Augmented reality (AR) is a developing technology that overlays computer-generated graphics onto a real image or video. The most popular example of AR is the yellow First Down line on televised football games. We’ve also seen it in rotating billboard displays on soccer and baseball, and briefly, the trailing comet tail to help hockey fans keep their eye on the puck.

Zugara, an interactive agency, experimented with online augmented reality in a couple notable online applications. The Webcam Social Shopper is a virtual fitting room that lets people see themselves in clothing before they buy. It also uses motion capture so a person can navigate the online store by moving their hands rather than stepping up to the keyboard.

They followed up with Cannonballz, a game utilizing a person’s web camera and Facebook Connect so the player becomes part of the action.

Oddcast has a simple AR demo. Just print the unique badge and display it in front of your webcam to bring an animated rocker to life. SekaiCamera is making strides in mobile AR as well; this video from LOEWE Tokyo offers a glimpse.

Location-Based Social Captioning

Layar is a Dutch-made program that enables people to leave comments on images captured by their mobile device. The app uses 3D technology to gauge distances as well as the phone’s compass and GPS or cell tower triangulation. Then, computing all this information on the fly, the real image can be geotargeted so that other people can read the comments and post their own.

People have already demonstrated a desire to share their opinions specifically. Check the level of user engagement in places like Viddler in-play video comments, Yelp reviews and the tips, reviews & crowdsourcing features of contextual location-based apps like FourSquare, Gowalla, BrightKite, Navizon and Waze.

Social captioning seems like a natural evolution of AR. With advanced filtering and administrative control, I can imagine a number of recreational and commercial uses for this kind of application.

• Ratings & reviews Restaurants, bars, local retail
• Visitor attractions City walking tours, Architectural and historical tours, ghost & event tours, sports & convert venues
• Real estate Listings, property details and contact info
• Scavenger hunts For fun & education, geocaching
• Amusement parks Maps, games and awards
• Convention exhibition Product interaction, marketing challenges
• Product testing & consumer feedback Large area or ticket items
• TV/Film Scene caption games, reviews
• Municipal services Emergency response, crime scene investigations, water & gas line mapping
• And more… Education, healthcare, transportation, shipping, traffic & weather, social communities, I could go on.

Layar recently won the Vodafone Mobile Clicks start-up challenge with a €75.000 prize. Here is the presentation they used in their pitch.

To see who is experimenting and applying augmented reality to the real world, visit the AR Consortium.

I’m a big fan of custom flash units in interactive video advertising. Barbarian Group kicked off the genre with Burger King’s Subserviant Chicken, but EVB & Toy New York helped Office Max push custom advertainment virally with personal content in Elf Yourself.

Two other examples come to mind, Aveaword for BMW Mini UK by Glue London and Carmen Had a Crush On You by JetSet Studios for the Meet the Spartans movie.

As a producer, I like the mix of creative and technical strategy required to pull these off as well as the challenge of tight broadcast integration. These campaigns also glean solid web analytics to help justify ROI. I’ve had fun planning the execution of similar concepts for NASCAR champion Carl Edwards who is building his own personal brand quite well.

Here is the latest one created by MoveOn.org & sent from my longtime friend @NigelPrentice imploring the consequences of my not voting for Obama.

This is a clever execution that is relatively inexpensive because the back-end logic simply handles text & destination email. It doesn’t use pics, video or mobile, all of which yield a richer experience, but exclude less savvy participants. As a result, this simple concept can take off quicker and spread further.

Did you get this in your inbox? I’d be interested in hearing any metrics & market penetration for this campaign. Otherwise, what do you think of the execution?

Post Election Update: Frank Luntz, political analyst and author of Words That Work , says “for the first time ever, this election cycle, more young people got their information from the web than from the print media or television. This has never happened before. It means that YouTube and MySpace and Facebook matter.”

Police arrested a 66 year old woman this week for refusing to pay her $7.45 tab at Waffle House. The story got picked up by Drudge Report, then the broader media and finally through blogs and social media networks.

This is not a bona fide PR crisis, but this situation reflects poorly on Waffle House, a national chain with ~1500 stores. Dumb criminals are entertaining, but reports aren’t clear about why she didn’t (couldn’t?) pay. Many bloggers are finding fault with the restaurant and railing against it. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, Google Blog Search]

The store manager probably should have discreetly waived the bill, although I can’t imagine they thought the situation would be elevated to national attention. Regardless, this is an opportunity for the company to define it’s relational strategies for crisis management and online consumer interaction.

