Marketing

MindDrive is a pretty cool way to raise awareness for experiential education programs in the US. The MindDrive students built an electric car that converts social media into social fuel, powering a road trip from Kansas City, Mo. to Washington D.C., where they hope to drive change in education. Every time you Watch, like and [...] Related posts: Slush Puppie: Fuel The Underdog Audi A6: Interactive YouTube Driving Experience Honda Insight Hybrid: Virtual Tour Video

Clichs exist for a reason: They usually contain a grain of truth. VC Fred Wilson explains when conventional wisdom is just that--wise.Choosing the road more traveled isn't always a bad idea, according to venture capitalist Fred Wilson.Wilson is the managing partner of two VC firms--Flatiron Partners and Union Square Ventures--and author of the blog AVC. His blog has featured several posts on the subject, highlighting situations in which the conventional wisdom is... well, wise. Here are three instances, compiled from Wilson's "VC Cliché of the Week" blog series, in which following the norm isn't such a bad thing.Cliché:When it comes to raising money, a rifle shot is better than a shotgun approach.Why you should embrace it:Netting VC funding is tough. But you can save yourself--and your investors--from wasting time by thinking carefully about the firms you want to target when fundraising, writes Wilson."There is a tendency to build a short list around brand name firms," he writes. "How many times have I heard, 'We need a top tier West Coast VC in this round'?"While the top tier West Coast firms are often good investors, he explains, their brand reputation doesn't necessarily make them the ideal investors for your business. Wilson suggests building a short list of firms that are already highly likely to be interested in your venture, and concentrating your efforts on those groups--rather than making scattered attempts at the big name firms.Getting it right the first time will make a big difference, he says.Cliché:It's better to beg for forgiveness than ask for permission.Why you should embrace it:"Call it the Napster effect," Wilson writes. "You've got to steal the labels wares, because you're never gonna get a license."According to Wilson, technology is moving fast and savvy entrepreneurs should focus on innovating first and creating a rule book later. In instances when you are pioneering uncharted territory, he advises, the best thing to do is hit the ground running--and make adjustments as you go along. If you can gain enough support from your customers, you can actually influence the way "rule makers" react to your product--just look at share economy companies like Uber and Airbnb, for example."That's why YouTube is going to win bigtime. They've built the audience. They've built the value added services that make their service fun to use. And eventually they are going to get the content owners to play ball," writes Wilson.Cliché:People fear what they don't understand.Why you should embrace it:To illustrate this point, Wilson cites a real-life example from his earlier days as an investor:Once upon a time, we had a very early stage company in our sights. We met the company shortly after it was formed, became users of the service, promoted it to a lot of our friends, and got to know the management team really well.When it came time to consider an investment, we did what all good VCs do: We got on the phone and called 10 people in the industry that we knew really well to get their take on the company's service. We heard pretty much unanimously that they would never use it. We passed on the investment.But it was a huge headfake.According to Wilson, within six months, all of the people that he had called became customers of the company--despite their initial reservations. Wilson suggests that his own proselytizing may have been the very thing that changed their minds."When you get unanimous rejection you are actually hearing fear," he writes. "And fear should be interpreted positively, not negatively. It meant that all of our friends didn't understand the company's service and were afraid of it. Probably because it was highly disruptive."

Remember Dumb Ways to Die, the viral video? Dumb Ways to Die was an instant hit when it hit the Web in November 2012.The viral video has hit well over 46 million views to date. The 3 minute clip features cute, little creatures that die in stupid ways. The campaign, created by McCann  Australia for Metro Trains, was designed to raise safety awareness for public transport users. Now there are even more Dumb Ways to Die, with the release of the Dumb Ways to Die video game for iPhone and iPad. The game, which has been the no.1 free app in Australia for a week, puts the lives of the loveable characters in your hands. The addictive challenges include flicking away a school of hungry piranhas that are chomping at your private parts and carefully removing forks from electric toasters. The game is available on iTunes here: https://itunes.apple.com/app/dumb-ways-to-die/id639930688 The post Metro Dumb Ways to Die | The Mobile Game appeared first on MarketingEasy | Digital trends from around the world. Related posts: Man Seeks Top Advertiser to Sponsor His Marriage Proposal on Big Game 100 other ways find what you want Buyral | How To Create Viral Campaigns

It seems Australian consumers are losing patience with targeted, yet unwanted, marketing and advertising, both online and off. A new government report has found that 1 in 2 consumers received an uninvited telemarketing call in the past six months, and a further 9 in 10 consumers said these telemarketing calls were a problem.Similarly, The Mind & Mood report, conducted earlier this year by Ipsos Australia, found that almost half of Australians didn’t want targeted advertising on social media, saying they find the process “creepy” and “insulting”. Particularly frustrated at the targeted advertising online were women over the age of 40 who said that receiving ‘53 year old mum looks 37’ advertisements, accompanied by ‘dating for seniors’ advertisements, was incredibly offensive.  One respondent said: “I’ve got single on my status and now they advertise all these dating sites on the side. It’s rude”.  Laura Demasi, research director for the Mind & Mood report, told B&T that you’d be hard pressed to find anyone who would say something positive about the practice, yet she isn’t against social media marketing as a whole. Instead, she believes consumers just need to be given the option of participating.  You have the polar opposite with opt-in forms of digital advertising like following Facebook brand pages. Giving people a choice to engage with you is incredibly powerful. They have some sense of ownership, they feel like they’re getting something out of it, and they like you for it. Findings in the report backed this, with many of the respondents indicating they were happy with the organic marketing efforts of brands. They just wanted to have the choice to opt-in to see posts and tweets from brands they like, something Econsultancy has long reported.  [Image credit: Nicolas Raymond]

