Matching facebook with a subtle 'brand refresh'

As some of you will see when either using the skignz App, looking at the website or you have come across us on Social Media - change is afoot.

We are currently refining, refreshing and updating all areas of the skignz brand, from slight refinement to the logo (you may not be able to tell) through to whole new look and feel to the website & App.

Facebook have recently announced in the press a similar type of change to their brand, logo, imagery etc...

On first glimpse there seems to be no change but the subtle changes of font, thickness and weight all add to this evolution of the facebook logo, rather than revolution. 

They have also made similar subtle changes to their 'App/Tile Icon'.

Over the years many brands have changed their logos quite dramatically almost overnight. 

However some of the world's most iconic brands choose evolution of revolution. 



Their subtle changes every few years, alter their brand ever so slightly, so until you see them all against each other you don't quite realise the dramatic change.

So using similar logic as these globally successful brands and bringing all the skignz brand style under one theme, colour pallette and structure; We have evolved the logo, the 'App/Tile Icon' and all the associated imagery.

As you can see the changes are not immediately obvious, but the more you look especially looking at the old and the new side by side you can then see where we have tweaked, changed, tightened and improved all aspects of the brand logo.

The 'App/Tiles Icon' we have actually changed quite drastically, as the original one was not exactly within our brand guidelines and we wanted to bring everything inline.

The 'App/Tile Icon', colour wise is more inline with IOS/Androids style and layout but we felt that we needed the brand name on their and not just an icon at this stage in our development.

We hope you like the changes we have made and the direction skignz is taking, not only as a technology platform but also how we represent this through our brand. 

No doubt we will make further changes in the future as we respond to our users and their needs and wants, however we aim to maintain the same ethics and integrity of our brand through evolution, whilst our product (the skignz technology platform) continues to be revolutionary ;-)

If you haven’t already please take a look at the new skignz website www.skignz.com and if you have not either downloaded the app or taken a look for a while please do so. 

We would be very interested to get you feedback if you have 2 mins to email us at discover@skignz.com

As always you can take a look at www.skignz.com aswell as follow us across the usual social media channels.

Apple: Post Steve Jobs...

It's now been just 3 short years since the enigmatic Steve Jobs sadly passed away aged 56. With Apple launching a range of new products and their next operating system. We came across a couple of documentaries on Netflix focussing on different parts of his life. 

After watching these it made us think. How is Apple doing post Steve Jobs and will they have the same success without him involved?

The two documentaries - one by BBC - Steve Jobs: The Millionaire Hippy and  Steve Jobs: The Lost Interview (from 1995). 

The latter was especially fascinating and certainly took the skignz founders Gary and Si back to different parts of their lives. 

Gary was involved in software at the same time as the Apple v Microsoft battle was being established and the use of Punch cards.

Si however (being 20 years younger than Gary) remembers the early years for whole different reasons, using personal computers at home, being introduced to them at school then finally beginning or using a Mac at Art College. 

So both have very different memories of this time however back to our focus on Apple.

Both documentaries showcase Jobs's influence on Apple, before he was ousted and when he returned, but now he is no longer with us and without a 'figure head' the public at large can identify with, have Apple become another faceless corporation like IBM, Coca Cola, etc. ? 

We wondered how much influence Jobs had on peoples decision to buy Apple's products, there was a mystery and certain amount of magic around the guy that endeared him to millions across the globe.

Maybe like Pop/Rockstars who have died young, will his legacy and reputation actually increase - probably! But how do the people at Apple who are left post Steve Jobs deal with this?

During his tenure not only was he one of the pioneers of home computing, changing the user interface and the quality of design and product in the computer world. 

They also revolutionised the music industry with iTunes, with iPods, then the communications world with the iPhone even moving partly back into the computer with the introduction of the iPad.

Which now seems to have taken over from Laptops. Now we have the 'Phablet' iPhone 6+ Niche products in niches that didn't exist prior to Apple exploiting them. We are not saying they were first to market with iTunes - remember Napster, or the iPhone, remember Nokia? Or the iPod, remember other brands had MP3 players.

