LEGO Happy Holidays Campaign Case Study

I spent many hours building LEGO master pieces as a kid and to this day I always smile when I see LEGO. There wasn't any internet, apps, tabs or even pocket money then and that's partly why I like this so much. Build LEGO props, take pictures and submit - simple! It was named, Brickmented Reality. Brilliant. Enjoy the happy holi'play' campaign case study. happyholiplay.lego.com


Related:

• Death Star Canteen (LEGO) - Eddy Izzard
• LEGO Star Wars Theme Song
• CSI Miami in LEGO

Social Media Revolution 4 - Infographic 2012

Erik Qualman has produced his annual statistical infographic video on social media and the web.
Saw a few stats from last year, but I am very glad the Fat Boy Slim sound track has been kept.

Cannot wait for what next year has in stall for the internet:

• 1 Billion “strong” on Facebook – 3rd largest country in the world.
• Over 50% of the world’s population is under 30 years old.
• Each day 20% of Google searches have never been searched before.
• In 10 years, over 40% of the Fortune 500 will no longer exist.
• Social Media is the number 1 activity on the web – yet Twitter, Facebook, Youtube and Google are not welcome in China.
• “What happens in Vegas stays on Facebook, Twitter, Youtube.”
• The Ford Explorer launch on Facebook generated more traffic than a Super Bowl ad.
• 1 in 5 couple meet online.
• 3 in 5 gay couples meet online.
• 1 in 5 divorces are blamed on Facebook.
• Kindergartens are learning on tablets, not chalkboards.
• 69% of parents are “friends’ with their kids on Social Media.
• 92% of children under age 2, have a digital shadow.
• Linked – a new member joins every 2 seconds.
• Social gamers will buy $6 billion in virtual goods in 2013 – moviegoers only 2.5 billion in real goods (scary!).
• YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world.
• Every minute, 72 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube.
• If Wikipedia were a book, it would be 2.25 million pages long.
• 97% of Pinterst fans are woman!
• 53% of people on twitter recommend products in their tweets.
• 90% of consumers trust peer recommendations.
• “Socialnomics" = Word of Mouth on Digital Steroids” – Erik Qualman.
• New Yorkers received tweets about the east coast earthquake 30 seconds before they felt it.
• We will no longer search for products and services… they will find us via social media – 93% of markers use social media for business.
• The ROI of social media is that your business will still exist in 5 years.
• Word of Mouth becomes World of Mouth.
• Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber and Katy Perry have more Twitter followers than the entire populations of countries like, South Africa, Germany, Argentina, Canada and Turkey.
• Babies in Egypt have been names Facebook and Twitter (that's crazy!).

Previous Social Media Revolution videos.

Google Chrome Ad: An Awesome Book

Dallas Clayton & Google Chrome share the tale of An Awesome Book. "The web is what you make it".

Nissan Leaf's Cheap Twitter Taxi

Nissan Leaf ran a free taxi service to demonstrate cheap travel (big turn on). Their electric powered engine is said to be 6 times cheaper than petrol. Passengers tweeted their destination & #6XCheaper.

Google Search, Plus Your World

Google Search, making results and your experience more personal. New developments are:

1. Personal Results, which enable you to find information just for you, such as Google+ photos and posts—both your own and those shared specifically with you, that only you will be able to see on your results page; 
2. Profiles in Search, both in autocomplete and results, which enable you to immediately find people you’re close to or might be interested in following; and, 
3. People and Pages, which help you find people profiles and Google+ pages related to a specific topic or area of interest, and enable you to follow them with just a few clicks. Because behind almost every query is a community. 

 Find screen shots and everything you need to know on the Official Google Blog.

Mobile Year in Review 2011

Is the pen mightier than the sword? Probably not, but the mobile device might be. 2011 wasn't just the year of mobile, it was the year that mobile took over the world, as they say in this video, along with some mind blowing stats. Exciting growth in 2011 and another awesome video following last years.

by MobileFuture

Related Posts:

• YouTube Rewind 2011
• Google Zeitgeist 2011
• Social Media 2011 Statistics
• 2010 in Review

Social Media 2011 Statistics

Similar to Social Media Revolution, an informative infographic video of Social Media activity in 2011.

