Leo Burnett - Cultural Fuel

Download the latest Cultural Fuel Trend Report here

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Download the Cultural Fuel Report March 2011

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Cool stuff being discussed at SXSW in Austin this weekend.  Check out this short video from Mashable showing panelists discussing how people are using social media, specifically Twitter, to interact with TV content.

Panelists included Chloe Sladden of Twitter and Gavin Purcell from Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.  Some television shows have already explicitly included social media mechanics, but many content providers seem to be unprepared for how to structure or approach conversations around their programs.  It seems like their biggest concern is control of the conversation.

Still, none of this should be a surprise.  If you watch Twitter streams during broadcasts, don’t you always see conversations about the content? I know I have to actually ‘unplug’ to avoid spoilers if I’m taping (what a quaint word) a show nowadays.

Via Mashable

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Need a quick fix with some facts about global mobile use?  This slideshow is almost 5 months old and still a great resource.

Enjoy!

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Jay Denhart sent me this video today about a new “sport” called Hockering.

Really?

Check out for yourselves.

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Have you seen already the coolest ads or the latest trends of the past month? … No? Well this is now your chance to do it!

Download the Cultural Fuel October 2010 Issue

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Over on eMarketer there is a post about college student’s web browsing habits, showing the results of the ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology.  The study shows that although teens and younger children tend to rely on feature phones, the college set is increasingly moving into smartphone ownership as a matter of course.

As the trend continues, we will begin seeing mobile browsing start to eclipse desktop computing across more and more segments, and companies should be preparing now for this situation.  When we spoke about our mantra recently, we said that mobile must be a part of brand planning, and it will continue to be more and more vital to consider as plans are finalized for 2011.  The frequency of access show in the following chart should be enough impetus for most brands to realize that the trend is accelerating at an astounding pace.

At the Forrester Consumer Forum on October 28-29, John Kosner from ESPN said that mobile is the #1 screen, personalization is expected and real-time is the new reality for content.  People are learning to rely on access to solutions anytime, anywhere, and Brands that offer those solutions will reap the rewards.

Are you mobile-ready?

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Enjoy this creatively-presented documentary short about who influencers are, and thoughts about why they wield the power that they do.

INFLUENCERS FULL VERSION from R+I creative on Vimeo.

Via JeDblogk

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On Wednesday, Starbucks rolled out their own digital network to over 6,800 stores across the U.S, evolving how we can sit and enjoy the paper and a cup of joe for the third time in their history.

At first they just offered you a place to buy your paper and read it.  Then they offered free wi-fi so you could read your paper online.  But now they have launched a network on their wi-fi - meaning that the first thing you see when you access that network is their new branded page: starbucks.yahoo.com (but don’t try to go there if you’re not in the store - you’ll get an ‘error’:  “So drop by your local store and log on for interesting and important content you can’t find anywhere else. Absolutely free!”)

The content on the network is basically news/weather/entertainment, music and restaurant reviews - keeping everything nicely within brand territory.  And tipping their hat to the increasing pervasiveness of mobile computing, their VP of Digital Ventures, Adam Brotman, stated that whereas some former digital in-store initiatives focused on getting the right screen in the store for the customer to interact with, they see that now the user is “walking in with their own screen” (although some people don’t think they are being as considerate as they appear).

Only a few days into the experiment, I can predict that the network has plenty of advantages for them -

Content - It’s appropriate for the audience (i.e., what they want) and premium-feeling due to how exclusive it feels - even if it’s really not exclusive content (yet - keep an eye on what they do with Apple), but in terms of access it hits the mark.

Brand fit - The portal aligns nicely with their mission to be a destination, an oasis amidst our crazy lives.

Context - They continue to focus on both motivations for visits to their store, and optimizing the in-store experience for people - their biggest competitive advantage, in my opinion.

Plus, if you keep up on the latest in Digital Marketing you know that Location-Based Services are all the rage, and for most marketers the challenge is getting on the right platform, with good content that users will want.  Well - this move by Starbucks puts them in the enviable position of basically owning the channel, rather than worrying about purchasing media on one.  So they get to offer consumers the network and its content at the right time, right place and for all the right reasons.  Very sustainable and smart.

And the above benefits should encourage us to take away a few questions about your brand as well:

1. Which brand experiences should you be evolving next?  Just because you’ve already made an improvement in one area doesn’t mean there isn’t an opportunity to take it to the next level.

2. Shouldn’t all your brand services and engagements let users BYOS (Bring Their Own Screens) as their motto?

3. How and why would you create a new channel that you own, rather than rent on?

4. Why do you suddenly want a cup of coffee?

Via PaidContent (<—- a really excellent article, by the way)

Update: a good video is posted here about the network.

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