wanking and crying? not really an activity we want associated with our brands April 4, 2011
Posted by nicholas gill in facebook, facebook questions, user generated content.add a comment
Facebook have added new Questions functionality. Good as you get people responding in a vote manner and adding comments. Better in that everybody who answers, also has that question & their answer displayed to all their friends’ news feeds. Social graph woo hoo! But all was not rosy in our trials. We picked up some top tips. Make sure you have your brand or product name in the question title though as the branding doesn’t seem to be carried through beyond your page. And make sure you use the check box that doesn’t allow people to add their own, hilarious, options. Because we tried it on London Pride and had someone add the option of “wanking and crying” to what they’ll be doing for the London Marathon. Not the kind of thing you want to associate London’s greatest beer with. Needless to say it’s been changed.
the problem with user generated content September 10, 2010
Posted by nicholas gill in nick emmel, participation, social currency, social media, user generated content.1 comment so far
Most people cannot be bothered. From personal experience if a brand such as Activision can struggle with their massive Guitar Hero franchise in getting people to upload videos of them “rockin’ out” with some incredible prizes on offer, what chance your brand? So brands can’t rely on it and if they do go down that route, be wary and ensure it is relevant and compelling. Here are two posts I’ve liked recently that cover this and that provide more lovely thoughts. The first is where I also stole this image.
Nope, I still won’t upload a video to your campaign site by davaidavai.com
full body weight in jelly? insane backstage demands with absolut rock October 29, 2009
Posted by nicholas gill in absolut, absolut rock, user generated content, we are social.add a comment
New campaign for Absolut Rock – a very weird leather and studs special edition of Absolut vodka. No, I don’t know why either. In collaboration with NME there’s a legendary rock star rider quiz and a UGC piece asking users to unleash their ultimate rock star rider requests with one lucky winner getting their full rider supplied to them. Rock on but rock quick – finishes on Sunday November 1.
I’ve particularly enjoyed some of the riders including “my full body weight in jelly” and “a projector playing Ghostbusters on repeat with a full size replica of marshmellow man from the movie.” What would yours be? Have a go & you could win it.
Probably due to some media exclusivity deal with NME but shame it’s not featured in other social spaces such as the Absolut Twitter brand outpost where the random rider content could take the campaign into interesting places.
Thanks to Jessica from We Are Social.
Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn |nr_gill@hotmail.com
Share this Post
vote on the next generation of talent and win August 24, 2009
Posted by nicholas gill in next generation talent, onlinefire, panasonic, user generated content, video.22 comments
[Update 27.10.09]
And the winner is.. Romaine Reed. Congrats to Romaine & Carolyn – the headphones are definitely still coming to you! See comment #23 below for more.
[original posty]
I’m delighted to have been asked to be a judge on this year’s Panasonic Next Generation Talent contest which is seeking to do what it says on the tin and find the hottest UK creative student talent. The winner will bag themselves a priceless work experience placement at one of Panasonic’s top creative agencies as well as a huge Viera TV plus other cool stuff.
So here’s the deal. You tell me what you think of these four fine finalists and I’ll do a random draw to give one of you lucky folk these Panasonic noise-cancelling cans which are being offered to me for spouting forth my judgely opinion. You need to get your responses in to me by midday on Friday 28 August 2009 – use this blog or @nicholasgill. You need to bear in mind the brief when reviewing the entries:
“Produce a TV ad to promote the Panasonic G10 Viera with FreeSat Home Hub TV, leveraging the Everything Matters brand positioning.”
So here’s the four entries:
Paul Bryan @ Loughborough Uni
Romaine Reed, Ravensbourne College
Steffan Harrison, Ravensbourne College
David Childs-Clarke, Ravensbourne College
Using your comments and my own thoughts, which I’ll pop into comments during this week, these four will get whittled down to two from September 7 when full on public voting will begin with the finalist announced on September 18 to live the life of riley in ad land.
Any q’s, drop me a line.
Disclosure: I don’t work for Panasonic or their agencies but think this is a cool campaign to highlight the superb creative talent we have in this country so I’m chuffed to talk about it.
Huge thanks to Melanie @ OnlineFire.
Share this Post
get creative, get noticed May 28, 2009
Posted by nicholas gill in user generated content, film, video, MOFILM, You to the power of 12-U12.1 comment so far
MOFILM have created a unique user generated content competition called “You to the Power of 12- U12”. You get to create video content for any one of 12 global brands including Vodafone, PepsiCo, AT&T and OMO (that’s Persil for the UK readers) to represent their propositions for 2009. For example:
Nokia – creatively show what “connecting people” means in 2009
Philips – showcase the emotional power light has on our lives
Vodafone – how do you make the most of time in a world where time is precious.
I’ve seen video competitions before but nothing on this scale and with some intriguing creative options. Be interesting to see what the brands do with the content. American Express Tribeca (created by Digitas) still holds the pole position in my book for innovative video-based UGC. The copy on the site does have a disclaimer about 50/50 profit share with the winners of any profits garnered from the content so one assumes intent is there rather than just being participatory.
Entries will be judged by Spike Lee and the winners will be showcased at Cannes Lions in June. Find out more and send your video. You can also get expert film-making advice on the MOFILM Twitter stream.
Thanks to Robin Pattinson @ Hill & Knowlton for sharing.
Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn |nr_gill@hotmail.com
Share this Post
currency replaced by kindness? May 21, 2009
Posted by nicholas gill in absolut, kindness, social media, user generated content, we are social.add a comment
ABSOLUT vodka’s new campaign challenges us to look at the world differently: what would happen if we replaced cash with kindness. Spawned by the TV spot (below), this was taken experientially in various venues around London. At cinemas in Clapham and Islington, customers traded compliments and high-fives for free snacks and drinks, while others were surprised by a free coffee in exchange for a smile. More events followed such as free busking and free drinks in bars (where? where? where?)!
Conversation has been happening about what you would trade for currency on the ABSOLUT site and across their Twitter stream (#kindness) and images on Flickr.
Although the experiential activity was quite small and the conversations similar, I applaud ABSOLUT and their agencies for getting out there and doing it. Too often we get barriers put in place; part of our evolving digital landscape is about experimentation. Innovation doesn’t have case studies and predicting results is hard. It takes brave clients and agencies to leap. Well done to these guys for taking it.
Thanks to Jonathan @ We Are Social for sharing.
Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn |nr_gill@hotmail.com
Share this Post
[daily dobbie] ffffound! October 2, 2008
Posted by nicholas gill in bookmarking, ffffound, image, user generated content, web 2.0.add a comment
Ffffound is a new image bookmarking site. Ffffound it via @Armando Alves.
[daily dobbie] ba launch london and new york social network September 29, 2008
Posted by nicholas gill in BA, london, new york, social networks, user generated content, web 2.0.add a comment
A social network linking the two cities offering the best of both worlds. Also on Twitter. More info and found here.
[daily dobbie] virb – for all the things that make you, you September 26, 2008
Posted by nicholas gill in social media, social networks, user generated content, virb, web 2.0.add a comment
Reach out and touch me:
anti-social networking September 25, 2008
Posted by nicholas gill in brand experience, content, digital advertising, facebook, user generated content, web 2.0.4 comments
Great Facebook application for the new film How to Lose Friends and Alienate People about journalist Toby Young’s adventures in NYC with Vanity Fair. The book was very funny so I hope the film does it justice.
Deface your friends, un-friend them, cheat at scrabble and lots of other things to undermine social networking. First Facebook app I’ve got excited about in a while. Sorry, Emily 
Reach out and touch me:
