I’ve been to quite a few blogger events; I also work in social media for a living, so that means we run events where we get bloggers/tweeters etc along to experience what we are trying to sell. What we talk about, a lot, is value exchange. How are we going to get people, who are not paid media, to write about the product…what value can we give them that is a valid exchange for a post/tweet/video etc that we are after. We spend a lot of time thinking about the best way to do this, so maybe I’m a little bit more critical than the average attendee?

The attendee was partly self-selecting; before Christmas, the various Virgin social media properties sent out a tease to sign up for a mysterious event in January. One of the people I connect with on Twitter brought it to my attention. My curiosity was piqued, as this seemed to be a different way to get people to blogger events.

• they asked for details of Twitter accounts, blogs, Google+ and Facebook etc. It was a very easy process and was seemless on the mobile version. So far, so good
• The self-selecting thing is a good idea, if you are after people who are going to be enthusiastic about writing about the event

The proposed attendees received an email last week confirming the time, date, location and the product. Now we knew it was for Virgin Money and that Branson would be present. They emphasised that we needed to confirm we were going, as we would not get in without our name on the list. They also confirmed we’d be able to get something warm to drink, as the event was going to be taking place outside. They appeared to have a great response, as there was talk about 200 or so people.

• There was no list. There was not even a general check to see if you were supposed to be at the event. Just a wave into the room
• I could have had soup, tea or coffee, but no water or soft drink, nothing else if you did not want caffeine or liked tomato soup. A jug of water would have been good – on asking, the staff did find a tap. You don’t have to provide the social lubricant that is alcohol, as many events do, but at least make sure there are alternatives

When I arrived, Branson was being photographed whilst the guests milled around the room. At some point there was a general wander to where the shoot was taking place and out came the cameras, then a surge outside to where the event was taking place.

• There was no announcements or information about what was going on, it was just follow my leader. There could have been some expectation setting, maybe a welcome with an indication of what was available. Could we interview Branson? Could we chat with anyone about the product? How could we recognise who to speak to?

Outside, there was some posing for photos and a short speech ab out how this would disrupt banking, before the show started, an animation projected against the building

• the animation and the projection mapping was suberb. It really used the UL Senate building to great advantage. It was so good, they played it twice. As the main atraction, it worked

One more round of thank yous and that was it. A quick wander round to see if there was anything else going on and home I went. The show would be replayed a couple of times, but there seemed to be nothing else happening.

• there was nothing available that I could see as information. Every blogger event I’ve ever been at has information available so that you can write about it, either on paper, more commonly now on USB sticks with data and images/video or at least an email. There was nothing at the event and nothing arrived yet. So all I’m writing about is the poor organisation.
• There was no real experience. It was standing round a courtyard, with no idea what was going on. There was no welcome, no-one to feel that our presence there was welcome, or that they wanted to help us. They just wanted people to tweet, video and post later.
• I really, really hope that the people who had spent money to travel to the event (it was said there were people from Cornwall, Manchester etc) got something out of being in the same room as Richard Branson. As that seems to be the only story they can tell.

Looking at Twitter, there was some ‘wow’ going on as well as some other stuff

@kmb2009 wonder if the social media crowd was just there as a ‘rent a mob’ to give the unveil of graphics & video a guaranteed audience #virginmoney

@mioomiuk Well that was epic! The whole University of London building just “blew up” thanks to #virginmoney! Video coming shortly!

@woggledog @jasonbetts You missed a great experience at @virginmoney event this PM. The video was inspiring. Not much else to the event though

So I’m left with the following. Branson is very smiley. Whoever produced the projection is very, very good. And Virgin Money may be trying to change the way banking happens but my impression is there’s no change, they’re terrible at understanding how to treat people.

Update: Got an email with a link to the video (as I said, the creative is quite nice). Apparently what we saw was the TV ad…they could have mentioned this! Plus the following:

We’ve seen lots of the video’s and pictures you’ve posted already and they look great!

Yep, single way value, no exchange!

Although it no longer has the surprise factor it had, as it’s been done many, many times since, its still probably the biggest and most prominant of these types of promotions. But what sort of ads does it produce? Nothing brilliant in my opinion – then again, few ads are these days. Mildly amusing in a slapdash humour way.

I think I like the grandmother and baby one best, closely followed by the dudes with their voice controlled phone, although i think that would be better without the clising scene. The rest, nothing really to shout home about.

So why are clients not connecting the dots? Why is TV sponsorship (or ad buys) not intimately tied into social media monitoring at the least and active participation as best practice. Yes, you’re after awareness, brand recognition but here’s an opportunity to engage.

If you are doing any spend on TV promotion and sponsorship, take a small bit of those millions and make sure you are doing social media monitoring to assess how your target audience think about you; before, during and after your spend. Also, make sure you have something to say across your social platforms, ready to answer questions that the programme has raised.

calculates your twitter efficiency based upon your twitter activity. This includes how many people you follow, how many people follow you, how often you tweet and how many tweets you read.

