Merry Christmas

May the spirit of the season fill your lives with love, joy and prosperity!

From our family to yours – Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year. ”

via:http://mccollinsmedia.com/blog/merry-christmas/

Retail Space for Pop-Ups is a great way to test the market

The retail industry continues to make headlines with the collapse of high street names that has suffered during recession. The trend might have made many apprehensive from investing in the retail sector. However, UAE has seen a new trend of pop up shops who test their ideas and gauge interest before actually stepping into the market.

Several art galleries, events and mall venues has been open to pop up shops for a specific period. It gives these budding entrepreneurs an opportunity to trial and test business concepts that they may have, with minimal risks. Several known brands have also started investing in pop up shops which takes their brand to the customers. An increasing number of retailers have noticed instant gratification nature of the customers as the impetus towards temporary retail outlets.

Local entrepreneurs have built a digital community who follows their pop up shops and create curiosity amongst people about where their next pop up shop might be. A good example would be of a fashion brand called Mochi, who started off with the similar concept, and with the enormous response that they got, they have finally opened their bricks-and-mortar outfit.

Brands are using these interim spaces as a means to create buzz, test new concepts or evaluate a new neighborhood. Accessible, mobile and portable they offer customers a unique retail experience and a great way to interact with lesser-known brands. Dubai’s pop up concepts like My Ex Wardrobe, The Urban Yogi, Shoreditch Muse have been a few of the many concepts that show a change in retail trends. Recently, Furla’s exclusive Candy Pop Up store was seen in Dubai Mall. This pop up store showcased a limited edition of the iconic Candy bag.

The pop up shop has fast evolved into something more than a marketing stunt. It is an exhibit, an event, with a design and look to match the real offering. Louis Vuitton in Dubai Mall opened its pop up shop in April 2013, keeping the consistency of its grand and stunning look. This concept has a exclusive collection of evening shoes.

Market Outside the Box, a project initiated by Dubai Shopping festival, brought together local and regional brands at Dubai’s first sustainable fashion and lifestyle market. Online retail concept, wamli.com had its pop up shop amongst other retailers.

So with the Pop-Up booms, what is crucial to the success, is marketing this concept right. A few key elements to this success would be:

Increasing Curiosity:

Tease your target audience with what you are going to offer. Let your customers follow you, offer something exclusive. With every new location, get your customers guessing, where you will be next.

Social Media Marketing:

Instrumental to marketing your pop-up shop, social media marketing is a cost effective, real time and gives you the conversions you require. Create an event on Facebook, Live Tweet about your set up and location, post Instagram pictures of the location and customer testimonials, Upload pictures on Pinterest and create a short Video of your pop up for YouTube. Cross promote the content on all social media channels and your customers would follow up pop up shop. Social Media helps create curiosity and gets people sharing more about your pop-up shop.

Be Exclusive

: Your pop-up shop must offer something exclusive, a limited edition perhaps! for bigger brands who have invested in a pop-up shop, give your customers a reason to engage with you in this temporary retail space.

Location:

Study the market, new events or empty retail spaces which may have a potential for a pop up shop and invest in this place accordingly.

Create an Experience:

One of the biggest advantage of a pop-up shop is the ability to create a unique and unforgettable consumer experience. Whether it is through interactive displays, games, contests or music!

Educate and Train:

A pop up store is an excellent way to educate your customers on all that is great about you. The one on one customer interaction will keep your customers engaged to learn more about your offerings.

Brands must analyze the response from different locations, what the customers were most engaged in, use this data to further invest in a potential bricks-and-mortar concept if needed.

Pop Up shop concept has been fair to bigger brands and lesser known brands, given them a platform to showcase their offerings. Malls, Art Galleries, Event spaces and community areas are open to this new retail concept, and brands find it beneficial to reach their target audience and test the market.

via:http://mccollinsmedia.com/social-media-works/retail-space-for-pop-ups-is-a-great-way-to-test-the-market/

Cut It Out! When Craft Meets Concept at Room 214

Information graphics and iconography have invaded your life, for better or worse, filling your subconscious with factoids, charts and graphs.  Search for information graphics or “infographics” in your browser and you’ll be flooded with a surge of knowledge, all cleanly represented by obscure data visualization points and catchy icons.

It’s interesting to know that infographics have been around since the late 1800’s, but have only resurfaced in modern culture in the past five to ten years.  Now, everybody and their brother wants an infographic.  But data visualization, like all of what we do here at Room 214, is an art form.  So we decided to go back to the basics.

