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I know I haven't been posting much lately, so feel free to follow me on Twitter: twitter.com/brettbarash

Social Media Eduction

The British government wants to make social media a permanent part of the education system, and it is proposing teaching Twitter in primary schools to help accomplish this goal. Students will also learn blogging, podcasting, and the use of Wikipedia.

Source: “Please, Sir, How Do You Re-Tweet?” UK.TechCrunch.com, 03.25.09.

The right way to build a brand website

I've been working with our traditional advertising teams a lot lately, trying sell in the idea of rich online experiences. I know...it's not 1998, but yes, I still have to sell that in to some of our teams.

The best way I've been able to approach the subject is from the consumer marketing lifecycle. A lot of our advertising, from print, ooh, tv, online, etc., is strictly awareness. Then, we drive consumers directly the retail website, asking them to make a purchase. We skip the entire "consideration" phase:



The online channel can give consumers a chance to spend more time with the brand, ultimately pulling them through consideration and into purchase. If you don't allow consumers to spend time understanding why they need your product or service, you're nothing more than a used car salesman. Here's our product...now BUY IT!!!

By leveraging the power of the web, and creating visually stunning interactive experiences that help drive your message through to consumers, you're ultimately pulling more through consideration into purchase, and I believe your marketing dollars are being put to work.

Augmented Reality is Getting Old

But here's some recent examples:
http://www.boffswana.com/news/
http://www.notcot.com/archives/2009/01/legos_digital_b.php
http://ge.ecomagination.com/smartgrid/#/augmented_reality
http://vimeo.com/3039134

So far, I think Lego has the best use of AR. I'm sure we'll see more brands introduce applications over the next few months.

My agency did some research that showed us that almost 50% of consumers now have a webcam, either built into their computer, or as a stand-alone device. That number is growing everyday, as most laptops now have them built in.

Super Bowl Ads

I'm particularly interested in this year's ads, not only to see some clever, witty tv spots, but how they integrate digitally. I'll be curious to see how many spots lead to an online presence so that consumers can spend more time than the :30 spot.

More to come next week...

Brands That Tweet

Link Here

Twitter as a direct sales tool

An article on Reuters today says that Dell has sold over $500,000 worth of refurbished PC's on Twitter. This is the first time I've really seen Twitter used as a direct sales channel, but clearly successful. Dell has numerous Twitter accounts:

Dell on Twitter link

Election Coverage

A friend of mine had a good point...this is the first true election in the social web. I'm flipping my tv back and forth between CNN, CNBC, and ABC...with 4 browser windows open (Facebook, cnn.com, Twitter, and Gmail). Can you imagine a time when people had to wait until the next morning to find out any results? In a few elections, we'll be saying the same thing about not being able to hear people's comments and expressions live through social media.

When will the next big brand put together a great social media campaign?

MTV's Hulu

I keep reading about how MTV's new site, mtvmusic.com is a copy off Hulu. The video player is similar, but it's really just using best practices that work on Hulu. I really like the site...and the ability to view thousands of videos, and embed them:

Ryan Adams |MTV Music

LinkedIn Applications

Great idea, but doesn't work on Safari...really? Come on LinkedIn.

I tried using the MyTravel application, which could be very useful, especially considering how much travel I've been doing lately. But, I'm not willing to use another browser just for that app.

http://blog.linkedin.com/blog/2008/10/announcing-appl.html

Candidates Using the Web

Not even intentional, but this video is spreading all over the web (hulu, youtube, blogs, etc.) less than 24 hours after airing. Think this will change some votes? I do...

Nike Football Does it Again

Amazing:

Social Media - Who Does it Well Part 3

Starbucks created an invitation to customers, allowing them to work together to craft better products, services, and experiences. My Starbucks Idea



Taking a page from Dell's Ideastorm website, they allow customers to submit their feature and product requests. With Dell, this resulted in a Linux box being introduced, which was a drastic change from their long term relationship with Microsoft.

On mystarbucksidea.com, users can:
See the top rated ideas
Submit their own ideas
See which ideas get taken up and become products on the blog

Since launching, Starbucks has seen many of these ideas put into action, and it has created an increased dialogue between them and their customers.

