Ladies and gentlemen! Click meeee!

YES! You clicked me!

Okay, before you begin, please watch the embedded video. That video you just watched was one of those 30seconds ads on YouTube you had to get through before actually watching what you really wanted to. You know the ones where if you were lucky you get to skip it after five seconds? Well this time, even though I could've skipped it, I didn't.

To be honest, I feel that advertising on YouTube and other online streaming websites would be the way into the future.I say this because these stats about how much people spend on social media like right now ,courtesy of brandwatch, is actually quite astonishing!  But in any case, i digress.

My point was, even though I haven't gotten about buying the camera, the fact that I watched the whole ad, and actually paid attention to it suggests that this ad was actually successful, well as far as my opinion counts anyway. A lot less can be said about many other YouTube ads. In fact, I usually can't wait to skip the ad!

I attribute it to the first 5 seconds of the video. I believe that beyond the content of your ad, the structure is equally important. You only pretty much have the first 5 seconds to get somebody's attention, and the simple line "Ladies and gentlemen" got me. Perhaps as a lesson for marketers, it is important to consider where the hook of your ad is. Or how many hooks there are even. One to keep the audience watching past the first 5 seconds, and one to remember the product.

Thats my take anyway. What do you guys think? 

You have more friends than you know!

Alright, so I'm back to blogging about all things advertising. Hopefully I find enough steam in myself to do this every Sunday.  Ironically, I'm not doing anything to market this blog. I guess its sort of hard for me to put myself out there, not even sure why, my friends love me...... Fine, you got me, I have no friends. I just eat, sleep and sit in front of the computer all day. 

When I flew back from Melbourne, Mum was at the airport waiting to pick me up. So, on the way back, we were just talking, and I was asking her about regular stuff like how she was, and she said this, "Goat milk is really good for us, I think I want to get some for the family" Which I already knew. I've been trying to get mum to try goat's milk for years, but she wouldn't. So I asked what changed her mind. She replied "I heard it over the my favorite radio channel".

 Hang on a sec, the same goat's milk I've been trying to get my mum to try suddenly becomes good because somebody on the radio said it? 

I was reminded of the Commercial Radio Australia ads "When you advertise on radio, its like they hear it from a friend." If you haven't heard the ads, here is one of the four they currently air. I think they're pretty funny.  What a brilliant line. It was like their whole campaign happening before my eyes. Through routine, mum has been listening to the same radio DJ for so long, it almost seems that they have become friends. A simple segment about goats milk and she was sold. It could have been a paid segment for all I know, but she was hooked nevertheless. 

Maybe the way forward for advertising isn't online, where people spend hours on, but through the radio, where their "friends" few simple words would do you a whole lot more. I suppose in this day and age, buyers trust a friend's  recommendation more than what companies advertise. I guess everybody is becoming more cynical about what they hear from a corporate source. 

Lemmie know what you think! I got to go, my friend has a new song she wants to sing for me. 

Turf wars

Check this out, Facebook has entered the market for job boards. It has expanded its scope beyond just social networking between friends to between companies with job vacancies and potential candidates. This was typically LinkedIn's turf, but Facebook, partnered various recruiting platforms including, US.Jobs, Jobvite,monster, Branchout and Work4labs to form their social job app.

Granted, although most of the reportedly 1 million jobs available through Facebook is located in the USA, it seems that they have taken a step towards updating Facebook, and LinkedIn investors certainly feel something is brewing in the social networking market. The company stock dropped 2% after Facebook announced this. One of the best features of Facebook is how often they update themselves. Keeping themselves fresh and relevant to its users always looking for another avenue to help them be connected, but I don't like where this is going. Already people are getting into trouble with workmates, bosses due to poorly expressed emotions (to put it nicely). You also have external problems with the public stirring because of poor online communication strategies. And then you have LinkedIn, a professional networking site, one that people automatically show their ability and skills. Why would people fuel this turf war then?

Personally I hope nothing comes from this new Facebook attempt at expanding. Shouldn't you want to keep your social life and work life separate? Well unless you're "Snooki" then by all means mix your occupation and life together, its not like nobody knows you're a complete mess anyway. What do you guys think?

A Tale of two cities..

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...

That was the opening line of the book, "A tale of two cities", which highlighted a reality of both happiness and sadness. Something I personally feel, is similar to our current situation. We live in a world where social media is the fastest growing online activity. Social media has made life so simple we can even find life hacks. That's right, cheats for living our lives. 

