Thursday, October 23, 2008
Sunday, October 19, 2008
are rewards the new 'free'?...
I must admit this slipped past my radar until recently.
Nectar, the UK supermarket loyalty card sceme, now gives you music 'free' as rewards.
Perks are the new free...or what trendwatching call perkonomics
'A new breed of perks and privileges, added to brands' regular offerings, is satisfying consumers’ ever-growing desire for novel forms of status and/or convenience, across all industries. The benefits for brands are equally promising: from escaping commoditization, to showing empathy in turbulent times.'
For certain artists and genres the 'perk' model suits better than the 'free' model of radiohead, prince et al.
The music is free but manages to retain it's 'value' in what could be described as a slightly jaded market of free everything (ie free just means 'worthless').
And i'm still trying to work out where this sits in Chris Andersons 'four kinds of free'.
For added value, fans who downloaded Dido's free track ‘Look No Further’ are entered into a prize draw to win a VIP trip with 4 nights accomm to a playback of her new album in NYC.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
think tank #2
Just in case i forget, this will be up there with my potential nominations for think tank next month.
sample from intro (and it's mostly all caps! - beware...)
'[TOPWARE] UNTIL YOU SUED ISABELLA [BARWINSKA] YOUR GAME AND BRAND WAS REALLY POPULAR.
THE SECOND YOU DID, YOU RUINED EVERYTHING.'
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
think tank - post of the month
The first Think Tank (a bit of background here) post of the month, initiated by Neil at Only dead Fish is Gestures and Communication from Chroma. Congrats.
excerpt:
'Thinking about media, social media and the decline of Grand Gestures in this way, it occurred to me that as the small gestures multiply, and the Grand Gestures wane (either by sheer media fragmentation that will render it harder to achieve, or by people just ignoring Grand Gestures all together), what will the communications model look like? What, if anything, will replace the Grand Gestures?'
Friday, October 10, 2008
the lotus economy
In simple terms, the thing I love most about all this interwebs business is nothing to do with technology or marketing or any of that stuff.
It's the connectivity and the discovery that fascinates me.
A random tweet by J_Mac pointing to this site by Unfrozen mind revealed an alladin's cave of ideas on creativity and innovation.
here's a sample from one of their 'vision' pieces 'The lotus economy'.
'This transition from economic value to economic creativity marks a paradigm shift from the “Box-Economy”, measured by the optimisation of moving boxes, thinking in boxes, putting people in boxes and exchanging boxes, to the “Lotus-Economy”, measured by personal transformation, creativity and innovation. It has manifested itself as a shift from an economy based on producing and buying things to an economy in which the primary unit of exchange is “meaning” where organisations become hothouses for ideas and the revolution of the human spirit.'
There was a joke when I was at art school between the graphic designers (them) and paineters and sculptors (us).
The designers would mock ' heh, you won't see many job ads saying 'sculptors wanted' when we walk out of here...'
I'm joining up dots with this, A Whole New Mind, buddhist economics etc.
Anything else?
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
pretty vacant
Oh dear.
Can't resist quoting J Rotten's old adversary, J Strummer esq:
'he who f*cks nuns, will later join the church..'
Death or Glory, 1979
customer-centric
I read something the other day, can't remember the exact quote but it concerned the early days of Amazon when they were struggling to turn any profits.
The head Amazon fella gathered the the team and advised; 'Lets not be scared of what the competition does, lets be scared of what our customers do - because that's who we have a relationship with'.
In hard times being customer-centric is more important than ever.
The supermarket we love to hate, Tesco.com, are being customer-centric and pro-active in helping their customers save a few quid off their shopping.
When shopping online you are given the chance to quickly and easily compare cheaper alternatives to the item you've selected.
Of course, it's win-win for Tesco as the cheaper alternative will often be their own brand.
It's not a big idea, it's a small one - every little helps though (is that Tesco or Asda - I can never remember)
Friday, October 03, 2008
get tossed
Get tossed by strongman legend Geoff Capes, nice little promo for social local business directory thing ratedpeople.
done by nonesenselondon
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
weiji
Here's something I wrote for the company blog.
Again, the normal swashbuckling randomness has been streamlined a bit.
Re: 'weiji' - i've always known that to describe a person from Scotland's second city (after Aberdeen), but there you go...
"Beat the downturn with Digital.
Apparently, the Chinese have a ‘word ‘ (it’s two symbols, actually) for crisis.
‘weiji’ translated means “danger and opportunity’.
It’s not true actually but let’s not let minor quibbles get in the way of a good opening line.
