Ms. Adverthinker

Here is a cool Facebook infographic shared over at Mashable.

[Source: Online PhD Programs for MashableMashable.com]

This infographic shared on Mashable a couple of days ago has me thinking about innovation in business today.  It wasn’t just the device that drove the iPod into the only MP3 player of note, it was the iTunes store and the simplicity and functionality of the iTunes application for managing music.  All so clean and bundled together.   So smart.  We know this, but it is good to remind ourselves of it every once in a while.

[Source: Online MBA for MashableMashable.com]

With the Internet’s ability to reach worldwide for the brightest talent, we are starting to see an increased use of crowdsourcing to create the best products.  Check out a great example of crowdsourcing a choir:

Thanks to @blakerutherford for pointing me to this. Yesterday, I wrote about brand-sponsored music done right. Today’s example is film. Spike Jonez, of Where the Wild Things Are fame, has released a short film (30 minutes) titled I’m Here that was paid for by Absolut Vodka. Although the brand has no representation or product placement within the film, the Absolut brand has prominence on the website where the film can be watched online and had 230,000 unique visitors just last weekend. While it may be difficult to understand why a brand would make this kind of investment, with the historical success of Spike Jonez Absolut could feel that not only would the investment generate a creative and profound product, but that people would seek it out.  And ultimately, Absolut endears themselves to consumers with support of arts like this film.  It is brand-sponsored film done right.

Here is the trailer:

This video is way cool, but did you notice the State Farm sponsorship?  OK Go is a band mostly known for their videos (remember the one with the treadmills?), and I had the opportunity to sit in on a panel session at South by Southwest (SXSW) where Damian Kulash of OK Go talked about the making of this newest video and working with State Farm.

The band’s record label didn’t have enough money to pay for the video, so OK Go reached out to State Farm.  Kulash talked about this being scary for them because the band did not want to be in the business of making advertising.  But, he said that State Farm was surprisingly hands-off and understood that they are not content creators.  When they first formed the relationship, State Farm requested that the video be available only on the State Farm website for the initial launch.  OK Go, a band that understands the power of the internet, refused to do this: there is no sense in trying to control where people go on the internet as they will always find a way around the limitations you put on them.  Ultimately, State Farm agreed and the video was posted everywhere.  To give State Farm their money’s worth, the brand as made part of the story, with no attempt to hide the relationship (remember, the internet is about transparency).  And, the video is so interesting that people watch four or five times.  State Farm managed to relinquish control, introduce and endear themselves to a whole new set of consumers, and come out unscathed.  There are even positive comments on YouTube about the brand and the sponsorship.

This is a good lesson for brands looking to expand their audience base in new and interesting ways.  To tap into consumers beyond the brand’s existing reach, sometimes it is necessary to play by the rules of those consumers.  Attempting to force corporate rules on potential new consumers can have disastrous effects (see Nestle’s Facebook meltdown).

Interesting facts about the development of the video:

• It took 65 takes to get the entire sequence shot.
• They actually made it all the way from beginning to end three times.
• 60 engineers worked on the project.

As a way to discern trends from the SXSW sessions attended, I created a Wordle graph using the daily recaps.  Check it out.

This has been online for a while and posted to this site before, but since it always makes me smile I thought it was worth dusting off again today.  Enjoy.

Admittedly, I am an iPhone “worshiper,” but this latest news proves its capabilities can benefit brands, too.  In mid-September, Pizza Hut released a kick-ass iPhone app that allowed customers to place orders through the app.  As an added bonus, customers that placed orders through the app received 20% off the total price.  To date, Pizza Hut has generated $1 million in sales through the app (according to Mashable).  I have no idea how much Pizza Hut paid for the development of the app, but they seem to have gotten a return on their investment in both sales and cool points.

In a presentation that we gave on social media last week, someone asked, “what is the biggest mistake companies are making in the space right now?”  Our response: “Not being in it.”  Social media and mobile communications really go hand-in-hand as social media gets more social with constant improvements to mobile devices.  Mobile applications–like those available for the iPhone–are the perfect channel for getting in front of customers.  So many brands are just dipping their toe in social/mobile media, timidly trying it out.  Brands should take a dive in and consider an investment in an iPhone app.  Yes, there are 100,000 apps available in the app store, but many consumer brands aren’t there yet.  Just being there will put you ahead of the competition in this social/mobile space (and don’t forget to put a little promotional support behind it; just putting it there will not guarantee it will be found by your customers).  This is not a complete list, but some things to consider when developing an app for a brand, it should: (1) do something cool that others haven’t done yet (or do it in a different way; improve on what is already out there), (2) provide a clear benefit to the customer, not just benefit the brand (example: Pizza Hut offered 20% off orders placed through iPhone app), (3) be free (example: not like CNN), and (4) give the customer a reason to use the app over and over (hint: constantly update/improve the capabilities).

