5 Different Industries Using Social Media

Hi everyone

I wanted to highlight different ways that different industries are using social media, like Facebook/ Twitter and Foursquare, to change the way business is done.

Read on it's quite fascinating...and clear that every industry should be getting involved. (the following examples are courtesy of Mashable)

1. How Banks are using Social Media: The below example shows how bank tools can become fun and enjoyable.

First National Bank of Omaha (FNBO), an online only bank, encouraged customers to utilize the ease of transferring balances online to maximize the interest they earn on the money in their bank accounts via an innovative social media marketing campaign called the Pay Yourself First Challenge. The campaign helped customers develop a personalized saving plan, and FNBO utilized a number of different social media outlets, including YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, iTunes and blogging to get the word out.

The challenge involved five contestants competing to reach a savings goal. The bank recruited contestants by having them submit videos via YouTube describing their saving goals, and during the competition each contestant blogged about his or her progress. FNBO chose the winner based on a combination of reaching their goal and online votes. The contest helped to create awareness for their brand and showed current and potential customers how they can use FNBO’s online banking tools to become more successful savers.

2. How FMCG is Using Social Media: Using fun and entertainment, and combining mobile with social

Gillette uART - making shaving fun: A great example of social media use for the FMCG market via P&G is this campaign. Gillette came up with this cool iPhone app called uART that allows you to put a beard on a friend's picture, and then using your finger as a razor, shave it off. You can save and share the look via social media for fun with your friends.

Old Spice is a great example of a 'boring' brand that has just made one of the most popular viral campaigns in recent history — in which the Old Spice Guy made personalized videos for fans, randoms and prominent bloggers alike — has taken over the social media realm. Brilliant.

3. How Take Away Food & Beverage are using Social Media: You can now start to link your social media with great ideas for product promotion. Just make it fun.

Food & Beverage brands are also starting to find creative ways to tie offline brand experiences with online social media promotion. With the Keep It Coolatta sweepstakes, fans of the brand on Facebook (there’s over 800,000 of them) can post a photo of themselves with any Coolatta beverage to the Fan Page wall, add the caption #CoolattaGiveaway, and subsequently update their profile with the pic, and they’ll be entered to win a daily giveaway through June 24.

Dunkin’ Donuts will randomly select winners, award the prizes, and update their official profile with the winning image.

4. How Airlines Are Using Social Media: For travel, take advantage of real time and travel sharing habits of customers

MySkyStatus is a fine website-app that sends altitude, location, departure and arrival updates to your FB or Twitter account from the different flights you choose (in any airline). Ideal for those people who have to pick other people up at airports. It's travel made social and it's easy to set up.

JetBlue and United Airlines, two major airline carriers in the US, have started using the service to offer discounted seats on flights that weren't filled. These types of discounts have been available from airlines for a while, starting with emails in the 90s, but Twitter fills this particular need perfectly. See JetBlue Cheeps

5. How Telcos Are Using Social Media: Never forget to make an idea that's fun and fascinating, and engage using a cool Facebook connect application that relates to social service

Experience your social360 Reading With madame Tres Sesti and you can analyze your social Karma health, love and life and you’ll fall in-love with Mr Tweet, the sleepy social bird. Not only does this digital Psychic look into your Facebook, but she happily interrogates your Twitter life too. Smart Cute and exceptionally sticky, I found myself wanting to learn more from Madam Tres Sesti!

Cheers, Rob

The Paradox of Social Media Marketing

Hi everyone

We've all been involved in so many social media campaigns with clients lately, that it's good for all of us to step back for a moment and consider what we've learned.

Social media is not something brands or companies own. Yes it is media. But it was created by people, for people. That is the paradox many brands face.

An important point re-enforced here. " Social Media is not an advertising platform that was created by a brand or publisher. It's somewhat humorous to realize that by all aspects, Social Media was forced on to brands. Brands never wanted transparency.

Brands never wanted consumers publishing their perspectives about them to the world. Brands wanted to control the messaging and conversation from the top down and back up again."

There are some really important fundamentals here for all of us, because applying broadcast thinking to a social media conversation is not a recipe for success. In our experience of doing these campaigns with clients across Asia in the last 12 months, the main obstacles when thinking about social media planning are:

1. It's All About You: It isn't. It's about engaging with people with something interesting for the to engage with. Developing a social media campaign just to focus on your product and benefits alone - like make me a video on what is your favorite flavor - isn't really that engaging. But then create your own ad on YouTube about what you think our next flavor should be, is fun. There's a big difference.

