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It’s Just Like Dating

Bea Villamor — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 02:05:49 +0000

Blogger outreach is often compared to PR, and at times it has been referred to as a form of online or digital PR. But it’s important to realize that they’re separate disciplines. Social Fresh recently wrote about how blogger outreach differs from PR, and I enjoyed their analogy: it’s just like dating. Below are some of my favorite points:

* You DON’T mass message every hot person at school asking for a date.
* You DON’T expect him or her to feel lucky to get your attention.
* You DO get to know what he or she likes.
* You DO introduce yourself in person.
* You DO suggest an activity that benefits you both.

PSFK has also written about how brands are finding their footing in the blogosphere, particularly by establishing partnerships. The best collaborations in their opinion are those that engage the blog’s audience with brand-fueled content: “creating content which fits within the title well, is received favorably by the reader and positively reinforces the image of a brand.”

There are certainly many factors to keep in mind but it appears that relevance may be one of the most – if not the most – important element. There’s no point reaching out to a blogger if what you have to say or offer is not relevant to them and their readers. Marketers need to identify where their brands and campaigns resonate the most, and present this in such a way that the blogger immediately understands and appreciates the relevance of the brand’s communication and content.

Case in point: When our Sears client approached us to promote the Sears Chef Challenge, we realized that the concept needed to come to life for food bloggers to appreciate the contest, tell their readers about it and submit entries. Instead of emailing the contest details and a link to the Sears Chef Challenge submission page, we held meetups in New York and Chicago. With a professional video production team on-site, we offered attendees the opportunity to make their own video submissions. As a result, we heightened awareness and increased video submissions by engaging the relevant blogging and cooking communities.

For digital outreach to be effective, you have to make the brand attractive and appealing – just like dating.

Cake Away Day!

Noelle Sadler — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 19:16:51 +0000

Okay well it was really just an away afternoon, but we went all the way to Connecticut! Our friends from Euro PR invited us to celebrate summer and gorge ourselves on BBQ in the midst of gorgeous greenery. Special thanks to Marian Salzman for hosting and feeding us all.

Some of the happy Cake campers and a plus one: Billy, Aaron, Greg, Rosie, Faris, Joe and, of course, Waffle!

Not pictured but just as happy: Noelle, Michelle and Bea.

Y+30: The Future of Gaming

Rosie Siman — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 13:56:10 +0000

Last night I attended the Y+30: Future of Gaming meetup. The Y+30 meetup is a futurist meetup, looking at how different industries will change in the next 30 years. As Sam (the founder) starts out every meetup, we know that we will almost always be wrong (to some extent) when we think that far out into the future, and it’s great to see why.

I have been thinking a good bit about gaming lately (from MadGab to Foursquare) and was particularly looking forward to hearing what the experts (and attendees) thought gaming would look like in 30 years.

Being in the advertising/marketing industry, I’m fascinated with how apps are using mechanics to ‘game your brain,’ to get you enthused and even addicted. While I love game nights, I’m not a hardcore video gamer, and perhaps that’s why I was a bit disappointed. All of the panelists were in the video game industry and there wasn’t much of a conversation surrounding anything outside of the video game world.

When I mentioned “playing” Foursquare, a friend asked what exactly I meant and I responded that I was just using the verbiage associated with a game. “But why?,” she asked.

Many people who are using Foursquare on a daily basis don’t even consider it a game. And yet part of the big reason we continue to check-in to venues is because built into this app, are mechanics of gaming: You are rewarded for certain behaviors; there is a competitive nature associated with the game/app; your social cred is at stake.

I was hoping to hear more about these games that fall into the non-traditional gaming space and thoughts on how brands will be accessing these mechanics in future initiatives. But alas, this was not the case. So I turn to you, instead.

Besides location-based check-in services, what are other apps that fall into this non-traditional gaming space? How are brands getting involved? Where do you think the gaming industry will be in 30 years?

Diminishing Cultural Latency and Old Spice

Rosie Siman — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 13:28:09 +0000

Ever since Faris Yakob wrote this piece for Fast Company on cultural latency, I have been fascinated by the idea.

