omg what happened and what should I do? June 14, 2010
Posted by nicholas gill in digital, digital advertising, social media, viral.Tags: ebook
4 comments
Free ebooks are ten a penny but this one caught my eye because:
- someone I trust tweeted about it
- the content looked pretty awesome and interesting & it has a fun title
- the content has many questions that a lot of clients and peers still have so always useful fodder
- it looked pretty cool
- and you can get a free download by paying with a tweet – the social payment system. I’ve not come across this before and is a great “forced viral” tactic that plays on the notion of “value exchange” that we all bang on about. Share the love and we’ll give you something for nothing. If only I could have changed the tweet content to make it less salesy but hey.
I haven’t read it yet – that’s what train journeys are for but chime in with any thoughts.
memories matter & a droopy problem – using digital to promote health issues October 6, 2009
Posted by nicholas gill in Aardman, Alzheimer's disease, digital, digital advertising, Domain London, Erectile Dysfunction, Pharma, Profero, video, viral, you tube.add a comment
Two new campaigns I wanted to share for the same reason: using digital to raise awareness and action of two serious health issues by doing something interesting.
Do you have a favourite memory? Something that you always look back on and smile? Domain have just launched a new campaign for the Alzheimer’s Research Trust including a microsite which stores peoples’ memories forever. The site demonstrates that without more funding for research into dementia, this is what we stand to lose. Sadly, dementia set to double within a generation. The site is a blend of real people and celeb memories including Terry Pratchett (the world’s most “famous” sufferer of Alzheimer’s) and others including Michael Parkinson, Felicity Kendall, Patrick Moore, Gordon Brown and loads more. When you read some, you’ll laugh out loud. Read others and you’ll be quite choked. So many people, so many very personal memories.
This is quite close to my heart as my grandfather suffered from Alzheimer’s and it’s so heart breaking to see the inevitable decline from a once strong and clever man through the comedy moments of losing his glasses and they’re on top of his head all the time & deciding to flush tea towels down the toilet instead of the washing machine; to living in a different time period where he recognized nobody and nothing around him and the fear and anger this created inside him. Worse still was the decline in his health through the disease, the tension it caused in his relationships with his wife of over 50 years, his daughter and the inter-family relationships that are hard-wired into that bond. Sadly the mental decline and the need for constant care saw him spend his latter days in a care home where it was so painful to see someone you love literally wilt away.
Alzheimer’s is not a sexy charity in the way Cancer Research or stuff for kids is but it’s a cruel disease robbing people of their memories and ultimately their lives. Please support this campaign. Well done, Catch.
A hard Story About a Soft Subject
[Site / You Tube Channel]
Obviously this isn’t one I’m familiar with but a wonderful take on a serious issue – erectile dysfunction. Profero have teamed up with Aardman films to create a series of short films about Dennis and his journey from Droop to Don Juan for Bayer-Schering pharma. In England, we’re very bad at admitting any health problem – unlike our American friends who appear to hold in high esteem their physical and psychological problems and will happily tell you all and the drugs their taking too. Over here, we just ignore it and hope it will go away. Not so easy when it’s a condition that affects millions of men over 40. I particularly like the disengaging tone and the way the truths of the problem come through (no pun intended) by being entertaining and engaging. In this overly-cluttered advertising world, doing something interesting is the only way to get noticed. This has it spades. Thanks to Nick Clarke for sharing.
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[daily dobbie] peace channel September 16, 2008
Posted by nicholas gill in active branding, content, digital advertising, peace channel, social networks, ten alps, user generated content, video, viral, web 2.0.add a comment
Peace Channel created by Bob Geldof’s company, Ten Alps. Really simple way of aggregating content pertinent to one issue.
Reach out and touch me:
closing the loop on social infectiousness May 9, 2008
Posted by nicholas gill in bzz agent, chat threads, conversation, fruitabu, measurement, metrics, viral, word of mouth.add a comment
You may remember that I signed up to be a Bzz Agent a while back to understand how they use word of mouth marketing and indeed how I could use it for my clients. After all, you can’t win the raffle without buying a ticket. The Lucozade thing ended up being a bit of a damp squib with what happened with me personally at the time so I never actually got round to doing that so I wanted to give the next campaign a proper go (the Lucozade Caffeine tasted a bit grim to be honest and didn’t seem to affect my pathetic gym performance one bit).
So, another survey later, I got a jiffy bagged stuffed to the brim with Fruitabu samples, discussion guides, money off vouchers and a set of cards to measure the conversation I have with people. It goes like this:
- I talk to someone about Fruitabu, give them a sample, voucher and a chat threads card with unique ID.
- they go off and fill in their survey, I go off and send in my Bzz Report.
So the particpant rather than the instigator also gets to feedback which provides a balance to the conversation rather than one-sided conversation. Interesting to see how this progresses.
