To give back to the web-development community, we are proud to sponsor Flash and the City. The brainchild of our web-dev leader Elad Elrom, this four-day, out-of-the-box conference will bring the Flash community from around the world together in New York City and redefine the way we share and marry artistic creativity with technological ingenuity.

To get an inside scoop on Flash and the City, we probed Elad with some questions:

1.  How did you come up with the idea of a Flash and the City conference?
Over the last few years I noticed that there haven’t been any large conferences in New York City. I have spoken to numerous people, from community leaders to Adobe’s evangelists. For the last couple of years, Adobe MAX has been in California, and there has been a real void for many professionals in New York City who would like to have a conference that allows them to be part of the Flash community. Additionally, I have noticed that in general many of the conferences are geared toward learning but do not have enough networking events. Flash and the City’s goal is to redefine the way we think about conferences as well as to unite A-list speakers with professionals in New York and other attendees from around the world.

2.  What are you most excited to hear next week?
Announcements during the keynote from our sponsors such as Litl and Adobe. Also some of the presentations that will be shown for the very first time during the conference.

I am excited about the venue as well. Instead of using a traditional hotel, we will be hosting the conference in an artist’s theater called 3LD (3-Legged Dog). 3LD is a technology center located in downtown Manhattan and is a thriving catalyst in the New York art scene. By hosting the conference in 3LD we will be supporting the artists.

3.  What are the top three things you want FATC attendees to leave with?
Networking
Attendees will have access to the City Track. The City Track is a completely new conference format, and the extracurricular activities will include a New York cruise and dinner, the rock/grunge band 22nd Century, and tours around New York City. I believe networking is one of the most important aspects of a conference; so networking with peers from the Flash community can only help our attendees’ careers.

Knowledge
Flash and the City is similar to other conferences in that attendees will get great value in terms of learning. They will receive two tracks for three days, and they can register for a workshop being held the day before the conference. In fact, attendees will have a chance to hear presentations from 50 speakers. These speakers are mind-blowing presenters that have made significant impacts on technology.

Inspiration
Attending the conference will gain attendees some insight of what’s being developed, what’s hot, what the trends are as well as the technologies that are worth learning.

4.  What is the new noise/buzz you hope will be created by the Flash community during FATC?
I think that now more than ever the Flash community needs to be united and show that Flash isn’t dead at all, and in reality we are creating exciting and amazing applications on many devices. FATC will show just that and allow the Flash community to have fun talking about technology and seeing what everyone is up to these days.

5.  How can people follow the conference?
Website: FlashAndTheCity.com
Blog: Blog.FlashAndTheCity.com
Twitter Account:  @flashandthecity
Twitter Hashtag:  #FATC

Highlights from the conference will also be posted here on the Sigma blog.  Stay tuned!

Click to read the full article

]]> http://www.sigmagroup.com/blog/archives/1382/feed 0 http://www.sigmagroup.com/blog/archives/1138 http://www.sigmagroup.com/blog/archives/1138#comments Fri, 22 May 2009 17:20:25 +0000 jkim http://www.sigmagroup.com/wordpress/?p=1138 THIS WEEK’S FUEL FOR THOUGHT - Take a short afternoon break with us!

No one loves snacking on great videos more than the folks at Sigma (BTW, we call ourselves “Sigmites”).  To us, it’s both an inspiration and a great escape—fresh thoughts to fuel new ideas, and as refreshing as a brisk walk on a spring morning.  So this week, we are rounding-up some of our favorites that we found during the past week.  See more in our Video Snacking lounge.

Death Cab For Cutie’s Little Bribes - We first found this video on Twitter.  @RossChing sent out this tweet and three days later, it’s been picked as Vimeo Staff Favorite and been viewed over 23K times. Good luck @RossChing, no need to “bribe” when you can crank out this kind of awesome work.

Blame it on Ringo - They say there are 4.2 million CCTV cameras in the UK and an average person is caught on camera 300 times per day (so they say…).  For the CCTV camera on Abbey Road, blame it on Ringo.

Obscura Mint Plaza Building – Projections are in 2D but when combined with 7 HD projectors, it’s sensational.

