I recently came across a fascinating Sydney Morning Herald article which gets my vote for the most unusual word of mouth marketing story of the year.

Zingara Cucina (Italian for 'Gypsy Kitchen'?) is Australia's first 'underground' restaurant. It has no fixed address, diners are notified by email of the location only on the evening before, it's not advertised - relying completely on word of mouth - and diners pay only what they think the experience is worth. (A chef from an exclusive Melbourne restaurant is reported to have estimated his meal would have cost $150 in any fine dining restaurant).

This transient and illegal 'restaurant' has won accolades for its cuisine that any 3-chef hats fine dining restaurant would 'kill' for and is reported to have a year long waiting list.

An extra-ordinary and unique experience wrapped in mystery, trust and exclusivity all combine to make this a destination which people can't help but talk about.

Does this restaurant really exist or have we all been conned? - Who really knows? I never actually met anyone who has eaten there but it surely makes for a good story!!

Online research has many benefits - speed and lower cost being the two main advantages - but there is growing concern with the validity of findings derived from on-line research which often does not adhere to scientific design principles.

ARF President-CEO Robert Barocci was recently quoted as saying "The 'good, fast, cheap ... pick any two' syndrome has jeopardized the client credibility of online access panels ... the trend, combined with the rise of online communities and blogs, has increased the rate of individuals conducting research online without applying statistical methodologies or research techniques essential to quality."

P&G is reported to spend $200 million annually - so no wonder there is concern with recent ComScore research findings which showed how a relatively small number of 'professional' respondents determine the results of online studies - their research showed that 0.25% of the online population accounted for 32% of responses, while less than 5% account for more than half of the responses.

Not before time, the newly formed Online Research Quality Council (USA)(made up of clients and research companies) will hold its first meeting on Sept. 10 this year. Their objectives are to establish a set of industry standards for evaluation by early April 2008, when the ARF holds its annual convention in New York.

We look forward to their findings but have a suspicion that there will be some quite radical changes to the way some on-line (paid) panels will operate in the future. We also suspect that identifying, seeking opinion and engaging so called 'lead users' will become a more important part of the research agenda.

'£5000 in £10 and £20 notes were recently individually dropped around the streets of London with a removable sticker that read ...

"Carlsberg don't do litter. But if they did it would probably be the best litter in the world".

... supporting its strap line for the world famous Carlsberg brand.

Even though there were probably less than 400 lucky 'winners', the impact of this campaign on stimulating word of mouth/mouse will be significant -(if the number of blogs/comments in the blogesphere are an indicator) and well worth the relatively modest £5000 investment.

Even the Queen is talking about it!

Came across this the other day, from one of my favourite blogs.

"Sounds smart but isn't?" ... Evidence?
>Just attend the next corporate strategy group's board presentation.
>or your next 'sales-force' new brand launch presented by marketing.
>or ask the agency's creative director why he thinks CGM doesn't work.

There's a simple equation that is often used in word of mouth marketing - it goes something like this ...

Advocacy = Actual experience - Expected experience

(expected) Telephone companies don't give existing customers things for free.

(actual) I just received an sms from Vodafone asking me to go to www.vodafone.com.au/delightme , enter a code included in the sms message and be offered a choice of 14 different items ranging from free wine to Myer vouchers to Movie tickets to 4 trees being planted on my behalf to help 'save the planet'. It seems Vodafone has learnt that 'delighting' its customers can pay dividends. (Here am I, telling a few thousand people about my experience - that's not a bad return on a circa $20 investment for Vodafone)

Being a good corporate citizen I chose the '4 trees' option - so not only did I get an unexpected gift from Vodaphone - they also made me feel virtuous! - Thanks Vodafone

Twitter recently changed 'friend' to 'follower'. Perhaps the next move should be 'stalker'.

Tim Keiningham interviewed by Justin Kirby of Connected Marketing

Key points from the interview
>Many popular customer loyalty ‘maxims’ have been grossly over simplified or are just outright wrong - NPS a myth – too simple / most evidence presented in HBR not scientifically supported.
>Need to integrate the functional and emotional aspects of customer experience to define brand loyalty.
>Most customers are not profitable – but key is to migrate non-profitable customers to profitability by using loyalty based tactics.

I recently signed up with Facebook.(When it comes to www social networking I am a laggard - but better late than never, I guess!)

I decided to personalise my new place - where friends would enjoy coming to 'visit' - so added some photos of me, family, friends - happy snaps of holidays, birthdays, good times. Also added a bunch of personal detail - likes, favourite music/books, interests etc

While still arranging the 'furniture' in my new FB home I received a number of invitation emails from 'friends' wanting to come over and pay me a visit – (I assume the FB email address search function had alerted them to my arrival at FB or perhaps they had found me some other way.)

Unfortunately some of these 'friends', I would more accurately describe as ‘acquaintances'. (dilemma) Do I accept ‘acquaintances’ as ‘friends’ and let them into the personal details of my life – or do I simply ignore their requests and run the risk of offending them and losing the relationship (my business relationships are generally constructed from acquaintances - so they are important to me even if they are not 'friends')? Worse still, should I accept ‘acquaintances’ as 'friends' and run the risk of devaluing genuine friendship? Or should I just water down my personal disclosure and accept anyone who wants to be a 'friend' (feels like this defeats the purpose of being there in the first place)

After ruminating over the issue I decided that I preferred my ‘friendship’ with ‘acquaintances’ to remain ambiguous – there was absolutely no benefit for anyone in drawing a line in the Facebook sand. ... and my genuine friends would remain friends. We would would ‘meet’ as we always have - chat on the phone, go to the pub, a BBQ at my place, play golf, go out for dinner .....

Exited FB 48 hours after joining! (I still happily remain a member of other 'networks' where motivation is based solely on common interest - not on 'friendship' - strange though - even on these networks we are still compelled to call each other 'friends')

Ever since Pete Blackshaw invented the term ‘CGM’, marketers have been paranoid about losing control of their brand. While some have buried their heads in the sand hoping it will all some how go away, others have been caught pretending to let go, but only ending up looking silly when they got exposed. (WalMart comes to mind)

There’s no arguing that consumers have become more influential because they now have the tools and the platform (web2) to make their views and creative expressions known to anyone who cares to listen.

But the smart marketers are starting to realize that even in this apparently out-of-control world they really still can excerpt control – it's just a matter of choosing the right agenda. The table below is from Pete Blackshaw’s blog – it brilliantly illustrates the point.

Some wise feedback from patrick Gibbons - Senior VP marketing and BD at Walker Infromation
If you want to take action on customer feedback and see customer strategies come alive, effective communication is a must. This means getting the right message to the right person at the right time – delivered in a way that is relevant and actionable. It's far more than drawing some conclusions and delivering an impressive report. Rather, communication must be a comprehensive component of your overall program.
Here's a rundown of five common mistakes – and a few ideas on how to avoid them:

It's an afterthought.

Too often customer advocates don't worry about communication until late in the process. Companies that do it best weave their communication planning into their entire voice-of-the-customer program. Key audiences, messages, and delivery methods are determined well in advance. Not only does this result in more relevant communication to a range of audiences, but it also ensures that the right information is gathered to serve the organization.

It's big on data and short on insights.

It's one thing to show a chart and say "Sixty-seven percent of our customers say our competitor's quality is better." And, it's another thing to say, "We're getting creamed by our competitor – now what are we going to do about it?" Too often presentations and reports are loaded with charts and graphs. Companies can overcome this by establishing the key takeaways they want to communicate. Then, use the data to back up each major point and recommendation.

It's not actionable.

How many times have you walked away from a presentation saying, "That was interesting." Interesting is fine, but what do you do with the information? Unfortunately, too many times that's the reaction when stakeholders receive reports and listen to presentations on customer feedback. Structure your reports, training, and presentations around the desired action that must take place. Then use the "interesting stuff" to support why action is necessary.

There's no support.

As a customer advocate, do you ever feel like you're an island within your company? While you have the best intentions of the customer in mind, it's typically hard to get buy-in from others. Leverage a team or customer advocacy network to be ambassadors for the voice-of-the-customer program. Get people involved to create broad acceptance for the program. The team should include an executive sponsor to provide the credibility needed for a program to have the necessary resources and attention to be successful.

It doesn't break through the clutter.

If you are like most customer advocates you're wading in an ocean of corporate communication. To communicate key voice-of-the-customer initiatives, you have to rise above the clutter. To do this, mix it up – use e-mails, videos, the intranet, presentations, online reports, and other methods to get the word to your stakeholders. Consider "branding" your program – give it a name like "Customers First" or "Customers for Life" so this program can be easily recognized as an important initiative within your organization.
Overcoming such obstacles can transform your voice-of-the-customer program from being just another initiative to something that can truly have influence your corporate culture and generate bottom-line results.

Interesting Blogging Stats compiled by Adage

Nine MSN is currently trialing a Beta Version of Your Cut - a service where anyone can submit a video and get paid according to the number of views your video receives. YourCut uses a video-sharing platform built by Revver.

When you upload a video to the site, NineMSN attach an advert to it - whenever anyone clicks on that ad (presumably while they are watching your video) the video owner shares in a 50/50 split of the ad revenue. There are other conditions like the viewer has to watch your video right to the end for you to qualify for payment.

The business model has some similarities to free to air TV - ie the user watches a program and sees ads - the difference here is that the viewer doesn't have to watch the ad and the programme content costs are virtually zero.

Copyright will definitely be an issue but it will be interesting to see if the model works.

Star Wars just came back to the 21st century! The makers of this timeless series are asking fans to Shoot, Mix and Share their own verisons of Star Wars. Fans can upload their own video and music and then mix and mash it with clips and music from their favorite Star Wars movies! There are more than 250 clips from the Star Wars movies to play with.

It's been a while since I visted my favourite blog - Hugh says his most read page is "How to be creative" It's brilliant.

Telecommunications regulator (ACMA) today reversed its prohibition on legitimate research calls on Sundays. See AMSRS press release here

Perspective: Of course the issue now will be convincing target interviewee's that Sunday's are OK for researchers - also convincing those who registered on the 'do not call' register that research calls really are legitimate. It's all been made far more confusing than it really needed to be.

Toohey's New launched a viral email campaign this week - a couple of months after their launch of the original 'Tall Men' ad. The email invites you to send a message to your 'mates' using the ad. When you send the message your 'mate' first has to watch the advert - before reading your message.

Perspective:
Execution of this CGM attempt can only be described as 'lame' - for one of Australia's best known and highest spending brands surely the advertising agency could come up with something a bit more interesting and original. Everything feels 'contrived' - firstly your mate has to watch the ad before he gets to see your written message - which by the way had to go to the Toohey's content sensors first and there's nothing original or creative about the execution (It would be better just to send an email to your mate) It just feels like Toohey's are trying to force a few more people to view the ad. Come on Toohey's - love your beer - but you can do much better than that.

Last year I wrote a story about my experience in trying to renew my car insurance. "Which Insurance Company would you choose?" I ended up choosing AAMI because of their 'human' approach - compared to the NRMA who seemed to be happy to have a machine interact with their customers.

I recently came across this study by Associate Professor Mark Ritson - Melbourne Business School who published an independent report on the Net Promoter Scores of Australian companies.His Australian Insurance company table is shown below.

Perspective:
The research seems to confirm my own experience with the two companies -each at opposite ends of the NPS spectrum - but, it's also worth noting that no insurance company had a positive NPS - AAMI at the top of the table managed to record a negative 22 - not exactly inspiring stuff.

But it made me think - as my experience with AAMI was very positive (at least in relative terms)- rather than just focusing on an absolute NPS score and perhaps jumping to incorrect conclusion based on an absolute number or even deriving meaningless comparisons against companies in other categories (is it 'reasonable' to compare NPS scores for Apple - based on a fun ipod experience - with an Insurance Company which is a grudge purchase at best?)- the NPS score is probably a more useful metric for comparing similar companies (scale, maturity ...) operating in similar environments (target customers, cultures...), each selling similar products (in this case car insurance)

The NPS score has been claimed to be a predictor of future growth. (there is almost certainly a correlation) but it would seem that applying a category calibration may make it a more useful predictor metric.

Pete Blackshaw chief marketing and customer satisfaction officer of Cincinnati-based Nielsen BuzzMetrics with Ten Reasons why he should stop blogging All good reasons Pete - but your blogs are thought provoking, interesting and relevant - have a break , go on holiday, give it a rest, but please don't give up!

These days, nothing is kept secret for long and that truism is especially the case for poor customer service. Used to be that just a few people found out about a company's poor service - you and a few friends. Now everyone knows - you and a few hundred thousand of your closest 'friends' - in the time it takes to record and post a video on YouTube.
Seems like all the more reason for company's to be obsessed with brand credibility and flawless customer service.

The SMH is running a simple yet enticing competition. All you have to do is make the SMH your home page and forward an invitation to 3 friends to do the same thing and be in the running for a free trip to space (or $140k if you prefer to keep your feet on the ground).
Some simple math ... if I forward this invitation to 3 friends and each one forwards to 3 more friends - and so on - with just 10 steps the reach would be 177,147 people. If just a tiny franction of the SMH readership participate, the impact could be out of this world.

Beware the empty promise! 'Warranty' is supposed to mean you can get your product fixed if - during an agreed period of time - it breaks down . Accordig to the folks from Not Good Enough,that's a promise that some manufacturer's find hard to keep.

