How do memes and viral phenomena generated inside the Internet biosphere are influencing modern marketing trends?

Our considerations start from the recent success of a couple of Tumblr pages. By success I mean visibility, media coverage, website accesses. All those metrics that are actually taken in strong consideration when it comes to evaluating digital marketing campaigns.

Ok, sales count too, but you know what I mean, right?

So we’ve been observing the success of phenomenons like Actresses Without Teeth and Sport Balls Replaced With Cats. We got the chance to follow the latter quite closely, since one of the two creators – the one that curated the launch – is Luigi Tarini, long time friend and collaborator of YDL.

The Tublr page – with a quite self-explanatory description: Just a bunch of athletes competing for the sweetest kittens – registered 100K visitors in the first 4 days of life. The fifth day it reached 350 thousands accesses, after it has been mentioned by Mashable, CBS Sport News, College Humor and Buzzfeed. But also by Yahoo Sport News, The New York Daily and the Huffington Post.

So we thought: what if this page was launched a brand? I mean, we’re talking about a Tumblr that reached peaks of 2000 accesses per minute – without any investment, apart from the time to photoshop kittens. Even having a little “powered by” up in the header would have been a brand’s paradise.

Based on this premise, let’s see a few companies that actually use the memetic’s logic in order to enhance the engagement – and hopefully sales too.

Best practices: Chupa Chups (France), Newcastle Brown Ale (UK), Brahma Beer (Brazil)

The Facebook marketing activity of Chupa Chups is one of the most interesting examples. The page is managed by Isobar agency, the product is pretty well known, and the contents are crafted to fit into the flow of spontaneous shares of Internet contents.

In this case we can talk about branded memes:

This post takes advantage of a rather classic meme theme – the duckface:

And here’s the most successful post on the page – with over a thousand shares:

So we’ve seen that Chupa Chups France is doing pretty well. But does this strategy apply to other industries?

Let’s see what UK’s Newcastle Brown Ale is doing on Facebook.

We’re talking about a beer brand that has always used irony as a distinctive trait. A few years ago they launched a memorable outdoor campaign in the U.S., with one of the best advertising payoff I’ve ever seen:

The interesting thing is they’ve been able to perfectly transfer all the brand’s wit and sarcasm on the Facebook page. Starting from the Timeline covers, that show some great copywriting works:

And then with the editorial contents, dealing with a series of subjects that are highly appreciated by the Internet masses. Like cats:

Or the war against hashtags on Facebook – which I support 100%:

Let’s now keep the same target audience (beer lovers) but in a very different country: we’re going to Brazil, to see the digital strategy of a beer called Brahma.

Once again, memes are all over the place:

Frequent updates and a certain consistency in the images posted – also from the graphic standpoint – made this a brilliant example of Facebook content management. And numbers don’t lie: almost 3 million fans, and over 250K people talking about this.

Since beer producers seem to be one of the most active in this kind of communication, we can’t keep from mentioning the low-cost beer Finkbräu‘s Facebook page.

Despite having just 2.000 fans and a rather poor overall strategy (we’re not even sure the page is official) it sometimes shows some really cool contents:

It’s actually a product placement into popular or ambiguous images. The effect is certainly hilarious, although some of the contents are quite controversial:

Having said this, we can go on with our thoughts.

4chan and the brand exposure

4chan, Reddit, 9GAG and all those forums that produce memes as if they were industrial assembly lines are definitely shaping the dynamics of modern digital marketing.

Take this example: a grilled-chicken restaurant chain called Nando’s plays a lot with irony and memetics in its brand pages (especially the English and the Pakistani one), pushing hard on the double meaning of the word “chick”.

To the extent that this image appeared on the the 4chan Facebook page, unofficial but widely read:

It doesn’t really matter wether the image has been shared by the official pages or not: the brand exposure has been enormous, be it good (awareness) or bad (critics).

After all, no one can really control what happens on the Internet. Even this image technically means free brand exposure for PlayStation, right?

But does it harm the brand more than it helps it? Or is it just neutral?

The winner of the week: Gibson Guitar UK

A few days ago the UK Facebook page of electric guitars Gibson had a brilliant idea to get some visibility. In this case they showed a deep understanding of the Internet viral dynamics. Including the extremely poor Photoshop work:

This is not the classic social media #fail or #win that all the people working on digital marketing love to write and talk about: this image tickles all the people that love to share memes just because they make them laugh – even if for just a few seconds.

Once again, it’s all about finding the good balance between marketing and entertainment.

Guido Ghedin

L'articolo Social Media Marketing or Social Meme Marketing? sembra essere il primo su Young Digital Lab.

Diego Coquillat is an expert in the use of social networks for restaurants, food industry and tourism. He also created a concept called ‘Social Media Restauranting (SMR)’. He’s CEO of @ Elranchomadrid, speaker, blogger and creator of diegocoquillat.com and 10Restaurantes.es.

Diego is also a Lecturer at the University of Alicante (Master in Hospitality and Tourism Management) and at Instituto Superior de Gestión y Gastronomía (ISGEG) in the course of New Technologies applied to restoration management.

Twitter, Facebook or blogs offer an affordable way to build brands, create loyalty and reach new customers. Despite these advantages, many restaurateurs are still reluctant to use social networks and take advantage of them. Diego Coquillat tells us what SMR is, why social media and technology are revolutionizing the industry and how to use them.

Here are the questions.

– Thank you for accepting the interview. First of all, what’s SMR? How did it all start?

Social Media Restauranting (SMR) was born out of the interest I have had for many years in restaurants, internet and social networks. I then decided to make it one of my professional activities. I thought the best way to share these contents and experiences was creating a blog and sharing it with people who have these same interests.

SMR is a concept that I created and developed. It is based on the paradigm shift that led to the incorporation of technology and social networks in the restaurant industry. It allows restaurants to communicate, chat and interact with customers like never before.

The business model of the restaurant industry has evolved from a traditional model to a current model, where technological advances play a key role for communication, loyalty, promotion and added value to customers.

SMR is becoming an online space in my blog where restaurants from all over the world will be able to obtain and share quality information on the sector as well as the best technological and educational resources on the market.

