Video on the Web Takes Off

Hi everyone

Last week was the 40th anniversary of man's first landing on the moon. To help remember the event an incredible web site project was launched called We Choose the Moon.

In it you'll find 44 NASA archival videos covering the whole mission as well as 11 mission-critical events rendered in stunning animation. A timely reminder about how far video on the web has come.

And why is video so important? Well, moving pictures are now by far the most popular way way we tell stories about ourselves, and our products. They are the defining visual form of our time. First it was the Hollywood movie and the small TV screen, but now it's just as likely that YouTube that will attract our attention..

Online video enables us to tell our stories in simpler, more engaging ways than ever before.

But it is not just TV on the web. It is something far more compelling than that. And here are just some of ways companies are using it to great effect:

1. Be clear: I love the way retailers are incorporating video into we sites to show us, rather than tell us, about their products. Here's a great example from Nike called Sportswear stories.

2. Be simple: I heard a lot about the iPhone last year, but I didn't consider buying one till I watched this guided tour video on their site. Suddenly everyone is creating video demos of their products rather than boring old words and pictures. Who has time to read all that anyway?

3. Be interesting: As I mentioned we choose the moon allows you to follow the whole trip from lift off to splash down. A compelling story where you decide what's important and interesting for you. Brilliant and so engaging.

4. Be involved: Best job in the world is just the latest campaign in an idea that has still got legs - customer creation of video content. Done right it has the twin success factor of being fun to do and fun to pass around. No wonder it got so much buzz.

5. Be inspirational: I watched this Microsoft Project Natal video and was totally convinced it was possible. Is it real, will it happen? Don't know but here's one gaming and interactive experience I would love to buy.

6. Be informative: The great thing about video is that allows you learn stuff in an easy, and yet interactive, way. This online video series from MacAfee software about understanding hackers and how to protect yourself became compulsory viewing for me, it really got me hooked.

7. Be Different: FedEX have got a reputation globally as always trying something different and great to hear they are doing it again. Instead of TV advertising, the company has decided to do a Web-video advertising campaign, five three-minute films that feature the actor Fred Willard done in mock info-mercial style. When you've got something to say in an interesting way, why not do it longer form, and in a place your customers are increasingly spending their time?

8. Be real: My favourite team Man U and Nike have teamed up on the team's Asian tour to provide a web site packed with videos, many taken behind the scenes by and about the players, to enable fans to track their every move at the Man U Asian Tour 2009 site. It's the latest in a trend of sportswear sites that use their stars real experiences and behind the scenes action on video to bring fans closer to the brand.

9. Be mobile: Last but not least, it's worth noting that digital video does not have to be on your laptop. Pocket TV from Sony Ericsson is a TV series on You Tube designed in short form to be watched on your mobile, with interesting stories on music, fashion, the arts - you name it. Increasingly, mobile is where video needs to be at, and good effort to design something just right for the medium.

I probably could have listed another 20 ways to use video in our marketing, and so could you. And that's the point really.

We are only limited by our imagination and our bandwidth, and thankfully the latter is becoming less and less of an issue.

Which means we've only just seen the start of what will be possible. Exciting stuff.

Cheers, Rob

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

Digital in a Travel Downturn

Hi everyone

I've been away in Australia on holiday, where like everywhere these days, business and agencies are suffering from the effects of the Global Economic Crises.

During these times digital marketing can drive a message in a more interactive, engaging, measurable and cost effective way.

But too often it seems to me, we are simply using digital to talk about lower prices and cheaper deals.

In the end the cut-price approach only damages our brands, so perhaps this is a good time to re-think our approach. After all, when times are tough, our customers don't always choose the cheapest option - they simply become smarter about their behaviour.

This discount mentality afflicts those in the travel industry more than most, so while I was in Australia it was interesting to see a travel campaign that looked differently at the challenge to kick-start tourism again.

The campaign is called 'No Leave/No Life' and the insight behind it is quite fresh. Often during an economic downturn, many people feel the need to take less holidays - even though they are actually not as busy and there are more people out of work & retrenched that could take a break.

But this guilt about tough times, combined with the fact many Australians often don't use their annual leave, is stopping them from going. The prevailing mood is often, 'Things are tough, I shouldn't be holidaying.'

