freshtrax

Well, this SFNewTech Tech-crunch event was a software mashup of sorts.   Again the agenda had a mix of software apps from iPhone/iApps business development help to backend behind the scenes NoSQL database management.

Even Myles’ #1 man, Matthew Gonzales, got into the act last night.  Let’s go down the summary of the each presenter last night:

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appbackr – Do It Your Way

Are you an iPhone/iPad app developer?  Want to get paid up front? Matthew Gonzales, presented a wholesale marketplace for iPhone and iPad apps developers.  With the 2010 Paypal Developer Challenge win under their belt, with their Win-Win model “Developers get immediate payment; buyers profit as the app sell on iTunes” says Nathan Beckord, Business Development Consultant for appbackr.

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iVDopia – Mobile Ad Goes Primetime

COO & Co-Founder Chhavi Upadhyay, showed us an interesting Ad network called Vdopia.  He claims “iVdopia is the largest video and rich media mobile ad network” with more than a 100 million mobile video impressions and more that 4 billion WAP impressions every month.  Not a mom-n-pop organization with that type of reach.   The video content for the iPhone was very impressive and they have some blue chip brands showing their wares on their system.  With Mobile Ad spending increasing, why not?

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4delite – Display Ads +Wordpress = AdPress

Mary Ray, Co-Founder & marketer for the product, introduced us to 4delite.  4delite is a cloud-based rich media publishing platform that “mobile and online advertisers can use to build and showcase rich media creative in minutes.” You can use the platform to export multiple rich media formats to work on any web browser-even on browsers within the iPad.  Seemed very easy to use and enables the non-web design geeks a hand at creating on-line banner ads.

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Membase – Simple, Fast, Elastic

Anyone making an interactive web app or mashup? James Phillips, Founder, demoed Membase which is perfect for anyone making an interactive web app or mashup. It’s an open-source (Apache 2.0 license) database which is running behind the likes of Farmville and Cafe World today. Not a bad resume.  Membase is a distributed, key-value database management system optimized for storing data behind interactive web applications which service many concurrent users; creating, storing, retrieving, aggregating, manipulating and presenting data in real-time. Supporting these requirements requires “processing data operations with quasi-deterministic low latency and high sustained throughput.” said James Phillips.

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Surfmark – Reclaim the web, one search at a time

Vivek Agrawal, CEO, presented an application that brings a smile to us web-info-research junkies.  Typically what one does is bookmark links or even copy sections into a word or note file which Vivek calls “Task-oriented searches.”  Surfmark simplifies this operation and links your inspirational web thoughts in one place.  Knowledge management is something we all can use when surfing.

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Honorable Mention- We always meet someone at these events.  We met with Stephen McCurry, Product Manager at betfair US.  The London-based online gambling company is under the radar in the U.S. despite its sumo size. It now has its US headquarters in San Francisco.  Looking for people for their team, check them out.

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Thanks to Myles and staff for a great tech night in the city by the bay.  Mark your calendars, next SFNewTech event is September 15,  and also SF Japan Night is Oct. 13 – 43 days and counting.

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Some people view Japanese web pages with curiosity and puzzlement with its busyness.  We will try to relieve the mysticism and frustration by pointing out certain elements in an example Japanese web page and why it works for the Japanese.

As a general guide, Japanese web pages act as a one-stop trip for most Japanese-a sea of information that just tantalizes our brains but comforts the inhabitants from the land of the rising sun.  It is quite organized as the each section or module has meaning.  Pastel colors and flash is a given for these pages.

In a previous blog on Japanese landing pages, we discussed how ‘kanji’ characters add another level of busyness for the our eyes with its 23 strokes versus the more simple 4 stroke roman alphabet.

The sea of information creates the aura of an information dashboard for the Japanese.  It gives the Japanese customer the feeling that the company has a lot to offer.  The marketing approach is to put a lot of products with reasonable prices in front of the customer so that they may walk away with more than what they were looking for – a kind of Costco-here it is/buy me- approach.

We will review 7 elements from a Japanese web page to discuss its nature  from a well known women’s catalog B2C company.

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#1 Catalog Subscribers Get Preference

Print is not dead in Japan but lives in a very common co-existence with its digital sibling.  E-commerce is big estimated to hit $49.8 billion in 2010.  Ease of catalog purchases by allowing web entry of catalog numbers enables e-commerce.

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#2 Flash Advertising Campaign Area

Adobe Flash elements are very common in Japanese websites.  Sales promotions or campaigns are centralized in one small area near the top.  Many promotions run in parallel especially in large e-commerce sites.

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#3 PR Banner IDs Site’s Partners

Notice the PR on top of the module.  This is the designation in Japan for 3rd party partners or advertisers and tells the consumer that this is not a direct affiliation with the company’s website.  Like other sites, the elements of the module change every time you enter the web page.