– As we know, in Spain and Italy, the restaurant industry can be very traditionalist and conservative. In Italy, for example, there are very few chains (there are no Starbucks or Domino’s Pizza). Italians love traditional cuisine and slow food. They prefer to go to a small family trattoria which may produce its own wine and fresh pasta. So how to combine tradition with technology and social networks?

SMR is as important for large restaurant chains as for family owned restaurants. Restaurants do not choose any longer whether or not to be in social networks. Customers decide for them when they share their experience through their social networks.

There are frequent cases which show that internet is the best option for SMEs to compete in the same market as big chains, with an impact that can be equal or greater.

Users are much more willing to accept small restaurants that have a constant activity on social networks than big chains. We should not forget that some of the key advantages of social networks are proximity, sincerity and honesty. And these concepts are much closer to small restaurants than to big chains or corporations.

Restaurants are starting to benefit from their commitment to this new model in many different ways, for instance, through improved visibility or by creating close and authentic brands. They differentiate themselves from competitors by customizing their products, listening to their customers and achieving a substantial increase in assets, customers and sales.

– The experience of customers often begins on social networks (on-line). What is the difference between customers 10-15 years ago and customers nowadays? How did their relationship with the restaurants change?

We are witnessing an important period in the restaurant industry, a process of constant change, where the methods and forms are being reinvented. Everything happens around an essential element: the new customer.

This is the basic aspect of the new model that restaurants are facing. There are new customers who are hyper-connected and thanks to new technologies they can access information wherever and whenever they want. For the first time, they are able to share their decisions in public through Internet and social networks.

So far the industry had focused all its efforts to engage with customers face to face. They only used the moment of the visit as unique element of value and direct communication with customers.

But in the current new model restaurants have expanded and diversified that moment by communicating with new customers through social networks before (face to face pre-stage) and after (post-stage face to face) the food experience (face to face stage).

In the face to face pre-stage, new customers can obtain information about the restaurant, see photos, videos, food presentation, prices, etc. But first of all, customers will be able to know an essential aspect which is going to influence them: the experiences of other consumers and this will influence the final choice. This will decrease the influence of price and give more importance to the social ideals shared by other users.

Despite what some people might think, the face to face stage (the food experience, the smells, textures, flavors, etc), acquires an even greater value than in the traditional model. The restaurant must focus all its efforts on achieving professional excellence in order to reach the expectations generated in the previous stage and create a real bond with customers.

But the influence of the new customer does not end once they left the restaurant. A new stage begins and it is as decisive as the previous two. The face to face post-stage is fundamental to get loyalty and attract new customers. This is where the restaurant should promote social channels to help customers to comment about their experience through opinions or reviews for the rest of the community. Customers become the authentic voice of the restaurant, commenting on the differentiating benefits / advantages of it. This goes beyond the food that was served and these new customers become the best sellers of the restaurant.

The final goal of the new relationship between restaurants and customers is to give customers a concept of global experience where offline and online experiences are mixed. And this happens within a social environment that ensures the best experience for customers in any of the parts of this process.

– In your opinion, what is the role of the mobile phone in all this?

The role of mobile phones in the coming years in the restaurant industry will be transcendental, backed by an exponential growth, as shown by the data on the sales of Smartphones which have increased in the last three years.

Restaurants that launch projects based on the concept of Solomo (Social-Local-Mobile) will have a competitive advantage over those who do not. We are now in a time where customers have become much more selective and require information in the moment, time and form they want.

The mobile phone has become an item that we carry everywhere. The information that we find using it can be decisive for our purchase choice. This results in an interesting effect on Smartphone users: before they go to any restaurant, they seek comments, reviews, photos and even dishes recommended by other customers, which strongly influence the final choice.

– What are the consequences of not having web presence, and social networking applications mobile today for a restaurant?

The consequences of not having an active presence on the Internet, and social networks Mobile applications are directly related to the future sustainability of restaurants, i.e. those restaurants that do not bet for SMR model will find it very difficult to survive in this decade and impossible in later decades. And this can be applied everywhere in the world: we’ve recently been in República Dominicana to talk about it!

– Which useful information can customers give us via the Internet and social networks and how can we use this information?

Customers give the most useful information that a restaurant may want: the views of its customers. This is the essential element on which a restaurant should grow or change and around which the concept of SMR should rotate.

If we go back a few years ago, we realize it was extremely difficult and expensive to obtain a lot of honest opinions of customers. We thus appreciate the value of these. In the past, it often happened that before we could realize where the problem was, it no longer had a solution and the customer was gone.

Nowadays thanks to the internet and social networks, we have the ability to get in a simple way thousands of opinions of our clients. We can use this information to make the way of the success of a restaurant.

– Italy and Spain go through an economic crisis and perhaps restaurateurs are afraid to invest in offline communication and online, how expensive can it be to implement and maintain SMR strategy? When do we start to see results?

The current environment in Spain and Italy is quite confusing, the current economic and political crisis is generating a lot of uncertainty, which is causing a major decline in consumption, affecting the number of customers who go to the restaurant, as well as the Individual average expenditure of these.

But then we are witnessing a significant moment in the restaurant sector, a process of constant change, where the forms are reinventing and restaurants that can seize this opportunity will be much stronger.

If we compare social networks with any other communication channel, we realize they are much cheaper and can achieve a superior effect. There are many free online tools that facilitate the management of social networks. In many cases, the cost will depend on the goals you want to accomplish with your presence in social networks.

The time required to achieve results depends also on the objectives. But usually the effects in the short term are very small. Constant is an important value for a strategy on social networks. Many restaurants start very well but gradually they lose by poor planning. We must have the patience to start learning along the way and to achieve step by step small objectives that add up to the target overall.

– How to maintain a good reputation online and what to do with criticism?

The online reputation is one of the pillars underpinning SMR, customers are more likely to share their experiences through Internet and social networks, using both fixed and mobile devices. Reviews linked to the customer’s perceptions of service quality, product, price, etc.., is what forms the social reputation of restaurants. This element is so strong that it is able to modify the decision of customers, reduce the influence of price and multiply restaurant profitability.

Online reputation is becoming a major concern for the industry of restaurants, as we face an information and communication model that is global, social, affordable and accessible, in which companies no longer control the information that users put on internet.

Undoubtedly, there is a high degree of correlation in the ratio comments [positive, negative]/Clients [won, lost], influencing the incidence of a positive or negative reputation on the increase or decrease of the number of customers, mainly in the pre-face stage or inspiration.

