Check out What’s Next in Marketing and Advertising, a presentation on the future of advertising by Paul Isakson, our Senior Strategic Planner.

Continue Reading.

Websites, message boards, media outlets, and level 70 palladins are all buzzing about the news.

Continue Reading.

After much speculation and talk, the New York Times is reporting that Google has officially announced their entry in the spectrum auction and will file papers on Monday, December 3.

Continue Reading.

At the Planning Conference earlier this month, micro-initiatives were a hot topic. Motion, chaos, and a multitude of diversity have been creating time-starved people, who are seeking mini-bites of the everyday, from Wii games to 100-calorie packs. In a time of micro-engagements, bite-sized entertainment, cultural snacking, call it what you will, how do we continue to create some sort of interest or meaning, when the medium only shrinks?

Continue Reading.

Somehow, I've become a media skeptic.

For a year or so, folks have been talking about how the industry's approach to media needs to change. How we need to start considering touch points instead of rating points. How we need to start introducing our media departments to the planners and the creatives in the agency. All of this chit-chat gets me really inspired, but I'm curious is anything really happening? Or is it all just talk?

Continue Reading.

Best summer camp ever! space150 hires seven aspiring young interns in various disciplines for the summer.

Continue Reading.

Increasingly, agencies are beginning to realize the importance of having strong digital capabilities—and it’s not just the little guys.

Continue Reading.

2006 was a dramatic year of growth for space150, and it set the stage for three new client partnerships we’re excited to announce: Andersen Windows, Dairy Queen, and Schwan’s Home Service, Inc.

Continue Reading.

Consumers want information locally and instantly. They use information as their social currency, involving themselves in and giving advice about the best, the first, the coolest… The Internet drives the lust, but offline localization is what has really sparked the trend for the masses.

Continue Reading.

When it comes to developing strategies, what is the value of a number? While data plays a significant evaluative role, in most cases it is merely a demographic snapshot of today and only a starting point for projecting tomorrow.

Continue Reading.

The recent failure of Walmart’s Hub proves that corporate America cannot simply proclaim something to be new and cool, and expect users to jump on the bandwagon. Organic authenticity speaks volumes.

So what makes a social networking site successful?

This question challenged our Strategy & Insight department. We scoured dozens of networking websites, from super niche, like Takkle or Sneakerplay, to mass reach, like MySpace and Facebook, to try uncover some truths about social networking. We found four.

Four Truths of Social Networking

1) Digital Content or Social Networking: Right now, one or the other drives traffic—at this point a true combination is neither expected nor utilized. This could be a big opportunity, but also would be a challenge in changing consumer behavior and expectations. (hi5 vs. YouTube)

2) Complete Connectivity: Users belong to multiple social networks and need to integrate content across them, especially considering people’s reliance on mobile devices. (UnCut Video)

3) Quality Over Quantity: Having lots of content is irrelevant if it’s not good. (iFilm)

4) The Cool Factor Is Defined by the Users: Sleek design and organization are important, but interesting users determine the personality (and success) of the site. (Vimeo)

In their 2007 Trend Report, Trendwatching identified a new trend called “life caching.” Life cachers are collecting their experiences online with both images and words, organizing, storing, and sharing them in hopes of creating some kind of memento or even legacy.

While at first glance this trend may seem vain—and a hobby for those with a little too much time on their hands—it can also be (at least potentially) rather sweet and sincere. Someday users may visit the site Dandelife, for example, and see how their parents had plotted out their childhood, complete with personal blog entries and even videos. Or they might view the Yahoo! Time Capsule twenty years from now and see that their own life cache submission has actually become part of history.

A whole slew of digital products are emerging to help and encourage life caching: Apple’s iLife digital suite, Microsoft’s MyLifeBits Project, and Nokia’s Lifeblog, which can be downloaded on select Nokia phones and allows people to use their camera phones to capture real moments to tell their story.

