Thursday 29 December 2011

How 9 Retailers Successfully Leveraged Game Mechanics



Social games have begun to influence consumer behavior and purchases. According to Saatchi & Saatchi, 66% of tablet owners play social games daily, and 46% of tablet gamers are women. In fact, the largest group of social gamers is women between the ages of 35 and 44, the second largest is women between 18 and 34. Men make up the third largest group.  
Marketing to these demographics in today’s economy is a top priority for retailers. And ramification offers companies a chance to engage young audiences and start to build consumer-purchasing habits that aren’t entirely based on continual discounts and free stuff.
Looking for an agency to whip up an innovative campaign for 2012? Look no further than the award winning Digital Agency MATMI!

Friday 23 December 2011

It’s a ZOMBIE XMAS from all at Matmi



Promo Image for Game
To wish you a Merry Christmas, our clever team of Matmian elves created this quick fun game, in lighting speed. Not only must Santa deliver all the presents but he must also fend off a hoard of Zombie Elves… a truly yuley ghouly game - happy clicking!

2011 was Matmi’s 10th Anniversary and what a magical year it has been. The Matmians of Macclesfield worked their little socks off. They put Santa’s Elves to shame. And with all their hard work came the recognition. Christmas certainly came early for Matmi with awards rolling in like snowballs rolling down the hills of the Pennines.

The Optathlon and Gorillaz campaigns picked up multiple awards from Big Chip, CorpComms Digi Awards, How-Do and the Dadi Awards. Optathlon was also nominated for ‘Best Use of Games’ at Cannes Lions and The Gorillaz App received an ‘Official Honoree Award’ at the Webby Awards. Adding to these, like the star on top of a Christmas tree, Matmi was named‘Digital Agency of the Year’ at the Dadi’s in an open vote. I could go on but a Christmas pudding is calling me.

So if you are looking for an award winning digital design agency to spruce up your next campaign in 2012, we’d love to hear from you.
Contact us.

Thursday 22 December 2011

Santa Farty Pants - A classic game from Matmi




The Matmi Christmas games just keep on coming!

It's a Christmas disaster! Santa's sleigh has crashed and he's only just started making his rounds. How on Earth will he be finished by morning?

Hang on – what’s being thrown out of the windows? Pies and brussel sprouts!? OK, Santa knows that kids hate sprouts - but he loves them. In fact, if he eats enough pies and sprouts, he can swap the sleigh for the methane gas converter attached to his ass – and fly through the air with the greatest of ease!Ooooh – careful – what’s this? Psychotic, evil snowmen?

Who could have thought that idea up (not me). Don’t let them take a swipe at our hero! Make a dash for the sprouts, fill Santa’s Sprout-o-meter to the max and let’s make sure those presents are delivered in time!Arrow keys to move, Crtl to drop presents down the chimney and refill your sack.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Santa vs Jack - Another Christmas based Matmi game



Another festive game from Matmi’s archive….
Deliver the fancy dress costumes before the time runs out! Watch out for Jack Frost.

Our first of 2 Christmas games for 2007. This game was our second one for Joker’s Masquerade (www.joke.co.uk). Drop presents down the chimneys, delivering fancy dress costumes to all the kids. But look out for Jack Frost, he’ll pop up from time to time to give you grief! 
ENJOY!

PLAY

Monday 19 December 2011

ICE ROAD & SNOWY’S PINBALL




Continuing with the showcase of Christmas based Matmi games, next up is Ice Road & Snowy’s Pinball.
Ice Road / Snowy’s Pinball has all the exciting gameplay of Monster Pinball and hundreds of new goals, challenges and other craziness. With super-smooth graphics and stunning stereo sound, Ice Road is a gaming feast with a whole new theme!
Ice Road / Snowy’s Pinball has 2 x 3 feature-packed tables so novices and pros alike will get the best out of this crazy pinball extravaganza, and with local, global, and Facebook Connect leaderboards, you’re sure to find something – or someone – to challenge you!
You can see Snowy’s Christmas Pinball in action here, become a fan on Facebook or grab it from the App Store for only $1.99/£1.19.
GET HERE
Snowy’s Christmas Pinball comments:
“I wholeheartedly recommend Snowy’s Christmas Pinball, one of the finest pinball games around.” - Geek.com
“one of the premier pinball experiences on the iPhone … you’ll love this” -Nodpad.com
“Smoother than hot egg nog” - iphoneachievements.org
✻✻✻✻✻ “one of the premier pinball experiences on the iPhone … you’ll love this” - Nodpad.com
✻✻✻✻✻ “Smoother than hot egg nog” - iphoneachievements.org
Visit Matmi.com

Sunday 18 December 2011

Matmi New Media Ltd presents Ho Ho Ho! Yellow Snow!



