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Archive for August, 2010

Understanding And Commissioning A Virtual Tour – A Beginners Guide

A virtual tour is a complete 360degree view of a space. The user can feel as if they’re standing within a space and then can control their movement within the area. They can look up above them at the floor below them and all around. Users are also able to zoom in and out giving them the ability to focus in on areas of interest. Each virtual tour is usually made up from a number of photographs which are ‘stitched’ together

Where are they used?
One of the most familiar applications of virtual tours is by estate agents. These virtual tours tend to be small scale and lowquality as price is the biggest issue.

Highresolution virtual tours that can be viewed at full screen are the best option for any organisation for whom quality is important. A hotel group will use virtual tours to show the potential clients the quality of the rooms. Other examples of potential virtual tour customers include conference centres museums hospitals car manufacturers football clubs universities architects and property developers all of whom benefit by showing off their space to its best advantage.

What extra features can a virtual tour have?
You can use the virtual tours in many different ways on your site depending on how you’d like to display them. Virtual tours can be linked to a floorplan so that users can feel orientated and choose how and where to move within a space. This is particularly useful for architects or property developers. Eye Revolution have created an example of this type for The Edison bar and lounge.

A Google Maps interface enables users to see virtual tours that are geographically removed from each other a large number of virtual tours can all be linked via a map. Britannia Vista offers an excellent example of this type of implementation.

Many virtual tour providers will also be able to integrate hotspots special links within a virtual tour. You may even want to include an audio script a soundtrack or even some video in your virtual tours.

Talk to the virtual tour companies about the project and they will be able to suggest interfaces that may be appropriate for you.

What’s the advantage of a virtual tour on your website?
A virtual tour which is relevant to the viewer can help both build a brand and sell a product. So in the case of an architect’s website where part of their portfolio is available to be toured the viewer is able to see the quality of the architect’s work choose where they’d like to focus on rather than being dependent on the ‘right’ stills being provided and then zoom in and see the small details. This gives the company a big advantage over their competitors as potential clients get a better insight into the product on offer.

How should I choose a virtual tour provider?
The good news is that there’s a lot of choice out there. The bad news is that there are some very poor providers too. The best bet is to make a shortlist of virtual tour providers and then have a very thorough look through their portfolios. Look for ‘stitching errors’ places where the photographs that make up the tour don’t line up properly. Look for clarity are the lines clear and sharp or fuzzy pixellated or indistinct? Can you see odd colours which don’t look ‘right’ particularly on edges of objects in the tours. Check for overexposure so can you see through windows or are they all white and hazy? Can you look around a full 360degrees or are the ceilings and floors blocked off?

If you’re looking for a high quality virtual tour it’s vital that your providers are good photographers. If they’re poor photographers nothing will make your virtual tour look as good as it should.

So going through their portfolio to make sure that you’re happy with the quality of their virtual tour work and that they’ve got a good range of clients and experience is vital to the success of your virtual tour project.

Is it expensive?
This depends on the type of project that you’re commissioning. Talk to the providers you’ve shortlisted describe your project in as much detail as possible and ask them to quote. A ‘menu’ of prices where you can see the cost per virtual tour rather than the total cost for 10 virtual tours is often useful as it enables you to compare like with like.

The important thing to note is that the old adage still applies if you pay peanuts you get monkeys! Good virtual tour providers will be investing in new equipment training and software on an ongoing basis. They will also be expert in retouching and can use their skills to ensure your tours look as good as they can. This investment means that you get the best possible end result and as you’re going to live with it on your website possibly for a number of years you want to make sure that the virtual tours are perfect. If you’re being offered a deal that seems to good to be true again look back carefully at the portfolio and assess the quality again.

How do I get it on my website?
Your virtual tour provider will provide you with files which can be uploaded to your site or they can be hosted on your virtual tour provider’s server. They will be able to liaise with your web designer to ensure the smooth delivery and upload of the virtual tours.

There are several plugins through which people can view virtual tours for example Flash QuickTime Java Shockwave and OpenGL. Flash’s high penetration 97 in developed markets tends to make it the main choice however providers will be able to discuss the best options with you.

So finally…
Good virtual tours that stand the test of time and enhance your site visitors’ experience will be likely to increase sales will encourage people to return and may over time increase the traffic to your website.

About the writer:  Beth Menzies is a Director of eyerevolution.co.uk a leading Londonbased virtual tour company. Prior to joining Eye Revolution she worked in top 10 Advertising Agencies handling advertising for clients like Volkswagen Nissan Hertz Axa Carlton TV Odeon Cinemas.

