KRUPPY RANTS

Social Media and the World Cup 2010

2010-06-24T23:14:00.000-07:00

I've got to say, I'm loving the World Cup. Late nights. Early mornings. The highs like seeing Italy bundled out in the group stages and the lows like seeing Australia skiddled against Germany like a team of under 9's. It's all part of the experience that is the World Cup, a one in four year event. These elements haven't really changed over time though. One thing however that has certainly changed is the way we are communicating it.

Over the years we have seen media evolve in the way it communicates and updates the world about the activity at the World Cup. We started with newspapers, moved on to TV and then of course online. Korea / Japan 2002 in fact was the first time websites were used to promote teams and the event itself. That's an unbelievable thought to me. In 1998 the World Cup didn't have official websites. That's only 12 years ago! Germany 2006 showed some evolution with MySpace and YouTube having recently surfaced and were used by companies with foresight like Adidas, Nike and Coca Cola to build communities. But at that time Twitter was in its early infancy and Facebook was still restricted to university students.

The World Cup acts as a great marker to show us how far and fast we've come in terms of how social media impacting our lives. And Facebbok and especially Twitter are being instrumental in the way we are communicating the event in 2010. On Facebook the Fifa World Cup South Africa 2010 page has over 126,000 'likers' that receives hundreds of comments and likes per post and there are countless spin offs and country pages as well. Media platforms are also using Facebook to extend their presence at the game. ESPN for example have over 497,000 'likers' of their World Cup on ESPN page. Amazing stats. Twitter is also kicking goals. The @fifacom twitter handle has over 80,000 followers and even Fifa boss Sepp Blatter is tweeting every day. He has 31,000 followers. Twitter has been such a thorn in the dressing rooms of many countries that Holland, England and Spain have all banned it's use during the World Cup! Not so in the Brazillian change rooms though with star player Kaka tweeting almost hourly. Not to miss out on the fun Foursquare has also partnered with CNN to release 2 World Cup Badges, 'South Africa Explorer' for those on the ground and 'Super Fan' for those following from viewing parties around the world.

Social Media has come a long way in a short time as we all know. And it's times like these that you can recognize how it has fundamentally changed the way we communicate and find out information. Are you more curious or scared about what's next?! I'm still deciding...

The New Age Marketing department

2010-06-17T17:56:00.000-07:00

Spinning balls, trend trackers and social graphs set up in one room as if NASA was trying to find water on Mars. One small step for Gatorade but potentially one massive leap for Marketing.

In a social media first it seems the Pepsi Co. company has set up a control room that tracks online data, listens to and helps marketers participate in online conversations with customers and monitors trends and social media buzz. From this control room insights can then be gained which mould marketing strategies and impacting on product design / brand positioning. Quite revolutionary I must say.

I think this is a great initiative from their marketing department. Social media is so ingrained in our daily (hourly...) activities that a set up like this puts the Gatorade brand on the front foot to adapt to ever changing consumer needs. Of course such a spend could only be justified by big global brands with big global audiences like Gatorade but it is certainly an initiative that could be taken up by more and more companies as more minutes are spent on more social media platforms as time goes on.

Check out Gatorade's introductory video below.

A creative video for a great cause

2010-05-16T17:29:00.000-07:00

I was sent this link this morning. It is an entry for the Young Lions YouTube Ad contest and I think it's so good you should see it too. The creator is a young, budding copywriter, Gavin Chimes from Sydney.

The brief:

In 48 hours create an ad for a charity. The charity is WaterAid - an organisation committed to providing clean water and sanitation for impoverished people around the world. And the way the competition works is like this: Quite simply the ad that receives the most views - wins.

I am a big advocate for supporting the new generation of young marketers and advertisers and I think this is a great effort by Gavin. Creativity needs to be recognised, nurtured and encouraged and thus competitions like this need to be supported by us - the marketing community.

Have a look and if you think it's worth it pass it on!

Women rule in social media

2010-04-13T22:59:00.000-07:00

A colleague recently passed this (thanks Pinky) interesting article on by Brian Solis which shines an interesting spotlight on who is using social media.

Whilst YouTube and LinkedIn remain neutral in terms of an equal percentage of men and women using the site every month, other sites have a greater concentration of women plugging away every month.

Below is the % of each platform's population that females account for:

Facebook - 57%
Flickr - 55%
MySpace - 64%
Ning - 59%
Twitter - 57%

It is interesting to note that the sites above are all 'social networking sites' rather than professional networking and content viewing / uploading sites. I think it is this point that may shed some light on WHY more women use these sites. And this is where I might start to feel the wrath of the female population. Eh, I'm ready for it... Come and get me ladies!

So why is it that women are on social networks more than men? This is why..

1 - Women generally enjoy gossip more than men and therefore like to read what other people are doing on their week ends and who they are hanging out with.
2 - Women love to share their feelings and stuff. So they are naturally drawn to mediums that allow them to do this.
3 - Women get more jealous than men so naturally they want to see what their competition is up to
4 - As a result of this jealousy women always need to be on the look out for new friends!
5 - And most of all - there is no porn on these sites. Game, Set, Match.

Anyone else have any other thoughts?

Bloggers in the Marketing Mix

2010-04-12T20:27:00.000-07:00

I was lucky enough to be asked to write a post for www.marketingmag.com.au.

Check it out..

http://marketingmag.com.au/blogs/view/bloggers-in-the-marketing-mix-2069

H&M Flash Mob

2010-03-30T15:05:00.000-07:00

I've written before about what makes a successful flash mob from a marketing perspective and what does not.

And the latest stunt from H&M Kids has definitely ticked the boxes.

Clear signage at the beginning of the clip and a billboard at the clip gives the vid great branding. And whilst a dancing flash mob is nothing new to us I reckon there may be some great cut through with those mothers (who buy their kids clothes)who may not be as savvy to a flash mob as you or I.

Check it (Thanks Mashable)

Yeh Yeh Im iOver-Connected -

2010-03-28T19:09:00.000-07:00

Yeh I work in Social media. And yeh that requires a computer and yeh that means I need to keep on top of things that are constantly evolving. So yeh I am connected to an internet source for much of my waking hours.

Yeh friends, I am on my laptop at home in front of the TV watching The Footy Show. And yeh boys, I do check my iPhone every half an hour to see if I have any new emails. And yeh I also use my iPhone for great new applications that help me sleep, get a daily dose of information and waste spare time. Sure I check Facebook often and you're not wrong, I check tweet deck a shitload.

But boys and girls I am not alone as The Courier Mail reported this month.

- the average Australian internet user invests more than two working days on the net every week.

- internet use jumped nine per cent from last year, or an extra 90 minutes each week, and the average Australian internet user now spends 17.6 hours online every week

- Men spent more time online than women, by an average of 3.1 hours, and those aged between 16 and 29 were the biggest internet users at 22 hours per week.

