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How being a tech geek makes you a better brand custodian.

Im my years of Creative Branding, Mobile Media & Communications. Ive learned that being a tech geek has helped a lot. Especially in the tech industry. 

Mobile operators in the Middle East have great people, but some have no geeky side to them. I’ve met a few and especially senior ones, you can say they are good at theoretical marketing but are not marketing power houses. As displayed in my picture, I believe no one at STC from the CEO down to the tea boy would ever know that the image on the main page is taken from a product called Speck and that the super imposed image they used was not rightfully used or authorized neither by Speck or Apple ( in this case as the Speck Case is for the iPad 2 – PixelSkin HD )

Because I am  creative branding professional, a marketing communications nut bag and tech geek to the bone. I immediately saw it, picked it up and just had to communicate about it. This is not the first time I come across this, once upon a time a multi-national award winning American advertising agency tried to pitch to me a Google I/O campaign that was for Google Maps in Europe. During the presentation as they finished, I said ” this is wonderful work ” in a very excited tone. They agency guys were all going to wet themselves with joy. Then I said the statement of doom ” Did the campaign do well for Google? ” turned my iPad and started to flick the various images i found on Google Search. I didn’t get a response from the agency as each one scrambled to a phone a started calling in a frantic manner. Not their fault, they are just account managers, very spineless and no tech creativity.

Here is what I saved the company, a disaster from bloggers who will eventually pick up the copycat campaign, our reputation will go down the drain also the product credibility will be forever shattered. People like me are perceived as the “A holes” excuse my language. However being that has made me better at what I do and more creative than the monkeys with no competency. 

In all cases, this is still the problem with corporate culture, HR who have no clue who and how to hire, and management who can’t take being shown how incompetent they are. I would rather look like an idiot, than be fired and look ruined.

Good Luck STC, you need creative branding people who are tech geeks.

The iCosystem:

Today the world runs on things we didn’t anticipate a decade ago. The introduction of the iPhone, social networks to location based check-ins and status feeds keeping us up to the second. Now I say up to the second, because saying up to date is now old fashioned, actually Stone Age. We want information real time and in seconds, with new network technologies and devices that give us outstanding speeds like LTE and beyond.

How does a brand jump in this Eco-system? As you may know a brand is not a logo, but a brand is an all encompassing belief. One strain of this belief will cut away in the brand appeal and make it less and less believable. I’ll give you an example, Imagine yourself in the beginning of the millennium, you’re a top bank and you’re welcoming the world of digital with a fresh website to the digital immigrants or people who knew the world before the Internet. A few years pass by and the world changes again, those digital immigrants settle in and naturalize and become accustomed to the digital world. Their demands change and their brand belief changes, a bank without on-line banking is an old fashioned bank and the brand belief lessens. The world changes again as the world welcomes the first generation of digital natives; young individuals who don’t know the world before the Internet.

The mobile device today is a companion and inseparable entity in our daily lives. The mobile phone is no longer a device to send and receive calls. It is your life line to the world, the digital world that keeps your entire world in your pocket but most of the time your hands. Three years ago I did a technology work shop and introduced the concept of generation “T”. The last era saw the formulation and growth of Generation X, these are the baby boomers of World War II and then their children brought in Generation Y, the rebel generation that we all admire. However Generation T or the “thumb” generation has grown hundreds of thousands of times faster than any generation in recorded history. I labeled it as the thumb generation or generation T.

Generation T is the only generation that has taken previous generations X&Y put them on a time-machine and transferred them into the future. Now what do brands have to do here? What do brand agencies have to do here? The framework has fundamentally changed and there is a culture embedded in today’s mind set. Today we live in a world wide global culture of “is there an app for that?”

Application development for a brand is not about the core functionality of the company’s operation. Meaning what the app does isn’t what reflects the brand. However what the app feels and looks like is the essential part of the brand promise. UI ( user interface ) and UX ( user experience ) is what makes today’s world of Generation T appeal to the brand. An example, brash brands has taken branding to the next level, this fine art of logo design, brand identity and architecture is like no other. However when the Dubai Mall the world most talks about mall in the world has the most destructive App in the market made the Dubai Mall’s brand appeal less then average. The belief that Dubai mall is sophisticated and up to second has been all thrown down the drain. People today believe in surprise, they don’t know what they want until you show it to them. The Dubai Mall app must be designed to give at same Wow experience they give in their facility.

