Frontiering Talk

Nowpublic.com, a citizen journalism website has secured $10.6 million in funding. This is proof that citizen journalism is now gaining acceptance as a valid media source.

Nowpublic has 100,000 journalists / bloggers of which many of them are unpaid. Some income is being shared with the journalists when stories are on-sold to other news bureaus. For exmample, this years hurricane storm season is being covered by Nowpublic.

Brody, from Nowpublic states “There’s a need for an army of people everywhere seeing, hearing, and reporting everything that’s going on–like a next-generation Reuters. We realized that the breaking news component would increasingly move away from traditional news organizations, so we’ve set up the technology and we’re fostering the community that allows people to break and interact with the news personally.”

Perspective: It’s not only in the US where Citizen Journalism is taking off. Here in Australia PerthNorg is a great example of how consumer generated news content is added, ranked and edited by readers.

Here’s a frontiering idea that takes dining with a view to the extreme. It’s called Dinner in the Sky, where consumers have dinner on a table suspended from a crane.

Perspective: This certainly is one way to create a memorable experience. Make sure you don’t need to go to the bathroom mid way through dinner !

via Springwise

Myspace and Virgin Comix have partnered up to create Coalitioncomix.

Coalition Comix gives users / consumers the ability to partner up with “story master” Mike Carey to create a consumer driven comic book.
Consumer ideas and voting will drive the storyline in a bid to create ground level engagement.

Perspective: It is interesting to see a Myspace site dedicated to consumer generated media, and it is not clear what widgets or sofware will drive the consumer involvment. Nevertheless it is a good play for both Virgin and Myspace … hoping to create a participatory channel for budding comic writers. It will also be interesting to watch niche social networks like Comeeko, which specialises in comic strips in the coming months.

Tags: Social Network

Ever since seeing R2D2 deliver Princess Leia’s 3D image, I have dreamed of the day when delivering presentations could be done in the same way.

Well the EPK Cheoptics 360 has done just that. Check out the video here

Perspective: This brings a whole new range of options for pitching, and one wonders how long it will be until our TV’s will be able to also play things in true 3D. Just like surround sound only visual. (ducks as the helicopter zooms past from behind).

Google in Australia have launched a doodle 4 google competition which encourages school aged kids to design their own Google icon based around an Australian theme.

Consumers will have a chance to vote for their favourite entries, and the overall winner will have their doodle featured on the Google Australia homepage on Australia Day 2008.

Perspective: This is a nice touch by Google to promote their business with schools and also to encourage participatory consumer generated media.

Update: here’s a youtube video of Australian kids talking about the contest

Sony has turned Grouper which is bought last year for $65 million into a breeding ground for premium Consumer Generated Content.

The site is called Crackle, and it aims to be a place where new talent is discovered. Submissions for contests will be judged both by other consumers and by a team of editors. There are over 1000 submissions in place, and Sony has even created it’s own department called Crackle Studios to create segments for the site.

According to the site, they also have advertising opportunities.

Perspective: I think this is a good initiative by Sony. As the online video space starts to broaden, I can see niches developing, and the way in which advertisers connect with content providers will change.

Would you like fries with that .. just got bigger.

McDonalds are offering Australian consumers the change to name their next burger with a very clever promotion.

The campaign will be advertised heavily on TV .. and will show a fictitious burger naming legend, known as “Ken Thomas”, retiring as Chief Burger namer . and handing the responsibilities to a younger generation.

Perspective: I think it’s great to involve consumers in marketing, whether it be for innovation, research or diffusion of the message. This promotion will work, in part because of the TV investment. Watch for future campaigns of this nature to ignite using social networks such as Myspace and Facebook.

Update: .. as at Wednesday 18th July this promotion has had 24,100 entries

Tags: Social Network

As a follow up to it’s successful Consumer Generated Ad competition that Doritos ran for the US Superbowl (Crash the Superbowl), it is now asking for XBOX game ideas that reflect the Doritos brand. 5 finalists will have prototypes of their game ideas produced by Microsoft and they will be showcased on the snackstrongproductions.com website. The direct link is Unlockxbox.com.

An example idea from the site is called Hoopdreams .. and is described on the site as …

Hoop Dreamz is about a young male trying to make it to the NBA. He has the choice of becoming a NBA hoop star or a Street ball King. He is torn in between his friends advice to stay out in the streets or take the advice of people in high places. This game gives you the choice to complete the street ball king version or the NBA version but, with each version comes a string of hardships and obstacles you have to overcome. It even lets you create your own wardrobe shoes and all. In both versions with each game you win you earn respect and win money. With money you can buy a new wardrobe given the choice of footlocker or finish line. You can even create more new shoes….and when your respect reaches its high point you can unlock different items . In this game other players can challenge you whether it be a dunking contest or a 3 point shootout. Each version has a different ending so to find out you’ll have to allow me to create the game.

You can view the list of gameideas here. 1650 games ideas have been submitted so far. Cleverly, Doritos has provided images for game idea developers to use.

Developers will then work with the eventual winner to build a full version of their game idea.

Perspective: It’s great to see everyday food brands releasing some control over their branding communication and allowing consumers to take the lead on this. Video games are also an increasingly important advertising channel for a generation that is turning their attention away from TV in favour of the internet social networks, gaming and mobile phones.

Tags: Social Network

Joining social networking and the popular game of chess is Chesspark, which runs the game in a flash interface, but also includes many social networking elements that no doubt encourage it’s visitors to keep coming back.

Perspective: Social niche networks like this will continue to grow, and Advertisers won’t be far behind. Determining which products to sell to these demographics is one challenge, but I believe specialised new product categories will emerge that directly target these niches such as customised chess boards.

Tags: Social Network

Interesting and simple site that spins what you draw creating interesting patterns.

Reminds me of what it would be like to spin string on a clay potters wheel.

The Washington Post reports of a new market for managing your online image.

The article states

Google’s ubiquity as a research tool has given rise to a new industry: online identity management. The proliferation of blogs and Web sites can allow angry clients, jealous lovers or ruthless competitors to define a person’s identity. Whether true or not, their words can have far-reaching effects.

It’s enviable that these services will emerge with the demand from high profile and high paying clients.

Perspective: so where does Search engine optimisation stop and online identify management take over? Just like any media .. there is good and bad coverage. I am not sure this is a new industry at all .. i think this is something that good PR firms are already doing.

So you’ve taken over a leading beer brand from the 50s, 60s and 70s which now has earnt the nickname “Nasty Gansett”.
How do you resurrect a brand when you don’t have a large bucket of cash to throw at the usual advertising channels?

Use Word of Mouth marketing of course !

Mr. Hellendrung shown in the picture above, bought the rights for the Narragansett brand from Pabst Brewing Co. in 2005. He then started to revie the famous brand and start to build some differentiations from the large national brands.
He has done this by creating a nostalgia connection to the brand, which has both attracted new consumers and restored the loyalty of those who remembered it. His first step was to hire the original brew master to restore the taste of the product to what it was.

Word of mouth is cheaper than conventional advertising, but takes more time. Mr. Hellendrung took his product to many bars and clubs and personally convincing the bar tenders and owners to taste the new brand. “We may not reach as many people, but we develop passionate relationships,” he says.

The results?
The beer was bringing in $100k in turnover when he bought the brand, and it is expected to do $5 million this year.

PErspective: This is a great example of the patience required to build a brand with Word of Mouth. Sure it does take a little more time than putting a large TV campaign together, but the rewards are enormous loyalty and steady growth that removes you from reliance on future tv campaigns.

Tags: WOM