events don’t always hit those points.

But, it was also sobering.

For all of the potential of mobile, it also reinforced the notion that most people involved in mobile campaigns or initiatives are sadly lacking imagination.  The “shrink the internet” work that permeates this space was highlighted as delivering consistent failures.  The utopian advertising ideals of entirely rethinking how ad-dollars can truly add value to a brand and the human condition was refreshing…though I suspect it’s a tough road to travel.

There are signs of hope eeking through.  The effort for mobile English learning in Bangladesh that was highlighted by National Geographic here:  http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2011/03/29/english-in-action-mobile-learning-in-bangladesh/ that converges a television show with mobile learning (“transmedia” anyone?) is a terrific read.  For contentAI studios and ESLai.com, this article and the efforts in Bangladesh represent the original impetus for creating the platform — Extending television properties to interactive mobile engagement, based on the most intuitive form of mobile interaction:  short, conversational text messages.

Additionally, it ties in with he application of our  platform for mobile English language learning at:  http://ESLai.com

So:

  • 5 Billion Mobile Devices in the World
  • 1 Billion People engaged in some for of ESL learning
  • Advertising dollars shifting to Mobile which could add real value to people’s lives and support the Brand

How to tie this all together?

These are great ingredients, now it’s time to figure out the recipe.

contentAI studios and ESLai.com are imprints of zyntroPICS Inc.

Filed Under: converged media, conversational mobile entertainment, interactive story Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Our Mobile ESL and Interactive Narrative Platforms – The Week

March 25, 2011 by

Fascinating week here.  The http://contentAI.com team wrapped  their http://ESLai.com conversational apps into Android with the http://appsgeyser.com online platform.

We’re anxiously awaiting AppsGeyser to tweak their platform so that the apps can be submitted into the new AMAZON Android App Store (whatever it will be called???).  Word is “about 2 weeks.”  In the meantime, the apps are already on the main Android Market, GetJar and a few others.

The news that BLACKBERRY’S tablet will be compatible with Android apps was a fascinating development in terms of some level of standardization emerging.  We hope more OS’s will allow x-platform app access.  We still highly believe in mobile web and a build-once strategy; but, the AppsGeyser solution allows us to leverage our single build but be found in multiple locations.

Finally, we were impressed with the Vid.ly “universal URL” offering to deliver optimized video across all mobile (and desktop) devices and platforms.  Very cool.  It also has an embed feature which is the first we’ve seen for mobile (though we’ve talked about it endlessly).

It’s great to see the mobile ESL efforts taking off.  Global traffic has increased on ESLai.com — and, the engagement analytics are terrific to review.  But, the real “perk” is reviewing the anonymous chat logs from the ESLai.com and contentAI.com mobile apps — Are we creating “believable” scenes between virtual characters and people?

You betcha.

Filed Under: converged media, conversational mobile entertainment, interactive story Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Interactive Narrative and Story for Mobile Web Enhancements

February 23, 2011 by

Our team at contentAI studios, in association with the Icona SpA partnership, have revamped the mobile web delivery platform to provide for a more robust graphical experience — And — Improve the User Navigation so that the UX is more intuitive and faster (faster on mobile is a good thing).

Screenshots?

Yup, we’ve got them here:

 

Check them out, and more, over at http://contentAI.com

Filed Under: conversational mobile entertainment, interactive story Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Near Field Communication (NFC) – Google Rolls into Portland for Retail

December 10, 2010 by

From our contentAI blog – We think about End User experience FIRST.  NFC is an emerging mobile “bridge” from the Internet of Things to mobile engagement.  We think it has some legs:

These are the days when being a mobile content technology and service are terrific.

Near Field Communication, which has languished and been plagued by security issues, is taking one giant step forward today with Google’s announcement of rolling out a limited program in Portland, Oregon at the retail level:

http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2010/12/cross-posted-and-excerpted-from-hotpot.html

Does this sound competitive to QR, 2D and Location Based (GPS) apps?

It is.

Will brands and advertising agencies be attracted to this?

It’s about the User Experience.

How simple and intuitive is the experience?

Being a Portland company, we’ll be trying this out and updating this post.  But, every indication is that NFC could be the next ‘really big thing” with mainstream mobile adoption.  RIM, Apple, Android, Nokia along with the major US carriers have all made announcements in the past month about their commitment to NFC at the OS, device and carrier level.

Filed Under: converged media Tagged With: , , , , ,