SceneTap and the perils of 'anonymous' data gathering
A man walks into the bar...
That's the start of countless jokes, but it's not a joke for SceneTap. For the Chicago-based startup, a man walking into a bar is just another event that can be tracked and analyzed.
Thus far, SceneTap has tracked 8.5m such events at more than 400 bars and nightclubs using cameras that allow it to determine how crowded a bar is, the approximate ages of patrons and male-to-female ratios.
Mobile site review: Majestic Wine
Majestic Wine has launched a new mobile site to allow its customers to browse and buy wines on the go.
It has been developed by Usablenet, which also designed mobile sites for House of Fraser, Tesco and M&S.
A wine merchant isn’t necessarily the type of business you would expect to have a mobile site, and it doesn’t seem to be a common feature among its competitors.
So how does it measure up in terms of usability?
Drinks giant Diageo reels from social media backlash
Global drinks giant Diageo, custodian of iconic brands such as Johnny Walker, Smirnoff, Jose Cuervo, Guinness and Moet & Chandon found itself at the centre of a public relations storm this week after it was alleged that they unfairly intervened at an annual drink industry awards event to prevent a rival from picking up an award.
Independent Scottish brewer, BrewDog claimed that the drinks giant Diageo had brought undue pressure to bear on the organizers of the event to override the decision of the judges to give them an award, allegedly stating that ‘under no circumstances could BrewDog be allowed to win’.
Domino's brings pizza ordering to Facebook
Have a craving for a pizza? Normally, you'd have to step away from the computer and make a call, but the next time you're hungry, you might not have to move or pick up the phone to fill your stomach.
If you happen to live in New Zealand or Australia, you can now place your order on Facebook instead thanks to Domino's Pizza.
Peapod builds virtual grocery store for Chicago commuters
The next time your spouse asks you to pick up the groceries on your way home for work, you won't have to do nearly as much work if your daily commute happens to take you through the State and Lake Station Tunnel in Chicago.
That's because internet grocer Peapod has launched a "virtual grocery store" to the location which lets commuters buy products from brands like Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble and Kimberly Clark using their mobile phones.
Twitter showdown: Coke vs Pepsi
Today, we're launching a new weekly Twitter showdown of some of the biggest companies on the web, in your grocery store or on your brain. Today's competitors are some of the most well known brands on the planet.
Yep. It's Coca-Cola verses Pepsi. When have we heard that before? But this time, we're not having a blind taste test. With the help of Visual.ly's new easy to create infographics, we could easily compare these two drink giants.
First, a little background on what our competitors are doing.
Ad agency as VC: WPP Digital invests $7m in mySupermarket
Over the past several years, Madison Avenue has made a concerted effort to cozy up to Silicon Valley and young technology startups.
And for good reason: with consumers spending more and more of their time online, the technology industry is increasingly important to brands. As a result, ad agencies have little choice but to keep up with technology and, if they're lucky, spot the next big things before they become big.
Keeping children safe online
Sometimes, those working in and around social media every day can forget just how much many, if not most, of the population may take the internet for granted.
Especially teens and tweens, who, posting from the safety and security of their own bedrooms, can feel free to say, do and broadcast what they like without worrying too much about the consequences.
Five ways to optimise your online video
A great video strategy can be a lot of work. Coming up with a good concept, producing the video, and editing are all vital steps in the process, but it does not end there.
All too often, businesses will invest serious time and effort into producing great video content only to lose steam once they get the videos online.
Your online video strategy should not end at the upload. Really great content can and often will go far on it’s own, but there many tactics that can be employed online to reach your video’s full potential.
Here are five post-upload steps you can take to ensure your video marketing strategy is a success.
Costa's Facebook app and content strategy doubles its 'likes' in Q1
Costa Coffee has revealed that it increased its Facebook fans from 240,000 to 500,000 in Q1 after implementing a new content strategy and creating a 'Fan Favourites' app.
In the same period average daily page views have increased from 1,500 to 10,000 and the average reach of status updates went from 50,000 users to 200,000.
The campaign to increase engagement on Costa’s Facebook page was implemented by PR agency Paratus Communications.
Paratus head of digital Adam Vincenzini said that the page had previously been updated about six times per month on average, but this was increased to three posts each day with a focus on emotional, visual content.
