Adapt, improvise, overcome.

The U.S. Marines are known for their ability to adapt to a rapidly changing environment. Hence the mantra: "Adapt, improvise, overcome." This ability is critical for survival when you're at war. But surely it is applicable in other places...say advertising.

When dreaming up campaigns, we can plan for the things we know about and some of the things we don't know about. But we can't plan for everything. Every now and then, something happens...cultural, legal, etc. that effects how we operate and communicate. We're then forced to adapt media plans, messaging, etc to suit the needs at the time. 

An interesting example is in Japan where QR codes were hugely popular in print ads to activate mobile web content. However, it appears that QR codes are being used less frequently in [print] ads. Why? 

About 1-2 years ago, train and metro companies in Japan banned camera phones on trains because of stalkers and upskirt photos. This meant people couldn't use their QR code reader on the train anymore either. As a result, Japanese ad agencies started using other methods to activate content like search boxes (see image below) along with the search keyword you would use for online and mobile search. Evidently, this is trending through the ad space and being used in more than just print advertising. 

 

It's amazing how little things can lead to bigger changes. It will be interesting to see what the future holds for QR codes in Japan. 

Big thanks to Chris for the insights...

Cellphone's out rank spouses in recent survey

I was shocked but not knocked off my chair when results of a recent survey concluded that "cellphones are more addicting that many other vices."

If you’ve ever texted or answered a phone call while driving (and it’s illegal to do so in your state), then you would probably agree with two recent reports released today that basically came to the  conclusion that cellphones are more addicting than many other vices.

Best Buy Mobile commissioned a survey of 1,000 U.S. adults that found that about 60 percent said they’d rather drink abstain from alcohol for a week than give up their cellphone for the same period of time, and 33 percent would rather give up TV and 15 percent would rather make a trip to the dentist, according to the WSJ.

In a separate survey, it found that cellphones were often times more important than spouses. The survey, commissioned by shoe retailer Zappos.com and payment service Bill Me Later, found that 31 percent f the female respondents ranked their phone or PDA as “most important” in managing their work and home lives, ahead of their significant other and hired help.

Source: MocoNews

Father of the Cell Phone

What do you know about Marty Cooper. I did not know much other than he invented to the cell phone, which is pretty important to those of us in the industry. A recent article in The Economist dedicated an entire 2 page spread to Marty Cooper now 80. "From idea to prototype took 90 days in 1972 as Mr. Cooper sponsored a design contest among Motorola engineers - many from divisions he did not run....We ended up picking the least glamorous phone. It was the simplest."

The first public call made on the phone was to an engineer at AT&T Bell Labs. Mr. Cooper recalls that while talking on the phone he wondered into the street and almost got hit by a car. Distracting from the very beginning.

The first handset was released in 1983 for $4000, had 35 minutes of talk time and weighed 2.2 pounds.

Mr. Cooper is truly a leader is wireless services having not only preached that phones would eventually be a key business tool and shrink to the size of the palm of your hand all at a low cost.

What does Mr. Cooper think about the future of mobile communications? He says it is going to get really interesting. He believes strongly in the power of the mobile internet and continues to champion that it is all about improving consumer lives.

Mobilize, Don’t Miniaturize

Mobilize.

Don't miniaturize.

It's a famous quote and I think it's one of the best quotes I came aross when it comes to mobile application design principles. This quote has been most populized by Barbara Ballard from Little Springs Design

Read Mobilize, Don't Miniaturize.

But apparently, she wasn't the first one who came up with this quote.

She said "I've been saying it for a few years now, although the exact phrasing was coined by fellow mobile UE professional Bob Miller: Mobilize, Don't Miniaturize. You can not get the same experience on the mobile as you do on the desktop, nor do you want to. The mobile platform offers so much more that can make the experience that much better. Basically, the mobile device is mobile. Thus The Carry Principle applies."

Twitter on TIME Magazine Cover

"I've written this week's TIME cover story about how Twitter is changing the way we live--and showing us the future of innovation. Buy a copy!"

I think it's significant that TIME chose iPhone as the Twitter platform. If you don't see strong relationships between Twitter and mobile, put it this way, you don't blog on your mobile but you tweet on your mobile. And you know why.

By the way, Oprah has been on Twitter for a while too. (Visit Oprah's Twitter)

"It's entirely possible that three or four years from now, we'll have moved on. But the key elements of the Twitter platform will persevere. Every major channel of information will be Twitterfied."

"Twitterfy" is another new English verb.

"Although Twitter trails over Web giants, its explosive growth over the past year means it could soon catch up"

1,298% growth? I blinked and squinted at the number (literally).

"Websites that once saw their traffic dominated by Google search queries are seeing a growing number of new visitors coming from "passed links" at social networks like Twitter and Facebook. This is what the naysayers fail to understand:it's just as easy to use Twitter to spread the word about a brilliant 10,000-word New Yorkers article as it is to spread the word about your Lucky Charms habit."

"In short, the most facinating thing about Twitter is not what it's doing to us. It's what we're doing to it".

P.S. I took all of the photos at Borders and had a second thought and bought a copy.:P

Read more...

How Twitter will change the way we live.