BOSSdev responded by pitching “The Right Tool for The Right Job” campaign, which includes a micro site, a branded Flash game, a Facebook app, a Soft-Picks customized Facebook page, a YouTube channel, and a webisode series.  The common thread throughout the whole campaign is the situational and slightly exaggerated type of humor that causes a campaign to go viral.

“We really wanted to make the product come to life in the online world and get the brand’s key messages across using humor as a magnetic force,” said Paula Anderanin, interactive solutions architect, BOSSdev.

BOSSdev’s creative and technical talent leveraged experience with augmented reality, injecting humor and cutting edge technology throughout the campaign.  The team was able to integrate these elements while maintaining brand authenticity for the client.  Katie Mulloy, marketing manager, Sunstar Americas, Inc. explains: “We are delighted with the creative approach BOSSdev has taken for this campaign.  The interactive demonstrates a dynamism and relevance to this select audience that simply cannot be matched by traditional marketing approaches.  We believe this will play an important part in communicating all of the benefits of Soft-Picks® to this discerning and influential group of users in a new light.  And of course, the humor makes it all so contagious!”

Share a smile by following the links to “The Right Tool for The Right Job” campaign for Sunstar.

Become a Fan of Soft-Picks, on Facebook.

Visit the Microsite www.soft-picks.com

YouTube Channel and Webisodes - http://youtube.com/softpicks

BOSSdev is on Facebook

The project goal for Mr. Harper, of NBC’s The Biggest Loser, was to improve his community driven website, allowing him to continue building relationships with his online fans.

BOSSdev began work in late November.  The site, with improved usability for fans and a calibrated back end, was built to make posting blogs easier and more manageable.  To achieve this, visual design changes, content modification and augmented features were created.

Robbie Wells, senior vice president of brand management at UEG, was impressed that he was always able to speak with, and work with, the right person in any given circumstance.  This level of access during the project meant Wells was on a first name basis with key members of the BOSSdev team.  From the production manager to the president, for Wells it was, Kelley or John.

The project launched in early February.

Wells on launch day: “I’ve been so excited about launching this site today.  It must be showing because co-workers have been stopping me all day asking why am I so happy!”

Likewise, Bob Harper: “Love the site.  Thank you.”

BOSSdev is on Facebook

Anderanin understands that cutting edge features, focused on the brand, are necessary to reach viral status.

The Show Your Smile Augmented Reality Facebook app, featured in the Sunstar campaign, incorporated intelligent facial recognition software.  The user’s face is located via their web cam and their smile is replaced with a humorous “sendable” smile that they may save, send or print.  “We really wanted to get the consumers attention in various channels and drive brand awareness by using humor to link all campaign components, said Anderanin.

Anderanin designs with engagement in mind.  “Multi-channel experience is key in developing campaigns like these.  Understanding when to use the cinematic qualities of motion to help sell an asset, or a single musical note as a punctuation mark to a key point, or clean minimalist design to allow a player to experience a mood are all a part of the experience and insight we have to provide.”

With eight years of professional experience with numerous Fortune 500 brands and such prolific clients as The Biggest Loser’s Bob Harper, Anderanin understands the importance of brand authenticity.  Knowing that Sunstar’s Soft-Picks® users were already brand evangelists, she presented a highly interactive social media campaign, with a focus on engagement, combining an educational message with humor.

BOSSdev is on Facebook

A lot of people are working hard to wrap their heads around social media these days. Each of the last two weeks, BOSSdev has hosted a social media webinar. We’ve had over two thousand people register for these events and nearly a thousand spend a full hour attending them. Thanks to everyone for sharing your valuable time with BOSSdev.

Moby Dick dvd

The audience response to these webinars has been phenomenal to say the least. Both events trended in the top ten on Twitter for quite some time. Here’s what a few attendees had to say:

The Stepford Wives dvd

Tell No One full movie

@jwhof: “That was an awesome webinar – thanks, BossDev! #BDSocial”
@bobbygzus:

Hood of Horror dvd

#bdsocial “Thank you! My peers now “get it” ! GREAT breakdown of ROI using social nets!”
@MelyMello: “excellent seminar – great info! thanks for sharing! #BDSocial”
@gbentley

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines psp

Perfect Hideout divx

: “#BDSocial attending amazing webinar from BossDev “Wrap Your Head Around Social Media” Best I’ve seen yet!” download Phone Booth

You can read the entire stream of Tweets about the event on Twitter

.

