Get to know the people who make Springbox an exceptional agency. What Inspires You? is a series of posts that offer insight into our talented and creative staff. 

Carlos Orozco

Account Supervisor

What did you do before joining Springbox?
Prior to joining Springbox, I worked at Apple and Dell managing various client relationships in both the education and corporate space. My clients included MTV UK, Millward Brown, CBS Interactive and Sony Pictures.

Where do you find inspiration?
The architecture of Tadao Ando and Le Corbusier, to the photography of Stephen Shore and William Eggleston, to the art of Viktor IV and Alexander Calder, to the design of El Lissitzky, E. McKnight Kauffer, Jan Tschichold and Ladislav Sutnar, to the minimalistic compositions of Tony Conrad and Terry Riley.

Which websites have inspired you recently?
The numerous videos on TED talks are always worth a visit. Interdisciplinary approaches to design are fortunately becoming more widely accepted, which is resulting in more effective and relevant experiences for the users. 

Design Observer is another great resource and includes a dedicated section about contemporary architecture, landscape and urbanism, as well as a video and audio channel called Observer Media and Change Observer, which focuses on social innovation.

Which trends in interactive are you currently paying attention to?
The emergence of the interface as the content itself and the potential future of how we interact with the world of data. In the physical realm, Pranav Mistry has already developed prototypes for “Sixth Sense” technology that bridge the gap between us and the digital world. More and more you are seeing interactive design evolve to focus more on content, doing away with the virtually unnecessary and bulky ubiquitous navigational elements. 

Capitalizing off of the frenzy of the World Cup is currently on the minds of most major brands, because millions of viewers will tune in to watch soccer matches. This year in particular, there are many creative interactive World Cup experiences. Here are a few favorites to whet your appetite for the beautiful game:


• FIFA.com is the mother ship of the tournament, including videos, match casts, statistics and other content.


• Marca.com's Calendar Wheel offers an innovative experience to view tournament content. Also, make sure to check out this complex scheduled printed piece by Martin Oberhauser.


• Nike's Digital Headline Installation lets you submit a headline through Facebook that lights up the largest LED installation in Johannesburg. See how it works on YouTube.
• Participate in the Firefox Cup by picking a team, updating your browser and playing a fantasy tournament.


• EA Games partnered with PlayStation and FIFA to present the Interactive World Cup 2010, a competition for gamers in tandem to the real tournament.


• Cheer for your favorite teams through Ericsson's Cheer Campaign, confetti included.


• Get a visual replay of fans' Twitter reactions with the guardian.co.uk's interactive replay.


• Hyundai launched a campaign to send one million soccer balls to the children of Africa, along with offering full tournament interactive content. Dancing cheetah bonus visual included.
• CNN World Cup Twitter Buzz shows users which teams are being tweeted about the most in real time.


• FOX Interactive Map uses a standard global map to guide users through multiple content screens.
• Don't miss NYTimes.com's evolution of the World Cup ball photo gallery, which celebrates the tournament's history with a timeline of soccer balls. There's also an educational site here.



I expect we'll see innovative interactivity continue to be tested and used for other major world events each year. The World Cup offers great opportunities to explore new ways to engage fans and consumers on the web. Gooooooaaaaaaaallllllllll!

California legislators are considering legislation that would lay the groundwork for digital license plates. When a vehicle is in motion, the devices would function as normal license plates; however, when the vehicle stops, they would switch to digital messages (from Amber Alerts to ads). Supporters of the bill say selling ad space could curtail some of the state’s massive budget shortfall.

If the bill is passed and digital license plates become reality, what should marketers keep in mind?

The Novelty Factor
The public space is crowded with advertising messages, many of which the public has learned to tune out. In the short term, a new ad placement such as this will no doubt generate buzz.

Brand Consistency
For luxury brands, digital license plate ads might look great on a late model Jaguar but what about an older Civic with a customized cardboard spoiler on it? Is VIN targeting next?

