Web Fonts: The final frontier

Tired of looking at the same 20 fonts on the web yet? I love Tahoma and Comic Sans as much as the next guy but wouldn’t it be great for designers and brands to be able to use any font they want? Sure, there are solutions using flash or graphics but we need something that maintains best web and SEO practices. With groups like Typekit, Font Squirrel, Ascender, Font Bureau, and now Google’s recent launch of their Font Directory, I think we’ll see some acceleration in bringing more fonts to the web. While these groups work with type designers and foundries on licensing models for web distribution the browser manufaturers will have to work to catch up technically. A font intended to display in print at 600dpi may not look so good at 72dpi, but hey, I remember a time when there were only 216 “web-safe” colours. Here are some examples of embedding machine text, i.e., no use of graphics, into web pages.

Taking Time to Unplug

We here at Dashboard are all about the latest and greatest in technology – but we don’t work all the time. Of course, in our industry it’s easy for work to infiltrate our lives. Even when we’re not working, we’re probably on the Internet, or watching TV or at the movies – and it’s hard to turn it off. You try not thinking about an awesome 3D website while watching Avatar!

Even while playing the latest video game, say Starcraft 2, you may be interacting with people and accomplishing something together, but it is very rudimentary in its interaction. The mentality of “Just one more level…Just one more level” can come to permeate a players psyche and they can lose touch with reality and some of their personal interactions.

My solution when this happens? Peace and quiet. No email, no phones, no Starcraft 2. I retreat to The Bruce with my wife and son and we do everything outdoors. It’s important to me that my family and I experience nature and all of the things that the outdoors can offer. Obviously, living in Canada only allows for a certain amount of time a year when people can experience the outdoors in comfort, but we have the best backyard in the world – we need to explore it to its fullest!

Whether it be the Bruce Peninsula or any of the other great outdoor spaces that Ontario has –  get out there. Pick your own apples, ride a horse, take a hiking or canoe trip, visit a farm. All of these activities – while devoid of the newest technology – can also make you feel more complete and will occupy a space within your soul that technology never could.

Remember that as technology continues to evolve and we continually become more entrenched in the newest innovations, we must remind ourselves that at some point, just like our pieces of technology, we all need to shut down and reboot our systems.

Faces in Places

Facebook has been busy.  Open Graph, new  design and layout changes to Pages, it’s all making it easier for brands to work with and communicate on Facebook. It’s no wonder,  integration is on every marketers to do list. Add a couple of movies featuring the social network and all seems very well for Facebook. And they continue to roll, all systems go.

This week Facebook officially announced it’s rumoured and hotly anticipated new check-in feature – Places. Check-ins aren’t anything new, a few players have been at it for a bit (Yelp, Gowalla, and Foursquare) but even their combined user base doesn’t come close to Facebook’s 500+ million users.  Facebook could easily show up and crush these smaller check-in services, but they didn’t. So why not? Well they’ve all partnered through some form of integration. Why would Facebook even consider this? And why would the others hook up with Facebook?

What’s in it for Facebook.
The learnings from the other services to start. Facebook has sat back and watched and examined the errors and successes of others, and hopefully applied the learnings to their new product. The big reason is easy adoption. Foursquare alone has 3 million users and these users should be considered early adopters by Facebook. Furthermore these early adopters are most likely influencers in their social circles, so by including them through integration, their social graphs who are not into check-ins will be more likely to adopt the habit on a platform they are familiar with.

What’s in it for the Others.
Well really it’s an extended lease on life for the others. They have the opportunity to evolve their service to integrate with Facebook. This for them is a much better option than being trampled by the giant. For them to survive they need to adopt and evolve plain and simple. They too will also gain from the added exposure to new users through Facebook. Foursquare had their biggest day for sign-ups after the announcement of Facebook places. At least for the time being, Foursquare is reaping the benefits of Places.

