It looks like the highest ranked product video, the only ranked video, this week is one from Mountain Dew, who have teamed up with Blizzard Entertainment, the guys behind World of Warcraft to promote new flavours of ‘game’ drink – Mountain Dew Game Fuel® Citrus Cherry and Mountain Dew Game Fuel® Wild Fruit. They’re running a promotion, the Mountain Dew game, with lots of gaming prizes. To enter the prize draw, you need to collect tokens by basically going to the site, clicking around, reading the product information, telling your friends, clicking through from ads on other sites, or from social networks. The one thing you don’t have to do is buy the product, it’s all via web interaction.
Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Britain’s Got Talent is over and the video rankings have far more variety this week. Highest ranked product video is this one demonstrating the new features of XB0x360. Taking a close look at the success of the Wii, they introduce a system where your whole body is a controller. All I can ask is why? Doing some of this stuff I’d end up wrecking the living room (it’s too small). What’s wrong with just lying on the couch 
The video is in the list a few times, from different accounts.
But the most successful product this week is the Carl Jr Portabello Mushroom Burger, which is running a YouTube campaign. it looks like they are sponsoring a number of prominent video makers to create a video around the product. They’re all good and slightly mad. Given the combined number of views across all these videos, that’s what I call a successful campaign, with a high degree of relevance and reaching out to many different audiences.
Nigahiga has the most watched version.
From smosh
The anti-Carls Jr parody
from WasteTimeChasingCars
The official version – which is no fun at all, far too much ‘serious’ advertising
From Hot for Words
from iJustine
Just a quick post if you’re here after seeing me on my first time on Sky News – thanks so much for taking a look. A quick bio:
- I’ve been blogging about digital media for 3 years, most recently here, but at Behind the Buzz previously
- I’ve also a personal blog that is updated occasionally at Licence to Roam
- I work in digital marketing and social media at twentysixLondon
There’s more on the about page. Thanks again.
Armano Tweet
David Amarno just tweeted this:
people heading up social media initiatives with almost zero online footprint is the new jumbo shrimp
I think I’m missing a cultural reference when it comes to the jumbo shrimp, but I’m guessing he’s referring to people getting involved with social media activities despite never actually using the tools. It was something I found when looking for a job, a large number of people in the ‘digital’ space with absolutely no online presence at all (that could be found).
The question is, does an ‘expert’ or at least someone heading up a social media initiaitive have to practice what they preach. When you’re employing someone in any area, do you look for third party evidence they actually know what they are talking about or do you just take them at face value, that they can talk about the subject but they don’t have to demonstrate it in action. Most job interviews are just that – a good conversation.
With social media, any such external evidence is obvious, you should be able to find the person’s activity across a number of networks. If there’s nothing there, questions could be asked about their ability to work in that space. However, it could be possible they have only ever worked in the space for employees or clients, their whole presence is in someone else’s name and never their own.
There’s also a personal choice for how you are using the tools. I’m present in many a social media place, but I don’t necessarily use the tools in the same way I’d advise a client. I don’t necessarily want to push my personal brand, but that does not mean I can’t advise on how to do so. Others may be active but use different personas that may not connect back to any professional profille
Getting back to Armano’s statement, I absolutely believe that someone working on social media needs to be active in the space, but it’s not always going to be easy for an external view to understand how and where they are active.
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div class=”delicious-link”a href=”http://advancingusability.wordpress.com/2009/05/06/owned-legal-terms-of-video-hosting-services-compared/”Owned? Legal terms of video hosting services compared « Advancing Usability/a/div
div class=”delicious-tags”(tags: a href=”http://delicious.com/RachelC/video”video/a a href=”http://delicious.com/RachelC/reference”reference/a a href=”http://delicious.com/RachelC/legal”legal/a)/div
/lili
div class=”delicious-link”a href=”http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003972544″New #039;WSJ#039; Conduct Rules Target Twitter, Facebook/a/div
div class=”delicious-tags”(tags: a href=”http://delicious.com/RachelC/socialmedia”socialmedia/a a href=”http://delicious.com/RachelC/journalism”journalism/a a href=”http://delicious.com/RachelC/guidelines”guidelines/a a href=”http://delicious.com/RachelC/ethics”ethics/a)/div
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Update: they appear to have put back the launch for ‘commercial reasons’:
Regrettably we have made the decision to postpone the launch of Quest.
Due to a number of commercial factors we have had to make this difficult decision.
We did not make this decision lightly and we are working towards launching Quest in the near future.
I went along to a small launch party for Quest TV, a new station, part of the Discovery channel/group, that launches in the UK today. (channel 47 if you’re interested). I had a great chat with Claire, their PR director, about the differences in the UK market and why they are launching a free channel instead of their normal model of paid for content.