As we enter deeper into tough financial times companies instinctive reaction is to pull back from experimentation and innovation and shore up on the tried and tested.
Playing it safe until we ride out the storm.
That seems a bit too risky to me.
Why? Because that’s what all the competition will be doing too.
And you will still be in there amongst the clutter and noise.
Maybe not all though? Perhaps some of the competition are embracing the ‘weiji’.
Now , more than ever, is the time to be looking at fully engaging in a meaningful dialogue and relationship with your customers (and employees).
And there’s ways to do this with digital.
Use Existing Platforms
Video platforms such as You Tube, photo hosting on Flickr and various blogging software platforms are all there waiting for your content.
The sharing nature of these platforms means that – if your content is engaging and compelling enough – the audience will spread it for you.
Join the conversation
Your customers and employees are worried about how the economic downturn is going to affect them.
And they are already talking about it, online, amongst themselves.
Writing your own blog, and contributing to others is a way to establish and maintain open channel of communication between you and your customers .
Be authentic, transparent - and most importantly, human - and you’ll reap the benefits long after this recession has gone.
A simple Google Alert can keep you in the loop as to where your company is being spoken about online, and you can be ready to respond.
Try different stuff
Jumping from campaign to campaign, promotion to promotion is time consuming and costly for you; and confusing for the customer. OK, there are spikes around TV or banner campaigns but what happens in between?
It all goes dark.
Is a 0.1% click through really worth the bother?
Brand ‘awareness’ is no longer a valid or useful measurement.
Branding happens through the actual behaviors of your business, and how you involve people in that experience.
Look at ways to make the experience ubiquitous - spread across as many touch points as possible.
Think about where your audience is and go and meet them there.
With something interesting, useful and engaging, of course. Not just ads.
Now, more than ever they are tuning out from advertising messages.
The nature of the web allows you to solicit feedback from your audience and keep tickling, squeezing and tweaking your content to keep it relevant.
Think about utility
Instead of interrupting people while they are trying to do something else, as most advertising does, think about to be useful in people’s lives. What are the tools or activities your brand can facilitate that can make a difference in your customers lives?
What do we mean when we say ‘customer service’?
Serve your customers. Be there with a human voice when they need you.
Neilsen and Edelman research suggests that upwards of 70% of people trust recommendations from their peers far above advertising, when considering products or services.
Think about your top 20% of your customers. What kind of ways can you serve them that will encourage them to promote your products and services to their friends, colleagues and family?
Look to the web for insights.
Social Networks can be rich vein of insight for what your customers are actually saying and thinking, right now. Watch, listen and act.
Embrace the ‘weiji’ - the opportunity. Take this chance to make a meaningful connection with your customers.
It could be the start of a life-long romance.
Eaon Pritchard, Head of Digital.
Customer service?
Call me anytime: 079 7901 6084
Or drop me a line: epritchard AT geronimo.co.uk"
Friday, September 26, 2008
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Friday, September 19, 2008
there may be trouble ahead....
Excellent thoughts around the current financial meltdown and ting this week by Charles and Neil.
What are things going to look like when we come out of the other side?
I've been checking out E.F. Schumacher's classic essay on buddhist economics. More and more it's starting to resonate - not as a dusty piece of history, but as a way ahead.
quote:
'For the modern economist this is very difficult to understand. He is used to measuring the 'standard of living' by the amount of annual consumption, assuming all the time that a man who consumes more is 'better off' than a man who consumes less. A Buddhist economist would consider this approach excessively irrational: since consumption is merely a means to human well-being, the aim should be to obtain the maximum of well-being with the minimum of consumption.'
Charles says:
'One thing is for sure I'm sick to death of the word growth being used as if it's a sign of success.'
Marketing and economics are subject the law of impermanence - ie they pass through the following stages: birth, growth, maturity and death - just as humans are.
If we agree that innovation is often the outcome of 'conflicts' - the bigger the conflict ergo the bigger the innovation.
Like the fella once said 'if you don't like change you'll like irrelevence even less'
No-one's gonna argue we're not in the midst of a pretty major conflict at the moment so I'm looking forward to what's round the corner...
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
whats the story?...
This week's NME features a songbook with the chords and lyrics to four new tracks from Oasis's forthcoming album, 'Dig Out Your Soul'.
NME are inviting readers to upload their own versions of the songs in a competition.
The winners will be taken to a date on the Oasis world tour, somewhere in the world.
Add to this, last weeks activity where New York street musicians (that's buskers to us) were orchestrated to perform songs from the album around subway stations in NY (see clip below).
