Wikitude is a stunning application. Created by Mobilizy, an Austrian firm that specializes in location-based application for the Android platform, Wikitude was one of the top finalists in last year’s Android Developers Challenge. The application uses GPS to display points of interest — tapping into Wikipedia — for your location and this can be displayed in list, map or, most interestingly, in camera view.

On a recent weekend road trip to Baltimore it occurred to me that this sort of application will eventually supersede current in-car navigation systems for two reasons: 1) you can take it with you, and 2) it’s developer friendly. Let me explain.

As far as portability, the phone can be easily transferred to my pocket when I get out of my car and still allows me to use the maps and GPS capabilities of the device, not to mention make phone calls, scan for open Wi-Fi and a whole lot of other things. From an ease-of-use perspective, smartphones such as the G1, iPhone, etc. will trump in-car GPS navigation systems; it’s really only a matter of time. And, as mentioned in previous articles in this series, car manufacturers are already experimenting with docking stations for smartphones.

Then there is the Android platform, which is very developer friendly. Although the certification process for iPhone applications has been simplified, there is still a higher barrier to entry for developers targeting iPhone apps. This, and the fact that developers have greater access to key phone functions, accounts for why would-be iPhone developers currently are attracted to the Android platform. Not to mention that the concept of third-party application development for current in-car devices is basically non-existent. It’s a safe assumption that the greatest innovation in geo-location services will continue to happen on smartphones, not portable navigation devices.

We’re not the only publication predicting the imminent demise of the portable GPS unit. In Smarter GPS to let cellphones point the way, New York Times writer Roy Furchgott argues that it’s one-way communication is its Achilles heel. Users now expect their communication devices to be fully Internet-enabled, to share information and aggregate information from other users (think Carticipate, recently released for the iPhone and previously covered here).

Industry insiders know current GPS navigation units will be replaced by mobile devices, it’s only a matter of time. The real question is, which platform will dominate the automobile industry and what telecommunications and automobile manufacturer alliances will emerge?

Related links:

• Android gets in the driver’s seat; Headlightblog.com, 12.16.08
• Mobilizy
• The Top 50 Applications; Android Developers Blog, 05.12.08
• Smarter GPS to let cellphones point the way; New York Times, 05.03.09
• Search, iPhone and GPS: Envisioning the future of digital automotive; Headlightblog.com, 08.22.09

First, a bit of context. The media universe was already on a path toward fragmentation well before the interweb came on the scene. Cable brought niche-i-fication to television. Magazines grew to cover a tremendous array of interests. Digital technologies have only accelerated and intensified this trend, providing an even lower-cost way to create and share content globally. The barriers to creation of great content –- including video -– have mostly been torn down.

And then there’s the distribution side of the equation. What was amazing about TV as a marketing channel was the massive reach, power of shared experiences, and the raw emotive potential of sight, sound and motion. The medium was the primary, if not the only, way to get video content viewed by a significant audience. Everyone tuned in and watched the program –- a linear experience that looked pretty much the same whether you were in a Manhattan high-rise or on a Colorado ranch.

Through Visible World’s partnership with advertising platforms like Doubleclick and Tremor Media, advertisers have the ability to target ads to more than 1,100 major sites based on ZIP code, content, demographics or date and time.

Today, of course, video has become a much more personal and interactive experience. On-demand viewing is on the rise — whether DVR, VOD, mobile or web-based — and we’re finding ways to add interactive content on top of and around the video itself. More recently, we’re seeing an explosion of social content and functionality around video that shows no sign of slowing down.

So what do you get when you take video, and add: on-demand consumption, fragmented and multi-device distribution, interactivity and social functionality? I think the answer is still to be determined, but I know this: you get a very different kind of media – and out of necessity, a very different way to market automotive brands in and around that media. I think what it means to marketers is that we need to stop BUYING attention and start EARNING attention.

One way to do that is to get so relevant that the message isn’t really perceived as advertising. Howard Gossage famously quipped, “People don’t read advertising. They read what interests them. Sometimes, it’s an ad.”

