My experience with Vert has provided me with real, interactive experience that not all interns have the luxury of receiving. This was not your normal “coffee making, filing” internship…this company provides hands-on experience with the clients and really throws you into the mix of daily company activities. The Vert team (Kevin, Matt and Michael) were always open to help in any way possible and wanted to make sure that I was getting the most I could out of the internship. Their dynamic as a team is amazing and makes for a great work environment that is constantly fueled by their creative juices.

The majority of the work I did revolved around research. Who knew this would be something that I actually enjoyed doing. Vert taught me about new tools to use in order to delve into social media and see what our target markets are interested in and looking for. This, in turn, showed me how to relate to the users and how to communicate the relevance of the results to the client. Not only did this teach me the importance of research in everything you do, but it also renewed my love of social media. Seeing the back end of all of the different online campaigns communicated, really shows you how different all online media is and how many opportunities are opened because of it.

All in all, working with the Vert team has taught me many things and my experiences here will greatly help as I advance in my career endeavors. This team is creative, innovative and hard-working to the max and has such a bright future ahead of them. Their passion and excitement for the field is truly contagious and I couldn’t imagine taking this journey with anyone else. Thanks again, Vert. You guys rock!

-Ashley
@ash1212 (follow her!)

On June 24, 2010 we had the privilege of sponsoring and attending Atlanta’s first ever Mobile Marketing Boot Camp at the Renaissance Waverly Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia. The half-day conference was hosted by the Atlanta Interactive Marketing Association (AiMA). To make it a truly mobile event, we unveiled AiMA’s first ever mobile website to the crowd during the Luncheon and Keynote Presentation from Coke’s Tom Daly.

In between the rice pilaf (conference mandatory) and “Yahootinis“(conference first), we had the opportunity to hear from a few of the industry’s key influencers as well as discuss trends in the space.

And now for Vert’s Top 10 Mobile Nuggets from the conference.

1. The mobile web is growing at an alarming rate.

2. ROI = Return on Ignoring (The cost of not doing anything)

3. The mobile device is the new “Remote Control” of our world – Sight, Sound, & Motion.

4. Test & Fail…Then Learn & Scale. (Thanks, Tom Daly)

5. The mobile market will experience further segmentation, not consolidation. (Kudos, Gerry Purdy)

6. People share iPads and tablets. They don’t share phones.

7. Doug Busk knows every mobile statistic – ever.

8. Smartphone penetration will overtake feature phones sometime next year (2011)

9. Measuring the success of a mobile campaign is complicated but rewarding.

10. Atlanta is a city ripe with mobile talent and innovation.

As “The Year of Mobile” (again) continues to press on, it will be exciting to see how these nuggets impact the approach and strategy of agencies and the marketing budgets of their clients…

Michael
@mjlentz

The release of the iPhone 4 brings significant hardware advancement to the iOS world.  Adding an A4 processor and 512mb of on board ram, those selecting to grab up the new iPhone will quite literally have a palm sized iPad.  This marks a fairly hefty jump from the iPhone 3gs.  The first question begs, is that type of processing power really necessary in a mobile device right now?  And the answer is…. We sure hope so (and plan on putting it to use).  Certainly the faster the better.  The faster the processor and more ram, the more quickly applications load and display content.  But at this stage in the game the older iPhone still keeps up well enough to do just about everything they need to do, in a sufficient time frame.  There are few 3G-S only apps on the App store currently, and that may or may not hold true for the iPhone4.  It is likely as more and more people upgrade their device developers will worry less about cutting out half (or more) of their market and build applications that take full advantage of the higher speeds and require them.  But for now if you’re okay with wasting an extra minute or two of your day waiting for things to load, then I’d say speeds alone are not a reason to toss that new iPhone 3G-S to grab a 4th generation model, well at least yet.

However, the iPhone 4 did bring more to the table than just processing speed.  Other than the upgraded processor and ram, the other major notable upgrades include a Retina display, HD video recording and editing, upgraded 5 mega pixel camera, a brand new structure design and a new video call concept Apple calls FaceTime.  Each of these features brings more reason to look at upgrading sometime in the near feature for current or even new iPhoners.  However, some of the features may or may not be useful to every iPhone 4 user.  Having an upgraded camera is great, as is the ability to edit right on the iPhone.  How useful is this?  That depends on who you are.  Many Apple fanboys these days already own the best MacBook available and are familiar with iMovie and would most likely prefer to edit there when possible.  Others like taking video or photos with their phones, but if theres anything really worth taking a picture of they’ve got their dedicated camera, video camera, or FlipcamHD ready.  So again, along with the processing power, these camera upgrades are always great, but may or may not be a huge usable upgrade for every individual.