If none of you punks think you have added to this trend then I suggest you better stop reading this on your iPhone and ponder. Yeh Yeh I'm iOver-Connected but I reckon you kids may be heading that way too :)

The New Dork

2010-03-08T20:35:00.000-08:00

This is a great new video from The Pantless Knights - A great tribute to "The New Dorks" - The Zukerbergs, Larry Pages and Sergy Brins of today's world. The boys who are young enough to still have great grandparents and who have changed the landscape in which we communicate and find information.

Is anyone else getting flashbacks to Revenge of The Nerds!

Happy 6th Birthday Facebook!

2010-02-04T14:31:00.000-08:00

According to its info page, yesterday, on 4 Feb , Facebook celebrated its 6th birthday.

In what can only be described as one of the most revolutionary social movements in history Facebook has changed the way people young and old communicate.

On its info page it states that its mission is "to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected, the stats below." And if the stats below (kindly without knowing it provided by Social Networker Dec 2009 and Nielsen March 2009 - thanks guys) are any indication I have a hunch that Mr Zuckerberg and co might just be on their way. Just..

- Over350,000 monthly users worldwide
- 10 billion minutes spent on the site every day
- 1.4 million photos uploaded to Facebook every second (more than 2.5 billion per month)
- More than 700,000 local business have actve pages on Facebook
- Pages have created more than 5.3 billion fans
- More than 35 million users update their statuses every day
- More than 3.5 billion pieces of content (web links, news, stories, blog posts, notes, photo albums shared each week)
-More than 250 applications have more than one million monthly active users
- In Australia, social networkers spent an average of nearly three hours per month on Facebook, which is up two hours from the previous year (Nielsen Mar 2009)

So happy birthday big boy! You are such a good friend that I don't know what I'd do without you (I actually mean that, it's sad..)!

Pants off Subway Flashmob

2010-01-19T13:35:00.000-08:00

Here's the latest installment from New York mob pranksters 'Improv everywhere'.

Just makes me wonder how much brands are missing out on product placement opportunities as well as branded opportunities as I have mentioned before.

Check it out!

Yaris brand Fail

2009-12-14T16:15:00.001-08:00

The last 24 hours has been a Titanic disaster for the Toyota brand. Some say any publicity is good publicty but I say getting publically slammed (pun intended) in the media (The Age, Herald Sun, mX etc) cannot do much for one's branding.

In a Mumbrealla thread, Micha McDonald creator of the ad (below) defended the 'short film' saying it was not made for TV but I really don't think this is the point dude.

The fact is that the communication has Toyota branding on it. It has now been seen by over 20,000 people (as of today) on Youtube and hundreds of thousands more on news sites around the country / around the world. That's a lot of people pal. As Toyota is a family brand this is TOTALLY inappropriate. Social media is another platform just like a TV ad, magazines and billboards and there can be no case for going against brand values in any.

When it comes to social media execution, brands like with any other communictions channel have to abide by their branding style guide. This may have been a great execution for a nightclub but as a brand this turmoil is about as good for Toyota as "SRS airbags are to throw your head into."

Unfortunaetly for Micha, I think he would have been the one to be "on his back well before 11" this morning.

Are we living in a social media bubble?

2009-12-09T16:20:00.000-08:00

This week we received the sad news that Australia's most well known purely social media strategy agency has shut its doors due to, well lets face it - a lack of business. I must admit I write this with an embarressing image of Carrie Bradshaw sitting on her bed by her laptap after just taking off her new Manolo Blahnicks. As I hear my own voice in my head however there is a very real question being asked for all of us social media believers...

"Are we living in a social media bubble?"

Are we, those in the industry, so consumed by our own tweeting, blogging and Facebooking that we think everyone else is and sees the same value of potential social media campaigns as we do? Yes we can all see the stats of Twitter, Facebook and blogger / wordpress increase by the month but then why can't the people who make the marketing budget decisions see the same value as we do? Are we deranged or just ahead of our time?

Not too disimilar to Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda sitting around a table trying to solve the problems of their world (bar the physical conversation and Cosmopolian), an interesting discussion unravelled up on Mumbrella with some of those involved believing that social media is an in-house function with others taking the position of social media needing to be integrated into a fully serviced agency, which is ultimately what has happened with The Population morphing into their sister agency C4.

Ultimately I don't think the Australian market is ready for a stand alone social media agency just yet. We need Australian case studies of successful campaigns before companies in their masses will be completely comfortable with throwing tens of thousands of dollars at a campaign. And unfortunaetly for The Population, at this stage the Australian market hasn't produced enough solid results to qualify the need for a specialist agency.

So are we living in a social media bubble? Perhaps Carrie. But I think the mass take up and continuous use of of web 2.0 via Twitter, Facebook, blogging etc is reason enough to believe the bubble is a legitimate marketing tool. That makes us ahead of our time :)

As I I have discussed in an earlier post it will take time for a social media industry to develop. And for this reason, only time will illustate the need for special social media agencies.

Say Cheese - Flash Mob on Bondi Beach

2009-11-23T22:02:00.000-08:00

Almost an extention of my last post, I liked this flash mob a lot better! I don't know why, maybe it was more authentic, had more character, more genuine personality? It just didn't seem to try as hard...

Looks like I might be alone in thinking the Bondi flash mob was a failure though. And when I take my marketing hat off and see that the video as of today has received over 400,000 hits on YouTube, it is clearly a vial success, make no mistake.

But I still can't look past the fact that the Bondi Flip flash mob was clearly created for marketing purposes and yet out of the 400,000 people who viewed the video I reckon the only people who have walked away from it with brand awareness are those of us who read blogs and other marketing press. So whilst it is a great viral success story, it is still in my opinion a terrible failure from a marketing perspective.

But enjoy this...Very funny!

Is the Flip Flash Mob a successful marketing execution?

2009-11-04T19:59:00.000-08:00

Now I love a flash mob. From a social perspective they're underground, they're thought provoking and they challenge social norms. And from a marketing perspective they're a communication medium that, if done correctly, can send your message to millions and millions of engaged consumers for a cost that would make a TVC producer cringe.

But if a brand is going to pay for a flash mob execution to be created, surely it is with the intention of brand exposure? You know, the reason why marketers are marketers. ie to get their brand in front of the right audience in order to sell more products. If so (and please correct me if I'm wrong or out of line here) then I don't understand why 'Flip' (which is a handy instrument for mobile videography that I have had first hand experience with) wouldn't capitalise on branding in the viral video below (thanks Mumbrella).

Am I the only one who thinks this is a wasted opportunity? Considering the hope is that this video will generate millions of views like the flash mobs underneath, it doesnt make sense to me that there is no branded pre roll or post roll to the video nor anyone in the crowd subtly demonstrating the use of the flip?

Anyone else agree or disagree?

If you can't get enough of flash mobs like me then see below for some of the most impressive examples I've seen (branded and non branded). Enjoy!

The T-Mobile Dance at Liverpool Station (15 million views) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQ3d3KigPQM

Trident Unwrapped, Beyonce, Piccadilly Circus (2 million views) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLj5zphusLw

Frozen in Grand Central (19 million views) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwMj3PJDxuo

Sound of Music Central Station Antwerp (2 million views) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EYAUazLI9k

Michael Jackson Tributes (4 million views) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVJVRywgmYM&feature=fvw

Kasabian's use of social media

2009-10-28T20:36:00.000-07:00

Here is a fantastic showing of how some bands are making full use of the potential of social media.