They also seem to be creating for the web in parallel with the TV production, trying to think about making content that works across the media. As they make their own content, they have the scope to be able to do this. Including something like this video, where they appear to have arranged a cultural exchange with Canada to promote their new series of Heli Loggers
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div class=”delicious-link”a href=”http://wearesocial.net/blog/2009/04/death-microsite-act-4/”The death of the microsite, act IV / we are social/a/div
div class=”delicious-extended”Robin Grant about how client needs are changing/div
div class=”delicious-tags”(tags: a href=”http://delicious.com/RachelC/Marketing”Marketing/a a href=”http://delicious.com/RachelC/socialmedia”socialmedia/a a href=”http://delicious.com/RachelC/strategy”strategy/a a href=”http://delicious.com/RachelC/trends”trends/a)/div
/lili
div class=”delicious-link”a href=”http://www.horsepigcow.com/2009/04/16/whuffie-math/”Whuffie Math | ::HorsePigCow:: marketing uncommon/a/div
div class=”delicious-extended”A publisher only wants to send books to #039;influencers#039;. Tara asks for them to goes who want it. Who will write about it and spread the word. those who asked or those who she #039;spammed#039;/div
div class=”delicious-tags”(tags: a href=”http://delicious.com/RachelC/Marketing”Marketing/a a href=”http://delicious.com/RachelC/socialmedia”socialmedia/a a href=”http://delicious.com/RachelC/community”community/a a href=”http://delicious.com/RachelC/communication”communication/a a href=”http://delicious.com/RachelC/whuffie”whuffie/a)/div
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div class=”delicious-link”a href=”http://consumerist.com/5219873/pepsi-yankees-promotion-leads-to-fans-chanting-pepsi-sucks”Pepsi: Pepsi Yankees Promotion Leads To Fans Chanting quot;Pepsi Sucks!quot;/a/div
div class=”delicious-extended”Pepsi promotion/div
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div class=”delicious-link”a href=”http://www.qwghlm.co.uk/2009/04/27/socialmediacamp-london/”Shouting ‘LOL’ in a crowded theatre | qwghlm.co.uk/a/div
div class=”delicious-extended”Chris Applegate on Trolling, Griefery and general dickery/div
div class=”delicious-tags”(tags: a href=”http://delicious.com/RachelC/web2.0″web2.0/a a href=”http://delicious.com/RachelC/community”community/a a href=”http://delicious.com/RachelC/presentation”presentation/a a href=”http://delicious.com/RachelC/socialmedia”socialmedia/a)/div
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div class=”delicious-link”a href=”http://brandautopsy.typepad.com/brandautopsy/2009/05/the-101010-model.html”Brand Autopsy: The 10-10-10 Consequences Model/a/div
div class=”delicious-extended”Thinking about consequences of actions. 10 minutes, 10 months, 10 years/div
div class=”delicious-tags”(tags: a href=”http://delicious.com/RachelC/business”business/a)/div
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div class=”delicious-link”a href=”http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-lopez6-2009may06,0,560029,full.column”The rigors of life unplugged – Los Angeles Times/a/div
div class=”delicious-extended”How a group of students tried to spend a week with no electronic devices/div
div class=”delicious-tags”(tags: a href=”http://delicious.com/RachelC/youth”youth/a)/div
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div class=”delicious-link”a href=”http://econsultancy.com/blog/3566-digital-agencies-on-twitter-or-are-they”Digital agencies on Twitter (or are they?) | Blog | Econsultancy/a/div
div class=”delicious-extended”List of top 50 agencies and whether they are visible on Twitter/div
div class=”delicious-tags”(tags: a href=”http://delicious.com/RachelC/twitter”twitter/a a href=”http://delicious.com/RachelC/agency”agency/a a href=”http://delicious.com/RachelC/agencies”agencies/a a href=”http://delicious.com/RachelC/socialmedia”socialmedia/a)/div
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div class=”delicious-link”a href=”http://www.useit.com/alertbox/ia-mistakes.html”Top-10 Information Architecture (IA) Mistakes (Jakob Nielsen#039;s Alertbox)/a/div
div class=”delicious-tags”(tags: a href=”http://delicious.com/RachelC/Design”Design/a a href=”http://delicious.com/RachelC/usability”usability/a a href=”http://delicious.com/RachelC/webdesign”webdesign/a)/div
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div class=”delicious-link”a href=”http://www.disruptivemedia.se/blog/comments/disruptive_media_hires_brian_solis_putting_the_public_back_in_pr/”:: Comments on Disruptive Media ::/a/div
div class=”delicious-extended”Brian Sollis about of approaching and workign with PR (video/presentation)/div
div class=”delicious-tags”(tags: a href=”http://delicious.com/RachelC/socialmedia”socialmedia/a a href=”http://delicious.com/RachelC/PR”PR/a)/div
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div class=”delicious-link”a href=”http://edwardboches.com/how-to-get-started-in-social-media-if-you-don%e2%80%99t-have-any-time”How to get started in social media if you don’t have any time | Creativity_Unbound/a/div
div class=”delicious-extended”Starter steps – Twitter, Ning, Stumbleupon/div
div class=”delicious-tags”(tags: a href=”http://delicious.com/RachelC/socialmedia”socialmedia/a a href=”http://delicious.com/RachelC/business”business/a)/div
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div class=”delicious-link”a href=”http://edwardboches.com/want-to-succeed-at-social-media-strive-to-create-evangelists”Want to succeed at social media? Strive to create evangelists. | Creativity_Unbound/a/div
div class=”delicious-extended”Good guidelines on creating corporate social media account/div
div class=”delicious-tags”(tags: a href=”http://delicious.com/RachelC/socialmedia”socialmedia/a a href=”http://delicious.com/RachelC/business”business/a)/div
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When you get to an advertising or marketing website, what makes you wonder what the creators were thinking about when they sign it off, what things make you dislike the brand? Here’s my list, supplemented by a quick poll around the office.
