Here’s a quick Molson Canadian user experience case study.

In light of our recent great success on Molson Canadian’s “Gear Up For Gold” social media experience design (kudos to the team), here are some of the key steps why we were successful and how we can continue this momentum in future social experience:

Step 1 – What’s your social object? Make sure there is a “there” there. Give users a reason to rally. Why would someone come to your site?

Common objective: support Canadian team, support Canada.

Step 2 – Give people a way to identify themselves and to be identified.

Common Identity: Canadian

Step 3 – Give people something to do.

Common Task: Don the Jersey

Step 4 – Enable a bridge to real life (groups, mobile, meetings, face-to-face).

Common Link: Hockey fan base, groups and personal branding

Step 5 – Gently Moderate. Let the community elevate people and content they value.

Common Ground: Canadian hockey fan community

And one golden rule - what’s exciting for the user is almost always also best for the business!

Wired just released a demo they did with Adobe of how their magazine will live on the iPad (and other tablet devices I’m sure.)

With the magazine experience completely changing, the ad industry needs to start thinking about how the advertising in them will change to. Print ads are no longer just print ads, they are some form of hybrid print/video/banner/app. In the very near future, the definitions of the ads we create will no longer apply. We will have to create ideas that can live anywhere, no matter what the medium.

Can you see the squares marked A and B are the same shade of gray?

This proves we are contextual beings and our experience is dependent on perception of the surroundings…this is a key design principle on User Experience – contrast and context.

You can see the proof here:
http://web.mit.edu/persci/people/adelson/checkershadow_proof.html

As some of you may have noticed via my recent tweets (@jj_sullivan), I attended the annual Deloitte TMT Predictions this week.

Every year Deloitte recruits their 6000-strong global TMT practice to look at industry-leading research, information and insights to formulate hundreds of predictions for the coming year in Technology, Media, and Telecommuncations.  They present an overall shortlist as well as category-specific lists at events around the world this time of year.

There was also a great discussion panel with Chris Wormold from RIM, Charley Lax (huge VC investor in Canadian businesses), Paul Kedrosky @pKedrosky (big Canadian VC investor who’s moved south of the border) and Duncan Stewart, Director of Deloitte Canada Research.  You can recap some of the conversation on the twitter feed #TMTPred2010, just search for #TMTPred2010 on Twitter.

Info on each category and global predictions available here.

Another great bit is their report card on past predictions, at the above URL as well, as some of these predictions take longer to gestate than a year.  Last year they were 67% correct. Worth a quick read and scan of the link if you’ve got 10-15 minutes.

Some quotes:

“Good enough becomes better than perfect.”

“…it’s all about the mobile internet.”

“…[advertising buys] likely to experience the greatest growth are search, click, social network and cost–per-action. … most vulnerable to losing share to online are magazines and newspapers; radio and outdoor are in the middle, and broadcast and specialty TV/cable seem to be most resilient.”

Mag+ from Bonnier on Vimeo.

(via @fastcompany, @sluu, therobhayes.com)

Productivity apps have become necessary for anyone who has to compile research or keep information manageable. While crowdsourcing reviews from App store users is helpful, most users don’t offer more insight into apps than a hasty sentence. Productivity apps don’t seem so productive when you have to sift through blogs to find impartial, detailed reviews.

I spend a lot of time researching and testing apps. It’s time well spent for me, as it informs my work and gives me access to the best of what’s available. Here, in no particular order, are my three must-have productivity apps for knowledge workers:

1) Evernote: Alright. If this list were in order, this App would sit at the top. Lots of you probably already use Evernote on your desktop or online. It’s a simple, freemium program that allows you to clip and paste information from anywhere (ie. webpages, PDFs, Power Points) and add tabs. Evernote also has a free browser button that will clip a whole site along with images and a permalink. Evernote makes the text within your clippings searchable and allows for a filing system of “notebooks.”

There is simply no better way to keep track of everything you stumble across. The Evernote iPhone app lets you take the best of Evernote with you on the go. The clean interface allows you to access and search all of your Evernote notebooks wherever you are, and it’s easy to take notes or add photos using the iPhone camera within the app. It’s hard to overstate how great Evernote is. If I could only have one app on my phone, this would be it. Find out more here. (Available on iPhone/Blackberry/Palm/Android)
 

2) SnapTell: Many of us read a lot for work. Keeping a ‘to-read’ list can be daunting, especially when you need to compare titles and figure out what to buy or borrow.  I often find myself at the bookstore without a pen, staring at a book that would be perfect for me to read for _________ research once I’m done the next few books on my list, and vowing to return and purchase it later. In my experience, later really means never if you can’t note titles on the go. Enter SnapTell, a brilliant app that lets you photograph a book or DVD cover in-app. The app will sift through databases to identify the book by its cover and even give you pricing info from (mostly American) retailers. Reviews are also easily accessible. This app is a great example of the merits of doing one thing really well. (Available on iPhone/Android)

3) Twitterfon: A Twitter app? Productivity? Yes, really. For anyone who monitors brands on Twitter (or follows co-workers *cough*) this app will cut down on your Tweet-reading time. It’s also easily the best Twitter client for those looking to tweet on the go. I keep going back to this app because its simple, easy to use freemium interface is much nicer to interact with than those of other fancier apps. You can follow, unfollow add photos and retweet/reply to your heart’s content in-app. The best feature: it automatically scrolls down to the last tweet read upon launch. (iPhone only)

Sunday, 1PM might actually be the most anticipated day in Twitter’s history. Chad Ochocinco (ne Johnson), noted twitterer, dunce, and part-time football player has promised a twittering of epic proportions during the Bengals/Broncos game this weekend.