Too Much Exposure?
Not all brand impressions are created equal. Imagine gridlocked traffic where every time you step on the brakes you see the same ad on the car in front of you. Again. And again. That's a new level of road rage. 

It seems like every time I log in to Twitter I see more people using location-based services such as Foursquare or Gowalla. Foursquare and Gowalla have 1.3 million and 150,000 users respectively, with these numbers increasing daily.

These new services have an air of intrigue around them with many consumers asking what is the point. On the flip side, as an interactive agency we have to ask ourselves, “Why are programs like these becoming popular, and what does it mean for clients?”

What is Foursquare?
Foursquare was developed as a location-based social networking service that allows users to “check in” at certain locations. This service has quickly turned into a game that allows users to earn badges for frequently checking in, sync with their Twitter and Facebook accounts to give a shout out to their current location, and on top of that if you “check in” the most at a specific location you become mayor of it.

So why are they popular?
People join social networks because they want to share their daily thoughts, plans and activities with the click of a button. Location-based networks, like Foursquare, allow consumers to share their current location and what they think about it.  Users can now share reviews and thoughts about businesses in real time via a social network. Foursquare even allows you to sync your Twitter and Facebook accounts to update your status whenever you check in to a location. This functionality of syncing across all social networks could be the future.

What does it mean for businesses?
Consumers will be engaging with businesses without moderation. Upon first glance, it seems like a great thing for businesses, as users will be competing to “check in” the most at a certain place. With users competing to become the mayor of a location, it can only mean positive word-of-mouth reviews, so to speak. It also presents opportunities for businesses to offer promotions like “check in at our business in the next four hours and get a free item.”

What does it mean for advertisers?
With location-based social services being relatively new, it is hard to determine what their impact will be on the advertising industry. Agencies could start by helping interject typical marketing strategies such as offering discounts, certain privileges or prizes to users who check in most often or during particular time frames, etc.

Will it spread to other networks? 

Recently, Yelp added the “check in” feature with Facebook not far behind. Twitter also offers a popular location-based feature. Yahoo! has considered acquiring Foursquare for $100 million. The idea of location-based social networking is obviously gaining popularity, and will certainly spread to other networks. Now, will Foursquare be forgotten after the big guys such as Facebook and Google master it and spread it to their huge user base?

While the announcement of the iPhone 4 may have received most of the buzz yesterday, new details about Apple’s iAd platform were revealed that just might shake mobile advertising to its core.

If you haven’t heard about iAd, which Jobs stated will offer advertisers “the emotion of TV advertising with the interactivity of the web”, it provides for ads to be displayed within downloaded applications. Apple is reporting that it has $60 Million in commitments to its new mobile advertising platform that launches on July 1.

Good news for app developers: they get to pocket 60% of the ad revenue from their apps.

But how will iAd change mobile advertising for advertisers?

A New Ad Model for New Times
Is this the end of dominance for search advertising? As the public increasingly uses applications to acquire information, their reliance on search decreases. Advertisers will have to duplicate media buys.

New Pricing and Production Processes
For the time being, Ad Age has reported that Apple will charge for both impressions and click-throughs upfront — a departure from traditional media buys.  Also, advertisers and agencies will have to grow accustomed to iAd's JS library in order to bundle assets for ad delivery. Given Apple's recent perspective, it should come as no surprise that HTML 5 is preferred. 

Targeting Customers
Ads can be targeted based on the demographics of who’s likely to download to the app. With more than 200,000 apps in App Store’s categories, targeting niches would appear to be relatively easy.

Will It Be a Success?
Whether people will engage with advertising as they’re watching videos or playing games on their iPhones remains to be seen. But it’s hard to argue against Apple’s track record. iPhone sales are expected to grow again this year, and numerous other advertisers have already found success with in-game advertising, which some have estimated will hit $1 Billion annually by 2014.

How do you think iAd will affect mobile advertising going forward?