Last week on ViralBlog among others “Measuring The Business Impact Of Social Media”, “How Should CMOs Change The Communication?” and “Retail Trends 2012: Bricks Perish, Screens Profit”.

Top 25 Stories On ViralBlog In 2011

It was a busy year in the social media space and tech. Google+; new iPad, Facebook launched Timeline, Twitter with a new design for users and  brand pages and embeddable tweets and much much more. Impossible to name them all. And as there were more than 300 articles on ViralBlog in 2011, we bring you bring you the top 25 that you simply have to read…

Crash Corsage – ‘Til Death Do Us Party’

Remember The Wedding Crashers with Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson back in 2005? Did you enjoy how they sneaked into weddings to take advantage of the romantic tinge in the air? Well in 2012, there will be an app for that!

How Should CMOs Change The Communication?

Your company has a Facebook fan page, maybe a Twitter account and thinking about joining Google+ as your competitors do the same and it’s on your “To Do List” for upcoming months in 2012. Hire a few community managers and maybe a consultant, all done and working! Or it may not be so as the social networks are maturing and also the users. How should CMOs change the way they communicate?

Retail Trends 2012: Bricks Perish, Screens Profit

The retail trend for brick and mortar stores in Holland are pitch black. 30% of the stores might have disappeared from the streets before end 2015. The empty square meters will go from 2 million to 8 million. Screen and Social Commerce will grow massively. Let’s take a deeper dive, into PSFK Future of Retail…

5 Mobile Trends For 2012

Always on, connected 365 days a year. Consuming information where, with who and when you want it. Making decisions to go where you want or to buy what you want; on the spot. Finding out what is happening around you and connecting with your friends 24/7.

Viral Friday: Volkswagen Game – The Bark Side

A weekly viral video chart of ViralBlog, showing the 5 most popular viral videos, commercials, games or user-generated videos, carefully selected and ranked by popularity, viral impact & spread.

Virality Lessons From Facebook Scammers

Have you ever looked at your Facebook news-feed and almost clicked on a link, realizing at the last second that it was just another Facebook scam? Or maybe you went all the way and clicked on the scam. Although they are annoying and their presence has been steadily decreasing, you can learn how to create a viral video, by taking a look at some of the more recent Facebook scams…

Measuring The Business Impact Of Social Media

ROI, CTR, engagement rate, fans increase,…Also the social media activities must be measured for analysis and details on the impact of your business. As more companies understand that social media is about long-term and strategic approach that goes hand-in-hand with other marketing channels, it’s no longer perceived as a single shot into the dark.

With Crash Corsage for iPhone, soon you can crash any wedding, anywhere, anytime. By collecting data from the open directories of personal wedding site providers, Crash Corsage creates filtered lists of nearby weddings.

Crash Corsage (love the name!) gives you all the important information such as what you need to wear, how the couple met, location of their party, and everything else you might need to down a bottle of free champagne and try to score with somebody’s hot cousin.

The app is even gamified- you can gain points for various wedding related triumphs like “coital encounters with guests”. Built-in challenges encourage users to compete against other crashers, while photo galleries and checklists let people show off their chops. It’s more than a crash course in wedding crashing, it’s Crash Corsage!

Check out the demo video of the app below:

Can’t wait to download this app, in my opinion already a legend!

Last week on ViralBlog among others “The Perfect Storm: Retail And Social”, “Addressable TV: Re-evolution Of The Medium TV” and “What Channels Influence The Social Consumer?”.

How To Boost Holiday Sales? Free Shipping Day

Q4 is the most hectic, stressful and at the end the most profitable quarter of a year for most of the marketing industry, retail and other businesses. There are several different ways how to approach this season of the year to boost sales and get as much as possible – by strategic planning, special promotions or with a simple Free Shipping Day.

Samsung Galaxy Note: Who is Notasso?

In order to show the immense diversity of creative possibilities of the new Samsung Galaxy Note, Spanish street artist Notasso was asked to participate in a new campaign from Samsung, named after the artist himself, Who is Notasso.

What Channels Influence The Social Consumer?

Nowadays practically everybody consults the web in any kind of way when it comes to purchase decisions. So for CMOs out there it’s vert important to understand that some aspects of digital marketing deserve more attention than others…

The Last Advertising Agency On Earth?

As CSO I love disruptive ideas that can break through conventions. I love commercial ideas that leads creatives into new directions. And I do not like the lame excuses I so often hear: “but that’s our current business model”. Change it, losers have excuses! That’s why I love this video…

Corporate Social Media Summit – Part III

ViralBlog were kindly invited to join the Corporate Social Media Summit hosted in London on the 28^th and 29^th of November. This is the final part of our full coverage of both days.

Addressable TV: Re-evolution Of The Medium TV

One-way communication and Television ran the show for about 60 years. We now welcome CMOs to the re-evolution of the medium Television. Will Addressable TV finally make TV the efficient and accountable marketing medium…

Viral Friday: FedEx Guy Throwing My Monitor

A weekly viral video chart of ViralBlog, showing the 5 most popular viral videos, commercials, games or user-generated videos, carefully selected and ranked by popularity, viral impact & spread.