What this campaign does is try to overcome this guilt with the idea that, actually, this is the perfect time to address the 'work/life' battle we all have. How about when you were busy and never took annual leave? Why not redress this imbalance by taking leave now, and get your life back?

The integrated campaign works across many different media, but online is where it really comes alive. It includes:
- A video (bottom left of link page) about the issue and how you can win the work/life battle
- All the reasons why it's good for you, your company and your country to take a break
- All the tools you need to plan your getaway, including holidays deals, handover templates for colleagues and out of office screen savers
- Holiday ideas and inspiration, that make you feel good about travelling now

A great campaign that uses all the digital tools, but more importantly, has some great thinking behind it.

And a timely reminder that even in a downturn, we can still create ideas that go beyond the discount clutter.

Cheers, Rob

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

The importance of PR in a social media world

Hi everyone

As you may have heard, the excellent 'The Best Job in the World' campaign picked up the inaugural PR Gold Lion at Cannes last week.

It's a ground-breaking campaign for a number of reasons. Firstly, it wasn't won by a stand-alone PR shop, but by an integrated ad agency.

Secondly the campaign didn't fit neatly into any category but combined a range of marketing disciplines in an integrated effort. And finally the success of the campaign was driven as much by consumer buzz as by mainstream media.

In many ways this campaign highlighted why PR has become arguably the most important tool in making our brands famous in a globally connected, consumer driven, social media world.

So what can we as marketers learn from their success? Here's a few important lessons:

1. Accept that media is in every one's hands : To see the impact of the change in media landscape, you only need to take a look at what's happened with the influence of social media in the protests in Iran this last week. No longer can authoritarian governments (or brands) control the message anymore. It's in the people's hands now. Look at this fascinating overview by Clay Shirky about the new media landscape and its implications.

This social media power really hit home to me in the 'Best Job' campaign when I received video entries like this from my Thai friends, long before I heard about it from other media.

2. Let social media and other media to feed off each other: But that's not to say that we should forget about the influence and importance of 'mainstream media'. Major newspapers, blogs, twitter feeds and cable news all live side by side and play a role in getting the message out. In many cases the influential bloggers are also journalists, or the mainstream news site is getting its updates from Twitter.

'The Best Job in the World' created the virtuous circle of online feeding offline PR (Osama Bin Laden video entry), and offline news reports feeding online entries (News reports of competition).

What is important in this environment is that we have a plan to cover all media to allow this cross fertilisation and spreading of the message. Given this, It was worrying to read in Asia this week that many APAC PRs are ignoring bloggers. In a social media world, where Twitter can have as big an influence as CNN, that's a major mistake.

3. Embrace a human idea to generate buzz: The fact that people could create video applications for "The Best Job in the World' meant that the core idea for the campaign was also the main way of spreading the news around the web. Creating consumer buzz is not just a media choice, it's a creative choice. And that means now more than ever, your idea has not only got to be newsworthy for big media but also interesting enough and 'human enough' for everyone to want get involved.

At the heart of the success of the 'The Best Job' campaign was NOT the fact that it's Queensland, but that everyone dreams of a job on a tropical island getting paid to relax and have fun. Without understanding this human truth, the best use of social media ever would not have helped this campaign.

Many tourist organisations will rush to replicate this success, but most will fail for one simple reason. They will rush to push their brand first and forget about the very motivation people travel in the first place. They do it for themselves.

Cheers, Rob

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

End of the Lion?

Hi everyone

This week is the Cannes International Advertising festival, the pinnacle of global advertising and marketing award shows.

And it's interesting to note that the festival, this year more than any other, is under attack. This is typified by Bob Garfield's article this week saying that Cannes no longer matters. In typical Garfield style he's a bit over the top, but he does make some important points.

In an age where advertising and marketing is undergoing a massive revolution, many award shows are simply not keeping pace with these changes. Actually they are trying to evolve, and Cannes more than many others. But they are definitely behind the times.

And the fact is they need to change because award shows should still matter. Because the best in the industry still needs to be acknowledged. Because these creative campaigns, which has been proven time and again, drive disproportional sales success for our clients. And because they light the way for the rest of the industry on how we can improve and do great work.

But to keep that flame alive, to save the lion, I think we need to start to evolve shows to better reflect the changing environment of the times. Here's my thoughts on how:

- Change categories: Yes, separate categories have already been created for digital and integrated work, but there are simply not enough of them. So much great integrated work is confined to so few categories. Print and film are still dominant in most awards, yet they are becoming less relevant in the real world. This must change.

