AdAge have compiled the best bits from Joseph Jaffe’s recent presentation at the Association of National Advertisers’ Integrated Marketing Conference. Some great examples here, some of which are new to me, some of which have passed into folklore. I like the way Jaffe has also categorised the mistakes: faking, manipulating, controlling, dominating and avoiding. There’s also a neat analogy at the end about how most campaigns are like a firework display. A bit of whizz bang and ooh and then it disappears. Goes dark. What happens next? That’s our job.

While we’re talking social media examples, here’s a deck I pulled together for our online PR agency, headstream about the importance of online PR. Included toward the back are some examples of shockers (inc. Sony PSPS a la Jaffe above) and also some good ones including an antidote to the Starbucks slam in the video above.

Tip of the hat to Greg Verdino.

Think you’ve got the next Gorilla inside you? Do you have Heidi’s in your sub-consciousness? Or could you bring a fresh take on a global issue? Creativity doesn’t always reside in the creative department. And here’s your chance to prove it and win a luxurious Cannes trip so you can be demanding, eccentric and quaff litres of fine wine and worse.

Getty Images have created the Ultimate Pitch competition: challenging you to respond to their creative brief with the propisition:

Express an idea that could make a world of difference.

The only catch is you have to use some Getty imagery, choons or video in your submission. Not too much of a hardship considering the breadth and quality of their work.

The competition is open to everyone from one man bands to global goliaths and is being judged by some of the most well-known big cheeses in the industry. So how about it?

Competition closes May 14.

Thanks to Andrew Ballantyne Gilbert from DDB London who created this and told me about this direct as an outreach to the AdAge Power 150 bloggers. Will share my pitch with you in due course.

“Markets are conversations.”

Well, we all should know that by now and should be putting it in place in all our work. But this statement originated in 1999. Way back when dial up tones were the norm. The statement came from the Cluetrain Manifesto which was way ahead of its time. This report from Technorati and Ogilvy revisits that manifesto and shows how to put it into place when you get into work on a Monday.

What I like is that there are some real examples of conversational marketing, social media, call it what you will. And how they worked and why. These case studies cover:

• An Inconvenient Truth
• Microsoft sponsored Live Earth site
• Shut up and sing campaign
• Scion and the Indie film community
• Sun microsystems

There’s a nice diagram too for finding, concentrating and syndicating conversations (above) and we all like more pictures, less words in any document.

I’m not sure it was necessary to devote a half page to a proposed conversational advertising code of conduct considering the one word that springs to mind and sings from the page is “transparency”. And somewhat disagree that “the real spoken language of peers is so much more interesting than copywriting.” Not if you have a good copywriter and they’re released from any corporate and legal shackles.

But well worth a read first thing on a Monday to get the old grey matter warmed up.

Found via Greg Verdino.

We all know that word of mouth is hugely important in today’s world. But here’s some great facts and charts that back this up to add credibility to any persuasion you may need to do.

Good advertising doesn’t necessarily require a great product or a USP. Message + location = impact.

I learned something new with this post about Weak Ties. I really enjoy the content on this blog.

And here’s 27 of the best blogs of people under 27 in advertising. I wish I had started this when I was 27. And a thought provoking post from the same place about co-creation and the in vogue debate around inspiration Vs theft.

Warning over social media advertising. (requires brand republic log in)

AdAge hav a 3 minute video wrap up of some stuff. The automatic paper dispenser work is a bit crap. No pun. But for the English to be described as “a culture whose mania for soccer and rugby so borders on the psychotic”, I take offence. Mainly because it’s FOOTBALL, not SOCCER. We play with the FOOT, not a SOCK! Aaargh, even David Beckham is using that hideous word. We’re just very passionate about our FOOTBALL. Is there anything that so riles an Englishman as that word? Apart from Europeans not liking our beer (not lager) because it’s warm? OK, now breathe.

Facebook brand tie-ins that are bad get a lot of press. But here are two good examples. Herbal Essences which I found via Advergirl & O2 win a MASSIVE university big party thing. Leigh sums up why they both work very eloquently even though her comments are attributed to the shampoo stuff:

Set up as a group, not a personal account. You’re not a person, why pretend to be one?
Creative focuses on the ‘passion’ elements of the brand
Targeted approach to deliver visit > engage > share behavior (stuff to do when you’re there + a reason to come back)
And, the team invested in solid seeding behavior

Download a Forrester study of business decision makers use of social media in B2B world from the American Business Media.

Kids bored this half-term? Get them to draw Yoda (source: showmescifi)

There are now more than 1 million UK members of Linked In. And I can download a badge to add to my profile as I joined before it hit this landmark. So I did. But I’m not so sure why. A million is hardly exclusive. Does it help in anyway? Will it improve my life?

I walked back to Waterloo after a meeting in London Bridge on Friday. It was mighty cold. But took these two shots of London Bridge itself & the big spider thing outside the Tate. Thought you might like them.

Professor Emmel over at Ewarwoowar spotted something quite amusing on Facebook the other day. Nike have set up a group for their new Supersonic event (run followed by groovy tunes in secret locale). Not much activity so far and then some comments to gee up the group and spread the word. From people at AKQA. Who are Nike’s agency. And then a happy chap added a deliberately provocative comment. Which then has been wiped. Emmel has the only hard evidence.

Of course it’s tempting to promote your own work and seeding is often a vital part of campaigns but generating buzz and talkability has to adhere to the unwritten rules of the web: authenticity, transparency, dialogue. Why not embrace Peter Addison’s comment and have some fun with it? Removing it somewhat goes against the grain of co-creation of content and openness of web 2.0. Especially on Facebook where brands are not natives. Vaguely reminiscent of mentos/coke fun with brands: mentos embraced it and gained credibility and huge brand awareness from it; coke were caught off guard and suffered as a result. Another timely reminder that brands need to tread a fine line in the social media world between engaging and prospering and interfering and having some shots fired at you.

