Just a bit of fun before the weekend...
Marketing
November 06, 2009
October 26, 2009
Éstée Lauder: get a photo for your Facebook profile
I've been meaning to check this last Estée Lauder marketing campaign since Willem mentioned it to me so here it is, slightly late but still worth noticing...
Estée Lauder recently launched a campaign in New York that offered women a complementary makeover and a photoshoot by a professional photographer so they could upload a great photo of them on their Facebook page, MySpace or else. I find it very clever the way they managed to find a simple yet very strong call to action to get women to come to a store and experience the brand. Very very clever!
You can find out more more about the campaign here.
October 22, 2009
Google to include Twitter updates in search results
If you're following Google on Twitter, you might have seen their last tweet "Tweets and updates and search, oh my!"?
Twitter Search obviously features the tweets as they appear in real time search whereas Google will list the sites with the most 'search equity' first, ie, sites who are the most popular for example - but these sites are probably popular because they've been here for a while (I'm simplifying here of course!).
Ok, let me give you an example, that'll be easier. Let's search for Obama:
- on Google, link number one is a news one (Afghan troop decision) and link 2 is his site, 3 is Wikipedia
- on Twitter, I'm getting live feed updates as I'm writing this post about his position on Afghanistan again but also about his comments on small business support, on the Canadian health system, about the fact that his wife was running and jumping like a teenager during his interview and basically live impression about his speech from the Twitter community
The integration of Twitter updates in Google' search results is definitely an interesting move!* It'll be interesting to see the impact in a few weeks/months.
* on a personal level though, I might be more careful about I write on Twitter from now on ;-)
October 19, 2009
Prototype Experience: great use of Facebook Connect
A few months ago, I translated Jeremiah Owyang's post about The Five Eras of the Social Web in French (here for 'my' French version, here for his English version) and something I found interesting in his post was his analysis on how nowadays, the Internet experience is somewhat incoherent for all of us because we all have various identities online. Take myself as an example: on Twitter I am @metoo, on Facebook I am Sandrine Plasseraud, on most other sites/network like Dopplr I am Sandrine.
From a consumer journey point of view, it doesn't make sense and it's all very confusing and frustrating. I hate having to sign in/out of Facebook/Twitter/Yahoo & Flickr/etc. It would obviously all make sense to have a single identity and although I'm not saying Facebook Connect is the answer, it clearly can provide some interesting benefits.
Which bring me to the subject of the Prototype Experience and Facebook Connect... Most of you might have already come across the Prototype Experience as it dates back from June 2009 but just in case - and as I was amazed by the experiment myself - here is what it's all about...
To advertise the new Protype video game, here is a 'simple' website asking you to connect via Facebook, which I've done - and the results is I am fully immersed into the experience (vi Facebook images & info from my personal profile). Check out some of the screen grabs from the video:
Check out by yourself on the Prototype Experience website.
NB: of course this is not my real credit card number ;-)
October 06, 2009
The Battle of Big Thinking 2009
If you live in the UK and read Campaign you might have come accross a full page ad this week for "The Battle of Big Thinking" featuring a few names including mine... Organised by the Account Planning Group and Campaign Magazine, this 4th battle of Big Thinking will take place on the 26th of November at the British Library. 51 days to go before this very exciting yet scary event.
The format?
- 7 categories (Global Thinking, Innovation Thinking, Thinking in Social Media, Planning Thinking, Mobile Thinking, Thinking in the Free Space, Marketing Thinking)
- 3 speakers in each category fight for their "Big Thinking Idea" with a 15 minutes slot per speaker
- The audience vote at the end of each round with the winner going into an eliminator to find the supreme champion at the end of the day.
So as I said, a pretty exciting event yet a slightly scary one, so if you have attended one of the Battle of Big Thinking in the past, any advices would be welcomed!
September 23, 2009
September 22, 2009
September 15, 2009
#ukhols Map by Vodafone - now what?
You might remember a post I wrote back in June this year about the Vodafone #ukhols Twitter Mashup? As part of their summer campaign where they abolished roaming charges in over 35 countries, from June to the 31st of August, Vodafone came up with this idea of a map which would show where UK Twitter users are spending time throughout the summer.
If you read my post, you'd know that I thought the idea was very clever and very interesting because for once a brand wasn't going into social media just for the sake of it but had actually found an idea that was intrinsically linked to its campaign.
But now what? Ok, we now where the majority of UK Tweeter users holidayed throughout the summer (Tokyo & New York apparently) and we also know (well, I know for a fact anyway) that Vodafone users travelling to one of the 35 roaming-free countries throughout the summer were delighted at the idea of not having to pay any roaming charges...
I personally got used to going back and forth between Paris & London via the Eurostar & not caring the slightest about the roaming charges for 3 months!