Targeting technologies are getting smarter and smarter, and are beginning to enable that level of what might be considered personalization. We’ve been using dynamic banner ads for years – I recall a series of expandable ads we built for Expedia a while back that were powered by XML feeds that pulled in the latest deals in different categories. The next evolution of that would have been to begin targeting destinations based on contextual relevance or behavioral history.

What I think is even more interesting is that technologies like this –- that have powered the dynamic web for what feels like ever –- are making their way to video. I’ve written before about Visible World, and they continue to be a leader in the space. But other companies like Real Time Content and Qmecom are also delivering this capability for online video.

The idea is the you can take a piece of video content –- let’s use a 30-second spot as an example, or better yet, multiple :30s –- and break it down into smaller clips, apply targeting criteria and business rules, and then reassemble at time of delivery for a narrowly targeted spot.

To really understand the potential of this, let’s look at some examples of how automotive marketers can leverage this capability:

• The easiest adjustment is a dynamic end slate that would pull in the address of the closest dealer, bringing simple geographic relevance.
• Narrowly target car models featured in the video spot based on contextual relevance. For example, if someone is browsing the buying guide for sedans on a site like Edmunds.com, the video ad from Toyota could feature the company’s line up of sedans, and ignore SUVs and trucks. More specifically, if the user was reading a Camry review, then the video ad is all about the Camry.
• Broader contextual relevance might also be an interesting play here. For example, car models featured in video spots could be changed based on type of content being browsed (forgive the broadly generalized stereotypes): mini-vans for parenting sites, sports cars on male-targeted sites.
• Video’s effectiveness as a response channel is often undervalued. With dynamic video, a marketer could test different financing/lease offers at zip code or DMA level. The call to action may be to visit your dealer, which we’ve personalized with the closest dealer. Success might be measured via foot traffic/lead generation, and then offers would be optimized by zip.
• The direct response concept could be taken a step farther by linking to online lead gen or, on TV, to a mobile response mechanism. Online can track down to detail of creative unit delivered. Mobile can do the same with unique keywords by creative. The program may again be measured via foot traffic/lead gen and optimized accordingly.
• The marketer might also use anonymous cookie targeting to identify current owners of the brand family. Instead of a promoting a new car, the video ad might feature accessories or services.
• The ultimate power of this technology is realized when integrated into email/CRM programs to deliver highly personalized videos – providing an overview of a particular model that the consumer expressed interest in, for example. You could even take this a step farther and address particular features based on what the consumer has disclosed (interested in green car with high gas mileage, but still wants refined luxury experience and integrated technology like Bluetooth phone support). A detailed and personalized model overview could be produced to address each feature. I just test drove a new car yesterday, and would have loved to get a follow up email with that level of personal detail.

For automotive marketers in particular, this kind of technology makes a ton of sense. Some manufacturers are, in fact, already using these technologies and strategies. In some cases, video assets that could be used to assemble these kinds of ads likely already exist, so there is potential that no additional video production needs to be done. It’s just a matter of crafting a segmentation strategy and implementing the targeting.

As these technologies continue to advance their capabilities and marketers wrap their heads around the possibilities through smart experimentation, we’ll begin to see “advertising” become less of a bad word in the minds of consumers. The ongoing recession creates a temptation to stick with the tried and true, rather than risk experimentation. But to not take advantage of powerful targeting capabilities –- and to let other marketers figure out how to adapt their own strategies –- may well be an ever greater risk, particularly as Canoe Ventures aims to launch a simplified version of the technology across national cable networks later this year.

A version of this article originally appeared as The promise of personalized video ads and was published in ClickZ on May 18, 2009.

Related links:

• Rich Media, Online Ads, and Howard Gossage; ClickZ, 11.08.04
• Reports of TV’s Death Greatly Exaggerated, Part 2; ClickZ, 09.10.07
• The promise of personalized video ads; ClickZ, 05.18.09

We’re not there yet, but we’re getting closer: At the New York Auto Show, Chrysler unveiled upgrades to uconnect that will make the 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee a very wired ride. Now, you’re probably thinking: Will there even be a Jeep Grand Cherokee in 2011, much less a series of uconnect upgrades? Nothing is certain, but this technology deserves to survive bankruptcy. Chrysler is taking in-car connectivity the furthest it’s been yet.

The 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited, depicted here, will feature the in-dash uconnect Guardian roadside assistance package.