2. Having a Fan Page is a Strategy: Read this. Many companies still want to build all their strategies just around just including Facebook or Twitter into the mix. Like linking with these platforms is enough to drive interest or engagement. Fact is you may not need a Facebook page or Twitter account to do social media, maybe it's another channel. Or it may be just the beginning, but you need to understand how will it engage with users, how you will maintain and drive traffic. And how it fits in with all your other marketing. Just saying we link with FB, Twitter, whatever, ain't cool any more. If it ever was.

3. All Social Media channels are pretty much the same: Think about this, Facebook is a community of friends. Twitter is a community of now. Foursquare is a community of place. Flickr is a community of images. I could go on...but you get the idea. Every social media channel has it's place, here's a starting point..

4. It's still all about reach & frequency: I still have clients request that we deliver only on reach and frequency even though we are using social media for other purposes. Look I understand, we are trying to reach as many as possible, but we need to get beyond just traditional mass media measures, and it gets back to campaign objectives. These campaigns provide an opportunity to listen, engage, and participate - yes hopefully widely. No one yet has all the answers on measurement, but looking beyond broadcast measures, like these, is a good place to start.

5. Social Media can stand alone: Digital can stand alone, many industries like banking and automotive are moving towards this. But generally, for social media campaigns, we need help letting people know where we are and what we're doing. Actually much of the success in campaigns we've had has not just been from other digital channels, but from ATL driving people to social media. Don't build and expect people to come, spend plenty of time thinking how to drive traffic.

As this recent article notes, "Social media -- what is it good for? Relationships, customer service, brand and image building, lead development, demonstrations of expertise and amplification of other channels. What is it not good for? Standing alone."

Cheers, Rob

Digital Lessons from The Cyber Lions

Hi everyone

Well Cannes is wrapped up for another year, and Leo Burnett doing did particularly well in Digital/Integrated campaigns, especially in Asia!

Beyond self promotion though it's worth checking out the winners and what we can learn about what's going on globally in digital.

I've looked at 3 key developments that have made digital @ Cannes different this year:

1. Digital Comes to Life: The thing that was most noticeable for me was that most digital campaigns were really made real, and brought to life, in offline environments where people could experience them. One big winner was Nike Livestrong Chalkbot - which invited people to create messages of hope to be chalked by a robot-like device on the 2009 Tour de France roadway. People sent roughly 36,000 such messages via SMS, Twitter, Web banners, and a website at WearYellow.com.

Another winner was Volkswagen Fun Theory added interactive sound effects to physical environments to encourage healthier behaviors. The most famous, "The Piano Staircase," was turned into a video that's been viewed more than 12 million times.

There are plenty more examples championing this 'physical approach', two favourites of mine being Canon Photochains and our very own Heineken Stadium of Dreams, for their real world integration in photo exhibtions and a real Heineken Stadium of Dreams*, to truly engage people.

2. Digital in Real Time: Another big development was the real time nature of campaigns now, in line with the always on nature of our consumer (mobile,social media) and the expectation of instant answers to meet real needs.

One campaign I talked about before was the celebration last year of the first lunar landing in "We Choose the Moon" created for the JFK Presidential Library, recreated the Apollo moon mission exactly 40 years after it happened. Over four days, more than 100 hours of audio transmissions were streamed to WeChoosetheMoon.org and to a Twitter account that grew to 30,000 followers.

Another campaign I loved, in real time, was Nokia's World's Biggest Signpost. This is a nice installation from Nokia in the shape of arrow was lifted 50 metres above London by a crane. People on the street could send text messages directly to the live sign with their favorite places to visit, and the arrow would move to point to that location, and also provide the distance!The installation was streamed live to Nokia.com, where all the locations were synced with Nokias good things map. A great way to promote their geo-localization for mobile Maps.

Finally Leo Burnett got in the act with David on Demand at Cannes. A bit of fun at a website http://davidondemand.com/ that allowed anyone to Tweet David about what you wanted him to do at Cannes, in real time. Scary results I can imagine!

