Snickers & Google Adwords Campaign

Brilliant campaign by Snickers as part of their “You’re not you when you are hungry” campaign. They recognised that people spell things wrong (maybe its when they are hungry) when searching on google and so they looked at some common search terms and the related mis-spellings of these terms and created an adwords campaign around it. In two days they got 558,589 ad impressions (which was their metric) an impressive 1.05% CTR and 5,874 visitors to their specially branded website.

 

Clever stuff

(source: Search Engine Watch)

Kit-Kat – Digital Detox

Trendwatching suggested at the start of the year that there would be an increase in Digital Detoxing, where people start to switch off their social media accounts and always on digital devices. Not necessarily for good, but for digital holidays to get away from what can be an overwhelming always on culture. People say digital detoxing can be as difficult as giving up smoking! 

Digital detoxing is said to help people relax, declutter their brains even make you happier! There are apps out there to help to take the plunge like Digital Detox which  irrevocably disables your Android phone for a period of time you specify.  There are Digital Detox holidays with… “St. Vincent and the Grenadines asking travelers to leave their technology at home as part of their digital-detox vacation package. Included in the package is a pre-mailed guidebook explaining how to function on a trip without technology and features an onsite life coach who provides advice on how not to let technology control one’s life. ” (Source: Forbes)

Closer to home, Kit-Kat in Amsterdam have tapped into the Digital detox trend with their Free No- Wi-Fi Zone campaign. The idea is simple and taps neatly into the brand promise:

Free WiFi is available everywhere we go. People are constantly online, busy with their electronic gadgets all the time. As Kit Kat we saw that as an opportunity to give people a break. So instead of offering Free WiFi like every other brand, we created a Free No-WiFi Zone. A big sign with a small WiFi jammer that blocked all signals within a five meter radius. By doing that we encouraged people to read a newspaper, a real book or have a genuine conversation again. All while munching on a Kit Kat.

Top 7 Marks Of A Great Client – SOdA report 2013

The SOdA report is well worth a read when it comes out and its free on iTunes or Slideshare. One of the articles I really enjoyed was this one, the top 7 marks of a great client. Its not a client bashing piece by any means, but for clients it helps you look at what you can do to get more out of your agency. And for agencies, you need to read this to see how you can help your clients get more out of you. This is a direct drag and drop from the report, so sorry if the images are low quality. Please do check out the original document here or download it here.

(Source: Stefan Tornquist, SOdA report, Vol1 2013)

Good To Know

I sometimes get asked by people for digital stats in Ireland and it can be hard to track down the latest information. Well obviously the folks over at Publicis D have been asked the same question. So they have, cleverly, developed the Good To Know app.

The app will help you keep on top of the latest “good to know” trends, behaviors and market information in Ireland. Developed by Publicis Dublin, there are six sections of information for marketers that cover the economy, consumer trends, media consumption and digital behaviors.

Nice work!

download the app here Good To Know

Girls Can – Plan Finland

Great innovative campaign. Financially not a winner yet, but they are doing something to fix a problem and embracing new technology. I imagine they are on to a winner here in the longer term.

I did not know this…

Shaquille O’Neal, the basketball player, has a doctorate in Education. I did not know this.

I also did not know that Dr. Shaq is a  self confessed geek (according to Brian Solis). Always looking for the next tech thing:

He bypassed traditional media and announced his retirement on Tout, a platform that at the time had only been live for six weeks. Shaq was early to embrace Twitter where he still engages with his now 7 million fans. In fact, Jack Dorsey was once asked who he thought the ideal Twitter user was and his response was Shaq. Why? Because he’s engaged, it’s him, and he believes in community

Social Media Today

You learn something new everyday.

So far this may not have been a really useful post – but I think his mantra for social media will help, its

 60% to make you laugh, 30% to inspire you and 10% to let you know about this product.

At SXSW he took part in Pitch Shaq and is taking official meetings with two  startups, Speakerfy and Beam – worth a look

Facebook News Feed Re-Design & You

Another Facebook redesign is no doubt going to frustrate people, have brands up in arms and probably throw up some privacy debate too. But Facebook has to iterate and if they didn’t recognise how things have changed, in terms of consumption of content, they risk the irrelevancy slide. They clearly do, as Robyn Morris product designer at Facebook says  “The design of News Feed hasn’t changed much since 2006, but the world has,”.

