needle: fan sourcing sales

In theory, Needle would be about taking customer advocacy to the next level, by partly 'fan-sourcing' both the sales and customer service platforms for online businesses.

Needle claims to be able to tap into an existing fan base, train it up to be able to sell your product or service, and then allows them to do it online from wherever they are.

They say:

'Customers want to know how your product applies to them. They want their questions answered live by an expert who speaks their language, and whose suggestions they can trust. Trained experts on the Needle platform engage customers by asking qualifying, relevant questions, such as "How will you be using this product?" and "What kind of other accessories do you already wear?" A Needle chat offers the equivalent of having a personal shopper giving real-time reviews and recommendations to your customers based on rich, interactive dialogues.'

I'm inclined to file this in the same drawer as alternative customer service channel Insidr, which we featured in December, and indicative of a genuine trend developing.

Another one to keep an eye on.

via Springwise.

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when community produced content becomes part of the brand story itself

Every brand or company is effectively a living, breathing #transmedia social narrative, whether they like it or not.

And better for them if they like it.

This means you BMW Motorcycles.

So while the innovation department at BMW claim to '..turn spectators into astonished fans' by finding new fangled complex ways to burn their logo onto the eyeballs of unsuspecting strangers in the name of 'engagement' some of the greatest brand-building content development and storytelling is going on right under their nose, created by fans.

A key tenet of any transmedia narrative being community produced content that becomes part of the brand story itself.

This video was compiled by the son of a BMW motorcycle owner, telling his story of how he decided to restore an old 1958 BMW R-50 in tribute to his father.

Here's his description:

This is a photo story of my father's 1958 BMW R50:
Boy meets girl, gets married, buys motorcycle. Rides it for 60,000 miles and has accident when wife is pregnant with 3rd child. (me) Wife orders motorcycle to be taken off road until all her children are grown and on their own. One day when bike is moved to a different storage location, son sits on bike and dreams of being a Jedi Master like his father. Couple grows old together and bike is not ridden for 40 years. Husband is now a grandfather of 7 and married for 50 years, when he dies of a stroke at age 71.
Son looks over the old rotting machine and finds note attached to it from his father to him. Son decides to restore the old 1958 BMW R-50 as a tribute to his father. With the help of many friends, especially Peter Nettesheim, world renowned BMW collector, bike is restored to look even better than it did when it was built in Germany.



He even paid $1000 dollars to Pearl Jam's publishing company in order to use the Eddie Vedder track as his soundtrack.

If BMW have any sense they will be all over this, supporting and amplifying as soon as possible, and Eddie Vedder will be personally handing back a grand to it's creator, and playing guitar for him in his living room.

Thanks to Tommy for pointing to this brandchannel article.

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I got 99 problems but #transmedia storytelling aint one

Jay-Z and Bing have collaborated to turn the corporate rapper's book launch into a nice bit of transmedia gameification, under the guidance of Droga5 New York.

According to the official Jay-Z website:

'Every single page of JAY-Z’s book will be released to the public before the book is in stores, with pages physically placed in locations related to their specific content. The immersive journey will take players from the projects in the Brooklyn neighborhood where JAY-Z grew up and the London streets where he found inspiration, to the building of his empire in Manhattan and beyond. Fans physically in those locations and those playing online with Bing will be offered never-before-experienced insights into JAY-Z’s highly personal process. In addition to high profile media placements around the world, DECODED‘S three hundred pages will be appearing in places and on objects that have never before been used as advertising. From pools and pool tables to bronze plaques and high-fashion clothing racks; a variety of unexpected surfaces will become the canvas for JAY-Z’s art.'

Point to bing.decodejay-z.com

Immersive, extractable, spreadable, drillable, playable, virtual, real-world, connecting with fans. You have to say it's got the lot.

Note: Jay-Z fans will have to be arsed to install Silverlight and use Bing, of course.

HT to Tommy.

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