3. Beyond Social Media Integration: As I read recently, everyone now has Facebook or Twitter or Foursquare connected to their campaigns, "so what"? The question is how we can make our social media campaigns into a useful and engaging utility or experience, not just a campaign add on to make us all sound 'cool'.

Best Buy has done a great job with Twelpforce where they mobilized a small army of experts who give tech advice in tweet form based on the immediate needs of Twitter users.

I also loved the Facebook Showroom campaign from Ikea. What a great way to use a popular social media feature to give people a chnce to engage with products and brand in a fun way.

*P.S. Our Heineken Stadium of Dreams was short-listed as a finalist, but missed out on a prize. We'll keep trying but great effort team we should be proud!

Cheers, Rob

A Positive Network for Thailand

Hi everyone

Following on from last week's post, a great local example of using digital and integrated communication for good, with the below information from this article.

Last week saw the launch of the Positive Network, from major communications agencies in Thailand. It's a social campaign designed to reflect the voice of Thais from all classes and social groups in a systematic and sustainable manner.

Through workshops, many talks in all areas throughout Thailand, and in various online forums, the activities are designed to promote awareness and understanding of the country's real issues such as politics and society, and to become another source in gathering the voice of people to push the government to work in line with the real needs and wants of the public.

Chaipranin Visudhipol, chairman of TBWA\Thai, said the communications agencies chose to launch this campaign because they wanted to see Thailand become a better country. "We want to become an important mechanism in reflecting the voices of Thais and become a gauge in measuring their temperature, and reflecting their power in managing the country," he said.

Chaipranin added that public polls would be conducted by the end of this year in cooperation with all leading poll agencies to reflect the voice of people in issues related to their livelihood, the economy as well as society and the country's politics.

Bhanu Inkawat, creative director of Greyhound and former MD of Leo Burnett Thailand, said Thais should become active citizens and understand their roles, duty and their own power. He explained that every person's action had a big impact in society.

"As professionals in the communications sector, we have joined up to encourage Thais in all groups to hold more talks, listen to each other and understand their role in using their personal power to make our country better," he said.

Sounds like a great idea to me. Find out more and get involved via these sources below:

Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/PositiveNetwork?v=wall

Twitter:

http://twitter.com/IgniteThailand

You Tube Video at Launch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SM_AlRqyTdM&feature=youtu.be&a

Cheers everyone

Digital For Good

Hi everyone

After a bit of a break we're back.

Given the troubled times in Thailand here of late, perhaps it's a time for some good news digital stories.

The great thing is brands are starting to create lots of these online. During the recent recession, many brands turned to CSR to help build brand metrics, and digital was ideally placed.

Seizing the power of tools like social networking, engaging web sites, streaming tools and mobile platforms has enables companies to create major programs to help with humanitarian efforts, environmental concerns and community engagement programs.

What I've done today is listed the 3 main criteria when establishing these programs for brands to consider, along with some wonderful examples of what is possible.

1. Identify Right Issues for Community & Brand:

• The key is of course to choose a cause that means something to people, and people feel that they can take a part in and actually make a difference. It's not always easy, but a great example of this was done by Leo Burnett in Australia for Earth Hour. Get behind saving the world and the environment by switching off your lights for 1 hour. Here is the latest 2010 campaign
• The issue must also be right fit for the brand. But this does not mean the campaign should be about sales, in fact linking these campaigns to sales is in many ways against the point. The idea is to align the brand with real change and get people involved in understanding your brand values, not sales values. The campaign by Tide called Loads of Hope, is a wonderful example of a brand getting involved in the right movement for them.

2. Create an Engaging Movement:

• The next step is to create a campaign where people can engage with you across all the digital touch points - both in a emotional (understand the need) and practical (how do I contribute) way. One of the keys to getting the story out has been the use of social media to drive both awareness and engagement with the idea. A great example of this is the Target Bullseye Campaign, where people could vote on Facebook for a cause they wanted and Target would donate.
• Another way of engaging is for a brand to build an always on digital platform devoted specifically to the cause, and to use all channels to drive awareness and participation. Pepsi has done this with the Pepsi Refresh Campaign, as a way of driving community engagement in ideas that matter to their customers. Check out Refresh Everything 2010

3. Make it Real

• The key to these movements is their action or effect is often not just confined to online. people want to see their action have effect in the real world. That is the point after all. Most of the campaigns run by brands make a big effort to link the online participation with offline effects.
• A great example is the The Dulux Let's Colour Campaign. It takes the idea of revitalizing community through online suggestions, they actually goes and makes it happen. Real change in the real world. After all, isn't that what it's all about?

