Posts Tagged ‘integrated marketing campaign’

Predictions: Apple’s New Mobile OS to Include Shoot & Share 360º Virtual Tour Photography; 2011 is the Year of 360º Virtual Tour Marketing

July 19, 2011 • Atlanta, GA – 2011 is the Year of 360-degree panoramic virtual tour marketing: super-charged by Apple. And, Apple’s new mobile OS – to be introduced soon – will include shoot and share 360-degree virtual tour photography. These are my predictions for 2011.

Here’s Why! And, Why This Matters To You

The world is rapidly moving to mobile because of the speed of innovation by Apple in the mobile space with its iPhone and iPad mobile iDevices. Mobile app usage now surpasses web usage, according to a study released in June 2011. Smartphone purchases have overtaken feature phones in the U.S., according to a Nielsen mobile study also released in June. Apple reported today (7/19/11) that iPhone 3Q11 sales (20.34 million iPhones: more than double than 3Q10) grew by 142% and iPad sales (9.25 million iPads in the quarter: 29 million iPads to since its launch April 2010) grew 183% with record revenue up 82%, according to Apple’s press release.

By September 2011, Apple will release its new iPhone 5 and its new iOS 5 mobile operating system that will, for the first time, include the ability to shoot and share 360-degree panorama virtual tour photos.

Why 2011 Will Be The Year of 360º Virtual Tour Marketing

1. Know The Code: industry trades report that Apple’s iOS 5 code includes pano and panorama: these are keywords in the 360-degree panoramic virtual tour photography space.
   

   Free Tour Wrist App on an iPad

2. Apple iTunes App Store: Apple is sharing its over-the-top love for virtual tour photography to help grow the space in time for its by September 2011 launch in this space. The Apple iTunes App Store Great Free Apps; Staff Picks; What’s Hot and New and Noteworthy frequently include 360-degree panoramic photo apps such as Tour Wrist; Photosynth; Dermandar; and Jetsetter. For example, between Saturday (7/10/11) and today (7/19/11), Apple iTunes App Store Top 100 Great Free Apps list includes these four 360-degree photography apps.
3. Big Players in the Space: Microsoft has a panorama app (Photosynth) and platform (Bing maps) for sharing virtual tour photos; and, Google Street View spawned the new Business Photos from Google (shooting 360-degree panoramic view) service. Apple sees the success of big players in this space and knows that it can do a better “it just works” user experience.
4. Tour Wrist API – The Tour Wrist API (first press release 4/27/11), second press release 7/18/11) will enable millions of iPhone users to easily and seamlessly shoot and share 360-degree virtual tour scenes via Tour Wrist – free. Six developers have already expressed interest in integrating the Tour Wrist API into their 360-degree virtual tour shooting app, reported Fast Company and WIRED on July 5, 2011. Will Apple and Microsoft be among the developers that leverages the Tour Wrist platform (mobile, web and social) by enabling its iOS 5 panoramic shooting capability to publish to the open Tour Wrist platform the YouTube of 360-degree virtual tour images – or pursue a proprietary platform strategy – or both?

“A race is underway to map the world’s interior and exterior spaces,” says Tour Wrist CEO & Founder Charles Armstrong. “With web and mobile technology advancing by the day and consumers keeping pace, the ability to travel remotely will soon change the way we market, discover, share and engage with business and one another.”

“Google and Microsoft, the biggest existing virtual tour platforms, continue to show that their motivation is to index properties to create the virtual tour equivalent of a white pages directory rather than yellow pages,” says Armstrong. “Tour Wrist – the YouTube of virtual tour images – gives business the ability to market themselves proactively, stand to unlock a significant consumer buzz generator and mainstream revenue channel.”

Why This Matters To You

Marketers of cable TV, entertainment and travel/tourism are quickly positioning their brands now to benefit from Apple’s “it just works” innovation that will (soon) result in millions of iPhone users easily and seamlessly shooting and sharing their life experiences within 360-degree geo-tagged virtual tour images. Crowd-sourced user generated content (UGC) will quickly and efficiently map the world where Google Street View can’t take you – inside – all of the world’s spaces.

