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Monday

08Feb2010

#BrandBowl and Twitter Botox

Monday, February 8, 2010 at 12:30PM

This post is not about Superbowl ads, but rather how people watched, discussed and rated them...

Being that: 1) I live in London, 2) I don’t have a TV and 3) I don’t watch football (unless it’s with Tim Riggins on Friday Night Lights), I was pretty out of the ad watch this year....

Anticipating that I’d wake up and YouTube the Superbowl ads and reviews (because that’s what really cool people do…) I was happy to see that Mullen and Radian6 had done some of the work for me, with BrandBowl 2010.

The BrandBowl site aggregated and analyzed tweets from thousands of people mentioning Super Bowl commercials (tagged as #BrandBowl) and translated them into a real-time, top-10 ranking of each brand’s popularity. Where some people hash-tagged once or twice, others were involved in fast-paced, play by play advertising commentary.

Some thoughts on BrandBowl behaviour and Twitter:

In reviewing the #Brandbowl conversation it’s crystal clear that Twitter’s search functionality could use a face lift. And boob job. And some botox. I’d like to see a new hashtag-like trending tool for entire conversations, such as BrandBowl 2010, so that I can review tweets by timeline, person and shout outs (both during and after the event is over).

Whether that’s in the form of a new platform altogether (which aggregates conversations), or acts as an extension on Twitter itself, I don’t care. I just want an experience that allows me to filter through a discussion and pull out some main points, both during and after the fact.

On a research level, I’m often at a loss scanning the Twittersphere, where I can only search back a few days. Twitter is the ultimate real-time research tool and should be saved for both social and anthropological research, so that in another 5 years (or 5 months), the new “digital natives” can look back and ponder on how a little birdie changed the way we interact – not only with other people – but with programming.

Hats off to Mullen for piggybacking on the “Oscars of Advertising” and flexing their social media muscles by demonstrating both creativity and success at harnessing a massive conversation. In addition to creating and hosting this experience, they offered the last place finisher, Budwiser Select55, free creative services for next year's game. Nice touch.

Do you agree in terms of reviewing the Twittersphere??

What do you think BrandBowl 2010 says about Twitter's power to connect communities???

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Thursday

04Feb2010

LEGO CL!CK

Thursday, February 4, 2010 at 01:21PM

Fantastic video by Lego to promote their new campaign, LEGO Cl!CK.

I love the element of wonder that the video instills – the “light bulb” inventions are very Willy Wonka-esque, as is and the idea that you can create anything with imagination. Also loving that fancy moustache ;)

Kudos to LEGO, as “CL!CK: A Short Lego Film” has had over 853,000 views on YouTube in the month it's been up.

Pretty disappointed in the site, however, which seems too deplete the magic I felt when watching the video.

The campaign idea, that “great ideas just CL!CK” is nice, but the way they’ve adapted that online falls flat for me…

First of all - and I know it’s a relatively new campaign and it can take a while to build up participants – but the lack of content is all too apparent. The photos section, for example, is empty. The other sections, posts, tweets, videos, are also lacking…

The third post on the page welcomes "inventors, explorers, tinkerers, artists and idea people of all ages" to share what makes them CL!CK, encouraging them to tweet using #legoclick and tag their photos on Flickr with legoclick.

I’m not sure why they’ve chosen Twitter and Flickr as the main focus here, especially since the site seems to target kids and parents (the site feels very childish). Are children on Twitter? I haven’t come across a campaign that’s targeted that demo in this space. There’s also an iPhone app instructing you to, “capture your child’s [or hampster’s] moments of brilliance in LEGO bricks”. Again, can’t see why parents would engage with that either…

I’d rather see people represent their ideas in eccentric LEGO sculptures, or even have a competition for the most CL!CKABLE LEGO idea, which LEGO then funds and follows. OR have a much bigger library of "CL!CKABLE" ideas from all over the world to inspire new entires.

Finally, more Twitter incorporation. You’re asked to login with your Twitter name (or as a guest) to navigate the site with a LEGO spaceman, which is fun, but again, I’m not sure what the significance is of flying around with my Twitter name…

Basically, love the video, don’t love the online experience… seems far too disjointed. When a campaign begins with a great story like CL!CK, it’s a shame not to continue it with a rich experience online.

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Wednesday

03Feb2010

A Picture Says...

