With Microsoft announcing plans Monday to shut down its Tag technology by 2015, it cast further skepticism around the future of QR codes and other mobile activation platforms like augmented reality and image recognition. Taking up the topic in a panel at the Mobile Insider Summit, executives from QR code vendors like Scanbuy and Blippar acknowledged codes have often failed to deliver a good user experience. Scanbuy CEO Mike Wehrs, whose company acquired the licensing rights to Tag, said QR codes, especially early on, only linked to a Web site instead of providing compelling content within the technology itself. “A …

Attendees of MediaPost's Mobile Media Summit can be forgiven for seeing the world through mobile-colored glasses. When it comes to their "omni-channel" strategies, however, they need to think bigger, according to Johann Huber-Gutierrez, Chief Innovation Officer at TechReactor.com. "Sometimes we forget that 'omni-channel' is not just about mobile," Huber-Gutierrez told summit attendees on Tuesday. Sure, mobile may be the unifying element in a true "omni-channel" model. But, as Huber-Gutierrez stressed, "This is about breaking down silos."

Underscoring its focus on listening to consumer feedback, Stephen Kinch, senior product manager, mobile, at 7-Eleven, noted how the company created a feature in its app earlier this year called the Idea Hub to solicit input from users about how to enhance the app. Even though the feature was buried four-levels down in the main menu, people managed to find it quickly and began posting ideas about for the app as well as the convenience chain’s stores and products. Kinch said the Ideas Hub was similar to Starbucks better known MyStarbucksIdea, but for now confined to mobile. Given the …

If you're not making mistakes, you're not innovating your mobile strategy fast enough. That's according to Stephen Kinch, Sr. Product Manager of Mobile at 7-Eleven. "We're going to make mistakes ... Don't be afraid to make mistakes," Kinch told attendees of MediaPost's Mobile Insider Summit on Tuesday. The point is to put products out there, and get smarter. "Reserve the right to get smarter," Kinch said. Illustrating his point, Kinch said 7-Eleven is in the process of getting smarter about a particular coupon offering. In its existing form, the brand's mobile app alerts customers when a store doesn't accept its …

When it comes to “snackable” media like Instagram and Vine, ShareThis’ Daniel Odio said companies have to make it “insanely easy” for people to share media around their brand. To help measure the impact of campaigns, he suggest brands turn to a service like Twitterfall.com to track what people are saying about their brands. He also suggested incorporating social tools to enhance distribution.Michoel Ogince, director, platform & product strategy, Big Fuel Communications, suggested using paid media in social networks to publicize campaigns as well as having creative teams work closely with community managers for …

The secret to mobile marketing success can be found in a quote from "Fast Times at Ridgemont High," according to Dan Israel, strategy lead of the mobile and multiChannel practice at SapientNitro. In his "five-point plan" to dating, the slippery character Mike Damone told his young protg Rat: "Wherever you are, that's the most important place to be." That's the exact message marketers need to send to mobile consumers, Israel told attendees of Mediapost's Mobile Insider Summit, on Monday. "You need to be able to cater to where they are," Israel said, noting that he got the original idea from …

Do your best to drop the word "channel." No, Tricia Nichols, Global Lead of Consumer Engagement, Media Innovation & Partnerships for Gap Brand, says you really shouldn't use the word anymore. "You have to make it about the consumer," Nichols told attendees of MediaPost's Mobile Insider Summit, on Monday morning. (Similarly, as MediaPost's Steve Smith put it earlier in the morning: "It's about consumer planning; not media planning.") In place of channels, the buzzword of the day is "omni-channel," which represents a less siloed approach to consumer marketing - but Nichols isn't a fan. Rather, Gap prefers to think in …