We’re very pleased that so many people found our presentation useful for their work. Obviously, we’d love an opportunity to help you implement social media into your digital marketing mix. As promised, we’re sharing the full presentation.

I would like to personally thank my associates Cosmin Ghiurau, Ashley Lomas buy A Busy Day and Josh Yurich for going to great lengths to help make these online events successful. If anyone still doubts the impact social can have for business, just consider that the majority of our more than two thousand registrants found out about our webinar via LinkedIn, Facebook

Nuremberg ipod Unspeakable download

or Twitter.

Our next webinar presentation will cover the topic of how marketers are leveraging Branded Flash Games to drive engagement with consumers. BOSSdev’s own Grant Kravitz will share his considerable wit and extensive experience on the topic as the lead presenter. It’s sure to be both informative and entertaining. Don’t miss it!

Wyvern divx

By Korye Logan

Thanks to all the people who attended our webinar on social media yesterday. The traffic for the event was strong; as was the social buzz. Our event hashtag of #BDsocial actually trended #2 on Twitter for over an hour. All feedback from attendees has been very positive so far. Our team is working diligently to follow-up via Twitter, email and here on the BOSS|talk blog.

Iowa rip Jade download Horror Hospital dvdrip You can access a recorded copy of the webinar here What Goes Up . The presentation deck can be accessed at the BOSSdev event portal site (registration required).

As mentioned during the webinar, we find it important to provide our audience with useful links. To that end, all resource links and referenced articles are cited in the presentation below.

• Brutal dvd

• God Told Me To movie download

In Hell film

America’s Sweethearts buy Babylon 5: The River of Souls This webinar presentation was quite popular, so we are conducting it one more time next Thursday. If you missed the first one, please join us on April 2nd at 2pm EST. We encourage you to share this link with any friends or business associates that you believe would find it useful.
Wrapping Your Head Around Social Media: Discover your Audience in the World of Social Media

• Jurassic Park film

The developer discipline views a web site from an engineering perspective. A web site is a machine made of interconnected parts. Building one is akin to constructing a house, piece by piece. One often overhears conversations like this:

Developer to Sales person: “You’re asking me to quote a price for a house, but you haven’t told me how many floors it has, or how many bedrooms, or what kind of roof it has!”

The creative crowd views the web site as a work of art. Crafting a web site is akin to painting a beautiful masterpiece. It starts with inspiration that becomes the artist’s vision, rendered on a modern, technical canvas. One might over hear conversations like this:

Creativeto Client: “Sure I can make that box red instead of blue. Of course that will ruin the design integrity of the page, and destroy the mood we are conveying.”

Granted, these are extreme stereotypes, but these types of discussions are surprisingly common. The synergies of these two mindsets, carefully managed within a budget are what differentiate the best websites from the worst. Is a web site a construction project, or a painting? The answer is that it is neither.

Web sites play a major, ever increasing role in determining whether someone ultimately transacts with a company. Both the technical developer and the creative artist fulfill valuable roles in the process; a web site must be attention grabbing, pleasing to the eye, and functional. It is however first, and foremost an investment that should be laser focused on one goal and one goal only

• Scarecrows dvdrip

: Return on Investment.

Organizations put the developersin charge, because they mistakenly believe that the Internet is all about technology, so technology people know best. Or, they put the artists in charge, because they are committed to the old rules of interruption based advertising, and think the Internet is just an extension of TV, Radio, and print based advertising campaigns.

Most of us have a limited number of dollars to invest. The challenge for a responsible CEO is choosing where to invest limited discretionary dollars to achieve the greatest return. Is a web site a cost center, or a strategic asset? Given a web site’s increasingly pivotal role in the consideration phase of the purchasing process, isn’t it time to start treating it more like an investment property and less like a cost of doing business?

