Showing posts with label Experiential. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Experiential. Show all posts

Tuesday, 22 February 2011

♔ 'Brand as Badge' – The Scion Art Case Study

Increasingly consumers are defining themselves by what and whom they associate with. To wit, what your brand represents is an integral part of peoples identity by association.  This brand ‘shorthand’ is a testament to ones beliefs and values. It’s a badge and by definition, is a characteristic mark, device (or token) especially of membership in a society or group.  It's also an imperative element to creating an aspirational identity that’s relevant to the consumer (and coincidentally the key in getting people to want to be associated with your brand.)

This is precisely why many savvy brands are focusing on social good today.  A brand’s 'badge' is largely based on the identity and imagery that consumers freely and naturally associate with it.  It serves as a means of social identity to represent one’s place in the world. Consumers adopt your brand today as a badge because of a shared mission or purpose - something that by proxy makes them both look and feel good about themselves.

As we’ve stated in previous posts, what’s also become clear today is that this ‘connected collective’ build modern brands.  Tribes of like-minded people aligned by something other then (and bigger then) the brand itself.  A unifying, overarching idea or movement facilitated by the brand.  From billionaires to bands and from consumers to brands, people and organisations are reordering their priorities and causing global change across a range of interconnected spaces from honesty and fair employment practices to communal, social and environmental responsibility and simply being nice. The marketing community, from individual advertising figures to new agencies and business structures, is helping drive this ethical movement.




Whether BMW’s ‘Activate the Future’ Initiative (building community around the future of mobility), Pepsi’s Refresh Project (giving away millions each month to fund refreshing ideas that change the world), MINI’s Space initiative  (building community around creative use of space), or other great examples – what’s become clear is that the connected collective is driving an ethical, moral and responsible advertising revolution. Brands are reordering their priorities and causing global change across a range of interconnected spaces - from honesty and fair employment practices to communal, social and environmental responsibility.  Other brand examples include GE's Ecomagination, Tom's Shoes' 'Buy-one, give-one' model, and Benetton's Africa Works microfinance scheme.  Admittedly, some are more altruistic than others but all examples of the brand as incubator, steward and shepherd. 

SCION ART
Scion Art champions and supports independent artistic expression with a permanent gallery in Los Angeles, an annual art tour across the U.S., monthly gallery sponsorships, custom artist created cars, and other activities that reinforce the brands core values and defines it’s constituents.

The Scion Collection Art Tour extends the brand via facilitated events across the U.S. to meet their constituents via art, music, fashion and culture. Artists featured included graffiti artists, mural artists, painters, and sculpture artists. To further amplify Scion added professional action sports athletes to the mix.  Scion stepped up and championed underground culture and this community (coincidentally Scion’s target demographic) was given a badge.  Scion garnered real street-cred by supporting those who had real street cred. Other examples of this are Red Bull’s King of the Ring and their own history in street art.  All messaging and media aligned with the brand’s unique consumer “role” and naturally this movement was supported online via website, Scion.com, Facebook, Twitter, Vimeo, YouTube, Tumblr, Flickr and MySpace

The bottom line is that to succeed today you need to translate your brand attributes into nothing less then a social movement. Find your constituents and given them a badge via inspiration, distruption and value. Find a shared mission or purpose that stem from the essence of an idea that people feel passionate about.  Something shared, credible, valuable and contagious that resonates with your target consumers (and by proxy ensures an emotional link and organic connection with your brand.)  Kudos to Scion - for making ‘less about the moment and more about the movement’.  Extending one powerful unifying, overarching idea (facilitated by the brand) that seeks to aggregate and align like-minded people by extending something other then (and bigger then) the brand itselfVery impressive indeed.


















NOTE:  For more articles and posts from the last week please visit us on Twitter@goodbuzz.  If you have info, articles, case studies, or other examples of (TTL) participatory marketing bliss - please feel free to either post via Facebook or send via e-mail and we’ll take care of it for you. ;)  Please identify if you find a dead link (as they were all live at the time of this posting).

















Tuesday, 23 November 2010

ASICS 'Support your Marathoner' Promotion Amps NYC Marathon

The New York Marathon is the largest event of its kind in the world.  With nearly 50,000 participants and literally millions of fans cheering them on, you can see why associated brands must love the opportunity to showcase new experiential technologies. 