The Perfect Storm: Retail And Social

Boutiques are dying off, big multi and mono brand retailers are taking over the show. Online shops are increasing, e-commerce is being perfected and social commerce is on the rise. Does this mean our physical shopping experience is about to whither away?

The Changing Costs Of Christmas

Christmas, the time we all come together with families and friends to celebrate this special holiday. As 2011 is almost coming to an end let’s take a look at how UK consumers spend their hard earned cash for Christmas.

The short film about what the future of advertising might look like was produced by Saatchi & Saatchi Canada, Tool, Pirate, Rooster and Lunch.

It promotes the FITC Toronto Design & Technology Festival on April 23-25 in 2012.

Having looked at the video, I visited the website immediately, expecting a groundbreaking list of disruptive topics. And must say, I was a little bit disappointed to next discover 2D and HTML5 Games, Flash design and development etc.

I do love great design, UI and technology. And believe me: I am convinced that Aesthetics – the philosophy of dealing with the nature of beauty, art, taste, and with the creation and appreciation of beauty – is one of the must haves for brands to be able to pull digital natives gently through their funnels.

But that the advertising agencies will only survive with games and flashy interactive designs, I doubt it. So love the film, but would have expected some slight other experience (topics) at the event, after having seen the video promise.

In my opinion authenticity, under promise, over deliver and an accountable attitude are more important survival mechanisms for advertising agencies to be the last on earth.

Am I being too harsh now, or is the event not fully living up to the expectations you got from the film?

To prove to their deadline-setting clients that creativity takes time, Hungarian ad agency Café Creative visited some schoolchildren and asked them to perform two tasks: Complete a drawing in 10 seconds, and then complete the same drawing in 10 minutes.

The results you have now experienced in above video. So realistic deadlines, crystal clear briefings with tangible brand and business objectives, time for a de-briefing and creative briefing, kitchen review and managing expectations upfront; they will all contribute to a higher impact and ROI.

And it will fuel partnerships between brands and agencies. And many satisfied consumers that will like brands that offer better messaging and more meaningful experiences.

Maybe to create output more often, that makes both the CMO and his agency more proud…

How do you feel about above video? And what do you think brands and agencies could improve in their relationships?

And did both JibJab and OfficeMax managed to keep their Elf Yourself campaign fresh? Read along!

Elf Yourself
For the people not familiar with Elf Yourself, here’s a small wrap-up. Elf Yourself is a Christmas holiday application where people can transform themselves and other ‘victims’ into elves.

With that they are able to participate in the most wicked dance moves, which is obviously quite hilarious! The application makes nifty use of upload opportunities. You can use photos in any range, as long as it has a face in it.

You can use photos stored on your computer, make a new one by using your webcam or just by logging in to Facebook to get that perfect face.

 
In terms of usability, the creators did a very good job. Select a photo, enhance it and position the mouth area for some serious mouth movement and the quality time can begin. After these seconds lasting procedure you are ready to see yourself (and others) in dances, varying from Funk, Hip Hop, Country, Classic and 5 other brilliant settings.

To keep the Elf experience alive, the mostly brilliant results can be shared through email, Facebook, Twitter or with an embed on your owned media. Was your creation that brilliant, then you might want to download it (costs $4.99), since online versions will be erased starting in January.

Did you made a creation close to epic? Elf Yourself makes it tangible for you with their online store.

Gift items include ceramic mugs, mousepads, playing cards, puzzles in tins, magnets, posters, collectable ornaments, DVDs and print greeting cards – each personalized with your ElfYourself photos.

Elf Effect
CMOs should be tuned in right now. What can a non-business connected campaign do for your brand, in terms of awareness, preference and purchase intent?

Well, earlier editions reported at least 180 Million visits and 123 Million faces were used for the actual application.

So that made Elf Yourself no longer a stack of gold but much more the mother load. OfficeMax saw a 190% increase to its web-traffic and a sustained a steady increase in online and walk-in sales.

In 2010, Julie Krueger, senior vice president of e-commerce and direct marketing at OfficeMax, titled Elf Yourself as a “gift from OfficeMax to their consumer”. 

David Berkowitz, senior director of emerging media and innovation at interactive marketing firm 360i, said that even if there’s no logical connection to anything OfficeMax sells, the program works from a name-recognition standpoint. “It gets their name out there.” And with more than 180 million visits, you definitely can be sure of that.

OfficeMax

OfficeMax Incorporated (NYSE: OMX) is a leader in both business-to-business office products solutions and retail office products.

The company provides office supplies and paper, in-store print and document services through OfficeMax ImPress, technology products and solutions, and furniture to consumers and to large, medium and small businesses.

OfficeMax customers are served by approximately 35,000 associates through direct sales, catalogues, e-commerce and more than 900 stores across the USA.