YouTube Mosaic – Made with 1.4 million tiles and thousands of unique YouTube video stills.  It’s definitely a one of a kind, maxing out YouTube’s annotation editor.

San Francisco Zoo’s Critter Quest – What a smart way to re-connect with locals and visitors, perfectly blending traditional media with digital.

Let it Shine – We’ve all seen Honda’s light show videos, but we really like the version on Vimeo. To get the perfect integration experience, view this one on Vimeo.

Thanks for tuning in… now get back to work and have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!

The grim destiny of brands/companies we know so well is unavoidable, as their downfall has stemmed from a variety of areas (lack of innovation and reluctance to change applying to many of them).  But while many will fail, many more will survive and come out even stronger.  It all depends on what we do along the way — including some key strategies for surviving and thriving in today’s business.  Starting this week, we will highlight each one.

Part 1:  Adapt to the Changes.
Know your current and emerging customers — their needs may have changed because of the downturn. Your service offerings, messaging and brand experience may also need to change in order to properly connect with them.

A fine example of adapting to change is Home Depot’s current focus on catering more to the everyday homebody/do-it-yourselfer to offset the decrease in the stream of builders and contractors. Here’s a selected list of marketing/sales efforts they are implementing to energize their business, as covered by Mercury News.

1. Power Hours between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., Monday through Friday, when sales associates are placed at the end of each aisle to assist customers who shop during their lunch hour.
2. Ladies Night Out classes geared to women with a common interest. At the store located at The Plant in San Jose, for example, female customers buying expensive tile wanted lessons on installing it themselves.
3. Free Weekend Clinics for Kids on how to build age-appropriate toolboxes, planters, derby cars and other projects, materials included.
4. Do-It-Yourself Workshops where homeowners are taught how to repair screens, paint, install plumbing and other tasks usually done by pros.
5. A Garden Club customers can join for access to master gardeners, project ideas, coupons and a buying guide for anything related to gardening.

So, what are you doing to adapt to the changes?  Share them with us.

1. Social Media Marketing: Getting with the Program – Sigma’s tips on the best ways for an organization to embrace social media
2. Five Phases of Social Media Marketing – Social Computing Journal listed out five distinct phases to successfully leverage a social media program: Discover, Strategy, Skills, Execution, Maintenance.
3. How-To: Search the Social Web – Ultimate Toolkit – Robin Broitman from Interactive Insights Group is best known for her Superlists and this is one of our favorites. She has gathered a wide range of free resources, websites and services that help you find, filter and monitor the social web.
4. AdAge’s Digital A-List 2009 includes a collection of reports on the innovators (marketers, media, products) currently redefining marketing relationships with consumers.
5. The Best Social Media Marketing – Compiled by Zeus Jones, this blog post rounded up some of the best SMM programs currently in the market.

SIGMA IN THE NEWS
A little plug for our agency. We are thrilled to be working with Water-Jel, our newest client and the world leader in emergency burn care treatment.

NEW DATA
Do You Know What Men Do Online? At last, a summary of male Internet users in the U.S. by eMarketer. Highlighted findings – 53% of males spent more than one hour per day on the Internet, compared with just 42% of females. Did you know that 15% of men have never been online?

AROUND TWITTERVILLE
One of the best advantages from Twitter is all the creative applications and tools that allow you to further profile, search and engage with this micro-blogging platform. Below are a couple of new tools we found this week that can be quite useful.

1. Twazzup – An alternative Twitter search engine. It has the basic functionality of search.twitter.com, but is faster, has a better UI and offers additional useful resources.
2. TweetBuzzer – Tracks the top 100 tweeted brands. We especially like the “Track Your Favorite Brand” feature, which summarizes the number of tweets and impressions during the past 24 hours, 7 days and 30 days.
3. In case you missed it last week, Mashable’s article on the 10 Most Extraordinary Twitter Updates is a must-read.

IMAGE OF THE WEEK
This one’s for our Friday Breakfast. Anyone want to serve this? Cooking Egg On a Macbook Pro.

To receive up-to-date Fuel for Thought tweets, follow us @FuelForThought and/or subscribe to our RSS feed.