Free Tour Wrist App on an iPhone

By getting started now, you can be ready Fall 2011 – concurrent with Apple’s newest iPhone 5 and iOS 5 releases so you can benefit from tons of media coverage; social media; web and world-of-mouth regarding what brands are doing with 360-degree virtual tour photography. In the Fall 2011, everyone will discover the next generation of 360-degree panoramic photography.

So why use the Tour Wrist virtual tour platform (mobile, web and social) when you could opt to build a virtual tour strategy around Microsoft’s Photosynth app and Bing maps; Business Photos from Google and Google Maps; or Apple’s shoot and share 360-degree photography integrated in its soon-to-be released iOS 5?

Watch Out Goliath, Here Comes David

In a world of slow-moving Goliaths, there is always an opportunity for agile Davids to win the battle.

“Tour Wrist is a total reinterpretation of what it means to shoot, publish, host, search, view and share virtual tours with a platform [mobile, web and social] designed for consumers and marketers,” says Armstrong. “We see great momentum with consumers, content providers and a range of marketing partners since we launched Tour Wrist commercially on January 1, 2011.”

Tour Wrist has added more than 20,000 360-degree virtual tour scenes in just months of its launch.

“Now that we have released the free Tour Wrist publishing Application Programming Interface (API), we anticipate many panoramic image apps, software, and even cameras – to upload and host images on the Tour Wrist platform – free,” says Armstrong.

Top 10 Reasons Why Tour Wrist is Positioned To Contribute to – And Benefit From – 2011 is the Year of 360º Virtual Tour Marketing

“Tour Wrist has an early lead in the race to bridge virtual tours via mobile tools; social media and user generated content from millions of iDevice owners,” says Armstrong. And while I have a Tour Wrist platform bias – my company, GREAT! is the marketing agency for Tour Wrist and has a meaningful interest in the success of Tour Wrist – my sense is that Tour Wrist has – or will have – the right mix of:

1. Crowd-Sourced Consumer Content – to map the world’s interior spaces via user generated content (USG) leveraging the Tour Wrist publishing API (as Twitter has done with opening its API) – free for consumers. “The old perception is that closed data is a competitive advantage,” reported Read/Write Web in 2007 in discussing the open Twitter API. “The new reality is that open data is a competitive advantage.”
2. A-list Media and Entertainment Brands – major A-list media and entertainment brands providing both celebrity content and marketing muscle to drive viewership and downloads of its free Tour Wrist app (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch). While Tour Wrist was created for the travel/tourism space, innovation often comes when marketers in different industries use a tool in a new way – a mashup – that may not have been envisioned by its inventor: disruptive innovation. For example, please see my That’s GREAT! story about how cable TV channels and movie marketers will use disruptive innovation to leverage Tour Wrist: Two-Screen Marketing: TV and Movie Marketing Meets ‘Tour Wrist’ Mobile Experience Meets Immersive Consumer Engagement Experience
3. Hobbyist and Professional Photographers –  producing virtual tour content sourced from the 6,000+ members of the Panoguide community powered by Tour Wrist and its freemium; $5 per month Hobbyist; and $30 per month Professional membership pricing.
4. A-list Anchor Content Provider Brands – A-list anchor brands in travel/tourism, real estate and vehicle manufacturers will provide tonnage in 360-degree virtual tour image content. For example, hotel chains and cruise lines already have thousands of virtual tour images that can be re-purposed on the Tour Wrist platform (mobile, web and social) Content and marketing are provided by consumer and business users in the course of providing and promoting their Tour Wrist content.
5. Social Media Promotion – Consumers share their 360-degree virtual tour scenes with family and friends via Facebook, Twitter, email and other social media share tools.
6. Scalable Business – Tour Wrist lives in the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) – via the Heroku cloud application platform for Ruby on the Rails open-source web framework – and not tied to fixed infrastructural costs. The Amazon EC2 cloud enables Tour Wrist to easily scale digital content storage and usage spikes created by national media promoting Tour Wrist content.
7. Smart Leadership – In addition to being a brilliant, creative, passionate and energetic technology visionary, Tour Wrist CEO and Founder Charles Armstrong is a great leader, team builder and motivator.
8. Great User Experience – Charles’ obsession with the design esthetic meets user experience – recognized by Communication Arts magazine – resulted in Tour Wrist being the YouTube of 360-degree virtual tour photography.
9. Venture Capital –Tour Wrist will soon benefit from millions of dollars in investment capital that will accelerate its consumer marketing; technology development; and Tour Wrist white label re-skinned and custom apps for business to leverage its existing platform, proprietary technologies and expertise. Within just months of its commercial launch, Tour Wrist has already produced five white label app versions of Tour Wrist: a) Eckerd College; b) ProTours360; c) Drink Wine 360; d) Home Tours Florida; e) University of Florida’s CrimeSeen 360 (password required); f) 360iTours; g) City of Redlands, CA and h) Redlands PD [Tour Wrist will create additional white label apps.]
10. Great Timing – While both Google and Microsoft have paved the way for the next generation of virtual tour photography, Apple’s “it just works” innovation and introduction of a 360-degree virtual tour shooting and sharing built into its mobile OS will empower millions of iPhone users to shoot panoramic images. Instead of limiting Tour Wrist content providers to 6,000+ Panoguide professional photographers using nearly $3,000 or more in camera gear/software and advance photography skills, millions of people will soon use their iPhone and iPod Touch to shoot and share virtual tour images – free (and without any special gear/software or training).
11. Bonus: Just as opening the Twitter API helped accelerate the success of Twitter, opening the Tour Wrist publishing API will enable many virtual tour app developers – and camera gear manufacturers – to integrate Tour Wrist into their customer experience resulting in millions of people easily and seamlessly shooting and sharing 360-degree virtual tour scenes – free via the Tour Wrist platform (mobile, web and social).