The best way to keep a good online reputation is seeking excellence offline at work every day. I do not know any restaurant that has a excellent service, excellent products, right price, etc,. and a bad online reputation.

The attitude we use to face negative reviews must be based on reflection and the opportunity to improve something in the restaurant that is not working well. It is a wonderful opportunity to anticipate major problems.

– What trends do you see coming?

The main trends that we will see shortly in the Social Media Restauranting are:

• An exponential growth in the use of smartphones and applications for restaurants. Sales of smartphones will exceed those of PCs. Customers of restaurants will require an overall experience but also a mobile one.

• A huge importance on internet of the local and the close. Client proximity becomes central thanks to geolocation strategies and geotargeting, something very interesting for restaurants if we think that a very high percentage of people choose a restaurant based on proximity.

• The key differentiating aspect is the social content generated and shared in social networks by the restaurants. This will have a decisive impact on the positioning and visibility of these. This requires demanding an increasing participation of people, both of restaurant employees as well as customers or users, who must be able to communicate at the same level.

• With the fusion of two worlds, offline and online in a single message, participation of restaurants in social networks will no longer be an option. The decision will not be whether to be in it or not, as the restaurant no longer decides, but it will be about the role the restaurant wants to play in the new Universe 2.0 and will be vital to the future survival of the restaurant.

For those who want to follow news on SMR, please find me on diegocoquillat.com!

 – Thank you Diego!

If you wish to contact Diego Coquillat, his Twitter account is: @diegocoquillat.

Jessica Noguez

L'articolo Social Media Restauranting: interview with Diego Coquillat sembra essere il primo su Young Digital Lab.

One of the most common and traditional daily actions has always been going shopping. But nowadays technology is radically changing also that aspect of our lives.

Supermarkets today are among the most active players in the great game of social media marketing. And – as demonstrated by a research conducted in the UK by Tamba – users’ expectations are quite high.

As an example, 78% of them expect every supermarket to be active on Twitter, while 56% assume that the website of a grocery store must be accessible via mobile. Here’s the research summarized in a cool infographic:

But it’s not only about the communication and promotion of supermarkets: what’s really changing is the way people shop. Today many things are being redefined by smartphones, and technology is inevitably changing – perhaps forever – the very meaning of “going shopping”. Even if everything happens in small steps.

Let’s see how, with a series of examples that come from the major players in the industry, both online and offline.

TESCO

Tesco has been among the first supermarket chains to move towards this direction: in early 2011 they set up a number of installations in Seoul Subway stations, where it was possible to buy products via QR code – the products were then sent right to the purchaser’s place.

Due to these virtual stores, over 10,000 people visited the Homeplus mobile site – the brand through which Tesco operates in South Korea – with a sales growth of 130%.

Encouraged by the success, they decided to repeat the experiment, this time in their homecountry, during London Olympic Games. The installations included virtual refrigerators at the Gatwick airport: products could be scanned by mobile app, and delivered home the day of the purchaser’s flight back.

In this regard, Tesco’s marketing managers said something rather interesting:

“The most natural target the youth, as in the experiment in Korea, that the digital natives who do not perceive the difference between a website and a shop” (source: ZDNet).

YIHAODIAN

If Tesco’s ones are still just experiments, in China they seem to take it more seriously: the main food-related Chinese e-commerce portal – YiHaoDian – is scheduled to launch 1,000 augmented-reality store, where users will shop directly with the phone.

The project follows the experiment announced a while ago, a more “classic” temporary store based on QR code – in partnership with the location-based-system Jiepang, therefore integrated with check-in and badges dynamics.

But now we’re talking about something different: a completely empty urban spaces, where augmented reality literally recreates the supermarket “around” the user. An innovation so strong that it could actually prevent any intervention in the real world, thus reducing the costs and the environmental impact (more info on this post).

Could this be a realistic solution in a not-too-distant future?

PEAPOD

Something similar to what YiHaoDian is doing in China will be made in the United States by Peapod, an online grocery store founded in 1989 in Chicago – on a side note, they do a very interesting activity on Pinterest.

After a first run-test in Philadelphia – with the involvement of local public transport company – they are ready to open a series of virtual stores in various cities in America, after having established some strong partnerships over the years with local distributors.

Users will be able to check out all the supermarket catalog in various parts of the city, deciding when they want the groceries delivered, and where. Apparently users will be able to order the shipping even several weeks in advance.

WALMART

Even the super-giant Walmart – almost 9,000 stores, more than 2 million employees and nearly $ 450 billion of revenue – had to bow to the continuous growth of digital shopping, to contrast a number of players in the industry. Among them, of course, Amazon.

They opened the Walmart Labs, an outpost in the world of social, mobile and analytics, through which the number-one retail chain is attacking the e-commerce world directly from its heart – Silicon Valley, where the Labs are.

Walmart CEO Mike Duke wanted Jeremy King – who helped creating the infrastructure of eBay – to be in charge of the project, then Walmart incorporated a 65-employees-strong social media company called Kosmix (here the very interesting story in details).

What are the results of these Walmart Labs? The first one is the search engine within the Walmart website, called Polaris, built on a knowledge graph that can better understand the users’ searches, directing them on topic pages leading to more accurate and relevant results. It seems that this led to an increase in conversions of 10-15% – at least according to what we found here.

And among the most innovative ideas we can count Shopycat, an application using the personal preferences expressed on Facebook to offer a variety of gift ideas – of course on sale at walmart.com. The success has been remarkable, with 150K downloads of the app in a few months.

Although today, if we look at the activity of the Facebook page, you would not think that the project is going full speed… but Walmart still believe in it, and between 2011 and 2012 they invested more than 300 milion dollars in acquisitions of tech companies, and for the creation of a team of 300 people between Silicon Valley and India.

And there’s more: in June 2012, Walmart launched in Mexico – where the group owns the Superama chain – the first tienda virtual, a shop consisting in a series of printed panels positioned inside a large shopping center in Mexico City, where users can buy snacks and food products simply by scanning a QR code.

I would say this is enough to get an idea of what the future of shopping will be – or could be. Do you think in 10 years real-life shopping carts will become mere collectors’ items?