Unconfirmed rumours suggest that the next Oasis foray into 2.0 culture and brand participation will be a crowdsourcing initiative to find a hairdresser to fix Liam's barnet.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
liverpool daily post social media experiment
I came across this interesting audio case study by markmedia, which features an interview with Mark Thomas, editor of the Liverpool Daily Post newspaper.
The LDP is a business focussed daily paper who have recently experimented with using Twitter, liveblogging and generally engaging their readership in the social media space.
Among the topics discussed we get Editor, Mark Thomas's views on:
- The risks in opening up the inner workings of a news room.
- Unexpected benefits of engaging with the readership.
Markmedia's summary in presentation form is copied here, below.
And the audio file can be listened to or downloaded at the markmedia blog.
Monday, September 15, 2008
jesus is my friend
Just in case you're one of the few who havn't seen/heard this little number...
Can't get it out of my head.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
old punks never die....they go and work for apple
We took notice as this week's launch of the new ipod nano unfurled.
Each available variant is illustrated with an album pic in the screen relating to each colour.
The array of current pod-friendly harmless popsters - Clavin harris for yellow, Interpol for red, James Blunt for blue etc etc - is shamelessly disrupted by the inclusion, in the pink model, of...not
'would you?/wouldn't you?' brat poppette 'Pink' (as you may have predicted) but none other than...gnarled, drug-addled grandads of glam-punk ...
THE MIGHTY NEW YORK DOLLS,
THE TOTAL AND UTTER KINGS OF RAWK'N'ROLL AND GREATEST BAND IN HISTORY.
thanks John.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
google commemorates the end of the world
nice to see google's traditional 'seasonal-home-page-looks' celebrating one-off events too...
the end of the world for example.
Sunday, September 07, 2008
i met the walrus
This is amazing.
"In 1969, a 14-year-old Beatle fanatic named Jerry Levitan, armed with a reel-to-reel tape deck, snuck into John Lennon's hotel room in Toronto and convinced John to do an interview about peace. 38 years later, Jerry has produced a film about it. Using the original interview recording as the soundtrack, director Josh Raskin has woven a visual narrative which tenderly romances Lennon's every word in a cascading flood of multipronged animation. Raskin marries the terrifyingly genius pen work of James Braithwaite with masterful digital illustration by Alex Kurina, resulting in a spell-binding vessel for Lennon's boundless wit, and timeless message."
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
Best Practices in Social Media
Mitch Joel - Six Pixels of Separation - has initiated a meme around best practices in social media, i've come across it via servantofchaos.
heres the thinking so far:
Consistency (Mitch Joel)
Embrace your audience (Jason Falls)
Listen and add value (Kipp Bodnar)
Listen (Chris Brogan)
Be human (Kristie Wells)
Reach out to others (Morriss Partee)
Honesty and respect (Paisano)
Watch what people actually do (Liz Strauss)
Provide a platform (Beth Harte)
Tell a story (servant of chaos)
Permission to Play.
I'm adding this. It's a small idea we've been mulling around here lately
around the notion of 'permission to play'
The number of marketing managers etc we speak to who ask 'how can we get into Facebook?' or 'how can we build community round our brand?'
The key for brands is; to know where you have the right to be.
Apart from a few big-boys the blunt fact is that in most cases your brand is not actually welcome within social networks.
Knowing where you have permission to play comes from watching, listening and then, if you can identify a way to help, encourage or empower, there may be a role for you.
I'm tagging Neville Hobson, Benjamin Ellis, and toby moore, as we are all talking about some of this stuff at Social Media in Business in October.
1. Blog it.
2. Link to Mitch’s blog
3. Tag it “social media marketing best practices”
4. And then tag someone else with the meme.
marks out of ten? zero.
As Stan quite rightly points out.
'Have these people never seen a Bond film?
It's double O seven. Not zero zero seven.'
at last...twitter for tv!
Gah! I went blue in the face trying to sell the idea of a Twitter tv widget to TiVO, Directv in the US earlier this year, but to no avail. Maybe my pitch was too narrow... Seemed like a no-brainer to me and ,as it goes, some others now agree.
I've just spotted that Yahoo and Intel have got together to create a 'Widget channel', which will, according to the press release..
The Widget Channel will be powered by the Yahoo! Widget Engine, a fifth-generation applications platform that will enable TV watchers to interact with and enjoy a rich set of "TV Widgets," or small Internet applications designed to complement and enhance the traditional TV watching experience and bring content, information and community features available on the Internet within easy reach of the remote control. The Widget Channel will also allow developers to use JAVASCRIPT®, XML*, HTML* and Adobe Flash® technology to write TV applications for the platform, extending the power and compatibility of PC application developer programs to TV and related CE devices.
