eROI NYC Interactive Agency

I noticed something the other day about advertising in the Smart Phone Web 2.0 era.  Have you ever noticed how many Smart Phone commercials drop other companies names in their ads to make them seem more relevant and thus giving them free exposure? You got those Sprint commercials where I feel like they mention twitter every five seconds even though they only mention it once. Or the Blackberry commercials that flash the Facebook logo like they invented it. I wonder if they struck deals with them? I mean they had to get approval to mention them I am sure. Even if they paid them these remind me of symbiotic relationships in nature.

For instance, there is a special Sycamore tree in Africa that has an odd partner in a very tiny wasp. The tree provides the wasp with a nest and the wasp pollinates its flowers. We have all seen the iconic image of the Plover bird inside the Alligator’s mouth. The Alligator never snaps his jaw as the Plover cleans his teeth. We got the classic Clown Fish/Anemone of Nemo fame. And of course there are the thousands of orchid species that are so specialized that they only can be pollinated by a certain species of insect.  I know that the comparisons are convenient but I think there is something to be learned from this. In a sense the Twitters, the Flckrs, and the Facebooks of the world all have a symbiotic relationship with the tech industry. I mean in the current climate they need computers and smart phones as much as computers need them. So I racked my brain trying to think of other examples of Business Symbiosis.  There is the old tires and automobile symbiosis. There are a ton of food examples….Hot dog and Mustard. Cereal and Milk. But there seems to be something different with the tech examples.  I can’t quite put my finger on it.  There has to be more business relationships that are symbiotic. Please comment if you think of one.

So it’s no secret that the online world loves lists. Especially Top Five lists. There is something neat and organized about knowing how much info you are going to take in and how long it will take.  We have all boiled our lives down to our Top Five Albums, Top Five Movies,  Top Five Songs.  So I thought I would join the fray, here is my Top Five New York City Top Five Lists.

1.  Top Five Restaurants – YelpTop

2.  Top Five Karaoke Bars – New York Magazine

3.  Top Five Buildings – Gadling

4.  Top Five Dive Bars – New York Magazine

5.  Top Five Tourist Attractions – About.com

Check out Mars Bar, part of the Dive Bar Top Five: 25 E. 1st St., at Second Ave.; 212-473-9842

I need to give some props this week to MoMa and the new launch of their web based Summer Planner App. MoMa traditionally does a great job with their email marketing but this latest round added another level of unique engagement. I can envision the brainstorm session that lead to this….”let’s make it fun to plan your day/week at the museum” How do we do that? I received an email from them last week (image 1) promoting the new online planner. I clicked through to find a well designed and very easy to use site that thought out of the box in terms of usability and function. The interface is fun and colorful and the overall user experience lends itsself well to discovery and exploration. Hallmarks of a good museum right?

Upon entering the dates that you are interested in, you are prompted to sign in. They utilized a clever Facebook user sign in tool that allows you to use your Facebook page in sign in (image 2). You can also create a user profile with in the app. Nice move with the Facebook connect as it lends itsself well to sharing without having to flat our forward stuff. After you enter in all of your info it builds an itinerary for you based on your interests and the availability of the exhibits (image 3). The navigation is great and its tied into some cool features that help you select exhibits that might be of interest to you (image 5).  Nice work on this MoMa.