London calling

In the past few days I’ve heard from several different people about the state of the retail landscape in the UK. From retailers themselves to digital specialists and even the queen of UK retail, Mary Portas herself. I’ve seen insane window displays, interacted with screens, designed trainers and even met Jimmy Choo, who coincidently didn’t offer me a pair of shoes but did comment on my legs! Now that’s a compliment any girl will take.



So what’s happening in the UK?

In the past year the UK has seen its worst year for profits. Several iconic high street names have left the retail environment. Brands that have helped shape Britain in the last 20 years like Woolworths making 27 000 people redundant last year when they closed their chains. Zavvi closed down shutting 104 stores and Adams also shut 140 stores. Unemployment is currently around 6% but forecast to exceed 9% by the end of 2009 or 3 Million people.

Whilst that all sounds doom and gloom it seems that people in the UK are now just fed up of being fed up. They know the economy is in the gutter but are no longer stressing about it. A sort of resignation and humour to just get on with it. In fact the recession is being seen as quite a positive thing, it has by default flushed out all the crap, smaller, unsavvy retailers from the market leaving a landscape of serious, clever and edgy brands.



And, they have to work harder. Britons are a cynical, disbelieving lot who see through marketing, don’t like being sold to and expect, not just enjoy, but also expect a lot more from retailers before they’ll spend their money. And retailers here are responding. The whole retail market place is changing globally, customer behaviour has evolved dramatically and retailers really have to adapt to these changes or force being flushed out of the system. Take Abercrombie and Fitch in the US market for example, they refused to react to the recession and customer evolution and look what’s happened to them, GONE!

So what are the key players doing to increase footfall and sales?

We now have a generation of shoppers whose discretionary income is somewhat lower than it once was; yet the big stores are still packed. Why? Because they create a reason for customers to visit. Let’s face it; no one needs another pair of trousers, another t-shirt or pair of trainers. Consumer behaviour is more and more being driven by desire, a desire for product, a desire for an experience and a desire for entertainment. Take Selfridges for example, as part of their 100-year celebrations they have taken the iconic yellow bag (pantone 109) and created a month long event in store entitled ‘Big Yellow’. The entire storefront has creative interpretations of the colour. In addition various brands were asked to create a bespoke item in the colour pantone 109 to show on display in the gallery. Jimmy Choo created a pair of yellow shoes, Louis Vuitton constructed a chandelier from bags, Mac had artists making living yellow mirror balls out of 2 scantily clad male models, book signings occur on level 1, stage shows in the basement plus a whole history of Selfridges through the years. As you can imagine, it was packed. People want a destination to go to, they want theatre, visual stimulus, inspiration and whether they need it or not I can guarantee you they’ll buy something.



I could go on but I’ll save some of those other interesting ways retailers are addressing this shift in future blogs. On to Berlin…

Social Media Marketing: Sears and Kmart Step It Up

Thanks Mashable for this post on some interesting social moves by some big name retailers

May 9th, 2009 | by Ben Parr10 Comments

The intersection of social media and longstanding brands is a fascinating phenomenon to study. How does a company that has been around for decades react to the fast-paced world of social media? Do they shun it or embrace it? Do they stumble or do they create a deeper connect with their customers?

This week, Sears Holdings officially launched two social networks for their customers, MySearsMyKmart. Although these social communities do have a few quirks, the initiative that they represent, coupled with their well-designed social elements, is a sign of how more traditional companies are embracing social media technology to create a better customer experience and a better brand. and

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A little on MySears and MyKmart…

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So what exactly are MySears and MyKmart? At their core, they are social networks for reviews. Products being sold by Sears are up for review by any community member, on a 1 to 5 star scale, with generally short one line descriptions or criticisms.

MySears and MyKmart also incorporate several other useful social elements. They have their own message boards and active blogs. My favorite feature, though, is the Ideas section. This is an area for submitting product ideas to Kmart and Sears, with an up-or-down voting system similar to Reddit (). It’s a great way for Sears to solicit new ideas and to start a discussion around them. They could also submit their own ideas and get some feedback from loyal customers.

Despite some great features, the two social networks do have a few quirks that raise questions. MySears and MyKmart are linked to social media accounts on Twitter (), Facebook (), and MySpace (), but the Twitter links direct you to completely idle Kmart and Sears accounts, a no-no that projects laziness. It’s even stranger when you account for the fact that there’s an active account for MySears.

One other strange issue: some reviews date as far back as 2006. MySears and MyKmart had their soft launches in 2008, so we wonder from where they are pulling these much older reviews. Yet despite these small issues, the overall implementation is great. That’s probably because Sears partnered with Viewpoints, a seasoned social media company with an emphasis on reviews, to build these community websites.

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Traditional brands and social media

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What Sears is doing is a more common phenomenon than people may think. Major brands like Ford and Comcast are using Twitter extensively, while other brands like Saturn have their own social networks for their customers.

While many older companies have yet to embrace social media technology, others like Sears grasp the advantages presented by new forms of communication. Building community creates more loyal and caring customers. Twitter and Facebook facilitate a wider discussion and can help prevent PR nightmares. And the shareability of social media helps foster the exchange of ideas between brands and consumers.

Sears now has two great platforms for collecting ideas from passionate shoppers with the Ideas section of MySears and MyKmart. These networks provide customers with useful product reviews. And finally, Sears now has people who will not only evangelize their brand, but keep them honest as well. This is how many older and more traditional companies are embracing social media, and we think it’s empowering the customer and improving the quality of major brands.

Twitter Meets Google Street View: Stweet!

Thanks Mashable for this post on a pretty cool idea for a twitter/maps mashup.... nice idea, but not quite there yet.

