Mobile phones have come a long way. So far in fact, that the inventor of the mobile phone, Mr. Martin Cooper feels that they’re getting too complicated for their own good. But somehow, this doesn’t seem to be a feeling reciprocated by the general populace. Every new technology that has appeared in a mobile device has been embraced by customers with open arms. We’re talking features like built-in cameras, media playing capabilities, rich, desktop like internet experience, 3D gaming, GPS and so on…  Some folks may have been sceptical when our esteemed client Nokia marketed their ground breaking N95 handset a few years back as a “Computer in your pocket”, but that is indeed what phones have transformed into. Modern day mobile phones are more powerful than full blown computers from just a few years ago and although the smaller form factors pose obvious limitations on them in terms of content creation, they are fast becoming the most popular avenue for content consumption.

Obviously, this is an interesting aspect for us as an agency and to our clients, by extension. Where there is content, there is advertisement. Advertisements keep the ecosystem alive and a well crafted ad campaign can get the end users’ genuine attention without ruining their core experience and putting them off. Now obviously, banner ads on a web page and sponsored search links are not the ideal solution for this on the mobile platform.  In a world where people seem to gravitate more towards customized “App-based” solutions rather than generic web pages, these desktop oriented tools prove to be fairly limited in terms of reach, potential and execution. The good news is that mobile phone platform developers have realized this and have come up with next-gen solutions for the same. Apple’s iAds (For iOS) is one example. Google’s admob (Multiple platforms) is another. Of course, there is the tried and tested Adobe Flash. One could also not discount a possible foray from Microsoft into this arena, given the renewed vigour they are showing with Bing and the upcoming Windows Phone 7 platform.

With these powerful  tools, an agency is poised to craft exciting ad campaigns for their clientele that does not hamper the customers’ user experience. No longer would one have to be subjected to an online Casino ad while using a free stock monitoring application. Content, location and usage pattern awareness holds the key here. By using this data, the right ads are pushed to the right people and only them: The ones that may genuinely be interested in the product/ service. Add to this the ability to utilize additional hardware on the device such as the camera and a whole new set of possibilities pop up.  Microsoft Tag is one obvious implementation of this, but the future beholds a lot more. Whatever technologies that are being used or platforms that they are being implemented on, mobile phone advertisements are taking a leap to the future; just like how the devices themselves did in the past few years.

Of course, the ultimate challenge is to utilize these tools so as to craft an effective campaign and not just use technology for technology’s sake. This is where our award winning team comes in. So what exactly can one expect from The Upper Storey on this front in the coming days? All we can say is, stay tuned…

Only recently, The Upper Storey created a print/POSM campaign for MSI. What was especially heartening was how it started as a brief for a regional campaign and the subsequent decision to implement our work globally as well. It’s always a treat when we get to do a shoot, as we get complete control over every single element, instead of spending time looking through image libraries. Raymond from Capsule Productions was our lensman for the campaign.

Our DI house then added the final touches, bringing out essential visual elements as well as adding the pièce de résistance – the all new 2010 Intel Core  processor.  Here are the final images that made the cut.

“The most basic rule of thumb is that for every site the user should be able to understand what your site is about by the information presented to them above the fold. If they have to scroll to even discover what the site is, its success is unlikely. Functionality that is essential to business strategy should remain (or at least begin) above the fold.”

- Milissa Tarquini Director of UI  Design and Information Architecture at AOL.

1)  Yes above the fold is the most effective place for content (as Milissa Tarquini nicely put it). But, …

2)  …the fact that the world’s second most visited site, Facebook has much of it’s content below the fold shows we have learnt to scroll. We scroll, click on a link or even leave the site because we are still looking for our fix of information. Why we scroll is because …

3)  … we’ve learnt and instinctively know to scroll when we have visual cues that tell there’s more to see below. Be it text peeking above the fold, bordered content that runs off the page, or the presence of a scrollbar. This Tog (Bruce Tognazzini) tells in 1998, ‘The first screenful of a web page–or any other foreign document–tends to look complete. Unless the screen happens to break across some graphical element or divides a line of text in two, users will assume they have seen it all and will move on.’. Before we start pushing pixels we answer…

4)  …the question of where lies the fold. According to W3school 96% of internet users’ computers are on 1024 x 768px and higher. Though this may be their overall screen resolution, the actual browser viewing area is reduced when you factor in the title bar, toolbars, favourites bar, etc. Leaving the fold to be about 500 to 550px from the top of the browser display. According to Google Labs’ Browser Size (Check it out, it visualizes of the different browser window sizes of those who visit Google), 90% of visitors to Google have the fold at 500px and 80% at 550px. This is a good rule of thumb but should the site target specific platforms (eg. mobile or touch screen) the fold shifts but the principals of 1)-3) still applies.

