Go ahead, lean into it.

Arby’s tries their hand at Social Media

johannarustia — Thu, 01 May 2008 16:49:07 +0000

Arby’s first crack at leveraging social media involves a video contest and facebook app. The winner becomes the next member of Arby’s Rescue Brigade whose sole mission is to save the world from ordinary fast food.The Facebook app lets you send virtual Arby’s menu items to friends.

via AdFreak

Coke’s alter ego

johannarustia — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 22:11:37 +0000

Coke’s new facebook app, ho w to do CGC right.

Tampon Crafts

johannarustia — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 22:06:10 +0000

Tampon Crafts, how not to do C.G.C.

Kodak’s 2.0 Game Plan

johannarustia — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 13:39:44 +0000

read it here

Brand Next : The Store For Tomorrow

johannarustia — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 17:06:51 +0000

On Thursday, March 27th, along with a few colleagues I attended the opening for “ The Store For Tomorrow,” at Wolf Olin’s very cool office. I wasn’t sure what to expect other than what I read on their site:

“Held in London and New York, the show highlights ten platform brands that invite people to take part, to give as well as get. And the more people who join in, the better it becomes for everybody.”

It wasn’t actually a store but 10 stands being tended to by Wolff Olins employees for different brands. Nike’s store was aptly called,” Fitter City,” where you pledged to give a certain amount of miles per week to selected destinations and in return you received a Nike+ kit. Every store was dully mobbed, but Fitter City was one of the first to sell out their quota of pledges.

Exposing people experientially to their ideology of how brands need to act in the future was a genius way for Wolf Olin’s to brand itself. And what they proposed is that if brands want to have more of an impact they need to became a platform to helping people enhance their lifestyle. Brands notoriously tout “Buy our product and it will help you do what you really want to do.”

The sort of thinking that Wolf Olins is preaching is what JetBlue and Nike are practicing. Purchasing Nikes sneakers, may help people run better but along with a program like Fitter City where they encourage people to share their training, competing and goal setting data online to help motivate people helps really fulfill that promise. By going above and beyond to understand their consumer, the message Nike is now sending to their consumers is that they authentically care about helping them do what they want.

Its this kind of pertinent engagement with the consumer that creates an emotional connection. Both Nike and Jetblue’s initiatives clearly demonstrate that a fool proof way for consumer generated content to succeed is to simply base it around what the consumer actually needs.

A brand that gets Twitter

johannarustia — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 14:27:00 +0000

Darryl Ohrt, from Brandflakes For Breakfast, tells how he noticed a tweet from Jet Blue warning NY travelers about impending whether delays. This prospect is so simple and so obvious, one would think other companies would already be doing this.

All it took was for this brand to figure out how this existing tool could be of service to its consumers. Through this simple gesture Jet Blue shows that the brand gets them, knows what they need and from a branding perspective gets how to be a part of their day in a relevant way.

One industry that could I could think of that could sorely use this tool to build their brand, are doctors. Rather than the typical waiting time of up to an hour in the waiting room, how great and easy would it be for a doctor’s office to twitter their patients that the doctor is running late? Nix the cards on my birthday, a doctor could show me they care by showing me they respect my time.

Brands In The Digital Realm

johannarustia — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 20:28:37 +0000

Brands play a role in our lives by helping us to express our values to the people we interact and encounter, for example driving a Prius, immediately communicates that your an environmentalist and democrat. But how brands fullfill this same need online is what makes it difficult for brands to crossover into the digital realm.

Forrester sheds light on this topic with a new report called, “Online Community Best Practices“. Forrester categorizes the different reasons brands form online communities into: Listening (an online standing focus group), Talking (get across a brand message), Energizing (nurturing brand enthusiasts), Support (allow brand users to support each other) and Embracing (involve brand faithful in developing the brand).

Via Third Way Blog

Worker Generated Content

johannarustia — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 20:19:04 +0000

Great article on how interactive shops are following a Google initiative called,”20 Percent Time,” which allows engineers to work on side projects. Besides being another revenue maker these independent digital agencies are adding the creation of applications to its repertoire as showcases that carry added weight with potential clients.

Read It Here

Joining a movement

johannarustia — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 15:57:01 +0000

Really cool site, Ive never seen this technique before where photos uploaded by users are incorporated into videos. Its a great way to get people involved and have them become a part of the movement. Props to Am, for this lead.

http://www.hopeactchange.com/

Consumer Generated Content

johannarustia — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 21:51:39 +0000

According to Wikipedia, the advent of Consumer Generated Content in 2005 was due to new technology becoming affordable and accessible to the masses. They define it as , “various kinds of media content, publicly available, that are produced by end-users.

My initial thought about blogging about “User Generated Content” was that it would be that it would be limited to reporting on, deconstructing, and understanding past User Generated Campaigns that have been executed.
However my other thought was is that since interactivity is the true nature of the web; I would have a lot of ground to cover. Joseph Jaffe articulated it well when, he said,” the tv was the lean back; passive medium and the internet was the lean into, engagement medium.”

Upon more reading, Wikipedia’s cited these three central characteristics for UGC:

1-Publication requirement
2-Creative effort
3-Creation

And these as the different types of user generated content

Discussion boards
Blogs
Social networking sites
News Sites
Trip planners
Customer review sites
Experience or photo sharing sites
Any other website that offers the opportunity for the consumer to share their knowledge and familiarity with a product or experience
Games

I again, realized how broad this topic could be so for my intent and purposes I will define User Generated Work as a vehicle to engage a person, whether in a conversation or an activity. Its about getting people to participate thus, making a connection with the consumer, especially one of the emotional nature. I love the saying the president of our company Ben (Heo) quoted in a meeting, “Tell me and I’ll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I’ll understand.”

That being said the parameters of this blog is to cover anything consumer generated from discussion boards to games; anything that a brand could use to CONNECT,CONVERSE, and or ENGAGE their audience in a MEANINGFUL way.