Our fastest ever moving viral / advergame! At one point this game was being played 5,000 times every minute! Its a game of join the dots, but it doesn’t involve a pen. A great festive game that really got everybody talking at Christmas 2007!
With the addition of a greetings card (where you can draw in the snow and email your message to a friend) this game has become an incredibly popular game. What a great use of adolescent humour! We’re all kids at heart. I dare you not to laugh at santa’s bum!
OR get the iPhone version. Ho Ho Ho! Yellow Snow! DELUXE Edition: http://iphone.matmi.com/yellowsnow/

Friday 16 December 2011

Matmi’s Elf iPhone App




Another MATMI classic:  
It’s Christmas morning and there’s magic in the air, enough to send an elf soaring into the stratosphere. While Santa’s away, Irving the Elf like nothing more than leaping skyward, stepping on stars and bouncing on baubles trying to get as high as he can! Build your boost and collect candy canes for a point bonus while you help Irving hit the heavens, but watch out for the twisted tinsel, its pointy prickles will put a real crimp on your day.  
With all the looks and charm you’d expect from a Matmi game, Elf is simple enough that anyone can pick it up and play it, but addictive enough that you’ll be hooked all year round. Aim skyward as you challenge your friends via Facebook Connect and see who can send Irving the highest!  
Elf Features:
  • Amazing graphics and animations.
  • Unique sound effects in stereo.
  • Simple but addictive gameplay.
  • Suitable for all ages.
  • Local and Online scoreboards.
  • Facebook Connect so you can challenge all your friends.
  • Created specifically for the iPhone/iPod Touch by the wonderful minds of Matmi  

Wednesday 14 December 2011

Here’s What People Look at on Facebook Brand Pages


In an effort to catch your eye on their Facebook pages, brands have experimented with apps and splashy profile photos. But in almost all cases, it turns out, the humble Facebook wall itself steals the show.
In an webcam eye-tracking study for Mashable byEyeTrackShop, the 30 participants who viewed top Facebook brand pages almost always looked at pages’ walls first — usually for at least four times longer than any other element on the page.
SEE ALSO: Here’s How People Look at Your Facebook Profile — Literally
On average, the smaller pictures above the wall were noticed 85% of the time, and the “likes” column was noticed just 58% of the time.
View the rest of the results on Mashable HERE.

Sunday 11 December 2011

The Mega Companies Behind 90% Of Media




The media landscape is dominated by a mere six companies. Should we be worried?  
“Frugal Dad—the same company behind a Walmart infographic —took it upon themselves to show exactly how concentrated our media landscape actually is.”

Thursday 1 December 2011

Check out a couple of our Senior Management getting their groove back :)



Get your groove on in 'DanceStar Party' time. Play through pumping tracks from the 80s, 90s and 00s. Check out the crazy outfits and dance!

You can also dance with your mates. Include their faces in Party Time mode and get them dancing the night away.
Prove you are the greatest dancer and pick up all the awards throughout the game.



Play: http://apps.facebook.com/dancestarpartytime

Playing Around with ImportXML in Google Spreadsheets


Via Scoop.it - New Digital Media

It’s frustrating trying to get XML data into Microsoft Excel – unless you’ve got the time and patience to build some basic Macros or VBscript for your requirements. With Google Docs, it’s really easy.
A few resources:
If you want to use Google Docs to extract data from the web, it would be a good idea for you to learn a little xPath. “XPath is used to navigate through elements and attributes in an XML document”, or, in simple terms, you can use xPath to fetch little bits of data contained in structured elements like ,or links or pretty much anything, really. Also, there are a few people who have been doing this a while, and probably have sample spreadsheets that blow some of the examples below away – but you have to start somewhere, right? If you’re already an importXML / Google Docs Ninja, maybe go and find something else to do instead of reading this post.
If you’re interested, I made a Google Docs Spreadsheet with all of the examples below: http://bit.ly/9Fs7aF

Does anyone know?

“Does anyone know” is such an interesting search on Twitter – just combine that query with a keyword, like “restaurant” and a location for everyone on Twitter looking for a very specific, thing. Great if you happen to be trading in that thing.
anyone know
Try a query like this to pull through results from the Twitter search RSS feed:
OR+birmingham”)
anyone-know-data
►Mini Matmian:
A useful function with many applications. Thanks to SEOGadget for sharing. I can see the guys at Matmi having some fun messing around with this.

Traffic Analysis: The New Google Analytics Features You Must Pay Attention To


If you didn’t know about it, in January 2012, less than a month from now, Google will close its present Analytics version and will replace it for everyone with the new one.

The new version has a number of great new features, from “real-time” traffic reporting, to social analysis e goal flow visualization.
This article offers a great opportunity to learn and explore some of the most relevant and useful new features that the upcoming Google Analytics has to offer.
Remember though: you do NOT have to wait until January 2012 to test them all out. Just log in into your Google Analytics and check on top of your page a red link that says “new version”. Click it!

Read the full article: http://mashable.com/2011/11/30/google-analytics-new-features/  
Via mashable.com

17 Eye-Opening Examples of Content Visualization (Infographics)


 This fascinating piece is by Pamela Vaughan from Hubspot Blog.
Another way to help people cope with information overload is by using visual content. Great tool for content curators after filtering, organizing, adding context is to break it up with pictures, graphics or infographics.
Intro:
Visualized content is popping up all over the web lately, and it’s no surprise.
Here’s what caught my attention:
“Does every piece of visual content you produce have to be as complex as a full-blown infographic? No way. And does every piece of visual content even have to highlight data? Negative.
****Sometimes the concept you’re trying to explain just lends itself to a more visual representation, and these types of portrayals can often make the concept much easier to follow and understand by your audience. 
****the benefits of visual content are huge —
**it tends to be much more shareable and interesting
****visual content often gets spread more virally
****allowing you to extend the reach and effectiveness of your content.
What really caught my eye in the infographics:
I especially loved Social Media Transit Strategy and The Journey of A Tweet - what about you?
Curated by Jan Gordon covering “Content Curation, Social Media & Beyond”