Wednesday, February 3, 2010 at 12:59PM

"As you lay the groundwork for your own empire, remember that your foundation will always be people, not technology" - Bud Caddell.

WORD.

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Tuesday

02Feb2010

Andes Teletransporter: Why Lie When You Can Teleport?

Tuesday, February 2, 2010 at 08:05AM

This is pretty awesome. Del Campo, Nazca Saatchi and Saatchi in Argentina created this execution for Andes beer, which placed “Teletransporters” in popular bars around Mendoza in order to help men hang out with their friends without getting in trouble with their girlfriends.

Based on the premise that men like drinking in bars with their mates, and that girlfriends are irrational and don’t like their “crazy pirate” boyfriends getting drunk with their friends, Andes has created a magical machine – The Teletransporter - to help guys stay out longer.

The Teletransporter is a soundproof booth that mimics the sound of hundreds of different environments, such as a hospital, airport, traffic jam, engine failure, baby crying, etc. Basically, when a guy misses his girlfriend’s mum’s birthday, for example, it’s OK because he was really getting stitches from a car accident… or being mauled by a bear.

The video concludes that The Teletransporter results in “more men are happy at bars”, with less broken up couples. Basically they’re telling men that since they lie to their girlfriends anyways, now they can do it way more conveniently and effectively.

This reminds me of something teenage girls would use to tell their parents they’re at a sleepover with girlfriends, when really, they’re out getting wasted …. Not that I’m comparing maturity levels, or anything…

In any case, The Teletransporter is definitely a fun way to get men to associate your brand with hanging out with their friends. And if it ruins a few relationships along the way, at least he can drown his sorrows with his mates and a few pints of Andes!

What do you think of this execution?

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Monday

01Feb2010

SYNC/LOST Music Visualizer

Monday, February 1, 2010 at 10:40AM

I'm really into data visualization because it can beautifully and logically illustrate information that is otherwise a bit difficult to understand. SYNC/LOST by 3Bits Lab is a grrrreat program that could be adapted to loads of content - love it!

Sync/Lost from 3bits on Vimeo.

"SyncLost is a multi-user installation for immersion in the history of electronic music. From a complex timeline, rhythms and sub-rhythms merge to create new sounds.

The project's objective is to create an interface where users can view all the connections between the main styles of electronic music through visual and audible feedback. The choice is individual and leads to a collective consequence in the spatial visualization of information" (3Bits Lab).

This would be nice in a social networking context, as a “5 degrees of separation” kind of thing - either hosted by a brand or as a standalone project, connecting your friends across all of your digital platforms.

I can also see this working really well as a teaching tool - visualizing historical timelines in context with key characters, events, etc. Would also work as a Wii game, which would be an awsome way to educate both children and adults about different subjects in a really interactive, individual or interpersonal way.

Where else do you think this could work??

Here's how it works (via 3Bits):

"When you click, all the connections are shown - where the style comes from and which had been influenced by it - furthermore the music plays and a representative text information is displayed. The visual feedback is given in real time, according to the user's choice. The music rhythm serves as a visualization parameter of the style's icon, creating multiple sonorous visualizations.

The interaction is made with wiimote controls, wireless equipment which are easy to use and learn. The audible feedback is given through headphones, also by using wireless technology"

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Friday

29Jan2010

The Scandinavian Kitchen - Chalking it Up

Friday, January 29, 2010 at 05:14AM

I just posted this on the Skive blog and thought I'd make it Sticky too.

What’s the best communication tool to promote your small business?

A website? Rich banners? A blog? How about chalk…

It’s not very often that you come across a business bursting with personality.

Every day on my way to work I walk past The Scandinavian Kitchen, a café specialising in awesomeness (awesomeness is Swedish for meatball)…. Not really, but every day they make me smile with their cheeky / witty chalk board messages.

“Herring a good day”

“We don’t sell Swedes, but some of us are”

“Take 3 topless Scandanavians to the park”

“Smorgasbording is not a sport”

Established by partners Jonas (a Swede) and Bronte (a Dane) two and a half years ago (one day before their first child was born!) this is a café to pay attention to.

Matt [@HirsuteGent] and I paid Jonas a visit today to chat about the business, chalk boards, and hugs…

On the chalk board

Lots of small cafés in the area keep a chalk board outside to attract customers – Reynolds and Bagel Mania, to name a few. But none of them talk about topless sandwiches.

