So, personally I feel chatroulette is a bit of a wanky phenomenon. However, Peter Kirsch sent me this video today, of a piano player trying to make people smile on chat roulette. The guy is pretty persistent in trying to impress people and make them smile.
Have you heard about flattr.com (@flattr)?
It’s a site currently in closed beta which tries to take on the problem of making money with user generated content. It is only logical that, in a world where old content business models are failing due to people’s behavior of not paying for content, they would also come up with a way to solve the problem of content creators not being paid for their efforts.
This idea is based on the existing behavior of voting (or liking/disliking) content, only that a “like” by flattr users will bring money to those whose content is liked. The amount is based on how much you decide to pay into your flattr account divided by the amount of “likes” you clicked.
Let’s see what happens. Is the social web generation really as stingy as always assumed, or is it just that there hasn’t been an adequate way of doing it in the social web? We will see.
Here’s how Nokia placed its name on the map for navigation devices:
The World’s Biggest Signpost from adghost on Vimeo.
It’s an interactive signpost, and also an act, kind of like an ambient, real-time Qype or Yelp. The Good Things signpost was entertaining and useful for people, while at the same time integrating Nokia’s product (Nokia Maps, Ovi, and the handsets) in an unobtrusive way.
Not only did Pepsi opt out of the silly expensive Superbowl advertising fest to do something with and for people, now Coke got it too: all traditional brand campaign site are to be replaced by social media and pages.
With huge brands like Coke leading the way, more are to follow, and we see this trend slowly but surely appearing in Germany as well. We’ve discussed how this is changing the wild wild web into a homogeneous set of brand experiences, but what is also clear is that digital agencies will have to invest more into the planning practice.
Thanks to Maurice Racz at MRM for the link.
Want to do some Social Marketing for your brand but don’t know anyone who could code a Facebook App for you? IKEA shows you what to do:
All this with onboard Facebook features. Kind of “Ikea” to do it this way, isn’t it? Creativity has the power …
(On a related note: will Facebook, from now on, suggest they found a picture of me every time someone uploads an image with LACK in the background???)
(On another related note: Who said Social Media can only be used for marketing, not for sales?!)
In this interview Neville Brody complains that in the last 25 years, design has lost it’s connection to art and that because of this, designers today aren’t good at human connections anymore.
But it’s not all bleak.
He also goes on to talk about the “always on” era and the need for more real content, performance and engaging narrative, instead of just doing what’s technologically possible. For him the human state is the only thing worth talking about, and as a designer, he sees observation and engagement as the best tools designers have to create drama and performance.
via Kristian Kerkhoff
Not really news to most of us, but don’t y’all love to say “I told you so”: On his recent Ad Age Post Garrick Schmitt goes into the theory that User Experience Professional (and some other smartypants) have been preaching for the last 15 years or so: experiences, not messages are what brands should focus on.
For example, 65% of U.S. consumers report a digital experience changing their perception about a brand (either positively or negatively) and 97% of that group report that the same experience ultimately influenced whether or not they went on to purchase a product from that brand. In a nutshell, experience matters. A lot.
Schmitt mentions Red Bull, Virgin America, Uniqlo and Guinness as great examples of brands that spend their money in creating a qualitative difference in people’s lives that ultimately make a bigger impact than expensive advertising messages.
I can’t help feel like having to say “Duh,” but then again, anyone who so convincingly preaches to marketers is a brother-in-arms to me.
Ultimately, it comes down to creating acts (not ads) that are based on people and their behavior, defining a human purpose for the brand, allows people to participate, and in so doing, makes the brand popular (at Leo, we love alliterations). Being able to plan and create for experiences (functional and emotional ones alike) is the key business to be in.