What exactly is cultural latency, you ask? Latency refers to the lag time between cause and effect, typically in reference to gaming. The lower the latency, the faster the response time. With advances in technology, we continue to see diminishing cultural latency across a wide range of day-to-day activities – from communication (think snail mail vs. email or IM) to advertising.

Which leads us to the ridiculously awesome Old Spice videos that W+K pulled off.

In case you’re not sure what I’m talking about, first check out the original Old Spice ad here and the newly released sequel here. The concept is great, the copywriting is excellent. But here’s where it get’s good: For two days, Isaiah Mustafa, “the Old Spice guy,” was responding to the digital world in almost real time. What happened to the script approvals, post production work and lengthy edits? Gone – out the window.

[Side note: One of the things about advertising that has always annoyed me is the amount of time that it takes to get things done. From signing contracts to script approvals to shooting to post production, by the time it's all said and done, it's hard to keep track of where things started in the first place. This is probably one of the reasons I love social media - everything has to be quick, and so it is!]

After posting updates to various social networks inviting users to ask questions to Isaiah Mustafa (the star of the videos), they received responses from Demi Moore, Ellen DeGeneres, Digg founder Kevin Rose and even the guys from Twitter (who asked if Mustafa had any experience training whales.) In a single day, over 80 videos were created in response to tweets, Facebook comments and even 4chan postings.

The videos were genuinely hilarious, but they also felt extremely personal. But I suppose you could argue that’s nothing new – There are lots of creative people in our industry.

What was so crucial for this to work was the response time. Tweets fly by… Responding to a tweet months later, even days later, just wouldn’t have been the same.

But like all good things, the videos, too, come to an end. So what now?

Brands will be challenged with trusting the agencies that are producing their content even more and agencies will be challenged with creating content (that matters) on the fly. How are you stepping up to the challenge?

Havaianas celebrates World Cup mania!

Noelle Sadler — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 20:19:47 +0000

For nearly a month now, the entire world has been consumed with a single sporting event – the World Cup. Coupe du monde. Copa Mundial. Whatever you call it, we all speak the same language when it comes to soccer. Er, football.

And our client Havaianas, being a Brazilian brand, definitely speaks soccer. For the 1998 World Cup, they launched their now-bestselling “Brazil” line. You know, the one with the Brazilian flag on the strap. And this year, they took it one step further, launching their Teams line, featuring colors and flags for 16 of the 32 World Cup teams.

To support this initiative, and build upon the idea that Havaianas is the footwear of choice for the football fan, we took to the streets and hit various bars around New York City, documenting the fashion, fun and fanaticism that is the World Cup. From the opening match at Felix in Soho to the semifinals at Tonic and Loreley, we’ve kept up with the fans through Havaianas’ 90 Minutes In 90 Seconds series.

This Sunday we’ll be on hand to capture all the World Cup finals fan action – will New York revert to New Amsterdam, as it seemed to do on Tuesday? Only Paul the Octopus knows for sure….

A Refresher in Online Video

Billy Linker — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 14:13:33 +0000

There is a lot of online video out there. Videos of cute animals, family reunions, clever viral campaigns and just about anything you’d think to search for or would want to watch. There are also people payed a lot of money to come up with ideas for online video content for brands – if you work in this space, you’ve undoubtedly heard the cringe-worthy phrase “make it viral”.

And though we are often barraged with stats showing that online video is continually becoming a bigger and more integral part of day to day online activity, I can’t get over the feeling that there is a fundamental disconnect between the people creating these videos professionally (agencies, production companies, etc.) and actual viewership habits. I thought I’d take a moment out to give our readers some nice hard numbers about online video in hopes of painting a clearer picture of who, where, how and when people actually watch video online – and maybe, just maybe, save the world from a couple more 8 minute videos of CEOs talking in funny voices.

Who is watching video?