Perspective:
What's the point of a warranty if you have to wait weeks or even months for the manufacturer to fix the problem? It's experiences like these that damage a brand's reputation and create brand detractors. Better never to have sold the product in the first place

A few months ago we reported a wine word of mouth campaign run by Thresher in the UK

Now Myer, the recently privatised Australian department store chain, have adopted a similar technique to build awareness of one of their promotions. Myer was reported as offering special discounts throughout most departments this past weekend, but instead of promoting the sale through normal media channels the company sent flyers and discount vouchers to staff, asking them to forward them to family and friends.

To receive the stated discounts - which included 30 per cent off travel goods and books and 20 per cent off clothing - apparantly, customers in the 'know' just needed to present the cashier with the flyer on Saturday or Sunday to receive their discount.

Perspective:
It's a smart idea to leverage your own staff to attract people to your stores through word of mouth. Who better to start spreading the message than your own people? Of course this assumes that your own people like your company and what it stands for - recent media reports indicate a growing number of defections from the Myer camp - so we'll wait and see how the strategy unfolds.

Interesting podcast on iptv

Jo Mckenna engages Simon van Wyk of HotHouse and Brad Howarth freelance writer and consultant in a discussion on the emergence of iptv and the resulting issues facing traditional TV channels.

Coke has launched a contest for designing a virtual coke machine which can be used in second life. Rather than dispensing a real drink, Coca Cola ask us to ...

“Imagine a world in which a simple vending machine could dispense – not Coca Cola – but the essence of Coca Cola – refreshment joy unity experience!”

Entries can be posted in a number of ways - on you tube, myspace , slurl, or good fashioned email.

Perspective:
One of the things we like about Coke’s invitation to the competition is this statement on their web site ...

"...remember, a truly unique and exciting stick drawing is better than a ‘been there done that’ professional 30 animation ..."

The irony is not lost - seems like it took 'virtual' to make coke the ‘real thing’ again.

Picture of the week from The Madison Ave Journal

There's been a lot of buzz recently about the Net Promoter® Score (the ultimate question?) as a predictive growth metric.

The Net Promoter® Score is a simple calculation - that fact alone makes it attractive to many corporations.

It asks one question - “Would you recommend us to a friend or colleague?” which customers answer on a scale of 0 to 10. Net promoter score is the difference between the percentage of 'Promoters' (those scoring a 9 or 10) and so called 'Detractors' (those scoring a 0 to 6) - 'Passives' are ignored (scores of 7 or 8).

While there appears little doubt that a correlation exists between customer advocacy and business growth, unfortunately the evidentiary studies provide little real 'proof' that a customer's stated 'intention to recommend' is actually a predictor of growth.

Proponents appear to be confused between correlation (related things) and causation (one thing causing something else to happen)

The Ultimate Question offers as proof a set of tables charting Net Promoter® Scores against revenue growth for a number of selected companies showing those with higher Net Promoter® scores have faster growing revenues.

An "inconvenient truth"
The data is measured for 1999-2003 while Net Promoter® Scores are measured only in 2003 - a kind of 'back to the future' connection!

A 2005 LSE study appears to suffer from the same problem - growth numbers are retrospective - taken from 2003-2004, while the 'advocacy' question is asked of consumers in 2005.

Perspective:
In effect, the research actually 'predicts' what happened yesterday by measuring what happened today. The issue is that we already know what happened yesterday so don't need a model to predict it!

But in any case a single measure of stated 'intention to recommend' is not necessarily a good predicter of the impact that individual will have on others in real life (in relation to the brand).

Therefore, 'qualifying' an individual's 'intention to recommend' by better understanding the 'depth of relationship' they have with that brand or company as well as an understanding of their 'potential to impact' others about that brand, may be a more useful predictor of brand growth.

After all - this is what word of mouth marketing is all about - finding and positively influencing those few people in your target market who can have the most impact on your brand.

Ian Farmer over at Frontiering pointed me to these two lists of Brands in Secondlife. The first from Kzero, and the second from Wikipedia.

Right now, second life is a bit 'clunky'- but its these early adopters who will get comfortable with the medium and be ready when 'real virtual' (contradiction?) life begins. Here's one reader's visionary comments from business week online

" ... As technology evolves, Second Life will approach photorealism. The 3D VR interface will at some point either migrate to, or incorporate the option for lens-wear (video glasses). Voice chat (telephony) is already planned in a 2007 application upgrade. Some next generation, immersive 3D interface will step up to augment, if not outright replace the 2D Web and OS platforms as we know them. If you can see beyond the "game" appearance, the underlying technology behind Second Life offers the real possibility to someday evolve into that platform. There are good reasons why IBM has committed $100M into Second Development for 2007. The potential upside is as large as the Internet itself."

There's been a lot of 'Twittering' going on in the last month or so about the latest 'craze' - Twitter - a web based tool to let everyone know where you are and what you are doing - Maybe I'm a "twit" but must say I don't get it - who in their right mind wants to let everyone know what they are doing? If we are not careful we all end up doing nothing because we are all too busy 'twittering'.

Don Dodge BD director of Microsoft lists the 5 worst internet acquisitions - presumably measured by share holder value destroyed.

1. AOL - merged with TimeWarner in January 2000. AOL was valued at $160B. Today AOL is valued at about $20B, based on Google's investment of $1B for a 5% stake in AOL. Losing $140B of market value is really hard to do...almost unheard of. This is the number 1 worst Internet investment of all time.

2. Lycos - acquired by Terra Networks for $12.5B in May 2000. Terra then sold Lycos to Korean company just 4 years later for $95 million.

3. Excite - acquired by @Home in January 1999 for $6.7B

4. Broadcast.com - acquired by Yahoo! in July 1999 for $5.7 billion.

5. Netscape - acquired by AOL in November 1998 for $4.2 billion.

MySpace has blocked Photobucket content again sparking a flood of blogs protesting MySpace's actions. It's another reminder that "My Space" is really "Their Space" and why other social networking sites are growing in popularity despite the current dominance of My Space.
Our favourite social networking site FaceBook has less advertising and promotes genuine networking amongst its members by automatically linking common friends from one site to another. Now that's smart networking.

Three 'gems' from this week's womm (australia) conference...

"Brewtopia and Reggie's wife" - Laim Mulhall MD of Brewtopia told the story about how Brewtopia completely changed their business model simply because the wife of one of his customers suggested her husband would like to have his own face on the label of the beer bottle to make the beer more personalised - the rest of course is history!!

Gem 1: Listen to your customer - it could revolutionalise your business ... and your life.

"Tom's Shoes" Nick Cummins Creative Director Sputnik Agency tells the story about a an on-line shoe business - The promise? "For every pair of shoes you buy, we (Tom's shoes) will give a free pair of shoes to a needy child in a 3rd world country"

Gem 2: Make 'giving' a fundamental part of every new business start-up. It will pay you back 7 fold.

"Winning a pay rise" From Paul Marsden co-author of Connected Marketing - ... research shows that you are far more likely to win people around to your point of view if you first ask them for their opinion on something / anything!!

Gem 3: Use this strategy before you ask the boss for a pay rise!

And a word of thanks to Terrapinn for having the courage to host Austalia's first word of mouth marketing conference. We met a lot of interesting people, learned some new stuff and it was great fun!!

Ian Farmer from Frontiering passed this gem on to me. Arc Worldwide have just won four marketing awards for their work on a campaign to combat childhood obesity. The campaign's objective was to inspire tweens to get and stay physically active. Arc launched VERB YELLOWBALL in November 2005 by recruiting almost 1,000 tweens to distribute yellow balls around the country. They encouraged their peers to play with the balls and pass them onto other kids.

Each of the 500,000 yellow balls had a unique code number and instructions that sent kids to a microsite (www.verbnow.com/yellowball) where they could enter the code and blog (examples here) about what they did with the ball.
The code also allowed them to see where the ball had been before them and track their ball once they passed it on.
Kids could also create their own YELLOWBALL video clip and pass is on to friends

Results - as reported by Market Wire
-More than 5 million kids touched YELLOWBALL, either literally or virtually, and nearly 6 million have visited www.verbnow.com since the YELLOWBALL launch.
-Kids created nearly 17,000 blogs and 170,000 online videos.
The campaign reached nearly 7,000 schools.
-Kids attended nearly 3,000 events and ran 330,000 obstacle courses.
-An overwhelming 10 percent of kids touched by YELLOWBALL visited the site and blogged.
-One ball was passed 31 times and another traveled 39,940 miles.

Lois Kelly from of the FogHound Blog has just released a new and interesting book called Beyond Buzz - see her executive summary here.

Lion Nathan launched its new Tooheys New ad today with a viral direct email campaign, three days ahead of its Sunday TV launch. Paul Foster Lion's marketing director was quoted on Thursday in the SMH as saying that "... there is a viral component to it, in that we've got a 30 second cut down version which you can customise and send to your mates" The current link just shows the 30 second ad - no sign of any customization options at this point - so will be interested to see what 'customise' really means.

Fritolay are really embracing the idea of letting consumers be involved in product design and advertising. Hot on the heels of the Doritos Super Bowl Consumer Generated advertising competition (view top 5 here) comes a new consumer competition to the best flavour from one of two. We reported Kettle Chips adopting a similar approach about eighteen ago and surmize that the idea must be working in order for Doritos, one of the biggest snack brands in the US, to adopt the same approach.

WOMMA reports on some interesting research from FGI which shows that online shopping sites that offer customer reviews enjoy greater satisfaction and loyalty than sites without reviews. FGI reports that customers on sites that offer reviews are 5% more satisfied with the retailer as a whole than customers on sites without reviews.

Perspective:
There may of course be other reasons why customer satisfaction is higher - sites that offer customer feedback may also be more inclined to have taken notice of what customers said and designed their sites and product offers accordingly - a kind of virtuous cycle if you like.

Either way the evidence suggests that feedback and involvement from 'real' consumers really does make a difference to brand loyalty.

The line between editorial content and advertising just got a little blurry. There is huge change going on in the way advertising could be delivered in the future. Google announced today that

"You can create text ads, image ads, or our new text link ad format in your pay-per-action campaign."

Text link ads are brief text descriptions that take on the characteristics of a publisher’s page. These Javascript-based ads will allow publishers to embed these links inline with other text to promote your product or service.

Rather than have short text ads appear to the side of the page using a Google Ads banner, they would appear embedded in the text of the web site like a regular link. Contextual ads linked into relevant content may become the norm because people actually appreciate advertising that is relevant. Fashion magazine publishers have been using this principle for years - the principle for ads burried in the text of the web site is the same.

So, when I talk about the great experience I had getting my car serviced the link to my Mercedes service centre could be a paid advertisement.

A blogger might write about the fantastic returns he has made on the stock market with the help of Bourse Data - When the reader clicks on it the blogger makes money.

MTV recently announced a move to MTVU . .a user generated MTV channel

MTV Movie Awards are also introducing a new category called “Best Movie Spoof” which will allow viewers to submit video spoofs of movies over the past year.

Voting will take place online with the winners flown to the MTV Awards night.

Thom (with an H) Perkins is re-launching his live webTV series from The Calypso Bar in Brisbane this Sunday. Its called The Bang Lasso and it makes Calypso Bar the first venue in Brisbane to broadcast their music live and on-demand on the Internet. Just tune in to Raw Audio.net on Sunday at 7, and you can watch the event live from the comfort of your own home! And if you cant watch it live, just visit Raw audio.net at any time and you can watch the replay whenever you want.

The headline act is Peachfish – I never heard of them but the name sounds interesting enough - so give 'em a listen!

Warner Bros are using the power of the MySpace phenomenon to launch their new movie – 300, but what makes this different from other promotions is the use of the movie to sponsor a new MySpace site feature that now allows users to post 300 photos on their site. On profile photo upload pages since Jan. 2, users see a banner ad reading, "Your profile can now hold up to 300 photos thanks to 300." That's clever marketing.

MySpace say users have viewed 300's trailer 8 million times in the first two months of the promotion. Friedman, VP, entertainment sales at MySpace says "What we do better than anybody is get that word of mouth going." There's no question about that!

WOMMA are looking for passionate word of mouth marketers and researchers to join their Research Council - a group of data mavens dedicated to building WOMMM (word of mouth marketing metrics). If you're interested in serving on the Research Council, email WOMMA's Research Editor, Shannon Stairhime, at shannon@womma.org Get more information here.

Jeep has launched a site called Patriot Adventure, which encourages players to navigate their way through "The Way Beyond Trail" a new interactive adventure film. You make your own adventure through the decisions you take. The site allows you to invite your friends to helps you create your adventure - capitalising on the web's social newtorking effect.

Thresher, one of the largest wine store chains in the UK have a pre-Christmas special offer.From 30 November until 10 December, they will be offering 40% off ALL their wine – that’s a fantastic deal but the interesting thing is they're not promoting it.

The only way to get the 40% off is by getting your hands on one of their special coupons which means either someone you know has to give you one, or you can download it here .

So to our UK readers here's a chance for you to save 40% off your next wine purchase. Happy drinking.

Thanks to gaping void for passing the 'secret' on

Australia's First Word of Mouth Marketing Event is being held in Sydney on April 2nd and 3rd 2007. A host of internationally acclaimed speakers will be in attendence including Emanuel Rosen - Author of 'The Anatomy of Buzz' and Paul Marsden of LSE and editor of 'Connected Marketing' - both highly regarded publications.

Zealot and Kahdo are also making a joint feature presentation on "Citizen Marketers - bring advertisers and consumers together" a great example of how a research agency and communications company have worked together to develop a unique consumer marketing proposition.

Register for the event at http://www.terrapinn.com/2007/wom%5Fau/

Perspective
The event presents a great opportunity for networking, interactive panel sessions and round table discussion, as well as the oportunity to listen to some of the world's experts on Word of Mouth Marketing.Terrapinn are to be congratulated for putting this inaugural event together.