The updates are comprehensive, touching on six different areas — safety, music, video, phone, navigation and the Web. Where most automakers tend to view each such service as its own discreet product, Chrysler spotlights the basic connection that enables it all — an approach the company describes as “holistic.” “We see the entire vehicle as one connected device that enables customers to connect to what matters most to them,” says Marios Zenios, Chrysler’s Vice President of Connectivity and Infotainment. So even as the navigation system is produced by Garmin, satellite radio comes from Sirius and the web connectivity is courtesy of Mopar (a parts dealer), the uconnect t sub-brand assumes the lead role.

Some of these updates — however important — are relatively standard-issue. Safety features like emergency calling, automatic crash notification, and roadside assistance are not the stuff of automotive revolution, nor is GPS navigation or satellite radio. But within this package are some definite forward steps: uconnect Tunes, for example. Here, the Grand Cherokee’s Bluetooth wireless connection allows you to stream music to the car’s stereo directly from your cell phone.

For traditional mp3 players, the car’s USB port offers the standard connection, but Chrysler has added a new feature, allowing you to search the contents of your player through voice commands. Uconnect’s wireless connection also enhances the capabilities of cell phones in the car, downloading up to 1,000 contacts straight from your phone. For those who want an even bigger connection to the world outside, uconnect’s web service, available from Mopar, brings all the goodness of the high-speed web straight to the Grand Cherokee. The idea is to turn the car itself into a roving hot spot, with access to all the information and entertainment the online world delivers.

American carmakers appear to be focusing on in-car technologies as a fast-track to winning over consumers again. What’s interesting here (as in Ford’s latest conceptual thinking) is how the next phase focuses less on proprietary hardware and software and more on creating a platform for drivers to keep using their own devices. All the advances of in-car technologies have led us to a point where we no longer need in-car technologies, just the connection to make it all work. Let’s hope Chrysler keeps this vision as part of their changing strategy.

Image credit:
2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited with uconnect image appears courtesy of Chrysler, LLC

A Green Apple Fiesta hatchback on display outside the Javits Center at the 2009 New York International Auto Show.

Technically, it’s already here. On the stand at the New York Auto Show, Ford previewed a vibrant green Fiesta, with “1/100” emblazoned on the hood and “fiestamovement.com” printed on the side. Over the next six months, 100 Americans get to drive the Fiesta. For free. With free insurance, free gas and free parking. In exchange, they will document their experience online — blogging it, tweeting it, posting to Facebook, YouTube and Flickr — and undertake monthly “missions” set by Ford. (Full disclosure.: Although Ford is a Razorfish client, the agency has no involvement with the Fiesta Movement campaign.)

The Fiesta Movement is a clear acknowledgment by Ford’s leadership team that it expects a certain kind of driver here: relatively young, emphatically connected. As the campaign name implies, the automaker is putting its faith in the grassroots power of social media to generate buzz and demand. This is a significant acknowledgment in an industry that hasn’t been quick to embrace viral tactics. But Ford stands to gain: If successful, the campaign will bring a fresh new audience to the brand and make Fiesta a household name among a crowd skeptical of traditional marketing.

Not that a social approach is intrinsically immune to skepticism. There’s already some debate about how trustworthy these posts will be given all the free perks those drivers are getting. Are they willing to bite that proverbial hand? Ford, at least, has taken the shrewd step of being completely upfront about the arrangement. And Scott Monty, Ford’s head of social media, told Wired.com that among Ford’s directives to its 100 drivers was to be truthful: “We’ve told them to be completely honest,” he said. “That’s the only way it’s going to work. We won’t tell them what to say, nor will we censor or edit any of their content.” Ford seems to get the double-sided nature of social media, where success requires you to assume the risk of criticism. They’re banking on a favorable balance. If European success and American demand is anything to go by, Fiesta Movement should be worth the risk.

Related links:

• Fiesta Movement site
• Ford Bets the Fiesta on Social Networking; Wired.com, 04.17.09

Image credit:
Ford Fiesta photo by Mary S. Butler

The production version of Transit Connect is a super-efficient, maneuverable van for small businesses. Family One applies its efficiency and adaptability to your standard American family — loosely defined these days as a couple of parents, two or three kids, a few mp3 players, a laptop or two, a PC, a Blu-Ray player, multiple thumb drives and several other technologies that define their lives. Family One tries to make room for all. Here’s a look.