And as a marketer (or ex-marketer should I say now) I simply assumed that for Vodafone it'd be an easy sell up to offer to their customers in September: "you've enjoyed not paying roaming charges throughout the summer?", how about you pay an extra £20 per month to benefit from free roaming charges in the country of your choice?! I would have signed up for this!
So I guess I was kind of disappointed when Vodafone called me this week to find out if I was happy about my contract. When I ask about potential "roaming packages" I was told me they couldn't upgrade my contract to a package which would allow me free unlimited phone calls to/from France :(
Their answer? With Vodafone Passport, you only pay 75p per minute... Yeah right... That's £20 for 26 minutes... So I guess I'll just have to be patient and wait until July 2010 for the new European rule on roaming & decreased costs...
June 16, 2009
#ukhols Map by Vodafone
Throughout the summer, Vodafone is abolishing roaming charges in Europe as well as Australia and New Zealand: customers -like me- can talk, text and send picture messages back home or within the country they're’re visiting, and only pay standard UK rates.
To support the campaign, they've come up with a very interesting Twitter Mashup #ukhols which maps out the most popular UK's holiday destinations. Nice to see something so intrinsically linked to a campaign.
All you have to do is to use the hashtag #ukhols, your age, sex, the first half of your postcode and where you are going this year.
Great idea!
June 02, 2009
Pepsi uses Twitter to launch Pepsi Raw
Well I guess if you read me quite regularly, you'd know I'm a total Diet Coke addict, so getting me to try another cola of some sort would be very difficult, and even more so if it wasn't a diet cola - so you'll be quite amazed to find out that Pepsi has succeeded in getting me to sample their new (non diet) "Pepsi Raw" today!
How come? When I came back to my desk at 1pm, there was a tiny can of this "natural born cola" on my desk - turns out that they were giving them away on Tottenham Court Road and Bertrand picked up one for me.
Why did I sample it? Because the can read "Tell us what you think @twitter.com/pepsiraw" and I was keen to engage in a conversation, to check out how many people where commenting and see the results.
Photo: @CamilleJ
The results? Right now they only have over 100 Twitter followers but it's too early to say - let's check out how blog posts will have been written about it in a few days and how many followers they'll have. It's a nice PR initiative I think - one that will get online marketers to write about the brand's attempt at using Twitter to launch a new product so kudos to them!
At least they'd have managed to turn a diet coke addict into a possible convert. I tried the drink just because of the Twitter thing, then realised it was a natural cola, which is quite nice for someone like me who drink 1 litre or so per day. Shame there is no diet version of it because I quite like the taste of it.
ps: if you haven't seen the cool Coca-Cola limited edition bottle that was made to celebrate Selfridges' 100th birthday, check out the one that @_vio_ bought for me here.
May 11, 2009
Dollhouse, Dollplay and participation drama
The first time I heard about the Dollhouse TV series was about 3 weeks ago when the term 'Dollhouse' appeared a few times in the Twitter streams of the people I follow, but also and mostly because I saw 'Dollhouse' was one of the 'Trending Topics' on Twitter around that time. To be honest this is really the way I tend to receive news those days, ie as I don't watch TV, the news I'm aware of are mostly the ones that I either see on Twitter Trending Topics or the ones that have already been filtered by my network (information posted by my friends on Facebook, on blog posts or on Twitter)...
Back to the Dollhouse TV series though!
I'm not a big science-fiction fan and I'm not even a fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Joss Whedon, the writer of Dollhouse is also the writer-director of Buffy), so I'm not sure I'd have thought twice about checking out Dollhouse had I not seen in on Twitter. But apart from a couple of episodes mid-way through the 12 episodes of the series, I really really liked it so I'm kind of disappointed to hear that there might not be another season but never mind - at least this gives me a good excuse to talk about Alternate Reality Games (ARGs) and Participation Drama...
About a year ago, I was writing about ARGs and how Pinguin had released 6 digital fictions: We Tell Stories, which was all about interactive story telling mixed with real life treasure hunt. I haven't seen many brands using ARGs since appart from Dollhouse actually, with their Dollplay Partipation Drama.
Dollplay was launched 4 days before Dollhouse was aired on in the US on Fox, as part of a viral marketing campaign. Users on the Fox Dollhouse site were invited to "Save Hazel", a character trapped inside the Dollhouse in real-time. According to the 'Memory site for Dollhouse official participation drama', "over a thousand videos was sent in by the audience, and hundreds of thousands of letters of chat, during the three weeks of Dollplay!"
The users were invited to communicate directly with Hazel, and try and find clues, through the site forum or by sending videos to Hazel every days... Ultimately, Hazel's story would change according to the users' videos received each day and a new story will be filmed every night in response to the entries received... Check out the memory site for more information - to me this is a true example of a brilliantly engaging campaign...
Have you watched Dollhouse? What did you think?
