The project was run by by Grand Union, a full service international digital agency.

This fall it launched Sagres Preta Chocolate, a stout beer with a chocolate flavour. With a website 100% made out of chocolate?!

Help was offered by Maître Chocolatier Victor Nunes, renown in Portugal for his sculpture made out of chocolate. Looks like a passionate project that is earning attention…

Closing the loop in terms of See, Like, Buy, that is what I do miss a little bit here. This offered some extra opportunties to pull people gently through the Sagres funnel, one or two steps further; towards trial and advocacy.

But, 340 degrees is great as well, so we give two thumbs up for both brand and agency…

Source: KoiKoiKoi

Some leading brands are doing 60 Million online video views per quarter already. And the global display and online video spend will be $200 Billion by 2020, Google’s Eric Schmidt recently stated.

Want to see some more powerful insights on how to use the true power of online, viral and social video, web TV and Social TV for your brand, read along…

Where to start? The video boom offers so many great opportunities to brands.

And if you doubt if you should switch your traditional advertising towards a model that is more content-driven, engaged and focused on consumer dialogue, I suggest you take a look at the CMOin this video…

Maybe I should start with the weapons of mass affection: viral and social videos that spread around the globe with the speed of light, reaching and engaging millions of people at very low costs per contact, with very high impact?

If we look at success stories topping several viral charts (which mostly do not tell you how many of the video views are organic or paid), CMOs do understand that content is king and can even engage fans in the long tail.

So viral or social videos are not only great for short term (product) campaigns, they can also fuel the brand for periods of 6 to 24 months. Or longer.

And leading entertainment companies have also embraced the power of online video. Game companies like EA use online game trailers to ignite conversations and to fuel communities of fans.

Movie companies like Universal and Disney use online movie trailers to create Box Office hits. Next they launch a community around the movie and pull fans through their funnel in the aftermath; in order to monetize the DVD rental, sales and VoD as well.

The music industry launches new music videos, sneak previews or behind the scenes clips to plug their artists, bands and DJ’s.

Fun part of it all: more and more brands launch the videos like webisodes, in order to get massive audiences opt-in to be the first to know. And the YES, I do – is the brand’s ticket into long term and mutual beneficial relationships between fans and their brand.

The internet, forums, blogs, fan communities, video sharing portals, twitter and social networks offer amazing opportunities that linear media like TV, Outdoor and Print never had.

So most CMOs do know that content is king. And many of them are discovering that distribution is queen.

So in the value chain most CMOs now also believe that social strategic planning is not POE (Paid, Owned, Earned media) but OEP (Owned, Earned, Paid media).

Finally we have learned to do it Nike+ way: Fans always first. Grow organically and launch Paid media in stage 3, if needed.

See our OEP model below. Just to show you what I mean with social strategic planning and OEP. I will explain a bit more below…

Social is simple. Basically, close to CRM. At least, a CRM DNA is needed to succeed. You need to understand that loyal clients and fans could be very annoyed if you do NOT treat them special, and like part of the rest.

That’s why social planning should mostly start with FANS FIRST! They are your true value. They should know first. And since they alike like or love you, they will share great content to the rest of their peers, being your brand ambassadors.

That’s why I can get furious if I see brands that offer Groupon deals with 50% discounts. How would you explain to your clients and fans that rookies, newbies and non-loyal clients get the best deal first? Give your fans sneak previews, trials, a fan shop in Facebook and special deals!

So through your fan base and owned media channels, you could start the fire. What if 50% of your opt-in base shares your content with 50 friends, or shares it to his Facebook wall? Yes, there is your viral effect, 100 (or many more) of the friends will engage with your content through their trusted intermediary.

Advertising and Paid media could speed up your initial seed, increasing reach and engagement. And your video might hit the top 10 on a few video portals, which will boost your results even more.

But in earning attention, how many bloggers would like to write about old and already outdated news? Some will, but most of them might not feel special anymore. Rather give main influencers a scoop.