Mark Zuckerberg said at the launch that he wanted Facebook to be “the best personalized newspaper in the world.” And like a newspaper editor, he wants the “front page” of Facebook to be more engaging — in particular on the smaller screens of mobile devices. (NewYorkTimes)

So its on its way. But what does it all mean? Well trawling through a few articles (sources at the bottom of this post) here seem to be some of the highlights:

1. Facebook Page Posts and Sponsored Stories that contain photo and video will appear 20% larger. This is obviously good for brands, they can leverage higher resolution assets and use more compelling captivating content. (the journal crunch)

2. The new design also includes some photo page posts being overlaid with a caption or description rather than the text appearing below, suggesting that shorter text on photo updates will be more effective. (the journal crunch)

3. The new look News Feed “celebrates content” in a way that the last iteration did not. One of the key thrusts of this change is the increased emphasis on the visual experience. “Photos are bigger and more visually compelling,” says global head of brand design Paul Adams. “They have always had higher than average levels of engagement so we know they’re more interesting to people.” (Marketing Week)

4. For both organic and paid page ‘like’ stories, the image that will be displayed in News Feed will be the brand’s cover photo, giving this more prominence. It is therefore even more important that the photo is representative of the brand. (Marketing Week)

5. The new Facebook design also means users will be met with the same look and feel on mobile, tablet and web. For example, the left-hand menu will be visible on any Facebook page, while users can quickly move to the top of News Feed when new stories arrive (Marketing Week)

6. Links shared to the site from other places like Pinterest or Quora  will have bigger blurbs (techCrunch)

7. News Feed’s introduction of filters or feeds, enabling users to drill down to specific content. For example, users can see news from ‘All Friends’, showing everything their friends are sharing, or ‘Photos’, featuring only photos from friends and the pages users ‘like’ or ‘follow’. (Marketing Week)

This last point seems to be something that could prove problematic of businesses. As TechCrunch point out

“ If users choose to frequent that, they could be free to Like Pages to show off their interests or personalize third-party apps, but not have to see their feed updates.”

There is also some interest to see if video will play a larger role, but it is interesting to hear Facebook’s view on this:
“… with videos, people have to press play so there is a higher level of effort required – it’s more effort than viewing a picture. The reward from watching a video needs to be greater.” Paul Adams says.

It seems that this move by Facebook will have some challenges for brands, but  seem to have welcomed the changes as it seems like it will increase dwell time on Facebook. Users, according to the New York Times, aren’t as happy, with suggestions that Flipboard, already offers a personalized newspaper in which users choose the topics and publications they are interested in.

Like it or not, Facebook is a giant and like all changes Facebook has made, we will all have to get our heads  around them pretty quickly and find ways to make it work!

I just hope it puts a stop to all the Like and Share to win rubbish I see on my news feed all the time!

Sources:

http://onesmg.com/pov-facebooks-redesigned-news-feed/

http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/trends/design-a-less-familiar-facebook/

http://techcrunch.com/2013/03/07/for-businesses-facebook-redesign-means-bigger-ads-a-pages-feed-but-friends-only-section-too/

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/08/technology/facebook-shows-off-redesign.html?pagewanted=all

New CMO of Old Spice

Brilliant new campaign from Old Spice – a dog that sounds like Will Farrell! Genius!

I love 8tracks

Back in the day I used to spend all my time and money on music. I managed to get a really nice collection together, all CD’s (which seems old schoolish now!). I never really bought into downloads (weird for someone who loves all things digital) but I loved the physicality of a CD purchase.

Of course now music is way (way, way) down the list of things I spend money on. No regrets at all, but I sometimes miss that moment of hearing a new band/artist for the first time. Discovering something new, that wow moment when you hear something different for the first time.

I was introduced to 8tracks maybe a year ago and its re-ignited my passion for music (still can’t afford to buy any) but I am getting that joyous experience again of hearing new things for the first time.

I am sure there are loads of sites like 8tracks out there, but I am a huge fan (yes I love it). I can follow friends selections, their recommendations and it throws up recommendations to me based on my previous listening habits. Even the sign up and login are simple and user friendly. The site is easy to look at and navigate.I know this seems pretty obvious, lots of sites serve you with the most relevant information, but 8tracks seems to get it right, there is clearly some smart technology behind it.

And thats the interesting thing – its doesnt feel like its technology driven, it feels more like its user driven and the technology just makes it all happen somewhere in the background. Sites that make you feel smart for using them, serve you what is relevant to you and dont make you feel like you need a degree in IT to get around them are the ones that are winning. 8tracks is one of those.

And if you love music, check it out

Wake me up!

Im a bit obsessed with alarm clocks at the moment! Im fed up of hitting the snooze button and of really annoying alarm clock sounds (on my phone). I have the annoying ones because I tend to sleep through the more subtle ones!

I used sleep cycle about a year ago and for some reason stopped using it, but recently I read about Lark in the book Overthrow. Lark started off as a vibrating silent alarm clock and now has become more, its a sleep coach. How cool is that. Lark costs money and Im not quite there in investing in my sleep, although I’m really tempted as Lark is now a coach that you can use 24 hours a day, to track what you eat as well and make sure you are getting the most out of your day. (see Lark video below)

So I have re-visited Sleep Cycle and last night used it, I obsess over what my sleep pattern was! I was surprised I heard my daughter at 3am this morning talking in her sleep (normally I hear nothing!) but it turns out I wasnt in a deep sleep!! It woke me up nice and gently too which was nice. Having said that I dont feel any more refreshed today than any other day!

