Showing posts with label emerging. Show all posts
Showing posts with label emerging. Show all posts

Friday, 21 October 2011

SOCIAL MEDIA CASE STUDIES [GB_V56.0]

The Mayo Clinic set up a video booth to record their patients, staff and volunteers' favourite moment, story, or memory of the center and published them as a three-part video series on YouTube - Mayo Clinic

In addition to "fan appreciation day" (where 1,000 fans were invited to attend a private screening) USA Network is engaging fans with a new meme and Tumblr blog to promote their comedy/drama "Psych." - ClickZ

Pedigree focuses on saving abandoned dogs from their 'Last Walk' by urging users (via website - http://bit.ly/nd1tz2) to take a dog for a virtual walk around the Internet (and Pedigree will donate £1 to the adoption drive.) -Brand Republic

If you use trending hashtag's to amplify your tweets - you'll appreciate this free tool. TRENDSMAP extends real-time twitter trends from anywhere in the world – www.trendsmap.com 

U.S. GOVERNMENT agencies National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, Centers for Disease Control, Unites States Geological Survey, and NASA are now using YouTube to get their message across to the public - Mashable

Pepsis co-viewing (aka social TV) platform ‘Pulse’ is designed to get the most out of their "X-factor" sponsorship by extending viewers a way to interact with each other and the show – Overview  - A corresponding Pepsi 'Sound Off' platform (modeled after Twitter) is a place for fans to connect during shows and incorporates a gaming mechanism.

WALMART is using a new Facebook application that localizes marketing for each of their stores to give customers more relevant communications about deals, events, and products -Ad Age

We love campaigns that integrate real-world social (api) data to enhance the user experience (i.e. Intel's 'Museum of Me' and Toyota's "Your Other You"). Take This Lollipop' is a PSA for internet privacy however that takes the concept to a whole new level – Website

VOLKSWAGEN (Canada) "Art Heist" UGC campaign has fans who participated and "stole" the paintings sharing their story on Facebook and Twitter under the #VWArtHeist hashtag - PSFK

Luxury brands BERGDORF GOODMAN, GUCCI, MERCEDES-BENZ, JIMMY CHOO, and more are connecting with fans in new ways on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and blogs -Luxury Daily

If weather is all one cares about, Virgin’s app lets you specify the exact type of weather you want on vacation and maximum budget – and the app serendipitously suggests your travel destination to ensure the perfect weather. Simple. Branded Utility courtesy of the ever impressive Miami Ad SchoolCase Study (embedded below).



REI discuss how they utilize social media sites for each REI store to develop a better local connection with their customers - Vimeo

Through We Are Social (London) the HEINZ "Get Well Soup" campaign lets Facebook users select a flavour and enter the name of their sick friend. They can then send the can of soup, with the usual Heinz label altered with a message saying 'Get well soon Bob' (the service costs £1.99). Bob will receive his soup in three to four working days – Article + Simply Zesty

Increasingly consumers seem to be defining themselves by what and whom they associate with. Brands therefore represent an integral part of people’s identity by association. Scion ART is a successful foray into creating such a movement – Case Study

Toyota's 'Social Network Racer' (by agency Party, Tokyo) is touted as the first social racing game (that transforms Facebook into a 3D race course). The app pulls in info like Facebook photos and friend updates to create the surrounding environment, including billboards, tunnels and other signage – Facebook App

Walkers is using augmented reality (AR) (via Blippar) on its potato chip’s (‘crisps’) packets to give its customers access to real-time weather forecasts. One might argue that brands should look to extend branded utility that reinforces its brand attributes (as opposed to ‘soft’ association like whether consumers should eat their crisps indoors or risk going out.) – Article 
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).


Saturday, 15 October 2011

SOCIAL MEDIA CASE STUDIES [GB_V55.0]


Consumer-goods companies Mars, Kraft Foods, Anheuser-Busch, Unilever, and Procter and Gamble are using online ads to drive traffic to their Facebook fan pages - Ad Age

Tesco's latest uses Blippar's Image Recognition + Augmented Reality (AR) technology to focus greater attention on their print ads. Whether the execution itself is a real 'wow' or not - we applaud the attempt to enhance the print experience – Video

TV Networks Showtime, ABC, Syfy, and CBS are promoting their fall shows using online games on Facebook, Twitter, and iTunes - ClickZ

RNZAF 'Step Up' Challenge let you Navigate a NH90 helicopter over rural New Zealand. Airlift comms’ supplies to mobile outposts before a storm cell moves in. It's part advergame, part digital installation and part scale model controlled through the YouTube game – YouTube