Guido Ghedin

L'articolo Digital Supermarkets: will we still “go get groceries” in 10 years? sembra essere il primo su Young Digital Lab.

Today we can say that everyone is “on social networks”, right?

Many companies have found new ways to express themselves, innovative ideas for branding and marketing, while in other cases the digital channels have become some sort of a revival of traditional communication logics simply through new channels.

But if we talk about the military field, we can certainly find a whole new trend, a way to open up and communicate that is radically different from the pre-social media era.

Let’s explore three examples of army forces who found the right strategy to communicate effectively on social media. It doesn’t mean this is necessarily a good thing, but it is certainly a strong indication of how things are radically changing on our planet.

USA

The U.S. military is obviously at the forefront, both in the war scenarios around the world and in digital communication. The main website is www.army.mil, and it serves as a hub for all the digital channels in which the U.S. Army is present, and as an index of the several pages dedicated to individual teams, barracks and outposts.

As an example, the Fort Benning training center, Georgia, has 120,000 fans on Facebook, while the military base in Vicenza is present on Twitter, Facebook, Youtube and Flickr.

Of course the strongest presence is on the official Facebook page, where the American Army counts over 1.5 million fans.

News, information, the commemoration of events, the celebration of veterans and successful athletes, as well as the meticulous reconstruction of the Army’s history’s Timeline – needless to look for Hiroshima or Nagasaki, you won’t find them.

The Army is also present on Twitter, Google, Youtube, Vimeo, and provides a variety of mobile apps. It’s also on Pinterest, with a series of quite interesting boards: from fashion, to vintage, to food… to the “Thank a soldier” notes, to acknowledge heroes returning from missions.

Moreover, digital media and viral communication logics have almost become the new Hollywood, if we consider the production of entertainment that glorifies and humanizes the U.S. military forces and their efforts.

Just think about the story of Taylor Morris, twenty-three y.o. soldier who lost his arms and legs in Afghanistan, and has been helped in the recovery by his girlfriend, thus becoming a viral phenomenon. There have been thousands of “motivational” pics shared over the Internet, and several digital channels dedicated to his story, from Instagram to Twitter, to the more than 30,000 fans on Facebook.

Israel

At the moment, it seems that the Israeli army is putting a lot of effort into social media: over the last months they made frequent news through their Twitter account – @IDFspokeperson, over 210,000 followers – during the attacks at the end of 2012 in the Gaza strip. The Israeli Defence Force account followed the action almost missile by missile, using the official hashtag #PillarOfDefense:

But of course the Army is not only on Twitter: there’s a website, a blog, a Facebook page with over 300K fans, an Instagram channel…

But – as we’ve seen – what really got international attention was the Twitter profile, during the Pillar of Defense operation – which by the way caused the death of several soldiers and civilians (four Israelis and 103 Palestinians, according to the UN).

A special event in particular generated huge global media coverage: the exchange of threats between the official account of the Israeli army and the one of the al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian Hamas party (that also actively communicates through this blog).

As if the war could be declared on Twitter:

Yet it looks like it actually works, since both sides kept on facing each other on Twitter, and communicate to their followers what happens every day.

They also used Twitter to communicate the killing of Ahmad Jabari, a member of Hamas.

The efforts are not only limited to following step by step military operations and bombing: the Israeli army is also very active on their Youtube channel, used as a recruitment channel:

And not only that: social media have been also used to present the Israeli Army’s New Year Resolutions. Among which, however, we didn’t catch any glimpse of openness to Palestine…

Australia

There’s also another nation that really cares about sharing with citizens what’s going on in the trenches through digital media. We’re talking about Australia. Not even a big surprise, since it’s also the nation with the biggest amount of fans in the world in their – amazing – tourism Facebook page.

Here’s the Facebook page of the Australian Army, whose digital presence includes the official website of the Ministry of Defence, as well as a Twitter profile – followed by 7,500 people – and a Youtube channel.

The communication on Facebook is very interesting: the tone of voice is rather formal, updates are quite frequent, the images posted are of excellent quality, and there’s a good integration between the various channels.

Contents are related to in-the-field actions, news and commemorations, and there’s a section dedicated to chats open to the public, where anyone can ask different kinds of information to soldiers and Army’s employees.

But that’s not it: it seems that in the wake of the “success” of the Israel Defense Force activity on Twitter, the board of the Australian Army is willing to start a social media training program for all their cadets – specifying that it will be mandatory, at least according to what they say on this Perth Now’s post.

This is also in order to avoid the recurrence of unpleasant facts – as it happens in early 2012, when a Facebook private group for members of the Royal Australian Regiment made it to the news for the huge amount of racist comments, especially against Muslims, immigrants and women.

So this seems to be the global trend: we’ll see more and more soldiers going to war carrying a smartphone, together with their assault rifles.

Guido Ghedin

L'articolo Australia, USA and Israel: when Top Guns are on Twitter and Facebook sembra essere il primo su Young Digital Lab.

Today we’re talking about a phenomenon that is taking over the Chinese mobile market – and not only that: the messenger app Weixin (also known as WeChat).

A few days ago we discussed the latest news from the social media scenario in China, which keeps on evolving at dizzying pace.

In order to really understand what’s going on, Weixin is one of the platforms to keep an eye on. It’s owned by the holding company Tencent – which also owns the giant messaging platform QQ – and it was launched in early 2011, then re-branded as WeChat in mid-2012 to enter the international market (here are some pictures of the launch party).

Why is this app so interesting? First of all because it’s the first web application created for the Chinese market but also available in English, and also integrated with Facebook (which we all know is blocked by the “Great Digital Wall”).

Then because it presents a wide range of features, definitely not original, but certainly very well-functioning and well-integrated, which we are going to explore in a bit. In fact, it’s not a case the app already has over 200 million users.

Ok, we probably can’t speak of an international success yet – only 5% of the downloads come from out of China – but the signs of a potential global expansion are strong: recently the New York Times dedicated an article to WeChat, highlighting different aspects of the product. Including the “Made in China” factor, which is not necessarily an advantage, to the point that the English version of WeChat website doesn’t mention its Chinese origins.

Tencent’s aim is clearly to cross the national borders: a few months ago the app has been officially launched in Indonesia, one of the fastest growing mobile markets at the moment, thus frontally attacking competitors such as BBM and WhatsApp.