The next wave in family cars? No wood paneling on the side, no minivan girth, no toddler staring down at you from SUV altitude. But we detect ample room for “honor student” bumper stickers out back.

The Family One’s onboard computer acts as a central hub organizing navigation, communication and entertainment. It syncs up wirelessly with cell phones, mp3 players and other devices.

Building off Ford Work Solutions — a system that lets small business owners keep track of their equipment — Family Works uses the Transit Connect’s onboard computer and RFID tags to keep track of accessories: scooters, helmets, briefcases, backpacks and so on. Family One’s monitor tells you whether your tagged stuff is in the car or not.

The computer also studies a family’s patterns over time, proactively reminding them if they’re forgetting something it expects them to have onboard.

Family One can also tell you if your child safety seat is installed properly or not, using sensors placed on critical parts of the seat.

View from the rear of the van: Note the two projection screens at top. Unlike cars with built-in DVD players, Family One expects you to bring your own device — whatever that may be at the moment. The onboard computer retrieves media through its wireless connection.

Connective technology of the old-school variety: If you’re above pinning an RFID tag on the kids, you can always give them walkie-talkies before they wander off. You can also slather on the sunscreen and scrub up with some hand sanitizer, courtesy of those dispensers at left.

All of this connective technology converts the Family One into a parental command center, with an extendable roof pushing the experience out of doors.

Image credits:
All Transit Connect Family One Concept photos appear courtesy of Ford Motor Co.

Designing interactions for the car is different than designing for anywhere else. Sure, designing instrumentation and car bodies exist and continue to evolve but within the last decade there’s been an emerging focus on vehicle telematics, defined in part on Wikipedia as “the convergence of telecommunications and information processing,” which refers to things like built-in GPS navigation and Personal Navigation Devices, integrated hands-free cell phones and automatic driving-assistance systems.

SmartGauge with EcoGuide is a new instrument cluster that provides provides real-time information to help hybrid drivers achieve maximum fuel efficiency. Mike Jones, a “My Car is Talking, But What’s it Saying?” panelist, was the lead interaction designer on the Smart Design team for the recently launched instrument cluster, which will be available in 2010 Ford and Mercury hybrid sedans.

When I started looking at this space, I found very few resources to guide and validate the way to design these types of interactions in the car. For example, the balance of audio and visual feedback when making a phone call or providing real-time personalized traffic. Because of the current state of the design of some of these systems that do not adhere to even the most basic design principles, it is clear there is a need to invest in design and share related information in the industry. Some of this information exists, I am sure, within the automotive or OEM companies, but might be guarded and proprietary.

I went looking for designers and insight at Telematics Detroit in 2008 and heard Gartner’s Thilo Koslowski talk about high-level successful strategies for designing “Vehicle-Centric Information & Communication Technologies.” He explained how better interactions would create better experiences, that the HMI (human machine interface) needs to be easy to use, and that in the future the UI/HMI/usability will be a requirement for differentiation. This was a start.

And so was born the My Car is Talking But What’s it Saying panel at SXSW Interactive — a way to dig deeper into the current design issues in the car with folks with similar interests. For 60 minutes we shared rich and diverse experiences and viewpoints,  exploring some of the challenges, research and principles of in-car design and discussing  the vehicle of the future. It was the tip of the iceberg, as was made evident when one audience member said that he wished the panel was a full-day discussion. I too am still looking for a way to continue the conversation.

The My Car is Talking But What’s it Saying? panel consisted of:
Mary S. Butler, Senior Content Strategist, Razorfish
Mike Jones, Senior Interaction Designer,  Smart Design
Karen Kaushansky, User Experience Designer, Tellme A Microsoft Subsidiary
David Kidd, third-year doctoral student, George Mason University
Jason Kriese, UX Program Manager, Microsoft

Related links:

• Telematics entry on Wikipedia
• Telematics Detroit
• Gartner Analyst Profile: Thilo Koslowski
• My Car is Talking But What’s it Saying presentation on SlideShare
• Razorfish, Automotive Case Studies
• Smart Design
• Tellme
• George Mason University, Arch Lab
• Microsoft Auto

Image credit:
SmartGauge with EcoGuide instrument panel in the 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid photo appears courtesy of Wieck Media

The traditional marketing funnel has been transformed. Attract, Convert, Service and Extend no longer look the same.