Jonas sees the board as setting the tone for the business: friendly, warm, cheeky and fun. Indeed, the culture is more like a pub, but friendlier and with coffee, breakfast and lunch instead of beer, vodka, nuts and drunk, loud men…

Essentially the chalk board breaks down any barriers to entry. The first time I saw it, it me want to go inside and hang out. It didn’t even matter what they were selling, I just liked the tone of voice.

On food

That said, “We can’t just be friendly and feed you shit,” says Jonas.

True that.

Yes, they have a quirky personality, but the quality needs to be there, too. In addition to selling the famously delicious Monmouth coffee, they offer a range of soups, sandwiches, cakes and pastries. They’ve also got loads of grocery products from Scandinavia (for anyone jonesing for some brunost). Most of the products are Swedish (because there are more Swedes living in London than Danes or Norwegians) but they’ve also got food from Denmark and Norway. My go-to is a little chocolate called Plop, for obvious reasons…

On hugs

Scandi Kitchen’s loyalty program is also friendlier than the competition. After 5 coffee stamps you’re rewarded with a hug. After 10 you get a free coffee. I lucked out today and was treated to a Scandi sandwich…

Being in Britain, though, some customers do take a pass, but they’re missing out. To date, Jonas claims they’ve given out 5.5 million hugs. That’s a lot of love!

Online

Finally, Scandi Kitchen’s online presence spans a website, blog and Facebook Page (with 995 members).

The site extends the same cheeky “chalk board humour”:

“We let the Finns in on this one, even if most of them technically don’t consider themselves Scandinavians; we figured they might want to pop in at some stage to discuss ice hockey, Eurovision Song Contest and skiing”.

Jonas sees the blog as an extension of the chalk board, where people can visit and get a taste of Scandi’s fun personality and what they’ve got going on.

Remaining on brand, posts often focus on Scandinavian happenings, such as the way new is reported in Denmark:

As well as non-Scandi related content, like ads that feature people who look like they’re about to …

The Scandinavian Kitchen is located at 61 Great Titchfield Street in London. If you’re in the area, do yourself a stop by for a coffee and some love.

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Wednesday

27Jan2010

iPad – Is "Tap" the new "Click"? Initial Thoughts & Questions (with a side of sarcasm)

Wednesday, January 27, 2010 at 06:33PM

After months and months of speculation and unicorns (which I honestly lost interest in pretty quickly –yes, it’s an awsome new toy, but I can wait a few weeks without reading 500 “preview” reports) Sir Jobs finally gave us the goods today: the iPad.

No, this is not a virtual Always, with wings (does no one else make that association)??

It’s a “revolutionary” advancement in digital, portable technology.

Here are my initial thoughts (and I’ll preface this by saying that obivously I want one and wish that I was Steve Jobs :)

Also, think some of my sarcasm comes from the fact that the demo seems a bit patronizing... but maybe I'm reading too much into this...

Unicorns:

The very first line of the video kind of irks me... "when something exceeds you ability to understand how it works, it kind of becomes magical" -(Jony Ive). I don't know how my microwave works, but I'm pretty sure it ain't magic.

Tap vs Click:

In the demo video they make a big deal out of the fact that it feels really natural to hold a computer in your hands… hmm, that’s what I do with my laptop… well, hold it in my lap...

They also talk about tapping to navigate rather than clicking, and it seems like a lot of the navigation is done by pinching in and out. “If you see something, just reach out and tap it... it's completely natural... You don't even think about it, you just do” (Scott Forestall).

While I haven’t tried one yet, so am not sure how natural the tapping feels, I dont really think about clicking either.

I like:

Pinching photos on this scale is cool.

I’m obsessed with maps, so the map function here makes me drool (ok maybe I like maps too much…)?

Nice that you can import all of your iPhone apps (would be a pain to have to purchase again).

SDK - developers can build apps specifically for the iPad – depending on the penetration of the iPad, this may obviously be a new fronteir for marketers. Especially because of the large screen combined with multi touch. Will be hugeee for gaming / social gaming.

Up to 10 hours of battery life = sweet

I’m not sure about:

They seem really proud of their calendar, which I’m sure has a fab interface. Personally, my Blackberry (or mobile) is my diary because it is with me whereever I go. Therefore, the iPad calendar wouldn’t be as useful to me because I wouldn’t carry it everywhere – plus I’d have to sync it with my mobile.