Let’s see how it works: it may conquer the planet or it may not, but it’s always a good thing to understand what works in a country like China.

Messenger & video call

The main function of Weixin is mobile messaging, which puts it in direct competition with worldwide known services like WhatsApp, ChatOn, BBM, iMessenger, Google Talk. But also with competitors in the Asia-Pacific region, such as mobile apps Kakao Talk – extremely popular in Korea – and Line, a fresh Japanese product. Both of them are used by tens of millions of users, and already started their international expansion.

The chat allows users to share an irresistible set of funny emoticons – which is crucial for Asian audiences, considering that both Kakao and Line have a built-in market for emoticons. Also, two of the most important features are the audio messages sharing and the possibility to make video calls. They both work really good.

QR code

Another interesting thing about WeChat is the “desktop mode”: by simply going to web.wechatapp.com and scanning the QR code that appears, all contacts and open chats are immediately transferred from the phone to the computer. After closing the session everything is deleted.

The QR code technology is also used as a digital ID: once it has been generated, users can connect with each other by scanning the personal code with the phone. Quick and painless.

Geolocation

The Look Around feature allows users to see at any time who is using WeChat around them, and how far they’re located. Ok, not the best in terms of privacy, but is it really a problem nowadays?

Moments

Of course there’s a “social” section called Moments, where to share photos and updates visible to all contacts. From a graphic standpoint it’s very similar to Facebook or Path, with a timeline cover, Likes and comments. This is probably the feature that could give the right boost to the international spread of WeChat.

Photo sharing

And how about Instagram? Don’t worry, they also thought about that: vintage-ish filters can be applied after taking a picture, and of course pics can be shared in the Moments section.

Shake

Another peculiar aspect of the app is the Shake feature: by shaking the phone WeChat connects random people in the world that are doing the same action at the same moment. Similarities with “Chatroulette” are strong, and it’s not unlikely to find scammers or “nice girls” inviting to share porn pics. Interesting feature, yet to be used with caution.

Marketing on WeChat?

It seems that Starbucks has immediately started to test the app as a marketing tool: right after the the “Following” function has been introduced – to receive updates from celebrities and brands – the coffeehouse chain has offered the possibility to follow the brand to get emoticons and product offers.

Let’s be clear: it’s hard to define this a cool mobile marketing campaign, but it’s an important starting point. Other than that, there are a number of new prospects for the future: may we say that mobile chat could be a great opportunity for customer care?

Yes, we may say that: this article from The Mobile Indian identifies the phone as the perfect tool for customer help, since it responds to the increasing need for 24/7 immediate support much better than any other device.

This said, I invite you to download the app and give it a try. And if you like it, add me on WeChat: it’s as easy as scanning the QR Code below!

Guido Ghedin

L'articolo WeChat, the Chinese mobile app set to conquer the world sembra essere il primo su Young Digital Lab.

Over the last years the marketing landscape has dramatically changed, and new media are forcing brands to rethink the way they’re approaching consumers. Most importantly, this is not a temporary situation: a lot of these new dynamics are here to stay.

Understanding the new paradigms of marketing is one of the main goals of Young Digital Lab – we often discuss the relationships between big corporations and social change, like in this post. That’s why we are pleased to talk about these issues with one of the most prestigious specialists in this field, the award-winning branding consultant and author Simon Mainwaring.

A couple of years ago I got the chance to meet him at the Gravity Summit conference in Los Angeles; he agreed to answer a few questions for our blog, so here’s the interview!

– Hi Simon, first of all tell us your story.

Thanks for allowing me to share my thoughts with your community. The short version of my story is that I am a long time ad writer who worked in Australia, London and the United States on Fortune 100 brands like Nike and was Worldwide Creative Director on Motorola at Ogilvy.

After 15 years of corporate life I wanted to become an entrepreneur and so for the last ten years I’ve been like the “Cleaner” from the movie ‘Pulp Fiction’ helping companies fix their messaging at critical times. Yet four years ago I was still feeling unfulfilled, and with the sudden passing of my father overnight, I start to question exactly what was my purpose in life.

It was then that I happened to read a transcript of a speech given by Bill Gates at the World Economic Forum where he challenged the private sector to develop creative capitalism to build a better world. This struck a deep note with me and I spent the next three years researching whether emerging social technologies could provide an answer. That led to my New York Times bestseller We First that was voted Best Marketing Book of 2011 and that has allowed me to consult to Fortune 50 brands and speak around the world based on the vision in the book.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frLPXMyPOKY

Simon Mainwaring at TEDxSF

– “The future of profit is purpose”: The concept of We First is very fascinating. How did you come up with this idea, and how did the project start?”

Like most things that seem elegant and simple, they are the result of a great deal of research. The idea came from the realization that global consumers want brands to be more socially responsible and to work with them to build a better world. As a result, companies need to shift their marketing focus from themselves to explaining how they will improve their customers’ lives.

That clarity of purpose has other benefits as well as it helps the company gain strategic focus in its business planning and marketing messaging, it empowers them to attract and keep top talent, and it earns them great PR and goodwill all of which drive sales.

– What are the main activities We First is involved in? Which brands are you working with? 

We First works with two types of companies. Solo-preneurs or start-ups that understand technology but need to define their brand and story, or very large corporations that are powerful storytellers but are focused on how to reach consumers using new social technologies.

So at the moment We First clients include 6 small start-ups but we are also working with the global sustainability team at Coca-Cola and the X Prize Foundation. On tops of that I do a lot of blogging for magazines like Fast Company, Huffington Post and Forbes as well as speaking around the world.

– What will be your next steps?

One of the most critical needs for brands today, and especially small companies and entrepreneurs, is a clear plan for how to become a social brand. Like President Obama, Lady Gaga or Red Bull, a social brand is a company using social technologies to engage their customers in a real-time dialogue to build their reputation, customers or sales.

So to help young companies do this, We First has put together a new free social branding video training series that you can get simply by clicking here. This series covers major trends hat you must know about in today’s social business marketplace, critical insights into what your customers want from your brand and best practices by some of the most successful social brands in the world.

Without these insights start-ups which are already financially stretched run a real risk of becoming casualties of technology because they don’t market to their customers in a way that inspires them to build their brand with them.

– Can you think of a company that is actually putting the We First philosophy into practice?