If you have done something "unique, exciting, fresh, new, original, noteworthy, innovative, novel, creative, or imaginative using word of mouth marketing" - WOMMA's new Wommie Awards could be for you. Wommies have been created to recognize outstanding word of mouth campaigns with the winners having the oportunity to present their case studies at WOMMA's Word of Mouth Marketing Summit in Washington D.C. in December.

Perspective:
This is a great initiative from WOMMA. I often get the impression at conferences that presenters, while they may be great speakers - are not so great practitioners! It will be refreshing to hear and see presentations from people who have actually done something - not just talked about it!

This chart courtesy Hitwise shows the top 20 US social networking websites ranked by market share of visits. Although the stats are US centric - no doubt Bebo UK stats would look more impressive - the dominance of MySpace is mind boggling.

Toufee has joined a variety of online Flash movie editing websites and judging from these samples, it could be a good place to start if you want to edit and share video files.

Toufee is a hosted service and it produces very small files. Flickr and YouTube import are supported.

Perspective: Toufee is fun to use and will no doubt help inspire consumers to make and share videos with others. What will be interesting is a mashup that uses this technology to host branded consumer generated media competitions.

Second Life (SL)is a "VI-REAL" market place somewhere between 'Virtual' and 'Real' which is only just starting to be negotiated.

SL does what its name suggests – it allows participants to liberate their virtual alter egos “avatars” to live an alternative life. It offers an ever increasing range of activities, from the every-day to the down right weird. You can make virtual friends, visit places, gamble, or even go to nightclubs to dance or just meet people.

The game has its own economy and it is this “VI-REAL” economy which is starting to get real life corporations interested. Anyone can buy “real estate” and create saleable objects that they can sell to other players using Linden Dollars, the game's currency. It’s not quite as easy as it sounds because you need to figure out the code to play and create, but for those who can’t be bothered – money will buy almost anything – just like the real world. That’s how the SL economy works. Importantly, those who make an investment have intellectual property rights to their products, and can trade SL objects outside the game in real currencies.

Find all this a bit strange and hard to understand?

Text 100, a real world PR agency, has just launched a Machinima Youtube Video which is definitely worth watching. It explains how like minded Second Life participants can get together to share ideas and conduct commercial transactions.

In the last 24 hours according to Second Life, transactions totalling $US403,000 (real-world dollars) has been completed - that's a rate of $147Mil pa - and this is only the beginning! As of mid September, Second Life has 318,000 active users and is set to accelerate as companies like Text 100 use real world PR campaigns to attract more users to this strangely compelling space.

An illuminating experiment conducted by Paul Marsden of the London School of Economics, demonstrates the influence that 'Connectors' have over brand selection amongst their peer group. Once again this highlights the importance of identifying and engaging brand influencers - Shapers.

Steve Jobs - "Today (Sept 12th) we're starting out with films from Disney, Pixar, Touchstone, and Miramax - four studios owned by Disney. Today we're making over 70 films available online today. They'll be available the same day they're out on DVD."

Perspective:
Once more, the possibilities of the on-line distribution model are powerfully demonstrated. However for most users in Australia - even those have cable 'broad band', it still takes less time to drive to the local video shop, select a movie and drive back home, than it does to down load the movie on-line. Guess it will be a while before the video shop totally disappeaers, although its certainly on the endagered species list.

via engadget

Last week I needed to get a vehicle 'green slip' car insurance quote and decided to try two companies - NRMA and AAMI. I made contact via the telephone and was amazed at the difference between the two. One company has an automated response - it takes 4 minutes (and 15 selections) to get through to a real person. The other takes about 4 seconds.

Truth is, after about 2 minutes I got so fed up that I hung up on the NRMA - so never really got to the end of the process - I went with AAMI. Sad thing is that NRMA didn't just not win the business - they also lost an existing customer.

I didn't record my original experience but decided to record both companies approaches a few days later because I believe there are valuable lessons to be learned about how customer experiences influence decision making.

Recording - NRMA

Recording - AAMI

Perspective:
What does NRMA's 4 minute automated voice recording say to me about their company? For me it's simply this ...

"If this is how they treat me when I'm looking to pay them money , imagine what it would be like if I ever tried to make a claim."

And what does AAMI's 'personable' approach tell me?...

"They are efficient and friendly - the sort of place where people come before machines - the sort of place where people would help if I was in a difficult situation."

I admit this is just an impression - I have no idea what either company would be like to deal with when making a claim - but impressions count a great deal when it comes to making choices.

Thanks to Springdoo for their wonderful 'record and store' service.

We have long advocated the benefits of identifying and engaging brand influencers (Shapers) in the product development and brand positioning process. Everett Rogers in his book Diffusion of Innovations painstakingly describes the process of adoption and how it hinges on the views and connections of 'Innovators' and 'Early Adopters', yet researchers too often waste resource on dissecting the views of demographically or psycho-graphically 'representative' consumers panels or focus groups.

It seems obvious that engaging influencers in the product and brand innovation process is critical to success. Peter Blackshaw, CMO Nielsen BuzzMetrics advocates this approach in this 60 second grab.

Via www.sixtysecondview.com

I regularly use three hardware tools in business.(only 3 huh?) I have found that the Featuritus Curve definitely applies.

Via Creating Passsionate Users

Wikipedia has a list of Social Networks which makes fascinating reading. Web 2 has enabled people to collaborate and share information online like never before - there's MySpace (the big daddy with 100+ million members) and some may know of Hi5, Xanga or Classmates each with 40 million members and many more with huge memberships.

The interesting thing is that none of us are really capable of interacting in any meaningful way with more than 150 people - 200 tops, so the idea of a 100 mil 'social' network is actually ridiculous. That doesn't mean we won't continue to be attracted to the honey pot. They are after all, highly engaging places to play - much more engaging than sitting in front of the TV.

Perspective:
Reality is, these so called 'networks' have become 'channels' which are increasingly being controlled by a select few, and where the content is free (a brilliant business model). They are not some utopian place where everyone knows everyone. Feels like we may have done the full circle - once again it's all about the number of eyeballs someone can get in one place at one time so they can extract the maximum advertising dollar.

Following their controversial Tahoe website that we covered here,
Chevy is continuing to take risks by launching a contest for college students to create an ad for the company. The winning entrants will assist in it's production and it will be aired during the Super Bowl in 2007.

Students (in groups of 3) will submit their concepts to Chevy and five will be chosen to present to Chevy and its ad agency in October.

The winner will participate in production.

Perspective: Seth Godin once said "The riskiest thing to do is to play it safe, and the safest thing to do is to take risks". We are not sure that spending money on a Super Bowl ad makes sense, but involving their target market in making the ad certainly does.

McDonalds has recently launched a corporate responsibility blog called Open for Discussion.

It has recently been critised by the NY times which said
..."McDonald’s decision to include Hummers in its Happy Meals is surprising given that the fast-food chain has strived in recent years to bolster its image as an environmentally aware company."

An environmental blog made the following statement
... "I've submitted these thoughts in a comment on Mr. Langert's blog, and the comment has yet to be approved for posting. If it’s not up by tomorrow I'm sounding the astroturfing bells.McDonalds should realise that you can't control blog conversations and if you try, the blogosphere will punish you".

Perspective:
As more and more companies create corporate blogs, it is important to realise that it is damaging to be selective. As tempting as it might be, corporations can no longer filter the bad and keep the good and expect to get away with it. In fact there is mounting evidence to suggest that corporations who recognise their failings as well as their triumphs get credit from their customer base for being truthful and more 'real'. Customers recognise that coproprations make mistkes and are prepared to forgive and even give positive credit to those who react in an honest and open way.

MySpace currently has circa 3 million musical acts that post tracks online - it has become a launching pad for many small local acts. So it seems like a logical next step for MySpace to add a music store which lets the site's independent and signed musicians sell their work directly from their MySpace profile pages. The new system is being supported by a relationship with Snocap, a copyright-services company co-founded by Napster creator Shawn Fanning.

Perspective:
It’s hard to see how this will benefit any more than a very small minority of the 3 million wannabes. It’s true it will give aspiring musicians a goal to aim for – to be in the top .01% who can make some real money but it seems like the real objective here is to keep the successful .01% in the ‘fold’ with Myspace becoming the ‘record’ label (to use old world parlance)which can profit from this phenomenon. Reality is, the so called ‘long tail’; really only benefits the few – those who make it to the top and those who control it – in this case Rupert Murdoch and other Newscorp share holders.

I’m reminded of Hugh McLeod’s cartoon –.

I must say I have been suprised that (until now) neither Dell nor Apple have had direct communication with the owners of laptops subject to the battery re-call.(assuming my family is a good litmus test - OK we live in Australia so maybe we're not a good test!!)

I own a Dell Latitude D610 which according to the Dell web site is subject to a battery recall (for the record I've been very happy with my Dell laptop - but that's beside the point) About 3 weeks after the initial recall announcement I have yet to recieve notification direct from Dell - I'm sure that I gave them my email address when I bought it, so wouldn't have thought it was all that difficult to organise. Dell definitely have my postal address - they have no problem sending me a regular promotion mailer (just received one today).

My daughter Laura, owns an Apple laptop. Their battery recall announcement happened a week or two after Dell's. Today she received an email from Apple telling her about the recall. That's not exactly a stellar performance from Apple but certainly way better than Dell.

Perspective:
I recently listened to The Hobson & Holtz Report - Podcast #168: August 31, 2006 (well worth a listen) where Shel registers concern about when Dell first became aware of the Battery problem - it appears they may have known about it for quite some time before the actual recall. Seems like Dell's lack of email contact is just one more example of how slow they are to act.

A interesting podcast on the subject of outside-in innovation - podcast

00:00:00 - COF4 Welcome
00:03:24 - Welcome John Winsor
00:04:42 - Diffusions of Innovation
00:05:05 - Flipping The Ad Model Funnel
00:08:21 - Beyond the Brand (or co-creating from the bottom up)
00:10:34 - Co-creation inspiration - Ethnography, being with customers, “porous companies”
00:13:11 - Marketing vs. Micromarketing
00:14:51 - Skate & Surf Inspiration - Culture, Meaning, Participation
00:17:39 - Engaging in Co-creation is Engaging in “meaning making”
00:18:58 - Patagonia is the example, again
00:21:15 - Fun as a core value
00:22:29 - Hanging With Your Customers - Strategy?
00:23:35 - Fun as a core value: Sign up forms
00:26:58 - Spark: Be more innovative through co-creation
00:30:24 - A more holistic model for business - vertical integration from supplier to customer
00:34:27 - I knows me some ugly Myspace pages
00:36:34 - Mc YouTube 100 Million Videos Served
00:38:32 - The attention economy continues
00:39:33 - The video “conversation”
00:40:45 - Crowdsourcing - Cambrian House & other examples
00:49:55 - Wag of the Finger and Rant of the week: The Coke Show
00:51:54 - Frameworks for Co-creating through social media
00:57:08 - Tip of the Hat: motorola Q wiki
01:00:22 - What can you do with a wiki, beyond encyclopedias, and John

Skype the voice over IP telephony company turns 3 on August 29th.

To celebrate their birthday, Skype are running a competition for the best birthday card. Email them a happy birthday wish at happybirthday@skype.net for your chance to win some great prizes.

Perspective:
We use Skype a lot at Zealot and think that many skype consumers will be wishing them a happy birthday. It's one of those products that consumers can't help but talk about!

As Fairfax, the owners of Sydney Morning Herald launches their new marketing campaign consumers have overwhelmingly responded to their blog in a negative fashion.

The campaign is attempting to reconnect the Sydney Morning Herald to younger readers. However, listen to a sample of the consumer comments.

1. Are they serious? Really? Maybe it's the demo they're trying to reach ... but really? None of those chicks relate to anyone I know! Most Aussies are a lot more 'normal' than that ...

2. Lame! Lame lame lame lamelame!
Lamelamelame!

3. Is this for real? SMH readers are...
university grads (or dropouts before the final exams)
almost all listeners to music with low sales (bar one record)
almost all living within 15 minutes of the Sydney CBD (bar the professors out there)
all under 40 years old
all think they are very interesting and good conversationalists (read boring deluded and wealthy)
all entirely naive
I fear for the SMH's self-image.
But reading what I have just written maybe I really am pretentious, arrogant and self-righteous like you...With this kind of self-image the SMH will never come close to matching the circulation of its competitors...and that's the way I like it.

Perspective:
It will be interesting to see how Fairfax reacts to it's consumer voices and what their market research team thinks about all this free consumer feedback.

JupiterResearch has discovered that consumer-created content such as forums, blogs and podcasts are indeed growing in their ability to impact on purchasing decisions.

"The power of the consumer's voice has never been stronger," said David Daniels, Vice President and Research Director at JupiterResearch. "It is impacting consumer behavior and how companies operate. Smart marketers are not just reviewing consumer-created content, they are studying it and using it to develop strategies to grow their business."
Summary of findings are

- 77 percent of online shoppers use consumer generated product reviews/ratings
- Consumers who post feedback on forums, positive or negative, spend 22 percent more online
- more than 90 percent of large companies believe that consumer recommendations are important in influencing other consumers' purchase decisions.

