Archive for the ‘Social Media’ Category

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  • Sep
  • 02

QR Codes and TV – What’s the Deal?

Posted in Advertising, Image Search, Mobile Marketing, Shopper Technology, Social Media

Today I came across an article which discussed how 2-D QR Codes are beginning to “creep” their way onto television screens. Want to know what we here at Pongr think about QR codes, not only on television, but in general? In the words of the immortal Pauly D of Jersey Shore, “It’s too cold to creep!” Still don’t know what a QR code is?? Read this. I know, these things are tough – it’s not your fault.

Pretty sure this building used to look a lot nicer without a big barcode on it... a sexy model or product logo would be much prettier.

After reading about this a little more, I decided to take it upon myself to make a list of the problems I see associated with the use of QR codes in television programming. I mean, it’s not like you were going to do it….

1.  The technology is limited only to people who own smartphones. You can only read the QR code if you download an application. According to a survey I read, only 16% of people living in the US own a smartphone as of May 2010.  Not enough.

2.  You have to have DVR to take a snapshot of a QR code in the appropriate amount of time. Listen – we can’t all be (insert name of famous photographer cause I don’t know any besides Walter Iooss, and I still can’t even pronounce his last name after 30 years), can we?? If you don’t have DVR, and you want to be on the cusp of innovation like The Weather Channel, you could use a clock showing a countdown until the QR code is displayed. Seriously, a countdown!! I’m pretty sure shot clocks were created for basketball games, not television advertising.

3.  If they want to use the QR code, it has to be in the corner of the program for a certain period of time, if not the entire time. Why would anyone want to look at that? I don’t know about you, but I find it incredibly annoying when I’m trying to watch a TV show and there’s an ad filling up a portion of the lower screen. At one point last year, I remember trying to watch a bunch of terrorists scheming in their own language about how to kill Jack Bauer (laughable - dude is invincible), and I missed the subtitles because Fox chose to promote a new episode of House (we get it, House – you’re a rule breaker!!). That’s simply unacceptable.

On the other hand, Pongr has been working on technology to enable entire TV commercials to be image searchable from any cell phone. You don’t need that Droid X (am I wrong, or is this thing larger than a “Hungry Man” TV dinner box?) to get a deal. Just take a picture of the commercial at any time, picture-text it to Pongr, and get instant deals! We are all about linking offline media with digital, and now the ability to index and search TV commercials means advertisers can build creative campaigns around getting users to engage with their TV spots.

Not only does Pongr technology work with commercials, but we are also in the process of experimenting with being able to index products within actual television shows!! This is perfect for you 30 Rock fans, who want to get a deal on whatever type of cheese doodle Liz Lemon is currently indulging in. Unfortunately, I’m not sure we’ll ever get to a point where every commercial can be indexed, as local commercials could potentially pose a problem (such as this), but I’d advise all of you to try to not stomp all over my hopes and dreams…that’s just mean.

For more info on how Pongr can help your cable TV network, interactive television commercial planning, or movie (yes, we can index your  movies too) integrate existing video assets into marketing programs with a mobile opt-in component, drop us a line.



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  • Apr
  • 30

What do toy cars have to do with your mobile marketing and social media advertising strategy?

Posted in Advertising, Mobile Marketing, Social Media, Viral Marketing

Transmedia guru Jeff Gomez has leveraged Mattel's "Hot Wheels" brand on multiple platforms

When I was a kid, my Hot Wheels cars raced across the kitchen floor on these floppy plastic tracks. Perhaps the most daring stunts I attempted with them was to prop up one of the tracks on blocks and have the cars jump over canned fruit.

Today, playtime is more complicated and has much higher stakes. These cars are now engaged in defending Planet Earth against hostile aliens. Here’s the premise behind the Cartoon Network’s hit show, “Hot Wheels: Battle Force 5.”

