Advertising People Are Not Normal

Do advertising people really understand consumers who are not from advertising, who are not clients, salespeople or marketers? Well, the article followed by infographic below gives us a point of view. Do we really understand our consumers? Or, are we actually a bit..bias?

Infographic Confirms It: Advertising People Are Not Normal
By: Christine Champagne

A new study shows: Ad people love advertising and social media. Other people, less so. Also, ad people are more likely to behave badly at office parties.

Those who work in advertising often wonder if they live in a sort of bubble. You wonder, are civilians as active on social media and as inclined to pay attention to what brands are doing on Twitter, and is the rest of the world as preoccupied with that award-winning ad campaign that industry types can’t stop talking about?

The unsurprising answer is no, according to a study commissioned by San Francisco-based advertising agency Heat and conducted this past March by iThink, which found that people who work in advertising and marketing are worlds apart from the “normal” people when it comes to how they use social media and how they view social media marketing.

By the way, the survey also revealed that ad professionals tend to engage in more bad behavior at office holiday parties. More on that later.

First, mull these findings on how advertising/marketing professionals use Facebook as compared to the general public:
• 71% of advertising/marketing professionals say they pay attention to brand posts in their Facebook news feed “all of the time” versus 23% of the general population.
• As for Twitter: 92% of advertising/marketing professionals use Twitter to follow brands they like. 33% of the general population does so.

Should brands put more effort into interacting with consumers via social media?
• 63% of advertising/marketing professionals “strongly agree” that they should; 23% of the general population “strongly agree”

Meanwhile, digital marketing campaigns that are endlessly discussed in the advertising industry aren’t so well known in the wider world. Chew on this:
• 70% of advertising/marketing professionals were aware of Burger King’s “Subservient Chicken” digital marketing campaign vs. 8% of the general population; as for the mega-award-winning Jay-Z “Decoded”: 63% of advertising/marketing professionals aware of campaign vs. 9% of the general population.

And the study also seems to suggest that the Mad Men stereotypes aren’t off the mark: Subjects were also asked about how they act at office holiday parties, and it appears that people who work in advertising are more likely to puke from drinking too much (37% vs. 9% of the general public); do drugs (26% vs. 3% of the general public); and hook up with a coworker (26% vs. 8% of the general public). If you work in advertising, these results likely aren’t surprising to you.

Source : fastcocreate.com

Top 10 Viral-Making Creative Agencies

Here is the chart of top ten creative agencies based on most watched viral work in 2011.  Wieden + Kennedy Portland stays on top with their all new Old Spice campaign.

Which one is your favorite?

	Brand	Top Campaigns of 2011	2011 Views	Spot
1	Wieden + Kennedy Portland	New Old Spice Guy Fabio	191,361,089
2	Deutsch Los Angeles	The Force	90,238,873
3	Goodby Silverstein & Partners	Doritos, Pug Attack	85,036,550
4	TBWA\Media Arts Lab	Introducing iPhone 4S	62,952,509
5	BETC Euro RSCG	Live Young	58,245,849
6	Saatchi & Saatchi London	Royal Wedding	47,944,113
7	Crispin Porter + Bogusky	Ozzy vs. Bieber	37,268,173
8	BBH London	The Web Is What You Make Of It	35,316,555
9	Wieden + Kennedy Amsterdam	The Entrance	29,465,114
10	BBDO New York	You’re Not You When You’re Hungry	27,425,530

Source :  Visible Measures

Read article : http://adage.com/article/the-viral-video-chart/viral-video-charts-top-creative-agencies-2011/231812/

 

#1 Viral Video : Mercedes Invisible Car

Innovative product promise + a touch of tech  + great idea = magnetic attention. Check this one out!

Advertising Agency: Jung von Matt/Elbe, Germany
Executive Creative Directors: Thimoteus Wagner, Fabian Frese, Götz Ulmer
Creative Directors: Micheal Ohanian, Jonas Keller, Martin Strutz
Art Direction: Jonas Keller
Copywirter: Michael Ohanian
Accounts: Sven Dörrenbächer, Sonja Stockmann, Kete Stodtmeister, Ann-Kathrin Geertz, Nelli Walker
Production Company: Markenfilm-Crossing
Designer: Daniel Soares
Idea: Michael Ohanian, Jonas Keller
Camera: Jakob Süß
Production: Martin Schön/Tina Rentzsch
Programming: Bettina Ackermann, Christopher Schultz
Director: Daniel Schmidt
Technic: Christopher Schultz, Bettina Ackermann

(source : creativeguerillamarketing.com)

Ghost town watch: People spend more time monthly on MySpace than Google+

The average Google+ user only spends an average of three minutes per month on the social network, while MySpace, LinkedIn, and Twitter are all seeing more time spent per user each month, according to research firm comScore.

In a scathing Wall Street Journal report titled “The Mounting Minuses at Google+,” the case is made that Google+ has failed to keep users interested, especially compared to sites like Facebook, Tumblr, and Pinterest.

