Our May Mobile guest blog series continues with George White, Principal Consultant, Technical Architect at Cantina. George gives some great insight into the many contexts in which we need to look at mobile and the many factors which now come into play as the technology develops. If you are interested in being a guest blogger please contact me at taylor [at] mitx [dot] org.

George set out to be a zoologist and now he is a fifteen year veteran with broad experience in software development and architecture. He has worked in many domains, including Web applications, mobile platforms, content management, internet-connected desktop applications, multimedia, video, networking and systems architecture. George developed a strong understanding of the technology needs of publishing companies during his time at McGraw-Hill and Thomson and consulting with Elsevier and Jones & Bartlett. George is proud of the fact that systems he designed and developed ten years ago are still going strong. Twitter handle: @stonehippo

It’s Not Mobile, Its a Sequential Connected Experience
Engagement requires balancing optimization and parity while considering contexts

It is becoming hard to talk about mobile as something separate from other digital experiences, and the numbers bear this out.

Continuing on with our mobile guest blog series for this month we had a great post from Tim Dunn, Director of Mobile, at Roundarch Isobar. Tim takes a look into the past and future and provides great insight into where mobile is headed. If you are interested in being a guest blogger please contact me at taylor [at] mitx [dot] org.

Tim Dunn is the Director of Mobile at Roundarch Isobar. Roundarch Isobar, ranked the 15th largest digital agency in the world by AdAge, creates applications and digitally-centered marketing campaigns for the web, mobile devices and social media. With a focus on experience design, Roundarch Isobar conceives, designs and develops marketing campaigns as well as digital solutions like wearable computing, data visualization and mobile applications. Clients include adidas, General Motors and Coca-Cola.  While Tim has specialized in mobile for over 13 years, he now works across broad digital marketing strategy, and is interested in interactions, UX, media and marketing theory and innovation of almost any description. Twitter handles: @timmcdunn, @roundarchisobar

A few years ago, I was commissioned by the UK Government to write an extensive paper on the ‘Future of Mobile’. The piece was targeted at three areas of e-Government – NHS Choices, Directgov and Business Link, each of whom had at that point begun to progress services to mobile users.

Kicking off our May guest blog series, we have a great post from Isaac Mosquera, the Director of Mobile at ShareThis. Isaac talks about what makes an app successful and that download numbers aren't always the most important metric. Big thank you again to ShareThis for sponsoring yesterday's Mobile Summit!

Isaac is currently the Director of Mobile at ShareThis, Inc. ShareThis powers the social web, touching the lives of 95% of U.S. Internet users across more than 2.3 million publisher sites and 120+ social media channels. Most recently, Isaac was the co-founder of Socialize, Inc which was acquired by ShareThis in March 2013. Prior to Socialize, Isaac co-founded PointAbout, a mobile development consultancy which built apps for companies like Disney, Cars.com and Washington Post. PointAbout was acquired in May 2011. Previously he lead efforts to bring XM Radio's satellite content to the web.

We all know it but choose to ignore it.  App downloads are a bad way to measure success of a mobile app. In the recent past as brands scramble to put together a mobile strategy they had no other way to measure their own success and downloads was the easiest metric to understand and communicate. But only measuring downloads is unsustainable.

We are very excited to have Jason Kodish of Digitas as our second guest blogger for our Big Data series this month. Jason provides some great insight in to where Big Data is going and the importance of value exchange. Enjoy the post and be sure to keep an eye out for more guest blog posts from the series later this week!

As SVP/North American Lead for Strategy and Analysis at Digitas, Jason Kodish leads a group of over 250 analytics professionals across the country - the largest S&A group of any agency nationwide. With more than 15 years of industry experience, Kodish has worked across a wide range of client industries including financial services, automotive, consumer packaged goods, travel, and more.

Where is Big Data going? The answer lies in Disney World
Why quid pro quo is becoming increasingly important to the world of big data

While researching our impending trip to Disney World, my son Holden came across an interesting new piece of technology from Disney called the MagicBand. The MagicBand embeds a family’s identification, payment mechanism, park tickets, and other information into a simple, disposable bracelet. These bracelets eliminate the need to carry a wallet and minimize the risk of losing important documents. Now, all Holden cares about is that he can wear a bracelet instead of lugging around his embarrassing father around the park and still pay for lunch. But as a marketer, the first thing that came to my mind is the incredible volume and value of the data that can be generated through this new piece of customer service. 

Not only does MagicBand provide great transparency into the full transactional data aggregated into one profile, but hypothetically, it should also be able to understand other customer behaviors – the path you take around the park, time spent in certain areas, shows attended, etc.  And it’s easy to envision Disney* using this data to create in-stay offers through mobile devices or email, post-stay communication, life-time value modeling, and customer segmentation for further marketing materials.  The strategic opportunities here are endless

Please welcome this week's guest blogger; Gerald Kimber White, Senior Managing Director at RF|Binder. Gerald was assigned to Uncharted Play during the MITX Up Hackathon, who recently developed the SOCCKET Ball. Learn more about this innovative product in this article from Co.EXIST! 