You can start by envisioning your marketing funnel and the different levers you employ to reach targets, prospects and owners as they move through the consideration, evaluation and purchase decision tree. Think about which decision-making behaviors can be influenced through Social strategies. Are you trying to build awareness? Convert someone who is evaluating your brand against a competitor? Retain owners post-purchase? All of these situations could employ Social Influence Marketing to achieve the desired outcome. Social influence is more than just tactical execution and we challenge our clients to think about the big picture before brainstorming their next viral campaign or Facebook application.

As Social Influence Marketing becomes more and more present on automaker’s marketing radar we are seeing traditional marketers scramble to adapt to these new opportunities. Often it is left to marketing and PR groups to harness social media and decide where and when it should be employed, with a healthy dose of legal review thrown in to mitigate any unforeseen UCG disasters. Recently we’ve seen a rise of the Social Media Expert, a new kind of SME who focuses on how best to use social on behalf of a brand. These experts usually have a combination of marketing/PR/brand and product expertise and speak with both authority and enthusiasm. They become ambassadors for the brand and exert their own personal influence on others -– including enthusiasts, owners, prospects and industry watchers. Often these SMEs work independently of traditional and digital marketing departments, which we see as a risk. Social Influence Marketing can only be effectively integrated as a third dimension to marketing when the marketers themselves are aligned in their thinking.

So which comes first, the Social Influence Marketing strategy or the SME integration with the marketing department?  In my opinion it is crucial to have the right people in place before you go to market with a social strategy. This allows you to have the SME focused on not just the planning and execution, but also the in-campaign response and post-measurement. Of course not everyone can hire a Scott Monty or Chris Barger or even find internal candidates who want to take on the responsibility of owning the social strategy. As an agency, we have stepped in for clients and assumed this role for specific product campaigns. While it is important to always reveal our association and act ethically on behalf of the brand, I find that our long-term client relationships (especially our automotive accounts) have created brand advocates and enthusiasts of many of our team members, making them a natural fit for the SME role.

Which leads us to the question – are owners and prospects really using social in their decision-making process?  Or is social influence purely the domain of enthusiasts and brand loyalists? Our position is that automakers that only focus on their brand advocates are missing a huge opportunity.

Our research has shown that Social Influence Marketing has a major impact mid-funnel, when a prospective owner is evaluating the vehicles they’ve chosen to focus on as an outcome of the consideration phase. These audiences are using everything at their disposal to determine which vehicle meets their needs the best as well as which represents the most financially sound decision. Often the prospect is eschewing anonymous owner comments found on UGC automotive websites and turning to friends and family for advice –- with an emphasis on current owners of the vehicles they’re considering. In the digital world these friends and family interactions are becoming the domain of social network and utility sites like MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Vimeo, Flickr and blogs. The key to having a voice in these conversations often ties back to making sure that your content and brand advocates are present in the context of the conversations. This means making your evaluation content portable so that it isn’t buried on your website. Configurators, slide-shows, video demos, build-and-quote tools and owner tools should all have export functionality so they can easily be shared across the digital communities that enable influencers to speak one-to-one with their network of followers. Adding tracking capabilities such as the Razorfish Generational Tag will allow you to see how far and wide your content travels, and even map it back to interactions and conversions on your site.

In summary, think about Social Influence Marketing as a third dimension to your marketing strategies, identify SMEs within your organization or agency and make sure they’re closely aligned with the department and make your content portable to ensure it reaches the influencers and their networks.

Related links:

• Auto promotion: Using Twitter in the automotive industry; Headlightblog.com, 03.30.09
• Trends in Social Influence Marketing; Going Social Now, 03.09.09
• Social Influence Marketing™: white paper (pdf) by Shiv Singh
• Tracking social influence: Razorfish files patent for social media action tag; Digital Design Blog, 12.12.08
• New Razorfish data ties consumer social media activity to purchase behavior; Digital Design Blog, 01.29.09

What’s been done well versus poorly then? Let’s take a look. The following guidelines address some salient areas, where those who haven’t quite figured the medium out could use some improvement.