The new Retina display promises to be quite eye catching.  Having not held one in my hand I can’t say how amazing it is, but we’ve heard first hand it looks quite nice up close.  Before we make any judgment call here I’d like to hold one in my hand,  but for now we’ll take everyone else’s word for it, but also make the note that my iPhone 3g looks just fine to me as is.

Another exciting upgrade is the completely redesigned structure and casing for the iPhone 4.  It includes a stainless steel band that forms the exterior around the case.  Apple notes:

Created from our own alloy, then forged to be five times stronger than standard steel, the CNC-machined band is the mounting point for all the components of iPhone 4. The band provides impressive structural rigidity and allows for its incredibly thin, refined design. It also functions as both iPhone 4 antennas.

To be honest, it does look very nice.  Again, not having held it first hand, we can’t say exactly what it is or what it’s not.  However, coming first hand from a friend inside the WWDC the phone feels really good in the hand, “it’s solid”, they said.  So taking into account a faster processing power, new camera features, new display, plus more and toss it all into a well built, but smaller and thinner frame, maybe that’s starting to be enough to warrant a purchase.

The last item we mention was the new Apple video calling or FaceTime feature.  This is a really cool feature and the ads Apple is using to push the feature are very well crafted.  It seems well designed and thought out.  However, it does require a WiFi connection at this time and also is only usable with other iPhone 4 users.  A common question would be that if it requires WiFi, many times a laptop will be available and I can just use Skype.  True.  This iPhone 4 feature will simply make that process easier and more mobile (assuming the other party has a new iPhone as well).  Moreover, when this feature releases on the 3g network as well, it could provide a very game changing experience for mobile users.  As a side note to the teenagers out there, when FaceTime releases on 3g and your parents offer to get you an iPhone 4 for free, know that it’s a trick.  They just want the ability to call you at anytime and make sure you show them with FaceTalk exactly where you are and who you’re with

The idea of video calling with mobile isn’t new by any means.  I saw it functioning first hand on a couple of prototype devices many years ago at a non Apple handset manufacturers lab.  That isn’t what is important here.  What is important, and in my opinion might be the biggest iPhone 4 takeaway is simply that APPLE released video chat on mobile.  Apple led the way for mobile many years ago with the release of the iPhone and iOS.  They completely revolutionized the mobile handset market and had every major device manufacturer chasing their touchscreen design and their well crafted iOS UI.  That same company just released, to the public, a new way to communicate via mobile phones.  I’m willing to bet in the near future many of those same competitors will be chasing Apple again, finding the best way to allow video calling on their devices.  When Google, HTC, Samsung, Sony and LG begin to release video chat capable phones the way people communicate with mobile phones will change, for good.

- Matt Griffin
Principal, Creative Technology

@mattigriffin

Our humble abode

We needed some space, they needed some new media brain-power so viola! We setup shop as of 5/17…

The HotHouse space is quite sexy if we do say so ourselves… Great location right in the heart of the Fairlie-Poplar historic district includes walkability to local spots like Slice, Sidebar, Tin Drum, and Rosa’s (the best pizza in ATL). Not to mention we may shed our single-passenger automobiles in exchange for stellar access to MARTA (stay tuned). Inside houses a loft-style feel with tall-windowed offices, roomy cubes, and 100% more natural sunlight than our former windowless digs. Oh, and there is a shower in the men’s room…

Mike, cubed.

All quirky comments aside, we are truly excited about this new move. It will provide us with a more vibrant working atmosphere and the opportunity to collaborate with one of the most talented and fun shops in Atlanta. If you want to come check it out, shoot us an e-mail… We are dying for an excuse to reserve the conference room so we can use the flat panel monitor!

Cheers!

-Kevin Planovsky
@kplanovsky

According to Cloud Conrad, Maid Brigade’s VP of Brand Strategies, “the goal with social media has been to find and engage our audience in new ways, use the medium to reinforce our leadership and expertise with green cleaning and to implement our strategies so as to best our competitors.  We started putting the basics in place but soon realized we didn’t want to invest any significant resources (human or financial) without the guidance of experts since achieving our goals means we can’t afford to get it right the second time.”

Maid Brigade tapped Vert in January 2010 to provide a complete refresh of their Facebook presence as well as develop the overall social strategy for the business.

Several elements were added to the Facebook Fan Page including:

• Ability to request a free home cleaning estimate
• Embedded “Green TV” video module
• Shareable “Customer of the Month” testimonial

Vert was also able to recover the @MaidBrigade Twitter handle due to Trademark infringement by a “social squatter” and will be incorporating the micro-blog into the overall 2010 strategic social communications plan later this year. To continue driving fan growth, boosting engagement, and generating estimate inquiries on Facebook, Maid Brigade & Vert will also leverage hyper-targeted Facebook media during the first quarter of this year.

For more information visit http://www.facebook.com/MaidBrigade or http://www.maidbrigade.com.

