Bagel Tuesday - Fresh ideas. Toasted opinions.

By now you’ve had to have encountered QR codes (Quick response codes) and possibly even Microsoft Tags and just when you thought you understood how to incorporate these scannable codes into your brand marketing a new player enters the fray.

SpyderLynk, which describes itself as a mobile activation and marketing platform company, recently developed SnapTags, which incorporate your logo into a code that can either be scanned using their proprietary SnapTag reader or by taking and sending a picture of the SnapTag to a designated short code using any standard camera phone.

With SnapTags, SpyderLynk is attempting to accommodate the high number of mobile phone users who aren’t able to utilize scanning apps on their current mobile device. They attest that 88% of mobile phones have a camera whereas utilizing other technologies, such as QR codes, require a scanning app on your iPhone or Android device. Another benefit of SnapTags is the ability to receive content directly to your phone whereas QR codes typically take you to a Website thus requiring Web access.

Partnering with SpyderLynk, Toyota Motor Sales recently created what they are calling a ToyoTag and incorporated it into all of its marketing communications. They are hoping to foster interactions with its customers at all points of contact with its products. Michael K. Nelson, interactive communications marketing manager at Toyota stated, “The ToyoTag allows customers to engage with us wherever and whenever they want information.” Toyota isn’t alone in their implementation of SnapTags as Glamour magazine, Orbit gum, Coke and Bud Light have all dipped their toes in the pool of early adopters.

With the ability to instantly receive exclusive content, grow social media, allow for social sharing and build brand awareness, SnapTags seem to be the next big thing in marketing. The need for new methods of engagement and the ability to track and measure consumer interest is something that is important to all brand marketers when creating integrated campaigns. The possibilities for scannable codes seem to be as endless as they are exciting and I for one can’t wait to see what the future holds.

We try to help our clients stand out from the competition. And earlier today, we found out that one of our legal clients - Manatt, Phelps, and Phillips - was recognized in a big way. The Wall Street Journal's Law Blog calls the holiday eCard we created for Manatt the "the best law firm holiday card of 2010."

As the WSJ describes it:

It’s clever and a bit meta and, we’re best off not describing it anymore, but just linking to it, here.

Everyone talks about being different, but Manatt worked with us to creatively push their holiday message to a place that many firms would have shied away from. This kind of collaboration is something to look forward to in 2011.

This story about a new Las Vegas hotel got a lot of mileage last week on Facebook, Twitter and the blogosphere. In case you missed it, guests lounging at the pool at the Vdara hotel

reportedly are getting burned by concentrated sun rays strong enough to melt plastic drink cups and plastic newspaper bags.

Obviously, the big story here is cost-cutting. Had the Vdara Hotel spent more money on a reflective film for sun-facing windows, the "death-ray" wouldn't exist. But an underlying issue is putting a priority on form, rather than function. The building's placement in the path of the sun, and the concave facade, combined to produce the death-ray effect. So even though the design is aesthetically pleasing, the hotel has an ugly usability problem: a swimming pool area that is more of a danger than a luxury.

It's a funny story. But there's also a valuable lesson here. We've learned, particularly on digital projects, that a great design is wasted if the application doesn't work. As Barack Obama might say, that's just putting lipstick on a pig. But the point is that design decisions have real-world consequences, whether you're talking about a digital space, brick-and-mortar or, in this case, glass and steel.

I had the pleasure of appearing on a live interactive webcast sponsored by BrightTALK and kasina last week. I was a little nervous because the last time I was on live TV was back in 1982—to somewhat disastrous effect—but the great folks at BrightTALK and the TV technicians at the studio made it easy for me.

The subject was "what advisors do online," based on new research by kasina. In my presentation, I supplemented the kasina research with some tips for asset managers in making the shift from a "dot.com-centric world" to the "content-centric world" we're in now, where users no longer reach your content only through your home page but access it directly from a constantly changing landscape of search engines, email links, blogs, social media, RSS readers, mobile apps, content aggregators and more. I also used our new AAM site (which just happened to launch that morning) as an example of how asset managers can make their content one of the main pillars of their value proposition.

You can see the whole webcast below (it lasts about an hour). I also plan to discuss this idea of the content-centric world some more in a future post.

I'm a big fan of Kristina Halvorson and content strategy. Her book Content Strategy for the Web is redefining best practice in web development and restoring content to its rightful place at the center of the online universe.

In fact, we consider it vindication. Wechsler has always emphasized content. We renamed our content leads "content strategists" four years ago to recognize their central role in the process — and our unusual approach to developing content. At Wechsler, content strategy isn't just about the Web. We take a strategic approach to all content.

What does that mean in practice?

Online or off, it's about structuring content. The goal of persuasive communications (unlike creative or narrative communications, like fiction or journalism) is to change how the reader (or user) thinks about something. Elements of verbal and visual information must be delivered in a way that engages, informs and ultimately leads to a new way of thinking.

To achieve this goal, Wechsler's content strategists take responsibility for content from start to finish of a project. They are jointly responsible for the development process with either the experience lead (on a Web project) or the design lead (on a print project). They interview clients, decide what content to include, collaborate on creative concepts and architecture, assign projects to writers (or write it themselves), edit drafts, review proofs, process client changes, ensure consistency, answer proofreader queries and perform quality control. They are, in fact, our in-house experts on each client's business, products, marketing goals, style preferences, compliance guidelines and personality quirks.

We used to call them editors. But that didn't come close to capturing their range of responsibilities or centrality to our process. So we think content strategy is a great idea. We're with you all the way, Kristina!