FRANKthoughts

Gary Vaynerchuk has a long history with webtv. His winelibrary.tv got him into shows like Conan O’brien and Nightline. He was mentioned in USA today but still thinks there is a massive gap between what can be done online and the mainstream take up. Watch his reaction here. If you’re a brand manager please take notice. Brands will have their own channels online. Some will have their own content team.  Some will find other solutions. But every single brand will have to go there sooner or later. Here’s how TubeMogul is thinking about the future linking brands and content creators: TubeMogul marketplace.

On Sunday 31.08.08 myself and a million other runners in 25 countries participated in a 10k run organised by NIKE+. NIKE+ started with a product - A small chip in your shoe that talks to your ipod nano, tracking your distance, time, pace and calories burned. The product led itself to a community of runners with NIKE offers support, tools and coaching.

Nike plus is a business/product/marketing solution that proves you can achieve great results with an holistic cross business approach. NIKE is so good at that, building an experience that extends marketing buzz words, leaving you searching for new ones to describe it. All elements work seamlessly together supporting one strong mantra: help the participants kick ass.

This is how I felt and my feelings, memories and experience were brought to me by NIKE. How strong is this bond? Wondering how this whole thing came to life (going back to some behind the scenes boardroom) I find it hard to believe it started from a strategy line like: “we want to sell more shoes”. I believe the single thought that started this project was more in the line of: “how can we make our users happy?”. Nike proves that putting your users in front of the bottom line will pay dividends.

Being part of the human race made me think again about the power of brands.

This time Nike pulled off the world’s biggest race. What will they just do next? Here is one answer:

OK, to call this a blogger campaign is a bit of an overstatement. All NAB did was submit comments with a promotional message to 5-6 blogs. The blogs involved didn’t like it. Crikey was on it. Marketing mag followed. Duncan Riley called to boycott the bank. Jim Stewart interviewed NAB’s spokesperson. Julian Cole spammed back.

Let’s quickly take the spam test. Comments not related to blog posts? check. Comments promoting a product? check. Comments are copy/paste job from a company? check. Yep, this is most definitely spam. Now, the responsible PR agency Cox+Inall don’t blog. I will be surprised if they comment or even read blogs. That’s why they should have done research or ask someone who blogs before executing.

Here’s the number one rule when going to do anything involving social media: make sure the company you’re using is a participant not a watcher.

Greenpeace is usually doing well using online to drive action from their participants.

Here’s the latest example, giving a whole new meaning to tree hugging:

Greenpeace wants you to share your love with/in/to the forest with photos and videos of love expressions like kissing, hugging and whatever else you can think of.

You can see the photos here. Will be interesting to see how this campaign unfolds.

Thanks to Osocio.

Finding your online communities ROI can be tricky for brands and “measuring it” brings a up a debate anytime. This post and links from Three Minds are so educational I thought I’d post it here.

“Is Corporate Social Media A Failure?

It started with a post last week on the WSJ entitled, Why Most Online Communities Fail, which stated that less than 25% of corporate online community have over 1000 members and that 60% of them cost over $1 million dollars. Follow-up posts exploded all over the blogosphere from ReadWriteWeb to Social Media Today, each with their own explanations why the sector is underperforming.

At the same time, many articles were published about how White-Label Social Networks are exploding and lists of the corporate social networks that are succeeding (on Social Media Today and Mashable). So is the sector really failing? What are the biggest mistakes being made? Does it have anything to do with a need for a community manager that possesses the essential skills to get consumers involved with the brand?

Later the Wall Street Journal came back and announced that the 60% figure was really 6% of communities over $1 million, a pretty big typo. But the discussion still rages on… is social media succeeding or failing for brands?…”

Does anyone know about companies in Australia who employ a community manager?

 A thought of the day:

Influencers broadcast and advocate a brand or product to their friends and peers. It happens at home, it happens at work, and it happens online. They have an active role in influencing your customers in purchasing your product.

Influencers are typically hungry for information… more so than your average joe. They seek the latest news, to be first in the know, and consume information continuously. They also enjoy sharing this information… proudly in social gatherings, emails, blogs, among peers…. they are great story tellers of your brand or product.

So, there must be a need to feed the influencer’s hunger. Why not give them a story to tell through content (eg. blog or video) and experiences (eg. online and in-store). Help them share their stories with utilities and tools (eg. social media and mobile).

I usually wonder about the future of the web and yesterday I stumbled upon this little nugget that got my brain juices flowing (thanks Techcrunch). Weblin is a service that lets you have an avatar online, traveling with you to every page. You’ll be able to chat to other people that are currently on the same site making your websurfing a social experience. The service also has a currency called “Kala” and I guess that soon enough people will start using it to buy virtual goods or even paying for real services. These kind of browser platforms are opening a whole new area of interaction online. Few questions that came in mind: How can this help with your online transactions? (talking to your banker avatar when you’re searching for a mortgage), How can this be used as an internal tool? (your employees can communicate & collaborate when they’re online), a branding tool? (branded avatars surfing the web?) and what will be the future of currency when every platform has it’s own? (Where can you get the Kala/Linden exchange rate?).

You only have to look at the phenomenal success of social communities and the booming of gaming, animation and virtual worlds to realize this isn’t just a game. For more similar services visit Techcrunch.