This video was undoubtably created for viral pentration. It is a great example of what makes a good viral video. Very simply - an innovative and entertaining idea.

Since launching 6 days ago, the video has had nearly 200,000 views. What a great way to to help pick up the sales of their album'West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum' which was released on June 9 this year..

Case Study: Coles Group & Myer blog marketing campaign - Part 2 of 2

2009-10-14T15:15:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I discussed the results of the Coles Group and Myer blog marketing campaign, and today I’d like to share our key learnings. These findings can be broken up into three main areas; engagement, positive associations with the brand and qualitative data.

Engagement – Bloggers really took to this campaign because it was a fun way they could compete with their fellow bloggers. It created a level of interaction where the brand was at the core and bloggers built content around it. Furthermore it created an environment with positive influence for the brand, negating negative sentiment. The key in creating a positive environment for brands is to allow bloggers to tell their brand story from their perspective. It doesn’t have to BE about the brand but the brand to be PART of the conversation.

This is also very different to a traditional competition based campaign Ie a person enters, someone wins, game over... With a blog competition each entry is a broadcast of your brand into the blogosphere as each entry is its own blog post with its own set of readers.

Blog campaigns create positive associations with the brand –As can be seen in the examples in the previous post, bloggers invest time to participate in the Brand’s campaigns. This very positive association with the brand flows into the bloggers’ community of readers.

Qualitative data – There was some incredible qualitative data that was generated for this campaign. One of the great things about a blog campaign is its ability to show how people are taking in your messages. We had comments such as:

“I thought $3.47 for two chicken breasts was a bargain. Then, I discovered chicken wings for $2.09 - - - Bewdy, Mate! And . . . I ended up getting more for my money, too.”

AND

“Luckily, Coles had some good specials, including these 98c crackers!! Bargain”

AND

“It was interesting to shop in a different supermarket. The lanes are different but most products sold are the same. Actually, the lanes are wider at Coles.”

In addition to this there were 260 Coles branded photos broadcast into the blogosphere, creating further positive associations. As these broadcasts are user generated brands are building up a certain trust with the brand which is invaluable. I can’t think of any other medium that can do this…?

Case Study: Coles Group & Myer blog marketing campaign - Part 1 of 2

2009-10-13T15:31:00.000-07:00

I have come across some posts about the marketing impact of blogs (Check out "Case Study: Dosh Wallets - Blogger Outreach" from Julian Cole and "Woah, A Blogger Mentioned You" by Zac Martin) in the Australian market and thought it was an opportune time to share some of my own learnings on the topic.

For those who don't know, Nuffnang is a marketing blogging agency who match advertisers up with bloggers. Since November 2008 we have built a database of 1100 of Australia's biggest bloggers and work with them to develop engaging campaigns for Australian brands. Pleasantries aside, Nuffnang has recently completed its first round of campaigns so I can now subsequently…drum roll…….ting!... roll out some red carpet and provide some very interesting findings on how we have managed to run a successful blog marketing campaign. This post ended up being too long for a quick read during lunch or short gaze in between Outlook and powerpoint so I have decided to split it over 2 posts.

The brand we worked with for this campaign was Coles Group & Myer.

Objective:

To generate awareness and buzz for the Coles Group & Myer gift card within the blogosphere.

Strategy:

We sent out a $10 Coles Group & Myer gift card to our bloggers and asked them to take up one of two challenges. The winner of each challenge won a $100 gift card;

Challenge 1: Spend your $10 in the most creative way

Challenge 2: Spend your $10 in the most frugal way.

We promoted the competition on our own blog (which our bloggers frequently access to see what competitions we are running / products we have to give away) and via an EDM to our entire blogging network which at that stage in August was 882 (today we have over 1100).

Results:

We were not sure how the Australian blogosphere would react to such a campaign so it really was a toe in the water for us as well as Coles Group and Myer, but the client was pleasantly surprised, as we were. Note that these numbers do not take into account any sponsored posts (advertorials) which would normally be included in a campaign. Therefore for a larger campaign using our biggest bloggers, reach would be significantly higher.

Number of bloggers participated: 25

Total blog views: 44,512

Comments / reactions to these posts: 142

User generated photos: 260

Challenge 1 (most creative post) winner:

http://violetlebeaux.blogspot.com/2009/08/how-to-turn-10-into-about-700-nuffnang.html

Challenge 2 (most frugal post) winner:

http://www.nointrigue.com/blog/2009/08/31/a-three-course-meal-for-two-for-10/

This ends the first post, tomorrow I will discuss our key learnings from this campaign which will help us, and hopefully you, run a more successful blog marketing campaign in the future.

telecommuncations, ill-communications

2009-09-22T19:13:00.000-07:00

Dear Virgin broadband, you unhelpful, incompetent, uncaring outsourcing pricks,

I hope this email finds you well.

It was never a question of which broadband I would choose becasue I just love what Virgin stands for. I mean you're such a fun loving brand. It's really brands like yours that just make me want hug the stranger next to me. You love life and you really do live it to the fullest! And thanks for your letter after I signed up, it was so genuine.

Unfortunately due to an experience of late and to my great surprise my views have been somewhat tainted. It is so fucking unfortunate. I will now have to put aside these feelings of admiration and gratefulness (for just being you!) to tell you that whilst your boss is off buying tropical islands and formula 1 race teams, wearing wedding gowns and jumping out of aeroplanes he has unfortunately overlooked the importance of service.

Sir Rich, I am glad you are able to afford all these things and live such an amazingly adventurous lifestyle but perhaps you want to look at cutting out these business expenses rather than fucking outsource your customer service to "Cherry" in Banglafuckingdesh. She can't pronounce my surname and has never heard of the suburb I live in. Most importantly Sir Rich, whilst Cherry is such a pretty name, she, like the Virgin brand itself, gives off a great perception of approachability and serviceability, however she can't solve my fucking problem. Ya dig?

Rich, maybe it's time to save some money and sell Virgin Galactic (hundreds of millions of dollars to send businessmen into space?), purchase a call centre in a place called Australia (It's on earth) and get someone to call me on my phone to get my internet sorted. It's not a huge problem and I'm sure that if you really were using my recorded phone calls (any one of the 4 I have made in the last month) for "quality and training purposes" rather than legal reasons, you may actually be able to solve this little situation we have.

Rich, perhaps it's a good idea to take a leaf out of the books of Optus and Telstra in this country who have realised the importance of social media in speaking to their customers. Both have people sifting through Twitter on a HOURLY basis (not to mention blogs, Facebook, Myspace, Flickr, Wikipedia and the like) and addressing any customer queries and complaints. Unfortunately creating a Facebook page in 2007 and then not even acknowledging the scores and scores of complaints on your wall since does nothing for your customer service and even less for your brand.

Thank you for not even reading this.

Yours sincerly

David Krupp

Hats off to Ed Hardy!

