Debit and credit cards are so last year. Checks have all but crossed the line into social taboo. And cash is basically, like, archaic.

Ugh, it’s like retailers don’t even want our money.

But wait! A few days ago, a Pew study found that 65% of surveyed tech critics and stakeholders believe mobile payments will replace cash and credit by 2020.

Even though mobile payment is still in its infancy, it seems like everyone is hopeful about its future, especially when it comes to improving the process with updated technologies.

Unfortunately, good citizens, we have cynics among us – those who worry about things like security, standardization, and the cost of new gadgets.

But fear not. We wouldn’t want you stranded in the Dark Ages of outdated currency. With this handy guide, follow us into the realm of information so you, too, can help welcome this brave new, digital-financial world.

What Is This Sorcery?

Put down the torches and pitchforks, townspeople. Brands that you already know and love have signed on to create promising mobile wallet apps, using these new technologies:

NFC, or Near-Field Communications, allows you to pay simply by waving your mobile phone at an NFC receptor at the register.  RFID, or Radio Frequency Identification, is like NFC but can be used at a longer range. And 2D barcodes can even be scanned at the register from a customer’s phone to charge a pre-paid account.

Rather than producing your credit card at every purchase, mobile wallet apps store your financial data and use these technologies to pull it for you automatically, at the point of purchase.

The Google Wallet app, which uses NFC, currently only works with Citi Mastercard and the Google prepaid card, but it does sync with your Google Offers and hopes to soon hold all card types.

Acceptance is liberation. (credit: fullissue.com)

Like Google Wallet, ISIS, a joint venture of AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile, will also use NFC and will hold credit cards, loyalty cards, and promotions.

PayPal also plans to release its PayPal Wallet app soon. Unlike Google Wallet, it won’t use NFC but will let you change your payment method up to 7 days after you pay.

These apps will soon be able to hold multiple card/account numbers and allow you to choose which account you’d like to charge when you wave your phone at the receptor. They will also have the ability to store coupons, receipts, and past purchase information to facilitate discounts and returns easily.

However, as mentioned earlier, there are dissenters. They wonder if it could be easy for someone to access your bank accounts just by waving their phone near yours (no.) They don’t want to have to buy NFC-enabled phones (they’ll change their minds). And they complain about the lack of standardization in mobile payment technologies (ok, that might be a good point).

How Can Marketers Conjur This Black Magic?

What the dissenters don’t see is that evolving mobile payment platforms are prime real estate for marketers!

Imagine the ease of distributing targeted promotions! Using NFC, mobile wallet apps can already track a consumer’s location and purchase history, allowing brands to send her coupons for the store she’s browsing in or updates on items she frequently purchases.

Think of the social media integration! What if a check-in immediately rewarded her with a coupon loaded to her mobile wallet, and her purchase was discounted automatically at the register? And if she allows Facebook to post which coupons she was receiving, not only would it encourage more check-ins, but it would encourage her friends to adopt the app, too.

Plus, there’s potential to move into other forms of media – MasterCard’s QkR app can pull purchasing information from just about anywhere, including QR codes, TV signals, and the Xbox Kinect. Praise technology of the future!

Say NO to the tyranny of physical currency! Demand your NFC-enabled smartphone today!

(credit: venturebeat.com)

The opportunities of mobile payment are looking promising. While the technologies and full capabilities of the apps are still to be cemented, brands are sure to see significant benefits when the rough edges are smoothed out regarding standardizations and security misperceptions. But, once mobile payment technology is ready for the mainstream, brands can use it to inspire action and usher in the glorious age of mobile finance!

Recently hitting 10 million unique monthly views faster than any standalone site in US history, Pinterest is becoming too big to ignore, especially for brands and marketers. Curious about what this site is and how to utilize it? Check out our new Potty Posting, which takes a look at how brands can use this site to “pinspire” consumer action.

The Ego to Her Id

Do you often find yourself planning a hypothetical wedding, decorating a hypothetical house, or building a hypothetical shoe closet out of items you probably can’t afford?

If so, you might have a Pinterest problem.

At least you’re not alone. Apologies in advance to anyone who’s already familiar with it, but Pinterest is a social media site for users to gather, organize and share things they find on the Internet in a visually-stimulating, digital scrapbook. With over 11 million unique monthly visitors in January and referral traffic equaling that of Google and Twitter, it’s gaining a lot of attention.

“NOOOOOOO!” you exclaim in a fit of rage. “I can’t keep track of all these stupid social networks anymore! What makes this one different?!” Geez, calm down.  Have some pins to help you relax.

A user’s Pinterest boards, or categories in which she “pins” items, are filled with inspirational quotes, entertainment ideas, parenting tips, recipes, decorating palettes, and everything else she can relate to. Even if the user doesn’t have the time, money, or energy to achieve or own all of the cool things she pins, she can still customize her scrapbook so that it becomes a visual representation of her ideal self, or what she would do if she could. Essentially, Pinterest is the organizing, rational helper to her passionate, impulsive instincts – the ego to her id.

In this way, Pinterest is the perfect platform for brands to connect with users. Whether they realize it or not, brands and marketers have been tapping in to the id and ego for decades, convincing consumers to satisfy their impulses by rationalizing those choices for them. That’s why brands have really started taking notice of this new platform. Some active brands on Pinterest, like Chobani yogurt and Gap clothing, post photos of recipe ideas and clothing combos (respectively) to allow users to save the brand as a “maybe someday” wish, without the immediate commitment to buy.