So how does it all work?
Although the service is not available to Canadians yet, there is an iPhone app, a HTML5  based mobile site (http://touch.facebook.com) and a desktop client to be released in the future. Basically users can check-in to venues, see who’s around them , and find out “cool new places”, sounds pretty familiar doesn’t it?

When a user checks in, the update appears on the Place page of the venue, and a message is posted to a friend’s wall. At that time, a list of friends will briefly appear, and the user has the option to either check their friends in, or be checked in by  others.

According to Facebook If a friend checks you in, you will receive a message. You will have the option to approve or reject the check-in. If approved, you will appear as checked-in. If you refuse to be checked in, you can still be tagged, if you allow it. Users also have the option to un-tag themselves, this works similar to photo tagging on Facebook.

At this point it’s unclear what opportunities advertisers and brands will have with Places. I imagine a similar deals and offers currently available in Foursquare could be in the works.  So will you be checking yourself and friends in using places? Or do you just find this way too creepy?

Know Your Audience

Creating an engaging user experience isn’t about 3D flash and kinetics. Although those elements help wow your audience, they don’t really ensure any level of engagement. Take our website for example, those of you who have been following us may have seen our old website. At the time it was pretty nifty piece of flash. We wowed users with slick movements and lightning bolts, yes lightning bolts! As time passed the website just wasn’t performing the way we wanted it to. Alas the site was so 2005 and we needed to “live in the now” as our good friend Garth Algar would say.

As technologies change the all flash website still has its purpose but for us and our users it just wasn’t the case. We wanted to provide our users with quick access points to our creative portfolio and contact information. Creating great user experiences means giving the user what they want and need. Sure making things spin, pop, and fly around the screen may get us excited but is it what the audience is looking for? Users are looking for specific information and they want it fast. Mobile browsing and usage growth is testament to this. Content on demand whenever and wherever.

Today’s  users are also expecting some form of social engagement on websites. Facebook open graph, tweet meme, and social bookmarking are all norms, and almost every client wants them. The key is how you integrate them, simply adding these elements to any all content on your site isn’t the right approach. Of course Facebook would love for all of your sites content to be social elements. One may even venture to say they are on a mission to kill the website and bring everything onto Facebook.

Whatever platform or technology you employ be sure you know your audience. Build your digital property based on what your user is using and not what you think is cool. Know their platform of choice, browser usage, and connection speeds. This may mean creating multiple versions for mobile, and browser delivery but by having a handle on these key pieces of information it will help you deliver engaging content to your users on their terms.

Helping our clients shed their security blankets

Like most retailers, our automotive clients are under an avalanche of information, telling them how important it is for them to move their advertising and marketing models more towards digital and social media. It’s a great time to be a digital agency, you’d think the clients would be throwing their dollars at us and we’d be up to our ears in projects.

Not so fast…

We’re seeing our media universe change so quickly it’s making our client’s heads spin.

Not good…

Our automotive clients have been in business a long time…they know how to advertise in print, radio and television, but they look to us to provide the strategies for the digital arena. We can strategize until the cows come home, but unless our clients understand the tools and outlets we want to use to promote their brand, none of us are ahead.

Seeing this, Dashboard and Google teamed up this past Wednesday for a Digital Symposium tailored for the Ontario Toyota Dealers Association. Both teams delivered engaging sessions. The dealers were taken through general search and Google Adwords basics, and looked at how to effectively use multiple digital media tools to reduce spend and increase ROI. We ended the day with ‘Social Media 101’, where everyone left feeling energized and aware of how this new medium could help their businesses and brand.

As we left the conference room I noticed a few discarded blankets…

Talking Shop with RedCanary – Interactive Leaders Q&A

I was recently asked by the people behind RedCanary to answer a few questions for part of their blog called “Shop Talk” 

A few of us talked about these subjects before I submitted my answers so it’s worth sharing our responses here.  Please check out the Red Canary blog to see how a couple of other digital agency heads felt about the same subject.

What drove you to start or join your company and what has made you successful?

