The world according to John

This one broke my heart – in more than one way. So any of you who know me know Im a poker player. I have the attention span of an unmedicated 3 year old with ADHD after drinking four red bulls, yet i can spend countless hours at a poker table drinking bad beer and studying every nuance of the 9 overweight and bacterially unsound fellows at my table. I don’t know why actually, i just fell in love with the game when i was young, playing for pennies with my mother and grandfather. Living close to Atlantic City and Upper CT, i have poker player cards to virtually all AC casinos as well as Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods, and receive trees worth of mailings from them each year.

The other day i received a nice glossy piece from Borgata, advertising their 2,500 buy in no-limit hold ‘em event. To my surprise, i saw a QR code on it! Now they’ve used texting for a while (as have Foxwoods and some others), but this was the first QR code i’ve seen – peep it!

So, all giddy i grabbed my iPhone and scanned it. After scanning it i just laughed out loud…the Borgata, the epicenter of poker in NJ and one of the classiest and most luxorious casinos on the east coast – with one of the best websites and some of the greatest marketing around…WAS DOING IT WRONG. Here is the result of my scan:

Their QR code was supposed to set up an SMS, yet on the iPhone it was an epic fail…apparently their agency didn’t realize that iPhone doesn’t support that SMSTO syntax. I dont know if it wasn’t tested, or if their agency just doesn’t care, but on that day the Borgata dropped about 10 points in my mind. They’re now a notch below Trump Marina, and just edging out Resorts in terms of lameness.

This sort of thing is unacceptable. We just deployed a campaign for a major (MAJOR) brand, and they wanted a QR to resolve to an SMS. Unlike Borgata’s agency who either doesn’t care about or doesn’t understand mobile user experience, we created a routine that actually worked, instead of throwing some slop against the wall and likely charging far too much for it.

Im thinking they probably sent tens of thousands of this piece out to poker players. Some bean counter probably expected some result, but that bean counter is in for a surprise…not a single iPhone who scanned that can participate. They’re pretty much saying ‘hey you’re our customer, but if you have an iPhone screw you, you can’t use our QR codes.’

Its one thing to do it wrong accidentally, but this is a clear case of negligence, not thinking, not testing, and delivering crap to your client under the guise of pretending you know what you’re doing. A story written by my business partner John Lim called ‘can you trust your geek‘ hits on some of these issues. But the fact is people, your interactive agency is NOT your mobile agency. You can’t be a part-time professional anymore. Its like back in the 1990s when the www was forming. Your print company offered web services. Some companies stayed with them and got an inferior product. Others went with a dedicated interactive agency, and got a better product, more service, more technology and in almost all cases more results.

The old drug slogan, ‘just say no’ is applicable here. When your interactive agency or web design company offers you a mobile service, just say no. Then find a mobile agency (like Mobile Card Cast - shameless plug) who can listen to your objectives and put together a plan to achieve them and even surpass them. Let your print company do your flyers, your web company do your website, and your mobile company implement your mobile campaigns.

As for the Borgata…I still love you guys. Give me a call and let me help you do it right. A free seat in that 2,500 NLH tourney would get you back in my good graces, then we can go from there. But, next time you see the moron who put this together, walk up to him and bitch slap him in the face, and say (with an english accent) “Im mad as hell, and Im not going to take it anymore!!!!”.

I couldn’t resist this one. SMS has been in play for years now, and yet still overpaid agencies can’t get it right. Please see exhibit A below:

Now, let’s take a look at this. This is obviously a coaster, likely being used in a bar or club to promote Miller’s “Win Epic Prizes” campaign. At a glance we can tell legal got their grubby hands on even the tagline…’epic’ has an asterisk which makes me question the epic-ness of the prizes. I digress.

It doesn’t take more than a middle school degree to realize that the goal of this campaign is to have customers text in – that would likely create a successful campaign. My prediction: the campaign to win epic prizes will be an epic fail.

First let’s look at the keyword, or what we at Mobile Card Cast call the Mobile ID. Not only is it a 10 character Mobile ID, but its mixed alpha-numeric. This will not only strongly deter folks from texting in, but exponentially increase both the possibility of input error and the frustration level of the user – most users will have to toggle between the alpha and numeric keyboard modes during input. Fail #1.

Second, let’s look at the shortcode. OH THAT’S RIGHT, I cant see it either. This is to be used in a bar people, and anyone who’s ever been to a bar can agree that for the most part they’re not the most well lit places on earth. And how about the call to action? The word ‘Text’ is equally illegible. So my question is, what brilliant Creative Director decided to use 8pt condensed font for the shortcode and CTA? Are they giving away free illuminated magnifying glasses to potential participants? Fail #2 and #3.

Rants aside here, you can see why this is categorized in the ‘You’re doing it wrong’ section’. The Mobile ID is cryptic; the shortcode and call to action are illegible in the environment within which they will be viewed. This is why having a strong mobile team on your side is important…it will prevent your ‘epic’ campaigns from becoming ‘epic’ fails.

But hey, at least it will keep the moisture off of the bar.

