Google Debuts Super Bowl Ad on YouTube

8 02 2010

Companies and brands spend millions on creativity and airtime to secure the audience and all round PR value of a TV advertising spot during the Super Bowl.  In fact it was a tech company that created the craze for high concept ads in the breaks during transmission. In 1984 Apple introduced the Macintosh to the world during the Super Bowl with an ad directed by Ridley Scott.

No surprise then that Google chose this sporting event to launch its first ever TV ad, called Parisian Love.  Well, sort of.  In fact Google first launched the TV ad on YouTube, a service which it incidentally owns.   

A greater example of the blurring of boundaries between conventional and digital channels it would be hard to find.   This was one of a series of short videos that Google launched on YouTube a few months ago.  It was the positive reaction in that channel that prompted Google chiefs to air at during the big game. “It’s had such a positive reaction on YouTube, that we decided to share it with a wider audience” blogged Google CEO Eric Schmidt.  So in effect the decision to air this ad was at least in part, crowd sourced.

Whilst the concept is imaginative, a love story told with search terms, the execution is far from big budget, in fact it is a series of screen shots from the world’s favourite search engine.

Moreover this is a text book example of how offline media fuels online. Take a look at the YouTube stats. (to see the latest click here and then on the video page click on the Statistics & Data drop down menu below the clip.)  The video took  three months to gain a million views and then added another half a million overnight when the ad aired. 

Not many compared with the 100 million that view the Super Bowl on TV, but it is still early days for social media.


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Categories : Media evolution, TV

Video leak of the New Apple Tablet

27 01 2010

 


This video has been on Youtube for a month without generating a massive amount of interest but just hours before the Apple tablet launches it has been recieving thousands of hits because it looks very much like it might be the real deal. A couple of days ago it became clear that Apple had tested a new iPhone OS and there was much speculation that this would be the basis to the tablet.

If the video clip is genuine it makes it clear that this is the case. That means the iPhone App store named here as the Web Wonder of the last decade will become even more of a powerhouse in this one.


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Categories : Uncategorized

The Death of Demographics

25 01 2010

3d pie chartThe advent of social media marketing and PR marks the beginning of the end for the use of demographics in targeting consumers.

The PR agency that I work for was recently appointed to conduct an on-line PR campaign for a major brand in the DIY sector.  The target online media list was rigorously profiled and we identified people who might readily be interested in the product.  We were then asked to check whether the demographics of the target blogs, forums and sites was in line with the target market for the product.  Demographic data is now available from sites like Alexa.com. So we did it.

I wonder however what the value of this really is.  Demographics are about getting closer to your target audience but it is an imprecise science.  The holy grail in marketing is the aquisition of ethnographic data.  Ethnographics are holistic covering the places where people live, what they do for a living, what they eat and drink, their customs, language and culture.  In social networks we can build an accurate ethnographically detailed picture of our target audience based on what they do and what interests and excites them.  Whatever part of the social spectrum they might come from the fact is that they have shown an interest in a relevant area.  That’s an insight more powerful than any generalisation based on class, sex, race or place.


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Categories : Brands, Marketing

Top 10 Web Wonders of the 2000s

18 01 2010

 

The Final List

  1.  Apps for iPod
  2.  Facebook
  3.  Twitter
  4.  Spotify
  5.  YouTube
  6.  Wikipedia
  7.  Flickr
  8.  MySpace
  9.  Digg
  10. WordPress

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Categories : Top Ten

Top 10 Web Wonders of the Decade #1

18 01 2010

This blog’s number one web wonder of the decade isn’t Facebook or Twitter, it isn’t even a web site in its own right but it is changing the way we communicate, shop, find our way around and engage on-line. 

The next decade will be all about mobile and the iPhone will no longer corner the market. In fact users of the Nexus One ‘Google phone’ are already hailing it as a better device within days of the launch but for now the future is already here and it is being powered by iPhone apps.

Number 1: Apps for iPhone

The iPhone app store (as it is better known) is the place to go to turn your iPhone or iPod touch into anything from a classic drum machine to a fully featured GPS system.  You can manage your money, decide what to eat (in or out) communicate through social networks and even calculate your gas bill.  As the marketing says, there are “apps for everything”.  In a sense you could say that the app store is number one in the poll because it gives you access to all the top ten via your phone.     

You can drink a virtual pint of beer, plan and monitor a diet programme, have your tweets read out by your phone or even update your blog straight from the mobile.  Many of the apps are entirely free with most of the others priced in pence rather than pounds (or cents/dollars if you prefer).  These micro payments are the most likely way forward for web media to monetize its content.   Get set for the top ten apps of the teenies.


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Categories : Media evolution, Top Ten

Top 10 Web Wonders of the Decade #2

13 01 2010

It may be the number one social network on the planet and the second most visited site after Google but it misses the number one spot on our list of web wonders from the last decade.