Facebook:

1. 11% of the world population have an account.
2. There are more Facebook users (±800mil.) than motor vehicles (±750mil.) in the world.
3. 50% of users log-on daily.
4. The average user has 130 friends.
5. The average user spends 700 minutes per month on Facebook.
6. Every 60 seconds: 510 000 posted comments. 293 000 status updates. 136 000 photos uploaded.      
7. Ferrari sold 5329 cars last year, but gained 5 267 367 fans.
8. Facebook accounts for 10% of all mobile data on iPhone's.

Twitter:

1. 225 million users.
2. 150 million tweets per day, which equates to 1736 per second.
3. Highest record of tweets per second is 8900.
4. The average user has 115 followers.
5. Lady Gaga has the most followers on Twitter: 15 864 378 followers.

LinkedIn:

1. 135 million 'users', which is more than 15x the population of New York City.
2. A new member joins LinkedIn every 2 seconds.
3. Age of members: 18-24 = 21% | 25-34 = 36% | 35-54 = 36% | 55+ = 7%
4. Membership includes executives from every company listed on the Fortune 500.

YouTube:

1. 490 million unique visitors.
2. 92 000 000 000 page views per month, leading to 700 000 000 playbacks recorded last year.
3. 35 hours of video is uploaded per minute.
4. "more video is uploaded to YouTube in 60 days than the 3 major US networks created in 60 years."
5.  Justin Bie(what's his name)'s, "Baby" video has had over 659 070 256 views.

Flicker: 3500 pictures uploaded per second.

Google+: already has more than 50 million users.

Instagram: more than 150 million photos have been uploaded.

Foursquare: over 2 million check-ins per week.

Smartphone owners are 2x more active on social media than non smart phone owners,

60 % admit to using their devices while in the bathroom and woman (55%) 

are more active on social media than men (45%).

Airlines Adoption of Social Media (infographic)

Although this information does not take all airlines into account, the data collected is very impressive in favour of Social Media. Some points that stood out for me in this infographic video are as follows:

• 89% of all businesses in 2011 expect to engage in Social Media
• Delta tweets 63.9 times a day
• Delta was the first airline to allow ticket reservations and check-ins via Facebook
• 40% of airlines are actively looking to expand their Social Media teams
• Virgin America receive 96% positive opinion

For a larger view click here.

Given the stress involved around flying and the need for instant gratification, social media serves as the perfect tool for real time communication with passengers. Airlines are dedicating resources to social media in two ways, an Integrated (internal) or Dedicated (hired) model and both are effective, but it is interesting to note that more social media staff does not mean more reach. Airlines who engage and collaborate with their audience through social media are more empowered to efficiently and conveniently monitor and improve their brand reputation. In a world of terrible call centers and long queues, social media is fantastic in allowing brands to respond to mentions immediately and we all know that people like to feel they have been heard.

Meet your customers where they are!

See an example of how KLM responded via social media.

Tweet

Social Media Revolution 2011 by Erik Qualman

Erik Qualman is back again in 2011 for the next installment of the Social Media Revolution videos, based on his book Socialnomics. The song for this video is called Baba Yetu by Christopher Tin and although I like the African sound, I much prefer the Fat Boy Slim tune in his previous videos. Some facts that stood out for me in this video are as follows:

• over 50% of the world population is under 30 years of age.
• this year Facebook topped Google for weekly site traffic.
• 1 in 5 couples meet online | 3 in 5 gay couples meet online.
• 1 in 5 divorces are blamed on Facebook.
• 50% of mobile internet traffic in the U.K is for Facebook.
• eReaders surpassed traditional book sales.
• social gamers buy $6 billion in virtual goods | movie goers only buy $2.5 billion in real goods.
• if Wikipedia was a book, it would have 2.25 million pages & take 125 years to read.
• 90% of consumers trust peer recommendations.