Among the initial applications mooted are an ebay widget (quel surprise!) and of course the ubiquitous Twitter.
"Transforming television into an interactive device for sharing real-time updates among friends, family, and other trusted sources is an exciting prospect that extends Twitter's reach into an important arena."
Biz Stone, Co-founder of Twitter.
There's some dissent/scepticism of course, i'm curious to see what devlops though.
Any thoughts?
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
design the cover for the next Soma records compilation
Glasgow's Soma Records have launched a design competition to create the cover art for its 2008 compilation album.
I've been rediscovering some early 90's techno via blip fm, Dave Clarke, Luke Vibert and god knows what else. Slam and Soma were, of course, very much part of that vibe and continue to innovate in that vein to this day, although they were probably second to Bellboy as Scotland's most important tech-house label ;)
Details and material to get working on the cover can found here.
I'm a bit late picking up on this though, time is tight, submissions are being accepted up until until September 6.
What are the prizes, i hear you ask!:
- a copy of the compilation to be released in December
- every album that has come out on the label during 2008,
- t-shirts
- free 6-month subscription to Soma digital downloads
spotted at flowmi
Monday, September 01, 2008
re: the first law of mass media
In another instance of pure synchronicity I read Seth Godin's post The first law of mass media on Friday morning and the same day was flummoxed by an element of a presentation i heard during a planning session for a car client.
The presenter was excited about the possibility of 'interactive' video (can't fault him there) however the examples showed were 'robot' driven pieces where the character in the vid 'answers' questions the user types in (from some kind of key word recognition gizmo that triggers answers from an FAQ database)
I questioned whether a robot answering was indeed better than a real person - there then folowed some debate about whether 'consumers' found it easy/benefitial to talk to 'real' car dealers.
If this relationship is percieved as broken then surely the task is repair the human relationship?
Seth says:
The public works tirelessly to flee to actual interactions between real people, and our organizations work even more diligently (and with more leverage) to corporatise and anonymise the interactions.
The irony, of course, is that an organization with guts can go in the opposite direction and win.
Friday, August 29, 2008
blip.fm review for Marketing magazine
Here's the 'Digital view' piece I wrote for Marketing magazine about 2 weeks ago. They've still not published it so I figure I should at least let it out here before it's too out of date...
You'll notice the usual freewheelin' style was toned down for a more genteel audience ;)
Blip.fm
Have you seen Blip.fm, the ‘Twitter for music’ service?
That’s it in a nutshell: a tool for suggesting songs - and sharing your story about them - within your network. In true micro-blogging style, blip messages use 150 characters or less.
Like an non-stop request show Blip will grabs songs suggested by your friends (dj’s) from music search engines Seeqpod and Skreemr. Likewise your ‘listeners’ can hear to the songs you post.
Whereas Twitter asks ‘what are you doing, right now?’ Blip.fm asks ‘what are you listening to?’
As an added bonus each ‘blip’ contains a link to Amazon’s music store where the song can actually be purchased.
It's not essentially a new idea - streaming via your friends is around with the likes of LastFM and iLike as well as ‘mix-tape’ services like Mixwit and Muxtape – but Blip’s appeal centres around it’s ‘micro’ nature and seamless integration FriendFeed, Twitter, Pownce, and Tumblr.
As the establishment music business keep looking for the magic formula that will bring the multi-million sellers of yesteryear Blip’s creators, US indie ‘label’ Fuzz.com have embraced the fact that the traditional means of distributing music, and their associated business models, are no longer viable.
Blip wins by empowering the artists (any band is free to load their music into the network) and tapping into existing communities of music fans as the distribution channel.
There’s still some rough edges; the slightly spammy nature of invite process, for one and Blip needs a decent database plugged in for the retail model to have a chance. This is potentially the big opportunity for record labels or, indeed, retailers (HMV? Zavvi?).
Blip is browser-bound at the time of writing but the inevitable Adobe Air desktop app and mobile widget will only add to it’s appeal. One to watch…
Thursday, August 28, 2008
warte bis september
Nils is waiting until September.
You can call him on +49 4022 611 161 to find out why, ask and he'll answer in any language.
You can follow on twitter too.
Minimal and cool as.
hat-tip to charles.
Friday, August 22, 2008
link-love
Here's some linkage for some of the other UK based blogs which are keeping me company in the lower reaches of the AdAge Power chart.
