#markchat : The Idea Economy – how do we think creative before delivery?

Posted by: Alex Erasmus

We increasingly speak about the difference between online and offline and how, sooner rather than later, we will all be walking around with iPad-style devices. In a few years, we won’t read print newspapers, certainly not on a daily basis, and we will consume only nuggets of information. Anything bigger than that will be too big for our shrunken attention spans to comprehend. And Social media has been the greatest accelerator of these trends. As a result of this wave of digital activity, you’d think it’s made the world more creative and more linked to the business objectives because there are more opportunities to talk direct to consumers and more channels for releasing ideas into the world. But, I’m not sure this is the case. Read the rest of this entry »

The missing link: when sales, PR and advertising are disconnected

Posted by: Alex Erasmus

Apparently, the recent Old Spice ad has been right up there in terms of ‘talkability’, ‘buzz’ and ‘engagement’. This much is true, proven by the fact that the video, and the personalised re-incarnations (which was a great idea, by the way), have been viewed by approximately one zillion people around the world. They have been watched and passed on to friends and family because they are very funny; it’s that great content thing again.

But is this ad going to sell more product? I would never buy OId Spice, nor would my Dad, my brother, my boss, my flatmates…I’ve questioned them all and nobody I know buys it and the ads have, if anything, simply re-enforced this notion. Read the rest of this entry »

Brands battling it out as World Cup looms large

Posted by: Alex Erasmus

The FIFA World Cup is the biggest event in the world and therefore seen as the biggest branding opportunity known to man.

In terms of global reach, it knocks spots off The Olympics, Super Bowl or the Rugby World Cup. Almost every country in the world will be watching.

Here’s Nike’s effort. Is it over-produced and slightly ridiculous? Yes. Did it cost an enormous amount that could have gone to any number of charities? Undoubtedly. But is it a lot of fun? You betcha. Read the rest of this entry »

Targeting YouTube for marketing campaigns

Posted by: Alex Erasmus

People often refer to YouTube as the world’s second most popular search engine, but is it really a search engine? People don’t search for ‘builder in Auckland City’ or ‘movie times in Wellington’ like they do on Google or Bing. Most people tend to be pointed to YouTube via another source, be it Facebook, Twitter, word-of-mouth or even (shock horror) email. I would personally call YouTube a video sharing platform. Read the rest of this entry »

Interesting survey - how Global Fortune 100 is using Social Media

Posted by: Alex Erasmus

I recently came across this survey by PR agency Burson-Masteller on London-based Social Media agency, Fresh Networks blog.

In my opinion, many of the best examples of Social Media leverage are by small to medium businesses. Perhaps this is due to their nimble nature and the entrepreneurial skills of the staff or it could be they are more likely to look for cost-effective marketing tools. Whatever the reason, this survey shows it is pretty rare for Global Fortune 100 companies not to be using Social Media. A whopping 88% of the European companies surveyed are using one, if not more, of the following: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and corporate blogs. However, in the Asia-Pacific region, this figure is just 50%. Read the rest of this entry »

United Airlines and online reputation - responding to Sons of Maxwell ‘United breaks guitars’

Posted by: Paul Matthews

Check out this YouTube effort by Canadian band Sons of Maxwell who have been fighting United Airlines since March 2008 over compensation for damaged guitars while touring. Clearly, the band felt they weren’t getting a satisfactory response from the airline, so after a frustrating 12 months or so, they finally took matters into their own hands. The  video was loaded onto the Sons of Maxwell YouTube channel on Monday, and after only three days it’s already had 640,000 views!! It’s certainly not doing any harm to the band’s reputation at the moment, with loads of coverage both online and offline. Read the rest of this entry »

Latest YouTube development enables users to get specific with video clip links

Posted by: Mike Shaw

YouTube’s newest trick might not be a giant leap forward, but it’s a handy step for those wishing to share YouTube clips. In the past when you linked to a video, or embedded a clip in a blog post you were stuck with the clip playing from the start (unless you also employed additional tools liked Splicd). However as Jason Kincaid on TechCrunch explains, by adding a small extension to the link, you can now control the point at which YouTube starts playing.

In other words, rather than link to an entire speech, or full video clip, you can now add ‘#t=2m15s’ to the end or the URL in order to set a specific start time. In this case, 2 minutes and 15 seconds in to the clip. Particularly handy if you wish to refer to a specific point in a YouTube clip, or even simply to skip advertising or opening credits.

For an example of what I mean, just compare the two links below…

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=VIPS73z5_UY&feature=related

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=VIPS73z5_UY&feature=related#t=3m22s

From your Sony Handy Cam to YouTube in 46 easy steps

Posted by: Thomas Rowley

Recently I had the task of implementing a YouTube channel for a client.

I was quite surprised with the amount of effort it took to get video from our ‘Sony HDD Handy Cam’ edited and up on YouTube. The first hurdle was the codec that The Handy Cam used, in true Sony fashion it wouldn’t open in any of the video editing software demos I had.

After multiple downloads of various video conversion and editing tools I discovered Sony Vegas which opened the files directly from the cam with no need for conversion to another format. I found Sony Vegas to be a great tool, especially for quick editing of clips for YouTube. Compared to Adobe Premiere (editing software I have used in the past) the rendering / exporting was a lot faster and previewing transitions and effects was faster too.

So for YouTubers wanting to get video from their Sony Handy Cam (and other brands too) online I recommend Sony Vegas, at about $100 US for the platinum version . I think it’s good value.

Corporate Blogging & Online PR ? Bullet PR presentation at Search Engine Room

Posted by: Nicholas O'Flaherty

Here are some edited video highlights of our presentation at Search Engine Room in Auckland November 2007.
There were more that 100 attendees at this inaugural event, mostly from the search industry as opposed to public relations.

SEO PR and leveraging Social Media

Posted by: Thomas Rowley

With the rapid growth of user generated media, managing online reputations has become critical. In New Zealand, Google is the search engine of choice in approx 95% of all searches. Each Google page shows 10 results, and in an ideal world you would fill all 10 spots on the hugely important first page with positive brand affirming content. Today, social media provides you with an opportunity to create relevant, compelling content beyond your own website.

This can be achieved in a number of ways, for instance:

• Create a YouTube profile page & upload related videos. Content on YouTube frequently obtains high rankings in Google results.
• Create a Myspace page for your corporate identity / brand.
• Facebook - Create a public group.
• Create a Digg profile page and Digg your content.
• LinkedIn - which allows you to create an individual profile page.

(And let?s not forget Blogging, which we will discuss in detail on the Bullet Points blog.)

Remember, relevance is the key! Each of these locations must contain good solid relevant content which makes for useful viewing.