LBi London

Sony Ericsson launches Xperia Studio for artists and creative collaborators

Posted by Calvin Lau September 26th, 2011

London and New York: Sony Ericsson has launched Xperia Studio, an always-on entertainment platform for artists and collaborators to create and share their most innovative content.

Sony Ericsson’s Xperia Studio invites a range of creative thinkers, intellectuals and hackers – from collaborative artist collectives in Denmark to astrophysicists in New York – to take its range of Xperia handsets to their absolute limits, and ultimately to ‘remake reality’.

The first phase of the project has seen collaborators from around the world use Xperia handsets to create a flame-thrower camera flash, view the universe with the naked eye, capture the perfect wave and create a song from the ambient sounds of Paris. Each influencer project has been video-documented and uploaded to the Xperia Studio platform, an always on content theatre that showcases the interesting and innovative work being done as part of the global initiative. Xperia Studio also lives on Facebook and Twitter.

Moreover, Xperia Studio is unlocking creative thinking by asking participants to share their projects and contribute otherwise inaccessible experiences to a central, self-sustaining resource for this influential community and consumers alike.

The project underlines Sony Ericsson’s heritage as an innovator that continually blurs the lines between entertainment, technology and communications.

The first round of collaborators involved in the Xperia Studio project includes:

- Illutron, a collaborative interactive art studio in Copenhagen
- Dr. Joshua Peek, a Hubble Fellow and astrophysicist at Columbia University, NYC
- Ed Sloane, a lifelong surfer and innovative surf photographer from Victoria, Australia
- Annabel Linquist – an artist and musician from NYC

In each instance, Sony Ericsson has provided the collaborators with Xperia handsets and the means through which to document the work.

Chris Clarke, Chief Creative Officer of LBi, said: “It’s a real treat to work with a client so determined to break the tired old marketing paradigm. Sony Ericsson has been focused all along on creating something interesting and engaging. What’s so exciting about this is the way storytelling and technology combine to tell emotive stories. We’re excited to see where this will go in the future.”

Tags: collaborative, interactive art, mobile, mobile technology, mobile video, online video, Sony Ericsson, Xperia

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Reality Remade

Posted by Calvin Lau September 8th, 2011

Check out Sony Ericsson’s video project Xperia Studio, aimed at working with collaborators around the world to remake reality by pushing the limits of mobile technology.

From Xperia Studio:
“Xperia Studio invites people across the globe to test the limits of mobile technology. Not by making calls clearer or screens brighter, but by seeing how a phone can remake reality.

To that end, we partner with artists, intellectuals and boat-rockers from around the world. From collaborative artist collectives in Denmark to astrophysicists in New York— in each instance, we provide a phone and the means to document their work. They supply the result.”

Check out more videos from the Xperia Studio.

Tags: astronomy, interactive art, mobile, mobile technology, Sony Ericsson

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Weekly Social Media Update

Posted by rebcla August 25th, 2011

Facebook updates privacy controls

Facebook has announced that it is rolling out a range of privacy related updates which will simplify privacy controls and put more control back into the hands of its users. These updates are being compared to ‘circles’ on Google +. Simply, Facebook users will soon find an array of new options to manage who gets to see what they share on the platform. Here are the six things to be aware of:

-When you publish something on Facebook, you’ll now find a box that gives you control over which sorts of friends will get to see it.

-You can now share your location as part of a post, even if you’re not doing it from a phone. You can turn this off or on.

-You can now change the sharing settings for your own post after it has been published.

-You now have more choice over being tagged by others users in photos or other posts.

-You no longer have to be someone’s friend to be tagged. If you are tagged by a non-friend, you will have to approve it before it posts.

-You can now choose to block people entirely, so they can never tag you again, and that all of your past mutual interactions are gone forever.

For more details click here.

Topshop and SCVNGR

Topshop has partnered with location-based mobile gaming app SCVNGR as a crucial part of their campaign to get students into stores for back to school shopping. How does it work? It kicks-off on the 5^th September. Anyone within 500 meters of a Topshop store can play the game through SCVNGR’s apps for the iPhone and Android devices. Players chose the reward they want and complete challenges to achieve the required number of points. The campaign is a big deal for  SCVNGR, as it is the first major brand partnership outside of North America.  It’s also the latest in a series of digital and mobile initiatives developed to draw visitors into shops and engage with them as part of a larger brand experience.

Twitter ‘Lift’

Information around the next venture from Twitter founders Biz Stone and Evan Williams has just emerged.  So far all we know is that it’s called ‘Lift’ and it’s an app development company that will assist with, “strategy, design, funding and recruiting”. Currently ‘Lift’ is only available in private alpha. Sign up here to keep in the know.

Tags: Facebook privacy, mobile, SCVNGR, Topshop, Twitter lift

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Driving mobile channel engagement via Email

Posted by Sarah Walsh August 11th, 2011

Email has long been an integral part of marketers’ multi-channel communications toolkit. While more recently its profile has been overshadowed by the rapid rise of social media and mobile, it is still as important as ever. Not only is it a highly valuable marketing channel in its own right, it is also key to driving engagement in newer channels such as social media and mobile.

The rapid growth of mobile and particularly m-commerce has been well documented in recent months with a slew of infographics to show for it. There are multi-channel marketing strategies driving this growth, of which, email is a part. A recent report  on society’s growing dependence on mobile has shown that not only does email usage increase with the purchase of a smartphone but that 55% of consumers are using their smartphone to check email at least once per day. Furthermore, marketing messages delivered through email and read on a smartphone have driven more consumers to purchase than any other mobile method.

These statistics show the importance of optimising email marketing in order to drive greater mobile engagement. With just over half of customers citing an email as the impetus for a mobile purchase getting the following areas right is key;

- Rendering: Email design needs to render correctly on a smartphone so that it is easy to scroll and that calls to  action are visible on different mobile handset types

- Calls to action: Mobile versions of emails should contain calls to action that are relevant to time sensitive mobile behaviours such as links to store locations, promotions, events etc.

- Timing: Test and learn to pin point the time of day that delivers the greatest levels of response

All of the above should be tracked, analysed and enhanced in order to deliver email communications that drive the greatest mobile engagement, click throughs and ultimately conversions. A good example of this in action are Gap, who have integrated mobile store locator functionality into their Emails:

Therefore, Email and Mobile should not be viewed in isolation. We should leverage their combined powers to drive engagement across the channel mix.

Sarah Walsh – CRM Consultant (LBi London). Follow me on Twitter @Swalsh8

Talk to LBi CRM if you want to find out more about email optimisation, driving mobile engagement, CRM or Social CRM.

Tags: Communications, CRM, email, Engagement, mobile, Optimisation

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