Evernote, the virtual memory, filing and storage start up with a single mission of ‘helping the world remember everything’, has grown to 3.7 million users globally and today launched Trunk. Evernote’s Trunk is part App store part an expanding showcase of their integration capabilities and services. The company announced plans for further expansion into social media sharing as well as analytics and search.

Source: http://blogs.ft.com/techblog/2010/07/evernote-extends-elephant-memory-with-trunk/

Source: http://blog.evernote.com/2010/07/14/the-evernote-trunk/

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On June 30th, we hosted, alongside Voyage.TV, the first our newest quarterly networking event, Reciprocate. Perfect NYC weather made the amazing setting of the Thompson LES Above Allen rooftop a perfect venue for friends and colleagues, old and new, to connect, share ideas and network over delicious Belvedere Vodka cocktails. Overall, Reciprocate was a huge success and has extended further into a Reciprocate LinkedIn Group for people to be able to continue contact and conversation with each other until our next event. With our new office in the works, we’re looking forward to our move later this summer as well as our next Reciprocate event in the fall.

See photos from our June 30th Reciprocate event!

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The new iPhone App for the Museum of London uses images from the past, which are layered on top of the real-life London locations. This newly launched application is by far one of the best AR examples. Fun, educational and very viral.

Photos from http://londonist.com/2010/05/museum_of_london_iphone_app_blends.php?gallery0Pic=3#gallery

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Unsurprisingly, pretty much all students in the US (and I’m sure most developed nations) have mobile devices with a large portion (51.2%) of those being smart phones. According to a recent survey, reported in eMarketer Daily, a vast majority of those young adults responds negatively to mobile ads – in particular those of a ‘pushed’ text/sms nature. Given the forum to voice their complaints, many even indicated they would be less likely to buy a product from advertisers and even suggested compensation for being exposed to ads  (as much as a $1 per ad) would be suitable)!

As with all surveys , research studies and resulting statistics you have to put this into context if and where one exists and, of course (as a footnote to the article it does say that attitudes are softening towards mobile marketing). This study doesn’t take into account the relevance of the ads to the market, i.e. whether the ads were targeted or not, the quality of the messaging, the value of the product or service, or any other contextual basis for understanding the validity of mobile ads.

The fact remains, as this article starts out, that almost all young adults own a mobile device and use them as their primary connection to the (digital) world beyond, and that this are extremely important segment for many marketers/brands.

What digital agencies must do of course, is use this kind of data to build extremely relevant, highly targeted campaigns that utilize an entire toolbox of digital and traditional platforms to reach an audience. So, whilst Ido believe that ‘engaging’ with an audience by being part of a long term conversation is one of the most powerful ways to influence the decision making process, I do understand that all media from banners to mobile ads make up important parts for a very large puzzle.

My hope is that the marketing managers at the brands themselves don’t give into sensationalist headlines and consider the bigger picture, or at least allow the experts to provide it.

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Jack Neff, at Advertising Age, today posted a lovely article citing the deep cultural and behavioral changes that digital might be having on how we move around, if, in deed we do move around. The numbers seem irrefutable: fewer young people are going for their driver’s licenses and certainly fewer people are buying/using cars.

For those of us in urban areas this might not seem surprising at all or even interesting: we have the benefit of being able to get the train/subway, bus, walk, cycle to work. And more than that, owning and maintaining a car is damned expensive. What was once seen by youngsters as a rite of passage, a symbol of freedom is now seen as an rapidly devaluing, encumbering, ‘uncool’ money pit. And it’s not just the expense or inconvenience of a car in urban life that is steering people away, it’s allow the lure of digital that is driving them to mass transit – we can’t read, browse, shop, play or work whilst driving and if you live in suburban areas this could account for a few hours each day. And, if you’re telecommuting, then travel is less relevant altogether.

So, what this article suggests, is that the effect runs much deeper and brands/marketers must understand this shift in behavior in order to connect more effectively with their audiences. Human behavior is changing but advertising is slow to catch up. Part of the car industries’ problem has been a string of short-termist policies, buoyed by short term ad campaigns. What must replace this, is long term strategies supported by far reaching campaigns underpinned by utility and engagement.

One of the guys in our office remarked that most of digital advertising is reminiscent of the transition from radio to TV. Most of won’t remember this but it’s well documented – the first TV ads were simply radio ads – but filmed. Yes – voice artists and singers, in front of a mic, being filmed. And now, much of what is happening online is bursts of visual interruption on our computer screens via banners, pre roll video, pop up ads, flashy micro sites, etc. etc. Pretty much print and TV ads, but online. Hmm.

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Last Exit Gets Its Big Break in Television

Agency Makes UK BBC2 TV Premiere in “Out of the Frying Pan” last night at 7 p.m.

Link to view program: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00sbq2t/Out_of_the_Frying_Pan_The_Boat/

guests on the boat at Last Exit presents, filmed by BBC2

The two runners-up of the series “The Restaurant,” James Knight-Pacheco and Alaisdair Cooper, step out of the professional kitchen to test their skills in the real world as fine dining event caterers. Having been proteges of Chef Raymond Blanc for the past nine months, the men take on six challenges in the fine-dining events industry to prove that they’re capable of running their own business.