April 23, 2009
March 23, 2009
Earth Hour, in French and in English
As you might already know, Earth Hour 2009 is happening this Saturday, 28th of March at 8:30pm. During one hour, millions of people will switch off their lights in order to raise awareness worldwide about the global warming...
We Are Social, the social media agency I work for is helping WWF & their cute Panda spread the word about the event by outreaching to bloggers in the UK in order to encourage people to sign up to show their support.
And if you're in France, vous pouvez vous aussi aider le WWF en parlant de Earth Hour sur votre blog puisque c'est une campagne internationale... Toutes les informations en français sont disponibles sur le site Earth Hour France.
January 22, 2009
December 19, 2008
Coca-Cola "Make the world shine"
If I had to choose from all the Xmas campaigns I've seen so far, I think this Coca-Cola "Make the world shine" campaign would be my favorite. Simple yet effective and most of all, it put a smile on my face...
This Christmas campaign uses a Google Map Mashup to let users decorate their home and their friends' home with virtual Christmas lights with the objective of creating the biggest Christmas decoration in the world.
So I've decorated my parents' home in Brittany and therefore added a little of sparkle in Brest - again simple but it did really put a smile on my face :-D
A very nice viral campaign...
Check out the campaign details here.
December 10, 2008
Brands are part of the conversation at LeWeb'08
Georges-Edouard Dias, SVP, E-Business at L’Oréal was talking at one of the LeWeb'08's panels yesterday and I've written a blog post about it on the We Are Social blog: “brands are part of the conversation”. Check it out!
November 29, 2008
Sarkobama
This Thursday morning Parisian people woke up wondering whether Sarkobama was another buzz campaign or a joke: hundreds of posters of "Sarkobama" had been stuck on Paris' walls.
The taglines?
- "A tax for poluting companies? YES WE CAN"
- "Ensure each household save 1,000 eurose per year? YES WE CAN"
- "Create millions of jobs in Europe? YES WE CAN"
- and so on...
Sounds like a spoof of Barack Obama's campaign tagline? Yes but the mystery is still going on regarding who's behind this buzz as the French Government is denying they have anything to do with this camaign... So let's wait and see!
November 26, 2008
November 19, 2008
Burger King Studio
Not sure what's the image of Burger King in the US - however as a French person I feel this latest Burger King project is something that French people would be VERY excited about (let's just say that BK disappeared from France about 10 years ago and that the whole nation is still crying out for the return of the 'king' !).
But more to the point, what is the Buger King Studio project all about?
"We get it. You like things the way you like them. Your playlists, your ringtones, your calling plans, the cartoons printed on your debit cards, the tricks that trick out your ride—You want it your way. From customizable t-shirts and merchandise to one of a kind events, Burger King Studio is all about the things that are “uniquely you”."
Burger King US asked six young artists/designers to come up with their own vision of the 'King'. This is an online and offline project. And if you can't make it to one of the real life event, you can still check out the store and customize your own cool T-Shirt. Check it out the blog for more details!
Altogether a very interesting campaign - in a way it reminds me of the current This is Now campaign we're working on at We Are Social, which proves that using art in campaigns is the way to go I guess ;-)
November 02, 2008
Barack Obama & Blake Lively, Sarah Palin & Nicolas Sarkozy :-D
Well, the least that can be said about the US elections this time is that even if you're not into politics, they turned out to be interesting, from a marketing point of view but also just plainly entertaining...
Barack Obama and his team first of all have clearly understood the use of communication to speak to their audience.
Having Gossip Girl stars Blake Lively and Penn Badgley supporting Obama along other teens in a video is clearly a huge thing in terms of its effect on the younger generation. I love the end of the video when Blake, associating McCain to alcoholism says: "and you're ever out somewhere and considering voting McCain, just call me, I'll pick you up, no questions asked"...
But that's not all, Obama's team have been busy with, for example, buying in-games billboards (source: advertblog).
In the meantime, team McCain was equally busy with stories of Sarah Palin breaking out on a daily basis... Not sure you've heard the latest prank ie the one from yesterday when a Quebec humourist called Palin pretending to be French President Nicolas Sarkozy, but it was very amusing (but also depressing on the basis this women is potentially a vice-President of the US and doesn't even realise it's a prank, even when fake Nicolas Sarkozy tells his wife his "so hot in bed" !):
So, anyway, I've already voted for Barack Obama, via TwitVote and it looks like we all agree on Twitter who should be the winner in a couple of days :-D
And if you're not convinced yet, check out who sucks the most on the Gum Election 2008 website...
September 24, 2008
When brands listen to you on Twitter
Simple yet so surprising and effective: a couple of nights ago, I was complaining on Twitter about Technorati being down just when I was supposed to finish a client presentation using Technorati authority figures. I wasn't expecting anything from it. It was just a space for me to moan ;-).
But then 10 minutes or so later I received this Tweet:
Simple but very effective: the brand was listening to me ! Pretty amazing !!!
