Internet & Sons

Well, that didn't take long. Less than a month and two days since my post about the new Adidas miCoach bold move to offer their own version of the Nike+ for free for the iOS platform, and today, Nike+ get back to the game with Nike+ iOS app that allows you to start experiencing the benefits of a Sports Monitoring system without committing for external $60 Nike+ sensor. This app is priced at $1.99 while Adidas's is free, though I suspect with such low prices, people would probably go for the brand name rather then the price. Moreover, I liked Nike's approach of not giving the price for free, differentiating the men from the boys. 

Here are some pictures of Nike's new iOS app:

(download)

Click here to download:

as-ron-burgundy-would-say-escalated-quickly-nike+-fights-adidas-back-wpiHwIhlnitgFkgyvCAF.zip (265 KB)

I bet the guys at Adidas miCoach did expect it a move from their competitors, but I don't think any of them expected it to be within a month and two days. 

Adidas, your move.

For the past two months now, I've been talking with people in the marketing industry on my favourite topic, know by the people as Branded Utility, or Marketing with meaning or Marketing as a Service. During these amazingly exciting times with these unbelievably smart and gifted people I've many times of Holy Grail project, the one that is mentioned pretty much in every blog post and every book about the topic, the Nike+. The product was massively important to the Nike; the amount of free publicity it got is immeasurable  (or is it... maybe do a paper on that). In addition to that, it made a huge impact on the company itself, adding a layer of technology oriented products to a sporting equipment company. And not to mention the impact it did on the jogging/running industry and the experience in general.

Though I want to mention today another super duper Branded Utility, Google Maps. After Google made a huge chunk of money, many wondered what they would do with it, what would be their next line of products and what would be the firm’s next buyout. It started developing and offering strange software product, and started buying nontrivial assets: Google Earth, Blogger, Picasa, Google Desktop and many many more. At the time, everyone wondered about Google’s strategy, for the business people, it didn't seem right. They were just throwing money around in panic, they said.

But lets look at Google Maps and at how much it grew throughout the years, what is the purpose of such a product for the company?. At the time they might have thought that they can turn it around into a profitable business faster that it actually does. Well it might become one, maybe even soon. But until now, it has been the perfect Branded Utility ever created. Its light colours and simplified interface are graceful yet playful (just like the Google logo) which enforces the company’s perceived brand and values, but more importantly, it is usable. And massively. In fact, in today's blog post by Google, it states that Google Maps had passed the 100m users a month milestone with just its mobile users!

Unfortunately I could not find the exact sum of buying ZipDash, Keyhole, Inc., Endoxon and ImageAmerica, the four companies that served as the base for Google Maps, but my estimates would circa $100m over a period of five years and still left with some change. Considering even adding development and support for the product, we might even double that. Now lets take another piece of interesting data, the business insider's chart dated May 2010 showing How Much Tech Companies Spend On Advertising:

What’s interesting is that Google allegedly doesn’t spend almost any money on advertising, especially comparing to the other boys, but is that true?

I think Google is just tapping in to the new stream of advertising I so passionately support. Advertising through people’s experience. Letting an over the top satisfied customer, be the driver and advocate of your business. If we look at the bottom line, at a fraction of the cost, they are buying consumer usage and belief and further down the road, a revenue-making asset that will no doubly find itself as one of the companies most earning products. 

TBWA\Tequila Hong Kong and Levi's Hong Kong has invented a new way for youth audiences to express themselves with Soundwash, a concept developed for its Square Cut collection featuring five new styles of jeans. 

Soundwash is a multi-dimensional interactive brand and music experience that lets the audience choose their favorite jeans style and then "Soundwash" the jeans to their favourite style of music including rock, hip hop and canto pop across multiple platforms.

Creatively, Soundwash cleverly rediscovers the authenticity of the classic American laundry and collides it with cutting-edge music styles to create a completely original brand experience using a Soundwash "machine".

The concept is supported by limited edition packaging and gift accessories, a special Soundwash Laundry pop-up store in high traffic Tsim Sha Tsui, a branded iPhone game app, website and online viral video featuring local music band "Mr".

The Soundwash iPhone app includes a highly engaging game where friends can compete with each other and see who can Soundwash the most number of jeans in 30 seconds. The top scorer of each week will receive a pair of Levi's Square Cut jeans. 

(download)

Click here to download:

adidas-micoach-a-year-old-device-gets-a-free-iphone-and-android-promotion-version-CajzrmonhFmvBeisvoHw.zip (39 KB)

The reasons for not purchasing such a device, is as always, our uncertainty of our intentions and our devotions. Simply put, we're not sure we're going to use the product, and if we will indeed benefit from using it.

So... Here we go.

With my new mission shaped up and hopefully articulated clearly (i'd love your comments on that), I'll start posting some of my past and more contemporary notes that have led me to this blog and I current passion.

I'll kick of with a relatively new product, GE Mood Cam. 

Since their description is so eloquently written, I'll just copy-paste from it. You'll get the point:

The GE Mood Cam™ app allows users to snap pictures of indoor environments, such as a kitchen, living room or bedroom, and change the mood of the room by sliding the Moodometer™ tool to adjust the look from warm (cozy) to vibrant (energetic/creative).

The free app provides a Three-Step Bulb Finder that helps users quickly find the right light bulb for the right fixture. Users can produce a shopping list of bulbs that will create a particular mood, and save the list in an at-a-glance format for simple viewing in the lighting aisle of their favorite store. They can also email themselves their custom photos and bulb shopping lists for even easier reference at the store. Insider design tips are offered to help round out the user's vision for a mood-inspired room. 

“At its core, this app helps to emphasize for iPhone users how lighting is as important as the paint, furniture and other décor in a room,” adds Sroub. “The advent of general lighting with LEDs and the ever-increasing variety of CFLs now available to consumers can make navigation of the lighting aisle pretty daunting. We're here to help consumers better understand how to do more with lighting in their homes. We're empowering them.” 

Core Product/Service: GE Light bulbs
Addition: Design and Experience choices before you buy
Borrowed from: Paint Catalogue 
Price: Free 

I'd love to know who initiated this idea, was is a wiz-kid at GE or was it an agency driven, if you know, just comment or send me an email to: tal[at]internetandsons[dot]com

Inspired by some facebook thoughts in from Asi Sharabi yesterday, I had some myself.

I've stumbled upon some interesting picture in the Tube the other day:

I'll start by a proper disclosure. I don't really like Facebook, actually I kind of hate it. As a Microsoft user I know the paradigm, I'd thought all of their UI cumbersomeness (is that a work?) is just legacy driven by "don't bother users with major change". But Facebook it seems, just lack genius in design. Each iteration is a step forwarrd, but dude - as much as I like computers. I always preferred the geeky guy rather than the nerd, and I think most people agree on that.

 In order to strengthen their position, Google should start considering a breakout strategy. Personally, I think they need now to shift from their old Nerdiness to the Geek Chic of our times. But what is Geek Chic in computers? In my opinion:

1. Friendlyness
2. Playfulness
3. Humility
4. Invent your style over and over again. if you're a visionary style should be innovative just as other part of your business.
5. Ohh and Glasses of course

Android is a way forward. Google Theme background is another. But lets face it, Google is functional and many of the users are not "Googlers" (google users with emotion to the brand) but rather just a google user. This I think, needs to be fixed.