Digital Hive

The Polygamous Marriage- Connection Planning

This past week I had the chance to attend the inaugural Connection Planning conference in New Orleans.  Many others have blogged about it, so I won't repeat them here, but of course I echo the many thanks to the ringleaders at Trumpet.  (see http://garethkay.typepad.com/brand_new/2007/10/the-wedding-day.html, http://www.polygamousweddings.com/blog/)  But, I do want to share how inspiring it was to see and hear that we at Digitas really "get it".  Jeff Flemings and I ventured to establish what "connection planning" meant in the digital space and for Digitas nearly 12 months ago.  After listening to some inspiring thoughts by real innovators like Lisa Seward and John King, I was thrilled to walk away from the conference thinking Connection Planning at Digitas is right on track.

While many agencies are using Connection Planning as a means to advanced, creative media planning, at Digitas, we've brought Connection Planning upstream as a means to inspire big creative marketing ideas.  We mine for insights about reaching our consumers, integrating into their lives, leveraging influencers and creating brand evangelism and combine them with traditional Account Planning insights.  In doing so we're fueling creative marketing ideas from the beginning with insights around both context and content.  In the digital space this is a key distinction, since every client deliverable could come to life in infinite ways based on the unique context of the space.

The conference appeared to be a big success, so I'm looking forward to the second annual event next year! 

Bud TV is a bust so far, man

Check out this fantastic post about BudTv's woeful success from Millward Brown's Nigel Hollis, which echoes many of the comments made here by Jake Garber a few months ago. Apparently the site is achieving a mere 10% of its forecast visitors.

No surprise when you consider it's a closed community that's near impossible to register for stocked with marginally amusing content (at least according to a focus group conducted by Millward Brown).

He cites a comment from Jackson West at newteevee.com that BudTv's content is forcibly viral by committee (fantastic turn of phrase, BTW).

The damning truth: "But apart from the reaction to the content, there is a fundamental mismatch between Bud.TV’s presentation style and the interactive experience many younger people are looking for online: it doesn’t offer a sense of discovery or a means of self-expression." Great insight - which I'm guessing Bud wishes they'd thought of.

Will be interesting to see where this thing goes..........My bet is - they open it up to non-registered users and put all the stuff (the better stuff, perhaps), on YouTube, etc.

CPG brand actually cedes control

Who would have thunk it?  A consumer goods product, truly ceding control to their consumers...

Dorito's got tons of hype with their consumer-generated Super Bowl ad and actually ended up with arguably good ads.  Lo and behold, they've continued down the path of innovative marketing by inviting consumers to decide which new limited edition chip flavor will survive.  The idea of voting for a new product flavor or color isn't new (M&Ms, Crest, etc.) but actually releasing the product (and investing in R&D) is.  By doing so, they're encouraging immediate trial and consumer engagement with the brand in order to "fight for the flavor".

It will be interesting to see how engaged the Dorito's consumer becomes.  Check it out.www.snackstrongproductions.com 

BlogHer Business Conference March 22 & 23

I'm so excited! I'm headed to BlogHer Business Conference in New York City March 22 & 23. There is a cocktail meet-up on Wednesday evening March 21st and I'm planning to hook up with the fabulous Toby Bloomberg of Diva Marketing Blog and Marketing Profs (and a featured panel moderator) and Christina Kerley (CK!) of Marketing Profs and the CK-Blog, Lewis Green of Marketing Profs and L&G Business Solutions, Valeria Maltoni of Conversation Agent and maybe some additional special guests.

I am massively, totally excited about this conference.  There are a number of interesting sessions scheduled over the two conference days. I'll report in during the event. Here are some of the questions that we'll be pondering in NYC in a couple of weeks:

Kudos to NBC (gasp!)

NBC announced earlier this week it has created a bevy of interactive extensions for its breakout hit series Heroes.  Kudos to the traditional media outlet for embracing a "pull" approach to engaging the viewers who are as passionate about Heroes as many were initially about Lost. It also shows a solid understanding of how to engage the Heroes audience-- younger, affluent viewers who have grown up with three screens.

http://www.nbc.com/Heroes/

Finally, it's all about me

TV watching online-- promising?

New numbers are out from TNS and the Conference Board regarding the number of consumers who watch TV content online.  This article couches the numbers as "only 1 in 10" web users are watching shows online.  I actually would argue that it hasn't been that long that a plethoria of programs have been available online.  Given the newness of the trend, 1 in 10 ain't that bad...

In another year, the numbers could be significantly higher. That's why these outlets are called "emerging" media.

http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.san&s=50166&Nid=24558&p=375266

Taking local search to a whole new place

Thanks to Springwise for turning us onto this one:

"London buses will soon carry the world's first GPS advertising. Yell.com has retained 25 buses outfitted with digital LED panels that will show messages matching the bus's geographical position.

Yell.com is using the GPS panel system as part of a five-month campaign to raise awareness of its local search facility. Besides intelligent buses, the campaign (developed by AKQA) also includes knowledgeable bus shelters: interactive screens on bus shelters will highlight local shops, restaurants and bars and help users find their way."

Click on the visual to get a better look at exactly how this works.

What a cool way to give consumers exactly what they need when and where they need it. A wonderful way of bringing search functionality out of the PC and into the consumer's life on the city street.

Spinning out of (network) Control?

Last week in a meeting with Bear Sterns, David Poltrack, CBS Chief Research Officer and President of CBS Vision, reasserted that DVRs are actually a good thing for advertisers. "For the big shows--the most popular shows--it's quite feasible that there'll be more delivery of advertising exposures than they have now--even discounting for all the fast forwarding."  Poltrack claims that the DVR playback of these shows will actually increase current ratings by roughly 4 percent.  He went on to say with the proliferation of DVRs in US households, it will actually translate to higher commercial ratings for networks to sell to advertisers. 

Sounds like a rather rosy scenario for the TV networks.  And if you're shaking your head, I'm with you. 

As a DVR user, when watching shows in "playback" or "time-shifted", I always skip the commercials.  In talking with other DVR users, I know they do the same. 

Bawdy Office Humor Site...coming soon to a computer near you

Following up on my earlier postings referencing the daytime surfing/nightime viewing behavior of most consumers these days, it's worth mentioning Time Inc.'s efforts to break new ground in the online space, through a site focused on bawdy office humor. (I'll also note that this feels like it's capitalizing on the success of The Office.) The site, called officepirates.com hasn't launched yet, but the effort is being lead by Mark Golin, "the editor credited with making Maxim magazine a success in the late 1990s with a beer-and-babes formula imported from the United Kingdom." Not surprisingly, the target is primarily young working men, whose impulses to share crude humor or off-color content among colleagues and friends have been stiffled by increasingly watchful IT departments.   

While it's not likely I'll be frequenting the site,  it's still worth noting the trend highlighted in the WSJ article on the topic: "Web sites like Office Pirates offer a new "prime-time" slot for advertisers. Ads traditionally reached the general public after the workday, but the Internet has changed that." Forget soap operas and day-time talk shows as the narrow daytime outlet. These days, 9-5 is the new advertising frontier.  Read WSJ article