HTML5 and the iPad will change the way we consume online media. But what’s it going to take to change how we create it? Over the past 18 months, suppliers have been on a pretty steep learning curve integrating HD video and still photography into one cost effective package.
It is pointless, however, to replicate the same images and deliver the same message in all collateral. Taking a still photograph of a room, and then slowly panning across the same room is just that.
Pointless.
We run the risk of (a) Insulting the audiences attention and (b) Boring them senseless. Cinematography and photography have unique qualities; you can’t shoot a panoramic ‘stitch’ of a city skyline in low light on video without going to awesome lengths in post production.
In the same instance, a still photograph cannot record the sound of a city street. Just like we need different copy for print and online ads, we need to think differently about how we apply this media in the new medium.
Watching somebody use an ipad for the first time is an enlightening experience; it is not just down to the tactile nature of these screens but the very vibrance of the display.
And these screens are only going to get better; Apple calls it Retina. By developing pixels 78 micrometers wide for the iphone4, Apple engineers were able to pack four times the number of pixels into the same screen size. (http://www.apple.com/iphone/features/retina-display.html)
With richer more tactile displays, there’s a need for a much richer experience.
I believe the focus now needs to turn to what form this content takes on, and how best Agents and Agencies can use it. In the world outside real estate, every TV ‘ad’ is driven by a Creative; an idea to shoot too. This idea compliments the print campaign. The message is the same. The approach, radically different. Today, we have new companions (tactile, smart, mobile devices). And on the horizon, there’s 3D.
As suppliers, we need to think outside the square and not just dish up the same old, same old stills and pans and dolly moves.
We need to think about creating richer, more immersive experiences. As Clients, Agencies and Agents need to demand we start bringing these creatives to the table. As the hardware changes around us, the creative has to evolve.
Guest Author: Brett Clements from Platinum HD
26 Comments
Nick
Retina is overhyped to begin with. Ok granted if your coming from a iPhone its a big improvement, but thats because the iPhone 3Gs has a horribly low resolution screen.
The problem I see is market penetration.
People I know who have a iPhone? 0 (Mostly Nokia or Android)
People I see with a iPhone? A few here and there
People I know who have a iPad? 0
People I see with a iPad? I havent seen any ‘in the wild’ yet.
You can put a lot of effort in to something, and then realise that no one uses it.
Greg Vincent
Nick, you have to get out more. lol 🙂 Market penetration for iPhones and iPads isn’t the issue.
I think you’ll find that the story telling style that Brett is suggesting won’t be limited by imagination, it will be limited by lack of agent uptake.
Whilst the concept will make a property more engaging there are a lot of agents who don’t even use professional photography, let alone considering making a mini-feature film around a property.
Agents need to be educated on the benefits for their client because ultimately the real estate video provider is at the mercy of the number of agents who embrace this medium within their marketing campaigns.
Mac
I wouldn’t discount Nick’s opinion here – not the least because he looks Gen Y’ish. While Brett has again posted another snippet to drum himself up more video business, iPhone and Apple products in general have a huge ‘share of voice’ that are disproportionate to their actual market share. There are more products out there that use Flash and HTML5 etc etc and aren’t constrained by Apple’s jack-booting rules! I am presuming Youtube and Facebook are still bigger than any iPhone or iPad app that has to be purchased from Apple!
Brett Clements
HTML5 works across all platforms. I wouldn’t be building an ‘app’ purely for the ipad, or the iphone. And I use these devices purely as examples of technology, because I’m obviously Mac-versed. As for drumming up more video business, for my business, I’m very happy with our existing production slate Mac as online video is growing at a very rapid click. YouTube streamed over 14 billion videos last month.
Anthony Lowe
I agree with Greg quite frankly agents are not spending their vendors money wisely – predominantly used to boost their own exposure.
It is not market penetration…
Despite the fact that “9 in 10 Australians use real-estate websites to find property”Nielson Australian property Seekers report 2008 – no doubt since then that has grown.
And 55% of all sales enquiries now come from the internet -Macquarie Bank survey 2009 only 20% of advertising spend is online.
I should imagine these stats hold true for most industries today.
With You Tube the 2nd biggest search engine after Google to think that video is unimportant and has no impact is cutting yourself off from at least half of internet searchers.