www.TourWrist.com on a Desktop

So, knowing that the future arrives by September 2011 when Apple bursts on the 360-degree panorama virtual tour scene, if you get started today with your test and learn strategy … you’ll be ready to benefit from the media coverage, social media and world of mouth in the Fall of 2011 and beyond.

So, how good am I at predicting the future of emerging digital media trends in the United States? Should you believe me and act now to be ready when the future arrives Fall 2011?

On June 12, 2010, I proclaimed 2010 as the year of the quick response (QR) code in the U.S.

In 2010, did your company even know what a QR code was?  In 2011, is your company still asking, “What’s the ROI on QR codes?”

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Virtual Tour Photography Resources

1. Tour Wrist Publishing API Developer Site
2. Tour Wrist Publishing API Documentation

App Developers

1. 360 Panorama (Occipital)
2. AutoStitch Panorama (Cloudburst Research)
3. Bubbli (Bubbli Co)
4. Dermandar (Dermandar (Offshore) S.A.L.)
5. Pixeet 360 (Pixeet)
6. Pano (Debacle Software)
7. PanoLab and PanoLab Pro (Originate Labs)
8. PanoMinute (Denis Martin)
9. Panorama (Airshed)
10. Panorama Free (Free the Apps!)
11. Panorama Mosaicker (Intpel)
12. Panoramatic 360 (Andrea Esposito)
13. Porsche 360º (Porsche)
14. YouSpin360º (3sixty Ltd.)
15. UScape.it (EveryScape)
16. Video to Panorama (Haiqun Deng)

Software Developers

1. Apple iOS 5 (Apple)
2. AutoPano Pro (Kolor)
3. Hugin (Open Source)
4. ImmerVision (ImmerVision)
5. Photosynth (Microsoft Corp.)
6. PTgui (New House Internet Services B.V.)