Catch my previous post on the Social Media Revolution 2! (2010)
Also see the first Social Media Revolution infographic video. (2009)

Tweet

Social Code's Success for Southern Comfort SA

Social Code is an innovative digital agency that offers social media, mobile and development services. Southern Comfort, an alcoholic spirit was founded by Martin Wilkes Heron in 1874 and Social Code were assigned the task of introducing Southern Comfort SA to the consumers in the digital space with a fun and rewarding level of interaction. Based on key competitors in social media, the goal was set for Social Code to build a community around the Southern Comfort brand of around 6000 members in 12 months. A strategy was well thought out and the "Time to Lime" competition campaign was born. Social Code developed a fun and interactive app on Facebook that allowed users to add lime wedges to their pictures and then share them.

Southern Comfort SA

Simple and easy to share, over 926 photos are already uploaded onto Facebook every second. The mechanic simply allowed users to have a little bit of fun with the brand as an extension of that existing habit.
Participants who shared pictures were immediately entered into the competition to win weekly prizes. Southern Comfort SA leveraged their offline activity to re-enforce their digital presence, which was vital to the success of online engagement.

The results were impressive to say the least. Justin Hartman, CEO of Social Code said, "The fan page grew to almost 6,400 fans in a record time of just 3 short months and the consistent adoption rate of almost 100 fans per day was impressive in a South African context”. Matt Visser, a digital strategist who also worked on the campaign added, "What we managed to get right with the team at Social Code wasn't inventing a new mechanic or trying to be too clever, but just providing a fun, simple interaction which was essentially just a little extension to the habitual behavior of their relevant target audience. Being a part of an effective campaign is always rewarding, but it's mostly a result of having regular fresh content and the team dedication to respond to every user action, almost immediately, this is something Social Code is definitely getting good at. Real time interaction, it really helped".

See the Southern Comfort SA Facebook Page.
Catch Social Code's post.

Tweet

KLM - Fly2Miami Dance Flight

KLM kicking backsides again using social media and proving that they, 'take their customers seriously'. Reopening their flight from Amsterdam to Miami was done with a bang! The dance floor in the sky, which set a new Guinness World Record came about from two DJ's (Sied Van Riel being one) wanting the flight to be about a week before! In return for acknowledging the request, they promised to fill the plane! KLM heard, responded, picked eager passengers wisely and the, "It all started with a tweet" campaign was born with the #Fly2Miami hashtag. The flight must have been uniquely high and incredible.. if you're a non smoker?

Cheers: viralblog

Tweet

Facebook Serving as the Ultimate Daily Diary

A really nice thought, that looking back at our Facebook profiles in 20 years time will be visually gratifying and a long trip down memory lane. Even looking through profile pictures back to the very first, I for one had a good laugh at how young I looked then (still am). An excellent video by Maxime Luere that has changed the way I will look at uploads and updates. Not just as current news, but a future investment of memories.

Source: FurlongPR

The Social Network Movie - Bloggers Preview

I was recently given the privilege of seeing The Social Network before it's official release in South Africa, thanks to 2oceansvibe and Ster Kinekor. After eventually making it to the cinema (another story) and collecting our wee free popcorn and coke, it started and we were happily seated. Directed by David Fincher and without giving too much away, I will say that I enjoyed the movie. I found it inspiring to see the determination Mark Zuckerburg has and the belief in something without hesitation. I think many entrepreneurs will find wisdom here. I enjoyed seeing his drive before he looses control. "The Facebook" gets bigger than expected and well you will have to go and see it for yourself! Walked away being well entertained, a few laughs and saw a couple of scenes that I never expected to be watching on a big screen any time soon.

Mark Zuckerburg is played by Jesse Eisenberg, his algorithm contributing friend Eduardo Saverin is cast by Andrew Garfield and the evil influence of Justin Timberlake as Napster's Sean Parker. Great job by all and nice to have further insight into what I thought was previously just a rumour. Whether you on Facebook or not, you could take something away from this movie.

