Coachella: Where no one is partying like it’s 1999

Since it started in 1999, the Coachella Music Festival has become a world-class event, creating legions of fans and a brand that extends way beyond its desert confines. Not only have the music and production values always been top-notch, but Coachella is also an excellent example of how brands can use social media to generate awareness and drive sales. Year after year,
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Notes from PSFK Conference: Innovation and Sharing

We sent a couple folks to a PSFK Conference in New York a few weeks ago, and asked them to report back. Here’s what George Morse, Senior Interactive Designer, and Summer Fiedler, Interactive Art Director,
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Quality Assurance testing in a mobile world

Let’s face it: We love our instant access to the Internet. Whether it’s finding a table at the hottest new restaurant, getting directions to that concert out of town, or putting a name to the face of the actress in the movie you’re watching, we love the instant gratification smartphones and tablets give us. Users now expect websites to be optimized for their various mobile devices, pushing businesses to deliver on that expectation.

This expectation has direct implications for developers and quality assurance testers. What was once the straightforward task of developing and testing for a single device has now become exponentially more challenging, with the number of web-enabled
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Social change through design thinking

There is a growing interest in the design community about the designer’s role in society; specifically, in the idea that design can influence positive changes in our society. Designers bring empathy and creativity to challenges—particularly social challenges—and that empathy helps all of us understand the solutions that can change lives. Through the power of design thinking, traditional problem-solving methods break down and new approaches rise to the surface.

As designers we are trained to solve problems by making new, fashionable objects—whether it’s a product, a website, or a poster. Personally, I have always hoped
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Three insights from SXSWi 2012

South By Southwest Interactive, held every March in Austin, brings together some of the best and brightest in the interactive industry. The conference abounds with skinny jeans, breakfast tacos, fedoras worn askew, and insights into an ever-changing industry.

Here are three key insights from my trip to SXSWi.

1. It’s time to start looking at brands as patterns.

We often view a brand as the single, unified identity of a business or organization. Today, that mindset couldn’t be further from the truth, with the Internet and social media
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In defense of Twitter

Twitter doesn’t need any help from me.

The social media giant is doing pretty well on its own. Last October, the number of active Twitter users reached 100 million, half of whom were logging in every day and sending more than 250 million daily tweets.

And yet. Twitter has its detractors. On March 5, speaking at Tulane University in New Orleans, meganovelist Jonathan Franzen – author of The Corrections and, more recently, Freedom – took aim:

“It’s a free country…(but) Twitter is unspeakably irritating. Twitter stands for everything I oppose… It’s hard to cite facts or create an argument in 140 characters… It’s like if Kafka had decided to make a video
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Digital design in a physical world. Where are we headed?

We live in a tactile world. We crave touch and tactile experience. But in the early 1990s, our lives were forever changed when the internet exploded into worldwide consciousness, changing how humans connect and interact with each other and with the world. It was a new and exciting time and designers were forced to think about their work in new ways, including how it would be consumed over the internet. Good design principals endure, but for most designers, this shift offered a new way of thinking and a different way to express, as well as consume, ideas. Up until only a few years ago, this “new” world consisted mainly
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Five ways to channel customer frustration into adoration using social media

First understand this: customers complain about your brand because they want to love it. They wish your products pleased them, your service satisfied them, your offerings fulfilled their every desire. They act annoyed, angry, and irritated, but underneath that is a secret desire for you to succeed. To be amazing. To be the best brand that you can be.

In any customer service interaction, online or offline, your job is to channel frustration into adoration. The line between hate and love is so fine with a dissatisfied customer that a timely and effective response can often
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Five reasons Pinterest is so hot right now

Surely you have heard of Pinterest by now. If you haven’t, here’s five reasons why you better look it up quick.

1. It’s really easy

There seems to be some debate over whether people like to make lists. Sure, there are those who live and die by their to-do list, and those who have never made one. But it’s a little more complicated that than. Way back in 2010, when talking about privacy concerns and the concept of sharing Facebook posts with only a subset of friends, Mark Zuckerburg said, “Guess what? Nobody wants to make lists.” What he really meant, though, is no one wants to make lists
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Does Google lose sight of guiding principles with update to search?

I’m a die hard Google fan. There, I said it. I love their search engine, their products and their brand’s personality. I love that they value curiosity and intelligence. I also love that most of their products are free. And most of all, I love Google for the first “core principle” in their company philosophy:

“Focus on the user and all else will follow. Since the beginning, we’ve focused on providing the best user experience possible. Whether we’re designing a new Internet browser or a new tweak to the look of the homepage, we take great care to ensure that they will ultimately serve you, rather than
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Thoughts on the “big game’s” new ad game

We asked a couple folks at Peter Mayer to talk about the Super Bowl ads—the wins, the losses and this new deal of advertising the advertising. We got a well-researched sum-up of the goings on from Interactive Media Director Jeremy Braud and from Executive Creative Director Josh Mayer, we got heartfelt longing for the way things used to be. They were also featured on WDSU last night. Check out both below.

