Why we're only scratching the digital surface, why it's not enough, and how to dig deeper

Post 4/5 before end of year. And this time a realistic question: why is it that I often get the feeling that most companies are really only scratching the surface with digital?

   Or phrasing it positively: why is it that so few are really taking advantage of the power offered to them by the web?
Is everyone doing so well that it’s not necessary?
Is digital such an unproven business case?

Or is it that most people don’t really know. And in which case why do we not get more inquisitive questions such as: what could we really do if we used all the power of the web, and therefore how do we get on that road, even step by step.

The reason  I ask that question today is double.
- First we finished this year with every other brief having a section called do a buzz. And a subsection ‘for 20 000 euros’. Or ‘build a facebook page’ with a subsection ‘that does not take time to run’. Well, doing a buzz needs a reason and a ‘thing’ only buzzes if it’s build to do so. And if it receives the right support. Best proof is looking at the top ten and you’ll get an indication of the budgets and efforts that went in them. And a facebook page that takes no time is a contradiction in terms. Again you need a reason and often that will be about relationships. And bizarelly relationships take time, or they go sour. And god saves you from that...
- Second is a client that is starting an online business and has asked us to build it from scratch having all the digital offers within. One of the most exciting things I’ve been involved with recently. And with a client that has accepted to get trained with us, and to learn it with us.

Only now I cannot help seeing how shallow most digital approaches take, and how in fact they serve as alibi: offering the ability to say ‘we’ve done digital’ to your boss. Be honest, don’t waste your time on this for it will only bring proof that digital has not made a dent on your agenda, and will only send you 20 years back in time.

Now what could I possibly mean by deep digital programs? I’ll take a humble stab at it here, illustrated by great examples knowing that this will be a continuously moving feast.

1. genuine learning
   

First and foremost this road will not be worth your time if you’re not genuinely interested in the people you sell to.If people is your 5th marketing P then welcome in. And to start digital can help you do exactly that. Getting insights. Wether you choose to use tools to see what people say about you or your subjects. Have you seen the Dell social media room? We ar ebuilding one in the agency, but this should be at the heart of every company for you’ll learn more than through most focus groups here. But beyond that, have you ever considered building your own community, one where you could ask questions, get answers in real time? You’ll find in most cases its there waiting for you.

2- business learning.
Same as above only this time, it concerns your bottom end. If you want a real live test of  your npd strategy likely success digital allows exactly that. Online testing platforms are easy to systemize, but more importantly you can tap into existing media communities, involve them in your products, get them testing. How about putting your buyers/producers in direct contact with the audience? Entire clothes collections, or limited editions can be tested with a community before the entire production risks are taken. Not to mention the crowds of fans who will help push the products they help make...
Fiat went some way in doing this 2 years before the launch of the 500 by allowing people to play to customize their car before it even existed, allowing them to get precious data as to what they were going to want as choice once the car was built.

3- Social media inside
Notice how many tell you social media does not work for them? Well, when did they start to think about social media? Normally when they want someone to buy their product. Too late normally. Because social media needs to be built into the process. What will people want to share, when and why? How can the process of sharing improve their relationships? Unless you build social media right at the start, into the products, into the packs, into the sites it’s likely to fail. You don’t meet someone and reach for his wallet. Same here, you’ll need time to build a relationship, the tools to do that and something that will make it worth it.

We’re now seeing the first attempts like the levis online store, but again it’s only a first step. Other great examples like Nike ID because showing of what you’ve made when it’s easily impressive is worth it. Same for Nikeplus the Apple/Nike chip that enables you to run against friends all over the world and to measure yourself in a group.

Skittles regularly does a great job at this: recently offering you to say your status on FB, but also using you to bury a man in skittles, always with a great sense of humour.

4- building relationships

If there is one great crm tool, it has to be the digital world. It’s cheaper, more reactive, and allows for real discussions. We’ve built that for Nestlé Dessert, where people put in the code printed on their tablet to enter a program. The tools available are potentially fan-tastic here. Customized space, reserved spaces, testing areas, personalized services, limited offers, flash buying times, you name it it’s normally doable.

5- Linking with the real world

Digital is always better because it’s real. Hear of twelpforce before? Great example. One new one this winter how AA reacted after one of it’s planes slid of the runway. Since phone lines got jammed they allowed to rebook seats through twitter.