Before you bought a piece of investment property, you would be well advised to decide what it was you were trying to accomplish with it. Perhaps you desire an asset with a net return greater than what you are getting from your broker. Cast Away movie download

What are you trying to accomplish with your web site? Is it a lead generation tool? Is it a sales platform? A way to reduce support costs?

This question often draws blank stares from the same people who can articulate the design, usability, and navigational issues of their current web site in great detail.

If you decided to buy an apartment building as an investment, you’d need decide who your target tenant was going to be. Are you going to rent to transients, families with kids, or working professionals? Does the property you a looking at anticipate the needs of your target tenant?

Who’s your web site for? Is it designed for the audience it is trying to reach? Does your Web site anticipate likely visitor needs?

You’d probably drive around the neighborhood, look in the newspaper, and talk to a few realtors. You’d want to know who else you’ll be competing with for your tenants. Does the competition have a swimming pool, or offer the first month’s rent free?

What does your competition’s site look like? Viewed through the lens of the Web site only, how does your company look like in comparison? What opportunities are you missing because your Web site is mediocre compared to the competition? Is your web site overbuilt?

The biggest investment property most of us own is the home we live in. If you had $50,000 to spend on your house, what factors would you consider in order to determine where best to spend it? Update the plumbing, modernize the kitchen, or buy art for the living room?

This kind of logic is rarely used when it comes to deciding how to invest limited resources in a website. The correct approach is to use numerical analysis. You can’t do that if you aren’t measuring each and every action on your web site with the same kind of precision that you handle your money with. If you are tracking the performance of each page, you can determine whether or not to work on conversion optimization, driving more traffic, or reducing your cart abandonment rate. You’ll know which skill set, or combination of disciplines, is best suited to the challenge at hand.

Reframing your web site as an investment property, and knowing when to leverage the right expertise at the right time, will insure that you are spending your dollars wisely.

Here’s a simple example:

Otis video

Which is better: More uniques or a higher conversion rate? Should you spend your budget on word buys and banners, or web development? Assume baseline metrics of:

The Holy Mountain divx

Conversion Rate: 2%

Uniques: 1M/Month

Sales: 20,000

• One True Thing hd

Gross per Sale: $100 Friends with Money dvd

Total Sales: 2M

If you spend $100,000 on driving traffic this month, increasing your uniques to 1.1M, you’ll see a net sales increase 2.2 million, resulting in an ROI of 100%. This follows the logic of traditional advertising, based on Sarnoff’s law, which says that advertising cost is proportional to the reach and therefore the return.

Troglodyte dvd

• Sea of Love trailer

• Chicago 10 download

Captain Blood film

On the other hand, a $100,000 analysis of the landing, content, detail, and cart experience pages based on metrics, with incremental changes executed, measured, and refined over several months could demonstrate returns on investment as follows:

Increasing the conversion rate by .01% is break even.

Increasing the conversion rate by .05% has a 400% ROI.

Doubling the conversion rate to 4% has an ROI of 1,900%.

No Reservations movie download

• Thirteen Days download

This ROI would be realized each month, month after month.

Treating your web site as an investment first, and managing it as such, will guarantee that the dollars you spend on a web site go to the right places.

Monday at SXSW Interactive 2009

Over the Hedge

The X Files: I Want to Believe movie Paulie psp

featured more presentations and panel discussions on a variety of topics. It was also the final day of the trade show exhibit for the interactive portion of the event. The final keynote presenter was science fiction author Bruce Sterling Under the Tuscan Sun on dvd

. The evening offered up several options, including Plutopia and an Unofficial Party by Dachis Corporation and Austin Ventures.

• Million Dollar Baby movie download

• Behind Locked Doors

The Magic Cube aka Dragon Hill 2 divx Satans Little Helper ipod

Sam, Katie, Korye, Andy and Scott of BOSSdev enjoy a fantastic meal at The Salt Lick BBQ in Driftwood, Texas.

Science fiction author and cyperpunk legend Bruce Sterling delivers a speech about the evolution of print media and how technology may change lifestyles in the future.