Hyatt's Social Media - Yatt'it

When flying into NY last night, I saw a giant billboard at LaGuardia for Yatt'it. Yatt'it is Hyatt's social media platform. I haven't had a chance to review it in detail, but it's nice to see a brand spending offline media dollars to drive to an online social media site.

My Mad Men Experience

I joined a new agency this week, and I'm spending the first two weeks in the New York office. The agency, one of the largest in the world, is about a block away from Madison Avenue, but it's my first true big agency/mad men experience. I don't typically write about my current work, so I'll leave our clients out of this post.

Prior to this, I've really only worked for what I would consider boutique digital shops. Even a few years ago, I worked for a shop that was acquired by Publicis, and is now over 300 people, but still is a digital only shop.

So, what's it like here? It really is similar to a slightly more modern Mad Men. The office isn't that cool...it's very old style, with cubes and offices all around. We take up 5 floors in a huge skyscraper. Not a lot of views...the offices that do have them can only really see the other buildings around them.

Account and creative sit in separate areas...separate floors really. It's not a trendy office, like you'd expect. I've worked in really cool spaces, and even visited some amazing offices, like Advertising City at Chiat/Day in LA. Those are more modern than the true Madison Avenue agencies. But, to me, what separates the big NY Madison Avenue agencies from the local boutique shops is the talent and experience. The senior execs and creatives have been in the business for a long time...and they are VERY good. They're also not cocky about what they know...they really are interested in everyone's thoughts and opinions. I met with our Creative Director yesterday. He could have totally blown me off as a new account guy, but he didn't. He was interested in my background, experience, and thoughts around what they are doing.

I'm truly excited to move forward in my career with a big integrated agency, and getting a chance to implement 360 campaigns and multi-channel strategies. More to come in the next few weeks...

Chrome from Google

I've had a couple of days to play with Chrome, Google's new browser, and I really like it. My favorite thing about it...no need for URL's anymore. Why does anyone need to type "www" anyway? The "Omnibox", or "address bar" in Chrome is now for anything. Anything entered into it will deliver a webpage by looking at your historical activities, or renders Google search results. Now, you no longer need to type in URL's for the majority of tasks.
My other favorite thing about Chrome...no favorites. When you open a new tab, images of recent sites you've visited appear.
Download here.

BT for a User's Advantage

This is big: IE8 to block user habits

This begs the question that most users don't understand. Would you rather see ads that are potentially relevant to you? Or, would you rather see completely random ads over and over again that have no relevance?

Social Media - Who Does it Well Part 2

Here's one of my favorites, Nike +.



The Nike + site is a robust platform of virtual racing, progress tracking, motivational goals and stories, and global community comparison tools. All of these take the Nike + product experience far beyond just the shoe or an ipod. The site engages its passionate member community directly from its own website. They also have extensions, such as a twitter profile and multiple Facebook apps.

During their Investor Days, Nike discussed the shift in strategy from being a sportswear brand to becoming an enabler of customized, personal experiences. Nike's CEO, Mark Miller, called the theme "The Consumer Decides".

Social Media Cont'd

In the midst of my "Social Media - Who Does it Well?" postings, I came across a great post from Peter Kim, Does social media marketing matter?
It's a great question. Does creating a great social marketing strategy really affect the consumer, their perception of the brand, and whether or not they ultimately become a customer/brand advocate?

I think it does, but it requires a much more long term, strategic approach to social marketing. Just creating a company blog or an online community doesn't automatically get you more customers. It's also not the end all marketing solution.

Social Media - Who Does it Well Part 1.5

I was going to move on to another company that is getting it right. But, the other day I discovered a Twitter profile that's making its way around the Twitterers' circle. If you're on Twitter, checkout @don_draper. If you're a fan of Mad Men, you'll love the posts from him. It's a great way to keep viewers interested. Just this morning, the tweet was "about to hear who @joan_holloway has in mind to be my new secretary". Must be foreshadowing to Sunday's episode. It's getting me excited!



Last week he had about 300 followers. Today...670! Several other characters also have Twitter profiles.