In episode four of the series, James and Alaisdair join the creative design industry, catering for international creative & digital media agency, Last Exit. The event: a party onboard a Thames cruise ship commemorating the coming together of Last Exit’s London and New York offices. The challenge: six courses featuring a celebration of food and wine from both sides of the Atlantic for 75 guests in just two hours! The six-course cuisine consisted of a tasting menu to match a selection of English and American wines chosen by wine connoisseur Martin de Russett.

BBC2 filmed the preparations and the event, as well as the guests’ reactions to the cuisine presented by the BBC team. The guests were from both the U.S. and the UK, among them the Deputy Cultural Attache from the American Embassy in London.

“We are all really eager to see the event on screen, although we are keeping our fingers crossed the editor has been kind to us,” said Gary Lockton, a partner at Last Exit. “It was a great event! James and Ali certainly did their best and our guests were delighted,” he continued.

Many guests certainly had a good time. The team from AMV BBDO certainly have given BBC editors their largest challenge, when they continually formed various ‘very post-watershed’ words out of letters provided to mark each guest’s place setting.

‘We are looking forward to continuing building the relationship and knowledge between our two offices, working together on joint projects in social media, digital strategy, web design and brand identity creation’, said Fred Brown, Last Exit London Managing Partner.

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Mine is not a popular view right now, but I think the Apple iPad is the new Sony Walkman. We won’t realise we need one until we have one. And it will be a big success.

The argument against the iPad goes something like this. Why do we need a device that sits between an iPhone / iPod Touch and a Macbook? And disappointment because it is a big iPhone. The disappointment is easy to deal with – what did anyone expect? Something with poor industrial design and a dodgy interface? And I need a device of this size – for the increasing amount of time I spend surfing while watching TV, or reading on the loo (we all do it) or reading in bed (nothing kinky). The iPad is perfect for this – my iPhone is too small and my MacBook Pro makes an unnecessary connection with work and has a keyboard that for browsing photos, surfing or watching video is mostly redundant.

The Last Exit museum has both form factors of the original Newton, a device that was way ahead of its time. Many people still use them – just look at this community http://www.newtontalk.net/ Many people probably think the iPad will go the same way. I am not one of them.

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Every industry it seems is going ‘forensic’.

There are forensic medics, forensic lawyers, forensic accountants, forensic economists, forensic engineers and last but not least… forensic marketing. In the wiki descriptions of all the above, there is an an immediate sense of an almost alien brain’s effort required, some incomprehensible intelligence required to decipher and prophet – the Mulder and Scully’s.

In Marketing? In Digital? With so much data available for measurement, evaluation, research and insight, available at a click of a Google button to all of us. Perhaps the time has come for a re-definition. A question is though: should it still remain a dissection of case study material, mathematical analysis of human behavior and drawing of proven equations of social patterns, producing long reports and filling databases or perhaps, better, should it encompass what web 2.0 is all about?

People. Web 2.0 is about people. People talking, people calling, people tagging, people chatting, viewing, recommending, liking, digging, tweeting, poking and every/any other form of a blend between the cyber-human interaction.

Hence a thought towards the re-definition and taking forensic marketing to a new level of forensic as personal, forensic as identifying the reason for a behaviour, a habit and the trigger.

The emerging field of forensic marketing is defined as dealing with individual people, their personal habits, their social patterns, digital prints and cyber paths. But it is in danger of over-complicating things; all we need to do is listen.

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Last Exit has appointed Aaron Gilboe as Projects Director. Gilboe will oversee all client communications for the London office, direct new pitches and develop relationships with key agency partners. “Aaronʼs experience developing and growing top global brands will bring invaluable benefits to our existing and new clients. We are extremely excited to have him join the agency,” said Fred Brown, Partner.

Gilboeʼs insight into directing digital projects comes from leading international brand campaigns and overseeing their online expansion by successfully formulating and implementing sales and marketing strategies. Prior to Last Exit, he was Product Manager at Warner Bros. Home Video, Marketing Manager at American Apparel, Head of Digital at Vice Media group, and Digital Account Director at Story Worldwide, responsible for the growth, retention, and profitability of a variety of projects and accounts, including: Johnson and Johnson Lifescan and Animas, Creativesheffield (Sheffield City Council), Clinique for Men, Topshop, Tiger Beer, Oakley, Adidas, Blyk Mobile among others.

Commenting on his appointment Gilboe said, “Iʼm thrilled to join the team at Last Exit. It is a special place with great people and we are already pressing full steam on new projects which maximise the opportunity afforded by social media and user generated content. The quality of work and ideas are outstanding and in my role as Projects Director I will work to deliver profitable results for our clients, which will bring a return on their investment and encourage their further expansion into digital.”

Aaronʼs experience in a variety of industries both in agency and client positions informs his multidisciplinary approach, inspired by a vision for growth opportunities, account leadership and successful interpersonal communication. At Last Exit, he will expand the companyʼs relationships within the industry by bringing together his entrepreneurial skills, extensive insight into the digital field and passion for cultural currents.

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