A SXSW 2009 crowd of over five hundred listen in as cyperpunk legend Bruce Sterling delivers a speech at SXSW 2009 in Austin, Texas.

• The Road to Wellville

Performers at the Plutopia 2009 Interactive Party take a break outside of the Palmer Events Center in Austin, Texas.”

Behind Enemy Lines: Axis of Evil film

Demolition Man film Easy Rider movies

Femme Fatale hd

Federal Protection dvdrip
Jeffrey Dachis and Karl Long Anatomy of a Murder film have some fun at the UNLISTED: Unofficial SXSW Interactive 2009 After Party at Malverde in Austin, Texas. The event was sponsored by Austin Ventures and Dachis Corporation.”

Photos by Korye Logan

• Balls of Fury buy

Sunday at the SXSW 2009 Interactive Festiva Robinson Crusoe on Mars on dvd l Pig Hunt download was another great day of learning, sharing and networking. My personal highlight was seeing wine video blogger Gary Vaynerchuk, of Wine Library TV fame, live for the first time. Gary has so much passion and a great “real guy” presence. Some of his key points included:

I Really Hate My Job psp Anatomy of a Murder trailer Summer School dvd

• The Tracey Fragments dvd

“It’s all about the hussle.”
“It’s reactionary businesses that win.”
“Do what you love to do, because you can monetize that sh@t!”
“Embrace yourself… Love yourself more.”

Sahara video

Dirty Mary Crazy Larry dvd

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning film

The Purple Plain psp

download Darkman III: Die Darkman Die movie

How She Move dvdrip

The Iron Giant the movie

Wine critic and video blogger Gary Vaynerchuck answers questions during a session at SXSW Interactive 2009 in Austin, Texas.

Jim Stedman, Dana, Steve Golab, Korye Logan, Mike & Bijoy of Austin Bootstrappers celebrate life and good times at the FG2 Party in Austin during SXSW Interactive 2009.

The Frost Bank building lights up the night sky above Austin, Texas. It is locally known as the Bat Cave.

Photos by Korye Logan

The Doors dvd

S.F.W. full movie

Zombieland

The 2009 edition of the SXSW Interactive Festival You’ve Got Mail release is off to a fantastic start. Thousands of the industry’s leading minds and innovators have converged upon my home city of Austin, Texas. The BOSSdev team is representing in full force at SXSW with Scott Heath, Katie Kremhelmer, Sam Swenson, Andy McDonnell and Korye Logan in attendance. Below are a few photos of highlights from the first full day of the event.

Lawrence Lessig speaks about Change V.2 at SXSW 2009 in Austin, Texas.

Charlene Li speaks about the Future of Social Networks at SXSW 2009 in Austin, Texas.

Andy McDonnel of BOSSdev grabs lunch at Ironworks BBQ at SXSW 2009 in Austin, Texas.

The Opening Night Party at SXSW 2009 in Austin, Texas.

Katie and Korye of BOSSdev enjoying the DIGGnation Party and Concert at Stubbs with Christian Caldwell of the American Heart Association during SXSW 2009 in Austin, Texas.

Lean on Me video

Photos by Korye Logan

Legally Blonde dvdrip

Emma video
Elf Yourself 2008 from OfficeMax

featured some important improvements over previous years’ editions, including a strong focus on ROI. While this deserves praise, a key to success in digital marketing is ongoing optimization. It is wise to conduct a post analysis on campaigns to rate efficacy, identify gaps and improve performance moving forward. So let’s take a look at this year’s Elf Yourself, identifying things done right as well as improvements to be made.

3 THINGS DONE RIGHT IN ELF YOURSELF 2008

• Next Friday divx

1. Minimal Investment: the media property was leveraged as a business asset

• Mo Better Blues buy

OfficeMax selected JibJab Media as a partner. JibJab approached OfficeMax and offered to do the upfront development work as part of a business partnership. Clearly this was proposed due to the high traffic Elf Yourself garnered last season. While this disappointed the creators of the concept (EVB in San Francisco and Toy in New York), it was a prudent move considering the current economic climate.

