I'm feeling ex-stream-ly happy with this site

This morning MCM Entertainment held the PR launch for their new music video site movideo.com.

The concept is pretty simple. Advertiser funded free content on the web. Nothing new there!

Having said that, this site has got enormous legs from where I sit. MCM have tapped into their strong music company relationships and that combined with their market leading technology has resulted in a unique offering. The best quality free streamed music video available on the internet. Oooooh big call. Apparently this is the case though. Let me know if you disagree.

Their music is catalogued in a number of ways. You can for example select 'break up songs' and wail along to your hearts content. 1 x 15 second commercial runs directly after track one, and after every three songs thereafter. A pretty fair exchange from a consumers perspective I'd imagine.

At this point the music is pre-organised. You can select artist, mood, genre etc but you can't build your own play lists. However, they are working on incorporating this functionality so the site is by no means set and forget. And they are planning to develop it quickly. In fact, this little Australian business reckon this one may just get them on the global stage.

For this mornings launch they had 2 flat screen TVs and a quality sound system hooked up to a laptop. Both the audio and visual were outstanding. Of course they were running it off the offices pretty fast broadband system. Then again, Kevin 07s working on broadband speed for us so I guess we'll all be enjoying super fast connections some time soon!

New Sony TVC for digital products

This post isn't strictly 'digital' but its about one of our clients, so I figure I can post it.

Sony have had some really great TVC's for their digital products: They've rolled thousands of balls down a street in San Francisco, Blasted Paint all over a disused building in the UK and the most recent features colourful play-doh bunnies.

The newest ad will be called Foam City. They had Yvette's favourite new toy whilst filming - Twitter, but this is no longer being updated as it is now in post-production. Slam X Hype have a couple items and a few teaser pictures here and some behind-the-scenes shots here.

God of War inaugural activity

We have a few online 'media first' placements/creative running today for the launch of God of War on PSP.

http://www.foxsports.com.au/ (click on the leaderboard at the top - this is a user-initiated homepage take-over never done on Foxsports before)

http://au.ign.com/ (wait for Kratos to appear and click on 'view the trailer' - this is video-wall which had never been done on IGN Australia)

http://au.gamespot.com/ (this is a Toggle video-wall which again had never been done on Gamespot Australia)

Yvette posting on behalf of Sandrine :)

Interesting work from our friends at MV NYC!

Now this is thinking outside of the box....at least the one that sits in front of you at home/work!

http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=125937

IAB Media finalists.....

MEDIA FINALISTS just announced. We are through with Subaru but busy greedily wishing we'd had more in the final round!

Category: Automotive
Publicis Media - Honda CR-V; Honda
MEC:interaction - Lancer Supershort Series; Mitsubishi Motors
Starcom MediaVest - Impreza MY08; Subaru
MindShare Interaction - Ford Mondeo; Ford Motor Company of Australia

Category: Consumer Goods
OMD – V-Raw; V Energy Drink
MindShare Interaction - iinet Naked DSL launch; iinet
MindShare Interaction - Easy Mac; Kraft
OMD - Selleys BBQ Wipes; Selleys

Category: Financial Services
Initiative – RaboPlus; Rabobank Australia
MindShare Interaction - First Home Buyers Guide; ING Direct
Neo@Ogilvy - American Express; Neo@Ogilvy

Category: Travel, Entertainment and Leisure
Publicis Media - The Simpsons; 20th Century Fox
CNET Networks Australia - CNET Networks Asia Pacific Grand Slam Mobile Gaming Tournament; CNET Networks Australia
OMD - Shangri-La Business Travellers
Carat - Traveltainment; Tourism Australia

Category: Fusion
New Dialogue - Kevin07; Australian Labor Party
pureprofile/naked - Mount Franklin Well of Positivity; Coca-Cola Amatil

Category: Search
dgmAustralia - Dell Search; Dell
24/7 Real Media - CareerOne Search; CareerOne
Publicis Media - Domestic Hotels; Qantas Holidays
iProspect – Network Ten Search Engine Optimisation; Network Ten

Twitter Tweet Tweet?

Whilst I've been aware of Twitter for some time, the tweets seem to be getting much louder right now. Yes, I've been to 3 days worth of conferences in 3 weeks, it's true, so it is digital community specific. Having said that, from experience, what begins to gain traction from the digital evangelists (on this scale) tends to soon take off from a broader consumer perspective .

So, I've begun to Twitter myself. I'm all for self application as a means to learn and grow.