Engage with your audience
Twitter offers such profound reach for very low overhead, it’s a shame to see some companies using it with so little actual engagement. As you’d hope, Ford Customer Service does a great job of engaging with customers on Twitter. A recent review of FordCustService activity on Twitter indicates that the marketing specialist managing the account is responding directly to customer inquiries and researching answers for those customers where necessary. So, too, Honda is regularly engaging with U.S. customers via the Alicia_at_Honda account created by a corporate communications staffer. And, quite smartly, Toyota USA is interacting with its customer base, via the toyotanewsroom account, rather than simply posting press releases. That’s an example the folks running the BMWConceptX1 account could benefit from examining. They’ve posted eight updates since Sept. 30th, 2008 and all have them have been simple links to promotional content – photos on Flickr, a new Facebook page, a microsite, a trailer. Not exactly a visionary use of the medium.

Of course, Twitter offers a quick way to determine how much contributors are interacting with their followers. Simply visit their profile page and look for how many @ signs preface their tweets . An “@” before a Twitter handle at the beginning of a tweet indicates that the post is addressed to that individual. If you don’t see any @ signs, you’re not seeing any interaction. You can increase your level of interaction in two ways: by paying attention to your followers and responding to their inquiries, of course, but also by searching on mentions of your company and products and responding to questions and concerns you discover there.

Provide helpful contributions
Twitter shouldn’t be all about explicitly pushing your product. You build more good will by providing helpful contributions – which, of course, contribute to building and presenting your brand in the best possible light, as well.  How specifically do you engage your audience then, if spraying them with press releases and video clips isn’t enough? Well, in addition to responding to consumer inquiries, consider linking to information, which may still relate to your product and brand, but would also still be relevant to your audience member’s specific interests and needs. For example, Alicia_at_Honda recently linked to a Chicago Tribune article about the best cars for dogs, which listed just one Honda among several other makes in various classifications.  Similarly, GMblogs recently linked to a Kelly Blue Book piece, which listed the 2009 Pontiac G8 as just one of  5 Great Car Deals. This sort of linking still bolsters your brand by communicating a sense of authenticity and transparency about your product and company and where they fit in the scheme of things.

The Alicia_at_Honda account is managed by a corporate communications staffer for the automaker.

Monitor your brand
Any company not monitoring mentions of its brand on Twitter is missing an extraordinary opportunity to be a fly on the wall, observing perhaps the most open and authentic discussion of their company and products imaginable.  You have the opportunity, not only to passively observe, but also to actively intervene where your brand is being misrepresented or maligned.  Sometimes, of course, your product simply fails and how you speak to that in a public arena can have an immediate impact upon your brand.

Witness the deafening silence that follows Anthony Quintano’s tweet last month that a Hackensack, N.J. Toyota dealership left the plug out of his oilpan, causing his “car to seize while in motion.” Scary stuff. He later claims the dealership’s work almost “killed me twice” and links to a lengthy blog post on the incident.  Despite addressing the Toyota Newsroom directly on Feb. 26, the results of a Twitter search indicate that at the time of this posting a response had not been addressed to Quintano’s account, quintanomedia. What a wasted opportunity. Quintano was waging a self-declared war against a Toyota dealership and no one reached out. While Quintano was asking fellow Twitterers to Digg his blog entry, little was being done to maintain –- and in this case certainly repair –- Toyota’s brand.

Not only is it important to respond to brand- or dealership-specific complaints, you need to be mindful that managing a Twitter account can be a 24/7 responsibility. One evening earlier this month Angela Teeple tweeted Scott Monty, Ford’s head of social media, to say “my ‘08 Escape w/ 40K mi, AC compression unit broke, directly affects powertrain but not covered under warranty. Buying Toyota.” A minute later, she followed up to mention that she has never owner anything but a Ford. Within an hour, Monty replied to Teeple, suggesting she notify FordCustService. Though she continued to express her disappointment, she did tweet FordCustService that night and received a response by noon the next day, or nearly 17 hours later. It appears Teeple may have been on the phone with Ford the previous day, so perhaps Monty’s prompt response to her situation may not have been too terribly undermined by FordCustService’s ironically tardy response. Nonetheless, Monty appears to have done his best to both meet a customer’s immediate need, while also attending to mentions of the Ford brand on the web.