Kindle Killer?? I’m not sure yet… Apple’s design is a lot sexier, but Kindle has the same functinality in terms of purchasing books directly from the device and is still cheaper…

Starts at $499 = also sweet – but how much does it hold and how fast it is once I’ve downloaded loads of apps, books, docs, etc?

Would be great if it had a built-in camera for iChat – so that you could video conference from virtually anywhere. That would really compete with the iPhone for me. Does anyone know if the iPad has a microphone?

One of the biggest issues I see so far is that apparently it doesn't support Flash?? What up HTML...

The Big Question:

How does this compete with my MacBook in terms of functionality? Is this a replacement laptop for light users? If I own an iPad, how will that affect my laptop consumption?

What do you think?

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Monday

25Jan2010

thesixtyone - Alice in Musicland

Monday, January 25, 2010 at 06:49PM

My flat mate [thanks, Bean!] just sent me to thesixtyone, a “music adventure” for new artists to publish songs and have listeners vote, share, feedback and learn more about them.

TheSixtyOne, named after Highway 61, a U.S. route that runs along the Mississippi River, makes music exploration visual and viral. You can explore songs by category, artist, listener, song, mood, hot, new, etc.

Where companies are stretching to create communities around their brands, music has always been based around community in a really organic way. It’s about connecting to artists, other fans, and feelings. SOOO, social networking, sharing and exploring are a natural fit for this medium.

When I lived in Boston I was addicted to Pandora, a free music streaming site that encouraged music exploration by recommending songs to you based on your music / song preferences (via the Music Genome Project). Unfortunately it’s only available in the US.

In the UK [and Sweden, Norway, Finland, France and Spain], Spotify fills this demand with its “instant, simple and free” streaming service, which proves that free, ad-supported music content is a viable business model. In 2009, Spotify released a super successful iPhone app, available to its subscribers, which streams directly to your mobile.

thesixtyone is unique in that it's creating natural communities around "hearting" certain songs, which are presented visually. So far I’ve spent over 30 minutes on this and really like it! It’s easy to find new music, create playlists, etc. However, the functionality is pretty confusing and I’ve had to spend quite some time figuring it all out. After some digging around, mostly on the sixtyone’s blog and this article on Music Think Thank, here’s how it works on a deeper level:

Songs are played on a page with an artist visual and displays a description of the band, other artist songs, realted songs and sometime lyrics. You can also see where artists have upcoming shows. For example, I just came across Roland Albertson, a UK artist, and "hearted" one of his songs. Then his upcoming shows popped up and it turns out he's playing this Friday night at The Troubador, which is just a few blocks from my flat. Def going to check it out! thesixtyone would encourage me to connect with his other fans who are going, translating an online connection to an offline one (but I'm good for now)...!

If you like a song, you’re encouraged to “heart” it, share it (via Facebook Connect and Twitter) and and comment on it. Commenting and viewing comments is a good way to find users with similar taste as you, and you can view their playlists and message them to meet someone new or “follow them” to stay up to date with their music shiz.

What’s really interesting about thesixtyone, other than the share and discover aspect, is that it’s also a big, multiplayer game. Users can complete with reputation points, levels, quests, and achievements.

Briefly, if you heart a song and it become more popular you’re rewarded with reputation points. The earlier you heart a song, the more points you stand to earn. I’m not sure what exactly the reputation points do, but it sounds a lot how Foursquare rewards freqent users with Mayorships.

Check out thesixtyone here and let me know what you think (and what else you figure out)!

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Sunday

24Jan2010

When Chanel Leads to Nike... Some Airport Ramblings

Sunday, January 24, 2010 at 06:50PM

I had a five hour connection this morning in Dublin, so naturally read loads of mags, papers, etc to pass the time. In between my 3^rd and 4^th tea, I came across this quote by Coco Chanel: “look for the woman in the dress. If there is no woman, there is no dress” [via Elle Magazine]. So true. For fashion, and (obviosly in this context) for brands.