And when these brands trigger her lustful impulse to pin their attractive or delicious products, she shares it with the entire Pinterest community (there are no privacy settings on boards yet), and it guarantees that she’ll recognize it and be more likely to purchase it when she sees it in real life. Plus, on Pinterest, brand content doesn’t come in the form of a sponsored story or a traditional ad – it’s mostly re-pins from other users, which is, essentially, a recommendation of that brand by other community members. This recommendation is invaluable, because every marketer knows that people trust friends and virtual strangers more than advertising.

There’s only one problem: brands have to make it seem like they’re not selling anything. This is easy when it’s other users re-pinning a brand’s content, but with the ability for brands to create their own profiles and boards, the directness of the brand’s self-promotion could make users wary. A user’s boards are really personal – they’re an open exhibition of her philosophies, goals, dreams, and lifestyle. This puts brands at a disadvantage: a Pinterest user is not going to respond very well to impersonal ads and marketing messages taking advantage of the personal information she shares on her boards and cluttering up her ideal-self-collage.

This makes it necessary for brands to use Pinterest’s platform, and the nature of a user’s impulsive id, to do the marketing for them. On Pinterest, images take center stage, so brands should focus on eye-catching photos of their products to encourage re-pinning. Descriptions should be kept short and sweet, with just enough information to warrant a click. An important but often overlooked rule of thumb is to make sure pins are added to the right boards; if a brand offers a great product for a user browsing a “Midnight Snack” board, it’ll be a perfect match.

In addition, since Pinterest doesn’t have an established revenue plan, brands can leverage this user-driven community for creative advertising. For example, Corona could host a “Pin Your Beach” contest based on its “Find Your Beach” campaign, in which users pin images of their perfect getaway and win prizes. Her re-pinning the image, and the next user re-pinning it from her, will ensure a degree of separation that still brings a brand’s image to a user’s board, but without the directness of something that could be considered an advertisement.

The opportunities Pinterest offers brands is enormous, and by getting savvy to the platform and inspiring action in re-pinning, a brand can target a user’s impulsive instincts and ensure its place on her ideal-self-collage.

Our latest Potty Posting is here! With a keen eye for changing food cultures and the trends that follow them, we’ll take a look at why 2012 is shaping up to be a delicious year.

The New Nostalgia.
Yes, it’s a food trends report, but it won’t be the run-of-the-mill, snobby kind (sorry to everyone who’s into that). In fact, it won’t even give you a lot of foods that’ll be trending at all (maybe just a couple: keep your eye out for bibimbap and yuzu).

It’s more of a food culture trends report. See, it’s pretty much impossible to separate the two, so it would be a little silly to talk about food trends in 2012 without the accompanying trends in culture. Culture isn’t static. It changes with the times, demographics and generations. These are the same reasons that food culture isn’t static. We’re too young, too diverse, and too adventurous to let our food be constrained to one flavor, one ethnicity, or one state of mind. Let’s celebrate it.

The Old Nostalgia
The sensory experience we get from food is a powerful one. We turn to food when we feel stressed or anxious, it’s always present when we celebrate or mourn, and it’s nearly impossible to deny a strong craving (don’t pretend like walking by a movie theatre doesn’t instantly transform you into a ravenous, insatiable, buttered popcorn-fueled monster).

But in 2011, we turned to food for its nostalgia. We hadn’t seen much progress in terms of the economy, our jobs were still in danger, and our outstanding student loan debt exceeded $1 trillion for the first time (“The economy is so bad…” “How bad is it, Jay?”). Our fear drove us to foods that remind us of a better time in our lives and in our communities. As a coping mechanism, we turned to (even upscale versions of) burgers, mac and cheese, and grilled cheese sandwiches – satiating, not-too-expensive reminders of childhood in pre-recession America.

Food items themselves were not the only trends that revealed our nostalgic patriotism, or our attempt to bring back the good ol’ days by eating like them. We started gravitating toward ideas of “farm to table” and now-hackneyed “artisan” to show our frustration with Big Food Inc. and the ridiculous consequences of lobbying – like when pizza sauce was officially made a vegetable thanks to the lobbyists of the American Frozen Food Institute and the Coalition for Sustainable Meal Programs (which, surprise surprise, is funded in part by ConAgra). Before these phrases lost all meaning (Domino’s Artisan Pizzas? Molto bene!), their purpose was to support the small-scale American farmer and bring communities back together with locally-grown, sustainable food.

Something Old, Something New
Thankfully, some of that won’t be going away in 2012! We’re still going to see a focus on fresh, local food and small-scale, sustainable farming (it can’t all be bad, right guys? …Right?!). Right! We’re still enjoying that homemade comfort food, but we’re not doing it with so much fear anymore. The economy is picking up again, the outlook for the U.S. restaurant industry is way high, and, overall, it’s a great time for American food.

But while we’ll still want comfort food in 2012, what we consider “comfort food” has been changing pretty dramatically. We’ve all heard that America is a melting pot (of delicious fondue, of course), and Millennials are the most keenly aware of this than any other age group. Not only is Gen Y the most ethnically diverse age group, it’s also the most experimental when it comes to food. Since most Millennials have grown up in an environment where global cuisines are the norm, the definition of “comfort food” for them is a lot different than for previous generations, which vastly broadens the scope of food culture in 2012.