Ah, I’ve been telling people this for about three years now. Something to think about gang, the new thing to do during commercials is to play on the mobile internet. Now, if someone sees a commercial that interests them, and they go to that company’s website and it doesn’t work on their mobile device, its a fail. It actually could qualify as a ‘you’re doing it wrong’. But to prevent an all out rant, I’ll just give you the link and you can see for yourself.

Case in point: if you’re advertising on TV, you had better pay it off with a good mobile presence.

Read The Full Story

I was recently ranting about a question that was posed, the question being: Do small businesses need an App to be competitive? Now, as some of you know this is a subject I’ve talked about quite a bit. The short answer is an overwhelming NO. Small businesses need a mobile website, but don’t need an App to be competitive. Why? Well, let my rant ensue!

< rant >
Needing an app is one of the largest misconceptions in Mobile right now, especially for small businesses. What businesses need first is a Mobile website. For the most part, a consumer will turn to their mobile device for information when they’re on the road – shopping, looking for a restaurant, a product, etc. If that consumer does a quick web search, then clicks on a result that’s not formatted for their device, that business loses a new customer. No one is going to find a business, search for them in an app store, install their app, THEN try to find out their address or driving directions, or even their phone number.

There are existing Apps, however, that businesses should embrace. For example, Foursquare, SCVNGR, Yelp, and others will help consumers find a business, as each app has a large existing installed base. But to think that a small business needs an App is absurd. There’s usually no reason for the consumer to install the app, let alone use it. “Yea Joe hang on a second, I can get the address for Fred’s restaurant, let me search the app store for the Fred’s Restaurant app, then install it, then I’ll get the address.” Nope. Google Fred’s Restaurant, click a link, and if Fred did it right, Fred’s website will redirect the mobile user to Fred’s mobile website, and front and center will be a button that says “Find Us” or similar. Ah, and a big click-to-call phone number, just in case.

Local search is what the majority of consumers are using mobile devices for, and those devices can be a powerful acquisition vehicle for local businesses. When consumers are searching for information about a business, a menu, or products, having to install an app is an unnecessary barrier to entry. Having a good mobile website with your businesses information is the first step in getting people to your doorstep. Then, if you want to cater to the higher-end devices and provide some extra functionality, like the “Fred’s Restaurant Dart Game” or something, sure build your app. But build it to achieve a business need, not because a commercial or some developer tells you that you need one. You can spend way less and reach far more users with a mobile website. And as always, look to our big brother – the World Wide Web. Find me a software company that released an installable piece of software BEFORE launching their website in the last 10 years, and you’ll come up empty. It just makes no sense.
< /rant >

Here’s a geek tip for all of my fellow Photoshoppers.

Had a strange issue where Photoshop CS3 wouldn’t start, it kept hanging at the ‘loading preferences’. As it turns out that generally means that your preferences file is corrupt. BUT, thanks to some posts over at deviantart.com, I found a quick fix!

All you have to do is launch Photoshop then IMMEDIATELY hold down Control, Alt and Shift at the same time. It will ask if you want to delete your settings, click yes and bam, Photoshop opens instantly!

This saved me a full uninstall/reinstall so I felt compelled to share!

A nice article on a mobile solution we just implemented for John Aaroe Group. http://rismedia.com/2011-01-09/john-aaroe-group-launches-full-mobile-solution/

Great article, written by the talented and massively cool Stephanie Andre. Its about the Mobile Real Estate/HSA co-branded MRE platform. Enjoy!

http://rismedia.com/2010-10-07/the-start-of-a-beautiful-partnership-mobile-real-estate-id-hsa-home-warranty-team-up-to-provide-cutting-edge-technology-to-agents-and-consumers/

So me being the overly ambitious person that I am, I decided to start a new series ‘Designing for Mobile’. Even though it says part 1, who knows if there will be any more installments. BUT Ill give it a shot.

So recently i was asked for an overview of how to design for mobile. Here is my response, i figured id share it with all of you. The original question was something like ‘how do you approach conversion of a web site to mobile?’ – my response below.

“For the most part we recreate the mobile site based on design and content from the web site. Designing and information architecture for mobile is completely different than web – the screen is smaller, and the needs are different. For example, on mobile contact info and address are always front and center. We can assume oftentimes a user will be accessing the mobile site while on the go, likely trying to find the business contact info or location. Or, a user is trying to find product information while in a store. The mobile experience needs to be designed according to the anticipated needs of the user. Secondarily we can provide tons of additional content that is a click or two deeper.

Also in mobile users tend to think side to side instead of up and down AND side to side as they do in web. In mobile left is back, right is forward – that’s a function of current mobile design and information flow, and is a key interface concept when designing and doing IA for mobile. Too many folks are trying desperately to retrofit their website for mobile and failing miserably because they don’t understand the interface assumptions and mindset of a mobile user.”

Some great press around our recent launch of Timex Mobile: http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/advertising/7441.html

Just a quick shameless plug…our Guinness mobile program was featured on the front page of Mobile Marketer! Check it out at: http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/messaging/5866.html