A nice exploration of what goes on below the fold…
February 2nd, 2010 by Adam
Gruden is pleased to announce we have added a number of new hires to the company as we continue to grow in 2010.
John Yarrington joins Gruden in the role of Business Development Manager. John will be the primary Gruden contact for all new business enquiries related to Adobe LiveCycle and Custom Development. John brings a wealth of knowledge and experience, selling computer software for close to 20 years, from his previous role as Sales Director at Compuware, and various marketing and sales roles within the education and software industries.
Daphne van der Kieft joined Gruden last month as our Senior Account Manager and has worked in creative recruitment for the past 10 years both in the US and Sydney markets. As a Senior Account Manager she has managed client portfolios ranging from large Blue Chip Top 100 enterprise companies to multinational advertising agencies, print studios and government departments. She most recently managed a team of Digital recruiters where she was responsible for Digital client development, team growth and financial strategies, marketing initiatives, leading the overall recruitment direction and day to day team management.
We look forward to seeing our newest account team members flourish in their new roles.
Welcome to Gruden, Daphne and John.
February 1st, 2010 by Mark
There has been a lot written and said about the iPad in the last few days, most of it by techno geeks, and much of it negative. Many people expected a laptop in a tablet form factor and set about listing all the things their laptop had that the iPad didn’t: a camera, USB ports, a big hard drive and the ability to run multiple applications at once. But I suspect geeks are missing the point that this device is not aimed at them and that that despite these apparent short comings, the iPad could be a winner.
Jeff Croft has some interesting thoughts on how the device could be used and what is really missing:
There is no excuse for this thing not to have multi-user support. This could have been the world’s greatest coffee table device, if it only had support for multiple users. Think about it: the thing sits on the coffee table. Daddy logs in. He checks his e-mail and his sports scores. He logs out and puts it down. Little Timmy logs in. He IMs a friend and plays a game. He logs out and sets it down. Mom logs in. She get a recipe from her bookmarked Martha Stewart page and forwards some totally-not-funny cat video to her best friend. And so forth. This is the new PC. But it requires multi user support. If I can’t log in and have my own bookmarks, my own email accounts, my own IM lists, and my own Twitter feed, it’s useless as a family PC.
While it may currently be useless as a family device because of the lack of multi-user support – this feature can’t be far off.
Jeff (and others) make an interesting price comparison with the Kindle – the cheapest model is also only slightly more expensive than a high end digital picture frame.
Chris Thorpe notes the impact the wii had on digital inclusion:
When the Wii launched it revolutionised not just gaming, but who plays and who buys. … The real world is all about gestures. We turn a page. We swish a piece of paper out of the way to see what is below. We press a button and the kettle boils.
The first main problem [non-technical users] have technically is that computers look complex. They have lots of things you plug into other things. Every thing has an arcane name, very few of these names really relate to their function. Each of these things causes something to happen but not in an obvious touch the thing and something happens to it way. It’s always at one removed. When you add in connecting the overarching thing to the internet then it becomes an activity of worry and confusion.
Then you look at the iPhone and iPad. It really is all-in-one. Sure it lacks USB ports, but actually lots of people don’t need them to much. It comes with a mechanism of internet access built in and the 3G one is essentially a “charge it up and play” inclusion device.
Mark Sigal at O’Rielly looks at some important numbers:
John Gruber talks about the new chip:
Lastly, there’s the fact that the iPad is using a new CPU designed and made by Apple itself: the Apple A4. This is a huge deal. I got about 20 blessed minutes of time using the iPad demo units Apple had at the event today, and if I had to sum up the device with one word, that word would be “fast”.
It is fast, fast, fast. The hardware really does feel like a big iPhone — and a big original iPhone at that, with the aluminum back. (I have never liked the plastic 3G/S iPhones as much as the original in terms of how it feels in my hand.) I expected the screen size to be the biggest differentiating factor in how the iPad feels compared to an iPhone, but I think the speed difference is just as big a factor. Web pages render so fast it was hard to believe. After using the iPhone so much for two and a half years, I’ve become accustomed to web pages rendering (relative to the Mac) slowly. On the iPad, they seem to render nearly instantly. (802.11n Wi-Fi helps too.)
The Maps app is crazy fast. Apps launch fast. Scrolling is fast. The Photos app is fast.
…
Apple now owns and controls their own mobile CPUs. There aren’t many companies in the world that can say that. And from what I saw today, Apple doesn’t just own and control a mobile CPU, they own and control the hands-down best mobile CPU in the world.
