We are seeking an experienced Test Analyst to join us for 6 weeks, from November 15th until December 24th.

You will be responsible for ensuring the highest standards of quality and accuracy are maintained through to IE’s product release, preparing test plans and test scripts to test each digital component (.Net, PHP and Flash), providing feedback to the Solutions and Development teams and ensuring all work is carried out in accordance with scheduling. You will also be hands-on browser testing, bug fixing and loads testing, as well as supporting the Technical team until deployment.

You will have a thorough knowledge of structured test methods and processes for the web, with proven experience in testing complex user interfaces and preparing testing documentation. You must also possess strong business analytics skills.

This is a contract role with a possibility to join us on a regular basis in the future. Please email jobs@ie.com.au with your CV and hourly rate.

So while a social media strategy is no different to any other marketing tool in that its success or otherwise needs to be measured, its conversational nature means some of the greatest benefits cannot be measured in clicks or dollars. And (take a deep breath, marketers) that’s okay.

So what does success actually look like?

Success is best measured against a set of objectives that have been clearly defined before setting foot in the social media environment, and that are aligned with the broader business objectives. This will be different for everyone and depends on the type of business involved and social media tools implemented. Some starting points might include:

1. Traffic – to a website, a blog and the number of Twitter followers or Facebook friends. These are raw numbers that can be used to gauge the growth of activity around social media channels.
2. Interaction – how many comments were made? Reviews given? If people are responding via social media channels, then the content is working.
3. Search marketing – social media channels can be used to increase SEO rankings, so measure relevant key terms before beginning and as a metric after launching social media channels.
4. Sales – measure the traffic from social media channels to the online store, and the conversion to sales.

Once implemented, it’s important to monitor progress and adjust a digital strategy as you go. Whether via an agency or an internal team, it’s critical to the success of social media channels that the execution is a) working and b) informed by the latest developments in digital.

The digital landscape is the broadest of churches – if it exists, it’s online somewhere. That means there is already a community of people out there who would like nothing more than to engage with your business about what you do, how you do it and who you are. Social media is simply a way of reaching out to these communities and starting a conversation, and anyone can do it.

In Australia traditional retail models are limiting – with small stores seeking exclusivity agreements offering designers less exposure and risky return. Alternative platforms, such as global online stores, eBay, guerilla retail and micro-brand stores are the retail tools of the future.

Exploring this timely proposition with Justin will be fellow innovators Barrie Barton, Creative Director 3000 Stores and James Tuckerman, Director of Anthill Magazine.

Learn more about this event here.

With over 12 year’s experience, Justin is an online specialist in digital concept and user experience design (UXD). His passion is creating innovative and compelling user-centred solutions, particularly on projects with an entrepreneurial component.

Previously, he worked with Sapient Inc as a Team Lead in San Francisco, Sydney and London, which provided the opportunity to work with Electronic Arts to define the online gaming portals EA.com, EASports.com, and Virgin.com.

Between 2000-2002, Justin developed the user experience design practice for Different Solutions, which is Australia’s largest user-centred design agency. As the Creative Director, Justin led a team of 11 people and was pivotal in delivering projects for BHP Billiton Ltd and IAG Ltd.

From 2005 to 2008 Justin worked with the Kojo Group as the Head of Interactive, where he directed the digital business and managed projects for Multiplex, Cartridge World and Mitsubishi-Australia. Justin also spearheaded the direction of touch-screen kiosks for the South Australian Government, entertainment websites for Fox Films, intranets for BHP Billiton and IAG and the Sydney Opera House website.

One of Justin’s career highlights thus far was working alongside Director Baz Luhrmann as Interactive Creative Director for the Moulin Rouge online media campaign.

Says Justin ‘I was drawn to IE’s extensive portfolio of well-known brands, their genuine passion for the digital culture and commitment to building an internationally respected digital agency.’

Justin’s role at IE is to deliver solutions that fulfil the current and future online needs of clients. His broad skill set encompasses the scope, concept, design, and technology phases, and he is working with IE clients including Movember and Hoyts to develop compelling digital products and experiences.