Hardware Manufacturers

1. 0-360 Panoramic Optic lens accessory (0-360.com)
2. Apple iPhone 5 (Apple)
3. Canon “PhotoStitch” (Canon)
4. Casio TRYX (Casio)
5. FujiFilm FinePix Cameras “Motion Panorama 360º” (FujiFilm)
6. GE “Pancapture” (GE Consumer Electronics)
7. Giroptic 360 Degree Camera (Giroptic) – 360-degree panoramic video camera
8. GoPano Micro (EyeSee360) – 360-degree iPhone 4 video accessory
9. Kodak “Panoramic Stitch” (Kodak)
10. Nikon COOLPIX “Easy Panorama” (Nikon)
11. Nodal Ninja (Nodal Ninja)
12. Olympus “Combine” (Olympus)
13. Pano Pro MkII one-shot 360º lens (Pano Pro USA)
14. Pixeet iPhone 360º lens accessory (Pixeet)
15. Panasonic-Lumix “Panorama Assist” (Panasonic)
16. Pentax “Digital Panorama” (Pentax)
17. Samsung “Advanced Panorama with Object Tracking” (Samsung)
18. Sony iSweep–Enabled Cameras (Sony) — consumer cameras (Watch Sony TX7 Cyber-shot Camera ‘Taylor Swift’ Commercial Video) (View Sony Cyber-Shot Digital Camera with iSweep in Amazon Store)
19. Vivitar (Sakar International, Inc.)
20. WebCube – 360 Webcam (ImmerVision)

Panoramic Photography Resources

1. IVRPA – International Virtual Reality (VR) Photography Association
2. Panoguide – a community of 6,000+ virtual tour photographers
3. 360º Photography Weekly – a free weekly online newspaper published by Tour Wrist Virtual Tour Photographer Dan Smigrod using this list of article contributors
4. Panoramic Photography Shooting Apps ­­– a Twitter list of 360º photography apps (curated by @smigrod)
5. Panoramic Photography – a Twitter list of 360º photographers, hardware and software providers and other related vendors (curated by @smigrod )
6. All Tour Wrist articles by Dan Smigrod [See PostScript with Related Tour Wrist stories]

Short URL For This Article

• http://j.mp/GREAT-TourWrist-Marketing

PostScript

• WIRED Gadget Lab – Enable Secret panorama Feature in iOS5 (11/8/11)
• Techie Buzz – Hidden Panorama Mode Discovered in iOS 5 (11/8/11)
• iDownloadBlug – Hidden Panorama Mode Uncovered in the iOS Camera (11/7/11)

GREAT! Agency Retained As Exclusive Marketing Agent for the 400 MPH Rocket Car at Air Shows

June 1, 2011 – Atlanta, GA USA – Would you like your marketing campaign to take-off like a rocket in 2012?

Smoke-n-Thunder Jet Shows (Braack Motorsports, Inc.) has retained Atlanta-based GREAT! agency as the exclusive marketing agent for integrated marketing sponsorship packages for Braack’s 400 mph Rocket Car performances at 20 Air Shows in 2012.

Rocket Car Creates Three-Stories of Smoke

More than 7 million Air Show enthusiasts annually experience the Rocket Car accelerating its more than 10,000 horse power J34 jet engine (from a T-2A Buckeye military aircraft) to a crowd-pleasing 400 mph (without leaving the ground) – in just nine seconds – racing (and often beating) an aircraft (that has a heads start).

Then, a 14′ double-ringed military-style Rocket Car parachute deploys – producing up to 14g’s of negative force to the pilot – brings the Rocket Car to an abrupt stop to cheering crowds. The Rocket Car 2012 sponsorship opportunity is unique: the Rocket Car is the only land performer at the 20 Air Shows it performs in annually.

Air Show attendance continues to soar above other national sporting events with 10-12 million spectators attending Air Shows in the United States annually: shows that are often free.

Braack Motorsports President and Rocket Car Pilot Bill Braack (retired Air Force 20-year C-130 and C-141 Air Force and Air Force Reserve Veteran) works the revved-up crowd – prior to each Rocket Car versus aircraft race – from his Rocket Car cockpit commanding all eyes on the Rocket Car as he slowly drives the Air Show flight line, generating:

• a roar of multiple near-sonic boom thunder-claps;
• three-story billowing clouds of smoke; and
• 30′ shooting flames from the Rocket Car’s afterburner.