Apple simply took them to another level completely in quality, design & functionality. But as you can see with all of these innovations they realigned different industries and markets through their innovation. 

But and there is a but ... can Apple do this again? And if so in what sector, industry or market place.

They recently purchased Beats, much has already been written about this acquisition and it remains to be seen how this will affect how beats and apple come together for the benefit of the customer. Both awesome brands with quality products but will the Beats brand remain? But this does not obviously show an intent to transform a certain market place or existing industry, nor does it point to creating a new niche or market place.

So where will Apple go from here? Will they simply just keep evolving their existing range of products, tweaking enhance the design, functionality, shape size and form? Will iPads disappear and the phablet become the device of choice or will phablets not catch on due to their size and revert back to Phones & iPads? 

Will iPods continue? If so, in what format? This begs the question how will mobile devices evolve? Wearables, wrist or glasses based or a combination of both? Certainly with the expansion of Augmented Reality this could be a clear indication of where the market is heading in the near future. But how long will this take?

It's been 13 years since Apple launched the iPod, look at what has come since and how that has evolved? But all of that was with Jobs at the helm. What now for Apple, without him? Who is the visionary now at Apple? 

Surely if they just evolve with what they have others WILL come into the marketplace. Some of these companies won't even exist yet their future owners may still be in nappies or not even born. However there will be some still in their college/uni dorm who although are not planning to be bigger and better than apple, could end up that way.

But there begs another question. Would Apple let them get that big? Is it not easier for them just to acquire them at a very early stage and either use the technology themselves or shelve it so others can't. Certainly this is a possibility due to the ever increasing cash balance that Apple has. 

But not only Apple, what about FaceBook, Google, Microsoft etc. All of these big players can buy just about any start up or established business by throwing the right amount of money at it! Make them an offer they can't refuse so they can either use that hardware/software for their own gain or simply to stop one of the other big players mentioned above from having it.

You may think we have digressed quite a bit from the original question, but all the above leads us back to how will Apple proceed in the post Steve Jobs era? Even a big personality who comes in, from either internally or from the outside will ALWAYS be compared to Jobs, they cannot escape from that!

So surely therefore that would mean that Apple become seen more as a huge corporation eventually leading them to becoming the villain at some point in the future, rather than a uber cool 'tech movement or religion' as most of their customers perceive them at the moment.

You may think why we are writing this or how it may relate to skignz? When we started writing this blogpost we were not sure where it would end up? That may sound strange but we wanted it to develop through normal organic thought processes based upon what we know so far. 

We hope that it's actually provided more questions than answers as you will have your own interpretation on this! 

How do you think Apple will progress? Evolve what they have? Or Introduce disruptive innovation?

What we have done during our discussion whilst writing this post is understand how it can be related to skignz and we see the following key areas for where it does:

 - could skignz become the new way to navigate by replacing Apples Maps on their devices?

 - skignz is a tech company with next generation technology that could certainly improve Apples offering especially with potentially 8 patents pending.

 - skignz's technology would also be attractive to the other key players in the market, Facebook, Google, Microsoft etc.

 - due to the nature of the skignz technology, it has the ability to revolutionise a range of different markets, navigation being a massive one but also as a browser, even a whole new marketing channel for brands through to being an extension or new way for people using social networks to communicate.

One further question we have thought of is at what point of skignz development does it become of interest, exciting or even a threat to the above companies, depending on how they see skignz its benefit to themselves or to their competitors surely would vary between them.

I don't suppose we will know until the first of them engages with skignz in some way? This may have already happened but without us knowing, either way we will update you if or when any progress is made on this!

But back to our original question! In summary we believe that the way Apple will progress post Jobs is by aquiring new technology that is disruptive and delivering it through its channels or add to its own tech.

For further information on Apple please visit their website at http://www.apple.com

If you would like to know more about Steve Jobs then a good place to start would the wikipedia entry for him at: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Jobs

If you would like to know more about skignz then please visit our website at http://www.skignz.com and don't forget to check us out on a range of the popular Social Media Channels.

Is this really Augmented Reality?

