Shatner - UNMASKED

Just found this new video on YouTube (less than 100 views). It's hilarious. It's amazing how many brands Shatner has been a "part of" and this compilation pokes fun at the man who has become a cultural phenom.

Great two minutes.

PayGo

Don't really know what to think of this Pay as you go spot from Orange. But I like the idea of a rewards program for PayGo customers. And for wireless customers in general.


Find more videos like this on AdGabber

The Politics of Metrics...

Two weeks ago, Canada was thrust into a Federal election. Campaigns have been ramped up quickly, candidates are traveling across the country and the messages are getting out - especially with a new campaign promise every day.

A few months ago, I did a post about the pathetic state of visits to Canada's three main political party websites - Liberals, Conservatives and the NDP. 14 days into the election here is how traffic to their respective sites has increased:

In the past 2 weeks, site traffic has increased dramatically and now the three sites are averaging a respectable 5-10K users per day. Although that isn't many in the great scheme of things, at least we know that there is some interest in the content of the political parties...even if that current interest only represents a tiny, tiny percentage of the population.

If we compare the chart above with the party Search terms, we can see a similar trend:

The Liberals, on both accounts, are winning in terms of website traffic and search share. What interests me, however, is that a number of recent polls show them substantially behind the conservatives. In fact, the Globe and Mail has a recent poll that shows the Conservatives a whopping 12 points ahead of the Liberals.

Why then, are visits and searches to the Liberal site higher? One possible answer could be demographics. Liberal voters are traditionally younger and in urban centers and that could result in higher internet usage than the rural, older conservative base.

Still, it's interesting to compare digital data to polling to help predict what will happen in the next 4 weeks.

Oh, and if you really want a refresher on the state of Canadian politics, let's just take a quick look at Barack Obama and John McCain's website traffic over the last year:

Even if we apply the 1-10 rule, we still don't compare with the over 400K unique visits to Obama's website per day. To put that in perspective in Canada, that's double the daily traffic that Ebay.ca gets.

The Links

A ton of interesting links from the last week. Check them out.

- Seth Godin gives a great outlook on why advertising can't fix Microsoft's problem (if it even has one)
- Zuckerberg tells Facebook fans about the new Facebook design (and over 7 million protest it)
- Oasis goes to NYC and teaches street performers how to play their new song
- Nintendo employees are richer than Googles and Goldman Sacks ones
- Ellen DeGeneres is the new Cover Girl model? Seriously?
- Social networks hurting the online porn industry?
- Here comes Google Andriod - exciting news for September 23rd
- Twitter is growing fast - up 422% in the last 12 months
- Should moviegoers pay for better seats? Um..yes.
- Google Stephen Harper, Get Jack Layton.
- Looking for a new job? Here are some places to start your search (and interview better)

Lamborghini teases with photos

Lamborghini teases and the money is on 4 seats.

Lamborghini's teased us with another photo of the mystery car it's bringing to the Paris Motor Show, and a close look suggests Sant'Agata is about to unveil a sedan.

The Italian automaker offered the first clue earlier this week, revealing a single photo and promising "it's not just a new Lamborghini, it's a whole new world."

But looking at the photo Lamborghini released today, we're leaning toward a gran turismo to take on the Porsche Panamera and Aston Martin Raptide. We'll even go so far as to say it'll be called the Mondo.

The most obvious clue is the size of the b-panel -- when's the last time you saw a Lamborghini with a door that wasn't right next to the wheel well? That much unbroken sheet metal behind the wheel suggests the engine will be up front, creating the space for a back seat.

First photo:

I'm a PC.

My initials are PC and I am loving this. How does apple re-act. Do they? Do they play it cool and pretend that nothing changed? Can they? Has chiat been creating a new campaign for the past year just in case this happened?

Axe - Shower Gel for Men

What a statement to make. Good on you Axe.

E-ink Cover in Esquire

Clean the trophy shelf and make room for the Media Innovation awards.....

Bye, Bye Jerry!

Well, that didn't take long. Three spots and we're done!

In the last week, PJC and I have posted about the new Microsoft campaign and our thoughts on it. Turns out that today, a rep from MS confirmed that there aren't going to be any more Jerry spots and that it was all in the plan to "phase him out" after the campaign launched.

$10 million for three spots? I guess when Alex Bogusky said that the next thing from Microsoft was going to be "big" he meant the budget.

"First chink in the [CP+B] armor, Ted!"