A lot of people. According to comscore 180 million U.S. Internet users watched online video during the month of March (84.8 percent of total online users, which was a 10% year over year growth). The biggest users were 18-24 year olds, who watched on average 6 hours and 35 minutes of video per month, but interestingly, made up only 9 percent of the audience. The 25-34 age group watched on average 4 hours and 58 minutes of content and made up 15 percent of the audience. 35-49 year olds watched on average 3 hours and 40 minutes of video per month and made up the largest percentage of the audience at just around 30 percent. (Stats via Fierce Online Video.)

What can we learn from this? People are watching more video, more often and in greater numbers. But somewhat surprisingly, a very big chunk of those viewers are not the assumed “digital generation”, but are 35-49. When was the last time you saw online video content targeted at this under-served audience? Key Takeaway: create content for your audience – there’s more than one. Creating video simply for an “online audience” is insufficient and of the old school.

Where are people watching video?

Out of those 180 million viewers, YouTube delivered video to more than 135 million of them. Yahoo came in a distant second with 25.5 million unique viewers and Facebook ranked third with 22.5 million unique viewers. Online video consumption grew 16 percent year over year with mobile viewership growing significantly (over 4 minutes more per viewer year over year). But what about where people are physically watching video? Well, almost 44 percent of online video was watched in the workplace – the highest percentage of a single location. (Stats via comscore and Fierce Online Video)

What does that tell us? People watch videos where they live online and where their computers live in real-life. Seems obvious, but programming, platform choices and production often don’t reflect the obvious. If people are watching videos online nearly half the time at work, what are the chances they are listening to video with sound? What are the chances the video is full screen and not a small window on a cluttered desktop?

Key Takeaway: The platform people watch video on is mostly a convenience issue and they will rarely seek out new viewing environments. Furthermore, we must keep in mind that video viewing often takes place in concurrence with other activity and will not command the full attention of a viewer. Make videos assuming the worst.

How are people watching videos?

Possibly the biggest misconception about online video is the total amount of time people watch a video from start to finish. An average 10% of viewers of online videos click away by the first 10 seconds, while well over half leave before a minute is up – yet the average duration of a video was 4.3 minutes. (Stats via Tubemogul.)

Key Takeaway: Your video better be quick, to the point and very engaging. Lead time doesn’t exist in online video. People generally don’t care about production value, lighting and sound. They care whether your video is more interesting than the picture of Miley Sirius on the same screen or the IM from their friend or the email they just received.

When are people watching online video:

According to social analytic firm Sysomos, “The most popular day for engaging with video in the blogosphere is Tuesday and Wednesday. The most active engagement takes place between 11a.m. and 1p.m EST.” Lunch Time. This one is fairly straight-forward. Release videos when people watch them most. If you release a video at 11pm at night – you are severely cutting down on your viewership rate. Nobody cares the next day unless people saw it in the first place and share it the next day. People watch videos when they are in front of their computers – which typically isn’t at 11pm at night.

What are people watching online?

People are watching what their friends tell them to watch. Says Forrester Research, “The standout result which comes in at a whopping 38% of replies (to survey) indicates that it doesn’t matter so much what the content is, if it’s been selected and shared by friends, people will watch it.” People are no longer relying on tradition programming guides, but are mostly getting suggestion from social linking. Makes perfect sense. When was the last time you sought out a video on a topic? Now compare that to the number of videos you watched because you saw your friend tweet about it or post it on his or her Facebook wall.

Key Learning: We watch video online like we do most everything online – with help. We watch what are friends tell us to watch because it is better and more interesting than listening to what a brand tells us to watch. What does this mean for people creating videos for mass consumption? Create content you would watch if a friend sent it to you. It is amazing how often we, the content creators, forget to sense check ourselves. Before you create anything, really try to imagine how it will live online and if and why your audience would share it with each other.

So, what does it all mean?

We watch videos differently online than we do on TV, in theaters, on our phones or just about anywhere else. Therefore we CAN NOT think of creating online video the same way we thought about creating content for these other platforms. The combination of where, how, when and what people are watching online needs to be considered equally to the subject of what your content is actually about. Make video you would watch if your friend sent it to you and make content you could imagine emailing to a friend. Most importantly understand your audience and how they interact with online video. Now get going!