In reality, it's very easy to do: you monitor the conversations on Twitter and you get someone to respond whenever it's necessary. But so few brands do it that it's very surprising to be listened to and it feels great ;-)
September 18, 2008
Twitter + Club Med = a match made in heaven
As I was surfing from one blogroll to another today, I came accross a brilliant campaign for the French holiday operator Club Med. As far as I'm concerned, it's THE campaign of 2008 !!!
For those of you who don't know about Club Med, it's an all-inclusive upmarket holiday package: tranport, accomodation, food, sports and activities non-stop 24 hours a day*. So basically, from the moment you wake up to the end of the night -or early morning :-), you never stop: aquagym, swimming, snorkelling, foam party (don't ask !), water party (don't ask either !), waterskying, wakeboarding, windsurfing, climbing, danse lessons, tennis, gym, archery, apéritif (lol), diner and drinks (lol), night-club (and drinks)...
I have been going to the Club Med Freestyle in Kemer and Djerba for over 5 years now and whenever my friends and I come back from the Club, we kind of suffer "withdrawal" from dancing around the pool / behaving like crazy teenagers at the foam party / water party or while dancing the "crazy signs" and basically we send each other emails at noon reminding each other it's time for going dancing round the pool ;o)
This year I went along to the club with 5 bloggers and we spent a considerable amount of time, before and after the holidays, "twitting" non-stop about the pool parties, the foam parties, etc...
So when I found out this great campaign I almost felt sorry I wasn't the one able to "Twitt" during my holidays ! Club Med invited a couple of bloggers to holiday in Chamonix at the beginning of the year, and the bloggers were twitting live from their holidays, with the "Twitts" being displayed live on online banners for the Club Med ! How great and innovative is this ?!
You can read more about the campaign on Caroline's blog and Adele's blog.
Raph, partant pour du live twitting de Kemer l'an prochain ? ;-)
* that's for those of you who pick up the "Freestyle" clubs - there are lots of peaceful and relaxing Club Med holidays !
August 17, 2008
May 14, 2008
The Duracell Bunny is celebrating its 35th Birthday and I'm invited !
As you might have guessed in my previous post titled "Buzz, Buzz, Buzz", the brand was Duracell... Indeed...
Its little pink Bunny is celebrating its 35th Birthday this year and to celebrate the event, Duracell France (Procter & Gamble) have invited 35 bloggers for a bloggers-Big Brother-like event starting this Friday at midnight until Sunday, 18th at 11am. Yes, 35 bloggers, stuck in a secret locations for 35 hours for the 35th Birthday of the Duracell Bunny !
But that's not all... Do you remember the tagline for Duracell ? "La pila que dura mas... mucho mas" in Spanish or "Lasts longer, much longer" in English or again "l'énergie qui fait la différence" in French. Well, basically, read the tagline again and you've found what their "PR stunt" will consist of: those 35 bloggers will have as an objective not to sleep for 35 hours and you will be able to watch them (us as I'll be part of them !) live on the web* (http://35heuresdulapin.fr/)
*in French though !
May 13, 2008
How to adopt Marketing 2.0
Here is a very interesting presentation from fellow Frenchman Emmanuel Vivier, on how to adopt Marketing 2.0 (and why also !). Very useful if you're a "beginner" on anything Web 2.0 related but also very interesting for those of you who already have a "2.0" attitude as the presentation covers lots of great examples !
May 05, 2008
Buzz, Buzz, Buzz ...
A famous brand is celebrating its 35th birthday very soon and to celebrate, along with their buzz agency Passage piéton, they've decided to invite 35 bloggers to spend 35 hours locked in a still secret location, in a "Big Brother"-like event which will be live on the web...
In terms of creating some buzz for a brand, I though the idea was truly unique and original and I couldn't resist but say yes... Here is a little video preview...
The whole event will start at midnight on Friday the 16th of May and will last until 11am on Sunday, the 18th. 35 hours non stop, with 35 bloggers to celebrate the 35th birthay of a brand... Which brand? Well it's still a secret but have a look at the microsite 35heuresdulapin.fr and you should be able to guess !
May 04, 2008
Mentos Kiss Cam
Nowadays, it's all about engaging with your customers, and it looks like Mentos even went a step further with their latest microsite "Mentos Kiss Cam"...
Have a look at the site... Sure, you couldn't do more cheesy, sure you will probably cringe when you see the kissing action but it's actually quite funny AND more importantly, the "technique" used to engage with the customers, to create some interaction is actually quite interesting... But you must try it !!!
On the subject of engaging with your customers, I also recommend watching the latest Nike advert is brilliant: the angle used to shoot the advert makes you feel like you are the hero in the film !
April 30, 2008
Free Cone Day, offline & online
First thing I discovered yesterday morning when I opened the free paper in the tube on my way to work was that Ben & Jerry was celebrating their 30th anniversary with a "Free Cone Day" for all their customers... In London, but also in the rest of Europe and in the US...