If you think 740 million video views sounds like a lot, prepare yourself for a shock. According to the latest comScore Video Metrix’s report, YouTube visitors (in combination with other Google properties) watched 13 billion videos in April. Yes, billion with a ‘b’. What’s really fascinating is the rate of the climb. Look at these charts for April and February. In three months, the list, particularly in number of videos viewed is incredible. In February, Facebook had just crossed the half a million mark. Now, they’re almost at 750 million. The difference in the number of unique viewers isn’t as drastic because, let’s face it, we have to be reaching the max pretty soon, right? But as you can see from the last column, it’s not about more people, it’s about more minutes per person. In February, Facebook users watched 19.9 minutes, now they’re up to 25. Google viewers jump from 362 minutes to 401 minutes. That’s over six hours of viewing per person. There’s no way that number is coming down anytime soon. Not with more people posting more videos every minute of every day. Add in all of the streaming TV and movie options, webshows, online news broadcasts. . the internet is bending under the weight of all this video. The good thing for marketers is that a large portion of this content comes with an ad attached. Americans viewed a record 13.3 billion video ads in April, with Google Sites ranking first with 2.4 billion ads. Video ads reached 53 percent of the total U.S. population an average of 82 times during the month. Hulu delivered the highest frequency of video ads to its viewers with an average of 63. Other notable findings from April 2013 include:  84.7 % of the U.S. Internet audience viewed online video.  The duration of the average online content video was 5.6 minutes, while the average online video ad was 0.4 minutes.  Video ads accounted for 25.5 percent of all videos viewed and 2.3 percent of all minutes spent viewing video online. On a related note, YouTube star Felicia Day is creating her own vlogger network. She put out a call to all of the “Geek and Sundry” fans to submit their best YouTube videos and those submissions will then be evaluated by her staff and her followers. The best of the best will get to join the new vlogger channel. The new network is a smart way to keep fresh content on the channel at all times and it’s a sweet tip of the hat to all those fabulous fan creators who don’t have the following Ms. Day has. I think it’s a great idea that will become more popular as the video-sphere continues to grow.

A new campaign for South Australian Tourism Commission promoting the Barossa Valley has been launched featuring a moody 100 second video created by KWP!. The first part of the Be Consumed campaign focusses on the food and wine available in the area. The ad features shots of a man and woman walking through the region, filmed with a muted colour palate and set to Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’s Red Right Hand. The rest of campaign will be launched at the start of next month. The ad, which will air on cinema and TV, was created by the same team behind the Kangaroo Island “Let Yourself Go” campaign of 2012, including director Jeff Darling. The social media element of that campaign was the subject of much controversy after it was revealed several celebrities had been paid to tweet about it. Darling said, “After Kangaroo Island, it was fascinating to revisit the tourism genre, to open up the language and to bring out the soul of another, very different place. The approach was to bring out a sense of vitality, heritage and for me this frontier sense that is borne out of its producers and the experience of spending time there.” Tourism Barossa chairman Chris Pfeiffer said he hoped the ad would be “instrumental” in bringing more visitors to the region. South Australian Tourism Commission has also recently released a series of short films promoting the region through the eyes of local filmmakers. The short films feature a range of themes, primarily focussed on Adelaide, including the Central Markets, Adelaide’s music scene and the city’s growing food van culture. Credits: Creative Director: James Rickard Creative Team: James Rickard, Michael Gagliardi Media Team: Natalie Morely, Lucy McFarlane Account Team: John Baker, Tristan Glover Art: Jodie Kunze Agency Producer Di Willson Client Team: David O’Loughlin, Emma Fletcher, Melissa Librandi Director/DOP: Jeffrey Darling Post Production: Kojo Production Company: Moth Projects Producer: Fiona McConaghy Editor: Adam Wills VFX: Marty Pepper Music: Red Right Hand, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds Sound Engineer: Justin Astbury, Kojo The post Nick Cave provides soundtrack for moody Barossa Valley ad appeared first on mUmBRELLA.