Cheers, Rob

How Digital is Changing Automotive Marketing

Hi everyone

Jim Farley, Global Group VP of Ford Motor Co, gave a great talk last week on automotive marketing.

Watch a brief highlight here. It will only take 3 minutes.

What Jim says, and also in this article, is important not only for automotive but for most other industries.

To sum up Jim's key points, and the impact that digital is having on marketing overall, are these three key points:

1. Campaign Timing Changes: Instead of focusing all elements at launch, digital and always-on platforms allow marketers 'flatten out' the campaign curve both before and after launch. Much more can be used on digital to get customers interested in the story and experience, and thus on the shopping list. And much can be spent afterwards to maintain the dialogue in a believable and customer-centric way.

2. Media Usage Changes: It follows then that media spend, combining traditional and online, is more spread out with much more spent on engaging the user with an experience. As Jim says about media spend, "we have to allocate resources differently because difference resources (social and digital) change the content and the dialogue after launch. It's much more manageable (than a big bang all at once), and it impacts how we build the product."

3. Creative Changes: Listen to Jim again: 'We're about the person, not the web site or channel. I'm not interested in advertising on a little box because it's what's in the box is important. We want to blow up the box..and change the way we interact with the customer, and we want it to be around experience."

"That's what digital has taught us: how to earn credibility among consumers". At that's what companies like Ford are doing with branded utility, with communities, and campaigns like Ford Fiesta Movement.

Here are 4 other automotive campaigns from other motor companies leading the way with this philosophy:

- VW The People's Reviewer

- Polo Get Behind The Wheel

- Mini Road Service iPhone App

- Fiat Eco Drive

Any more to share?

Cheers, Rob

What's Driving Facebook Growth in Thailand/Asia?

Hi everyone

Great to read in this newspaper article recently that Thailand is embracing social networking - Facebook & Twitter - as much or more than anywhere in the world.

But as Jon Russell points out in this great blog, the actual impact is different from what the news article suggests.

It's the growth potential that counts. Thailand has one of the fastest growing FB markets in the world, and Twitter could have up to a million users. But we don't yet match the strength in numbers found elsewhere in Asia like Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.

All across Asia we're on the edge of the next big wave in social networking that's taking customers, and marketers, by storm. And there is plenty of potential growth yet in Thailand, and elsewhere in Asia.

Why? Umm...well you wouldn't really know by reading the Nation article. But the 'why' is crucial for marketers to understand how we can use this tool in our marketing, or how we shouldn't, and the future of this type of communication.

I've listed of few potential reasons I see below, but would be interested in your thoughts as well:

1) Social Networking Re-enforces a Cultural Norm: You don't have to be Einstein to realise that many Asian cultures - grounded in close-knit nuclear families with networks of friends/neighbours originating from agrarian roots of community & sharing - would naturally embrace social networks.

In fact the early adoption of social media through Friendster and Hi5 were already some of the highest in the world, Couple this with the fact that online sites offer more entertainment to poorer kids in remote areas, such as highlighted in this NYT article about youth in China, and we can see the vast potential for social networks in the region.

2) Localization Means Deeper Engagement: Another 'glocal' lesson is that until FB offered Thai language content , its growth was stifled by local players. But with more localised content, especially new applications and gaming, this switch to local languages meant FB really started to take hold.

In the bigger picture the message for marketers is important, as this excellent NYT article highlights. Social networks and other digital tools give us the power to localize, personalize and deepen our engagement in different cultures now more than ever before.

3) Gaming & Entertainment are the Key: As I've pointed out a few times before, Thailand has a massive online gaming culture with youth (research shows kids spend more time gaming online than any other Asian country) and FB has been able to tap into that with an array of popular games such as Farmville really taking hold here. As a marketer using FB Connect or other services, creating and fun & sharable experience in line with this behaviour makes a lot of sense.

4) Mobility is the Driver: As Jon Russell again points out in this blog, the future for social is clearly mobile. "Mobile is an even more significant platform for Asia, a region where mobile is the primary internet access point for many. It is estimated that Thailand’s 12 million mobile internet users will grow to 18 million this year overtaking the 16 million in the country with ‘fixed’ internet access.