Perspective:
Monitoring blog traffic should be an important function of every brand and yet many appear to ignore it

via Marketing Pilgrim

From August, 2006, the blog search engine Technorati surpased 50 million blogs reports David Sifry

David summarises the findings as
- Technorati is now tracking over 50 Million Blogs.
- The Blogosphere is over 100 times bigger than it was just 3 years ago.
- Today, the blogosphere is doubling in size every 200 days, or about once every 6 and a half months.
- From January 2004 until July 2006, the number of blogs that Technorati tracks has continued to double every 5-7 months.
- About 175,000 new weblogs were created each day, which means that on average, there are more than 2 blogs created each second of each day.
- About 8% of new blogs get past Technorati's filters, even if it is only for a few hours or days.
- About 70% of the pings Technorati receives are from known spam sources, but we drop them before we have to send out a spider to go and index the splog.
- Total posting volume of the blogosphere continues to rise, showing about 1.6 Million postings per day, or about 18.6 posts per second.
- This is about double the volume of about a year ago.
- The most prevalent times for English-language posting is between the hours of 10AM and 2PM Pacific time, with an additional spike at around 5PM Pacific time

Perspective:
The prolific growth looks set to continue - 50 million is only a fraction of the www population. Brands need to experiment with techniques to enter this conversation.

Speedo has just started podcasting.

It plans to have a series of podcasts with leading swimmers and the first episode of “Speedo Make Waves” is features an interview with Michael Phelps, the US champion swimmer who won eight medals at the 2004 Olympics in Athens. The discussion would be of interest to any sports fan, but it provides some in depth insight into the life of elite swimmers. Michael talks about his recent competitive activities and preparation for the Beijing Olympics in 2008. He also covers some things he is doing to market swimming as a sport in the US and his music tastes.

You can subscribe via iTunes or directly from the Speedo website.

Other Speedo podcasts are planned including Australian swimmers Grant Hackett, Libby Lenton and Leisel Jones.

Perspective:
“Speedo Make Waves” is a great example of a company reaching out to consumers using social media. It also invites consumers to join the conversation via comments. No doubt the combination of this initiative as well as it's regular marketing and PR activities will enable Speedo to get greater reach to it's young audience.

via NevilleHobson

Reuters reports that Dell is recalling 4.1 million notebook computer batteries because the lithium ion batteries could overheat and could catch fire. Interestingly, despite recent press suggesting Dell were going to reach out more to the Blogesphere, Dell posted on its Direct 2 Dell blog after it made its recall announcements much to the ire of some bloggers.

Perspective:
It’s tough being a corporate giant these days. Timing is everything – even just a small delay and the whole world seems to know about it!

www.zealot.net.au

Home Depot V Tooheys Extra Dry

Perspective:
It works for beer so why not hammer and nails?

www.zealot.net.au

The Sydney Morning Herald reports this morning that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, president of Iran has just started his own personal blog.

In an effort to show himself as a man of the people he invites his readers to decide one of the big questions... "Do you think that the US and Israel intention and goal by attacking Lebanon is pulling the trigger for another world war?" - something lost in translation?

Perspective:
As of 08.20 EST time 14814 vote YES and 21044 vote NO - democracy in action?

www.zealot.net.au

My Space has grown by a staggering 30 mil US users in the last 12 months according to Nilesen net ratings, once again underlying the massive growth of User Created Media. My Space now accounts for nearly 5% of all USA web page visits according to Hitwise

Perspective:
My Space is a brilliant business model because content comes for free but wonder how long it will be before MySpace becomes TheirSpace as users realise they are being taken for a ride by their corporate owners to gather massive advertising revenues?

www.zealot.net.au

UK Ofcom research suggests that that among overall internet users the activity which has suffered most is TV viewing, with an overall 18% saying they watch less – nothing radically new here.

However the interesting point is the difference for the 15-24 year old cohort where a much greater proportion claim a reduction in newspapers, magazines and radio consumption. This is driving a radical shift in the mix of media consumption.

Perspective:
Not a great time to be in the newspaper, magazine or radio business - sorry, yes we are stating the bleeding obvious!

www.zealot.net.au

Zealot is currently working on a project with bloggers who have sites appealing to the ever elusive gen Y audience. We sent emails to a number of bloggers asking if they would like to receive free samples of a new brand. Here’s one unexpected response (published by permission) from Chris Saad at Touchstone

Heya Paul,
Thanks for the email – it seems genuine but there are few things that made me hesitate – I thought I would let u know in the interest of helping this blogger thing grow!

The font (courier new) looks like a computer typed it – so I was not sure. And underlines on non-links are not a good idea – makes it look very spam/ marketing orientated (I know it *is* marketing but still). The subject using camel case (ChrisSaad) made me think it was an automated email as well.Maybe it *is* an automated email – but the copy is good enough to have convinced me otherwise.

Just some friendly advice.

Perspective:
Engaging with the Blogger community is an enlightening experience. Feedback often points out where you could and should be doing better - but that's the power of it. Thanks Chris

www.zealot.net.au

We wrote a few months ago about a successful wine blogger campaign run by a South African Winery Stormhoek which won best consumer marketing campaign award at the London Wine show.

This innovative South African winery has re-enlisted Hugh McLeod of Gaping Void to design their labels. He’s inviting comments on the label design before launch – here.

www.zealot.net.au

Posted by: Paul Francis

The Glasgow Sun Herald reports that LVMH, owners of Glenmorangie has developed the world¹s first ever Gaelic language commercial for its extremely rare (only 261 bottles) 1965 Islay single malt Ardbeg brand, which retails for £2100 a bottle!

The Ardbeg ad is based on the original French TV ad for Chanel Egoiste featuring jealous French women screaming “egoiste!” as they open and slam shut their window shutters. The Ardbeg spoof features some rather less attractive Islay women behaving in a similar manner.

The commercial is designed to go viral. Every employee at French drinks giant Moet Hennessy has apparantly been asked to email a link to 10 contacts. It is also being emailed to the 32,000 presumably very well off "worldwide family of Ardbeg aficionados in 90 countries who work tirelessly to drink more Ardbeg"

Perspective:
Not sure it really works as a Viral ad – you would need to have seen the original Chanel ad to ‘get’ it, but as I’m definitely not in the £2100 a bottle target market, I suppose my opinion is fairly academic!

Via Glasgow Sunday Herald's Ken Symon

www.zealot.net.au

Posted by: Paul Francis

A few months ago we wrote a story about Zoom-in which allows you to describe places you have been to and reference them to a global map - ref “Wikipedia Meets Google Earth”. We recently came across WikiMapia a similar but flawed concept (our opinion) which allows you to identify and tag locations in most cities and towns on planet earth.

We have laid 'claim' to 201 Miller St, North Sydney (our offices) although we’re sure the other tenants will soon be making counter claims.

Oh, and according to WikiMapia, just up the road and near the Sydney Cricket Ground is the site now famous for the “Flying Saucer Landing” (and I had always thought we Austalians had arrived by convict ship) ... and just south of us is "Alison and Vlad's place" - fascinating !!

Perspective:
We love Wikipedia, but somehow we think this 'free for all' global mapping concept doesn't quite quite work! Our frivolous comments above illustrate the point. Who decides what's interesting and who can really arbitrate fact from fiction? The fact that we can easily nominate the wrong street or nominate any site as the place where the 'flying saucer' landed - is enough to sew the seeds of doubt, even if it is later 'corrected' by someone!

www.zealot.net.au

Posted by: Paul Francis

The Domesday Book, instigated by William the Conquer as a 'census' of England has just arrived on the web reports the BBC.

Perspective:
History scholars have known it for years but now us ordinary folk can learn the lessons of history too!

www.zealot.net.au

Posted by: Ian Farmer

Showing that old media, can play in the new media space, the Washington Post is inviting it's readers to create a video mashup with political reporter Dana Milbank.

Dana provides the questions, you provide the answers!

The Post plans to will post all videos submitted that meet the requirements and will give viewers the opportunity to comment and rate the videos.

Perspective:
The Washington Post is positioning itself as a paper that understands and wants to interact with it's young consumers.

via Podcasting News

www.zealot.net.au

Posted by: Ian Farmer

The Wall Street Journal has written an excellent article on the new forces at work in the Social Media space.

Take a look through these unknown writers and directors who now carry significant influence!

Perspective:
It used to be the case that famous people offline, generated a lot of interest online, but now fame and influence can and is coming from the online world to the offline world.

www.zealot.net.au

Posted by: Ian Farmer

This report on blogging in the USA makes interesting reading. About 12 million Americans (8% of Internet Users) keep a blog while 57 million say they read blogs – a significant increase on 2005.

According to the survey conducted by PewInternet, it seems blogging, is a significant source of influence (or at least that’s the blogger's intention).

29% said one of the major reasons for blogging was to “motivate other people to action” while 28% said it was to “influence the way other people think”.
Still out in front - 37% of Bloggers cite “My life and experiences” – No doubt My Space is the driving force here.

Perspective:
As word of mouth marketing tool , marketers are only just starting to learn the power of the medium. It's a difficult 'beast' to harness - control it and it just becomes advertising, ignore it and it may hit you when you least expect it.

www.zealot.net.au

Posted by: Paul Francis

The Sony Bravia Award winning tv advertisement showing the coloured balls bouncing down San Francisco, has launched a supportive blog to chronicle the creation of the follow up ad.

Perspective:
Not only does the blog provide additional information for those interested in the making of the famous advertisement, it also provides pictures and information for bloggers to make it easy for them to spread the message about Sony's Bravia technology.

via Adrants
www.zealot.net.au

Posted by: Ian Farmer

The Guardian reports that 1 in 4 UK internet users are now blogging, which equates to 1 in 9 of the total population.

The internet is also a growing "source of trust" for consumers as evidence by the Edelman Trust Baromter page 22 although two thirds of the people surveyed in a recent Guardian/ICM survey said they took what they read in blogs with a pinch of salt.
via Micropersuasion

www.zealot.net.au

Posted by: Ian Farmer

Eyespot makes it easy to edit and share web video. If you're a savvy user Apple iMovie or Apple Final Cut may be for you, but now eyespot have developed a web-application which makes it really easy for anyone to edit and mix clips.

If you just want to post a video, YouTube is the place to go but if you're not a tech or media geek but you're interested in editing and mixing videos then visit eyespot.

Here's a great podcast interview with one of the founder's of eyespot hosted by Amber MacArthur and Leo Laporte.

www.zealot.net.au

Posted by: Paul Francis

Cosumer Generated Content tops the list of the all-time Top 100 YouTube videos according to No Man's Blog

The YouTube Top 100 breakdown:

58 user-generated videos
31 music videos
4 commercials
3 commercial virals
2 movie trailers
2 Asian candid camera bits

Common CGC themes? – read more here

Our favourite?

www.zealot.net.au

Posted by: Paul Francis

To celebrate the launch of its new look website Ajax-powered homepage this month, Yahoo! is running a CGM short video competition. Students from leading film schools are being asked to create short videos based on scripts about how Yahoo! is changing.

Anyone else who wants to participate can also create and share their own videos - using the Yahoo! logo and script ideas. People can submit their videos under a new Yahoo! Video category called 'New Yahoo! Campaign'. The winning videos will be selected by Yahoo! to run in ads across its network.

www.zealot.net.au

Posted by: Paul Francis

The number of Australian blogers is likley to be approaching 500,000 according to the Blog Herald

And with 13.5 million internet users, that means that 3.7% of Australian users are blogging. Whilst that is still below the US figures, it does show Australia is rapidly catching up.

Perspective:
With nearly 4% of Australia's internet population blogging, and most of their friends and friends of friends consuming blogs, this suggests that brands should be carefully monitoring these conversations, and using the growth of blogs to spread conversations about brand experiences.

www.zealot.net.au

Posted by: Ian Farmer

“This call may be recorded to help us improve customer service” Most of us have heard that line before, but when Vincent Ferrari tried to cancel his AOL ISP service he turned the tables and recorded his conversation with AOL, then placed it on his blog.

The rest is history as they say - within a few hours other bloggers were helping spread the tale digg footerest and when NBC picked up the story just seven days later the resulting video ended up on YouTube (averaging over 10,000 views per day for the last month) not to mention the millions of viewers who watched the story on NBC.

The math is probably understated but we estimate by now over 30 million people have heard about or read the story – all from one blog. And did AOL learn its lesson? The president apologised - but has the culture really changed at AOL? - We'll wait and see.

Perspective:
Never under-estimate the power of 'one'.

www.zealot.net.au

Posted by: Ian Farmer

New research from the USA Center for Customer-Driven Quality shows that a customer who is satisfied with the experience during a phone call to a customer service call center, hangs up with more customer loyalty than one who is originally satisfied with the product. That satisfied call center customer also makes more future purchases and is more likely to refer friends and family to the product or service.

Perspective:
How regularly do you check the satisfaction of customers who deal with your call centre?

via womma

www.zealot.net.au

Posted by: Paul Francis

101 2 litre bottles of Diet Coke + 523 Methos mints = One cool science experiment

These videos are hosted by Revver, which is a consumer generated video site that includes ads and shares the revenue 50/50 with the video creator. In this case there is a Menthos ad at the end which almost summarises the whole essence of the mint.

See the current Menthos Ad which interestingly enough has a guy who sneezes and mistakingly shaves off a little hair from the guy. He ponders the repurcussions until his friend helps him come out clean.

Perspective:
Consumers are freely trading their time to watch these videos, and in this case Menthos gets to communicate it's product while benefiting from the viral aspects.

www.zealot.net.au

Posted by: Ian Farmer

Wal-Mart is launching a social-networking site for teens with an invitation to "Make a video or personalized page expressing your style and you could see yourself in a Wal-Mart TV commercial"

The concept gets lambasted by Ad Age

”… The tight controls will work against Wal-Mart's goal to make the site more edgy and will instead cement the retailer's image as a conformist brand" says Tim Stock, a researcher with New York-based Scenario DNA, a research firm devoted to studying Gen Y.
"Moreover, the retailer reserves the right to edit the commercial created with the winning video, obviously hoping to avoid the fate of Chevrolet's Tahoe, which allowed consumers to create their own video spots unchecked and ended up with some unflattering results. A subversive, ironic ad by a savvy teen on how her dad's hardware shop closed down after the retail goliath rolled into town would likely be considered 'objectionable' by Wal-Mart…"

"The second you try to create boundaries and draw a line around content and put a box around content, it becomes something else. Teens aren't searching for what a company deems relevant, but what they deem relevant," Mr. Stock said.

