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Best of the Internetz 15

Twitter to launch brand pages (rumour)

Yes, word on the grapevine is that Twitter is set to launch brand pages similar to Facebook’s pages to allow brands more space to communicate with followers. If this is in fact true, this will be a major change to Twitter and something which will either make it or break it. My prediction – it will break it. We already have FB so we don’t need a copycat. Stay true, Twitter. Stay true.  

Angry Birds Rio

Are you an Angry Birds addict? How would you feel if you could play it guilt free for your client? This is how the promoters of the new movie, Rio, feel right now. Actually, not only are they probably guilt-free, but are probably high-fiving their way to the bank as their partnership with Angry Birds has given them 10 million downloads in 10 days. At $AU1.19 per download, that’s $11.9 million from a promotion. Win.

So what other apps are you obsessed with and how could you make them work for your clients?

Facebook for mobile

With over 250 million users logging into Facebook from their mobiles, it makes sense to have as much functionality as possible without impacting on usability. Facebook feel pretty confident that they can squeeze some more function into their mobile apps (let’s face it, there wasn’t that much to begin with so it was a fairly safe bet) and have launched maps, unfriending and most importantly, the ability to check-in to events, not just locations.

To be able to check-in to an event you have to be invited and RSVP’d “yes” to attending. Your location also has to match the location of the listed event venue, and it has to be the correct time of the event. This will be an interesting addition to watch as it merges real life social with online social. Update your software on your phone to start checking in now.

Vice and WPP join forces

Global, monolithic ad agency network WPP has become a major partner in Vice Magazine. Vice – an infamous youth magazine – is known for its cheeky and irreverent take on the world. An interesting acquisition you may think, but WPP have invested in the mag to further develop their content capabilities and no doubt, further blur the lines between advertising and entertainment. If they don’t kill the mag in the meantime, this will be a stellar move.

10 days as a single parent - Day 3

Well the bike wasn’t a winner but nobody’s a loser at school these days so I guess we did ok. Right?

So her favourite subject at school is apparently computers. What they do in computers is hard to tell though. She says they play games. I hope they do more than that. On one half you have a generation of children growing up in the most connected world ever experienced and children whose instincts are naturally inclined to use technology, but on the other half you have an education system that relegates technology and computers to a single subject where the students simply play set educational games. Why the educational system is so threatened by technology, I don’t know. You would think that the schools would embrace technology and the doors it opens for students.

Personally, I would like to see schools open up technology options to help students learn in ways that best suit them rather than the autocratic manner classes are currently run. With so many videos, infographics, essays or interactive diagrams available on any one subject, students could find what ever works best for them, rather than what ever is easiest or best suits their teacher.

My mother is a high school teacher and I have a constant battle to try and encourage her to use twitter to help her receive new information related to her classes. While I don’t think she is anti technology, I think she is afraid of information overload, even if the information will be beneficial to her classes. I think this is probably a concern for most people and a major reason why so many people turn away from the opportunities technology can open, hence the need for an understanding of how best to filter information will need to be at the core of any technological push.

Perhaps this is where schools should begin?

Best of the Internetz 10

TED – The Rediscovery of Wonder

Last week the brightest thinkers from round the world congregated in Long Beach, California for the TED 2011 Conference. Speakers included Bill Gates talking about schools and Wael Ghonim giving an insiders view into the Egyptian revolution. If you didn’t get up at 3.00am to watch the simulcast in Bondi, you can catch a snapshot of what you missed here: http://conferences.ted.com/TED2011/

A really lovely initiative at the conference was a competition for the best Ads worth Spreading. The competition sought to reward advertisers who “reversed the trend of online ads being aggressively forced on users” and was implemented to “nurture ads so good you choose to watch”. To see the ads which made the cut, check out the full list here: http://www.ted.com/initiatives/aws

Or my two favourites:
Chrysler – Imported from Detroit

Dulux – Let’s colour

iPad 2

Yes, unless you’ve been hiding under a rock last week, you will have heardthat Apple have released the long awaited iPad 2. There may not have been any major surprises with the announcement, but the new features are set to open up a new level of interaction. While the two cameras are touted as perfect for Facetime, they are also perfect for augmented reality, which with this release, could experience its tipping point. Expect to see a whole onslaught of apps taking advantage of the cameras.