Smartphones sales continue to rise in Thailand with IDC estimating 2 million will be sold in 2010, an increase of 500,000 on 2009, you can bet most of these new smartphone owners will be logging into Facebook from their mobile."

Something to watch out for is mobile social applications, such as Foursquare. This service allows you to not only connect with friends where they actually are at any given time, but combines this with gaming and point systems to reward the user. The marketing benefits in Thailand are clear, as highlighted in this local article, so get familiar with this now!

Cheers, Rob

How the Digitization of Thai Media Changes Marketing

Hi everyone

Fascinating to read about the changes going on in the Thai newsroom here and the modern challenges for Thai journalists here.

Of course this just the way journalists are changeing , how about the change in the content itself?

In this great article, called The Pleasure Principle, it described how news media had to re-consider what their readers wanted, rather than what editors thought they needed. It has lead to a revolution in content with the growth of blogs, most viewed lists and consumer driven content now available in most Thai online news sites.

This content is now delivered news via Email/SMS/WAP, and Thai newspapers are now considering how the launch of the iPad will change newspapers and publishing forever.

Interesting times indeed!

But how are these changes impacting marketers? Here's my take on 4 ways these changes will impact Thai marketers...

1. PR @ the Speed of Buzz: The nature of journalism now means they are always connected, to social media, to global new sources, and the story is always evolving. PR is having to adapt to this new media to make sure it delivers the right news, in all these media and formats, in paid and unpaid media. Thai PR agencies are already undergoing a revolution, as detailed here

2. New Media Formats mean New Ad Formats: Online ads are having to adapt to online sites with more rich media and interaction, WAP sites with very simple executions, and are now having to adapt to the new ad formats for the iPad. The ability to really have fun and engage with content on a touch-screen could be the boost online advertising needs, as described in these 3 ways the iPad will change publications forever.

3. Forget interruption, Try Utility: Even then online advertising is quickly being overtaken in news environments by providing users with widgets and tools, like providing an iPhone app or a game via a newspaper, to help users and get the brand message delivered that way rather than trying to just sell a message.

4. Plan for Location Marketing: iPad and mobile devices will start to dominate newspapers and magazines moving forward. Given their mobility, great Geo-Location Marketing will start to see ads and services being targeted exactly where people are and that will transform the ad industry. Are you ready for that?

Cheers, Rob

Asian Digital Campaigns Making Waves

Hi everyone

Last week we met with the Contagious team here in Asia and the topic was, how is Asian Digital Marketing Different?

How are diverse places like Japan, China, Asia or Malaysia creating their own voice and starting to win a bigger share of global work and recognition.

And can we say ‘Asia’ has a style at all?

Japan and Korea have their own way, very technology driven and not afraid to be unusual in terms of content. Australian work is very realistic, direct and gritty. Chinese is simpler and more engaging on an emotional level, while work from places like Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand tends to be a bit lighter, well-crafted and integrated fully with a still dominant mass media.

Below I have listed my favorite Asian digital campaigns for the last 6 months.

What is clear from these examples, and discussions with my Asian colleagues, is that this Asian work is breaking away and creating a voice of its own. That voice is one that embraces the old and new in popular culture, is not afraid to show positive emotion and a brighter side of life, sees heroes in its own culture rather than elsewhere now, and embraces social sharability as a natural extension of group culture & is therefore is an important core of new digital campaigns.

Okay here are my favorite campaigns, feel free to share your own:

Some you may know already:

1. Sagami Origianl - Love Distance: (Condoms - Japan) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwSvV78yDB8&feature=related

2. Best Job in the World (Tourism - Australia) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SI-rsong4xs

3. Uniqlo Tokyo Fashion Map (Clothes Retail – Japan) http://www.uniqlo.com/uniqlo1000/

4. Nike ID Generator (Footwear – Japan) http://www.wonderactive.jp/award/2009/nike/nikeiD_generator/

And some you may have not seen before:

1. Nike Trackball: (Footwear – Singapore) http://www.vimeo.com/7046594

2. Visit the Other Britain (Tourism – Singapore) http://www.vimeo.com/7656988

3. Take the Wheel - Nissan (Auto – Australia) http://www.awardlook.com/nissan/370z/takethewheel/

4. One Day – Vodafone (Telecommunications – Australia) http://awardsubmissions.com.au/makethemostofnow/award_interactive.html

5. Hug a Day – Lipton (Tea – China) http://www.littlehairycrabs.com/awards_2010/lipton_milktea/

6. FogBar TV - Shiseido (Deodorant – Japan) http://birdman.ne.jp/awards/fogbar/index_en.html

Cheers

Thais now embracing online shopping

Hi everyone

Fantastic to see this recent bit of research from MasterCard showing Asians, and Thais especially, really changing their attitudes to online shopping.