2. Monetized Model: merchandising was a key component of the user experience
An Elf Yourself ornament hung on many trees this year, including the one in my home. Even more merchandise

was purchased (in the form of cards, photos, mousepads and cups) and given as gifts. Additionally, the customized video content is available to download for $4.99. While sales numbers have not been released, they certainly are an improvement on the lack of traceable sales for previous campaigns.

Fargo dvdrip

As Good as It Gets divx The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) dvd
3. Social & Viral Components:

Saw IV download

email, Facebook used to spread the word
OfficeMax and JibJab leveraged Facebook and personal emails to cost-effectively promote the campaign. Elf Yourself’s Facebook App has nearly a million fans to date, compared to almost none in mid-November. This year’s campaign featured a variety of electronic delivery methods, including email, embedding and downloads. A Google blog search of Elf Yourself (combined with ElfYourself) returns an inordinate number of results.

Note: It is unfortunate that the ElfYourself YouTube account went essentially untouched this year.

3 WAYS TO IMPROVE ELF YOURSELF IN 2009

1. Drive Retail Traffic: Reach for the Sky trailer increase visits to OfficeMax stores and .com
Traffic and stickiness for this year’s Elf Yourself campaign were strong, according to a December 17, 2008 MediaPost story. “The typical user so far has stayed on the site for 15 minutes–double the 7.5 minutes for last year’s total campaign–and has created 4.5 separate elf-centric videos, up from two a year ago.” The Omen trailer Attack of the 50 Foot Woman divx

This kind of engagement should be leveraged to drive retail traffic to stores and OfficeMax.com. The campaign does a fine job of capturing people’s attention, delivering value and building goodwill. It’s a small, but crucial step to take this momentum and convert it into real revenue. Even a simple coupon program could drive conversions. To get retail traffic, stores could set up an Elf Workshop. People could bring their kids or pets in to get a picture taken with elves.

2. Include Product Promotions: give visitors a reason to do some holiday shopping
Don’t let all those people come and go without offering specials, discounts and promotions. Serve up deals on digital photo frames, notebooks and gift cards. Elf Yourself 2008 featured ad banners, but not for OfficeMax. Missing out on this in the midst of the holiday shopping season is akin to putting short in golf – hard to forgive.

Elf Yourself gives OfficeMax a golden opportunity to promote products and drive revenue, especially online. This year, e-commerce was one of the few bright spots

Aces film

in a tough retail shopping season. The company should also leverage co-op funds from manufacturers such as HP, Microsoft and 3M.

3. A Year-Round Online Presence: leverage Elf Yourself into ongoing digital promotions

• Final Destination 3 dvd

Tommy download

First Blood hd
Identify other opportunities to drive this kind of online interaction throughout the year. What do elves do in the off season? Could they be related to cupids (Valentine’s Day) or leprechauns (St. Patrick’s Day)? Do they go trick or treating on Halloween? Using the elf concept is just one creative approach to consider.

OfficeMax also has the affable Rubberband Man, who is featured in their popular television ad campaign. He could help people compile back-to-school shopping lists. He could offer periodic business tips about organization, filing and more. A long-term community model could be built around this creative. It could feature entertaining videos, useful articles and user discussion forums – all accompanied by subtle and relevant product merchandising.

A good online marketing campaign keeps getting better
It’s nice to see OfficeMax continue to improve Elf Yourself each year. Look at your online promotions with the same commitment to ongoing optimization. No campaign is perfect. And what works well this time could be irrelevant next quarter. Consider how you can leverage a variety of channels in your digital marketing mix: microsites, social networks, user generated content, etc. Also determine what off-line marketing components should be used, and how to integrate all assets effectively. Of course, it is imperative to establish how the campaign will be monitored and measured.

The most important thing you can do for any online campaign is to be keenly focused on business objectives. Les Luchter’s MediaPost article

about Elf Yourself cites “this year’s goals of deeper consumer engagement, higher retention, greater brand association and stronger social media presence.” I view these as strategies that should support the broader business objectives of higher share of mind, improved brand perception, increased traffic to OfficeMax.com and retail stores – resulting in more purchase considerations. This slight shift in focus can significantly improve a campaign’s ROI.