Shame the rainy weather in Europe wasn't the best to enjoy an ice cream.... Nevertheless, my friends still managed to enjoy a free cone, not under the rain, but on Facebook, where Ben & Jerry was also giving away 250,000 Free Cone !
I had already done a similar analysis when Axe offered 250,000 free rubber Little Black Duck : if each person who receive a Free Cone on Facebook has 50 online friends, that's 250,000 x 50 people who would have been exposed to Ben & Jerry over a few days ie 12,5 millions people !
April 28, 2008
April 24, 2008
IKEA Sleep Hotel
It's not the first time IKEA offer their customer a mattress to sleep over: over the last few years, some IKEA stores have indeed offered shoppers the chance to sleep over free of charge. With a choice of bridal suite, luxury suite or family room, bathrobe, slippers and even breakfast in bed, shoppers were given the opportunity for an out-of-the-ordinary experience whilst IKEA got some nice PR in exchange, and of course an increase in their stores' footfall...
In Stockholm, KEA is now taking their brand experience outside of their stores and offering busy shoppers a 15 minutes break at the SovHotell (Sleep Hotel) situated in one of Stockholm shopping mall.
Customers are given a special pillow, adapted to their sleeping pattern, an eye mask along with some headphones to relax...
What's the next step for IKEA ? Well turns out they're starting building and selling IKEA flat pack homes !
April 23, 2008
Made of Honour: Simple but Effective use of Social Media
I admit: despite being 32, I am a huge fan of RomCom and teen television drama. I loved Bridget Jones, I love Greys Anatomy and I am now a huge fan of recent tv serie Gossip Girl... So when I see an advert featuring Patrick Dempsey aka Dr McDreamy in Greys Anatomy, I'm bound to be the one improving the CPM by clicking on the banner !
Made of Honour is the latest RomCom/ChickFilm featuring Patrick Dempsey and the only reason I found out about it was through a Facebook banner on my profile... Who said Facebook advertising wasn't effective? ;o)
Onto the website in itself: Watch the Trailer, Enter the Site, Worldwide Release Dates and... Get your Own Wallpaper... Where you can upload you picture and pretend for a second that you're getting hitched with Patriiick....
When I saw Patrick & myself on the picture and the possibility to Facebook it, I thought... Great ! Sadly though when you Facebook it, it's no longer Patrick & yourself, but back to reality with the actress...
Anyhow, altogether, admitting the Facebook advert was targeted, I believe that this very simple use of Social Media should have a very high return on investment... What's your feeling ?
April 22, 2008
13th Street - Interactive "Blood Bath" Experience
Whereas in Spain, 13th Street, the Action & Suspense Channel created a serie of Ikea adverts parodies to promote its latest horror movies, the German went as far as creating an interactive "blood bath" experience in the toilets of a nightclub in Hamburgh ! Coolhunter reports that, just after you entered the toilets, the lights would suddently go out to reveal a bloody scene on the floor and walls....
"See what others don't see"... a very interesting interactive brand experience (although I'm glad I wasn't in Hamburg that day !!!)
April 11, 2008
Ikea take over Japanese trains in a Guerilla style campaign
If you take the tube in London, I'm sure you'd have seen some of your fellow travelers with an Ikea Oyster ticket wallet... The Oyster ticket wallet is part of a bigger "outdoor campaign" which include not only the Oyster wallet, but also the sponsorship of the London tube map...
In Kobe (Japan) though Ikea has taken the sponsorship to the next level : they have indeed taken over Japanese trains and replaced the seats with some Ikea furniture !
Not sure what you think but as far as I'm concerned, only one word : brilliant guerilla campaign !
Source : Annie Mole's blog and picture : pinktentacle
April 06, 2008
Go-Go-Widget...
Do you remember how Inspector Gadget used to say "Go-Go-Gadget" all the time ? Well, I'm not going to talk about him and his gadgets... but about Widgets and their marketing potential ;-)
I love widgets. So much so I seem to remember I bought the Mac OS X update 2 years ago, just so that I could have some Dashboard widgets running on my Mac!
Two years on, and a few interesting widgets later, I think there is still a huge untapped potential for brands when it comes to widgets...
NMA has just published a very interesting article on Widgets : "brands have recognised that to be successful in social networking they need to become part of the conversation rather than disrupt it. Widgets can provide the answer".
Interestingly enough, the article mentions how youngsters now spend all of their online time on social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace and how it is therefore becoming harder than ever for brands to grab their attention. And how engaging widgets could answer the issue brands are facing : put some nice and interesting widgets on the sites youngster are using (or their desktop) and not only will you grab their attention but potentially their friends' attention too !
Anyhow, have a read through the whole NMA article for some interesting examples...
