Uwe Gutschow

TGIF does social well... or not so well?

2009-11-11T10:12:48-08:00

An article in the latest OMMA magazine from Mediapost caught my eye.

It's about how TGIF created a character Woody to drive fans of his Facebook page. Firs 500,000 by September 30th would get a free coupon for a burger.

The agency doing this seems to think this stunt was a huge success, judging by the article. Sure, when you look at the numbers: 976,000+ fans it looks to be doing well. Now I don't know about you, but using a fake character/model as a stunt to promote your brand seems like a very short sighted strategy to me. How sustainable is this?

Looking a little bit deeper on his facebook page the truth reveals itself: lots and lots of angry people that haven't received their coupons. AND most importantly fans joining just to get free stuff. Very little declaration of how much people love TGIF.

It appears that the agency not only felt that they needed to tick the Facebook box, but decided that they also needed to be on Twitter.

Over 1,000 followers and not following anyone??? Seriously is that the way to build a relationship with people?

I hope that creatives don't latch onto this example as a license to create fake characters on Twitter and Facebook.\

In my humble opinion I find that brands that have more transparency and authenticity are far more successful at building long term relationships with customers.

Have a look at Best Buy's page. They've created the ability to search for products inside their fan page. They initially had some media driving to their fan page and they saw an initial boost of over 100,000 fans. But the true growth came when they added the functionality for people to "Get advice" on a product from their friend's network.

They are actively listening, responding and trying to be useful and helpful. Oh and by the way... COD Modern Warfare 2 is awesome!!

Prius iPhone Drawings on a Times Square Billboard

2009-10-28T14:30:44-07:00

This week, the interactive element is jumping from small screen (the iPhone) to the big screen. Digital billboards from Reuters and NASDAQ are putting content that users create within the Prius Experience app on display on a Times Square billboard.

via mashable.com

Audi's Electricity Untamed

2009-09-11T14:11:07-07:00

Interesting new campaign for Audi

Some interesting clips started appearing on YouTube, like this one:

It's received over 160k views. There's also a YouTube Channel with more clips here.

The link at the end of the clips link through to a website that seem to be entirely about creating word-of-mouth around the concept. It basically lists number of blog posts, tweets, flickr photos and YouTube videos, but also feeds in the content on the page. No one is sure what this all means and speculation is that perhaps their launching an electric car or some other technology.

I like the idea of a concept that's so intriguing that people want to talk, debate and discuss it. Even though they have no idea what it really is. What I like even more is that Audi is letting people's speculation and comments filter up to help fuel the speculation.

So far, judging by the numbers it seems to be paying off.

Hopefully the reveal won't disappoint

Prius empowers communities to answer product questions

2009-08-20T11:40:58-07:00

Yes, this is shameless self promotion. But I can honestly say I'm really stoked about this.

A few months ago we involved our Prius enthusiast communities in the upcoming launch of the Prius. We really wanted to leverage their knowledge and passion and extend their reach.

What emerged is the "Ask an Expert" module on our Prius Facebook page which went live yesterday!

Each of our Experts are well known Prius community managers, forum owners/founders and contributors.

Users can ask Prius product questions and get fellow owners and experts to answer them, honestly and objectively.

Content and Advertising blur

2009-07-16T16:28:55-07:00

Saw this on Just Jared.com.

Hotspots on images that link to an online store to purchase that item.

Not sure how long they've been doing it, but it makes sense that if you're interested in celebs and their clothes, that you would want to know where to buy it.... Although Jon that is a terrible shirt, what were you thinking.

Great Banner!

2009-06-26T09:56:13-07:00

These words don't often come out of my mouth, because I hate advertising.

But this really is a clever banner:

It's for VW and ties in with their branding efforts and what they are doing on Facebook.

You enter your Twitter handle and they'll analyze your tweets to recommend a vehicle that would fit your lifestyle. Personally I could care less for my result, the GTi (because it's horribly wrong), but it's a great way to get you to interact.