My problem is this.....I've got no-one to twitter with! This seems to be at odds with what I'm hearing is happening o/s. One of the Podcast experts I saw present recently said he used Twitter as his primary marketing tool. I logged on to the Ad Age digital site yesterday to find a summary of their latest conference. Apparently, much of the audience 'tweeted' throughout it. They even voted on the best 'tweeter'.

Starcom Australia, the time is here. Please join James and I and get on board! Even if it's just as means of experience at this point...:)

BTW, I go by the very creative Twitter name of.....yvettemayer.

ps if you are wondering what the hell twitter is: Think of the 'is' on facebook and explode it to a social networking community with a sole purpose of ISING all day - keeping their 'friends' up to date on their movements. Enjoy!

My digital Easter

This post I'm afraid is very self indulgent, but hang in there with me, it was a tough weekend.

For the entire 4 day Easter break, I had the most severe case of viral tonsillitis I've ever experienced. Actually before the weekend I didn't even know there was a difference between viral and bacterial tonsillitis. Lesson learned, with viral tonsillitis, antibiotics don't cut the mustard. You simply have to wait it out....and count down the hours until you can next take paracetamol.

Anyway, I got through it and joy oh joy I am much better today, just in the nick of time to be back at work relatively healthy!

So given I was in bed all weekend, I wondered what I would be able to share with you today of interest. But then I thought back to what I did with my time on the weekend. It dawned on me that I managed to kill the time in a variety of ways that didn't even exist say 10 years ago.

So here goes:

- Realised the situtation was getting worse whilst heading South for a weekend away. Looked up Nowra hospital on the mobile and used Google Maps on mobile to direct us there.
- Updated my status on Facebook every day to inform/remind all of my friends just how sick I was (via my mobile and blackberry, mood dependant). Which resulted in maximum sympathy vs minimum effort :)
- Finished watching the Bachelor 7 series on Foxtel IQ. Then searched the web to find out how the couple are doing now (they broke up, actually after two years, seems the series 7 just shown in Australia is over 2 years old). And I thought they were forever :(
- Quickly visited Charlie O'Connels fansite to see if he is still single. Do you think he would like an Australian girlfriend?!
- Watched 'Stranger Than Fiction' on Foxtel 'On Demand'. Fell in love again with the song the lead plays guitar/sings to his love interest. Logged into i-tunes and bought it. FYI, It is the Dogs, I'd go the Whole Wide World. Seriously lovely tune.
- Whilst a passenger in the car (too sick to drive) google searched 'viral tonsillitis treatment' just to make sure the silly Dr was right re no antibiotics....she was. Also discovered this condition can take several weeks to clear....and had a melt down!
- Got off my backside (and even out of my house) to the DVD store to hire 'As it is in Heaven'. I've been meaning to watch this for a long time (you guessed it, word of mouth at its best). I loved it so much that my eyes welled (both with joy and sadness). At the end I wanted to rewind to find the beautiful song in it for Gabriella. Instead, I searched online, found it on youtube and saved it as a favorite for continued viewing pleasure! (You Tube was perfect as the track is not in English and this version carries the subtitles). I also searched the lyrics separately just in case I get around to buying the CD (the track wasn't available on i-tunes, I did try)
- Didn't get to the hospital to see my new baby nephew due to germs. But did get to see him anyway as my brother took a picture just after he was born and emailed it to me....
- Also received a very beautiful photo uploaded (via mobile Facebook) of the window view of Whistler from the Condo where one of my best mates is staying. Pffft!

I'm not sure I've captured it all. To be fair I also read a couple of books, I'm not so young hip and groovy I've entirely relinquished contact with the non digital world!

Looking back, the question begs........just how will I spend my VERY down time in another 10 years? I guess only time will tell.

Cheers
Female, Gen X

Australian Online Consumption overtakes TV

The day has dawned, according to Nielsen, online consumption is now higher than TV (based on hours per week - 13.7 on the net, 13.3 on TV).

So how will this impact marketers?

Well, from a SMV digital team perspective we haven't experienced much beating down the doors to spend up big online thus far. Yes spends are growing faster than any other media, however, we are a long way from competing with TV for the lion share of the $.

We are aware that the power of TV isn't going to go away. We don't doubt that there is no faster way to build brand awareness than an enormous FTA campaign.....Online is simply too fragmented to be able to build as quickly.

But the tide is changing. It's no longer enough to simply get a TVC out there. Consumers have wised up to the power online provides in terms of brand and product knowledge. What we need to work harder to achieve is providing communications that seamlessly provide a brand experience throughout the customer journey. And that means offline, online and everywhere in between.