Check out a demonstration of the Pizza Hut iPhone app here:

What pizza brand doesn’t get it?  Domino’s.  Everyone remembers the embarrassing “food defiling” video post by Domino’s employees.  It took Domino’s several days to respond, they signed up for a Twitter account to deal with the consumer response (note that they didn’t ALREADY have a Twitter account), and produced a stiff teleprompter-read video from their corporate office.  In those same days, Pizza Hut put out an ad for a Twitern.  Pizza Hut definitely gets both the digital and social space.

I made the point last night during SWIM that I think the media only started adopting social media at its fervent rate upon the use of social media by the Obama presidential campaign.*  His campaign used social media comprehensively and did it right.  Obama as president hasn’t let the social media advocates down: he proves that social media isn’t just for getting elected with the launch of White House 2.0.

By far, the best part of White House 2.0 is the Official White House Photostream on Flickr.  Social media is “about” a lot of things, but for President Obama it is about conveying his personality and bundling his messages up in that personality under an assumed premise that if we like him as a person, we will like what he has to say as a president, too.  That is what these photos seem to say.  And social media is good for that purpose.  We see him laughing; it seems genuine; we believe everything is going to be okay.  Our photogenic president appears serious when it is appropriate, accessorizes fashionably for events, and exudes confidence (or ego) in his overall presentation. 

In addition to the Flickr stream, on Friday the White House announced an official Facebook page, MySpace page and Twitter account.  There are also video postings by the White House on YouTube, Vimeo and iTunes.  All of this was announced as an effort to be more transparent and to engage the public.  And, they are allowing comments on all of these sites.  What I am not seeing in all of the comments are responses from the White House.  It makes me wonder if they are monitoring all of this feedback and providing a real two-way communication, or if this is simply another way to “push” information under the guise of engagement.  If they are not responding yet, I predict they will be soon: this White House knows how to use technology, the Internet and social media.

* While I recognize that many journalists and some media outlets had already recognized its power, for the rest of the slow-to-change media bunch, Obama’s success with social media was the turning point.  And now they just can’t stop talking about it.

Ms. Adverthinker is a bit of a compulsive magazine reader: at last count, I believe my subscriptions totaled 13 magazines at home and five at the office.  And, Wired is one of my favorites.  I have not yet received my May issue, but after reading the NY Times article about the puzzle embedded in the issue, I am very excited:

“…the intent of their new issue, created in collaboration with Mr. Abrams [is] to immerse their audience in a series of riddles — some announced, others not — that were buried just deep enough for the readers who wanted to dig them up.”

At a time when publishers are struggling to keep readers engaged in print editions of both newspapers and magazines (and thereby sell advertising), this idea is brilliant.  While the larger puzzle has already been solved, Wired says that there will be additional prizes for subsequent readers that solve the puzzle and there are still a few codes that haven’t been cracked yet.

We are launching a new program over here at Stone Ward: Stone Ward Interactive Meetings, or SWIM.  We saw a need for education among college students in the area of online communications and decided to create this eight week course.  Anyone can attend the sessions live, but they can also be viewed online through live, streaming video.  The first one will be May 1st at 5 PM at U.S. Pizza in Hillcrest, Little Rock, Arkansas.  We hope you will participate.

Stone Ward hosted the finale of our Energy Efficiency Arkansas television commercial shoot with Archie Bell and the Drells at the Peabody bar.  Among our honored guests: Max Brantley, of the Arkansas Times, and Mark Stodola, our esteemed mayor. Thank you, both, for attending our event.  Fun times!

Check out the 99 Things You Should Have Already Experienced on the Internet.  Seriously funny.  And seriously time-consuming.

I don’t keep up with football and know nothing about fantasy football, but I love this promo video for fantasy football.  It is just fun to watch.  Enjoy.

I must be the last person on the planet to watch this (it has 26 million+ views on YouTube), but I have to post it here anyway.  Amazingly creative and entertaining.