The xbox 360, which is one of the three main gaming platforms available, has recently started showing advertisements on their online network, xbox live.

You can view a Telus ad here:

For some time, advertising has been moving into xbox live, but most of what I have seen to date has been gaming related. However, I have seen some marketing ‘experiments’ by BMW and Volkswagen, offering free content downloads so you could pretty up your xbox live desktop and icons with the VW fast bunny or a BMW logo.

Considering that at any given time, there can be millions of users logged into xbox live, it’s not surprising to see this evolution.

A proper combined social and mobile strategy can provide tremendous benefit for the right client with the right target audience.  The recent election in Iran is hot topic news this week, as much for its questionable results as for the use of technology in protesting those results.  Twitter has been front and centre both in the dissemination of information and in the organization of protests within that country.  So important, in fact, has Twitter been to the post-election turmoil that its been reported by Time Magazine the U.S State Department actually requested Twitter hold off on network upgrades to “protect the interests of Iranians using the service to protest the presidential election”.   Wow.

In another twist, both Google and Facebook launched Farsi versions of their sites today in direct response to the Iranian elections.

You can be sure that many of the election-related Twitter and Facebook updates are both sent and received on mobile devices.  Social networking and mobile continue to see a rise in numbers, each thriving off the other, making them the current “power couple” of the Internet marketing world.   Social networking combined with mobile computing as a marketing strategy has extended the global reach of many organizations and brought the world closer together than at any time in history – and in the case of the elections, may just help shape the history of Iran.

Many people who know me know I love two things – music and new media marketing. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that I spend a lot of time researching how artists are using the new media tools available to them to connect with, and build, their audience.

To say the music industry pioneered the new media revolution would be a paradoxical statement. While MySpace was one of the first social networking platforms to really gain mainstream momentum (heavily fueled by its music community), we all remember the RIAA’s ridiculous attempts to fight P2P file sharing networks. Let’s face it, record labels never really got it. I’m still not convinced that they have. Certain artists, however, continue to break new ground by finding innovative and creative ways to build their brand and connect with their audience using new media technology.

Let’s take a look at some interesting examples I’ve come across recently:

Of A Revolution writes with fans – I haven’t actually listened to this band yet, but an article titled “O.A.R. Launches Twitter Songwriting Contest” immediately caught my eye. It’s exactly what you’re thinking. The band is leveraging the micro blogging website to involve their fans in the songwriting process for a new single which they will record and release. In addition, the band will document the whole writing and recording process in a series of webisodes. Why not?

The Mission District gets remixed – This is a band I was introduced to in Toronto a couple of summers ago. A few months after I met them, I was surprised to find Perez Hilton profiling them. As one can imagine, Perez helped them sell some iTunes downloads and has since lead to them signing in the UK. To promote their single “Heartbreaker”, the guys released all of the stem tracks for the song to music blogger Arjan and launched a remix contest allowing aspiring DJ’s to remix the track. Fans vote for the winner, and the winners track gets released as a bside on the bands first major label single. The band taps into the listening network of each DJ (plus Arjan’s blog) and the DJ’s get exposure. Win-win for everyone. Works for me.

Def Leppard goes mobile – This is definitely a concept that should be expanded on, but for now it’s a cool start. The seminal British heavy metal act has teamed up with Ace Marketing & Promotions for “Rockzimity,” a mobile experience where fans attending summer concerts will be able to download select Def Leppard album art wallpaper, voice tones, and video clips to their mobile phones while at the concert– free of data charges or minutes usage. It was tested before and had 18% uptake, which isn’t bad. I love it because it’s measurable. However, with wireless devices exploding, I see this concept expanding to offer more interactivity options and hopefully, free music!

Tori Amos’ sells her boots – This is a couple of years old now, but remains one of my favorite new media offerings. For her American Doll Posse tour, singer-songwriter-pianist Tori Amos (a fav of mine) launched Legs and Boots, an online portal where fans could buy digital bootleg downloads in MP3 format of any concert on the North American leg of the tour within a few hours after each show. She also made them available in CD-quality FLAC format within a week of each show. Not only does it offer a great souvenir for fans attending concerts, but for an artist who changes her set list nightly and considers no song of hers too rare to be played, it offered her fans the opportunity to get high quality live recordings of songs they didn’t get to hear at their show(s). It’s an additional revenue stream AND a bonus for fans – now THAT is a smart strategy. I hear she’s planning something similar for the European leg of her upcoming Sinful Attraction tour. Count me in!

