Nothing Special Just the Usual Big Success

• Have a quality product - Allee Willis and Holly Palmer (project name: Bubbles&Cheesecake) two talented song writers and singers.
• Don't just observe your customers, but live together with them - Allee and Holly are very active online/offline social networkers.
• Involve your customers and give them relevant content - They wrote and played a song in Allee's home. They recorded the 8 stages of the process with a cheap camera from the first rehearsal to the last fine tuning. They put all the 8 videos on YouTube.
• Be compelling - Most of the viewers started to search their song wich stuck in their minds after watching 8 videos.
• Have a simple, content-focused and user-friendly hompage with strong SEO - Allee and Holly have an award-winner site.
• Sell the product at the time and place when and where the need arises - Holly broke up all her contracts with the record companies and she is selling her music only via the net (iTunes). CD Baby online music shop burns CD-R from the lossless files if you can't live without a physical CD.
• Don't focus on budget, focus on efficiency - Their promo budget was extremely low, but the way they are treating their fans and customers is priceless.
• "Editing is Cool" - I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year with the core message of their promo song:

Reality is a perception,
you must edit to suit your own needs.

In life you can edit out weaknesses
and turn them into strenghts.

Edit out bad friends, bad jobs, bad habits and lovers
and anything else that is bad.

Edit your life!

Advertising That Does

by Paul Isakson
I've had this image for a while now and have been meaning to write a bit on it. It comes from a presentation given by Tim Smith at the Digitaal Willen We Allemaal 2008 Conference/Event (which loosely translates to "We All Want Digital," if Google's Dutch translation is correct). The only thing I'd change is instead of it being about the future, I'd say it's already what great advertising and marketing is doing today.

Crispin gets this. Whether you like their work or not, they're getting people to talk for nearly every client in their portfolio. Additionally, they're going beyond talk and getting people to upload content and become part of the message itself.

Fallon London gets this too. They not only created talk for Cadbury, but they have inspired people to create new versions of the Gorilla and Trucks spots for them, some of which became ads that aired. They have created quite a stir for Sony as well, where the last few years people have awaited the next new ad for Bravia.

One of the latest examples may be in the works from Droga5, where their Bike Hero video has not only been creating talk, but it has inspired at least one Guitar Hero fan to extend the message further...



When you sort it all out, it comes down to one thing really - foresight. You have to start with the goal of getting people to talk and/or create content in mind.

If your creative brief's "one thing" has to do with getting people to do something rather than take away something you're telling them, you're going to inspire people to talk about your brand at a minimum. And if you've got a solid foundation in place for them to build upon, you're going to inspire fans of the brand to create new content that supports your idea and pushes it even further into culture.

So, is what you're putting out into the marketplace encouraging people to tell others about your brand? Is it going further and inspiring them to create something new to support your brand even more? Or is it just creating noise people would rather tune out?

To be one of the great marketers of the future, we've got to catch up to those who already are, today.


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Only 16% of Students Read Marketing Email

Today’s high-school and college students started using email at an average age of 13, have had an email address for 8 years and have about 2.4 email addresses each, yet 61% say they ‘never’ or ‘hardly ever’ read marketing emails, finds a survey from eROI.

The research, which was designed to uncover how students communicate digitally and relate to email marketing messages, found that the majority of students do not feel companies are effectively speaking to them personally through email, and only 16% of students say they ‘frequently’ read the marketing emails they receive.

In terms of preferred forms of communication, email continues to score well among students. While 37% say that texting is their favorite form of communication, 26% cite email.

However, despite this continuing popularity, the study finds that email, as a viable marketing channel for reaching students, is dying.

Email Marketing Messages Ineffective

In addition to the majority of students not reading marketing emails, 66% of students similarly report rarely or never taking action after reading them.

However, the major reasons students take action upon receiving email:

• They are interested in the product (60%)
• They are attracted to a special offer (47%).
• They like the design of the email (11%).

With this in mind, there still may be some opportunity to reach students with relevant, targeted email messages that resonate with them, according to eROI. “Staying on top of constantly evolving trends is the key to gaining trust and staying relevant to the student market,” the report said. “But another challenge in reaching them is knowing which channel will carry and present your message most effectively.”

Additional findings about students and email are detailed below.

Google is Favorite Email Provider

In terms of the primary email service used by students, Gmail is the clear favorite. Nearly one-third (32%) of college students use Gmail as their primary email address, while 19% use Yahoo, 18% use MSN/Hotmail and about 17% use their school email.

Reasons For Getting Email Address

Approximately one-quarter of students say they first got an email address so they would be able to buy online, while a much larger number of students got an email address for communicating with family (81%) and with friends (52%).

Frequency of Email Checks

More than two-thirds of students say they check email at least once per day, and 55% of those check more than 3 times per day. This indicates that students are aware of the emails that hit their inbox, and are looking for compelling messages that cut through the clutter and speak to them, the report said.

Only about 36% of students use email alerts to keep up to date on what’s happening on their social networks and only about one-quarter of students originally got an email address for social networking purposes.

About 12% of students currently check email on a mobile device, though eROI forecasts that this number will increase. quickly over time.

“Overall, email plays an important role in college students’ life as a personal communication device, but not as a major marketing channel,” the report stated. “Ultimately, marketers need to ensure their products are relevant and take the time to craft emails that truly speak to students.”

About the study: The survey included a sample of 283 high school and college students representing 29 US states.

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Some Useful Presentation about Web2.0, Web3.0 and S2W