A few weeks back, I was honored to share the stage with my friend Dan Shust in front of about 4,000 people at the Internet Retailer Conference and Expo. Our topic was "Two Thumbs Up — Or Down — On Social Media Efforts."
Essentially, we walked through several case studies of how retailers are leveraging social media, then gave our take on whether we liked it or not. (See below for some coverage of our talk.)
The presentation seemed to spark a lot of discussion, and as you'll see in the slideshow below, we got the audience in on the action by having them text their own "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" in real time.
Here's the presentation, with embedded links to some of the related content:
One of the most exciting fields in digital marketing right now is retail, which is why I'm really looking forward to speaking to 4,000 or so attendees at the Internet Retailer Conference and Expo in Chicago next Wednesday.
I'll be discussing recent case studies in how retailers — online and brick-and-mortar — are using social media to increase their reach and customer loyalty.
The format of this presentation will be pretty fun, because I'll be on stage with one of my favorite digital luminaries, Dan Shust from Resource Interactive in Columbus, Ohio. Our discussion is called "Two Thumbs Up (or Down) On Social Media Efforts."
I don't want to spoil any surprises by talking about the case studies here, so I figured I'd share a few that we actually ended up cutting from the presentation due to time constraints.
Specifically, the following three tidbits are examples of insanely innovative ideas on how the in-person shopping experience is evolving almost to science-fiction levels. Check it out:
The Diesel Cam
While it might sound a bit pervy at first to imagine a Web cam in your fitting room, the Diesel Cam is actually a really fun idea floated by an agency in Spain for the Diesel fashion line. After trying on an outfit, you can have your picture taken and uploaded to your Facebook page, where friends can help you judge the look.
Here's a video demonstration:
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Intel's Holographic Window Display
Intel admits this is "three to five years out from what we'll see in the retail space," but it's still a compelling example of how new technology is changing the nature of shopping, even in-store.
Check out the video (after a brief pre-roll ad):
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N Building: The first QR Code facade
Most examples of QR Codes — those square bar codes that you've probably noticed popping up in magazine ads — simply direct your mobile device to a promotional Web site. That's fine, but it doesn't get at the tremendous social media potential housed in those black-and-white icons.
So I was excited to see the N Building, a Japanese project that covered an entire low-rise facade with QR Codes that share information about the businesses inside — and even Twitter posts by the people inside. A little creepy, a little trippy, but undeniably interesting.
How it works:
If you're going to be at the Internet Retailer Conference, I hope we get a chance to connect. If you can't make it, Dan and I plan to post our presentation as soon as we can after the event.