I joined Dashboard as a partner about 2 ½ years ago.  I had reconnected with Barry Hillier (the founder of Dashboard) on Facebook after not seeing him for about 10 years.  Barry had started this fantastic shop and was looking for a partner to help get it to the next stage.  I was smitten from my first introduction.  Dashboard is a mosaic of the most creative, innovative, and ingenious people I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with.  I feel lucky every day to be part of this team, they’ve raised my game.

I think the main reason we’re successful is our collaboration, both with the Client and internally across the team.  We’re very integrated and push each other to drive the thinking as far as we can and most of our Clients want that kind of relationship.  We are all very serious about the quality of the user experience and getting a Wow.

Buzz words like “New Media” and “Digital” are getting old.  What would you call a bundle that includes Social Marketing, Video, and ON-line and Mobile?

I’ve resisted trying to define new channels, I don’t think that kind of terminology helps. It might even be a trap into old styles of silo media thinking.  We think more in terms of engagement.  What we know for sure is that consumers are in the driver’s seat more than ever.  They’re increasingly nomadic, choosing where and how to get their news and information, and they’re contributing to the conversation about brands.  We need to know where and how to create the most compelling experience to advance our Client’s objectives and that can easily change from one season to the next.

Our mantra is “Powerful Engagement for Powerful Consumers”.   That’s the best definition of what we do.

How do you see your company’s approach to branding evolving, and what does that mean to your clients?

Our strategic approach to brands has two imperatives.  No matter what else we’re doing, we pursue brand immersion and we pursue brand interaction.   We like to surround the consumer with the brand by making them feel part of it and we like to get them to act or respond in a meaningful way.  There is a lot more to it, but fundamentally, that’s what we’re doing for brands.

What traits do you look for in new Clients?

Our best Clients are the ones with the highest standards, and the highest regard for their consumers.  We get along great with them.

What are the challenges of managing partnerships with traditional agencies and delivering your interactive services to the client?

We have worked with a lot of agencies.  Most we love, some we don’t.  If they bring us in early, respect what we bring to the table and collaborate, we do great work and everyone has a good time.  I’m happy to say that these relationships are not hard to find.

Agencies win awards for their interactive look and feel, but clients are driven by ROI.  What KPIs matter to you?

I don’t see a discrepancy between our goals and our Clients.  What matters to us is doing great work that rewards the consumer and advances the Client’s objectives.  You can’t drive ROI by boring consumers or treating them without respect, but if you ignore the goals of the brand, you’re just being irresponsible.

What are your thoughts on the future of video and mobile (and their successes) as a branding vehicle?

Both are really means to an end.  They can be amazing tools for engagement and creating that immersive brand experience.  Both can profoundly impact the way we reach out to and recruit consumers.  The challenge in Canada is that the mobile marketplace isn’t priced or regulated to facilitate the kind of usage we see in other countries.  We’d love to see that change.

To Contact Us Please Answer: (square root(64) x 14) / 2

I recently came across an interesting post from Rethink. The aptly titled “Five more reasons your website stinks” post had a great little tidbit (reason #10a) about uber long forms complete with CAPTCHA’s that actually deter people from contacting you. I found myself asking, “Why are we still using them, in the first place?”. In today’s landscape of instant communication, the contact form just feels archaic – inconvenient and not very user-friendly. The entire process of completing a typical form takes way too long and often requires the user to surrender too much irrelevant information.

So why do we use forms in the first place? SPAM. Evil SPAM bots have forced regular old mailto links off the page altogether. The bots easily spider page content searching for @ and .com/.ca/.net/.everything combinations. Embedding the recipient address in a form worked until bots were programmed to automate the entry process and compromise the form. Enter the CAPTCHA, an undecipherable, accessibility-hindering, annoying little samurai sent to halt the nasty bots from entering Form Kingdom… and in the process upping your abandonment rates to record levels. So why do we still use forms for simple contact?