2009-09-13T17:22:00.000-07:00

Ed Hardy has caught my eye lately due their very effective branding strategy of bad boy / bad girl celebrity outfitting.

The clothing brand, designed by legendary designer Christian Audigier who has bought the rights to the work of iconic tatoosit Don Ed Hardy has been splashing itself all over our TV screens and print media, literally on the backs of some of the most famous celebrity rebels Austalia as to offer.

I first noticed this strategy whilst watching Sam Newman wearing their t-shirts during the Street Talk segment on "The Footy Show" in Melbourne. Newman is one of Melbourne's favourite bad boys and his own brand fits the Ed Hardy brand to a tee (excuse the pun?)with his long list of public misdemeanours. I again noticed the very unsubtle Ed Hardy t-shirt on Australian Idol last night, worn by Suzi Quatro,America's bad girl of rock of the 70s and 80s.

After some further digging I have found many more examples of the great bad boy / bad girl celebrity branding of Ed Hardy with Madonna, Brittney, David Beckham, Lenny Kravitz and Paris Hilton all donning the conspicuous t-shirts.

This is a great example of the power of celebrities as opinion leaders. Their mass media exposure provides brands like Ed Hardy with significant and swift penetration into the marketplace.

MySpace Recharge takes off!

2009-08-27T18:31:00.000-07:00

In partnership with ANZ and Visa, MySpace has just released their pre-paid recharge card which is a very promising step forward for the brand.

The reloadable prepaid Visa card allows MySpace users (you have to have a profile to sign up for one) to create an account with up to $1000 (transfered via BPAY) and then use that credit to purchase online and at over 500,000 Visa prepaid merchant locations Australia wide and many more overseas. The smartest element of this innovation is the main reason why MySpace developed it in the first place - To allow users to purchase their phone credit via MySpace. Purcahse loyalty will then be rewarded with giveaways and MySpace exclusive offerings.

So users will now be able to log in to MySpace, chat with their friends via chat, send a message to their friends' inboxes, check out the latest music and then purchase their phone credit all in one session. Very convenient. I like the way MySpace is not just about social networking but focused on providing an experience for their users.

The card is a great initiative for MySpace which is still to launch the much hyped MySpace Music. No doubt the recharge card will also be a great hit when MySpace users are allowed to purchase their concert tickets and merchandise etc.

The recharge initiative is great for the MySpace brand as it is not only providing a good reason to join the site but it also provides more value for being a part of the site and MySpace community. It actually makes Facebook look completely one dimensional if you ask me. In addition to that it provides a potentially very solid extra venue stream for MySpace.

Kudos to Nick Love and the team on this one, long time coming but I'm sure it will be wiorth the wait.

Nielsen not good enough

2009-08-26T23:40:00.000-07:00

For as long as I have known, I have used Nielsen as a tool to measure a website's traffic. Now with today's revelation that Nielsen's sample size numbers have increased from 3,500 to 7,000 it seems more clear than ever just how inaccurate the tracking of Australian uniques has been.

With the increase in the size of the panel all of a sudden Google's unique audience has grown by 16% to 12.4 million and Ninemsn has grown by 27% to 9.7 million visitors per month. Imagine the increase in traffic numbers if, god forbid, the sample size of Australian internet market was 20 million people?

All throughout the industry the data from Nielsen is taken with a grain of salt but we have no other way of measurement? Now I am no back end specialist, but surely being the greatest search engine in the world Google can provide a greater insight on unique visitors? This is the same company that has provided Google Maps, Google Docs and SEM!

Have we not reached a stage in the industry where we can demand greater accuracy of data?

best practices for blog advertising

2009-08-20T00:07:00.000-07:00

I often get asked what is important for a marketer to remember when it comes to advertising through blogs. With blog marketing becoming such a hot topic in marketing circles I thought I'd put together a list of lessons I've learned along the way...

They need to be part of the conversation. In other words, their campaign needs to engage the blogging community, not talk at them. “Try our new Nokia phone” will not work. “Create a new tagline for our new Nokia phone” will. Your objective is to create buzz so you need to give bloggers and their audiences a reason to talk about you.

Don’t be afraid to let your hair down and have fun with bloggers and their readers. Blogging for the most part is light-hearted so a brand needs to get down on the same level as its audience and join the party! You wouldn’t drink Pepsi at a pub would you? So don’t be too straight and rigid when marketing to a blogging community or you will be ostracized.

Be prepared to give back to the community. In all blog advertising endeavors, a brand should look to give blog communities the opportunity to trial their products. You create chatter about your brand this way and therefore more buzz throughout the blogosphere.

There you have it! Blog 101...

Young Advertising Minds

2009-08-13T19:30:00.000-07:00

Big thanks to Julian Cole for including the rants of young man from South Yarra on his international list of top Young Advertising Minds under the age of 27.

Appreciate the support over the last year Jules and once I have the time to work out how to slither my way up to the higher places on that list I most certainly will!

Brilliant move Gold Coast football club

2009-07-28T18:13:00.000-07:00

Not a rant based on social media but one on marketing. This event is one of the greatest and most innovative sports marketing moves I have ever seen.

It has just been annouced in the Herald Sun that the new Gold Coast franchise have signed Rugby League player, Karmichael Hunt to the football club for 3 years. Hunt has played AFL football for a club in his youth and the Gold Coast believe he will add a dimension to their midfield.

What a coup. What a marketing move..

Gold Coast need a drawcard. They need someone with some credibility in the Queensland market to bring numbers to the Gold Coast games. He may not turn out to be the best player in the league but imagine the dollars he will bring through the gate with curious, non-AFL loving Queenslanders coming to check him out. This will ultimaetly (hopefully) get Queenslanders hooked on the game and build the market up there.

I think this is a very impresssive move by the Gold Coast...

Just who's blogging in Australia?

2009-07-22T16:11:00.000-07:00

The blogosphere in Australia has been growing exponentially for the last 5 - 10 years. But only now is a clearer picture of the demographics of those who blog being documented and expressed to the mainstream market. And therefore it is only now that advertisers are being presented with metrics that they can sell in to clients and finally take advantage of this lucrative market.

In Australia according to the Nuffnang database (the only guage of Australian blogs), bloggers are 78% female. This is great news for advertisers especially considering that 70% of the biggest bloggers (ie those who drive the majority of the traffic) are over the age of 25. In other words those who are the most prolifferic bloggers in this country are grocery buyers.

Throw into the mix that these guys are influential and you have a great equation for advertising effectiveness. BlogHer Survey and Compass Partners, 2008 published that over 40% of women consider blogs to be reliable sources of advice and information and 50% say blogs have influenced their purchasing decisions.

As this database grows demographics are certain to change. And of course there are many big bloggers out there that we haven't managed to reach. But for now at least the puzzle is starting to form a bit of a picture.

Reviving Myspace

2009-07-16T18:12:00.000-07:00

According to Hitwise General Manager Bill Tancer, in 2006, MySpace used to provide over 35% of worldwide traffic to websites in the Entertainment-Multimedia category. Ultimately, its contribution to music and band websites specifically was over 10% in 2007, a reflection of its strength at the time.