Shorts Cuts: What Gaps Failures Teach The World About Business

I was watching an old TV show from last year gosh my TiVo has so much stored it could have been from two years ago and found myself gawking at a supercolorful Sarah J Parker dancing and carousing to “I Just Love Being a Girl” in a really horrible ad for “The Gap” and its new line of pink khakis! It occurred to me this company has had more trouble in the last decade and that all businesses need to pay attention to the veteran retailer….so they don’t end up a joke like The Gap has become. Let’s go to the tape:

1. Consistency is everything. I’ve got to say Gap was the best place to go for undergarments while I was in my 20′s. Instead of doing laundry on Monday nights my pals all went to theGap for Ts and shorts; it was all good because we didn’t have to find quarters for the machines. The quasifashionable Gap of the prior 10 years is a purely fabricated hybrid of pseudo cool and ridiculously cheap clothing you would buy then regret. If only Gap and most businesses would return to basics and stay put Gap slogans are fanciful while the quality is hardly that we might be loyal. I mean there’s a Gap near every Starbucks for Chrissake!
2. Panderingbad! The way Gap tries to be like every other clothing store is tawdry and transparent. Sometimes pretending to be sister B. Republic during those periods when she’s severely upscaleawful. It’s their way of asking us if they’re doing the right thing and it’s mildly schizophrenic. To be all things to all people has never worked for any one thing; to reiterate what was wrong with Gap telling US we needed them and displaying why? Consumers appreciate when you are resolute and like 30 years ago we would gladly Fall into the Gap if they were forthcomingand honestabout who they are!
3. Communicating change and changing only when necessary is followed by people believing in you. Here’s my story… In Connecticut where I spend many weekends I noticed a Gap on the main drag in a town with cash; now since the awning didn’t say “Baby Gap” or “Womens Gap” I walked in and noticed something was nowhere: namely menswear. After a confusing stroll around baby I mumbled to a clerk “Is something missing?” and she said “Oh yeah we don’t have men’s any longer since it wasn’t selling.” “Well” I said with no joy in my voice “how come you don’t announce that on the front?” She shrugged. It will be a long time before I make a fool out of myself on purpose.
4. Just because everyone is doing it doesn’t mean it’s good. I see Gap trying everything under the sun I swear they had Dockers! just because it’s “in” somewhere else. In the advertising industry there’s this fabulous acronym GMOOT or Get Me One of Those when folks obviously do something because someone else has done it well! To go in a direction that’s not right for you because you HAVE to do it even though your heart is not invested has never worked and will be what kills Gap with a stab in the heartless!
5. Form over function is not a successful formula for an evolving concern. The stores are trying to be minidiscosyeah yeah there’s national competition from that really cool Hamp;M. But tough. I believe and that coffee chain has proven this that what made a venue successful on day one will be what saves it from doom: Be gutsy and go with the basic nottooshabby look of a place that proffers Just The Essentials Mr. Gap.
6. Too Much Information TMI is wrongheaded. Stores and businesses of every ilk forget that mystery is what sucks people in! Why must everyone say everything? Gap has this yucky habit of advertising every charity every new sock every fashion “attitude” they put forth. Dull. Let the customers discover the newest concepts for themselves. Stop shouting your changes to the masses! And while I’m at it every time the financial situation climbs up or falls down Gap screams about it in the media. Quarterly results are finelegally requiredbut when you tell the biz press you’ve failed miserably with multitudes of excuses and promises and changes plastered in news we all see it and think “I’m not going there dude.”
   Like uh keep it in your pants.
7. Going back to what once worked is where businesses run after all the New fails. However it better come with a “mea culpa” or the clientele will laugh and point. I love it when a business throws their hands up with a We’re Wrong and does something bold in a way that makes us secretly go Great. That works. That has never happened at Gap. Every single time this company says they are headed in a new direction they loudly blame it on the economy on “slowing new store sales”. How about we f**ked up. In the postLewinsky post Martha postEnron postWorldCom era I find it utterly refreshing when a company explains their woes asks for forgiveness and like Ford Motor with their hands out shrieks “What’s it going to take to get you to drive this car off the lot today?”

For Gap and companies that can learn a lot from this “crew” all it takes is one deep breath and remembering what made you tremendous to begin with. I know what! They can start a national Don’t Do Laundry Day by Gap! You know I’ll be there.

I’ll use my quarters for the parking.

Laermer is author of “2011: Trendspotting” just out from McGrawHill which has 77 essays like the above; read more at laermer.com.

About the writer:nbsp;nbsp;Richard Laermer is an authority on marketing and media a former reporter who is coauthor of Punk Marketing and writer of the new book 2011: Trendspotting. He’s CEO of New York’s RLM pr representing among others IncrediMail ThisNext Smith Nephew AirPlay Anystream Sky Films Dealighted.com and TutorVista. He was host of TLC’s cult program Taking Care of Business and speaks on trends and marketing for corporate groups. You can read Laermer on huffingtonpost.com/richardlaermer and on the mischievous but all too necessary Bad Pitch Blogbadpitch.blogspot.com
You may also find articles by Richard at TalentZoo.com.