Christian Fitzpatrick
@ Nick: I operate PlatinumHD on the Sunshine Coast and have had a rather different experience to you.
I can only speak for my friends and clients, but I would say of my friendship group with an average age of 25-35 – I’d say 80% of them have iPhones. The adoption has been quicker than anything I’ve seen. Even my old man has an iPhone after claiming for years a Nokia was all he needed. It’s penetrated deeper than you think and if you haven’t seen it happening, maybe you’re not looking hard enough.
Some reading:
In oz: http://www.tuaw.com/2010/06/15/iphone-eyeing-top-spot-in-australia/
And in the US: http://apcmag.com/ipad-ties-with-blackberry-in-mobile-browsing-market-share.htm
Of our clients (All RE agents) here on the Sunshine Coast – I’d say closer to 30% have iPhones and it’s growing. Blackberry’s still seem rather popular with a lot of people. I think it comes down to the marketing. . .Blackberry has long been established as the way for corporates to communicate.
And from where I’m sitting it looks as though agent uptake is on the rise. I get calls every week from Agents who are increasingly media savvy, asking how to get their video’s onto their iPhones, embed video’s into their own web pages etc. etc. They are using this technology to their advantage. Not just for video, but listing presentations, social media marketing and much more.
The landscape of media consumption and distribution is changing rapidly. Ignorance may be bliss, but it won’t keep your clients happy. For many stuck in their ways, it’s going to be a case of sink or swim. . .I know what I’d prefer.
Peter Ricci
I have to say Nick (I am in USA at moment) I was in a meeting the other day and all 10 people had iPhones. I even made a comment about it. These were medical people and a few techs.
That is not to say other platforms are not being used, but I hazard to guess if you use your phone for multimedia you either have an iPhone or a Droid. Blackberry users are generally email centric and Windows Mobile are usually stuck with a platform 🙂
The war at the moment for mobile devices is between Apple and Google with Palm, Blackberry and Microsoft bringing up the rear.
Then again, someone might come from nowhere and steal the show!
Nick
Brett except HTML 5 doesnt work on most Windows computers. 😛
(IE 9 will fix that….kinda)
Christian yes I know I dont hang out with all the cool hip people with iPhones, and that take up varies quite a bit. But dont forget that Nokia is #1 with 40% of the global market. Apple is only #3 behind Blackberry.
Apple users are just very loud. And slightly deluded. 😉
I definitely think video and floor plans both enhance a simple online property listing immensely and need a lot more focus from agents. Although it doesnt help that RealEstate.com.au neglected them with the site redesign.
Brett Clements
The next release of Internet Explorer be html5-enabled and realestate.com.au is in the process of ramping up for video big-time. If I say too much on this level, I’ll get flamed. 😉 Double-edged sword I suppose as a contributor.
Christian Fitzpatrick
Nick, you’re a smart guy, I’ve read some of your other posts around the place.
Apple only make 1 model of phone. Surely you’d agree It is preposterous to expect that Apple will ever be a dominant player in the global mobile phone market with only one model, and a smartphone at that.
Think on this. . .Perhaps your pre-conception of “hip cool’ iPhone users and their whimsical pursuits has blinded you to the professional applications for the device. 😀
Gladly, one thing we can agree on is the unfortunate relegation of video to a small icon on RE.com.au. This was saddening to say the least. Do you think they’d allow embedding if we asked very nicely? 🙂 I shouldn’t be all sour grapes though, at least it’s more visible than it was previously. Any improvement was welcome.
PaulD
realestate.com.au have ignored video and floorplans for one simple reason. They need to dumb down the site so that agents who aren’t capable of producing those things don’t get resentful of those that can. The majority of agents don’t want too big a spread between the tech haves and tech have nots, because the listing advantages are too great. The ones that can’t provide the additional stuff knock those who can. Realestate.com can see that by keeping all the agents relatively close in terms of the standard of presentation on their website that the smart agents are held back with the “not so smart” agents. This enables them to crank up the fees at will so that collectively there is just a resignation by all the agents that “oh well everyone else is copping it as well” As long as all the agents sympathise with each other — then all’s well. Heaven forbid that a small group would complain.