March 31, 2008
ARGs or Alternate Reality Games
Over the last few days I have been following a virtual character on Twitter. Her name is Slicequeen. But Slicequeen isn't a real person ; she's from a digital fiction... However I also read her blog and her parents' blog... Are you still following me ?
Slicequeen is the "Twitter name" of Lisa, a US teenager known as Slice to her friends. Her parents decided to move her away from the bad influences she had in the US and therefore they've just all moved into London, in a house that turns out to be creepy. Yes this is of course a fiction but furthermore this is a DIGITAL fiction, part of the Pinguin We Tell Story - Six Authors, Six Stories, Six Weeks, which I have already mentioned previously.
Those 6 stories are digital fictions and Pinguin worked with Six to Start, an agency specialised in Alternate Reality Games, to create those digital fictions. So what exactly are Alternate Reality Games ?
Well, as far as I'm concerned, I had never heard of the term ARGs until last week and the We Tell Story website. However ARGs are not new but as I'm sure they're pretty new to those of you who aren't passionate gamers, here are some information...
According to CNET, Alternate Reality Game is a new genre of games : "an obsession-inspiring genre that blends real-life treasure hunting, interactive storytelling, video games and online community". CNET concludes that ARGs "may, incidentally, be one of the most powerful guerrilla marketing mechanisms ever invented". And you see now where I'm going ? Marketing of course ! ;-)
In my opinion, ARGs represent a brilliant opportunity for brands to communicate with their audience using all the new media and technology. If your idea for an ARG idea is good enough then it could be a brilliant way to entertain your audience and create a proper 360 communication campaign, using not only Guerilla Marketing but also for example Blogs, Twitter, Google Maps, Facebook, Direct Marketing or even Bluetooth !
February 11, 2008
UK Online Readership overtakes Newspaper Readership
How do I know ? I have just been reading the Spectrum Consulting's Online Buzz Report 2008 and here are some of the key findings based on a sample of 1,000 adults representative of the UK population :
1) online readership overtakes newspaper readership within the 15-44 years old age group in the UK
2) 12% of the population read a blog at least once a week *
3) Not surprisingly, the 16-34 years old are the biggest consumers of blogs...
You want to find out more ? The whole report is available on the Spectrum Consulting website.
* my comment : not to mention those who read a blog within knowing it's a blog
January 24, 2008
January 08, 2008
When smoking ban = marketing opportunities
I was in the UK on the 1st of July 2007 when England went "smokefree". I was also in France on the 1st of January 2008 when the smoking ban quicked in, in France. The difference ? I can't remember seeing anyone smoking in the UK in a pub or a restaurant on the 1st of July. In France though, I ended up in a club on New Year's Eve (ie after the ban) with my sister & brother and guess what... I had to leave the club because it was so smoky I couldn't take it anymore !!! Anyhow, that's for my little story ;)
Now, what's interesting is that when 90% of the restaurant, bars and club owners in France are complaining about the lost opportunities they will face due to the smoking ban (and rightly so I suppose), some brands come up with some interesting marketing opportunities....
You've all heard about Chupa Chups ? Well they came up with the idea to market their lollipops to "fight" against the anxiety when you stop smoking. They worked on a new packaging for their "Chupa Chups Relax" product, created posters to explain how the product helps smokers to quit and... in France they used an online PR agency to send influential bloggers (like him) packs of 20 boxes of fags Chupa Chups ! Really good idea I think ! (but then I don't smoke so I'm kind of biaised !)
December 09, 2007
Facebook - a study and analysis by Fabernovel
You might have noticed I have been a little slow on the blogging activity over the last few days... I have been quite busy and tired so I'll keep this post short and sweet :-D
I have attached below a very interesting study and analysis of Facebook done by Fabernovel Consulting (thanks Gregoire for sending it to me !).
Interestingly enough out of all the people who helped the agency write this analysis, there is Patrick Amiel, whose blog was the first blog I ever read about 2 years ago. I actually started blogging after being influenced by his blog ! Jeremiah Owyang has also contributed to this study which brings me to think the world is very small - Jeremiah is based in California and I met him a couple of weeks ago at the Forrester Conference in Barcelona... Small world !
Anyway, enjoy the analysis !
November 23, 2007
Send an Angry-Gram
I'm sure you've already seen the Burger Kings TV advert for the Angry Whooper ? But have you seen the web version of the Angry Whooper ? I've just discovered you can send an Angry-Gram to any of your annoying "friends" and really it's brilliant ! I will go as far as comparing it to my favorite web campaign so far : the 2006 Mini "Ave a Word" campaign from Glue London.
Go on, send an Angry-Gram !
November 20, 2007
Winning in a world transformed by new technologies
Still in Barcelona... Josh Bernoff, the Vice President and Principal Analyst at Forrester Research was speaking on the subject of "The Groundswell of Social Computing", subject taken from his book titled "Groundswell - Winning in a world transformed by new technologies".