Sure. For example, one need only look at Proctor and Gamble and the work it is doing through its Pampers brand in partnership with UNICEF. When a shopper buys a packet of Pampers diapers it funds a tetanus vaccination for a mother or newborn child in the developing world.

To date, P&G had funded over 30 million vaccinations saving an estimated 100,000 lives. There is no doubt that the values reflected by such an effort would affect the purchasing decisions of a parent in turn building loyalty and goodwill towards the brand while saving lives.

The same thinking informs the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, led by Patagonia, which reveals yet another expression of shared activism. In this case competitors from within the footwear and apparel industry (including Nike, Adidas, Puma, Timberland, and Patagonia among many others) have all agreed to hold themselves accountable to the same sustainability index to address climate change more effectively.

Patagonia's campaign "Don't Buy This Jacket" (November 2011)

Then, among smaller social entrepreneurs, we see companies like TOMS that launched the ‘One for One’ model that means everyone who buys a pair of shoes or eyewear ensures the same is given to a person in need overseas. Even a small t-shirt company like Sevenly asks its customer community what non-profit they want to support each month with a portion of the sales proceeds.

– You had an incredible career in the advertising field: what are in your opinion the social networks that really changed the rules of the game in the brand communication world? 

Thanks. Obviously Facebook has become the dominant social network but it wasn’t the first and often what determines who succeeds is timing and who iterates better. That said the marketplace is maturing quickly as we see with media specific sites like Instagram (now part of Facebook), Pinterest or Viddy, as well as micro-communities like Path.

Seen together, however, I think the simple fact that media channels have been put in the hands of citizens and customers is what has changed the marketing landscape forever and this process will only continue and accelerate. Those that keep up with technology and their customers will thrive, and those that don’t won’t survive.

– Although recently a lot of voices have risen questioning Facebook as an effective marketing platform, it’s still the most used social network to establish a digital brand identity. After over a billion people created an account, do you think Facebook is here to stay or it may lose its dominance in the long run? 

I think Facebook as a function of the sheer volume of users and its focus on becoming an effective mobile platform. That said it no has competing interests to handle as it’s a public company with shareholders and has been working hard to shore up its advertising revenue to bolster its stock price. The major danger I see is if advertising becomes so intrusive and pervasive that users abandon the platform for niche networks better suits to their needs and less cluttered with marketing.

– Many innovative digital campaigns nowadays come from Israel, from Brazil or from the Asia-Pacific area – areas that are also showing an incredible growth in terms of social media users, over the last years. Do you think USA will remain the center of the digital universe or we’ll start seeing big players coming from other areas of the world?

This is very true and I just returned from speaking at Social Good Brazil in Florianopolis, Brazil. Whether the U.S. remains the center of digital innovation depends on many economic, political and technological factors.

One thing is sure: countries like Brazil, India and China are seizing the opportunity to become global leaders, and the U.S. is having a harder time of attracting and retaining top talent. But in terms of the sheer volume of start-ups, innovation and patents, the U.S. looks well positioned to retain its leadership position particularly if political gridlock eases and the economy continues to grow.

– Thank you so much, Simon! 

Thanks for the chance to share these ideas today!

What do you think about the We First philosophy? Did we get to a point where all companies are forced to consider a different marketing approach?

In case you want to have a deeper understanding of the issues we discussed, we remind you that you can get the new Simon’s free social branding video training series by simply clicking here and entering you email!

Guido Ghedin

L'articolo New media, between capitalism and social change: the interview with Simon Mainwaring sembra essere il primo su Young Digital Lab.

It’s one of those recently born forms of brand communication that quickly became a well-established standard.

We are talking about all those initiatives to thank fans on social networks, once the fan page reaches a certain number of Likes or followers. One million, 10 million, a thousand, 20 thousand: it’s not really about the amount, yet about the creativity and commitment to produce the most original content.

We got all it takes to define it “Thank-you marketing”, an its-own category of brand communication that now counts several interesting examples.

Why do companies do that? Because it became something like Halloween, or Mother’s Day: since everyone is doing something for this occasion, why shouldn’t we? The worst that can happen is that it goes viral, and eventually ends up on Mashable.

So here’s a series of examples of brands that have organized their own digital birthday party, and thanked friends and family for coming.

The “Thank-you marketing”

In the beginning was Disney: back in 2010 they already exceeded 100 million global fans (today they’re 390 million, which is stunning), and the company decided to point it out to everyone with a very special video/infographic:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVQ4bskC6D8

It’s always the right time for a party: Kraft Mac & Cheese has done something very nice when a single post on their FB page has reached the remarkable amount of 4,632 Likes. For the few of you who have missed it, here’s the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmi8XMxuosI

And now for some wow-effect: recently Lynx UK created a “Goldberg machine” with some of the elements recalling the recent history of the brand, then asking their fans to find all the clues scattered around the video. Really well done, have a look:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMiyyyxANEk

It’s remarkable the initiative of Vogue Paris: to commemorate the goal of one million followers on Twitter, they set up a mini website called storyof1million, with a series of evocative images related to the most recent memories, all enclosed in a single one-scroll page.

A short while ago even the Nestlé Drumsitck counter has passed the mark of one million fans; the company promptly decided to thank the community with a pool-party themed video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGh5GtS1rt4

Advanced “Thank-you marketing”

Even a more “serious” brand like Jeep some time ago decided to embrace this trend. When they reached 2 million fans on their Facebook page they involved various employees in a video to personally thank them:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DVrnCXY4-U

Very emotional, isn’t it? It almost looks like the commercial Toyota made right after the infamous 2010 recall, to regain the confidence of U.S. consumers. Anyway, the Jeep’s initiative is definitely worthy of note: they want to make it clear that they actually do care about their community – or at least that’s what I perceived.

Then we have a couple of examples of brands that are committed in bringing out truly original ideas: like Febreeze, who selected some employees and locked them in a room to say “thanks” a million times (all live-streamed, of course).

Or AT&T, who thanked individually 500 fans with a series of dedicated videos – after the fan filled out a form with the request. All this to honor an important milestone: 2 million fans on the Facebook page.

Conclusions

Let’s face it: brands are having tons of fun, on Facebook. And I’m sure we could go on forever listing similar campaigns, between viral videos, smiles and funny songs.

