Key Information

The Fire features a 7-inch tablet with a backlit screen capable of displaying 16 million colors and has a 169 ppi (pixels per inch) resolution. Apple’s iPad 2, by comparison, has a screen resolution of 132 ppi. Amazon’s decision to utilize a backlit screen for the Fire signifies a key departure from the company’s previous e-ink–based Kindles.

The device weighs 14.6 ounces with 8 GB of on-device storage, contains a 1 GHz dual-core processor, offers a Wi-Fi-only connection, supports Adobe® Flash® Player and it has a continuous battery life of 8 hours. Fire does not have a camera or GPS, and is completely free of buttons, with a touch-screen as its control interface.

Amazon’s “Silk” Web Browser
One of the most talked-about features of Fire is its new Android-based browser. Silk is revolutionary because it diverts data-heavy browser processes from the tablet hardware to Amazon’s massive server fleet, the Amazon Elastic Computer Cloud (Amazon EC2); this division of labor is called “split browsing,” and makes Silk, which lives on the Kindle Fire and the EC2, the connector. For the end user Silk means a tablet free from heavy processing and thus able to provide a faster browsing experience and conserve battery life.

While EC2 does the major processing for the Kindle Fire, EC2 also hosts many top sites and has relationships with major Internet service providers. This means that many Web requests never leave Amazon servers and also reduces the browsers’ transit time to milliseconds.

In addition to Silk’s split browser software, the browser observes user behavior across sites, detects patterns and can accurately predict the next page content and navigation before the user requests it. These algorithms are based on Amazon.com’s filtering techniques that produce the “You Liked This, So You May Also Like This” feature. Silk’s “smart” browser functionality allows it to establish persistent connections with the sites users visit the most and pre-push content to the tablet’s cache. This, as with EC2 integration, allows for a faster, more seamless browsing experience.

To go with Silk’s enhanced browsing experience, the Kindle Fire offers users seamless access to and integration with Amazon’s vast wealth of content; all Fire users need to do is either sign up for an account or link their Amazon.com account and they’ll instantly have access to 18 million movies, TV shows, songs, magazines and books, and the Amazon app store with thousands of popular apps, such as Netflix, Pandora, Twitter, etc., and games like AngryBirds. It’s worth noting that the apps found in the Amazon app store, like those in the iTunes store, are heavily vetted and tested by Amazon.

With purchase of a Kindle Fire, Amazon also gives buyers one month of free access to Amazon Prime, the membership program that gives users free two-day shipping and reduced prices on one-day shipping on
Amazon.com purchases as well as unlimited instant access to 10,000 commercial-free movies and TV shows on their Kindle Fire. After the free trial, users can purchase an Amazon Prime membership for the annual fee of $79.

General Implications

•    Content consumption over creation. The Kindle Fire was never designed to store large files, which is best illustrated in the device’s relatively small 8 GB of storage and Amazon’s emphasis on document reading over editing in the Kindle Fire’s description. These hardware and software choices were specifically made to meet the demand of a large part of the consumer audience that wants to browse and view content, not create it. In a recent WIRED article, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, in comparing the Kindle to the iPad, said “It’s a different audience. We’re designing for people who want to read.” In the near future, look for Amazon to bolster its already vast content libraries in order to make the Kindle Fire even more distinct from the iOS (iTunes and iBooks)–dominated space.

•    New buyers to tablet market. New buyers to the tablet market will be faced with tough choices when it comes to their tablet purchases. Do they spend less to get less? Do they spend more and potentially not use all of the tablet’s capabilities? Or do they choose a device that gives them an intermediate option for a reasonable price? Time will tell, but it seems like Kindle Fire, with its middle-of-the-market positioning, is perfectly poised to pick up first-time tablet buyers. Also, expect Amazon to heavily market the Kindle Fire to current Amazon account holders because the tablet is an obvious extension of their Amazon accounts and the content they already purchase through these accounts.

•    Tablet switching. The Kindle Fire’s low price ($199) and its features and functionality will attract both high-end tablet users (iPad, Galaxy, Playbook, etc.) and low-end e-reader users. High-end users may flock to the Fire when their tablets become slow and outdated, as a lower¬-cost alternative. Additionally, high-end users may realize they don’t need or use all of their tablet’s bells and whistles, and decide they want a leaner machine. Low-end users may upgrade to the Fire because they want a tablet that can do more. Also, look for Amazon to heavily promote the Fire to current Kindle users as a step up from their current device, one whose benefits easily justify the small increase in price.