How does he define the word "Groundswell" ? It's a social trend in which people use technologies to get the things they need from each other, rather than from traditional institutions like corporations.
Josh goes on by describing the 4-step approach to the groundswell :
People - Assess your customer's social activities
Objectives - Decide what you want to accomplish
Strategy - Plan for how relationships with customers will change
Technology - Decide which social technologies to use
Once again the highlight is on the strategy and not the technology ! Don't set up a blog just because it's trendy and because other companies have a blog. Set up a blog if you feel this is part of the strategy you set up for your company (get customers' feedback for example).
Josh went on explaining how you could use new technologies with your customers for different purposes: to listen to them (Research), to talk to them (Marketing), or even to "energize" them (Sales) and gave a few concrete examples of brands who successfully managed to do so.
Althought I had already heard about it, I really like the strategy that the wine company Stormhoek set up to differentiate themselves within this very competitive wine business and how they managed to develop their brand image, identity and grap customers' attention through a "web 2.0 strategy". They found 150 top bloggers in the UK and Ireland, sent them all a bottle of their wine ; 600 posts later they sponsored "geek diners", hooked up with the famous blogger / cartoonist Hugh "Gapinvoid" who is now the official voice of Stormhoek wine. Oh, and of course they have a Facebook Group, a Flickr Group, etc, etc...
Clever isn't it ? Well, as mentioned in the previous post, the age of telling and selling is dead... Welcome the influence marketing !
Credit photo : Scott Beale (Laughing Squid)
November 19, 2007
The "telling and selling" model is dead
A couple of days ago, as I mentioned here, I was listening to Mark Taylor from Wunderman, speaking in Barcelona at the Forrester's Consumer Marketing Forum EMEA 2007. One of the very interesting thing he mentioned was that the "telling and selling" model was over and that we should welcome the age of "influence marketing. And this 2-days Forrester's conference was really all about this : engaging with your consumers, working alongside influential consumers to promote your products and really sharing your brand.
Shar VanBoskirk, a senior analyst at Forrester also spoke on the theme of "sharing your brand" and how marketers should be able to easily adapt their marketing strategies to embrace the shift to User Generated Media which is under way, if they think first about the strategy rather than the technologies available.
I won't bore you with my own presentation, which was in many ways very similar to the one I did at the Marketing Direct conference. Instead you can read all about it on the Jeremiah's blog (Jeremiah is a Web Strategist at Forrester in San Francisco).
Tomorrow I'll mention a few more speakers and their interesting insights on the changing face of marketing.
November 15, 2007
Mark Taylor (Wunderman) live from the Forrester Conference
This is it, I'm in Barcelona, at the Forrester Consumer Marketing Forum EMEA and I have just had the opportunity to listen to Mark Taylor, Chief Marketing Technologist Officer from Wunderman talking about "the future consumer", core trends in customer centricity, consumer generated media, etc. A very interesting introduction to this conference on the them of "Sharing Your Brand". A good example of how Cadburry will relaunch Wispa chocolate bar after listening to its customers !
You too can follow the conference, either on Twitter or on the Forrester blog.
November 08, 2007
A week to go before the Forrester's Consumer Marketing Forum EMEA 2007
Next Thursday at that exact time I'll be on my way to Barcelona for the 2007 Forrester's Consumer Marketing Forum EMEA. This year's theme is "Sharing Your Brand" and I will cover the following subject : "Buzz Your Products And Brand By Engaging With Key Online Influencers". If any of you are attending the event, please let me know via email, comment or via Facebook (Forrester created an event on Facebook - Great for the Facebook addict I am !).
Unfortunately for me, as I have to fly back to London on Thursday night, I will miss out the speech of Jack Dorsey, the Twitter CEO, which is on Friday pm. However, the remaining of the program on Thursday seems exciting with speakers from Channel 4, Walt Disney, The Guardian, etc...
October 28, 2007
October 16, 2007
Diet Coke target health concious consumers
If you've already met me then you know how much of a Diet Coke addict I am. My friends carry on reminding me how bad it is to drink a litre of Coke per day. I wish I could stop but I can't....
But guess what ?! Well it's ok because as of now because Coca-Cola is launching Diet Coke Plus : one with added vitamins and one with antioxidants. Perfect ;o)
Well probably not perfect but Coca-Cola is certainly going to gain some additional 20-30 female customers by adding vitamins to the little cans of Diet Coke !
Funny how I thought it was kind of natural for a brand such as Danone to pursue the route of dermonutrition and how I find it weird for Coca-Cola to do the same. What do you think ?
Anyhow, get ready for a big advertising campaign in the UK for the launch of the "plus" versions this month !
ps: although I am a Diet Coke addict, I am not so sure about the taste of the antioxidant version...
August 03, 2007
Crappy weather ? Check out the Alfresc-o-meter !