Paid media could be stage 3. If really needed, if your content is not that great. Or if you are in a real hurry.

But the problem with video banners and pre-rolls: perceived pretty intrusive and if the last paid view is served, all video ads will be offline that same minute. No organic growth at all. No more shares like and tweets.

Or did you ever see a pre-roll stick around? Did you ever see a video banner with legs that kept walking around for a while? Well, we feel that earning attention is much nicer than buying it. But, it’s your budget. And your brand…

So distribution is queen. But great content stays king. Why? Because great content there is no engagement. And without engagement there will be: no buzz, no viral, no social and no community.

Why are we convinced, since we like other specialists, have been working in the social space since 2003. When social media was still called: The Blogosphere.

We are part of WPP and GroupM since 2008. And believe me, above OEP, not POE story, was not always the song that everybody liked to hear.

But, we are respectful rebels. We do not see countries with borders. We see markets with opportunities.

So when launched a global platform for branded content, outreach and social video distribution, reaching and engaging over 750 Million passionistas, fans and psychographic audiences, we gained more media and pr friends. And many new international brands.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Jon Stewart, of The Daily Show fame, really summed it up for me when he said:

“To the NATO Allies that we met. The troops from the other countries that were there. That give so much. Your service is much appreciated. But that is no excuse to introduce Weetabix to our troops. I’m Sorry. That is not a breakfast. That is a building material.”

They are working hard to change that image. With help of their agency, London based BBH, they have grabbed many opportunities that the online world offers to ensure this ad has a life beyond the square box.

First the ad itself. It’s about a 9 year old girl, clearly so excited by her new breakfast itual that she does a dance routine which would have made Michael Jackson blush. Oh, and there are stuffed teddy bears break dancing too (why wouldn’t there be).

Of course a branded YouTube channel was launched. Yawn, right? Wrong. The content hosted on this channel is actually very good. Behind the scenes are becoming best practice, but the step by step break down of all the dance moves is very clever.

People love imitating content they like (for example, or this) .  By providing a step by step tutorial they have made it incredibly easy for people to learn the dance moves. Expect imitation videos to start hitting YouTube pages near you soon!

The other aspect I liked was the involvement from the agency. Whilst the ad was airing, people from the agency were monitoring Twitter for reactions and retweeting people talking about the ad.

It could be argued this is spammy and these tweets are entirely self serving. And that may partially be true. A retweet is not entirely engaging. Perhaps the client should have done this with their Twitter account, rather than the agency.

However, the fact they are paying attention to what people are saying about the brand and that is a definite step in the right direction.

Our first advice to clients is to start listening first. Weetabix and BBH London clearly are. Now let’s see those moves!

That’s a great description Wikipedia! Did you get that from Chickipedia? Anyway, I (accidentally) bumped into 3 video’s today which are perfect to put the theory to the test. Yes, I know what you’re thinking: “I already know the outcome of the test”. Just imagine it’s just a fun way to post some great viral videos!

1. Primitive – Have A Yummy Summer!

2. The Club Seat Girls

3. Skittles’ Newlyweds – The sweetest honeymoon ever!

Conclusion: Yes it works

Certain brands outperform their competition by brand innovations. Through close observations we have determined how Heineken injects intensity into their products and sponsorships, turning them into experiences that truly matter to consumers and to football fans in particular.

Most brands only succeed in getting noticed when millions are thrown in the direction of mass marketing and international sponsorships. Spend big on media, combining maximum reach with maximum frequency seems the only way to go? Well my dear CMO’s, Heineken indeed spends big on it’s UEFA Champions League sponsorship. But Heineken takes it’s sponsorship to the next level launching StarPlayer…

The game, which was created and devised by creative agency AKQA, taps into a growing ‘dual screen’ habit amongst audiences: the tendency to watch TV while also chatting with mates via social media networks on computers or mobile phones.