The Hero's Journey

Have America’s teenagers begun losing interest in Facebook? A new report says the answer is in the affirmative, and marketers may want to take note. A freshly published Pew survey indicates that the social network of one billion is becoming too much of a headache for some teens to handle. Why so? Because their moms, dads, grandparents, neighbors, teachers, and extended family are all there on Facebook too. Teens are increasingly turned off to Facebook for this reason. They also complain about their friends’ over-sharing and about too much ‘drama’ on the site. As a result, they are increasingly flocking to other social platforms, such as Twitter.  These are some of the findings of a new Pew Research Center survey of U.S. teens’ social media use. Released Tuesday, the survey finds that teens are sharing more personal information on social media, but are also taking a variety of steps to manage their privacy online. “The stress of needing to manage their reputation on Facebook also contributes to the lack of enthusiasm,” the survey said, noting that 24% of online teens now use Twitter, which is up from 16% in 2011. “Those teens who used sites like Twitter and Instagram reported feeling like they could better express themselves on these platforms, where they felt freed from the social expectations and constraints of Facebook,” Pew reports. “Nevertheless, the site is still where a large amount of socializing takes place, and teens feel they need to stay on Facebook in order to not miss out.” Although Twitter is rapidly gaining steam, Facebook is still the most popular social network among U.S. teens… for now.

The chief creative officer promises a new kind of retail experience.After conquering the worlds of music and fashion, Jennifer Lopez is taking on mobile. The star has partnered with Verizon Wireless to launch a service called Viva Movil that is strictly aimed at Latinos, reports All Things D's Ina Fried. "We do things differently, including how we shop for wireless devices," said Lopez, who will serve as Viva Movil's creative officer, during a press conference held in Las Vegas. The Latino market represents $1.2 trillion in purchasing power and, on its own, would be equivalent to the world's 14th largest country, notes Fried. Whether you agree with its strategic branding or not, Viva Movil promises a different kind of retail experience. The staff is bilingual, there's a play station for kids, and naturally, it will carry a range of Lopez-crafted accessories. Viva Movil's first bricks-and-mortar store will open in June at a "very busy intersection" in New York, said Fried, with 15 more planned for cities like Los Angeles and Miami. But while it have retail outlets, the store will sell goods online. The digital site went live on Wednesday. So far, Viva Movil is selling Verizon's standard shared and non-shared mobile plans, along with a decent lineup of phones that includes the Droid Razr Maxx and Galaxy S III. JLo said the company isn't remiss to to launch its own devices, but for now will stick to selling those in stock. Viva Movil will be more social, however, and feature Facebook integration on its site.

Target recently launched a new digital coupon app called Cartwheel that is supposed to make shopping more social. It begins with a great idea; personalized digital coupons but from there, the wheel gets a little wobbly. Here’s how it works. First, you have to log on to the Cartwheel site and sign-up using your Facebook login.  You must have a Facebook account to use the program and that seems like an unnecessary hurdle. The point is to get more people to shop at Target, right? But if I don’t want to give you access to my Facebook account, then I’m out. Hmmm. . . Once you’re in, you’re presented with a grid of themed, coupon flipcards. If you don’t see what you want, you can use the search box to find coupons on a specific item or browse more than 20 coupon collections such as Baby Essentials, Pet Love, Men’s Must-haves, etc. It’s a lot to take in. Here’s a row dedicated to Memorial Day BBQ’s. When you click a card it flips over. Now you start choosing buttons. The “add” button puts the coupon into your Cartwheel. The “share” button posts the offer to Facebook (sorry Twitter, no go). The “details” button shows the expiration date, rules for redemption and how many others have redeemed this coupon. Right now, all of the offers I could see ranged from 5% to 10% off an item. Not bad, but not stellar, either. You can use each discount up to 4 times unless otherwise noted. What makes this a better deal is that you can combine Cartwheel deals with manufacturer coupons and Target’s Red Card discount as well. That’s what us couponers call double dipping. That’s also how you turn a good deal into a “I got this for free” deal. Target limits the number of coupons you can load per trip. They give you ten slots to start, six a day after that. To unlock more spaces you have to earn badges (*rolls eyes*) by shopping and sharing and following the red brick road. Now it’s time to go redeem your coupons and that’s where it gets a little tricky.  All of your current offers get combined into one bar code. The foolproof way to go is to print the bar code page while you’re still home and on the website. But printing just feels wrong – these are digital coupons after all. If you like to live on the edge, just go to Target and shop. When you hit the checkout, call up the app on your phone. Not the Target app, from what I can see, Cartwheel doesn’t show up on the store app. You have to log-in through Facebook and pull it up on your browser. (Not sure if you can get there from the Facebook mobile app. . . ) Do Target stores have free Wifi? Find Cartwheel, login, find your page, find your bar code, show the bar code to the cashier, wait for her to say, “huh, I’ve never seen this before, let me call my manager,” hand her more coupons wait for her to stop being confused by two sets of coupons, pay for your order and you’re done. Easy! Target could simplify the whole process if they just included the Cartwheel barcode in the Target app. (Feel free to correct me if I’m not getting this right.) As for the forced social sharing in order to get more coupons – that could work. Women have been known to dumpster dive for more inserts, so what’s a little sharing between friends if it means an extra 10% off hot dog buns. Target, I’m giving you a “A” for effort but a “C+” for execution.