What lessons and best practices are out there for marketers in this economy?  We’ve gathered few AdAge articles that provide great fuel for thoughts:

1. Philp Geier’s 10 Principles for Bad Times that Work in Good Times – Adapt, Motivate, Focus Efforts, Stay True To Your Vision, Communicate, Innovate, Seize New Opportunities, Integrate Marketing, Retain Credibility and Inspire Customers are 10 principles we should harness right now.
2. Study:  Cutting Spending Hurts Brands Long Term – Based on TNS Media Intelligence data that revealed  brands that cut spending in downturns lost shares to private labels.
3. Don’t Damage Your Brand for Short-Term Gains in a Recession – Reminds us that marketing is a long-term proposition and brands that change strategies to cope with short-term problems can bring on irreplaceable damage.

SIGMA IN THE NEWS

Last week, our humble ad agency in Northern NJ was featured on CNN and this week on ABC.  What’s all the buzz about?  It’s Creativity Saves Jobs and Inspires Empolyees as explained by Shannon Morris (President, Sigma).

NEW MARKETING & ADVERTISING DATA

1. IAB reports Internet advertising grew 10% last year, outpacing TV. Search advertising dominated with 45% of total online advertising market share, followed by display ads, classified and rich media/digital video.
2. Jay Sears from ContextWeb points out at SES-NY that only 5% of consumer’s time is spent searching.  Therefore if you only use search to reach your online audience, you are missing 95% of opportunities.
3. A recent study by McPheters & Company found that in a half hour period, magazines deliver more than twice the number of ad impressions as TV and more than 6 times those delivered online.
4. Borrell Associates reported that last year, local TV station sites surpassed newspapers in 22 of 80 markets in terms of unique visitors.

WEEKLY TIPS

Mashable’s 5 Tips for Optimizing Your Brand’s Facebook Presence offers the right way to create a profile, how to show different content to Fans and non-Fans and much more to maximize your presence on Facebook.

AROUND TWITTERVILLE

1. During the past year, Twitter has grown 1,200% in members.  It seems everyone’s joining the Twitter bandwagon, but is Twitter right for you?  Here is a great article on the Top 10 Reasons Your Company Probably Shouldn’t Tweet (if you have any one of them on your list).
2. The first Twitter scavenger hunt (hosted by HostelBookers.com) is taking place around Europe this week.   Join the hunt or follow the journey.

INTRODUCTION TO…

This week, we introduce just one site – SingleFunction.  This website showcases a variety of sites that have one purpose and one function.  Go check it out.  I found a lot of neat single function websites.

VIDEO SNACKING

The Brilliance of Shepherds by Samsungis the video pick of the week. Additional viral video ad campaigns are posted here and please keep in mind that ‘viral is a result, not a goal/strategy‘.

To receive up-to-date Fuel for Thought tweets, follow us @FuelForThought and/or subscribe to our RSS feed.

1. When web search began, marketers used paid search and SEO to make content findable on their own web pages.  Today, it’s not just what’s on a page or who links to it; it’s how it relates to the user’s personal networks.  Social Media Means for Search provides a great view into how the traditional search is converging with social media.
2. A refreshing article from the NY Times on how some marketers are staying true to both their brand and their customers through new product innovations
3. A recent Hitwise press release states that Google leveraged 72% share of searches in Feb-09.  The report also noted that longer search queries are becoming more popular (20% increase for 8-plus keywords) and search engines continue to be the primary way Internet users navigate to key industry categories.
4. A couple of new reports on mobile web were released last week.  Highlights include:

• comScore’s Mobile Internet Becoming A Daily Activity For Many:  The number of people (63 million) using their mobile device to access news and information on the Internet more than doubled from January 2008 to January 2009.
• AdMob’s Mobile Metrics:  iPhone makes up 50% of U.S. Smartphone web traffic.

GREAT RESOURCES

1. Creating a Soundscape in Flash/AS3 by our resident Senior Interactive Designer, Joe Schorn offers a step-by-step guide to creating Soundscape classes.
2. Social Media Marketing Industry Report by Michael Stelzner is based on surveying close to 900 marketers.  The report covers the benefits of social media, how much time marketers are investing, how time invested impacts results and top social media tools.