“Evil forces are trying to invade Earth, and it’s up to a team of teenage driving aces to stop them. The Gateways to Earth are interdimensional battlezones, each offering a dangerous and unique challenge. The team must win the battle to control the roads between worlds.”

Media guru Jeff Gomez, CEO of Starlight Runner Entertainment, is the brainchild behind the intergalactic cartoon franchise — which extends across comic books, video games and compelling Web content, creating multiple ongoing revenue streams.  By doing so, he has infused new energy into a classic brand, making it far more relevant and appealing to today’s demanding generation of media consumers.



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  • Mar
  • 19

Point-of-Purchase, Point-of-Pongr™

Posted in Advertising, Shopper Technology, Social Media

In a downturn, play up what you already have

Point-of-purchase. That’s the endgame, right? Until they lay down their cash, everything between you, your brand, and the consumer is just one big tease.

In a challenging economy, marketers have little time to waste on courting consumers, and perhaps, even less budget to do so.

That’s why engaging consumers in ways they are already engaged (such as snapping pictures with their mobile phones) and leveraging existing tools (such as social networks)—and at precisely the right moment, in-store—makes good sense. Recently, Facebook overtook Google as the most visited site on the Web, making it clearer than ever where consumers are spending their time.

Using Pongr’s image-recognition technology as a mobile marketing tool to enhance and prompt consumer engagement is a snap. Consumers are already taking pictures with their mobile phones and connecting into their social networks from them, so why not put your brand in front of them in-store, within eyeshot of the cash register?



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  • Mar
  • 18

Gone in 190 Milliseconds: Mobile Marketing by the Numbers

Posted in Advertising, Shopper Technology, Social Media

190 milliseconds. That’s the average time for someone to react when presented with a visual stimulus.

It’s also 190 milliseconds of mobile marketing opportunity; or 190 milliseconds to consumer engagement; or the time brand marketers have to connect with consumers on an experiential marketing level—IF, they’re prepared to take advantage of that fleeting opportunity.

Moving targets

Nearly 90 percent of Americans have a mobile phone.

And, with better networks, devices , and applications, and advances in things like image-recognition technology coming every day, it’s no wonder Morgan Stanley predicts that, within five years, more people will access the Web via their phones than their desktop PCs.

Mobile marketing on the move

What are those people going to be doing with their phones? Everything they’re doing now and more:

  • 29 percent are hunting down bargains and downloadable coupons and other incentives
  • 40 percent are searching for product information
  • 37 percent are buying something tangible

Telemarketing redefined

As traditional advertising opportunities—print, television, radio—continue to shed eyeballs, those consumers now look at the world through a different prism, one that’s as mobile and ubiquitous as the people using them.

The days of picking up the telephone and asking people if they want to buy a subscription to a magazine are long gone, but telemarketing hasn’t died. It’s just changed.

Going forward, if marketers want to engage consumers, they will best be able to reach them by mobile phone.

Learn how to increase consumer engagement with Pongr.  Call us today.



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  • Nov
  • 15

Going Rogue: A Mobile Marketer’s Guide to Augmented Reality Campaign Planning

Posted in Artificial Intelligence, Image Search, Interactive Marketing, Mobile Marketing, Social Media

The Economist, BusinessWeek, Harvard Business Publishing, and hundreds of others in the mainstream media are talking about augmented reality and the implications it will have on ad campaigns.  In fact, most of the attention being paid to AR Lite marketing is not only about the future of mobile marketing, but what’s being rolled out now!  Shopper technology is everywhere, Internet titans are staking out new territories, and the couplings between social media and mobilized ad campaigns are growing tighter.

But here’s the thing — we’re only seeing the tip of the iceberg in terms of the effectiveness of actually influencing consumer shopping decisions via mobile banner ads.  What lurks beneath the surface is huge, and the implications of what happens next are significant for the business of retail, advertising, and even wireless carriers.