UPDATE: Maybe I spoke too soon. It seems like the folks at Techcrunch have some inside info that this was all planned and that the second phase of the campaign is coming. It's going to feature other stars as well - I wonder if any of them will last longer than a few spots.

Top 15 Artistic Ads [Another List..but a good one]

One of the most popular posts on Digg right now is about 15 artistic ads. It's a great compilation of TV spots that are extremly iconic. You've probably seen most of them but there was one that I haden't (posted below) with Lance Armstrong. Another good Nike spot from W+K. No wonder these two are so tight. 

Nice

My guess is that most of the people who read AdJoke do so at work. My second guess is that a large majority of those readers might not be having the best time at their jobs.

That brings us to this spot from Monster:



Well, are you?

Solved!

The folks at EA sports continue to impress with their latest spot featuring Tiger Woods. It's pretty amazing what this guy can do on the golf course.

So Close!

I love this spot.

I love the direction, idea and editing. The acting, pictures and scenes. It's almost a great, short, two minute film.

But I also hate it. Because it leaves me feeling like it was just another ad, even though it could have been anything but that.

Great execution for the first 1:55.

Note: the spot length was determined by the fact that the history of the product was 200 years (one second per year...)

Fido Goes Vertical

Check out this cool video from Fido (a Canadian telecommunications company). Fido has a series of arts and culture events in Toronto and to help promote them, they created bubble logos that were launched into the sky.

I'm not sure how many people saw (or would know what these were...it's not the standard "dog" imagery that Fido uses) but it's a pretty innovative idea.

Really?

"Well, at least that's what I heard."

Who is the target?

Seriously. Who is it?

It's not someone who is between the ages of 14-24. It's not someone who is making over $60K a year and somewhere between 25-34. It's not a baby boomer who is now anyone over 50. And it's definitely not someone who has a family.

Who is it? Who is the target?

Most marketers don't really know. It's a group, usually defined by a broad media segmentation, that contains thousands of different personality types, backgrounds and interests. We group them together because that's the only thing we know - it's the system we are used to using.

Targeting youth? Make sure you're on the top 10 TV shows in Canada that "youth" watch and that you're display buy is on Facebook and YouTube. What about Boomers? Make sure you're in the financial section of the newspapers and have TV spots on all the news programs.

Does this really make sense?

Did you really find the same things interesting when you were 14 as when you were 24? Did you read the same paper when you were 34 as you did when you were 25? Are "youth" really one target?

Can we all just admit that the mass advertising targeting model is broken?

I've come across some different segmentations, more detailed looks at a target and one of the best models that I've come across is based on the diffusion of an idea - or, how an idea spreads from one group to another.

In 1962, author Everett M. Rogers wrote a book called "Diffusion of Innovations." In it, Rogers describes five groups that help to carry an idea - Innovators, Early Adopters, Early Mass, Late Mass and Laggards. Each group plays a key role in spreading an idea and within each media segmentation (18-24, 26-24, etc), these five groups exist.



So, again, who are you targeting within your segment? The Early Adopters? The Laggards? Sure, all of these people are between 18-24 (as an example) but they don't consume the same content or use the same websites.

Think about who your target is because digital is not a traditional medium - please don't try to use it that way.

Who is your target?

Once Lucky, Twice Good

A few weeks ago, I finished off Once You're Lucky, Twice You're Good by Sarah Lacy. The book helps to provide a history of how the current Web 2.0 came to be. It focuses on a number of the lead start up entrepreneurs (from sites like Facebook, SlideShare and Digg) and their journey to get their web ideas from concept to creation.

It's an incredibly personal look at the history of the web through the key people who developed the sites, provided Venture Capital cash and helped give rise to the web after the dot com crash of 2000.

I think this book should be required reading for anyone who specializes in digital. It's critical to understand the history (and interconnectedness) of the web and the people who run Silicon Valley. If you don't know who is running these sites, where they want to take them and what their dreams are, how could you possibly pretend to a client that you understand ways to be effective on them?

If anything, it's a great text book on the battle between an entrepreneur and venture capital. The dynamics are extremely interesting (and challenging) and if you'd be interested in developing your own site (or any business idea) it's good to know what they are.

AdJoke Ad Quote of the day

"I welcome and seek your ideas, but do not bring me small ideas; bring me big ideas to match our future."