ASICS amplified this year’s event with some fairly basic technology and a load of hi-tech signage.  The campaign that allowed the participants friends and family to extend personalized ‘supporter’ messages to the runners along the race.


Participants ran the marathon with an embedded RFID tag that triggered massive LED screens to displaying the individual messages to the appropriate runner as they passed selected sensor checkpoints. It get’s better.  ASICS setup a campaign site dedicated to aggregating images, video, messages, texts, tweets and Facebook comments in support of runners in the event.  They even setup live video booths at the event, allowing participants friends and family to record their personal messages in style.  Great work.

For more on ASICS NYC Marathon Promotion view the video below.




Looking for other great examples of activating on-premise?  Check out Nike’s ChalkBot?  Or the Coca-Cola Villiage?










Wednesday, 1 September 2010

PARTICIPATION IS THE NEW LOYALTY

Optimizing Content to Improve Engagement and Conversions
If you allow users to participate in the making of a product or service, you demonstrate unequivocally that they are an important part of the process rather than just a recipient of whatever you think is best.  We’re moving from the limits of the age of mass production to a new age of mass individualization.  Not only will people get used to it, they will demand a level of uniqueness in every product and service they consume. 

Most media publishers however are only interested in increasing returns on marketing investments through improved conversion and engagement - - and are still missing out on opportunities to increase conversion. For example:
• 80% do not promote content based on performance metrics,
• 46% are spending less than five hours per week optimizing onsite conversion,
• 80% of respondents do not serve personalized content to visitors,
• 70% of the promotional content decisions are made by one person, unsupported by data.

Opportunity
There are many opportunities to immediately begin improving conversion. Automated tools exist that encompass testing and targeting, as well as onsite search and content recommendations to help improve engagement on existing site traffic.  A tremendous amount of time and money go into building an audience for your online media properties. Therefore, it’s imperative that you maximize the value of that audience by ensuring the experience these visitors have with your content is both relevant and rewarding.

Whether the main goal may be to boost subscriptions for premium content, increase page views to promote growth in advertising inventory, or extend the amount of time visitors spend on your site - - often a company’s goals will include a combination of any or even all of these. Regardless of the desired outcome, online publishers today are looking to leverage their content and its presentation in ways that propel site visitors toward a desired action.

Traditionally, publishers have engaged with their audiences by operating under the adage “content is king”—the publisher with the scoops and exclusive stories had the competitive edge. But in today’s modern publishing world, this old adage, although still relevant, carries far less weight. While having exceptional content remains a prerequisite, the Internet has transformed content into a ubiquitous resource that is difficult to own or differentiate.   Online content is highly perishable, and—by and large—free. Audiences are more fickle than ever, and almost nothing prevents them from quickly jumping to another site to find the information and the experience they are seeking. Today, media sites have to be more than just relevant— they have to resonate with viewers.

While the challenges in today’s media landscape are vast, so are the opportunities. Audiences can consume content virtually anywhere, on multiple devices, and this translates into the chance for publishers to reach media consumers across many touch points. Public places such as coffee shops and airports are equipped with Wi-Fi access to make content and news constant companions. Social media sites have made media consumer’s active participants in the publishing process. New mobile devices make it possible to consume content on the go, and in ways that were not possible just a few years ago. All of these trends have transformed and expanded the media ecosystem dramatically and have significantly increased media companies’ opportunity to inform, educate, and entertain consumers.

Along with these diverse new opportunities for distributing content, most media outlets are also sitting on enormous opportunities to improve the performance and revenue generated by their existing sites. In fact, many media outlets today focus immense budgets and energy on driving traffic to their websites—while investing far less on making proactive changes to their site that facilitate visitors’ ability to accomplish what they came to the site to do in the first place.

According to 2009 Forrester Research, targeting online content drives productive visitor activity—yet marketers currently deliver targeted content to only 24% of website visitors on average. Forrester further states 58% of marketers reported an incremental lift in conversions over the control group by 5% or more as a result of using relevance tactics. Content and messaging delivered with contextual meaning for website visitors—derived from current session activity or historic profiles—consistently outperforms generic one-size-fits-all content.