•    Silk transforms digital expectations. The Kindle Fire’s smart and split browser, Silk, will have ramifications outside of the tablet world. The browsing experience will raise user digital expectation with seamless content and lightning-quick service. Silk users will come to expect that type of service constantly, whether they’re viewing websites, using apps or potentially even interacting with brands through offline channels such as call centers or in the store. If user expectations aren’t immediately met, users will look and go elsewhere, and the brand that provides them with this sub-par experience will look like an amateur.

•    Silk spreads beyond tablets. For the time being Silk will be strictly a tablet-based browser, but in the meantime, Amazon will no doubt begin thinking about taking the browser beyond the Kindle Fire. Mobile phones and laptops would be a likely next step, but what about at home? Imagine how seamlessly a partnership between Amazon and a major cable company or Internet service provider could create the ultimate content-providing service.

•    Mobile advertising heats up. With more and more consumers using their mobile phones and tablets to access videos, music, books, apps, websites, etc., mobile display and video advertising is becoming increasingly important. Kindle Fire takes content consumption to the next level and may offer new opportunities and challenges for mobile advertising.

Pharmaceutical Industry Marketing Implications

•    7˝ screen further complicates compliance issues. With another screen size entering the ring, pharmaceutical websites will need to rethink how they design websites for readability, fair balance and presentation of a drug’s Important Safety Information. Because of all the various screen sizes and resolutions out there, marketers will have to make strategic decisions, hopefully based on Web analytics, on which browsers and screen sizes to optimize their sites for.

•    Kindle will remain an e-reader, not a medical tablet. Even before the Kindle Fire, when it came to the medical community, Amazon’s focus within the HCP community focused on e-reader versions of the major medical textbooks and journals, such as New England Journal of Medicine, Annals of Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, Journal of the American College of Cardiology, and approximately 90,000 more titles and publications. With Fire, Amazon doesn’t appear to be changing its positioning or game plan when it comes to the healthcare community. Although the Fire’s size makes it easier for HCPs to carry with them, the hardware (memory and lack of camera) and lack of HCP-focused apps in the Amazon app store make it more likely to be used as a reference rather than a medical diagnostic device or aid. Also, there are security and HIPAA concerns with Silk’s integration with EC2 and the cloud; this is likely to turn HCPs off from using it to send and record patient data. Given all this, it is likely that HCPs will use the Kindle Fire as an e-reader that helps them get quick and easy access to medical information and allows them to stay on top of professional literature.

•    Uptake with younger MDs, nurses, techs, etc. With tablet price points slightly too high for medical students and those healthcare professionals on limited budgets, the Kindle Fire may be just the device that gets them into the tablet market. Amazon offers medical journal subscriptions and textbooks for a wide variety of medical professionals, including significant resources for nurses. For med students and young doctors, the Fire gives them a financially feasible option for textbooks and references, and Kindle books are sold at a discount compared to the print versions. It’s possible that younger doctors, nurses and support staff will choose to adopt the Kindle Fire, and potentially become tablet loyalists, because of its price point, diverse medical practice content options and because it also provides them access to non–work-related content.

Recommendations

•    Keep current on tablet adoption. With the Kindle Fire not yet in market, it’s impossible to predict what adoption of the new tablet will be. In the interim, try to find out what the current mobile tablet and phone market looks like and how consumers are specifically using those devices.

•    Invest in a mobile site. While mobile website viewing is nothing new, the Kindle Fire is the straw that broke the camel’s back when it comes to whether or not to create a mobile-optimized version of a website. With this new tablet, more and more everyday, average consumers will be surfing the Web on a mobile device, and if a site isn’t built to provide them with a well-designed, easily touchscreen-navigable experience then you’ve lost them, and potentially lost them for good; marketers cannot afford to make that mistake. When it comes to designing a mobile site, marketers should optimize their standard website based on the top browsers and screen resolutions site visitors use to view their sites. For mobile phones and smaller-screen tablets (e.g. Kindle Fire), marketers should build sites that detect these devices and serve up the mobile site rather than the standard site. However, marketers should give mobile users the option to load the standard website with the caveat that it is not optimized for mobile viewing and usage.