New figures now show that MySpace has slipped down some pretty slippery slopes. In just three years that 35% contribution has slipped to just 9.4% (Thanks Mashable). Sure just a % figure and doesn't reflect true traffic numbers (ie the pool of websites available has grown), but the diminshing of this figure together with declinging uniques (down to 1.7 million in Australia this month) still shows that the brand is losing its grip on it's value in the entertainment world.

That said, MySpace has a very exciting launch in September of this year which I think will provide some much needed, and much deserved (hey they were the first) street cred. MySpace Music will provide users with a one-stop shop for streaming music, purchasing concert tickets and merchandise, checking out band information and tour dates and more! This will hopefully reposition MS as the cool brand that for many doesn't exist anymore. It should also help drive more traffic to bands' websites and thus help it climb back to the top of the online entertainment world once again, where it belongs.

Michael Jackson Flashmob

2009-07-15T22:16:00.000-07:00

What a tribute!

The idea is still king!

2009-07-14T23:04:00.000-07:00

This fantastic viral video came across my desk today. So far it has gained over 500,000 hits on YouTube (not bad for an unknown band)with many more surely still to come. We can learn a lot from this execution in terms of how to run a sucessful social media campaign. Some lessons below:

1 - Be unique in your execution. Don't just do whatever everyone else is doing. You won't get much cut through this way.

2 - Create a campaign that will generate some buzz within your social community. One of social media's greatest strengths is its ability to virally get you in front of an expodential amount of people.

3 - The idea is still king. No matter how far the world of marketing has come, this video still shows that great campaigns are the result of great ideas.

Now check this out!

Why advertising through blogs will work!

2009-07-07T16:59:00.000-07:00

So you would have noticed that in the last week I have finally put some Nuffnang ads on my blog. No surprises there considering my role at Nuffnang is to help brands integrate into Australian blogs. The question is, can this platform work for advertisers?

Advertising on blogs throws up some pertinent questions. Does advertising contradict what blogs are about - honest views and unbiased opinions? Will people lose faith in a blog with a sponsored post the same way they might lose faith in a musician the minute they sell their song to an Sportsgirl commercial (I used to love you Lily..)? Ultimately if people do lose faith in a blog, the advertising will not be effective and therefore there is no point in advertising there in the first place. On the other hand if blog advertising does work then it becomes a goldmine for advertisers, giving them the opportunity to reach the influencers, those who can spread the good word.

Following are three reasons why the blog advertising model will work:

Sponsored posts are highlighted - At Nuffnang we make it mandatory for bloggers to section off sponsored posts and highlight that they have been sponsored for writing about that product. This protects their integrity whilst at the same time allows brands to reach those important eyeballs.

We encourage honesty - If a blogger thinks a product is poor, he or she will say it's poor. Yes we also ask them to find and blog about the positives (so money is not wasted) but by giving bad feedback as well as good, their personal reputation is preserved which allows the continuity of the advertising's effectiveness.

The importance of giving something back - Blogs want readers, readers love to get something for free and brands want to reach the right people. So if a nappies brand runs a competition to giveaway nappies to those readers of parenting blogs who tell a story of the most embarrassing time their child pooped the poo, the brand is reaching the right audience and starting the conversation. Tick. The blogger is giving something away which means readers will be more likely to return. Nice. And the readers are winning nappies and probably don't even realise that they are being advertised to - Why? Because it is relevant!

It will take some time to learn how the Australian market responds to brand integration through blogs. But if our bloggers in Singapore, Malaysia and The Philippines can be any benchmark, Australia might also have some full time bloggers earning some very big money in the very near future!

I'm just a small business, how can social media increase sales?"

2009-06-30T18:54:00.000-07:00

Can small business increase sales from social media? How? What is the process? If you follow the premise that any business will increase sales if they increase traffic to their store then I would argue the answer is a resounding YES.

The following is a process that a small business needs to follow in order to ensure they build traffic to their stores:

1 – Build a community

As the world of social media now expands to MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr etc businesses need to set up a community across all sites. You’re not going to necessarily catch a fish if you only fish at St Kilda pier but if you make sure you go to Sandringham pier one week end and then go out on a boat another week end you’re increasing your chances of success. So step one, make sure you have a presence across all sites and incentivize members to join by promoting it on your website and offline.

2 – Keep users engaged

Through these communities promote content to keep your users engaged. Make sure this content is consistent with your brand image. Ie If you sell coffee there is no point in putting a funny video up about Barack Obama. Unless he is spilling coffee all over Michelle perhaps?

3 – Create offers to get users in store

Right so your consumers know who you are. Tick. They get a funny video about your brand frequently. Check. So they like you. Bloody fantastic. But now you just have to create an offer that will drive traffic. This is the most important step and this just comes down to simple ideas... "The third person to come in on Monday and say “I love your coffee” gets it for free. Or even is it’s a simple awareness campaign,” come in today for 15% off shorts and T-shirts.” As long as the offer is worthy of getting your community in store the strategy will work.

4 – Keep the conversation going

Don’t forget about your customers once they leave. Evaluation is key as you have to know how you can do things better to create more sales in the future. Hey, if you tweet about us and tell us how your coffee was or how the sales people treated you in store you can get further discounts when you’re in store next. Brand advocates are the people who will keep spreading the important word so make sure they are out there and happy!

Happy socializing!

Viral success = ...breasts?

2009-06-24T15:59:00.000-07:00

So what makes a good viral? One that has entertainment value, what that isn't longer than about a minute, one where the product that is being advertisertised is clear to the person watching?

Ahhhhh. Well I guess this one ticks all boxes!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MX6QBOcSur0

Are you a 'follower', 'a friend' ..or neither?

2009-06-21T23:23:00.000-07:00

Why do we have friends or followers in the online world? If someone called me my friend and I didn’t even know what they looked like I’d be very worried and if someone started following me and I didn’t know what they looked like I’d be even more concerned! But in today’s online world this is perfectly normal..

I am quite ashamed to admit that I have over 600 friends on Facebook, 100 friends on MySpace and over 100 followers on Twitter. And out of all these contacts I’d say I probably only see or speak to about 2% on a monthly basis... yet in today's world this is not abnormal and for today's generation quite standard. But how does today's marketer take advantage of this?

For marketers and businesses social media friends and followers has created an entirely new chapter in their history. The availability of these ‘friends’ and ‘followers’ means that brands today can reach out to more people, more efficiently and in more cost effectively way. In addition, these friends also form a free audience sample which can be used for a very cheap research project!

A genuine goldmine yes they are but marketing through social media has to follow some very important guidelines:

1 - Don't be too aggressive

Marketers need to remember that these networks are very personal for many users and as a result campaigns cannot shadow their consumers’ every move. Marketers need to give them space and let consumers find them. Build an offer and if it’s good enough, “they will come.” One can do a lot of damage to their brand if they are too aggressive. As they say it can take a many years to build a reputation, and one minute to ruin it.

