SOCIAL MEDIA CASE STUDIES [GB_V42.0]

Sony Ericsson is giving away tickets to the Uefa Champions League final game in London to fans that check in at designated locations on Foursquare. - Brand Republic 

Tiffany & Co. is using social media to share its recently launched website about love with the intention of luring in-love couples to store locations or to the brand's Web site to buy an engagement ring - Website

To launch a new smart phone bundle, TURKCELL made a gift box covered with post-its. Using a live video feed, they asked the twitter crowd to unpack the box by tweeting what was written on the post-its using a hashtag #turkcelltweet – Video 

Honda's SuperCivicQuest is a digital scavenger hunt. There are 5 levels, each with a series of clues (and prizes) scattered across the web leading up to you (Cesar) fighting the dreaded 'El Burrito' – App 

T-Moblie's "Royal Wedding" video spoof has gone viral with over 21 million views on YouTube. - Ad Age 

American Express' discuss how they're using Facebook and Foursquare to target business owners and dedicated fans. - ClickZ


The FWA’s Site of the Month is the ‘MAGNUM Pleasure Hunt’ (by Lowe Brindfors/B-Reel/Plan8) where users play an interactive game across multiple websites collecting chocolates – Website

Intel’s ‘The Museum of Me’ is by far the most impressive visualization we’ve seen to date (using Facebook images.) Period. The integration and delivery is amazing - especially for those of you who’ve been active on Facebook for a few years – More


GRAACC - The Great Banner Sale Campaign - People and companies were invited by email to buy a banner they could customize (and pay whatever they wanted for.) Websites displayed the banners for a whole week and all the money was directed to GRAACC - producing 3,000,000+ impressions and increasing annual donations by 260% - More 

This clever campaign for UNICEF (by Miami Ad School students) utilizes the spelling feature inside Google Chrome to trigger donation prompts. Each miss-spelt word adds a “Donate This Word To UNICEF” option (where users can then right-click the red underline to amend spelling mistakes) - More  

HBO has launched HBO Connect -- a one-stop social TV site for all of HBO's programs that invites fans to join the conversation about their favorite shows. - The Futon Critic

Namechk - One source to check to see if your desired username (or vanity URL) is still available at dozens of popular Social Networking and Social Bookmarking websites - www.namechk.com 

NuFormer's latest lets users interact and manipulate the actual 3D projection (in real-time) using gesture based tracking (via Kinect). All types of branded content, logos or product placement can thereby be incorporated – More 

Here’s a clever way to build intrigue and peak interest around the launch of a new Batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises. If you visit this website, it appears to simply be a black page with some audio. However, (nerd alert) if you play back the audio file in a program that supports spectrograms - hidden text in the form of a twitter hashtag appears (http://bit.ly/iKUKBl). It’s the first piece of a puzzle that leads to the next clue. How very J.J. Abrams - Website 

Bacardi is turning their Facebook fans' likes into real life concert experiences for thousands of fans across the country. - BarBizMag

MERRELL has launched a new website (by The Minimart) to support the creation the world's largest panoramic picture. Users are asked to upload their outdoor shots to the website - More 

Instead of asking people to donate money this (Miami Ad School) concept lets people donate their air miles to transport RED CROSS staff.   Adding a “Donate your miles” button to flight booking websites people can donate their unwanted or unused air miles instead of donating money. This donation would lead to the Red Cross microsite where users can log in with their Twitter or Facebook account to track and share their donation - More

Don’t forget!  The CREATIVITY AND TECHNOLOGY CONFERENCE (CaT) is on next week in NYC. June 9th, 2011 at the New World Stages (340 West 50th Street, New York, New York – More  - We’ll see you there.

Social television research company, Bluefin Labs, has named Fox, ABC, and MTV as the top three most socially engaging broadcast and cable TV networks. - Lost Remote

SUBWAY’S ‘COMMIT TO FIT’ SWEEPSTAKES garnered 900,000 new ‘Likes’ in a week asking users to commit to a healthy lifestyle for a chance to win cash. To peak interest and drive Facebook engagement, Subway ran a sweepstakes on their landing tab allows users to make a commitment to be healthy for a chance to win $25,000.