Today, to distinguish oneself from the competition and improve your sites performance, optimization is key. Publishers must tailor their homepages and article pages based on visitor behavior and preferences, rather than executive opinion or reaction to competitors.  All too often, designers, marketers, and executives come together as a committee and negotiate website concepts and copy based on assumptions. Or, site redesigns are completed in a rush when a major competitor launches a new design or experience that makes your site look outdated. Some companies turn to focus groups and research that provide valuable data points but can only tell you so much about who your visitors are and what they want from your website collectively.

Drive to relevance
The online media experience, first of all, must be highly relevant to each individual visitor. Repeat or new visitors must easily find tailored content on your home and article pages that is pertinent to what they are searching for, and sometimes, where they live, what season it is, and other variables. Pay special attention to your article pages—most media companies concentrate on their landing and home pages, but the article pages are the place where visitors are likely to spend most of their time and form opinions as to the relevance of your site to them personally.

The second major theme is efficiency. From the very first click, visitors need to have a relevant, fulfilling content experience on your site. Visitors need to be guided with speed and ease to article pages that meet their intent and fit their interests. They have little time, so they need to be consistently rewarded for coming to your site by finding relevant content through easy navigation.  In the media space, it is vital for visitors to feel connected to your site—almost as if they have some ownership in the experience. Visitors need to be comfortable with your navigation and layout and they need to trust that you will provide exceptional recommendations for additional relevant content. Empower visitors to become active contributors in the experience if they wish. Give them opportunities to interact with the content itself.

In order to build a sustainable loyalty with your site visitors, they need to feel immersed—and a key part of that involves transforming them from passive observers into active participants. Don’t be afraid to solicit comments, ask them to fill out forms, or sign up for newsletters. With the options for site visitors to comment on articles or quickly and easily share stories with their social networks, visitors are more interested than ever in taking an “active editor” role in their online media experiences.


If you are asking site visitors to share personal information about themselves in exchange for greater-value content or services, tell them up-front and clearly what they will receive in return if they sign up for a subscription, newsletter, or other premium content.  Make any forms short and intuitive and give customers reinforcement at appropriate points during the process that highlight how and why they should trust you with their personal information. Prove to them that you will provide them with increased value and a greatly enriched experience.

New formats and PLATFORMS
Keep in mind that you have many opportunities to optimize and differentiate your media site—even for visitors who are not sitting in front of a computer. Today, you have the opportunity to extend the visitor experience to a variety of mobile and wireless devices to provide a more engaging, immersive experience to media consumers. New digital media technologies not only deliver increased engagement by immersing readers in the ads and content and allowing them to interact with them, but also offer better ways to measure and optimize content and ad effectiveness than traditional print magazines.

Companies can use in-depth editorial analytics, customer demographics, and advertising analytics to improve the effectiveness of content and ads.  The same tools that you use to optimize the content on your website can be used off-site as well. Whether you have an app designed for Android, a monthly newsletter, or an upcoming display ad campaign, each represents customer touch points that you can and should optimize.

The media landscape is changing faster than ever, especially in a world where content must share its throne with experience optimization. Now, rather than relying solely on scoops and exclusives, publishers have an unprecedented opportunity and requirement to tailor content and speak to media consumers in personalized, meaningful ways. Online media companies now have the chance to communicate to audiences across a wide array of devices and allow people to explore and interact with content like they never could before.

The key to success in today’s fast-changing media world is to let consumers vote with their clicks and then respond to those clicks by improving your online experiences based upon what you have learned. In a changing landscape, you can mitigate risks and successfully challenge the status quo by presenting multiple media experiences and navigational schemes to your visitors and then continually testing and optimizing—with huge potential upside.  Companies that continually optimize are deriving significant competitive advantages and achieving dramatic returns.

The proliferation of online social media represents a fundamental shift in the way people obtain information. Instead of companies or institutions, people can now get the information they need from each other. Naturally, brands want to remain relevant to their customers, and this means being more transparent and accessible. What your brand should really have is an overarching strategy that may or may not include social media tactics - - depending on whether they make sense for your customers or not. Start from the customer and work out. Understand your audiences, including demographics, attitudes and beliefs, cultural realities affecting their lives, and technology adoption. 



And if you need help, we’re happy to assist.
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Goodbuzz Inc. is a Toronto-based Digital Ad Agency that creates social media campaigns that entice consumers to play, create, and share brand experiences. Visit Goodbuzz or join the conversation on Facebook.  Note: Any / all product names mentioned in this document may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies and are hereby acknowledged.

