I could not be more pleased to announce the addition of Constantine Poulos to our US team as our VP of Engagement and Delivery. Constantine brings over 25 years of digital design and delivery experience working with Fortune 500 clients. He joins us from AETN, where he was the Director of Digital Media Technologies. He is an Engineer by trade, (code, not choochoo), client advocate by personality and a true innovator by heart. He is passionate, smart and committed to helping our clients leverage mobile and social platforms to drive engagement and transactions. Welcome Constantine!

Zemoga isn’t just a pretty face in digital media, entertainment, and luxury consumer goods – we’ve also been an authority in the digital health space for years with our newly redesigned flagship blog, Pixels & Pills.  2013 is the year we’re leveraging all that hard-earned and well-deserved thought leadership by adding branded solutions to our healthcare tech mix. Starting with PADFORCE, our proprietary mobile sales force delivery super-app, we’ll be featuring proven case studies to drive the digital Z deeper into the two trillion dollar healthcare industry.

We know…. we know…. our “holding page” of a site was wretched. Back off!

It’s tough to squeeze in your own work when you have to do what we do. Let’s leave it at that. OK?

It is still in “beta”, but then Google was for what, like 15 years. Regardless, we did feel it was ready for prime time. Some of the awesome work that we did in 2012 for a wide range of clients is featured in the reel, we literally blow up a few projects to show you what is really inside what we do, and how much care is taken to do so.

Like peeling back the onion on a few projects. Not sure if your eyes will well up… but let me know if they do. The site design is also launching in parallel with our Pixels & Pills Blog refresh. You’ll find more engaging digital health thought leadership, trends, and healthcare industry news from all over on our little blog that could… and does.

Just released on 1/7/13, Piers Fawkes and his gang of Merry Trend Spotters have dished up an incredible eye candy of a report on what makes great workspaces. With tons of reference points, gorgeous examples and inspiration everywhere, it’s for everyone from designers, marketers to architects and HR professionals. If you are at all influential in the decisions around the environment in which your company works, get this report… its worth the money.

Anyone who thinks Zemoga kicks ass, raise your hand!

(Thank you those who actually did, we felt it) Now go buy an Avalon!

Zemoga reinvents the way high-end retail sales associates are trained, empowered and interact with customers while in store.

With the proliferation of data on how we do and buy just about everything… innovative companies are beginning to leverage that data in more unique and effective ways. Zemoga created a sales associate iPad application for our clients MBS and eBay. Working with the client, we leveraged both public and proprietary shopper data to empower salespeople with insight and direction to make the shopping experience even more engaging. Imagine while shopping, your sales associate knows your latest purchases, preferences, sizes and offers/promotions that are just right for you. The application empowers the associate with relevant data on past purchases and recommendations driven by a dynamic profile that draws data from multiple consumer interaction points. We are proud to say that this innovation we created is an important part of the “Ebay Experience”… the futuristic live 20,000 sq. ft. showcase in NY and LA where eBay illustrates in real time and with real transactions, how consumers will be having more meaningful and profitable relationships with brands through technology. Super cool!

The application was unveiled to rave reviews at the NBAA show in October 2012. (That’s where people go to buy jets in case you are in the market).  I mean how freakin’ cool is this application?!?  With this app, the client design team can now work with customers to configure interior designs, exterior designs, cabin configurations, seat types… the whole kit and kaboodle. We all played and dreamed with this app morning and night… and when a project works its way into your dreams… you know you are onto something good.

Zemoga developed the strategy in partnership with key senior stakeholders at Gulfstream.  The result was a super-effective way to empower the client design team, remove the friction points in the sales process through immediate engagement and stunning visuals all while delivering beyond the customers’ expectations. One of the sweetest functions is the application’s ability to allow you to virtually walk through the interior. It’s mint… just like the planes.

Download the Z-Predictions 2013 in PDF format.

As part of our ongoing exploration of the recent changes to Twitter, Facebook and Google, we asked Zemoga’s Head of Research Russ Ward for his take on Google’s new search practices, Here’s what he had to say:

Well it is no surprise that Google has created a great deal of discussion over its new “Search plus Your World” functionality within Google +.

The chatter all over the web includes concerns over privacy rights, security and the reactions by Twitter and how it may work with Facebook. Quite frankly everyone seems to be reticulating the same news and speculation, but how much of a leap into a new world of search do these new personalized search features afford.

So lets step back and look at what this new Personal Results button really does. From Google + a search will simply yield the usual keyword based search result – so no new functionality there.

Then, by clicking on the Personal Result button a new set of results are added based on the keyword relevance of your search to keyword data indexed within the information Google knows is within your personal data either in Circles or other public data Google has matched to you. The paper clip example Google is using shows this relevance and the simple result.

In real terms this is simply an automated advanced search with results you have most likely seen before.  While being personal in nature and clever that it relates keywords to you personally, there is no real innovation here and no real ground breaking improvement to provide useful information.

But it’s what is not happening here that makes this function less useful? By default as Google is NOT scraping Twitter, Facebook or other third party social network, therefore the content presented is naturally biased by Google’s search algorithm and whatever is held in the users Circles account. It is from a search relevance perspective that this means that the Personal Results function can only provide limited results.

To put this to the test – I ran a search of my own (as a matter of disclosure I do not have any content in Google Circles) and my search results do not change in any way. This is the case with or without the Personal Results button active and occurs no matter what I search for.

The take away here is that there does not seem to be any real technological or search advantage here. Until Google gets access to other social media platforms in which you participate there is nothing more to be said because it is IRRELEVANT.

by Sven Larsen (@svenplarsen)

Given our recent posts about Twitter and Google policy changes, it seemed only fair that we point you to MediaBistro’s coverage of Biz Stone’s clarification of Twitter censorship policies.

While it’s good to know that Twitter is retaining it’s commitment to free speech, it does point out the increasing grey zone between local law and the global nature of the net. From last year’s Wikileaks controversy to SOPA and its sister legislation, it’s increasingly unclear how governments can actually control digital content (and whether they should be trying in the first place).

Is it time to kick this up to a higher level? Should the UN or the World Court be tackling issues like this? Because despite Biz’s good natured explanation, recent discussions online have highlighted just how easy it is for corporations to arbitrarily change the rules of the net.

How do we build communications platforms that aren’t dependent on the goodwill of their inventors to maintain their openness?