Background: Waffle House Serves a Broad Base

Full disclosure: I love Waffle House. It’s a brand steeped in Diner Americana invoking the hot black coffee retreat painted by Edward Hopper. The all-day-breakfast menu is working class fuel, from pre-dawn to the deep night-shift. It’s the kind of place comfortable memories are made, from roadtrip pitstop adventures to the nighthawk’s final call.

Waffle House is a cultural icon rich in user-generated content. Click images to see Flickr comments.

Waffle House offers simple food, folksy patrons and they have some of the hardiest working & friendliest servers in the industry. Sitting next to the grill line when the place is slammed, the hot sizzle, greasy smells and barking orders is poetic to a business process nerd like me.

Recent Waffle House PR Challenges & Responses

Waffle House has already faced a series of bad press from unruly customers.

• October 2008 Robberies occur in Texas and Alabama. A fatal shooting Florida is met with calls for boycotts online.
• August 2008 LiveLeak has security video of a brawl complete with racist comments about Waffle House customers. The company should nail whoever is releasing these security videos to the public, although methinks it may have been released by plaintiff litigants who obtained them through the course of Discovery. Unfortunately, the damage is done; the company’s best response is being prepared next time.
• March 2008 Kid Rock pleaded not guilty for fighting in a Waffle House. I love the company’s response: they invited the star back to a restaurant to greet his fans and raise money for a local homeless shelter. Spokesperson Kelly Thrasher explains the company wanted to “take a negative situation and turn it into a positive situation.”

Waffle House brand managers should proactively apply this positive philosophy to social media. This recent series of events can be the impetus for a cohesive online PR strategy that touts the brand’s long-standing reputation for good customer service.

“When life gives you lemons, make lemonade!”
Grandma

What Should Waffle House Do?

I recommend a deep dive on some of these general actions.

• Develop an Online Persona
  One can expect resistance to social media from a brick-and-mortar diner chain, especially one that doesn’t advertise. Traditional PR might consult with Legal and publicly drop all charges. Or partner with local homeless services nonprofits.
   
  However, consumers have already extended the brand across social networks (more on that below). Blue collar audiences are online, 70% use social media and savvy brands are serving them.
   
  Whataburger is a Southern burger chain with a made-to-order heritage that targets men, 50+. It’s ad agency McGarrah-Jessee drives a polished effort online as well as in direct, outdoor and cool broadcast work reminiscent of my favorite down-home man-it-up Miller High Life spots.
   
  We tailored the BecomeAnEX campaign to help multiple shades of blue-collar audiences. We found a majority of our target already online and eagerly embracing mobile technologies.
• Engage Existing Communities
  My brief research uncovered a bevy of positive stories, pictures, a Wikipedia article and scores of cult-classic sentiments like this unassuming Waffle House Wedding in Georgia that would have been a hoot to crash. Git ‘er done!
   
  The alt.food.waffle-house Usenet group has 6000 members, there are YouTube videos, 1000s of pics on Flickr, large fan groups on Facebook and Ning and constant tweets on Twitter to name a few.
   
  Once brand managers know where people congregate online, they can enter discussions via PR and interactive advertising. I believe an approachable persona mixed in humurous kitsch and classic PR would be very well received in micromedia formats (@woot comes to mind).
• Develop Distinct Strategies for Each Platform
  Social media outlets are unique and some communities lend themselves to different business objectives (i.e awareness, response, promotion, revenue, feedback channels, etc). Plan accordingly.
• Leverage UGC
  Integrate user-generated content into Waffle House web properties.
• Attach the Brand to a Quirky Holiday
  Waffle House already does this to some extent. They are a sponsor of Real Men Cook, a family celebration event hosted on Father’s Day in Atlanta. Waffle House benefits with buzz marketing, product placement and celebrity endorsement.
   
  The company also celebrates National Waffle Week and hosts the World Waffle Eating Championship that garners press for it’s high-profile speed eaters.
   
