The email above is what I receive when another user wants to be friends on YouTube (or whatever the appropriate vernacular is.
For a company that want's to link your Google account to every part of your life (especially if you own an Android phone), this is spectacularly bad.
I want to be able to read this email and know instantly whether I want to connect and share with this person. Hey, I want to be able to click to connect, not just visit the user or inbox.
Why not show me their latest videos, the things they like in common with me, their subscriber numbers, their bio, hell, anything!
I'm guessing Guardian Media aren't selling all their mobile display inventory direct, given this impressive bit of contextually relevant targeting from News International I just saw.
OK, I'm not going to answer this question (yet), but Ocean Outdoor have launched their second The Art of Digital competition, challenging agencies and clients to use Digital Out of Home sites in a more creative way, or as Phil Hayes from our OOH investment team describes it - "push the boundaries and use it to its maximum effect from full motion, layering, subtle, time sensitive, AR & data streaming – you can do so much more than just run a static image!"
So I reckon here at MediaCom North we have an elite team and some decent scale OOH advertisers that are up to the challenge. Whilst researching for our idea these are the best two examples I've found to date:
Play your way to a burger
McDonalds' challenged passers by to a game of Pong (classic!), and rewarded high achievers with free food. Players only had to enter a URL to play to competition, rather than download a specific app. More detail at Mashable.
Fighting Crime with your iPhone
This time passers by had to download an app that utilised the iPhone's GPS and gyroscope, enabling you to shoot at real life targets on the poster. I found this via some presentation I saw recently, and also today via Posterscope's blog "OOH we like". OOH I like puns.
Hopefully we can come up with something just as creative, and I'll share our ideas here if we do!
In the last month UKOM and Nielsen released theirVideoCensus measurement tool, to much heralding in the media trade press, which will come as no surprise to those who followed the convoluted briefing, construction and eventual launch of UKOM itself (an updated and rebranded version of the already capable Nielsen NetRatings tool).
I'm sure ComScore will have something to say about UKOM finally cracking online video measurement, given they have been running theirVideo Metrixproduct for some years now. Not to mention the fact that VideoCensus hasexisted in the States for 4 years, begging the question why the release has been such a long time coming in the UK. Despite heavy promotion in the trade press, UKOM has yet to establish itself as an unquestioned industry standard, and this product release will not bring them any closer.
It remains the case that the majority of online video budgets are coming from broadcast budgets, and as such the Holy Grail is a combined measurement tool for video across multiple platforms, whether that is provided by BARB or another industry body. Although I would dispute whether advertisers should accept less rigour for online video measurement in general. As online video content matures, the definition of what constitutes "TV" (does this mean broadcaster produced?) quality content is increasingly fuzzy. Consumers are willing to accept content produced and distributed from multiple sources, and as such so should advertisers.
Of course this naturally challenges broadcasters as well, and the incentive is there for the traditional broadcasters to pool together resource and through their weight behind a combined measurement system that aligns traditional TV measurement with measurement of their mainstream video on demand products (e.g. ITV Player, 4OD, Demand Five). No doubt Sky will also be developing their own solution to the problem. MaryLou Costa makes aninteresting point at Marketing Week proposing potential changes to their business model required in order to maximise return on high profile programming investments such as Glee, given the viewing habits of the target audience.
It's also prevalent to point out that much analysis of online measurement systems fails to acknowledge one basic premise - understanding the combined reach of a particular programme via TV and online doesn't provide much insight for advertisers regarding the potential reach of their campaigns, no more than the combined reach of a newspaper publisher across print and online platforms does - you don't buy a spot in X Factor on ITV Player, or on TheTimes.co.uk, you buy individual impressions. Start to layer the multitude of targeting filters that are available online on a campaign and it soon becomes clear that the journey to the multimedia measurement Holy Grail is going to be a lot longer and a lot more complex than hoped!
OK, so I'm sure Joe didn't actually plan this campaign himself, but every credit to Big Talk Productions and their agencies.
I was scrolling through the settings of my Nexus S this morning and noticed that I'd opted in to interest based targeting via AdMob. Not a problem, I usually do opt in for this type of thing to see how it is applied.
Then I listened to the BBC 6 Music Adam & Joe podcast (a great listen if you like comedy ramblings, go check it out). Amongst other things they briefly discussed Joe's directorial film debut, Attack The Block (available in all good cinemas this week). No sooner had the podcast finished and I started playing Angry Birds and I was hit with an ad for the film. A well executed ad it was too. The banner clicked through to a holding page, and after a few seconds a full length movie trailer played, followed by a replay screen which also clicked through to additional content on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. But the most important thing was how primed I was to engage with the ad and the subsequent content, given that my device knew I was an Adam & Joe fan.
Of course this may have all been coincidence, but I like to hope not, and even if it was the principle is sound.
Let's hope that the upcoming EU ePrivacy Directive doesn't restrict the ability to provide relevant and desirable advertising. As I opted in to this setting it shouldn't, but at the same time, requiring opt-ins across the board will severely restrict the potential of this type of targeting, and as such limit the amount of advertisers that utilise the opportunity, and instead consumers will remain faced with the "throw enough mud and hope some of it sticks" approach to both mobile and desktop online advertising.
You only have to browse through a few sites, forums and comment sections to see that this is clearly an issue for both media and consumers. One has to admire the blatant hypocrisy of Guardian.co.uk running an article bemoaning the industry's tactics whilst at the same time hitting me with a re-messaging ad from Booking.com:
Reading the comments below the article identify at least two clearly defined viewpoints:
Naysayers, who don't want to be exposed to any type of advertising and install ad-blockers at every available opportunity. It would be nice to know how they recommend their online reading habits are funded in the future should this ever become a mainstream tactic. Anyhow, this group is perfectly tech savvy enough to know how to avoid behavioural targeting.