StarPlayer works in real-time, with players invited to forecast the outcome of corners, free kicks and penalties by choosing between a number of options. Different point scores are awarded depending on the likelihood of the outcome.

Players also have the chance to guess when goals will take place – at the start of the game they are given eight chances to predict whether there will be a goal in the next 30 seconds, with points awarded on a sliding scale depending on how early the goal is anticipated. See the video below to see how it works.

To add to the sense of competition, players can form leagues with their mates, and share their scores via Facebook. They are also awarded badges for successfully predicting the events of a game.

The StarPlayer game is available on the Heineken Facebook page, and can be downloaded for free from the App Store on iPhone or iPod Touch. The next match to play-along with in the UEFA Champions League will be FC Barcelona – Real Madrid.

Hopefully we have convinced some CMO’s with this Heineken sponsorship activation, to consider to go beyond mass marketing as well. The problem with mass media communications is that lame ads are repeated far too often. Hammering consumers again and again with the same message without any interactions, is simply not engaging modern consumers any longer.

We do believe that the Heineken StarPlayer approach is proving CMO´s some insights and examples of creativity that will be able to re-engineer brand experiences from the ground up.

Try the game this week and share with us how it made you feel…

Source: Creative Review

Click here to view the embedded video.

44 second cinema version of the ad is not really that special although it connects the product with “Party People” which is the target segment of almost every alcoholic beverage in the market. But the campaign really hits the spot with the online in branded Desperados YouTube channel.

The campaign starts in front of  a noisy party’s entrance. Users are cleverly asked to give some profile information for age verification, location and gender of interest for customization of experience.

Imitation of  native YouTube design with a custom Flash widget has already been used in the past by famous Tipp-Ex campaign. However this campaign utilizes Facebook API to deliver a more social experience.

If users choose to connect their Facebook account with the campaign’s Facebook application, their friends’ photos are displayed inside the video. Although this procedure interrupts the user experience too early (9th second) and takes a long time (risking decrease in attention further sections of the video), it brings user engagement to a new level, by using YouTube’s interface elements for interactivity.

The campaign also leverages virality in an original way by embedding user’s Facebook profile photo to a “tattoo on a stranger in the party” and giving the option to share this photo with Facebook friends.

Congratulations to Heineken for investing in this social media campaign which is an excellent follow through to their TV commercial.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Authenticity is the new keyword online and all brands are claiming or trying to act in such a way. But isn’t authentic something you are? New word, new media (social), new smoke and mirrors.
Let’s have a look at our consumer…

Because the internet is worldwide and most platforms are intertwined as a spiders-web we can define a technographic profile consumer. Of course there are the demographic specs you should take in account, but a consumer is not always the same person on-line or off-line.

Not The Same Person
Let me elaborate why consumers aren’t the same people everywhere they go. When I go to a party I love to socialise; I’ll chat with people, have a drink and dance when possible. I am the same person during the party, but I need other things on my night out. For instance I don’t want to chat when I’m dancing and I don’t feel like dancing if I just poured myself a new drink.
Also I am the same person but I act differently in several places/ situations: I wont run my mouth if I don’t have enough knowledge on a topic, nor will I actively comment on what people are saying, it is more likely in that situation I be a spectator. However on some occasions I do start conversations and actively join conversations… my demographics are the same, but my needs and interactions vary.

Technographic Profile
So which roles can we define on the web and which state of mind do consumers have?

• Creator - people who ex. publish articles, videos or blog online at least once a month
• Critic – people who react to other peoples content
• Influencer – opion leaders, people with bags of status
• Collector -save information for later use
• SocialNetworker – people who reach out, share their life and thoughts
• Spectator – read and follow what the rest produces
• eBuyer – buying stuff online as a group or individual
• Inactives – are there real inactives?

Consumer Journey
Now picture your beloved consumer through their customer journey from awareness, to consideration to eventually preferring the product or service you offer. Does our demographic targeted consumer act the same througout the process? I think we all agree: no.