  A cheap Quirky Holiday SEM Strategy could generate local press, elevate presence of mind & uptick sales for a couple days on an otherwise off-beat holiday. Eat What You Want Day [May 11] could be fun given their pick-n-choose menu. Other possibilities: Lips Appreciation Day [Mar 16] and No Housework Day [Apr 7].
• Update the “Newsroom”
  I’d wager the Waffle House Newsroom got a lot of hits today with this story. And it hasn’t been updated in over two years. Good media relations is critical.
• Web Analytics & PR Measurement
  Judging by the state of the site, and the apparent lack of a full-time PR manager, I’d wager executives don’t study inbound traffic sources. At one time, Waffle House partnered with Vocus for on-demand news monitoring and measurement. Hopefully company employs basic online monitoring.
• Implement a Brandjacking Defense Posture
  These are just the kind of one-off stories that instigate a brandjacking that will probably run it’s course in a few days. Even if this case probably will not hurt the brand long-term, why risk it? It appears @wafflehouse has already been brandjacked on Twitter and on Google’s Blogspot.
   
  Using my Social Media Checklist, Waffle House brand managers should snag social media profiles, even if it doesn’t actually engage followers.
• Speak to Security Concerns
  Customers need to feel safe. Be open about what security measures the company is taking and address flagrant misstatements when they occur. This requires active and passive online brand monitoring.
• New Price Points
  I’m not privy to current Waffle House pricing strategies, although, I do remember All You Can Eat deals for $3.99 in college! Brands have to be careful about competing on price when a depressed economy eventually recovers. However, this story got traction because of the economy; people will make a connection on price & this lady being unable to afford $7.45. A temporary high-level plan can hedge against public blowback.

Enterprise Strategies in Social Media

While PR focused on external messaging, Waffle House can use social media for internal infrastructure communications.

• Franchise Communications
  A few years ago, I got an internal sneak peak at Schlotzsky’s efforts to shore up internal communication among franchisees during a restructuring phase. I’d keep an eye out for anything that supported franchise relations specifically.
• Collaborate On Internet Messaging & Brand Identity
  Schlotzsky’s also addressed inconsistencies in external messaging, branding and stores across the franchise system, both in traditional and online advertising. From what I can tell, Waffle House is facing similar challenges today. Even after establishing a strict code of branding guidelines, policing and enforcement requires dedicated resources.
• Regional Online Marketing & Domainjacking Avoidance
  The lack of an online messaging strategy also puts the brand at risk for domainjacking. Franchises are already grabbing their own domain names, which is common when marketplace planning and legal don’t keep pace with technology.
   
  Waffle House should have a unified front in the WaffleHouse.com domain, improve the store locator & offer marketing pages for franchise owners so they can leverage the brand for local promotion. Following this, the company can develop strategies for regional online marketing & mitigate the risk of domainjacking.

Is this case study helpful? What would you suggest to Waffle House executives? Please share your thoughts below!

Case Study: Effective Online PR by Travel Brands

Working at GSD&M, I got to see some of the cool interactive and broadcast work we did for Norwegian Cruise Line. The creative campaign translates well across print, outdoor & direct and the TV spots have been well-received.

In the social space, Carnival has cruised to the front of the Twitter line. They have a brand evangelist, @CruiseSource, tweeting live from a Carnival cruise that is currently underway. His current bio reads “Your Source for Everything related to Cruising. Live from CCL Destiny 10.16.08.”

CruiseSource.us is a blog about cruising, not Carnival persay. My clients in the travel industry tell me that they enjoy perks from cruise lines and destination resorts in exchange for bookings and promotion. Presumably, that arrangement exists for CruiseSource, and it’s a good way for Carnival to dip their toe in the social ocean.

What is notable about this case is how effectively brand evangelists utilize micromedia to generate buzz and online PR for brands. This is also a good example of small businesses being nimble with social strategy and engagement.

Best Practices in Social Media Strategy & Engagement

CruiseSource is using Twitter to establish themselves as experts in their niche. Rather than just constantly link back to their site, an early mistake they seem to have overcome, they relate with their audience in meaningful ways. Examples:

• They spent weeks building excitement about this cruise.
• They invite cruise-related questions and follow-up with answers.
• They retweet properly.
• They reply and DM properly.
• They suggest cruising for nonprofit fundraising.
• They post cruise specials.
• They post cruise news related to Hurricane Gustav, primarily as a service, but they also attract Twitter search traffic.
• They search Twitter for lead generation. Very smart. They can expand their search by topic, by cruise line, by cruise ship and by destination to find perfect little nuggets like this.
• They listen to tweeters and engage them directly with relevant responses.
• They invite followers & prospective followers to give cruise feedback.
• They tweet about fun activities while aboard the cruise.
• They link to Flickr pics from the cruise ship.
• They are patiently building a Twitter following, maintaining a follow/follower ratio around 4:1.