6- forget web think platforms
One month ago the very serious magazine wired announced ‘the web is dead’.
The point they were making is that people did not go on the web, they go to apps, they go to videos. Meaning that having a website is ok but only gets you to 30% of your traffic. So what experience are you giving, and how/why will it live on other platforms: videos on youtube or your own channel there, knowing that videos are now potentially embeded with content making them true site, then Facebook: what will you offer there, how will it live, your Twitter account: how does the experience live minute by minute, continuing to mobile, knowing that by 2013 most people will access the web through mobile but how will you adapt your content to live on a small screen, and how can you improve people’s lives with mobile. Shazam is a good example of that for itunes, but how could that live for retailers making hte store a better experience with a mobile?
The point here is that it’s not one website and its extensions, it’s really about embedding your experience on all available platforms but adapting each app so that it serves the most effective purpose.

7- use your audience

Because your audience has an audience that has an audience that has an audience....

But this rarely happens by chance. Offer them conversation starters, like skittle does, or like Domino’s did in their ‘turnaround’ campaign. Create work that’s easy to be brandjacked, get it started yourself. OldSpice did that by making spoofs of their original campaign responding to people on twiter, and inspiring other to do the same, I featured many of these of my blog in previous posts.

8- ever continuing.

Because one thing is sure, the web will continue to change. Geolocalisation, gaming, all sorts of newthings will spring out, and take off in 3/5 years (remember Facebook is only 6 years old...). SO one thing you need to know is that whatever you build is in fact a constant beta. That you will need to monitor how well it does- and there are great tools to do so- while you will need at the same time to adapt it to the new possibilities that will open up for you.

So I beg you. Don’t pretend you’ve done the digital thing because there’s an afterthought in the brief. Take it head on, and give yourself the challenge to never just scratch the surface, but to make a deeper plan, and see how you will get there, step by step.
Because as everyone scratches the surface, the rewards lie beneath...

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Old media survival. New realism, new behaviour, the old media newdeal.

Number 3/5 posts before end of year. And this time a reflection on the quality of the media companies, at a time when so many are fighting for survival. Written on my iphone due to no wifi in Normandy so please excuse typos!;)

This post is a follow up on a conference from 'les echos' a French economic newspaper, at which I spoke a couple of weeks ago. The subject being new media and how they were being affected. 'They' being the press. In the room managers from some of the largest press companies in France.

I was asked to talk about brand content and how brands were the new media. I quickly moved the subject to a slight different take:
brands are not the new media, people are.

So the role for us advertising people was to find media that helps engage our public, and help them share, participate accross different platforms.

Only we are faced with one huge problem. The complete inability of most media companies to really help us do it as we should.
A little tough you might think rightly, and not very constructive.
But I think it is key today to bang our fist on the table.
Because we the advertising industry are meant to be the ones paying for all these new developments. But what we get in return is bad intrusive, boring and not constructive space. To finally have advertising that does not allow us to do what's right.

What do I mean concretelly? Well I think banners and intrusive pop ups are most of the time a complete waiste of time. Not just because it's all dull but also incredibly ineffective (the IAB gives an average click rate of 0,15%...).

So how do we move past criticism to a more constructive place? I suggested there were 3 main reasons for the issue and each had reasonably easy answers for those willing to take control of their future.

1- 'pudeur' is the first reason. Translates something like prudism. Yes the media thinks it is untouchably above brands. They'll take the money but keep them away. An issue Hollywood has managed to do away with. Brands are invited in, and part of the Story. When a media meets a brand you end up with those dreadful promotional pages. Badly written by journalists who get paid many times what they normally get. But why is it that it cannot be a good as hat they normally do? Well it's for a brand...

Isn't it incredibly silly to think that we have the means to create great editorial content, create challenges and that all that we get are braindead pages. A couple of weeks ago I approached three of the largest media companies. Wanting to build content across platforms with means and a brand that would allow spectacular content none would normally be able to do. Only to be offered banners promotional space and wrap up spaces on newspapers. All disconnected and none really offering anything worthy of engaging with. In which case we would happily turn to facebook, you tube with no need for the more classic media.

2- fear: like everyother world the media see the new digital space with fear. The people in these companies are exactly like everywhere else: scared, too often non participants. So it's hardly surprising that they cannot think of programs that builds cross platforms, that stimulate engagement. That's the domain of newly created competitors like facebook or twitter...
So if the solutions brought are the same old ones, it's hardly surprising, that's how they were thought. And disappointingly these solutions are often liked by media buying agencies concerned to bring something that feels new but is easy to put into place.