A bit of linkety-link could do us all a favour, eh chaps and chapettes?
noticing - marketing
carbon graffiti - email
prwordsmith - pr
engage - seo
red rocket - pr
yet another planning blog - strategy
creative in london - ad creative
25 letters - digital strategy
ginger and proud - pr
offer and acceptance - pr
brand gym - brand
the cowshed - short films
I await your response...
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
life instructions pt2: 'how to be an explorer'
i'm collecting these little 'windows to the soul' now.
this one found via makemarketinghistory original by keri smith
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
war on terror board game
Interesting story around Zavvi, the entertainment megastore, who ordered 5000 copies of a 'controversial' boardgame called 'War on Terror' and then reneged (on the very day of release ) on their agreement with the manufacturers to stock the game - sending the makers onto the verge of going under.
After much to and fro Zavvi agreed to stump up for the order and return the stock so the makers who then decided to give away the surplus copies free outside Zavvi's flagship store on Oxford St, thus turning potential financial ruin into word of mouth PR that money can't buy.
And as 'War on Terror' say 'Why not let the public decide if it's 'unsuitable' for them?'
The full story with all the vendor presentations etc here.
UPDATE:
2,500 copies of the game given away in under 1 hour at lunchtime today, with a line right round into tottenham court road. I managed to wrestle through the crowd to grab this pic of the distribution team with attendant news crews, tv bods.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
made in queens - sound systems for bmx bikes
wisdom of crowds
As the new season is upon us...
'The fans make their views clear after yet another goalkeeping error.'
thanks to Al for this.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
nietzche marketing
exerpts from a twitter conversation with @zeroinfluencer
zeroinfluencer: Brands are deities not entities, so have to pray for help. Brands need to be nihilists so that people can prey on them.
me: @zeroinfluencer'Brands need to be nihilists' is it a kind of nietzsche marketing?
zeroinfluencer: @EaonP The nietzsche planner "I speak on behalf of the void, formerly known as your customers."
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
the boat goes mobile
You may have noticed the 'mobile' button over there on the right sidebar.
Yes, this blog is now fully mobile, coutesy of mofuse
So to get 'the boat' on the move simply point your phone's browser to http://theboat.mofuse.mobi/
Monday, August 11, 2008
unified list of top 100 novels
As a list geek i was interested to scan this list of top 100 novels, compiled by neil bowers
Here's his methodology which seems fairly credible to me.
heres the top 10, not too many surprises:
1. Nineteen Eighty-Four George Orwell
2. The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald
3. The Grapes Of Wrath John Steinbeck
4. The Catcher in the Rye J.D. Salinger
5. Catch-22 Joseph Heller
6. One Hundred Years Of Solitude Gabriel GarcÃa Márquez
7. Gone with the Wind Margaret Mitchell
8. Ulysses James Joyce
9. On The Road Jack Kerouac
10. The Lord of the Rings J.R.R. Tolkien
The first novel I recognise of recent years pops up at no 40 - Memoirs Of A Geisha by Arthur Golden.
Thursday, August 07, 2008
search online for 'i am'
what's wrong with this picture?
i particularly like the 2nd sponsored link.
'i am a lippi selk bag...i am awesome'
Steven King's 'N' - mobile graphic novel
More widget-ness, as Stephen King's latest novel 'N' is previewed as 25 video webi-isodes, as a pre-lude to what is believed to be 'the first comic-style book adaptation specifically developed and produced for viewing on today's most popular small screen platforms' ie mobile devices.
Ideal accompaniment to the horror of your commute?
full story here
adidas/ultravioletsound free album widgetyness
Hot on the heels of Converse's ultra-cool 'My drive thru' free music download featuring a track by N*E*R*D and Julian Casablancas from the Strokes comes this Adidas Originals 'add value through content' incentive featuring (marginally less cred) dance/pop puppets UltravioletSound.
Via the 'Ultraviolet Sound widget' - which fans are encouraged to place the widget on their myspace, facebooks for maximumum 'viral-ness' - they get access to a free 11 track UltravioletSound album and 30% discount on Adidas Originals clobber (as worn by the band - au naturelement)
via greasyguide
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
scenes from an italian restaurant
Carmine's - a small traditional Italian cafe/restaurant in my old home town of Aberdeen - small menu, but brilliant at two things – pizza and pasta.
I first went there about nearly 20 years ago with the now MrsP. After our lunch Carmine told me 'this girl is a-nice, you bring her again, not that other one' (refering to another not so polite girl i had brought in the previous week!)
The reasons we love Carmine's are:
- the tinny cassette player blaring out Opera...
- Carmine does the cooking and serving himself while singing along...
- We were poor so Carmine brought sneaky glasses of wine (it's unlicensed) when we couldn't afford to bring our own in...