For our most recent infographic for Verizon Wireless, we decided to take a step backward.  We brought out the construction paper, X-acto knives, glue sticks and started our tidy mess.  Actually, that’s a lie, our desks looked as though the 80’s just exploded on them, which in our opinion, is pretty tubular.

Take a look at the finished infogaphic for Verizon here:  Verizon Wireless New Years Infographic

Like all infographics, we started with concepts, sketches and a better understanding of where each cut would take us.  We learned that paper is a delicate creature, to change your X-acto blades frequently, and to keep the glue stick caps tightly fastened.  We also learned that cut paper is a beautiful medium, that it operates much like vector shapes in Adobe Illustrator, with planes and layers, and that even after countless papercuts, it was a worthwhile first step.

One of the most important notions to understand about art, is that it is all about process.  The process of a piece dictates the end result, all while utilizing a host of techniques and knowledge.  You have to embrace this process, or you will surely fall short of your next Jackson Pollock, or Matisse.

Our process was relatively unknown, and resulted in five total steps, all of which were exciting and new.  With the cut paper under our belt, we now had to focus on photography, lighting and finally, post production.  This included a smattering of supporting illustrations and text, which more or less tied together the body of this infographic.  Photography and lighting were relatively simple, thanks to our fabulous Video Producer, Jen Casson and one of our skilled designers, Austin Redd. The total process, although drawn out, was enlightening.

With another infographic in the bag, and another successful win for Room 214, we became aware of our triumphant defeat of the construction paper world.  The same world ruled by toddlers and a surprisingly large number of designers alike.  The art of cut paper is growing, as people realize that it is a viable medium, and is one that hinges on rather complex understandings of both illustration and design.

Here at Room 214, we are always interested new challenges, pushing our understanding of what’s possible, and continuing to work more constructively together.  We are proud of our new cut paper infographic, and look forward to what the future holds, however many paper cuts, or super glue accidents there may be.

via:http://www.capturetheconversation.com/room-214/cut-craft-meets-concept-room214?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CaptureTheConversation+%28Capture+the+Conversation%29

Top 7 Digital Integrations at Fashion Week

Fashion Week is all about access, how close you can get to the runway, and of course the fashion itself. This year, top fashion brands took to social media to grant special access to their fans to make them feel like Fashion Week insiders. Below is our round-up of the best social media event integrations during Fashion Week in New York and London.

1. Burberry’s Social Invite
Burberry has been at the cutting edge of digital integrations for a while now. They continue to make strides in social media to grow their global awareness and transport their fans to rainy London. This season, they created an exclusive invite and feed for social fans to watch the A/W presentation. They also had live correspondents covering celebrity arrivals (the who’s who of British it-celebs), behind the scenes with models, and of course at front row of the runway.

2. WeChat + Burberry
Burberry took it a step further by leveraging the world’s largest mobile messaging platform, WeChat (only available in China currently). By setting up an interactive mobile campaign that allowed followers to unlock special content — such as exclusive stories around the inspiration behind the pieces — they gave fans an intimate brand experience. This is the type of “sticky” marketing that turns passive fans to brand advocates. It’s the one-on-one conversation between brands and fans that give mobile messaging the edge in the digital space, and what likely contributed to the $19 billion valuation of Facebook’s recent acquisition, WhatsApp.

3. Tommy Hilfiger’s Twitter Concierge
The luxury and convenience of a concierge is going social. The Tommy Hilfiger brand has created an online team that works directly with influencers and media outlets on Twitter to get them anything they need. Anything, you ask? That includes upclose shots of the bag you’ve been coveting or personally handwritten notes from the models on the runway. This is a great move by a brand looking to position themselves as approachable luxury.

4. Marc Jacob’s Tweet Shop
Marc Jacob stole headlines with the Soho pop-up shop that only accepted Tweets for payment. While this was an amazing media blitz, we took a closer look at the hashtag stats after Fashion Week was done and the reach was pretty abysmal (less than 200 unique users and about five million impressions). This integration shows that the Marc Jacob team was likely measuring success with earned media rather than fan engagement.

5. Topshop’s Virtual Reality Fashion Show
Topshop immersed fans in the full experience of Fashion Week by creating a hub that streamed the live shows, posted behind the scenes action, allowed viewers to create their favorite looks, and create a playlist of the show’s music. Content was also broadcasted across Google+, YouTube, Twitter, and blogs, garnering over four million video views and 200,000 social shares. They further extended the idea in their flagship Oxford Street store with a “Be the Model” photobooth. Not a traditional photobooth though — it created animated GIFs that users could across various social networks. Who doesn’t love a good GIF?