Amanda Palmer busks in theatres – This is one of my favourite stories from the past few months. Between Amanda writing and performing a song about wanting to get dropped from her label and sharing it on YouTube, leveraging Twitter to host an unofficial album signing for underage fans in a public park (after explaining to the head of digital media at her label what Twitter was), and busking in theatres to pay for the back up actors/dancers she brought on tour with her because she couldn’t afford to pay them, this girl just gets it. Her fans take care of her because she knows how to use these tools to connect with them.

While not everyone participating in the new media space is a recording artist, the key thing to take away from examples like these is the power of content publishing and connectedness – offering desirable content through channels heavily utilized by your target audience is a key factor in building your brand. If you pair it with a strategic approach that includes some ability to measure and improve your execution, you can achieve desirable results.

So until next time, ask yourself – “What can I offer my audience, and where should I offer it to them?”

The marketing community has been buzzing lately with the news that Tourism Montreal announced it was going 100% with online marketing in 2009. It’s true and it is not a typo. Marketers I’ve talked to have really taken notice of this bold move. For sure the data backs up their decision. Around 90% of visitors / travelers are planning, researching and booking their travel plans online. With those kind of numbers is it really that hard to let go of traditional marketing? I suppose for many it comes down to a fear of the unknown, traditional advertising is what they know. But is a heavy skew toward marketing on traditional media format really working well?

Think about your own personal media consumption. We read emails all day, whenever we need something we “Google it” first, at lunch we scan our favourite sites for the latest news, pay my bills online, connect with friends on one of my social networks, etc…. Our own personal media consumption has changed and it seems to have changed a lot faster than the approach marketers are using.

So what are you doing in 2009 with online marketing and social media? What is your e-marketing strategy? Digital and online marketing is here to stay. There is no time like the present to get more involved with digital marketing and make it a part of a regular, continuously learning effort.

Hello Kitty Beer

I was on www.digg.com today, looking through the Entertainment “digged articles”, and came across “Hello Kitty Defines All of Beer-Kind“.  My gut reaction was “Hello Kitty & Beer…so off brand for either Hello Kitty and whatever beer company it is”.  Then I read the blog and saw the product image of Becks beer with Hello Kitty branding on it – my opinion started to change.

Now I have yet to see this in Canada, and based on one of the comments left I’m not even sure it’s in the USA yet either. But knowing that Hello Kitty has such a crazy following with “legal drinking age” girls (I believe mostly in Asia, but it certainly has spread across the globe) – this brand extension did not surprise me at all. Hello Kitty has built such a strong brand across many demos that they put it on anything and everything.  And while I’m quite certain the male Becks drinkers will not be pleased with this, Becks may actually get more women, and possibly younger (legal) women to drink their beer.  That being said, I would be interested to see how the introduction of the “girly beer” will affect the men who would normally buy the regular Becks. If this Hello Kitty Becks gets a lot of press, makes it into the North American stores, and is strongly adopted by the female demo…it’s entirely possible that Becks will lose it’s male demo. I can just see it now…a guy shows up to his buddy’s house to watch the game, with a case of Becks, sits down, cracks one open, then his buddy says “nice Becks, how come you didn’t go for the pink bottle with the kitty on it”.

Considering Becks (like many other beer companies) have built a very successful brand around the male demo…this is a bold, and possibly ‘fatal’ risk to take. Hello Kitty brand will not suffer at all…so we may see a “Hello Kitty 1 / Becks 0″ score for this venture.

When Kelly Clarkson first auditioned for American Idol in 2002 (singing “Express Yourself” by Madonna and “At Last” by Etta James), chances are, if you caught that performance, you saw it on your television and lived in the U.S. (or maybe Canada). That performance, while strong, didn’t make her a star overnight. In fact, I’d be surprised if many people even remember it. It was the subsequent performances over the course of the summer on the popular reality TV singing competition that launched Kelly Clarkson’s career, not a single performance alone.