“India, Thailand and New Zealand are leading the curve with more than 90% of the online shoppers feeling satisfied. Secure payment facilities, convenient payment methods and price and value of the items are the top three most important factors influencing respondents’ online shopping experience.”

This is a far cry from what some marketing perceptions are out there. It used to be common to hear, even 12 months ago, that 'Thais don’t like to shop online'. The concern was primarily about safety - for example the fear of using credit cards online – but it was also because many brands rarely provided a customer solution that was simple or convenient enough, outside the usual purchases of airline tickets/cosmetics and online music.

All that has changed dramatically in the last 12-18 months. Here are some reasons why:

1. Feeling Safer & Try Something New: The fear has gone away. For one reason most brands, and card companies, have added the extra security measures (such as Verified by Visa System) that gives more comfort to users. Another reason is that as people become familiar with taking control of online purchasing in more traditional areas of air tickets and cosmetics, they feel comfortable moving beyond just the usual to try new product areas.

The research notes: “As online shoppers become more savvy and are increasingly satisfied with their online shopping experience, they are purchasing beyond lifestyle items such as airline tickets, online games and music downloads and have evolved to buying basic necessities including home appliances and groceries.”

Interesting to see local online purchasing in areas such as online shopping for groceries increasing from 20% to 27% of respondents. And interesting to see grocery store Big C in Thailand embracing this, albeit in a small way.

2. More Convenience & Ease of Use: Undoubtedly the big change has also been with the brands recognizing they need to provide a better site experience. And they research backs this up, noting that “more online shoppers in general agreed that it is more convenient and easier to shop online as compared to last year…78% of respondents stated that it is convenient to shop online in 2009 versus 50% in 2008”.

This change really has been driven by a Web 2.0 mentality that Thai brands have embraced, asking how they can make online purchasing better, simpler and faster for users – not just for the companies ? The result means that it’s much, much simpler (and more enjoyable) than ever to buy an air ticket ( http://www.thaiairways.com/ ), pay a bill (http://www.scb.co.th/) or even order a pizza!! ( http://www.pizza.co.th/ ).

3. More Value: The increasing attractiveness of purchasing online is the ability to reward the online user with a better experience, and even better rewards. The next phase of growth will see brand areas such as fashion, FMCG, food & beverage and home appliances/furnishings where people have the tools that make browsing and choosing a better experience than in the store.

This is backed by the research showing that "the incidence of people browsing and then purchasing online has risen especially in China, Thailand & India." A better online browsing experience – seeing the range of clothes or furniture or even everyday household products from the convenience of your laptop or mobile – is leading to better sales.

Driving this further this year will be 2 trends – mobile and social media. Already we can see from overseas experience things like sales focused WAPS and mobile retail applications, as well as the increasing trends of sales sites from within Facebook, will catch on here. Sooner that you think!

Now more than ever, is the time to start planning your online sales strategy.

Cheers

Always-On Digital Platforms

Hi everyone

It has been incredible to see the changes in digital marketing in Asia over the last 12 months.

Increasingly, our brands and customers are moving from mainly campaign oriented short-term solutions, to include more long-term programs focused on maintaining an digital platform with customers.

This change is of course driven by the always-on nature of many of people today. The growth in use of social media, micro-blogging, mobile and gaming - along with numerous other digital media - has provided brands an opportunity to extend the connection with people beyond a campaign site and short burst of paid media.

The question now is this - beyond our main web offering, how can our brands sustain and build a presence online?

I read a great article on this by Garrick Schmitt on this last week in Ad Age, and rather than selectively quote I’ll add the link at the end of this blog so you can read his whole story. In it there are many great examples of digital platforms based on community action, crowd sourcing, e-commerce, brand experience and CRM. Covering brands such as Pepsi, Best Buy, Starbucks, Legos, P&G, Lufthansa, Nike… the list goes on.