And you thought the only way to have sex was in person. That's so 2010. Now with Durex's "Digital Love" website (www.digital-love.org) you can have as much sex as you’d like using you computer. That’s the premise behind this clever website (by BUZZMAN TV) with a number of personalization options (including the ability to prank your friends) – Website

Looking for a (free) real-time social media search and analysis tool? Check out http://www.socialmention.com/

This year's PR News Digital PR Awards winners included General Mills, Discovery Communications, AT&T, American Heart Association, and more for their fantastic work - PR News

IBM’s 2011 CMO Survey is out with some interesting results.  Everyone seems to agree that the worlds changed - Survey

Wells Fargo, IBM, and other banks are using social media to elevate their brand, build communities, conduct product research, and connect better with their customers - UBM TechWeb

Vodafone's "Buffer Busters" AR Mobile App is equal parts technology, brand, and engagement. There are creatures called Buffer-Monsters. They are known to cause traffic congestions, slow Internet connections, train delays… Buffer-Monsters hide in plain sight, but we haven’t been able to see them before – until now – Case Study

Clorox discuss how they are empowering their community of consumers to develop ideas and build buzz around upcoming launches - Vimeo

USA TODAY and Facebook are teaming up to give fans the ability to choose, rate, and share their favorite commercials during the Super Bowl - Lost Remote

MGM Resorts is releasing a social media game similar to Farmville, but with the players acting as casino moguls, in an effort to attract more online gamblers to their Vegas casinos - The Wall Street Journal

Oscar Mayer's ‘Delifresh’ brand has launched a new Hispanic Facebook app that lets fans build their own sandwich with a personality and share with friends online - Hispanic PR Blog

With the Olympics less than a year away, partners such as Samsung, 24 Hour Fitness, and British Airways are using location-based check-ins, Facebook apps, and blogs to get fans excited for the 2012 games - The Big Lead

Coca-Cola shares how they are counting on their fans to spread the love through "dynamic storytelling" and online sharing - ClickZ

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).





Saturday, 8 October 2011

SOCIAL MEDIA CASE STUDIES [GB_V54.0]

Shoppers and owners of the Ford Sync system are doing all the talking on the revamped website that features user-generated content and video testimonials -MediaPost

Beck's ‘Sobriety Test’ Mobile App lets you prove you are sober by inserting a key into a moving keyhole (you need to keep the key in for 25 seconds). If you cannot make it, then the application will automatically call a taxi that will come to pick you up and drive you home - Overview

In lieu of recent announcements, Blockbuster discusses how they are using Twitter to woo Netflix's unhappy customers -The Wall Street Journal

Charity 'Swearbox' Twitter App is a donation-based site that provides Twitter users with a way to rectify their bad language online. You can login with your Twitter details where the app will detect all of your recently tweeted swear words and suggest a donation related to your profanities – Overview

Stumped on what to be for Halloween this year? Target has a new Facebook application that lets your friends help you decide -Facebook

Heinz is building their brand's social loyalty by rewarding their fans on Facebook with coupons and bonus discounts for sharing with friends -Jamie B

LYNX's 'Auto-Romeo' App lets users answer a few questions about the ladies in your life (i.e. eye colour, hair colour, when you met, etc.) and the app will automatically send personalized messages that tend to your flock on your behalf - Overview


Baseball fans can still stay connected during the post-season through the MLB's Fan Cave. It's a central social media hub in New York City complete with live Twitter feeds, video content creation of existing players, interactive technology, and art to keep the spirit of the game alive -Forbes


Zurich Bank is connecting financial institution professionals online with the launch of their new social networking community, "Financial Risk Talk." - Zurich

NASA is hosting a series of Tweetups to give their hardcore social media fans the opportunity to meet with scientists, engineers, and astronauts at their facilities and public space launches -NASA

Boeing's photostream on Flickr is keeping fans from around the world up-to-date during the release of their new 787 airplane -Flickr

Warner Bros. is giving fans the chance to star in their new web series, "Aim High," using a personalized Facebook viewing application -Lost Remote

Microsoft shares how they leveraged both internal and external social media sites to better manage their vast customer network -Vimeo


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 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).



