So we have a device that is cheap, easy to use, easy to migrate to, super fast and fun. It’s hard to see this as a desktop or laptop replacement, but it’s pretty easy to see it succeeding as a coffee table or bed side table device.
December 7th, 2009 by Philippa
Disney Channel Australia & New Zealand approached Gruden to develop an online campaign with the purpose of creating interest in and awareness of the TV premier of Zeke & Luther on Disney Channel. Additionally, the brief was to support sustained interest in the show via unique online applications, video and content opportunities.
Gruden aimed to create a campaign with simple, targeted content, games and online promotions for kids, with a key drive to tune into the premier of Zeke & Luther on Disney Channel.
New site additions were then rolled out regularly which helped sustain and grow the user base over an extended period of time. Updates & site features included:
The culture associated with skateboarding (lifestyle / sport / fashion) was a key focus for both the design & development, with simple targeted content, games & online promotions integrated into the site from day one.
There were 2-3 key interactive components designed & developed for the new site – a number more scheduled for launch in the coming months.
Bright, colourful and edgy, the overall interface tied in with the show’s unique key touch points whilst creating an immersive experience for kids visiting the site.
Through the use of punchy colour, bold shapes and a mixture of key show artwork & unique visual assets, the site was designed to ensure that is was both visually engaging and fun to use.
December 1st, 2009 by Philippa
Successful online businesses and organisations all have one thing in common: they are useful for their users.
Whether a user returns to your website to buy, learn, share, converse, donate, research or be entertained is purely determined by the purpose of your website. Whatever the angle of your online presence, a common need is visible: retention.
For organisations to remain relevant within the online space, they will need to adapt to both emerging technologies and shifting consumer behaviour. Those who will succeed need to focus on the premise of immediate access to content, cultural relevance, personalisation and interactivity.
The future of the web and associated technologies lies in the notion of immediate access to content. Within the online sphere, accessibility and the “what you want, when you want it” motto are at the forefront of best practice and imply openness, transparency and relevancy.
Diversifying channels to content to provide a richer user experience and facilitate an interactive relationship with the user is recommended. This includes the provision of videos, visual messaging of content, podcasting, vodcasting, virtual tours, downloadable resources, user-generated content, the ability to share content, pushing content to social media and the creation of personalisation and community through the tailored presentation of content to the user. The provision of multilingual content is also a key driver to accessibility and implied openness.
Our recommended approach is that our clients work alongside Gruden in establishing a digital roadmap for the future of their website.
By doing so, we identify how the website and other digital channels should fit into our client’s overall strategic direction, how these channels can be moulded to be more relevant to users, and set them on a clear path for online-driven growth over an extended period of time. It provides us with a benchmark by which strategic goals and online activities can be set, tracked and monitored, in a continual process of improvement based on the underlying principle of strategy: Where are we now? Where do we want to be? How do we get there? Are we there yet?
This process ensures that the website remains alive and relevant, a centralised hub of dynamic content, growing organically with the needs of the client and their users: their URL is no longer a website, it’s a resource.
Interactivity is a key driver in maintaining relevancy to your audience. Several years ago, a website known as the Big Red Button demonstrated the power of interactivity to retain visitors to a website. The button asked visitors not to push; visitors felt compelled to push; and each successive push rewarded the visitor with entertaining responses. It successfully invited interaction and helped give rise to viral marketing.
Additionally, user-generated content is a growing phenomenon online. In the words of Mark Pollard, the basic premise that content=conversation=content: don’t use social media, let social media use you, rings true in today’s online environment. Our user-generated content campaigns for Disney Channel Australia such as Hannah Montana are proven examples of the success of this medium.
The White House run an online blog which encourages the sharing of content, as well as links to their various online social media channels.
Gruden have developed customised social media channels for many of our clients, with the premise of opening up multiple channels to content and allowing people to access content specific to their interests via social media hub’s of their choice. Such an example can be seen at: www.youtube.com/skillsdmc. Additionally, the Sydney Opera House has implemented this with great success: www.youtube.com/sydneyoperahouse.
The key to creating and sustaining an online brand is in building experiences and creating a link between the physical and digital world. An experience which is both personal and interactive will engage the end user and transform your online presence from a website into a resource. However, it is important to understand that the underlying foundation of defining which experiences will be successful is strategy, and this must be clearly defined through a digital roadmap before any key recommendations can be made as to how to achieve your online goals.
Additionally, it’s important to recognise that a website is a living thing. It is vital that you constantly measure your online goals via analytics and review the initial KPI’s established at the project’s onset. By doing so, you can identify areas of the site that aren’t quite hitting the mark and capitalise on those areas that are deemed successful. It’s important to validate the project’s success by measuring it against your initial objectives, and ensuring that content is constantly refreshed and revisited.
