Three Minds On Digital Marketing @ Organic

Clorox has taken an innovative experiential approach to promoting Green Works, a new line on plant-based household cleaning products. They hired Reverse Graffiti Artist Paul Curtis (aka Moose) to "paint' the inside of the Broadway Tunnel, which runs through Russian Hill into San Francisco's North Beach neighborhood. 

By removing the soot and grime from public spaces to create the outlines of nature, Moose makes a poignant statement about pollution in urban spaces and our reversal of the natural world. 

The video is a tiny bit heavy-handed in the product placement, but it still seems like a major departure for Clorox, which is not featured in connection with the project at all. 

It must have been a tough internal battle about whether or not to put the Clorox logo on the packaging (it's there in small format).  Because while Clorox=clean, bleach does not connote environmentally friendly (Burt's Bees, for example, doesn't carry the Clorox name).  Maybe the Clorox brand is there to counter the common skepticism that a green product "actually cleans".  Thanks to Laughing Squid.

Misha Cornes

It's rare that you see a single banner ad unit get press.  Every once in a while an integrated campaign gets coverage and the online advertising portion may be highlighted, but rarely does one ad unit make a big enough wave to get its own press article out of it. 

Dr. Pepper and their agency VML have recently received press for a new "ultra high-def" ad before it even launches.  Brandweek ran an article today about the new Dr. Pepper banner ad and the description makes it sounds more like TV spot.  With nods to media spend and the ad's creative highlights they even refer to it as "Drool."  

Kudos to the Dr. Pepper/ VML team - I am looking forward to seeing the ad.  Seeing articles about a single ad unit the way we have seen articles about TV spots in the past is definitely an indication that people are paying attention, and that we are moving in the right direction.
 
Becky Marinaro

Ever since human interaction migrated to the world wide web, people have been trying to describe the effect the technology has had on social behavior. New phrases have become part of the strategist vocabulary: social media, social messaging, social currency, social gestures, social markers, social objects. In order to simplify the discussion, there are really only three words marketers should be concerned with...

1. Nouns / Social Objects
Lorcan Dempsey summarizes the evolving discussion of object-centric sociality better than I can in this post, but the basic idea is this:

The Social Object, in a nutshell, is the reason two people are talking to each other, as opposed to talking to somebody else. Human beings are social animals. We like to socialize. But if think about it, there needs to be a reason for it to happen in the first place. That reason, that "node" in the social network, is what we call the Social Object. - Hugh MacLeod, gapingvoid.com

Social networks cannot exist solely on the idea of being social alone, there needs to be something to be social about. Traditionally, people don't have conversations about having a conversation. And while the nature and tone might be influenced by the type of relationship, the subject of the conversation is not limited to being someone's friend, boss, mother, classmate, etc. Which is a long way of saying that people talk about things, and thus people are connected by things.

I love this idea. Toyota has just launched a web service that allows users to create their own "coat-of-arms" which can then be downloaded as a high-res image. The idea is that Scion owners can then use the images they create as personal icons for online profiles or even have them airbrushed on their vehicles. Scion has always targeted a younger audience that is presumed to be more interested in self-expression, so this should be a good fit. But, what I really like about this is that it is a service that gives real value to the end user.

It is time for brands to expand beyond informational poster-style websites and banner advertising. Web services and real products are the wave of the digital marketing future because they precipitate real interaction with customers. I'm not suggesting we do away with banners, but I would like to see more money spent on web services and digital product-based marketing.

Dan Neumann

A new study released by Starcom MediaVest Group shows that heavy clickers are distorting click-thru metrics on online advertising. Apparently, 6% of people online account for 50% of display ad clicks.

The study goes on to say:

"Heavy clickers skew towards Internet users between the ages of 25-44 and households with an income under $40,000. Heavy clickers behave very differently online than the typical Internet user, and while they spend four times more time online than non-clickers, their spending does not proportionately reflect this very heavy Internet usage. Heavy clickers are also relatively more likely to visit auctions, gambling, and career services sites – a markedly different surfing pattern than non-clickers.”

While the theory of “heavy clickers” has been floating around for many months, the results of the study cement the idea that the “click” is not the end-all-be-all it used to be. Measurements such as view-throughs, user path, engagement, and sales are beginning to take on ultimate importance in campaign analysis.

While guerrilla marketing is often accused of defacing public property; London’s Street Advertising Services offers a better solution…with cleaning solution!

A street team uses high-pressure sprayers to wash a client’s stenciled logo or message right into dirty sidewalks and walls. They perform their magic during the night (fewer pedestrians to get in the way), using just water and steam. It’s all environmentally friendly, and no residue. And the after effects are a semi-cleaner city.

Wayne Mitchell

Amazon has launched a DRM free online music store - it's still in beta and the interface is not a slick as iTunes, but it is cheaper ($0.89/track), and has a good selection.

AmazonMP3 Beta

Finally some healthy competition for iTunes.

Baron Conway

Concept stores are nothing new, especially in the fashion world. From NikeTown to Jimmy’Z to Prada’s store in Waikiki, it seems like every brand is trying to re-invent its retail experience.

Last weekend I visited Ruehl for the first time in the Twelve Oaks mall. I have usually been too intimidated to go in the store. There is just something about a darkly lit “street corner” in the middle of the mall with disinterested text-messaging girls half my age wandering in and out of the darkness that intimidates me. The one in the Twelve Oaks mall is particularly darkly lit to the point where you can’t really see anything from the outside of the “windows” to even make you certain it is a clothes store and not some wormhole to another dimension.

Yet still, the mystery has always intrigued me, so I decided to finally take a step inside. Part of me was really impressed. The layout of the store was unlike any other mall store I’ve been in with its narrow corridors with mirrored walls (which made it fun to try and escape later!!), mood lighting, and occasional rooms with no clothes, just cushions. Some people say it reminds them of a NYC apartment, but it reminded me more of an ultra chic martini lounge.