So, from where we sit, sure, go spend up big on TV. But NEVER at the expense of online as a channel. The days of digital being considered niche are well and truly over. Do both if you must, but start with digital, don't end with it.

There's been much banter on here of late around the big idea. Believe the hype! A big idea should be able to be brought to life at every consumer touch point. Whether it's on TV, at the storefront, on the phone, on the web - even within a companies culture.

So, what we believe this means for Marketeers is a challenge to old conventions. Challenge yourselves, your superiors and your agencies to think much bigger. Then make sure you are prepared to LIVE IT.

Google Creative Lab

I was fortunate enough to have breakfast this morning with the head of Googles 'Creative Lab' - Andy Brendt. It was a smallish affair with about 20 people at the table. Andy, is extremely credentialed and was last Co President of O&M New York, having risen through the ranks as a creative guru.

Interestingly, the attendees were primarily agency heads, rather than those with specifically digital backgrounds. And the discussions were not about Search, or even Google. At all.

Instead, the old debate of Creative vs Media, Mainstream vs Digital, and mostly separation vs integration rose its ugly head. It seems this is still an enormously topical subject in the States and Andy wanted to see if we suffer from this in Australia as well. Short answer. Yes.

What we could all agree on was that it doesn't matter who does what, as long as we work together to create brilliance for our clients and their brands.

Andy is fervently in favour of a one shop solution. I'm less inclined to think that it's a one size fits all arena. I believe we need our clients to lead the integration charge. And it has to start from inside out. If they are silo'd within their marketing teams, you can bet that's how they are briefing us (which often happens with digital).

From where I sit the bigger issue is Australian digital resource and ability. If we continue at the current pace, we could be 5 years away from groundbreaking fully integrated work. Why? 1/ We are expereincing a skills shortage and 2/ Right now, we are still governed by traditionalists at the top end of spectrum (particularly at the client end).

So how do we create an environment where we at SMV can move at a much faster pace than the market? First step I believe is more education. For our leaders, for our clients, and even our creative partners. We must be vigilant and I'm afraid, we need to start yesterday. So it's a good thing in some instances we did.

The Big Brand idea

There has been a shift in marketing. It is no longer about pushing the message to people than it is to create enough engagement to make them seek out for it. The role of communication is to make this happen. But communication is not all, what we need is a BIG BRAND IDEA!

What is the big brand idea?
- It is an idea that is big enough to drive a brand's behaviour across all channel
- It is media agnostic (please, no more schizophrenic brands!)
- It is proprietary and unique

What are the keys to a big brand idea?
- Shut up & Listen! A big brand idea cannot be created in isolation to the consumers
- It has to start at the top, to be embraced by the CEO and applied at each level of the company
- Everyone in the company is a marketer and everyone is accountable for delivering the brand promise
- Do has you say!

Media is becoming more and more complex/fragmented (however the person being the computer is also the one who watches TV!), as media agencies we need to ensure that we deliver a unique and consistent message across all communication platforms.
- Start finding the unique role your brand plays in customers lives
- Don't let new media become the 'shiny' object (in brief, don't do it for the sake of it!)
- Be rigorous and relentless in driving the idea into every single thing you do
- try zagging when everybody else is zigging
- 'inertise' before advertise (i.e efficiently communicate your value within your company before advertise to customers)

The empowered consumer

A shift has occurred in the past decade with consumers becoming 'users' and ads becoming 'content'.

The rise of the Gen C is happening alongside the changes in devices (i.e web, mobile, iQ box, etc.). Initially called the 'click & go' generation, the Gen C is more than a demo. C can indeed stand for any and all of the following:
- community
- connected
- creative
- content
- celebrity

Their home is MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr
Their device is a mobile phone - it the trustworthy device of the Gen C (interestingly a survey showed that people were happy to lend their car, their home, even their husband to their best friend but 70% of them wouldn't lend their mobile phone)
Their communication revolves around Social networking sites, messenger, SMS (not emails, emails are for the older generations)
Their network accounts around 110 individuals with a core group of 10-15 (e.g Facebook network, chances are you have 200 'friends' but only correspond with 10 or 15 of them)

The change of devices incurred a change of behaviour. The users attention is shifting:
- 84% of respondants to a Nielsen survey (Aus/NZ) use some form of web 2.0
- 83% consume user generated content
- 77% comment or create UGC
- 78% download audio or video
- and more importantly, they trust unknown peers more than experts

So is technology the cause for empowering users? (i.e HD recorders, sling box, Torrent, Joost, Hulu, YouTube, Mobile tv, etc.)
Or is this community?
Well, a bit of both really...

