Let’s keep it brief.
Our team has been working around the clock in order to get everything up-and-running again; especially our DBA-genius, Michael Nathe, has once again shown us why he’s forever an All-Star TraceWorker – who’ll be immortalized in our hall of fame.
STATUS:
Finally we’re 99% done: Data from the last few days are being inserted right this moment – but Headlight is 100% functional and all data will be available in the reporting interface shortly.
NEED HELP?!
We’ll gladly assist you in any way with the things you need done – like setting up campaigns, checking data, etc. Hopefully we help make up for any delays this may have caused in your daily routines. Should you have any comments or questions then please feel free to contact our VP of Customer Relations, Pelle S. Jakobsen: psj(AT)traceworks.com / +45 33 118 118.
Our long time “Fearless Supporter” and our customer’s single most-appreciated TraceWorker, Andreas Bjerregaard, has decided to try something completely different; setting up his own business in the UK. I wish you all the luck in the world – you deserve it!
This means that it is time to pass the torch to someone who’s equally fearless and passionate about this as Andreas was – if possible…
We’re looking for someone who can join our customer support; if you’re a little technical (HTML / JavaScript / .net / C# / SQL) it would be kind of nice – it’s NOT essential. If you know a little about online marketing (e.g. from working as a trafficker in a media agency) it would be great.
We get around 30-40 emails a day from customers. About half of them are really quick answers (under a minute with a standard response or FAQ link), another quarter are a touch more involved, and the remaining quarter can take a 30+ minutes each depending on the issue.
The job also includes customer services – coordinated by our VP, Customer Relations, Pelle S. Jakobsen: It could be setting up campaigns, extracting data, and putting together custom reports.
We’d also like this person to browse our client’s Headlight accounts and pop in and offer a hand when people are stuck.
Passion wanted
We’re looking for someone who is passionate about working at a company like TraceWorks and passionate about helping people get back on track quickly. Strong communication skills (writing / verbally) and the ability to get to the point quick are a big plus.
Think you’re the one?
If you think you’re the guy or gal, please drop me a line at mew at traceworks dot com. Do me a favor and include “Customer Support Position” in the subject so I can easily corral these into the proper folder.
Thanks.
We are preparing a major upgrade of our reporting servers: Too many customers and too much data and not enough crunching power. The server upgrade will happen at some point this weekend: Expect 2-3 hours down time.
NOTE! This will have no effect on any of your active campaigns e.g. ad serving or data collection.
Should you have any comments or questions then please feel free to contact our VP of Customer Relations, Pelle S. Jakobsen: psj(AT)traceworks.com.
I’ll just post this one again … come on people; TraceWorks is THE PLACE to work and we’re still looking for a “ASP.NET / AJAX Front-End Developer” and the best “Sales People” and “KAMs” in the world.
TraceWorks is growing like crazy, and we need your help. We’re looking for hardworking, skilled individuals to help us develop and scale our company and our SaaS product, Headlight. Want to know more about what working at TraceWorks is all about? Yes, please.
Technical Development
TAKEN > Passionate C# Backend Senior Developer- Fanatical Front-End Senior Developer (C# & ASP.NET AJAX)
Sales
Full-time employees receive competitive salary, paid vacation, health benefits, and a lot of excitement…
I read Thomas Madsen-Mygdal’s blog a few days ago. He’s a very clever guy and I enjoy reading what he has to say! Your should too.
One of his latest posts is about Second Life (SL) and all of the attention (and hype) it’s getting. From his post it seems Thomas doesn’t really think all this hype is backed is by solid reason since not that many people actually use SL and since this is something which still needs about 10 years to mature. He’s asking about suggestions on the dynamics behind this hype…
Sci-Fi becoming reality in a not so distant future is always a great story. Isn’t it?
One reason could be the nature of human curiosity; we’re so damn curious about what’s lurking around the corner and we want to know about it right NOW … we don’t want to wait. Collective curiosity (on a mass scale) (often “transforming to” / “or creating” HYPE) is closely connected to factors like how “dramatic” something is and also how “relatable” it is to the ordinary John Doe.
Even though SL is quite a complex phenomenon it is also in some ways pretty straight forward and easy to relate to. It’s Second Life; a variation of First Life and in some ways just an extension of traditional multi-user communication tools (chat rooms, IM etc.). Sure it’s more than just that; it’s a world where people meet and form friendships, fall in love, get angry with each other, have sex and of course it’s a world of commercialism – the latter is quite important… On the surface it’s pretty straight forward; it’s a virtual world. We get it and it’s quite wild and wow!
Blogging and participation – as mentioned by Thomas – are trends that are much more relevant and existing/happening today. The RL impact on democracy / marketing etc. from these is very much already existing and happening. Still these things are a little less straight forward and harder to relate to, I think. They’re not necessarily more complex but even on the surface when discussing stuff like this it tends to become a rather intellectual debate…
Metaverses / MMOGs were hyped in the 80s when we saw the first few working “alfa-examples” of “(parallel/virtual) worlds”. It got a lot of attention. Again in the 90s it received widespread attention. Now it’s around for a new spin. And we’re getting closer to our vision for a virtual world all the time.
One of the the absolutely most interesting things about metaverses this time around – and SL in particular – (a good reason for the hype and what makes it “legit” and “credible”) is that SL shows us very clear examples of how to actually use a metaverse!
SL is not just about creating more or less fictive characters (whoops – now this could get intellectual and ugly!?) and taking them for a walk in a 3D park. SL is also a parallel economical system with Linden dollars and it’s also a platform where companies experiment with new communication strategies to achieve closer relationships with consumers. Examples – as mentioned in a previous post on The Dojo – could be American Apparel, Starwood Hotels, Saxo Bank, and many more.
