Contagious magazine just released it’s ‘most contagious’ overview for 2007 which you can get here (in PDF), and which is “a round-up of the most intriguing, effective, and downright exciting happenings of the past year from landmarks to gaming, from design to social media”. In the report you’ll find Facebook, the iPhone but also Photosynth, Halo3 and ‘The Bomchickawahwahs’ and much more. Enjoy the read.
I just stumbled upon an interesting presentation that was made by a Belgian friend of mine who works for Naked Communications in London. The presentation is named: “Great Quotes to Use and Repeat When You Can’t Find a Better Way of Saying It” … and that’s exactly what it is. Maybe you had noticed it already since it’s 5 months old by now, if not check it out. I suggest you download it as well, might come in handy one day… when you can’t find a better way of saying it ;)
And allow me to add a nice one from our chairman Bill Gates:
”We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next ten.
I’m not a big fan in general of comparative advertising because I find that brands should focus on their own strengths and not on other brand’s weakness or whatever. But sometimes it’s done in such a fine way that I do like it, like in this example for Fedex for instance. I thought that was really original and good.
Soo little time, soo much work to do… and so much more stuff to write about. Therefore I’m writing this post to wrap up the week.
It was a busy week with many events. On Wednesday I was Bea’s guest at the first Brussels Girl Geek Dinner, kudos to Clo for organizing this. Some familiar faces and some new ones and a little goodie bag for everyone. And yes Sarah, I’m bringing one of those for you on Wednesday ;)
On Thursday & Friday I was present at the second Customer First event in Brussels, and of course to the MIXX awards on Thursday night. Again these events are mainly interesting to network and to hook up with some people you haven’t seen for a while. The Belgian internet advertising industry is rather small, so it’s fair to say that everybody was pretty much there :) Great results at the MIXX awards by the way since Geert and Openhere won the Gold Award in the category Brand Awareness for Bring The Love Back. I recently started a group on Facebook for Bring The Love Back by the way, 163 members in the first week, join us here.
I also did a presentation on Microsoft and Social Media at Customer First, which I’ll post here in a separate post. Feedback was quite ok so that’s always nice.
There are a few reasons why I got very interested in the email Chris Abraham sent me a week ago about Firebrand. Not only did it seem to be about a very interesting project, but also the approach Chris and Firebrand took to get the news spread was a good example of good engagement in social media. Since Firebrand is not live yet for public viewing (launches on October 22nd) I will talk a bit more about their outreach to bloggers and leave the review for once I get access.
Here’s just a little introduction to Firebrands though, so you know what I’m talking about:
“Firebrand is a new, opt-in entertainment and marketing destination that gives consumers interactive access to their favorite brands, products and promotions. Firebrand programs the “coolest” TV commercials the way MTV used to program music videos and its multi-platform network, slated to launch on October 22, is the first to go “live” simultaneously on TV, the web and mobile. Firebrand even has CJ’s (commercial jockeys), the same way MTV had VJ’s, who will contextualize the commercials as art and entertainment, and guide consumers through playlists, contests and promotions.”
And while the above copy may sound like your average PR speak (and it is from the press release obviously) the approach taken by Firebrand is interesting:
The email from Chris Abraham announcing Firebrand was personalized enough to make it feel personal. I know many people will have received an email that was pretty similar to mine, using my name and blogname in the email shows the effort to make it personal. And I can tell you that - even though that simple - that doesn’t happen very often.
They invited influential bloggers to their press event together with press, not as a separate event.
It’s right on target as well. Advertising, marketing, etc are amongst the topics I cover regularly so telling me about Firebrand makes sense. Again, pretty obvious to some, ignored by many. I receive emails about the most random things and I don’t even consider myself influential… think about the silly stuff bigger bloggers are getting.
Apart from their blogger approach, they also used social media in a smart way. Not by just creating the next Youtube video, but really making good use of the power of MySpace, Youtube, Delicious, Flickr and Facebook. All links which were included on the PR site (click on the links to see the examples).
It remains to be seen whether the service will become a success but I can only notice they seem to have their act together at Firebrand and given some of the most popular videos on the web are actually ads there’s definitely potential. Hopefully I can tell you more in a few days/weeks.
If for anyone it still wouldn’t be clear that we’ve entered the Age of Conversation, then I suggest you take a look at these logos below. I guess it’s fair to say that looking at these logo’s we have to acknowledge the conversation is part of this generation. Or is it just a sign up the web2.0 bubble economy?
Well, at least some of it’s advertising is. I think the Simpsons movie is going to be great and most of the advertising & promotion I’ve seen from around the world were quite good as well. But what I saw today on the Flemish newssite HLN.be was just a horrible experience. I’ve put a screenshot up here and if you go visit the site today, you’ll probably see it for yourself as well (never mind the Flemish, you can’t read anything anyway).
… Belgium brings you ‘PC bites Man’. Back in 1992 the killer comedy ‘C’est arrivé près de chez vous‘ (US title ‘Man bites Dog’) showed a camera crew that followed a serial killer/thief as he exercises his craft slowly involving the crew into it as it goes. From the comments it looked like people either hated or loved the movie, I found it to be fantastic.
And so today we get ‘PC bites Man’. This time it’s not a movie but an interesting campaign for the N95 that was developed by the Belgian agency These Days. It’s been a while since I saw an interactive campaign that is able to draw attention, is fun and which is still very much in line with the value prop of the product. Many times a viral campaign is fun but you wonder what the link with the product is.
The N95 caries slogans like “What computers have become” (UK) or “The computer re-invented” (BE) so extending that to the idea that ‘regular’ computers are becoming jealous of the N95 is a good one. And, the execution of the idea is brilliant. Just take a look at www.jealouscomputers.com and check out the shocking footage or the medical pictures from the doctor’s office. Here’s one of the videos:
But the site offers you a lot more than just the funny videos around these accidents. It offers a map with ww victims, camouflage ringtones or the N95 disguise mug that you can order. It also has videos with safety tips that learn you how to deal with jealous computers, like the one below:
Last but not least, These Days makes very good use of the power of wom by offering easy links to share the videos on blogs for instance but also safety posters you can download to hang in the office making it more than only an online piece. And of course you can upload your own experience as well. They also created some personalized video warnings for know influencers in the mobile space. Even if the videos were only personalized to include the name of the influencer, it still is quite remarkable.
… or “it’s for my boss”. These were some of the great quotes out of a little video made by Karl Long, a very good marketing blogger that works at Nokia. I know I’m a little bit behind due to my holidays, but I had to post this one. It think it’s a really smart video (and cheap) that shows everything there is to say to it especially since the video is made with the Nokia N95. Great job Karl!
Recent Comments