Seven years, 20 million albums sold, 8 chart topping singles, 2 Grammy awards, and six more American Idols later, Kelly Clarkson is undoubtedly and rightfully still a star. But, somewhere along the line, the star making machine that launched her changed. And I can’t help but wonder how Kelly’s first audition would stack up in the world of reality TV stars were she competing in American Idol 2009.

So what changed you ask? It’s a pretty simple answer really – YouTube and the explosion of social media networks. Launched in 2005 as a video sharing website where users can upload, view, and share video clips, YouTube is now the 5th most visited website on the internet, with more than six billion videos viewed in January 2009 alone. YouTube and other social media networks (like Facebook and Twitter) have made the world smaller, and have in a sense shifted marketing control away from corporate headquarters and placed it into the hands of consumers.

Take Susan Boyle and Shaheen Jafargholi for example. Both are competitors on the UK show Britain’s Got Talent, both were underdogs (one older, one younger), and both are now international sensations (virtually overnight) due to standing ovation worthy performances and emotionally charged stories that virally exploded online. This all occurred after a single airing of the show on British airwaves, followed by individuals sharing the videos on YouTube, and subsequently sharing the links to the videos on social media platforms. Their stories, Susan’s in particular, were later picked up by many of the major news networks who ran PR pieces about the performances and their online buzz. With over 40 million views on YouTube in just a few weeks, fueled by countless tweets and Facebook wall posts, 38 year old Susan has already landed a recording contract (yes, after just one performance). 12 year old Shaheen is well on his way to securing a similar fate, already having passed 2 million views in under a week.

Mind you, comparing Kelly to Susan and Shaheen isn’t really comparing apples to apples. There was no shock value in Kelly’s first performance; she was the attractive all American girl with a great voice, the kind of girl you would normally expect to get a record deal…the kind of girl labels would be fighting over to mould into the next star. Her story doesn’t really have the makings of a viral internet sensation, but that’s kind of what’s interesting. Before YouTube, would Susan or Shaheen have a chance of getting noticed by the industry? Now with YouTube, does the music industries next Kelly Clarkson clone have a chance of standing out to the audience?

You no longer need the “full package” to get the attention of the music industry; you just need to resonate with the audience. And, thanks to YouTube and the power of viral word of mouth exposure through social media networks and communication channels, it no longer takes three months on primetime television to win an audience over – one compelling performance will do it.

I’m not trying to downplay the importance of a holistic strategy that includes traditional media elements. There are mass elements at play in Susan/Shaneen’s stories that are mighty important, but the key thing to notice is that in comparison to Kelly’s case seven years ago, a social shift has occurred that has empowered the public to make marketing decisions far faster than network television can, and with greater global reach – so much so that the mass media (in this case) recognized it, and publicized it.

So what implications does this have for marketers? Three key ones come to mind:

1.    Be compelling in your message and execution; you need to resonate with people. You need people to love you enough to talk about you.
2.    Don’t force your message on the masses; if it’s gripping enough, they’ll come to you.
3.    Embrace and participate in social media platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter; they are where the conversations are happening, and they are where the public is diverting their attention towards.

To sum up, don’t overlook this phenomenon when developing your marketing strategy – social media now has the power to dictate the mass media.

[Ps: For the record, this blog is in no way bashing or attempting to downplay Kelly Clarkson’s talent. She deserves all of the success she has had, and those who know me know I am one of her biggest fans. I’m merely trying to illustrate how social media is now able to compete with the mass media.]

Susan:

Shaheen:

Here’s Kelly’s first performance as well for fun. Note that YouTube didn’t exist when this first aired. Also note the narrative commentary – “…we don’t think Kelly is going to need that plan”. Is the network telling the audience what to think before she sings?

I was recently in the mood to shop for cosmetics, so I headed to my local pharmacy. I quickly realized how cluttered and oversaturated the cosmetics aisle is. I found myself going back and forth, having to continuously look up to see what “brand section” I was in, because they all look the same. 25 minutes later, I had chosen a few items, but certainly didn’t have a feeling of being sure I had what I wanted. Then…I turned the corner into the new ‘upscale’ section of their cosmetics section. I have never gone into this section because I had the impression that it was all too expensive for my taste & budget. However, after I was there a mere 7 minutes (seconds in beauty product shopping time), I was sure of what I wanted, and was excited to get my products home, go to bed, and get up the next morning so I could use my products as I got ready for work.  So I put all of the “other” items back, spent a little more than I had planned, but came out knowing that I was confident in my choice.