As Adweek’s Brian Morrissey writes in a recent article on Google’s acquisition of AdMob:

The big purchase is a clear endorsement that Google sees enormous potential in a market that’s still small. Despite the never-ending prediction of “the year of mobile,” the market has grown by fits and starts. According to eMarketer, advertisers spent just $320 million on mobile ads last year, a figure that’s forecast to increase to $416 million this year and reach $1.6 billion in 2013.

Here are some practical tips on how to include augmented reality in your mobile marketing campaigns.

Rule #1 – It’s all about the opt-in experience!

Your best users and biggest fans need to be empowered to participate in a cool, mobile experience when it’s convenient for them.  That means you should think carefully about whether you want to associate your brand with “pushing” a mobile offer when it’s not directly solicited or guaranteed to be relevant.  Instead, you should tell a story; a story that involves a mobile component, is tied into your overall marketing activities, and includes some specific special offers and social opportunities for your fans to engage with your brand on their terms.

To be clear, when we say special offers, we don’t necessarily mean just coupons.  Mobile coupons could be a sensible way to approach your objectives, but there’s a lot you can do with the post-click in mobile.  Sign-ups for insider information, mobile videos, mini-sites, Twitter and Facebook pages, product info, and game tips are a few thoughts. For some additional suggestions on what to “offer” mobile users see Pongr’s page on mobile marketing “ad-ventures” for brand image recognition.

Rule #2 – Be inclusive. Use MMS for maximum reach and supplement with smartphone experiences.

In our humble opinion, you need to be as inclusive as possible with your special, opt-in mobile offers. That means you need to acknowledge that there’s more to a successful mobile marketing campaign than just an iPhone or Android app.  Specifically, we recommend factoring MMS into your campaign plans.  It goes without saying that brands should be building, maintaining, and enhancing applications on smartphones, but to reach the masses you must do something more pervasive.

SMS is great, but it doesn’t give you the ability to be as interactive as you could.  MMS is where it’s at when it comes to getting the base of the pyramid to opt-in to your campaigns and provide unique insights about themselves.  If you want to collect user photos, encourage sharing on social networks, and build a memorable experience that takes advantage of the ubiquity of picture sharing on the Web, you need to have an MMS plan for all those feature phone users.  The best plan in the world won’t move the needle if it doesn’t have the reach.

“You’ve got to be able to run on all phones, not just smartphones.” – Alistair Goodman, Placecast

Rule #3 – Be clever & take advantage of the latest technology, but keep it simple!

The third rule of getting augmented reality into your ad campaigns is to keep it simple. OK, nothing Earth-shattering here, but as we all know, the more complicated it gets, the less likely you are to have a successful outcome.   Worse, your target users might be left feeling dumb or betrayed by your brand because you didn’t include them, or set the bar too high with something too complicated.  We’ve written a number of posts and tweeted a lot about QR codes, so we won’t rehash it all now, but fundamentally, Pongr believes a pure-play image recognition solution is better for users, creative directors, brands, and pretty much everyone.  Exceptions include enterprise use-cases like airline ticketing or monopolized wireless carrier countries, like South Korea.  Besides, if you want to look magical, why not go for the best, keep it easy, and keep it omnipresent.

Augmented reality is not new to many of us in the artificial intelligence/machine learning community and there’s been plenty of moderately nifty consumer applications out for a number of years.  However, with major brands, publishers, media companies, and consumer technology providers embracing the underlying components of augmented reality, we’re all about to see some dramatic & widely used AR and AR Lite applications in mobile marketing.

Advanced image recognition technologies and MMS advertising solutions are here now.  If we’re even close to being correct, image based search and other AR technologies will soon influence how you effectively send & receive message to customers.

If you’d like help planning or executing campaigns using augmented reality, image recognition, MMS, or mobile-to-social brand interaction, give us a call or zing us on Twitter!  Pongr provides leading-edge image recognition technology and turn-key augmented reality marketing solutions.

If you’d like to share your two cents, we definitely want to hear it!



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