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Google BUZZ launched last week and it’s already shaking up the Social Media landscape.  Though Google has been launching a new product seemingly every week (Chrome, Wave, Droid Operating System, etc.) this one comes with more louder Thunder and more Lightning Bolts from atop Mt. Googlempus!

What is it?

If you have a Gmail account and have checked it the past week, you probably know but if not, Google Buzz is a simple tool to post, communicate and share through the Gmail service (which is free like Facebook, Twitter, Friend Feed, etc.).  Think about a cross between the ease of use and ability to follow anyone by Twitter and the deeper sharing and multimedia capabilities of Facebook.

Are People Using This?

Yep.  The first 2 days saw 160,000 Buzz posts PER HOUR and 300,000 Mobile check-ins PER DAY.

Why Would Someone Use This?

The most obvious answer is that it automatically shows up on your Gmail account (no need to sign up for it).  Think about how Internet Explorer became so famous – when you turned on a new computer, there was the IE logo begging you to click it. Also, it’s brutally simple to use. Lastly, it’s within your realm of usage every day, meaning that if you’re a Gmail user, it’s already tied in to other tools you’re using from Google like Calendar, Wave…heck if you have a Droid Phone (runs on a Google Operating System) – it’s there too because when you activate your phone it prompts you to provide your Gmail address or sign up for one!  Buzz is EVERYWHERE if you have a Gmail account.

What about its Mobile “Local” Feature?

This is really the coolest thing about BUZZ!  If you access Buzz through any GPS-enabled phone, it identifies your location and serves up the Buzz from people in a close proximity to you even if you’re following them or not.  You know what restaurant people are eating at around your location, what movie they are seeing, etc. (as long as they are Buzzing from their phone and close enough to you).

Any Stumbling Blocks?

Privacy concerns.  When Buzz first launched it auto-followed people IT thought you should and auto-suggested people to follow based on your Gmail habits.  Google responded FAST and quickly turned the auto-follow to auto-suggest and added a disable Buzz completely feature.  They probably should have taken a look at Facebook’s numerous stumbles in this area.

Will it Threaten the Big 2?

Yes, but not likely to do too much damage because Facebook users and Twitter users are loyal to their products.  It was instantly bigger than Twitter at launch based on number of users thanks to a built in Gmail user base to tap but has not come close to the total number of posts that Twitter has.  Plus Twitter has a great open API ensuring that more applications are in the pipeline at all times.  Buzz also has an open API ensuring innovative apps in the pipeline but with the Droid phone having a built-in  “marketplace” like the iPhone, this creates a potential revenue stream for Buzz because they could possibly charge for Buzz apps.

We’re still playing with Buzz at Endeavour Labs and it’s still early to tell how people are going to adopt it and how competitors will respond but it looks like Google has a bonafide hit on its hands!  We’ll keep you updated on how this thing progresses!

Endeavour Marketing & Media

From Garrick Schmitt for Advertising Age -

The teams playing in this year’s Super Bowl have already been decided, but the Super Bowl shuffle for advertisers began in earnest last month when marketing mainstays like FedEx, General Motors and Pepsi made news by announcing they were opting out of this year’s ad extravaganza.

But for those looking to gauge the health of the ad industry, Super Bowl advertising is a bit of red herring. CBS is charging about $2.5 million for 30 seconds of commercial time — and rightly so. Rarely do you get so many Americans watching one event and actually enjoying the advertising. It’s a tremendous opportunity for most brand marketers and we’d be foolish to look at this year’s Super Bowl as proof of either the rejuvenation of the 30-second spot or the rejection of it.

That doesn’t mean some won’t try. After all, last year Hulu saw a 50% increase in site traffic after running ads during the Super Bowl and Denny’s traffic to its website soared nearly 1,700% as consumers sought information about its free breakfast promotion.

There certainly will be advertising winners (and losers) on Super Bowl Sunday but let’s hope that the Monday morning quarterback chatter doesn’t obscure the larger shift at hand for marketers this year. 2010 will be the year of the “platform” for advertisers. Read Rest of Article

-By Bob Walczak for AdWeek (click for original article)
When we heard about the devastating earthquake that took place in Haiti, most of us thought about how we could help those affected. Many look toward donating online or even calling in their donations, but, early on, what most consumers did not think about was donating via the device they carry with themselves at all times — the mobile phone.

The American Red Cross recognized the importance of the mobile medium and worked directly with mGive-Mobile Accord to develop the text message mobile campaign where mobile users can text “Haiti” (90999) to submit their $10 donation. The campaign experienced immediate success and over only a two-week period raised close to $30 million, which goes toward aiding those impacted by the disaster.

Shortly after the text campaign was launched, leading mobile advertising players joined forces to further utilize the mobile medium. AdMob, Eyeblaster, Jumptap, Microsoft Advertising, Millennial Media, Ringleader Digital and other networks were approached by mGive-Mobile Accord to develop the mobile advertising campaign designed to broaden the reach of the American Red Cross Haiti relief efforts via the organization’s text messaging mobile campaign.