Recently, the NFL has adopted a game day social media gag policy, stating…

“The use of these sites . . . is not permitted during the game, including halftime,” the release states.  “No updates are permitted to be posted by the individual himself or anyone representing him during this prohibited time on his personal Twitter, Facebook or any other social media account.”

Ochocinco was not appeased by this one bit. In reality, he probably had no intention of twittering during this Sunday’s game. But like a child, telling him no only makes him want to do it more. Upon hearing the news, he replied…

“I’ve been really, really quiet, and there’s a storm coming Sunday … That’s one of the things that I do when I’m back:  I have something.  I keep you on the edge of your seat.

NFL, I would like to apologize to you guys early.  I understand.  I read all the fine print in the letters you sent, but I did find loopholes.  I found loopholes.”

So now the world is abuzz with the question of ‘how is Ochocinco going to tweet during the game?’

What makes this so interesting is that people aren’t talking about what he is going to say, because for better or worse he always got something to say, and this game will be no different. People are interested because of the medium. How will Ochocinco manage to tweet, despite the NFL’s iron-fisted ban on the practice?

Only time will tell, but I, like so many others will be following along both on tv and on twitter. So, 1PM Sunday, expect it to be a pain-in-the-ass to get connected to the service.

If only it was #85 who made the ‘getchya popcorn ready’ quote. It would be an awesome way to end this post.

(Thanks to the Mashable article Ochocinco to NFL: I Found Twitter Loopholes! for the info)

While conventional wisdom in the PR world dictates that it’s dangerous to declare anything a first, this may very well be the first time Gary Coleman has been seen in augmented reality. And perhaps, the first augmented reality Facebook app out of Canada? Hmm…who knows?

New York Fries, the ubiquitous Canadian French fry chain, is celebrating its 25th Anniversary this month, and to mark this accomplishment we enlisted the help of Gary Coleman. Yes, Arnold, from Diff’rent Strokes. Coleman was selected as a fun and iconic image from the era of New York Fries’ founding. He’s featured in special print, OOH and POP advertising celebrating the landmark anniversary with a line that reads, “After 25 years, some things are still fresh.” The highlight of the campaign is an augmented reality Facebook application that brings a 3-D Coleman to life on users’ computer screens, where he predicts their future freshness and provides a coupon for a cup of fries at the original 1984 price of $1.25.

Check it out at www.frycupfortune.com.

This fall the Canadian radio industry will undergo an important change in its audience measurement methodology. Previously audiences were measured by handwritten diaries. Now radio measurement has moved to the digital age with PPM’s (portable people meters). A PPM is an electronic device which panelists wear or carry. It works by capturing an inaudible code unique to a particular station. While PPM’s will be used for radio measurement initially, they will soon be used to measure TV in Canada as well.

While the initial equipment investment is high, there are many advantages to PPM technology.

· measures exposure rather than recall - doesn’t rely on respondent’s memory

· captures listening/viewing happening outside the home (e.g., radio in the car, sports on TV at local pub)

· passivity makes it much easier to recruit panelists

· data captured 52 weeks per year, 24 hours per day at 1 minute intervals rather than 32 weeks per year at 15 minute intervals

What is the predicted impact on measurement? Compared to the old radio measurement system, we can expect:

· more radio listening hours overall

· up to double the radio stations per listener

· a decrease in time spent listening per station

· higher listening reported among men and younger demos

· more stable listening across the day

· listening peaks during breaking news and sports events

The most important difference for media buyers is that different measurement methodologies yield different measurement results. The results based on diary and PPM are difficult to compare as the diary is based on recall while the PPM is based on real-time exposure to radio.

One way of looking at it is:

· 100 km/hour = 62 miles/hour

· 0 degrees Celsius = 32 degrees Fahrenheit

· Therefore, 1 diary GRP ≠ 1 PPM GRP

It is important to note that the audience size is not actually changing. The way it is being reported will be different than we are used to. Initially zig will work with conversion tables from tests using the new system to ensure that our spots are heard at the same level they were before the conversion. The learning we have from major radio markets undergoing the change this fall will help us when the change is implemented with TV in the future.

Sources: BBM Canada, CBS Radio Québec

I thought I would share this as it is freakin’ cool and will be hitting our market soon with the release of the iPhone 3GS.

One of the new features of the iPhone 3GS is the digital compass.  The combination of camera, compass, and GPS allows the phone to not only know where you are, but what you are looking at.
 
Enter Layar, described as the world’s first augmented reality browser.
 
Layar shows you what is around you by displaying realtime digital information on top of reality through the camera of the mobile phone. Just flip through the directory of layers and find ATM’s, bars, houses for sale, hotels and other cool stuff around you.

It is currently in development for Android devices, but they are working hard to port it to other platforms with a prime focus on the iPhone 3GS. The iPhone 3GS is the first iPhone to contain a digital compass which is required for such applications.
 
Check out the demo!

Very cool and something that we could start leveraging in the not too distant future.