Perspective:
It’s an interesting debate. The issue here is really about positioning. No one begrudges Wal-Mart for exercising the right to create boundaries -it is their brand after all. Where they come unstuck is in pretending that their site allows people to express their individuality – it can’t really make this claim when it reserves the right of veto or allows modification to original content.

www.zealot.net.au

Posted by: Paul Francis

Nokia Canada was looking for a way to get people talking about a new camera phone, so it worked with Toronto-based Matchstick to recruit 90 bloggers in Toronto and Vancouver. Similar to a blogger outreach program conducted in the US by Sprint, the bloggers were asked to write about the phone if they used it.

Where some brands have expressed concern over the lack of control, Nokia's Mila Mironova believes the opposite. "We believe that it is one of the most honest forms of advertising out there. You can't control what they say."

Via Womnibus

www.zealot.net.au

Posted by: Ian Farmer

The Paradox of Choice, a book by Barry Scwartz asserts that “Choice overload can make you question the decisions you make before you make them, set you up for unrealistically high expectations ... which in the long run leads to decision making paralysis, anxiety and perpetual stress.”

Put simply "Too much choice = lower sales"

Burger King has apparently come up with a solution for their confused patrons faced with too much choice – They suggest you spin the wheel and leave your lunch choice to chance!

Perspective;
We wonder what's next? - McDonalds, not wishing to be outdone by the competition introduce the 'dartboard dinner'?

www.zealot.net.au

Posted by: Paul Francis

Ever wanted to create your very own personalized news feeds without having to ask the IT department to set it up for you? Well here’s a simple way to do it – just click here and have a play.

Simply add content by clicking the “Add Content” icon - top left hand corner of the page or delete any existing news sections you don’t want in your page by moving your cursor over the header of the relevant section and clicking “Close” – to the right of the edit button.

And there you have it – your very own personalized global news room right at your finger tips.

www.zealot.net.au

Posted by: Ian Farmer

If you’re into beer (and who isn’t) or you're just researching what’s happening in the world of beer - this is perhaps the most comprehensive beer web site we have ever come across. Just like the pub, we could spend hours here. Happy reading!

www.zealot.net.au

Posted by: Paul Francis

Here's a clever way to use your consumers to market your product to their friends.
You provide them with a simple widget that they can paste into their Myspace page which provides them with active content on a subject they are passionate about.

That's exactly what Roller Warehouse have done with this Rolling News Widget. The news widget scrolls current Roller Skating News from the Aggressive Skate Blog.

As an additional incentive, consumers who post this Widget on their Myspace are entitled to a 5% discount.

Perspective:
What information can you give your passionate consumers in an easy to use way like this?

www.zealot.net.au

Posted by: Ian Farmer

Via SkyDeck Cartoons

Answer ? – They both advertise on Kahdo Smart cars!

But that’s where the similarities end. One of the noticeable differences is how the two brands have approached their respective Kahdo campaigns. The TED campaign was a fully integrated campaign leveraging as many touch points as possible. The campaign was cleverly integrated with the TED web-site, inviting participation from its consumers – loved the stolen glasses video.

The brightly painted red Malteser Kahdo cars look fantastic and will no doubt, raise Malteser brand awareness in its target market - but it looks like Maltesers missed a great opportunity to integrate its campaign with other media.The Malteser web site (better described as the M&M web site!!) is disappointing to say the least. Perhpas the guys from Mars have more to come. We think Malteser Maniacs would love the chance to be more involved with their brand!

www.zealot.net.au

Posted by: Paul Francis

Here's an interesting idea, particularly if you are aiming to attract consumers who frequent night clubs.

It's called Passout Marketing. The idea is that you use Passout Marketing to have your logo stamped on patrons wrists to signify entry into the club. So far, the clubs they have available to advertise in are limited to some of the exclusive bars in the US Australia, but there is no reason why you couldn't sponsor a night club directly.

Perspective: New marketing ideas are more likely to generate conversations, and conversations overcome the clutter that is competing for consumer attention.

Posted by: Ian Farmer

We have written many posts about the power of consumer generated media. Unsoliticed information by consumers who share their thoughts and opinions are powerful.

So it's not surprising that sites designed to be a trading place for products and comments are spreading. Ebay, Amazon, Cnet are full of professional and consumer reviews of various products.

But when bloggers are payed to review products, the model is potentially at risk of producing unethical buzz. I believe this is the case with newly launched PayPerPost.

The current "Opportunities" listed on the site reveal a list of advertisers who are paying to have their advertising "blogged" for money.

Perspective: At Zealot we are not paid to review or comment on sites. If we were, we would declare that interest. These ethics are important to ensure independant views and trust are maintained. Although PayPerPost doesn't hide the fact that bloggers are paid for reviewing the opportunities, it's doubtful all associated bloggers will reveal that fact, and hence their reputation will ultimately be affected. Far better to build and harness the natural buzz created by your brand / category zealots!

Posted by: Ian Farmer

Ever wondered how a rumour starts? Nielsen BuzzMetrics recently published an interesting report on the April 2006 PMA conference showing among other things which sites were most responsible for starting rumours about photographic products and services.
Here’s some examples from the top rated rumour site.

The report also shows that blogging accounted for nearly 40% of all PMA web traffic during the show. Interestingly, despite the massive amount of consumer web traffic in photographic 'space', the two giants of the industry, FujiFilm and Kodak, are yet to fully embrace open blogging into their websites.

Perspective
Blogging seems like a massive opportunity to embrace consumers in the new digital age.

www.zealot.net.au

Posted by: Paul Francis

Viral video of the month - over one million you tube views in the first 10 days.

Apparently Matt did a video of his 2003 travels which the people from Stride Chewing Gum, a new product from Cadbury, saw and liked. (We did a Google search for Matt's first video but couldn't find it, so perhaps it's all part of an elaborate scheme). Anyway, 'Dancing Video - 2006' was sponsored by Stride Chewing Gum and now features on their web site.

Perspective
Genuine CGM or not, its a clever idea, and Matt, the self described deadbeat from Connecticut is a global celebrity - oh and Stride Chewing Gum is now on the map.

www.zealot.net.au

Posted by: Paul Francis

Here are some stats which show just how much reach some of the new media video sites have.

ClipShack: 2.200 daily users (source: AdBright)
Google Video: 12,5 million monthly users (source: Washington Post)
Grouper: 3-8 million monthly users (source: PR News and Alexa) and 500.000 registered users (source: Alexa)
Ourmedia: 28.000 daily users (source: AdBright).
Vidiac: 2 million streaming videos daily and 3 million monthly usres (source: Silicon Beat)
Vimeo: 20.000 daily users (source: USA Today) and 50.000 registered users (source: Vimeo)
YouTube: 50.000 uploads daily and 6 million daily users requesting 50 million streaming videos per day (source: YouTube).

via Marketing Facts

Perspective: Do you regularly check these sites for videos relating to your category?

Posted by: Ian Farmer

If you haven't got a spare $40 million to become the official Beer sponsor of the World Cup like Budweiser, what do you do?
Bavaria Brewing produced uniforms for 1000 or so fans with their logo and sent them to the game.

But FIFA officials wouldn't let the fans wear their Lederhosen into the game, so Dutch supporters watched the game in their underwear. They of course had to look after their sponsors.

Read the full story at the Guardian here, and from ESPN here.

Perspective: The irony of this ambush marketing is that the stories that flowed from the fans watching the game in their underwear has probably provided more publicity for Bavaria than they would have received from the mass of orange uniforms. The lesson is that just because you are the official sponsor, doesn't mean you have the rights to every consumer conversation.

Many of you would be familiar with Wikipedia, which is a reference based online encyclopedia. It is maintained through a principle that anyone can update any page. Wikipedia is "opinion neutral" which means it is focused on providing facts about topics.

Wikipedia founder, Jimmy Wales also helped create a sister site to Wikipedia, called Wikia. Whilst the wiki software technology is the same, Wikia concerns itself with consumer collaborative communities that share opinions and views on almost anything.

There is a Wikia for Diabetes in Pets, Spiderman. TV hit shows such as 24 and Lost have their own Wikias as do topics like Psychology.

Since Wikia's launch in November 2004, over 1,200 Wikia have been created and edited by over 30,000 registered users and are available in over 40 languages. Here's the current list of Wikia.

The content can even be freely distributed as long as Wikia is referenced as the source. You could even produce a book and sell it commercially for your own profit, providing the book cover contains reference to Wikia.

Perspective: We were surprised how many communities are talking in Wikia. Companies should definately review this list and potentially join in the conversation on any wikia's relating to your product or service offerings.

More and more consumer sites have emerged where real consumers are writing about real experiences with real products.

Take this example Heat Eat Review, which specialises in the growing category of Heat and Eat food.

Perspective: Consumers have always been talking about products, but now there are many places where they are openly discussing their experiences. We wonder if the brand managers are tuned in?

Ever felt like you would like a "virtual dog" that you can throw a search term to, and it would return results from several major sources on a single page.

Well, Tagfetch does just that

Perspective: Try searching for your company or brand and you might be amazed at the conversations taking place!

A influence marketing company Cymfony, has proposed this model comparing "Influence" in the new web world.

And to prove that they believe in their model, they are hosting a wiki to collaborate what influence means to market facing organisations.

Perspective: We think the table is a great summary of where the world of consumer lead marketing is heading, and the companies that fully embrace what it means, will carry a competitive advantage.

We came across this fascinating tool recently – It’s called Gap Minder and allows an easy comparison of human development trends across the planet we live in. We found it quite sobering – for example why is that the average life expectancy of people from Sierra Leone is just 35 years when Australia’s is 73? Why is it that the number of girls in school in Pakistan is 66% of the number of boys when in Australia it’s about 100%.

Perspective
GapMinder may not provide all the answers but it may help us become less complacent about the lucky country we live in.

Yesterday the NY times reported that Toyota had begun selling cars in the Whyville virtual world for 8 to 12 year olds.

The campaign is cleverly attempted to get the Whyvilleans to influence their parents to purchase real Toyota Scions, as well as generating some positive brand awareness to future buyers.

According to the NY times report, "Ten days into the campaign, visitors to the site had used the word "Scion" in online chats more than 78,000 times; hundreds of virtual Scions were purchased, using "clams," the currency of Whyville; and the community meeting place "Club Scion" was visited 33,741 times. These online Scion owners customized their cars, drove around the virtual Whyville and picked up their Scion-less friends for a ride."

Perspective: We congratulate Toyota for embracing new marketing. They could extend this campaign into valuable consumer research for future cars, either just the exterior design or features that are of particular interest to this segment.

eBay has launched a wiki (define) to allow any of it's members to share and edit information about doing business on the site with each other.

The most famous wiki is Wikipedia which maintains incredible consumer generated information about almost anything.

Perspective: eBay has always let it's members provide support and advice to other members, that's part of it's business model. The strong community and it's rating system work together to ensure content is self moderated. Unlike carefully crafted marketing material, the information is trusted because it's provided by real people voluntarily.

So often companies neglect one of the most important parts of a sales cycle, and that is the moment after purchase when the consumer actually opens the box !

Excitement or Disappointment ?

Who can forget the electronic Christmas presents that are unboxed without batteries included.

Now there is a blog dedicated to capturing and sharing "unboxing" moments. Unboxing.com is full of positive and negative examples which manufacturers would do well to consume.

Perspective: Unboxing represents a great opportunity for launching word of mouth .. or detraction. Do you measure this?

More and more companies are starting to see the benefits of involving consumers in the design of future products.

Threadless T-shirts has made it a integral part of their business to ensure it offers the best designs that are judged by consumers !

Here's a quote from the Threadless site .....

"Who designs the Threadless product?
You do!
Threadless.com is an on-going tee shirt design competition, anyone can submit their design and if it gets a high enough score and is chosen by the Threadless crew it will be printed and sold from the site.
Most of the product found on Threadless is a result of the competition. A few of the shirts were printed outside of the contest, some of which were commissioned by Threadless to various well-known designers."

Cash prizes for winning designs is $1500 as well as $500 of credit with Threadless. This attracts some serious designers who use the publicity to get a headstart.

Perspective: We love the way Threadless has incorporated an ongoing participative design program into their business, as well as a constant dialogue with their consumers. Yet another ORSIM example!

Hugh Macleod, "cartoon" and "blogger" from Gaping Void is one of our favourite blogs.
In May 2005, he also created a blog-based marketing campaign for South African winery Stormhoek that involved sending wine samples to other bloggers and holding 100 wine tasting dinners.

Bloggers embraced the campaign, some of the comments can be read here.

The results of the campaign was a doubling of sales !
This week we heard that the campaign was awarded "The Best Consumer Campaign" by the 2006 "The Drinks Business Awards" at the London Wine and Spirits Fair.

Perspective: This proves once again that when a good product engages consumers to build conversations, the product becomes something special.

Reaching out to fans is something that many musical artists are doing. It used to be responding to fan mail, then email, and these days numerous music bands use myspace to interact with their fans.

But here's a great example of involving fans by actually getting them to submit short clips which were mashed up for Shakira's song "Hips Don't Lie."