But unfortunately, life is not as beautiful as Facebook marketing is, and fun times must come to an end. So we show you one last case history: Old Navy celebrated their 5 millionth fan with an initiative aimed to offer discounts on a range of products:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFn_Cqusvfs

But there’s something they apparently forgot: as always in life, when you decide to do something, you must do it well. Otherwise this happens:

Because everyone has a nasty friend that starts complaining about how your party sucks, and ends up ruining the happiest day of the year.

Even if you have just turned 5-million-fans old.

Guido Ghedin

L'articolo New communication trends: we are living in the “Thank-you marketing” era sembra essere il primo su Young Digital Lab.

We left him at the opening ceremony of the Olympics Games, while he was saving the life of Her Majesty the Queen of England. Now, James Bond is about to return to the cinemas.

Skyfall will be the twenty-third episode of 007 – this year celebrates its 50th anniversary, the longest running saga in the history of cinema.

Directed by Oscar winner Sam Mendes, the movie stars Daniel Craig as James Bond and a surprisingly blond Javier Bardem as the villain – whose vision could probably disturb you, but don’t say that I didn’t warn you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgr2syY_OU4

To accompany the launch of the film, in addition to websites, Facebook pages and Twitter accounts specifically created for the various countries in which the movie will be distributed, a teaser website has been created, to invite users to get involved and find out if they could to be recruited as spies to serve the Queen (here’s the teaser website’s address: 50.112.251.215).

But – even more interesting – there are two co-marketing operations with Coca-Cola and Heineken, which cross several media and led to several discussions and criticisms.

The new face of product placement?

According to several sources, product placement was born in the ’20s, with a movie called Wings, in which the actors talk about a brand that makes chocolate.

From 1927 PP has had a long evolution in films and TV shows. The placements in movies such as Wayne’s World (1992) and Cast Away (2000) made history. Also notable the fact that Volkswagen spent $200 million for sponsorships in NBC Universal movies over the course of 2002. Until today, with the judges of American Idol drinking Coke in front of the camera.

And – inevitably – product placement started going out of the cinema screen to merge with digital communication, with new interactive formats – like the pioneering case of Mango, that some time ago created a sitcom allowing the audience to buy the clothes worn by the actors.

And then there’s the whole range of opportunities offered by social TV – the so-called “second screen” experience – like tablets and phones apps that make the the action of watching a movie and buying related products every day closer.

So let’s see what is happening in the 007 Skyfall promotional campaign.

Coca-Cola 007

The partnership between James Bond and Coca-Cola is pretty strong: the company making the world’s most famous soft drink has created a limited edition Coca-Cola Zero glass bottle.

Then there are a series of commercials, which the popular movie soundtrack and a boy that – after drinking Coca-Cola Zero – begins some sort of James Bond, managing to save the girl of his dreams from the bas Russian guy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vtz4qL4-hNE

Many have wondered what would be the link between the Coca-Cola 007, yet for the company this particular co-marketing is not new. It was in fact already active during the launch of Quantum of Solace:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_a_tqFss9U

The idea is to combine the features of James Bond with those of Coca-Cola Zero: no calories, light, dynamic and trendy. This year, however, they focused on a bit more ironic tone, targeting a slightly younger market, to strengthen the position of Coca-Cola Zero as more masculine than Light/Diet Coke.

But that’s not it: they recently put online a truly spectacular marketing stunt, able to create a bond between interactive and ambient marketing and very consistent with the whole campaign. Have a look:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDiZOnzajNU

Heineken & Skyfall: Crack the case

And then there’s Heineken. They shelled out $45 million for product placement in this project, and also created a Facebook app called Crack the case, starring Daniel Craig and Bond girl Bérénice Marlohe. You can play it by clicking here.

You don’t need toNot need to access via Facebook connect and or upload picture; just continue with “secret identity”, and all you have to do is to play the game. And at the end you’ll be catapulted on the Facebook page of Heineken – obviously, I’d say.

Although the game is very basic, the idea is certainly nice, and the videos are very well done – although they remind a series of commercial from last year, called The Entrance:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4m5Wkywew0

Even in this case there have been a lot of controversies: the combination of a secret agent and a beer doesn’t sound very well to many. Yet the partnership between Heineken and the 007 franchise has lasted fifteen years (and this is well explained in this post on ABC News). The difference lies in the fact that it has never been as evident as in this last digitally integrated campaign.

The message is clear: James Bond has the most beautiful women and the most luxurious cars – in short, the best of the best – and he also drink the best beer in the world. From a marketing perspective, this is just perfect.

Daniel Craig has defended the partnership (here’s what he said to the Telegraph) stating that product placement is necessary for the production of such expensive movies. And that James Bond is a drinker anyways. So what’s wrong with him drinking a beer?

We do not know what will be the of these co-marketing operations with Coca-Cola and Heineken. On the other hand, I don’t think this will affect the movie performance, and that fans won’t got to see 007 Skyfall for this reason.

What do you think? Do you think they are bad marketing moves, or business is business after all?

Martha Burns

L'articolo 007 Skyfall: with Heineken and Coke, product placement goes social sembra essere il primo su Young Digital Lab.

Today we’re talking about what allows Facebook and other social networks to get out of the digital sphere and become part of the real-life experience.

As a matter of fact, the company we’re dealing with is called Real Life Connect, and we’re interviewing Juergen Hoebarth, founder and CVO of RLC. Juergen is from Austria, but he now lives and works in Hong Kong.

Here we go with the interview.

– Hi Juergen, first of all, how did you decide to work in this particular field?

Hi! Initially, my Co-founder Michael Ionita and me were already working together on different online projects, and both found the idea exciting to extend social media applications into the real world.

Back in late 2010 we decided to do something in this area and were starting with the first prototypes and tests – parallel to our daily jobs. The final decision to incorporate RealLifeConnect was taken in May 2011: as a result of months of testing and researching, we saw a demand for a service like this.

– Can you tell us a little about RFID technology? How did it start, and when?

RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) Tag based Technology starts way back in the early ’70s, when Mario W. Cardullo claimed to have received the first U.S. patent of an active RFID TAG which more or less describes the basic function how this technology works. Since then several different standards and variations have been developed, with popular subcategories like NFC, which operated at 13.56 MHZ and is widely used as well for example in recent phones like the Samsung Galaxy S 3 and the Google Nexus 7.