I’ve been having a lot of discussions recently about need versus execution. To “keep up with the Joneses” brands have been creating social presences among the usual suspects, Facebook, Twitter, the blogosphere, etc. This space is essential for most brands to be in, as social spaces are increasingly becoming dominant touchpoints between consumers and the brands they buy. However, in many cases, it’s difficult to find the woman inside of her augmented, flashy, firework of a dress.

Not writing up a whole case study here, but Nike is a wonderful example of a brand who wears the dress (or trainers), and not the other way around… Nike makes a wonderful product, and creates innovative marketing executions to speak to and augment their customers conversations and lifestyles. If the product was shit, though, it wouldn’t matter how cool the dress was – it would be empty.

Nike has brilliantly tapped into their audience behaviours and trends. They famously lead the way in personalization in June 2008 with AKQA’s NIKE PHOTOiD. This mobile app analysed the (two most dominant) colours from a photo, which was texted to Nike, and translated the palatte into a customized shoe design.

NIKE PHOTOiD

[Major gap of other cool Nike executions, promotions etc – including Nike Plus and the Nike Human Race, which I have mentioned in recent posts]

Most recently, Nike has applied people’s willingness to share and explore content into their latest mobile app, Nike True City, which geo-tags “cool city” content (as found by key “influencers” across six European cities), with the function of adding your own suggestions and building a community. Relatively new location-based mobile technologies, like Foursquare, Gowalla, Loopt etc are also satisfying this need.

Nike True City

That’s all - a little Chanel to kick off (or at this point, end) the day ;)

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Friday

22Jan2010

Willies and Hoo Hoos... AIDES Graffiti

Friday, January 22, 2010 at 09:00PM

Warning: mature content....

New viral by TBWA Paris for AIDES Date promoting condom usage.

I was sceptical about whether or not I should post this, but after showing it to 4 different people (aged 17-50) it was clear that the "share-ability" factor is definitely there. My focus group of 6 (including myself and the dog) all find it a welcome change to the normal scare tactics used in AIDS ads. Les gens at TBWA Paris have injected creativity and humour into an otherwise difficult subject.

Whether this will actually make teenagers wear condoms, I'm not sure, but it's definitely an interesting way to talk about AIDS.

You must confirm that you're over 18 years old to view it YouTube. In four days it's had 710,716 views (at the time of this post).

Wrrrrap it up ...

Thoughts??

[via Adverblog]

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Wednesday

20Jan2010

WIN's Human Recording System: The Next Nike Plus?

Wednesday, January 20, 2010 at 08:09AM

WIN Human Recording System

Nike Plus Sportband

A few of us at Skive, Matt Don [@worldhood] in particular, have been talking about the future of digital and how technology will continue to bleed into reality (for example, as augmented reality does).

I just came across the “Human Recorder System” (HRS) [via @brainpicker], a service created the Advanced Institute of Wearable Information Networks (WIN). The HRS collects health-related information and analyzes it using a small sensor attached to a human body. This info can be viewed and managed on a mobile phone or a PC.

It’s currently targeted toward companies working to monitor employee health, and is being sold for 30,000 yen ($331), with monitoring cost of $110 per month. For example, monitoring an elderly person (who lives alone’s) heartbeat patterns and stress levels via the Internet and mobile channels.

I’m wondering when brands are going to start using this level of technogoly to communicate personal information.

In 2006, Nike revolutionized running with Nike Plus, which measures and records the distance and pace of a walk or run via an accelerometer (a small chip that’s embedded in the shoe), that communicates with either the Nike+ Sportband, iPod or iPhone. This workout data is sent to nikeplus.com, where you can track your progress and share it with other runners.

This product is still going strong, and has spawned iterations such as the uber successful Nike Human Race, where countries from all over the world compete in running challenges.

WIN’s HRS, though, takes this concept to a whole new playing field.

Do you think consumers would be ready for this level of intimacy on a branding and / or community level?

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Tuesday

19Jan2010

Lessons in Propagation Planning

Tuesday, January 19, 2010 at 11:25PM

A nice presentation by Griffin Farley of 22squared on propagation planning, a "technique capable of kick-starting, controlling and exploiting the WOM effect".

This basically illustrates how brands can leverage their influencers and advocates to connect with exponentially more people. Of course,

The pres has good case study examples (with links) and some sweet charts, mmmmm...

A nice compliment to a certain So Sticky Story, if you ask me ;)

Check it out

Lessons in Propagation Planning 2009

View more documents from Griffin Farley.

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