Well we shouldn’t, period. Or, at the very least, we should give users some options. Why not adopt the communication technologies and channels of your end users? At this moment these are based around social platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Think about the difference in user experience between offering nearly real-time interaction or expecting someone to wait over an indiscriminate amount of time for a response to a submission (assuming one actually arrives at all). Which scenario better represents your company’s value proposition?

Yes, we already know you’re worried about resources… but don’t you already have a resource assigned to reply to those form submissions? Have those same individuals monitor the newly-minted contact channels as well. Chances are these team members are already well-versed in company policy, legal, and brand positioning and should be able to easily adapt to the new technology. It’s really about improving user experience and engagement by removing barriers between the user and the brand or company.

I guess the one thing to remember about all of this… We don’t build websites for ourselves, we build them for users. So try and give them what they want, and always what they need.

So wanna talk? Tweet me here @mrbrain or here @dashboarddotca or leave me a comment using the form below (CAPTCHA FREE!).

p.s. the answer is 56.

The ad is dead. Long live viral.

In 1984 an ad changed the game. Now in 2010, an ad has once again changed the game, or rather ended it. This week, Saatchi released a viral ad proclaiming the fall of advertising. We all knew advertising’s days were numbered, well everyone except advertising agencies. This viral video told it like it is: Agencies denying the rise of interactive, excessive assing around, creative clinging to the TV ad as the end-all-and-be-all and ignoring clients when they pleaded for interactive ideas. A pretty gutsy move for an advertising agency, who I assume has embraced the digital revolution (we shall see). Aside from being a virtual slap in the face, this spot affirmed my belief in the power of viral messaging.

In California right now, viral is running the Senate election. Smear campaigns have taken on a whole new meaning, as candidates battle it out with bizarre attack ads on YouTube. A woman with a giant head, a man dressed as a demon sheep – these things are weird, and cost a fraction of a fancy spot. And they’ve got people talking.

As traditional advertising morphs into its next phase, viral spots like these wacky political ads, continue to rein supreme. It’s nothing new, but it sure is exciting for us on the digital side. To those who made the leap long before digital was cool, it’s exciting to see the shift in power and respect.

Content is King: Make Sure Yours is Worthy of the Crown

In today’s world of digital marketing, content really is king. I’m sure most of you have heard this many times over, but most misinterpret what this really means.  It’s not filling web pages with endless scrolls of 10 point type; no one will read that much online. It’s about understanding your medium and how your audience consumes content within that medium.

Online visitors skim and scour copy, they forage blocks of text for information relevant to them. So when we create content for use online we must always remember that it’s not what we think should be online, it’s what the user wants online. After all, we don’t create websites for ourselves, we create them for users and their experience is paramount.

Always Be Engaging

The Internet today is a two way street. Consumers expect and appreciate the ability to connect with brands and companies online. Unlike traditional broadcast and print media, consumers want to engage in a conversation with you, so make sure your content is accessible and promotes user engagement. Implementing sharing, bookmarking and commenting are simple ways to create engagement with your content.

Also, you should try and develop content that encourages engagement from users. Ask questions, solicit feedback and opinions, this will empower users and increase the popularity of your content. Make your brand accessible and remember that user feedback is important. Use it to improve your brand and digital marketing efforts.

Things to remember when developing web content.

• Keep SEO in mind when writing for the web. Search engines love to scour copy, so incorporating keywords into your copy will help users find you. Remember not everyone enters your site through the front door.
• Visitors scan web pages for information, so organize your content in a way that helps them find the most relevant information on your page. Effective use of H1 tags, lists and callouts will draw their attention to your key messages. Reading on a monitor is more difficult than reading on paper, so your writing should be clear and lean.
• The back button is only mouse click away, so be engaging. Visitors respond to content they can relate to. Ensure your copy gives them a reason to read on and never lose sight of who your audience is.
• Make user direction clear, don’t leave them guessing. Use the copy and design to make it clear what users should do next.
• Write with the intent of generating buzz, feedback and comments.

I’m always looking for great ideas and feedback so let me know your web content development rules of thumb. If you disagree, leave me a comment and let’s chat.