The notion of taking action without conviction defies the conventional wisdom to think before you act. The truth is, creativity isn't about wild talent as much is it is about getting things done. To find a few ideas that work you need to try a lot that don't. I have found that waiting builds apathy and increases the likelihood that another idea will capture you clients’ energy.
Additionally, I have also found that if you build lots of conviction after much analysis, it might leave you too deeply committed to a single plan of action and unable to change course when necessary. Taking action helps expose whether we are on the right or wrong path more quickly and more definitely than pure contemplation ever could.
Whether you work with a team or alone I implore you to make a commitment to early action—with conviction -- that will help your ideas materialize.
Last week FB launched Facebook Deals, the new service allows “stores, restaurants and businesses to offer promotions and discounts to users of Facebook’s location tool, Places.” Using Places, users can see what offers are nearby and share them with their friends, and can claim deals by simply checking-in to a business on Places and showing the business a voucher.
Facebook was keen to emphasize that users privacy is being protected and they will not be identified to businesses:
Brands/venues/Place owners will only see how many people claimed deals and how many people checked in – similar to the way Ads works. They know how many people the ad will be shown to but not who it was shown to. [They] will not get any other information about individual people that check in on Facebook.
Deals is only available in the US at this stage, but is likely to roll out in the UK next year. Businesses looking to get started can consult a guide from Facebook, which lays out how deals can help their business, and step-by-step instructions on how to get started
When I started blogging, I used to wake up and check performances of my websites, sometimes it was an two long process to check trackbacks, buzz on Technorati, RSS submissions, Google Analytics, and website backend for comments, submissions, and recent activity. Now I just look to see who Tweeted me.
Most of my content is being pushed and distributed via facebook, twitter and friend feed. It's sad, but I see that fewer people linking to my site from their blogs. I have witnessed that entire web communities have moved to Twitter and people prefer to Tweet, FB or Yammer their favorite links, good articles, viral stuff etc.
This is a fun UGC idea. nice way to earn a little media. It takes Chilli's baby back jingle and asks people to keep the melody but re-write the lyrics featuring their lives.
Why not have a little fun? Volkswagen has launched an effort to put the FUN back in to our lives with Thefuntheory.com This site is dedicated to the thought that something as simple as fun is the easiest
way to change people’s behavior for the better.
In a world where everything is sold as a task, VW is looking for FUN solutions to world problems. Could this piano staircase get you to take the stairs instead of the escalator? Watch and see the transformation.
Can you say viral hit???? This video has received 7,301,080 views. This surprisingly simple idea transforms the mundane into FUN.
What I love about this "Social" experiment is that it is thought and action provoking. VW is facilitating world FUN, through consumer engagement with its branded theory. One of the boldest parts of the campaign is the subtly of the VW branding. Each one of the FUN entries is ended with a VW logo. Thats it! But that's a lot when you consider that just one of the videos has 7,301,080 views. If VW attempted to pay for this type of reach it would cost them millions.
Earned media comes with risky yet good ideas. (risky - because no other brand in the category is doing anything like this. Good, because they let go of their brand, use emotional and behavioral insights and allow the consumer to have a bit of fun with the brand.) They have done an amazing job of owning fun in their category while extending a global conversation that could inspire others.
If you have a way to take the mundane or simple and make it FUN you should submit it for a prize. Your
entry can be presented with a written explanation plus a visualization of the idea itself. It could be a simple sketch, photos
or a film of a prototype. Put the fun back in to the world with VW at http://thefuntheory.com.
Do you think this campaign sets a new standard for brand building through online video and social media?
I love a flash mob. Some say they are sooo done. I am not one of those people. I have to say that this flash mob really brought a smile to my face when I realized that it was another T-Mobile event. With all the horrible crap going on in the world it is nice when a brand just wants you to have a smile and share it.
When I saw what T-Mobile did on Oprah - I was blown away. If you watched Oprah's 24th season kickoff party, which took place in on the mag mile in Chicago you could can see how people shared an incredible experience that makes you want to smile. This is really content worth sharing. (just search YouTube and see how many videos were made)
Do you remember the T-Mobile dance at Liverpool Street Station for T-Mobile's Life's for Sharing campaign? And who can forget the Trafalgare square karaoke, where 13,500 people sang Hey Jude. It seems to me that T-mobile's flash mob still works.