2 - Give so that they may grow

People naturally need a reason to give up their time. As a result marketers need to provide an incentive for returning friendship. "Come check out our sale", "mention today's key word and get a further 10% off" or "sign up for our newsletter and get a free sample of our product." The day a brand's community starts giving something back to their friends and followers is the same day the same friends and followers create a greater affinity with your brand and hopefully when you will start seeing increases in your sales.

3 - Use your social media for feedback about your brand / product

A an open forum where cosumers can give you feedback about product. Don't you have to pay big $$$ for that? Not in this day and age! Social media tools give brands the opportunity to ask questions and get answers that only research companies have been able to retrieve for you in the past. So why not use social media just for that reason? One will need to tie it in with a promotion eg 20% off for all those tell us their most favourite and least favourite flavour. But in the social world everyone love giving an opinion so all you have to do is ask!

If anyone else has any tips for best using a friendship base let me know!

The lifespan of a social network

2009-06-14T16:33:00.000-07:00

Friendster is gone, MySpace is (gulp) going and Bebo was never really anything in this country. But are the past and current demise of these social networks a trend that will continue? Do social networks have a lifespan? Can a social network expire? Or is the market now maturing in such a way that social networks now know what their users want and as a result are now paving the way for a long and sustainable relationship?

Below is a trend (Nielsen Net Ratings June 2009) of the growth and decline of some of Australia’s biggest social networks within the last 13 months. Both MySpace and Bebo have seen consistent declines since May 2008 (Note Friendster, considered one of the original social networks does not even post a high enough unique monthly audience to a register a reading on Nielsen Netratings) whilst Facebook, Twitter and even a marginally, LinkedIn, have all continued to grow. But why is this?

In my opinion Facebook understands their market better than MySpace and Bebo ever did, LinkedIn in the same way and Twitter is at this stage still an unknown. The reason for Facebook’s success is because they know who it’s users really are. And who is that? Well it’s people who are really just interested in social networking, that’s it, there is nothing complicated about it. As such, their interface and functionality is simple enough for the internet novice to use with ease. That’s why it works and that’s why it has no expiry date. LinkedIn in the same way knows who it’s users are. They are businessmen and women. And again, as a result, their product caters for them and they don’t claim to be in competition with anyone because quite simply no-one really does it better. And then there is twitter. The baby of the bunch. The baby whose mother says it can be anything it wants to be. I think what will happen with Twitter is very similar to what has happened with LinkedIn. It will become its own market and cater for a very specific market of tech inclined users who want to share the love about interesting URLs they have found and a few people who want to share what coffee they are drinking. Not to mention those who want to market their businesses (Thanks to Martyn - How could I forget!)Once the media hype dies down it will settle in growth but never reach the heights of Facebook or MySpace. Why? Because updating your status is just one of the functions of MySpace and Facebook. Why go to another network that offers just one of the elements that you are currently enjoying on another?

With the industry only being in existence for 4 years it is probably too early to say with certainty whether social networks have an expiry date or not. But now that many networks are catering for a specific market and they know exactly what their market wants, the early networks may just be squeezed out.

The future of blogging

2009-06-08T17:50:00.000-07:00

Today is my first day at Nuffnang (http://www.nuffnang.com.au/) - The world's only marketing blogging agency.

For the last two years the only potential channel of marketing and advertising has been within social networks such as MySpace, Facebook and now Twitter. But the network of Nuffnang blogs now means marketers have the ability to integrate into the blogs of some of Australia's biggest bloggers. It really is a new frontier.

Last night I sat down to watch a pirated DVD version of 'State of Play,' the recently released film wth Ben Affleck and Russell Crowe and it got me thinking. Besides hearing the chuckles and claps of the audience throughout, what else interested me was the attention brought to blogging throughout the film. In the film there was a subtle theme of the shift in readership from old media such as newspapers to new media such such as blogs. What excited me was the fact that blogging has now reached a level of global interest where is being included in big Hollywood blockbusters! With attention such as this (and much much more still to come), surely blogging can now be considered an effective way for brands to advertise?

It's no H1N1 but the uptake of blogging in this country has been massive and the future is bright. With over 1,000,000 national blog views every month blogging is no longer just causing ripples in the US, UK and Asian markets. And what is the future of blogging? Well it can only be up. Especially with generation Y in love with talking about themselves and giving their opinions, companies like Nuffnang are going to thrive.

Social media is now slowly becoming the industry it promises to be...

Is social media an industry or just a channel?

2009-03-31T14:25:00.000-07:00

Arguments have been raging in the past 3 or 4 months about whether or not social media is an industry ready to explode or just a nifty new media channel that marketers can make the most of free of charge.

To be able to make such an analysis its imperative to first define the terms 'industry' and 'communication channel'. An 'industry' can be broken down to mean a collection of like enterprises in a particular field that exist due to the generation of revenue whilst on the other hand a communication channel fits within an industry to promote a brand's marketing activities.

On first thought it would seem obvious that by the definition above social media acts only as a communication channel as it is simply a promotional tool. It does not seem that we are not at a stage yet where we have a vast collection of like enterprises and definately not at a stage where many are making much revenue let's be honest!

However any industry needs time to develop.

One can't forget that in the early days of the internet 10 year + ago, all businesses had was a website. There was no google to drive traffic to a website, there was now adsense to generate revenue for a website owner and no-one had heard of the term 'SEO.' Moreover there was no display advertising, no websites where yo could buy, sell or trade, nowhere you could buy a concert ticket over and certainly no such word as 'the digital economy.' Therefore an industry can devleop only with the progression of technology and the innovation of businesses. Hey, was there an automobile industry when Henry Ford first bought out a machine that can transport people at 10km per hr? Absolutely not.

So it is with time that industry grows and can generate revenue for itself. At this stage social media can only be called a communication channel becasue at the moment that's all a marketer can really do with it.. But in the very fast moving world of the digital economy it surely won't be long now before social media businesses are born and the genuis of these businesses transform the channel into a money making machine.

I'm ready to jump on!

How can marketers make the most out of social media platforms?

2009-03-15T19:39:00.001-07:00

So we are now living in an age where everyone is talking about the recession. How will the recession affect you? How will you affect the recession? How will we get through this recession? It seems that there is only one criteria for a PR agency these days to get their word out. Stick the 'R' word in your sell and you will be reading about your company in the following day's news!

With this is mind and marketers jobs' on the line, a new era of marketing thought is beginning to emerge with vigor. Its all about marketing your offering cheaply and effectively throughout what has been the print media's love child of the last 24 months - social media networks. There is no doubt that Social media platforms are the future of marketing your brand online but at this stage of the social media prodcut life cycle marketers are still scratching their heads and waiting for someone to take the lead.

At this stage MySpace is clearly the leader of brand integration whilst the others are still searchng for a unique advertising offering. For two years now MySpace have been penetrating the lives of their users via display media and page sponsorships. And now as pioneers of the industry they are giving brands the opportunity to integrate themselves in online video content. This ladies and gentlemen is the new frontier. With 2008's MySpace Road Tour already under their belts MySpace have now just launched the latest video series, Kiss or Miss (www.myspace.com/kissormiss) where brands can cheaply indulge in the quirky, flirtacious and fun environment of the dating series in a way never seen before. With the ability of product placement and further branded content pieces housed on the home page of the series, brands can now effortlessly and subliminally insert their brands into the subconsciousness of their target market.