As a live example, we started producing floorplans several years ago, and were accused of adding “Gimmicks” to our advertising. As copying is the purest form flattery the agent who said it was a gimmick has recently tried to add floorplans, and just scanned plans at that. For all you people who are not agents – please don’t tell me I don’t know what i’m talking about, because I have seen it over and over in real life — not theory.
Robert Simeon
Whichever way you want to look at we are currently entering a technology revolution and never before has it been as stronger Game On scenario. I don’t have an iPhone but I do have an iPad (and love it).
Will I replace my Blackberry with an iPhone when I next need to upgrade phones – in all probability! Recently, I was buying a SIM card for my iPad and I was speaking with the owner of the phone store and he told me that unless Blackberry release a bPad or Nokia release a nPad they face being wiped out.
All they are selling now are iPhones and when more and more people see “out in the wild” iPads the trends will get even stronger. The interesting statistic will be monitoring phone sales over the next twelve months – it will be an *Apple in the eye*
Mac
As someone looking at upgrading at the moment, I’d be interested how do users rate Blackberry, iPhone and Nokia wrt business usage as distinct from iApps that have limited market penetration from a ‘whole of market’ real estate market coverage perspective? (e.g. I personally know business people who have stopped using their iPhones and gone to Blackberry)
Brian Chua
Looking at the mobile phones most of my mates are using at the current moment (Gen Y), 3 out of 5 is using Apple iPhone. Apple products will remain the ‘must have’ device at the current moment until a worthy competitor (e.g Android based phones) comes into the Australian market.
If you are looking at the mobile OS smartphone market, the classic symbian OS still dominates the market,but the market share is decreasing overtime.
This is the link to the smartphone market: http://gigaom.com/2010/03/18/the-mobile-os-market/
Glenn Batten
IPhone as mobile hardware will always be very high in any results but as an OS the fight is certainly on with Android and IPhone.
Android takeup here in Australia has only really just begun as the top two telcos start selling Android devices. In the US Android is much more acceptable because they have many more handsets in the Market. Even Google sells their own phone in the US via an online store. I believe the Motorola Droid even broke the original iPhone sales record because Motorola backed it with a tv campaign.
The Droid or the brand spanking new Droid X is not available in Australia.
Nokia technical lead by OS count is a bit on the nose though. Many of their phones are technically smart phones but they are not used as a smart phone nor do they have internet access. If you look at online browser usage which is much better indicator of usage AS A SMARTPHONE it is 1 and 2 Android and Iphone. Not surprisingly each offers statistics that says they are number one and the other is number 2.
Google quotes US only figures because of their higher penetration in the US markets shows it has an ever increasing lead, whereas Apple uses global figures where slower rollouts by manufactures of android units in Australia, Asia and Europe means that Apple is Number 1 by a good margin.
As access to the Android operating system is increased around the world it will be a lot closer. I expect Android to win that metric only because there will be so many handsets from so many manufacturers. There are less capable Android handsets targetted at the less advanced user and then there are the top dogs with lightening quick processors. There is a stack of manufactueres including Sony Erricson, HTC, Samsung, Motorola, LG, Dell, Acer and a bunch of other smaller and generic brands. Even Vodafone and T-Mobile in the US are looking at releasing their own branded handsets like Google has. Apple has one manufacturer and 4 handset models only but they had the early start.
What it all means is that it is all about the mobile… positions will change as new versions come and go… but the mobile is a force to be reckoned with. Both Apple and Android will be strong players and then you might have other players finally upping their game.
I had a friend who can barely turn on a computer call me the other day to ask my opinion on whether he should get the HTC Desire or the X10. I nearly fell off my chair….. When people like him are looking at smartphones then I have confidence that their future is assured 🙂
Greg Vincent
I think that what makes the iPhone more appealing moving forward is the access to so many apps which as Robert mentioned ties in with the iPad.
I’m not sure if iPhone users are aware but you can download a software upgrade to the iOS4 giving you even more functionality (multitasking, better email, iBooks, 5xdigital zoom, tap to focus video, organise apps into folders, wireless keyboard support).