Two reviews that I have seen thus far by: David Alves and Jason Adrian

"You don't get 500 million friends without making a few enemies"

View the video trailer here

Tipp-Ex Interactive Video Campaign Going Viral - Hunter Shoots Bear

The interactive videos that I have seen in the last few months have been of a very high standard. Tipp-Ex or shall I say "BIC World Stationary" have released this epic story video that is supper cheesy, but should make you laugh. The ability to get people involved with the brands message or product in a fun way, drives viral behaviour and this campaign is doing exactly that (right now, here). Of course the share buttons are well in your face to share the experience, but I think the action of the viewer is so relevant. It makes you re-type things, like you would when using the product (ok, writing on paper instead). According to Chris Rawlinson, 50 video responses have been made and I recommend you try some of the cool phrases in his post by linking to it here! 

I like how the videos on the second landing page show a views amount image. SHOOT has 750 283 views and DON'T has 750 283 views - exactly the same, I wonder why. At this present time, the welcome video has been watched 685 890 times. So maybe this is a prediction, a fraction below their target amount of views. I am sure they will exceed or reach 100 000 more views soon. I do not want to give anything away, but whatever you choose it directs you to the same place. The video just gets brilliant from there on so play with it when you have some time. RRAAAARRR (man bear runs wild). I chose to type the same headline, "shoots" after a while and was glad that they took care of this finer detail. I reckon next time I use Tipp-Ex (may be ages from now), I will think of these videos. Have fun with it..

Added note: I looked this morning at the YouTube video and less than 24 hours later it now has 1 208 451 views. Massive! On the 7th of September, just 4 days later the video is sitting just shy of 3.5 million views. Considered a viral campaign, great job Tipp-Ex. Also added, I liked the 404 error message if type is unknown and the parental sensory on explicit actions, still entertaining.

Chatroulette: Scary Approach to Brand Awareness (Parental Guidance?)

The hype is starting to build around the release of The Last Exorcism in August 2010 and with a radical approach, this time on Chatroulette. My take on it is simply this. I never knew the movie was coming out until today, this is how I got notified about the movie and this is what got me talking about it. I think they utilised the ability to pull off something shocking, perfectly matching the theme of the movie (kind of matches Chatroulette too). The two kids in the single frame looked too young for the movie, but if you watch the kid (in the blue, not the red), he says "what the f*c*" when surprised.

Imagine we could measure the amount of views and it's conversion rate of who saw the movie. The total number of views for the original video is just under 3000 so it's not massive, but I'm sure the total reach is far more and at what cost? Next to nothing.. enjoy and catch the website/trailer from here (as above)

Source: DigitalBuzzBlog

Un-F**k The Gulf

Oil Spill Charity "F-Bomb-A-Thon" from UnF--kTheGulf.com on Vimeo.

The unfortunate event of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico on 20th April shocked us all. Everyone turned anti BP, yet we all at some point suck their product with our motor vehicles and anything that has an engine. This is a brilliant campaign that is socially aware and community orientated as a good cause. A vulgar taste, but I do not think I would have given it much attention otherwise. A massive attempt to get the gulf cleaned up as soon as possible. Get a $13 t-shirt ("$5 of which benefits gulf wildlife rescue and eco action"), vote for the charity you think the money should go to and share the message.  I tried purchasing a t-shirt and got the, "...does not deliver to that address via Google checkout (Cape Town, SA)" message, but this is me sharing it. Today the @unF--kTheGulf twitter account said they will be looking into shipping to areas outside of the US due to demand. 


Visit the website unf--kthegulf.com
See an infographic timeline of events

Measurable Social Advertising on TwitVid

TwitVid is a video sharing network that REELSEO said have, "mysteriously" launched SocialAds. Adverts below videos that would encourage you to engage with the brand in question. The beautiful thing that caught me the most is that it works on a Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising model. The advertiser gets a very captivating space right under the focal point (the video) on the page. The unique part about it is that the advertiser is paying for a follow, retweet or a "like".

