What's in Store

The reason the path-to-purchase has potholes can sometimes be blamed on the manufacturer. Each group responsible for bringing the product to market often function in silos with no common goal. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the consumer high-tech industry. The result is an inconsistent message that confuses the customer throughout the buying process. Identified below are the four steps outlining the physical and digital touchpoints a customer may encounter along the way. All of these touchpoints should have a consistent message and branding. Unfortunately, this isn't always the case. I have experienced each of these during my time working on the client side and agency side of retail marketing. POTHOLE #1 Weak Branding : Product Design and Engineering While a product is being engineered, there is also an industrial designer involved who designs the format and footprint that determines how a consumer will interact with the product. I have worked on launching products ...

Who knew that GIFs, that first generation web phenomenon, would have such staying power into the new century? As with anything, it’s all about convenience and ease-of-use: GIFs are small and easy to share across all sorts of platforms, making them a popular way for people to share videos and animations (usually funny). But GIFs have evolved and become more sophisticated over the years, as the rise of cinemagraphs and gifographics can attest. These are relatively new terms; cinemagraphs refer to a still photograph with only a part of it animated, and gifographics are infographics with animated elements. Either way, they breathe life into static photographs and infographics, making them much more compelling! Below are links to articles that are good introductions to this old/new animation technique: The GIF's Sexy Sister: How to Create a Cinemagraph Top 5 Marketing Gifographics and How to Create 'em  Inspired by these articles, we took an infographic we’ve finish...

When the CES tradeshow debuted 50 years ago in New York, they presented 14 companies. Fast forward to 2016 and there were almost 4,000 exhibitors and 170,000 attendees eager to interface with new technology. I have personally been going to CES for over 15 years. Each year it gets bigger, louder and more crowded (except for 2009 which was depressing). If there is a common theme every year it is about making connections. Connecting people with technology and connecting technologies together. This cable throne, similar to the Game of Throne's chair of swords, made quite a statement in Display Port booth. People were encouraged to sit in it and take pictures. Here are some of the technologies from CES 2017 that will continue to keep us connected: 1) Smart Home Technology. Imagine being at the grocery store and you can't remember what you have in the refrigerator. No worries, check your phone which logs into the camera inside of the refrigerator. Smart home devices are n...