Sony BMG Music partnered with Yahoo to encourage consumers to help with the clip which subsequently went to number one on the Yahoo! Music charts. According to Cammie Dunaway, Yahoo's chief marketing officer, 10,000 fans submitted booty-shaking clips for the effort. You can see the final video on Youtube.

Perspective: The success of Shakira's song is definately related to this initiative. If you contributed to a hit song video, wouldn't you tell all your friends to watch it? Can you getting your fans to market one of your products?

Think about the last time you went to a movie or spoke to someone who did. Chances are you may have passed that endorsement to a second or third conversation, and these days you are more likely to include email, instant messaging, or sms'ing in those "conversations". The world is full of conversations and thanks to technology, those conversations are moving faster than ever.

Here's an example. Someone at a movie sms'd me to say that they enjoyed a movie trailer and can't wait to see it, that endorsement spreads to a work conversation, which in turn leads to a positive blog on one of the movie marketing voices, which in turn is linked to by several other bloggers who are read by thousands of consumers.

Perspective: Understand that consumers are more than happy to spread the word about your product and work on giving them the tools to enhance their conversations. Rather than marketing to your consumers, embrace them as your marketing partner !

Rating sites for technical gadgets have existed for a long time, but now almost any product or service can now be researched online. It is no surprise that we are starting to see more sites created to store consumer comments about a particular category.

Wine Log is one such website. It’s a site that contains consumer ratings, tags and comments. The content is a little light at this stage, but the site allows consumers to add wines to the growing database. I think wine lovers will like the format of the site, and enjoy sharing comments about their favourite wines with others. The site encourages the creations of Wine Logs, so you can store your comments in a single view. Example here. You can even send your comments to your phone, which is useful to take with you to the local bottleshop.

Perspective: Consumer reviews are growing in numbers, becoming easier to find, and are certainly becoming a very trustworthy source of information. I wonder if the wine makers are listening?

Nike has created an excellent Consumer Generated site called Nikesoccer.

Consumers upload videos of a ball entering from the left of screen, they can then do a trick or two before kicking or heading the ball to the right of screen. From there the next video takes over in what will become one of the longest Consumer Generated Video chains !

Perspective: Great consumer engagement that capitalises on the world cup fever. Hopefully when the chain gets really long there will be a way to filter the chain to find your own submission!

Posted by: Ian Farmer

As Jennifer Aniston is due to fly into Sydney for the Australian red-carpet premiere of her new movie "The Break-Up", Google is calling for consumers to create their own Break-up Videos

So far submissions have been of a very poor standard - perhaps 'breaking up' really is 'hard to do'

Perspective: Unfortunately this CGM attempt feels like a poor man's version of YouTube - an attempt by Google to get more people to use Google Video by leveraging someone else's movie? It raises an interesting question about which CGM approaches work and which ones don't. This one provides very little incentive or motivation to do anything really creative or worthwhile but I guess we will wait and see.

via Google Blogoscoped

YouTube has launched a service to let you upload videos directly from your mobile phone.

Perspective: Consumer journalism is continuing to grow as evidenced by the Tsunami photos sent to Flickr, as well as the London Bombings. This service will only add to the available consumer content that will allow consumers to share their experiences with others.

Posted by: Ian Farmer

There are all sorts of new and interesting ways emerging for searching on the web. Snap presents a slightly different approach to search with a visual preview to the right hand side of the search interface which lets you see what to expect before hitting the site - this could be a time saver - saves you from going to the actual web site. The search box also tries to anticipate what you are looking for. I found this a bit annoying - not sure what a Zealot search has to do with New 'Zeal'and!
What I do like about Snap is the collaborative approach they are using to find out what people really want from search. Another ORSIM idea.

Posted by: Paul Francis

A study by the London School of Economics and Political Science and the Listening Company shows that positive word of mouth can directly impact on a company's bottom line.

Survey polls compared sales growth actuals for banks, mobile phone networks, grocery stores, and auto manufacturers against word of mouth advocacy.

Other key findings include:
* A 7% increase in positive WOM unlocked an additional 1% in growth.
* A 2% reduction in negative WOM also boosted sales by 1%.
* Companies with above average positive WOM grew four times as fast as companies with below average positive WOM.

Perspective:
Brands should be increasing their focus on word of mouth advocacy, including
* Identifying the influencers (Shapers) who may have a significant impact on your brand in your target market.
* Engaging influencers through preferential product trial and selective brand experiences.
* Building influencer community through involvement in open sourced innovation and marketing.

via WOMMA

Posted by: Ian Farmer

We've all heard of Wikipedia – the free encyclopaedia that anyone can edit.
Zoom-in is a similar concept applied to ‘places’ - which allows anyone to post pictures or make comments on anywhere. You can even dial down to your own home address or place of business. Eventually the globe will be mapped and described in infinite detail – by us.

Posted by: Paul Francis

via Frontiering

Jet Blue is inviting customers to provide feedback on their experiences with the airline via a portable video booth that will be located at different destinations during the North American summer. Unfortunately the stories on their web-site so far feel very sanitised - more like advertising than real experiences.This is especially true because some of the videos have been embelished with additional 'creative' - defeats the whole purpose really - sorry!

Perspective:
Here's the rub - we will only believe the feedback is genuine if there are some bad stories about the airline (mixed with good ones of course) and stories are not embelished with 'creative'. Where negative feedback was received the airline could say what it did to fix the problems encountered by passengers. I would then be more likely to believe their stories.

Posted by: Paul Francis

A removable spare tyre that also serves a 'Stealth Beverage'!!! - Now that's an interesting idea.

Here's a new 'tongue in cheek' product that's sure to get people talking -It's called the Beerbelly, and is the brainchild of 3 middle-aged men wanting a solution for sneaking beer into movies and baseball games.

Sold entirely online at www.thebeerbelly.com,we are not sure how many orders have been generated but within 5 days of launching, the BeerBelly website has had an incredible 2 million hits!

Perspective:
We don't condone the 'smuggling' of alcoholic drinks into public places but we do like the way 'beer belly' has created a place for feedback on what people are saying about the product (via the blog-o-sphere)and how they are also asking for feedback via email for consumer experiences. There are no YouTube videos of the product in use ... but I am sure they will come. What can you do to encourage people to get creative with your brand?

Posted by: Ian Farmer

ESPN reports that that Diageo, producers of the Crown Royal whiskey brand, is giving fans the chance to have a NASCAR race named after them.

The fan's name will be recognised as the race's official name and will be able to present the winner's trophy in Victory Lane.

Perspective:
It's not clear whether the contest is just a sweepstakes, but it would be great to see Diageo embrace CGM (Consumer Generated Media) by inviting entries that showcase both Crown Royal and NASCAR. These could be showcased online like the Amex 15 seconds campaign extending the reach of the competition to friends and family of those that enter.

via Micropersuasion

Posted by: Ian Farmer

Southwest Airlines have launched a blog aptly named Nuts about Southwest.

From the site
"..Nuts about Southwest is all about our Employees, Customers, airplanes, and airports. We really are Nuts about Southwest and we hope that our Readers will share that passion by posting their own comments."

They have even put together a User Guide to explain the background, goals and the "rules of engagement". In January, Southwest also launched an Adopt-a-pilot blog in support of their four-week school program for a hundreds of classrooms across the US.

Perspective:
Southwest has been successful largely due to the evangelism of many of it's customers, evidenced by it's 60% Net Promoters score, the highest in the US airline industry.
The Nuts about Southwest blog is a clever initiative to reach out to those advocates, and through their conversations, continue to build it's Customer Loyalty.

Posted by: Ian Farmer

Amex is inviting consumers to create a personal slice of their lives. The competition is based on the celebrity "This is my life, my card is American Express' campaign, but invites consumers to submit 15 seconds of "their life".

To review each submission you can watch it online, send it to your phone, even download to your ipod.

Perspective:
Because the consumer get to rate each submission I think it will naturally help encourage quality submissions. Amex will also get some excellent consumer research into the lifestyles of their customers. So in 15 seconds, what does your life say?

Posted by: Ian Farmer

GMC have removed their CGM site from the web. I suspect it may be connected with the spate of unexpected ads which appeared using their CGM software. See Heavy on the Chevy and Rocket Boom

Some of the CGM ads appearing on these sites are derogatory - although it has to be said many make a good point. It underlines why manufactures need to get their house in order. On the web there’s nowhere to hide.

Perspective
Full marks to GMC for having the courage to 'bear their soul' – even with the unintended consequences. In the long run they will emerge leaner, stronger, better. I just hope the Tahoe experience hasn’t mortally wounded the whole CGM concept.

Posted by: Paul Francis

Kansas City radio station 98.9FM The Rock, is running a Consumer Generated Media contest for listeners to create a TV commerical.

360 entries have been received to date, including cowboys and indians, a crazy man in a chicken suit, and firworks

Listeners can also vote for their favourite ad and together with resident D.J votes will determine who gets the $20,000 on offer.

Perspective:
It's great to see a radio station letting their loyal listeners help to advertise their station. Whilst some commercials are of higher standard than others, all of them exhibit a degree of consumer passion that helps to share the ownership of the stations image with it's listeners.

via Adrants

Posted by: Ian Farmer

Land Rover has launched a web tv site that will encourage participation by Land Rover owners to share their experiences, and learn from others in the community by sharing editorial content.

This follows the Video Logging site created by Mini in Germany. Check this entry from one excited Mini Fan.

Perspective: It's great to see a brand opening up it's doors and co-ordinating a place for it's consumers to have conversations. Other consumers are trusted sources of information and Land Rover and Mini are helping their advocates tell others about the fun and adventures you can have when you own one.

Posted by: Ian Farmer

New Line Cinema is changing the rules for film making for it's production of "Snakes on a Plane", due for release in August, 2006.

Snakes on a plane condurs up a frightening image which has inspired creative consumers to interact with the film. New Line Cinema has released trailers and images of the film and is allowing consumers to interact with them.Involvement has been so overwhelming that some of the scenes have been re-shot to meet expectations of the fans - more snakes, nudity and swearing!

Progress so far - here's a snapshot.

Over 100 photos are on Flickr with the Snakes on a plane tag.

There's the blog, called Snakes on a blog.. created by an everyday person, who's only motivation is to get an invite to the Hollywood premiere.

Someone has created a Cafepress store to sell the SoaP t-shirts!

33 Consumer Generated Trailers are listed on Youtube.

New Line is cleverly embracing all these 'conversations' from its fan base. It is now asking consumers to create a Snakes on a Plane song, consumers will elect the top 25, and the winner will be featured in the movie!

Perspective:
A fabulous way to build a groundswell of support for a movie, which has inspired fans to participate in spreading the word months before its release. No doubt a successful box office launch in August!

Posted by: Ian Farmer

The Online Publishers Association has released a new study which reveals that Watching Videos online is becoming routine, with 25% viewing at least weekly and 46% viewing monthly.Here are the headlines

•News and entertainment videos are the most frequently watched online
•Viewers go to multiple destinations for video –and then surf for more
•Online video viewers have attractive demographics
•Online video viewers are cross-media consumers
•Viewers are receptive to video ads and driven to act
•Consumers will pay for online videos to get freedom of access

Perspective:
Online Video is here to stay and should become an integral part of the marketing mix. Given email is the most popular method for finding videos, viral aspects should be provided. The study suggests consumers are willing to view video ads along with their content and therefore Advertisers should be experimenting to discover the best mechanics.

Full study results here

via WOMMA

Mcgriddlefanfic, is a live web community dedicated to writing short fiction about McDonald’s breakfasts!! The site’s only been up a few days but it already has 20 new ‘novels' ... here’s a ‘taste’ - no 'bun' intended -

I never got along with my older sister, Hotcakes. Everything seemed to come so easily to her, with her beautiful figure and outgoing personality. Hotcakes never had to try to get attention, it seemed like no matter where she went, people warmed to her immediately and wanted to be in her presence. I never had that kind of ease making new friends, and I was always so jealous. I was just me, awkward little McGriddle.

Hotcakes and I were walking to school one morning when a pretty cute guy snuck up behind us and slipped in the gap between where we were walking. He grinned at both of us, and winked. "Good morning, ladies!" his blue eyes shone in the morning sunlight. "Mind if I join you? I'm new to this town. The name is Josh."

"Not at all," Hotcakes murmured with her syrupy sweet voice. She grinned back at Josh, and I knew that she was plotting to get him to go on a date with her. "It can be really tough to be the new kid here. I'd be happy to show you around the campus so you don't get lost."

"Why, that's very kind of you," Josh's smile was as warm as sunshine. He turned to face me. "What about you? I'd feel very lucky to have two beautiful ladies show me around today."

I blushed. No guy had ever looked twice at me before, but Josh made me feel so comfortable. "McGriddle, I kind of wanted to ask you something," Josh suddenly looked serious and leaned towards me.

"What's that?" I was nervous. Was he going to ask me if Hotcakes was single? I figured that was where this conversation was heading.

"Well..." Josh suddenly looked nervous. "You just seem so different. So unique." I felt my bacon blush."I love that you are both sweet and a little bit salty." What?! Was he really talking to me? "I'd just really love to get to know you a bit better. Can we maybe...go out sometime?"

I felt like I was going to pass out, or float away. Never in my wildest dreams would anyone ask me out, letalone a cute new boy like Josh.

"Oh my gosh..." I whispered. "Of course! I'd love to!"

Josh leaned a little closer, paused, and then kissed me.

At that moment, I realized that I no longer had to compare myself against my sister. Hotcakes may have her fans, but I finally knew, that being a little different, a little unique, was really ok. If someone like Josh could love my uniqueness, then so could I.