May 9th, 2009 | by Pete Cashmore11 Comments

We’ve seen plenty of interesting Google Maps mashups over the years, and Twitter mashups too; but rather than just plotting Tweets on a map, why not go even further and show the street Tweets are posted from?

That’s what Stweet, a fun mashup of Google Street View and Twitter (), attempts to do. In an imperfect way, it takes the co-ordinates posted by some Twitter apps, like TwitterFon () (location must be enabled), and uses that data to find the approximate street address the Tweet came from. It then overlays the Tweet on a Google Street View image.

If you’d like to test it out, the best city by far is San Francisco, with a high volume of Tweets. A dropdown menu lets you browse various US cities, and you can see if there are Tweets from countries not listed by changing the end of the URL to “city,country”. For instance, this is the URL for Tweets in London, UK.

Is it any use? Perhaps not, but it sure is an interesting distraction, and raises the question: do I want the world to know what street I’m on?

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Tags: Google, Google Maps, google street view, twitter

Thanks Games Alfresco for this (slightly older post) of some great AR demos from the gaming space.

Top 10 augmented reality demos that will revolutionize video games

Posted on March 3, 2008 by Ori Inbar

Augmented Reality (AR) has the potential to do something parents can’t: free gamers from their couches and usher them into the real world, to play.

Here is my countdown of the top 10 best AR demos poised to revolutionize video games:

10. Human Pac Man

When Dr. Adrian David Cheok (NUS) wanted to create an exciting augmented reality game, he chose to remake the first video game to ever introduce a character – the legendary Pac Man. Cheok literally stepped into Pacman’s shoes in this first-person-shooter-like real world game.

9. Come Out & Play

In 2006 the Come Out & Play Festival turned New York City into a playground for a weekend, then did the same for the city of Amsterdam in 2007. Hundreds of players gathered to play dozens different Big Games across each city.

None of the games played in the festival made it to my top ten list – individually. They fell short of stretching the interactivity between real and virtual. But as a group – they reminded us that playing games outdoors can be fun, and technology can make it even funner.

8. Second Life Avatar Enters the Real World

Tobias Lang and Blair MacIntyre (GA Tech) give us an extraordinary glance at what happens when the virtual world “leaks” into the real world. No, they didn’t use a green screen as you can see behind the scenes. Is it a hint for some of us to ditch Second Life and augment our First…?

7. WIFI ARMY FPS

The world is the battlefield, your phone is your weapon. Players organize in 2 teams armed with cell phones with the goal to locate and take pictures of their opponents. The phone compares captured pictures against a database of player faces and awards points for correct hits. Peter Whatanitch of W2Pi (creator of the game) explains how it will work. It could become quite an experience as staged in the Lumix Battle commercial.

6. Shadow Monsters

Phil Worthington is an artist that injects coolness into augmented reality.

“Magical monsters appear from shadows cast by the hands of participants, reacting to gestures with sound and animation. Wolf like creatures, birds and a rastafarian are among the characters that speak and squeek as imaginary mouths open and close. Shadow Monsters is an intuitive and magical experience for young and old alike to play with body posture for creating crazy narratives.”

5. AR Grafitti by DAIM

Artist DAIM creates virtual 3D graffiti floating in space in his latest art project “Tagged in Motion” of NextWall .

What if everyone could overlay reality with their own virtual creation?

4. CARCADE: In-Car Video Game

Andreas Nicolas Fischer and team suggest to take advantage of the fast changing scenery experienced by car passengers – and turn it into a video game (remember Gondry’s Star Guitar Video Clip?). Could be a great way to pass time. I’d call it: “Are we there yet..?”

3. Total Immersion at Demo ‘07

Probably the most commercially successful company that specializes in augmented reality, Total Immersion delivers the best live demos in this domain – with a French accent. They have also featured in CES 2008 keynote by Intel’s CEO Ottelini.

2. Roku’s Reward

This concept* video shows the potential of augmented reality utilizing today’s technology:

• A handheld camera device,
• live video overlaid with 3D graphics,
• computer recognition – identifying real life objects,
• positioning and acceleration sensors,
• virtual objects interacting with reality,

…wrapped up in a fantasy narrative make up this yet-to-be-developed game.
*According to Phil Stenton (HP Labs, UK): “Roku remains a demo film. We haven’t signed up with anyone to create the game yet.”

…And the top demo is…

1. Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge

Though delivered in words only, this “demo” paints the farthest vision for augmented reality so far. Everything else you’ll see on this topic will look like excuses: “sorry, we don’t have that technology yet…”
Yes, but do you have the imagination?

“There was something familiar about this prey. It was young and clever looking … a newborn from Juan’s own design! And that meant its Mommy would be nearby. Juan said, “You know, I don’t think –”
“The Problem Is, None Of You Think Nearly Enough.” The sound was premium external, like sticking your head inside an old-time boom box. Too late, they saw that the tree trunks behind them grew from yard-long claws. Mommy. Drool fell in ten-inch blobs from high above.
This was Juan’s design scaled up to the max.”

Didn’t make the list…

* You may ask how come I left out another classic remake: AR Quake. Well, this remake is indeed played outdoors, but let me ask you this: does it add much to the original experience of that first person shooter?

* How come I am ignoring what some call “the future of books” such as EyeMagic Book or WizQubes? Is it really that different than manipulating 3D characters on the computer screen?

* Daniel Wagner, a major force behind recent AR innovation, may be disappointed that his pioneering handheld AR game the Invisible Train didn’t make it. No hurt feelings; it’s a great proof of concept, but isn’t it more fun to play with the *visible* train?

* Other educational oriented games such as MIT’s Environmental Detective or U-WIS’s MadCity Mystery certainly beat learning in a classroom – but aren’t they indistinguishable from traditional low tech scavenger hunts?

Can you beat this list? I want to hear from you.