Friday, 27 August 2010

PACIFICO BEER’S “WEBTREK” ONLINE SCAVENGER HUNT


Pacifico Beer has launched an interesting online scavenger hunt called the Pacifico Webtrek.   The website experience is touted as “sort of a job application to see if you can handle all the stuff the Pacifico lifestyle throws at you”.   If you can prove you can, they might just hire you for their next adventure.

The travels starts with print, digital and OOH that contain searchable tags and QR codes pointing people to Pacifico's Facebook page.  There, they learn about the Webtrek and can view the short film (below), Grey Whale Sessions, which will offer the first clues of a journey retracing the path of the surfers and musicians in the film. Players will travel across a series of websites, each of which will offer a clue. 

The appearance of the Pacifico bottle cap lets you know you're on the right track. Follow the trek to its conclusion for a chance to take part in Pacifico's next trip to Mexico.





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Goodbuzz Inc. is a Toronto-based Digital Agency that creates social media campaigns that entice consumers to play, create, and share brand experiences. This is accomplished by focusing on developing "branded utility" - moving away from interruptive 'push' models towards more meaningful ways of connecting. From simple metrics to actionable insights that enable data-driven marketing decisions - Goodbuzz links social media efforts to business outcomes. Visit Goodbuzz or join us on Facebook. Any / all product names mentioned in this document may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies and are hereby acknowledged.


Thursday, 26 August 2010

Social Media Case Studies [Aug-GB_V6.0]

Adidas recently launched a social media campaign featuring several international sports stars to promote MiCoach, a new personal coaching application - PRWeek

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC is launching an email marketing campaign that includes a Facebook "like" button to get people talking about their new feature documentary called "Restrepo." More at DMNews

STARBUCKS shares how social media helped drive more than one million people into stores for their “Free Pastry Day” Promotion - PRLog

TARGET used Twitter to promote their fall fashion show in New York with a series of videos and ads streamed live on the event's Facebook page - brandchannel

The AMERICAN RED CROSS recently hosted an Emergency Social Data Summit to discuss the use of social media in emergency situations.  More at - American Red Cross

FORBES launched a new blogging platform that allows marketers to contribute content to both their print publication and their website - BtoB

OFFICEMAX has added a Back to School tab on their Facebook page that includes a "Can You Make the Grade?" quiz.  Check out their promotion at Facebook





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Goodbuzz Inc. is a Toronto-based Digital Agency that creates social media campaigns that entice consumers to play, create, and share brand experiences. This is accomplished by focusing on developing "branded utility" - moving away from interruptive 'push' models towards more meaningful ways of connecting. From simple metrics to actionable insights that enable data-driven marketing decisions - Goodbuzz links social media efforts to business outcomes. Visit Goodbuzz or join us on Facebook. Any / all product names mentioned in this document may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies and are hereby acknowledged.


Thursday, 19 August 2010

Social Media Case Studies [Aug2-GB_V5.0]

What do Zagat, Bravo, and The History Channel have in common?  They’re among the top brands on Foursquare.  What are they doing that’s so unique? – More at ReadWriteWeb

A&W is giving away free floats to people who "like" them on Facebook in celebration of National Root Beer Float Day. – More at Facebook

No kidding. Delta's Ticket Window app allows customers to book flights directly through Facebook. – More at ClickZ

JetBlue finally responded to news about their flight attendant who dramatically quit his job last week by poking fun of themselves in a blog post entitled "Sometimes the weird news is about us."More at CNN

How PlayStation, GM, and Marriott leverage their corporate blogs – More at OPEN Forum

Gillette's "Razor Guys" campaign features two college students traveling around the U.S. making pitches for the new razor -- blogging and tweeting merrily along the way – More at brandchannel

Proctor & Gamble is calling on influential bloggers and online communities to help inspire people to get involved with their Children's Safe Drinking Water program. PROMO





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Goodbuzz Inc. is a Toronto-based Digital Agency that creates social media campaigns that entice consumers to play, create, and share brand experiences. This is accomplished by focusing on developing "branded utility" - moving away from interruptive 'push' models towards more meaningful ways of connecting. From simple metrics to actionable insights that enable data-driven marketing decisions - Goodbuzz links social media efforts to business outcomes. Visit Goodbuzz or join us on Facebook. Any / all product names mentioned in this document may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies and are hereby acknowledged.