- Change Judges: While of course some of the greatest advertising minds in the world are the judges, I don't believe there is enough young and integrated minds also involved in the judging panels. Most award shows still venerate the old school of marketing and these judges are, no matter how esteemed, part of this school. Judging needs a radical shake up.

- Outside Influence: One way would be to invite non-industry judges and clients into the process. Already we are increasingly influenced by areas such as fashion, design, computer animation, etc.. so why not bring their insights into the process? And why not include major global clients, with an understanding of creative effectiveness, for their input as well. Yes we want to be judged by our peers, but I think the idea of who these peers are needs an overhaul.

- People Power: I think one way to make the awards relevant again is to open up the festival to the people, to our global customers. Yes the awards are about peer recognition - but there is a perception we are out of touch. Introducing a series of 'people's choice' awards alongside the main awards, and a global campaign to introduce this concept, will bring some much needed PR and relevance back to the show.

Ok, that's my view. Now let's look at some great work. I've chosen 5 campaigns, highlighted from 50 shown at last week's Leo Burnett Cannes Predictions, which I think show the best of what we can be and hopefully will win at the show. Watch all the You Tube campaign presentations below:

1. Whopper Sacrifice: For me this was the campaign of the year, a great way to show a love of the burger and have some cheeky fun with your friends. The fact it got shut down made it even more powerful in terms of positive PR.

2. Oasis Street Launch: A wonderful approach to launching music for the people, by the people. Watching this actually made me buy my first Oasis album in 10 years.

3. Share our Billboard: A brilliantly simple idea to involve people in the brand, offline, and made possible online. And it does what all great campaigns do - it sells.

4. Best Job in the World: The most buzzable campaign of the year, a great example of giving the tools to people and enabling them to sell the story.

5. Obama for America: Perhaps the greatest integrated campaign ever created, a landmark in political advertising that will set the scene for similar campaigns from now on.

What's your favorite?

Cheers, Rob

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

Don't make an ad, create a movement

Hi everyone

Recently there's been some different integrated digital work that stands out because it's communicating more than a product benefit, it's creating a cultural movement.

Below are major examples of this from brands like Coke, HP, Doritos, Dove, Microsoft and Virgin.

Why are more brands getting involved? Well as Carlos Ricardo notes here talking about the Doritos campaign, when a brand creates a a cultural movement "it plays a strategically important role as an enabaler in bringing a memorable experience to consumers. And that message (if done right) is a spark that can transform into something very big."

Yes, we must ensure that the 'cause' is relevant to the brand - even if this link is just the irreverence or fun of the product - but we should also remember that this relevance doesn't just have to be to about corporate or social responsibility.

A movement is simply something real that a customer can care about, take ownership of, share with others and feel a part of the solution. Whether that's saving the planet or saving slow dancing - every brand can find a movement that is right for their audience. Here at Leo Burnett we call it creating ACTS, not just ads. Here are just a few:

Types of Movements:

1. A fun movement: Doritos created a movement shown here that connected with something authentic and real that their young digital audience related to. Bring back slow dancing!

2. An educational movement: McAfee software decided people would love to understand how hacking works and created a great movement to stop H*Commerce.

3, A fantasy movement: To launch Halo 3 last year Microsoft created a wonderful story and memorial to the chracter from the vidoe game, Master Chief, called'Believe'. It helped create the biggest entertainment launch in history.

4. A real memorial movement: Back to reality, this new campaign for Victoria Bitter (beer) created a movement about remembering, and raising a glass to, Australia's war dead. Watch the TVC and see the website and campaign review here.

5. A social progression movement: Dove is famous for its campaigns about changing attitudes to beauty, which everyone has seen, but worth looking at this one again.

6. An environmental movement: Following on from our Sydney office's effort with Earth Hour, our colleagues in Singapore have teamed up with our client HP to create a movement about saving power and the planet, just by turning off your PC. Visit https://h30470.www3.hp.com/

7. A celebration movement : In China we created a movement around celebrating the Chinese New Year with people you love, in First Coke of the Year.

8. A whacky movement: Virgin mobile (who else) created this hilarious and silly movement to 'stop wrong music' with apologies from past artists who created some pretty bad music.

There are so many movements to create that can connect with our customers. Any others you care to share?