With communities has also emerged 'user filtered content ' - if a content is good/strong enough, user will pass it on... It is also interesting to note that not all social-networking sites serve the same purpose. There a social-networking map (which I couldn't draw here) but basically it contains the below:
- identity (in the centre)
- sharing (e.g Flickr, YouTube)
- presence (e.g MySpace)
- conversation (e.g Messenger)
- groups (e.g Facebook)
- reputation (e.g MySpace)
- relationships (e.g Facebook)

Consumer, target audience, customer, client, person, human!

Well after two days at Ad:Tech the message was surprisingly clear (and obvious!). The heart of everything we do as marketers must be about adding value to the consumer, if we are to connect them to our brands.

Having re-read the Introduction, there is no mention of a consumer oriented theme. I attended sessions on a multitude of topics; from podcasting, to mobile, integration, brands, innovation, dialogue and more. In every session human behavior floated to the top.

So I've set myself a challenge....and I'll throw it out to you as well. What could help you through your day on your mobile device? Is it GPS? News updates? Jokes? Discounts/vouchers? And further, can one of your clients legitimately offer this service?

Nike has done a brilliant job with NikePlus if you need a little food for thought...a brilliant insight around adding value to runners lives.

I do think sometimes in the daily grind, we are so busy pushing out messages we forget what the consumer truly values. And not just the consumer. Ask yourself, what does your client really want? What gets him/her out of bed each day. What about your boss? I believe, if you can approach your day with this in mind, you just might start having more influence than you thought possible.

EU Approves Google-DoubleClick merger

Last night the European Union gave its final approval for Google and DoubleClick to merge. All calls from privacy advocates were rejected, along with complaints from Microsoft that the merger would lead to anti-competitive behaviour.

Full article available here from Ad Age.

While there are no immediate implications regarding product offerings from either company, there has been mumerings about whether or not Google will now accept third-party served display ads or even the possibility of free adserving.

Should be an interesting space to watch.

Ad Tech

Well, us Sydney folk are off to the second annual AdTech for the next couple of days. There is a full on line up - link here.

http://www.ad-tech.com/sydney/adtech_sydney_schedule.asp

In the meantime, all you Starcommers outside of Sydney, feel free to get busy blogging! I'm sure we'll have plenty to share on our return.

From the Guardian in the UK, the 50 most influential blogs

Interesting reading, I'm just not quite sure how our blog didn't make the list ;)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/mar/09/blogs?gusrc=rss&feed=media

Mobile @ Media08

The last two presentations on the day were mobile related. I got a lot out of Nokias presentation in particular.

There were three areas I will mention for you to think about:

- The newer phones now have the functionality allowing you to plug your mobile directly into your TV.....so, want to go online at home and don't have a connection? - too easy. Why not download the latest Video clip for viewing on the big screen?
- Motion Detection - think Nintendo Wii - your phone becomes your eg tennis racket
-Context is the biggie, the ability to market based on your location is going to have an enormous impact, the opportunities are endless

Re the last point, I got lost driving to a rented holiday house on the weekend. I took the opportunity to download Google maps on to my mobile. Suffice to say I got there pretty quickly after that!

Which got me thinking. The days of one PRIMARY device for everything are not far away at all. I'm sure the early adopters out there are streets ahead of me but I'm already envisaging a future where my mobile device is pretty much my only device. And it all starts when I get an iPhone . (not that again Yvette!)

The wrap on Media08 – March 7, 08

The line up was interesting, and for the most part inspiring. Having said that, the agenda was built to cover a broad spectrum of attendees, so was of course a mixed bag. Fairfax had in attendance the senior staff from their print teams along with their clients and advertising partners.

What came out loud and clearest was that I MUST GET an iPhone. Let me tell you, even those who are sooooo immersed in the digital space that they are invited to speak on the matter are obsessed. No less than three speakers swore their undying love to the device when on stage! I feel so hardly done by right now. Pffft.

Moving on, there were a few recurring themes across the day.

1/ Importance of innovation
2/ Compelling content
3/ Engagement
4/ Web 3.0 / the semantic web
5/ Rise of mobile
6/ UGC, citizen journalism
7/ Apps/gadgets/widgets…syndication, data not pages

In review, much of what is on your mind should be on your mind.

Rather than try to sum up each speaker, coming out of the conference, here’s a list of to do’s (for me and you).