From Jeremy
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What duck hunting can teach us about social media

If you’re a duck hunter, it is the reason you put hundreds of decoys around your blind instead of just one—people (and ducks) like a crowd and want to be where the action is. In the social marketing world, the concept suggests that if a brand can prove a large group of people are making purchases or “liking” it on Facebook, they will attract even more people. While this is a flashy concept for brands, it misses the real power of social media completely. Social media connects people through active engagement in conversations, not passive agreement of ambiguous behaviors.

Social media platforms have recently attempted to add more contexts to this
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Checking in on location-based apps

Foursquare announced in December that it has reached 15 million users, Facebook recently acquired Gowalla, and the number of sites and apps offering check-in functionality is continuing to grow. With such a flurry of activity, we thought we would take a minute to “check in” with what is really going on in the realm of location-based services.

Though location-based apps have generated significant buzz (dominated primarily by foursquare, Facebook Places and Gowalla) over the past few years, they still command a very niche user base. Forrester Research reported last month that only 5% of U.S. adult internet users use location-based apps
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Successfully managing the online conversation

We live in a culture of nonstop headlines, gossip and scandal – our conversations often fueled by half stories, anonymous statistics and hearsay. These conversations happen quickly and they are powerful; in four to six hours, one well-placed tweet can mobilize consumers against your brand and directly impact your business. From celebrity
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Five tips for effective tweets

Twitter is an amazing tool for marketers and communicators to establish real-time connections with consumers. However, cramming in everything you need to say in 140 characters can be a challenge. Here are a few tips to help ensure your audience engages with your content and retweets your messages.

Write Headlines

Newspapers have long managed to work within tight confines to get a message across, and you can benefit from a headline style when composing your Twitter messages. Use an active voice and include verbs and subjects. Try to avoid a rambling,
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Digital mapping may change the way you engage customers

“Maps tell stories,” says Interactive Creative Director John Pucci. “In a very real way, when you look at a map you begin to write a story in your head.” At Peter Mayer, we have spent a lot of time over the past year exploring how we can give people a place, digitally, to write those stories
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Media team analyzes fall TV schedule, picks winners

Peter Mayer’s media department recently researched, reviewed and analyzed the new Fall Broadcast TV schedules. Three distinct programming trends are evident: Star-driven vehicles featuring such well-known small screen names as Tim Allen, Christina Applegate,
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Peter Mayer weighs in on Super Bowl ads

With cheers still echoing in the corridors of Cowboys Stadium, two Peter Mayer staffers headed through the predawn morning to the studios of FOX 8 WVUE-TV to discuss the good, the bad and the
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Peter Mayer distributes year-end Results Report

Peter Mayer recently sent out the fourth quarter edition of its online newsletter, Peter Mayer Results Report. Access it here and read about the agency’s fun, irreverent campaign for New Orleans Tourism
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Get the Latest News in Peter Mayer’s Third Quarter Results Report

See what the agency has been up to lately in the Q3 Results Report. Learn about the Women of the Storm’s Restore the Gulf initiative, launched in the days after the BP/Deepwater
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Peter Mayer’s High-Performing Email Program Featured on Silverpop.com

Peter Mayer’s work for Piccadilly Restaurants was recently featured as a case study on silverpop.com. SilverpopTM is an industry-leading email service provider and Peter Mayer has been using it to deploy email
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Peter Mayer Media Team Analyzes Fall TV Schedule

Peter Mayer’s Media department recently researched, reviewed and analyzed the upcoming fall broadcast TV schedule. Three distinct trends are evident: a renewed emphasis on aggressively programming Friday nights with both promising new series and
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Peter Mayer Posts Second Quarter Results Report

Check out Peter Mayer’s Q2 Results Report for our latest news. Read about a social media media–based campaign to save a historic sign in Charlotte, N.C., and a campaign launch for Piccadilly
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Peter Mayer Media Team Notes Summertime Cable Trends

Peter Mayer’s Media department recently completed an extensive analysis of summertime cable programming. Four distinct trends are evident: More light, “escapist” dramedies, à la established hits Burn Notice and Royal Pains; an increased emphasis
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Read the Q1 Results Report for the Latest News

The first quarter of 2010 has been an exciting one for New Orleans, and no different for Peter Mayer. Our Q1 Results Report highlights impressive PR work as well as some notable
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