The beauty with these integrations is that the brands are helping to create engaging and entertaining content which is the one of the key reasons why users log on to a social network in the first place. Another advantage of alliging with content such as this is that the content piece ingrains itself into the world wide web and will never be deleted, thus it has potential to be passed on virally until the day the internet is superceded by something with far greater reach. Dear God.

Internet users are driven to social networks as they provide an online world which is now becoming very realistic one to those who are addicted users. As this trend continues marketers have to find themself playing in this environment in a way that will encourage viral interaction and thus encouragement of further social networking. It ticks all the boxes for a marketer during these times. Its cheap, it's innovative and best of all - it's 100% measurable. These 3 criterion just may keep more marketers in the job in the troubled times ahead.

Can People be brands?

2008-12-23T16:56:00.000-08:00

One of my lasting memories from university is a verbal stoush I had with a fellow student whilst sitting in a packed lecture theatre in my brand management class.

The topic of the debate was "can people be brands?" and like the warm words between Russia and the USA during the Cuban missile crisis, the idea of what love was really all about between Mike Tyson and Desiree Washignton and the differing views of the UK health system and Amy Winehouse, our stances couldn't have been more polar opposite.

Like my fellow student, Sally Belford, managing director of Principals believes 'a person is only a brand if that brand has the power to shape markets.' Yes, I agree - if we are talking about using people as opinion leaders to sell our products. But what if we take the commercial component out of the equation and the market we were talking about here were the people in our lives? What if we were trying to sell ourselves on a daily basis? Couldn't people be brands then too?

At the end of the day isn't every person in this world trying to sell themselves to other people? Aren't we all looking for love and acceptance, a job? Are we therefore in a very strange way not looking to be consumed ourselves?

If we are always looking to sell ourselves then don't we, like a brand manger trying to position a product, try to position ourselves in a way we believe will ultimately end up in the consumption of us as human beings...therefore, are we not always trying to brand ourselves? Do we not, like Coca Cola, Adidas and Calvin Klein, constantly market ourselves to hopefully one day get that job, find that love, make those friends, reach that personal objective?

Are we not therefore brands ourselves?

If you're answer is still no, ask Barak Obama...

How the internet has provided the marketing industry with the credibility it deserves

2008-12-08T02:20:00.000-08:00

When it comes to marketing online, marketers are beginning to dig deeper and deeper to find out the plethora of endless opportunities available for their brands in cyberspace. For the traditional marketer not only has the internet provided more doors to open than the MGM Grand Hotel but it has given the industry the lifeblood it so desperately needed and thrust the careers of these marketers into a new and credible era. No, it's not only lonely young teenagers (etc..) who have benefited from the magic that is the internet but in today's economic climate where accountability is king the internet has provided an ability to record data and make marketing accountable (yes accountants, you heard me) - accountable!

There are two key metrics that create such accountability; average time spent per month and unique visitors per month.

Average Time Spent - For a brand campaign one of the key things a brand manager wants to understand and have a serious grip on, is the perception of his brand in the marketplace. By being able to track the average time spent on his site a marketer can establish how engaged his consumers are with his brand. - "Boom! Sales aren't just by chance... consumers really want to find out about us.." Isn't this what marketers truly want, consumers to find out about who they are, what they stand for and how their brand can benefit the life of a consumer? - ACCOUNTABLE!

Monthly Unique users - By tracking the amount of unique users (not page impressions) an online marketers can establish how many different people are being attracted to his site. And then once they are there it's all about data collection! Email distribution list, email distribution list, email distribution list! - "So it's not just my mum checking it out my website - success!" Don't marketers really want to know how many unique people are really interested in finding out more about the story? - ACCOUNTABLE!

Imagine sitting down with your CEO and saying, for a $5000 investment this month, our website attracted 50,000 unique visitors (that couldn't be one family could it?), each staying for an average time of 6 minutes 12 seconds. That led to 10000 sales units for the month with an average spend of $15 per unit. So, as a result of our online marketing campaign that led all this traffic to our website, we've turned over $150000!

We are now in an era where marketing campaigns are not only quantifiable but yes accountants they are now more ACCOUNTABLE than ever!!!

entering popular culture

2008-10-03T21:20:00.000-07:00

A few weeks back I got insight into what one of Melbourne's leading planners thought was the pinnicle of advertising planning success. An account director's wet dream. His premiership. His Alan Border medal.

What was his trophy? His trophy was for a communcations strategy to enter popular culture. For it to be used in some way or another by the masses without them even realising that what they were using / saying was actually part of a strategy to make them consume. Well I guess this makes sense. I mean what is the point of pouring oodles of money into an advertising campaign? To get noticed isn't it? For your brand to be rememebered and therefore lead to sales right?

My friend's premiership medallion came in the form of a risky technological product with his client's branding, exploding onto the popular culture seen three years ago. My friend knew it had reached this level of awareness when at the cricket a member of the crowd painted on a banner saying that his product had just arrived, and gee was he happy about it!

Other great communications strategies that have left the same impression are the 'Priceless' Ads by Mastercard, The 'Not Happy Jan' Ads by the Yellow pages (below) and of course The 'Bugger' Ad by Toyota. Each of these has effortlessly entered popular culture on the streets of Australia by becoming part of common vernacular.

They say word of mouth is the best (and cheapest!) marketing tool. By creating an effective communications strategy that leads to a brand entering popular culture a campaign enters a fifth gear and a form of word of mouth that provides expendential limitations to camapign's success.

The power of song in an advertisment

2008-09-20T21:45:00.000-07:00

Very often songs will make an ad, not creative. The Sony Bravia ad is a perfect example.

Watching the footy last night I had an enlightening thought. After a goal was kicked and an advertisement break was taken the Sony Bravia commercial appeared. A great creative ad, showcasing lots of bright colours which of course positions the Bravia Plasma as a TV that gives consumers the best possible viewing experience because of its extreme colour quality. I think the execution is brilliant using the Plasticine bunny rabbits and the messaging is clear enough as it is. However there was one thing that became evident to me after the commercial finished and this enlightenment came from my friend Michael with the simple words "I love that song, I love that ad."

There are of course MANY reasons for successful ads. Ultimately however an ad is successful if it is remembered and an ad is remembered because it strikes a chord with the consumer. That can be because of humour, a clever execution and as I realised out with Michael, a great ad can be because of a great song.

In this particular ad The Rolling Stones, "She's a Rainbow" is used to perfection. Not only was this song a great choice because it is just simply a terrific song from one of the classic bands of our time (which is why Michael was such a fan of the ad) but also because of the lyrics referring to 'rainbows' which of course instantly associates the ad once again with colour. So how can the viewer can't escape this colour messaging? Shit!