-Check out these websites; Netlog, Vuze, Twine, Netflix, Damaka
Make sure you understand what the semantic web is and means (read previous post re Web 3.0)
-Visit Nike Chain, in fact take part! I think there could be a team oppo here
-Download Google maps on your phone
-Subscribe to the blog – ReadWriteWeb
-View awesome creative www.oneclub.org (like Nike Chain)
-Watch Kate Modern on Bebo, Quarterlife on MySpace
-Ask yourself how you can turn consumers into brand evangelists….or think about citizen journalism as the peoples advertising agency…work it!
-Get an iPhone ;)

Live from Media08, so more Monday - Yvette

The power of Web behaviour as research

There is a story on Australian television viewing, linked to web behaviour on the hitwise blog today:

http://weblogs.hitwise.com/sandra-hanchard/2008/03/underbelly_vs_so_you_think_you.html

My first point in relation to this is that I am so predictable! I have personally searched for both So You Think You Can Dance AND Underbelly online over the past couple of weeks (as a consumer not marketer). First up, I was watching "Dance" live evictions and hadn't caught all of the previous nights performances....so went looking for them. Then last night, I finally got around to watching a bit of Underbelly. At which point I decided I should start from the beginning, so went digging for downloads. However, I gave up when I realised it was going to take 24 hours to download one ep! (perhaps I can get these old episodes elsewhere? anyone?!)

Enough of my predictable TV viewing habits.

More importantly, after reading this Hitwise piece, I wanted to highlight the enormous power available to us as Marketers to glean insights from web behavior. From a Starcom perspective, this Publicis/Google deal could offer us more power than most. Just imagine the possibilities of working with the data Google have access to. Volume, scope, scale, speed etc. It seems predictability may well be our friend.

So, here's to us being able to do more than imagine!

Publicis / Google deal

I am looking forward to some inside info re this one!!!

http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/18497.asp

Web 3.0?

Now there's a heading! As you are no doubt aware, there is still no one definition regarding web 2.0, but let's not get hung up on that......Web 3.0 is here!

Whatever it is, there is a new Real Estate site in Australia which was apparently developed based on the principles of 3.0. I've been in and even listed my house (OK unit) as I wanted to get a handle on the sites functionality. From where I sit it does a good job of organising content so that it's difficult to separate the corporate from the UGC. Maps, photos, blogs etc are all integrated of course. It is absolutely a networking community ahead of a commercial site. But it seems to be aiming to achieve both. Not a great deal of content is up yet though so it could be some time until the experience comes to life.

Check it out:

http://www.lovethatplace.com.au/index.php

On another note, it got me thinking that my mates who launched http://www.iambored.com.au/ are on to something. Maybe this site is 3.0 as well?

Opportunity for shameless self promotion (well Starcom promotion any way)

TELL US WHY YOUR COMPANY IS A GREAT PLACE TO WORK.
Here is your chance to tell the world why your company is a great place to work. Simply shoot a 3 min video with your colleagues telling us why your office is a great and fun place to work. There are no rules and no limitations it all up to you. The entrants will be uploaded onto the IAB Australia Channel on YouTube and will be shown on the awards night in May.

Simply send your video to iabawards@gmail.com or send a CD/USB (see file specs below) to:Melanie SilvaGoogle AustraliaLevel 18, 201 Sussex StreetSydney NSW 2000Send in your entries no later than 15 April and send any questions to iabawards@gmail.comWhat video file formats can you upload?YouTube accepts a wide range of video file formats such as .WMV, .AVI, .MOV and .MPG. We've found that files converted from .wmv to one of the other formats our webpage accepts generally have a lower playback quality than other file formats. If you have your source video in a format other than a .wmv file, you may want to encode directly to MPEG4 (DivX, Xvid, SVQ3) at 640x480 resolution, with 64k Mono MP3 Audio. If you have a source .wmv in high bitrate and larger resolution you may want to convert to MPEG4 at full resolution and then resizing to 320x240 using a high quality resizing algorithm - this can help reduce the number of artifacts you end up with.

So team, let's get on board. Please reply with your ideas.

Raging debate re online measurement

The debate over online measurement continues with the IAB meeting on the matter last week. The good news is that Publishers look set to invest up to $10m to improve the current system. It's a shame there still doesn't seem to be a firm course of action....... I rather appreciate Dominic Elfers POV that a combination of both Panel and Tagging would be best. Looks like this could be the general consensus....

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23307002-26077,00.html