As a part of their Apps for Change campaign, Nokia is continuing to encourage idea submissions in their IdeasProject Community that can be reviewed and discussed by fans. - IdeasProject 

The New York Times is experimenting with replacing their automatic Twitter feed with real people to improve their engagement with fans. - The Wall

Yahoo! is integrating social media into their email service. Users will be able to send and receive Facebook and Twitter updates directly from their inbox. - ZDNet 

SAMSUNG’S ‘LIKE IT, REVEAL IT, WIN IT’ Contest features a weekly product giveaway that incentivizes users to invite their friends to participate (and to check-in regularly.)  Users are asked to unlock a certain amount of pixels each week to reveal a photo of the Samsung Television prize for the week and can potentially win instant prizes.  The key mechanic here however is the fact that users enter by unlocking a pixel, thus, the more pixels unlocked the easier it is to see the prize, creating an incentive for users to share with friends.  In two weeks Samsung has garnered 12,000 new fans.

SCHOLASTIC share how they connected bloggers and the online community to create a successful corporate blog and influential online voice. - Vimeo 

Here’s a fun interactive outdoor campaign (by DDB Stockholm) for MCDONALDS. Pick N’ Play lets users play a game on a large interactive billboard using their mobile phone.  A product coupon is sent to the phone after playing - Video 

The MINI ‘Space’ ‘Patterns & Places’ Design Competition lets users submit visual interpretations by way of design, photography or illustration of what moves you – be that geometric or asymmetrical, stripes and polka dots.  Winners can win cool prizes from Apple, Rayban, and others – More 


Here a clever MINI ‘Bingo’ Direct Response Campaign that leverages technology to amplify activities - Video

NOTE: For more articles and posts from the last week please visit us on Twitter at both @goodbuzz and @disruptbureau.  Also, 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.


Email us  |  Follow us on Twitter  |  Become a fan on Facebook  

SOCIAL MEDIA CASE STUDIES [GB_V41.0]

TOYOTA is teaming up with Salesforce.com to launch Toyota Friend -- a Twitter-esque private social network for Toyota drivers - The Next Web 

The HOME DEPOT has named 25 social media store associates to help manage the How-To Community, be the store's online voice in social media, and improve overall customer service - Ad Age

CISCO SYSTEMS' share how they actively listen and continuously engage with the social customer - Vimeo 

Hot Wheels 'Custom Motors Cup Challenge' on YouTube - with over 1,146,138 games played to date, it’s hard to argue this isn't a great example of digital brand engagement – Video 

The Future of Mobile - Devices are greater than App’s - an exert from Scott Jenson’s “The Coming Zombie Apocalypse”, Design Mind, May 2011 – Article 

Oldie but Goodie - we were recently reminded of an FWA SOTD (that was way ahead of it’s time). If you’ve never seen, we thought you might enjoy the Secret Location– website 

VISA is offering a new Facebook application called Memory Mapper for travelers to chronicle and share their memories with friends online - Finextra

Burger King's 'Status Trader' Social Promotion - if there were a Rube Goldberg Award for campaign mechanics – this would definitely be a top contender – Video 

Friskies® iPad Games for Cats.  Whether you just adore cats (or of the belief that cat ownership is admitting that somewhere in your house is a box of crap) – this is definitely interesting – Video.  Also, one of our readers sent us this link of the app being used - Video 

PERSUASION Profiling - Facebook Ad Profiling Technique - While the following synopsis is intended to identify a new (online) ad-profiling technique, we find it equally relevant for Facebook adverts – Article 

GNC is offering daily deals on their Facebook page that allow fans to purchase products directly from their news feed - Facebook 

SNEAKERPEDIA by Footlocker (by SapientNitro) aims to drive authenticity and unite the world's most ardent sneaker fanatics (and their collections) into one gloriously comprehensive community – Overview 

How do your social media costs compare? Here’s a handy infographic on “The Real Cost Of Social Media” – View

Coca-Cola, Starbucks, Disney, Discovery Communications, Warner Bros, and more are all building commerce around their Facebook community - ClickZ 

USA Network is launching a real-time discussion experience called Chatter where viewers can connect with each other -- and in some cases, actors and producers from the show -- while the show is airing. - Lost Remote 

Treat-Rewarding Recycling Bins - Even though recycling has become a mainstream practice now, there is still much to be done, and designer YunJin Chang is offering a tasty incentive with his newest invention – Article 

As a part of their "Long Live Imagination" campaign, Canon is encouraging fans to submit photographs to their YouTube channel for a chance to become the inspiration for a short film directed by Ron Howard -  MediaPost 

Lithium's awards for big brands' best social media efforts included HP, Research in Motion, The Home Depot, Lenovo, AT&T, and more - Lithosphere 

Honda is hosting a songwriting competition on Facebook asking fans to both submit and vote for original songs inspired by the new Honda Civic -Facebook 

Heineken Star Player App takes live events to a whole new level. Anticipate the outcome of live match moments to score points. Top right or over the bar? Into the wall or the back of the net?  You decide in real-time – Overview 

NOTE: For more articles and posts from the last week please visit us on Twitter at both @goodbuzz and @disruptbureau.  Also, 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.

