A strong brand pays attention to details. A smart brand connects with the connectors in memorable ways that may not be readily quantifiable. A savvy brand knows that there are many factors involved in making something a hit or miss. Motorola is all of these and more when it comes to Droid.

On Android day, Cake Group put together an amazing event for Motorola’s Droid release. Their efforts went beyond the day of with connecting with various influencers beforehand to seed articles after the fact.

The branding brilliance comes into play with the attention to details. Customized shortened urls were created just for the event:

Press Release for Droid: http://bit.ly/MotoDroid
Link to Droid specs/product info: http://bit.ly/MotorolaDroid
Pictures from last night: http://bit.ly/MotoLaunchParty

The invitation was elegant, simple and overall top-notch:

What really set them apart was Motorola’s use of Foursquare in a relevant and timely way:

If that wasn’t enough, the piece that pulled it all together was the fact that the launch party took place in Morimoto, the famous Japanese restaurant. MoriMOTO, MOTOrola - very slight but very intentional and very effective.

With Motorola the attention is in the details. At every turn there was a robot, or droid, to reinforce that we were there in fact for the DROID launch. By the end of the party none of the robot droids were left, as they were almost as coveted as the DROID itself. Another small detail was the DROID branded photo-booth downstairs, which came with props like a giant inflatable 90’s-era cellphone and a raygun, as well as an alien backdrop.

Attention to details doesn’t stop after the party: I have it on good authority that Cake Group also added tips to every Verizon store on DROID day (11-6-9) to clue people in to the new Motorola DROID. While Foursquare may not be completely mainstream yet one thing is for sure – the people that ARE using advanced social networking services are the ones who are buying these new mobiile computing “phones”. With the proliferation of these advanced communication devices it’s only a matter of time before everyone is using one. Until then we have companies like Motorola and Cake Group who are using branding purposefully to guide us along the way.

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Via http://www.intersectionconsulting.com/

What do you want out of social media? If you’re looking for fun then it doesn’t really matter where you begin. If you are looking to utilize it to network professionally in some capacity then there is a very specific place to start with it.

Of course social media can and should be used as a reflection of your offline life, so more than likely you will have a good mixture of both pleasure and professional. That being said, here’s a great place to start if you’re looking to grow your professional network:

Sign up to Facebook, Twitter and Linked-in. Add relevant profile/bio info on all of them. Use your universal avatar on all of them. Since these are my three main social networks I generally change my avatar on all three to show an updated recent acceptable photo. All of my other networks have the same exact photo of me that isn’t the most recent one.

The most important thing to add to social networks is a clear, close photo that people can relate to. This isn’t the time to be creative or artistic. You can do that in other photos that are not your avatar. This is the photo that draws them in. Any other photos show your personality.

If you function online professionally you must have a professional link. Whether it be your website, blog or even JUST your Linked-in or visual cv  link, you MUST have a link that allows the viewer to find more information about you.

Once you’ve put all your information in your social network bios I would double check it for grammar, cadence and keywords. Keywords are important- ESPECIALLY on Twitter- because this is how people find you in searches on these sites. For example, if you’re in construction management you would put those two words plus any major relevant words in your bio. In your Twitter bio you only have 160 words to tell people who you are so it’s EXTREMELY important to get to the point and just list the major things you do with the specific keywords.

On Twitter it’s also important to talk about these topics often but not in a robotic manner. Be aware of your conversations and how you are saying something. There are people out there monitoring keywords in search.twitter.com for real-time mention of them so they can connect with like minds. There are also people who automatically add anyone who mentions certain keywords. There are many tools to monitor keywords mentioned in real time but I would start with a simple search.twitter.com  search to add people who are talking about what you’re interested in.

Join groups on Facebook and LinkedIn and become active in them. Once you meet new people in Twitter add them on Facebook and LinkedIn to further extend your relationships. Also, be sure to build your local connections (or connections where you travel often to) because nothing is more important than extending online relationships offline. Also, besides just extending online relationships offline, extend offline relationships online. Find out people’s social network information and add them right away if you can.

This is a beginning. You’ll learn more as you go. Just remember that your social networks are only as valuable as the time and effort you put into them. Every network changes as your relationships blossom. Cultivate them and soon enough you’ll begin to prosper.

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via engadget.com

Big black block, silver lining, rounded edges, a line for an earhole and a central button at the bottom. No I’m not talking about the iPhone. I’m talking about the new Nokia N97 mini.

Why innovate when you can just copy a surefire winner? Well because in the world of design and branding for products copycats are seen in a derisive light- especially for something as blatant as this.

If Nokia copied any other phone it wouldn’t have been as bad. In this case the iPhone is so distinct from other mobile devices that even mimicking slight features are noticed. Adding a pull-out keyboard doesn’t make it different.

Mobile devices like Microsoft’s Zune HD and Verizon’s DROID aren’t being pulled into the ’rounded rectangle’ trap and are still able to produce high quality, beautiful, buzzworthy devices. The next major cool-kid device won’t look like the iPhone. Apple already did that. Remember, nothing looked like the iPhone or the Sidekick or the StarTac when they came out.

Look for something completely different in style and functionality. I guarantee the next great mobile device won’t look like anything you’ve ever seen. You’ll be happy it doesn’t.

Posted via web from db’s digital branding database

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via engadget.com

Big black block, silver lining, rounded edges, a line for an earhole and a central button at the bottom. No I’m not talking about the iPhone. I’m talking about the new Nokia N97 mini.