Recently one of the skignz founders came across an ad on Facebook with regards to the new app The Shard is one of the brand new sight-seeing attractions in London.

Built at a staggering 306M – 23 storeys, it’s fair to say that the views you will get from the shard will simply be amazing. Built with offices, restaurants, arcade and even a hotel, it has everything a person could ask for when staying at the Shard.

Complementing the skyline of London, the Shard is defiantly an attraction to be visited when visiting the great city of London.

With being one of the new great attractions in London, is it fair to say that they have created something cutting edge (pardon the pun) quite striking and wonderful.

However some of their technology is not the best attending to every visitor/customer’s needs. 

The Shard has a app for smartphones which you can view content on up the Shard which people can download prior to attending, however when at the Shard it was apparent that the app only worked when you signed up to their Wi-Fi which still did not work when we tried to sign up over a period of about two hours. 

There should be no restriction as to visitors having to sign up to their Wi-Fi when visiting the Shard and this is not stated and made clear to people prior to attending. Being the best attraction is great however technology is a vital aspect that needs to work for every customer attending or it immediately will make the Shard have that lower immediate rating, which is not what they will have aimed for.

Maybe the Shard should look at making the app useable when attached to any Wi-Fi or network.

The journey however that the customers will get from the moment they visit the Shard all the way to the top is very enlightening.

As you go into the Shard you have video screen in the main entrance. The video screens set the historic context of the Shard and the London Bridge location of it. 

Through short films being shown on the video screen guests who are visiting the Shard will be able to see London’s diverse communities, famous streets and places across the capital.

People can also get to know information about the Shard and London, as well as being able to watch the graphics and see how the building is closely linked to the cities transport system, showing the lifts move inside the building and the trains that run underneath both in real time viewing.

 

As well as having the video screens in the entrance showing a lot of information to guest’s, there is also the range of lifts that the Shard has with detail inside them all.

The lifts travel at six meters per second, making the total lift journey time from Level 1 to level 68 around 60 seconds. 

They each have constantly changing graphics on the ceiling of the lift including lighting amazing people as the make their way up the Shard. 

As guests exit the lift onto the corridor they are welcomed with a map of London extending from the floor up and across all the walls.

Guests follow an image of the River Thames curving along the floor and see the capital mapped geographically around them in 200 sentences scrawled on the walls and floor, each describing a different part of the city.

The second lift that the guests enter into is the same experience as they would have had with the first lift with the animated ceilings. The second lift takes guest out onto the floor with window views of London obscured with window images of the range of cloud types that you may see – not really stating a viewing point for guests and they are images they may see.

The third lift takes you to the triple-height, light-filled, main viewing gallery where breath-taking, 360 degree views for up to 40 miles (64km) over the capital are revealed.

Tell:scopes on the viewing deck

London city can be seen on 12, free to use, ‘Tell:scopes’ – ultra high-tech digital telescopes that are being used in Europe for the first time.  The Tell:scopes enable guests to explore the city around them in real time, as well as offering alternative (pre-recorded) day and night-time views.  Fully interactive, they are able to identify over 200 famous landmarks and places of significant interest and offer information about them in 10 languages.

However London can be seen from 12 free to use ‘Tell:scopes’, we question was this the AR they talked about or is this in the app that could not be accessed?

If it is these ‘Tell:scopes’ then they were awkward to use and certainly not AR in the live sense as they show views of London day, evening, night and back to various key times in history – Tudor, Georgian and Victorian etc...

Higher viewing deck - open air

Whilst watching people use these we managed to get close enough to listen and hear their comments which varied around:

"This is terrible, truly awful..."

"Its very hard to use?"

"This is not what I expected, the graphics are like an old school computer loading up!"

"My iPhone has better camera than this!"

"Why am I getting a countdown clock as the top?"

"The telescope viewfinder in Brighton, when I was a kid was better than this!"

"How can this be Augmented Reality, when they show me at night time, when it’s mid-afternoon and daylight?"

When we tried to use it the graphics loaded up in 'square blocks' so when you went from day to night, 2 parts of the image loaded up in the dark image, then the rest did, which gave for a very disjointed experience and not in keeping with the whole image we had for The Shard, especially everything else being so cutting edge and hi tech in the building.