Because Gen Y’s palates are getting more adventurous, we have a good chance of seeing a trend of picking and choosing global ingredients from different cuisines to build optimal dishes. It won’t be a surprise to see kimchee on the same plate as bacalao (“You’ve probably never heard of it,” says the Source’s inner hipster), or fusion sandwiches made with ingredients that might actually clash – but expanding our taste horizons is exactly the point. We saw this with the explosion of Korean tacos, which got their fame a) because of the “cool factor” of the food trucks that carried them and b) because to us, especially Gen Y, tacos are a safe, household staple we’ve come to know and love, and experimenting with putting different things in that crunchy shell is really intriguing. In addition, don’t be surprised to see global substitutes for familiar ingredients, like bao instead of biscuits and different meats/parts of the animal in sandwiches, like oxtail, goat, and innards (don’t cringe, it’s not like I told you to blend ‘em up as a substitute for smoothies).

The Kitchen Sink
So, how can marketers tap into this culinary globalism? Think Gen Y. They’re not super wealthy, they’re bold, and they aren’t afraid to try new things. This leaves marketers with a ton of room to play around, especially when it comes to food. Don’t assume that one ethnicity will be closed to another’s cuisine, or that mixing and matching is out of the question. Keep an eye out for innovative new food pairings, or new experiences you can offer consumers with a meal — can you put a twist on a dish they thought they knew by using an ingredient they never would have considered? Can you pique their interest in an ingredient by using it in place of a similar, familiar one? Food may bring nostalgia for the past, but with some playful ideas and global thinking, you can inspire action and keep consumers excited about the culinary future.

It’s Potty Posting time! Need a refresher on the purpose of the Po

These monthly articles take a humorous, yet informative, approach to emerging cultural trends, new technologies, and innovative marketing tactics. And yes, they’re posted in the Upshot bathrooms, where we know we’ve got a captive audience. Click the image to the right for a PDF of the post and share with your network to build your Klout, duh.

You Know You Make Me Wanna Klout

To over 3500 brands, the world of online social networking is beginning to look a lot like a high school. Cliques are forming, popularity is becoming a tool, Lindsay Lohan is giving high-calorie nutrition bars to the Plastic Queen to sabotage her weight and status…

OK, maybe not that last part. But, when it comes to social media, brands are paying attention to the widening gap between those who matter online and those who don’t. By targeting the people who are most likely to influence others – the ones who inspire the most buzz with their tweets and posts – brands can maximize their reach while putting in minimal cost and effort. In essence, this online popularity contest could be the key to doing word-of-mouth marketing right, and Klout, a social metrics service, was made to do just that.

The aforementioned Plastic Queen, Regina George, owns a silver Lexus and allegedly does car commercials in Japan. She’s also teen royalty. So not only is she pretty popular, she’s also pretty influential. Now, if only there were quantifiable data to tell Mercedes how influential Regina George really is, especially on the topic of cars, so they can give her a free SL550 Roadster in the hopes that she ditches that Lexus and tweets about her new Mercedes.

“My Klout Score is so fetch, I haven’t paid for anything in months!”

Bingo. Klout is a website run by a team of digital engineers, marketers and analysts who have made it possible to quantify a person’s online influence, or ability to drive action on the internet. Taking data from a person’s social networking accounts, Klout measures True Reach (how many people someone influences), Amplification (how much that person influences them), and Network Impact (the influence of the people being influenced), with a single number between 1 and 100 as the result.

No longer is the internet democratic. No longer does everyone’s voice hold equal weight online. And far from being ashamed about being the harbinger of online social inequality, Klout is actually partnering up with thousands of brands to take advantage of it!

Brands have started using Klout to give away free stuff, “Klout Perks,” to the most popular influencers (or social networking users) in their fields and provide them with a good experience or a good product so they can tweet about it to their friends. For example, HP offered high-scoring film influencers an HP laptop pre-loaded with films from Cinequest film festival, and Audi invited top design, technology and luxury influencers to test drive their new 2011 Audi A8 at exclusive events.

Yeah, but does it work? Influencers who receive Perks aren’t required to post positive things about the brand. They’re not even required to post anything at all.

To ensure that giving away Perks will be worth a company’s expense, Klout has begun to up the demand and cool factor of a high Score and the Perks that come with it. When Spotify, a wildly popular music-streaming service, first came out in 2008, Klout gave free account access to only some of its high-scorers before Spotify was even released in the United States. In addition, some special events, like the annual after-hours shopping extravaganza, Fashion’s Night Out, require a Klout Score of over 40 points in order to attend. This not only ensures the exclusivity and coolness of the Perk, but the honor of having a high Score as well.

And it has definitely been working for a ton of brands. Like Virgin America, who offered only 120 free flights to top travel influencers, which generated over 4,600 tweets and, subsequently, led to over 7.4 million impressions and coverage in top blogs and news outlets. And, for a very small price, that’s good business.

But it hasn’t just been working for brands. While Klout’s expertise in generating buzz has been great for building brands’ reputations, it’s also been building their own. People have been putting their Score on their resume and many competitors and copycats have begun to emerge, like PeerIndex , Twitter Grader and, most recently, PeopleBrowsr’s Kred, which will up your Kred based on real-life achievements like degrees and awards.

“People have even started attaching it to their wardrobes. Ladies love it.”

And while there certainly are downsides for the people being judged on their Score, there are also downsides for brands. How does a brand do damage control when a top influencer receives a product, hates it, and blasts the company on Twitter? The best response is to turn it positive – using Klout, brands can decide which reviews they can ignore and which they need to address. 70% of companies ignore their customer complaints on Twitter, yet nearly half of Twitter complainants expect the company to read them. Plus, 83% of complainants on Twitter who have received a reply either liked or loved the fact that the company responded.  So, when a brand comes across a bad review from a top influencer, they should see it as a great PR opportunity.

