Lazy Sunday Afternoons

In the spirit of lazy Sunday afternoons, I'm taking a break and chillin' out for a couple of hours. Enjoy...

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Hollywood My Little Pony

I StumbleUpon this site yesterday. This is just one of the Hollywood My Little Pony's that they have. Star Wars, Batman and Robin, Edward Scissor Hands and He-Man are just some of the Pony's available. Just bare in mind, they're $330 each!

2009 AMPC Awards

A huge congratulations to everyone in Cybercom who worked on the Bushmills Trek and Powerade 'Never Give Up' campaigns - both of which walked away from last nights APMC Awards in the Shelbourne hotel with wins. Awesome stuff for all the guys involved.

Also a congratulations to the guys in Strategem for wins with Danone's 'Ireland's Happiest Babies' and Captain Morgan's 'Got a Little Captain in You?!'

Social Media Connections 2

Following on from my earlier post on Social Media Connections, I was having a look to see what brands and businesses are really doing out there when it comes to Social Media. Facebook, of course, is scattered with brands, businesses, products and people, some by individuals and some by the companies themselves. Having been involved in several Social Media integrated campaigns on both Facebook and Bebo, I familiar with how this works, and it's clear that for a lot of the activity out there, it is after thoughts more then planned, integrated and result-driven activity.

The truth is that the vast majority of business are still treating Social Media as a buzzterm, as something that needs to be included in digital campaigns because "it's what the kids are doing these days". Anyone with half a braincell can tell that's not the way to approach any digital marketing channel. Digital provides marketing channels unique in their ability to be tracked, optimised and reported on. Generally all metrics are available, and all of them should be used. So what am I getting at?

Basically, very few people get it. When it comes to making social connections between brands and consumers, there are very few good examples to quote. The best example of late is Powerade's Never Give Up. A social connection is a two way communication. If it's one way and is just you blasting marketing messages at people it's definitely not social. Never Give Up as a campaign, created real interaction with the public and this drove overall results.

Surely there are others out there doing similar? Well another interesting example I found was of BMW in China. BMW has launched an exclusive social network for its drivers in China. Not a Facebook Page or Bebo profile, but it's own social network. There new site is designed to engage with China’s 150,000 BMW drivers. This is a worldwide first for the brand in an effort to bolster brand loyalty. According to Brand Republic, BMW chose to build its own site instead of creating pages on existing social networks to avoid privacy and security setbacks, and to have the autonomy to build the network according to the technical needs of them and its users.

But, is this a good idea? It would seem to me that what BMW have done here is to create a new Bebo with BMW branding. Aside from blasting its marketing messages at users, it doesn't serve to connect with those users. I don't deny that there is potential goodwill for a service that is being offered for free but is there any potential to actually connect with these people. I don't think so. So here is an example of a campaign which will never do any more then provide a platform for Interest Generators to connect. Potential brand benefit is ultimately very low.

Social Media Connections

I have been thinking a lot lately about how people connect with each other on the internet. Who are your Facebook "friends"? Who do you follow on Twitter? Who subscribes to your Blog? As more and more companies start to enter the world of social media, as a way to connect with their customers, it is extremely important to understand what type of connection they are forming. By far the best explanation I have found is by Peter Hershberg, who outlined three types of online connection in his article What Social Media Means for Search. They are:

1. Direct Connections: People connected by real world relationships.
2. Interest Generators: People who share an interest but don't actually know each other.
3. Experience Sharers: People who do or have done something that interests you.

This makes a lot of sense when you think about it. On Facebook, Twitter et al. I have my friends - people who I have known for years. However, I also have people who I have 'connected with' online through blogging and work etc. - I don't necessarily know these people but I interact with them regularly and share advice and experiences. Finally I also have various events, brands and so on - these represent things that I have an interest in in the lead up to, but quickly become disinterested in once they pass.

For a business there is clearly a hierarchy of connections here. The last, the Experience Sharer, is the easiest to create but the most difficult to maintain. The second, the Interest Generator, is more difficult to initiate but once created can be sustained longer without a huge amount of effort. Finally, the first, the Direct Connection, is by far the most difficult to form, but perhaps the easiest to maintain. By actually becoming a friend to your customer you are in a position where not only will they go out of their way to find you but they will promote and defend you. This is a level of trust that every brand should aspire to.

In-Banner Slider

Spotted this ad and thought the slider function was really slick. It's a simple ad but the coverview-style rotation of the images is really nice. I think it's really important to recognise how an otherwise relatively boring ad can be completely picked up with the simplest addition. I would bet that the engagement times for this ad were hugely inflated then if it had not had the slider.

Trekking to Everest

In case no one saw this - Cybercom are sending two staff members to Everest!

The first trekker, Richie, departed today on what will surely be a grueling journey to the roof of the world. Leaving Dublin today, Richie flies (via London) to Kathmandu. From there he flies on to Lukla, and then treks to Namche Bazaar. After that it's "just" a 25km trek to the South Base Camp.

Fair play Richie - here's hoping you all the best! Good luck mate.