- ML

This isn’t micro-media because we are a smaller, startup agency or because we work in the mobile space – it’s micro because it is such a defined, niche piece of content for a defined niche audience. Congratulations, you are a very important part of our micro-audience!

I’ll give you another example… Recently Bravo (and several other media companies) struck a deal with FourSquare, the mobile + social media augmented reality game. When the news broke my gut reaction was ‘Why the hell would Bravo throw away good marketing dollars on such a small, new and unproven channel?’… Truth is – they are genius! (I think.) They did not strike the @FourSquare deal for mass notoriety (although the PR coverage is a perk) – Bravo created a partnership that speaks volumes to a very niche audience. A younger, tech-savvy, and urban audience that resonates perfectly with its media content and business plan. Brilliant!

Barriers, strongholds, and fortresses built by the Czars of old “macro-media” are being torn down everyday. New, vibrant villages of crowd-sourced connections built on creative technology solutions are taking their place – essentially leveling the playing field. The days of massive marketers shelling out millions to reach massive audiences are quickly fading. The good news is the massive marketers are still spending millions (or will be again soon…) – except now it is being fragmented and optimized down through many specific channels.

It is a very exciting time to be in the media and communications space… well, unless you are Rupert Murdoch. Here’s to the future of micro-media, and the hundreds of entrepreneurs, startups, and innovators that will power us into a new era of communications, media, and advertising.

- Kevin Planovsky
@kplanovsky

iPod Nanos that shoot video!?

While the ipod is best known for revolutionizing the music industry (along with a little help from iTunes), it just might be the next big player in digital pictures and video too… Everything has a camera these days – which is going to continue to revolutionize the way we view, experience and perceive the world. It is constantly getting smaller. Not to mention the new FM tuner you can pause in live stream (think TiVo for radio) – tell me that isn’t going to skew some Neilsen radio advertising figures… bottom line being that all media is now a product of the user, not of the producer – get used to it…

iTunes 9 + Social Media

Who knew that once what was primarily known as your regular run-of-the-mill desktop MP3 player would become one of the most robust tools enabling a generation to collaborate in the new spheres of social and mobile media. Honestly, iTunes is iTunes – but this latest iteration just makes your digital life that much easier by adding social sharing features for Facebook and Twitter as well as a more feature-rich interface for managing your media and apps on iPhones and iPod touches. All in all, nothing too earth-shattering, but a universal step in the right direction from Apple on all fronts in their commitment to making things seamless…

iPhone 3.1 Upgrades

Is it just me or does it only seem like a few days ago that we just upgraded to 3.0?!?? Alas, iPhone/iPod Touch OS 3.1 is up and running with a few new features that make us at Vert quite giddy. Ok, really just two that we are jumping in delight for. First and foremost is the new MMS capability – which means no more ridiculous external browser-based image downloading sites, now you can share digital media right in the chat feed. Second are the basic but continued improvements in the Safari browser.

Both of these upgrades are much needed as we move toward a more “open source” mobile web experience relying heavily on standards and universal device capabilities. We here at Vert firmly believe in the longevity of text messaging as an efficient messaging platform as well as the importance of fast, usable and stable mobile browsers to ensure a vibrant and rich ecosystem that thrives on digital media, communications, and networking anytime, anywhere…

So as you can see, Vert has every reason to love the heck out of Apple… and we don’t plan on stopping anytime soon. If you share in our pro-social & pro-mobile Apple sentiments let us know your thoughts in the comments below or by responding to us on Twitter (@vertmobile) or on Facebook (www.facebook.com/vertmobile).

Cheers!

-Kevin (@kplanovsky)

Freshens contacted Vert wanting to learn more about social media and how it could help their yogurt and smoothie business, and what we gave them is a world-class strategy, kicking off the start of the new school year on Facebook.

The college market is an integral target for the Freshens brand given their presence on-campus at roughly 400 schools nationwide, making Facebook the perfect place to start. The test campaign Vert put together, which kicked off this past Monday, August 24th,  leverages highly-targeted Facebook ads (customized per school) driving to a fully-branded and shareable new fan page redesign.

“Freshens understands the increasing importance of focusing our marketing efforts at the various and evolving forms of social media. We have challenged the Vert Team to create innovative strategies for building brand loyalty and sales while keeping Freshens on the leading edge of this medium,” says Ed Redmond, Freshens Senior Vice President. Freshens already had a fan page presence, so it was up to Vert to outfit it with custom branded elements to boost engagement and ultimately drive fan adoption. Two main elements were added: Smoothie & Yogurt of the Month sidebar callouts highlighting a specific menu items that drive to their respective Smoothie & Yogurt Menu Tabs that include the full listing of Freshens products.

The shareable menu allows fans and users of the Freshens fan page to post the menu to their profile. This ultimately shows up in the news-feed of all of their Facebook friends, alerting them of their love of smoothies & yogurt!