6. Zac Posen’s Music Inspo
Zac Posen gave unique access to his fans by matching stylized outfits with the music that helped inspire their creation. This relatively simple integration not only gave insight into his creative genius but also leveraged the unquestionable unity of music and fashion.

via:http://www.capturetheconversation.com/social/top-7-digital-integrations-fashion-week?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CaptureTheConversation+%28Capture+the+Conversation%29

Quick Glimpse: Google Search Remarketing

otherwise known as retargeting — has expanded beyond Display ads and into Search results. While the extension isn’t particularly new, it does offer an advanced and dynamic advertising approach that can be used to create strongly performing campaigns.

At Room 214, our Traffic Team has applied remarketing for a number of advertising purposes. Our favorite thus far is running campaigns on searches for competitor brand terms. The online sales process for many buyers, and companies, is long because users educate themselves on the options by reading reviews and evaluating competitor websites. It’s imperative you stay in front of potential customers during this process. While Display remarketing offers one method for this strategy, Search remarketing is a great complement.

Advertising on competitor brand terms is challenging as it’s often expensive and can be confusing with ambiguous competitor brand names. Google’s search remarketing provides higher confidence in your ad placements — as a result we often see better returns. This limits expenditure, increases ad relevance, and often leads to higher conversion rates.

Finally, it’s imperative that you present your strongest, most compelling ad copy when advertising on competitor brand terms. Stand out by offering discounts or desired assets so that your ad grabs the user’s attention. In addition, consistently A/B test your ads because your click through rates will be very low, and improving your CTR even marginally can provide massive benefits.

via:http://www.capturetheconversation.com/seo-sem/quick-glimpse-google-search-remarketing?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CaptureTheConversation+%28Capture+the+Conversation%29

Hiring: SEO Specialist with HTML & CSS Chops

Room 214 is seeking an individual who is technically minded — but also has exceptional communication, writing, and organizational skills. This is a hybrid position, so we would very much appreciate your assistance in sharing this with folks who fit the description.

This position is perfect for the individual who has:

• 1-3 years experience in keyword research and search engine optimization techniques
• 2-4 years experience with HTML and CSS experience (basic front-end web development)
• The confidence to communicate recommendations about web content (even to the extent of being able to write some of it her/himself) – but also the humility and hunger to learn more
• An interest in configuring and using Google Analytics
• A desire to learn more about SEO, online marketing and great web content
• An ability to make basic HTML and CSS updates to web pages

Important Note: This job is likely a far better fit if you are a web developer interested in learning SEO, than a “SEO enthusiast” with zero real web dev experience.

Responsibilities Include:

• Creating landing pages using HTML and CSS
• Driving and managing SEO priorities for agency and agency clients, including recommendations for site content
• Conducting keyword research to define target keywords, using best-practice methodology and tools (must know how or be ready to quickly learn how to perform keyword research, backlink analysis, identification of top search rankings and content optimization opportunities)
• Using on-and off-site SEO skills to impact high search engine visibility for targeted keywords
• Identifying opportunities for video, mobile, and social optimization to support SEO goals
• Measuring and analyzing the effectiveness of SEO activities
• Research, analyze and translate data from Google Analytics, Google Webmaster Tools, and other 3rd party software platforms
• Conducting in-depth site audits and producing SEO deliverables
• Generate weekly and/or monthly campaign performance reports and trends

Bonus points for:

• Fast-paced, agency SEO experience
• Google Analytics expertise
• Google Adword experience
• Marketo / Marketing Automation experience
• UI/UX Design experience
• PHP, JQuery, JavaScript experience
• A kick ass attitude wrapped in a super nice personality

Room 214 is a great agency for the individual that:

• Likes working in an open environment both independently and as part of a team
• Appreciates transparency from co-workers and owners
• Is values-driven with respect to people and quality of work
• Is interested in thinking like a business owner

How to Apply:
Please send an email with your cover letter and a resume. Make sure to include at least 2 links to examples of your HTML/CSS work. Please also list any certifications you may have. Applicants without HTML examples will not be considered.

via:http://www.capturetheconversation.com/room-214/hiring-seo-specialist-html-css-chops?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CaptureTheConversation+%28Capture+the+Conversation%29

Pinterest Basics: 8 Things to Keep in Mind

PINTEREST BASICS: 8 THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND

When it comes to best practices on your Pinterest page, there are an abundance of things that you can do. But what if you don’t have time or if you’re just starting your Pinterest presence? Here are the top 8 basic yet most important things everyone should do for their Pinterest page.