Saturday, 1 October 2011

SOCIAL MEDIA CASE STUDIES [GB_V53.0]

Estee Lauder has turned their YouTube channel into a social beauty school with video clips of cosmetic how-to’s, behind-the-scene’s looks, skin demos, and more - YouTube


HP Labs, shares how they are using social media research to predict sales weeks before a product is released - Social Media Examiner


Think you've got what it takes to be the Ultimate Displaced Fan? DIRECTV is calling all football fans to submit videos, photos, and essays on Twitter and Facebook to prove their worthiness - Business Wire


Trident® Chewing Gum (Brazil) ‘wired’ up a phone booth that records users antics (at a Rock festival) and uploads them to the brands YouTube Channel.


The CMO Club™ (Toronto) Event - Thursday, 13 October 2011 at 18:00 - Level5 Office, 18 King Street East, Toronto, ON M5C1C4 - more Info.


SAP discusses how eight years of experience has matured their social media program - Vimeo


Innocent's 'Tweet and eat' Twitter Promotion - Aiming to generate some #goodbuzz - for a four week period, the more tweets Innocent gets with the hashtag #tweetandeat, the bigger the discount it will offer – Website

If approximately 86% of people (who use mobile Internet) use their phones while watching TV - it stems to reason that savvy brands would capitalize upon this trend. The best example we've seen to date? AKQA's Heineken 'Star Player' App – Video



Nokia's Serendipitous FourSquare-powered 'Gift Machine' - Here is a nice interactive installation from Nokia, playing on their ever increasing “Random Acts of Kindness” vision that allows anyone to simply check-in to one of the vending machines via Foursquare to release some sort of surprise – Video


How does your target audience engage your brand technologically? Find out using Forrester’s profiling tool.

Budweiser created a weather-driven app (Tribal DDB London) that gave Irish users a free pint when the outdoor temperature reached 20°C. There’s also a €2 discount when the outdoor temperature exceeds 18°C, and €1-off when it hits 16°C –Video

Unilever's Dove brand is showcasing young female DJs in their new campaign that gets fans involved through Twitter photo contests and real-time chat parties, interactive music games, and sharable music mixes on Facebook - The New York Times

Skoda left clues in its TV idents on Channel 5 every week and participants had to solve each week’s puzzle and enter the answer on Skoda’s YouTube channel to progress to the next stage of the mystery trail – YouTube Channel.

Orange's Glastonbury 2011 App- Providing a textbook lesson in how to create branded utility, Orange - France Télécom produced the official mobile app for this year’s Glastonbury (UK) Festival. A GPS-enabled map also included toilets, bars, and on-site ‘chill ‘n’ charge’ areas - Website

The Facebook Friend Audit - Of all your 'friends' on Facebook, how many of them actually engage your content? The Facebook Friend Audit (from BBH) signs on to your account and uses the Facebook API to go through your last 300 wall posts to compare the friends who have "liked" them with the total number of friends you have – website.

KLM's 'Live Twitter Reply' Promotion - KLM Royal Dutch Airlines has just launched their latest social media campaign. If you send a tweet to KLM anytime during the next ten-or-so hours you may be the lucky recipient of a ‘KLM Live Reply’ – Video

Olympus Partners with JetBlue to Kick off 'The PEN Ready' Project - Olympus (via Mullen) also engaged in social influence marketing by giving 100 influential bloggers a PEN E-PM1 to use on their own blog – Video

Ben & Jerry's is supporting Fair Trade initiatives in a big way by putting fans' unused tweet characters to good use - Promo Magazine



Virgin Mobile FreeFest's 'Echo Temple' - Equal parts Kinect hack and experiential bliss - Virgin's 'Echo Temple' installation (by Mother NY) promotes innovation by allowing users to play virtual musical instruments by moving their body in front of motion-tracking cameras – Video
Imagine if you could wreak havoc on your office building or home with a giant robot?  State Farm’s ‘Chaos in Your Town’ cleverly uses Google Street View for the background scenes to create a customized blockbuster film featuring the address of your choice being blown to smithereens – Website


The Swedish Post's 'Safest Hands' Competition - Ã…kestam Holst's incredible body of work for the Swedish Post (http://bit.ly/oAMaTa) never ceases to amaze. Here's their latest magic - an app (http://bit.ly/qZL9ba) that asks players to virtually "deliver" parcels – Video


Twelve Great MS Kinect Hacks


Traffic is never fun, but Audi's new "Road Frustration Index" helps lessen the pain with a real-time report on road conditions using Twitter sentiment - Simply Zesty



Nike's video play on "Back to the Future" landed them at the top of viral video charts last week with five million + views - Ad Age


NOTE: For more articles and posts from the last week please visit us on Twitter at both @goodbuzz.  If you have info, articles, case studies, or other examples of 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).


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.