Three Minds On Digital Marketing @ Organic

Need some entertainment for the New Year?  Here are a couple of interesting social networking/ social media sites. 

Wallop is another invitation-only challenger to MySpace - very interesting visual representations of the relationships between you, your friends, and your common interests.

www.wallop.com

Imeem is a well-designed social media site that adds Digg functionality to blogs, music, video, playlists,  and social styles (thanks Kelley).   

www.imeem.com

They are both a little hard to get your head around.  Let me know your thoughts.

Misha Cornes

Beautiful new site from Volvo to support an unusual campaign for the Internet age.  Love the C30 or hate it? - You decide.   Read more from AdAge.

Misha Cornes

There's a great story in today's New York Times about the booming market for air fresheners among teens and young adults.  Proctor and Gamble's Febreze, for example, offers a $27.99 "scent player" that resembles a CD boombox.  It runs interchangeable  "discs" ($5.99) that radiate smells rather than sound. 

What really struck me was a quote tucked in at the end from Christina White, senior marketing vice president at Anne Taintor, a quirky women's line that mocks the traditional vision of the 50's housewife:

Scenting your dorm room feels like the natural extension of personalization online (custom IM icons, MySpace) and the physical display one's personal space (the iPod sound cocoon, the Bluetooth earpiece).  College students are literally marking their territory with scent.

Read the full article here.

Misha Cornes

I wasn’t one of the many who had to stand on a 3-hour line to get a Nintendo Wii this holiday season.  Instead I drove over 100 miles to the parking lot of a Pennsylvania shopping mall to surreptitiously rendezvous with someone who saw one of the consoles fall off of the back of a Toys’R’Us truck.  I’m not a gamer, trust me, it was a gift for my partner.  And I’ve never been swayed by past announcements that a PS2, Gameboy, GameCube or Nintendo DS had been added to our media room.  As far as I was concerned video games were time wasters - just another gadget to be dusted and forgotten in a few months time when something better was viciously marketed.

Not so the Wii.  It won me over.  Rather than continue being the couch-potato I am, I have actually rearranged my living room furniture (including my couch) to make way for uncoordinated boxing jabs, golf strokes and tennis volleys.  I’ve actually broken a sweat playing video games.  In fact, the most fun I have had with my Wii was making the Wii version on me, an avatar that is too-cutely called a Mii.  Making sure my Mii head was the right shape, that my Mii’s nearsightedness was similar to mine and that my Mii goatee was represented accurately took me nearly 30 minutes. That’s 28 minutes more than it should have taken.  It was that much fun.

Then I stumbled across Mii Plaza, where the Wii community meet to share Mii’s,  search Mii’s and meet to mingle with other Miis. The creative outputs of fellow Wii lovers blew Mii away. They’ve conjured up Mii’s for Harry Potter and Dr. Phil, Jesus Christ and Satan, George Bushes (multiple versions) and Bin Laden (surprisingly solo).  The Dylan and Morrissey Mii’s are scarily realistic, as is the Mii version of Cap’n Kangaroo and the Soprano’s Paulie Walnuts.  Mii versions of John, Paul, George, Ringo look cartoonish.  But ‘cartoonish’ fits my favorites, the Ramones. Gabba Gabba Mii!

Could Mii’s someday overtake MySpace? What’s your favorite?

Wayne Mitchell

The Edge Foundation's lofty mission is to "promote inquiry into and discussion of intellectual, philosophical, artistic, and literary issues, as well as to work for the intellectual and social achievement of society".  For the New Year, The Edge Foundation asked 160 world class scientists and thinkers to answer a single question:

What are you optimisitic about, and why?

See the answers at http://edge.org/

Bill Camp
 

The popular corporate social networking site LinkedIn has recently launched a new service called “Answers”. It's not much different than what Yahoo! offers, but instead of covering a wide range of topics, LinkedIn: Answers covers a smaller range of niche topics from Business Administration to Hiring and Human Resources.