Have you had a recent flash mob experience that you want to share? If so leave me a comment.
I invite you to join me in for a Digital 101 at Noon on Friday. Social Media 101: Discover the power of your voice will be an introductory course and forum where we will cover behavioral trends to the technology tools and the brands and people who are using social media.
You can choose any marked location on the map to track the her trips via video, photos and read her remarks. It looks like the site aggregates images from all over the web. Follow our SOS @ http://ow.ly/hJed
This would offer a fun way for a brand to track and highlight conversations, recommendations, pics and video that people create. It might also be a new way for a brand not to be tethered to just one social media platform.
His art crossed barriers, his fashion allowed us to appear militant and
pop at the same time, his fusion of sounds and collaborative work style
saved parts of the music industry in the 80's and gave MTV an injection
of legitimacy.
His product endorsements and original scores drove fans to purchase millions of products. He helped define the cola wars. He also helped raise the bar when it came to producing advertising that had an entertaining production quality.
The impact of his death was amplified by social media. 10-years ago, we would have learned of MJ's passing via TV, or a friend or coworker. Yesterday, our knowledge was
immediate. With my tweet deck open and my iPhone on my desk the news came in waves. First it was a video from a tourist on a starline bus who uploaded a video of the ambulance leaving Jackson's home. Then it was an avalanche of tweets and links that updated his condition on a real time basis.
The global coordination of fans mourning in public was fascinating. The photo above was taken by my daughter. We used twitter to see where fans were converging in our neighborhood. (We found groups of stunned MJ fans in Harlem, Times Square and Chelsea)
Even more fascinating was the "private" behaviors that drove iTunes to slow, amazon to clog and twitter search to fail. Yesterday afternoon showed both the power and frailty of the digital medium. Celeb-news site, TMZ.com (AOL/Time Warner owned), secured the scoop when it was first to
report that Jackson had died — but the site then crashed several times,
unable to cope with millions of visitors flooding to it.
One of the most fascinating tweets today was when P-Diddy tweeted a link to a tribute song that features The Game, Usher, Mario Winans and Boyz2Men to name a few. Diddy's tweet to approximately 1.3 million Twitter followers has made “Better On The Other Side” the most popular link on Twitter today. (it has almost 2000 retweets).You can download the song at BOX.net a file sharing site.
The rapid changing information added to Wiki's across the net triggered this message to appear on Jackson's Wikipedia page: This article is about a person who has recently died.
Some information, such as that pertaining to the circumstances of the
person's death and surrounding events, may change rapidly as more facts
become known.
The firm New Media Strategies notes
that Jackson’s Wikipedia page logged 1.8 million visitors yesterday,
compared to its daily average of just 20,000. According to Mashable it also saw a whopping
650 edits as users updated the entry furiously as news broke.
If you attempted to search anything last night you probably noticed that the connection speeds felt like 56k modem slow. For 35 minutes, millions of people who googled
Jackson’s name were greeted with an error page rather than a list of
results. CNET reported that Google believed it was under attack
when the news first broke. Google said that there had been a “volcanic” surge in interest in
Michael Jackson, with most of the top 100 searches related to the singer.
Facebook reported that Jackson’s page was
attracting about 20 fans a second, and fast becoming one of the top pages in
all of Facebook. (@ 2:42AM it has 1,228,072 fans)
Once again, real people reporting a story, revealed yet another tale of the traditional news media playing catch-up with the digital. However, it took the traditional outlets to lend their credibility to real people reporting. Together, Broadcast + Digital + Mobile showed how the established players such as TMZ.com / AOL / CNN have finally worked
out how to tap into the power of convergence.
What we know for sure is that no matter your opinion of MJ's private matters (accusations of molestation, childlike behavior and plastic surgery) he never stopped helping change the way we listened and participated in the creation of his music and persona. Jackson was the intersection of art, philanthropy and social movement.
I cannot imagine a brand being able to coordinate a product or service launch, update or invention being as powerful as what Michael Jackson's persona did. We should study the trend to understand how to attempt to replicate it in our marketing lives.
Last night the mediums and the messages converged and exploded. What was your contribution or experience to the #michaeljackson effect?