Apparently their efforts have led a major cruise line to invite CruiseSource to participate on a web 2.0 advisory board. If this is Carnival, then kudos for building a smart partnership and generating inexpensive online PR. As long as CruiseSource maintains an air of industry promotion and authentic human interaction, Carnival will benefit from the company’s peer recommendations.

For any travel brand, I suggest a few more tips in establishing a genuine social presence online.

• Be more personable. CruiseSource has found a voice on Twitter and its blog, but it still hides behind the company name on all posts. Even using a first name (Tucker?) would cut through informality and lend credibility to their recommendation.
• Browse Peter Kim’s list of social media marketing examples for inspiration. Carnival Connections already made his list with it’s community forum, but the site entry is weighted heavily toward sales.
• Remain Authentic. Tyler Banfield offers good tips on authentic promotion.

I’m interested to see what travel brands develop on other social platforms, both in external marketing and within the company’s internal organization of staff, partners and sales channels.

September 21, 2008 to September 27, 2008

# 7Wario Land Shake It!
The Twittersphere lit up with this week linking to this clever YouTube channel.

http://www.youtube.com/experiencewii

# 6Lizzer Simplifies Content Aggregation
Lizzer has a private beta for its online publishing tool. Community managers, bloggers, extranet and web publishers can search Lizzer for links, pics and videos by subject and get simple embedding code. Check the demo at Lizzer.com

# 5Moximity Delivers Location-based Ads
Moximity delivers location-based offers through social media on mobile devices.

I used to co-office with the founders of Wayport and this was the original idea behind their network of hospitality & travel center hotspots. I guess they were just 10 years ahead of their time.

# 4UGC Helps Opex Scaling
@deckermarketing Posted an excellent article on user-generated content in terms of its operation expense scaling – a value proposition that is sure to please CFOs in tough economic times.

# 3Hack the Debate
TV & social media continue to converge. Current TV & Twitter partnered to show real-time feedback during the debates. Jeremiah found it distracting.

# 2Rapid Response Interactive Media
Alan Edget (@ACEdge) is an F500 social media strategist behind those clever FreeCreditReport.com ads (I love these; their funny & work well on TV & radio). He blogs about his attempt to create an algorithm that measures ROI on interactive media placement. The goal is to be able to rapidly respond to the market & change placements, kind of like options trading.

# 1 First Day of Autumn 2008
I see a few SEO companies are leveraging Google’s logo changes for fresh untargeted traffic. This is a clever ploy to prove their SEO mettle and generate a little buzz. Free and easy, this tactic is bound to become a meme. I built upon their accomplishments to develop the Quirky Holiday SEM Strategy.

BONUSDid you know that Google saved all their holiday and event logos for posterity? I love the preservation of campaigns. It’s a good practice for entertainment, history & long-tail traffic.

Has your online community become stagnant? Are you struggling with “resource poverty?” Perhaps you don’t have the capital to upgrade your forum software. Or your mods are burned out wasting their time fighting spam, breaking up flame wars and banning trolls for a dwindling group of participants.

Some forums should be closed. But before you decide to eliminate your online community, reconsider its benefits, even if it is struggling. Reinvestment may be justified.

• Forum Participants Are Personally Invested
  People freely give their time to participate here. Knowledge is shared, there is a sense of community and authentic friendships are formed. Removing this data wipes out that collective investment.
   
  People will be pissed when their investment is cavalierly wiped out. If you are determined to close your forums, at least make them read-only.
• Deleting Forums Weakens Communities.
  You may notice that parts of your community swarm to new platforms like Twitter, Plurk, Ning etc. You will always have early adapters that dabble in new platforms, but chances are, you have regular participants + lurkers in stagnant forums.
   
  We decided to take down the SQPN forums when they got overrun spam and one bad apple troll because the volunteer mods didn’t have enough time to deal with them. A few people migrated to other related communities, but the vast majority of members just went *poof*. In hindsight, we should have made those forums read-only until we had the chance to properly devote resources to them.
• Deleting Forums Alters Culture.
  Building a new community is much more volatile than maintaining one. Salvaging a stagnant community with a safe inviting culture preserves the voice and culture. Creating a new community risks losing a notable asset. Read more about this group dynamic in the Online Community Lifecycle.
• UGC Is Gold.
  Companies are knocking themselves out to encourage user generated content. Even a stagnant community has nurtured a rich garden of UGC goodness. The personal investment of individuals strengthens bonds among like-minded people and presents opportunities for promotion, search marketing and higher advertising revenue.
• SEO Opportunities
  Your current forum content could easily translate to 100,000s of pages indexed by Google and other search engines. Every page, every keyword, every phrase, every misspelling, every link represents a long-tail opportunity to optimize free organic search results. SEO from your forums is a powerful way to attract more visitors.
• Lurker Conversions
  Forrester Research has found that 80% of community members are lurkers. Most new members are naturally reserved. They want to discern the benefits of a community before they commit themselves. Once they become active participants, your brand gathers more free UGC.
   