This morning I came across a new one called Uniqlo Wake Up, a social alarm app from Japanese fashion retailer Uniqlo that incorporates the current weather, time and day of the week into its wake-up music. How great is that, it wakes you up and tells you its cold or raining outside! How great also that its a brand that is doing this! Love it. I don’t know a lot about the Uniqlo brand, but wouldnt it be great if people woke up every morning thinking about you!

What they are doing is more than offering a service, or a store, Trendwatching say that this falls under a category of brand called Brand Butlers:

“It has never been more important to turn your brand into a service. Jaded, time-poor, pragmatic consumers yearn for service and care, while the mobile online revolution (it’s finally, truly here!) makes it possible to offer uber-relevant services to consumers anywhere, anytime. Basically, if you’re going to embrace one big consumer trend this year, please let it be BRAND BUTLERS!”

I will let you know how I get on with my Uniqlo wake up

Another good 2012 round up

 

 

 

Round up of some of the best campaigns of 2012

This is a great round up of campaigns from 2012 from Gregory Pouy (HT to AdverBlog). When reviewing it I thought some of the campaigns were older than 1 year, amazing how much can happen – where will we be this time next year. Lots of great creative in here – well worth taking the time to look over it.

 

Ireland’s Digital Future

I was delighted to be one of the people asked to submit a few words into IMJ talking about Ireland’s Digital Future in their recent Digital Issue. For what its worth – here’s what I had to say!

Ireland has no digital future. Or at least its future isn’t one that should be expressed in these terms. We need to redefine our view of digital and stop thinking single-mindedly about it. Instead we need to think about what we want to do and let the digital technology get us there. Lofty and idealistic? Maybe, but as long as we continue to differentiate we stop allowing ourselves to break free from what has confined us to date.

Organizations in all industries have fallen victim to complacency, politics, in-fighting, analysis-paralysis, risk-aversion, and bureaucracy that stops them doing this. It happened to HMV, who were ideally placed to allow the technology to take them places that would have seen them thrive, they didn’t and they suffered. Argos are struggling to get their heads around it and they too are suffering. Meanwhile the likes of Teléfonica are embracing it and are almost attacking their own business model with the launch of the VoIP service TU Me. Digital is at the core for businesses like these, it’s so close to the core the lines are blurred between online and offline to the extent that its now non-line.

This is what we have done at Dialogue, we opened our doors to a new breed of “digital natives” and gave them the freedom to introduce their digital DNA into the agency. For them digital is just an extension of themselves, for example, they embrace beta launches, where they test, simplify, test and simplify some more – and yes all of this is in the public domain. This allows us be a lot more agile, with campaigns almost having a start-up mentality. Without this approach most of us are doomed to clumsily translate conventional ideas into a digital format. This is bringing us to really interesting places where data, it’s not sexy I know, but it allows us to create work with our clients that delivers hyper-relevant content to people. Content that adds value to their lives, makes lives more interesting, easier, faster, smarter, more connected (or maybe less connected), more enjoyable. We have to stop allowing the digital tail wag the dog and instead look to see how we can use it to enhance experiences.

Digital needs to touch everything we do, when we get to that point then there is no need for a digital strategy, it is truly embedded and there is just a strategy. This is Ireland’s (digital) future.

Apple Donation Box

 

This is clever, I would have lots of apps to put in there – most were free though

Are we tweeting blindly?

I love twitter and have been tweeting for 4 years, 6 months, 2 weeks, 2 days, 3 hours, 54 minutes, 40 seconds (according to http://howlonghaveyoubeentweeting.com/). It has become an incredible resource for me, I pick up so much, have built relationships online (some people I have been lucky enough to meet offline). I would say that I will still suggest to our clients that we use it….but

I was at a DMI event this morning and when Stephen McIntyre (who seems like a really smart guy) was asked about how many active users were on twitter he said that the twitter policy was not to divide twitter users by region. The only exception they have made was the UK.

This scares me!

The last time I heard figures (and they were guesstimates) about users was a few years ago and the guesses were that there were 200,000 users in Ireland and 10% were active. That’s 20,000 people! If we assume that number has doubled and active users have doubled we are at 80,000 people – a decent number but not critical mass by any stretch.

As a guy who developed a strategy and trained 100 people in a telco on how to use twitter for their business I’m not going to throw the baby out with the bath water, but it does make you wonder are we tweeting blindly – with no real clue of what numbers are really engaged. Yes you can use social monitoring tools to look at who is talking about you etc…but you have to wonder why twitter aren’t being open about their numbers?

So what does all this mean?

Well like I said, I wouldn’t suggest ditch twitter – but maybe you need to work out if its right for you (now). Maybe a place to start is looking at your category – What competitors are up there? what are they up to? what levels of engagement are they experiencing? Perhaps it’s going to make sense for a certain part of your business (customer care – just by the way twitter suggest you dont say you are there 9-5 you should be there 24/7).

I think companies need to look at what twitter is doing for their business against the resources they are putting against it.

The questions answer opened up, for me, a whole host of questions. As a twitter user, I think it’s an amazing platform, but are we tweeting blindly?