Also, you can limit who can answer your questions, from the entire LinkedIn network to just people you are connected to. Since LinkedIn is in direct competition with other networking sites, this could become a very hot feature for them.

http://www.linkedin.com/answers

Jason Law

Here's a great piece from Kodak highlighting how it's corporate culture has evolved as it finally embraces the digital photography boom - it's tongue-in-cheek and hi-energy.

Read more about the genesis of the project in Ad Age.

David Feldt

It's been widely reported that MySpace is heading towards middle age - over half their visitors are 35 or older.  But with all the hand-wringing about the aging of this lucrative franchise, it's easy to forget that time marches on for everyone, even teens and college students. 

The latest sign -  interest groups targeting brides-to-be.  Condé Nast's Brides.com has launched a MySpace page:

www.myspace.com/bridesdotcom

This is a really smart, forward-thinking execution from a site that was only launched in April, out ahead of industry leaders The Knot and Wedding Channel.   Read more in AdWeek.

Misha Cornes

Yahoo! has mobilized its offerings (including flickr and maps) into a mobile app and service called yahoo! go.  It's currently in beta  but you can sign up for an alert once they expand the beta pool.

Check it out:

http://mobile.yahoo.com/go

Chad Stoller

Here's a lovely way to communicate a 3D space in a 2D way. 

The destruction of so much infrastructure around the World Trade Center has created opportunities to redesign the public transit system in lower Manhattan.  This walkthrough from the New York Times highlights an innovative way to bring light below ground.  A simple but elegant solution to the problem, nicely illustrated.

Adam Turinas

It’s a tough time to be in the magazine business. Time magazine is in the midst of a big turnaround, including a redesigned Time.com. This is a centerpiece of their strategy and they relaunched the site today. This site is designed to be a strong standalone media property rather than its predecessor which was designed to sell subscriptions.

They have done a good job of web 2.0’ing the site. There are well-designed blogs by top correspondents, the content is easily shareable and blogable. Photography is beautifully displayed and there are tons of multimedia slideshows. They have done a great job of preserving Time’s uniquely accessible editorial point-of-view. There is a great diversity of content and editorial types right off the home page.

The only downers are that it would be nice if there were a bit of video and they stop short of incorporating comments in the main articles.

Adam Turinas

Last week David Card of Jupiter Research posted his predictions for 2007 (most were built on Jupiter's overall predictions) and they are well worth a quick read. Smart.  Funny.  And probably pretty accurate.  Check back in a year.  Our predictions are fairly congruent (mine were posted on ClickZ) although we differ on the development of niche social networks (he's not a big believer and I am).  Here are some highlights (my interpretation):

• "All media should be multi-media. One brand, one audience, multiple channels, multiple receivers. Optimize programming for each, fine-tune revenue models likewise, but drive traffic across all. Cross-promote. This is The Law. Repeat every year."
• Social media will remain fragmented.  There will be no more blockbusters like MySpace. Niche social networks won't be "big bidness."
• 2007 will show what kind of video works on the small screen.  Content won't be subscription based or ppv but will likely be ad supported.  As such, he believes the opportunity is probably more in infrastructure than creating a destination or programming.
• No really big dollars in mobile media marketing in 2007 but real traction.
• The great search build out will happen.  Next areas to conquer:  branding and off-line.

If you are in the mood, give Sean Carton's piece in ClickZ a read. Its the anti-prediction prediction focused on the localization of the web.

Mark 

All of us who weren’t watching the streaming vid of Jobs today found out via the Times or WOM office chatter that Apple’s done it again, maybe... The Mac folks launched a portable gizmo that’s an internet device, cell phone, iPod and camera all wrapped into one (largish) package. I’ve been waiting for years and years to buy a smart phone that isn’t powered by Microsoft, whose software I find to be over complicated, user nasty, and prone to breakdowns, and now perhaps this is the big one.