A further lift and two flights of stairs takes you to the next viewing gallery on floor 72 where the experience changes and although you are surrounded by the glass walls, all of the ceiling is open and exposed to the elements and a nice breeze swept through the place!

No ‘Tell:scopes’ on this floor, again just lost more people using smart phones and mobile devices for photos, filming!

NO one we spoke to had managed to access the 'elusive' Shard app content.

So after a while of enjoying the view and trying to understand what key buildings were and especially those at the furthest part of our sight range and also those mixed up with the atmospheric conditions (London smog) it was difficult to pick out.

We decided to leave and make the long journey back down in the lifts to terra firma!

Although pleasant at the top and one to tick off the bucket list, we have no reason to return... especially not to pay £29 per person to see if their app works on another day!

In our opinion, having to access the Wi-Fi and it not automatically letting you pick it up with no login significantly hampered our visitor experience!

The clearly expensive installation of the ‘Tell:scopes’ were extremely disappointing, so much so that we did not just think, they were ok but more than enough that we would write this whole blog post to share our experiences!

We are massive advocates of innovation especially in information based AR, which this, we feel clearly is not!

We do wish however, that it was quite the opposite! As this is a beautiful building and a key focal point for visitors from across the globe, yet the whole 'shard experience' engages you from when you walk in, right up till you leave on the escalator to street level, yet the 'key' (advertised on facebook) offering of helping people view London in a new way, in a way that’s informative and engaging was not only 'not good enough' it was a disaster of biblical proportions.

We can say this because we know what we were expecting and the rest of the journey was so good and this part was so bad that it amplified the gap between the rest of the offering and these stainless steel Armadillos with tablets welded into their backs with a 1980's user experience on them!

Using skignz instead!

We have also looked at our own technology and what 'The Shard' currently offers and we realise we are not just a step ahead of their offering but quite a few steps ahead. Will 'The Shard' read this and change things; we doubt it, not because they don't believe what we are saying or because they don't want to improve the customer experience but probably more to do with the budget already spent on the ‘Tell:scopes’ system!

In our research into how people are using AR for navigation and identifying places of interest we wrote a blog article...... (http://skignzblog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/advancement-in-technology.html) regarding the installation at the Santander Banks HQ in Santander, Spain.

Again we found similarities with 'The Shard' offering, with the hundreds of thousands of digital images, the fixed access through pre-determined equipment, restricted in their range use and function.

Now compare this to what skignz offers and you can see that there is a gulf in the offerings! Why is this?

Were they engaged to provide these installations quite some time ago? Did they not consider people accessing it through their own devices or had skignz simply not been invented yet?

In the work we are exploring with other similar offerings across the globe, we aren't only looking at how to increase and improve the overall visitor experience but also the business model surrounding it, so that the owners of the 'visitor experience' can generate additional revenues that will allow them to 'reinvest' year on year in their attraction!

Keeping it relevant for every customer and not something that was maybe cool a year or two ago or that becomes 'so last season within a short time!'

For more information on how skignz could revolutionise the 'visitor experience' for your brand, please get in contact through our website www.skignz.com

Festivals and Outdoor Events- From a Brands Perspective!

Now this one is for all of you brands out there. Every brand and company wants themselves to differ from one another in some way. But what can you have before anyone else does and that meets every customer’s needs and wants. 

It is not always about just advertising to customers, you need to engage with them on a different level. Festivals and outdoor events are a massive experience to people every year as thousands and thousands attend festivals and want to experience different kinds of acts and see them live. However they need to have a full great experience no matter what they do while they are there and have an overall fulfilled time rather than just enjoy seeing the acts live that they enjoy.

This could be ANY Festival in full flow - Standard!

Now ANY Festival in full flow - But Informatively Enhanced!

Let me just tell you and give you a short illustration of what a brand would do from their perspective and how they would go about giving people that best experience they can get at a festival or outside event.