3-People: the third cause, and the key. Because as we create all these ad places, who really thinks about the people who are going to need to see them... The media? They don't care: advertising is here to pay for the rest. Media agencies? They are not able to really understand the idea culture: a different skillset, demanding and time consuming.

And what we're left with is sponsored programs no one wants to watch and banners galore.

So what can we do to solve this? Well how about a new media deal:

Solve the prudism like hollywood does: get brands to help produce better editorial. Stay free to refuse if the brands don't fit or if the brands don't stand up to the promise.

Put people in place who get it. One to start is good, but make sure the ceo's and editors have a plan to get on board... In fact I gace foynd hope talking direct with the ceo's who in 2 out of 3 cases seem to want to step into a more ambitious world.

Get closer to ghose who can create content people will want to watch. Journalists and creatives, creators, film makers. Because brand content can be fun, should be fun or interesting, or inspiring, or useful.

And last but not least see what media platform bridges can be built from the start, how these bridges will make the public more engaged, how it will give them a better experience overall.

This is not a plea to change all of our media into advertising. It's a plea for true cross platform media treatments. Not a newspaper on an ipad, an ipad newsform. A plea for advertising that is also more interesting in this new space. A way for brands to be more useful, more entertaining.

That's how it all started if you remember soap operas. Only this time we can add the power of digital, the power of social media.

And trust me if done well it will change the fortune of many of our struggling media, and give us all a better media to experience.

OMG i can hear some scream. We don't want to have giant advertising spaces. Believe me no one does. And anyone who steps over the line will pay the price.

Exactly like it's done in Hollywood really...

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No one dies from not participating in social media. It's a lot worst.

The second of my last 5 thoughts of 2010 could not be devoted to anything else than this: with the massive arrival of social media in our lives, agencies and clients alike have two options. Participate, learn, take an active part, shape what comes next, because it’s there to be shapen. Or...

Or what? Die? Not really, no one has really died from the arrival of the web. No one has died from the success of new media brands. No one has seen their careers come to a sudden end. It’s a lot worst than that.
Those who do not take art will simply be put aside. Frightened, not aware and incapable of understanding what’s happening, they will be invited to step into a cupboard to be slowly forgotten. A little like the signs on packs of cigarettes. It’s not death, it will be  slow and painful ...

The music industry, the highstreet travel agents, are good examples of what’s in store. Because no industry will be left untouched. From services to fmcg, companies need people who will explain what’s happening and how to take part, how to make the most of what’s available now, and will be tomorrow.

And sadly, there is no other way to learn it than taking part. It’s not like any other media where an expert could come in and do it for you, where judgement would work because after all we’ve all consumed old media for a long time. Growing up with TV and print. But digital is radically different. If you’re not in it, you’re out of it. And there is no understanding it from outside.

The good news though is that the digital space is still being created and as such, it needs to be read, it can be pushed. An opportunity few generations have had before.

A few weeks ago, we asked everyone in the agency to be on twitter. From the MD’s to the receptionist. Not because twitter is the absolute digital thing, but because it is a sign that you’re taking part. And that the only way our people will get headhunted relentlessly for the rest of their career is if they understand better than anyone else the digital space. We also decided we will not recruit anyone who hasn’t got 100 followers. Because we demand that people participate if they want to join. And soon we’ll turn that into a klout or per index score.

And one thing amazes me as I go from meeting to meeting: how can people still stay out. How can they not realize this yet? How can ceo’s and marketing directors still happily sit outside, it’s a little like having a captain that cannot sail...

So here is a few tips, from someone who’s been there before...

1. admit you’re afraid to be caught with your pants down.
   

And you’ll find everyone is. But hiding in fear will just push you away, in fact the hyperisland course devotes quite a long time to face your demons. You’ll see they’re easily pushed away.

2- don’t pretend digital is for geeks and a waste of time.
Even if you believe it. Because most of the time it’s fear of the unknown talking. At a recent conference on media I confronted an audience made of newspaper heads whose future is not so bright who kept laughing at people attacking the web. Laugh I said, while you can. Or use that time learning, you might find that’s a better option...

