Architecture, engineering and construction firms, often lumped together under the moniker ‘A/E/C’, have until recently lagged considerably behind other professions in jumping on the social media bandwagon.
The numbers are steadily increasing but a white paper issued in August 2011 by the Society of Marketing Professional Services (SMPS), entitled, ‘The Client’s Use of Social Media and Social Networking’ demonstrated it’s still an uphill climb. More than 1,600 surveys were distributed; 160 responses received. The breakdown of firms using some form of social media was 36% engineering; 24% architecture; and 17% for construction, landscape design and facility owners.
“For many construction firms, all their work is about getting a project off the ground,” said Daryl Andrews, vice president of marketing and business development at 360 Construct, a building management firm. He added that it’s still a slow-go for the construction industry to use social media as part of their business strategy.
Most architectural firms currently using social media tend to be larger, primarily due to the investment in time/labor and having the requisite skills to navigate/communicate effectively on key social media sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
The engineering community, on the other hand, has been quicker to adapt social media.... Read more
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How the A/E/C Community Uses Social Media These Days
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Marketing Religion Online: Attracting the Digital Flock
A buddy of mine who was traveling on business last week knew he was going to miss his annual Passover Seder. Not to worry – while he couldn’t be there in real-time, he simply logged on to OurJewishCommunity.org via his iPad and participated with other Jews worldwide in a virtual Seder.
That got me to wonderin’ – how do some of the world’s most popular religions, in effect, ‘market’ themselves? What are some of the digital tools available online and does going the virtual route somewhat detract from physically being in a place of worship or complement someone’s spirituality?
So I spent a bit of time wandering in the digital desert and came across a number of interesting sites and apps.
Here’s a snapshot (alphabetized -- not listed in any particular order of preference):
Buddhism
Sumi Loundon Kim, the Buddhist chaplain at Duke University and minister for the Buddhist families of Durham, NC, summed up the dilemma of teaching Buddhism to a new generation that uses texting, Facebook, Twitter and other online social media.
“These other worlds exist only through the eyes and mind; there is no touch, no taste, no smell, and very little hearing. As such, virtual worlds present us Buddhist teachers... Read more
Posted in Creative Best Practices, Desktop Apps, Emerging Platforms, Opinions, Social Media, Targeting, Websites, Wireless, Word of Mouth | 4 Comments »
Mmmmm – Marketing Dark Chocolate
To paraphrase that famous cartoon philosopher, H. Simpson: “Mmmmmm. Chocolate.”
I’m sure my hypothalamus is hardwired for chocolate – that old adage, “out of sight, out of mind” may work for some folks – not me. If there’s chocolate in the upper reaches of the pantry or it’s buried two-feet deep behind various foodstuffs in the fridge, my brain immediately sends out tracking signals – a cranial GPS (Godiva Positioning System), I reckon.
So not surprisingly, as a self-confessed ‘chocoholic’, I was thrilled a few years ago when I started reading reports about how dark chocolate – eaten in moderation (inhaled is more accurate for me) – may be good for the heart.
Some dark chocolate confections even contain various vitamins, nutrients and probiotics; research has also shown that flavonoids – antioxidants found in cocoa beans – may help lower blood pressure and LDL (think ‘Lousy’ – it’s the bad acronym) cholesterol, and also improve blood vessel function.
In fact, noted Joy Dubost, a nutritionist and spokesperson for the Washington, DC-based Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, “the higher the percentage of cocoa, the higher the flavanol content, the higher the antioxidant content and thus we believe the greater positive health benefit.”
All of... Read more
Posted in Ad Serving, Creative Best Practices, Entertainment, Opinions, Search, Social Media, Targeting, Websites, Wireless, Word of Mouth | 1 Comment »
Rosy ’12 Outlook for Game Industry
With the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco just looming over the horizon, what’s on tap for the industry? Any integral trends/issues that might be game changers?
For starters, what you don’t readily see is vitally important. UK-based, publicly-held Imagination Technologies creates and licenses multimedia IP cores for graphics, video, and display processing; licensees include many leading semiconductor and consumer electronics companies.
According to VP-Marketing Tony King-Smith, a key issue is improving texture compression in order to get the best quality game with the fastest download times.
“Increasingly in software downloads the total file size is dominated by texture data – indeed, up to 70% or more of a top game title may be textures,” says King-Smith. “This has had a massive impact on everything from app store download and update times through to device main memory usage.”
The most notable trend we’ll see this year is the shift to mobile games – from independent developers to traditional publishers, most companies are now directing their efforts around mobile strategies (smartphones, according to IndustryGamers, already comprise the majority of handheld gaming revenue).
Wanda Meloni, who heads up Encinitas, CA-based market research firm M2 Research, predicts the mobile games market will exceed $6 billion... Read more
Posted in Creative Best Practices, Emerging Platforms, Entertainment, Opinions, Social Media, Targeting, Wireless, Word of Mouth | 1 Comment »
The Future of Driving – It’s Already Here
That now hoary ad campaign, “This is not your father’s Oldsmobile…This is the new generation of Olds,” captured our imagination many moons ago. It has now become a popular culture catch phrase that has spawned endless variations used for countless products and services.
But catch phrases don’t sell cars. The Oldsmobile didn’t evolve with the times and was phased out in 2004.
Oldsmobile executives probably didn’t bother to attend CES. If they did, they would have picked up valuable market intel on where the automotive industry’s heading.
At last week’s CES, there was a lot of buzz about how cars are connecting with the cloud, and talk about exciting new apps either on the market or destined for your vehicle in the near future.
One part of your car that is already being dramatically transformed is the dashboard.
Tony King-Smith serves as vice president-marketing for UK-based Imagination Technologies, a leading multimedia and communications technologies company. As reported in EE Catalog, King-Smith said manufacturers have now recognized that a global chassis approach in car manufacturing will result in cost reductions if adopted in high volume.
“Being able to configure more customer options at the dealer rather than custom fit on a production line has... Read more
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