"Hi my name is Sam. I am the manager of a large sports company with HQ in London. I am just giving you an example of what I think should be done to enhance a person’s experience at an outdoor event. Now we know ourselves, well I do anyway that when we go to a festival it can be a right pain when you get lost or you don’t know where to go, when you don’t know where your car is or where your tent is, or even the biggest one losing your friends when you leave them to go get a drink or go to the toilet.

Now I know myself that I want to help people improve on this and come to some solution for it. Look at it from your own perspective first, you're at a festival with your friends. Imagine when you need to find your tent when you go back to it, there are thousands of people with their different coloured tents up so it isn't going to be easy to find yours now is it. 

Could you find your friend(s) amongst this mass crowd?
Its the same at nearly EVERY Live Event you will attend!

That's just a small problem. When you get settled into the event and go to see your favourite act on stage, you will need a drink, some food and the toilet. Making more than one journey is just a pain so you will do it all in one time. However where are those toilets at, including the food and even where to get the drinks from; the main part of your festival experience – drinking!

I want my brand to help others at the festival not just advertise to them. Now advertising at a festival is big for a brand as everyone sees it and it increases their awareness of the brand. However that is just advertising to people, it isn't helping them or engaging with them at a personal level creating a relationship to benefit them and benefit the brand also. 

When you think about it should always be a two way street. When brands advertise they need to make sure that whatever they do or how they are doing it is benefiting the customer and person themselves and also benefiting the brand at the same time. Providing a two way street, is the best form of advertising as it creates a great relationship between two parties – the brand and the customer.

Now when I am thinking about it and how I can help people at a festival to not get lost and to find their friends and their tent when it comes to it I need something really spectacular to really expose my brand at the same time as providing help to others.

That’s why I now tell you about skignz. I have come across this great new technology that puts 'virtual signs in the sky' for people to view and use to navigate where they are going. Now you might think, well how is this going to help a person attending a festival or an outdoor event yet also improve a brand's exposure at the same time...?

Well let me tell you. skignz will help a person at a festival or outdoor event as, when they go to the toilet and leave their friends or to even go to get some food, it will be very hard to even find where each place is at this massive event filled with thousands of people. Then when they try to go back and find where they were previously situated, will be even more difficult in the massive crowd. 

Find your friends in a crowd! Simple as that!

Well if that person and their group of friends who they are attending the event with (they can download the skignz app for free, before they attend the event) they can each set up and place a skign above their head (using their phone GPS/Wifi signal  to keep it located above them!)

Now when a person wanders away from the group, they will be able to just scan the crowd with their mobile (through the skignz App) and they will see that personalised 'virtual sign in the sky' above their friends head; now then can easily find their way back to them without no hassle.

That sounds so simple to use and best of all it is free for everyone to download. Other public skignz can also be set up around the event so that whoever does have the app for when they attend the event they will easily be able to find the toilet, food and drinks service sections so that they won't have to waste time searching about and getting lost then missing the act that they most wished to see at the festival. 

These branded/sponsored skignz provide the audience with Real Time Live Information!

Now you know how this will benefit a person at a festival or outdoor event you may think well how will it benefit me by using another company’s technology and enhance the acknowledgement of my brand. 


Well let me tell you how...

The best place to get your brand noticed by a wide range of audience is at these huge events where there are thousands of people who will take notice of your brand there.

Then in the future they will associate the skignz technology or that particular festival / outdoor event with your brand. Now through that brand noticing that a person needs help and how can they go the extra mile to help them shows that customer, that you are taking care of them no matter where they are and seeing to their every needs and wants in that very moment. 

Through getting my brand associated with this new piece of great technology, whenever anyone uses it, they will know that my brand is associated with this and just how much it helped them at that festival/outdoor event. 

Now let's just think of the recognition that has created for my brand! Not just at that event but into the future too. It has also provided that company and piece of technology with wider recognition. Everyone will also be more the wiser about that company and what it offers.

Now through my brand, using the new innovative skignz technology, this doesn't just help the brand at a festival, my brand can use this to create an advantage on any of my competitors who do not use skignz – We will be the only ones! It can always be used to enhance a customer’s experience no matter when, not just at the initial festival.