Why innovate when you can just copy a surefire winner? Well because in the world of design and branding for products copycats are seen in a derisive light- especially for something as blatant as this.

If Nokia copied any other phone it wouldn’t have been as bad. In this case the iPhone is so distinct from other mobile devices that even mimicking slight features are noticed. Adding a pull-out keyboard doesn’t make it different.

Mobile devices like Microsoft’s Zune HD and Verizon’s DROID aren’t being pulled into the ’rounded rectangle’ trap and are still able to produce high quality, beautiful, buzzworthy devices. The next major cool-kid device won’t look like the iPhone. Apple already did that. Remember, nothing looked like the iPhone or the Sidekick or the StarTac when they came out.

Look for something completely different in style and functionality. I guarantee the next great mobile device won’t look like anything you’ve ever seen. You’ll be happy it doesn’t.

Posted via web from db’s digital branding database

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A necessary and brilliant move, Apple has added suggestions to their receipt to give a valid call to action. The only problem is the suggestions are based on what others who bought my selections also bought. While this is helpful in giving more suggestions I’d actually like suggestions based on what I bought that’s relevant to me.

Semantic technology may still be in it’s infancy but relevancy can be given based on many other factors. I personally don’t need an app to view my pet pictures on my Mac remotely (Clarus), a separate app to read a blog (Pali Research), and I certainly don’t need to track my neuroses (SymTrend). If Apple knew me they’d know that I don’t have a pet, am reading my blogs via my6sense now and have overcome neuroses long ago.

Tagging is a very simple technology that is successfully implemented by many brands. Foursquare has taken descriptive tagging to another level by crowd sourcing this task and rewarding for levels of input. If the ‘Give Work’ app was properly tagged it would’ve been able to suggest other apps that are similar in the social good, social change categories and crowd sourcing categories. I would even accept most recently added app suggestions, most popular in category, or even what other users in my area downloaded [which they can do because they have my address].

Suggestions are a step forward but these aren’t enough for me. For now I’ll keep archiving my iTunes receipts so I can search through my download history, as Apple doesn’t allow you to do that easily. If apps like my6sense can learn my preferences then surely a large company with vast resources like Apple can figure out how to do the same.

Posted via email from db’s digital branding database

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Facebook recently released a touchscreen optimized interface for phones such as the iPhone and android models. It’s interesting that even though Facebook is one of the most downloaded social networking iPhone apps that Facebook is still continuing to optimize the mobile web on many different fronts.

Considering they just launched their newly redesigned homepage in a more streamlined newsfeed focused way it makes me wonder if this addition is within their overall brand vision for their user interface and user experience.

One thing I DO like about the new Touch interface is the Phone section (Also notice the new notifications red icon in the upper left corner). It focuses on who you can call, as opposed to the mobile interface which focuses on all your friends and pointing out who has their phone number listed with a phone icon.

What do you think about the differences? Not enough? Too much? What other changes should be made?

Posted via email from db’s digital branding database

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via electronista.com

Seriously Burger King? Seriously Windows 7? This Is Why You’re Fat even reposted it on their site.

In a global economy with instant communications a brand must always be aware of the message they send in any local community. I’m not sure how this relates to the Windows brand at all. It may be ‘cool’ in Japan because it’s different (I’m not sure, I’m not there) but to me this is just a shameless cross-promotion that promotes unhealthy food choices.

A subliminal statement about Windows? Associating your brand with anything gluttonous and unhealthy nowadays just isn’t smart branding.

P.S. Read the comments on the original post at Electronista. Some of them are comedy gold.

Posted via web from db’s digital branding database

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Checking my Facebook fanpage updates I came across this update:

It basically says fans aren’t actually allowed to have fanpages anymore. Essentially what has happened is that fanpages have been cannibalized by brands as an official outlet for them over groups.

Why is this important?

1. It takes away your right to create, share and enjoy something socially with others
2. It enables a brand economy over a social economy
3. It adds a layer of authenticity for brands allowing them to protect their interests
4. It shows Facebook’s commitment to monetizing by looking out for brands

So if you want to make a fanpage for an established brand (personal or professional) the party’s over. Unless it’s an officially sanctioned fanclub run by the brand you’re out of luck.

Also important, there’s a three week authentication grace period.

P.S. If you look in the upper right corner I find it pretty apropos that Facebook is asking me if I know about Slash and want to be his fan, therefore I dub this technique of Facebook cutting fan fanpages as being ‘Slashed’.

#ChatPack P.S. This one’s for you Brett, as I know you’ve run into a similar situation with Mr. Easton Ellis’ people.

Posted via email from db’s digital branding database

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Web 2.0 Map, originally uploaded by Damien Basile.

This is what the Web 2.0 world looks like if it were laid out back to back in just icons.
A more in-depth look at what the websites are can be seen at my Flickr set Web 2.0. You can also find all of these websites at http://go2web20.net

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Recent reports have shown social media sites to be female concentrated. What about the rest of the internet? Women may be using social networks more but that still doesn’t account for all the other types of websites.

While social networks may be big with females, internet usage in the United States seems to be split about 50/50 with men and women:

• News outlets are the primary focus with males.
• CNet, Reuters, IGN, Time, Drudgereport are all predominantly male.
• Shopping destinations are the primary focus with females.
• JCPenney, CBS, Pronto, Pogo, Overstock are all predominantly female.

*All stats from Quantcast except for MTV, BBC.co.uk, Simplyhired, Pronto, Newsweek and Fancast which come from Google Ad Planner.

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