Rocket Car and Aircraft Race at an Air Show

“America loves the thrill of racing meets Air Shows. And I’m thrilled that GREAT! is the exclusive marketing agent for the Rocket Car performances at Air Shows across America,” says Braack. “We seek A-List brands – and their agencies – brands that can benefit from sponsoring the 2012 Rocket Car tour at 20 Air Shows to reach more than 7 million engaged fans,” said Braack.

In contrast, USA Today estimated that all annual NASCAR races combined in 2010 would be 3.6 million: that’s 1 million less than in 2003. NASCAR race attendance is nearly half the estimated annual attend of a 20-market annual Rocket Car Air Show tour. And, unlike NASCAR with 40+ cars on the track at one time; all eyes (and ears) are exclusively devoted to the Rocket Car. [The attendance for the entire National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) season attendance equals about two Rocket Car Air Shows, according to Braack.]

“The sky’s the limit for creating and marketing efficient on-brand; adrenaline pumping experiential; integrated entertainment sponsorship packages leveraging the Rocket Car at U.S. Air Shows,” said GREAT! CEO & Chief Creative Officer Dan Smigrod. “There are many terrific opportunities – such as product sales, sampling, lead generation and social media on steroids – that the Rocket Car can help sponsors activate and engage consumers; while firing-up marketing plans at near super-sonic speed in support the brand’s distribution channels such as – retailers, grocery stores and drug stores. With hundreds of Air Shows annually in North America, the title sponsor can pick and choose Air Show markets strategically.”

Rocket Car Excelerates to 400 MPH in Nine Seconds

“We also include VIP money-can’t-buy-experiences. For example, Sponsor’s VIP guests get to flag-start the race between the Rocket Car and an aircraft racing just 100 feet above the  Rocket Car. It’s a heart-pounding experience as the Rocket Car accelerates to 400 mph and an aircraft with 180 mph head start – rockets past the VIP just yards from their whirling green flags to signal the start of the race,” said Smigrod.

“Flag starting the race on the runway starting line is an over-the-top, unique, thrilling and exciting experience to offer a VIP client guest or winner of an internal sales contest. With 20 Air Shows annually, 120 VIPs get to flag-start a race and 360 guests annually experience the adrenaline rush just feet from the flag-starter. Plus, new in 2012, thousands of VIPs will get to experience the Air Show from the Sponsor’s Rocket Car chalet,” said Braack.

With 6,500 pounds of 3:1 thrust-to-weight ratio at 4.5 g’s, the Rocket Car accelerates faster than any jet in an Air Show; including U.S. Navy Blue Angels and the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds jets. If the 2,250 lb. Rocket Car was stood on its tail, it has enough raw-power thrust to take-off like a rocket, according to Braack.

Integrated sponsorship marketing opportunities to activate and engage audiences experiences during the typical three-day, eight-hour-per-day experience include:

• Social Media
• Experiential
• Sampling
• Lead Generation
• Product Selling
• Publicity
• VIP Experience
• Military Activation
• Pro-Social

Specific Rocket Car marketing legs include:

• Exclusive performer re-branding naming rights
• Sampling; couponing (and product selling)
• VIP Chalet shaded seating on-the-flight-line
• One-on-one experiences with the Rocket Car Pilot
• VIP flag-start the race (and accompany the flag-starter)
• VIP fly-alongs on media/rehearsal day
• Trade and consumer TV/print/radio media interviews (fly-alongs for media on media day to film the Rocket Car from the air)
• Pro-Social (at Sponsor’s option: Air Shows at military bases only)
• Air Show enthusiasts photos and videos of the Rocket Car for their Facebook, YouTube and flickr accounts
• Social media engagement with Rocket Car Pilot Bill Braack
• Media interviews with Rocket Car Pilot Bill Braack
• Retailer, drug store and grocery marketing extension opportunities
• Media buy integration opportunities
• Unique contest and sweepstakes prizing opportunities
• Internal and external sales incentive (with money-can’t-buy VIP experiences)
• Eco-green/sustainability integration – the Rocket Car can run on biodiesel B20 fuel (20 percent recycled cooking oil) [when/where available]
• Rocket Car-Cams – video showing the Sponsor’s branding: including inside the 14′ parachute
• Public Address (PA) announcements during the Rocket Car Air show performance, in particular, and through-out the day
• Official Air Show program
• Official Air Show map
• Official Air Show poster
• Official Air Show advertising
• Official Air Show Welcome Party for Performers (and their guests) – and other private events

