Facebook Might Have Gone Too Far This Time.

Facebook has made a lot of shady decisions in the past; one of the most recent was changing everyone’s contact information to feature their Facebook email address instead of their preferred or ACTUAL email address. And today, they've hit another nerve:

They demanded my Grandmother’s government ID in order to keep her Facebook account. 

You have got to be kidding me!

 

Read the rest on FUSE Marketing Group's Blog

Is Apple In Trouble?

A biased look at the biggest tech company through the eyes of my roommate

*Read the original Post here 

First off – Apple is a giant in the tech world and has been since my early years of high school where I met my best friend and now roommate. One thing about my wonderful roommate is that she is a Tech Junkie (in the most flattering way possible). All throughout high school she always seemed to have the newest gadget from the i-Empire. I remember when she brought home the new iPod and then the iPod Touch when she needed touch screen, and now she has a Macbook Air because her Pro was too heavy, an iPad and the iPhone 4. In fact, if you remember the hilarious commercial from the Superbowl making fun of a particular group of fans sitting in line for the newest iPhone, well, that would be her, which I say with complete loving respect. 

Lately though Apple has faced a few question marks with the recent passing of Steve Jobs and the lack of innovation from the iPad 2 to iPad 3, though their earning reports haven’t seemed to notice. But through it all, my roommate was standing strong in defense of her tech brand. So when we were wandering in the mall on one of our many girly trips, I was shocked to see her staring at the new Galaxy Note (though I will admit it caught my eye as well). Initially, I just brushed it off as new technology curiosity until she pulled out her iPhone right there, opened Safari and logged into her service providers’ website to see how much it would cost to upgrade to the Note that day.

Later that night when we were home I felt my phone buzz and saw that I had a few new pins on my Pinterest board. She was looking at cases for the Note and had sent me a few she thought I would like. We started to discuss the upgrade (that’s right, upgrade from the iPhone to a Galaxy Note) and found that there were many features that were pulling us over. Beyond that, there were a lot of concerns making us wary of Apple. The difference (or lack thereof) between the old iPad and the new iPad really got us - a higher resolution screen and a bit thinner body? That’s it? The iPhone hadn’t seen much improvement either, as its layout and OS hadn’t changed much aside from a recent upgrade that allowed you to personalize ringtones.

Then we came to a sad realization. Despite the allure of its competitors, she may not ever be able to leave the iPhone. She already owns a MacBook Air and iPad. Once she left her iPhone for any other phone she would be sacrificing the easy transferability between devices. Plus, she has a LIBRARY of iTunes music that she has been building for years, and her iPhone syncs so easily with her Macbook as an MP3 player. We realized exactly how sneaky Apple had been; it ninja-d into our lives, with promises of easy use and top of the line technology. Now she was stuck. Was she really ready to leave Apple if it meant giving up so much convenience? 

Having realized just how difficult it may be to leave the Apple family, we decided to wait and see what would be announced at the E3 conference, be it a new phone or software - anything worth staying with Apple? Or maybe it’d finally be time to abandon ship? 

At the E3 Conference, Apple announced their new iOS6 and interesting upgrades coming in the fall, when we can also expect to see the new iPhone 5, otherwise known as Apple’s last chance with some of its more loyal fans. Since it’s still a considerable amount of money to upgrade to the Note at the moment, we are going to wait until the fall and the rumoured launch of the iPhone 5, saving up money now (her and I) for a much needed upgrade since the new iOS6 won’t work with my old school iPhone3. That means I either move to an iPhone5 or the Note this September.

What do you think of Apple lately? Is it worth staying loyal, or is there someone new out there that’s more deserving of my time and money?

Stay tuned for the decision coming this fall! :P

The Digital Consumer: Part 2

The Digital Apartment Hunt:

I don’t know how my mom looked for apartments when she was my age, but I realized while I was searching through ads on Kijiji that I didn’t know where else to look for apartments. Then I thought - Craigslist and I googled “Toronto Apartments” and was a little embarrassed at myself when I saw that all these sites were similar. The point isn’t that I don’t know what other websites to look at, but rather that I didn’t know where to search outside of the web.

I really started to think about how much the apartment hunt had changed over the last few years and started to analyze my apartment hunting process:

- Pick a website/directory – My choice is Kijiji for user friendliness

- Decide on a central location for all searches – I decided that my workplace made the most sense

- Limit/personalize the search by number of bedrooms, pet friendly, etc.

- Start the vetting process

o Only look at locations with pictures

o Utilities included & parking available

o Google Test – yes Google Test

So the Google Test works like this, take the address from the ad, plug it into Google Maps and get the TTC directions from work to the apartment, anything over an hour commute or more than 3 transfers was too hard for a Monday morning commute and was disregarded in the search. If the commute is doable, I used Street View to determine if I trusted the location.

Finally, after all this preliminary vetting I would e-mail for more information or a viewing date. This made me wonder: what other products/companies do I extensively vet before I even give the product a second thought? And that lead to my Digital Dress Hunt.