It also demands OAuth access to your account and then spams your followers with your score and a link, thus rendering many of your followers annoyed at you spamming them. From the tweets around the app, it appears not to inform people that it does an autotweet, so it’s making users angry as well.

So we’re going to see a quick peak of tweets from the app, lots of tweets moaning about the app and some money made for James Cunningham from the ads on the page. Update: as Jonathan points out, I’ve also missed out the number of blog posts talking about it

It’s just another score, with no indication of whether high or low is good, whether it means anything or what it can be used for. But it’s demonstrating how too many people just follow a link on a page, see a button and press it, without considering the implications – that’s how the malware links spread. At least this one is not asking for user name and password! And it’s going to get exposure for the builder at least.

“Foursquare has been brilliant for our business because we’ve used it to engage with customers in a whole new way and to offer them a better service.
“There’s a growing excitement about it in the UK because of the power it gives people to share their views and tips on bars, restaurants, airports, public buildings and many other locations. Social media means businesses are now forced to do their customer service in public and the best businesses will embrace this fact, rather than fear it.”

It’s not the first UK swarm, it’s been done at sports events and conferences, but they’re claiming the first deliberately planned business event that reached those numbers. The owners are busy leveraging all the tools at their service to drive traffic to their business and doing it well. Here’s one clear case of digital/social media leading to direct sales.

So if you’re going to try this, what needs to be thought about:

• Consider your audience; they have to be checking into the location for any promotion to have an imapct. So sign up to the service and see who checks-in
• Claim your business on the service and get the description, address and geo-tags set up correctly
• Make sure the offer is relevant and obtainable. Setting out something just for the mayor is great, unless your staff claim mayorship, or the title never changes. Metrodeco have a simple offer (free tea or coffee at lunch) for everyone who checks in
• Make sure your staff are aware of the offer. In a single location like this, it’s simple. Larger promotions by companies such as Gap and Starbuck have had bad press as staff were just not aware of the deals.

Remember to have some fun as well; it’s a new tool to play with, be creative and you may be surprised. Next up for Metrodeco? It has to be the Superswarm for 250 people.

Another video from the Cadbury’s Glass and a Half Productions that on the face of it, is just another quirky, fun ad. Dig deeper however, you’ll see that this is that start of a two year campaign for the brand as they start the lead up to the Olympics as a sponsor

The site is Spot vs Stripes, which is going to be the hub for all the action.

We think games are great. They get people playing, they bring people together and sometimes they even reveal an undiscovered talent. That’s why, with the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games around the corner, we’re launching Spots v Stripes.

We’re asking the nation to choose sides and split into Spots or Stripes in order to play what’s quite possibly the biggest, longest game ever.

It leverages the main social tools, with Facebook, Twitter and YouTube been drafted in. Pick your side, play the games and add your points to the team. Some of the games will be on the site, although they’re not quite ready yet as the only one mentioned is still not active. Others will call for your participation,the first being to make a video of you throwing things, load it up and get people to vote on it. There’s going to be new challenges every three months. They’re also taking the games on the road, with city challenges throughout the summer.

First impressions were underwhelming. I wanted to play now, in front of the computer and it’s not possible yet. I can read all the information, and there’s a lot that seems to be dotted around the site, or I can get out and make a video. I can join the Facebook group, but again, there’s little to do there. The site itself left me slightly confused about why I want to join the team, what’s in it for me, what it will add to my life over the next 2 years apart. I know it’s all about the gameplay, the taking part and the getting out and doing things, but I’m left feeling a little meh about the team aspect.

I like the idea, but I want more – now. They could have waited a while to allow the online games to be there – or more likely, started earlier in development It’s going to be interesting to watch the idea grow from its slow start.

The most interesting line, for me was this

The ROI of Social Media is your business will exist in 5 years

Whilst I’m not as hardline as that – there’ll still be plenty of businesses out there who aren’t using the tools even in 5 years (whatever tools we have then) – I believe that businesses that connect with their customers (which is all social media use is) will perform better than those that don’t.

Rachel Clarke, head of amicable media at twentysix

I just love the term amicable media, a good description for some of the activities we do.

The Work

Photochains is simple, it’s all about the inspiration. Start with one image and get inspiration from it to create the next. They started on TV and then moved online, encouraging people to upload the next image in the creative chain or start their own. Over 20k photos were uploaded, as they encouraged people to encourage their friends to load the next image, to join the chain. The site showcased the increasing number of chains and the campaign moved back offline, demonstrating what had been created.

I love this, it’s all about the social object – an image – and how it fits in with your community and the wider network. By adding your photo, 2 objects are created, the image and the new interpretation of the chain. The connection with others activates the human need to share and create. It’s the same motivation behind previous campaigns such as the Google email video, or the longest football passing chain video, but the constraints of those efforts, passing an object across media are removed, it’s all about the inspiration and creation for something new