October 9th, 2009 by Philippa
Show your support for breast cancer survivors, and the ongoing research to stamp out the disease. Twibbon.com have launched a virtual pink ribbon which can be added to your Twitter profile picture to show your support during the month of October. Click here to get a ribbon displayed on your Twitter profile. You can check mine out on my Twitter page.
September 28th, 2009 by David
Most websites utilise web analytics to track usage and visitor behaviour. Some companies even take this one step further by studying competitor sites using a tool such as Hitwise. This is known as competitor intelligence (CI) or external benchmarking. But Hitwise isn’t free, and what if your company doesn’t have an analytics budget? This post will look at a few free tools that may help you gain insights into the strengths and weaknesses of your direct and indirect competitors.
Compete is a free tool that allows you to look at traffic trends of competitor sites. One advantage of compete is the level of detail that is available. You can compare up to five sites and filter by various metrics including visits and unique visitors. Competes data is accurate and reliable. Its source is 2 million US based users who have agreed to have their online activity monitored. However there are a few constraints. First of all it’s not possible to filter data based on a specific country, so when looking at the results remember that you are only getting a US perspective. Secondly, it’s rather limited in regards to timeframes with only 3, 6 and 12 months available with the free solution.
Finally, data is only available for large sites, ‘why can’t I see my website‘ for more details. The report below compares visits to three sites for the past 6 months; jbhifi.com.au, jbhifionline.com.au and harveynorman.com.au
In addition to traffic trend data, Compete also displays top search terms, top referral sites and top destination sites.
Google Trends for Websites launched in June 2008 has a couple of advantages over Compete. First of all it has a greater level of customisation, allowing you to filter by country specific traffic. For example, you can filter by Australian trafific from the last 30 days or go back and look at trends for a particular calendar year.
Again the data source is reliable and is a combination of Google search data, Google Analytics data, third-party market research and consumer panel data.
The screenshot below is a competitor report of the same three sites filtered by Australian data.
When filtering by country, Google Trends also gives you specific state data, allowing you to analyze the influence of your competitors at a more granular level.
For more information on Google Trends check out this comprehensive post by Avinash Kaushik.
Before we conclude, let me point out that some experts argue that external benchmarking is a waste of time. However, these arguments are largely based on comparing specific metrics such as conversion rates. Avoid comparing specific e-commerce metrics and you’ll find plenty of value in these tools.
In addition to Compete and Google Trends, there are a range of other free tools available that will give you insights into your (and your competitors) online audience. Also checkout Microsoft AdCentre Labs, Fireclick and Alexa.
Have you used these tools before? Let us know your feedback.
[...] Leverage external benchmarking – David at Gruden highlights two free "competitor intelligence" options for benchmarking and evaluating competition. [...]
September 23rd, 2009 by Philippa
So most of you probably woke up today wondering why you missed the memo that Armageddon had arrived. Sydney’s dust storm is the talk of the town for the morning, so I thought I’d pop up a few photos taken by our staff around town in the early hours. Photographers AND coders, who knew?!
September 18th, 2009 by Philippa
The success of Apple’s iPhone app store has led to a stampede of brands creating games, services, and other applications as marketing tools. It’s an entirely new platform for most, and it is quickly becoming a powerful way to influence consumers. More and more, our clients are asking our advice on the value of iPhone apps. How do you decide if having one is a good idea for your organisation?
I came across a great article on BNET highlighting the five key strategies for making a smart application. The full article is distilled from a Forrester Research report on the topic, and is a useful starting point for any marketer looking to engage a digital agency such as Gruden to build an application for their business.
In brief, their key recommendations are to:
1. Make it Useful
2. Make it Interactive
3. Make it Entertaining
4. Make it a Mixture (Combining Utility and Intractivity)
5. Make it Free
However, before even embarking on the iPhone application discussion, it’s important to set out your key marketing goals to see if an iPhone application would assist with the realisation of these goals. It’s not very useful long-term to take up the “I’ll have what she’s having” approach if it’s not engaging your consumers.
The key question to ask yourself is what you are trying to accomplish. Are you trying to build brand affinity? Engage customers? Drive people to a physical location? A web site perhaps? There are many options, and many different ways to address these goals using various digital channels.
Additionally, look at the break down of your market segment and see what percentage of your audience are utilising iPhones. You may be surprised to find that many of them use other brands of smart phones, such as the Blackberry. In this instance, you’d be looking to build a completely different type of application. A majority of your audience may not even be using smart phones at all.
