Monday, January 11, 2010
The hugely successful phenomenon of women posting the colour of their bra to their status updates on Facebook has demonstrated the potential power that Facebook has. Facebook is becoming more and more of a public forum on issues that affect everyone. Although what actual effect this particular phenomenon will actually have on breast cancer is open to debate. But the power of Facebook to replace the old signature on a petition and to demonstrate public opinion cannot be denied. Of course there are a lot of useless groups that are joined. How anyone thinks joining a group which is opposed to violence against women will actually affect the level of violence committed against women is beyond me although my cynical side tells me that some men joined this group in order to impress women. Today I joined the "NO, I WILL NOT PAY $3.99 A MONTH TO USE FACE BOOK FROM JULY 9TH 2010!" This is an empty group with no apparent message and no real content. But in three days it has attracted 190,000 members. Something for Rupert Murdoch to think about when he starts demanding people pay for content. It will happen but the method has not caught up to the madness. Not everyone has a credit card and not everyone trusts putting their cards online. I don't mind watching a 30 second ad clip between videos on the onion.com. The site knows it's audience and delivers a relevent ad. In this case a trailer for the new Micheal Cera comedy. But for the love of god I do not want to watch the same clip ten times in a row. The payment model is too soon, the advertising model can still succeed. If it's something you're not interested in, it's advertising..if it's something you are interested in .. its Information!!! And I'm probably gonna catch that movie 'Youth in Revolt' in the cinema.. and today's ad on the Onion for Blue Mountain State? Well seein as that's only on in America I guess I'll have to download it...
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Facebook where all the action is and some brands are really seeing some action...
Poptarts have an easy job when going online. They know their target is essentially Gen Y and Z. Anyone above that still eating Poptarts will still eat Poptarts regardless of marketing. (until the partner stops them) Their site features funny videos featuring Poptarts, offers downloads and features and the by now stock standard flavour competition. There was a call to action for fan videos to be uploaded featuring their New Year’s Resolutions. This hasn’t seemed to happen yet but there were some random videos by Popfans. PopTarts have missed a trick by not disabling user comments on user generated content. Haven’t they been on the internet before?
RedBull offers everything you would imagine that RedBull would. They offer links to interesting external sites with the Soap Box Racing game catching my eye in particular. Design your own car then invite your Facebook friends to join you and race. You can even stick your own face behind the helmet and splash your own image of choice across the racer. There’s country and world rankings which is what makes it interesting enough to keep playing.I know it’s not technically Facebook but it was the Facebook page that got me there, and that’s probably the key. How many people actually browse brand websites? RedBull also had a scavenger hunt for hidden lots of Redbull. Clever, I’m still waiting for the scavenger hunt that makes social marketing mainstream news. Who can offer the big enough prize/stir up enough interest/make it interesting enough to really grab the press and public’s attention?
Vitaminwater have offerd the flavour competition too. But hey if it aint broke...vitaminwater “who has dreaded today? it's never easy to get back to school or work after a long break... let's get through this thing together. here's to a happy and healthy 2010” That’s the spirit from vitaminwater. But they don’t stop there. vitaminwater “allowed November to go by without telling you just how thankful we are of you- we won't let it happen again. we're big fans of yours too!” And the reaction from fans is appreciative and in the same spirit. Who’d have thunk it, social networkers just want to be loved?
Ok it makes me cringe but then I’m the sort of person who likes real current friends and using FB to keep tabs on old ones that I’ll see again. I recently deleted 60% of my ‘friends’. Will it catch on? I doubt it, the narcissism being spawned by social networking is being extended through new behaviours such as adding people you don’t even know to be your ‘friends’. All rules for social behaviour are being rewritten and even though it’s to the detriment of real life, it’s to the advantage of marketers as relationships without the proverbial 80% of body language are booming which makes it so much easier for brands. Case in point is my 21 year old roommate who has forsaken real life to communicate online with his friend from abroad while playing games 18 hours a day. Is he typical? I’m not sure but 80% of his topics of conversation are about what he saw on the net...Call me old fashioned but I much prefer conversations about real life..
Poptarts have an easy job when going online. They know their target is essentially Gen Y and Z. Anyone above that still eating Poptarts will still eat Poptarts regardless of marketing. (until the partner stops them) Their site features funny videos featuring Poptarts, offers downloads and features and the by now stock standard flavour competition. There was a call to action for fan videos to be uploaded featuring their New Year’s Resolutions. This hasn’t seemed to happen yet but there were some random videos by Popfans. PopTarts have missed a trick by not disabling user comments on user generated content. Haven’t they been on the internet before?
RedBull offers everything you would imagine that RedBull would. They offer links to interesting external sites with the Soap Box Racing game catching my eye in particular. Design your own car then invite your Facebook friends to join you and race. You can even stick your own face behind the helmet and splash your own image of choice across the racer. There’s country and world rankings which is what makes it interesting enough to keep playing.I know it’s not technically Facebook but it was the Facebook page that got me there, and that’s probably the key. How many people actually browse brand websites? RedBull also had a scavenger hunt for hidden lots of Redbull. Clever, I’m still waiting for the scavenger hunt that makes social marketing mainstream news. Who can offer the big enough prize/stir up enough interest/make it interesting enough to really grab the press and public’s attention?
