Team Buying - 2007 version of the Horse Syndicate!
Myfootballclub.co.uk, is an online community that's gathering 50,000 football fans to buy an English football team. Each member must commit to putting away 35 pounds if they get 50,000 members. Then the members get to make all the decisions from what team to buy, to who to trade and at what price.
This has also been happening in the Music Industry with Sellaband.com which lets people buy shares in upcoming musicians. If they get enough shares they create an album of which you get to see the profit from.
Another one to just launch is VIPBandmanager which allows people to be the Music Manager.
This would create a great brand community and the WOM from your new found brand loyalist would be massive. I think it is only a matter of time before a Corporate Brand open up their processes and let their consumers take hold of a brand extension.
Sexecutive Position
In need of a job? Durex has just launched their search for Condom Testers 'Sexecutive Positions'. There is 200 unpaid positions here.
I like this alot and think it has got alot of good elements. It is getting a core group to trial the product and then a clear Word of Mouth idea to carry the message. It is also taking advantage of the new trend of consumer wanting to 'get involved'.
However it does not seem to offer much in terms of embracing social media. Pretty standard 'enter your friends email address here' launched off a Microsite. '
I would of suggested hitting seek.com.au, mycareer.com.au and hippo.com.au with these positions advertised. I would also of liked to of seen some embrace of Myspace and Facebook networks. The website is pretty boring and does allow the consumer to engage on a deeper level with the product either.
Good idea, standard execution
Not too far away from the Toohey New Beer Testers idea either.
In need of a job? Durex has just launched their search for Condom Testers 'Sexecutive Positions'. There is 200 unpaid positions here.
I like this alot and think it has got alot of good elements. It is getting a core group to trial the product and then a clear Word of Mouth idea to carry the message. It is also taking advantage of the new trend of consumer wanting to 'get involved'.
However it does not seem to offer much in terms of embracing social media. Pretty standard 'enter your friends email address here' launched off a Microsite. '
I would of suggested hitting seek.com.au, mycareer.com.au and hippo.com.au with these positions advertised. I would also of liked to of seen some embrace of Myspace and Facebook networks. The website is pretty boring and does allow the consumer to engage on a deeper level with the product either.
Good idea, standard execution
Not too far away from the Toohey New Beer Testers idea either.
Mentos Intern
Mentos have got an intern and they want you to set him work. You can get the intern to do anything for you from making restaurant bookings to proof reading your assignment. I love this idea
However
This seems to be very close to Gold Winning Cyber Lion idea of the Diesel Girls. I am struggling to see the link with the brand. Mentos does not seem to be the best brand to execute this. This seems perfect for a product targeting busy mothers or businessmen. Just cant see the strong message hitting home for Mentos.
From cosmedia.co.za/;
'According to Google Operating System, last year Google sponsored a social networking project, called Socialstream, at the Carnegie Mellon University’s Human-Computer Interaction Institute.
One of the project’s main goals was to investigate how social networking could be improved to bring more value to users. What came of this - and what I like about SocialStream - was a “unified social network (USN)”, which translates in simple English to an aggregation and consolidation of various social network data in a single place (see video below). As Mashable states, this is a more user-centric rather than network-centric approach to social networking.
From the project’s site, “Socialstream emphasizes improving social connections by making it more efficient to communicate with, share with, and view the social content of all the people in a user’s online social network. Socialstream provides a compelling user experience because it aggregates content across many different networks so a user has a single location to discover new content and communicate. The goal of Socialstream is to present social information in a way that ties it to the person who posted the information, and not the site from which it came.”
While time will tell if this will be launched as a separate or Orkut-integrated service, what is clear is that Socialstream presents a focus on benefit-orientated social networking mashups, which when coupled with Google’s large user bases and extensive application set could become very popular.'
It's all custom.. Especially for telecommunications
The telecommunications industry is one of the fastest moving competitive industries in the globe today.
Mobile phones, internet, landline, VOIP are the main components of the current industry as we see it. However, the focus on landline has long been forgotten. It's all about the mobile.
Why?
Cheaper (cap plans), accessibility to information and friends and the ability to organise your entire life in a handheld device.