JibJab

JibJab is a digital media company dedicated to making funny things worth sharing since 1999. The company consists of the best artists, comedians, writers, musicians, performers, technologists and business people to produce world-class original entertainment on the Internet.

Want to get started and make a Elf Yourself creation yourself? Click here!

What was your experience with ElfYourself? Let us know!

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.

In the stunning Lucerna Cinema over 250 marketers added great energy to a nice line-up, that included keynote speeches from: Social Times, AllTwitter, Underdog, Viral Factory, Google and ViralBlog.

The day before the event we did an interview in which I explained why some brands should really stay out of social media. And we talk about how we as Pirates of the Caribbean (SocialMedia8) fit within The Royal Navy (GroupM).

And about WPP’s future steps into digital and social. Check the video interview below…

The next day at the event, The Battle started. In my keynote Power to the People – Are you in control enough to let go?- you will see a me entering the stage in a boxing outfit, accompanied by LL Cool J’s track Mama Said Knock You Out.

A relaxing way to start, since I do love K1. And a satisfying choice, since the Czech national football team has kicked our Dutch football team’s ass several times.

An interview in Marketing & Media Magazine was published a week after the event. It’s in Czech, so only a view of you will understand my vision on Facebook, Google and the rest of the SF gang.

Ed Robinson of the Viral Factory did the interview on Czech National TV. Great choice, since his beard made him look like the KFC logo. And I’m qouting Ed himself…

A special thanks to Vojta, Pavel, Tiago, Neil, Ed, Gianni, Jakob and Lauren. Prague, an amazing city. The Social Summit, a splendid event with great energy and feedback from the audience!

If you like our written words, we are passionate to spread our story in spoken words even more. Connect to us, if you want to spice up your marketing event.

Our next event stops will be: London, Sao Paulo Brazil and NYC again.

This week’s Viral Friday #1 position goes to Carlsberg Stunts With Bikers In Cinema, bringing couples in a nasty situation. The #2 goes to Puss In Boots – “The Cat Haz Swagger”, giving one of the most awesome Shrek caracters its own moment of fame. And the #3 goes to PlayStation 3 – Long Live Play  with a vague but appealing teaser which is surely one to watch.

Do you want to see this week’s list from 1 to 5? Go on then, and have a look! We’d like to hear your opinion about the virals. Have fun!

Get our ViralBlog asset: the Viral Friday Widget! By default the widget shows you the latest Viral Friday, but it’ll also show you the seven most recent postings on ViralBlog.

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1. Carlsberg Stunts With Bikers In Cinema

Click here to view the embedded video.

What a brilliant viral do we have here! Not only because the brand appeals to some of you, but also because you exactly know how the victims feel. It was so good that we gave it a post on its own on ViralBlog. What will you do if you are on a romantic date where you end up between 148 bikers? Manhood or take to one’s heels? A difficult dilemma where we want to see people struggle with it. Carlsberg arranged this for you in Belgium and you will enjoy it. The video is online since September 22 and it generated more than 3.2 million views. Cheers!

2. Puss In Boots – “The Cat Haz Swagger”

Click here to view the embedded video.

No this is not an Old Spice commercial. Remember the green ogre called Shrek and his furry animal friend Puss? Well, he is coming back to the big screen as the main protagonist and is voiced by Antonio Banderas. The movie has not even been launched yet but it already has 734.055 fans on Facebook. It has been online for over a week and has been viewed 1.417.000 times. Looks like it will be another million dollar cash cow for Dreamworks. Need more Puss in Boots? Take a look on their official website!

3. PlayStation 3 – Long Live Play

Click here to view the embedded video.

Ever since the PlayStation Network outage Sony has suffered huge damage to their PlayStation Brand. Sony is ready to make you all forget about that. They even started their new Long Live Play campaign a few weeks ago. Now Sony released a teaser with the same Long Live Play Slogan. The video was  uploaded 5 days ago but already has 1.765.000 views! To the untrained eye the teaser does not reveal much but the most loyal PlayStation fans should see references to Sony’s exclusive franchises. Our best bet is either a PlayStation Home or PlayStation Store make over. 

4. Introducing Timeline – A New Kind Of Profile

Click here to view the embedded video.

You probably heard about the F8 conference and Facebook’s new features. In this video Facebook introduces Timeline: a feature that follows your life, from your birth till now and in the future. It contains all your activities on Facebook but it will only show the most important moments. You can complete your timeline to by adding things from the past and update upcoming events. Are you going to complete your Timeline? More info can be found here. This video is online since September 22 and had more than 1,1 million views!

5. Time lapse Of Ford Explorer

Click here to view the embedded video.

Here we have a nice video for Lego addicts! On September 26^th there was a unique Ford Explorer rolling off the assembly line. The car was built from over 380,000 LEGO bricks and marks a beginning of a long-term relationship between Ford and LEGOLAND. The car will be a transported in a plexiglass trailer to LEGOLAND in Florida, where the children can acquire their first experience of driving. Since the movie is online, it already has over 500,000 views.

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!