Nokia 'Smartphone Beta Test' Campaign Targets Competitor

Chris Weber, President of Nokia Inc. North America, has received lots of emails about this new website called Smartphone Beta Test, and this means that the ball is rolling. April 8 is the day when the Nokia Lumia 900 will be available on AT&T's network but the countdown on the website seems to refer to a somewhat earlier date.

At a first glance, there's no indication that we're looking at an official Nokia website. However, if you take a closer look at the top left, you can almost see the Nokia logo under that black chalk. That, and some references to Nokia's website found inside the web page's code by WPCentral.

On to the content: there are three videos, Exhibit A, B and C, where a certain phone that is losing signal is referenced, another one (or the same, really) which has its screen all washed out in the sun and a third one which seems to be too fragile. You'd be inclined to immediately think Apple but then again a question should immediately follow up: why is everyone picking on Apple? (yes, Samsung too). But then again, it might not be all anti-Apple.

Regardless, the campaign (if it turns out to be one, which wouldn't surprise us with lots of cash and brilliant minds at Nokia) is both funny and serious at the same time, but definitely a great one. Check it out at the source link below and let us know of your comments!

Financial Times Unveils 70-Foot Interactive Wall in Grand Central Terminal

The Financial Times took the wraps off it’s latest U.S. marketing campaign in New York’s Grand Central Terminal Tuesday. The exhibit and accompanying campaign, which boasts both online and offline components, highlights the publication’s growing investment in data journalism.
Between now and Thursday, those passing by are invited to interact with a large, touch-sensitive floor mat positioned on the west end of Grand Central, in Vanderbilt Hall. With the help of three “brand ambassadors,” who will be positioned by the exhibit at all times, visitors can move around an FT-branded mat to interact with a series of 3D interactive infographics projected 70 feet high on the hall’s south wall.
The infographics touch on three central topics of the FT‘s coverage: the position of the U.S. relative to the global economy, the spread and growth of mobile technology, and the global recession and recovery, U.S. managing editor Rob Grimshaw said in an interview with Mashable. All three were designed by David McCandless, author of Information Is Beautiful (and this great TED Talk).

The online extension of the campaign resides at ftgraphicworld.com, where visitors can watch videos of the infographics in action and share their reactions through an embedded Facebook comment widget. Visitors can also take advantage of a free, one-week subscription offer from the FT.com.
While were impressed by the infographics and the data housed therein, it seems unfortunate that the FT didn’t develop infographics that could have worked on the website in addition to — or even instead of — the exhibit set up in Grand Central. The decision certainly limited the much wider reception the campaign might have enjoyed online, we think.
Images courtesy of The Financial Times, Mashable.

500 Startups Alum LaunchBit Launches Its Email Ad Network

Advertising in email newsletters is an old idea,but the founders of LaunchBit, a startup that’s leaving closed beta testing today, say things haven’t changed since the ’90s .
The biggest problem? When you advertise in newsletters, you blindly send the same ad to everyone on the list.
“There’s no targeting or tailoring to specific individuals and little-to-no analytics to track how the campaign did” says co-founder Elizabeth Yin. “This also means that advertisers would often have to pay a lot of money for a single large list before knowing it worked. So; if you wanted to test lots of newsletters, you’d have to spend tens of thousands of dollars before you had a chance to think about iterating copy and improve the campaign. Most companies don’t have this kind of budget just to test”
Yin used to be a marketing manager at Google, and she says the LaunchBit experience is similar to Google AdWords. You create your ads, identify the demographics of the audience that you want to reach, and choose the cost-per-click (CPC) price that you’re willing to pay. Then, Yin says, “Your ad wins a certain number of impressions in multiple newsletters, ensuring that you reach your target demographic and allowing you to get your campaign in multiple newsletters with a ‘normal-sized ad budget.’” Publishers meanwhile, get to see the ad and the CPC bid and reject the ones they don’t like.
She also says LaunchBit is focused on “value and aesthetics,” giving advertisers analytics to understand the effectiveness of their ads and only accepting high-quality publishers and advertisers.
LaunchBit is a graduate of the 500 Startups incubator program. The ad network has been in private beta testing and has limited its ads to the software industry. The early results are promising, Yin says — ads in the best newsletters consistently see clickthrough rates between 1 and 10 percent; and that one campaign saw CTRs as high as 18 percent.
In addition to leaving the closed beta, LaunchBit is also announcing that it will now running campaigns in any industry, and it’s also integrating with email newsletter service MailChimp.