Quick round up of the conversations I’ve had (I won’t reproduce the reports I submitted as they are somewhat functional rather than providing any level of entertainment, information or education.
Basically I found it a little forced to start talking about the product and my role as a Bzz Agent. Almost like I was a salesman. Ewww. Anyway, I found it easiest to dump all the samples on my desk rather than introducing it cold. The basic premise of it being an easy way to get part of your 5-a-day was mostly accepted apart from a few who reckoned that if you couldn’t peel an orange or banana you ought to be shot. Fair point, well made. The biggest surprise was the taste of the apple “crisps”. They were flavoured with strawberry juice. A strange taste sensation: apple that tastes like strawberry? And odd juxtaposition of flavours? Especially when you only get the apple flavour after you’ve bolted it down. Tres strange, non?
The other major pushback was that it included a chemical to keep it fresh (I’ve ran out of samples so can’t remember what the actual chemical was – d’oh! details, details). Which kind of goes againt the idea of fruit being fresh and natural.
I still have some coupons if you’re interested (20p off!). If you want to chat to me about it email or IM me on nr_gill@hotmail.com
And if you want to report on this conversation, go to ChatThreads.co.uk and enter conversation ID 2011790703.
stuff and things 09.10.07 October 9, 2007
Posted by nicholas gill in account planning, blog, brand, content, digital advertising, football, management, social networks, strategy, thoughts, user generated content, viral, web 2.0, website.1 comment so far
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.
mtv twitters while britney video barred September 12, 2007
Posted by nicholas gill in account planning, advertising, brand, content, digital advertising, social networks, strategy, thoughts, TV, viral, web 2.0, website.add a comment
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.
bikinis, nudity & the return of super fred August 30, 2007
Posted by nicholas gill in advertising, brand, cricket, thoughts, viral, word of mouth.add a comment
Saw the first one day international between England & India at the magnificent Rose Bowl on 21.08. A game that had everything including some surprises. In no particular order:
Bikinis (well, had to talk about that first)
Unfortunately we were on the wrong side of the ground but in the West stand a group of ladies suddenly stripped off and jiggled about in their seats. This caused more commotion than Cook & Bell’s centuries and had us all scrambling for the zoom on our cameras and fighting for binoculars. My interest was purely marketing oriented (ahem! and yes, Mrs. Gill didn’t fall for that either) as I felt sure this was an organised guerilla marketing stunt. Sure enough, one of the scantily clad ladies turned around and pointed her behind at me (and I’m sure it was just to me, not the thousands of other people) to reveal the logo on her bikini’d behind. Good for 6Up mobile text betting. Bad for the stewards who made them leave their seats. The ECB don’t like unofficial sponsors in the ground. Booo. But hurrah! The intrepid girls must have got back in and did it again during the Indian innings to even more applause. It was mighty cold so they must have been paid handsomely or at least been layered with deep heat. Certainly better crowd entertainment than the drunk bloke near us trying to get everyone to sing “barmy army” and start another Mexican wave. Here’s what the local paper had to say with some terrible cricket puns. And the BBC: “A group of girls in black bikinis have just entertained the crowd by running around the stand on the western side of the Rose Bowl. They were pursued by stewards in a scene reminiscent of a Benny Hill sketch, but all have now disappeared from view.”
Nudity!!!
A pitch-side ad hoarding caught my attention: nakedhawks.com. Could this be the WAG alternative for cricket to add some spice on top of the sexy Twenty20 format? No! It’s the Hampshire Hawks cricket team getting their kit off for a charity calendar to support Prostate Cancer. Good for them. Wonder what pose Warney will adopt?
Super, super Fred
As Collingwood said, a “near perfect” performance from the England team with Cook, Prior, Bell and KP blatting the ball around and some tremendous bowling from Anderson in particular followed up by Freddie Flintoff grabbing his first wicket on his return from injury. A great cricketing event. But it was bloody cold.
Brand experience
I like the Rose Bowl and I’m not just saying it as it’s my local venue. Yes, there were queues to get to the park and ride but unlike two years ago they now have ample stewards and buses laid on so it’s not one mad rush to get on the buses to the ground. They even had a nice Hampshire Cricket Club official board the bus before we left to let us know the drill on where to go, what time they left etc. All very helpful. Not much queuing at the ground and as we were in the family section (we took our cricket mad nephew along too), the atmosphere was friendly rather than abusive as it can sometimes get.
NatWest had some good exposure around the ground especially with the pint carriers and the big screens. Sky offered up their radios again where you could listen to Bumble & Co while watching the action live. And we got to see Phil Tuffnell at half time.
Getting home was a doddle too. Three things made me think though: 1) the bars closed for an hour after the half time interval. Why? 2) the queues for the gents was HUGE! For once I knew how ladies must feel. Why not put more gents in? 3) Why does it take 10 minutes to get 3 coffees and 1 minute for 3 pints?