Here’s the before and after Wall:

Before

After

How would you have dealt with it?

FT article on social networks by the ever resourceful and useful Bowen Craggs. (Image source)

Improvement by innovation article on CNET (found reading Armano on Twitter)

Here’s the top 50 football kits

And following on from the men & washroom yuk story recently, here’s a picture from Nicky that could get guys to step up to the bowl. As long as they’re at the right height.

Just when we thought that social media was on the rise and using detachable and user generated content was getting traction (witness this week’s NMA with HP & Burger King sloshing vast revenues into digital because it works better for them), I get this email from Ocado (upmarket grocery home delivery service in partnership with Waitrose - upmarket supermarket) telling me to watch their new TV ad tonight at 9.30 on ITV. Why? Here’s the intro copy from the email:

We feel it’s our duty to tell as many time-starved supermarket shoppers about our service as possible. So from today we’re launching our first ever TV ad!

Here’s some thoughts & these come from my own perspective as I have been an Ocado customer:

1. Time-starved. That’s not the only reason people buy from Ocado (hate supermarkets, Waitrose are not as omni-present as Tesco/Sainsbury so it’s also convenience as well as time let alone the can’t be arsed to push a heavy trolley around then stick it in the boot and then out again & I want the nicer food from Waitrose). But it’s a biggie as the audience is typically professionals who we can broad-brush advertising stylee into cash-rich, time-poor. I am the latter, not the former.

2. But if they’re time starved, clearly they will not be able to make appointment to view advertising schedules either? Let alone spend the time to go to the supermarket? Making appointment to view TV viewing is rare these days. Sky + has transformed the TV viewing in our house (and millions of others) to the extent where I have lost track of the actual day, time and channel programmes are on and rely on the TV planner. The only appointment to view TV is probably football, Lost and 24. Everything else is recorded and played back on our time.

3. On our time. Which sucks because we work hard, get home late and want to enjoy. Which means the fast forward button on x30 when the ads come on as I want to watch the programming content, not the ads. We have even taken to starting watching shows like 24 10 mins in so we can forward the ads and the programme still finishes within the hour once you catch up with the final section.

4. Which means I won’t a) read the email on the day as I’m busy at work, b) watch ITV at c. 9.30 and c) won’t stop the fast forward because there’s an Ocado truck. So I miss it all and don’t get to see the gospel according to Ocado spread.

5. Ocado has grown mainly by word of mouth, in store POS and some funky radio ads in local areas where they serve. The quirky vans also act as a mobile advertising medium which draws the attention. And surely you could get a better return from a whacking media spend on TV by targeting your time starved audience in the environment they actively use to help them with their time-starved lives: the internet? (The ad on the Ocado site is embedded using Google Video so there may be hope yet.)

6. So why turn to TV when the audience they want isn’t there - or at least isn’t paying attention in the breaks? And why would I tune in for an ad by a grocery delivery service? No matter how good they are? It just feels very wrong. And they’re not the only ones, I saw an ad in the Times the other day (or was it today?) that the new M&S TV ad was airing tonight too! At least they may have some models in lingerie which might cause me to reduce the forward speed from x30 to x2 for a bit but didn’t this phenomenon go out with the Nescafe couples ads? Or is it a reflection of the degenerate programming content?

I still don’t know what was on ITV at 9.30 and don’t have the compunction to find out. Besides, I was watching England beat Russia 3-0 on the BBC while catching up on some work and personal email stuff. OK, I wasn’t really. But I could have been.

The MTV VMA awards are on again. But as I’m now the wrong side of 30 I find I have more in common musically with the oldies than the kidz. As an example, we went to see The Police in concert (with Spam the Monkey) and they were amazing and the last time they played live in the UK was in 1983. But they had Maximo Park as a support act who apparently are kool wid da kidz. I found it a cacophony of noise from a bunch of chaps with a lead singer in a bowler hat. So I am truly getting old and I now see myself in that parent role tutting and being utterly bemused when Top of the Pops came on. Anyway, I digress.

MTV have tried a few things in the wonderful, crazy mixed up mashed up world of digital of late which you have to give them credit for even though their video user generated content site was a bit, well, empty. And now they’re giving Twitter a go. While the updates from the show clearly don’t turn me on as I’m not core demographic, it’s interesting to see a relatively big brand trying out these new formats.

But how do people find out about this? I discovered it from two sources: 1) the seemingly omnipresent Armano on Twitter (who keeps trying to get Twitter-oke going with limited success) and 2) from the irregular update email from Twitter themselves (which I’m sure David read before me as my email backlog has grown exponentially with pitch work dominating me & then sent a tweet/twat into the ether to inform his groupies that maybe the MTV VMA thingy might make Twitter more credible for brands). If these didn’t exist, would I ever know? And would the event be over before people found out about it?

So, I click through from the Twitter site to the MTV site. And there’s a link to see Britney’s first live performance since the hair/rehab thing. Clearly I want to see if she a) has hair and b) well, that’s it really. But I’m barred!

I can’t access the video on the US site because of “copyright”. Hello MTV! It’s a global world out there. And if you get me from a global site like Twitter, don’t deny me access to the rich content because I’m not from the US! But my appetite for the hair question is unsated so I go to MTV UK site and there it is.

She has hair but it looks fake. And she lip synched. And looked bored. And she kind of wiggled rather than danced. And the people in the crowd who are presumably the stars of today looked utterly bemused by it. But importantly, my guess is it’s the same damn video as on the US site so I am very confused by copyright getting in the way of a good brand experience. Duh?

The point being, if you start the conversation with people, make sure you can finish it, wherever they are in the world.