Archive for May 3rd, 2011

Q&A: Why didn’t UBL hear the helicopters ?

May 3, 2011

We live close to CIA headquarters in Langley, and  we often hear loud (make that VERY loud) gov’t copters over head. 

So, I wondered: why didn’t UBL hear the helicopters coming and tunnel his way out of the complex?

A military analyst on Fox broke the code.

First, the copters have a ‘low noise’ mode that dampens some of the sound.  Dampens the sound, but doesn’t silence it.

The real key was where UBL’s digs were situated.

Since the mansion was in the middle of 3 miltary complexes, it was common for copters to be flying in the area at all times of the day and night.

So, UBL probably assumed that they were friendly Paki copters — not US Navy copters.

Then, the landing and engagement were so quick that UBL didn’t have time to do anything but grab the women he used as shield.

In the words of the analyst: “UBL and the Pakis were too clever by half  by situating in the military area.  It gave the copters the cover they needed to breach the airspace undetected.”

Pretty interesting , huh?

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5 tips to make mobile work for your brand

May 3, 2011

TakeAway: The rapid growth of mobile technology has forced marketers to think about ways to connect with consumers through a new channel: Mobile phones.

In order to make sure your mobile strategies are working make sure you know your customer and are able to give them what they want, when they want.

Don’t be afraid to move first and correct later. 

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Excerpted from AdAge, “Making Mobile Work for Your Brand: Five Expert Tips” by Manuela Zoninsein , April 6, 2011

Mobile technology has, …created deeper interactions between people and brands. It’s not always easy to get it right, but with mobile internet usage expected to outnumber desktop connections in the next few years, marketers can’t wait to craft mobile strategies. …

Here, five tips on how mobile can work for your brand:

1) Get data: “You can deepen relationships with data,” …

By gathering and reviewing data, the company can chart user activity by criteria such as time of day and category. For example, it’s been found that dinner-time and food-related updates are most common. Using this information, marketers “can start to predict behaviors” and “use data to figure out where people are and will be at different times…”

2) Know what your consumer wants

“Deliver better experiences based on what you know about a person or interaction,” … experimenting with curating purchasing experiences for customers based on history and preferences. … Once the customer “bumps,” identifying himself, the retailer becomes aware of key facts about him. Perhaps he is a vegetarian, and always likes to buy organic products. He can make an order from a menu of regular options and pay right away, without standing in line.

3) Gratify. Instantly: “The hardest challenge… is giving instant gratification, instant value, to the user.”

Social sharing enters real time; so if people traveling together want to share photos, or a new song, they can do so without connecting over another platform such as email or Skype.

4) Go global

Get rid of U.S.-based mentalities. … “Bump’s” fastest-growing user bases residing in Hong Kong and South Korea. Similarly,

Foursquare’s usage map was notably global, with a strong footprint not just in the developed world (U.S., Europe, Japan) but also in Southeast Asia, the Middle East (Israel, most prominently) and pockets of South America.

5) Move first

A lot of these lessons came by way of experimentation, but that’s not an excuse to sit back and watch the market perfect itself…. “getting customers a few years from now will be more difficult,” so there’s a real need “to be creative and more aggressive.”

Though the technology is not perfect, it works well enough and it’s important to learn as it evolves. … “What you think you know about your users is wrong, and you won’t know until they tell you. So why waste time?”

Edit by HH

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