This is why it is imperative to identify your consumer’s need and in which fase they are in; this will help you in finding the right place, phase and tone-of-voice to help them. You don’t start screaming in a library right? If your content and information is relevant and compelling consumers will use and or share it. That is another reason why you should try finding your Viral Spot:

Result
When really knowing your consumer (who from now on you can call a human) and knowing what state they are in and in what phase: you can leverage your brands to more engaged, tuned-in and effective organisations. This will have direct benefits for all your stakeholders; inside and outside your organisation.

So identify your audience, talk with respect and in the right mindstate in the right place.

Shouldn’t be to hard, should it…?

Click here to view the embedded video.

However it can have serious consequences if companies have social failures. So let’s have a look at 3 failures within the Socialsphere…

Wal-Mart Fail
One company that pops in my head first is Wal-Mart. Nevertheless I think they do a great job at continuously trying to engage with their clients. The one example I want to show is Wal-Mart setting up a Facebook page. It backfired due to a lack of conversation and not being “authentic”.
So where did they go wrong?
_didn’t spend enough time on Facebook
_didn’t change their message to fit the audience
_restricted comments of “fans”
_strayed from Brand Promise/ instead of discounter a stylish environnement.

Google Buzz Fail
Our golden boy can’t always end on top. Google set-out to be the leader in MicroBlogging, alas untimely because the match was already finished and the winner was already selected. It also was again something to keep people within their walled garden. Also I believe that Google’s “Don’t Be Evil” motto is increasingly being taken less seriously. Lately it seems that a lot of the things they do gets negative buzz…

Click here to view the embedded video.

Hash tagging Idiocracy By @KennethCole
As we all know things haven’t been going to well in Egypt. The world symphasises with the country’s inhabitants and there is quite the Buzz around it. Fashion Retailer Kenneth Cole thought to have a bright idea and take advantage of a country’s misery by Hijacking their #HASHTAG and posting the following.  FAIL!

So here a list with some – DONT’S
_don’t assume social media is just another advertising channel
_don’t push your banners on social platforms
_don’t stray from your core
_don’t think reach is the holy grail
_don’t believe social is a stand alone, it’s should be part of the brand strategy
_don’t avoid technologies and innovations
_don’t be unethical, be authentic and WOMMA compliant
_don’t underestimate the power of digital dictators and consumer reviews
_don’t assume social is a hype. 
_don’t think social will solve all problems, improve your brand and products!

The question isn´t if you should do social, the question is how good you are going to be at it.

What is your favourite Social Fail?

The reason for my exitement is a review of 2010 made by trends and technoloy magazine, Most Contagious.  

In my humble opion, Most Contagious is The marketing & advertising magazine that really counts. It is an inspiration to me every time and has stimulated so many creatives thoughtsof mine. A subscription on the magazine is a bit out of my league (cost are around €1.000 per year) but I try to follow and read as much as possible.

So I was really happy when I came across Jose Evers, strategy partner at XXS Advertising, aka @xxsjose, blogposting on Most Contagious review on 2010.  The review touches on all different kinds of interesting topics from major movements to design, from Facebook to the surprising virals of 2010.

The message that Most Contagious has for all of us in advertising is to provide added value, at the right time, through the right person and with the right technology.

Download the pdf and have a great sunday read!

Everything is changing rapidly, a nice idea doesn’t cut it anymore. You need to know if it’s technically possible in the channel of your choice.

So yes, within certain channels the creative idea is still leading (if you are working in the right agency with the right clients). But in online, and more and more in offline communication, technology is getting paramount. A great idea is still needed but you need to know if the Facebooks and the YouTubes allow your idea on their platform. Second you need to know if it’s possible to build it and if it actually will work.

So it’s going to be crowded at the table during the briefing. Not just the creative director should be present, there should also be an interactive / social media specialist and a technician present. This way a transmedia idea can be created, not only creating awareness but also engagement and interaction with the customer.