What’s most unique about the device are these points (as far as I can tell):

The screen takes up the entire device, all buttons are “soft”
It uses Flash memory and can go up to 8 gigs
It utilizes classic Apple vertical integration: proprietary software and hardware combo

Of course, Google has also been working on a phone OS platform with Orange in England, so we’ll see who breaks out first to claim the masses yearning for internet-in-pocket ease. Personally, I prefer Google and I’m dying for a phone that can integrate Google mail/ calendar/ docs/ spreadsheets/ maps, and leave music and photography for other devices, but so far I’m still waiting…

Image courtesy of Wired.

Zachary Thacher

In case you missed it, Time named you Person of the Year.  Ok, they named "You" Person of the Year, citing YouTube, Wikipedia, MySpace et. al as clear evidence that consumers now control the information age.

Now Ad Age is on the act too, naming "The Consumer" Agency of the Year.

What's an ad professional to do?

Last month, we talked explicitly about two complementary trends: the growing number of campaigns where the consumer is the star, and the push to have consumers create their own commercials.  [Update: Unilever's Dove is also jumping on the make-us-a-commerical bandwagon through a partnership with AOL]

But after an interesting discussion with David Schatsky, President of JupiterKagan, I'm feeling compelled to rethink my own arguments.

David reminded me that giving consumers control is not always the free lunch that it appears to be.  Of the seven programs mentioned in the Ad Age review:

• Two have not yet launched (Doritos Superbowl Ad, Bud.tv)
• Two didn't produce any results worth sharing (Mastercard's Priceless, BMW/ Nintendo)
• Two were total failures (Chevy Tahoe, Walmart's Social Network)
• One lifted sales, by accident (Diet Coke/Mentos)

These are obviously selective examples, but this is not a track record that would keep me in a job.  Whew.  Thanks for the vote of confidence, David. 

Misha Cornes

Check Old Spice's latest online campaign (by Wieden & Kennedy).  It's a cheeky and irreverent way to breathe new life into the Old Spice and appeal to a younger man's market.

The campaign carefully balances the concept of "experience" (as in "if your Grandfather hadn't worn Old Spice, you wouldn't be here") and a call to action to an "inexperienced" crowd of bumbling, cologne tossing young men.

The New York Times provides some interesting context: Proctor & Gamble is determined to punch up this stodgy brand after watching category rival Axe (Unilever) steal market share among younger men with a series of risqué campaigns.

Experience it at http://experienceoldspice.com

Virginia Alber-Glanstaetten

English footballer David Beckham is leaving Real Madrid to join the Los Angeles Galaxy of the MLS.  At an estimated $250 million in salary and endorsements over five years, it's being promoted as the largest deal in sporting history. 

To give a sense of scale, the league's highest paid player last year was Juan Francisco Palencia, a former Mexican national team forward who made $1.36 million playing for Chivas USA, another Los Angeles team that shares a stadium with the Galaxy.

MLS is betting big that the world's most reconizable footballer can finally bring soccer into the big time in the United States.  Grant Wahl of CNNSI thinks it will work, and that Beckham's signing will open the doors for other superstars to sign with US teams.  Brazil's Ronaldo, for example, has long been rumored to be joining the New York Red Bulls.

But the real subtext, in my opinion, is the battle between Adidas and Nike for sports marketing dominance in the United States, a battle that Nike has been winning for some time.  Of the 25 richest athletes in 2006 (according to Forbes), 12 have relationships with Nike, including names like Tiger Woods, Lebron James, Derek Jeter, and Lance Armstrong.  Beckham, a long-time Adidas client, is another piece in Adidas' arsenal.  In 2004, Adidas placed a big long-term bet on MLS's success with a 10-year partnership deal worth $150 million.   This is a league that has lost more than $350 million in the past decade.

Personally, I wish the MLS was thinking a little smaller.  Why not sign some stars from Latin America to appeal to Latinos, still the most loyal audience for soccer in this country?

Misha Cornes

I know we all get kind of hot and bothered over User Generated Content when it’s done right, but boy is Dove getting it wrong. The process for creating your own Dove Cream Oil body wash ad is overly complex and appears to require some pre-existing video editing skills. Furthermore, the explanation is 7th-period-chemistry boring, and it looks like even after all that work, you still get a pretty cookie-cutter result. Plus, you don’t even get money if you win!

