Sam Scaife - Digital Media Design BA

I have watched the F8 keynote where Facebook announced there link with Spotify. I found this really interesting to watch as the excitement that Mark Zuckerberg had for the potential was contagious and I felt myself feeling very enthusiastic about the potential that the level of involvement he was talking about. At the same time however it was kind of scary to think that people might choose to live so open. This would be a major step to a term I read about the other day of "Lifelogging" but it would be public not a private method.

Back on topic, what I really got from the section on Spotify was that the they can see this as a tool for letting music be spread online with the speed of virals. They also really believed in the power that social suggestions on music have on influencing your listening habits. I think I have be really get my idea behind these points so that its pushing forward the right areas of the Spotify on Facebook integration.

I have spoken to my coursemate Simon about which brief I am going to go with and in doing so it's become apparent that I am way more interested in the Spotify brief. Looking back over my notes on the brief I have also realized that it allows me to do similar things to the windows phone brief but it is an interesting area which I would like to have knowledge in so that I could potentially do real work in the area once the course is over.

For these reasons I have chosen to drop Windows Phone and focus all my efforts on Spotify.

I've just come across this digital wall for V-energy which will be at festivals in Australia throughout the summer. It is a good example of what real companies are doing with interactive and social technologies.

(source)

This unit is design to be part of the V-energy green room pop up club. The unit has a large projected display with 2 touch screens and cameras which allow users to take images of themselves which get posted on, the large projected screen of the uni, the Facebook page( which can be seen here), and these images also get sent a link to the Facebook page via text message to the users mobiles.

While the concept of this is quite simple I believe there are some really clever points about how it has been executed;

• The experience comes at the end of another engaging experience which is fitting in its festival location.
• It allows the user to "lifelog" a memory of being within the green room club
• SMS message reminds users of their participation
• SMS message directs users back to a branded space
• Images posted in a branded space with the ability to share though Facebook's default tagging system

All these mean that the users are going to have far more exposure to the brands, as Chris Donald states "[having Facebook as the central point brings users] into the broader brand experience and communications as they join our Facebook community to browse and share their photographs from the event."

I think the key thing about this is that it is so focused on the brand, with everything tying back into it. You can clearly see the brand image V-energy are going for in this video of there green room experience

Brand is a important thing for both briefs but its not directly spelt out in either of them. For Spotify they seam to focus on the product instead of the concept of social music, I'm keen to stay away on a heavy focus on the specifics and have it so that it built up around an idea which the key features of Spotify all feed into to enhance the experience. In the windows phone brief takes the brand as the platform which the idea has to work on . There focus is forward thinking and innovation which will promote there brand by association.

I think I could really do with looking into the brands for each of these briefs and see which areas I can promote. I also want to look into some Brand and campaign theory.

Have have just looked at the campaign around the launch of a new line by Karl Lagerfeld which uses multiple screens to promote and sell cloths from the range. The range is available exclusively on Net-a-porter a high end online fashion retailer. Due to the online nature of the store in order to have the range launch with a physical location they have created window shops.

These window shops act as actuators for a mobile and tablet app which then allows you to see yourself or models wearing the garment and make a purchase. The AR makes uses of the gyroscope allowing you to see purely the garment at first then if you tilt the view down you see a purchase button. This is a really nice feature as it allows for discoverable content and features which enhance the UX of the app.

The Line also launched with other forms of publicity in the form of a video where Lagerfeld interviews himself, coverage on Net-a-porters news style web show, and editorial content on Net-a-porters online fashion magazine.

While one of the screens in this example is static it is still a good example of interesting interaction between multiple screen. What it dose not do which I think windows phone are looking for have some for of multi person interactivity.

The two short video are also interesting ways which I could submit my idea. Having the piece appear working and learning about the interaction by seeing others use it is a way more personal than solely having written instruction and explanations.

Its a great example for the Microsoft brief which I was also interested in because it takes place online and within the real world which is what they where asking you to do. I think that it will be an interesting to bring the which ever idea I choose into the real world (bad way of thinking! I could end up trying to mash techniques together instead of focusing on a concept).

This has really reminded me that I have to have a concept to bring everything together

I'm still looking at what is possible with advertising on Facebook. I think in generating ideas it is important to consider all the variables which are available I have found several adverts which make interesting use of this.

Opinel (source)

Bleublancrouge created a stunt on Facebook for Opinel knives. Using an app called Picscatter, various images (carrot, cucumber, sausage and leek) were “chopped” and Facebook user’s were then tagged. The effect was a large chopped image across the top of the user’s profile page. These images were then be published on the Opinel Canada fan page, with instructions on how their friends could also chop up fresh new profiles pictures.