The Forrester Report, ‘Matching iPhone Capabilities to Customer Goals’, comments:
Simply building these richer experiences doesn’t ensure success. Companies looking to harness the power of these devices must design experiences that match appropriate device capabilities with user goals. To design successful mobile data experiences, companies must understand how people want to use mobile data channels, fit those data channels into multi-channel scenarios, and focus on their strongest capability — timeliness.
Don’t get me wrong, iPhone applications have been used by hundreds of companies in recent months to achieve outstanding marketing and branding results, and there’s nothing that turns a Gruden developer on more than getting the chance to show off the rich user experience they can create for mobile users.
Kraft’s iFood assistant, for example, combines both utility and interactivity. The application suggests recipes, lets users upload their own and share them, and assists users in creating shopping lists. Other apps by brands such as Target allow users to find bargains and locate their nearest shop.
At the end of the day, focus on strategy.
With the array of new, innovative technologies and marketing channels which have opened up within the last few years, it’s easy to get carried away in an attempt to stay ahead of the game. It’s important to set your key marketing objectives first and then match the appropriate medium by which you engage with your consumers, rather than the other way around.
I truely Agree as it’s easy to get carried away but we should First Focus on key marketing objectives and medium inorder to get well engage with the consumer.
Being a surfer, surf report tools are the killer mobile app for me and they can be measured pretty accurately against the criteria in this article.
Oakley and Surfline put out a beautiful app some time ago (http://www.surfline.com/iphone/), the only trouble was the data for Australia was worse than useless so it languished unused on my iPhone.
More recently Hurley and Coastalwatch put out an iPhone app (http://www.coastalwatch.com/news/article.aspx?articleId=6402) and as an Australian surfer would expect from Coastalwatch the data is detailed, accurate and up to the minute. My only real complaint about this app is that it doesn’t default to the beach closest to my current location, but instead I have to navigate to NSW and then through a list of beaches to the one I’m after.
There are probably a couple of good tips in there for people looking to make iPhone apps that get used.
September 17th, 2009 by Philippa
SkillsDMC is a not-for-profit organisation that facilitates education and training across the Resource and Infrastructure sectors. The SkillsDMC website provides tools, research and competency-based training resources to assist skills-short mining and infrastructure enterprises. The underlying foundation of this resource is a scalable, flexible and easily updatable content management system, Sitecore CMS.
Sitecore CMS allowed Gruden to build SkillsDMC a website which provided them with an intuitive user interface, and allowed our development team to provide them with highly customised functionality, streamlining many of their online and offline business processes.
The website included the integration of a forums module for the reporting, management and display of Training Package related feedback.
We custom built a Training Package administration area to support the management of large quantities of data, allowing SkillsDMC to easily build customised Training Packages online through the input and assignment of units of data (over 2,000 to date).
Gruden also implemented predictive search functionality to allow for users to quickly locate specific Training Package Information using unique reference codes.
Gruden is consistently abreast of the latest Sitecore technologies, attending regular webinars, conferences and partner briefings relating to the expansion, scalability and innovation of the Sitecore CMS and associated products. We have a number of trained Sitecore developers who are highly active within the Sitecore Developer community. Additionally, we have a strong working relationship with Sitecore Australia, ensuring that we maximise our partnership and provide the best possible solution to our clients.
Stemming from this is Gruden’s assurance that we have the capabilities to assist our clients in future-proofing their online solutions, constantly reassessing our client’s measurable objectives and online presence through strategy workshops and dedicated account management.
To take a look at the new site, head to www.skillsdmc.com.au.
© 2010 Gruden All rights reserved.
Privacy Policy
February 1st, 2010 at 3:02 pm
An interesting article ran in the SMH today (see: http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/computers/flashpoint-as-jobs-takes-aim-at-adobe-20100201-n86t.html) about the shortcomings of the iPad in relation to Adobe Flash.
Effectively, iPad users will not be able to access the full range of web content, including over 70% of games and 75% of video on the web.
The true niche of the iPad will soon become apparent, and perhaps web browsing will not be the primary reason users will choose to buy one. For now, however, I feel that it doesn’t fulfil any real shortcomings of products that are currently available.
February 3rd, 2010 at 7:26 am
There is no doubt that Adobe and Apple are on a collision course over this, but I wouldn’t be too quick to say the iPad will be the loser – the iPhone and IPod touch have the same “shortcoming” and they seem to be doing ok. Some interesting thoughts on how this could play out at http://daringfireball.net/2010/01/blue_boxes.