In what might be an unfair comparison, comScore said Facebook users spend an average of 405 minutes per month on the network, while Google+ users spent just 3 minutes a month. To make the contrast worse, social networking pariah MySpace has users spending an average of 8 minutes a month.

Google exec Bradley Horowitz told us in November that Google+ isn’t a Facebook competitor, and that it really is more a social layer connecting Google’s products. At the time Horowitz said: “We think of Google+ as a mode of usage of Google, a way of lighting up your Google experience as opposed to a new product. It’s something that takes time to appreciate, even internally. It’s easy to think of Google+ as something other than just Google, and I think it’ll take more launches before the world catches up with this understanding.”

Google would not provide a direct comment about the Wall Street Journal article, but a spokesperson did tell us:

The reality that Google+ is much more than a destination site makes it exceedingly hard for any third-party research firm to monitor or measure its performance. Google thinks about the service not as a site but as a deepening of its relationship to billions of existing users who are already committed to Google’s services like Search, YouTube, Android, etc. By this measure, engagement is already enormous.
In reaction to the Wall Street Journal report, several Google+ watchers have also countered with their own takes. Rackspace evangelist and one of the most-followed Google+ users Robert Scoble wrote on Google+: “Stop comparing Facebook to Google+. And if this is a ghost town why does a new message show up on my street every 15 seconds? Oh, yeah, the mainstream media is threatened by Google+.”

Danny Sullivan, editor-in-chief of Search Engine Land, wrote on Twitter: “Yes, Google+ far less active than Twitter & Facebook. But ghost town? Nah. & Ignore at your Google ranking peril brands.”

What do you think? Is Google+ a ghost town or is it just taking its time to grow?

You can also view comScore’s inforgraphic below that shows just poor Google+ is doing in bringing back people for more:

Source : venturebeat.com

How has social network changed your life

Ambient Intimacy

• Social media allows you to keep in touch with friends and families anytime, anywhere
• It enables you to search for your long lost friends or relatives too.

 Child Literacy

• Social media has helped children become more literate
• Writing blogs, posts, status updates, text messages, instant messages and the like, all motivate children to read and write.
• According to a survey with 3000 children, aged nine and sixteen, all had their own blogs and 82% sent text messages at least once a month. In addition, 73% used instant messaging services to chat online with friends.
• Based on research, there is a strong correlation between kids using technology and wider patterns of reading and writing (Based BBC news).

Source: Mashable

Politics Reinvention

• Social networks may be encouraging younger people to get involved in politics.
• Examples:
  • Iran elections via twitter.
  • The Orange Revolution in Ukraine.
  • The Election of Barrack Obama
  • Nicole Seah’s pages that won a large following in a short time (Singapore Election)
  • The Prime Minister went online to chat and find out the views of Singaporean youths who want to be heard and play a part.
• This shows that more and more people are getting involved in politics and are feeling they can make a difference. And all these have taken place via social network like Facebook and Twitter.

Marketing Flux

• Marketing & Advertising transforms itself from an industry reliant on mass markets to one which must embrace the power of consumers and engage in conversations.
• Consumers will be eager to look out for some of the latest promotions, upcoming products and etc.
• Example:
  • The iPhone 5 has generated a lot of buzz since the beginning of the year
  • Mcdonalds Monopoly Campaign in Singapore

News as cultural currency

• Traditionally we receive news via TV, radio and newspaper.
• But with Social Network, the news are fresher and faster.
• Friends on social media are increasingly becoming netizens trusted source of information, even more than search engine.
• Example:
  • Japan – Tsunami. Able to find out all the updated news from Twitter, live coverage video from Facebook Page: CNN, and etc.
  • News about resignation of Steve Jobs.

Conversation starter about yourself

• There is some joy sharing every single bit of your life with the world. For that moment of glory, the ‘world’ revolves around you.
• Perhaps there is joy in creating a conversation starter exciting enough to garner comments as many as 20.
• Some may think it boosts their ego to know that they are seen as opinion leaders, or that people ‘follow’ their posts closely because lives are probably far less interesting.
• Or perhaps, it’s an avenue for one to rant to the world about how unfair one’s life has been, or to track where one has been.

Replacement of traditional communication

• Social media has proliferated the functionality of smart mobile device
  • There is more usage for checking Facebook / Twitter than making phone calls, taking pictures and sending SMS put together.