Here is an example of how the app should work :

The App should be designed with the fundamental elements of fluidity they designed the mall itself and basic concepts from their parking lots too. It must be re-designed to feel like a mall, from when you enter the mall and leave it, and when you enter the app and leave it.

The App should project the same experience of the mall, your walking and shopping. You can do that in the App at a much better rate and have the same mall experience from the comfort of your thumbs.

Location based wifi or navigation tagging. Inside the mall, being inside the mall would help you pin point your location, know where to go and plan your shopping trip within the App. This would create an experience never seen in the world. I always get this, ” where to now” imagine you plan your Dubai Mall experience a day before, plan out your routes and shops you want to visit and have it take you to the place you wanna go.

App should generate revenue, companies today are not really looking into how to make the app make money to sustain itself. Imagine this, you take a fee from shops inside the mall to advertise in the app, which would take them to the shop, present a special coupon placed in their Apple ” Passbook”. Apps are media spaces to promote daily, and hourly specials. Engage the Mall visitor,( ” beep beep” seems your close to Mango, get there in the next ten minutes and receive a 25% discount, if you get there on time) activate timer? The timer ticks you get there in time, press check-in and the geo-location accurately ensures your in Mango. Boom! your 25% discount is in your pocket.

Points and loyalty? Let me give you a sniff of what you can do with brand integrate technology. The Nike fuel band today is a device that every person is adopting, Nike has whole heartedly released its API for the device and developers now can make Apps that can talk to the device. Now imagine, the Dubai Mall app is synced to your Nike Fuel band. Briefly, I would say ” hey, since your at Dubai Mall make your Nike points count, score 2000 points in the mall sync them on our Dubai Mall app and get your free healthy lunch at Subway. Subway pays for the integration, visitor is engaged and created an affiliation with the mall, the Dubai Mall is a personified brand that actually talks to the visitor. Overall it makes my mall day worth while. Needless to say Apple just acquired an indoor GPS company called WifiSalm, this should be a big eye opener to big retail facilities like Dubai Mall and others.

I am not talking in the year 2050 we can do this today! We need companies to believe, brands are just more that what a brochure or identity can do, Branding agencies should make brands of the future. Let’s change everything…again and again

The Digital Cloud Braid

In my years of being a tech Geek, i’ve applied technology to my life daily. With the emergence of cloud computing, personalization and reliability is key. Now not to forget about security and down times. Cloud storage and computing is essential.

I have come up with a system at home that I believe will be the future default of every Geek and possibly everyone’s standard set up. I called it the Digital Cloud Braid or just ( Braid ). Needless to say this setup I distinctively say its not a hybrid as it is more of a braided merge of the same tech, yet with a marriage of two hardware & connectivity applications.

Let’s get into it now. I have setup a personal cloud via an off the shelf live storage device and also merged in it my online cloud ( Dropbox & Google Drive ) needless to say of course I have iCloud which is not married into this setup for security reasons as I have kept my iDevices securely running in iCloud.

The personal cloud and public cloud braided into one applied system running from my MacMini server has given me peace of mind on where my information is stored and full control of its connectivity and hardware. Today you don’t actually know where you drop your files on the cloud as they could be anywhere distributed across the globe. We all know drives can be hacked and even files can be extracted even if the drive is formatted. However knowing your drive is at home or the office gives you that sense of peace.

Cloud Braiding will be the future standard setup in the very near future as all these devices are now available, however the consumer market is still not aware of its ease of availability. Now here is what you need to make a standard Cloud Braid, depending on your budget you can go as big and fast as you want.

1. Minimal of 5Mpbs Connectivity to the internet via an Ethernet or WiFi Connection. A fiber or ADSL line is recommended for uninterrupted connection to the internet.

2. A Cloud Based router, DLink offers the best cloud routers in the market, with easy set-up and access via your iPhone & iPad with a free App on the Apple App Store.
– The Cloud Router lets you manage your devices remotely and also enables you to see what devices are connected to your router and using the internet or LAN.

3. A Personal Cloud storage device, I suggest DLink or WD Live. DLink Cloud Routers also offer a USB port to connect an external HDD if you do not wish to have a personal cloud device. I recommend a Cloud storage device as it is independent from the router and offers an extra firewall for security. Also Cloud storage devices connect only via Ethernet for superb speed and security with firmware protection incase the drive was stolen.