While the concept of Klout is certainly proving to be integral to brand marketing, its underlying foundation is nothing new. They’ve recognized social group behaviors and separated the popular from the ordinary, but by mathematically proving the amount of a person’s popularity, Klout is able to help brands single out the people who will, hopefully, inspire action and do a good chunk of their marketing for them. And therein lies the innovation:  realizing the marketing potential of good ol’ fashioned cliquishness brought into the modern, digital age.

Want another good Klout read? Take a gander at OMG! Your Klout is Showing! posted earlier this year by Jaclyn Gordyan.

Twitterphobia affects over 83.72% of marketers* in the US every year.

We’ve seen the devastation it causes. We’ve heard your cries for a cure. And, we’ve found the vaccine in… our latest Potty Posting!

Twitterphobics Anonymous

Click the link above for the PDF version, or continue reading below for the online version. As always, please feel free to share this post with colleagues, clients, or anyone who may be suffering from this absolutely-curable condition.

*No it doesn’t. We made that up. But it definitely exists.

Twitterphobics Anonymous

The First Step is Admitting You Have a Problem

We’ve noticed something funny happening in recent meetings. While we’re thumping our chests about Driven by Data Twitter visualizations and using the Twitter API for Life in the OOC applications, we’re often met with nodding approval…along with some shifting eyes and simmering discomfort. We wondered: was there something in our teeth? Did we have bad breath? Probably, and possibly, but neither was the real problem. Eventually, we got people both inside and outside the agency to admit (in shamed whispers) that they’d previously dismissed Twitter as a fad, or thought their consumers weren’t using it, or were (understandably) confused by conflicting reports about Twitter’s dominance / irrelevance / significance / shallowness / growth / stagnation / obsession with why #youdeservetobesingle. Realizing their mistake, they asked us to take it back to step one. Luckily, they’ve found a safe place.

First things first. You’ll never understand the nuances of this service if you don’t set up a Twitter account… like, right now. (Being on the throne is no excuse – Google already told us how often you surf in the bathroom. Eww.) If you’re in marketing and you don’t have a Twitter account, you are #FAILing. We’re not saying you have to tweet. But, we are saying you have to follow a handful of marketers, brands, and industry smarties to see how they’re using the service (a good place to start: Upshot’s own The Awesome Blog.) In fact, having an account would’ve clarified why there’s a pound sign in front of “FAILing” above. On Twitter, any phrase preceded by the pound sign is called a hashtag, and its purpose is to organize disparate tweets into a single conversation stream. (Oh yeah, we’d already put the cart before the horse with a blog post describing how brands can advertise via those hashtags.) For instance, let’s say I wanted to have a wine tasting with some friends who are spread out across the globe. Option one: everyone flies out just to sit in my too-cramped living room and resent having to pick cat hair out of their wine glasses. A better idea: tell anyone who’s interested to grab a bottle of this week’s selection and tweet their comments, including a predetermined hashtag in each tweet. Without that tag, our comments would get lost in the stream of other tweets, but the hashtag allows anyone to track or contribute to this particular conversation, regardless of geographical (or shedding feline) obstacles. We’ll even give you a chance to sample some hashtags yourselves – read or contribute any tweets about this posting using the hashtag #twitterphobia. Unfortunately, #pottytweet was already taken because… well, see that aforementioned Google study.

But, following a couple of Twitter conversations isn’t going to quiet your inner skeptic who continues to question the significance of Twitter. With countless social networks vying for consumers’ attention (and giving old-school ad-types heart palpitations), what makes the tweet so special? How about its ridiculous, lightning-quick, superpower-esque speed? You can argue about the ramifications of Twitter all you want, but there’s no debating that Twitter is the fastest system for information dispersal ever created. With a click of a button, users can re-broadcast another persons’ tweet to their own social network (called re-tweeting), enabling information to jump across social circles in a matter of seconds. Case in point: hours before the official announcement about the demise of one particularly evil Abbottabad resident, many Twitter users had already passed around a tweet from a Washington insider revealing this information. Still, the most widely-shared tweets generally include links to online content outside of Twitter; for instance, when the Bulls’ Taj Gibson dropped bombs on another embodiment of evil, the documenting images, videos, and commentaries were racing across Twitter mere moments after impact. Plus, unlike Facebook, Twitter tends to be radically public, meaning strangers can see (and respond to) tweets on any topic from anyone around the world. In fact, many tweets are written with the expectation that total strangers – including marketers like you! – will read them, share them, and respond to them.

And that’s the whole point here. Don’t get hung up on the insatiable efforts to build up or tear down this service. Instead, take it for what it’s worth – a chance for marketers to step into the conversation. Twitter isn’t just about tweeting on your brand’s behalf (although that’s a whole ‘nother topic – see this site for tons of great thought-starters). And while Twitter’s one of the most powerful PR tools ever created, even that doesn’t tell the whole story. Those who dismiss Twitter as a bunch of self-important narcissists who are just tweeting about their Nikon ads and their new TV shows with one and a half other men… well, okay, that does describe one user pretty well. But dismissing Twitter altogether because of a handful of twits is just undermining your own ability to keep up with what’s captivating the public, why those things are captivating the public, and the shifting ways in which the public digests, shares, evaluates, disbelieves, mocks, and mashes-up information in the modern world. In this case, the medium really is the message.

Still have questions we didn’t answer here? Of course you do. How do you generate followers? How often should you tweet? Did this post convince Dave Nigh to finally open a Twitter account? Tweet any additional questions with the hashtag #twitterphobia and we’ll keep the conversation going. In the meantime, Mashable’s Twitter guide book is a great introduction to the service’s component parts.