Stimulating and continually engaging students in classrooms has always been a challenge for teachers. It has become increasingly difficult, with mobile phones, laptop computers and iPods providing students with constant distractions. i>clicker utilizes emerging technology to re-engage and connect with students inside the classroom by providing them with an optimized learning environment based on their instant feedback on specific class content.

Key Information

The i>clicker is, in essence, a simplified remote control device that uses infrared or radio frequency technology to record user responses and transmit them to a central receiving station that tabulates the responses. To implement i>clicker within a classroom or lecture, a teacher or professor develops content-specific questions and incorporates them into the curriculum at critical junctures. By polling their students at these points, the facilitator can evaluate student comprehension of the topic, identify areas of confusion and adapt the instruction based on student understanding.

The device also increases student-to-student interaction, often limited by class size and a few students dominating discussion, by allowing professors to match students with differing answers and encourage peer-to-peer discussions and learning. i>clicker can also be used to anonymously poll students on controversial issues.

In utilizing i>clicker, teachers require that students actively pay attention and engage with what is happening in the classroom by responding to poll questions. By necessitating engagement with what’s going on in the classroom, teachers turn passive learning into an interactive, participatory environment. The device also creates an immediate feedback loop for teachers, letting them know in real time whether their lessons and key content are really getting through and being absorbed by their students.

The i>clicker was originally conceived in 1997 within the University of Illinois Physics department, and to date more than 1,000 institutions of higher education in North America utilize i>clickers to facilitate active learning and ensure students are leaving the classroom with an understanding of fundamental concepts.

Implications and Action Items

i>clicker’s interactive technology revolutionizes teaching curriculums by providing teachers with timely feedback and engaging students in the classroom. The emergence of this device suggests that schools, universities and teachers are looking to technology to help them tap into instant feedback and curriculum optimization opportunities.

• Create targeted, insightful questions. While anyone can use i<clicker, not everyone can make it a meaningful teaching and learning tool. The key is to create question sets that yield valuable information, inform teaching strategies/approaches and transform the classroom from a lecture into a collaborative learning environment.
• Prepare for engagement. Ask and ye shall receive, so be sure to plan for: 1) incorporating this feedback into the curriculum and 2) how you’ll handle increased engagement. Solutions may involve making class topics more flexible, asking students to break up into smaller working groups, conducting in-class debates, etc.
• i>clicker goes mobile. In some cases, students must purchase the i>clicker device ($10) as part of their textbook requirements, but recently i>clicker has launched a mobile app that works seamlessly with their current remote and software. The web>clicker also allows students to vote and participate in classrooms from remote locations.

As part of its ongoing monitoring and reporting on FDA guidance, RTCRM has produced a two-page POV that  analyzes the issued guidance and provides condensed key information, top-level points, implications and actions item.

Download the entire POV: RTCRM POV FDA guidelines_mobile

While I found the panel-focused conference interesting, I think the conference feel short of its mission for two reasons: 1) The panel subjects were too broad (Social Media, Cloud Computing, Web Analytics, Online Marketing, Ecommerce, Email, etc.) and this made it difficult for panelists to really delve into the weeds, and 2) the panels were too large (4 panelists and 1 moderator,) so panelists couldn’t explore/explain their experiences with emerging technology and provide attendees with insightful, implementable information.

These two factors kept the panel discussions at a very superficial, almost 101, level. While this may have been perfect for a fair portion of attendees, as someone looking for more than just a preview into the overarching digital trends, the conference fell short.

However, there were a few tidbits/facts to be mined from DigitalEast:

• 50% of all web content in 2011 will be consumed on mobile devices. Keep it mobile, keep it user friendly.
• Facebook says 30% of 2011 revenue will be from virtual sales in social games. So figure out if and how your targets use them.
• 50% of the online population is under 30 and 96% use social media. It’s time to really get to know your  Millennials.
• Analytics and Web Reporting is hot, hot, hot. It was SRO only for this session. Getting beyond the CTR and not getting too bogged down in the nitty gritty numbers were the key takeaways.
• Social Media is taking over. Companies need to have both the staffing and strategy necessary to engage.