Number 2: Facebook

Facebook  currently has more than 350 million active users worldwide.  It is probably also the world’s most valuable web property.  Eighteen months ago BusinessWeek valued the business between $3.75 billion and $5 billion  based on reported that private sales of stock and purchases by venture capital firms.  Despite all of this it wasn’t until September last year that Facebook enjoyed a positive cash flow.

When it was launched in 2004, access was initially limited to students in the US and the public roll out wasn’t until 2006, and it would take another year for Facebook to roll out globally.  The ubiquity of the most powerful of social networks has been achieved in little more than three years.  While the growth of twitter seems to have stalled of late Facebook use keeps on climbing.   According to data from Nielsen this month for the third month in succession Facebook has seen an increase in the number of U.S. users and the amount of time spent on site whilst Microsoft, Yahoo, AOL, and even Google all witnessed a decline in users during November.

Facebook has become so ingrained in our culture that the very name has evolved into use as a verb; “I’ll facebook you later”.  So if Facebook is the world’s number two website and the number one, Google is ineligible for this top ten list (because it launched in the 1990s), the what could be the number one web wonder of the decade?  Stay tuned.


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Categories : Facebook, Top Ten

Guido Builds Kids Sledge Shock

10 01 2010

I’m often intrigued by the humanizing aspect of twitter.  Guido Fawkes, he of the Order Order blog is often portrayed by as part of some lunatic fringe but today he used twitter to talk about building a sledge for his kids:

Immensely satisfying afternoon, building wooden sledge, painting sledge, pulling kids on sledge. Tip : use carpet rails for runners.

In the past Guido hasn’t used twitter for much other than pointing people in the direction of his blog (much as SocialWebPR does).  However his occasional musing give a better sense of who he is.  It never fail to be amaze me,  just how much of a person’s character can be unmasked in just 140 characters.


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Categories : Blogs and blogging, Politics, Twitter

New Book Review

8 01 2010

Victoria Tomlinson, CEO of Northern Lights PR has posted a new review of the book:

“Rob Brown’s book, Public Relations and the Social Web, is packed with information, ideas and thoughts for both the novice and the expert in this area.  Although aimed specifically at those working in PR, I am going to recommend this to our clients – it is a very good overview of what’s going on and how businesses can use it.”

You can read the review in full on the Northern Lights blog here.


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Categories : Reviews

Top 10 Web Wonders of the Decade #3

7 01 2010

twitter-inq1-facebook-phoneIt was the social media sensation of 2009 making the cover of Time Magazine and it makes number three in our list of the most important web phenomena of the last decade.

Number 3: Twitter

The success of Twitter  in under four years is astounding.  Last March Nielsen ranked Twitter as the fastest growing social network with a monthly growth of 1,382 percent.

Alongside the startling growth it has changed the rules in so many areas. It has altered the way we consume news – stories can be tracked instantly and direct from the source; we have seen this starkly with post election protests in Iran and the terrorist attacks in Mumbai.

Twitter changes the rules for ’search’ by delivering a  human component.  Google has recognized this and in the last few weeks added live twitter results to its front page returns for a multitude of queries.

Twitter can be a social network but the potential reach is well beyond the real world proxies for friends and colleagues offered by Facebook and LinkedIn.  One of its many functions is that of an ‘introduction engine’ opening the way to bulding new contacts and relationships.

The real beauty of Twitter is that is isn’t a web site, many people prefer to use twitter clients like Tweetdeck, Seesmic or Hootsuite, its a new medium like SMS was or before that the phone.  We can use it in a host of different ways.  Some say that it is a flash in the pan like Seconds Life or Bebo. I think that is unlikely – it’s a bit like saying “the telephone? That’ll never catch on.”


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Categories : Uncategorized

Top 10 Web Wonders of the Decade #4

6 01 2010

As we hurtle towards the top spot on the list of web wonders of the decade the contenders have all been genuine game changers for the way that we work, rest and play.

Number 4: Spotify

Just now and then a piece of technology brings with it a genuine bacon sandwich dropping moment, an experience that messes with the laws of nature.  I remember one such revelation the first time I paused live TV (with TiVo).   Spotify provided another.  I was able to call up music that I didn’t own, for free, add it to a playlist (of other tunes that I hadn’t bought)  in a player that looked and felt great to use. What’s more I could listen to it whenever I wanted.  Legally.  The highs just got higher when the premium phone version was launched a few months ago.

For those still uninitiated, and the service has only been around for a year, Spotify is a music streaming service that allows immediate access to instant listening to tracks or albums that you call up.  Music can be browsed by artist, album or record label.  It is currently only available in a handful of European countries but for users it changes the way the listen to (and pay for music).  If you want to own the track you can still buy it directly from the player.

As well as being a peer-to-peer based streaming service users can also share playlists with other users.  If you fancy it check the playlist for this blog via the link in the top menu bar.


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Categories : Social Web, Top Ten

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