Read more on FUSEmg's FUZZ Blog

The Digital Consumer: Part 1

The Digital Dress Hunt:

Trying to plan a wedding is ridiculous and for anyone looking for advice…elope! But the one thing I am really looking forward to is the shower - the one event where you can see everyone before the wedding that YOU DON’T HAVE TO PLAN!  The only thing you need to worry about, or should worry about, is getting there (knowing the date in advance) and picking out a dress/outfit for it – WAIT….I don’t have a dress yet!

As a full-time working woman, I don’t have time to comb through the malls and stores of Toronto to find the right dress. So I asked myself: how do I normally look for a dress? Well, I usually go to the stores where I know I’ll like the fashions and search the racks. But I don’t have the time for that.

I get home Monday night, take Paige (my dog) for a walk, make dinner, do laundry and hopefully get to the gym before my roommate gets home, so I don’t think browsing is going to work. Instead of wasting my time doing nothing while I do laundry, I grab my laptop and start rifling through the digital racks. I Googled all the stores I know and trust, pull up mall directories, and start looking through the dress selections. I take the ones I like (that are in my price range) and pin them to a special Pin Board on Pinterest. Once I’ve compiled a sizable selection to choose from, I head to my Pinterest page for a final vetting stage before sending the link off to friends and family for their feedback. I ask them to ‘like’ or comment on the dresses they suggest and tell them I am heading out Friday to try them on. 

While I’m on my way to work Friday morning, I pull up my pin board, where I’ve also allowed a few friends the ability to add items. When all is said and done, I see I have three stores and 5 dresses to check out when I get off work.

Why is this important?

Well, because I vetoed stores, dresses and whole locations before ever stepping foot outside my door. I had decided what dresses to try on, what store to choose, and what location to go to. The Yokdale Mall didn’t have a chance since I knew the same dresses were available at the more conveniently located Eaton Centre. The sales staff didn’t influence whether I came in or not, just whether I purchased in the store or checked eBay when I got home.

My advice:

1. Make sure I can find your website on Google; search words for this particular hunt were “blue dress”, “Alice inspired dress”, and the company name if I knew it.

2. Have your products professionally shot and easily searchable/sharable online, prices listed, and display location-by-location availability. 

3. And have the most user-friendly site you can manage. Some were so difficult to navigate that I gave up and went somewhere else.

Last thought – the traditional shopper isn’t dead, and as much as I love window shopping and wandering the mall, sometimes I don’t have time and still have a need to buy something specific by a certain deadline. The online vetting process works best for my lifestyle, especially when the mall isn’t open at midnight when I’m finally free to browse.

Thanks and get digital - @mandamwright

Too Social?

Have we as consumers become too social? 

As I look down at my iPhone - connected to GPS and with a camera + voice recorder built-in - and then at all my social apps; Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc...I realize that I have the ability to share my everything with the world. Thankfully, I don’t. But the point is I could and some people do. And what happens when the consumers are too social? Can they be too social? I think so – but what’s the response?

Some companies decide to bury their heads and pretend that social media is a fad that will go away. Some barely accept it into their lives by creating a Facebook page that is never updated and adding ‘like’ buttons to their website, while some jump right in and engage with their audience through live video chat, online events, social promotions, online customer service, etc. But can too much social engagement become detrimental to the brand?

Earlier this month, pro wrestling's Vince McMahon brought his social media event of the year to the screens – emphasis on screen(s) – of millions of wrestling fans! With the pay-per-view event on TV, exclusive content available on YouTube and Facebook and super star interactions on Twitter, it isn’t surprising that Wrestlemania had 110 trending topics in 5 hours, received over 3.9 million views on YouTube, plus an event hashtag that was mentioned more than 600,000 times in less than 24 hours. 

But are all these social add-ons a good thing?

I still remember years ago, when I was sitting with family laughing, screaming and reacting to the matches on TV. I enjoyed every moment of it and became emotionally attached to my favourite wrestlers. And guess what - I wasn’t Tweeting or posting on Facebook while I did it. Sometimes I’d wiki-search for a wrestler’s bio if he was new, but I was experiencing the show with real people and acting like the perfect fan, falling for every stunt and becoming angry when the heel would cheat - and now it’s all changed.

Flash forward to present day. To understand the full story lines of a weekly show, I now need to watch the YouTube channel and listen all week on Twitter to catch up on the latest feud between the Bella Twins and Kelly Kelly. Even when I’m watching on television, there are constant references to something on Twitter that I should have paid more attention to and the experience, as a result, becomes a lot of work. Relaxing with family and friends is hijacked by another 2 hours spent on my mobile screen trying to find out everything I need to know in order to follow the plot. 

So, what happens when a company becomes TOO social? Can a company cross the line of usage when it comes to social media? Or, are fans like me just being a little too resistant to the future of entertainment?

-@mandamwright

The Power of Placement – Week 4/6 as Marketing Intern

@mandamwright

I can’t believe how time is flying here at FUSE. Over the past few weeks I have really thought about what an internship is, and how it can affect a student. I know some peers went to placements thinking they were getting a job, some to graduate and move onto other studies, and many like me just didn’t know exactly what to expect. My belief is you should never go into a situation like placement and expect to get a job, there may not be an opening, maybe you don’t fit with the team, or maybe it’s perfect and you get it, but I think that if your entire focus is securing a job with the company you will over look everything else you can get from a placement.