- The size of portion you were given was directly proportionate to your own size (huge Calzone for me)...
- Carmine comes over and shouts at you if you don't finish all your pizza...
- Despite being a regular for 10 years I was still called 'Ronnie' even though he knew fine what my real name was...
- Potential customers who only wanted coffee were chased out of the door...
- 'Poison' coffee (sneaky Sambuka!)...
- The cafe was across the road from the main Theatre in Aberdeen. The cast of whatever was on were often in there between performances (the walls were covered in signed photographs)...
- He closed at 7pm - daytime trade only so no bother from drunks etc...
lessons for marketing?
Carmine never advertised, ever - All w-o-m.
The turned-on-it's-head 'customer service' was legendary - people lined up just to get shouted at.
The one-size-fits-one approach to portions!
He never pandered. If you don't like it go to pizza hut.
People love authenticity.
The opposite of great is not 'bad', it's average. Average is invisible.
Anyway, I heard that Carmine is retiring this year. It will be a sad day when the last customer is chased out the door.
apologies for the blantant use of a Billy Joel reference as the title (I'm on a rediscovery of early Billy Joel, it's a phase that will pass, i'm sure).
Saturday, August 02, 2008
Friday, August 01, 2008
guinness viral
via utalkmarketing
A spokesman said, “Please be assured that Guinness is in no way associated with this video, and has approached YouTube to have it removed'
yeah, right...
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Monday, July 28, 2008
'disposable' phones?
Bic - the makers of disposable pens and razors - and Orange France have introduced a disposable mobile phone.
hat-tip to brand dna
When we say 'disposable' I'm supposing that means 'use it and chuck it away'.
Not strictly true here as the phones can be topped up after the initial 'free' 60mins have been used.
With these phones Bic have kinda got it right as a brand extension but they have got it way wrong if they are not 100% recyclable.
Or maybe we don't actually care as it seems that only 3% of mobile phones are recycled anyway.
thought for monday - here's to the ladies...
'It is my fact-based conviction that women's increasing power - with their leadership skills and purchasing power - is the strongest and most dynamic force at work in the [American] economy today....even bigger than the internet.'
Tom Peters, Re-imagine! Business Excellence in a Disruptive Age(2003)
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
have tivo and amazon unearthed the holy grail of interactive tv?
There's been umpteen retail models developed around interactive tv over the years, none of them have paid off to any great degree as far as I can remember.
And I should know, I've crashed and burned with quite a few.
TiVO may just have cracked it though with the just announced extension of their partnership with Amazon.
For a wee while, TiVo users have been able to download movies and tv shows via Amazon’s digital on demand video store. Now that experiment has been extend to include other products.
'Product purchase' as the new feature is known - available on Tuesdays initially - links to products guests are plugging on the likes of Oprah and David Letterman.
If the viewer chooses to buy something during a show, TiVo records the rest of the programme so the viewer can pick up where they left off (as you would expect) - but here's the nifty bit. TiVo users are also able to save their items in their Amazon account basket and finish up later.
Taking the web and TV and weaving together their strengths?
The real holy grail however will come when the product purchase feature rolls out during ads (assuming they are not being skipped) and where shows feature product placement.
NY Times article here. Thanks to my old chum Brian at TiVO NY who alerted us.
Monday, July 07, 2008
special k summer challenge
Amid the kerfuffle around the Heinz NY deli style mayo ad I must say this one for the Special K Summer challenge is potentially far more 'dangerous'.
- To recap, there has been an outcry from certain reactionary quarters over the Heinz ad which features a 'family' at breakfast. The place of 'mother' is taken by a big NY deli style chef character who prepares the family's sandwiches. The dad gives the 'mum' a kiss at the end of the ad. Heinz pulled the ad temporarily after complaints from conservatives that the ad promotes homosexuality -
No outcry, however, over this Kelloggs ad which features a woman hiding herself to avoid being photographed on holiday, as she is embarrassed to be pictured in a red swimsuit.
The problem with this scenario, as you will see, is - she is not fat. Not even chubby. In fact, by all accounts she's pretty fit.
According to eating disorders information site Disordered Eating the number of people receiving treatment for anorexia or bulimia in the UK is around 90,000, while many more people have eating disorders undiagnosed, in particular those with bulimia nervosa.
This kind of thing does not help.
Saturday, July 05, 2008
mediacamplondon
On the off chance you're winding down friday afternoon with a quick trawl through your feed reader and chance upon this post, a quick reminder that MediaCampLondon is on tomorrow (Saturday) at:
SAE Institute North Road, Islington, London, N7 9DP
2mins from Caledonian Road tube.
from 10am.