4. Mostly all Cloud storage devices have Dropbox, Google Drive and other public cloud integration. So install the public drives to your Personal cloud. All this can be simply done by just enabling the service and inserting your username and password and the personal cloud service does the rest. Whats amazing you can do this all on your iPad or iPhone too.

After all this is done your ready to go and your Cloud Braided system of personal and public cloud is fullyl integrated into one place.

How this helps you in the future. For me all my Data on my MacBook pro Retina is placed on the Braid, my 500GB flash drive can only store so much and being a photo junky all the pics I take are stored on my iPhoto App, however placed on the Braid. So when i sync my Photos they sync on my iPhoto root file on the Braid. My work also however when i need to send something I place it on my Dropbox and send a public link for a limited time. But when the information is too sensitive i create a public link to my Braid and control who when and for how long the file can be accessed.

The future of data is personal seamless controllability and not accessibility like the services available today from the online cloud based services. Except iCloud which is under the unique ecosystem of Apple and control is a key element you can enjoy via iCloud.

Picture courtesy of: http://fineartamerica.com/featured/1-random-braid-5-dan-gries.html

Hardware: visit Dlink and WD

No dobra, mój sympatyczny zastępca pojechał już do Łodzi więc wracam do roboty. Zgodnie z obietnicą jutro przygotujemy jakiś wpis związany z jego wizytą. Będzie przy tej okazji kolejny konkurs!

Co nowego ciekawego? Sygnalizowałem już temat kalendarza adwentowego czytaj promocyjnego. Ci z Was, którzy wchodzą na nasz łol na FB, zauważyli pewnie bardzo wesoły i kolorowy spam’ing na ten temat Przykład:

To bardzo sympatyczna zabawa, która prowadzi nas do Świąt racząc Was coraz to nowymi promocjami. Wszystkie szczegóły na stronie Święta w PLAY.

Uchylę rąbka tajemnicy. Jutro jeden z moich ulubiony super smartfonów tego roku czyli Sony Xperia Z – przeceniona o 289 zł.

Kolejnego dnia czas na kolejnego kozaka, czyli jedyny flagowiec, którego nie miałem w rękach, czyli Nokia Lumia 920 (podobno super!) Również 289 zł w dół.

Detale w cenniku.

zmiana cen 11 12 13

PS: A tymczasem pomarańczowi piją blogowego szampana. Gratuluję i cieszę się, że gdzieś tam kiedyś byłem inspiracją do ich projektu (oczywiście zaprzeczą). Tak się wzruszyłem tymi latami, które minęły, że zastanawiam się, czy samemu jakiejś infograficzki z tej okazji nie trzasnąć.

No dobra, mój sympatyczny zastępca pojechał już do Łodzi więc wracam do roboty. Zgodnie z obietnicą jutro przygotujemy jakiś wpis związany z jego wizytą. Będzie przy tej okazji kolejny konkurs!

Co nowego ciekawego? Sygnalizowałem już temat kalendarza adwentowego czytaj promocyjnego. Ci z Was, którzy wchodzą na nasz łol na FB, zauważyli pewnie bardzo wesoły i kolorowy spam’ing na ten temat Przykład:

To bardzo sympatyczna zabawa, która prowadzi nas do Świąt racząc Was coraz to nowymi promocjami. Wszystkie szczegóły na stronie Święta w PLAY.

Uchylę rąbka tajemnicy. Jutro jeden z moich ulubiony super smartfonów tego roku czyli Sony Xperia Z – przeceniona o 289 zł.

Kolejnego dnia czas na kolejnego kozaka, czyli jedyny flagowiec, którego nie miałem w rękach, czyli Nokia Lumia 920 (podobno super!) Również 289 zł w dół.

Detale w cenniku.

zmiana cen 11 12 13

PS: A tymczasem pomarańczowi piją blogowego szampana. Gratuluję i cieszę się, że gdzieś tam kiedyś byłem inspiracją do ich projektu (oczywiście zaprzeczą). Tak się wzruszyłem tymi latami, które minęły, że zastanawiam się, czy samemu jakiejś infograficzki z tej okazji nie trzasnąć.