Cheers, Rob

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

Keeping up with the digital revolution

Hi everyone

Every generation thinks they are at the crossroads of history, that the changes going on NOW are the most important ever. I guess our present generation is no different.

But it would be hard to think of another era when so many changes were happening in the marketing landscape all at once.

And of course it's our job to try and keep up with how these changes that are effecting our customers and our brands, both in Thailand and around the world.

But how do we manage this tsunami of new marketing information, and make sense of it for our particular needs?

I am often asked - how do you keep up? And while it isn't easy, it's vital to find a way to understand and utilise all these developments. In providing these information sources though, I'd suggest 3 things to help to tailor this approach to suit your own particular needs:

1. Commit to learning: Accept that part of our jobs must be to learn more from others. The nature of our work these days means we are all time poor, but my theory is we should invest at least 30 minutes a day to updating ourselves on new learning. We need fuel for ideas, and food for inspiration, not just from within our company but also from beyond our own walls.

2. A starting point: Take these sources below as the beginning of finding out where right information is for you. Then tailor them to your particular client or industry or product. Whatever industry you are in there is a wealth of important, practical and up to date information that is ideal for you.

3. Get involved: While we can read all we want about Twitter or Facebook or gaming or iPhone apps - there is no substitute for actual experience. My best advice is just to jump in and start using all these technologies - they are easier than you think and it's only through their use that we truly understand their power and their limitations. And you'll be better informed about the marketing decisions you make.

With that in mind, here's my digital marketing resource list:

Marketing News: You can visit these sites or better yet sign up for the e-newsletters sent to your email. Just don't overdo it and skim read for what's important.
- Digital Advertising Age: http://adage.com/digital/ Sign up for the daily newsletter to keep track of things on a industry wide scale. Good for big issues, if a bit US-centric
- Click Z News: http://www.clickz.com/news Sign up for a range of industry news letters, depending on your interest. This is a bit more technical so good for the geeks amongst your team.
- Media Asia: http://www.brandrepublic.asia/Media/: More for advertising and marketing industry news across Asia, including Thailand. Sign up for e-newsletter
- Positioning (Thailand) http://www.positioningmag.com/: One of the local Thai marketing mags that does a reasonable job of keeping up with digital. Review this weekly for updates.

Marketing Research: Keep track of all the latest in digital marketing research so your insights remain fresh
- Emarketer Daily: http://www.emarketer.com/Welcome.aspx: Sign up to daily news or review the web site for the latest research
- Synnovate: http://www.synovate.com/ I personally find Synnovate's observations and insights on Asia invaluable, in particular their yearly digital review

Marketing Presentations: Rather than just read, sometimes it's more engaging to watch and learn
- Slideshare: http://www.slideshare.net/: This awesome site lets you search just about any subject for presentations on all industries. Highly useful, try it
- TED: http://www.ted.com/ Riveting talks by interesting people, there is no better place for watching great digital marketing presentations
- You Tube http://www.youtube.com/ : Still the best source for finding archive of past great campaigns and current case studies

Marketing Campaigns/Insights: To be truly inspired we need to keep track of ideas that are happening now
- Contagious: http://www.contagiousmagazine.com/: get the weekly newspaper and the best, by far in my opinion, insight into what is happening in terms of global digital/integrated campaigns
- PSFK: http://www.psfk.com/: More trends than campaigns but very interesting look at what is hot and not, across many different fields
- Award Sites: http://www.webbyawards.com/ : Keep an eye out on award sites to see the latest and greatest examples of work

- Digital Thinking: http://www.wired.com/: An old favourite, for some understanding on why these changes are happening and the latest geek viewpoint

Blog Sites: Find a blogger that's right for your industry and that you like and trust. It may take time but usually very practical and personal insights and you can interact with the author to learn even more. Here's two I like, but do yourself a favour and Google "Best xxx Blogs 2009" or check out lists like this. Also click on my profile and you'll see 6 other blogs I follow.
- Viral Blog http://www.viralblog.com/: Updates on trends and inspiration for digital marketing
- Seth's Blog http://sethgodin.typepad.com/ Straight forward opinions by a straight forward thinker

Twitter Feeds: Twitter is a fantastic new way of getting a ongoing dose of marketing insight, if you take the time to track down people worth following. Here's your task now - sign up for Twitter, then use Twitter Search for 'digital marketing' and see where it takes you. Get involved and give it time, it will be worth the effort.