As a marketer, I instantly went into “analysis mode” as I drove home.  What was the difference between the two aisles? Why was my experience more efficient and rewarding from one aisle to the other. The answer was the depth and breadth of differentiation. The upscale section brands all have a different look & feel, but most importantly the aisle is set up so that each brand has room to “breath”…room to show what it’s made of without the competition being literally right beside it. Not only did this put some of my money in my chosen brands pocket, but surely the store made more money off my purchase than they would have off of my “first aisle” choices.

The extrapolation of this is that all brands need to find a way to be “eye candy” for their consumers. The reality is we are in a time of being inundated with messages, brands, media – so it’s very easy for your brand to get lost in the clutter…become the “first cosmetics aisle”, if you will. As a brand, you need to ensure that the core of your brand, and what it means to your target, is easily distinguished. This is no small feat; however, without giving your company some “brand attention” you will always be clutter amongst the masses in your vertical…not the place you want to be if your goal is to increase revenue.

So take a step back – you aren’t going to win if you don’t think differently. Research your competitors, figure out why you’re better – and most importantly hone in on how to execute that to your consumer. Then watch your customers turn into your brand ambassadors!

I remember attending ‘new media’ conferences in the mid to late nineties where everyone was talking about convergence, and that content was king, and that everything would be wonderful in the future of technology.

I always marveled somewhat at some of these conversations, mostly because I didn’t think the people saying these things truly understood the concepts that they were talking about. It reminded me of a futurist panel where people would speculate what the future would be like…that you would, for instance, be able to travel in space, or money would go away, or you could teleport.

As I walk though my house these days, I reflect back on those presentations and conversations and think that the concept that was trying to be articulated has already occurred. I don’t think my family is anymore connected than most people, but If you look around our house, more and more elements are connected to the internet, and deliver information and content in interesting ways. There are computers throughout the house, that are either connected through a wired or wireless network. We have a digital cable box which allows us to view either normal tv or on-demand, and we have a video game console, which is also connected to the net, providing communication and content delivery. In addition to this, we also have cell phones, and my children have handheld game consoles, which can also be connected to the net through a wireless connection. Even our car has a rudimentary connection to an expanded network of information.

With all of these ways to both retrieve information, and to find entertainment, it’s no wonder traditional media is under such pressure. If I look at the usage of media/technology in our household, a very small percentage of that time is now taken up consuming traditional media. Watching television (a channel with advertising), and listening to the radio, now has to compete with browsing the internet, playing video games (on a game console, on the computer, or on a handheld console), watching movies/video (either through on demand, on a dvd, or streamed through the game console or computer).

The thing that is interesting about all of this is that the ways to both find information, and find entertainment, are diversifying further. Social media, as well as mobile technology, are now well established players in the media mix, and are adding to the options available for individuals even further.

I don’t think that there was a specific moment in time when I felt that the concept of convergence was occurring; we just slowly evolved…adding internet connection, and devices to our household and lives.

I read a great blog yesterday about Twitter and thought it was a good framework for today’s modern musing. Here’s the Twitter run down (short and sweet):

What is Twitter?

It’s the newest social media phenomenon, and one of the easiest to use. Keep all of your friends and clients updated by simply answering the question “What are you doing?” in 140 characters or less. It’s the text message inspired e-broadcast.

Who uses Twitter?
Dell, CNN, Britney Spears, your grandma – everyone’s tweeting.

Why should I Twitter?
Ask yourself – “what can I offer current and prospective clients via quick status updates that I can’t via email broadcasts/lengthy blog entries/phone conversations/coffee meetings?”, OR, “how can I reduce email broadcasts/lengthy blog entries/phone conversations/coffee meetings AND gain more consumer reach using quick status updates?” Can’t find your angle? Let us help you.

What do I need to know about Twitter marketing before I get started?