Vitaminwater have offerd the flavour competition too. But hey if it aint broke...vitaminwater “who has dreaded today? it's never easy to get back to school or work after a long break... let's get through this thing together. here's to a happy and healthy 2010” That’s the spirit from vitaminwater. But they don’t stop there. vitaminwater “allowed November to go by without telling you just how thankful we are of you- we won't let it happen again. we're big fans of yours too!” And the reaction from fans is appreciative and in the same spirit. Who’d have thunk it, social networkers just want to be loved?
Ok it makes me cringe but then I’m the sort of person who likes real current friends and using FB to keep tabs on old ones that I’ll see again. I recently deleted 60% of my ‘friends’. Will it catch on? I doubt it, the narcissism being spawned by social networking is being extended through new behaviours such as adding people you don’t even know to be your ‘friends’. All rules for social behaviour are being rewritten and even though it’s to the detriment of real life, it’s to the advantage of marketers as relationships without the proverbial 80% of body language are booming which makes it so much easier for brands. Case in point is my 21 year old roommate who has forsaken real life to communicate online with his friend from abroad while playing games 18 hours a day. Is he typical? I’m not sure but 80% of his topics of conversation are about what he saw on the net...Call me old fashioned but I much prefer conversations about real life..
Monday, January 4, 2010
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Iphones..marketers and advertisers really want to tap that resource..particularly the apps. But with so many to choose from why bother?
There’s over 100,000 Iphone apps currently available to choose from and apparently Adobe’s CS5 is going to make creating your own application even easier, so prepare for iphone apps to become one of those pre-apocolyptic predictions such as there are more iphone applications than people in Australia.. So what are the top applications out there and how long before someone goes digitally postal on the app store? Mashable’s list of the top phone applications for 2010 certainly provides some food for thought.
First up, the top 10 augmented reality applications. The laying of digital technology over reality has some exciting possibilities and Le Bar Guide has to be a winner for marketing potential at least. Created by Stella Artois, it will help people to find the closest bar with ratings and even point you in the direction of the taxi stand. The rest of the list is either inane, very function specific, limited or downright silly.
Next up? 70+ free social networking apps. Too many, too many. How many of these could be worth anything to a brand or advertiser? How many will still be in use next year? How many have already seen their peak usage and will suffer a slow decline as they are discarded in favour of the next flash in the pan application? The numbers say Facebook is where the action is followed by Twitter. After that we have to wait and see who steps up with something useful and capable of stealing some of that thunder.
But speaking of Facebook there is also the top ten apps that use Facebook Connect on the iphone. They’re still a little bit too much of a novelty but apps such as LuckyCal appear to be something that people could truly enjoy using. It essentially identifies friends near you and activities in the area that correspond to your interests. And anything that lets friends play online games together by connecting through Facebook is awesome. Game developers should consider allowing brands to sponsor tournaments and give out decent prizes. That’s pretty much a win win situation for all. I’m already imagining a world where my friends and I play the Nike penalty shootout app between us and the winner gets a pair of sneakers. It might have heavy branding and the game might be a little subpar but the idea of competing amongst friends for real prizes could really excite consumers. Ok the logistics of all these events and the costs of the prizes would have to be worked out but an app linked to a website with both connected to Facebook Connect could really start something. Make the grand prize something your target market really wants and you could start a big ball rolling..
Speaking of facebook games.. I started Dantes Inferno in the Facebooks application section. It's a promo for the full game and allws you to enlist your friends. Maybe the idea was good at one stage but if I have a full length big budget game coming out, I don't want it promoted with a really frustrating and stupid mini version..
There’s over 100,000 Iphone apps currently available to choose from and apparently Adobe’s CS5 is going to make creating your own application even easier, so prepare for iphone apps to become one of those pre-apocolyptic predictions such as there are more iphone applications than people in Australia.. So what are the top applications out there and how long before someone goes digitally postal on the app store? Mashable’s list of the top phone applications for 2010 certainly provides some food for thought.
First up, the top 10 augmented reality applications. The laying of digital technology over reality has some exciting possibilities and Le Bar Guide has to be a winner for marketing potential at least. Created by Stella Artois, it will help people to find the closest bar with ratings and even point you in the direction of the taxi stand. The rest of the list is either inane, very function specific, limited or downright silly.
Next up? 70+ free social networking apps. Too many, too many. How many of these could be worth anything to a brand or advertiser? How many will still be in use next year? How many have already seen their peak usage and will suffer a slow decline as they are discarded in favour of the next flash in the pan application? The numbers say Facebook is where the action is followed by Twitter. After that we have to wait and see who steps up with something useful and capable of stealing some of that thunder.
But speaking of Facebook there is also the top ten apps that use Facebook Connect on the iphone. They’re still a little bit too much of a novelty but apps such as LuckyCal appear to be something that people could truly enjoy using. It essentially identifies friends near you and activities in the area that correspond to your interests. And anything that lets friends play online games together by connecting through Facebook is awesome. Game developers should consider allowing brands to sponsor tournaments and give out decent prizes. That’s pretty much a win win situation for all. I’m already imagining a world where my friends and I play the Nike penalty shootout app between us and the winner gets a pair of sneakers. It might have heavy branding and the game might be a little subpar but the idea of competing amongst friends for real prizes could really excite consumers. Ok the logistics of all these events and the costs of the prizes would have to be worked out but an app linked to a website with both connected to Facebook Connect could really start something. Make the grand prize something your target market really wants and you could start a big ball rolling..
Speaking of facebook games.. I started Dantes Inferno in the Facebooks application section. It's a promo for the full game and allws you to enlist your friends. Maybe the idea was good at one stage but if I have a full length big budget game coming out, I don't want it promoted with a really frustrating and stupid mini version..
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