3- lift your fears about private and public life.
You know what it’s too late. Whether you like it or not people will post about you. So learn to lie with it. You have nothing to fear unless you are a child molester (in which case could you please stop reading my blog, thanks ;))

4- think you’re back at school.
You might think social media and digital is not for you. Well if you don’t do it for you, no one else will. So learn learn learn. It will take time, you will need to invest time by yourself. And remember school? You came back home to homework, well it’s a little of the same. Only this time you can use all your wasted time connecting on your mobile for example. Go to conferences there are many, and if you can’t go you can follow most of them on the web. You will be amazed how many fantastic speakers there are.

5- if it exists try it
Foursquare is nonsense? Well have you tried it? Do you understand why it got traction? If not get in until you do, because the key to all this is understanding why people get involved and what you could do of that.The gaming, and award receiving of foursquare has applications well beyond that world...
Kinetic? Get it, play with it, how could you use it for your own purpose? You’ll be amazed what will come from it soon.

6- make it yours, make it fun.
Because you’ll discover it’s a game. Give yourself 15 minutes to find 3 great posts. Get involved in 3 conversations a day, find a group of people to join up with. It’s incredible fun, yes FUN... That’s why it won’t be so difficult. And most amazingly you’ll find that you’ll learn new things everyday. EVERYDAY...How long has it been since that happened.

Why bother doing all this? No one will do it for you. And to be very frank, in a couple of years, people who have not done this will be put on side careers. A slow and painful process...
But more importantly, you’ll learn, you grow, you’ll meet people all over the world who will become your digital friends, who you will debate and share with.

So you have a choice, between torture and ignition. I know which one I’ve choosen !

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Posted via email from #think: Freddie's posterous

Do you really care enough to get the best of your agency, do you care enough to deserve the best from your client?

5 days to 2011, and 5 reflections on this last year. The year we moved out of the great recession. The year social media became a large scale affair.

I would like to start these by a thought that hit me on Christmas day as I took a long  drive back from a meeting. 2010 has been the year when I have most heard people in our business talk about how tough relationships had become. What many studies ‘promised’ seemed to come true: agencies and clients getting to close combat.

Maybe the Gandhi in me had been refusing to want to embark on that nonsense fight, but I have to admit that I am bemused by what I have seen happening. But more importantly, it seems to me that the right question to ask is: are clients getting better work and service by beating on their agencies, or are they getting quite the opposite. Or positively rephrased: are clients getting better and more effective work by caring for their agencies. (and I hear voices saying: why would they care anyway...)

To try and answer this question, I will help you relive the last week before Christmas, before that car trip got me thinking. In these 4 days, I lived 4 incredibly different client meetings. In which 2 camps emerged.

The first  group were genuinely interested in the relationship, in the people and in the agency. Not just that they made sure the people knew it by saying it openly.

The last group didn’t care really. They pay us to deliver, and demand it. And they do so with little care for what their ‘partner’ (yes that pompous word) really  think or want.

The bizarre thing is that this second group gave us a good evaluation, happy about the work and the results. So why should you care you would say? Results are what count aren’t they?

Well I have to admit that I was shocked by the kindness, the openness of the first group of clients. So much so that I could feel the effect on the team, and that I saw the real impact on the work itself. Not just are they getting better work out of the agency, they are getting more ideas, they are more openly invited in the process as active participants, and the yare getting genuine dedication by people in the team who would fight tooth and nail to get things done, to do whatever it will take to help their clients win.

Sounds silly, but this is totally human: you will work better for people who deserve it rather than for people whose behaviour can let’s be honest often be referred to in bodily parts...

Now let’s be fair, agency types have often behaved in exactly the same way. So what the hell is wrong and how can we fix it?

So here is a call that concerns both agencies and clients to change, because we are not going to spend the rest of our lives destroying the value we are all pretending to defend and build. A call in the form of a series of 4 ingredients which seem to me negotiable today

1- Want them to succeed:
You need to want your agency or client to succeed. Not demand it, but want it. And help them get there. This takes time from all parties, time to listen and explain, time to answer questions, time to ask questions. I am amazed how many people think they can bring the right solution after a one hour brief. If the solution was that easy no one needs an agency to answer.
This also means that when someone falls, he is allowed to get back on his legs, and helped.

