I attended a conference by DMAS sometime ago and it was about using User Generated Content as a marketing tool. The speaker, Kim Diamond from Bazaarvoice made a very good point  – NOBODY TRUSTS MARKETEERS ANYMORE. I think this is extremely true and being in the industry myself, I can’t help but to think that everything you see out there is a marketing gimmick. How likely are you to buy a product just by looking at a microsite or promotional advertisement? Compare that to listening to a friend wax lyrical about this great mp3 player or movie that he recently saw. I’d go with my friend as that is a form of endorsement and I trust my friend more than I trust what the brands are telling me. One of the participants pointed out local foodie guide, Hungrygowhere.com (which I realised has now expanded to HK, KL, Sydney AND Melbourne).

Thanks to user reviews and ratings, it is now my No. 1 trusted site to look at before I decide where to go for a meal.

One of the features I liked on the site is the function for staff of that eatery to post a reply when someone comments about a disatisfactory experience. It’s much faster and enables you to “douse the fire” quickly. Platforms like hungrygowhere are good to have for businesses dealing with customer satisfaction and service. It not only allows you to get feedback from your consumers, but is also a self-promotion tool that requires not a lot of effort from the business owners.

I had been anticipating the Video Games Live concert for a few months, and I was not disappointed. The 2 key takeaways I had from the concert was:

#1 “video games music was just a series of bleats and toots.”

#2 “video games music is believed to make people more violent.” (the reply from the audience was ‘kill those people!’, but well, you know…)

The transition is obvious – when you had those 16bit games like Tetris, the music that had to go along had to be restricted to simple MIDI sequence as well. Music was never an important part of the game, it was a constant, irritating loop that you switched off to most of the time. (Think Tetris, Pac Man)

You have probably never even thought Super Mario would eventually be showcased in a concert hall with thousands of fans screaming for an encore. (Ask anyone, and they can hum that tune for you)

And it is amazing how the number of concerts these organisers do doubles by the year – a clear indication of how gamers has come to appreciate in-game music more and more.

Before the official start of the concert, there was a pre-festival where we could go round the booths collect goodies and watch the pre-selection of the Guitar Hero contestants.

During the concert, besides the usual symphony (did I say there was a harp on stage? It has the most exotic ensemble I’ve seen so far), the organisers have also slotted in mini programmes such as a Guitar Hero contest (here you see the 700 hit combo and you know how madly they have practised for it…), a Space Invaders challenge (a member of the audience has to move real time to shoot those enemy spaceships. Wow.), Cosplays (not very fantastic participants but at least we saw fantastic ones on screen during the encore), Lucky draws (i want the DSi!) and many, many special performances. Martin Leung was blindfolded and still managed a lightning fast playing of Super Mario on the piano, and did a wonderful FF medley. The emcee and the conductor started playing guitar to Chrono Cross music and the composer of Metal Gear Solid blew us off with his saxophone performance. 

Those people who have always believed #1… you are sorely mistaken. Even singers are starting to catch on to this platform – for those who remembered when Granado Espadas first launched, it caught on such a craze that this Chinese song called ‘Fu Huo’ (or ‘Rebirth’) was developed with an MTV that centers on the characters in a game. Famous Japanese singers such as Ayaka, Angela Aki and Koda Kumi were also used in the FF series. Together with the high definition and beautifully rendered graphics we have these days… you will be stunned at how 3D characters are given more life and evoking more emotions that you could ever imagine.

And for #2, well, let’s wait till my next post then. (“,)

For decades, Apple and Sony have been fighting to conquer the consumer space.

In the early 80s, 90s, Sony’s strength was in The living Room (TV, HiFi….) Then, step by step introduce digital features and communication through the various elements (such as memory-stick, firewire, computers) to bring digital into the Living Room.

Apple has similar strategy but from the opposite approach. From a strong computer angle, Apple introduced step-by-step multimedia features and what they called ‘the digital Hub’, where every portables devices or multimedia equipments are to be connected through the computer.