P.S. Thanks to historicaltweets.com for the images used in this posting.

the hotspot for haute thought is the pot at upshot

we admit we’re awesomeholics at theawesomeblog.net

A Message to You Foodie 2011

Please feel free to share that delicious morsel with clients, colleagues, and lunch dates. Or, if you’d prefer a text-only version, just keep reading below. (And, if you’re completely confused by the theme of this post, the references to the Specials, or the dancing dude to the right, go ahead and get yourself acquainted.)

A Message to You Foodie 2011

Stop Your Messing Around. Better Think of Food Future.

In our last foray into food trends, things were looking pretty sour. Obesity was weighing us (and our kids) down, misleading food labels were offering everything but “smart choices,” and hucksters kept promising suspicious benefits from so-called “superfoods” that we could barely pronounce. Amidst plenty of Future Fear about intractable problems facing the economy, global politics, and the fate of Two and a Half Men, we’d understand if pessimism about food future was lumped into the mix. But, something funny has happened in the meantime: the major players in the food world suddenly started cooperating and taking significant swings at the category’s toughest problems. In the past few months alone, we’ve seen South Los Angeles (an area with chronically high rates of obesity) take a stand against food deserts by banning new fast-food restaurants and actively recruiting healthier options. We’ve seen San Francisco wrist-slap kids’ meals that dangle toys as carrots instead of just dangling some damn carrots already. We’ve seen food manufacturers like Kraft filling gaps in municipal funding (and giving kids a place to be active) by building neighborhood playgrounds. In fact, if we had to pick one overarching food theme for 2011, it’d be progress and pragmatism in tackling the category’s most entrenched problems. (Fortunately we don’t have to pick just one. We’ll get to the others in our forthcoming Smartshot webinar.)

As you’d expect, some of the biggest contributors to this remarkable progress have come from the liberal, hippie, anti-business, nanny-state environmentalists at… Walmart?? Yup, their Great Value private label foods were already tough competitors on price, and now Walmart’s launched a five year plan to reduce sodium, trans fats and added sugars in these foods. (A five year plan? What is this, Stalinmart?) The nation’s largest retailer is also exerting pressures on manufacturers like ConAgra and Kraft to adopt similar measures for the foods they sell in-store. For some added incentive, Walmart’s tightening the screws by dropping prices on whole grain foods, fresh fruits, and vegetables, and even considering a seal that would distinguish foods that are low in sodium, sugar, and fat. And, just to make sure they’re staying on task, Walmart has agreed to provide progress reports to… Michelle Obama?? Yup, the First Lady’s made childhood obesity her first priority, and her Let’s Move initiative is promising realistic, achievable changes that are grounded in common sense. While her neighbors in the Beltway must think that’s crazy talk, that’s exactly the kind of strategy that’ll go far in boardroom. The collaboration with Walmart is just one example of the First Lady actively engaging corporate America in her efforts, which is partially a realization that Walmart has as much power as the federal government to impact these problems (if not more). That’s not to say the feds aren’t trying. They just overhauled the USDA food pyramid, with takeaways that are uncharacteristically straightforward: eat less, be more active, cut back on salt and sugary drinks, and keep an eye on calories. The “eat less” piece is perhaps the most startling part (the pyramid has never really addressed the issue), and it’s a big win for the shift towards small (yup, we called it with our Sized Right trend). These recommendations are simple enough for a child to follow, and that’s no accident. Kids consume over half of their calories at school, which is why there’s an effort to get them involved in preparing cafeteria lunches or, at the very least, to understand where their food comes from.

This all sounds so completely… reasonable, which explains why we’re seeing such progress on these problems. There’s a growing acknowledgment that superfoods aren’t the answer, that quick fixes to health probably don’t exist, and that health and wellness isn’t as complicated as we often make it out to be. There’s not a lot here that we didn’t already know; it’s just that eating healthy and being active have always been so difficult for the average consumer. Ask Walmart why they’re instituting the aforementioned changes, and they’ll tell you that their customers asked them to help by making the healthier foods more affordable than the junk. And that’s what’s radically different this time ‘round: for every problem facing the food world, the big players are offering practical solutions that make it easier for consumers to lead healthy lives. Yes, the USDA is telling us to eat less, but restaurants and food manufacturers are making this trade-off a tasty one by offering everything from sliders to substantial snacks to small plates. Yes, fatty foods are a delicious way to ensure you don’t live past 50, but chefs are finding smarter and tastier alternatives like duck fat (as any Hot Doug’s fan already knew). Yes, you knew that a bacon double cheeseburger is basically a sucker-punch to your circulatory system, but menus with calorie counts are now revealing the less obvious horrors of your morning muffin or daily burrito. Yes, you need to eat your veggies, so chefs and food manufacturers alike are reexamining ways to get all kinds of flavors out of formerly forsaken produce, even if it requires looking toward cultures that are more traditionally vegetable-focused (anyone catching a whiff of our Primitive Simplicity trend?).

But the idea of practical solutions is perhaps most evident in the realm of meat consumption. Americans are grudgingly acknowledging the personal and environmental downsides of consuming too much meat, but many aren’t ready for the extreme limitations required by vegetarianism or veganism. (Gotta allow for Baconnaise, right?) Normally, that’d be the end of the story, but a number of strange bedfellows are finding themselves promoting a third option: flexitarianism, or getting creative about cutting back on meat consumption (without completely eliminating it). It’s certainly worth noting when numerous trend-setting eateries embrace Meatless Mondays, including all 14 restaurants run by snout-to-tail advocate Mario Batali. But things are really changing when we see Meatless Mondays institutionalized at Sodexo, which supplies food for hospitals, government institutions, and schools. As one of the biggest employers in the world, reducing Sodexo’s meat consumption by 1/7 makes a dramatic dent in the overall demand for industrial livestock, but also makes it more likely that others will follow. For instance, Kellogg is doubling down on its Morningstar product line, including a new line of soy-based breakfast entrees. (And lest you think it’s those darn kids driving this trend, Kellogg’s primary target for this line is Boomer women.)