Email us  |  Follow us on Twitter  |  Become a fan on Facebook  

Persuasion Profiling - Ad Profiling Technique

While the following synopsis is intended to identify a new (online) ad-profiling technique, we find it equally relevant for Facebook adverts. Note: Parts of Eli “Mind Reading” article are used below.  The article was published by WIRED Magazine in May 2011.

 Today, most recommendation and targeting systems focus on the products: Commerce sites analyze our consumption patterns and use that info to figure out that, say, viewers of Iron Man also watch The Dark Knight. But new work by Maurits Kaptein and Dean Eckles, doctoral students in communications at Stanford University, suggests there’s another factor that can be brought into play. Retailers could not only personalize which products are shown, they could personalize the way they’re pitched, too.

Kaptein and Eckles set up an experimental online bookstore and encouraged customers to browse the titles and mark a few for purchase. By alternating the types of pitches—Appeal to Authority (e.g. “Malcolm Gladwell says you’ll like this”), Social Proof (e.g. “All your friends on Facebook are buying this book”), and the like—Kaptein and Eckles could track which mode of argument was most persuasive for each person.

Some book buyers felt comforted by the fact that an expert reviewer vouched for their intended product. Others preferred to go with the most popular title or a money-saving deal. Some people succumbed to what Eckles calls “high need for cognition” arguments—smart, subtle points that require some thinking to get (“The Hunger Games is the Inferno of children’s literature”). Still others responded best to being hit over the head with a simple message (“The Hunger Games is a fun, fast read!”). And certain pitches backfire: While some people rush for a deal, others think discounts mean the merchandise is subpar. By eliminating persuasion styles that didn’t work on a particular individual, Kaptein and Eckles were able to increase the effectiveness of a recommendation by 30 to 40 percent.

Most significantly, they found that people respond to the same type of argument in multiple domains. In other words, if you figure out how to sell someone books, you can use the same technique to sell them clothes. And if that finding holds, your persuasion profile will have a pretty substantial financial value. Once a company like Amazon has determined your profile by suggesting products in a variety of ways over time and seeing how you respond, there’s no reason it couldn’t then sell that information to other companies. In other words, if you respond a few times to a “50 percent off in the next 10 minutes!” deal, you could find yourself surfing a web filled with blaring red headlines and countdown clocks.

There’s plenty of good that could emerge from persuasion profiling. Eckles points to DirectLife as an example, a wearable coaching device by Philips that uses human coaches to figure out which arguments get a particular individual to eat more healthfully and exercise more regularly. But DirectLife also highlights one of the core challenges of persuasion profiling: It works best when it’s invisible to the user. It’s just not the same to hear an automated coach saying, “You’re doing a great job! I’m telling you that because you respond well to positive feedback!”

While DirectLife aims to improve your health, most companies that buy and sell your persuasion profile may not have your well being at heart. Consider what could happen if they knew that certain customers buy things compulsively when they’re stressed or feeling bad about themselves. (“Our analysis of your Facebook photos says you’re overweight and ugly. Buy our makeup.”) If persuasion profiling makes it possible for a coaching device to shout “You can do it” to people who like positive reinforcement, in theory it could also enable politicians to make personalized appeals based on each voter’s particular fears. If your persuasion profile shows that you’re a sucker for social pressure, Joe Candidate could target you with ads saying that your friends will be told whether or not you voted. Persuasion profiling potentially offers quick, easily transferable, targeted access to your personal psychological weak spots.

So how can we protect ourselves from this insidious analysis? The first line of defense is to know that persuasion profiling is on the way, keep an eye out for it, and view marketing arguments with the skepticism they deserve. Otherwise, if you’re not careful and GlennBeck.com finds out you’re moved by “Act now!” exhortations, your preparations for the apocalypse could be interrupted by alerts from the Post Office that first-class stamps will soon cost $79 each and warnings that the grocery store is almost out of bottled water. Forever.

Original Article in Wired

'DEVICES ARE GREATER THAN APPS' – THE FUTURE OF MOBILE

[An exert from Scott Jenson’s “The Coming Zombie Apocalypse”, Design Mind, May 2011]

The fundamental paradigm of the mobile phone app is basically the same as has existed from the dawn of computing time: a single piece of software to install, open and interact with directly, and then put away.  But the future is revealing new UX patterns that will start to form from the connections and interactions between these devices.