With the introduction of the iPhone people are questioning whether it will change the landscape of the industry, with much of its technology already on the market it offers very little different other than the apple name.
Then again, why do all the techno professionals love the idea?
It's all customizable, you can make you do what you want it to do. With PDAs such as the i-mate, options that could not be achieved on normal phones (such as sms forwarding) can be achieved if you have the know-how. With the iPhone, these features are much easily enabled with little technical expertise.
Where did the idea start?
Nokia were the first to fully integrate the concept into their market strategy throughout the use of chanegable covers and wallpapers. This was even taken further with the introduction of the camera phone, whereby you could place your own pictures as the wallpaper. Uniqueness to other brands is an essential KSF (Key Success Factor) for cell phone companies.
It allows individuals to express thenselves, phone organisations such as Sony, Nokia, Samsung, Blackberry, O2 and Motorola all emphasise individuality. Even though mass production is the main production method, the software allows individuals to express themselves through the ability to match their phone, to their personality.
So express yourself, it's all custom.
Mobile phones, internet, landline, VOIP are the main components of the current industry as we see it. However, the focus on landline has long been forgotten. It's all about the mobile.
Why?
Cheaper (cap plans), accessibility to information and friends and the ability to organise your entire life in a handheld device.
With the introduction of the iPhone people are questioning whether it will change the landscape of the industry, with much of its technology already on the market it offers very little different other than the apple name.
Then again, why do all the techno professionals love the idea?
It's all customizable, you can make you do what you want it to do. With PDAs such as the i-mate, options that could not be achieved on normal phones (such as sms forwarding) can be achieved if you have the know-how. With the iPhone, these features are much easily enabled with little technical expertise.
Where did the idea start?
Nokia were the first to fully integrate the concept into their market strategy throughout the use of chanegable covers and wallpapers. This was even taken further with the introduction of the camera phone, whereby you could place your own pictures as the wallpaper. Uniqueness to other brands is an essential KSF (Key Success Factor) for cell phone companies.
It allows individuals to express thenselves, phone organisations such as Sony, Nokia, Samsung, Blackberry, O2 and Motorola all emphasise individuality. Even though mass production is the main production method, the software allows individuals to express themselves through the ability to match their phone, to their personality.
So express yourself, it's all custom.
iPhone Madness
So the iPhone has just been released in the US. Since following trends I haven't seen this much hype for one product. Apple must be laughing all the way to the bank with this amount of online publicity. However looking at the videos the most blogged about video is of a gentleman dropping his new iPhone and then picking it up and it still working. This has been blogged about over 60 blogs and viewed more than 200,000 times.
In the most blogged about videos, iPhone related videos accounts for 6 of the top 20 blogged videos.
These are the most blogged about iPhone videos of now.
Shawn drops iPhone in Houston
Conan iPhone Commercial
My iPhone Diary
A closer look at the iPhone
iPhone smash
iPhone scratch test
In the most blogged about videos, iPhone related videos accounts for 6 of the top 20 blogged videos.
These are the most blogged about iPhone videos of now.
Shawn drops iPhone in Houston
Conan iPhone Commercial
My iPhone Diary
A closer look at the iPhone
iPhone smash
iPhone scratch test
Fogscreen
As picked up on the MIT Advertising Lab. Fog Screen is a screen which allows images to be projected onto a wall of dry fog.
You got to love the music track they have chosen for this demo video.
You got to love the music track they have chosen for this demo video.
The DNA for winning at Cannes
A re occurring theme this year with the Lions, was the integration of new technology into campaigns. Of particular note was the use of DNA, the Grand Prix Promo Lion Bonded by Blood. Adidas released a poster every year of the All Blacks team. This year they used the blood of the people.
A winner of the Bronze Direct Lion was Tooheys Extra Dry Human Testing Program. Which also used DNA testing, asking for people to send in some form of DNA to test if they could be apart of the program.
Grand Prix for the Melbourne Airwaves
Surprise in Radio Lions as Clemenger Melbourne picked up the Grand Prix for their Hoedown campaign for Snickers (listen here).