Today, the war has started again with the recent announcement of the two new flagship toys from respective brands:

iPhone 3G S vs PSP Go.

We are not going into a technical description of those products; you can refer to the two brands websites here, here, here or here

However, let’s have a quick overview of the features and their strategic / consumer impacts.

iPhone 3G S

DRAMeXchange has forecast that shipments will reach 9 millions in 2H09, but the achievement deeply relies on a deal between Apple and international operators.

Despite all the hype related to the products, I am a bit disappointed by the new announced features. In a summary, iPhone 3G S is bit better and faster with more friendly features like compass, voice control, a camera for video and the most important one, MMS support. Additional features like improved search are thrown into the box at the same time.
-This is not a revolution but an improvement, when we would have maybe expected a new version (smaller like an iPhone nano) or bigger in case you are looking for iPhone tablet for example.

PSP GO

This is a complete new model that changes drastically Sony business model and product. Sony aims to revitalize its lagging sales with PSP Go.

No more UMD but 16GB storage to download games and soon music + movies from the PlayStation store. Additional features like Bluetooth support and sliding control panel are part of the renewal. Best of it, the game will be launched with Little Big Planet, Grand Turismo and MGS !!!

The battle has been move to the portable field. However, this time, tactics have been inverted….:=)
Apple owned the space and introduced more multimedia features into their product (iPhone/iPod range) with features application, games support…
Sony in parallel, is coming from the game side and is joining Apple in the middle by throwing in multimedia features, downloadable apps in future + movie.

Sony is taking a very risky but ‘potentially’ profitable approach and want to ride on the ‘Apple store apps’ wagon. By introducing a streaming device, they will most probably get in conflict with the retail channel but hope to get extra revenue and limit cost of distribution.

It is unclear at this point of time how consumer will react to the loss of UDM (for those who have lots of discs) and how the regional legislation will be implemented. We hope that, from a consumer point of view, it will focus on our needs….

QR code, the interactive square

What does QR code bring to your mind? Unless you’re Japanese or aware of the marketing technology trends, not so much I assume.

Literally meaning Quick Response, the QR code is the most promising 2D barcodes format. They are capable of encoding non-ASCII characters, along with URLs, telephone numbers, SMS messages and even binary data. Over its high encoding capacity, its accessibility from your phone, its cost efficiency and the easy way it is generated (free software on internet, ) make it a really interesting marketing tool.

How it works ?

Very easy, simply screen the code with your phone, wait for analyze, and then get redirected on the webpage or information page linked to the code.

To be able to read the QR, your phone will have to be equipped with a QR reader (one of the most famous I-nigma) a small software that you can easily find for free on internet (compatibility depends on your phone)

Born in Japan where more than 90% of inhabitants (all their phones come with QR reader by default) use them and widely adopted in Asia, they are now making headway in Europe and the Americas.

Some of European companies have recently launched marketing campaign based on the use of QR code. Pepsi UK printed it on their cans to attract the consumer on their website. Once on their webpage, the customer should be able to download game, attend to some lottery, and get information.

The famous Ralph Lauren brand has also decided in 2008 to launch a QR campaign. Initially made for the “US Open” event it was settled to redirect the consumer their online tennis shop. Later they extended the QR to their Rugby range product, as a proof of the success.

Those examples are very isolated and despite all the advantages that QR can provide as a marketing tool, it had really hard time catching on outside Japan and Korea. First, there is the lack of awareness from the consumer. If you don’t know the QR code, it will look like an ordinary barcode without any big interest. That’s the main issue companies have to face, they have to educate their consumer to make the technology efficient.

The technological side is a barrier also; if most of Japanese mobiles have the QR reader settled by default, most of non Asian country will have to download it on internet. The reader may change regarding the model and the brand of your phone.

Nevertheless, QR codes have a huge potential. With the development and the globalization from the mobile network and technology you should soon see QR popping up around you, if companies manage to find innovative way to use them.