I read once a customer’s point of view in a statement that said: “A company that takes the time to create a more personal relationship with me instantly gets me attention and my loyalty to that brand, as they are not just advertising to me, they are looking to help me in any way they can and take time to create that personal relationship with me”.

Well that everyone, is what my brand is all about and what skignz is all about. So have a think about it and just how much using skignz can help benefit your brand and help you pass on that benefit to your customer’s, thus creating that more personal relationship which is what we are all looking to achieve". 

If you would like to read more on skignz if you are thinking about wanting this great technology within your company and use it to enhance your brand, then please follow the links below and have a read of the company; Even watch a few videos to see just how great and innovative the technology is!

www.skignz.com 

www.facebook.com/discoverskignz

www.twitter.com/discoverskignz

www.youtube.com/skignz

skignz enters the grown up world of online dating

As part of skignz business development and marketing strategy, we are constantly looking at ways to reach our target audience with an almost sniper type approach rather than the scatter gun approach employed by most brands!

Many types and versions of online matching services have been developed in many sectors, especially personal dating sites, and even companies such as eBay and Amazon, who are matching products to customers. You may ask why is this relevant to a company like skignz!

As skignz is a digital platform in has a considerable amount of different audiences and possibilities for the use of its technology so where do we start in attracting brands to use our platform, what sector, what industry and for what part of skignz will we promote!

We have spent considerable time, focussing in on certain markets and different members of the skignz team and making good progress, however one key area we feel skignz lends itself to is Live Outdoor Events. We have blogged previously about the use of skignz at Festivals, Concerts, Sporting Events, Trade shows etc... bringing us a certain level of interest.

We have now agreed a deal with what we feel is the closest thing to online dating for skignz. Matching our technology and the newest of marketing channels with Brands, media Buyers and agencies all looking to get the edge for their clients, for their brand above and beyond their competitors. 

GetMeMedia.com is an innovative platform set up by industry professionals for industry professionals, to help those with the budgets, desire and aspiration to marketing their brands in the most innovative and relevant way with the companies who provide a serive for the brands to reach those chosen audiences.

One of skignz Case Studies on GetMeMedia.com

skignz is in the process of developing a number of case studies of what skignz is doing, can do in the area of outdoor live events.

Once those are in place we will be matched up to those seeking what we offer, even though they don't know it yet! This is the secret formula, the magic held within GetMeMedia.com.

Media buyers and brand managers are able to enter set criteria that opens up new possibilities for them when looking to place and spend budgets on activity for their brand or clients brands. 

Due to skignz unique offering, we will become visible to a whole new audience of people that are looking for that something different, that something fresh and new, but don't yet know what it is?

Over the coming months skignz will be working with the GetMeMedia.com Team in a number of ways to expose skignz and its capabilities to the worlds Brand and Media Buying agencies. This we feel will not only raise the profile of skignz but will also allow the brands to communicate in a way never seen before, but also and more importantly add value to their audience by creating and enhancing their experience.



By using the skignz platform, a brand can, by creating a fully branded up 'skignz environment' at a festival, concert or other live event. That brand can enhance the visitors overall experience by helping them find their way around the event, by finding their friends, understand who is performing when and where and even finding their tents and cars!

All the time solving a number of very simple issues visitors have but have never been resolved until today!

We will over the coming months be reporting on our progress with GetMeMedia.com and how our new relationships are going? whether the intros only turn into a 1st and only date or whether or not we get follow up dates, even a longer term relationship! 

We can safely say skignz is not talking marriage at this point but maybe in a few years time if the other partner is the right fit? In the mean time we will flirt and date with potential suitors, looking for the best mix!

"GetMeMedia is the place for brands and their agencies to find marketing ideas, media and sponsorship solutions. It's a totally FREE service for brand managers and advertisers!" Pete Davis, Managing Director - GetMeMedia

For more information on skignz please visit www.skignz.com or if you would like to download the app for yourself, please visit www.skignz.com/download

If you would like to know more about GetMeMedia.com then please visit www.getmemedia.com