Although I think they should've added some kind of social tagging at the end, it's a great idea.

check it out here: http://caseyshultz.com/vw-ad.php

I keep asking myself more and more... do we really need another website?

2009-06-12T11:32:31-07:00

The web is littered with them. Shiny, bright web sites with bells and whistles - banners and other useless advertising that drive people to them.

We've always said... no need to create another community or social network around your branding efforts. If it's worth talking about people have already created it. Just join in on the conversation and give them something useful and valuable.

Shouldn't the same go for websites or as the industry loves to call them... microsites?

When I hear that word I cringe and get flashbacks from 5 years ago. It's so 2004!

Instead of trying to get people to flock to your creation why not be a valuable addition to the space they are already in... facebook, myspace, twitter, youtube, etc.

Agencies struggle with this 'cos surprise, surprise, creatives like to create something. They want to shoot, produce stand back and go, fuck that looks good and I made it.

But then again I also blame award shows (judged by the same people I might add) as they still award single websites/banners. Cannes does have a much coveted Titanium and Integrated award which in my book is where creativity really shines --- #integration, #connectivity, #innovativethinking

McDonald's Piccadilly Circus

2009-06-05T13:10:05-07:00

Thanks to Jay Tannenbaum for letting me know about this one. At face value this looks like a great idea to make outdoor advertising a little bit more interactive.

Must be honest when I heard this was interactive and I saw the video I kept looking to see how people were affecting what was appearing on the sign, but it turns out it's just really people taking a picture in front of it (unless I'm missing something).

It looks like they are trying to start some kind of viral activity of people doing this. Great idea in principle, but it'll be difficult for them to get any momentum going without some media exposure, and here's why:

1. An extremely over crowded space of electronic signage screaming for attention

2. You need to have seen the video or really have heard about people doing this to know what to do

3. The video has been up for a month, which I presume was staged and seeded to get things going, but yet on Facebook they only have 67 fans and there doesn't seem to have been a lot of user uploaded photos on Facebook or Flickr

4. It's just not that funny or interesting (it's too expected)

Now of course interaction is just one measure of success. Ultimately this is creating content that will get eyeballs and on Youtube they have attracted a modest 50,000 views.

It does appear as there is a very competent moderation team behind this effort, contributing and conversing on YouTube and Flickr, which is great to see.

Check out the video:

Useful TV advertising

2009-05-22T10:44:36-07:00

Insurance has to be one of the worst categories to advertise for.

A lot of this type of advertising is about scaring people into thinking that they need your product and if they don't have it they will go straight to hell... I mean be in financial trouble. And then there's the other end of the scale: a cool, calm sounding voice that reassures you that they are there for you and that they have been in business since 1920 (so they won't go under, I guess).

Well I'm glad to see someone out there is starting to create some useful TV spots.

The latest Nationwide Insurance spot advertises their iPhone App. It shows how easy it is to record an accident, report and claim it, all from the app.

Now that's useful!

A tool that helps you deal with a car accident and connects straight with your insurance

The spot is not well produced or well directed, but who cares. In my mind this is great advertising. Before this spot I hardly noticed any of their advertising.

Toyota Rock The Space Myspace contest

2009-05-22T10:30:52-07:00

Toyota and our agency Saatchi LA has a partnership agreement with Myspace.

Instead of littering Myspace with even more advertising we decided to provide users with something useful that adds value for arguably the reason why Myspace got started: music and bands. Other than Toyota Tuesday, where we give away a free mp3 every week, we have created a Rock the Space competition for unsigned bands.

Our Rock the Space contest gives bands the opportunity to submit their demo tape for a chance to win a record deal.

And as we have lots and lots of ad unit impressions, we've decided to use them to promote the contest and bands rather than product.

Bands will also get all sorts of widgets and badges that their fans can use to promote their band across the web.

We've already been flooded with entries - way more than expected.

You can check it out at: http://www.myspace.com/toyotamusic