Ask and ye shall receive: ByUnderground
In December last year I attended a bloggers briefing held by Transport for London on how they’re planning to communicate transport info to the public, particularly via web and mobile.
Although I never typed up my thoughts from that meeting the clever folks at Inreal Technologies, a Cambridge based start-up, spotted a comment I’d left on Annie Mole’s blog stating that what most interested me would be mobile applications for transport info.
Inreal offers a free app called byunderground which differs from similar sites (like TFL’s wap service). Here’s some of the key features:
BTMYPLACE.com: things to do in London on your mobile
The Former New Piccadilly Restaurant
With that darned iPhone everywhere I’ve been feeling left out on the mobile apps front while still touting last years “it” phone the N95. Then, BT MyPlace launched and with it’s mobile element I had high hopes for it quietly becoming very useful for me.
But I honestly can’t tell you much how it’s worked for me because, after signing up, I’ve never been able to get a handle on the service. I use web and mobile services all the time, well beyond the average consumer, but getting running using this service has me hitting a wall. Why? A couple of things haven’t helped:
- there’s no getting started process or prompts. You sign up and then that’s it, you have to proactively start accessing the service like a pro
- wi-fi: I never use on my mobile in London or think about logging on to a BT OpenZone with my laptop just to use this service for free
I really wanted to make Bt MyPlace work. It’s a strong idea, they have all the local knowledge to make it good, it’s new, it’ll grow and develop, right?
If you want to try it for yourself (and then show me how) there’s no time like the present because you can currently win an Acer Netbook.
Just go to www.btmyplace.com, log-on to the competitions section and tell them your ‘best kept secrets in Westminster’. Could be your favourite pub, church, shop, market stall, greasy spoon, monument, cafe, cemetary…
SpinVox: We love your accent campaign
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRdg1MOYxHo]
[Flight of the Conchords: He Maybe Did]
As an antipodean with an unusual name I’ve always had palpitations when calling mobiles and hearing “Your call is being answered by SpinVox”. Any message left by me will undoubtedly begin
“Hi it’s durka”
and involve such embarassing topics as
“The table’s booked for sex“
Perhaps sensing their role in creating so called accent self loathing SpinVox has started the Love Your Accent campaign utilising the new audio clip feature on Moblog.
Call 0151 266 8283 and tell them which accents you love (or hate) the most, and why, and there’s a host of goodies up for grabs.
NOICE WUN GOIS.
You have 1 new message: Little Jimmy has lice
Interesting application of mobile communications.
“British parents are enlisting their mobile phones in the fight against head lice. A campaign called ‘Beat The Bugs’ is letting them sign up for text messages whenever there’s an infestation at their child’s school. They’re called ‘Outbreak Alerts’, which sounds very exciting. After a trial run in Northampton, 77% of parents said they were supportive of the idea.”
Brand sponsorships create drama
Sofia’s Diary, Bebo’s new interactive drama to follow on from KateModern, has signed-up Pearl Drops as the first integrated brand for the series.
I think it’s exciting to watch how this type of advertising will create new channels for up-and-coming creative talent, particularly in broadcast/film.
On a recent trip to NZ I caught up with Bevin Linkhorn of The Gibson Group and brains behind ‘My Story’ a 2-minute x 40 episode drama series which aired on terrestrial television in NZ & was delivered to fans via mobile SMS.
Bevin highlighted some interesting benefits to this type of work:
- It was relatively cost effective vs. traditional production costs
- Short episodes could be shot and turned around faster (allowing future opps for audience interactivity in the story)
- Fans could virally share episodes by forwarding the clips
While MyStory did get some sponsorship on board it wasn’t essential as the project was funded by TVNZ. [Update: Bevin got in touch to put me straight - show was funded by NZ On Air's innovation fund ]. As projects like this become more commonplace though and funding gets competitive brand sponsorships could drive content creation and start turning production companies into distributors. We’re already seeing the music world changing distribution.
I also saw that at the recent 3GSM World Congress Robert Redford discussed the role mobile will particularly play in allowing independent filmmakers to reach new audiences. (The GSMA recently collaborated with the Sundance Film Festival: Global Short Film Project last year.)
If I was a film student right now I’d be all over this to get my work funded and out there – and if was a brand I’d be looking at the potentially attractive ROI of this type of activity.
About:
I'm Darika Ahrens and I help brands develop marketing strategies for Social Media.
My background is in Public Relations for companies like Orange, Microsoft, Philips, HTC, Yell.com, and Estee Lauder. I've worked with and trained some of the UK's top agencies.
In 2009 the Financial Times referred to me as "a new breed of business matchmaker" due to my network of contacts and way I work creating bespoke teams to deliver projects.