A Source Of Inspiration

But wait, the Portuguese racer just got lost in the desert and really needs you to answer his call.

And if you support him, there’s a chance to win a Seat Altea.

Another mobile campaign by eStara Portugal.

Ted talks has just published a new video with Jan Chipchase, where he presents his research on how people are using mobile devices and their importance on daily life.

Link: http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/190

The video immediately reminded me of a Fred’s post highlighting the importance of ethnography, and “how we should look at user needs through observing people in their naturally setting rather than through research”. Increasingly the focus will shift from the platform to what really should matter the most: how and why people use products and services.

One of the reasons why mobile advertising hasn’t lifted off is probably because people do not care about advertising (contextual or not) in their phones. Mobile advertising is not a perceived primary functionality. Or as Jan points in his final remarks:

With another 3 billion people connected they want to be part of the conversation. Our relevance is really about embracing that and learn how to listen.

You know those weekends where you have no idea what to do or what to visit?

How about some geocaching?

If you haven’t heard about it, don’t worry, me neither. Well, that is until last weekend when i was introduced (thanks Ricardo!) to this GPS treasure-hunting game, a global activity with more than 400,000 “caches” (waterproof containers) in 222 countries.

All you need is to get a GPS device, register yourself in geocaching.com and find the cache coordinates (in GPX format) you want to search for.
Once you start, you will eager for your next challenge, always confident that the community members have hidden the caches in interesting places. If you think it’s easy just because you have the latest GPS gadget, don’t! The hard part comes when you find out how hard it is to reach to some places or your GPS signal suddenly goes berserk.

The beauty of it, it’s how simple it is (although variations are encouraged):

1. Take something from the cache
2. Leave something in the cache
3. Write about it in the logbook

The site offers some precious advices and helps you get started with this addictive outdoor experience. If you want to get involved, Geocaching.com even provides tips and materials to place you own caches.

So, what does this have to do with online advertising, you might ask? Everything!
It’s a DIGITAL based SEGMENTED activity involving SEARCH and ENTERTAINMENT with highly motivated COMMUNITY USERS that leave their FEEDBACK on LOG books and TRADE gifts. Connect your own dots.

With the announcement last Monday of 1 million iPhones sold after 74 days, the apple gadget had one of the most successful consumer electronics launches in years, slashing the previous iPod milestone.

Considering the recent price reductions and the yet to come worldwide launches, it came to mind a note that JPC wrote regarding Al Ries article on AdAge, predicting that the iPhone would be a failure.

I don’t know about Laura and Al, but I’m seriously reviewing their convergence theory. Or perhaps the marketeers should reconsider the assumption that the iPhone was a convergent device. With the current sales numbers and the holiday season coming, Steve Jobs must be doing something right. At least, Apple has a hell of a “convergent” brand.

Having recently used the iPhone and seeing other consumers reactions, i doubt that anyone is worried about convergence. Most consumers are looking for something different that offers a great experience. A purple cow experience.
I guess Seth Godin was right, but for marketing’s sake, let’s all hope that Al isn’t Steve Ballmer’s friend (that predicted a iPhone failure for other reasons).

Update 2: Now it’s official: the interactive mobile experience is live, and the webpage is getting more than 1000 pageviews per hour! . Get a call from coach Paulo Bento at www.sporting.pt/filme

Update: Server is down due to massive access. The campaign is set to release only tomorrow, so i’ll later post the new address.

After my latest post on Freddy Adu, it’s more than fair a post on another team, this time being Sporting Clube de Portugal, and the way sports clubs are increasingly using new media.

The club sells their Gamebox pack with season tickets, with sales having a steady growth each year. For the 07/08 season, Sporting focused on the Internet and mobile marketing instead of TV to achieve a more widespread interest with a better ROI.

The season is about to start and mister Paulo Bento is worried. The season’s success is up to you. Insert your data and fix this problem now !

Through a interactive video, users can place their name and phone number to receive a call by coach Paulo Bento, with distinct scenarios according to the call feedback. With cellphones reaching a market penetration over 117% in Portugal, the viral effort is aiming to get 40000 subscriptions and appeal to a younger audience through a different media channel.

If you ever wanted to be drafted by Sporting, then give it at try at http://www.sporting.pt/filme.

Client: Sporting CP
Product: Gamebox 07’08
Production: Garage
Director: Ernesto Bacalhau
Agency: DraftFCB
Creative Director: Duarte Pinheiro de Melo
Copywriter: Marcos Drummond
Art Director: Bruno Mota
Account director: Andrea Valenti
Technology: eStara

Disclaimer: Sporting CP is currently DraftFCB client, the company i work at.

Nice interstitial from Motorola that i’ve just found on Rottentomatoes.

[swf width=”450″ height=”300″]http://www.asourceofinspiration.com/wp-content/2006/11/moto_girlfriend_600×400_75k.swf[/swf]

link to SWF file

The Portuguese mobile solutions company YDreams, has released this weekend the the latest installment of the Underwold series, with football star Cristiano Ronaldo as the main character.

The collaboration with Manchester’s United pretty boy is a big push in the visibility of the company and a sign that the Cristiano’s publicists are aware of the power of mobile in younger markets, especially if it’s endorsed by one of their idols.
You can download the mobile game at: http://www.cristianoronaldogame.com/

During last November i got several messages from a few of my hotmail buddies, inviting me to the sms.ac community. As a big fan of Orkut, I thought i could join this one too.

Hmm, but first things first, and let’s try google this sms.ac thing.
Some quick browsing and i became aware that this one is not quite black and white. It comes in various shades of grey, namely:

• How dumb can you be ? During the sign-up process, you are asked your Hotmail username and password. And believe it or not, a lots of people actually did it, compromising their security and giving away other people’s personal adresses without their knowledge. Then again, why don’t you give them your bank account number, credit card or your teddy bear. I’m sure this way you’ll get even more free sms messages.
• Get spam 4 free. Of course this scheme/scam as a purpose, and it probably serves its purposes as an harvesting technique to get email and phone numbers for unethical commercial practices, a.k.a spam. So don’t be surprised if you get you email or mobile inbox a bit flooded with unwanted messages.
• It isn’t really free. Despite the fact they don’t ask for any credit card number, that doesn´t mean that you don’t agree to be charged on you phone bill. Refer to their Terms of Service or Service Agreement and be sure you understand these facts. And expect to see thes schemes in other services, so please be careful to read those tiny words or you’ll end up with an extra phone bills at the end of the month.
• Get ready for even more spam. The trick here is the so called “Premium SMS”, belonging to the same family of mobile services as seen in TV contests or magazine promotions. This would all be fine if we had a transparent process, and we all were aware of the risks/opportunities we enroll when aplliying. But most of the time it’s all very misty and vague, so you end up receiving unsolicited mobile messages when and from you least expected.

So what can we do? Not signing-up, unsubscribing or some spam blocking solution are the clearest exits, but i’m afraid we’ll see much more of these scams. Stay tuned for next chapters, as the Premium SMS startups grow.

Related URLs:
http://www.gripe2ed.com/scoop/story/2004/8/16/0210/98756
http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/ripoff102047.htm
http://www.gats.rwth-aachen.de/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=113
http://www.explodedlibrary.info/2004/09/mobile_phones_a.html
http://www.spamblogging.com/archives/000290.html