1.    It’s all about relationships – you need to offer something of value to build them.
2.    Connect the dots (or tweets) – find people who are in sync with you. Follow them. Follow their followers. Join the conversation.
3.    The 3 T’s. Build trust (offer value), create trails (conversations that lead to a solution), form teams (groups of prospect customers).
4.    Secondary exposure is more important than primary exposure. Give your followers a reason to “Re-Tweet” your tweets.
5.    Assess your “effect” (visual, emotional, psychological) impact on your followers and adjust accordingly.

Ready to jump right in and start tweeting? Go for it! Need a hand at getting started? Give us a call and let us help you. Until next time, happy tweeting.

Billboard Magazine – a leading music industry publication – posted an interesting article last week about “it girl” Katy Perry, nicely illustrating the impact of new media within the modern marketing landscape. For those of you who may be unaware of Katy’s music, she’s the girl that sings that song about kissing girls (“I Kissed a Girl”), a song that’s been invading your media sphere for the past year. Now, I’m not here to comment on Katy’s music…so let’s leave that subject aside, but her “rise to fame” story is quite interesting. She was signed and dropped by a major label three times – once is typically enough to destroy a new artists career – and has somehow managed to fight through all of that to find herself on every radio station and celebrity blog around the world. How did she do that you say? It must be her talent right? I’ll leave that up to you.

Ten to fifteen years ago, a campaign for a new artist began with a blitz to radio stations, including a single release and a promotional tour across the country where a lot of wining and dining of program directors occurred in order to garner new interest for an artist. Radio was where the listening audience was first introduced to a new artist; it was the most important component of a successful campaign. For Katy Perry, radio is still important, but it’s just another piece of the giant marketing machine.

Katy’s campaign actually began online, with a quirky and controversial music video for her politically incorrect song “UR So Gay”. The video was shot with no intention of ever hitting mass media airwaves; it was destined for YouTube and blog fame – and a ploy to get kids talking about this then unheard of new artist. It worked – over 2 million views to date if you count all of the multiple versions of the video that have been uploaded. You can best bet Capitol Records “capitolized” off of this net fame via MySpace – the music industries social media home – where Katy’s profile has logged 28.3 million profile views to date. By offering an interactive media experience, Capitol used Katy’s MySpace page to help Katy develop a relationship with her growing army of supporters, one of whom is a little known music star herself – Madonna. Madge’s radio interview praising Katy’s “UR So Gay” garnered well over a million plays via MySpace and top blogs like Perez Hilton. It never hurts to have the material girl catch on to your buzz track.

Did I mention that all of this was happening months before Katy’s real first single landed at traditional media outlets? So, how did this web “buzz” impact the traditional campaign? Well, guess what? With instant support! The first single, the (once again) controversial “I Kissed a Girl”, was immediately adopted by the conglomerate mass media giants (thanks, Clear Channel) who helped secure household name status for Katy Perry. The song went on to be the most played song of 2008. The moral of the story? Build your army before you go to war.

This is merely one of hundreds of examples of how a company successfully used new media to build the foundation for a “brand”. Yes, there were multiple elements at play here – interactive media combined with traditional media – but considering the old world approach vs. new world approach to artist development in the music industry, Capitol played their blogs right. It’s all about developing a holistic strategy that makes sense for your brand, and deploying the media elements (be them new or traditional) in a timely manner, so that the net effect is mass awareness and ultimately, customer conversion.

The music industry faces more challenges than most industries with the conversion aspect of marketing, as a record labels main source of income is less than lucrative. With illegal downloading at sky high rates, it’s definitely not what it used to be, and Katy Perry’s case further highlights how new media has not only changed marketing, but an industries business model entirely. Lead singles “…Girl” and “Hot and Cold” have sold a combined 6 million digital singles. The album hasn’t even cracked a million units. In 1996, Alanis Morissette would’ve sold 6 million albums by this point in the album campaign. This leaves managers with the struggling task of turning all of this media exposure into concert ticket sales…but that’s a whole other blog topic for another day.

To sum up – new media is changing marketing and business models in ways once deemed unimaginable. You need to be proactive in your approach to stay afloat. What can you do to be proactive? Embrace change before you’re forced to change. Now that’s some blog for thought.