Frontiering Talk

Consumer Generated Content continues to rise and my prediction is that 2007 will finally see the big brands come out with regular campaigns to engage consumers and in the process allowing consumers to have greater control over the brand message.

One of the big ways this will happen is with Consumer Generated Mixing.
This is where Videos, Pictures and Music is made available to consumers, as well as the tools to Mix the content into a Consumer Generated Mix or Mashup. This is a key step, as it suddenly brings campaigns within reach of anyone with internet access, rather than restricting mashups to knowledgeable video editors.

Some of the online mixing tools include :-
Cuts allows consumers to bring a video, make a cut and then share the cut with other people.
Jumpcut is probably a little more advanced, but also invites consumers to make stuff, edit and share.
Photobucket has just announced a tool that utilises Adobe’s web-based video remix and editing technology

Techcrunch has a more detailed post on the major players in this space.

So now to the brand promotional campaigns using some of these tools ?
Lumines II for the PSP game
Congress in 30 seconds
Nike Soccer

Perspective: Watch this space, as I predict you will see a wave of them in the coming months.

My kids are learning to look up a dictionary .. and my trusty old Oxford dictionary is being pulled out of retirement. I must admit I have been using Internet sites such as Dictionary.com, mostly for it’s Thesaurus function.

So when Techcrunch reported the launch of Word Source today, I thought I would give it a try.

Apart from the absence of ads (which may not last long), what impressed me is the clean web 2.0 look and feel, and some social media utilities such as tagging and linking photos to works. This becomes a useful tool, when you want to grab a picture to describe words. Not many words have pictures yet, and I wonder whether it would have been easier to link this site to Flickr which is a great site to find pictures relating to words. For example, here are Flickr’s photos tagged with the word trust.

Jetblue CEO, David Neeleman has posted a YouTube video, to reach out to customers promising better times ahead. The video has been seen over 25,000 times at time of writing.

Here’s a few of the comments

Dear Mr. Neeleman,
Kudos! There aren’t many CEO’s out there that would take the time to post a genuine apology. This shows how much you truly care about Customers and Crewmembers.
Thanks!

David,indeed you are brave man; facing reality & honesty by communicating directly with your customers. Jetblue is a great company. I am a PM myself, and when situations of this nature occur, I can distinguish the fact that you need sharp and well trained operational/conflict resolution PM’s on the bridge and on the floor. It’s worth the investment; only one more fiasco + your recoup will be costly & difficult. Keep it up, & make a big Jetblue.

Perspective: This is a good example of a semi-unscripted video that appeals because it comes over as a real attempt to engage consumers. Not all the comments are positive .. but at least David has opened up a dialogue to his consumers .. Well Done!

In a move that reminds me very much of the BMW films, Mini is going to lauch a series of short films to advertise the Mini Coop. (not surprising given that Mini is owned by BMW). The movies bring back memories of the Knight Rider .. but are entertaining and engaging.

Mini USA are also planning to run cinema trailers through over 1900 theatres, and will also run print ads in Rolling Stone, Maxim and Men’s Health.

Check the site out at Hammerandcoop.com

Perspective: This is yet another example where marketeers have recognised that content is king. I believe Mini will get a far better return with this technique than running 30 second spots. i just wonder whether they could have implemented a “Consumer Generated Content” contest into the campaign .. as I am sure there will be some clever people making their own version which will of course be on YouTube soon.

Saturday night was the celebration of Chinese New Year both in China and around the world.
Just to show how fast technology is being adopted and used in China, Shanghai celebrated by sending more than 570 million text messages ! Beijing had something like 400 million.

Perspective: That is one large volume for the network providers .. but just goes to show the large potential of the market in China. For example .. could a Flower shop provide animated flower animations that consumers could send to their friend, were brands providing branded Happy New Year ring tones for consumers to use?

From time to time we come across websites which we think fit into the category of “Frontiering”, sometimes because they are utilising new technologies, othertimes they fit the product they are promoting.

