Global Digital delights from VJ!
By Natasha Pavlou at January 27, 2012 | 3:11 pmPrint
We love to share all things good here at Visual Jazz, and whether it’s an awesome piece of design work, a creative and innovative marketing campaign or just a hilarious gif, we are always looking for inspiration and knowledge to help make our work ever better.
With this in mind we’re bringing you a weekly blog post to share our collection of interesting and insightful articles, inspired by Dan Calladine – Head of Media Futures at Carat in London and a member of our Aegis Network.
Welcome to VJs new Global Snapshot, bringing you the best in all things digital.
Facebook introduces new lifestyle apps to become someone’s de facto online presence
Facebook is adding a slew of new apps and services to its site in the hopes that visitors never ever leave—or at least extend their stay on the site as long as possible. Some of these—such as new tools for cooking and fashion applications–were unveiled last spring.
Now, a number of additional ‘lifestyle apps’ are joining these, for a total of 60. These are provided by such companies as Ticketmaster, Rotten Tomatoes and travel site Gogobot. Information posted in these apps will also appear on the Timeline.
Marketers will find the information about Facebook users significantly increasing–such as detailed information about their leisure time activities–as more developers build apps for the site. Facebook has opened its platform for all developers, not just the 60 apps that have launched. “Soon, there will be apps for all types of interests, as more apps will launch over time,” Facebook’s director of platform Cal Sjogreen wrote in a blog post. “Whether you love snowboarding, gardening, hiking, or knitting, or something else, there will be an app for you.”
The growing number of apps will also position Timeline as users’ de facto online presence—a role Facebook clearly expects Timeline to assume if it hasn’t already.”
Facebook gets even more sticky!
See them all here
eCommerce
Amazon sells the Kindle Fire at a loss, but…
During the holiday season Amazon used its massive sales channel to push the Kindle Fire hard. It moves millions of units, and according to studies from IHS iSupply, was losing about $2 per unit. That’s a big difference from Apple, which makes a healthy profit on sales of its iPad tablet.
But according to a new poll from RBC Capital, Amazon stands to earn about $136 in additional revenue from every customer who bought a Kindle Fire. So while the hardware might be a loss leader, overall the Kindle Fire is a win for Amazon’s bottom line.
Read more here.
Ralph Lauren’s growth attributed to digital activity
Ralph Lauren Corp. reported a telling figure in its latest financials: Online sales increased 25% in the second quarter. In general, Q2 sales jumped 24% to $1.7 billion.
This growth was fueled by a number of cutting-edge online ad initiatives, the Star Tribune reports. These initiatives included a 24-hour, touch-manipulated storefront window a la sci-fi thriller “Minority Report.” In 2010, it held Ralph Lauren “4D” events in New York and London in which it beamed giant, high-resolution holographic images onto a building.
These images, first of polo players, then transformed into perfume bottles. The actual fragrances were released into the crowd. Despite the recession and its lingering aftermath, luxury shoppers have been a constant for retailers. Growing transaction size increased year-over-year spend in the luxury jewelry, apparel/accessories, and department store sectors during Q2 2011, according to the American Express Business Insights Q2 2011 Spend Sights Report.
Read more here.
The new, new thing
Nike FuelBand
Using their new universal measurement system called Nike Fuel, you can compete against anyone with any body type at any skill level. As you accomplish each goal, the FuelBand’s LED lights turns from red to yellow to green. By providing this simple meter, the wearer can check their activity status with a mere glimpse. For more detailed queries the band’s display can toggle between time, distance, calories burned and Fuel. By creating a normalized metric, Nike hopes to make collaboration and competition among users of different athletic levels more fun.
Read more here.
More links to delicious digital things:
VW’s Dogs do Star Wars
Fun promo for Google Maps
Cadbury launch a new chocolate bar on Google+