Other great examples of great song choices are Fiest's 1,2,3,4 in the iPod ad which is a very new age & individual song coupled with a very new age and individual product. On another level the iPod's simplicity to use is also highlighted by the song's chorus which starts off 1,2,3,4... In the same way the Lily Allen song 'Smile' was brilliantly used for the Sportsgirl campaign 2 summers ago. A very Summery tune the ad was launched just prior to the national release of the song and uses the independent woman image of Lily to to position the Sportsgirl range in the same way. In addition using such a fun Summery tune also helped position the Sportsgirl brand as a fun and lovable brand. Luck fell Sportsgirl's way too when the song reached top 10 status on the charts..

It's not easy to find the perfect song for a specific creative execution but by God is it effective when the perfect combination is found!

Human Billboards

2008-09-12T19:08:00.000-07:00

Anyone who knows my views on successful marketing and advertising strategies knows that I think the key to a successful campaign is pushing the boundaries of convention.

You will NEVER reach your consumers if you take Vanilla ave to Normalville. Brands will never penetrate if they aren't remembered and will never be remembered if they don't break through all the clutter that infiltrates our daily existence. That's why I loved what I read in the MX earlier this week about cranial billboards.

An ailine in New Zealand is offering customers $1000 to shave their heads and have them temporarily tatooted with advertising for viewing at airport check outs.

Superb idea. Not only will these human billboards stand out in check out but they are a walking advertisment for weeks! The'll stop traffic!

Marketing stratgies must be unique to stand out in today's market place and such an idea will do exactly that. Hats off to the boys in NZ for an original idea! Keep em coming!

Kruppy

Can all products be 'environmentalised'?

2008-09-05T20:40:00.000-07:00

I was at a friends house last night after he had just returned from the Melbourne Fashion Festival. "What did you see?" I asked. "An environmental fashion show." He responded.

A what??? Honestly, what on earth does that mean?

Apparently the show was marketed like this as it used pre-loved clothes and styled them in a new age way which amazingly gave birth to "an environmentally friendly fashion show". I'm sorry, I know everyone is trying to do their bit to save the world but an environmental conscious fashion show? W.H.A.T.E.V.E.R.

The global warming crisis facing the world is very real and I think too many people are taking advantage of this public soft spot. Hey if you're a company that can reduce your carbon emissions, by all means let everyone know about it because you are genuinely helping to solve the problem. If you're a car manufacturer that can create fuel substitutes which ultimately slows down global warming then please, let me roll out the welcome mat. But a product that recycles clothes so that one less garment is made in China (that'll put them out of business..) which means one less millionth of a cubic pound of electricity is used then you are really not doing much to save the earth.

Marketers really need to think about changing their products in a way that will reduce its affect on the environment or better still modify their product in a way that will help the world. Taking advantage of the global environmental fad and developing an environmental communication strategy to position your product as helping the world when it will won't do a thing

is just selfish marketing.

Brave Marketing

2008-09-03T03:34:00.000-07:00

Well well well, if it isn't the case of well I could have told you that. I mean we all knew the second we sprinted to the corner store and guzzled our first putrid sips of Coke Mother last year that it tasted like dirty rat piss. But I must say, hats off to the marketing team of Coke for being brave enough to know their product was like vomit on toast. Have a look at the great messaging of the current Coke Mother campaign launched in the last few weeks which is the gutsiest marketing move I have seen for quite some time.

I have gained a lot of respect for Coca Cola for choosing this strategy to turn their sales around. They had two major options when they saw the spiralling sales of Mother: (a) Put it to bed, and never speak of it again like the girl you once brought home that you don't want you mates to know about and deny ever happened. (b) Relaunch it with a new taste and a message, "yeh we messed up but we've fixed the problem and think you need to try this again." The energy drink market is so large now I don't think Coke could have afforded to have given it another shot..

I don't think the marketing team could do the 'sorry we messed up' campaign too often but I think as it is such a fresh angle, it's refreshing! So much so that... I think I need a drink..

But well done Coca Cola, the next time I walk into my corner store you will get my round 2, taste test. And you know what? I don't think I'm the only one! Just hope it doesn't taste like dirty rat piss...

The power of viral marketing

2008-08-29T23:06:00.000-07:00

With more than 2.9 million worldwide views of the original viral video not to mention the 1.4 million views of other classic hits on its website (www.aglassandahalffullproductions.com), the Cadbury Gorilla campaign is one of the most successful viral campaigns of our time. And it's about time Australian marketers learned how important viral marketing campaigns can be to a brand's marketing mix.

In 2007 Cadbury in the UK was in dire trouble after a series of product recalls. Since the launch of this ad however, it's subsequent win of a Grand Prix award at Cannes and best ad according to tellyads.com as well as numerous copycat YouTube videos and Facebook appreciation groups it is no surprise that according to British company YouGov that the tide has turned in Cadbury's favour and public perception is now in the black once again. Phew! But what makes such great viral execution? What rules can be applied to other viral campaigns to help get such a reaction?

Whilst working for MySpace I have encountered many a viral campaign. Some great, some woefully average. I have come up with three key learnings that all marketers can take away.

The video must be entertaining

The reasons why users forward viral videos on is because quite simply it is entertaining. If someone finds a viral video entertaining they take ownership of it so they can pass it on to their distribution list and get a reputation amongst their friends of being the email king. Don't underestimate how important this can be to some people! So remember, if you want a viral campaign to work it has to be entertaining enough for people to want to forward it on.

The video shouldn't be more than than 2 minutes long

When people look at their emails it is generally before work, at work or at school which means they don't have the time to watch a long video. Keep it under 2 minutes, this way you will be sure that the majority of people will watch it in it's entirety and if it is entertaining enough pass it on.

The video MUST be original

The aim of the video is for it to be passed on. Personally I know I get backlash from my friends if I'm sending on sloppy seconds so be sure no one has seen anything like it before. The reason why the Cadbury commercial has been such a success is because no-one has ever seen anything like it!

The Cadbury campaign cost Cadbury 6.2 million pounds. It may sound like a lot but that video will be passed on for years to come and be a trigger point for chocolate consumption every time it is watched. So has this viral campaign paid for itself? You bet! It's about time Australian marketers take a leaf out of the the books of their UK equivalents because it's time to get viral!!!!

The Samsung Olympic commerical - Is that rubbish or am I a bad judge of ad?

2008-08-25T03:12:00.000-07:00

The Samsung advertisement that ran during the Beijing Olympics was terribley executed but the planners had got off to a great start.. Have a look below.

What a great opportunity to connect with your audience on such a big stage and what a way to blow it.

The planning for this add was teriffic. How do we target our youthful target market during the olympics? Have a cool edgy add that incorporates the sounds of the olympics in a great dance track. The blue print was there but what went wrong? It was a missing a crucial link..

In order to advertise successfully in the olympics a brand needs to bring out its emotional side of it's consumers. It's about penetrating the skin, massaging the heart and leaving the consumer warm and fuzzy. Unfortunately, Samsung's Olympic campaign was about as emotional as an Aussie male at a V8 convention.

As a reult this ad just didn't break through for me. If this blue print went one step further to take advantage of the emotional fabric that make up the Olympic spirit then "imagination" may have "lived".

Sorry I'm Samsung no medals for you. In fact I don't even make it past the heats.