Category Archives: Insights

Transmedia Case Study – Defiance, a Coordinated TV Series and Video Game

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Syfy’s Defiance (Photo from AdAge)

A few months ago I wrote about Transmedia – see “Transmedia – Opportunity or Trend?”, storytelling defined as telling a story that extends across multiple media platforms (for television, it’s going beyond the on-air show). The post briefly mentioned  Syfy’s groundbreaking idea Defiance, since there was little information at the time. But over the last few weeks a number of articles have come out talking about the concept. Here are additional highlights, courtesy AdAge:

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Worst Social Media Campaigns of 2011

17 February 2012

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Two days ago I attended the Suxorz awards at the Gershwin Hotel in NYC. It was perhaps the most fun I have had learning and sharing about Social Media Faux Pas is a while. So here is a run down of the best of the worst presented by the panel comprising: David Berkowitz – Vice President of Emerging Media, 360i; Brian Morrissey, Editor-in-Chief, Digiday; BL Ochman  – Senior Creative Technologist, AFS Intercultural Programs; and Twanna A Hines – Author.

While, the panel had their own way of segmenting campaigns, I am using a different method. So the campaigns will be labelled under – Corporate Mishaps, Political Failings, What were they thinking, and Fighting Back.

Here we go. Try not to punch the screen, some of these brands and personalities totally lost focus.

 

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Pin, Pinning – Pinterest

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Have you ever whipped out your phone because a friend or colleague asked how your children were? or fumbled for your iPhone to show the pictures of your new home or vacation photos?

We all love to share images – it’s easy and fun to show a picture than to describe something. Odds are you wouldn’t do the moment justice by simply describing any of these events. So if we talk about a use case, in my mind that is the key to Pinterest, an online pinboard that allows one to organize and share images.

The site allows users to collect photos and link to products and images they love. They share images by creating their own pinboards and follow boards of other people whom they find interesting. The site is currently in closed beta, so you would need an invite, but current users have unlimited invites to give out.

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Google “Search Plus Your World” – Opportunistic or Monopolistic?

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I smell a lawsuit or at the very least a lot of hullabaloo. Google announced the next step towards Social Search with “Search, plus your world” . Whereby it will personalize Google search results by integrating social data from Google+. According to Google’s official blog post, here is a brief description of the service:

“We’re transforming Google into a search engine that understands not only content, but also people and relationships. We began this transformation with Social Search, and today we’re taking another big step in this direction by introducing three new features:

  1. Personal Results, which enable you to find information just for you, such as Google+ photos and posts—both your own and those shared specifically with you, that only you will be able to see on your results page;
  2. Profiles in Search, both in autocomplete and results, which enable you to immediately find people you’re close to or might be interested in following; and,
  3. People and Pages, which help you find people profiles and Google+ pages related to a specific topic or area of interest, and enable you to follow them with just a few clicks. Because behind most every query is a community. Continue reading →

Transmedia – Opportunity or Trend??

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Most recently marketers and publishers have been buzzing about the impending demise of TV and print. Some have heralded cord cutters as the new breed of viewers, who took the first stab at completely disconnecting from TV and instead relying on the Netflix and Amazons of the world. Some have even said that its cord switchers, those who oscillate between  TV and online. Forrester Research went so far as to predict TV’s demise by 2016, when advertisers will spend almost $77 billion online, comprising 35% of overall ad spending. While, highly likely I am a bit weary of this statistic, I don’t doubt this will eventually happen but probably not this soon.

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Social Media 2.0 – Facebook Reinvents Itself and Social Media

23 September 2011

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I spent quite a few hours on Thursday anticipating the changes Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg might reveal @F8. The social media giant had already released a few additions over the first half of the week and it was hard to imagine what else he might have up his sleeve.  He looked really relaxed and had this grin on his face and within the first twenty minutes it was easy to see why. In a single blow, Facebook had redefined and revolutionized what we have come to know and expect from social media.

Now a number I spoke to seemed apprehensive about it, why fix what works right? Wrong. Facebook realizes that with players such as Google and Twitter upping the ante, solely fighting them on features is pointless. It also realizes that the excitement factor linked to Facebook is fading. Continue reading →

Netflix, Qwikster and a bit of a branding nightmare

20 September 2011

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So I am assuming you’ve heard the news, everybody is talking, writing, tweeting about it. Not it’s not about Facebook’s latest update but it seems that Netflix has made another bold move.

After increasing the price of its DVD and streaming side by 60%, it has decided to split its famed DVD rental and streaming business. That’s right, the days when you could order the red envelope and stream one of the movies may be behind us. That is of course if you are not one of the many customers, who was so appalled with the price hike that you cut ties and instead moved to a competitor. I did and now I get superfast shipping and many TV serials and movies online from one provider, Amazon. Continue reading →