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#4 Icons Provide Visual Identification

Japanese sites give the viewer some visual icons to identify the module’s contents.  It reinforces the type of goods in that are on sale in the product category.

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#5 Colorful Product Area

Use of pastel colors and variation of colors is very common to Japanese web pages.  Since this site is positioned for a female audience, pink is used for female items.

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#6 Customer Satisfaction Area

Entices people with points total and shows ways people can earn more points.  Earning points during different campaigns provide more customer engagement and some extra web page clicks.

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#7 ‘keitai’ or Mobile Phone Friendly

The ‘keitai’ or mobile phone is king here.  Having the ability to view the websites on your long commute home is important.  The QR code helps the Japanese consumer with access to the mobile compatible site.   The QR code is scanned by the user and allows access to the mobile friendly site for the mobile hunter.

Understanding the essence of the Japanese web site is important to understanding how to localize a site for the Japanese market.  Translating the web information is sometimes not enough in localizing the Japanese information dashboard.

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When western people look at Japanese web pages, a lot of us are taken aback from the sheer amount of work on the page.  Some have said the Japanese landing pages are puzzling, even crowded.  It almost seems like the page jumps out at you.

We will take a look at the top three ranked google search engine results for the search term ‘plastic surgery’ in English and Japanese and then do some contrasts and comparisions between US and Japanese landing pages from a marketing, design and cultural context.

Top 3 US and Japanese Landing Pages for Plastic Surgery

Landing Pages in US	Landing Pages in Japan

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US Landing Pages Disected

With some of the horror stories about failed medical procedures out there, the message is trust.  In the US, trust needs to be earned by the consumer.  If you look at the ‘plastic surgery’ landing pages, the persuasive elements answer the basic questions in the consumers mind -Why Dr XYZ?, Why should I go to this clinic? and How safe is the procedure?

As far as the design is concerned, we see simplicity and organization.  Many experts promote simplicity – wide open design, common and conservative colors, no moving flash elements.

The pages are very professional, with the picture of a medical professional front and center on the page almost somewhat sterile.  Social bookmarking is probably more common to keep bringing people back.  The strategy is to drive people deep in the bowels of the web site so a site search engine is common.

These landing pages are for rich and famous to look young and pretty and the prices more than confirm that.

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Japanese Landing Pages are “kawaii” or pretty

As with the US, most of the Japanese plastic surgery audience are women.  In contrast to the US, the Japanese audience is targeted towards the average every day woman and affordable prices. The audience appeal is about how happy and beautiful you are going to be after the procedure is done. Many average-looking models are used to convey this message so that the consumer can identify with them.

Discounting campaigns are very common to motivate the Japanese consumer with tiered package deals and discount coupons.

The Japanese landing page design is quite bright and efficient.  The use of pastel colors with every space of the page is common.  Many moving flash elements are used and this is considered fun and happy for the Japanese consumer.  The Japanese expect their websites to be interesting.

The Japanese header has more information because the Japanese are an information society.  They want tons and tons of informantion in one place and with the Kanji you can do that. In a few kanji characters, you can convey a very complicated thought – no need for site search engines.

Speaking of Kanji, another thing that complicates the look of the Japanese landing page is the ‘kanji’ characters.  Kanji characters can have up to 23 strokes as opposed to English characters which have at most 4 strokes.  This also gives the appearance to the western eye of busyness.

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Getting used to the landing page designs are a tough thing for companies moving from the US to Japan markets. Partnering with cross-cultural consultants can help guide you through the puzzling and the crowdedness of Japanese landing page marketing and design.

Thanks to btrax staff members, Reina and Tai on collaborating on the content on this article.

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Picture by musumemiyuki

As marketers, aren’t we always trying to find products that will be accepted in a given market?   Entering the US Back-to-School season, I thought about some common Japanese products that might have potential popularity during the key US buying seasons of 2010.

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August – Back to School

Cellphone ownership (pdf) amongst age groups from 6-11 are up.  Back to school accessories for kids – a phone accessory may help your child from losing their cellphone like a strap or case.  The Japanese are leaders in accessorizing almost anything and showing these items as a fashion/style item.  The “keitai” or cellphone accessories is what personalizes the phones in Japan.  From cases to combo-wallets, I see some fresh phone accessory designs coming out of Japan, especially for the iPhone.  Kids will be able to identify their “keitai” now.

One thing that the the Japanese really do well are cases and bags. Commuting on trains, bikes, motorcycles or scooter is common in Japan and having a bag that can hold many things is important on their urban commute assault.   This canvas bag is constructed by Japanese craftsman and made of a unique weave pattern to create a very strong and breathable fabric.

