Category: General Content

E-Retailer Phlur Uses Spotify Playlists And Curated Images To Sell Perfumes

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Phlur, an online-only perfume brand, came up with a brilliantly designed online shopping experience to introduce customers to its product lineup. Founded in 2015, the Austin-based startup aims to solve the obvious challenge in selling perfumes and colognes online – that you can’t smell it over the internet – with a novel sampling process.

Interested customers are encouraged to explore its elegantly crafted website, which presents an engaging digital experience where each product is explained with a unique audio-visual narrative supported by curated images and a mood-setting Spotify playlist. Then, customers are instructed to select two from the six Phlur products and have samples sent to their home for $10. If they like the sample and come back to purchase a full bottle, the $10 sample fee will be credited back to the customers.

What Brands Need To Do
In terms of business model, Phlur serves as another example of an ecommerce startup tapping into the “try-at-home,” direct-to-consumers trend established by the likes of e-retailer Warby Parker and Birchbox. What is more intriguing, however, is the way they build immersive audio-visual narratives that help introduce its products to prospective customers via a sensory experience. This should serve as an inspiration for other retail, ecommerce, and CPG brands that are aiming to innovate the shopping experience they offer, both online and offline. For example, brick-and-mortar retailers could use the trendy “store-within-a-store” concept, or perhaps tap into new technologies such as virtual reality like Taco Bell recently did, to build an interesting narrative to introduce customers to a new product.

If you’d like to learn more about how your brand can develop an updated retail strategy and implement digital-driven retail solutions to transform your in-store experience, please contact our Client Services Director Samantha Holland ([email protected]) to schedule a visit to the Lab.

 

Source: Racked

Header image is a promotional image from Phlur

Brands Can Now Develop VR Apps For Google Daydream

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Starting this week, Google is allowing all developers to create and publish Daydream VR apps via the Play Store, just like they would with regular Android apps. Daydream is Google’s mobile-powered VR platform that the company introduced at its 2016 Google I/O event last May. Prior to this week’s announcement, creating Daydream VR apps has been limited to a select group of partners. To ensure the quality of its VR apps, Google has also published a page of Daydream app quality requirements that all developers will need to meet.

What Brands Need To Do
While the Daydream VR platform is currently only supported by a handful of new Android handsets, Google appears to be determined to push it further, and opening up the platform for all developers is an important step towards that. (Google is also putting Daydream VR headsets on sale as part of this push.) With Daydream opening its gate, brands gain a new VR platform to consider when it comes to developing and distributing branded VR and 360-degree content, which a number of early-adopting brands, such as Marriott and Mountain Dew, have been doing to offer customers a powerfully immersive experience.

How We Can Help
Our dedicated team of VR experts is here to guide marketers through the distribution landscape. We work closely with brands to develop sustainable VR content strategies to promote branded VR and 360 video content across various apps and platforms. With our proprietary technology stack powered by a combination of best-in-class VR partners and backed by the media fire-power of IPG Mediabrands, we offer customized solutions for distributing and measuring branded VR content that truly enhance brand messaging and contribute to the campaign objectives.

If you’d like to learn more about how the Lab can help you tap into the immersive power of VR content to engage with customers, please contact our Client Services Director Samantha Holland ([email protected]) to schedule a visit to the Lab.

 

Source: TechCrunch

 

McDonald’s Is Handing Out Big Mac Sauce Via Multi-Platform Livestreams

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
McDonald’s is gearing up for a big multi-platform livestream event where the fast food chain will give away its Big Mac Sauce to viewers that tune in in real time. The event, scheduled for 2 p.m. ET of Jan. 26,  will run simultaneously on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Besides the live giveaway, the chain is giving away bottles of the branded condiment at a number of its U.S. locations, which customer can use McDonald’s branded iMessage app to find more information about. The company has been quite active on Instagram as of late, consistently employing Instagram’s live video feature to engage with fans.

What Brands Need To Do
This is one of the latest examples of brands tapping into the surging popularity of live-streaming to reach and engage with customers at scale. As the major social platforms continue to improve their respective live video products, brands will have more and more channels to disseminate their live content and reach a wider audience. Brands such as Birchbox, Popeyes, McDonald’s, and GE have experimented with Facebook Live to reach customers while brands like Carl’s Jr, Coca-Cola, and Geico have sponsored livestreams on eSports sites. All these examples showcase the versatility of marketing opportunities that live streaming offers, which more brands should leverage to connect with their audiences in innovative, exciting ways.

 

Source: AdWeek

JCPenney & Nordstrom Embrace In-store Pop-ups

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
In what is shaping up to be a hot trend in physical retail, pop-up store-within-a-store is gaining traction among some big-name retailers. Earlier this week, JCPenney announced its plan to let Nike set up shops in over 600 stores locations across the country. The in-store Nike shops will be prominently placed within the stores’ men’s department and feature an extensive assortment of apparel and accessories. This is the second national retail partnership JCPenney has arranged, following its decision to add cosmetics retailer Sephora to more than 500 locations in 2015.

