FREE HOLIDAY!!!

Now that i have got your attention from the words “FREE” and “HOLIDAY”, i wanted to post this week about a new site/concept that has just launched and that is called Trevolta.  It has no association to John Trevolta, we will not be “go go grease lightning” anywhere, so do not worry.

Basically, Trevolta is crowd-funded travel. Which in basic terms means that you plan a trip and others will pay for you to go on the trip; these people could range from friends, family, some random who you have never met on the internet, or even a company. It is based on the same concept as sites such as KickStarter, where people crowd-fund a certain product/service.

Now this sounds really good, i can just plan a holiday to thailand and people will pay for my flights and i can sit on the beach for 2 weeks. It is not that easy im afraid, they have three “categories” that they think are the most likely to get sponsored:

So more likely than not sitting on a beach in Thailand will be out, but base jumping in every country in the world could get you the funding. The funding that people get will widely depend on the concept that they create, many companies like Kathmandu will more likely sponsor a adventure/hiking holiday. But in my opinion one of the real main companies that would sought this sort of concept would be Red Bull. This seems like the perfect marketing strategy for them; they love sponsoring “extreme” sports, such as the guy jumping from space, and this sort of thing could be a great campaign.

The tasks that people have to complete could also be very interesting. One idea could be to do something similar to what Melbourne Tourism did with the virtual Melbourne tourist experience. Where people have to live stream their whole holiday/adventure following peoples suggestions through twitter and Facebook.

On Trevolta’s Facebook page they suggested an adventure similar to the video below, would more than likely get you some funding.

Not a lot of the details are out yet about Trevolta as it was just launched under a month a go, and at the moment they are still setting up the system and their website.  All you can do is sign up for the private launch, and if  you wanted to sign up just click here (and yes this does mean i get earlier access, but if your already signing up you might as well help me out).

Let me know in the comment section what you think of this new crowd-funded travel? are you going to try use this service?

Augmented reality

Marketers are always looking for new ways to engage consumers with their brand; Augmented Reality (AR) may be a new tool in assisting many of these brands. Augmented reality “is a live, direct or indirect, view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented(or supplemented) by computer-generated sensory input such as sound, video, graphics or GPS data”.  Pretty much this means it extends reality and adds another layer to the real-world.

Television ever since 2002 has seen a reduction of 50% in engagement, while social media has seen an increase of over 800% since the early days of MySpace

AR applications can be used through many forms, some require a QR code looking image and a specially designed application to access, some just require a smart phone or tablet application to work. There are a number of examples of  AR applications for mobile devices, such as the new IKEA application for smartphones and tablets. The application takes the product that you scan from the IKEA catalogue and places it into your living room.

The company that produced this AR application and many others is called Metaio; if you are interested here are my other two favourite applications that they have created: Lego and Audi.

Even print media is using this AR to help a dying industry. Esquire magazine used AR back in March 2012,  the magazine used certain articles and advertisements to have a AR through the use of a computer application. One fact that may have assisted in the use of this application was that they used famous individuals such as Robert Downey Junior.

One thing the above campaigns lacked was a social media aspect, the user should be able to share the image or adventure that they just took with their friends through Facebook, Twitter and any other social media site.

We are just seeing the beginning of this technology and in my opinion I think it is a tool marketers should be jumping on to right now. The uses for this technology is limitless; it can be used for advertising, every day use (Google Glass for example) and many other things.

What do you think of AR? Have you used an application that uses this technology? What product would you like to see use AR?

Sources: Mashable and Wikipedia

Carrie- Viral video sensation

For the upcoming launch of the movie Carrie, a remake of a classic horror film, Sony outfitted a small cafe in New York with cameras and rigged the place with contraptions to scare unknowing civilians. The video was launched on October 7th 2013 (2 days before i posted this) and it has already generated over 8 million views.

Personally i had absolutely no idea what the video was about at all just thought it was a funny prank video and was actually surprised when i saw at the end that it was for a movie. I immediately went to found out what “Carrie” was because i have never heard anything about it before.

The advertising worked on me perfectly. I watched a nearly 2 and half minute video and then went one step further and researched about the movie.  I probably wont see this movie, remakes of horrors are generally never really good but still i went from not knowing what it was to sharing the video on my blog.

What did you think of the video? Is this type of video what is required to get people to learn about a brand/product?