2- Get interested in them
We’re all human, with desires, fears, passions. You will only get the best out of the agency, or out of your client if you know them. And if you genuinely care. Thank god life is not a powerpoint presentation! And let’s face it, we are all working for each other’s careers.

3- Admit you don’t know.
If we all had all the answers we’d be lone stars. We are living the most exciting of all times, when digital moves from a revolution to a reality, only no one really knows where it’s going, and only a close watch, experimenting spirit will help succeed. But still I have met very few people who have admitted not to know, admitted they were afraid, even slightly. And let’s face it everyone is today. So let’s enjoy finding the answers together, exchanging points of views. Exactly what we’re doing at #usguys on twitter.

4- tell them when it’s bad, and praise them when it’s good.
Bad bad bad. Do you know anyone who wants to have this told all day and keep going? Often the best things achieved are the hardest to get to. So look back: was the result worth the pain? If so say it, and learn from these successes together. Because people work better if they are encouraged, if they feel they are doing well. And if there is more of that that bad vibes.

4 simple ingredients, but I have to say that they are too often passed by, by lack of time, by personal pressure, by pressure from the purchase department who wants more pressure on ‘providers’.

So if I had to leave you with one thought to take in 2011 it would be the following; you won’t choose your enemies, only your friends. So treasure them as such, because you are going to need them to go forward.
And let’s face it, you won’t do better by making enemies of your friends.

For my part, I promise that’s the culture I will build in the agency, hoping it spreads a lot further...

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Posted via email from #think: Freddie's posterous

Magnificent video! Great Brandjacking: and now the 'this is Paris video' from Duck sauce. #jwtfr #usguys

Here is a video that has not stopped inspiring new ones. The typical lesson of success: brandjacking. You know Duck sauces’s ‘barbara streisand’, spoofs included Christine Lagarde, Yvette Hurner, and now this great one, courtesy Michael: THIS IS PARIS
Enjoy:

Posted via email from #think: Freddie's posterous

The next huge, I mean humongous thing from facebook! Something to be part of! #usguys #jwtfr

It hasn’t really started yet, but this is going to be simply enormous when it hits: fcommerce or ecommerce on facebook. From buying from pages, to joint purchasing (gifts for example), to being able to buy what your friends did, to buying cheaper together. This is going to be round the corner, and here is something tha twill be well worth being part of. See here the artcle printed in Business week on the subject:

Facebook Ramps Up Big E-Commerce Drive
The social network is teaming up with startups, vendors, and even giant Internet rivals to turn Facebook pages into online shopping outlets fueled by recommendations from friends who "like" to buy

By Olga Kharif

TECHNOLOGY

Facebook is ramping up efforts to entice companies such as Delta Air Lines (DAL) and J.C. Penney (JCP) to sell wares on its pages and convert more of its 500 million users into online shoppers.

Managers at the Palo Alto (Calif.)-based social network have met in the past month with more than 20 companies, said David Fisch, who runs a newly formed commerce partnerships group at Facebook. The aim is to help retailers set up shop on its pages and build tools that let Web users interact while buying.

Facebook is adding e-commerce features to attract users, keep them logged-on longer, and generate higher advertising sales. The effort may turn the company into an online shopping alternative to retailers such as eBay (EBAY), says Sucharita Mulpuru, an analyst at Forrester Research (FORR). "It's not natural to go to Facebook to shop—yet," says Mulpuru, whose firm is based in Cambridge, Mass. "But it's not a long step."

Fisch's team was set up in November in a division that includes groups focused on gaming and media. "Ultimately, the onus is on my team to prove we can create a lot of value for users," Fisch says. "We hope to see a lot of innovation."

SHOPPING TIPS FROM FACEBOOK FRIENDS
The group is meeting with retailers to help Facebook develop software that lets users solicit advice and product reviews from Facebook friends in real time, even while they're shopping on other sites. Facebook is also building analytic tools to let retailers learn more about who's drawn to certain products, Fisch says.

Facebook now lets users buy in-game products, such as weapons and additional lives, using its Facebook Credits virtual currency that is purchased with real dollars. It has no plans to let consumers use Credits to buy physical products, Fisch says.

Fisch is getting assistance in his e-commerce drive from Alvenda, a Minneapolis-based start-up whose technology helps companies—including shopping site HauteLook and air-travel provider Delta—sell products from Facebook pages. HauteLook opened its Facebook store in November after Delta's opened in August. J.C. Penney this month added features to its Facebook page that let more than 1.38 million fans interact while they buy clothes and other products from the Plano (Tex.)-based retailer.

