Steve Jobs Has Died
At 7:32pm last evening I got a notification from CNN on my iPad2, “Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple, has died, according to the company”. And just like that, one of the most influential people in my life – and one of my heroes – is gone.
Interview: Role of the Creative Technologist
Check out this video of Edward Boches, Chief Innovation Officer at Mullen, interviewing Scott Prindle, VP / Executive Creative Technology Director at CP+B, on the role of the creative technologist at Making Digital Work 4 in Boulder. In this blog post, Boches posits that the role of the Creative Technologist is the most important in advertising.
Fix for Slow iPad Sync and Backup Failure
The other day I started experiencing very slow iPad syncs which ultimately resulted in backup failures. The process would hang at “backing up” in the iTunes status bar approximately 90% through the sync/backup process. It appears that the existing backup was corrupted. The solution that worked for me was to delete the existing backup in iTunes and completely re-sync. More »
Searching for a Digital Analyst
Howard, Merrell & Partners is seeking a Digital Analyst. The Digital Analyst works with team members to develop analytic strategy for the client, understanding customer behavior, defining analytics strategy, managing insights projects, performing analysis and writing reports. The position requires strong analytical skills to provide data driven insights.
Responsibilities include:
- Provide integrated marketing analytical solutions across customers and channels to improve client decision-making.
- Monitor, analyze, and report on the performance of Web sites, email campaigns, banner ads, social media, etc.
- Understand and effectively communicate search engine marketing strategies, the search engine landscape, and the effectiveness of search engine optimization.
- Manage online media campaigns to include integration of web sites, banner ads, social media, SEO, PPC, etc.
- Create holistic dashboards/analysis by pulling data from different data sources and websites for presentations to senior management team.
- Develop presentations for senior management team and clients.
- Cultivate and maintain strong relationships with creative thinkers, technologists, and clients.
- Create timelines and ensure consistent adherence to established deadlines.
- Provide direction to creative, media and production staff and effectively represent their perspectives when presenting work to client.
- Testing and troubleshooting web analytics tags for quality assurance.
- Recognizing and solving data problems and inconsistencies.
- Team interface regarding campaign tracking.
- Achieve and maintain fluency in relevant interactive technologies.
Required Skills:
- A bachelor’s degree is required, along with 1 – 3 years of digital experience.
- Technical aptitude and strong problem solving skills are expected.
- A solid understanding of internet technologies and web analytics is necessary.
- Experience with e-mail tracking is a plus.
- The candidate will be familiar with Google Analytics, DART for Advertisers, and WebTrends.
- Strong Excel, PowerPoint, and general math skills are required.
- Should be familiar with HTML and JavaScript.
- A background in online marketing and/ or site publishing is helpful.
- The web analyst should be proactive and detail oriented.
- Candidate should be flexible and be willing to be part of a highly energetic team focused on delivering quality client solutions.
- Passion, a desire to learn and a good attitude.
Work Environment:
Normal office environment. Travel to client offices required.
Email resumes to analyst@merrellgroup.com. Please no recruitment/placement agencies.
Job Opening: Web Developer
We’re looking for a Web Developer with at least a few years of experience to join our interactive team. You will be involved in projects the moment you arrive, including:
- Small-to-medium sized websites
- Flash banners and microsites
- HTML emails and e-newsletters
- Social media strategy and implementation
- Content management system integration (WordPress, Drupal, etc)
Requirements / Qualifications:
- HTML / CSS
- PHP, Javascript, MySQL, SQL
- Knowledge of JavaScript frameworks such as jQuery or Prototype
- Flash and Actionscript
- Mobile development experience a plus (iOS, HTML5)
- Design and typography principles
- Final Cut Studio and After Effects experience a plus
- Ability to work with a team
- Passion, a desire to learn and a good attitude.
Email resumes to developer@merrellgroup.com. Please no recruitment/placement agencies.
POLL: Who’s the Most Annoying Insurance Salesperson?
Pretty self-explanatory. The insurance personality wars are getting out of hand. It seems to be more of a competition on who can come up with the most annoying salesperson. If I hear one more Nationwide radio spot with the “World’s Greatest Spokesperson in the World” I’m gonna go nuts.
In case you can’t remember who’s who:
A = The “Old” Allstate Guy
B = Progressive’s “Flo”
C = The GEICO Gecko
D = The GEICO Caveman
E = Allstate’s “Mayhem”
F = Nationwide’s “World’s Greatest Spokesperson in the World”
G = The State Farm Guy
Location-based Apps Picking Up Steam
It seems like the location-based social media apps like Foursquare, Gowalla and BrightKite are finally beginning to pick up steam. Starbucks was an early adopter of Foursquare, and now I’m starting to see more and more small businesses take advantage of the opportunities that are being afforded by this new medium. In fact, our social media group is currently working with several clients, including O2 Fitness, to roll out location-based promotions. More »
Apple HTML5 Showcase
Apple has put together an overview of some of the capabilities of HTML5 and CSS3 with some very nice examples. Check it out at http://apple.com/html5/.
HTML5 and CSS3 will enable a rich web unlike anything we’ve ever experienced before. The use of rich typography (without plugins) alone is going to change the visual quality of the web while providing an unparalleled user experience. The typographical revolution of the web is upon us!
WWDC Sold Out
Apple’s Worldwide Developer’s Conference sells out for the third straight year in a record-breaking eight days. Not a good sign for Flash.
Google Analytics Annotations
Finally! Google has added annotations to Analytics. This is the one feature I’ve been asking for since I began using GA. It allows you to leave small shared or private notes on the over-time graph. So now I won’t have to refer to the media flowchart to see when certain banner ad campaigns were launched or changed or when a change was made to a website and for what reason. This will make it much easier for the entire team to see those changes how they are influencing traffic patterns and usage of those websites.
Check out the video below for an overview:
