Retailers can pick from a series of images to use as a backdrop, depending on the theme of the event; for example, a wintertime event could have a Land Rover product image on a snowy backdrop. The sites were built using Flash with XML driven content, and allow the retailers to input event specifics and descriptions and publish the sites on their using a custom event URL. The sites each include registration/RSVP capability and Google Maps integration for customers needing directions to the event. Retailers are given access to the RSVP database which can be exported to Excel as needed, so that they can accurately track which customers will be attending their event.

Pretty cool solution to a challenging problem. We hope you like!

Do you remember your first record or high-fidelity record player?
What were those little plastic adapters called that let you put your 45's on the spindle of your record-player?
Remember when the "flip side" just meant the B side of the record?
How many artists had hits on both sides of a 45, besides Elvis and the Beatles?

So thanks to Mr. Edison for inventing the phonograph and starting the whole thing.

And, if you still own a turntable, play one for me. Take a look at these sites for some inspiring album cover art.

http://bit.ly/b7FFik

http://bit.ly/bMON8w

http://bit.ly/9pO0hs

Speaking of art, let TSG spin some designs your way sometime soon.

The other change that hits close to home for us is that they're decreasing the width of the Applications Tabs to 520 pixels. They've been threatening to do this for a while, but only now are they actually putting the new rules in place. So this means if you have, for example, the Static FBML application installed, like us (see below), you'll need to resize/reformat your image. Doh!

The app, Group Deals, was created by Wildfire Interactive, and allows users to set the value of the deal, define the threshold needed to activate it and link it to their e-commerce system through their own pre-defined discount codes. It also allows brands to define deal terms and conditions and customize the appearance of the page using CSS. I haven't seen it in action, but it looks amazing in theory and concept.

Apps tied in to Facebook automatically have a massive, well defined user base of 500,000,000, and the connectivity via the Facebook Open Graph allows for relatively effortless viral promotions. It's the first really legitimate shot at widespread sales via social media. There's also a really great opportunity to see some creative campaigns from major brands that are focused on promoting sales directly through these Group Buys.

Image courtesy of Mashable

Here's one that we just stumbled upon, and while I'm not sure I'd classify this as a mobile application nor a USEFUL deployment of augmented reality, it certainly qualifies as incredibly cool. Enjoy:

We're excited to be a Bronze sponsor of the event again, and are busy putting together a little something special to complement our sponsorship. You'll have to register and attend to see what I'm talking about, but here's a little hint:

Given a turnaround time of just a few short weeks, The Sutter Group created a sophisticated and engaging web-based training course titled "Tandberg Product Expert, which consists of 8 individual learning modules representing the Tandberg products and underlying technologies. Working with the Tandberg project team, we first identified all functionality requirements and helped them solidify the overall architecture, outlining all content departments and the flow of the course from start to finish. The wireframes that resulted were used as a guide throughout the development and implementation of the course.

Next, taking cues from Tandberg's existing brand guidelines, we developed the design for the user interface, striving for a look and feel that would complement the high tech nature of the course content without drawing the user's attention away from the content itself. The selected design, which you can see in the screen captures we've provided, was used as a blueprint for the development of the entire Tandberg Product Expert course.

The course itself, served by their learn.com-based LMS, contains well over 1 GB of video and multimedia presentations, some of which we were responsible for producing. We even created a number of animated elements within the course to make the presentation more engaging and dynamic. The course is SCORM 2004 compliant and includes 20-question exams available upon the completion of each module.

We're very proud of the end product, and look forward to continuing our relationship with the brand. Here's a few more screens from the course:

Howdy. It's Monday, and you know what that means: More linkalicious goodness from our Monday Morning Link Love feature. Prepare yourself for linkage:

AdAge says UGC has jumped the shark: A few years ago, the industry was abuzz with the user generated content phenomenon. Brands far and wide were flocking to the tactic that asked ordinary customers to create advertising for a brand. The whole premise was to get consumers intimately involved with a brand, but there's one main problem: It's been done to death.

To test this hypothesis, they split the sample into two groups, one that read the exercise regimen in a simple typeface, and one that read it in a more complex, script font. The result? The group that read it in the simple font thought the exercise would take about 8 minutes, and the script group thought it would take 15.

I can't restate Neuromarketing's takeaway any better than they did, so I'll let them take it from here:

"if you need to convince a customer, client, or donor to perform some kind of task, you should describe that task in a simple, easy to read font. Since this phenomenon is related to the concept of cognitive fluency, you should also make the type size easy to read and use simple words and sentence structure. These steps will minimize the perceived effort needed to accomplish the task, and your success rate will increase."

Happy Monday. It's time for the latest installment of Monday Marketing Link Love, a post filled to the brim with several the latest thought provoking marketing-related links. Let's get to it:

Steve Jobs says Flash is obsolete: Every Apple fan's favorite head honcho makes the case for why the world should be moving past Flash and getting on board with new technologies like HTML5, CSS and Javascript. We think Flash still certainly has a place (not as an intro to your website!) but he makes a compelling argument.

Check out this terrific green hat! Now, you're probably thinking, "That's a white hat!" And you're right...but it's also green. This Coca-Cola rPET Hat is made from six recycled plastic Coke bottles, and it's as handsome as it is environmentally responsible.

rPET stands for recycled PET (Polyethylene Terephthalete) which is a member of the polyester family. The difference is that a PET bottle is molded and polyester is a fabric, but their underlying chemistry is the same. The advantage of these products is that they are environmentally friendly and sustainable because they're reusing what might otherwise end up in a landfill. The Science Channel has a great video on the process of taking plastic bottles and turning them into polyester. You can check it out HERE.

