For Digital Branding, your visual presentation is extremely important and with the growing influence of interactivity and video the use of Flash is almost inevitable. However the problem with Flash is that it has a problem with search engines.

But there is some improvement now. Adobe is working with Google and Yahoo! to enable one of the largest fundamental improvements in web search results by making the Flash file format (SWF) a first-class citizen in searchable web content.

This will increase the accuracy of web search results by enabling top search engines to understand what’s inside of RIAs and other rich web content created with Adobe Flash technology and add that relevance back to the HTML page.

Read the full article

Just back from my holidays. Wondering that most tourist information is still offline.

With the interactive marketing getting more location based cities, countries, regions etc. should consider the huge possibilities of mobile marketing, google.maps, video etc.

I, as a tourist, would like to get info on my mobile while entering a city. Especially on holidays we are in need of information for example about the weather.

I went to Nice in the South of France, lovely place. I Like this webcam so much. Got a free slogan for them (I am using it already) Have a Nice day!

Seems like the luxury Brand debate is coming to an end. Luxury Brands often do have a problem with the transparency and accessibility of the web. Because they do have a reputation to protect. And they need to stay exclusive.

However this does not mean luxury Brands can ignore the the fast evolving changes in digital branding. Research shows that the luxury consumer is ready for 2.0 and they do have very high expectations.

Not meeting this expectations will definitely harm your brand. For a luxury brand, just ‘keeping up’ is not enough. You have to be outstanding.

Beth Uyenco, Research Director for Microsoft Advertising comes with the following Luxury Brand Engagement Model:

• ‘Awareness’ To stay in line with the offline communications, and to deepen the brand experience with interaction, your web presence needs to be of top quality.
• ‘Admiration’ Luxury Brands need to exceed expectations and do also have to communicate on an emotional level.
• ‘Exploration’ Similar to the in-store communications. Luxury customers will want a personalizes way of exploring the Brand and its products.
• ‘Consideration’ After the exploration phase, it is important to create engagement. In this stage it is very important to know who your future customer is, to deliver an exceptional service and to invite the customer to join the Brand.
• ‘Purchase’ Integration of offline and online will give the possibility to enrich the purchase experience. It is about helping to buy more efficient and/or making the purchase a remarkable moment.
• ‘Ownership’ There are many digital ways to keep and strengthen the relations with your exclusive customers.

(Thanks to Microsoft Advertising and frankwatching.com )

People are spending more and more time on the Internet, right? But the front runners, the heavy users are more and more facing the problem of information overload. They are disconnecting in stead of connecting.

The next trend is going Off line.

We will see more and more (lab)topless meetings, topless holidays etc. And people are trying to find ways to use their free time more effectively (lifehacking). Gmail labs comes with a new feature the TakeABreak option which effectively removes you from all Gmail functions for 15 mins.

For Brands this trend is one to consider. Besides the fact that being relevant will be the only prevention against customers disconnection with your Brand. Brands have to start thinking about how to offer disconnecting experiences, lifehacking widgets and more TakeAbreak tools, products and the like. Customers will love you for it.

It is about a delivering sounds, sights, smells… for a well deserved holiday . It is not about selling it there. It is about people taking it home in their systems. That’s what I call a good Brand association.

It is possible to protect your Brand name in Google Adwords.

A nice example you find if you try to make a text-ad with the term  “Euro 2008″ in it. You get the following message (see picture):

Trademarked Term.

Due to trademark reasons we do not allow advertisers to use “Euro 2008″ in their Google Adwords ads.

If this is a wise decision for all brands, I don’t think so. It has an effect on your distribution which you should consider. However it can give you some Brand control.

Affiliate marketing can be a great way to get relevant traffic to your website. You only pay a commission when this traffic is giving some result.

I always compare affiliate marketing with offline retail. Retail is making money by selling your product and keeping a part of the revenue. For Brands it is always wise to have this distribution channel in place. But just like with offline retail you must have a strategy.

When you are for example a luxury brand. You only want to see your product sold in exclusive shops. Otherwise you harm your brand. On the Internet this issue is even more relevant.

Good affiliate networks always let you, as advertiser, review each website to decide if a website is a suitable match for your brand. But still this is not enough. We have seen examples of big brands getting in very bad places. (check German examples here).

To prevent Brand damage you should always manage your affiliate programs properly. Is there anything strange going on in your program. Affiliateblog.nl (in Dutch) comes with a lot of things you should look at. In short, ask yourself this questions :

• Check your top-10 affiliates. Do you know them? Where do they get their traffic from?
• Check your stats. Are there any affiliates delivering huge amounts of traffic with a low conversion and/or high bounce rate?

To start with affiliate marketing in Switzerland you can start with Tradedoubler.
More basic info about affiliate marketing on wiki.

I have just created a Google custom search for Switzerland, CH Social Search. Searching within major social networks and websites used by Swiss people. If you need it, use it.

This custom search is open for contribution. So if you have any suggestions to make it better just send it in.

Custom search is vertical search made easy for everybody. I suggest companies should make their own custom searches serving or exploring their target audiences.

To get some inspiration it is always nice to look at award winning campaigns. This week I found the Webby awards in New York and the Belgian Cyber Lions Awards.

With the Webby Awards, NYtimes.com was the big winner also for the NYT style magazine video’s. The Obama “Yes We Can” video-clip is a winner. And The Onion wins seven awards for their webvideo’s and podcasts. (thank’s to webwereld.nl).

I think we can conclude that video is becoming really important these days. In this respect I like to get some special attention for Viva la Creation! (also a webby winner). It is a video remix project. With their tool called jumpcut, anybody can remix video.

When video remixing gets mainstream think about the possibilities for user generated content but also about again losing brand control. Anybody can take your video-commercial and make his/her own version.

Everybody can make a widget today. We can, so we do. There are too many widgets, useless widgets.

The web and all the social networks are full of widgets. Only in facebook there are over 23.000. Most of them ‘just for fun’. When you are a company thinking of spreading one. Think about it. Do I just want a widget or do I have something to share.

To make a point I have created obvious useless widgets. You find them here (and here). If you agree with me. Share them, make your own, post about it etc. Be creative, take a stand.

Want to know more about widgets: wiki
Still want to make a widget: widgetbox, widgipedia
Example of a valuable widget. Google Site Translator

Mobile marketing is getting serious. Admobs.com launches a Google Adwords-like service for easy mobile banner advertising. Including a mobile landing page, if you need one. Google offers Mobile image ads since April 23.

This is just a first step. Bannering on mobile is nice but not really intelligent and engaging, unless you target very well. And also then you tend to forget about the specific value of a mobile device for the consumer.

More on this in the following presentation from Mobile Monday Amsterdam

By rob

local info:

• Mobile Monday Geneva (seems not really alive)
• Clicmobile is based in Geneva
• Swisscom mobile lab