However all this freedom has brought its own set of problems. Twitter, a social media network hailed for its ability to give people the power of free speech has recently withheld content from an account, preventing the user from posting status updates. The main reason was because the user was a German Neo-Nazi group, and status updates were generally anti-Semitic and racist propaganda. 

CNN reported that this was the first time that Twitter has ever withheld content, and it has taken the first step to limited hate speech. Yet Twitter has been accused of having lagged behind other social medias in managing these sorts of incidents. 

Honestly, the balancing acts social medias have to perform is tough. I feel that social media websites should all try and protect themselves by having guidelines regarding what is not permitted, and possibly encourage users to help monitor for violations of such rules. 

 Riot Games, creator of League of Legends, the multi-player online battle arena has allowed players to play the role of whistle blower, judge and jury of the game rules. The Tribunal is where players can review the behavior of other players and determine if they have indeed violated rules of fair play. Players deemed to have violated such rules will then be banned for a certain number of days. 

I feel this idea not only allows players to feel more involved, lessens the burden on management, and also helps keep the content of the game clean. Something social media networks should possibly look into. Do you guys agree?

A blessing, a curse and a blessing

A Blessing

I'm sure by now, we have all heard the benefits of having the internet, social media etc. and I having embraced the internet so tightly, I simply would not know what I would do without it. In fact the internet at my place was actually capped for 2 weeks this month,  so I ended up spending my hours and hours in the Monash Library. EVEN ON MY FREE DAYS! True story. Back to the point! The presence of the internet and social media has spawned giants like Groupon and eBay where you can buy things cheaply, and lets face it, who wouldn't want to save money in these tough economic times. But.....

A Curse

I feel that because things seem so cheap, people often buy more than what they need. I mean think about it, how many times have you bought things you did not need from Coles just because buying two gives you 20% discount? Or for you drivers, you try and hit the $30 mark for the petrol even though you only needed $28. That 4 cents per liter isn't even worth spending that additional $2! If you think about it, if things are could be bought for so much cheaper now, why are we in tough economic times? Its a curse I tell you! And yet....

A Blessing

this rapidly changing world is also an opportunity! With all this new means of doing things, there has bound to be new problems! Identifying these problems could be your key to a new business idea! Cheryl Yeoh realized that because so many people bought vouchers for various Groupon and Scoopon deals that she simply could not keep up with all her vouchers! Vouchers was becoming a currency itself! So she too up this opportunity and created an app that allowed you to keep track all your vouchers in 1 simple way and even set up an online market for you to sell these vouchers! Her full story is in the link above! 

I think what Cheryl did was just brilliant, and we should also make use of the rapidly changing technological advancements, especially on the internet to find new business models!!

Leveraging on the growing number of smart phones

The Herald Sun predicts that the number of smartphones in Australia will hit 8.8 Million in 2012, a 40% growth from the previous year! At the moment, phones are reportedly outselling PCs now! This suggests that people are more on the go then ever before! I feel companies should leverage on this, and this might be an idea how!

Tenza Yakitori is a game available on the iPhone and android systems! Just a typical game right? Wrong! It is a game that has real food rewards. After completion of every level, users can redeem a voucher that provides them discounts for REAL food rewards from the restaurant Tenza! Part of me feels that the idea is not complete, and that more things can be done, but I honestly feel this could be the first step towards leveraging number of smartphones used by the public! This not only makes use of the popularity of cooking genre games, but it also takes the opportunity to market and sell their products!

What can other companies not selling food do? Do you guys think its a good idea? Let me know!

So fail it wins?

Brad Pitt is the first male to ever become the face of the perfume Chanel No5. If you guys have not watched the video yet, I put a link up top. He was apparently paid 7 million USD for saying those simple lines. This advertisement has received quite a lot of attention for being so underwhelming. Tabloids have referred to it as being perplexing, and honestly I thought it was pretty bad too!

HOWEVER! I thought about it, and wondered who would pay 10 million dollars for THAT!? They picked an A list celebrity that the mass generally liked, paired it with a brand of perfume that people generally associate with being good, and came up with that!?

And I simply concluded that it had to be a genius. Lets look at it objectively! It is creating a buzz at the moment! It is a crazy and bold move to come up with something as simple as that, but people are talking about it, people are drawn to watch it, people are making parodies of it.In 3 days they have amassed almost 3 million views! That has got to be some sort of success! I'm sure there are certain conditions for these campaigns to become successful, and I believe one of them has to be the fact that the brand has to have a strong association with being great. Do you agree with me? What else do you think is needed for such a campaign to be a success? Do you even think its successful? Leave me a comment!!

 My mind is completely blown!