Friday 21 March 2008

News balls please!

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So it’s a bank holiday and I am in work and just updating my bog. Why? Because there is so much going on at the moment that I don't find the time to do a lot of the things I would like to do.
So today is my 'free day'. Contact the builder (he is also working), do my accounts online, not on mobile as yet.

I have just this minute signed up to linkedin mobile, I’m impressed. The layout is good, the page allows you to scroll the entire profile and you can search potential contacts prior to meetings or calling them, which is very good. I haven’t yet worked out how to update my status as yet though, any thoughts?

I also met with the guys from brandattention yesterday. These boys seem busy and are really pushing the boundaries with QR codes as part of a mobile solution. The interesting thing for me is that QR codes are the complete opposite to commercial blue toothing. So at a show, i turn my bluetooth off as i do not want to get spammed or worse a virus.

With the QR codes I can get any info, short cuts or offers at the click of a button.

Howard Furr-Barton the MD of brandattention describes this as the 'red button' for mobiles. For me it is much more useful than the red button, which is often ignored by most viewers.

The QR codes will, with time, allow advertisers to work out which billboard poster really works, by location, thus saving them money.

It also allows the back end 'offer' to change after being published. So for example ticketmaster could advise download the QR code for half price tickets and on Monday you would get a different offer to Tuesday but it is still the same advert, or they could regionalise the offer.

Also you can download videos, maps and short cut to mobile internet sites that you had no intention of visiting. This gets around the dot mobi domain name issue and the short code numbers that no one remembers.

There are of course downsides to this, handset capability, education and low responses, however, brands such as The Sun are running massive supplements to get this message across every quarter.

They believe that the mobile internet will grow their business and I firmly believe in that principle.

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