1. Pinterest users are generally women, ages 18-49, so optimize content to that audience.

2. Whenever possible, keep images with white background to a minimum as they are less engaging on Pinterest.3. Pinterest users are obsessed with food, fashion, travel, and DIY, so brand content should incorporate these categories when possible.

4. Pins should link back to your brand website (unless it is re-pinned from another user or site)

5. Tall images get repinned more, so try to work with a width to height ratio of 2:3

6. Pin 4-5 times per day (or more if you have time — no more than 20 pins per day), spaced throughout the day

7. Images with multiple dominant colors get more than three times as many repins as those with a single dominant color8. Images without a person’s face generally perform better Want to know more about Pinterest community management? Click here to contact us!

via:http://www.capturetheconversation.com/social/pinterest-basics-8-things-keep-mind?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CaptureTheConversation+%28Capture+the+Conversation%29

Spice Up Your Next Social Event With a SXSW Flare

South by Southwest is the hip annual US event in Austin, Texas where giant technology companies, celebrities, actors and singers join forces to showcase their amazing creative (digital) talent. SXSW began Friday, March 7, and offers a unique mix of music, film, and emerging technology festivities and brings together thousands of great minds from around the world to share their creative ideas.

Although the event started off as a music gathering back in the days, it’s now considered a launch pad and breeding ground for new content in the creative industry. The SXSW Trade Show creates such buzz-worthy exposure that “boring” business events could really learn a thing or two about how to add a high amount of educational value in a cool, compelling, and thriving networking environment.

How can any marketer learn from SXSW and provide similar added-value to any business event?

Embrace Real-Time Technology & Uplift Customer Experience

Everyone likes to indulge in juicy gossip stories at events using the Secret app – or any kind of real-time technology – to entertain their audience in a fun way adding to the overall experience. SXSW makes use of the Secret app, a Twitter-like service that let’s you share secrets anonymously amongst your friends. Adedicated web feed will let all of the SXSW ‘secrets’ have their moment of fame.

Be Hyper-Relevant: Talk About Issues People Truly Care About

What happens when you interview some of the most talked-about, controversial people in the world? Right, your event gets instant buzz! Although many conferences can’t afford to pay for high-profile speakers, it’s crucial to talk about the topics in your industry that truly matter.

On Saturday, Wikileads founder Julian Assange took the SXSW Interactive stage in a “virtual” conversation via Skype from the Ecuadorian embassy in London. Benjamin Palmer, from the marketing agency the Barbarion Group, interviewed him on important issues like government surveillance, online democracy, and the future of the internet.

Claim Your Spot As a Thought Leader in the Market

The one thing SXSW truly rocks at is making sure they’re on the forefront of everything hip and happening. Although it took them 27 years to become one of the most important events in the music, film, and technology industries worldwide, nowadays, they have really claimed their spot as a thought leader.

Every year, they’ve been more and more consistent in educating their audience in their area of expertise and establishing themselves as the perfect playground to bring together creative people discovering new music, film, and technology. SXSW now has its own unique mix of elements and keeps on reinventing themselves by picking up on what’s really trending in the industry, just like any event should be doing!

Want to keep up with this year’s edition? Follow them on Twitter or add some SXSW events to your schedule!

This entry was posted in Events, Marketing, Social media and tagged app, government surveillance,julian assange, real time, secret, sxsw interactive, sxsw trade show, thought leadership by Sofie De Beule. Bookmark the permalink.

What is Engagor?

Engagor helps companies to efficiently monitor and analyze all online activity around their brand, competitors and industry.

Brands can effectively manage and engage across all major social networks, millions of blogs, forums and news sites. Engagor works with leading companies, such as McDonalds, Ikea, Volvo, Weight Watchers, and the European Parliament.

via:https://engagor.com/blog/spice-up-your-next-social-event-with-a-sxsw-flare/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+engagor%2FyrAt+%28Engagor%29

Facebook’s Organic Reach for Content Will Most Likely Drop to 0%

According to a study conducted by social@Ogilvy, organic reach on Facebook will drop to 0% in the foreseeable future. In 2012, Facebook already introduced a famous plunge in organic reach bringing it to about 16%. Over the coming months, that number will only diminish. According to the analysis, the percentage of organic reach plummeted 6% in February 2014.

