Digital marketing, engagement, transmedia, games, fun
I like this
(via Faris) form Cake.
A nice run through the evolution of marketing, to today’s ‘incorporated’ brands. There’s still a lot of the sellers, the interupters, the ‘what’s best for you’ advertising out there, and it works, for some, sometimes,in certain cicumstances. But as the video says, the best brands also talk to you, listen to you and engage with you.
In order to raise money, the Royal British Legion run regular sponsored cycle rides, with their Pedal to Paris now in its 15th year.
One of the sponsors this year, is Actimel, one of the ‘pro-biotic’ drinking yoghurt with lots of live bacteria, and they’ve been busy setting up Twitter and Facebook profiles promoting the cycle ride.
It’s a fairly new account at ActimelUK and the main focus is a contest, where you can win a trip to Paris the weekend of the ride, where I’m guessing you’ll get to see the final part of the ride. You just have to follow them and tweet to them about what your morning would not be complete without, (coffee, it has to be coffee) to be entered into the random draw. The account is chatty, responding to entries and comments whilst slowly following people to get the word out.
You can also enter the contest via their Actimel Facebook page. On their the conversation is a lot more product focused than the Twitter feed, although it seems to have a change of policy or writer recently as the earlier posts were more random.
This seems like early steps into social media marketing for the brand and so far they’re heading in the right direction, taking it easy, not doign follow spam and trying to find their voice. It’s not an easy product to work out how to use social media, as how many people really want to talk about a yoghurt drink, but by focusing on the associated benefits and a great sponsorship, they’re on the right track
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.
At the London Girl Geek Dinner last night, Glenn Morgan, from British Airways gave an overview of the importance of IT. To close his presentation he showed an updated Socionomics video, with a whole load of new stats.
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.
In my ego search this morning, I picked up a re-publication of a press article (on a spam blog, so no link) that came out earlier this year. However, the article had obviously gone through some translations to another language and back to English, or had a weird replacement algorithm in place as I’m referred to as
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.