1222North.com

Author: Courtney

Ok, so “the unbranding of McDonald’s” may be a bit of an exaggeration (and yes, I know unbranding is not a real word), but the fast-food chain took a small step in that direction when it recently opened two test stores in Japan. Instead of introducing the McDonald’s classic quarter pounder to the menu at traditional McDonald’s restaurants, they’ve created Quarter Pounder stores. What’s on the menu? You guessed it. Only quarter pounders. And possibly even more surprising, both stores and all packaging are without the iconic golden arches.

Get the first-hand story from the Neil Duckett blog and check out the minimalist Quarter Pounder Web site.

Author: Courtney

How do you make your message stand out in a space that’s already overpopulated with advertising? You put it everywhere, of course.

Jung von Matt out of Hamburg has created a guerrilla WiFi campaign for its car rental client, Sixt, in German airports. Multiple open wireless networks are set up at the Sixt airport counters. When accessed, a Web page with the latest offers from Sixt is pulled up, complete with a map to guide viewers to the nearest Sixt counter.

Author: Courtney

This summer, Google launched its Gears Geolocation API that allows geo-targeted content to be delivered to mobile devices. This week, Google announced the additions of WiFi signals to the API. With this addition, laptop user locations can now be determined to within 200m accuracy. As it stands, Gears must be installed unless Chrome is being used and there is a slightly cumbersome opt in process for users. Fortunately, there are plans in place to incorporate Gears directly into more browsers–the first being the next version of FireFox.

This new level of geo-targeting is bound to have a major impact on the types of content that can be delivered through digital media. Once this is integrated in to the majority of browsers, it will be possible to develop digital advertising and versions of Web sites with locally-relevant content that can target users at the city or even the neighborhood level.

Get all the details from the Google Code Blog.

Author: Courtney

Coming up with keywords for a Web site is a necessary but often daunting and time consuming task. Volusion, an e-commerce community and blog, has some good tips to help guide the keyword brainstorming process.

Author: Courtney

The nominees for the 2008 Eyeblaster awards are available for viewing. They are composed of 10 of the most creative and effective Rich Media ads from the past year. All are good examples of maximizing impact in a medium that is know for being overcrowded and annoyingly intrusive. With a little time, the right budget and some creative thinking, digital ad space can be used to deliver attention-grabbing ads that deliver useful information to our target audience in a respectful way.