I have just created a Google custom search for Switzerland, CH Social Search. Searching within major social networks and websites used by Swiss people. If you need it, use it.
This custom search is open for contribution. So if you have any suggestions to make it better just send it in.
Custom search is vertical search made easy for everybody. I suggest companies should make their own custom searches serving or exploring their target audiences.
To get some inspiration it is always nice to look at award winning campaigns. This week I found the Webby awards in New York and the Belgian Cyber Lions Awards.
With the Webby Awards, NYtimes.com was the big winner also for the NYT style magazine video’s. The Obama “Yes We Can” video-clip is a winner. And The Onion wins seven awards for their webvideo’s and podcasts. (thank’s to webwereld.nl).
I think we can conclude that video is becoming really important these days. In this respect I like to get some special attention for Viva la Creation! (also a webby winner). It is a video remix project. With their tool called jumpcut, anybody can remix video.
When video remixing gets mainstream think about the possibilities for user generated content but also about again losing brand control. Anybody can take your video-commercial and make his/her own version.
Everybody can make a widget today. We can, so we do. There are too many widgets, useless widgets.
The web and all the social networks are full of widgets. Only in facebook there are over 23.000. Most of them ‘just for fun’. When you are a company thinking of spreading one. Think about it. Do I just want a widget or do I have something to share.
To make a point I have created obvious useless widgets. You find them here (and here). If you agree with me. Share them, make your own, post about it etc. Be creative, take a stand.
Want to know more about widgets: wiki
Still want to make a widget: widgetbox, widgipedia
Example of a valuable widget. Google Site Translator
Mobile marketing is getting serious. Admobs.com launches a Google Adwords-like service for easy mobile banner advertising. Including a mobile landing page, if you need one. Google offers Mobile image ads since April 23.
This is just a first step. Bannering on mobile is nice but not really intelligent and engaging, unless you target very well. And also then you tend to forget about the specific value of a mobile device for the consumer.
More on this in the following presentation from Mobile Monday Amsterdam
By rob
local info:
In these days it is difficult to protect your brand against bad publicity. Everybody can say anything on any platform. It is impossible to dictate communications around your brand. Brands with the illusion of control are way behind. As explained on many other blogs bad news is spreading fast on the Internet. Much faster than good news. Here is a nice example of how to prevent this:
This Wednesday I was complaining about netvibes on twitter because netvibes seemed down for more than a day and I just had directed some prospects to my public page. Normally when I have something to say about a company I do notice them adding @company in my tweets. Never did I get any respond. It seems like most companies are using twitter for pushing in stead of interacting.
But with netvibes I did not. What they did is they noticed me complaining (using Twitter track I suppose) and asked me to get in contact. In10 minutes the problem was solved.
Think about what this did with my brand perception. And the perception of others following my tweets…
Following my post on Saatchi2.0 I would like to talk more about the subject of agency2.0.
What does a future advertising agency look like? What is its role, its structure? What can we learn from pure digital agencies and other online businesses in general? What can a traditional agency do to stay alive and revive?
In the Businessweek interview I mentioned earlier, I read that Saatchi & Saatchi has tried to buy a digital agency Blast Radius. It didn’t work out since Blast Radius merged with Wunderman, a large direct marketer. What is the real reason behind this? Was it a cultural difference or a pure strategical decision?
After some short research (I will come back to this subject). I found some well known insights digital agencies come up with:
I my opinion the field of advertising is only getting more interesting since agencies must and can focus on their core business “ideas”. And they get more means to generate and spread these ideas.
Looking at how this could look like in practice. I did check the Nitro website. What do they do for a living? As they say, they deliver:
some links on the subject:
The agency of the future
The agency of the future 2
The agency of the future 3
The agency of the future 4
April 18th there was the Innovative advertising awards 2008 gala in New York City. Formerly known as the Interactive and New Media Awards.
In their own worlds:
New York Festivals was the first to create an international competition recognizing the importance and marketing value of innovative media.
Some of the categories in this competition include: Advergames and Viral Advertising for products or services; Online Advertising, including integrated campaigns that include online elements; a wide selection of categories for Guerrilla Marketing and Alternative Media, such as ambient, event and mobile marketing, blogs, short message systems, and street teams; and CD-ROM applications.
To be honest the New York Festivals website is a bit user unfriendly with all the winners info in pdf-format. But I understand that Stella Artois is the big winner.
There where three Swiss winners. DRAFTFCB got a Silver Worldmedal for their viral campaign (see picture above).
Brands are increasingly recognizing that customer experience is everything. With the transparency of the web, news travels fast. Satisfied Customers Tell Three Friends, Angry Customers Tell 3,000. Micropersuasion.com is even talking about a digital job function: Chief Customer Experience Officer
They also did set up an easy example with a google ’search within results’. Just enter any company and check the results.
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