Thanks tastybrains

Perspective
Mills and Boon - move over

Posted by: Paul Francis

Ever wanted to create your own unique mobile phone ring tones? P&G’s Tampax brand have created a site where you can mix the sounds of up to twenty 'ToonTone' band members to create your own sound. You can select the bass, lead, rhythm and drum sounds that your 'ToonTone' band will play to create your own funky and unique sound. There is a small catch – you need to enter a unique code found only on Irish and UK Tampax packs before you can send the ringtone to your phone. (there must be a joke about Irish Tampax codes somewhere!) Tampax also showcases the best entries on its website – as voted by consumers.

Perspective
A great piece of 'girlie' CGM cleverly linked to the one thing a girl can't do without - her mobile phone of course!

Posted by: Paul Francis

Kodak has launched this rather ‘clunky’ CGM site. The idea is great but it seems to lose something in translation! The website allows easy uploading of five photos of your choice which are then incorporated into an American TV commercial featuring some great photographic moments. You can email your creation to a friend but unfortunately that seems to be about as far as the idea goes.

Perspective
Shame Kodak didn't get a bit more ‘creative’ with this great idea - perhaps the offer of a real ad featuring the winning photographs, as voted by site visitors and a bit smarter integration of your photos with the original TVC.

Posted by: Paul Francis

Marketing Sherpa interviews Gary Spangler - Dupont's eBusiness manager on how to convince the organisation to run with a Word of Mouth Marketing campaign.

Posted by: Paul Francis

Universal Studios has announced that 25-year-old production coordinator Christopher Ell has won the $25,000 first prize for its "Slither" TV Spot competition. The winning teaser was chosen by the film’s director and one of its producers from over 1100 entries, all submitted in a little over a week.

The suprised winner is reported to have said said, "As a filmmaking up-and-comer, I'm looking forward to where the exposure may take me, even if it is just 30 seconds of fame."

Perspective
A $25,000 first prize helps – but it seems that ‘fame’ is the real motivator. And Universal now have a first class teaser for a fraction of the normal cost and a massive amount of free PR and WOM for their new movie.

Posted by: Paul Francis

In a few short months, YouTube has reported astonishing growth. The site which now streams 30 million videos a day, has twice the traffic of Yahoo! Video and more than three times that of Google Video.

Some of the old dinosaurs don’t really know how to handle this phenomenon reports Andrew Wallenstein. "...NBC Universal and CBS Corp. are just a few of the power players who have clamped down on YouTube recently for hosting copyright-infringing clips snatched from broadcast airwaves. However some are showing schizophrenic behaviour with examples of marketing departments uploading content directly to the site, while on the other side of the company their attorney is demanding YouTube remove the content!"

Perspective
Youtube offers the ‘dinosaurs’ an amazing opportunity to avoid extinction (well maybe defer it) by promoting their content. Some have totally missed the point. How much better off they would be to figure out how to leverage this amazing new medium instead of banning it.

Posted by: Paul Francis

Church of the Customer Blog claims that the new 2007 Chevy Tahoe 'create your own' commercial proposition is not really CGM.

The puritanical 'Church' say “Calling it CGM is rather generous.It's really a game. To wit: Participants submit their finished commercials to win prizes."-

How demeaning for participants to give of their time and be rewarded for creating something great!!! (We jest of course)

Perspective
We see the 'Church' argument but respectfully disagree with their conclusions. OK maybe it is CAM – “Consumer Assisted Media” but either way, both CAM and CGM start with “C” – the consumer. The thing we like about CGM from GMC is that it’s easy to participate in – it opens the door to many more consumer 'creatives' – and we are prepared to bet that the winning ‘mix’ will be original , clever and entertaining – perhaps more than any agency creative could have dreamt.

Posted by: Paul Francis

GM is inviting consumers to create an on line ad (update - site now removed from the web - see Zealot blog for its new Chevy Tahoe. It takes the VW 120 features ads concept one stage further by allowing consumers to create their own features ads from a 'jigsaw' puzzle created by the agency. GM cleverly gives consumers a four stage process to follow which makes it really easy to participate.

Stage 1 - Choose and review the product features you want to highlight
Stage 2 - Drag and drop the features into a TVC plan then type your text
Stage 3 - Choose one of eight preselected sound tracks
Stage 4 - View your creation

Perspective
Unlike many 'clunky' CGM attempts by other brand owners the GM software here is brilliantly simple. Anyone can do it – this will encourage thousands of entries.Can't wait to see the winner!

Posted by: Paul Francis

Here's a clever viral advert apparently originated by BSkyB to help lift their sagging* Simpson TV ratings. In the first 7 days the 59 second video clip has had over 2.2 million viewings on Youtube. Sounds like the campaign is working - for Youtube anyway - we'll wait and see for BSkyB.

* based on family survey of 4!!

Perspective
When 'imaginary' gets a little dull there's nothing like 'real life' to lift the spirits.

Posted by: Paul Francis

WOMMA are creating a series of in-depth weekly one-hour teleconferences where leading experts teach practical word of mouth marketing techniques. Each session will cover a specific aspect of word of mouth – starting with a session on ‘Customer Evangelists’ lead by Jackie Huba, Co-Author of Creating Customer Evangelists

Access to the live series is via telephone (suggest you use Skypeout if calling internationally). Registration details here. WOMMA members $10, non members $50 – sounds like a good investment.

Zealot is a member of WOMMA.

Posted by: Paul Francis

Nice story from the Economist on how and why smart companies are harnessing the creativity of their customers.

Posted by: Paul Francis

People have been having fun taking off MasterCard “priceless” campaigns for years. Now MasterCard has launched a website asking people to submit ‘priceless’ lines for two Mastercard ‘blank’ commercials. MasterCard are offerring nothing but fame to the winners - I guess they figure fame is priceless.

Perspective
MasterCard is cleverly achieving the best of both worlds. They haven’t ditched the agency in favour of CGM but have found a way of using both. The agency created the ‘blank’ commercials and consumers have become the copy writers. The integration of both works brilliantly.

Posted by: Paul Francis

LEGO today announced the selection of 100 participants to help guide the product development process for the next generation of LEGO robotics. The select group came from c10,000 robotics enthusiast applications from around the world who applied to be a volunteer developer via the MINDSTORMS® Program website.

According to Lego “... LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT is a robotics toolset that provides endless opportunities for armchair inventors, robotics fanatics and LEGO builders to build and program robots that do what they want."

The next generation of LEGO robotics will apparantly be smarter, stronger and more intuitive. Developer program participants will have four months to experiment with the product, with the intent of furthering the community-based development process, prior to its availability to the public.

Søren Lund, director of LEGO MINDSTORMS said "... we feel that inviting pioneers from the community broadly enhances the new product and experience for all MINDSTORMS users in ways that will exceed expectations at both the building and programming levels.”

Perspective.
Another 'ORSIM' example from Lego.

Posted by: Paul Francis

What did ‘The Exorcist’, ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ ‘Halloween’ and ‘Alien’ all have in common? Answer according to Universal? – “They were all for sissies!”

Enter Slither –definitely not for sissies - an upcoming horror movie about soul-sucking leeches. See preview here.

But that’s not the only thing different.

Universal Pictures are inviting budding directors to create a TV commercial for the movie and have the chance to win $25,000. And you don’t have to have all the movie making gear - visitors to the Slither Web site can click on Slug It Out which takes you to a page of clips, music cues, sound effects and graphics you can use to build a customized Slither TV spot.

Sic em Rex

Posted by: Paul Francis

Malcolm Gladwell - author of 'The Tipping Point' - and inspiration to many (including Zealot) has started his own blog after years of blog resistance - I wonder what his 'Tipping Point' was?

Posted by: Paul Francis

Expo TV is a brand new US based consumer video service that claims to select and showcase the best product video demonstrations available. Expo TV adds value by supplementing the videos with additional product information and showing home-made videos made by their viewers on selected products. Expo TV is currently available online and through 'video on demand' via a number of US cable TV distribution channels.

Perspective
I’m not entirely sure how Expo TV defines ‘best’ when selecting the right products to advertise - but perhaps that’s un-important. What is valuable is that Expo TV adds credibility to brands by letting consumers have their say. Yes the consumer videos are ‘corny’ and ‘amateurish’ but in a way this adds authenticity and believability to their stories. Believe it or not some people do get passionate about their dishwashing detergent or ‘peek a boo’ building blocks – so enthusiastic that they want to share their passion with others by making a video.

Posted by: Paul Francis

Launching a new bar, testing a new menu or promoting a new travel destination? Here’s a slant on word of mouth marketing from DADA a Scottish 'Consumer and Brand Events’ company.
Become a DADA member and get invitations to lots of new events around town. There are different membership levels - general which is free, VIP which is GBP10/month and Corporate VIP which is GBP95/month. All DADA ask you to do is tell your friends about those places and brands you think are good. If you don't like them let DADA know why.

Perspective
DADA works on the principle that actually experiencing a new product is the best way of encouraging people to spread the word. Their revenue model is interesting - unlike some sponsored consumer 'experience' based clubs, DADA makes you pay to be a VIP member - a 'filter' which may indicate you are genuinely the type of person who is into discovering new places or venues - not just a 'free loader'. One refinement we might suggest - including a 'connected' and 'persuasive' filter for applicants could make the right respondents even more valuable to the client. (see Zealot Shaper)

Posted by: Paul Francis

Here's a neat idea for self funded market research from Kettle Food Inc Salem Oregon, who are letting consumers decide which one of 5 pre-selected flavours will be put into production in the company’s second annual 'People’s Choice' campaign.

Last year, more than 50,000 votes were cast by consumers to choose the company’s first-ever 'People’s Choice' selections: Cheddar Beer and Spicy Thai.

Voting is on www.straightupflavor.com and closes March 31st 2006. Everyone who votes online will be entered to win a year’s supply of chips. The winning 'People’s Choice' flavor will be announced in April and on grocery store shelves not long after.

Kettle Foods is making limited batches of the five flavors – inspired by classic food and drinks found on Happy Hour menus -- for tasting at home. People’s Choice Happy Hour Party Packs, which include a 5 oz. bag of each flavor, will be sold for $9.95 plus shipping. Consumers can try each of the flavors and then go online and rate each one on the “Crave-O-Meter,” a five-point scale of deliciousness!

Perspective
Another great example of 'ORSIM' - Open-source Research Shaper-lead Innovation & Marketing. And here it's self funded. Not only do people pay for the initial samples, but if the response is anything like last year there will be 50,000 people lining up to try the 'winning' flavour

Posted by: Paul Francis

In a series of interviews with expert connected marketing academics, consultants and practitioners Justin Kirby,Founder and Managing Director, Digital Media Communications and co-editor of Connected Marketing (published by Butterworth-Heinemann) explores the principles and practical uses of viral marketing, brand advocacy, buzz marketing, word of mouth and blogmarketing (MP3 format)

Podcast # 1 - Seed-Marketing Paul Marsden, Marketing Consultant Enterprise LSE discusses the science of influencer marketing and makes practical recommendations on how to seed, what to seed and to whom in order to ignite consumer conversations. He ends by discussing the economics of buzz and how consumer advocacy has been proven to drive business growth.

Podcast #2 - Managing Connected Markeing Martin Oetting, ESCP-EAP European School of Management-Germany provides an overview of connected marketing tactics, techniques and issues, including consumer empowerment, ethics, definitions, measuring ROI, delivering experiences that exceed expectations, and more. He also reveals his predictions for the future of connected marketing both in Germany and globally.

Podcast #3 - On-line Opinion Leaders Idil Cakim, Director of Knowledge Development at Burson-Marsteller, New York, specialises in interactive marketing and custom research. Quoting study data and examples, she discusses the enormous influence of online opinion leaders, why they are so important for marketers to target, and how companies can best identify and reach them.

Podcast # 4 - Consumer Generated Media Emanuel Rosen, author of the bestselling book, Anatomy of Buzz reveals how businesses should deal with the rise of user-generated media such as blogs; why marketers should never confuse influencers with happy customers; why there is growing interest from advertisers in word of mouth marketing; and more.

Posted by: Paul Francis

Here's a really useful tool from Springdoo which allows you to record your own voice message, identify it with a unique URL and send it via email to anyone in the form of a 'talking email' Messages can also be recorded and posted to a blog or website just like this one.

Perspective
The technology allows ordinary people to communicate their ideas to the world by word of mouth - literally.

Thanks to Frontiering for finding this idea.

Posted by: Paul Francis

Just read a book called Connected Marketing edited by Kirby and Marsden, which provides some really interesting insights into different marketing forms.
How about this for scary? (US figures)

18%: Proportion of TV advertising campaigns that generate positive ROI
54 cents: Average return in sales on every dollar spend on advertising
256%: The increase in TV advertising costs in the past decade
84%: The proportion of B2B marketing campaigns resulting in falling sales
100%: The increase needed in advertising spend to add 1-2% in sales
14%: Proportion of people who trust advertising information.
Source: "Connected Marketing" Kirby and Marsden

Posted by: Paul Francis

After announcing just days ago that it was preparing to launch a streamed show featuring TV host/comedian Bill Maher, Amazon.com, the online retailer, has indicated that it has plans to make available a full roster of products that can be downloaded from the internet - for a price. RED HERRING reports Amazon will launch the service with at least two major names as partners." It's thought that Amazon will sell streamed audio and DVDs at first.

Perspective
Consumer (or small business) generated media will have a massive opportunity - assuming content is good enough and Amazon are prepared to provide the distribution platform.
Among the winners will be products like Apple i-pod which down load and store digital video - the bus trip to work will be a whole new experience!