People are less involved in physical world

• Many people get caught up in the social media world such that they are not really involved in their surrounding or current physical situation
  • Countless experiences where different groups of friends and I have a meal together and we find that we happen to be on our phones, engaging in Facebook or Twitter instead of engaging with the current company

It is the new addiction

• Alcohol, tobacco, drugs and now, social media
  • We must get our daily social media fix. Upon arrival in the office, during lunch breaks, or even throughout the day, we access our social media profiles
  • When on holiday, with little internet access, the smallest opportunity you get for free WIFI, will undoubtedly be used to access your social media profile. If that doesn’t sway you that social media is a new addiction, these figures might

1. One in every nine people on Earth is on Facebook (This number is calculated by dividing the planets 6.94 billion people by Facebook’s 750 million users)
2. People spend 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook
3. Each Facebook user spends on average 15 hours and 33 minutes a month on the site
4. More than 250 million people access Facebook through their mobile devices
5. More than 2.5 million websites have integrated with Facebook
6. YouTube has 490 million unique users who visit every month (as of February 2011)
7. YouTube generates 92 billion page views per month (These YouTube stats don’t include videos viewed on phones and embedded in websites)
8. Users on YouTube spend a total of 2.9 billion hours per month (326,294 years)
9. People upload 3,000 images to Flickr (the photo sharing social media site) every minute
10. 190 million average Tweets per day occur on Twitter (May 2011)
11. Google+ has more than 25 million users

Makes you love the friends you don’t have on your account and hate the ones you do

• You remember a long lost friend affectionately and try to re-connect with him/her or you send an invite to people you’ve just me to stay connected

You see another side to friends through the posts they make and it changes your perception of them in a negative way.

By Chrix, Chung Yu, Carryn, Shirley and Fahimah

Telstra rolls out new brand identity

Australia’s biggest telco rolls out a new brand identity to become more human.

It’s quite a shift but what I love about it is the relevance in today’s world. The shift from being traditional to a modern and lively player.

Very refreshing.

A good way to end Friday.

Enjoy

 

Is Google+ the next Facebook and more?

Generally, Google+ is still new in the market. Everyone wants to try something new and can’t resist joining the hype, especially since it was developed by the search engine giant – Google. Right now it is still too early to judge whether Google+ will denounce Facebook to be the king of social networks.

But with the learnings from Google Buzz (failure) and Facebook (success), we reckon there is a high chance Google+ will be the next social network of choice.

Google+:

• Google+ has the ingredients to become the next Facebook. This can be seen through the fact that it “mirrors” Facebook to a good extent by enabling users to post and share.

• Google+ for business will be suitable for companies as well which is similar to Facebook.
• Companies can use Google Offers to include special offers for their fans and customers followed by another upcoming tool known as “Google Catalog”.
• No surprise that Google+ will find its way into being an integral channel to be used by companies to engage consumers and advertise their products.

Example of how Starbucks will looks like on Google Plus+

Below is the link for the upcoming apps from Google Catalogs:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaPgVUJ9A8w

• Potential to be big in future with the advantage of having it sync with Gmail, as well as the best search engine in the world along with other features from Google.
• With the new cool features “circles”, which provides better privacy, your conversations can be hidden from different groups of people.

• A simple and user-friendly interface that allows consumers to easily adapt. The layout looks like a mind map with different ‘nodes’ that opens up to areas where users can interact with friends.
• It may be a better option for the developers because of the speculation that  while “Facebook is now taking 30 percent cut of every game developer’s business”, Google, by contrast which brings in over $30 billion in revenue each year, could easily afford to let developers keep all the money they generate.

• This coupled with the fact that Google also “has the fastest growing mobile distribution channel of any company (Android), would make for a very attractive platform for them to develop in.

Some of the features from Google+ that looks interesting and better than Facebook:

1. Google+ Hangouts:

Hangouts will let the unplanned meet-up come to the web for the first time. Let your buddies know you’re hanging out and see who drops by for a face to face chat.

2. Google Instant Upload

Instant Upload will let you upload your photos or videos instantly and automatically to a private album on Google+ and you need to do is select who to share them with.

3. Google Sparks

Sparks allows you to search for videos and articles that you like which you may want to share with your friends or other group of people in your circles. When you know other people’s interest in your circles, you can share related articles to them and they will surely appreciate it.

4. Google Huddle

Huddle is a good feature when a group of people need to make a decision to watch a movie or decide on a vacation place. Huddle will turn these conversations into one group chat and your guys can chat on the same page and make the final decisions.

Google-:

• Mandatory to have a Gmail account to register as a Google+ user.
• Currently still in beta version, which lacking of features and apps to excite users.
• According to Chitika study, traffic peaked on the 21^st of July and has been declining since. This is most likely due to the end of initial rush of excitement. Thus, this is only a post-site launch and time will now tell if Google+ will truly be the next king.

Reference:

1. Quick look for Google Plus: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwnJ5Bl4kLI

By Chrix, Chung Yu, Carryn, Shirley and Fahimah.

Social Media ROI – Infographic

Something everyone should know about and learn to improve your digital capabilities. What I find really interesting is the metrics that CMOs use and what they plan to improve when it comes to Social Media.

Enjoy

Source: http://www.mdgadvertising.com/blog/infographic-the-roi-of-social-media-2/

 

Infographic: The Growth of Social Media in 2011

Here is an infographic on the growth of Social Media in 2011. Still growing and I suppose this is due to more and more of a person’s life being integrated online and more people who never thought they would have a social media account giving in to the pressure. After all, people are measured by how many friends they have. We are all in the race to be popular.

There are some discrepancies with Twitter from reading other blogs (mainly Digitalbuzz Blog) so do take this with a pinch of salt. But the rest seems accurate.

Enjoy