Twitter: You can’t just do it; you have to do it right
Ah, ‘Twitter.’ This year’s buzz word. Everyone wants to know what people are tweeting about, but more importantly, they what to know why this medium is blowing up. I still have mixed feelings about Twitter. I think it’s an interesting concept, but I don’t think it’s fully understood or executed properly yet. And before marketers can figure out how to leverage it, I think consumers need to figure out the role they want Twitter to play in their lives.
Twitter is an interesting convergence of mediums. It’s a combination between text messaging and instant messaging, but more interestingly, it’s combination of brevity and frequency. Twitter limits posts to 140 characters; but encourages constant updating. That’s an interesting relationship….
So as marketers everywhere are rushing to jump on board, I think it’s important to realize the difference between just being on Twitter and using it effectively. Below is a video from Ad Age that discusses just that. The video recaps the first-ever ‘Shorty Awards,’ which recognized the top artists in 26 categories of Twitter communications. The winner of the best Twitter advertising campaign was a woman who Tweeted as Peggy Olsen, a popular character from the hit TV show Mad Men on AMC.
She has been interacting with other users who have registered as Mad Men characters. What’s interesting about this relationship is that they Tweeted in character for over a period of the entire season. Further, the voice of Peggy Olsen had absolutely no relation to AMC; she was just a devoted fan engaging with similar consumers. Consequently, she developed 12,000 followers. Check out the video. It’ll change your impression of Twitter.
Flash Mobs
I think this is brilliant. T-Mobile’s new campaign, Lifes For Sharing hosted a Flash Mob in the Liverpool Street Station. A flash mob is a staged event that involves a large group of people publicly and suddenly assembling to execute a particular activity. They often take place in a large crowded area like a train station, major park, or city-center.
After doing some research I learned that there’s quite a few great examples of flash mobs. Some include silent raves held in NYC ( hundreds of people danced to the same song with listening to it on their ipod) and a massive pillow fight in the center of Toronto.
Flash mobs started as social experiements, but are today being used by marketers because of their unique and disruptive nature. Below is the video for T-Mobiles Campaign. Take a look at it and then think about why its so successful.
If I were waiting to catch my train and this just broke out around me, my natural instinct would be to grab my phone and start calling friends- just like many people themselves did in the video. After that, you’d have to take a picture so you could show them later when they didn’t believe you. What a great way to prompt product use! The idea Lifes For Sharing expresses the innate role of mobile technology- communication and connectivity. But rather than telling people that, let them prove you right by invoking that reaction.
Additionally, the stunt acts almost like a PR event; it garnered attention of the surrounding people, but the value of it extended far beyond Liverpool. The video has over 10 million views on YouTube and has been circulating around email.
Flash mobs are an exciting, unusual and innovative stunt that I see offering great value to many brands.
IKEA Guerilla Marketing
In its best, guerilla marketing interupts the normal routine of everyday life and makes people notice their product.
Ikea New York hosted a fabolous exhibition called Everyday Fabulous Exhibit. They invited people to come see how good design can transform the most ordinary day into something spectacular. The event consisted of their design team transforming NYC locations with Ikea products.
This is a great example of a disruptive, inventive, inexpensive, and creative stunt that would leave an impression on a passing consumer.
Arby’s New Ad Campaign
Arby’s just introduced a broiled burger; the point? There’s not as much grease. And to prove their point, check out the video below:
You don’t have to re-invent the wheel to stay hip…
But it does help if you’re creative, unexpected, and smart!
I came across this email years ago, but held onto it because I thought it was so clever. It’s taking something so simple and bland and transforming it into an edgy, smart branding effort all of its own. What am I talking about? Packaging. And not product packaging. Something much duller. Shopping bags. Take a look:
What makes this idea so clever is that it takes advantage of the way we consumers already interact with the product! We have to stick our hand through that hole or grab those strings, so the design might as well enhance the meaning of that action. All shopping bags are branded with their store’s logo, but this type of design resonates on such a deeper level than mere text. This packaging says “everything we do expresses who are… and btw-we’re really smart and cool.” And – this might be a long shot – but I’d bet to say that it enhances the perceived value of the content inside the bag by curious onlookers. Which again, gives more props to the brand.
I would stop and look at someone walking down the street with a bag like that. And more importantly, I’d have to find out what store they got it from. BAM! Brand awareness and positive associations.
Well done designers. Well done.