What I think is important to understand is that the same marketing approach applies as much to Thailand and Asia as anywhere else now.

12 months ago I used to have to convince clients to invest in digital, now digital is part of nearly every brief and our clients are the ones who are identifying the real need. This has been driven in a large part by the digital trend amongst Thais of all ages taking hold. The growth in use of smart phones (iPhone, Blackberry), social media (Facebook, Twitter), gaming, blogs and instant messaging, and the general rising trend of using the web in every way (for work and play) for all ages and demographics, has driven the need to transform the marketing approach here.

I would see this change as one moving from more passive involvement to active, continuous participation online. I call it the ‘participation economy’. Thais are no longer content to stand on the sidelines and just passively watch what is going on. They are jumping in and doing things for themselves, sharing their voice, and being active participants online.

One reason is the rise of sites like Facebook where only by participating in conversations and sharing photos, blogs & videos can you really take advantage and enhance your social connections.

It is literally participate or die. And these digital platforms allow this sort of ongoing platforms that will start to dominate digital thinking moving forward.

The article is : Super Bowl Shuffle: Why Marketers Will Shift to 'Platforms'. Enjoy.

Cheers, Rob

Microsites vs Facebook

Hi everyone

It was interesting to read this article recently about how Lynx Twist launched on Lynx’s fanpage and X-Box live, rather than via the regular homepage/microsite approach.

Why? Listen to the Brand Manager, Katie Harrison. “The brand is moving towards creating a more consistent engagement with Lynx consumers in territories where we know they already exist. The brand has no current plans to build additional microsites for forthcoming campaigns”

Interesting, and as Robin Grant re-quotes in the Death of the Microsite “Clients want more of an emphasis on igniting conversation and less on the rich, textured sites that have typically accompanied their campaigns. The goal, as EVB CEO Daniel Stein put it, is to “stop building $1 million microsites that attract [only] 10,000 visitors.”

So what now? What are the benefits of each, and when to use them?

Facebook has some advantages because:

• Fish where the fish are: If your target market is spending large amounts of time on social networks, they are already there. You don’t have to spend huge amounts of money trying to drive them to a new, possibly remote, destination. No FB is an island, as they say.
• Cost & User Effective: Actually a well constructed FB page is not cheap but often less expensive then a media rich microsite, and potentially not as cumbersome in terms of downloads/speeds for the user.
• Full of Cool Stuff: As per this Coke FB site, the key is to make it full of unique content, interesting applications, and reasons for really being a fan. To me this is absolutely crucial, and leads to my next point
• It’s Social: People here are already sharing photos, videos and comments here. So a great FB page gives you the useful/entertainment value to share as a natural part of your FB behavior.

Microsites ain’t dead yet though because…

• Customer Fit: Not every customer segment is a heavy social media user (although it is starting to be popular among most age groups). A good microsite, well promoted, overcomes this problem.
• The Wrong Market: There are markets here in Asia where you can’t even access FB (China) or it’s becoming harder, like Vietnam. For regional campaigns this can be a real issue.
• Often Experience Matters: Sometimes for a major launch of a product or game or interactive experience, you want the rich media and production values a microsite can provide.

Something to think about for your next campaign.

Cheers, Rob

Ten Predictions for Digital Thailand 2010

Hi there

It’s a good time now to look forward to how digital marketing will affect us in 2010, and what we should be planning for.

While there are all sorts of predictions coming out – my favourites being this US article from Millward Brown and this slide presentation from an Australian agency – I wanted to look specifically at Thailand and what we can expect in the digital marketing sphere in 2010. Here are my predictions:

1. Web Sites Go Visual: Web sites become a far more visual and engaging experience as rich media elements such as video (TV, viral, demos and interactive applications (transacting, shopping lists, games, maps,etc.) start to take over from static content and text. The Web objectives for Thai sites will become far more and about measuring interaction and less on page visits, because this is a market where simplicity and ease of use & enjoyment are so important.