Today, we’re excited to introduce Sony Z Ultra Google Play edition, released on the latest Android version (4.4; KitKat) – it’s available now through the Google Play™ store in the United States.

Since 2012, Sony has provided Android Open Source Project (AOSP) for Xperia devices, for the tech community to use and contribute to – “Sony Z Ultra Google Play edition” is another chapter in our work to support the open Android community.

The device is based on the original Xperia™ Z Ultra; the response to which has been great, with many praising our accomplishment in hardware innovation and economy of component architecture – 2.2 GHz Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 800 quad-core processor, 6.4” Full HD TRILUMINOS™ display for mobile, LTE, NFC, all contained in a dust-resistant and waterproof* (IP55 & IP58) 6.5mm body, weighing just 212 grams.

Along with brand new Android features, Sony Z Ultra Google Play edition also comes with some of our unique Sony tech – BRAVIA smarts; TRILUMINOS™ display for mobile and X-Reality™ for mobile picture engine, and our hallmark Exmor RS™ for mobile image sensor, for immersive viewing experiences and optimum camera performance respectively.

Check out Developer World for the full scoop.

*http://www.sonymobile.com/global-en/legal/testresults/

Czas rozwiązać konkurs z unboxingu nowych iPhone’ów.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Było mnóstwo fajnych propozycji, ale wyróżniła się zdecydowanie iGła.

Zgłosiło ją kilka osób, ale pierwszy był według moich informacji michalkckk. Zgłoś się do mnie chłopaku i Mikołaj ogarnie coś fajnego dla Ciebie. Może Mophie Juice Pack, lub coś do Androida. Gratulacje!

Nagroda pocieszenia należy się koledze, który regularnie tutaj na blogu przypominał o tym konkursie. Koszulka a może oryginalna ładowarka?

Tego typu konkursy będą pojawiać się w kolejnych video-recenzjach, więc warto być czujnym.

A tak przy okazji naszego wprowadzenia LTE na iPhone’y, myślę, że będę miał już wkrótce więcej dobrych informacji w temacie szybkości. Ale poczekajmy chwilkę

Czas rozwiązać konkurs z unboxingu nowych iPhone’ów.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Było mnóstwo fajnych propozycji, ale wyróżniła się zdecydowanie iGła.

Zgłosiło ją kilka osób, ale pierwszy był według moich informacji michalkckk. Zgłoś się do mnie chłopaku i Mikołaj ogarnie coś fajnego dla Ciebie. Może Mophie Juice Pack, lub coś do Androida. Gratulacje!

Nagroda pocieszenia należy się koledze, który regularnie tutaj na blogu przypominał o tym konkursie. Koszulka a może oryginalna ładowarka?

Tego typu konkursy będą pojawiać się w kolejnych video-recenzjach, więc warto być czujnym.

A tak przy okazji naszego wprowadzenia LTE na iPhone’y, myślę, że będę miał już wkrótce więcej dobrych informacji w temacie szybkości. Ale poczekajmy chwilkę

Yes i know to most of you out there this information about the iPad using a MicroSIM is not new to you, but for most of you in the Middle-East hungry for an iPad in your hands; HOLD YOUR HORSES!!! Let me first say that 100% of all GSM operators in the world use the default SIM size. Now good old Steve has given a nudge to the telecom operators around the world.

Apple’s big reveal of 2010 was the glorious iPad, some have given their critical analysis of the device. I say the device will pick up like any Apple device in the market. Now the jolt that the mobile industry got was that the iPad uses a MicroSIM enable it to use 3G. Apple’s tie or (love/hate) relationship with AT&T gave it a heads up on orders of MicroSIMS to deliver its service to its customers in the US.

So what is the (MicroSIM) : The 3FF SIM card, or the micro SIM, is 52% smaller than a regular SIM card so instead of a 15 x 25mm card you get a 12 x 15mm one. It’s still a GSM SIM so it will work in most markets. Now I believe Apple’s attempt to lock the SIM during the iPhone launch days blew up in their face.

Last, This MicroSIM isn’t an industry stopper is it. Well no, most operators are going to offer a this MicroSIM as a bundle package with the iPad. I say why bother, request a twin SIM from your local operator, shave the new SIM with plastic or acrylic filer and your good to go. Haven’t tested it myself, I will surely let you know if it works as soon as my iPad lands.