Bumping out the favourite Bud Lught Beer Mr. Ads (listen here) and Grey South Africa, Geronimo Condoms
(listen here)
Bumping out the favourite Bud Lught Beer Mr. Ads (listen here) and Grey South Africa, Geronimo Condoms
(listen here)
Australia still not yet getting Digital
Australia still has a long way to go in terms of competing in terms of making great digital campaigns. However Tequila flew the Australian flag and picked up a Bronze Lion for the cyber category for there campaign ‘Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny’. The campaign was quite strong with a number of interactive elements. Some of my favorite elements were the moving Mosh Pit and Vandalsing of other websites. Check it out here.
Congratulations to the gang over at Adverblog who picked up the Grand Prix with their campaign for
Disel.
Naked pick up a Bronze Lion
Congratulations to Naked Communication for bagging a Bronze Cannes Media Lion. Check out my original Hypnomarketing Post on the campaign back in November.
And for the other winners Cannes Lion Awards.
And for the other winners Cannes Lion Awards.
Back to the Future of the Internet
If you can get passed the annoying computer voice, this is an interesting view of the history of the internet and future predictions of where we are heading.
Jott this gem down
An interesting new product Jott. As picked up by Tech Crunch 'A user calls a specific phone number and leaves a voice message along with a recipient or recipients (an obvious use for Jott will be for people to leave themselves quick notes). The voice message will then be converted from voice into text and delivered via email or SMS. The recipient or recipients can choose between reading the text or listening to the original voice message.'
Facebook gaining on Myspace
It seems that Myspace may have hit its critical mass. According to Alexa, Myspace may be reaching a plateau in popularity. It has just gone from 5th to 6th most viewed website. While facebook another online social network site has gone from 26th up to 17th most viewed website.
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The formula to making Viral - Haggar Ads
I got passed this ad from a friend. So I am guessing this definitely had gone viral because this product category is quite irrelevant to me. However it is a really great way to show how to make an effective advertised viral.
You cannot make ads like they were on television, it is much easier for a person to turn offon youtube, they just change to 1 of 1,000 other channels. The advertised message should be intertwined into the video. You have to make sure that you hook the audience before giving them the message.
Set the story up (hook) ---- give the message --- knock em down with the ending and make it viral.
The Haggar ads are great example of how to use this formula, they have set the scene up with what they are going to do and then they give you the information about the product and then you get the reward for watching. In the example of the dog poo they tell you what they are going to do, tell you about the reliability of the pants and then hit you with the entertaining ending.
If they had put it at the end the viewer will just switch off. Putting it at the start people will get bored and not want to watch. Slicing it in the middle people are committed to the story.
The effective was to go viral is simple;
Set the story up (hook) ---- give the message --- knock em down with the ending and make it viral.
Here are some other Haggar Ads
You cannot make ads like they were on television, it is much easier for a person to turn offon youtube, they just change to 1 of 1,000 other channels. The advertised message should be intertwined into the video. You have to make sure that you hook the audience before giving them the message.
Set the story up (hook) ---- give the message --- knock em down with the ending and make it viral.
The Haggar ads are great example of how to use this formula, they have set the scene up with what they are going to do and then they give you the information about the product and then you get the reward for watching. In the example of the dog poo they tell you what they are going to do, tell you about the reliability of the pants and then hit you with the entertaining ending.
If they had put it at the end the viewer will just switch off. Putting it at the start people will get bored and not want to watch. Slicing it in the middle people are committed to the story.
The effective was to go viral is simple;
Set the story up (hook) ---- give the message --- knock em down with the ending and make it viral.
Here are some other Haggar Ads
Nike integration of culture
I think this is a great campaign an example of intergrating culture into a brand.
Nike and BBDO Argentina made an artistic intervention in the neighborhood of La Boca (in Buenos Aires) having football as the main theme with the aim of generating a legacy and making an authentic contribution to the life of this place.