AROUND TWITTERVILLE

1. Although Twitter was originally intended for communication among individuals, businesses are actively participating on the platform.  A recent report from Gartner highlights four different ways companies are using Twitter for business.

• Direct: The company uses Twitter as a marketing or public relations channel.
• Indirect: The company’s employees use Twitter to enhance and extend their personal reputations, thereby enhancing the company’s reputation.
• Internal: Employees use the platform to communicate about what they are doing, projects they are working on and ideas that occur to them.
• Inbound Signaling: The company uses Twitter to gather information about what customers, competitors and others are saying about the company.

1. Developed by Federated Media and sponsored by Microsoft, ExecTweets launched as a beta last week.  The site aggregates and groups Tweets from business executives by verticals and offers additional features to easily keep track of brands/executives on Twitter.

INTRODUCTION TO…

We’re focusing on some cool and free collaboration tools this week.

1. Box.net is an online file system that allows users to store, access and share files remotely.
2. OfficeZilla is a free project management tool that allows your organization to share calendars, files and contacts, as well as create forums and discussions.
3. EtherPad is a real-time collaboration tool that lets multiple people work on the same text simultaneously.

VIDEO SNACKING

This week’s video is from @davemorin  – “How do you create one of the best brands in the world? Customer service is #1 plus give your employees trust and creativity.”

To receive up-to-date Fuel for Thought tweets, follow us @FuelForThought and/or subscribe to our RSS feed.

1. During these turbulent times, we all need some good brand-building advice. Time for a Brand Stimulus Package: Invest Now in Building Brand by MarketingProfs is an excellent article that points out the new 7Ps of Branding to survive the downturn.
2. Is mobile advertising moving from experimental to essential? At a recent digiday:Mobile conference in NY, Nielsen stated that the popularity of smartphones is driving consumption of mobile content of all types. Key findings: 145 million mobile media consumers, with 127 million using SMS, 70 million downloading mobile content, 48 million using the mobile Internet and 12 million using mobile video.
3. Is the Internet getting gray? eMarketer reported that more older Americans are going online than ever before. Key finding: Adults 55+ accounted for nearly a third of Web audiences in late 2008.
4. Nielsen Online found more Americans are using social networks and blogs than e-mail. However, eMarketer cautions marketers as a study performed by IDC found that 43% of Social Network users never clicked on ads, and only 11% of those who did actually purchased anything, while 80% of non Social Network users clicked on ads with 23% purchasing.
5. With all the talk about bailouts and the huge U.S. debt, did you ever wonder what one trillion dollars look like? Here’s a really good visualization.

VIDEO SNACKING
A little plug for Sigma. Recently we launched our Panasonic Toughbook TV commercial.  Let us know what you think.

Toughbook for a Toughworld from Sigma Group on Vimeo.

The next video completely left me speechless. Watch it carefully to the end as the amazement unravels halfway into the video.

AROUND TWITTERVILLE
Everywhere you turn, someone is talking about Twitter, from celebrities to CEOs to politicians.

Below is a list of interesting articles and trends we observed last week on Twitter:

1. Twitter Demographics (42% A35-49 | 53% Women | 82% Caucasian | 27% $100K+ HHI | 7MM unique visitors in Feb-09)
2. How and Why to Launch a Business Presence on Twitter
3. The Cisco Fatty incident last week was the sixth trending topic on Twitter.  It was a good reminder that whatever you say on social Web, you are accountable for—just like in the offline world. Just remember that once you send out a message on Twitter (tweet), there is no way to retrieve it back.

While on the subject of Twitter, to receive up-to-date Fuel for Thought tweets, follow us @FuelForThought on Twitter.

INTRODUCTION TO…

1. Last week, Google launched interest-based display advertising on their partner sites and YouTube.  Some are in favor, while others are concerned.  You have the option to either add interest categories to get more relevant ads, or opt out of this service.
2. We frequently get the question – “How much should I spend on advertising?” While there is no definitive answer,  Business Week offers some good sound advice.
3. Nielsen reported that an average U.S. Internet user went online 57 times, visited 105 domains, viewed 2,405 web pages and spent nearly 61 hours online in February 2009.
4. In the early 1980s the chant was, “I want my MTV!”. Today, it’s “I want my Video”.  Highlighted findings include:

• comScore reported that in January-09, U.S. internet users viewed 14.9 billion online videos.  There were more than 147 million online users watching videos online and an average user viewed 101 videos (356 minutes) in Jaunary. Google Sites (which includes YouTube) captured 43% of online video market share.
• In February-09, Hulu shot ahead of Yahoo and MySpace as the No. 2 video site in the U.S. with 309 million video views.  Hulu gained 33% surge in traffic fueled by a Super Bowl ad.