These are my key takeaways from my internship at FUSE Marketing Group.


Networking – It is a given that being an intern allows you to meet a multitude of industry professionals, but taking advantage of this oppourtunity is how you will get the most out of your placement. The end goal is NOT to get a job but to make connections. Connect with your team on Linked In, shadow internal meetings and reviews, go out to lunch with the individuals you work with every day, connect with them on a personal and professional level. Don’t only make them your friends, but show them what you can do in the office as well.

Learn from these professionals, wow them, and search for that ‘golden reference’.

Studying – The office atmosphere has many differences from the classroom, but the main similarities I noticed was how close everyone becomes and how many different personalities comprise one team, let alone the entire office/company. Studying how all of these individuals interact with each other as well as how they adapt to the each unique client is a lesson in itself.

Understand the office dynamic as well as the many different techniques to adapt to different clients and you will go far in this business.

Experience – The one shout out I must give to my program at St. Lawrence College (Advertising: Integrated Marketing Communications) is our experience with local clients and the ability to run through the entire campaign process from the RFP and Pitch all the way through to Execution and Analytics has helped prepare us for agency life. In the office I suggest help with EVERYTHING, if there is anything on a project you are even remotely interested in, ask how you can help. Offer your time to everyone on your team, and to other teams, try to get your hand into as many projects as possible (without over extending yourself, because you want all of your work to be your best work) and expand your experience beyond sitting at a desk waiting for a project to fall in your lap.

My highlight of placement so far would have to be my work on the FUZZ Blog, not because it is astounding and groundbreaking, but because they trusted my work enough to have it associated with their brand. Seeing my blog post on the main website, shared on their Facebook and Twitter was the pat on the back I didn’t realize I needed.

My Advice to anyone entering into placement (Outside the obvious – show up early and be professional)

Everyday of placement is an in office interview. Never expect a job from an internship but earn an amazing reference. Every meeting is a first impression, every morning is a chance to show how dedicated you are to the industry and brand, and every interaction is a window of oppourtunity to create a long standing professional relationship to help you in the job search of the future.

My Descent Into Fashion Madness

Like so many others, I recently disappeared into the addictive world of Pinterest! I'd heard a ton about this new social platform - first when I was at the bridal shop trying on dresses, where my lady informed me that I could plan my entire wedding on a "Virtual Pinboard". I honestly had no idea what she was talking about, so I just smiled, nodded, and tried on some more dresses. But then I kept hearing about it at school, at work, and from my friends. Eventually, I just had to check it out.

"INVITATION ONLY!"

Well fine, using my Twitter and Facebook network I eventually found a friend on Pinterest and asked them to send me an invite to this elusive site. Is it really worth all the hassle, you may ask? Well, moments after receiving the invitation and linking it to my Twitter profile, I realized...YES! It really was.

From the first time I signed in to the moment I began "pinning", the entire interface was very intuitive. The layout was clean and simple; very Google-esque and inviting. I spotted an outfit I loved and clicked on the photo. An enlarged version popped up with interactive buttons. I could pin it to my own board, like it, or comment on it. Well, I wanted to buy it later (when I have money), so I decided to pin it to my wish list. It came with pricing and a URL for easy purchase on pay day. After that, I was hooked. For the next two hours my roommate was a little worried as I hadn’t left my screen or said a word - I was too busy pinning. Pinning what, you ask? E-vv-erything! Gift ideas for friends, home decor, and anything else that inspired me or that I intend to buy. But mostly, I was pinning clothes, shoes, accessories and outfits I wanted to own. I mean, come on...what woman doesn’t like to shop?

I started to notice a trend: all the outfits were conveniently priced out for me AND they all linked out to brand sites where I could buy them. This was easier than window shopping! It was all running through a site named Polyvore - a platform that allows users to drag and drop images of clothing to create unique outfits using items from different retailers. Once again, everything linked out to e-commerce sites where you could buy your custom design. And they didn't just offer impractical runway outfits like most fashion magazines; there were many beautiful and practical styles for teenagers, business casual, formal attire, and the occasional Halloween costume.

This is an amazing example of retailers utilizing an emerging platform to enrich and expand the shopper experience. So, what else can retailers do to capitalize on sites like Pinterest and Polyvore?

5 Ways For Retailers To Be Successful Online and on Pinterest

1. Make your website user-friendly and make all products available to purchase online with high quality photos for previewing.
2. Have store managers create Pinterest accounts where they put together their top outfits of the week, new features, lines & items, etc.
3. Make sure all merchandise is not only available online but that it is easily shippable with a return policy for sizing (people are still wary about purchasing clothes online, make it easy and worry free).
4. Have Wi-Fi in stores and the ability to take a picture, or scan a QR code to "Pin" outfits and articles of clothing online while physically in-store.
5. Use Pinterest/Polyvore outfits on your mannequins, take pictures, "Pin" them and share them back with the users to create buzz, deepen relationships, and connect your online presence with your in-store promotions.

-@mandamwright