I really like the idea of users creating and submitting their own video for a campaign, but this seems like a great way to bore customers while simultaneously squelching their creative instincts. Anyone have examples of ways to do it better?

On an unrelated note, the name “Dove Cream Oil” makes me gag – it’s certainly not something I’d want to slather on my body every morning.

Anna Hecker

As some of you know, the expansion to World of Warcraft, known as the Burning Crusade, is being released next Tuesday.  Blizzard has put together a pretty cool little mini Flash site to tell you about the new changes in the game.  A very cool and immersive experience.  The site even gives you little mini-game “quests” to do as you visit each section by clicking on the exclamation marks (just like the game), and when you do them all, you get access to some hidden content.  Very cool idea.  The Music in the site is a great example of how sound can enhance an experience, especially since it’s the same sound used in the game.  Awesome stuff!

It may also interest you to know that World of Warcraft just recently surpassed the 8 million mark in subscribers, and there’s no end in sight.  Simply amazing.

http://media.worldofwarcraft.com/bc-minisite/index.htm

Daryl Brewer

Is this your vision of Seniors online? It’s certainly the prevailing mindset in the interactive industry.  We are so focused on the youth market, and so averse to marketing to anyone over 55, you’d think we were all Army recruiters.

Several recent client engagements reminded me that Seniors are a vital and underserved Internet audience.  A little research showed me that the Seniors segment (defined as those 65 and older) is growing faster than other audience online - including children and teens.  I got so excited that I wrote an article about reaching Seniors online, which you can read at Adotas. 

[Photo credit: Rachel Pennington]

Misha Cornes

There's a nice short piece in Monday's New York Times about media saturation in the New York market and elsewhere, particularly out-of-home.

"Marketers used to try their hardest to reach people at home, when they were watching TV or reading newspapers or magazines. But consumers’ viewing and reading habits are so scattershot now that many advertisers say the best way to reach time-pressed consumers is to try to catch their eye at literally every turn."

Eggs, airplane seatback trays, turnstiles, even outpatient treatment rooms have been fair game.  It's hard to say how far this trend can go before consumers  revolt.  In San Francisco, a series of complaints led to the removal of 'Got Milk' billboards that emited the odor of chocolate chip cookies at bus stops.

Read the full article here.

Misha Cornes

Six weeks ago, a Philadelphia man decided to see what types of physical gains he can make by playing Wii sports for 30 minutes a day. Today he published his results and pictures. He was able to drop 9lbs, 2% body fat, and 3.5” in his waistline.  Does Nintendo have the next Jared?

Frank Ribitch

If 4 hours of Jack Bauer wasn't enough for you this weekend, check out this branded entertainment effort by Degree: "Rookie: CTU"

Its a series of side stories based on the 24/ CTU universe featuring "Jason Blaine," a rookie analyst/field agent. Chapter 1 launched last night and it seems we will have to wait a bit longer (about 19 more days) to see the continuation of the story. However, the stories will connect to cliff hanger commercials and be the basis for other Degree/24 promotions. More about the program can be found here.

This isn't the first time that 24 has ventured into branded partnerships, spin-offs or a combination of the two. "24: The Conspiracy," was a mobile video spinoff developed for exclusive distribution on select mobile carriers and Toyota recently sponsored the Season 6 prequel which was bundled into the Season 5 DVD set.

In other 24 news, Fox released a retail DVD of the first 4 hours of Season 6  for fans who may have missed this week's airings (this DVD may have been the source of this month's episode 1 leak on BitTorrent). This action follows the announcement by NBC and Netflix for an exclusive "season in review" DVD for its hit show, "Heroes." Both efforts represent a convenient on-ramp to lure late viewers into the programs.

While digital distribution offers new-media friendly fans the opportunity to catch up, will mid-season DVD releases appeal to traditional viewers who want content on a conventional home video format? 

And while we're on the subject, couldn't someone have bought Jack a cup of coffee after he came off that plane?

Chad Stoller