Web 2.0 has introduced some revolutionary digital products. Life caching could become a movement that gives users a glimpse into the softer side of 2.0—and the chance to be a part of something much bigger… tomorrow.

We’ve always championed reinvention here at space150; as we say, we’re “overcommitted to evolution” and believe that change is one of the most important factors of success in any endeavor. So in recognition of World AIDS Day we’d like to call attention to (RED), an innovative brand that’s working to improve the lives of millions of people suffering from AIDS in Africa. RED was created by U2 lead singer Bono and Bobby Shriver, Chairman of DATA, a multinational NGO that provides relief aid in Africa, to raise awareness and money for The Global Fund by teaming up with iconic brands like Giorgio Armani, Motorola, and American Express. A percentage of each RED product’s sale is given to The Global Fund; according to www.joinred.com, to date more than 10 million dollars in aid has been sent to Africa, with more on the way.

There has been limited innovation in cause marketing and fund raising in recent years—but what little we’ve seen has played out in the digital arena. The tsunami in 2004 raised significant funds online and was a powerful example of traditional charitable giving amplified by the power of the Net. RED has distinguished itself as more than a charity, dependent on individual donations—it is in fact a business model with a new kind of brand as its core proposition. The overarching brand is (RED), while the products that endorse the brand, like the cool (RED) iPod, are referred to as (PRODUCT)RED. In this BBC News article, Bono explains how RED is different, noting that “[w]e are not endorsing [other company’s products], these products endorse us.” By creating a dynamic model to help solve this global epidemic, RED has recontextualized philanthropy as a consumer-driven model.

There are a handful of dynamic brands that know how to connect with their consumers, and do so consistently in meaningful ways. The Red Bull "Art of the Can" contest, where artists can submit work to be showcased in an exhibition, is the latest example of a brand that knows how to deliver. While Dove and Bombay Sapphire have developed similar concepts, Red Bull remains innovative by using actual product packaging as an art medium. This year Red Bull brought the Art of the Can Exhibit to Atlanta, Dallas, and Minneapolis. The Twin Cities show was held at the Frank Gehry-designed Weisman Art Museum in a stunning exhibition made up entirely of Red Bull-branded art. The Red Bull brand promise to “vitalize body and mind” was materialized through conceptual sculptural pieces (even a wedding dress!) made from empty Red Bull cans. While the show was heavily branded, it didn’t feel like an overt marketing attempt—but rather a legitimate, thoughtfully designed gallery show. And they didn’t stop there. In an effort to keep in line with their core target audience, they created a multimedia experience using an online component in addition to the gallery show. Exhibit attendees could vote on their favorite piece for the “People’s Choice Award,” and then log on to the Art of the Can website to see how their pick ranked—a concept rarely seen in the fine art world.

A recent study from the Consumer Electronics Association, Gaming Technology, indicates that there are more women gamers in the 25–34 demographic than men (65% to 35% respectively). This begs the question, “What are gaming companies doing to meet women’s needs? At first glance, products like the Desperate Housewives game and the pink PlayStation 2 console come to mind, which take a first stab at catering to this market, but miss the real reason women love gaming.

Whether a casual or hardcore gamer, women in general share a commonality in the games they embrace. Chris Kohler, in his Wired article, Women Gamers Duke it Out, argues that women want games that are easy to set up (no manual required, please!) and learn, yet still hard to master, and games that can be won (or lost) in short packets of time. Next-generation gaming should cater to these needs by providing storylines that have a definite beginning, middle, and end. Games or puzzles that put an interesting twist on an everyday situation will likely be the winners in women gamers 2.0.

If you’re interested in learning more about female gamers, there are a number of excellent blogs devoted strictly to women who game. Sites like fragdolls.com and womengamers.com provide insight into this critical gaming audience. A myriad of opportunities exist for the video game industry to connect with female gamers, and we’re excited to finally see this industry sector blossom.