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Social Media Best Practices

David Griner from the blog The Social Path posted today about what he thinks is are the "best practices" for social media marketing. In short he spoke about how we must be willing to drink the kool-aid - basically he said:

1. Don't over promise or over-sell what social media can do for your clients. Do not sell overnight success.
2. We’re talking to people one-on-one, trying to prove earnestly that we have more to offer than a sales pitch. Know your audience, know your stuff, and know your limitations. Mix all that together, sweeten it with some personality and wit, and I’ll be the first to knock back a glass and ask for a refill.

I agree but have a few thoughts about this important point that David spoke to:

Know your audience

1. Understanding how your target uses social media (do they create content, engage with it, or just read it?) can help you determine the best way to approach them. Want to learn more... maybe take a look at the book Groundswell.
2. Identify the challenges that your target faces. What can you deliver that will help your audience. (Why will they engage? What could be a positive outcome for them in regards to a social media experience?)
   
3. What is your audiences perception of your brand? Are you trying to deliver something through social media that is a stretch for you brand in the eyes of your audience?
4. What is your audiences current digital behaviour look like? Are you asking them to engage with something they are unfamiliar with or are you a year too late?
   
5. How can you assist your audience in sharing what you are doing?
6. When will your audience be engaging with social media? How does this impact the content? Impact when you update it? Impact what social media you select to include in your communications mix?
   

And then unrelated to know your audience but also important is to consider the impact on the user experience before you introduce new technologies, features or content.

Home Depot Canada using Twitter as a flyer (posting daily specials) shows me that they do not understand their audience. Maybe that is why they only have 50 followers (probably 10 from the marketing department and 5 from their agency).

If you have an intimate knowledge of your audience, stay within your brands personality (you don't change the brand just because it is in a different medium) and apply this knowledge accurately you will have a good chance at succeeding when you jump into the social media playground.

The Numbers game - My top 8.

A list of the most interesting numbers I have came across lately.

1. $440 Million is the estimated account losses for Element 79 in 2008. How are they still alive.
2. 80% is the inventory sold for 2009 Tampa Superbowl.
3. $3 million is the cost per :30 spot at the game.
4. 5 Billion is the number of videos viewed on Youtube in July (Yes one month).
5. 13 cents - the amount gas jumped by the litre yesterday in Toronto.
6. 21,165 - number of spots Compound W wart remover ran in the US last week making them the 5th largest radio buyer in the country.
7. 14.6% - the conversion rate of Zales.com. I was amazed to see a website selling jewelery have that high of a conversion rate.
8. 55% - the percentage of Americans that knew the Sun is a star in a recent survey.
   

Wanted to do 10 but I need to go get a coffee....

Yammer - what twitter should be.

Yammer, an internal communication tool for companies, won the top prize at TechCrunch50, crowned the winner. The event recognizes startups with merit; the company was given a check for $50,000 to grow its business model.

Yammer's micro-messaging system is essentially Twitter for businesses. Less formal than a corporate intranet, it enables employees to communicate casually in real-time on a public forum. (That is, everyone can see what everyone else is saying.)

Registering on a Yammer network requires a company email. A company network is set up, where co-workers can share status updates, post news and links, ask questions, and provide answers to others in their firm.

Unlike Twitter, which asks users to answer the question "What are you doing?", Yammer asks, "What are you working on?"

Former PayPal executive David Sacks — who produced the movie "Thank You for Smoking" — traced the birth of Yammer to his own company's frustrations. Geni, a startup of 30 employees, was struggling to stay connected.

"We looked for something like an enterprise version of Twitter, and finding nothing like that, we decided to build it ourselves," he told conference attendees. (See video.)

As it turned out, other companies felt the same way. Some 10,000 people and 2,000 organizations signed up for the service the first day it launched, TechCrunch reported.

Reviews so far have been enthusiastic. Some, however, critique the model as just another Twitter knock-off, destined to fare as poorly as predecessors. A Tony Gigov cartoon on Pink-Sheep.com blithely asks, "Why Yammer, when I can Twitter?"

Like Twitter, Yammer enables mobilization of its service through apps for different mediums and spaces: both iPhone and Blackberry are able to support a Yammer app, and an optional desktop extension — which ports Yammer content into an instant messaging format — is Adobe Air. (Another app, twhirl, does the same thing for Twitter.)

But perhaps the biggest difference between Yammer and Twitter is the fact Yammer has a business model.