Posted by: Paul Francis

Kahdo has just released its 3rd brand campaign with the launch of Skyy Blue Vodka advertising on its fleet of Mercedes Smart Cars. This follows the Tooheys Extra Dry (Stolen Glasses) and Nokia (Mobile Music)campaigns which by all accounts have been hugely successful.

But it's not just the eye catching advertising which drives programme success. Kahdo drivers selected by Zealot for their degree of 'Impact Capital' (Connection, Persuasiveness, Credibility) are perhaps demonstrating what researchers have come to know as the Hawthorne Effect.

By singling out a small group of Smart Car Drivers (not production workers as per the original 1930's 'Hawthorne' research) to participate in exclusive activity, participants feel valued, special and important. The special attention they recieve gratifies their ego and creates a positive emotional bond which transforms the participants (young 2006 socially active urban consumers) into advocates.

Posted by: Paul Francis

Spot Runner is an internet-based media model with a difference. Companies pick from 1,000 modules of pre-existing, professionally shot spots that cost as little as $500 to lease. Choose your preferred ad, then simply add your voice-over and logo. But that’s not all – there’s also a user-friendly pre-priced menu which allows you to choose your own TV advertising spots in selected areas (USA). Want to advertise pizza delivery on ESPN when the Cal/Berkeley Bears are playing? That will cost you US$88/slot – amazing!

Perspective
The implications of a TV-commercial distribution model cheaper than direct mail could be significant.

Posted by: Paul Francis

Here's a clever idea for open source design and marketing.

Perspective
It's clever because it offers the designer (you) the opportunity to design and market your own creative designs and set your own merchandise pricing - all without the need to carry inventory, establish a distribution system or invest in a front end ordering system (shop). Brilliant!

Posted by: Paul Francis

'ORSIM' - Open-source Research Shaper-lead Innovation & Marketing.

No where is ‘ORSIM’ better demonstrated than on the new LEGO website which allows you to down load a virtual LEGO set and then go to work on creating your own design.

I think the idea is brilliant. The software which can be down loaded in a couple of minutes allows you to create your own ‘virtual’ designs and view them in 3D from almost any angle. You can discuss your latest creation on ‘message board’ and submit your design to LEGO for ‘judging’. In time I’m sure other users will be asked to decide the winners but for now those chosen by LEGO actually get to become real LEGO products.

Perspective
This is truly 'ORSIM' not only for the 9 year old winner but also for LEGO who receives innovative designs for free.

'ORSIM' is an acronym developed by Zealot and Frontiering to refer to the process of open sourcing research innovation and word of mouth marketing. 'Shaper' is a term coined by Zealot to describe people who are most likely to influence their peers in chosen categories. Zealot has designed a specific process to identify who these people are.

Posted by: Paul Francis

Read David Smith's report on AdTech Shanghai here. Day 2 wrap up here.

Posted by: Paul Francis

Advertisers currently have no idea if people are actually listening to podcasts. Many podcasters are selling ads, but are making up prices and providing very little real knowledge about how many consumers are tuning in and how they are engaging with each podcast. People often sign up to receive specific podcasts via automatic feeds and while they have episodes delivered to their computer, they may never listen to them - yet most podcasters would include these downloads in their subscriber numbers.

Audible Inc. (a company who sells digital audio programs on line) claims to have a way of solving this problem and is introducing a tool to help measure how many people are actually listening to podcasts by providing a way to track not just how many times the show is downloaded, but whether it is played back and for how long. According to The Wall Street Journal the company will charge three cents per downloaded podcast to report whether a downloader listened, and for how long. Audible will also offer tools that will stop the podcast from being emailed to others. It will charge five cents per download to track listening and attach the access restrictions. For half a cent per download, Audible will insert an ad relevant to the podcast.

Perspective
I like the idea of being able to track and measure reach and frequency – this makes good commercial sense for both advertisers and podcasters. But to stop podcasts being emailed and to attach access restriction kind of defeats the purpose - that's how people get to hook into podcasts in the first place.

For more news on podcast advertising and performance tracking read here

Posted by: Paul Francis

Yesterday I went to my local pharmacy to get a prescription filled. While I was waiting for the script I noticed a small red flashing light coming from the shelf a few metres away. At first I thought it was some kind of security device but then I noticed the light was integrated into a small box placed on the shelf. I walked over to investigate - Myadec Gold MultiVitamins and Minerals - the one small box which I had noticed from over three meters away was located with dozens, no hundreds of other pharmaceutical products.

Like Victor Kiam I liked the idea so much I bought the box – OK I admit it only cost me $23 but I asked the pharmacist how well the product was selling. “Like hot cakes” she said – “we had six on the counter last week and they’re all gone”

What a wonderful simple idea – a small red flashing diode complete with its own mini battery built into the box of Vitamins. The product is now sitting in my office – I’m curious to see how long the flashing lasts!

Perspective
Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best.

Posted by: Paul Francis

Bad for you? NO WAY.Beer now comes packed with vitamins.

A team at the Meurice Institute in Brussels has spent the last three years analyzing the nutritional quality of speciality and microbrewed beers. So far, they have found that many re-fermented and specialty beers contain Folate, a B vitamin that helps people rebuild cells and help avoid diseases like cancer and anaemia. And the researchers are now offering their services to brewers, through joint-venture or collaboration agreements, in order to help firms “improve their production processes to maximise the vitamin content of their finished products”.One scientist on the team stated that they wanted to "...rehabilitate beer as a daily beverage to be consumed in moderation." Full story here.

Makes you wanna smoke? NOT ANY MORE. Beer now comes nicotine laced.

A German company is developing a nicotine-laced beer called NicoShot to help cut down the craving for people trying to quit smoking, or at least make it through a night out without stepping outside to smoke. Nautilus GmbH Laboratoriumsbedarf recently announced the European launch of NicoShot™, - the world’s first smoking-cessation beer containing a shot of natural nicotine, about what you would get in a couple of regular filtered cigarettes. Full story here.

Sends you to sleep? NO LONGER. Beer now available with caffeine.

Nestec, part of the Nestlé empire in Switzerland, has filed patents in every major market round the world on a "fermented coffee beverage" that pours and foams like beer, but smells of strong coffee and packs a concentrated caffeine kick. The beverage is made in a similar way to beer, but fine-tuned temperature control stops the formation of ethyl alcohol. So the new drink could go down well with people who want a long tall pick-me-up while driving. Full story here.

Perspective
I'm waiting for the 3 in 1 combo beer- stay healthy, stop smoking, stay charged - all night!

Posted by: Paul Francis

VW has taken a novel approach to advertising the 120 features on its new 2006 Passat.It has reserved spots on its web site for 120 by 15 second quirky commercials (to date there are about 45). Each commercial is supposed to illustrate one of the new features on the Passat, although it does take a bit of figuring out. The commercials have been produced by Brand New School. “Each film is like a little puzzle,” explains Brand New School creative director Jens Gehlhaar. “You’re not quite sure what it means until the graphic appears to explain it all.”

Perspective
I guess 120 features is a bit much to ask, but wonder when VW will throw it open to consumers?

Best ones are #21 and #35.
Posted by: Paul Francis

Already linked to more than 20,000 websites Lust for Bust is a game (really an ad for Miller Beer) which is spreading like wild fire. Sure to appeal to its less than 25 year old demographic this is another example of smart agencies creating content specifically designed as shareware and seeded to spread virally across peer-to-peer networks.

Posted by: Paul Francis

Times on Line reports that Heineken is pulling TV advertising next year in favour or sponsorships and point of sale advertising. A bold move. Some argue that growing “media fragmentation” appears to be the driving force behind the move with the core 18 to 26 year old target market increasingly spending time with other media forms.
Heineken has reportedly been experimenting with original programming and short-form productions featured on niche cable networks like IFC and Sundance.

Perspective
The UK change does not signal a move to framented channel advertising. Heineken appear to be simply switching to more cost effective options which are closer to the consumer end 'touch points'.

Posted by: Paul Francis

Polartec has launched an integrated print, outdoor, TV and online campaign targeting various age ranges. Looking to appeal to a younger demographic, the company launched ShaveMyYeti.com. The site hands users a virtual razor to shave off all the yeti's fur. Once he's hairless, users can dress the yeti in a Polartec outfit.Nail communications created the campaign.

Perspective
This is a great example of a campaign designed to stimulate word of mouth, although not sure that I quite 'get' the trip to Golden Gate or Central Park - but maybe that's the point. It has appeal to the target market and execution is entirely consistent with the brand message. Probably has a fast wear out factor but none the less will get some people talking - me for example!

Posted by: Paul Francis

VirtualStage is a new software application which for a relatively low cost offers a way for you to be creative and bring to life the story you want
to tell. VirtualStage allows you to design sets, direct your virtual stage actors and create your own story lines. As Virtual Stage says
"... You determine the action, the characters and their relationships.What happens is up to you!"

Virtual Stage also provides the platform to show case your creation on the internet and a forum to discuss issues with other creatives.

Posted by: Paul Francis

A fun tool for creating your own brand slogan.

Posted by: Paul Francis

Russel Beattie is an observer and publisher on all things 'technical' in Silicon Valley. He predicts video podcasting will be huge.
He writes
"...I got the new 30GB White iPod yesterday and it completely rocks. Apple did a great job with this gadget. Much thinner than previous iPods, super- fast syncing over USB, and the screen is *great*. Anyone who complains about the screen size is either 1) blind 2) a whining tempermental jerk 3) someone who hasn’t actually seen the screen. It’s beautiful.
I’m telling you right now, Video Podcasts are going to be huge. HUUUUGE... Making it so easy to rip or download new music and sync it to your device made the iPod what it is today. The same functionality for Videos is what is going to make the new iPod the standard bearer for portable video as well..."

Perspective
It's all about choice and convenience - viewing what you want, when you want. Video i-pod is going to accelerate user generated content - big time.

Posted by: Paul Francis

Ian at Frontiering recently brought Machinima to my attention. It is a form of filmmaking that uses computer games technology to shoot films in the virtual reality of a game engine. Machinima creators act out their movies within a computer game by controlling the characters and inserting their own sound track. The visuals are rough but but when combined with witty and creative writing - it works!

Perspective
Machinima is another great example of lead-user innovation - evolving from an underground group of users to a generation raised on video games.

The best article I have read on this phenomina comes from the LATimes.

Posted by: Paul Francis

Fast Company is inviting nominations for its Fast 50 contest. The focus this year is on creative individuals who have already made significant accomplishments "but whose best is yet to come, and who stand to have a significant impact on the next 10 years." Click here for entry form. See last years winners.

Posted by: Paul Francis

ZeD is a late-night, arts-and-culture program that mixes amateur movies with independent film and studio-produced content. ZeD allows viewers to shoot, edit and upload their own short-form videos to the show's website. ZeD receives between 200 and 300 viewer-produced videos per day - an amazing number.The idea is powerful - brand owners are only just starting to realise the potential.

Perspective
'Strategy by McKinsey - $1mil?
'Ideas' by JWT - $500k?
'Creative' by brand users - priceless!!

Posted by: Paul Francis

Eric von Hippel’s book Democratizing Innovation provides some fascinating insights into the process of product innovation

• SOME END USERS WANT NEED TO INNOVATE.
In every category there is a core of passionate users which von Hippel calls ‘lead users' - between 10% and 40% of users (study was limited to 8 categories) who are ahead of the innovation trend. This group may be driven to innovation simply because available products do not staisfy their needs. Benefits also accrue from enhancement of reputation and positive network effects due to increased diffusion.

• 'LEAD-USERS' HAVE THREE DISTINCTIVE CHARACTERISTICS.
-They innovate because they have a strong need for new or modified product
-They push a product to the tipping point before the mass market cottons on
-They reveal their innovations feely

• ‘LEAD-USER’ INNOVATION IS EIGHT TIMES MORE EFFECTIVE!
Von Hippel's work at 3M provided the opportunity to compare the effectiveness of innovation generation using the traditional 'find-a-need-and-fill-it' methods compared with the results using 'lead-user' methods – innovation spawned by the end users of consumer or business products and services. He found ‘lead-user’methods to be eight times more effective than the traditional method.

Perspective
Most market research asks consumers for opinions but avoids (and arguably discourages) respondents from actively participating in the full process of innovation.

How much more powerful would it be to engage and nurture 'lead-users' with a focus on those who are also highly effective in spreading innovation through their social networks?

Free copy of Eric von Hippel’s book - Democratizing Innovation

Posted by: Paul Francis

Brazil. CGM in action! Kaiser Beer enlisted 11000 Beer Shapers across 130 cities in Brazil last year to help create Kaiser Novo Sabor, a new premium beer. Apparently the beer was an instant success with 11,000 ambassadors playing a role in telling others about the brand and recommending it to their friends.

Perspective
Making 'your' brand 'their' brand seems to work!

Posted by: Paul Francis

A simple concept, million dollar home page is an electronic cross between the old college notice board and my refrigerator door – a tapestry of strangely enticing memorabilia, lost and found notices and flats for rent, second hand book ads, old photographs and numbers to ring in case of emergency.
Both 'media' forms are strangely enticing - they arouse curiosity. College kids flock to the notice board and my fridge photo magnets are always being rearranged.I spent a good 15 minutes playing with million dollar page… BUT then I got bored - the novelty wore off. The fine print tells me the board won’t change for 5 years so doubt I will be revisiting any time soon.
How about some variations on the theme to keep me coming back?

Perspective
-Let visitors decide where the ads are placed. The more clicks the better the position, a bit like google
-Establish a second hand ‘pixel’ market.That way we get some new ads and establish a market value for pixels, a bit like e-bay
-Have a lucky 'door' prize go off every now and then?

Any suggestions?

Posted by: Paul Francis