Content Creation v. Content Curation

Bea Villamor — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 22:31:59 +0000

Watch live streaming video from internetweekny at livestream.com

To create or to curate – that is the question.

During Internet Week, Ryan Lawler from New TeeVee and Magnify’s CEO Steve Rosenbaum explored this topic. I attended the talk, thinking it would be a debate between creation and curation. I was wrong – from the very beginning, it was announced that “Curation is King.” Rosenbaum cited New York Magazine as a great example – on average, for every 10 videos on their site, they produce three and the remaining seven are curated from other blogs and sites.

There has been much buzz and commentary on the curation issue. Most recently, Mediabistro reported that Forbes.com will “open its doors to thousands of unpaid contributors and that [rather than commissioning in-house journalism] ‘Forbes editors will increasingly become curators of talent.’” According to Tech Crunch’s Paul Carr, this makes “quality, originality and exclusivity … fast becoming irrelevant. Instead, online publications increasingly treat content as low-paid, illiterate swill, commissioned by the ton to provide SEO ad inventory.”

Regardless of your point of view, the bottom line is that there is a massive appetite for online content and sites need to stay relevant by consistently posting new (and strong) material on a daily basis. Given this demand, it is no longer feasible to simply create. The question here is how sites plan on doing this in the long run, which inevitably leads us to more questions: Are these assets monetized? If anyone generates revenue, should it be the content creator, the site that curates and hosts content, or both?

It will be interesting to follow the Forbes.com story as well as other similar developments in the digital space. What are your thoughts on curation? Share them with us here.

Update: Steve Rosenbaum recently posted his thoughts on curation in Business Insider.

Lightning Rod Effect

Rosie Siman — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 20:28:35 +0000

Yesterday I attended the Creativity and Technology Conference and got to see a ton of great panels/speakers. I’m convinced that CaT is the new (& better) SXSW. All the tweets you read were true

One thing that particularly stuck out to me was a panel’s reference to the “lightning rod effect,” when people with large followings start talking about you/your brand, causing others to do the same. In some cases the chaos that comes from it can be good (”we had so many people visit our site that the server went down” isn’t such a bad problem to have), but more often than not people express their POV when they’re angry or have an issue with your brand. And in those instances, the mobs tend to attack.

So if the mobs attack, what can you do to come out on top?
- Thicken your skin. Sometimes the comments will be accurate, while others will be a bit silly. While it may feel personal, especially if you’re the founder or CEO of the brand, step back and toughen up.
- Acknowledge their comments. Even if you can’t fix the problem immediately, publicly recognize the fact that you’re getting an influx of comments and are looking into the situation or a possible solution.
- Don’t shut people out. Break down the communication barriers and really let your consumers and fans know what is going on. If the solution is taking longer than expected, acknowledge that. If you’re struggling to fix the problem, ask for input from your fans. While it may seem harder for bigger corporations, this is the most crucial bit.
- Be transparent. Now isn’t the time for marketing speak. Instead, pull them closer and appeal to human nature. Give consumers a reasonable and honest answer. If you can’t fix their problem, explain why to the best of your ability and recommend alternatives.

While it may seem like an uphill battle, it doesn’t have to end badly – In fact, this panel argued that often times, it may build an even tighter-knit community.

Cake NY <3 Internet Week

Mark Meyerhoff — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 19:19:31 +0000

Cake New York hosted it’s first party last night in celebration of Internet Week.

The event was held mid-week amongst a slew of other IW activity happening around the city, yet we packed the house all night. Cake partnered with artists Nic*Rad and “The Goodwill Ambassadors of the Internet’ to transform our space into a gallery-like environment, where the collective debuted various paintings and sculptures. The Goodwill Ambassadors interacted with guests all night by collecting business cards which will be later designed into…well, you’ll see.

Cake NY had a great time hosting – thanks to everyone who came out and who helped make it possible!

A special thanks to Mel D Cole for a cool group of photos. Check out more on Cake’s Flickr Page.