Welcome back everyone! After a glorious few weeks of sitting in my pool and being amused by my growing children, I’m refreshed and ready to get started on some amazing new client projects. Zuni’s excited to be working with the Australian Institute of Company Directors, the Australian Human Rights Commission, Random House Australia and Top Gear. You can check out the individual details on our blog.
So did 2013 bring some great news for you too? I hope so. Our new client wins have also meant beefing up our resources. With our strategic thinking strengthened and a suite of interesting and progressive clients, 2013 is going to be a cracker! Bring it on!
Aussie based Etsy-esque site gives micro loans
We are big fans of giving back. As part of our ongoing commitment to less advantaged people, Zuni has proudly funded 43 Kiva loans to assist entrepreneurs around the world create viable small businesses. A new addition to the micro lending world is Andable an Aussie based site where 10% of every sale goes to a micro loan fund to help people in need in a developing country. Launched in Sydney, this is a welcome addition to innovative solutions looking to empower the willing and able. Go on, start shopping now.
Is an iPad a mobile device?
I was one of the first people I knew in my own circles to criticise the iPad for being a useless phone – until of course you get a hold of one and can’t seem to put it down. Hailed as an ingenius mobile device, the question is now raised as to whether a tablet should be called mobile at all. You see, over 90% of tablet usage is done right inside the home – they’re much more like home PCs that are a little easier to carry around. Do you think an iPad is a mobile device? Take our poll and let us know!
Real Life Mario Go-Karts?
How brilliant is the concept of bringing to life a Mario Kart game? Gaming is addictive at the best of times, but imagine how much you would actively participate in this game! Waterloo Labs have built a system to control the movements of the go-karts (speed, brakes, and steering) plus a wireless comms system. Players race around the track and pick up RFID-tagged items that altered the behavior of the go-karts – just like the actual game. The guys are truly geeking out!
Outsourcing your job
With a world of options at our fingertips to get the job done, is it any surprise that a US employee has been caught outsourcing his software development job to a consulting firm in China for a fraction of his salary? Usually we’d encourage working smarter and leveraging the micro-task organisations that make companies more efficient. Unfortunately this smart cookie lost his job, leaving him plenty of time to surf eBay and YouTube. Be cafeful what you wish for.
All Things Facebook
- Facebook’s got a new new feature, allowing you to “data mine” your own connections and profile – eg people who like Chinese food, friends who live in my town, friends who have liked photos of me etc. It’s called Graph Search and it’s here to rival Google, or so it hopes.
- This Brazilian fashion retailer displays Facebook ‘likes’ for items in its real-world stores. “Like” counts are included on the coat hangers in store.
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- Recent Edgerank changes include a) if a post is uploaded and a lot of people ignore it or complain, this directly affects how many people see it and less people see it; and b) images get more engagement, however text now gets much higher reach than previously.
- Just before Christmas, Facebook launched Poke – a messaging app with a built-in self-destruct feature. Ideally it allows users to send each other messages and photos that automatically delete after a few seconds. Sounds like a safe option for sexting doesn’t it? Think again. You can retrieve those “deleted” messages within 90 days – they’re “archived” by Facebook. Perhaps check out Snapchat instead.
- The US is rolling out a new feature on the Messenger iPhone app that lets users make free voice calls to their friends over wi-fi or through their phone’s data connection.
How John Lewis increased online sales by 44%
A department store in the UK has increased their online sales – which now accounts for 25% of their sales. Can it be true? Apparently, yes. During the Christmas peak, John Lewis saw like-for-like sales up 13% in the five weeks to December 29 compared to the same period in 2011. Just how did they manage that? By following some pretty basic retail best practice. Explore 14 reasons behind their success and perhaps start implementing them to see some significant changes to your bottom line.
Fitness Goals Earn Kids Media Time
There’s plenty of discussion around the growing obesity issues of our young Australians – and rightfully so. With a plethora of digital activies to occupy our senses and the rise of social gaming, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to send our kids outdoors for their primary entertainment – it’s a fine line. There’s now a smart little device that allows parents to monitor their kids’ activities outdoors, which in turn can earn themselves media time. Synced to your phone or tablet, parents lock their childrens’ devices – only unlocked by hitting the milestones that you set for your children.
McDonald’s, I applaud you
Now there’s a statement I don’t make very often. Finally, Maccas have given me a reason to say well done. For some time McDonald’s has been trying to improve the nutritional value of its food, like replacing the fries with apple slices and fizzy drinks with fruit juice in popular Happy Meals for kids. Well in the UK, they’ve now replaced the Happy Meal Toy with a book! I know my kids don’t play with the toys, but adore books of all shapes and sizes – this is a massive step forward. I hope the 5 week promotion is successful enough to be rolled out worldwide and permanently.
Bits & Pieces
- Just because you can doesn’t mean you should – for instance: a wood-fired hot tub that doubles as a boat for cruising on the open water. What the? Someone give the Dutch something to do!
- The future of textbooks – or is it the death of the text book and the birth of the text app? McGraw-Hill & Kno offer a peek into the future of textbooks: They’re Dynamic, Vocal, Adaptive & Bring Stats To Studying. The company unveiled its new suite of interactive and adaptive learning products that aim to personalize the learning process and help students improve their performance.
- Speaking of learning, MOOCs are the latest trend, however, different learning styles dictate they may not suit everyone. But times are changing. Coursera gives anyone and everyone access to courses from top-tier universities — for free, online. The platform has over 200 courses from 33 top international and domestic schools and reaches over 2 million students around the globe. I’ll let you decide if this transition in education is a fad or for real.
- The first ever Tweeple-Powered shirt collection from Allen Solly in India – it’s a billboard vending machine, powered by tweets. Nice gimmick for a location promotion.
- Amabam is a monthly subscription service that delivers hobby boxes to teach new skills – how cool is that! If you don’t like it, you just move on, but if you do, viola, new hobby that you didn’t know you enjoyed!
- Who said music isn’t innovative? This is clever marketing from the US band A Fine Frenzy. “Pines” is a new release that’s actually a multimedia package including album, book and film. I think I’ve just discovered a great new band. Awesome! Or what about record made of ice? I can see my record player get a run for it’s money if I didn’t freeze my record on an even surface. Yes, you read that right, an ice record.