Social media saving television?

Recently I discussed commercials with live tweets and second screen combo, this week brings both those ideas together. Showing how a company has realised the need for second screen engagement, through social media in particular.

FOX Sports recently signed a 6 month deal with Facebook for real time stream data on the TV.  In other words, FOX Sports plans to use live polls through Facebook and real-time conversations to be displayed on the TV along side the broadcasting.

FOX Sports Facebook Page

Below is just an example of what might be possible for TV. Viewers see an amazing touchdown in an NFL game, and immediately a live poll goes up on Facebook where they can vote and it is live streamed on to their TV sets.  They could even have live Facebook posts of what people say about that touchdown.

Jerome Simpson’s touchdown gif.

In my post about “Second screen combo”, i discussed how most people are beginning or have been using at least two screens at once; for example, TV and iPad or TV and iPhone, or any combination you can think of.  FOX Sports have understood the change in how people watch TV and look to take advantage of this; it also may have helped by the fact their main rival ESPN signed a deal with Twitter for live tweets on their sporting events.

In my post about “Commercials with live tweets”, i discussed how Coca-Cola used Live tweets during an advertisement to bring people together for a meal and enhance their brand image and recognition at the same time.

Could we potentially see social media become fully integrated within TV? Is social media the saving grace for TV?

Instagram for dummies

If you can get past my pretty average acting, this video teaches companies about how they could use Instagram as a valuable tool in their social media advertising.

What do you think of the video? What ways do you think companies could use Instagram?

Commercials with live tweets?

Everybody loves seeing their name/tweet/SMS’s on-screen. I remember when I was younger I had my name scrolled across the screen on the Nickelodeon channel at 8am for my birthday with about 100 others kids. I recorded and despite my name only being on the screen for maybe 0.5 seconds I was so excited and proud of myself. But still, for that 0.5 seconds I was famous.

Many people just want to see their name on TV, and this campaign offered people that opportunity.

This campaign offered people to ‘advertise’ their dinner with a friend or family member on TV. This stem from the issue of “6/10 Romanians eating dinner alone in front of the TV”.Some people even used it to invite famous chiefs, actors, sporting stars (wishful thinking in my opinion). But still a great idea by Coca-Cola,  take an issue where consumers would usually use their product and try to get more people involved in that event. If 2 people are having dinner, then more Coke will be drunk, which equals more money for Coca-Cola.

The results of the campaign are astounding:

1. The campaign got picked up by the evening news channels in Romania
2. #LetsEatTogether become a top 10 trending topic on twitter
3. Coca-Cola’s Twitter base increased by 15%
4. Coca-Cola’s association with food grew 15%

Now Coca-Cola have integrated the campaign through Facebook, as shown in the picture below. All you have to do is pick a theme, for example, romantic, BBQ, family dinner; next, invite your friends through Facebook, and then send them the invitation.

If for some reason you feel that the old fashion methods of inviting people to dinner are not working then click here and set it up through the Lets Eat Together application on Facebook.

I personally couldn’t imagine people live tweeting during a Coles commercial saying “OMG the prices are down down on Doritos chips #coles #downdown #gottogetsome” or even seeing that appear at the bottom of the commercial. But for other companies/products it may work.

So what companies/products could you see take advantage of this twitter integration? If your bold enough, give an example of a tweet you could imagine seeing at the bottom of a commercial? Or maybe even a tweet you could never imagine actually appearing at the bottom of a commercial.

Camp Gyno

This video only cost $6,000 to make and the results are outstanding considering the small budget. Starting with the social media results which were nearly 6 million hits on YouTube; this resulted in Naama Bloom (owner of HelloFlo) having to double her employees from 1 to 2 people. She did not just double her employees but had to move her businesses location due to the major increase in demand; moving from her apartment in Brooklyn to a proper office to cope with demand

The video may have caught on, and became a viral success for a number of reasons:

• Starting with the most obvious “Camp Gyno” is a in your face and funny title that makes users stop and take a second look at what they had just seen.
• It covers a fairly embarrassing moment for some young females in a mature, non-invasive and comedic manor.
• The main girl portrays herself as nearly a hero like character, that is saving all the other young females

The ad kept me entertained and watching for the whole time, despite me being of the opposite gender to the clear target market.

This video has nearly 6 million hits on YouTube, considering the video cost $6,000 to make I would label this as a MASSIVE success story

What did you think of the ad?