  Some community managers force registration to fight spam and keep trolls at bay. However, this policy misses tremendous SEO benefits. If this is your policy, you can assume that a large swath of fresh participants are dissuaded from ever participating.
• Donation Opportunities
  If your website accepts donations, there is almost certainly a direct correlation between unique site visitors and contributions. All of your forum pages serve both as point of new visitor attraction (SEO) and a point of donation awareness.
• Advertising & Sponsorship Opportunities.
  Each forum page represents an impression for which advertisers are willing to pay. This is a lucrative revenue opportunity that can cover the cost of forums. People will tolerate tasteful ads in forums if they know it supports the community and your brand.
• A Fresh Start
  Resetting your forum is a good time to strengthen your moderator team and help alleviate their workload. A new forum is also a good reason to reach out to lapsed members to invite them back.

Today’s forum software has smarter ways to fight spam, can handle massive traffic loads & integrate advertising. You can almost certainly find a flexible, stable solution that allows you to migrate data from your current forum and preserve all of the rich conversations and connections of your community.

I found this member’s disposition to be quite amusing in spite of the anguish he caused. He really did know his stuff, even though his tough-love modus operandi ruffled feathers. I joined the group and started a new topic entitled “Ode to [whatever is name was].” I wrote a simple sonnet a la the meter of “There once was a man from Nantucket” about this particular individual.

In an amusing and respectful way, I essentially pointed out how smart this guy was. People needed to look past his curmudgeon persona and listen to the genuine knowledge he had to offer.

The response was very positive given that it was so personal. People came forward to give the guy the credit he deserved, yet inviting him to chill out. He appreciated the gesture, other lurkers came out of the shadows and several people even wrote their own poems; very funny in a stale financial forum.

Unfortunately, Clark’s moderator got wind of the thread and, incredibly, removed it because it didn’t meet some strict (and secret) rule about never ever under any circumstances deviating from financial discussions. Shortly thereafter and ever since, newcomers are assaulted with the glaring red warning to behave and to watch out for unscrupulous behavior, negative messaging that is sure to drive them straight to the shadows of Lurker Land.

The moderator’s decision was a real shame because we had planted a fun seed of comradeship and goodwill amid a well-intentioned community. Moreover, this online brand was desperately struggling to find a kind voice that welcomed new members. It’s remarkable because if you spend 2 minutes listening to Clark, you’ll hear a very gentle and humorous tone that was in stark contrast to the vitriol people encountered on his website at that time. I think the moderator’s seemingly hip-shot decision to stamp out any fun was a serious mistake for another reason as well: Community leaders should never forget that people are actually investing themselves when they contribute content. This investment strengthens a community and develops brand evangelists. And converting lurkers to active participants should always be nurtured whenever possible.

Thankfully, Clark seems to have learned some important lessons. His team has a presence on the boards and applies more consistent moderation. New visitors can see clearly demarcated subject matters to consume content relevant to them.

Clark also does an excellent job of directing his radio listeners to his website during his “Trash Clark” segment where he invites people to log on and leave feedback in his “Clark Stinks” forum. This strategy accomplishes two key objectives simultaneously. (Note: I hesitate to say “strategy” because I believe Clark’s success is in large part because he has a true servant’s heart. He cares deeply about his listeners.) First, by promoting his message boards, he is encouraging people to participate beyond listening and lurking. I’d wager his website enjoys long length-of-stays and very low bounce rates. It’s prime real estate for his radio advertisers which presumably could generate more revenue for some technology improvements.

Second, Clark provides a vehicle for people to give him direct public feedback, which amplifies his nice-guy approachable image. Few people actually bash Clark, but his gesture is very smart.

While part of this online community feels as though it’s clinging to adolescence, at least it has matured beyond puberty. Clark’s radio convergence and enthusiastic team shows signs of even greater potential.