Let's be honest, the British weather has never been great but this year, it's particularly crap !
Not sure wether it's going to rain or be sunny this weekend ?
Whatever - the Baileys' team have came up with a solution : the Alfresc-o-meter widget will give you a 5-days forecast so you can plan a Bailey-Latte or a Bailey-over-ice depending on the weather...
The widget is available here for PC and Mac users... and the good news ? It should be sunny this w-e in London !
July 27, 2007
77% would rather live without a TV than without the Internet
A recent international study by New Paragdim, the Canadian think-tank, reveals that 77% of the world's online youth would rather live without a TV rather than without the Internet. Not surprisingly I would say but it's nice to get some figures to back it up !
7.692 young people between the age of 16 and 29 years old were interviewed in April and May 2007 in 12 countries (U.S., Canada, U.K., Germany, France, Spain, Mexico, Brazil, Russia, China, Japan, and India).
Chineese youngster seem the most likely to get rid of the old television with 87% of them prefering the Internet to it (vs. 77% in the US.)
73% of young people interviewed said that if a company was to make an untrue promise in advertising, they will tell their friend not to buy their product... Bearing in mind this generation is THE digital-savvy generation, not need to explain to you how much negative buzz companies could get in such a situation !
Tom Tapscott, who heads New Paragdim explains that the main reason the youngster prefer the Internet to the television is its endless possibilities in terms of participation, sharing of information.
Now, are you still planning your next TV campaign ???
Source : CNW Group
July 10, 2007
Children of the web
Fabricio Zuardi is 27, and grew up 180 miles from São Paulo, Brazil. He works for a startup based in the Silicon Valley (found the job online). The flat he's renting in California ? Found it and craigslist.org. He doesn't own a tv and has no traditional fixed line - he uses Skype. In his spare time he blogs or write open-source softwares. He has friends all over the world but has never met most of them face to face. They're virtual buddies.
Sounds a bit excessive ?
Well believe it or not, Fabricio is actually a real character. He works for Ning, a social networking website, and Business Week is using Fabricio to illustrate this new generation of global-tech-saavy youths.
And actually, although I don't work for a startup in the Silicon Valley I can very much associate with those global-tech-saavy generation.
I own a tv but rarely turn it on. First thing in the morning ? Some light up a fag, I turn on my Mac book, open Netvibes, find out about the weather forecast, check out my emails, have a quick read through of my favourite blogs via RSS, publish a post. A shower and off to work. This is my daily-morning-routine...
I have a fixed phone line because I couldn't do otherwise in London but never use it. I have Skype at home to ring my family and friends in France or elsewhere for free. I have a mobile phone for everyday use. And Twitter to keep in touch with my "virtual network of bloggers" (although most of them seem to migrate to Pownce now !).
Virtual friends ? Yes, sure ! Over my last two years of blogging, I have made lots of virtual friends, some of them I've never met, some of them I've met and some of them I've even become very good "real life" friends !
Am I weird ? I suppose that I am, kind of weird, for my non-geeks-friends ! However I am not the only one of that type and, as Business Week is highlighting, there is a whole bunch of us out there in the world and a this is both a concern and a huge opportunity : how, as a company, do you engage with "the tens of millions of digital elite who are in the vanguard of a fast-emerging global youth culture" ?
I suppose the benchmark is the one mentioned by Business Week, i.e. Axe and its Bom Chicka Wha Wha truly global campaign ! And if you're not convinced yet of this global Bom Chicka Wha Wha campaign, have a look at the Axe Boat banner on the right hand side of this blog... and watch out for some more news very soon !
Source : Business Week - Children of the web
July 06, 2007
Swap it for a six-pack
For those of you who weren't aware, England is now smoke-free since the 1st of July... Which means you cannot light a fag anymore in any restaurant, bar or public place at all....
Marketingwise ? On the left is an exemple of a company that took this smoking-ban as an opportunity to recruit new customers via a flyer.
Virgin Active (the equivalent of Club Med Gym in France) is offering ex-smokers the opportunity to forget about cigarettes and concentrate on getting a six-pack instead (i.e. tablette de chocolat for French people).
What do you think ? Good flyer, isn't it ?
Recent Posts
- I'm a Mac and I don't care about Windows 7
- Real time fantasy football: Football3s
- Twitter lists
- Google doodle celebrates Astérix & Obélix 50th birthday
- Lufthansa's MySkyStatus
- Éstée Lauder: get a photo for your Facebook profile
- Never estimate the power of a great story
- Google to include Twitter updates in search results
- Fiat 500 New Times advert
- Technorati State of the Blogosphere 2009
Flickr
- www.flickr.com
This is a Flickr badge showing public photos from Sandrine Plasseraud. Make your own badge here.
- I work at We Are Social, a social media agency - however, this is my personal blog and the views expressed here may not reflect those of my employer...
Recent Comments