How far can one tweet travel?

How good would it be if all you had to do was get 4 of your mates to tweet #MKF3881tweetrace and you could get to the lecture for free and not have to pay for petrol? Sadly this isn’t possible but the idea is amazing.  Mercedes-Benz created the tweet race, similar to that concept; in February of 2001, when they created the first ever social media race in the world.

No, the cars were not just driven by tweets, OBVIOUSLY it needed petrol. But the idea was that 4 cars being driven by teams, would be driven from different parts of America and would race to Dallas, Texas using only the power of social media. These four teams had to get a following of people to get them across America, they posted videos and tweeted their whole experience.

How the community followed:

• People could follow them live on a specialised website
• following the contestants tweets
• following the contestants videos

Results:

• 30,000 active participants
• with over 72,000 Facebook Fans
• and 77,000 Twitter Followers who generated over 150,000+ tweets to power the cars
• Nearly 2 million hits on Youtube
• 25 million people reached via twitter

Overall the campaign could be seen as a success.

Lets see how far we can get. Just tweet using the the tweet deck at the bottom of the blog  and also remember to #mkf3881 so more people can help out. Remember 1 tweet= 400m

What other companies could you see use the tweet race? What other products could use it?

Second screen combo

https://twitter.com/vineapp/statuses/369911739782946816

Vine just hit 40 million users a few hours ago. This is a massive growth for the 6-second video app who grew from 13 million users in June of this year.

The world of just watching one screen at a time is over. In today’s world people have their TV on, their iPad on their laps and a iPhone in their hand. People are posting vine videos while watching Dexter, they are tweeting while they watch Breaking Bad; the world has changed and no longer can companies sit by and not command a presence on the second screen.

“More than six out of 10 web users told Wiggin they used a second screen while watching TV.”

I personally have changed from a one screen user to a two screen user, I watch TV shows on my laptop while on Facebook on my phone,  i am constantly multi-tasking between both pieces of technology. This trend in “second screens” is the latest trend that companies such as Channel Seven and Nine have jumped on the wagon and released apps to command a presence on the second screen. These apps such as Fango and Jump-in are to keep the users on the same channel, by the apps working hand-in-hand with the content on TV.

Source: http://mashable.com/2013/08/20/mobile-web-traffic/

The world is changing, and companies need to keep up; companies are realising the change in web usage and are moving to implement advertising on second screens, shown by the graph above which shows the massive growth in mobile web usage in just 1 year.

“Google earned more than half of the $8.8 billion advertisers worldwide spent on mobile internet ads last year”

For example, Facebook upon releasing their mobile app did not have any advertising in the news feed, it was just to get the users hooked onto the product and slowly but surely they are adding advertisements to cash in on the goldmine that is mobile advertising.

What is the best second screen integrated marketing you have seen? What products/ TV shows could benefit most by using a “second screen”?

Source:

• http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Second-Screen-Viewing-Becomes-Common-Activity-UK/1009981#YIYvMz4FhEG5rQLW.99
• http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Google-Takes-Home-Half-of-Worldwide-Mobile-Internet-Ad-Revenues/1009966#UIV9toWZ1Mcx7sHX.99
• http://mashable.com/2013/08/20/mobile-web-traffic/

Smart Bin Advertising

Source: news.com.au

A company called Renew (http://renewlondon.com), based out of London have created what is known as a Smart Bin; a Smart Bin is a street rubbish bin that has electronic displays on the sides.

The Smart Bins were installed just before the London Olympics in 2012 and have been used for general advertising purposes, but recently reports have surfaced that they will be installing a WiFi connector into the bins.  As a result the bins will be able to track and gather a wide range of information and data. For example,  how long it takes to walk from one Smart Bin to the next Smart Bin and your usual walking path.

Source: news.cnet.com

The information gathering does not stop just there, it continues, as the Smart Bins will be able to get the brand of your smartphone through the WiFi connector, as shown in the picture above.  As a result of this gathered information, the Smart Bins will be able to bring up targeted advertising for the person walking past.  This is a valuable piece of information for companies, it may be able to show in what areas certain phones are predominately being used and as a result may lead to a more targeted (geographically) advertising campaign for many companies.

Do you think this is too much of an invasion of privacy? What companies could benefit most from this targeted form of advertising?