We had a recent debate internally about the role of Web2.0 (such as communities, social networks, blogs, etc) for clients. Who is doing it? Who is leading clients to do this? The media agency? The creative agency? The PR agency? The comms strategy agency? Each in itself is limited to effectively review, recommend, implement, and most importantly, maintain a Web2.0 strategy. A constant Beta evolving creature, it is often neglected because of it’s complexity. A well implemented Web2.0 strategy does not have an “end campaign life” and sometimes have slow initial build up (communities) which makes it tough to integrate into a standard campaign brief with traditional media.

A quick review of the 2007 Top 50 advertisers in Australia (a very rough snapshot and does not include all advertisers), we can see Interruption vs Web2.0 strategies at work. Adapting S&P’s Brand Presence Matrix, the Vertical is Traditional “Interruption” SOV and the Horizontal is Web2.0 “Conversational”.

About 90% of the Top 50 advertisers in Australia still play in creating large SOV through traditional interruption model. TVs, Radio, Outdoor, Banners, Press, etc. Jostling for the best spot approach. We called the top left quadrant Visible Brands. There also exist Invisible Brands such as Caltex and Toshiba who we are familiar with but are quiet in the advertising space. Perhaps the most desirable place to exist is in the Magnetic Brands space. Where big ad $$ are still being spent but they are also heavily active in the Conversational space. In Australia, we have seen limited use with more “novelty” approach of temporary communities that dissipate at the end of a campaign.

The most intriguing are Remarkable brands who spend little or no ad $$ but are active in communities. They command great brand advocates and hear of positive WOM from their users. Admittedly, I struggled to come up with local brands in Australia that play in this space… which is a pity and also demonstrates the market’s lack of ability to develop Web2.0 strategies. I believe the greatest reason is the lack of an acceptable model by agencies and marketers to adapt into existing ad “interruption” models. The increasing fragmentation, rising cost, and the trend of decreasing returns of traditional media will force a greater reliance on Web2.0 strategies.

In 2008, we’ve been expecting the long tail of social networks beginning to appear. To give you an idea, check out this link to see the companies that are offering whitelabel social sites. 40+ social sites plus linkedin, facebook, bebo, myspace, etc… There are social networks and community sites beyond MySpace/FB for Youth, even for Mums, Dads, GrandPas, GrandMas, and freakily the Departed..

Youth
I’m primarily seeking communties that are under 18, beyond just MySpace.

Club Penguin, Disney
8-12, Virtual World

Stardolls
Young Girls 10-17, Social Network, virtual dolls

Barbie Girls
6-16, Virtual World

WeeWorld
Youth, Avatar based Social network

Zookazoo
6-10 year olds, Virtual World

Club Penguin, Disney
8-12, Social network, virtual dolls

Gaia
Teens, Virtual World

Habbo Hotel
European Youth, Virtual World

Cyworld
South Korean youth, (and now global), virtual/social network

Neopets
Youth, Virtual Pets

Pixie Hollow, Disney
Young Girls, Virtual Pet

Teen Second Life
Teen, Virtual World

Webkinz
Youth, Virtual World

Piczo
Teens, Social Network

Shining Stars, by Russ
Youth, ‘name a star’

Puzzle Pirates
Youth, Gaming, Virtual World

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50+
Now of course, boomers and retired are also going to be on lifestyle social networks like Facebook and LinkedIn, but I’m seeking examples that are focused in on reaching these folks.

Eons
50+, Social NetworkBOOMj
50+, Social Network

Tee Bee Dee
Boomers, Social Network

There’s a larger list of Boomer sites, many I’ve not heard from.

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Departed
Someone suggests this in the comments in Friendfeed, makes sense.
Legacy
Respectance
Tributes.com
SweetMemoriesSite
ChristianMemorials
PreciousMemoriesAndMore*Thanks to Jeremy for putting this list together.

The incremental increase niche social sites are a natural progression of the marketing environment… carving your own market.

So currently who owns your network? Who essential owns your friends? I wouldn’t be surprised that part of the T&Cs while registering into MySpace/Facebook forfeits your ownership (thou I haven’t actually read it… who does?!).

This brings rise to Data Portability of your social network. One point where all sites like Facebook and Footbo.com can pull my social network from. All my friends stored in a single point so I can fluidly move across different social networks based on my interests. This is an iniative Google has taken on with OpenSocial. Now Google owns my email, my searches, my maps, my computer, my addresses, and my friends.

Some passionate discussion about Connex, Melbourne’s rail system, on Marketing magazine’s blog. I couldn’t help but comment on the letter from Julian Cole. I indulgently referred to my post travel community but added a thought about recycling mx newspapers.

Connex tends to be the butt of jokes and ridicule and to be fair they may be victims of their corporate environment. However their site does lack practical empathy. I did find a feedback section which suggests, in preference 1. speaking with their staff on platform 2. calling the customer feedback line ( i rang, spoke with a helpful lady about my mx newspaper recycling idea who in turn said she’d refer my idea to the Customer Relationship team and they’d be back to me within 7 days…i’ll report on their feedback as a comment) 3. writing a letter or 4. an online response.

One of their latest initiatives is to meet their managers at various stations to ask questions. Wouldn’t it just be a lot simpler and practical to engage online? Soon.