“Rocket Car Pilot Bill Braack is the ultimate media-savvy spokesperson: well spoken; articulate; a 20-year (retired) airman veteran that can integrate client ‘talking points’ into his media interviews,” says Smigrod. “The Discovery Channel Daily Planet six-minute (11/1/10) segment is an excellent example of Bill and his Rocket Car generating TV coverage.”

In 2012, local market TV coverage – and newspaper and social media coverage – will leverage all Sponsor branding, including the:

• Rocket Car (including inside the cockpit leveraging Rocket Car pencil-cams)
• Rocket Car 80′ tractor-trailer transporter (including an interior lounge)
• Rocket Car towing truck
• Rocket Car Pilot and Rocket Car team apparel
• Rocket Car 14′ military-style parachute (including inside the parachute with a Rocket Car pencil-cam in reverse)
• Rocket Car Flag-Starter green flags
• Rocket Car jump suit
• Rocket Car Pilot helmet
• Rocket Car tented pit area exhibition pavilion featuring the Rocket Car (and client-supplied products)
• Rocket Car VIP Chalet tent top and food and beverage related items

The Discovery Channel Daily Planet Segment with Rocket Car Pilot Bill Braack Racing an Aircraft

“Between our decades of Air Show and military expertise – and the nearly 25 years of GREAT! agency entertainment marketing experience – our combined teamwork creates a win-win-win opportunity for brands – and their agencies – with the Rocket Car (presently doing business as the Smoke-N-Thunder Jet Car Shows) and Air Shows across North America,” says Braack.

The International Council of Air Shows (ICAS) estimates that 10 to 12 million people annually attend one or more of the 325-350 Air Shows in the U.S. and Canada. ICAS reports a 20 percent spectator growth trend during the 2008 and 2009 Air Show seasons and that this trend is forecasted to continue in annual Air Shows in the next couple of years.

The Rocket Car typically participates in the larger Air Shows – often at military bases – that are frequented by:

• U.S. Navy Blue Angels
• U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds
• Canadian Snowbirds
• U.S. Army Parachuting Team the Golden Knights

“After more than 4,000 performances since 1980, the Rocket Car has a 100 percent safety record,” says Braack. “Plus, since current safety procedures have been put in place, no spectators fatalities have happened at a North American Air Show since 1960: an enviable safety-record for any business.”

For Rocket Car sponsorship opportunities – including an exclusive Rocket Car “buy out” for the 2012 Air Show season – please contact GREAT! CEO & Chief Creative Officer Dan Smigrod:

• Office: 404-303-7311
• Skype Video: dansmigrod
• Email: dan@GREATtv.com

For the 2011 Rocket Car performance tour schedule, please visit the Smoke-N-Thinder Jet Car Shows official website: www.smoke-n-thunder.com/ The 2012 Rocket Car performance tour schedule will be determined in conjunction with the 2012 title sponsor of the Rocket Car.

Short URL For This Story

• http://j.mp/GREAT-Rocket_Car

Video: Six Jets Flying in Tight Formation – flying just fee above the runway — race the Rocket Car at 350 mph in this :45 video shot at the Oregon International Air Show on Friday, August 19, 2011.

Video: PencilCam video of the Rocket Car at NAS Patuxent River, MD [Rocket Car racing the airplane starts at 3:40 into the video]

Video: Rocket Car at JBLM Air Expo 2010