– 2 years ago the Coca Cola village in Israel made some news as the first Facebook-in-real-life installation; what has changed since then? What have been the most important social and technological innovations over the last few years?

Everyone in the social media agency landscape knows about that project! A lot of time has passed since then, and there have been some important changes in terms of possibilities. now we can directly post into Facebook Pages, or via the recently released Social Graph – that allows even more interactions.

Nevertheless one of the most popular functions are sharing contents, checking-in or posting a picture on a users Facebook profile – taken at a Photo Station or with a Camera. In terms of technological innovations I can just speak from our perspective: we at RealLifeConnect offer the whole service plug, and play not only from the online side – by providing our platform as a service (PaaS) – but as well from the Hardware site, with our Interactive Stations and Solutions.

In terms of social innovations it is nowadays possible to make such integrations not only with Facebook, but with Twitter, Foursquare and Youtube, as well as many other social networks – as long as they’re offering an API to connect and communicate with. RealLifeconnect is the world leader in this, as we have integrated the most services so far, and we’re even releasing additional networks soon – to keep staying on top.

– That’s cool. How long has RealLifeConnect been around?

We’ve been around for 1,5 years, and we heavily grew the last 10 month as we are expanding our staff and partner network on a global level – resulting in having already established a network around all 5 continents and in more than 10 countries.

– What kind of solutions do you provide, and what kind of possibilities do you offer?

We basically provide 3 main solutions out of the box but we provide as well custom solutions on demand. Beside us doing customifications our partners on an integrator level have as well access to our API to built on top additional services and applications.

The 3 main solutions are all linked and manageable without any technical experience via our Social Media Interaction Gateway (PaaS), and are the perfect solution for fast and reliable projects in combination with our provided hardware – which is based on Android.

• Mobile High Quality Photo Solution
• Social Media RFID/NFC Solution
• Social Rewarding and Retailing

We provide the whole solutions as a one-stop-shop service for our partners, so they can easily provide these services to their own clients and maximize and focus on the conceptual and creative part, not having to think too much about the technology part.

– What kind of clients do you have? Do this sort of solutions suit particular sectors more than others?

In general we are providing our solutions via our Partner Network and do as well projects on our own; we have clients from different industries such as retail, fashion, automotive. And of course the event, promotion and conference sector.

– Can you name us the two best campaigns you worked on?

As best cases, I would consider for example Marketing Natives, which is one of our long term customer who has integrated RealLifeConnect fully into its membership program and event series all around Austria. Further best practice example is one integration which is done by one of our partners (3monkeys) in Dubai, where they integrated RealLifeConnect into an entire promotional event with a lot of interactive elements, as you can see in this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KP3ij8r2M1A

Also, I’ll give you the feedback of one of our newest partner, who did a promotional event among students in Australia – and the outcome was amazing. They explain their results here: “On our Facebook page the  talking-about-this rate has been up 600%, the weekly total reach around 500% and total Likes went up 30%.”

– I’ve seen you work a lot abroad, from Europe, to Australia, to Hong Kong: what are in your opinion the most interesting areas in terms of digital development right now?

Yes RealLifeConnect has its Headquarter in Austria and an office in Hong Kong, to serve mainly the Asia Pacific Region. In terms of digital development we see a tremendous interest and engagement level especially in regional areas like the United Emirates and Asia, where people like technology and gadgets and love to be engaged with social media and all things digital such as pictures when attending events or promotions.

– Do you see Facebook as the main platform for social media marketing in the long term, or do you thing things will change?

If we talk about the western part of the world I would consider Facebook as one of the main social media platforms, as per today they reach 1 Billion active users a month. But one should not forget about other networks like LinkedIn or Twitter, which can be – for certain target segments – much better than Facebook.

In general, if one wants to reach the general public this is the main platform a company should at least start with, when developing a social media strategy. In other regions like Russia or China for example there are other Social Networks that are much more popular, like Vkontakte, RenRen or Sina Weibo (here are a couple of links if you want to know more about Vkontakte and Sina Weibo, Ed.).

They should all be considered when a brand is active in those regions, but also in general when dealing with a global social media strategy. For the long run we have to see how Facebook is developing; so far it looks like it’s there to stay.

Tools like G+ are as well to keep an eye on, but G+ for example still doesn’t offer a proper API. And obviously, it’s by far not as popular as Facebook.

– Thanks Juergen!

Guido Ghedin

L'articolo RFID, NFC, online to offline: the interview with Juergen Hoebarth from RealLifeConnect sembra essere il primo su Young Digital Lab.

A few days ago we held a Young Digital Lab event in Milan: two days of training and discussions about digital marketing and social media mix, with a particular focus on Facebook – to which we dedicated an entire day.

The event was pretty cool, with over 50 participants and some very interesting debates over most of the topics we explored – in particular the slots about Facebook policies and “community management do’s and don’ts” have been able to inflame the audience during an interesting Q&A session.

I work as a digital planner in Young Digitals, the digital agency that launched the YDL project. During the event in Milano I had the pleasure to hold three presentations, and today I decided to share them with you!

The first one is called “Always on: the World is Social.”

I analyzed the current trends related to social media and in particular the growth of the mobile, the rising importance of images and photography – of course mentioning Instagram and Pinterest – and also analyzed the growth of social networks in all 5 continents.

I then talked about the freedom inside social networks, and discussed how they impacts on the media, economy and finance, concluding with one of the most important trends nowadays: crowdfunding, which we recently discussed on an interview in this blog.

My second slideshow was entitled “Digital Strategy & Social Media Mix.”

The presentation revolves around the need to be neutral and objective when it comes to evaluating channels and targets: from the definition of objectives to the process of listening and results analysis, bearing in mind that these activities are mutually affected.

At the end of the speech I revealed a very important important secret, as you can see by scrolling through the slides… I hope you agree with me!

My last presentation was called “Facebook marketing mix.”

As the title says, it deals with a strategic approach to the use of Facebook as a marketing channel – stressing the important differences between what paid, owned and earned media are.

What do you think about it?

Michele Polico

L'articolo Young Digital Lab in Milan (October 4th & 5th): here are some slides! sembra essere il primo su Young Digital Lab.