2. Mobile Apps Beat Mobile Web, But… : For many companies in Thailand, beyond industries like banks and media, a mobile WAP is not yet an option in terms of the user experience. The change in app developments of late means mobile apps are easier to do, produce a better user experience and can be highly focused. But as connections get better (let’s not talk about 3G delays!) the WAP will start to rise as an option to hit the masses. Also watch out for the new Google Nexus (hopefully by end of the year) smart phone and its applications.

3. Gaming Continues to Rise: More and more companies will see gaming and gaming type applications as more than fun but educational, informative, and a better way to engage a wide range of customer audiences. Thai’s are the biggest gamers in Asia (18-29), so stay tuned for more Web site based games, Facebook games, mobile games, offline games, from some unexpected companies, and some older audiences too. Especially look out for more integration with social media platforms.

4. Online Advertising Will Limp Along : I know I know, many people say that now with Mobile Web we have so many more online display ad options but you know what, I just can’t see it. Clicks continue to fall in Thailand (and everywhere else) and the number of other digital marketing options continue to rise. Yes we can do so much more with engagement in online ads. Yes search advertising will retain a vital role. And yes video ads hold a lot of promise. But the interruption model of most online advertising campaigns needs a serious revamp.

5. Location Matters for Social Media: With social media being used far more on mobile, and with geo-location starting to become a feature of mobile, expect to see more Facebook and Twitter campaigns based around where you are right now. It especially makes sense for young Thais who are out and about. I think something like Four Square here by the end of the year.

6. Social Becomes Mainstream Marketing: It’s already starting to happen with most clients, the use of social media and integrating it with the rest of a marketing campaign. Not just a Facebook page, but integrating this with the advertising, PR, promotions events and web will be standard very soon. The explosion of FB and Twitter in Thailand, and across Asia, makes this a must.

7. Search Becomes Real: With FB and Twitter proving more real time updates Google & Co are including real time search here in Thailand to make their service more up to date then just searching via social media. Local search will also continue to become more popular as people want to know what is happening RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW.

8. Data Awakening : The growth in digital in Thailand has seen an explosion of data, much of it either ignored or mis-used in my experience. This year I have seen already a trend of looking to the data for more understanding and insight of what matters in marketing and CRM campaigns. The refinement of digital measurement and data analysis, and the cost efficiencies it brings, is important in a market still keeping its belt tight.

9. Digital Ideas Lead: While traditional media will still dominate in Thailand, expect to see the continuing trend of campaign ideas that require consumer interaction, which will mean digital ideas will start to take a lead role in many campaigns. Yes, yes I’m biased I know but the trend is entrenched in most overseas markets and the early signs here are that online is where the core of the idea is starting to emerge. It will not, and should not, stay there though. Overall integration has never been more important.

10. The Un-Scared Thai: This is how a colleague recently described there experience with young Thais starting to experiment online with film, mobile, gaming and generally participating without fear online. The growth in social networking has meant people have to participate to be heard. That means they are far less afraid to try anything new or different, as engagement and sharing is now the norm. They won’t do anything to crazy of course – but mainstream campaigns getting people to jump in and do something more the enter a competition will continue to evolve here. Expect a lot more consumer created content this year in Thailand.

Cheers, Rob

Feel free to add comments below, or for further questions or advice contact me at rob.h@th.arcww.com

Looking Back @ 2009

Hi everyone

Happy New Year to everyone, best wishes for a enjoyable and successful 2010.

In moving forward this year with all our digital marketing plans, it always helps to review what's happened before and how we can learn from our successes and our failures. And there have been some phenomenal changes in digital marketing in the last 12 months.

It seems everyone can provide a ‘list’ or 'best of' – from the Best 10 ideas of the Decade, the Best iPhone Branded Apps to even the Best Digital Marketing Mistakes to Avoid.

But yet again this year I give you the most complete, and comprehensive and MUST READ review of digital and interactive marketing for 2009 - Most Contagious. Yes it’s 50 pages, but you can just flick through it briefly or click every link - because it breaks down a big year into the key developments, ideas, business successes and case studies of the year. Check it out.

Next week we’ll look ahead at 2010 and what’s in store. Once again this year we hope to provide you with digital marketing ideas and examples to educate and inspire. With a particular focus on Asia and Thailand.

With that in mind if you would like any particular areas or topics discussed, I’d love to hear from you.

See you next week.

Cheers, Rob

Feel free to add comments below, or for further questions or advice contact me at rob.h@th.arcww.com