Nokia has recently launched a promotional site for the CK-20W gps and music car kit, called The Passenger. Here you get to drive around the streets of Paris, James Bond style and as you do the product’s GPS, phone, and music abilities are demonstrated. “The Passenger” shows real streets, and you do get the feeling of driving through the back streets of Paris. The production of the site is excellent!

The driving footage was shot with a car-mounted camera in all the streets of the Ile de St. Louis over 3 nights in November 2006, with additional scenes filmed at the Tour Eiffel, the Arc de Triomphe and the Heliport de Paris. This innovative video driving experience will be hosted at www.the-passenger.com from February 2007

‘The Passenger’ concept has been developed in conjunction with digital strategy agency Hyper Happen, working with Fuel Industries & Karbon Arc on the game engine build and video production.

Perspective: My only criticism would be that there is no “call to action” allowing the experience to end in the purchase of the product. I am in the market for a handsfree mobile, and found myself wanting the benefits of the GPS and music functions. However, this site is a great example of how the web can be an engaging medium to demonstrate a product and educate consumers on it’s use .. and is sure to help sell the product in the process.

Mytoons which is in private beta is a new Youtube type of video sharing service specialised in animations.

It has the usual social media functions, such as most viewed, top rated, most discussed and most recent etc, and I am sure Tagging will come soon.

Perspective: Whether the market can sustain a dedicated Toon network as opposed to part of the Youtube network. However, if they manage to create conversations and discussions amongst the animation community then I believe there is a place for a niche category like animations.

Tags: Social Network

A new study by Pew Internet has found that over 55% of teens are members of social networks such as Myspace, Facebook, Xanga, etc.

Of those members, half of them visit the sites daily or twice a day to stay in touch with their network of friends. The same number uses these sites to make new friends.

View the report here

Perspective: Social Networking will only increase, and I foresee these virtual social places replacing some of the more traditional ways of catching up with old school friends like reunions. Marketeers must learn how to connect to these networks to communicate their messages which in many cases will require a change in approach.

Tags: Social Network

Facebook , the social networking site that was based around the US yearly college photo books has entered into a partnership with cable tv operator Comcast

Facebook’s 16 million users can make consumer generated videos, and then share them via ziddio.com (which is part of Comcast). Then between Facebook and comcast, they will select some clips to create 10 episodes called the Facebook Diaires. These episodes will be broadcast on Facebook, Ziddio and within the Comcast Video-on-demand.

Perspective: This is a good example of convergance of TV and niche content.
Whether the deal is the first of many for these 2 partners remains to be seen, but I can imagine News Corporation doing something similar with Fox and Myspace around niche content. Backpacking is an example where consumer generated travel stories get compiled into a series.

via tvweek

Tags: Social Network

Rumours emerged today via Techcrunch, that Google may be preparing a clone of Microsoft’s Powerpoint.

Perspective: With Vista’s release last week as well as new versions of Office, it will be interesting to watch how long it takes major business corporations to upgrade. Traditionally the larger the organisation the slower it takes them to justify or upgrade they windows and office upgrades. This is what is so appealing about the online versions such as Writely - the online word processor (which Google acquired).

Here’s a very clever product site, called Push To Start, from Nokia, which will allow you to play games between your right and left hands.

Perspective: The site is entertaining and fun, i wonder why Nokia didn’t create these games as downloadable games for the 6133 they are advertising here.

Well they are if you buy them and air them on tonight’s superbowl, but small companies are getting creative tapping into the occasion without the big expenditure.

Take Meebo .. the online IM service that links up AOL, Yahoo, MSN etc IM clients into one.

They have just posted an ad … in true Superbowl style .. but on Youtube.

It’s a mashup of 2 historical ads, one with Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer , and the other the 1987 VW Golf Ad.

Perspective: Full marks for creativity and with Meembo’s fan base i am sure this ad will get it’s share of viral affect, not only helping them recruit new people (which is what the ad is about), but also generating more users of their product.