We know people scroll so putting content below the fold is not an issue. In my humble opinion, for a campaign site it all boils down to the objectives, the funnel and ultimately the goal. The first take out should be to have users understand the site objective and then drive them towards the funnel via CTA’s (call to actions). Subsequent content and CTA’s can flow from there below the fold. Don’t shove all the content and CTA up top. If designed correctly, users will find it. Allowing the CTA’s the luxury of white space, they will in turn work harder for you.

If you’re interested in reading more, Fiz Yazdi & Joe Leech wrote a great article with quantitative evidence on this and was referenced extensively in this commentary. Also interesting read that was referenced is 10 Techniques For An Effective Call To Action by Paul Boag.

Friday: Toshiba celebrates 25 years of laptop development with two great new products. The Portégé R700 and the Libretto W100. Both outstanding products, the R700 features new Intel cooling technology allowing a fully featured Core family processor to be placed in a very light, very thin, laptop. And the W100 certainly has everyone talking with it’s dual screen.

The Upper Storey developed the pan-SEA campaign mainly executed through Print. However a key component was digital activation online and through a new innovative POS initiative. I will post the material as it goes live around Asia, and we’ll post a special edition about this retail idea.

Even before we get the time to send out a post on Tech Therapy, POPSOP has already done a pretty good review. This campaign is still in soft launch as we have only shared to a small group. Videos are starting to pop up everywhere (Vidz, Scary Ideas, Daily Motion, Kewego, Viddler, Guba, …. ), mostly uploaded to their own server, some re-branded and some crediting the wrong agency (again), but as we know we cant control these things.

We will post a more complete background for this campaign soon.

This year I have been asked to help judge the DMA awards for 2010. This is a great opportunity to see some of the best work in Asia, and get some insight from fellow judges on how they perceive the work. So I am very happy to do it, although it is not something I have done since my days back in London when I was part of BIMA. Of course we hope to enter a few things too. At the DMA’s last year we won Gold and Silver (Dell and Intel) and helped Intel & Dell win joint Digital Brands of the year.

Microsoft announced the general availability of Office 2010 in Singapore with the 2010 IDEA JAM launch party, at *Scape Youth Park.

The 2010 IDEA JAM, an launch idea that was developed from the best launch idea crowd-sourced from more than 5,000 fans on the Facebook page “Office 2010 SG Insiders”. It was a celebration of local alternative art and music, creative ideas that were made better with Office 2010. Rock acts Jack & Rai, 53A, and DJ Perk (Pietrek) used Excel 2010 to visualize their music.

The winners of the evening’s Demo Challenge also won themselves the first retail copies of Office 2010, autographed by Steve Ballmer.

The event was executed by a local Singaporean event company.

The Upper Storey has launched a new campaign for Microsoft Singapore to help promote the key features of Internet Explorer 8. The campaign called ‘MysterIE8 Ball’ allows users to receive fun messages to foretell their future, and to potentially win cash and partner prizes.

Utilising a new, specially designed Web Slice, a user can shake the MysterIE8 Ball daily to win cash and prizes. In addition, the campaign will help showcase content Web Slices from Zuji and Golden Village, and Zuji travel vouchers and Golden Village tickets will be available for winners daily.

For details on how this program uses a partnership strategy to help business KPI’s, give me a call and I will run through the approach.

Intel was announced a winner for ‘corporate reputation & professional services’ at the recent worldwide Effie awards. The award was given for the ‘Sponsors of Tomorrow’ campaign.

And graciously they acknowledged all their global agency partners help in bringing the campaign to life.

• Venables Bell & Partners
• Tag Worldwide
• OMD
• The Upper Storey Pte Ltd
• Bates 141 HK

For us it was great fun to put together the ‘rockstar viral’ work for India.

I have just finished moderating the talk “Digital Hybrid- The Future of Agency Evolvement” at ad:tech Singapore. Attendance at the event overall was good. With probably 600 to 700 people at the keynote speeches. However all panel discussions were not so well attended. It seems people are keen to hear more about indepth case studies and/or different topics.

Maybe ad:tech should crowdsource the topics for next years conference, and maybe even nominate who they want to see speaking.

Overall however the audience seemed quite interested in hearing about ‘the agency of the future’. So a big thanks to Haresh, Sally, Calvin & Anand for their insights.