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September & October – Autumn Fun

Fall brings a change in clothing and one of the most popular holidays in the US–halloween.  With the large disposable income that the Japanese have at their disposal, fashion is big business in Japan.  Trendy fashions coming out of Tokyo is always a buzz.  Long t-shirts are the style in the Tokyo fashion scene.  With this long turtleneck t-shirt, accessory belt, boots and jeans, you will be looking trendy and stylish for the mild fall weather.

As fall comes,  we have our own childhood icons that we dress up as for Holloween.  The Japanese make costumes too.  Dragonball has been popularized in the US with the movie release last year and has been popular for years amongst the US J-Pop culture.  Get your hair spiked and go door-to-door in full-costume with the Dragonball theme.

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November & December – Holiday Celebrations!

Thanksgiving marks the time of family get together and the official start of the Christmas buying season with Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Common items for guests to bring to a Thanksgiving dinner are cakes and snacks.  Common to Japanese is the cultural norm of bringing a gift as a guest to your host house.  The packaging of green tea ‘ocha’, cakes and cookies is something the Japanese take pride in.  Bring a nicely wrapped Japanese cake box  or ‘ocha’ and you will be appreciated by your hosts and always welcomed back.

Looking for a quick stocking stuffer for mom or your significant other?  I was always amazed by the amount of women’s accessories in Tokyo department stores.  At some stores,  the accessory section was bigger than the clothes section.  Accessories like bracelets, belts, necklaces and hair bands are always popular with women.  Hair clips accessorize a wardrobe and always attracts the eye.

Gaming together is part of life and part of the Wii culture.  The Japanese never stop thinking about efficiency.  If you going charge something, why not charge two.  Never play alone again if your battery power stops with this dual Wii controller charger.

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Just like last year, this season is going to be a race for attracting buyers attention for their pocket books.  Foreign products need to understand the buying seasonal trends of any market.  Which product will allow you to move out of the pack?

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We, at btrax, are excited to announce that we are collaborating with SF New Tech on a new event called SF Japan Night.  The event will feature a group of Japanese high-tech startups looking to introduce and make themselves known to the US market.  If you are not familiar with the SF New Tech Meetup, it is a series of regular tech events for everyone -VCs, journalists, hackers, techies, recruiters, CEOs and especially you — right in our backyard of San Francisco.

This event will be held on October 13, 2010 @ Mighty.

In addition, We are looking for sponsors and media to cover Japan Night.

Benefits for our sponsors include:

• Connections and exposure to the Japan/US high-tech markets
• Attention from the US and Japanese media
• Your logo on promotional marketing materials

If interested sponsoring or covering the event, please contact Reina Hashimoto for more information.

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As everyone is embarking into the social media frontier, certain social patterns emerge.  Social capital is a term used by human social network theorists as a value of your ability to network similar to a value placed on an real object.  This is a subjective quantity and everyone must determine their social capital criteria.  Whether your brand is a personal brand or a corporate brand, I have summarized 5 basic social media patterns that can keep you from growing your social capital and for some, erode your social capital.

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#1 One-way broadcasting of content

Have you ever got annoyed at a SNS poster who blasted messages at you like a machine gun?  All the value of social media gets sucked out when you don’t pause to let you followers build you up.  Let each message soak into your community and let your community’s broadcast depth take your message to the wind.  You will see your social capital soar.

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#2 Not tapping into the power of follower generated content

Remember you were told that you should listen to your mother.  Many people fail to ask and listen to their community.  Your community can be the best source for unleashing truly creative forces and be the best word-of-mouth advice out there. They serve as your ambassadors and champions and will build up your social capital for your brand–engage them.

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#3 Behaving badly to criticism or censoring everything you dislike

Your actions are seen only from a very flat context by your followers and can be interpreted the wrong way quickly.  Be authentic and your value will be repaid with followers loyalty.  Openness is one of the attributes used by some researchers as a way of organically growing your community.  Be open and trusting and it will go a long way to building up some social capital.

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#4 Not about the numbers

Even though you may succumb to the social arms race, a collection of followers may look good but are they really following your brand?  Look to followers who can serve as your brand ambassadors and champions. To keep those loyal listeners you must provide timely, relevant and engaging information.

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#5 Treating your other social networks as step-children

If you put too much weight on any one social network, your brand name is going to suffer.  72% of users in InSight Consulting’s survey of 2009 are members of 2 social networks on average.  A lot of companies in the US have a presence on  Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.  Your social networks are like your children, you will need to nurture and spend quality time with each one .

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The virtual social media world is no different than the human social world.  Be the mayor of your community, treat your social media community with care, and watch your social capital grow.