VIDEO SNACKING

1. Have you seen Joshua Allen Harris’ Inflatable Bag Monsters?  What a fantastic street art performance.
2. Although this is not a video, New York Time’s mapping of Twitter chat during the Super Bowl is quite amazing.

INTRODUCTION TO…

1. TrackingTwitter A nifty twitter tool that tracks top brands, TV, celebrities and entertainment.
2. Addictionary A fun site for those who like to see our language grow.  It’s Urban Dictionary with a social media twist, where users submit and vote on new words.
3. LogoFi Need inspiration on logos or want to show off your new logo?  Logofi is the place to be.
4. Exactfactor A free tool that tracks your website positioning in popular search engines.
5. 12seconds.tv An easy way to share what you’re doing with your friends through video.

POTPOURRI

1. Chances are you know someone who is affected by the ecenomic downturn and is currently unemployed.  Below are links to great tips and suggestions that may help them recover.

• Mashables’ The top 10 Social Sites for Finding a Job

• OEDB’s How to Ace Your Job Interview

PAST WEEK’S BUZZ

1. Social networking is no longer a youth phenomenon.  comScore finds more than 50% of Facebook users were over 35 years old.
2. Searching for new customers in the recessions?  eMarketer finds that they might be hiding in plain search.
3. TV viewing is at all-time high with an average viewer watching more than 151 hours of TV per month.
4. We said our good byes to Rocky Mountain News, 55 days shy of their 150th anniversary.
5. A little plug-in for Sigma Group.  Shannon Morris (President/Partner, Sigma) reflects on 2008 as one of the best years for new business growth.
6. The most talked about website last week was Skittles.com and if you missed it, here is a great wrap-up POV when they aggragated Twitter feed into their homepage.  After much testing, Skittles decided to keep Wikipedia for brand’s homepage.
7. Although controversial, sponsored conversations are here to stay and Jeremiah Owyang shares some insightful fuel-for-thought.

GREAT DOWNLOAD REPORTS

1. A comprehensive report on Three Screens – Television, Internet and Mobile Usage in the U.S. by Nielsen.
2. Released in Jan/09, the comScore 2008 Digital Year in Review offers a wealth of information.

FUEL FOR THOUGHT BLOG POSTS

1. Social Media Marketing:  Getting with the Program Jennifer Kim (VP, Integrated Strategy @ Sigma) offers tips and suggestions on best ways for organizations to embrace social media marketing programs.
2. All you need is LOVE: An inspiration blog post by Shannon Morris (President/Partner @ Sigma) on Sigma’s core values – being in love with each other, our clients, vendors and client’s customers.
3. Papervision Optimization:   If you are a web designer, Joe Schorn (Sr. Interactive Designer @ Sigma) this article includes great tips on how to best use Papervision within the current abilities of Flash player.

VIDEO SNACKING

1. Submitted by our resident Sr. Designer, Skye Leith, this video is awe-inspiring
   
   .

INTRODUCTION TO….

1. Rate IT All Provides a simple interface for searching out your favorite products and hear what others say about it.  Think of it as a product-focused YELP.
2. BlogCatalog Helps you discover your next favorite blog and any topic of your interest.
3. LOVELY CHARTS An online tool for creating diagrams and charts.  If you’re a novice at Powerpoint this may save you lots of time creating diagrams.
4. TRACKUR Offers tools to measure and monitor your online reputation in social media.  Sign up for a free trial and see how your brand is being conversed.

For more information and up-to-the-Tweet news, follow FuelForThought on Twitter. To find a full archive of Fuel for Thought Weekly Round-ups as well as our thoughts/perspective on today’s marketing and advertising, please visit Sigma.