In addition to this, the way we use tablets is set to change. The iPad 2 has taken the tablet from being a passive piece of technology where we merely consume info, to being a tool for content creation. With its touch screen capabilities, the iPad 2 allows users to edit, remix and create with accuracy not possible from a laptop.  

To find out more, visit http://www.apple.com/au/ipad/


Live the Sheen Dream

Again, if you haven’t heard about Charlie Sheen’s antics last week, where have you been? Not only ranting his way across every talk show in America, Charlie also decided to rant his way across Twitter. On Thursday morning, Sheen had 90 followers and no tweets. 24 hours later, he had over a million followers for his 12 tweets. While his bio might read: “Born Small… Now Huge… Winning… Bring it..! (unemployed winner…)” perhaps the most intriguing part was his hashtags. Branding many of his tweets with the interesting hashtag of #tigerblood, which has been a trending topic for 5 days now and dominated Twitter on Thursday night, he also uses #winning, #planbetter and #teamsheen sporadically throughout his tweets to make his point.

While you might just think it is a joke, Charlie has realised that Twitter gives him a direct voice to his fans and the public, which cannot be edited by the media. He is replying to his fans and using the channel to be open about what is happening and for the most part, actually using it very well. While it could be seen as a risky strategy as one misstep could see him come undone, this is probably his best move yet, as the power it has already given him is immense.

What is more interesting though, was the rush by brands to ride Charlie’s coattails. McDonald’s cashed in with this interesting addition:

While the Red Cross dropped this witty tweet for one of the most popular tweets of the night: 

If you are on Twitter, I recommend you follow him at @charliesheen to keep up with his hilarious tweets and if you’re not on twitter (you should be), here’s a taste of his gold: 

Cyber Silence

So we all heard about how Kim Kardashian, Usher, Lady Gaga & co were committing digital suicide and going silent from December 1 until they raised $1 million to help the ‘Keep a Child Alive’ campaign for World Aids Day, right? Well yesterday the good news came through that the money had been raised and the celebrities have been resurrected and can tweet again! Happy Days! But not so happy was the length of time it took. A week into it, only 45% of the target had been raised and with stars like KK getting up to $10k a tweet to push promos, the celebs were getting antsy over it and had to call in a few favours from friends to meet the target. So was the campaign proof that social media has little impact on ‘the real world’ or was it a poor strategy from the start? 

Here’s a blog post I wrote for the LOUD blog before the event, which examined just that:

Is your Twitter feed strangely quiet? Your Facebook newsfeed a little stagnant? If you follow or friend a few celebrities, you’re probably experiencing the effect of the “Digital Life Sacrifice”, an initiative of the ‘Keep a Child Alive’ Charity in line with World Aids Day, whereby a number of celebrities, including Alicia Keys, Lady Gaga, Kim Kardashian and Justin Timberlake, have all pledged to stay off their social media accounts from 1 December until the charity raises $1 million.

To build awareness around the event, each of the stars have also filmed their “last tweet and testament” which will appear in ads, and will also feature them lying in coffins to represent their digital deaths.

Co-founder of Keep a Child Alive, Leigh Blake, sums up the campaign sentiment perfectly, “We’re trying to sort of make the remark: why do we care so much about the death of one celebrity as opposed to millions and millions of people dying”.

LOUD loves the idea of an unexpected twist on how we conventionally use social media and is very impressed by the amount of PR the stunt is generating but fears the impact of the campaign may get lost when it’s actually implemented.

For starters, many of the celebrities are not regular tweeters anyway and often go days without tweeting or updating their statuses so would their lack of presence really be noticed? As for those who are regular tweeters (we’re looking at you, Kardashian sisters), with tweets like “I’m proud of myself today…I ate so healthy!”, will people be rushing to pay for them to come back online?

