After getting the 2007 edition, I then forgot to update my email info so had totally forgetten about this great report until Buckers placed a hard copy of the 2008 edition under my nose. Will try and have a read of this on Thursday when I let the train take the strain. Get yours here.

Or if you like to listen rather than read, get the podcast.

Avenue A | Razorfish also has good blog so slap that in your reader too.

Informative post on Twitter & super users with lots of off-shoots to other conversations. Some great sound bites on Twitter and synergies between it and mobile for teen audience.

Any question answered text service. It costs £1 a pop. Although having your URL as the SMS short code is a nice idea, it’s hardly memorable (especially when you see an ad on the Tube and cannot remember either the name or the short code) and you get a little lost with Google search results. Well, I do.

A web2.0 directory. A different treat for every day.

5 social marketing tips you can’t ignore.

And who writes this crap? (source: popbitch)

I think everyone must have used Dove as THE example of how a brand can truly influence culture, perception and attitude . Here’s the development of the campaign targeting parents of young girls who have massive exposure to the altered and warped images of beauty. Powerful.

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.

In flight entertainment going a step too far? Virgin America have recently trialled an in flight IM service allowing you to badger the hell out of other passengers, probably the “hotty” 3 rows in front of you. Frankly I’d find this annoying as fuck as we say here in Blighty. But the general service seems to have gone down a storm in the US. It seems that Virgin cool has transferred pretty well and spreading the gospel to the jetrosexuals stateside. I like the fact you get ice cream served during movies. (Image source)

And with the recent hullabaloo (I surprised myself writing that word too) about Heathrow and the general backlash against flying, those folks at Iconoculture have come up with It Sucks to Fly, a repository for all things negative about the chores of flying.

Get writing and you could be the next JK Rowling in this Times competition (closes Nov 17).

A new film and some interesting, intriguing content at 1-18-08

The story of the men (and the madness) who made ads that changed our lives.

Dirt cheap texts as opposed to dirty texts which would be a different link altogether.

Get some Hoff on Twitter.

Mums. Bless them. We love them. And they love the web. Can’t get enough. And you thought it was all the young dudes who made the news. New research from eMarketer tells us 89% use it twice a day. Wow. Search is by far the biggest weapon of choice (Google being the goddess of choice in mother search world) with a HUGE 86% of respondents using search as their most efficient way of searching for info. The interwoven nature of offline and online is demonstrated by nearly two thirds using search to find more info after seeing an ad.

But although usage is high, their behaviour fits into their hectic worlds. We like to call this “snacking”, an apt description when nearly two thirds of visit duration are less than 30 mins. In an out. Onto the next thing.

Here’s a video I pulled together for a pitch last year trying to depict this in more visual impact terms than the graphs here which are from eMarketer in July & August 2007. What do you think (apart from the reduction in quality to make it web usable rather than you having to go to lunch during download time)?

Iconoculture tell us some more mum/mom stuff in the form of a new magazine called Hybrid Mom for multi-tasking (is there any other type?) mums/moms who are, as they describe:

Hybrid Mom (hy brid mom, n.): An adult female who has discarded outdated and unrealistic conceptions of motherhood. She is parent, wife, volunteer, and sometimes entrepreneur, all in one. Known for her strength, sense of humor, and flexibility, a hybrid mom is actually a fusion of roles that suit her own individuality.

I’m not particularly target audience but content wise it’s a little light to say the least (on the site), an example of which is the sparsely populated blog: three entries since December which makes you think that someone thought “hey, we need a blog cos like everyone does” and then failed at seeing it through. Hopefully the magazine has more exciting content - about half of mums/moms spend about an hour a day with the mags so maybe it has a better role there?

As well as being really moreish sweeties, Skittles have a cool web site where you can create your own animated cartoon, based on the very nice ATL execution, and then share it with your friends on Bebo. I like it.

Sky have created a channel called SkyCast. I just don’t see why they didn’t create a channel in You Tube, pretty much the same functionality and one less registration form which is my personal beef at present.

Here’s a list of the Top 50 business blogs according to The Times. And here’s the response the readers inundated the paper with to create their own. Good example of listening and acting on the feedback.

And talking of listening and still with The Times, here’s a Booz Allen report on why UK banking customer service is poorly rated compared to other countries. While technology can improve the banking experience through text updates, online access etc., it can also be a hindrance, such as this one major issue:

UK bank call centres also came under fire because of the difficulty of accessing humans, rather than automated voicemail.

Important to remember that the human touch makes such a difference in these connected times. There is a sound 8-point checklist of how to improve the service too. Sounds straight-forward, and it is, but often the simplest things make the biggest difference.

And a quick update on this from Iconowatch:

Moving to an à la carte account model could be a smart move because consumers don’t want to pay for features they don’t want. Giving customers more control over their accounts is also a simple way for banks to grow in a difficult market.

MIKE VAN BUSKIRK, PRESIDENT OF OHIO BANKERS LEAGUE

Forget wikipedia, watch videopedia instead. 5min.com has short, instructional video clips on a whole lot of stuff. (source: iconoculture)

Swap the plane for the train & get a first class ticket with Virgin Trains. The bearded one likes green stuff. Interesting that despite staggering out of Euston tube station each day onto the main concourse at the rail station (a Virgin base camp for those who don’t know), I have never seen this advertised and only found it in a predominantly US source! (source: iconoculture)

iMedia look at video stuff

Volkswagen let you create your own Night Driving film for the Golf using Jumpcut. I found this on Bowen Craggs, this is what they say:

Volkswagen’s Night Driving competition site is as compelling an example as you’re currently likely to find of how the Web 2.0/social networking phenomenon can add a new dynamic to marketing and customer relationship building. Not only does it use the technology and content posting conventions of video sharing sites such as YouTube to give users a screening and viewing platform, but it also ‘shares’ exclusive material with its putative film re-editors. “Here’s the footage we went into the editing room with,’ it says, ‘see what you can come out with.’ Other elements of the social mix such as voting and posting to your website exploit the viral aspects of the medium.

Part of the reason the campaign works is that millions of potential viewers feel entirely at home with the content creating/sharing environment. While on one level this is a simple competition to win a film camera, the entries themselves have now become part of the wider campaign to attract attention.

Filtered water becomes flavoured water. Genius or pointless? (source: daily candy)

Chat via video conference with oovoo with up to 6 chums. For free. It sounds like a Vic Reeves mentalist quote on Shooting Stars, which is probably more fun (source: daily candy)

Some digital music type stuff at 7digital

And advergirl gives a real job description for account execs

Finally, the locals are probably up in arms and unlikley to be swinging around poles but innovative ad placement/creation for myprivatedance.com to get the attention of weary travellers as they arrive at Gatwick. I wonder if it lights up at night?

P.S. I haven’t run out of things to say, I just have a load of stuff that has been piling up in my notebook that I thought you might like to know. You know how it is.