TURNING PAGES INTO STOREFRONTS
Another startup that helps retailers peddle wares via Facebook is San Francisco-based Payvment, which makes software that can turn Facebook pages into storefronts that accept a credit card or eBay's PayPal online payment service. Payvment has been starting 250 new Facebook retailers daily; that's up 42 percent since August, according to Payvment Chief Executive Officer Christian Taylor. Its stable of more than 40,000 retailers offers more than 750,000 items, including all-natural cosmetics, handmade jewelry, and T-shirts.

Facebook shopping is still tiny. Retailers that use Alvenda reached a daily record of $100,000 earlier this month. That translates to about $1.16 in sales a second. That compares with about $2,000 a second at San Jose-based eBay.

Investors expect social commerce growth to accelerate. Eventbrite promotes events that range from yoga classes to conferences on Facebook and Twitter, directing consumers to its own site to buy tickets. It raised $20 million in October during an investment round led by DAG Ventures. Last month, Payvment got $6 million in a round led by Sierra Ventures. "The goal is to become as big as eBay and Amazon (AMZN)," Vispi Daver, a partner at Sierra Ventures, says in an interview. "Payvment's growth has far surpassed all kinds of expectations."

Payvment, which is still developing its business model, doesn't impose fees on buyers or sellers. Alvenda, on average, charges $5,000 to $10,000 a month for custom Facebook store set-up and maintenance. EBay charges fees for placing an ad and for when an advertised item sells.

TOP RETAIL SITES LINKING TO FACEBOOK
Even sites that compete with Facebook for the attention of Web users are lining up behind its social commerce efforts. More than half of the top 25 retail sites, including eBay and Amazon, have linked their sites to the social network in the past year, Facebook says. Shoppers who go to Amazon.com can log into Facebook and get recommendations for purchases based on their declared tastes in music and movies.

On Nov. 1, eBay rolled out Group Gifts, a way for Facebook friends to chip in together for a gift. Users can also share listings with Facebook friends. "We will continue to add options for integrating shopping into social networks, and sharing listings and other eBay pages," eBay spokeswoman Johnna Hoff says in an e-mail. Seattle-based Amazon didn't return requests for comment.

In three to five years, 10 percent to 15 percent of total consumer spending in developed countries may go through sites such as Facebook, said Mike Fauscette, an analyst at research firm IDC in Framingham, Mass. He says: "There's money in this for all of the players involved."

Kharif is a reporter for Bloomberg Businessweek in Portland, Ore.

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Posted via email from #think: Freddie's posterous

What the hell is this?! Can kids recongize a floppy disk and other electronics 'antiquities'? Fun video

Here is a little wake up call: kids confronted with objects that made today’s electronics world. And as my kids told me: it must have been boring when you were a kid without the ipad, the iphone, the computer, the kinetic...
Was it?

Posted via email from #think: Freddie's posterous

Maurice, tu pousses le bouchon un peu trop loin

Je ne vais pas faire de la publicité à mes concurrents, donc voilà, si vous voulez apprendre à tenir vos lunettes, appelez Maurice, pour de bonnes campagnes je prends  l’appel.  Ceci dit voici un effort qui mérite d’être salué. C’est drôle, sympathique et pas du tout franchouillard.
Et puis je sais que Maurice sera être reconnaissant en mettant sur son blog mes vœux télévisés.

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Inventivity at work in this new music video. Courtesy @isabellemathieu

OK Go, and this time the surprise is to see the name of the group written on a gps made with their friends in this new video. I just love when people play with all of the new digital tools
!

Posted via email from #think: Freddie's posterous

Beautifully told story, almost made me love golf. See storytelling at work in this video

Before you watch it’s for Drambuie. And about golf. So in principle I would not have watched this film. But it’s beautifully told, well made, and made me listen to a golf story for a few minutes. More than I normallywould bear. In fact it’s just a plain human strory well told. The product? It’s there without being there. And I do not know why but tonight, I’m going to have a drambuie (if I can find one), to thank them.

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This year's web phenomenon. Meet the double rainbow man. Did I crywatching the video?