Flexitarians aside, the meat of the matter is that concerns about health and wellness are becoming an increasingly significant part of the American consumer’s value equation. They’re realizing the long-term implications of the choices they make at the table. They’ve clamored for practical solutions, and the food, beverage, and beauty industries (among others) have delivered them. So here’s the message to you, Foodies: get your programs in tune with progress and your consumers’ calls for practical solutions.

the hotspot for haute thought is the pot at upshot

the Specials are always on the menu at TheAwesomeBlog.Net

(Say, that almost sounds like a trend worth bringing back for 2011. Hmm… stay tuned on Twitter for more developments on that.)

But back to present. H&M recently partnered with the GoldRun AR platform to spice up their store windows, which are currently displaying H&M’s fall and winter collections. When a shopper accesses the GPS-enabled iPhone app within the vicinity of the store windows, they’ll get access to a virtual fashion show featuring digital versions of those clothes and accessories. Through augmented reality, these items are overlaid on the real street scene depicted on the user’s phone, which can then be photographed and sent to Facebook (such as the floating bag photo above). This allows users to position the clothes on themselves and send to friends for feedback, too.

While this element captures the fun, shiny-object part of augmented reality, there’s a concrete benefit for the brick and mortar stores too (yeah, pun intended). Snapping pics of the items generates a 10% discount off of in-store purchases, and also enters users into a sweepstakes for gift certificates and a trip to Las Vegas. If getting shoppers to the store is half the battle, this sure seems like a compelling weapon for H&M to bring to the holiday wars.

But what if your brand doesn’t have a dedicated retail outlet? Certainly, pop-up stores are an attractive option, but that requires you to find an available retail space, come up with a design, build it out… gosh, that’s so much work. Wouldn’t it be easier if you just picked a pristine beachfront location and stuck a virtual store there? That’s so much easier – just ask Airwalk. They recently launched “invisible” pop-up stores at Venice Beach and NYC’s Washington Square Park, thanks to a clever use of augmented reality. In order to purchase the limited-edition reissue of the Airwalk Jim shoe, sneakerheads had to go to the designated location and use the smartphone app to snap a photo of the spot. A virtual pair of the shoes would be added via AR, which then became the user’s pass for ordering the kicks online. [Update: We've just learned that GoldRun is behind this campaign as well. We promise we didn't intend for this post to be an ad for them!]

So, what have we learned here? For starters, using augmented reality in practical applications shouldn’t forsake the fun parts of the technology. Plus, combining this feature with location data enables brands to add a hyperlocal element to their promotions. Finally, don’t be turned off by the fact that these campaigns aren’t likely to be adopted by the masses. Rather, look at the level of engagement these brands have inspired among micro communities in the real world, thanks to a couple of digital flourishes.

Set the Ex-Sample

As always, please feel free to share that document with colleagues, clients, friends, and various assorted ghouls and goblins. Or, if you’d prefer the text only version, keep on reading below!

Set the Ex-Sample

An Ample Sample of Exemplary Sampling

Have you been stuck in rapturous daydreams about world-rocking sampling? We’re not surprised, after our last Smartshot webinar walked through – or, more accurately, stomped all over – sampling’s ho-hum past. We showed how present-day sampling’s become ever more engaging and dramatic, and introduced 5 best practices. Admittedly, some were more exciting than others; even though steps like precise targeting and holistic integration are imperative to sampling success, they’re not quite as fun as, say, “generating curiosity and anticipation.” In fact, that particular best practice provides enough room for innovation, experimentation, and general craziness that it’s worth flushing out in its own Potty Posting. So let’s get to it.

As noted in our Smartshot, distributing samples is easier than ever, and today’s consumers are simply bombarded with free swag. With this much clutter, it’s hard to get consumers to even see your samples. Well, it’s a good thing you’ve got four other senses to work with! For instance, Welch’s got our tongues wagging with their lick-able Peel & Taste print ads, generating plenty of curiosity while also making you look like a crazy person who licks magazines in public. But print ads are not only getting tastier – they’re also getting better for your skin. Thanks to BeautiSeal pouches, P&G has been able to sample moisturizers in print ads, allowing consumers to experience the product’s scent and texture without turning the whole magazine into a dripping glob of Olay. And while that sounds much more appealing than blasting consumers in the face with dry, scented air, that’s exactly the idea behind sampling via shelf puffers. These devices are gaining popularity as an in-store sampling tool for fragrances, scented CPG products, and anything else that could appeal to your nose. And, when you compare a puff of dry air to getting shot by a fragrance-filled watergun, I guess it doesn’t sound so bad. And yes, we’ve made it this far without pointing out the connection to Immersive Sensory Experiences from our 10 Trends for 2010, presumably because you already made that connection yourself, right? Don’t make us blast Source-scented dry air at you! (In case you’re curious, it’s the intoxicating scent of smarts.)