Registration is still open at the wiki
and at the time of writing there are still a couple of slots open for sessions.
Friday, July 04, 2008
catch the pidgeon
spotted in barber shop window off Wardour St.
04/07 UPDATE
My eagle eyed brother, Al, (see comments) has spotted this is in fact a take off of a piece by Weegie artist David Shrigley, heres his original below.
Among his other notable credits are; the title sequence for the feature film HALLAM FOE and album cover art for the likes of Malcolm Middleton. 
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
life instructions
this is great. don't remember where i found it, if anyone knows (and if are there others like it?) please let me know.
billy boy and predictably irrational
The latest developments in energy drinks move the focus from sports to other energy sapping activities.
Among the myriad of products in the sex-drive boosting drinks market are:
SexDrive (does what it says on the tin), Slumpbuster and...wait for it...Deep Throat.
The one that caught my eye (courtesy of trendhunter) is Billy Boy (see pic).
Each can comes wrapped with an individual condom attached.
The German firm that makes it are actually in the condom business so the drink is an added extra.
With that in mind I was interested to hear behavioural economist Dan Ariely talking about his new book 'Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions' on a recent episode of business book podcast Foreword Thinking. Among the questions asked in the book are; 'Do you know why we sometimes find ourselves excitedly buying things we don’t really need?'
Airley conducted various experiments in the research including some fairly unsavoury research around how sexually aroused male college students decision making processes were altered by their state of arousal.
Note: One handed computer keyboards were integral to the experiment.
According to review site bevnet Billy Boy doesn't actually taste that great but when theres a job to be done taste is the least of considerations...
Thursday, June 26, 2008
joss stone - new marketing guru
Content wants to be free, piracy can be a business model. And pop-soul karaoke star Joss Stone agrees.
'Music should be shared. I believe that this is how music turned into like, some crazy business. The only part about music that I dislike is the business that is attached to it. Now, if music is free, then there is no business, there is just music...
...As long as you come to my show, and have a great time listening to the live show it’s totally cool, I don’t mind'
She understands that the tour-to-promote-album music biz model is now flipped on its head and a digital, easily distributed (ie shared) product is now the marketing for the live experience.
And who knows, make a special cd in a nice box with a free tshirt or something and fans may even buy the physical product too.
joss quote via mashable
how to do merchandising
from rob mosley's blog
This is how you do merchandising:
- catch people's eyes
- demonstrate the product's key feature (its big)
- don't put 'orrible big signs up that scream prices/benefits at people
thought for the day
This excerpt from 'How to Become a Social Media Expert' by CS Penn struck a chord.
'..the measurements that count most to you will likely have nothing to do with friends, followers, betas, or invitations, but with differences and positive changes made, accomplishments logged'
full article here
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
You talk the talk. Do you walk the walk?
As some of you may already know, I'm off to pastures new having resigned form my current job a few weeks ago. I've got another 5 weeks or so to go before I embark on a new phase of my career. More details on that a bit nearer the time, but suffice to say I'm very excited about the challenge that awaits.
One of the questions I was asked during the interview process was around this idea of 'how [am I] going to implement [my ideas] in [the new role]?'
The simple answer is 'walk the talk'.
In this business, how can we expect our clients to embrace the changes in how media is produced, distributed, consumed etc if we (in agencies) don't demonstrate this ourselves?
It's kind of what Jaffe calls 'use new marketing to prove new marketing'.
And what better way to walk the talk, than in a pair of shiny gold hand-made brogues from Church's in Piccadilly?
I'm a size 11, by the way, in case they are reading.
carling 'barslide'
I liked this point of purchase iphone app for Carling lager from BMB.
Its a skill based game where players attempt to 'slide' a pint to their mate along the bar by tilting their mobile use the handset’s inbuilt 3 dimentional motion detection. A successful slide wins an iPint, which fills up the screen just like a real pint. You can then ‘drink’ the virtual pint.
hat-tip to @jamiec.
UPDATE:
Sorry it looks like BMB have taken their link down.
Monday, June 23, 2008
variations on a meme
There's a mini-meme a-brewing round the Droga5/Net 10 - what is the role of the agency? - ad-google-purchase - conundrum stirred up by Alan Wolk, elaborated on by Cam Beck, amongst others and mentioned here a couple of posts back.
To recap: Droga5 make cool viral and :30 for US mobile operator Net10. Net10 claim in ads that other providers are evil. Cursory googling of Net10 customer reviews reveals Net10 customer service etc to be pretty average at best in the eyes of users.