Recently Justin travelled on the inaugural Startup Bus, travelling from San Francisco to Austin for SXSW 2010. Over 72 hours six teams developed business models and prototypes and, at the end of the trip, pitched them to venture capitalists. Justin was involved in the winning team, DormDorm.com, which is now being mentored to investment grade.

‘I’m excited about innovating business by improving the online transactional layer and enhancing the customer’s experience – and ultimately designing amazing online products.’

Justin joins IE from his most recent position in Adelaide as Head of Interactive for the Kojo Group.

Lonely Planet leads the field in travel publishing, providing thoroughly researched content and timely inspiration to travel-hungry readers worldwide. In March 2010, Lonely Planet chose to collaborate with IE’s design team to bring the book, 1000 Ultimate Experiences, to the Apple iPad in less than six weeks.

The result is a design solution that transforms stunning experiences from the book into a virtual deck of cards the user can spread out, flip, share and explore.

1000 Ultimate Experiences for iPad offers readers a tantalising opportunity to daydream about their next trip, or indeed their next 1000 trips.

The New York Times billed the app as “a graphically rich look at a wide variety of trips”; USA Today said, “the visual wow factor is notable”; and CBS News Chicago listed 1000 Ultimate Experiences as one of seven “Must-Have” apps.

AppFollower also posted a comprehensive video review.  

“1000 Ultimate Experiences” was also picked up by CNN, MediaBistro, Silicon Valley Insider, Macsimum, MacTech,Toronto Star, Hamilton Spectator, PaidContent, Nendoroiz, Two Minute News, Eye for Travel, USA Today, and CNET

‘Research has shown that Marketing Managers have a tenure in any one position of around 18 months to 2 years. There are exceptions, of course, but that trend can work against the requirements of building an effective digital strategy and, ultimately, a productive online presence.’

Marketing planning is often based around a 12-month calendar, and managers of that plan are charged with increasing sales as a key metric. We understand, however, that success in digital is not just a case of ‘Build a website and they will come’. It takes strategic planning born of deep understanding of how digital is beneficial in your market and best appeals to your audience, and that understanding takes time to develop. Much of this development can be linked to backend digital infrastructure improvements too which, while critical to developing a platform that can deliver well into the future, probably won’t help you reach next week’s sales targets. Faced with that equation, it’s all too easy to view immediate sales results as the only goal.

‘A marketing plan is critical to success in any business,’ says Rhys, ‘but if a marketing plan is only being measured by quarterly or even 12-monthly deliverables then, with all the best intentions, the medium to long-term strategic opportunities of the business maybe sacrificed for short-term success. And this might work for a while, but as consumer behaviour changes and we see the current levels of online sales and other activity increase dramatically, your business will fall further and further behind the competition in terms of digital presence and development. Perhaps fatally so.’

Some of the questions related to medium and long-term digital goals that need to be addressed include:

How do we measure the health of our digital infrastructure? How do we measure the digital needs of our audience? How do we build what they require? And how do we measure the combined effect of all our digital tools?

Ideally, says Rhys, medium to long-term digital goals should be key goals for Marketing Managers along side achieving quarterly sales figures. This will create a proactive digital planning and implementation process within the organisation.

Last week the annual Adobe Refresh Roadshow rolled into town, with 2010’s edition touted as a “Dynamic live presentation that will refresh your understanding of the most recent initiatives in the areas of content creation, collaboration and distribution”.

Adobe takes this event across Australia and New Zealand annually, hoping to dazzle the faithful by showcasing the latest developments in Flash, Flex, AIR, Photoshop, Dreamweaver and more.

And dazzle they did.

First up was the Flash future technology sneak-peek. Hosted by Adobe Evangelist Paul Burnett, we sprinted through an array of new features due to be included in the next iteration of Flash.