Y’know what else is notable about the sensory sampling examples? None of them require the clichéd old lady in a hairnet to hand ‘em out. In fact, there’s a whole line of sampling tactics that have replaced human sampling because – dun dun dun! – the machines have taken over. (Shh, no one tell the Governator.) The formerly-bland vending machine now offers some of the most immersive sampling experiences available, and since there’s no need to pay overtime (shh, no one tell the vending machine union), the samples can be distributed anytime, anyplace. The Boobox dispenses samples when users send a text from their phone, which ensures that consumers only get a single sample, but also enables the brand to collect data that can be used for follow-up conversations. Granted, that’s not as fun as, say, a vending machine that gives you free ice cream if you smile big enough, or one that dispenses your sample after you successfully complete a brain teaser (shown to the right). Honestly, you never thought you’d have this much fun with a vending machine, did you?

Blanketing the Earth with your samples makes for a great bottom line, but it also makes for a crappy Planet Earth. We’ve all seen the sorry remains of a sampling event strewn with discarded packaging and unwanted samples. Some CPG brands are switching to Xela Pack as a remedy, since they provide a line of 100% post-consumer recycled paper alternatives for primary and secondary packaging. Then again, it won’t be long until we can get rid of much of the physical waste altogether. The growth of technologies like virtual mirrors has given rise to virtual sampling opportunities, where the product benefits can be experienced and personalized without any physical accompaniment.

Finally, in line with our 10th trend from 2010, you can never go wrong with delighting your consumers with the element of surprise. Normally, brands would be a tad concerned if they heard that residents were tearing down the contents of their billboard, but apparently that’s how they do things in the Austrian city of Graz. Or, at least that’s what happened when the outdoor clothing company Northland Pro affixed product samples to billboards throughout the city (see the image at the top). Each day, the 50-or-so billboards were graced with 20 items for the taking, generating a ton of word-of-mouth (and a handful of entertaining videos) in the process. Then again, perhaps your brand isn’t keen on the possibility of starting a riot. No matter, thanks to the “Interesting Stuff” project from London’s Matter. Manufacturers provide the service with samples that go beyond a single-serving, making a more compelling (or, more to the point, interesting) statement about what the company does and stands for. Matter boxes the stuff up, sends it to targeted recipients at no charge, and ensures that they’ll arrive on a Saturday (when the person is more likely to spend time interacting with the items). Interesting Stuff has lived up to its name so far, intriguing brands like Sony Ericsson, Stolichnaya, Nintendo, and Virgin Atlantic.

Let the statisticians worry about sampling bias – you get to work on creating some world-rocking sampling!

the hotspot for haute thought is the pot at upshot

we’re serving up an awesomeness sampler at theawesomeblog.net

In this Posting, we take a sneak peek at what Stickybits is about to unleash upon the mobile marketing world. Hint: it’s about to render a lot of campaigns extinct.

As always, we’ve provided a PDF version of the original Potty Posting here, which we strongly encourage you to share with colleagues, clients, and anyone who you’d warn about an impending mobile marketing meteor. Or, if you’d prefer a text-only version, keep on reading below.

Has Stickybits Discovered Mobile’s Missing Link?

Don’t let your brand become a marketing fossil!

Students of The Awesome Blog will recall that we recently had a little chat about Stickybits. (If that doesn’t ring a bell, we strongly suggest following twitter.com/upshotblog, since this material will be on the final exam.) We talked about how scanning a UPC with the Stickybits smartphone app allows consumers to interact with physical goods by attaching (or receiving) images, videos, comments, or reviews to the product’s barcode. While we acknowledged this service’s intriguing potential, we also warned you about two potentially significant shortcomings. First, we struggled to find a non-intrusive way to inform consumers about which UPCs were worth scanning, so that shoppers weren’t aimlessly roaming the supermarket aisles in a zombie-like scanning haze. Additionally, we were concerned about the likely possibility that a product’s barcode could become the gateway for incessant brand bashing, considering the not-so-elevated discourse that often plagues social media. So, when Stickybits announced that they’ve got a big makeover coming in October, all we really wanted was for them to iron out these nagging issues. In a way, they did. But rather than worrying about resolving these problems directly, they’ve done one better: they’ve rendered them obsolete by drastically enlarging the scope of the service. In the process, they might’ve broken the mold for what mobile marketing can accomplish.

What, you think we’re being dramatic? When a few tweaks suddenly unearth the missing links between mobile marketing and digitally-enabled shopping, promotions, group buying, social media, location, scale programs, value-added partnerships, and shopper marketing, you’ll forgive us for getting a little verklempt. Look a little closer and you might find your own marketing mind blown into little sticky bits. (Hmm, do you think that’s how they came up with the name?)

Let’s get the mundane stuff out of the way. Stickybits plans harvest the low-hanging fruit by allowing brands to deliver coupons when a UPC is scanned. Hey, you could do worse as far as mobile marketing promotions go, since this will deliver relevant, targeted values at the point-of-purchase. Better yet, it also encourages consumers to physically touch your product, which increases the likelihood that they will buy the item. But, we know that digital coupons aren’t exactly making your blood pressure rise.

Now, you may find yourself getting all hot and bothered if we tap emerging trends to make those couponing promotions infinitely more engaging. (Admittedly, it’s a weird fetish – must’ve had something to do with those Baby Ogilvy tapes our moms played when we were infants.) Stickybits’ first smart move was noticing that this whole “social” thing seems to be going places. In response, brands will be able to offer coupons that are activated when a group of your friends all scan the code together. That’s a pretty simple (and, in the parlance of Upshot, pretty brilliant) way to build-in viral potential to your campaigns.