Integrating Experiential and Social Marketing Part 2 – Target’s Kaleidoscopic Fashion Spectacular Promotion

Experiential Marketing is all about orchestrating memorable events for customers, and that memory itself (the sensory brand "experience") becomes the product.  As it relates to social/participatory media, many savvy brands are finding novel, compelling ways of integrating social media with live brand experiences. An excellent example is Target’s Kaleidoscopic Fashion Spectacular Promotion.

The Challenge?  How to promote Target’s fall fashion line of clothing in a way where people will take notice?  How to create buzz around the event and share it with people around the world?   All while leveraging PR 2.0 and emerging technologies?

Target teamed up with Mother N.Y. and the resulting event is tonight in New York City at the Standard Hotel.  The event will debut a massive indoor/outdoor spectacular to promote the store's fall line of clothing.  Starting at 9 pm, 155 rooms on the south side of the Standard will become the stage for a massive choreographed light and dance show. 66 dancers will perform in the windows against 156 LED lights, while models strut along an outdoor catwalk on the street below—all clad in autumn threads from Target outfitters like Mossimo, Merona, Converse and Liz Lange

An original soundtrack by Squeak E. Clean, a.k.a. Sam Spiegel, performed by a 30-piece orchestra and 10-person chorus, will accompany the twenty-minute performance. It gets better.  Viewers who can see the show but are not close enough to hear the music clearly will be able to call into a special number (866-500-5046) for the audio.

For those not in New York, Target will be broadcasting the event on its Facebook page starting at 8:30pm EST. There, viewers can also get a taste of things to come with some quirky clue videos (like this, this or this) teasing tonight's show.


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Goodbuzz® is a Toronto-based Digital Agency that creates participatory media campaigns that entice consumers to play, create, and share brand experiences.  This is accomplished by focusing on developing "branded utility" - moving away from interruptive 'push' models towards more meaningful ways of connecting. From simple metrics to actionable insights that enable data-driven marketing decisions - Goodbuzz links social media efforts to business outcomes. Visit Goodbuzz or join us on Facebook. Any / all product names mentioned in this document may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies and are hereby acknowledged.

Wednesday, 18 August 2010

Integrating Experiential and Social Marketing – The magic of Coca-Cola’s “Village” Experience

The term Experience Economy was first described in a book published in 1999 by B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore.  The author’s argue that businesses must orchestrate memorable events for their customers, and that memory itself becomes the product - the "experience".

Many big brands involved with Experiential Marketing have been wondering how best to integrate social media with live brand experiences?   Moreover, how to engage and integrate all participants as a part of the live event in a meaningful and relevant way?  Coca-Cola enlisted Isreali experiential agency Promarket to do just that.  The innovative Coca Cola Village experiential event synced everyone who participated.  Live in real-time. 

The Coca-Cola Village experience was run in 2010 through Facebook.  Perfect for their target’s technographic profile, a Facebook app allowed teenagers to easily register and participate.  The simple goal was to collect ten Coca-Cola caps, gather eight friends (who did the same) and gain exclusive entry to the Coca-Cola Village.  At the Coca-Cola Village, users were given a unique (RFID Microchip enabled) wristband that held their Facebook login / password - so all they needed to do was swipe when starting each new activity (now integrated with Facebook). Every time a user swiped, his or her Facebook status was instantly updated with what users were specifically doing at the event, keeping friends up to date in real time.   It get’s better.  The wristband also allowed for auto-tagging of all the photos taken at the Coca-Cola Village.


The results? The experience could accommodate 650 teenagers a day and the three-day Coca-Cola Village experience generated over 100,000 posts.   

Watch the Video Case Study


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Goodbuzz® is a Toronto-based Digital Agency that creates participatory media campaigns that entice consumers to play, create, and share brand experiences.  This is accomplished by focusing on developing "branded utility" - moving away from interruptive 'push' models towards more meaningful ways of connecting. From simple metrics to actionable insights that enable data-driven marketing decisions - Goodbuzz links social media efforts to business outcomes. Visit Goodbuzz or join us on Facebook. Any / all product names mentioned in this document may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies and are hereby acknowledged.