Web phenomenons? Here is one interesting one. It all starts with this video, a camper sees double rainbows, films, and more importantly has just an surreal reaction, crying whimping, for the fun fun go to the 2nd minutes, I have to admit it slightly freaks me out... But it doesn’t stop here because over 21million views later, he starts a real web phenomenon. (more on that after the video)

Now double vereythings start to appear: double cra here with 1,5 million views

Even in video games:

And now over 20 videos with over 500 000 videos relating to the topic, skittles updates its status every other day mentionning him, and the man who did it becomes a network tv star with a name: “double rainbow man”just here:

So unpredictable, the web sure is. What else will we do with double rainbows? I am sure we haven’t heard the last of the ‘double rainbow man’

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the top 10 Viral Ads of 2010, see the people's choice #jwtfr #usguys

	Campaign	Industry	Agency	2010 Views*	Release Date	Watch the Spot
1	Old Spice - Responses	Health & Beauty	Wieden & Kennedy	68,299,955	7/12/10
2	Old Spice - Odor Blocker	Health & Beauty	Wieden & Kennedy	41,633,251	3/31/10
3	Doritos - Crash The Super Bowl 2010	Packaged Food	Goodby Silverstein & Partners	36,544,211	1/5/10
4	Old Spice - The Man Your Man Could Smell Like	Health & Beauty	Wieden & Kennedy	36,357,426	2/4/10
5	Nike - Write the Future	Apparel & Accessories	Wieden & Kennedy	35,219,072	5/15/10
6	DC Shoes - Gymkhana Three	Apparel & Accessories	In-house	22,684,962	8/24/10
7	Old Spice - The Return of The Man Your Man Could Smell Like	Health & Beauty	Wieden & Kennedy	22,437,071	6/29/10
8	Pepsi - Oh Africa	Non-Alcoholic Beverages	N/A	20,239,289	2/27/10
9	Gillette - Perfect Length	Health & Beauty	Jack Morton	18,505,753	6/19/10
10	E-Trade - Super Bowl 2010	Financial Services	Grey	18,425,875	2/1/10

via adage.com

so much talk about 'viral' well, discover the top 10 of this year. A few comments. First the presence of Old SPice which is undoutebly this yea'rs winner, with 4 ads in the top 4. But more importantly, the 1st is the response to everyone's twitter feed, so social media tops the charts.
Second comment, none of these is a cheaply made handycam thingy. Going viral is above all a good idea superbly done. And going viral is all of the above supported by a more than decent media budget.
So skill, execution, with social media built in is what I believe we need to remember, and build on!

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For once I like footballers. Great film, amazingly shot for Smirnoff #usguys

The beauty of this film is that you want to watch it till the end and watch it again, and again. I never saw anything quite like it, and neer looked at football this way.
Must be from a great agency...wonder which...

Enjoy

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This IS an mind blowing site, Just irresistible. Merci @gdevilloutreys! #usguys #jwtfr

Don’t you like it when someone make the effort to amaze you? I do. And I have to say this blew my mind. And I’m pleased to see that the music business has been doing a lot of that latelly, from Cassius and their fantastic phone app, to Arcade Fire on their interactive video taking you back where you grew up.

And now this japanese group takes it one step further, mashing up content from all your social networks. Here is a link to play, enjoy and click during the video. Simply beautiful, inventive and worth the 3 minutes of Japanese rock - a first for me ;))

Beautifully produced and a great experience, enjoy it here, thanks to @gdevilloutreys for sharing this.

http://sour-mirror.jp/index.html

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Three commandments from Steve Jobs, a video worth playing every morning #usguys #jwtfr

Three lessons from the Master Steve Jobs, from a speech given at Stanford University. Three good reasons do do this better, and three reasons to remain a free man or woman.
Not just inspiring, worth reminding yourself everyday before starting work...

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If you see one video today, see this one. I hope it gets to you. BEAUTIFUL!

Have you seen the world’s first viral letter? Or first viral love video I should say. Made by someone who did not want to send it directly to his girlfriend, but wanted her to get it via the power of the web, and people making the web.

A few hundred thousand views letter she finally got it! Watch the video it’s simply fan-tastic!

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See what will happen in 2011 right now. 10 top trends in video. #jwtfr

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Well that's life in HD, when Nokia gets it, we love it! More Youtube possibilities

So they’ve got it at Nokia!! Mind you I would say that since the agency that produced the film is  a really amazing agency called JWTParis ;)) So how does it work? Well go to the player on youtube below and switch between normal and hd and discover what a phone with a HD camera can let you see, and how much better life is like that!!