A Lie Repeated A Hundred Times Doesnt Become The Truth

I watched TV the other day and I was astonished by how many times Ive see one commercial. Over and over again. It almost felt like dj vu.
I needed to pinch myself to ensure Ive ended up in some kind of black whole with looping commercials.

It was really happening.

Some marketers and media planners made a pact with Devil and sold their souls in exchange for security in form of frequency. They tend to believe it is a killer idea that guarantees success and pushes consumers into your arms.

I am sorry to say that advertising industry spends billions of dollars based on vague assumption that effectiveness of advertising is a result of repetition. The more advertising is shown the more effective advertising will be. It is like media were school and consumers pupils you need to discipline and teach by showing them advertising more than once twice three times four timesAfterwards their knowledge is tested with awareness tracking. High recall numbers and effective frequency on plans ensures you that consumers will buy your products. It sounds neat.

Thomas Smith wrote a guide called Successful Advertising in 1885.

“The first time people look at any given ad they don’t even see it. The second time they don’t notice it. The third time they are aware that it is there. The fourth time they have a fleeting sense that they’ve seen it somewhere before. The fifth time they actually read the ad. The sixth time they thumb their nose at it. The seventh time they start to get a little irritated with it. The eighth time they start to think “Here’s that confounded ad again.”The ninth time they start to wonder if they’re missing out on something. The tenth time they ask their friends and neighbors if they’ve tried it. The eleventh time they wonder how the company is paying for all these ads. The twelfth time they start to think that it must be a good product. The thirteenth time they start to feel the product has value. The fourteenth time they start to remember wanting a product exactly like this for a long time. The fifteenth time they start to yearn for it because they can’t afford to buy it. The sixteenth time they accept the fact that they will buy it sometime in the future. The seventeenth time they make a note to buy the product. The eighteenth time they curse their poverty for not allowing them to buy this terrific product. The nineteenth time they count their money very carefully. The twentieth time prospects see the ad they buy what is offering.

How come that in 21st century fully aware of media fragmentation endless choices offered to empowered consumers we follow the rules of advertising created two centuries ago?!

Media world also adapted and misinterpreted Herbert E. Krugmans low involvement theory 1965. According to Krugman there are only three levels of exposure in psychological terms: curiosity recognition and decision. It is not what media planners have in mind when talking about call “frequency.” Those are mental states driven by needs. Those are not numbers of repetition.

“There is a myth in the advertising world that viewers will forget your message if you don’t repeat your advertising often enough. It is this myth that supports many large advertising expenditures…I would rather say the public comes closer to forgetting nothing they have seen on TV. They just “put it out of their minds” until and unless it has
some use . . . and then the response to the commercial continues.

Whats more disturbing it is the fact that media planners have no faintest idea what is the level of effective frequency. There is no research proving that repeating advertising three times will generate expected effect. Media planners use their intuition and outdated assumptions.

How come advertising industry keeps talking about frequency and setting effective frequency goals having no proof for it will work?

Because it was done this way always

We use frequency numbers cause it makes us feel safe. It is tangible and gives the feeling of control. Numbers help to manage chaos. It is disturbing and hard to embrace the reality where peoples behavior isnt easy to predict where consumers decisions arent rational and where 90 of humans decisions actions happen on subconscious level.

But it is not about math and calculations. It is about consumers needs motivations form and context of advertising. Those should be the key point of interest both for marketers and planers. If you get all ingredients right you will get effective advertising.

This is quantity vs. quality. Do you want many to remember your advertising because they were exposed many times to it or do you want a few to remember your advertising because they felt this is the product that fits into their lifestyle product they need.

No one ever buys your product just because they recall the commercial. People buy products cause they need them whether it is rational or irrational need.

You shouldnt seek for the number of ads and repetitions but for the quality of contacts with consumers.

You shouldnt spend your money on repeating your message but on placing your ad in the relevant context on the right moment.

Building media plans based on frequency as main goal is just an expensive way of advertising.

Thomas Smith “Successful Advertising” 1885

Herbert E. Krugman “The Impact of Television Advertising: Learning Without Involvement” 1965

Picture created with Bart Simpson Generator

About the writer:  I’m a 33yearold Sociologist was born in Poland and moved to Denmark six years ago because of love. I’ve worked for different media agencies throughout the last 8 years focusing on strategic planning social media and social networking dynamics in advertising and media planning. I am currently with Vizeum in Denmark and in my free time I am a passionate photographer and blogger. You may also find articles by Daria at the TalentZoo.com website under Ads Without Borders.