Here’s the link to the software update page http://www.apple.com/iphone/softwareupdate/
PS: If you haven’t seen the video about the iPhone4 as yet then it’s definitely worth checking out as well. http://www.apple.com/iphone/design/index.html#design-video
Glenn Batten
And out today is the latest admob results that continue to show Android as number 1 in the US and iPhone number one outside that with the overall winner the iPhone for now.
http://www.informationweek.com/news/windows/operatingsystems/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=225702107&subSection=News
Sam
realestate.com.au is currently html5.
Works on a PC too.
Nick
My point with the phones is you need to remember that other phones exist. Its very easy to get excited about the iPhone, but if you make a iPhone app for your agency or something, you risk pissing off everyone else.
Its better to be broad with your mobile approach and keep everyone happy. Make sure your developer has a number of devices to test on.
Greg, wow multitasking and organising your apps in to folders?
I’m sorry but I cant take them seriously when they are put under a ‘new features’ heading. :p
Most other smartphones have been doing stuff like that for well over a decade. The iPhone is not a trend setter from a features point of view.
Sam yeah they are using the new generic doctype, but they arent actually using any HTML 5. IE 8 does not support *any* HTML 5. IE users need to wait for IE 9 to get any HTML 5 and they still havent committed to supporting it fully.
Craig
“The iPhone is not a trend setter from a features point of view”.
I have to agree with you on this. Just like Google is an advertising company as much as a technology company, Apple’s focus is very much on design and marketing it. The technology is nothing to write home about. Just like with the iPad, tablet PC’s have been around for years it has just taken Apple to make a consumer oriented design and market it properly.
Brett Clements
I had hoped to open up a discussion on content for new media. As opposed to hardware. All the iphones and Androids in the world are useless if the content doesn’t engage.
Nick
Brett, the hardware is crucial to think about when talking about targeting different media. You need to look at what hardware you are willing to support, because each has different limits and different types of users.
Example: On your site you state that you support the iPad and iPhone. However you dont support anything else (Tested in MicroB which used Flash, and Fennec which didnt play video at all. Both are Firefox based. I assume Opera is the same). You have obviously decided that the majority of your users use iPhones and have narrowed your requirements to support them alone.
As for what you could do with technology, you could add interactivity to both the stills and video. Javascript + Canvas + Video + Multitouch? I dont know what you would do, but the possibilities are endless when you start playing with all those elements together.
For those who prefer to see what I mean, think about something like http://people.mozilla.com/~prouget/demos/DynamicContentInjection/play.xhtml
Nick
I should note that the example link above probably requires Firefox or Chrome.
Glenn Batten
Brett,
Your post title itself raised Media and Medium. They really do go hand in hand. REA and all the portals need to ramp up how they include video. By my way of thinking if they approve certain hosts they should be able to embed videos directly on to the page. The agent need only select by drop down box which company he is using.. and then enter in the ID of the property and REA would build the code to embed the property video.
Nick,
That link is cool.. very cool.. According to HTML5test.com my chrome (dev edition) 219 out of 300, Firefox 3.5.9 scores 126 but IE8 scores only 27. Have you tried IE9 “Platform Preview!” ??
Ever since Chrome got extensions I never use Firefox anymore and IE only gets used for IE specific sites..
Another good site (chrome and maybe for firefox as well) is by google at http://www.html5rocks.com/
Craig,
Apples skill is definetly branding and marketing but most importantly there success has lay in their user interfaces both on a software level but also hardware. They look cool and they work…
Greg,
Most smartphones have their own app store now. Apple still has the lead because it started earlier but that gap is closing and besides.. why is having 70 calculator apps better than having 30 to choose from???
Brett Clements
Glenn. Agreed. I was just hoping for more engagement on content creation than hardware. I think we have to get past four photographs and a video full of pans of kitchens and lounge rooms and get stuck into something more engaging.
Greg Vincent
Glenn, I agree but I only started talking about Apple & the iPhone because Nick mentioned that he knew very few people who have iPhones & iPads.
Brett, I like some of what you have been doing with Chris Hinds Team lately around the making property fashionable concept http://www.platinumhd.tv/video.php?sc=fe922ad766
Chris is a really innovative Gen Y agent who is doing some great things within the industry.
PS: I like that you have removed the PropVid credits from the end of the video as I recommended in one of your previous posts here on B2 & have now put the agents contact details at the end.