Last week, I was scheduled to participate in the latest MITX UP “hackathon” but when Wednesday evening rolled around and I ran through my mental “to do” list – preparing for two new business pitches, our agency’s annual meeting in New York, this week’s SXSWedu in Austin, etc. – part of me felt I should skip it and stay focused on my other obligations. As much as I love going to the hackathons, there was simply no way to get it all in. Fortunately, the selfish side of me that loves the hackathon experience overwhelmed the clock-watching side of me and I went to the Harvard Innovation Lab to meet another startup.

I was particularly looking forward to this hackathon since the startup I was assigned was Uncharted Play, a company that has developed a soccer ball that somehow manages to incorporate a power generator inside an almost perfectly standard size and weight ball. The generator converts the kinetic energy from play into electricity that can be stored to power an LED light (with plans to increase the output to be able to charge cell phones, water purifiers, etc.). The SOCCKET ball is designed for communities in developing countries for whom power supply is inconsistent or non-existent. Basically, SOCCKET combines two of my biggest passions – economic and social development and soccer – in a business model.

This is the time of year when we reflect on the past, and look to the future. Through the end of this month, we'll be sharing guest blog posts in our the annual Predictions & Reflections series. We asked some of our smartest guest writers to reflect on the past year and look to the upcoming year. This post is by Ryan McMorrow specializes in digital marketing strategy, analytics, and user experience research/design at ten24 Web Solutions, a web development company located in Northborough, Massachusetts. When he’s not helping organizations give the best experience to their visitors on the web, Ryan can be found training for his next road race or brainstorming the latest addition to his standing desk. For more information, check out Ryan McMorrow’s website or follow him on Twitter.

When considering the marketing landscape in the next five years, my mind jumps towards the future’s revolutionary technologies, exciting ways to grow brand communities, and more agile businesses. However, in spite of all these things, I am continually struck by the fact that no matter how many things change, core marketing concepts stay the same. To understand the future, let’s study the lessons of the past.

The year was 1994. Wal-Mart had just expanded its operations to New England, the dot-com bubble was 5 years away, and Al Ries, with the help of Jack Trout, wrote an easy read titled “The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing.” While the landscape of business and culture has changed since this book was written, the central tenets in this book still ring true today. I’ve utilized their thoughts below.

This is the time of year when we reflect on the past, and look to the future. Through the end of this month, we'll be sharing guest blog posts in our the annual Predictions & Reflections series. We asked some of our smartest guest writers to reflect on the past year and look to the upcoming year. This post is by Edward Boches. Edward has spent 35 years in the advertising business as a writer, creative director, social media enthusiast, change agent and hacker. He continues the journey today as part-time chief innovation officer at Mullen, where he’s been a partner for 30 years, and as a full-time professor of advertising at Boston University’s College of Communication. You can find him on Twitter as @edwardboches. Or at Creativity_Unbound.

Sure there are already restaurants that let us browse wine lists on an iPad. Or even order from touch screen table surfaces. And, of course, for years we've been able to make reservations from our smart phones. But alas, we're still forced to endure human contact and conversation when we arrive. Saying hello to the coat check attendee. Asking the maître d’ if our table is ready. Making small talk with the wait staff.

Thankfully, 2013 should see the opening of the first all digital, robot-run restaurant in Kendall Square. And people who prefer texting to talking will rejoice.

This is the time of year when we reflect on the past, and look to the future. Through the end of January 2013 (2013!) we'll be sharing guest blog posts our the annual Predictions & Reflections series. We asked some of our smarters guest writers to reflect on the past year and look to the upcoming year.

Ten 20-somethings to present generational topics in 20 minute flash sessions

(BOSTON, MA) – Today, FutureM, the weeklong event experience on the future of Marketing (October 23 – 26, 2012), announces one-of-a-kind session topics from a generation, current 20-somethings, that has developed with digital in its pocket. New this year, FutureM is featuring ten 20-year old entrepreneurs, students and marketing gurus who will speak to what is next in Marketing from a millennial perspective.

“In marketing, all it takes is a fresh perspective and a risk taking idea to generate changes in a creative industry. That is why we are so excited about the marketing concepts and twists to conventional thinking we will see from these 20-somethings,” said MITX President, Debi Kleiman. “Generation Y is notably the first generation to have digital at its finger tips and FutureM will put them to the test to see if they are worth their salt.”

FutureM, the weeklong event experience on the future of Marketing, today announced eleven new session topics and meet-up leaders focused on digital media, mobile and e-commerce for its national fall event. Today’s session leaders include: