Widgeridoo: Why Widgets Work For Branding?

Written by Igor Beuker on March 25th, 2008 |

In this item you’ll be able to learn all about the power of viral widgets, what brands are using widgets and what do widgets cost?

The didgeridoo is a wind instrument of the Indigenous Australians. Didgeridoo is sometimes described as a natural wooden trumpet or “drone pipe”. Musicologists classify the didgeridoo as an aerophone.

I would classify widgets as: online tools, applications or instruments that can be created, embedded and spread easily by internet users. As social media specialist, I see widgets as a great opportunity for brands to play a whole new ’sound of music’ in the social media space. That’s why I would like to introduce the term: “Widgeridoo”.

The Nissan Live Traffic Widget is a smart way of building brand identity using a software application that can be embedded in e.g. a Facebook page or downloaded to a computer desktop. Also facilitating and smart: the Kraft Foods Recipe Widget.

Other widgets that work? How about music, games and entertainment widgets? How about utility widgets like: personal finance calculators or world clocks? Indeed more advertisers build brand awareness and engage consumers with their own widgets. Take a look at Google’s Gadget Gallery (gadget is another fancy name for widget) or Yahoo! Widgets.

Nearly 148 million people in the United States, viewed widgets in November 2007, according to comScore. MySpace widgets had the largest audience with nearly 58 million viewers, followed by Slide.com at 39 million viewers. The measurement service separately tracked Facebook applications; the most popular application there was “Top Friends,” by Slide with nearly 20 million viewers.

What do widgets cost? Advertisers looking to hire a top-of-the-line digital ad agency like Digitas can expect to pay $50,000 to as much as $300,000 for an elaborate widget that uses Flash, says Clickz.

Which MarComm goals can be achieved with widgets? Widgets can be used to build brand awareness or to serve an assortment of marketing objectives, from traffic to lead generation.

Widgets can also contain video, viral commercials, a music video with an interactive playlist and more. Compelling widgets can spread viral and fast around the globe, at hardly any media costs at all, only a small bucket of natural seeding (social media optimization) hours. But I’m not finished with my widgeridoo song, I really want you to drink my widget koolaid!

Widgets are one of the most cost-effective creatives in digital marketing. Other creative digital agencies across Europe charge $ 20.000 to $ 50.000 per widget. That’s relatively cheap for branded online applications. The use of widgets will probably rocket, especially when leading brands like Coca Cola, Nike, Adidas and Unilever are already using widgets.

And marketers that use a smart social media agency will only have to pay for creating the widget and some natural or paid seeding, to get consumers engaged in social networks, blogs and communities. So every CMO should should try a widget campaign soon, to get embed the learnings within his team.

Please forgive me my widgeridoo song. But I have been CMO for almost 10 years and am now heading a digital branding agency and a social media agency. So, I can tell you from both sides of the table: widgets really work for branding. And they do engage that important group of social influentials immediately. That is what every CMO wants, right? What’s your opinion about widgets? Do you believe in widgeridoo?

Source: Clickz and Marketing.

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