The service is also making an intriguing entry into the location space by offering location-specific deals. Say, doesn’t that sound like it’s full of potential for regional shopper marketing programs? And let’s not forget about event marketing applications: what if consumers could only gain entrance to your awesome branded party by buying your product and scanning it at the front door? Heck, you could take this one step further by bringing sampling into the mix, and using codes on the packaging to unlock experiences, discounts, and just about anything else around town. Age of boring mobile campaigns, meet your meteor!

Finally, Stickybits will also offer multi-item deals that can be unlocked by scanning a variety of different products. For instance, the Svedka campaign pictured above is dependent on the user scanning 5 different flavors of their vodkas. Wait a minute… do we finally have a compelling digital solution for scale programs and value-added partnerships??? I believe we do! If you just heard a squeal of joy from the stall next door, you can assume it came from our CPG and beverage teams, as they realized the potential for some serious digital enhancement for their promotions. Now, does anyone still think we’re being overly dramatic?

the hotspot for haute thought is the pot at upshot

we make bad marketing extinct at theawesomeblog.net

As always, a PDF version is available here, which we encourage you to share with clients and colleagues. But, if you’d prefer the straight text, continue reading below.

Code Read

Brace Yourself for the Barcode Barrage

Well, what do we have here? Is that a QR code campaign delivering exclusive content for FOX shows like Glee and Fringe? And do I see a Campbell’s sweepstakes where consumers enter by scanning their soup can UPCs? While, over here, I could’ve sworn I caught a Kelley Blue Book window sticker equipped with QR codes, allowing car salespeople to keep the same sticker in the window even when the price fluctuates. With everyone from beer brands to magazines to sports teams loading up these little squares with data, it looks like we’ve got ourselves a full blown barcode party on our hands, to which we say…

Well it’s about time you all showed up! See, we at Upshot have been hanging around the QR code punchbowl for years, checking our watches and nibbling on hors d’oeuvres while wondering what’s taking everyone so long to get here. (We’ve even used the codes in our own agency campaigns.) But, that’s given us plenty of time to get acquainted with the breadth of barcode applications, understanding what works and what doesn’t. We already went ahead and qrushed the topic of QR codes in a recent 15-minute Smartshot webinar (accessible by scanning the QR code above), so let’s head in to the party! Look for the balloons out front.

(Of course, the best way to get into this shindig is to try scanning some codes yourself. If you don’t have a barcode reader for your smartphone, shoot The Source a message and we’ll point you to one that you can download for free.)

While we prefer the flexibility and broad compatibility of QR codes, we’re admittedly using them as a proxy for all kinds of barcode marketing applications. It really doesn’t matter whether you implement a smartphone app that reads traditional UPCs or a code like JagTag that doesn’t require a reader. What’s important here is that barcodes should be driving consumers to compelling, valuable information when scanned, regardless of the format. Ultimately, these codes are just an efficient way to connect consumers to a wide range of content on the mobile web, whether it’s a link to the Double Rainbow YouTube video, the Double Rainbow remix mp3, a coupon for the Double Rainbow t-shirt, a calendar link to Double Rainbow viewing parties… you name it. The codes are not campaigns on their own. The real consumer interaction comes after that code is scanned and engaging content is delivered, much like the true measure of a party’s greatness isn’t what’s on the invitation, but how early the karaoke machine gets broken out. For instance, the QR code to the right will take you to an awesome art installation, in which portraits of classic movie stars are made out of a series of barcodes. When those codes are scanned, they play various video clips from their respective repertoires. Now that’s one heck of a barcode blowout!  (Hint: linking your QR code to your company’s bland homepage probably makes for a crappy party.)

These data-laden codes are ideal for any products where the consumer experience can be enhanced by accompanying information and education. For instance, there’s a lot to talk about when it comes to wine: food pairings, terroir, blends, vintages, and how to properly mock anyone garish enough to order a California Merlot in public. But, even for oenophiles, that’s a lot of stuff to put on the outside of a bottle. We’ve seen some brands try to get around this with bottle neckers, in-store media, packaging, and more, but none of these options really allow for the full story to be told. Compare that to the smartphone apps that Constellation Wines has developed for its brands, which include barcode-scanning capabilities. When consumers scan the UPC on the bottle, they’re linked to everything from reviews to tasting notes to streaming videos about the wineries. It helps that these apps also build personalized profiles for the consumer, since it gets a little tricky to remember your favorites halfway through a tasting session. Just ask Edina and Patsy (they’re waiting for you behind the QR code above).

Like the Best Buy example we covered in our Smartshot webinar, Constellation bakes the barcode readers right into their branded smartphone apps (along with other features). We think this is particularly crafty, and not just because it circumvents the problem of whether consumers have already downloaded barcode readers to their phones. When users scan the codes using the branded app, that marketer can exert more control over where that user eventually ends up. In Best Buy’s case, the retailer can link to movie and video game trailers, coupons, installation instructions, their Twelpforce staff, and more, without worrying that the barcode will take their shoppers to an online competitor. And this approach isn’t just beneficial for retailers; imagine how much more control a brand could exert over its shopper marketing programs via a similar technique.

In the end, it really doesn’t matter which code format your brand pursues. What’s important is recognizing the value of augmenting consumers’ real-world experiences with rich, immersive, online content. It’s part of the Online-Offline Convergence that is changing our consumers’ everyday experiences, and which happens to be another party that we’ve been crashing for a long, long time. Now that you know the code for the door, we do hope you’ll join us. We even left you a special message hidden – where else? – in the QR code to the right.

the hotspot for haute thought is the pot at upshot

we’re all hopped up on code-ing at theawesomeblog.net