To learn more about getting your own custom rPET hats or tote bags for your next event or giveaway, contact me at karen at sutter-group dot com.

We're honored, but here's the truth: While the design of our Twitter background is pretty cool, it becomes much, much cooler when you see it in context with the rest of our brand identity. If you've been to our website (which, I guess you have, since you're here NOW) you've seen our science theme, which helps to communicate all of the "elements" (tactics) that we use to create integrated campaigns. There's more to it, but that's for another blog post, coming soon... (elipses used to keep you on the edge of your seat)

Oh, and while we're on the subject, are you following us on Twitter yet?

You've got to hand it to Nike, it was gutsy and perhaps a little unexpected to confront the situation head on in its advertising. But then again, isn't advertising supposed to be unexpected? We think so. What do you think?

It's time for another edition of Monday Marketing Link Love, a place where we share some of our favorite links from the past week or so with our marketing friends. Let's get right to it, shall we?

Adobe Kuler: Whether you're picking a color palette for a new retail store, a new brochure or the colors that will represent your brand, Kuler's got you covered. It's a free web-based application that helps you generate color themes that work together.

Our solution incorporates advanced functionality including voiceover narration, video and Flash-based games to help users retain and recall information as well as streamlined navigation, bookmarking functionality, SCORM compliance and a post-training evaluation. The result is an effective WBT that speaks to the Audi brand and ensures that the deep knowledge of the brand is easily transferred from employee to customer. Here's a few screenshots of the final product:

We are excited to be underway with our second WBT project for Audi, creating a module for Audi TDI® and Alternative Fuels training. Stay tuned for more details.

Today I'm starting a new, semi-regular feature here on the TSG blog called Monday Marketing Link Love. These posts will be aimed squarely at marketing directors, CMOs, marketing VPs, and communications professionals who are looking to stay up on the latest marketing trends, tactics, resources, etc., and they'll feature several of the marketing links that we here at The Sutter Group have come across the previous week that think you shouldn't miss. Each week we'll hand pick a few essential clicks and give you a short description of what you'll find. Without further ado, here's the 3.12.2010 edition:

Printfriendly - Printfriendly is a site that allows you to turn any webpage into a printer-friendly page, nearly instantly saving paper, time and ink. Not only that, but it first gives you a "preview" option which allows you to delet the sections of the page you don't want to print. Want to check out what this blog looks like using Printfriendly? Click here.

Obviously we think these links are amazing and worthy of sharing, so by all means, use the share button at the bottom of this blog post to share this post with your social networks. That way, we can all have a little Monday Marketing Link Love.

We've written quite a lot about how powerful social media can be as a tool to engage with your audience in meaningful ways, and this is a classic example of how it can be done right. By listening to their loving customers and responding personally in a creative and playful way, Starbucks has really shown that they take their customers wants and needs into consideration, even if they can't directly satisfy them. Plus, they reaped the benefit of the tons of buzz this promotion created.

Well played, @starbucks, well played!

What do you think? Are you ready?

In fact, here are two "official" versions of the poem:

Thirty days hath September,
April, June, and November:
All the rest have thirty-one,
Except for February,
Which hath twenty-eight days clear,
And twenty-nine in each leap year.

Or

"Thirty days hath September,
April, June, and November,
All the rest have thirty-one,
Excepting February alone,
Which has but twenty-eight days clear
And twenty-nine in each leap year.

No wonder I'm fuzzy about leap year. Who could remember those last two stanzas? And it still doesn't say it has to be a year that is divisible by four...

Julius Caesar or rather Sosigenes, his astronomer, invented leap year in 45 BC. At that time the Roman Calendar had 355 days. So in order to keep the seasons and festivals even with the calendar, a 22nd or 23rd day was added every second year. Eventually, Pope Julian refined the calendar making leap day occur in years that are divisible by four. And Leap Day, is just a day to "leap" over.

So, for all of you "leaplings" who will have to celebrate on either February 28th or March 1st, here's a little ditty to help you celebrate.

Check back in 2012, when I get to recount how Leaplings celebrate their actual birthday.

I talked about The Sutter Group's use of social media as a tool to build awareness and establish thought leadership among our peers, our work on behalf of the BMW Car Club of America to engage BMW fans that are "on the fence" about membership or already members, and Dell's status as one of the best case studies out there for the power of social media engagement. They've used social media to take customer service to a new level, disseminate corporate news, cultivate innovative ideas and even to hawk hot deals on Dell products. As I told folks at the CRTC event, Dell has made as much as $6.5m on Twitter alone according to analysts.

Now all that said, you'll often hear me note that social media isn't the end-all, be-all in the marketing world (like HERE). As students of the power and importance of integrated marketing, we truly believe that social media needs to be a part of an overall marketing strategy. Working hand in hand with other efforts and mediums, it can be wildly effective in helping businesses connect with its consumers (and even increasing revenue).

Still think it's hype? Check out this article from AdAge about businesses using social media and reaping the rewards. And of course, don't hesitate to give us a shout if you're feeling lost in the woods. We've got you covered there!