A film shot by the director of the DuckSauce clip ‘Barbara Streisand’, a must see if you haven’t done that yet. Link below.

Or the film in HD version

And Duck Sauce

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Influencers and Advocates. Why they are different and why you need to know it #usguys

Influencers, Advocates. Are they the same, are they different? Does it matter?

A couple of nights ago I found myself entangled into a tweetbattle with a few of the #usguys crew. Tom Cristian Sylvain all of us debating in 140 characters the differences or not between these two groups.
Cristian came back to the subject with a post yesterday ( http://cristiangonzales.tumblr.com/post/2060584924/the-influence-of-advocates ), and I thought I would give you a point of view of this subject.

Why bother? Well because there are fundamental differences I feel between both, and that the success of digital activities.

INFLUENCERS

Let’s start with influencers. Its best definition would be: people with influence. A easy cop out? No straight logic. Now influence, what would that be? Another definition: the ability to drive people into action.

Ability, to drive people to action. Each word ahs its importance here.

Ability first because it’s not just about talking, it about knowing how to talk. To know when to talk. On twitter for example, when you talk has a great impact on if people will be listening:

So it’s not just about talking it’s having the ability for your message to get people’s attention and to get a reaction. Ghandi, JFK, Martin Luther King were great influencers with incredible ability. Their best equivalent today would probably sadly not be politicial, but more likelly the one and only Steve Jobs. Journalists and some bloggers (who never call themselves influencial...) like the sartorialist,  but also celebrities who have become the key influencers for luxury brands.

To drive: yes influencers are in the driving seat. They decide what people are going to want next. See how luxury brands have been using celebrity: the it bag become it because it’s been worn, and seen worn by just a few people. Our digital world is filled with web celebrities who might not be know to the large public but drive influence. Staying in the luxury world see the sartorialist, or Garance Doré for example.
Important here is not so much the number of followers, although for them to really have influence it will ultimately be important, but the amount of ‘ear and eye ‘ that they get: how much people listen to them and the combined force of followers they get.

To action: yes because ultimately that is how an influencer needs to get measured. And gets measured. What he does builds action. Whatever it is from revolutions to clicks to opinion. An influencer only is one ONLY because he get people to do, think or believe something.

This now is old, but I think is the ultimate demonstration of one influencer managed to influence other influencers to want to influence... Remember this?

So in today’s world influencers are a little like supreme beings, because they are a media to themselves. And you’ll find that a lot of people are now turning this into a business. In a clumsy way very often : I cannot stand to meet people calling themselves ‘influential bloggers’. It’s a little like Kate Moss. I’m not sure she would describe herself as a beautiful model... When you are people know.
Check out these people: www.ctzar.com  An entrepreneur has built a very smart group of influencers that he enrols when they want to in helping launch new projects. Well run, and smart.

And now for ADVOCATES
a person who speaks or writes in support or defense of a person, cause, etc. (usually fol. by of ): an advocate of peace.

Notice that there is no notion of influence at the heart here. It’s about having an interest in supporting, or destroying something. That vested interest might be money or not, just passion or hate.

What is very new here is that advocates have been given tools to influence. For example the H&M case from last Xmas in NYC when they were caught throwing clothes away, or Domino’s Pizza’s now famous ‘cardboard’ reaction. In fact advocates start to have influence when put into groups when 1+1+2+3+1+2 starts to equal millions. These are the users of the like and share button which are their new weapons. They don’t necessarilly have a blog and rarely are seen in people magazines but today their point of view gets influence by combining.

So advocates have found the way to get power, and in that sense everyone advocating has the ability to become for a short time an influencer.

So to conclude, while everyone courts influencers, that they remain a key part of any marketing plan, often actually with a dollar or now euro ticket attached to it, the decade we are entering is the decade of advocates. Because we all have a like button, because the most powerful advertising is one your agency cannot buy. A little like  always really, but only at the power of the web:

For another view, see Mr Brian Solis here:
http://www.briansolis.com/2010/08/please-repeat-influence-is-not-popularity/

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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From digital to real amazement: H&m gets into spectacular projections

I wish I had been there: see the H@M projection for the launch of their new store (courtesy @clachaf )

And for those who had not seen it the RL 4D experience (courtesy @annedoizy ):

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