This would mean that even as much as a click to say you "like" the video, will be payed for. This is not actually that bad a thing if you think about it. You stand to gain some exposure or credibility for your video and brand with every cent spent. It will be measurable of course as each engagement is connected to a paid click. Firstly on the home page there will be a "Featured TwitVid" video displayed above the others and will be right under the search bar on twitvid.com. Once this has caught your attention and you click through to see the video, you will be previewed to SocialAds under the video. All of which can broaden a brands exposure; facilitate communication directly to ones targets audience, building reputation and increase awareness of any brand, product or service.

Top Tweet on Twitter's "Promoted" Advertising Model

Promoted tweets was the first big development of twitters revenue stream. Paid messages or tweets that would be promoted to the top of searches was to be the start of twitter's advertising model. Starbucks tested this and the news spread rapidly. Twitter said it would launch tests with partners such as: Red Bull, Sony Pictures, Starbucks and Virgin America. Soon after the launch we saw a Promoted Trending Topic arise with the release of the movie, Toy Story 3. An 11th 'trending topic' on your home page that would link to a search stream and have a tweet appear in the top spot with a 'promoted' badge, just like the 'sponsored links' section on Google. It reached a point where I honestly thought every time we have a promoted form of advertising on twitter, it would make headlines. You would get free PR included in advertising costs. Had a laugh, until today I noticed another on Friday the 9th..


It was another Promoted Trending Topic, Preditors 2010 movie release in the US. This time I found it randomly from twitter. I was intrigued and followed it up. I discovered a new development with twitter, three trending tweets related to the topics host. Promoted advertising on twitter works on a resonance score, where the message needs to be retweeted (RT'ed) or engaged with to remain advertised. Below the top spot, two people got slapped with the 'top tweet' badge. Incentive to promote the brands message! Will the spammers become famous? We can only wait to see until it is fully out of beta. The screen shot below does not quite cut it, but there were two top tweets and the thirds count was 25 retweets (RT)!



I went back to try and take the screen shot again, but it had reverted back. It was late and after about 23h50 all trending topics & tweets were removed from twitter. No more advertising message. To put some prospective on how effective it was for that one day - the video trailer had seen more than 2.6 million views, the website was ridiculously cool and I think it was only a sneak peak for us in South Africa for a while. Please, if you catch any news on twitters promoted advertising and you have a moment - contact me or comment.

Converse Domaination AdWords Campaign

Converse Domaination from Ross Martin on Vimeo.

Converse use AdWords to create an interactive campaign around Google search. The first branding campaign to target "low cost", low competitive keywords that are targeted directly to their audience.  They related to what their audience were searching for and launched relevant campaigns every week. All campaigns pointed to converse.com. Traffic flowed to the home Converse site and so the online consumer community grew. On the Converse website, check out the "play" tab for the fun stuff.



Kudos to Nick Soper for bringing this campaign to my attention.

Jeremiah Owyang Making Your Corporate Website Relevant

Making your Corporate Website Relevant

View more presentations from Jeremiah Owyang.

Jeremiah Owyang is a partner of Customer Strategy at Altimeter Group. "A strategy consulting firm that provides thought leadership, research, and consulting on digital strategies." The content coming from this mans blog is phenomenal. Web-Strategist.com is Jeremiah's place to put his valuable thoughts on strategy and web statistics. This is where he put this epic slide for me/us to see, thanks! Timely and concise RSS feed with mature web developments, social media marketing and matrix diagrams. 

The slide - Takes you through 8 steps to a better, professional and sociably relevant website among a community. Each step is broken down to an: Example, Benefit and Challenge, with relevant examples. Very useful insights if you trying to incorporate social media into your corporate website.

"I strive to deliver insight on disruptive technologies and their impact on how companies communicate with their customers. I’ve been writing this blog since 1996" 

Find Jeremiah Owyang on twitter