Cheer Tracker

What if we could turn our office windows into a beacon of global holiday happiness?
It's no wonder the holiday spirit seems to get lost in the shuffle. Days are shorter, and our to-do lists grow longer. It's easy to get caught up in the stress of the moment, and lose focus on the bigger picture. And that’s why we built the Cheer Tracker. To give busy Philadelphians a physical reminder of all the holiday happiness being shared around the globe.
 
Luckily, our Philadelphia office windows overlook one of the busiest shopping districts in the city. A great opportunity to put smiles on the faces of people passing by. We think it¹s a fun way to visualize goodwill on a global scale. And we were able to play with a few new tech gadgets to make it happen.

Visit: cheertracker.neimanlabs.com

Tweet to Shoot

What if anyone, anywhere in the world, could use Twitter to fire a Nerf gun located in Philadelphia?
We rigged the gun to a 12-volt power supply and an Arduino Uno microcontroller. We combed the Twitter API for mentions of a specific hashtag. We rebuilt the classic Duck Hunt interface and even brought back that annoying dog. We took over a room and streamed it live.

Visit: tweettoshoot.neimanlabs.com

Go Crowdless Holiday Edition

What if we could create a tool to help people avoid crowds during the holidays?
GoCrowdless was created to help people avoid the masses in New York City during one of the most hectic times of the year. The holidays.

We tapped into foursquare's open API and collected check-in data on 20 of the key holiday destinations in the Big Apple. Each check-in is time stamped, and over time it revealed visitation patterns. Site visitors can quickly learn what the busiest and least busy times of the places they intend to visit. Check-ins are visualized through a bar graph displaying the total volume per hour. The goal was to pinpoint each venue's busiest time, so people could avoid the crowds and enjoy their visit.

Visit: GoCrowdless.com

Phightin’s Phever

What if we could crowdsource an entire city’s play-by-play call of a baseball game?
We experimented with live aggregation and display of tweets during the 2011 MLB playoff run.

The minute-by-minute data was archived to allow for easy search and browsing. Each minute’s data was sortable by tag - player and team keywords. At a glance, site visitors could see key moments of the game. Clicking on activity spikes allowed people to understand who was involved in the play. Clicking on each tag allowed users to read each tweet. It was a short run, but fun while it lasted.

Visit: phever.neimanlabs.com

Philly Steakout

What if we could end the debate over where to get a cheesesteak?
Philly Steakout ranks Philadelphia’s 25 most popular cheesesteak restaurants using foursquare check-ins. Simply put, the more check-ins the establishment gets, the higher it ranks on the homepage.

However, we didn't stop there. By utilizing each foursquare user's profile we were able to identify their hometown. Then we could tell whether each cheesesteak check-in was by a local or an out-of-towner, creating the ability for visitors to PhillySteakout.com to choose the tourist destination that is frequented by the masses, or the secret spot where the locals chow down.

Add integration of Google Maps, Yelp, foursquare tips and photos and the desktop and mobile site become a great tool for anyone looking to grab a bite in The City of Brotherly Love.

Visit: PhillySteakout.com

Neiman Globe

What if we could send our agency’s 2010 holiday card around the world, without postage? With 20 cubic feet of packing peanuts and a couple industrial-strength floor dryers, we turned one of Neiman’s glass offices into a human-sized snow globe. The event was streamed live for two days. During that time, the card reached more than 50 countries and raised over $500 for The Global Fund.

Visit: Case Study

Social Sweets

What if we could use chocolate to inspire a social media response for charity?
The Social Sweets project was created to test the "Pay it Forward" principle within digital channels. Neiman created a custom Social Sweet chocolate bar to be handed out on the streets of Philadelphia for free. All that we asked in return is that people thank us via Facebook or Twitter. Each time they did a dollar would be donated to Philabundance, a local food bank. After distributing 1000 bars we had some fascinating results, and a city buzzing about our little experiment.

View: Case Study