It’s not hard to find angry customers venting their feelings on Twitter. Sometimes the appropriate response may be to ignore the angry and irrational. However, you should be sure you’re not actually missing an opportunity to burnish your brand and help a customer in need.

But don’t overshadow your brand
Accounts transparently maintained by individuals tend to tweet more often and more effectively. They’re often also simply more colorful and entertaining. One drawback, however: heavy participation by such individuals on behalf of their companies can sometimes be perceived this as self promotion -– perhaps the wrong sort of auto-promotion for a car company.

The aforementioned Scott Monty, for example, has recently received more attention than he’d probably have preferred. Ray Wert, Editor-in-Chief of Jalponik, claims that Monty draws more attention to himself than his employer. Arguably, Monty is simply trying to do Ford a favor by forging a well-rounded presence on Twitter in contrast to many of the anemic, infrequently utilized profiles of his competitors. Referring to the incident in Ad Age, Critical Mass’s David Armano saddled Monty with the unfortunate moniker of “brandividual” for the name he has built himself online. Armano also complimented him, however, for “leveraging his personal network to help jumpstart Ford’s initiatives.”  Some didn’t see it that way, though, so clearly the advisable route would be to reinforce the appearance that it’s your company’s products you’re promoting, not your person.  As I’m sure Monty could attest, it can be a delicate balance.

Editor’s Note: While Razorfish has both a number of automotive clients, including Ford Motor Company, and a sizable Social Influence Marketing practice, it was not involved with the creation, nor the ongoing maintenance, of any of the Twitter accounts mentioned in this article.

Related links:

• FordCustService
• Alicia_at_Honda
• toyotanewsroom
• BMWConceptX1
• “Tweets” glossary entry; BatchBook
• Best vehicles for dogs, paws down; Chicago Tribune, 03.05.09
• GMblogs
• 5 Great Car Deals; Kelly Blue Book, 03.23.09
• Anthony Quintano’s Twitter account
• Angela Teeple’s Twitter account
• Scott Monty: Still a big Twitter; Jalopnik, 03.27.09
• When personal and corporate web 2.0 brands collide; Advertising Age, 02.23.09

Carville was the first Microsoft Surface experiment out of the New York office of Razorfish. It was created last summer over a four-week period and had two specific purposes: The first was to build experience designing and building with this new device; the second was to use a dealership scenario as a canvas to express a significantly experimental approach from what we had seen created before with the Surface. This approach was to embrace the game-friendly aspects of the mechanism itself (multi-touch, large enough for simultaneous use by more than one person and a table-like presence that encourages “gathering around”) to create an unexpected brand experience in an environment often cited as anxious for most customers in research.

Carville - A Razorfish Surface Application from Bryan Hamilton on Vimeo.

It seemed to us that the Surface was often thought of as just a horizontal screen for a kiosk, and not a full 360-degree device for a brand. Several members of our user experience, visual, motion and tech teams worked in close quarters for four weeks to create an experience that “felt” like something different. Not the same glossy, dragging, sliding and pinching messy desk metaphor, but a simpler and more memorable experience that included art for the outside of the surface, physical objects used to interact with the application and printable assets used as a takeaway. All of these components conformed to the look and feel of the Surface application.

The one component we did not build was the web interface. The original intention was for the Carville in the dealership to be just one connection point that used web services to store data centrally online so that customers could continue their experience online after leaving the dealership, using a unique numerical code (on the bottom of a tiny paper car) printed out from the Carville application. Conversely, the experience could have started online at home, with customers printing out an optical key and then bringing it with them to the dealership where the Surface could read the code to download their progress and continue the experience.

What we ended up creating was part game, part brand experience and part sales tool. We have had the opportunity to show this to some marketing folks at automotive companies, and while they are much more interested in the sales/customer connections and the in-depth car customization then the more “game-like” attract modes, I still believe there is something emotional here that people can identify with. Unfortunately I don’t think that will be quantifiable until something like this is actually tried in the environment for which it was meant. I still believe that people like to have fun, and even more so, when they are currently not having any. If your brand can provide that, isn’t that more memorable then a sales pitch?