While the campaigns will continue to run through February, the companies have already learned a great deal from them. What has been most evident is the power of the mobile medium for disaster relief efforts. What separates these campaigns from others previously developed?

In this case, it starts with the companies involved. The collaboration of multiple companies in the mobile industry opened up a larger pool of consumers to target. Instead of placing banner ads on a specific number of publisher sites across one ad network, these companies were able to unite their efforts to place banner ads across several publisher sites. This resulted in a much larger pool of consumers that could be impacted by the message of these campaigns.

The companies involved also learned that their combined efforts led to faster implementation of the call to action-important, of course, for a crisis of this magnitude. The relationship built between the mobile advertising players and mGive-Mobile Accord will also go a long way toward rallying future support and will inevitably lead to future discussions on how to best utilize the mobile medium quickly and effectively.

The convenience of the mobile campaign cannot be underestimated. In this day and age, consumers are looking for the easiest and fastest way to accomplish a task. This is no different when it comes to charitable donations. The ease of use with these campaigns really helped to accomplish that high number of people texting their donations. Consumers could see either the banner ad on their phone, or any commercial discussing the text campaign, and immediately send the message. What was even more effective was how consumers did not have to enter any banking information. The $10 donation was automatically added to their monthly bill.

The mobile campaign was far more successful than those involved had even dared to hope. It’s good to know that should disaster strike again, the mobile industry can effectively join forces and create campaigns aimed at helping those in need.

Bob Walczak is CEO of Ringleader Digital.

Mobile Looks to Mature as a Creative Discipline Next Year
By Christopher Heine, ClickZ, Dec 31, 2009

Industry players say that each major mobile marketing format — short-code message service (SMS), smartphone apps, and Web-based display ads — evolved in a positive or interesting direction this past year. But which will emerge in 2010 as the best vehicle to drive sales?

Even though apps marketing has been all the rage, eMarketer’s recent research suggests that text messages will continue to hold a huge audience share for the next few years. It projects that only 26.9 percent of the U.S. populace will use the mobile Internet next year — a modest increase from 2009’s 22.3 percent. The New York-based research firm’s report also predicted only incremental growth over the next few years, to 39.5 percent in 2013.

In other words, most consumers will be viewing their mobile messages on flip-phones and the like for quite some time. So while marketing to iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry users via apps or Web-based messaging continues to be popular, ad professionals who focus on smartphone consumers to the exclusion of the SMS audience are leaving money on the table.

“Every owner of every type of mobile phone can use text messaging,” said Eric Bader, an executive at Brand In Hand, New York. “So, you can reach the widest audience that other media doesn’t excel in reaching. And frankly, the audiences just aren’t that big for a lot of segments of mobile display media.”

While SMS campaigns have been around for most of the decade, numerous companies — mostly retailers — in the last year or so have finally gotten their programs up and running. For instance, 7-Eleven has been testing its first mobile coupon campaign in 200 San Diego-area stores for the last two months. The initiative has been supported by both general and Hispanic-targeted radio and outdoor advertising, as well as bilingual point-of-purchase signage.

“We’re targeting the Millennial age group, 16 to 24 [years old],” Margaret Chabris, spokesperson for the Dallas-based 7-Eleven, said. “They don’t go anywhere without their handheld sets. They are comfortable getting these types of text messages and these kinds of offers.”

SMS Efforts Could Learn from Old-School DM in Next Phase

With each ad format, efforts that target high school and college students and young adults appear to be the most profitable. That is especially true for SMS, given this audience’s passion for texting. But expert-level copywriting for SMS appears to be lagging and could probably use some old-school lessons. Read rest of article from ClickZ

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By Geoffery A. Fowler and Yukari Iwatani Kane for the Wall Street Journal

A new generation of mobile-phone software is helping consumers shop smarter this holiday season.

Browsing at a Best Buy Co. store last week, 33-year-old Erik Olson picked up a Blu-ray version of the movie “Heat” and used the camera on his Motorola Inc. Droid smart phone to scan the DVD’s bar-code label. Using an application called ShopSavvy, his phone checked prices for the movie at other stores. Best Buy wanted $26, but the phone told him Walmart.com was charging $19.

“I ended up just buying it from Walmart.com,” says Mr. Olson, of El Cerrito, Calif. “If I see something at a store that catches my eye but the price seems kind of high, I’ll double check the price.”

Many shoppers are accustomed to using the Internet to research products and prices before they hit the mall. But now, mobile-shopping apps take that research on the road. Apps such as Big In Japan Inc.’s ShopSavvy and TheFind Inc.’s Where to Shop identify stores in the immediate vicinity that have a product you’re looking for, and then tell you which product is cheapest and closest. The apps, which are downloaded through the wireless connections on iPhones and other smart phones, ask users to share basic information such as their location and what they’re looking to buy. Some automate that process by collecting location data from built-in GPS sensors and cameras that can scan bar codes on products.

