What I've learned so far

Here's a snippet from Wikinomics, which I'm reading in order to be more compelling in my daily life.
I've learned that companies need to open up and share. That's basic. But here's 5 points that make it make sense :
-"[Allowing people to get into your company's guts creates] the rapid diffusion of best-practice techniques and standards;
-the stimulation of new technological hybrids and recombinations
-the availablity of 'just in time' expertise and increasingly powerful tools for conducting research;
-faster positve feeback cycles from public knowledge to private enterprise, enabled by more nimble industry-university networks;
-and increasingly horizontal and distributed models of research and innovation, including greater openness of scientific konowledge, tools and networks" (page 156)

People want to be involved with your company's product-- the authors of Wikinomics remind us that:
"there are systems of value other than, or in addition to, money, that are very important to people: connecting with other people, creating an online identity, expressing oneself--and not least, garnering other people's attention." That is, if you want them to volunteer their time to make your product/offering better for all, give them credit, at least. (page 206)

Ill report more findings as I find them.

Award shows are relevant, dammit! Volume 2

Last night, R/GA took home the top prize, "The Grandy" (and a championship ring) at the International Andy Awards. The winning piece--in the pool with the Skittles TV campaign (TBWA\NY) and the Safe Happens Integrated campaign (CP+B)-- was NikePlus.

This is HUGE people.

The Andy's Jury recognized that this is the next step in advertising--collaboration. I've been preaching it since I started reading Wikinomics--but collaboration and community are where it's at.
R/GA and Nike developed this product together. From the beginning. It's not like Nike delivered some shoes with iPods and said "hey sell this." No, they sat down--agency and client--and built a product around an idea, from the ground up, together. And the results were amazing. As for community, the premise of the whole product was built around community. You upload your runs, and view other runners stats, share routes, have time races, and support of all kinds. From the shoes, to the iPod that tells you how you're doing, to the website and widgets that you use to keep track, to the other users who become your friends supporters, you live with this product. Its compelling content at its finest.

CGC Parameters: A step forward

I like what I read in AdFreak about Cuervo's new site that creates a video chain of people taking shots of the NightEnder known as tequila. What's compelling about this is the guidelines--start the video getting the bottle from your right offscreen, take the shot, pass it to your left offscreen, keep it under 10 seconds. Its great that the creatives thought of giving direction to make a truly collaborative "shot chain" that syncs itself. When given complete freedom, people will give soooo many varieties of the assignment--which is great, but not for an engaging stretch of time. Also, everyone is going to watch this thing to see themselves, so they have to watch the whole thing. Its a well planned execution. I also think its cool we can see people actually drinking the product, unlike in TV and Print.

Last Night's News

Saw this car chase. Pretty funny. Not compelling content, but good advertising nonetheless. Thanks to AdFreak for the story.

Second Life is not washed up

They say its losing steam. The problem is that the community doesn't take kindly to transplanted marketing. That is, when a company just puts up billboards in SL and doesn't really offer any incentive for visiting its island--then nobody visits. Btw, this rant is inspired.
One attempt was by Nissan who let Avatars play with remote controlled cars on its island. The problem is that you can't take it with you. Why not? I should be able to keep the remote controlled car and drive it around any other islands. That way, when other avatars see it they can say "hey I want one," and I'll say, go to Nissan island, they're giving em away." Also, every time one of those cars bumps into someone, that's data... the car can report who interacted with it, who is where at what time...but alas this is not the case, it lives on the Nissan island, and no one cares. Marketers can harness Second Life if they stop trying to recreate real world campaigns that don't offer utility. Utility. Look it up.

This might work

So, I watched some Joost this weekend. Some of the shows didn't work, but hey, it's beta. But the programs I did see were high quality video and good production value (storyline, etc.). But who's paying for it? Garnier (shampoo people) are responsible for Fight TV, as far as I can tell. They had a "brought to you by Garnier " CG at the beginning, and then the show started. Now, one problem is that shampoo and fighting don't match, so I wasn't compelled by the sponsorship. And, there was a commercial break in the middle of the show. Only one :30 spot. So I think this might work--it was too short to fast forward through, just long enough for me to get the message. So I think that's how it should go--one sponsor, one commercial--no harm done. Let's just hope that the sponsor to content relationship is a little more understandable in the future, ok Joost?

Stay Tuned

So I just got an invite from Alex, the Wired Jester, to beta test Joost. I am excited to explore this platform. Check out the ad, its good. I will be sharing my insights shortly. Also, I want to comment on the idea of letting people beta test. I'm sure that's old news. But I'm not usually a person who runs into those types of invites... so there must have been tons out there, and I'll gladly take part in the conversation. Good prelaunch marketing: give people your product. Duh.