Similarly, fashion retailer Nordstrom is embracing the “pop-in” concept with a three-part collaboration series with South Korean fashion and beauty brands. The series, titled KPOP-In@Nordstrom, kicked off in January with a partnership with Korean eyewear brand Gentle Monster, which has set up a makeup station area in select Nordstrom locations.  Previously, Nordstrom has partnered with fashion brands such as Topshop, Madewell, New Classics, Warby Parker, and Bow & Drape for similar pop-up initiatives.

What Retailers Need To Do
One obvious reason why such partnerships are gaining momentum is that, challenged by the fierce competition of the fast-growing online retailers, big-box retailers are starting to reconsider their retail strategy and becoming more open to invite outsider brands to deliver an in-store customer experience that hopefully will drive foot traffic.

Besides, brick-and-mortar retailers are also retooling their stores to become more experience-focused, and bringing in new brands to set up temporary shops is a cost-efficient way to refresh the in-store experience and keep shoppers interested. For example, the new Nike flagship store in downtown Manhattan is designed to let customers try on different products in common workout scenarios such as playing basketball or jogging. For retailers, these examples of experiential retail should serve as inspirations to figure out how to craft an engaging in-store experience that attracts shoppers.

How We Can Help
To that point, brick-and-mortar retailers can also benefit greatly by leveraging the digital technologies available to deliver a unique in-store experience. The Lab has extensive experience working with retail, beauty, and CPG clients to create and implement digitally-enhanced experiences for their stores. The recently-opened NYX Cosmetics store at Union Square is a proud showcase of our team’s work in crafting a digitally enhanced, innovative retail experience.

If you’d like to learn more about how your brand can develop an updated retail strategy and implement digital-driven retail solutions to transform your in-store experience, please contact our Client Services Director Samantha Holland ([email protected]) to schedule a visit to the Lab.

 

Source: Glossy & Total Retail

 

Facebook Starts Testing Display Ads In Messenger

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Ads are coming soon to Facebook Messenger as the social network announced its plan to start testing display ads in its chat app, which now counts over one billion monthly active users, in Thailand and Australia in the coming weeks. The ads will be in a scrollable Carousel format and will be limited to just the Messenger home screen, meaning that they won’t be infiltrating your conversations for now.

What Brands Need To Do
Given the global reach of Messenger, it makes perfect sense for Facebook to start monetizing the massive amount of consumer attention it has congregated on the chat app. It is, however, unclear how long it would take before such ad products will be made available to U.S. brands. In the meantime, brands looking to capture customer attention on chat apps should consider building a branded chatbot to engage with mobile users and drive conversations.

How We Can Help
The Lab has extensive experience in building branded chatbots to reach consumers on messaging apps. So much so that we’ve built a dedicated conversational practice called Dialogue. The NiroBot we built in collaboration with Ansible for Kia is a good example of how Dialogue can help brands build a chatbot experience supercharged by our stack of technology partners with best-in-class solutions and an insights engine that extracts business intelligence from conversational data.

If you’d like to learn more about how to effectively reach consumers on messaging apps and other conversational interfaces, or to leverage the Lab’s expertise to take on related clients and learning opportunities within the IPG Mediabrands, please contact our Client Services Director Samantha Holland ([email protected]) to schedule a visit to the Lab.

 

Source: VentureBeat

 

Tostitos’ Sensor-Laden Bag Can Tell If You’ve Been Drinking And Call You An Uber

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Tostitos, a Fritto-Lay brand, is created an interesting take on CPG packaging with a limited-edition “Party Safe” bag that comes with a sensor to detect mall traces of alcohol on a person’s breath. Created by Goodby Silverstein & Partners, this special Tostitos bag will display a red steering wheel, along with an Uber code. Equipped with near-field communication (NFC) technology, the bag also let customers tap the bag with their phone to request an Uber ride. If they do so during and after the Super Bowl game, they will also receive $10 off courtesy of Tostitos and Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

What Brands Need To Do
This is an interesting example in how CPG brands can experiment with packaging to deliver added value to customers. In a similar vein, last year we worked with Hershey’s and created a “Remixer” package for its TAKE5 snack bar. Powered by the haptics technology from Novalia, the package lets customers play DJ and create their own unique tracks with no app required.

If you want to learn more about how you can leverage new technologies such as biosensors, AR, and haptics to transform your product packaging into an informative or interactive customer experience, please reach out to our Client Services Director Samantha Holland ([email protected]).