The technology is new and still has its kinks, such as sending shoppers to stores where the products are out of stock. Pricing information is obtained from retailers’ Web sites or by tapping into their databases, but may be flawed if retailers change prices at the last minute, for example. And sometimes, flaky mobile-data networks that can render apps slow or useless.

Nonetheless, this is shaping up to be the first app-powered Christmas. Compared with last year, there was a 77% increase in downloads of shopping and shopping-tool apps for Apple Inc.’s iPhone on Black Friday, according to ad-exchange company Mobclix Inc., which tracks such usage. ShopSavvy said its app for the iPhone and Google Inc.’s Android operating system was used 18 million times over the long Thanksgiving weekend, compared with about one million times on a regular day.

“The distinction between shopping online and in store is disappearing,” says Siva Kumar, chief executive of TheFind, which collects more than 400 million product listings from Web sites and stores. “Today’s reality is that you have to match prices, or else somebody will walk out of your store,” he says.

For many shoppers, the apps reinforce whether they’re getting a good deal, especially since prices quoted are updated by the mobile service. Indeed, the movie Mr. Olson bought for $19 is now selling for $14.99 at BestBuy.com and $16.32 at Walmart.com. It’s prices differences like these that shoppers can leverage with a store manager to get a better price.

Read Rest of Article at WSJ

Need Mobile Solutions – Contact Endeavour Marketing and Media TODAY

by Garrick Schmitt for AdAge

ust a few short years ago, if you had asked most marketers about the future of mobile, their nirvana most likely would have been a consumer strolling down the aisle of her local grocery store receiving text messages offering 50 cents off a bottle of ketchup or jar of peanut butter.

But not so much today, as industry heavyweights and upstarts like Google, Facebook, Twitter and SimpleGeo are racing to map out a digital, geo-tagged future where our physical and virtual worlds will increasingly collide. Soon a simple coupon delivered via SMS or Bluetooth will seem like an idea from a different era, like Pong or the Hula Hoop.

Everyone, it seems, is looking to take advantage of the demand for location-based services created by GPS-enabled devices, such as Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android 2.0. Even desktop operating systems, such as Windows 7 and Mac OS X Snow Leopard will soon contain location-awareness features — so too will browsers, as we’ve seen with the latest Firefox releases.

Now come the services. Just this week, Google launched What’s Nearby, a location-based search that’s part of Google Maps on Android and will soon be more widely available. The service allows consumers to simply access a list of the ten closest places of interest near their physical location via their mobiles.

And that’s just to start: Google Latitude allows users to share their locations with friends and view their friends activities on a map; Facebook has rewritten its privacy policy, foreshadowing its entrance into location-based services; and Twitter has rolled out its Geotagging API, which will allow popular Twitter apps like Tweetie and Tweetdeck to display the location from where a tweet was posted.

But geo-location APIs and GPS-enabled mobile devices are just part of the “location equation.” Here’s a look at the most promising geo players who are making location-based marketing a reality for brands today.

FOURSQUARE AND GOWALLA: Foursquare and Gowalla are the two most buzzed-about leaders in location-based services. Both companies provide game-like experiences for their users that allow them to “check-in” at various locales (bars, restaurants, etc.). But it’s Foursquare that has recently made the first play for advertisers. The company recently debuted its Foursquare for Business program, which enables retailers to provide offers to their users and track the success of location-based campaigns. Industry analysts are understandably enthused.

Read Rest of Article

Endeavour Marketing and Media, A Murfreesboro Advertising Agency

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Volkswagen of America is launching the newest-generation GTI exclusively on an iPhone app, a cost-efficient approach the automaker said is a first for the industry. Read Rest of Article

From BusinessWeek (video on page):

It’s easy to shrug off the kooky world of apps. The bite-size software programs people load onto their mobile phones or tap into on the Web seem mostly to be silly games and pointless novelties. But look past the beer-drinking apps and flatulence programs and you’ll see something significant taking shape: a bustling app economy that’s creating new fortunes for entrepreneurs and changing the way business gets done. Read Rest of Article

From MediaWeek:

Google is sometimes labeled a one-trick pony with its success in search. But if the company is gearing up for a big second act, it’s likely to take place on the mobile-technology stage.

The company has begun to focus on mobile on multiple fronts: with its Android operating system, extending its AdWords network to the device and through mobile-specific applications. It is now adding measurement to the mix.

Read Rest of Article

From TechCrunch

Verizon and Motorola finally lifted the curtain on their new Droid Android phone yesterday. Make no mistake, this is Android’s flagship product, and the first phone that will pose a significant threat to Apple’s iPhone. And it will be available very soon, possibly as early as the end of this month.

Read Rest of Article