Without putting money behind it, the average reach posts receive for brands is very low. The drop in organic reach is especially painful for larger brands with more than 500,000 Likes. Based on current trends as well as conversations, that figure will likely drop to zero in the future.

For a few months to a year, there will still be value in organic reach for testing according to Marshall Manson, managing director at Ogilvy. Facebook tweaked its News Feeds algorithm in the past to improve the overall user experience and declutter people’s Facebook profiles. However, many brands expressed their frustration as they feel pressured to make more ad buys.

Will brands be less likely to pay for reach on Facebook?

Although brands aren’t very keen on dedicating more money into their marketing budget on Facebook, they will still be likely to pay for advertising. Facebook remains a great means to drive engagement for your brand. The drop in organic reach actually opens up more room for creativity: brands need to make a more conscious effort to stand out as they can’t just post anything they want.

The pay-for-play tweak to the social network provides yet another challenge for marketers and community managers. Posting on Facebook won’t just be a sequence of boring marketing messages, but well-thought-out, high-quality posting that can leverage a brand’s social media presence.

How do you see the future of driving engagement on Facebook?

This entry was posted in Analytics, Community management, Facebook, Marketing and taggedfacebook engagement, marshall manson, ogilvy, organic reach, paid reach, social@ogilvy by Sofie De Beule. Bookmark the permalink.

What is Engagor?

Engagor helps companies to efficiently monitor and analyze all online activity around their brand, competitors and industry.

Brands can effectively manage and engage across all major social networks, millions of blogs, forums and news sites. Engagor works with leading companies, such as McDonalds, Ikea, Volvo, Weight Watchers, and the European Parliament.

via:https://engagor.com/blog/facebooks-organic-reach-will-most-likely-drop-to-0/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+engagor%2FyrAt+%28Engagor%29

Beyond Video Storytelling: 3 Ways Marketers Can Learn from Viral ‘First Kiss’ Clothing Ad

If you haven’t watched the “First Kiss” viral video ad in the last couple of days or hours, you’re obviously living somewhere else online too caught up in Obama’s Between Two Ferns appearance. The 20 strangers kissing for the first time, dressed up in L.A. fashion label Wren’s fall 2014 clothing collection, seem to gladly overcome the awkwardness and touch everyone’s hearts.

“First Kiss” obviously is a huge hit, and there are many reasons why. Ads like these are rare and even unprecedented for a short film about fashion. Wren’s founder and creative director, Melissa Coker, launched the film as part of Style.com’s video fashion week and was caught off guard by the film’s success. In less than 2 days now, the video has racked up more than 20,000,000 hits.

What can this viral success actually teach marketers beyond video storytelling? Let’s take a look at 5 ways marketers can draw inspiration from the “First Kiss” viral success.

1. Emotional Branding

Do you still remember the emotions you went through during the video? That’s because honest, real emotions like these in ads are rare. Although it’s not entirely a spontaneous act and the video was staged as they had to cast people who were willing to kiss strangers, the emotions portrayed certainly weren’t fake.

With this type of brand marketing through social networks, it’s important to add emotional triggers to any campaign that directly affect how people feel about your brand. Any personalized marketing approach that evokes emotional reaction in customers will form a strong bond.

2. The Power of Positive Advertising

We all had the ‘awwwww’ moment while watching the film as it puts a smile on everyone’s faces reminiscent of the positive messaging by Dove’s Real Beauty Sketches. The disarming, intimate moment between two people who happen to be strangers just minutes ago leaves no one untouched. At the end, we all get the feeling the strangers made that rare, real connection.

Bottom line of the power of positive advertising? Commercials that actually make us more optimistic about life in general make us more likely to fall in love with the brand regardless of the product that’s featured. Take a big step back from downbeat campaigns, and integrate a positive twist into your brand.

3. Keep it Simple

It’s as simple as this: put two strangers in front of the camera and make them “kiss”. The filmmaker, Tatia Pilieva, actually didn’t shout the famous ‘action’ words but let the “actors” do their thing without forcing them into anything. The video is extremely compelling, although it just features a campaign with ordinary people (although some are models and singers) who indulge in something really simple like kissing.

The uncut feel of the video leaves any marketer with the same feeling: ‘why haven’t we thought of this before?’. A simple, yet powerful campaign that, although it’s an ad created to please a large audience, feels like an unprecedented random act of sweetness.

via;https://engagor.com/blog/beyond-video-storytelling-5-ways-marketers-can-learn-from-viral-first-kiss-clothing-ad/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+engagor%2FyrAt+%28Engagor%29