This advert makes interesting use of the users own facebook page by 'invading' it with a banner advert for the product. Its created through a Facebook app with the users permission and it put on the home page by tagging so the images can be removed by de-tagging them. Due to the social nature of Facebook this is an interesting way of pulling more people into the campaign as it creates another channel in which the advert is visible.

This have made me think of an interesting section of the Spotify brief;

Installation. All Spotify music posts feature a Play button. Clicking this button will start that song or album in Spotify. If the user isn't already on spotify, they can sign up there and then. in just a few clicks they can enjoy access to millions of tracks for free.

To me this seams really annoying! when I see a play button within my web browser I expect the content to play there. However this dose have the effect of making it a kind of in crowd who would use this where signing up is required for direct involvement, It is almost exclusive. This brings to mind the idea of small social groups, cultural elites, and the idea of being cool.

Unexpected Future (source)

It's the beginning of the year, a time to look back and reflect. Schweppes and Red Urban, Toronto believes it's also a time to look forward, to bigger and better things to come, to the Unexpected Future of 2012! Discover your unexpected future with the new Schweppes app on Facebook.

When you navigate to unexpected future from within Facebook it launches fullscreen with no reference other than the sites url that you are still on the Facebook site. with the strong image and a load of black it creates a mysterious feeling where you are then presented with 5 cards which get shuffled and one is chosen for you. You are then left to click the card and progress the experience.

After you select the care you are prompted to install the app by Facebook which kind of spoils the illusion. once installed there is a load screen which keeps getting stuck at 99% for me. so I cant actually see how it works but I'm imagining its like a horoscope style fortune telling. They do however keep subtle branding in the all the none main scenes I saw which I think might be a little over kill.

Israel’s Anti-Drug Authority (source)

McCann Digital has used Facebook’s new timeline in an interesting way. For Israel’s Anti-Drug Authority they told the story of fictional character Adam Barak’s two lives: one getting addicted to drugs, one staying clean. In a ‘split page’ style you can retrace Adam’s choices and stages of demise (or happiness).

like the Opinel advert this makes use of the profile feature of Facebook however instead of allowing you to personalise your own you get to look into the life of a fictional character. This is a really interesting idea as you use Facebook as your medium for storytelling, I think that getting a narrative which the audience can identify with is really powerful in advertising. This breaks Facebook user agreement though so the profile has since been removed. The power of this type of advert is that it get documented at the time then becomes a talking point which spreads the brand message.

For Spotify this would have to run alongside a more permanent location which the initial advert could direct people to. This would be fitting with the idea of it working within multiple channels as it could be build around an interaction between a html5 website and Facebook.

One of the key lines from the Spotify brief is that "the idea should live both within and beyond Facebook (idea of the different channels)" so I'm going to have a look at some existing campaigns which feature within Facebook and where possible outside it.

The Heineken Social Christmas Tree

This brand promoting campaign by Heineken let you send Christmas messages to your Facebook friends. These messages would also be displayed on a 11ft Christmas tree built out of LCD monitors over the Christmas period in Singapore.

The app its self requires you to install it to your Facebook account if you want to create your own tree. It runs from within Facebook so you are still connected to Facebook chat and live updates though it provides a new experience with its own window. I think this is not especial effective as it spoils the feeling of integration between the the brand and the social connectivity of Facebook by disrupting the styling and having a context area which contrasts with its surroundings.

Toyota Social Network Racer


Social Network Racer, created by Party, is another app which run within Facebook this one takes data from your Facebook account to create courses, billbords, scenery etc. When you play a race the experience launches full screen so you have periods of dedicated game play mixed in with social side of telling your friends about your high score and getting people to challenge you.

I'm going to do the same thing I did with the Spotify video for the Windows Phone one found here. This one is an interview with Phil Cross and Will Coleman.

• Students are the target audience
• sell the product
• multiple platforms functionality is expected
• "companion" experiences
• multiple screen/platform concept that runs across any windows products
• Xbox companion app
• already existing features that they want to show off
• they would really like something doing
• UX 
• unified experiences between platforms
• how do you tell a Story
• want something creative
• Wonder and new ideas
• practical or artistic
• really forward thinking idea
• tech backbone
• user journey
• coherence between screens
• how do you transitions
• different options
• tailored experience
•  Fun
• ubelly.com is suggested for inspiration
• windows phone framework is metro
• channel 9 kinect sdk video inspiration
• High quality finish
• should be achievable 
• they want the concept to be able to come a reality
• Its should not be a specific thing but a process? 

They are really looking for a result which heavily considers user experience. This makes me think that is you take a general issue or experience then apply multiple screens to it you would be able to apply consider. I also think interface and interaction design will be really important considerations in this brief.

It looks as though they want a collaboration between creatives and developers so that the idea is grounded in reality. So while they way that you can create a future idea I don't think they are looking for something which is a long way off of becoming a reality.