- Useless Splash pages. I’ve gone to a site and all I get is a useless splash page (usually in flash, so it’s dynamic and moving, supposed to show something about the company). Why takes me to something that adds nothing to the experience, just makes me think you’re not interested in me getting to your content.
- Flash sites where there is nothing but one big flash file, with no section URLS. I can’t share this easily, even if I love it, epsecially if I only love one section. I’m not going to make my contacts work their way through multiple layers. I know I’ve delivered things like this occasionally, usually due to issues with the content management systems that won’t let me do anything else. But if you have free rein on hosting, then why make it complicated.
- Information-led sites that are just flash. Why bury stuff? Flash has its place, for video, for interactive experiences. If all you are doing is showing some case studies, some text-driven information or anything that really does not require ‘action’ then stick to HTML. Or at least fix the flash so I can copy and paste relevant information.
- Dodgy roll-over menus. Menus that are multi-leveled, that expand on rollover and all it takes is the smallest amount of movement to make it disappear. Make them a bit more fixed.
- Not providing adequate About or Help information but taking your straight to a ‘forum’. Twitter does this; Audioboo just has a how to video. Forums are difficult to naviage, videos take too much time. I tend to see this more with tech companies. Forums are great for a lot of stuff, but when it’s used to replace basic documentation, making me search through multiple forum threads for an answer, then it’s just annoying. The same with videos. You have to assume I have little time and no headphones.
- Sites that break the internet when they get taken down. If it’s only a tactical site, then let the URL degrade gracefully but redirecting to your main site.
- Teeny, tiny content windows. There’s a whole page and the information is stuck in a little section with a scroll bar in the middle of the page. Use the space!
- Sites that don’t have a mobile version. Again, degrade gacefully. If I have to have flash, put in the html version that lets me know what I need. Don’t just leave it blank.
- Resizing my browser. I’ve got my screens set up as I need them to be, small, medium or large. Respect my choices. Just because ‘your’ design needs a different size, doesn’t mean that the other 40 tabs I have open work in the same way.
- Autoplay – of anything. Sound, video, etc. When I have 40+ tabs open and I’m just opening more qucikly, don’t make me hunt for sound playing.
- Links in text that aren’t links but are rollover ads. They’re being disingenuous and leave you feeling hard done by, not a good feeling about the brand – either of them.
- Online advertising that is invasive; that wobbles, that has a tiny close button, that is far too bright and flashy and move your attention away from what you are looking at.
- Sites that deliver you content on IP address not on the TLD you typed in. I work with a fair few non-English people. They want to see content in their only language when going to the country site, not be forced to see the UK version.
One final one..from the Creative Director. He hates Creative Clichés (but they’re only clichés if you don’t do them well) and hates any cool site that does something that he wishes he had done. Don’t we all!
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div class=”delicious-link”a href=”http://www.cultureby.com/trilogy/2009/04/run-with-nike-and-you-run-alone.html”This Blog Sits at the: Run with Nike and you run alone/a/div
div class=”delicious-extended”Nike Plus allows me to interact with other walkers in only one way. It helps me compete agains them. It does not allow me to treat my miles like a social capital and make them fungible for various purposes in various markets. It does not allow me to find them or walk with them. Walk with Nike Plus, and, sorry, but your walk alone./div
div class=”delicious-tags”(tags: a href=”http://delicious.com/RachelC/Marketing”Marketing/a a href=”http://delicious.com/RachelC/socialnetwork”socialnetwork/a a href=”http://delicious.com/RachelC/socialmedia”socialmedia/a a href=”http://delicious.com/RachelC/community”community/a)/div
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