Ultimately Freshens wanted a Facebook presence that blew away the competition, and by the looks of it – we delivered. In addition, the test campaign is assessing the value of highly targeted Facebook ads with campus-specific messaging to some of the top schools in the Freshens network. “With this two-pronged strategy we hope to grow and activate the Freshens fanbase quickly by leveraging high targetebility, and opt-in marketing tactics”, says Vert Principal Kevin Planovsky. Be sure to check it out for yourself and become a fan at http://www.facebook.com/freshens!

-The Vert Team

• Twitter Homepage Redesign (7/28): Twitter officially revamped its homepage to focus on what it is known for – search. It appears they have finally realized that they own what is happening NOW on the web, the next step is finding a way to turn that into a viable monetization strategy. The rest of the site’s pages still retain the original design (which doesn’t quite match) – but I am sure that will change soon as well. Ultimately, they just need to buy HootSuite (@HootSuite) and be done with it, IMO.

• Google Launches Facebook Page (7/31): This is HUGE! This is like Zeus coming to Cupid for dating advice… the crowned king of Web 2.0 bows down and sets up a fan page on the Prince’s social network. Aside from the fun analogies – their fan page and newsfeed are quite interesting and keep you up to date with the inner-workings of Google on a daily basis.

• Attacks on Social Media (8/6-8/10): If this is the first time hearing about the massive attack and outage that Twitter, Facebook and LiveJournal experienced last week, please keep your day job. The attack allegedly originated overseas as an attempt to take down a Georgian blogger’s website and supposedly spilled over onto his social media accounts and subsequently shut the whole thing down for hours with after-effects still being felt. This speaks volumes to the inter-connectivity of all these sites and the security and integrity concerns it poses… I predict this will not be the last time something like this happens…

• New Facebook Policies & TOS: Over the last couple weeks Facebook has been cracking down – With the uber-success of the new fan pages, they are doing their best to find ways to be a place for all brands, but not cannibalize their own potential revenue streams. If you manage ay branded pages make sure you do not manage multiple ad campaigns from one personal account, do not run contests without Facebook approval, and no sponsored status updates – you have to earn your endorsements the old fashioned way…

• FaceFeed – The Acquisition (8/10): Earlier this week Facebook nabbed up the more Twitter-like FriendFeed for an estimated $50 Million in cash and stock. Founders of FriendFeed said that discussions had been going on since they launched, but it took over 2 years to get the nice pay-day. Meanwhile FriendFeed users are a bit peeved, concerned that their social network of choice will simply be absorbed into Facebook, which is likely. Either way, this is a testament to the sheer influence and competition in the social space – it’s not going anywhere, get used to it.

• New Facebook Tools and Plans: In addition to the policy updates, Facebook has launched (or teased about launching) a number of new platform features. As of late, developers can now tap into the Open Stream API which enables developers to pull out their status updates in real time (very Twitterish) as well as the Inbox API with which you can pull messages out from your fB mailbox (albeit one-way, so no outgoing spam blasts). There is also talk of a Live Search product coming out soon, as well as the most recent news of the Facebook Lite testing going on as we speak. Again, very Twitterish…

• LinkedIn hits 45 Million Users (8/12): You think social media is just about friends, pictures, videos and FarmVille? Guess again – Linked in just hit 45,000,000 users. That combined with their recent self-serve advertising and polling features makes this a gigantic, yet still niche platform. Look for much more opportunity coming from these guys soon…

The fact of the matter is that this is a testament to the modern world of digital media… We always tell our clients – if we give you this presentation again in 30-days it is likely going to be completely different! Social media changes by-the-minute and if you aren’t investing some time or money into it at this point – you are going to spend a lot more of both in the coming months or years trying to catch-up. Hopefully, this post took care of the last 15-days – the next 15 are up to you.

Cheers!
-Kevin Planovsky
twitter.com/kplanovsky
facebook.com/kplanovsky

This explosive growth can be  directly attributed to two things: 1) The enormous media budget this movie had behind it, and 2) The exponential networking power of social media – specifically Facebook’s news feed. I guarantee you people were not seeing TV commercials for this movie and then rushing to their computers to hurry up and become fans of this movie… no, it was much more organic than that…

These fans (now approaching 2 million) were prompted by their friends, co-workers, family members, neighbors, and old high school friends. The Facebook Fan page for The Hangover did right what over fan pages do wrong – they enabled users to post their actions to their news feed… subsequently alerting their entire network of their actions. It is safe to argue that with this tactic alone The Hangover probably received well over 10,000,000 “free” digital impressions (or $10-20k in free digital media @ $1-2 CPMs) – and that is a safe guesstimate…

The moral of the story: Anyone can make a fan page – but is your brand man enough to leave the power of exponential sharing and growth in the hands of your humble fans? Only you can answer that…

-Kevin Planovsky