“Hype and the legitimacy of hype” shouldn’t necessarily be so closely connected with actuality; meaning the actual value of a given phenomenon right NOW e.g. how many people use it right NOW? SL is window, a crystal ball showing us possibilities and – this time around – some solid examples – of what might happen in a not so distant future. I think the view is pretty interesting. Many of my non-tech/media friends are also talking about SL; it fascinates them.
SL and metaverses are not there yet! Especially the graphics in SL are rotten; but this time we might get very close since big technology and media companies are heavily involved with ambitious projects: Google, Sony, and even Lego (besides Linden Lab and Blizzard for that matter) is investing aggressively (more than ever) in 3D worlds. That alone is a RACE worth some attention.
What do you think: Why is SL so hyped and is it really?
BTW: People might find this interesting: Steve Rubel of Micro Persuasion is analyzing the numbers behind SL. The info a bit outdated – but I did some quick tests on Technorati / Statsaholic and the numbers seems pretty much the same.
Just received an email from Joost that I could invite 2 people to the beta-test … I’ve forwarded one to our Flex/Flash Visual Architect, Jes, who’s been asking for it a few times … Anybody want my last invitation? Let me know…
After many years of anticipation – when when when? – Google will now finally enter the traditional affiliate marketing space offering performance based advertisement based on conversions; you simply Pay-Per-Action e.g. for a lead, a purchase, a sign-up. You can sign-up for a beta spin here.
Companies like Comission Junction and Scandinavian based TradeDoubler might be affected by this – a lot. Interesting to see when Yahoo and MS will follow.
We’ll soon begin to take a closer look on how to integrate this with Headlight.
Read the full story on TechCrunch.
Subscriptions of newspapers are falling off; television viewing is falling off and advertisers are following their customers and potential customers to where they spend time … which is WHERE exactly?
Some of the growing media segments are of course the internet and computer games. Most marketers know that already. But there is also “another segment” which is located somewhere in between; it’s the so-called MMOGs or Metaverses; virtual worlds (or YOU-niverses) in which “residents” are free to do as they please, not participate in a pre-defined role-playing game.
6-7 years back when I studied media science at college I remember MUDs or MMOGs being a pretty hot potato. All students with a little self respect had something to say about this phenomenon; “social norms will dramatically change and we will have to expand our traditional definition of “identity”" – however it never really took off on a big scale it seems, until now.
Second Life (and The Numbers)
One of the most popular and interesting metaverses is “Second Life” (SL) – even though debates continue on how popular SL really is. The official numbers coming from Linden Lab, the creators of SL, is that SL is the home of 3,117,288 million residents (or Avatars). Compare that to 124,175 the same time last year. 86% are between 17- 45 years old. 59% are men and 41% are woman.
A Google-Like Phenomenon?
People talk about this being the next Google-like phenomenon in modern media history. In the long run this might be true. Personally I still find the 3D quality to be far from good enough to really intrigue me; it’s still too virtual.
This might change pretty quickly. Many companies are pouring a lot of R&D $ into this industry. One of them is of course Google, who have invested heavy in these areas:
- Google Earth – a free-of-charge, downloadable virtual globe program.
- SketchUp – a free 3D software product
- The recent acquisition of in-game advertising technology company “Adscape Media”
This combined should provide Google with the perfect platform to become a trendsetting player in this area as well (and become the next Google-like phenomenon).
Metaverses and Marketing
There is no doubt that real-world changes will happen and this also includes “MARKETING” … The growing virtual population mean that SL and “metaverses” in general are moving up the list of places digital marketers and brands want to be! The current challenge for marketers and brands is now to figure out how to add something relevant to virtual worlds – just plastering banner ads on virtual walls won’t do it.
Some advertisers are starting to explore these “metaverses” as an outlet for experiential marketing, giving consumers the opportunity to interact with brands on their own terms. Some interesting examples of products and brands in SL are Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, American Apparel, and the Danish company Saxo Bank.
- Case Study #1: StarWood Hotels & Resorts
Starwood Hotels & Resorts, which oversees such well-known hotel brands as Sheraton, St. Regis and Westin, will launch its newest chain, Aloft, in the online society “Second Life” in September. Read the full story here.
- Case Study #2: American Apparel
American Apparel, known mainly for producing sweatshop-free, made in the USA T-shirts and hiring a porn star or two for their marketing campaigns has opened up a shop where they sell virtual clothes – much like the company’s real offerings:
“Since we opened in May, we’ve sold over 2,000 items to people outfitting their avatars,” said Raz Schionning, director of web services for American Apparel, which opened an elaborate retail store last month in Second Life with the help of ad agency Ad Option and web developer Aimee Weber. Virtual shoppers who buy virtual clothes get 15% off the same items in real life.”
Read the full story here.
- Case Study #3: Saxo Bank
Another recent launch in Second Life has been our Headlight customer, Saxo Bank – an online investment bank, based in Copenhagen, Denmark. During development the island was codenamed “Wall Street”, but with its launch it has now been renamed to Saxo Bank. Read the full story here:
“Virtual Marketing” Agencies – who can help you out?
So you want to get started with Virtual Marketing!? Here’s a list of companies who can help you out:
www.electricsheepcompany.com
www.millionsofus.com
www.ad-option.com
www.riversrunred.com
www.swivelmedia.com
www.doppelganger.com
Tracking and Virtual Marketing – what to do?
Is it possible to keep track of what’s going on within virtual worlds and is it possible to provide good cost benefit reporting on these investments? We think so.
Our R&D team is looking into different ways of doing this (we know it’s possible in SL) and we’ll continue these R&D efforts the next few months. Hopefully we can provide some best practice examples and something more solid on this within the next 6-8 months. We’ll keep you posted. If you have ideas and/or experience with something like this then please don’t hesitate to help us out 
.
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