We’re looking forward to having the following at our fingertips soon:

• Version control support
• Deep integration between Flash Builder 4 and Flash
• Adobe Text Engine – a sophisticated text control feature similar to the text function in Illustrator and InDesign
• Physics engine for animation
• Code Snippets feature for rapid development
• Updates to Flash Authoring Environment including code hinting, custom class completion
• FLV Playback in the Flash IDE (Play, pause, scrub.)
• Additional FLV Playback skins and customising skins to become a lot easier.

The Evangelist preaches regularly on his own show called Flash DownUnder on Adobe.tv

Multi-Target Applications.

The majority of this 45-minute session was dedicated to exploring the increasing need for contextual focus in designing and developing applications in today’s multi-target market.

As an example, they directed us to the online music service Finetune (from the people who brought you Napster, ironically) as it, like many new services, has deployment options for Desktop (AIR), Online (Embedded), TV, Mobile and even Wii.

In each case, the Finetune application had been tailored to integrate seamlessly into the different user interfaces, exploit the various hardware capabilities and most importantly keep the user’s learning curve to a minimum. You can see an example of such esoteric design during the Wii deployment, as an entire color palette was changed to ensure Finetune would ‘fit in’ with the Wii’s family of existing software.

http://www.finetune.com/FinetuneFamily/

Then came the moment we’d all been waiting for: Building iPhone applications with Flash. And it is cool. Mostly.

First, you have to navigate the Apple iPhone Developer process (let’s call them iHoops) and pay the man for the privilege (AUD$99 for an independent iPhone developer or AUD$119 for a organisation)

After that, though, it’s pretty straightforward.

First, create your application as you would in the Flash IDE, taking advantage of the new iPhone API packages such as GPS and Accelerometer. Then, simply Publish to iPhone.

So what’s the catch? For a start, no detailed explanation of the end product was given other than “It’s a native iPhone application”. Oh, and it takes a while. Okay, how long? Go and get a cup of coffee long. Ouch. And doubly so because, in Version 1 at least, you can’t simulate any of the iPhone API features in the Flash IDE. All of which means that to test them, you’ll be going and getting a lot of coffee.

Still, they did build an iPhone App on Flash in front of us, and that’s something you don’t see every day. I should also say that it’s important to bear in mind two things here. Firstly, this feature was showcased on a pre-release version of Flash, so there may well be improvements in the compile time and undoubtedly in its stability.

Secondly, Apple really aren’t making it easy for Adobe to run Flash Apps on their hardware, so for Adobe to step up to make this available is excellent, not to mention grown-up.

And finally, the Sneak Peaks Presentation.

There was some pretty incredible stuff here, some of which may never see the light of day, but certainly will contribute to the growing enigmatic reputation of the Adobe brand.

Take for example a possible new lasso feature in Photoshop. Let’s say you have an image of Steve Jobs standing in front of a brick wall with the Adobe logo on it, and you’ve wisely decided he shouldn’t be there. With this feature you can cut out Steve as you would do normally using the regular lasso tool, and instead of having to try and patch together the background yourself, you simply hit a button and Photoshop will neatly fill the space with a perfectly matched brick wall. Magic.

There were also new lifelike paintbrushes, amazing demonstrations using Dreamweaver, Illustrator, XML and HTML and the piece de resistance – bringing to life that shot on CSI where the detective zooms endlessly into a grainy image of a suspect and then hits an enhance button and boom! The face is revealed and he gets his guy. The presenters called it the “Deconvulsion Button”. Brilliantly done, but also lovingly faked for the audience. This one remains the stuff of Hollywood for now.

ADtech Sydney 16 -17 March 2010 www.ad-tech.com

This summit will look at engaging digital strategy. Topics will include: The new rules of engagement; building your own digital media network; social media revelations; latest technology on offer for digital marketers; exploring the mobile social media value chain; the new social media creative world; the bloggersphere unleashed; adapting to a digital landscape; engaging new marketing case studies; today’s teen digital consumer; various digital marketing success stories; exploring buzz marketing; effective digital CRM and lead generation practice.

http://www.elitemedia.com.au/files/digital_marketing__media_summit_2009.pdf