A much less tech savvy group who are concerned about the infringment on their or their family's privacy of such technology.
The second group are the ones that the EU are trying to protect. Personally I'm firmly in agreement with the IAB that education is the answer rather than restrictive legislation. It is good to see that UK Government is encouraging industry to come up with their own recommendations, and also that they remain in conversations about a browser led solution. If cookie settings were a one click option within the browser then consumers could quickly and easily decide whether they prefered targeted or non targeted advertising, and hopefully well planned campaigns such as the Attack The Block activity I was exposed to will encourage people to opt for the former.
One of the most electrifying promos of all time from The People's Champion on Raw this week.
And another thing - 2 million Facebook fans in 5 days. How about that for a social media case study. What do you make of that Old Spice Guy?...... "It doesn't matter what you think!"
I just added the @WiredUK podcast to my limited list of weekly listens. This week there was an interesting discussion in the future of contactless payments. Contactless payments via card are already fairly commonplace around coffee shops and other small purchase retailers. A trip to London today can attest to that, although we had to pay for our coffees using old fashioned cash at EAT, neither of us owning one of the 11.6m contactless cards currently in circulation. I'm sure they've extended to the eateries of Manchester as well, although not quite to trusty Lakelands Grocers on Deansgate yet.
However, the real revolution is just around the corner, with the advent of NFC (Near Field Communication) chips, which will allow contactless payment via a mobile device.
Everything Everywhere may have made the first play, but it will be fascinating to see what move the other major players in the market make to grab a slice of the revenue.
Will Google be happy just to manufacture devices, whilst making it easy for developers to work with the technology using the Android OS? There doesn't seem to be enough search opportunities generated by NFC to drive income through their traditional revenue stream.
For Facebook, NFC seems to provide a perfect link between Facebook Places, the newly launched Deals, and a payment structure that will provide ultimate prove of ROI for advertisers. Of course Facebook isn't monetising Deals at all yet, so expect an announcement on that pretty soon.
And finally, Apple. Without a doubt the iPhone 5 and iPad 2 will have NFC functionality. The key difference for Steve Jobs and co. is that payment will inevitably come through iTunes, with Apple's obligatory cut. The potential revenue streams here are incredible. What remains to be seen, however, is the appetite of developers, their customers (e.g. big brand advertisers), and ultimately the consumer to allow Apple to retain so much control and revenue. The growth of rival OS Android, which recently overtook Symbian to become the world's most popular smartphone OS, suggests there is a limit.
Slowly but surely details are slipping through regarding the forthcoming PSP Phone, now believed to be branded the Xperia Play. Most seem to be focussing on the devices smartphone specs, including G 4 Games.
Whilst impressive sounding they may be, this does seem to suggest an evolution in mobile rather than a revolution in mobile gaming.
Even less is known about the potential PSP 2. The latest news suggests that this device will have 3G capability (but not for phone calls) and a OLED touchscreen, revealed here at Made 2 Game.
The very fact that Sony are potentially launching two different devices so close together does suggest that each may fall short of its full potential.
Further information is expected from Sony on the PSP 2 next week, and the Xperia Play at the World Mobile Congress in February, but for the time being here is my wish list for either portable device:
1. Wireless streaming AND downloading of multimedia content (including games) from and to a PS3.
2. A battery that lasts more than 24 hours.
3. Ability to act as a mobile controller for the PS3, similar to Android mobiles for Google TV and iPhone for Apple TV.
4. True cross platform gaming across multiple devices, which could have great potential for the likes of Little Big Planet. Much has been said about the future of entertainment being transmedia. Here is a set of devices that could really bring this to life, as opposed to a series is stand line versions for each piece of hardware.
UPDATE (24/01/11):
Brand Republic's The Wall blog drew my attention to a Xperia Play video that has been leaked to the web:
The Wall's opinion is that it looks a little lame. I think that's a bit harsh based on this first impression, but it does look a sizeable piece of kit. The gaming experience is going to have to be top notch to justify carrying something that large in your pocket instead of a much sexier slimline smartphone.
This led me to a much more in depth demo video from Engadget on Jan 10th, so clearly I wasn't looking hard enough. This includes a game playing experience which looks fairly good. Hard to tell too much at this stage though.
It seems that you've got two options when Facebook makes one of it's compulsory changes to the site - moan about it, or have some fun with it.
The latest update, this time to users' profile pages, caused the inevitable uproar. Check out the comments on the Facebook blog entry announcing the change, which are almost universally negative (although conversely, 22,912 people have liked it).
As good as they look, however, it all seemed like a bit too much time and effort, and a touch too complicated for a non design orientated person like me.
But no, now brands are getting on the bandwagon. Schweppes have released a wonderfully straight forward Facebook app that takes your photo and splits it into the requisite profile pic and 5 pics to tag, creates a neat folder for them so that you can tag them easily, and you're away. The neat video from @viralblog above explains the concept.
So here's my first attempt, a little basic but I'm blaming it on the pack of appropriate pictures!
The branding is extremely discrete, just the headline and a logo top right, and the campaign is really focussed on interaction (creating my new profile layout) and sharing (downloading the app and "liking" it). At no point did Schweppes try to distract me with product information or try and entice me away from Facebook to another branded environment. It's a great example of using social media to provide something something of real value to users (however small), and centred around a real discussion point that should hopefully given it the viral traction it deserves to be a success.