La Boca is the neighborhood in Buenos Aires which is more deeply related to football and it is a magical neighborhood due to its architecture, its people and the cultural value given by its own inhabitants. In Barrio Bonito the spirit of the neighborhood football game and the arts come together hand in hand with a brand which is associated to the beautiful game around the world. (more)
Four Eyed Monsters
The first entire feature film on YouTube, although only up there for 1 week. Interesting background to it is that the filmmakers struck a win-win deal with movie review website Spout.com who will pay them $1 for everyone who joins up.
Wiki in plain english
I love these vodcast by common cast. Again they produce an informative explanation of how a new phenomena works.
The unseen audience
Live performers have been receiving a lot of attention lately for all the wrong reasons.
Case 1. Enrique serenades another man.
Case 2. Akon throws person into crowd
In a live performance someone throws a bottle at Akon, he gets the person on stage and then dangerously throws them back into the crowd.
You are not just performing to the visible audience in front of you but also a larger secondary audience. Where Enrique I am assuming was playing in a gay club and that behaviour would have been looked at in a favourable light. In the harsh reality of Youtube the response has not been so complementary. Same with the case for Akon
Case 1. Enrique serenades another man.
Case 2. Akon throws person into crowd
In a live performance someone throws a bottle at Akon, he gets the person on stage and then dangerously throws them back into the crowd.
You are not just performing to the visible audience in front of you but also a larger secondary audience. Where Enrique I am assuming was playing in a gay club and that behaviour would have been looked at in a favourable light. In the harsh reality of Youtube the response has not been so complementary. Same with the case for Akon
Stage Theory for Online Social Networks
A theory I am currently working on for the addictiveness for online social networks.
I think there are specific stages to a members interaction with a online social network. They are as such
Stage 1: Lighting the fire
The initial introduction to the site, Members are hooked by the fact that you can catch up with all you weak ties in a indirect easy way. A lot of the communication is based around this ‘Oh, I can’t believe you are on here as well (facebook), how have you been? We should catch up for a beer/coffee soon’
Stage 2: Stoking the fire
Is where the initial looking for friends has either reached its capacity within that social network or you a complementing your offline interaction. This communication is based around your offline interaction acting as an extension of your offline self. This communication is filled with ‘Great catching up with you today, what was the name of that shop you said I would like’ or my favourite ‘You were so drunk last night’.
Stage 3: ???????
There is an overlap of the stages, I still find myself in Stage 2 finding weak ties and saying ‘Haven’t seen you for ages, lets catch up’ but I would say most of the communication is around this extension of my offline social behaviour.
Warning the Burn out stage:
However like my account on Account Plan.ning, I lost interest because I could not reach Stage 2. I was not seeing anyone from the online social network, offline. However I have found a new use for the Ning and that is using the forum to utilize the combined knowledge of the active users to help mould my thinking.
Follow the conversation that is also being had at the Account Planning Ning
http://accountplan.ning.com/forum/topic/show?id=611711:Topic:7661
I think there are specific stages to a members interaction with a online social network. They are as such
Stage 1: Lighting the fire
The initial introduction to the site, Members are hooked by the fact that you can catch up with all you weak ties in a indirect easy way. A lot of the communication is based around this ‘Oh, I can’t believe you are on here as well (facebook), how have you been? We should catch up for a beer/coffee soon’
Stage 2: Stoking the fire
Is where the initial looking for friends has either reached its capacity within that social network or you a complementing your offline interaction. This communication is based around your offline interaction acting as an extension of your offline self. This communication is filled with ‘Great catching up with you today, what was the name of that shop you said I would like’ or my favourite ‘You were so drunk last night’.
Stage 3: ???????
There is an overlap of the stages, I still find myself in Stage 2 finding weak ties and saying ‘Haven’t seen you for ages, lets catch up’ but I would say most of the communication is around this extension of my offline social behaviour.
Warning the Burn out stage:
However like my account on Account Plan.ning, I lost interest because I could not reach Stage 2. I was not seeing anyone from the online social network, offline. However I have found a new use for the Ning and that is using the forum to utilize the combined knowledge of the active users to help mould my thinking.
Follow the conversation that is also being had at the Account Planning Ning
http://accountplan.ning.com/forum/topic/show?id=611711:Topic:7661
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