During the conference, the #digitaleast TwitterFeed was fairly active. Given the amount of digital marketers present, the Twitter feed had a strong professional networking focus. Below is a word cloud of the #digitaleast Twitter stream.

As you can see specific attendee Twitter handles drove the conversation with their tweets, RTs and mentions. (Feed range is 10/19/2010 from 7:30am until 6pm, and excludes #digitaleast and #DigitalEast)

The bigger question is: what were the topics, aside from making professional and personal acquaintances, that attendees were actually tweetingabout? After filtering out RTs and Twitter handles, the top performing topics in the twitter stream were: social media, Facebook, mobile, Twitter, digital and online focused topics. “Content” placed strongly as well probably because many of the panels talked about types of content and how to use and manage them online.

All in all, DigitalEast was by no means a terrible conference. While the panels may have only scratched the surface of the digital trends currently speeding their way into the marketing world, the enthusiasm, camaraderie and intelligence of event attendees made the conference extremely enjoyable.

So in September of 2009, we tackled the biggest coffee waste producer: our use of disposable paper/plastic cups. Although switching to reusable mugs required some adjustments, we’re now in full “have your own mug and wash it out” mode.

Next up on our coffee clean up was the waste caused by the individual Flavia coffee packets. And in March 2010, the Green Team (our internal recycling task force) found our solution in Terracycle. During the first 6 months of this recycling program partnership, RTCRM has recycled over 2,000 Flavia coffee packets and Terracycle has turned them  into tote bags and garden pavers.

Now 2,000 may not seem like a lot for a 100 person office over 6 months, and I’d have to agree with you. What was holding us back was that we would fill up our TerraCycle boxes before we has even received replacements. We’d then have to wait until the new boxes arrived. However, TerraCycle has recently changed their shipping process and now RTCRM can send all of our packets back in non-Terracycle boxes. Woot!

With only 4 months left in 2010, I’m challenging the RTCRM to blow the 2,000+ packets in 6 months statistic out of water. Coffee mugs up!

The FDA currently oversees prescription drug advertising by reviewing ads submitted by drug companies, investigating industry/consumer complaints about promotional materials, and monitoring pharmaceutical industry events. However, with limited staffing resources, the FDA and DDMAC are unable to analyze and evaluate every prescription drug–related advertisement.

To address this gap in DDMAC’s monitoring abilities, the Bad Ad Program aims to educate HCPs on current DDMAC prescription drug promotion guidelines, teach them how to recognize common pharmaceutical advertising missteps, and provide them with an easy, potentially anonymous, method for reporting possible violations.

Of particular note is the Bad Ad Program’s specific goal of enlisting the help of HCPs in curtailing and reporting potentially inappropriate promotional activities: 1) by sales representatives during office visits; and 2) at promotional presentations during industry-sponsored dinners and speaking engagements. This area of prescription drug advertising has seen increased scrutiny in 2010, with the FDA and DDMAC issuing warning letters (http://tiny.cc/mnotz, http://tiny.cc/hgi1k, http://tiny.cc/5yfgx, etc.) citing both printed sales materials and oral statements made by pharmaceutical executives at industry conferences.

According to a May 11, 2010, FDA press release, the program will consist of three phases. Phase 1 focuses on educating healthcare professionals at select medical conventions, with DDMAC disseminating educational materials through partnerships with a select group of medical societies. In Phases 2 and 3, the FDA will refine the educational materials from Phase 1 and continue to develop outreach partnerships efforts. DDMAC plans to kick off the Bad Ad Program at major medical conferences starting in May 2010.

Implications and Action Items

Pharmaceutical marketers should continue to adhere to DDMAC guidelines when developing all prescription drug advertising regardless of medium or target audience; this includes digital promotions and unbranded websites.

With regard to current in-market promotions, marketers should:

• Ensure all branded or unbranded promotional and sales materials:
  • Are accurate
  • Balance the risk and benefit information
  • Are consistent with the prescribing information approved by the FDA
  • Only include information that is supported by strong clinical studies

• Review all branded or unbranded promotion and sales materials and remedy any of the following:
  • Omission or downplaying of risks
  • Overstatements of effectiveness
  • Promotions of off-label or unapproved uses
  • Misleading drug comparisons

To review the Key Points of FDA Healthcare Professional Outreach (Bad Ad Program), please visit http://tiny.cc/badadprogram. For more reviews on FDA guidelines, please visit http://www.rtcrm.com/whitepapers and http://www.rtcrm.com/blogs. FDA warning letters and FDA guidelines can be found at http://www.fda.gov.