Three new patterns come to mind, but expect more to form as this unfolds:

1. Fixed cluster

A fixed cluster of devices will come into the home and encourage the use and transference of functionality between them. Pandora is a primitive version of this, and the Sonos sound system is another. Both of these systems stream music to multiple devices within the cluster. Pandora takes a one-at-time model where Sonos is working with more with a “swarm” of devices.  However, both of these examples are just the beginning.

Here is an imagined scenario that would push this concept further: while I’m working out, I'm listening to some exotic, crowdsourced playlist on my wireless headphones that is being streamed via my phone. When I get into my car, the music automatically transfers to my car stereo. When I get home, the music pauses while I walk into my house but once I dock my phone, it transfers into the house stereo system, which will play on the speakers nearest to me, and will follow me as I move around the house.  Of course, a fixed cluster can do more than just play music: it could regulate energy usage in the home, synchronize personal data (such as photos between cameras, phones and family), personalize settings for devices based on who is using it, to name just a few examples.  The possibilities are endless.

2. Personal cluster

A second type of pattern will be swarms of devices on people’s bodies that will be able to collect data and collaborate. There is likely to be a two-tier caste system between a relatively small set of smart devices such as a phone, headset, watch, and shoes, alongside a much larger ragtag gaggle of “dumb” RFID devices that represent nearly everything a person is wearing and carrying.

A classic example of this pattern is a “distributed phone,” where the basic communication brick containing the radio, main processor, and storage hide in the user’s pocket while an earpiece, watch, and jewelry work in concert to interact with the user and the central device. A smart watch can show message alerts and a photo caller ID, and subtler “Info-jewelry” could display information ambiently through color changes (e.g., different colors based on number of pending messages). There is even a burgeoning field of person bio monitors that could monitor your condition and report back to your doctor.

But even the “dumb” RFID tags in people’s clothes could be read by one of their smart devices to become part of a larger, personal profile: who people are becomes an amalgam of what they’re wearing. This could be shared by physical proximity or even projected onto Web-based profiles. This applies to more that just clothing; it could involve any number of objects, each having an owner, so “who” you are wearing could be more interesting than what: objects associated with causes, movies, books, or pop artists, could each evoke a special message or buying opportunity.

3. Opportunistic cluster

The previous two patterns involve fairly stable, known clusters under the user’s control. Another likely pattern will involve the entire world of smart devices that people will pass throughout the day. Bus stops, rental cars, store kiosks, movie posters, and even entire buildings will offer value by allowing people to interact with them.

In this world, the idea of “an app” is ridiculously quaint.  In a world of millions of smart devices, a UX lingua franca will be a necessity so any user can approach any device and be able to interact with it directly, without downloading a specific app.

In a sea of these cheap devices, we’ll likely need a display on our phones/tablets that lists (and most likely ranks) nearby devices that might be of interest. Selecting any one would allow that device to interact in any way it chooses. In this manner, the classic concept of “an app” will just be available on demand for any device or object a person happens to be in front of. The idea of a user downloading, managing, and launching apps will feel just plain silly.

Some of the cluster devices won't even need computation to be “smart.” Just geotagging every bus stop in a city would allow people to walk up to any one and interact with it by looking up its exact location through a cloud service, creating, in effect, “websites on demand”. The great benefit of these “dumb points” would be that since they’re nearly free, experiences can be deployed literally anywhere and at great scale.

But it's not just about quick access; these dumb points explode the classic concept of an app by focusing on the precise node I'm currently in front of.  I won't need a 'city bus app, I’ll just need the app for this particular bus stop, which shows me, without any interaction, the next 3 buses.  The same is true for classic store apps. Instead of firing up the GPS and figuring out which Starbucks I'm in, the on demand page shows, without effort, the one I'm currently standing in, complete with today's special right there at the top.  This approach works not only for my current location but now adds significant depth to any mapping application: I can now 'peek into' stores when I zoom into a street, seeing mini pages for each location right in context of the map itself.   This doesn’t even begin to expand on Augmented Reality (AR) add-on’s.

Conclusion

Some of these ideas are admittedly aggressively looking-forward, but most really aren't technologically that complex. The very idea of what a device is today and how it interacts with other devices has already started to change. Like most exponential trends, it is a subtle one that isn't really obvious until it is nearly undeniable. The UX community needs to embrace this coming evolution not because we need to invent the future, but rather that our past is holding us back. We'll only really discover this future if we shed our default desktop computers thinking. May the dreams of our past be the reality of our future.