Many of the comments on Scamp (where the debate started) reckon agency make ads, duff products are nowt to do with us.
Alan says: 'too many agencies can’t even be bothered to use Google to see if the product actually lives up to the brief. Can’t be bothered to realize that for most non packaged-goods items, the consumer pattern is now ad -Google-purchase.'
Semi anonymous commenter bg adds:
'I think one group escapes blame here: brands. [Brands] are just as responsible for the fragmentation of advertising and marketing responsibilities as anyone...'
Mulling this around on the train home while listening to Elvis Costello's classic '89 album 'Spike' a lyrical couplet resonated somewhat.
'One day you're going to have to face
A deep dark truthful mirror
And it's going to tell you things that I still love
you too much to say'
Elvis Costello 'Deep dark truthful mirror'
We recently worked with [Brand X] on a project involving user generated content.
The project ended up being compromised a bit by the reluctance of the client to incorporate some of the (most basic) social elements to the project. The reason for this was; that some students had conducted experiments with [Brand X] product - the results cast a shadow on the integrity of some the the claims about the product.
[Brand X] then had to take a serious look at their product (and into the deep dark truthful mirror)and get it fixed.
Seems to me the same connundrum here.
Brands need to be aware that not only is the adage 'you're brand is not what you say it is, it's what google says it is' ringing true - its also what google potentially says it is once the eager pro-sumers have finished conducting their experiments.
Wii tennis at Waterloo station
Spotted these Wii tennis stations set up on the concourse at Waterloo this morning - at the start of Wimbledon week.
Part experiential, part 'tryvertising' (i guess it's semi contextual as Wimbledon bound punters will be going via Waterloo).
I hope South West Trains will be providing the Wii demonstrators with free strawberries and cream as a thankyou for keeping irate travellers occupied during the inevitable cancellations and delays.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Is there any point to great 'advertising' if the product is flawed/suspect/crap?
In this post on Scamp about Net10's 'evil' campaign - featuring firstly that clip of the mobile phone in the microwave and then the full on cartoon tv spots - there was much debate about the whys and wherefores of the ad idea and execution but, for me, it only gets going when commenter Alan Wolk aka tangerinetoad wades in with this nugget.
'I'd like to suggest, as an experiment, that all of you who like this commercial and/or campaign do what the average consumer will do upon seeing it, which is to go over to Google and enter this phrase:
net10 phone service reviews
Then click on the first couple of results. Including the one from Amazon.com
You'll quickly see why the serious problem with these ads, and why, given the online comments about Net10s customer service (or lack thereof) they probably have a net negative effect.'
The response from other comments was along the lines of 'what can the agency do if the product is broken? we just do the advertising?'
This approach to advertising has had it. Finished.
It's basic insight stuff. Anyone can now search for real reviews and get a picture of the reality of the product. The agency should do this first then review the strategy to address real perceptions from real customers (or ex-customers).
This is not brain surgery.
But that might interfere with the making of smartypants ads to win industry back-slapping awards. Which is sadly often the case.
Don't get me wrong, the 'ads' are great - just for the wrong product it would seem.
And thats where it all falls over.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
thought for the day
'If you dont like change, you're going to like irrelevance even less'
General Eric Shinseki, Chief of Staff, US Army
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
hey! bo diddley - RIP
Goodbye to a rock'n'roll legend - originator of the Bo Diddley beat, probably more famous due to the likes of The Who's Magic Bus than his own tunes.
According to punky lore, while on tour with the Clash in 79, Bo let his guitar sleep on the bunk in the bus while he kipped in the chair, re-inforcing the legend with Strummer and co.
Sunday, June 01, 2008
book club - mark e smith 'renegade'
'I hope this book turns out like Mein Kampf for the Hollyoaks generation'
Ive just read this.
Less an autobiography and more a loosely collated stream of ramblings stitched together and interspersed with prose ‘chapters’
It’s a a whisky, beer and sulphate soaked journey through 30-odd albums, umpteen band members, fighting, prison, ballet, dead popes, voting Tory, and reading the scores on Grandstand.
It’s not the definitive biography – it’s what Smith wants you to know.
Threre’s a lot in common with Dylan’s ‘Chronicles’ though Smith would baulk at that as Dylan is one of the sacred cows who get’s a mauling.
None shall escape the judgement as MES lets rip at everyone from Elton John, John Lennon to Jo Whiley and anyone at all from Brighton – but with a fluency and brutal honesty that persuades you to go along with even the most scathing and unreasonable theories.
To be fair though I drew the line at the idea that the Glitter Band were more influential than the Sex Pistols.
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