One of the rooms in the Razorfish Living Lab is designed to look like a living room and is equipped with a 54-inch television monitor.

This year we will continue to showcase the Carville application both as a potential solution for the automotive industry and as an example of what can accomplished given a simple idea, a four-week investment and a new technology.

Frank M. Rinderknecht, owner of Rinspeed Inc., says the iChange is a symbol for the fundamental changes the auto industry is undergoing worldwide.

Rinspeed is a Swiss automobile design firm and manufacturer established by Frank M. Rinderknect. In addition to restoring classic cars and modifying Porsches and Subarus, Rinspeed creates a concept car each year for the Geneva Motor Show. Automotive enthusiasts might recall some of Rinspeed’s previous concept cars, such as the sQuba — which was based on the Lotus Elise and doubled as a submarine — and the Splash, an amphibian vehicle with a top speed of 124 miles per hour on land and 45 knots on water.¹

Now comes the iChange, a single-seat concept car that can adjust its shape to accommodate up to two  passengers. The iChange is capable of reaching 62 mph in four seconds and a top speed of 137 mph.² According to Rinderknect, “the iChange is a symbol for the fundamental changes the auto industry [is undergoing] worldwide.” From Rinderknect’s perspective, the automobile manufacturers that will make it through these turbulent times will be the ones focused on radical innovation in the industry.³

The Rinspeed iChange has a 0-100 kph (62 mph) speed of slightly over 4 seconds and a top speed of 136 mph.

The fundamental principle behind the iChange is that weight is the most important factor in determining the amount of energy required, therefore Rinspeed has designed an extremely lightweight vehicle that runs on a 150-watt electric motor powered by lithium-ion batteries housed in the rear of the car. A push of a button can instantly transform the car from a three-passenger car back to a single-seater, maximizing aerodynamic efficiency.

The iChange, which does not have a key slot or a push-button starter, is controlled by the driver’s iPhone.

The iChange has no doors. Instead passengers enter in through the roof. Rather than a key, the driver uses her iPhone instead. The iPhone conveniently fits into a specially designed docking station. The driver can start the car via a native application on her iPhone. The iPhone can also be used to switch the headlights on and off.⁴

If that were not enough, the iChange has a killer entertainment system created by Harman/Kardon and powered by energy-efficient Intel processor technology. An eco-friendly navigation system displays route suggestions for minimal energy use in a 3D display. Furthermore, solar panels on the roof power cooling systems in hot temperatures.

Frank Rinderknecht may just be the Buckminster Fuller of today’s automotive world. The cars that he presents annually at the Geneva Motor Show are not simply meant to compete with the Ferraris and the Lamborghinis of the world. They are meant to solve the key issues of the day, and in the case of the iChange it’s about rethinking what a car should be in an era of increasing sensitivity to the ecological effects of over a billion cars on the road. Furthermore, the iChange suggests a progressive blurring of the boundaries between software and hardware design. Beyond the ability to start a car and control the entertainment system, the integration of a platform such as the iPhone OS opens the door for numerous opportunities for application developers, especially in the areas of social media, environmental consciousness and telematics. We’ve covered some examples on this blog already, such as Carticipate, Ecorio, and Gasbuddy. It will be interesting to watch how the mobile platform wars extend themselves to the automotive industry.

Related links:

• Official site of the Geneva Motor Show
• Rinspeed site
• Frank M Rinderknect; LinkedIn profile
• sQuba photo gallery; Rinspeed site
• Lotus Elise; Wikipedia
• Hughes Telematics working on downloadable apps for vehicles; Autoblog.com, 02,19.09
• Carticipate site
• Ecorio site
• Gasbuddy site

Sources:

1. Rinspeed; Wikipedia
2. Shape shifter: Electrified Rinspeed iChange hits 62 mph in 4 secs; Motor Trend, 02.17.09
3. IPhone-controlled car to demo at Geneva Motor Show; Macworld, 02.23.09
4. Rinspeed site

Image credits:
All Rinspeed iChange photos appear courtesy of Rinspeed Inc.