Digital Hive

Making sense of the fashion world

Are you as confused as I am about what fashion is all about? Leave it to the WSJ to plot it all on a 2x2 matrix. Check out the WSJ.com's interactive graphic (reg. req'd.) evaluating fashion week's recent looks (still shot above).

A simple way to tease an interesting story out of a category that's sometimes a challenge to make sense from.

A build for next tiime: integrate more of a POV - make one of the axes "must buy" vs. "must avoid" so readers can just print this thing out and take to store and know what to try on. Now that's marketing as a service!

I figured a fashion-oriented posting from Milan would make sense. For you fashionistas out there here are some "latest spring looks" from Milan's shop windows (click to enlarge).

Second Life losing luster as marketing property

Finally the voice of reason on Second Life. Check out this interesting AdWeek article about what Second Life's users really think about the marketing on the site.

Interesting findings:

• More than 70 percent of the site's users say they are disappointed with the marketing that goes on in Second Life
• Second Lifers have become skeptical of marketing on the site
• 42 percent of all respondents doubted companies would actually put much follow-up effort into their site presence beyond putting up a storefront

Another interesting finding - the actual number of Second Life's regular users is far lower than what they had expected. Linden Labs - the site's creators - and the media have made much of the site's 3 million users. However, the number of people who use the site regularly is probably a tenth of that total, according to the tech news service CNet. Curiously - Linden Labs has not responded to questions on the topic.

Engaging the engaged

It is challenging to engage a mass audience - different styles, tastes, preferences, etc. But how about an already engaged audience? Musicians generally have some amount of rabid fan base always on the lookout for news, gossip or photos. I recently heard that Madonna's site is getting upwards of 3 to 4 million hits per month in what is a essentially a "down" time for her - no album, no tour.

The Tori Amos "machine" is ramping up for the promotion of her new album "American Doll Posse." Tori released a voice message on her site today:

Hey there, this is Tori. So by now you may have heard about American Doll Posse. I wanted to officially introduce you to the girls. They will all be going on tour. We're out shopping right now, and I can't keep a-hold of a-one of them. They'd love to get to know you; they've all heard so much about you. You can look for them online. They will all be accessible if you can find their blogs, which they update frequently. Instead of an Easter egg hunt this season, I'm hosting a Posse hunt. Happy hunting.

So, her 5 personae each have a blog hidden in the blogosphere. Fan are already on the hunt and I'm guessing will be regularly reading and discussing 5 new blogs in the not so distant future. I'm sure there will be bragging rights for finding one of the blogs first. And don't forget about all the blogging about the blogs.(And what about the blogs blogging about the blogs blogging about the blogs!)

Five channels through which to learn about Tori. Five channels for her marketing team to buzz the new album.

Very, very clever.

Thoughts?

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/

Rock the Internet

I love rocking the Internet.  A great idea from whoever is promoting the new Tenacious D Movie.  This site lets you play with the whole Internet - while having a fun Tenacious D experience. Aside from the brilliance of turning the entire World Wide Web into your playground, there are some other smart ideas making the experience engaging:

1) People are recognized for being the first to "rock" a site, encouraging you to find a cool site nobody's hit yet.

2) You're told how many people have already rocked any site.  This can make you feel special by showing that you're part of a large group (I was one of many who wanted to rock cnn.com) or make you feel extra special by showing that you're part of a small group (I was one of the few fans of toothpastefordinner.com).  It adds another engaging fascination - a curiosity regarding how many others have rocked any particular sites you like.

3) The very nature of the creative output lends itself to being shared.  I can rock out my friends' websites and blogs and send my custom "rocked" versions of their own pages to them. Check out my rocked version of Digital Hive.

Be sure to check out the true-to-brand disclaimer.  My only complaint is that the email-a-friend tool doesn't seem to be working right now.  They should get that fixed...

What do you make of the new James Bond?

The box office results are in - the dancing penguins beat the new James Bond this weekend, but just by a beak (or was it a flipper?). However, the quantitative researcher in me must qualify that report with an important detail: Casino Royale was on fewer screens than Happy Feet, and on an average revenue per screen basis Casino Royale was actually the winner.

Numbers aside, what interested me was how different this Bond is. He gets angry, grows despondent over the death of a paramour who's done him wrong (don't worry, I'm not giving the plot away), even breaks into his boss's elegant Thames-front flat (BTW, who knew M was married?). At this early point in his career (Casino Royale is apparently the opening salvo in Ian Fleming's series) Bond isn't suave, effete and elitist, he's in the fray, all on his own (where's Q?). A dark character in many ways. Reconciled to the danger of his work, but not yet mature enough to find humor in it.