Our copy of Web Analytics: An Hour a Day, already on its way to a good dog-earing.

Serious about marketing your brand online? This book will teach you what you need to know about web analytics.

Published by Wiley’s Sybex brand, Web Analytics: An Hour a Day, by Avinash Kaushik, the Analytics Evangelist for Google, and author of the widely-read Occam’s Razor blog, is a must-have resource for online marketers.

About the Book

The book went beyond what we were expecting, i.e., how to better read analytics dashboards. What we found was a sophisticated and marketing-oriented book that teaches how to use the available data to create a clear picture of return on investment in the online world. This is more than your typical programming book, this is a marketing book.

Kaushik does a great job with the format. As with any subject you’re committed to knowing, reading the information and applying it in small pieces is the best way to learn. Most of the content is arranged by subject and is segmented into daily readings, allowing you to focus and build upon the knowledge one piece at a time.

A Worthwhile Library Addition

The book is easy to read, full of practical application, and one that will be tattered, bookmarked, and referenced often here at Brainstorm.

Best of all, Kaushik has committed every dollar earned from the book to charitable causes.

Order a copy on Amazon now.

A formula for success: Research + Design + Passion = Impact

“I stop cold in my tracks. It has been a long time since I have thought deeply about how I am the exception, not the rule. I toggle back to the report to watch the story being told.”

—Erica Rois, O’Reilly.com

The Challenge

Critical information is inaccessible to the masses. Latinos’ access to postsecondary education is a topic critical to the success of millions in the United States. Most people don’t understand the challenges Latinos’ face, the opportunities available to them, or the impact it has on the United States, both now and for the future.

Sponsored by the Lumina Foundation for Education, University of Texas at San Antonio Professor Dr. Raymond Padilla’s “What is Known About Latina/o Student Access and Success in Postsecondary Education” assembled and tagged decades of research with regard to college access and the Latino population.

The Solution

Eloquent research, presented elegantly. The Lumina Foundation believes that making this research accessible to a larger audience can help drive efforts to reduce or eliminate Latinos’ educational attainment gap and systematically promote their success in postsecondary education. Their passion in that belief led them to task Brainstorm with presenting a creative medium to communicate the information.

Initial discussions revolved around redesign and presentation, but after meeting Dr. Padilla and learning more about the research, Brainstorm proposed an interactive solution. The site, entitled Camino de la Universidad (The Road to College) is a Flash-based, rich media site that presents the research and findings in a memorable and easy to understand format. Design, photography, music, voice, and text set the conceptual tone. Additional resources were created to allow deeper levels of self-discovery into the research.

The Results

Early results are positive. With the official launch set for later this fall, the site is currently being used in presentations to policy makers and Latino community leaders around the country. It’s also being introduced to select groups via email announcements.

O’Reilly.com, Women in Technology:

“…What sets me apart is that I have learned to harness the power of my difference.

Case in point: just days before being invited to write this article, I receive an email from the UC Davis Chicana/o Studies alumni list to which I subscribe. It contains a link to the Lumina Foundation’s interactive report on Latino’s educational attainment entitled Camino de la Universidad (The Road to College). I click on it only because there is a promise of it being interactive.

I am happily met with a fast-loading Flash page full of rich images, beautiful sounds, and intuitive navigation. As I check out their source code, the narrated report continues to play in a different browser window. I listen to the stats, For every 100 Latino elementary school students, 48 drop out of high school and 52 graduate from high school. Of those 52 that graduate, only 10 earn a Bachelor’s degree and only 4 go on to earn a graduate degree.

I stop cold in my tracks. It has been a long time since I have thought deeply about how I am the exception, not the rule. I toggle back to the report to watch the story being told.”

—Erica Rois, O’Reilly.com

Main Street Project

“This is really an amazing report on so many levels. The multiple literacies, the visuals, the presentation, the amazing coding that must have gone into creating this. I am really impressed and feel like there are so many uses for this format—especially in communities…I have never seen a report so well presented!”