Every month or so, RTCRM’s Interactive Strategy team regroups to discuss emerging interactive trends, up-and-coming technologies and expanding usages of social media that we’re seeing applied outside of our client industries.

In our most recent caucus, our team noted the rising usage of QR codes in the magazine and publishing world. While QR codes are an innovative way for print publications to offer readers expanded content/discounts/realtime sales, publishers need to ensure that the technology behind this value-add is widely usable and relevant to their consumer base.

In our test we found that the QR codes, of a particularly wide spread fashion magazine, proved a huge technology fail when a commonly used mobile QR code reader app returned the magazine’s submitted codes as “unreadable.”

When implementing emerging technology like QR codes, there’s potentially nothing more deadly then a user trying and trying to access interesting content and have the application, website, etc. continually fail them. For the users, it’s an immediate turn off and can make he/she reluctant to try the experience again. Worst case scenario, it renders portions of your printed content skipped/glossed over by your readership. Not good.

So while these “cool” and “cutting-edge” technologies, like QR codes, may help the struggling print market, it’s important that marketers/publishers/editors/brands think through these potential add-ons and weigh both the pros (expanded content) and cons (usability fails) that come along with these emerging technologies.

Pediatric AIDS/HIV Care is the only organization in the Washington, DC area dedicated to supporting children affected by AIDS or HIV.   In 2009 PAHC hosted a Casino Night fundraiser. Having previously partnered with RTCRM, to raise awareness of DC’s AIDS/HIV crisis during President Obama’s Inauguration, PAHC asked RTCRM to help promote this event.

The Agency took a multilayered approach to the promotion, using printed flyers, email and Facebook to generate awareness. In addition a special landing page was developed where participants could register for the event, donate money and win extra credit toward prizes at the event. And RTCRM hired an improv comedy team to stage an intense poker match in the middle of Dupont Circle — a highly trafficked Washington, DC location to generate interest in the Casino Night event.

The email and Microsite were a huge success – almost crashing the server only a few minutes after they went live online. And despite heavy rains the night of the event, over 100 people still made it out to Teatro Goldoni. PAHC ended up raising thousands of dollars and gaining many new allies through registrations for their mailing list.

As a Gold ADDY winner, RTCRM’s campaign will automatically advance to the District Two competition, which comprises winners from New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Washington, DC area ad clubs. This year’s DC Ad Club competition received over 740 entries from 90 agencies, clients, individuals, and students.

The ADDY® Awards Competition is a three-tiered national competition conducted annually by the American Advertising Federation (AAF), its chapters, and districts. With 60,000 entries nationwide, the ADDY® Awards Competition is the advertising industry’s largest and most representative competition for creative excellence.

Terracycle makes affordable, eco-friendly products from a wide range of different non-recyclable waste materials, like the Flavia coffee packets. Their hope is to eliminate the idea of waste by finding innovative, unique uses for materials others deem garbage.

Terracycle, in association with Flavia, sent RTCRM two large, green and white recycling bins, in which we can deposit our Flavia package waste. When the bins are full, we simply send them off to Terracycle, where the packets will be used to make new products and prevent tons of waste from going to landfills.

So what really happened? What concerned industry most? Did FDA give away any of their plans? Registration closed quickly…and many who wanted to attend were turned away. Even those who were able attend will want to hear other expert interpretations of the discussions. On Thursday, November 19, beginning at 1:00 p.m., join FOI Services, Inc., Attorney Arnie Friede, and RTCRM’s Healthcare social media expert Carlen Lea lesser for a 90-minute teleconference.

You’ll hear expert analysis of what was surprising, what was left out, and what the major issues are going to be in the months and years to come.

To register online, or for details on additional upcoming teleconferences, go to www.foiservices.com/tc. You may also call 1-800-654-1147 (outside the US and Canada call +1-301-975-9400) to register by phone.