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