 

Source: AdWeek

Google Assistant Adds Support For WeMo And Honeywell Devices

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Google Assistant continues to play catch-up with Amazon’s Alexa Voice Service as it adds support for two prominent brands in smart home gadgets, Belkin’s Wemo and Honeywell. At this year’s CES, where Alexa basically dominated the show floor, Google Assistant also unveiled several upcoming brand integrations, including one with new Mercedes-Benz models as well as NVIDIA’s new connected home product line. Most recently, the search giant partnered with HBO to promote its hit show Westworld with a bot named Aeden that is programmed to answer some show-related questions.

What Brands Need To Do
As Google continues to add integrations for Google Assistant in order to compete with Alexa, voice-activated assistant services are quickly becoming more component. And if what we saw at CES earlier this month is any indication, they are set to take over the home space and bring AI-powered interfaces to mainstream consumers soon. Resultantly, it is becoming more evident than ever that voice-based brand-customer interaction is something that brands have to explore and master if they wish to establish a new touchpoint in consumers’ living rooms.

How We Can Help
The Lab has extensive experience in building chatbots and Alexa Skills to reach consumers on conversational interfaces, which we’ve leveraged to develop a dedicated conversational practice called Dialogue. The NiroBot we built in collaboration with Ansible for Kia is a good example of how Dialogue can help brands build a conversational customer experience supercharged by our stack of technology partners with best-in-class solutions and an insights engine that extracts business intelligence from conversational data.

If you’d like to learn more about how to effectively reach consumers on conversational interfaces, or to leverage the Lab’s expertise to take on related client opportunities within the IPG Mediabrands, please contact our Client Services Director Samantha Holland ([email protected]) to schedule a visit to the Lab.

 

Source: VentureBeat

Warner Bros. Taps Branded Puzzle-Game Lens To Engage Snapchat Users

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Warner Bros. is the first brand to use Snapchat’s recently added puzzle-game Lens to engage with users. As part of its promotional campaign for the upcoming movie King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, the studio created a Snapchat Lens that would overlay a crown and a robe on the selfies and turn them into an interactive mini-puzzle game where users move tiles around to reassemble the edited selfies. This sponsored Lens first ran on Saturday.

What Brands Need To Do
This serves as the latest example of brands exploring the unconventional ad products that Snapchat offers in hopes of connecting with mobile users. While studios buying sponsored Snapchat Lens is not exactly new, (last May, for example, 20th Century Fox bought the first-ever Snapchat Lens takeover ad to promote its X-Men movie.) this gamified Lens from Warner Bros. brought some interactivity into the mix to further drive engagement.

As Snapchat’s ad business start to catch up to its rapid growth, the company is presenting brands with a lot of interesting opportunities to explore what the future of mobile advertising looks like. Therefore, it is time for brands to reconsider their media mix and consider adjust the ad budget to include emerging global channels like Snapchat so as to reach customers at scale.

 

Source: Variety

Google Starts Public Testing Of “Instant Apps”

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Google has started the initial live test of its “Instant Apps” product, which allows users to use an app without downloading it. This cloud-based product was first introduced last May at Google’s 2016 I/O event, and allows fast, temporary access to Android apps with just one click. Google says it is working with developers for a number of popular apps, including BuzzFeed, Periscope, fast-growing ecommerce app Wish, and Asian drama streaming app Viki, for this limited public test.

What Brands Need To Do
Google Instant Apps gives users the power of native apps with instant loading and without the usual commitment of download time and storage space, which could benefit many brands seeking to overcome the app-download hurdle and reach customers on mobile.

For example, an auto brand could use this product to drive potential buyers to a build-your-own feature that works better natively than as a website, and an entertainment brand could leverage this feature to reach more users with their in-app content. Since Instant Apps works with Android Pay, it supports frictionless payments and checkouts that will help retailers boost conversions.

Therefore, brands need to work with developers to break their branded apps into appropriate modules in order to enable this feature, as well as look for ways to convert Instant Apps users into habitual app users.

 

Source: TechCrunch

 

Nike Deploys AR In Store To Demo Customized Shoes

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
A Nike store in Paris has started using augmented reality to show customers what their personalized running shoes would look like. Working with SmartPixels, a French AR company, Nike is letting customers configure the colors of a running shoe on a store tablet and use a hologram projector to overlay the colors onto an actual white shoe. This way, Nike hopes to give customers a better look at how their customization would look in physical form as opposed to a flat digital rendering.  

What Brands Need To Do
Pokémon Go introduced U.S. consumers to mobile AR technology last summer, but brands are only starting to explore the possibilities that AR marketing brings. At this year’s CES, we saw brands like BMW and Gap showcased AR apps made for product demos. And this AR initiative from Nike points to a new way that retail and fashion brands can experiment with AR technologies and deliver a captivating customer experience.

If you’d like to get some help to figure out how augmented reality can enhance your customer experience and drive new opportunities for your brand, or simply to try out the HoloLens demo we have to experience the transformative power of AR, please contact our Client Services Director Samantha Holland ([email protected]) to schedule a visit to the Lab.

 

Source: VentureBeat