Any of other digital marketing resources you'd care to share?

Cheers, Rob

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

It's time for digital to measure up

Hi everyone

It was interesting to read this week that many Chief Marketing Officers are unhappy with digital. And especially to read why.

"Respondents to the survey found their current ability to access ROI and metrics on their digital marketing lacking, and rated their companies behind the curve".

During these tough economic times, it's more important than ever to measure and assess every marketing activity we do. But while digital marketing enables us to measure like never before, as the latest research highlights, it's become our own worst nightmare.

It seems many marketers, while having access to greater amounts of marketing data, are drowning in it and therefore actually using it less. The study notes that "time after time in the survey, marketers expressed an awareness of digital’s potential, along with a recognition that they weren't close to tapping into it."

What's going wrong folks? Well, some people are happy to blame clients for trying to expect short term results from digital rather than a longer term objectives, but I think that misses the point. The frustration tends to be understanding what and how to measure, not that the results themselves are bad. If you don't know what to measure, how can you ever be satisfied with the outcome?

Most of us have faced this data dilemma at some point. We're not sure what to measure, so we measure everything, or what we've done previously, in the hope that some figures turn out okay.
We don't think hard enough about what we want up front, so are frustrated when we don't see positives in every outcome. Or we think we don't have the budget to measure properly, so we go with the status-quo.

But really, getting the basics right is not about money. We just need to be more realistic about what we measure, and why. Here's a start on how:

1. Align objectives: Know what you want to achieve
- First we need to make a very clear and early choice about the outcomes objective of the campaign, and make sure it aligns with the overall integrated campaign (if there is one) objectives. What's the point of creating a brand banner ad when we need to drive people to a campaign web site for a promotion?
- In identifying these objectives we need to consider a customer's digital behaviour, their user personas, to make sure we know how digital fits in with their overall purchase journey. If you can't do detailed research, do a quick online survey or interview. It will really help focus your thinking.

2. Choose your metrics + tools: Different horses for different courses
- - If we are doing qualitative measurement - like brand impact- be sure we have the measurement in place such as surveys, contextual observations, buzz tracking, usability testing and/or customer interviews.
- For quantitative measurement, many digital campaigns can be measured just with the metrics supplied by basic reporting tools from web sites or media companies. It's worth exploring the usual metrics, but also some we should use more often. But if it's a major campaign, invest a small % of the campaign in the right digital tool for the job

3. Set a baseline: Focus on only the metrics that really, truly matter
- Choose the one metric that matters above all others for your particular campaign. Is it CTR, average viewing time, registration rate, time on game, interaction rate..? You should know from step one
- Choose the one metric that aligns most with our objectives as your benchmark KPI so as we change variables for the campaign, as this is the key measurement we need to monitor that matters

4. Assessment: Put some meaning to the numbers
- Data analytics is often what is missing in all of this. That is, making real meaning from all of the numbers. Too much of the time what we produce is a report on the numbers, and perhaps highlight the key outcomes, but often there is very little insight on the implications of the data
- For complex CRM and data campaigns you need the right people for the job. But 99% of digital marketing campaigns - given we've followed the steps above - can be done ourselves. Many of us are afraid of numbers but as this digital creative points out in this article, it is a vital part of the creative process. "Data itself is meaningless. But data grants insight, and it is only with insight that we can create something meaningful".

5. Test & Optimize: Change your creative variables to improve performance
- Digital marketing allows us to vary elements in a campaign relatively easily and see the results almost immediately. From the CMO research discussed though, few of us do this
- User pre-testing for online ads, prototyping for web sites, etc. are rarely done but are possible. Of course we can and should change elements after launch to optimize as well - but as Kristen Berg says in this article (I stole her title) - for larger campaigns we can save a lot of time and money seeing what works before-hand.

Every single activity, from an email to banner ad to mobile app to web site to widget - we can follow this process and achieve meaningful and measurable outcomes.

This isn't happening though because we're afraid of the outcomes, afraid people will be scared from using a medium we have worked so hard at building trust in. We're worried we won't compare as favourably with other campaigns or benchmarks.

But that fear is stopping us moving forward. Most marketers understand that we can learn as much or more from failure, and that every meaningful piece of data is a weapon for future success.

Cheers, Rob