I don’t normally post items directly tied to my employer but this really an impressive initiative going on within our walls. The notion ties to the shop local movement which started a few years back but looks to take it up a notch with some support and PR. Really great stuff here, check out the video below and here is some of the corporate verbiage on the event.
“On February 9 and 10, 2013, Oakville residents where encouraged to Shop Local at over 100 businesses in Downtown Oakville who offered exclusive deals. http://shoplocal.yellowpages.cac The Shop Local Event aimed to encourage support for local businesses, raise awareness of the importance of local shopping and highlight the positive effects it has on our neighbourhoods. Local businesses are the beating hearts of our communities and define the very fabric of our neighbourhoods. Our butchers, our mechanics, our hairstylists, they’re not only local business owners but also our neighbourhoods, our friends, even our family. The event was organized in collaboration with the Downtown Oakville BIA and the Oakville Chamber of Commerce. Interested by local shopping in Canada? Follow @shoplocalcanada http://www.twitter.com/ShopLocalCanada
An initiative of Yellow Pages Group in collaboration with Business Improvement Association of Downtown Oakville.”
So Google announced the death of Google Reader (YAAAAAWN) recently, but out with the old and in with the new I guess. On deck, Google Keep.
So the gist of this is that the app will let a user quickly jot down notes and add checklists and photos online. The big sales pitch here is that once you log your ‘items’ they essentially move to the cloud and you can access them anywhere.
Ground breaking stuff here folks, I mean wow…did they do it again or did they do it again. Personally I was looking to see if it was April 1st on this since outlook has had this functionality in a cross platform mode for about 10 yrs, albeit not everyone would be running outlook so I guess I could see the application.
Maybe I’m just a critic on this one and need to try it to become a believer, but that will have to wait as its only available on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.
PS – Google has some ridiculous names for their products…
Today we’re upgrading AdWords, by rolling out enhanced campaigns. This is a first step to help you more simply and smartly manage your ad campaigns in today’s multi-device world.
Why enhanced campaigns?
People are constantly connected and moving from one device to another to communicate, shop and stay entertained. In fact, a recent study of multi-device consumers found that 90% move sequentially between several screens to accomplish a task. There’s also a proliferation of new devices — PCs, laptops, tablets, smartphones, hybrid devices, mini-tablets, televisions, and more. And there are many more digital screens and devices to come, with the lines between them continuing to blur. For example, as devices converge, consumer behaviors on tablets and desktops are becoming very similar.
This creates great opportunities for businesses, but can also make marketing more complex and time-consuming. For example, a pizza restaurant probably wants to show one ad to someone searching for “pizza” at 1pm on their PC at work (perhaps a link to an online order form or menu), and a different ad to someone searching for “pizza” at 8pm on a smartphone a half-mile from the restaurant (perhaps a click-to-call phone number and restaurant locator). Signals like location, time of day, and the capabilities of the device people are using have become increasingly important in showing them the right ad.
With enhanced campaigns, instead of having to cobble together and compare several separate campaigns, reports and ad extensions to do this, the pizza restaurant can easily manage all of this in one single place. Enhanced campaigns help you reach people with the right ads, based on their context like location, time of day and device type, across all devices without having to set up and manage several separate campaigns.
Key features:
Here’s an overview of some key features.
Powerful marketing tools for the multi-device world
People want search results that are relevant for the context they are in — their device, location and the time of day. Enhanced campaigns help you better manage your campaigns and budgets for this multi-device world. With bid adjustments, you can manage bids for your ads across devices, locations, time of day and more — all from a single campaign.
Example: A breakfast cafe wants to reach people nearby searching for “coffee” or “breakfast” on a smartphone. Using bid adjustments, with three simple entries, they can bid 25% higher for people searching a half-mile away, 20% lower for searches after 11am, and 50% higher for searches on smartphones. These bid adjustments can apply to all ads and all keywords in one single campaign.
Smarter ads optimized for varying user contexts
People on the go or near your store may be looking for different things than someone sitting at their desk. With enhanced campaigns, you’ll show ads across devices with the right ad text, sitelink, app or extension, without having to edit each campaign for every possible combination of devices, location and time of day.
Example: A national retailer with both physical locations and a website can show ads with click-to-call and location extensions for people searching on their smartphones, while showing an ad for their e-commerce website to people searching on a PC — all within a single campaign.
Advanced reports to measure new conversion types
Technology is enabling people to take action on your ads in new ways. Potential customers may see your ad and download your app, or they may call you. It’s been hard for marketers to easily measure and compare these interactions. To help you measure the full value of your campaigns, enhanced campaigns enables you to easily count calls and app downloads as conversions in your AdWords reports.
Example: You can count phone calls of 60 seconds or longer that result from a click-to-call ad as a conversion in your AdWords reports, and compare them to other conversions like leads, sales and downloads.
PS – Tell me the msg to the voice over folks from the marketing brass @ Google wasn’t to speak slow and calm. It’s like a freaking lullaby, I nearly fell asleep.
So BlackBerry is making a run at it, bravo to them for not rolling over and admitting defeat when every journalist who had an outlet was telling them to do so. With the release of BB10 in early February, BlackBerry stood up and put a few fists into their chest, signifying that they were ready for a fight.
The marketing brass behind the re-branding and product launch likely weighted options heavily on how to best define the product and reach out to the market to start to seed some customer acquisition for the new device once it hits stores later this quarter. A Super Bowl spot was a risky move in my opinion, pricey and the potential of being outdone by another brand in a completely different industry is very real which could all but steal all the visibility of the spot.
Arguably GoDaddy may have done that, but the BB10 messaging hit the mark in my books. Quite honestly my reaction was somewhat mixed as I watched it for the first time, but the conclusion and the overarching message behind the ad was spot on. I’ll let you make your own opinion. Enjoy.