It's free for employees, but companies must pay to "claim" their network and gain administrative control. Admins can remove messages and users, set password policies, and fix IP ranges for users. The cost is $1 per employee per month after a free three-month trial period.

The TechCrunch50 award includes $50,000 in cash and a landslide of media attention — which typically leads to additional funding. Last year's winner, Mint.com, went on to nab $17 million in venture capital and now claims to be the world's largest personal finance website, writes the LA Times.

Twitter received venture funding of approximately $1-$5 million in July '07. Its market share of visits has grown 500 percent year-over-year since that time.

Paris Hotel & Casino makes you horny

Simple but effective. Ad for Paris Las Vegas.
Found on the Bottom Rung.

The Top 10 Wish List for Agencies of the Future:

Marketers were asked, this is what they said.

1. Greater knowledge of the digital space. With more than a third of marketers surveyed revealing that they are not confident that their current agency is well-positioned to take their brand through the unchartered waters of online digital marketing and interactive advertising, it’s clear that agencies need to have a greater knowledge of the digital space in order to thrive. In fact, nearly half (45 percent) of the respondents have switched agencies (or plan to switch in the next 12 months) for one with greater digital knowledge or have hired an additional digital specialist to handle their interactive campaigns. Further, when it comes to an agency’s area of expertise, 79% of respondents rated “interactive/digital” functions as ‘important/very important.’

2. More use of “pull interactions.” When trying to engage consumers with their brand, 90 percent of respondents agree that it is becoming increasingly important that their agency uses ‘pull interactions’ such as social media and online communities rather than traditional ‘push’ campaigns.

3. Leverage virtual communities. An overwhelming 94 percent of respondents expressed interest in leveraging virtual communities (public and private) to understand more about their target audience.

4. Agency executives using the technology they are recommending. Ninety-two percent of respondents said it was ‘somewhat’ or ‘very’ important that agency employees use the technologies that they are recommending. For example, it is important that agency executives regularly use Facebook, Flickr, wikis, blogs, etc. in their personal social media mix.

5. Chief Digital Officers make agencies more appealing. Forty-three percent of marketers surveyed said that agencies with chief digital officers are more appealing than those without.

6. Web 2.0 and social media savvy. Sixty three percent of marketers surveyed said that an agency’s Web 2.0 and social media capabilities are ‘important/very important’ when it comes to agency selection.

7. Agencies that understand consumer behavior. Seventy-six percent of respondents deemed this as an ‘important/very important’ aspect of their agency’s online digital marketing and interactive advertising area of expertise.

8. Demonstrate strategic thinking. Seventy-seven percent of marketers surveyed ranked strategy/brain trust capabilities at the top of their agency wish list.

9. Branding and creative capabilities. Sixty-seven percent of respondents ranked branding at the top of their agency wish list while seventy-six percent ranked creative capabilities as‘important/very important.’

10. Ability to measure success. It’s no surprise that marketers want an agency that can report on where campaigns succeeded, fell short and where they should be fine-tuned. Sixty-five percent ranked analytics at the top of their agency wish list.

(the above list and commentary was pulled from this press release: Sapient - Survey Reveals Brand Marketers’ Top 10 Wish List for Agencies of the Future).

The only challenge to calling the agency of the future the Digital Marketing agency of today is that we're not seeing enough interactive shops take the lead on points #8 (demonstrate strategic thinking) and #9 (branding and creative capabilities). More often than not, most Digital Marketing shops are adapting current/existing Marketing initiatives and are not taking the (or being given) opportunity to drive the over strategy in regards to the brand, marketing goals, outcomes and marketing optimization. It's happening is some instances, but for the Digital Marketing agency of today to really take full ownership of this list from the future, strategic thinking and becoming the guardian of the brand are essential.

What kind of agency are you working with and would you agree that this list looks strikingly similar to the core competencies of the Digital Marketing agency of today?

Via MarketingVox.

There are facts, then there is eMarketer.

US Fact - In 2007, Digital Marketing accounted for only 7.6%.

US Fact - In 2008, they are anticipating that number to move to 8.7%.

US Fact - Digital Marketing accounts for under 10% of the total media advertising done in the U.S.

Not sure how, but eMarketer is saying that by 2013, Digital Marketing will be at 18.3%.

Will it really take that long some say? That quickly say others? As I have discussed before I actually think a recession could be a big help to digital marketing.

Found on 6 Pixels of seperation via their twitter feed.

The Women - viral video

This is great. It could be one of my favourite viral efforts of late.