—Amalia Anderson, Main Street Project

Making a Difference

This project is an example of how a variety of individuals with seemingly unrelated skill sets (research, philanthropy, marketing and design) can come together to create an elegant, informed, and passionate message with impact for the greater social good.

Visit the Camino de la Universidad site here.

Miss Irresistible (Nice Teeth)

Meet Miss Irresistible, the new spokesperson/avatar for P&G’s Crest product line. A self-proclaimed “irresistible babe,” she’s helping brand giant P&G enter the realms of Social Media.

P&G’s Social Media Exploration

Miss Irresistible invites visitors to send a naughty—or nice—personalized e-card from her MySpace site—very “You.”

However, 80% of the real estate on the MySpace page seems designed for a Parent’s magazine print ad—predictable and less “social” than you’d expect.

Although the effort still needs some work, P&G is making the right move. Adopting a Social Media plan, sidestepping potential legal department concerns and institutional resistance to change is a critical move forward for the corporate behemoth.

As quoted on the Cincinnati Enquirer’s website, P&G global marketing officer James Stengel said:

“Consumers are right now very dynamic in their media habits. If you stay in touch with that and you want to be relevant in their lives, obviously, a lot of things change … It’s the same reason we got into television 60 years ago.”

New Media, New Lessons

Some large, less nimble corporations stumble a bit as they grapple with how to enter the Social Media market space.

In a move that drew fire from new media experts, Sears Canada recently launched a so-called Consumer Generated Media (CGM) site—a glossy Flash for Flash’s-sake basic voting booth where visitors could choose one of four catalog covers.

The fear of reprisal isn’t limited to corporate legal and marketing departments. The Internet is rife with examples of traditional corporate Public Relations (PR) handling and mishandling of Social Media events.

Something to Smile About

None of these companies has been ruined by its Social Media experiences. In fact, if embraced and acted upon, each Social Media corporate headline event presents an opportunity to learn and change.

Traditional approaches to marketing, public relations and legal issues can be disconnected in the Social Media marketing space.

Taking time to affirm that the people and firms with whom you’ve aligned have a demonstrated understanding and breadth of experience in the Social Media arena is a proactive step toward making your brand irresistible in a sea of free-flowing Social Media dialog.

Uniqlo’s new UT (Universal Time) concept store opens April 28th in the Harajuku shopping district of Tokyo, Japan. The store features limited edition t-shirts packaged in plastic canisters, capped in UT signature red (see above).

The walls of the store function like massive vending machines, dispensing individually labeled packages at the behest of the buyer. Cool.

UT Online

The new Uniqlo UT promo website, featuring a wall of images of people wearing the tees, is a nice brand extension of this unique store concept. The images scroll by slowly, refreshing every few seconds in a random, flickering and cascading fashion—finally coming to rest in unison every 7th beat or so.

A small inconspicuous blurb about UT rolls into view inviting you to enter the site and learn more. Resonant electronic tones enhance the rhythmic cadence of the flowing barrage of imagery and underscore UT’s connection with the sonic lifestyle of their youthful customers.

Engaging

This wall of people and product takes an obvious cue from the in-store vending wall concept, implying infinite selection and a brand in touch with its audience. The technique is remarkably simple and an effective example of less-is-more in design and messaging.

Click here to see the site in action.

Changing the Face of TV

The new Apple TV may revolutionize what we watch on television and when.

For about $300, Apple TV wirelessly syncs your iTunes library from any computer in the house and broadcasts the content through your television or home theater system.

For people with an iTunes library filled with music, podcasts, video podcasts (vodcasts), television shows, movies and photos, this means you can enjoy all your digital media in HDTV widescreen from the comfort of your living room.

Burgeoning Content

Many podcasts, vodcasts and major network television shows are available for free download, and some major studio releases can now be purchased through iTunes Music Store. Look for more big budget as well as independent movies and television shows to become available in the future.

And best of all, Apple TV allows you to watch a veritable smorgasbord of media whenever you want to watch it.

For now, it won’t replace your DVR or cable box, but as more content becomes available, it may develop into a must-have component for your home theater system.

See Apple TV specs for more information.