So here’s a couple of ideas LOUD would add to the mix that we think would give it more impact:

1. The celebrities have massive followings, with Gaga alone pulling 7.2 million people opting into her every word, so why not make use of this following and urge the celebs to only sacrifice any personal tweets/status updates until the target is met. Instead of telling us what they had for breakfast, they can fill our newsfeed with links to the donation page or the sms number to donate. This way they are still silenced but their followers can easily act. This will also give their followers items to retweet or reply to, increasing the reach of the messages.
2. Tie the campaign into the existing social network infrastructure. Use Facebook Credits as a donation channel.
3. Encourage the celebrities to build up momentum before the event, eg. By having a countdown to their “digital deaths” so that their absence will be more evident when it occurs.

While LOUD sees a lot of extra opportunity in this event, we are sure with such celebrity firepower behind it, will be a success and are eagerly awaiting the collective sigh of relief sure to occur when the target is met and we can once again know when Kim Kardashian is “Sooooo sleepy I just need a 7min nap!”

So what did you think of the campaign?

Uniqlo go digital

Is Uniqlo the most digital-embracing fashion brand in the market right now? I vote ‘Yes’. That’s not to say they are the only fashion brand doing digital, nor to say that everything they have done they have done well, but they are out there and they are trying…everything. From the Tweet Show, to their Tweet the Price Down, to their latest offering - The Lucky Machine, they have shown they are ready to take a risk and try new things. So what are they getting right?

1. They aren’t worried about the whole “matching luggage” business. They have their look and feel which is consistent across all executions but otherwise, they are just getting out there and getting people interacting with the brand, regardless of whether it is apart of a major campaign or not. To make a digital campaign work effectively, a good idea should be able to stand alone.
2. They are making the most of tools which are already out there. Noticed a trend? Many of the campaigns I listed featured Twitter. Go where the people are. How can your idea fit in around them. People are lazy, face it. Cater to them.
3. Keep it personal. People are self-absorbed. Give them something that puts them front and centre and they’ll pay attention. Make their tweets all pretty and animated - great! Link them to their favourite products and make them an interest point - perfect.
4. Give them a reason to interact. Regardless of how cool something looks, if there’s nothing in it for the people, the people won’t play along. Asking them to Tweet and they’ll drive the price down gets them asking “how many times can they tweet?” and “how low can it go?”. Giving people a pinball game to earn discounts gives them entertainment and spreading news on Facebook helps them get more and more entertainment.

The lesson - everything is give and take online.

Twitter Tourism

Having worked closely with a tourism client for some time now, I’m always looking for innovative ways to promote tourism. Tourism can be a deeply personal, highly excitable experience for most people, so it is frustrating to see the same old channels used to promote it. A TVC merely projects a predetermined experience onto the viewers, print is lifeless, radio is one-way… Why use mass marketing on such a unique product?

The Canadian Tourism Commission, charged with promoting Canada to its slightly higher charged neighbours, took Twitter to the streets of New York, LA and Chicago and set up an interactive mural. Using current tweets by travellers in Canada, passers-by were encouraged to use the touchscreens to learn about other people’s real-time Canadian experiences via Twitter, Facebook and You Tube. A nice way to bring tourism to life and highlight just how personal it can be.

Modern Day Literature

The Hay Festival of Literature and Arts is currently being held to showcase and celebrate great literary writers of Europe, but in a twist, has also invited patrons to create their own micro-masterpieces with the search for “The World’s Most Beautiful Tweet”. To be judged by accomplished Tweeter, Stephen Fry, the winning criteria is open to interpretation:

“(The) most beautiful tweet could fall into a number of different categories: it could prove the most eloquent; the most impassioned; the best demonstration of a clever pun or metaphor; the most evocative description of a place or emotion, or perhaps prove that brevity is conducive to levity, and be the wittiest tweet ever committed to the Twittersphere” - Peter Florence, festival founder and director.

As we’ve just wrapped up the Sydney Writers’ Festival (SWF), has the SWF missed an opportunity and is this a sign of things to come? Will the SWF be applauding talented bloggers next year? And with the release of the almighty iPad with its reader functionality in the past week, will we be seeing the shape of books as we know it be recreated as stories, layout and language is optimised for the iPad format? Surely there is no choice but to evolve.

Bring on next year.