Microsoft's "I'm a PC" Campaign Goes Interactive

As ADMAVEN pointed out in a previous article, Microsoft has fought a battle to win the hearts and minds of consumers with it's multi-hundred-million-dollar "I'm a PC" campaign. As of this week the campaign has moved into it's next phase, placing allegedly user generated videos into television commercial primetime spots:



The landing page at windows.com has become the home of previous ill-fated Microsoft campaigns such as "Gates & Seinfeld", "Windows vs. Walls", and "The Possibilities". The "I'm a PC" page itself contains a seemingly endless supply of user uploaded videos in an obtrusive, difficult to navigate interface that prevents sharing of individual videos. The attempt to leverage social media and interactive advertising concepts cannot succeed unless users are provided with the tools to upload and distribute their own content by any means available. For such a high dollar campaign, Microsoft should be getting maximum sharability, exposure, and viral passalongs.

I wonder what poor sap at Microsoft is charged with reviewing user submitted videos for offensive content...

Nicholas Kinports (follow him on Twitter @ADMAVEN) has worked in the interactive technology world for over 15 years. He is the Digital Strategy Lead and founder of Chicago-based digital marketing firm lonelybrand, where he directs the creation and execution of digital marketing programs that generate measurable signups, conversions and sales.

Innovation and Comprehensive Digital Strategies at ANA

A quick breakdown of key comments at last week's ANA; credit to Jack Myers. The focus on all things digital is staggering - the shift from traditional media to a more holistic digital strategy will undoubtedly accelerate in 2009.

Hewlett-Packard CMO Mark Mendenhall:

"The relationship companies have with consumers has been upended," he said. "It's no longer the 30-second commercial that defines companies, but a comprehensive digital strategy is required."

"digital media have been anchor-bolted onto agencies. The digital integration issue needs to be dealt with at the corporate and agency level across all functions within a company. The digital environment allows you to engage with consumers in a better way."

"How we look at planning and buying will change and will become more customized. We will see dramatic shifts and this poses a challenge to everyone here. It's important to be risk takers. To push the boundaries into uncomfortable areas. We have not seen adoption rates and behavioral changes like we are seeing now."

"digital conversation has become a global phenomenon and is just getting started."

Coca-Cola CMO Joe Tripodi:

"It's important to keep the inspiration going to retain customers."

"control your own destiny or someone else will… and innovate everything both at the core of the business and in emerging spaces."

Claire Bennett, American Express CMO:

"marketers need to focus on inspiration beyond return-on-investment. Don't hunker down in a bunker. Take fewer risks but take them."

Joaquin Hidalgo, VP Global Marketing at Nike:

"consumers don't want more things; they want more experiences."

"build a bridge between the digital and physical worlds… through innovation, inspiration and experiences."

Nicholas Kinports (follow him on Twitter @ADMAVEN) has worked in the interactive technology world for over 15 years. He is the Digital Strategy Lead and founder of Chicago-based digital marketing firm lonelybrand, where he directs the creation and execution of digital marketing programs that generate measurable signups, conversions and sales.

Washington DC - Politics and Advertising

Having spent the last couple of days in Washington, DC working with clients - it has become clear that Web 2.0 applications are more important than ever in reaching political audiences. Politically charged messages are ofter overly complex, burdened by the structure of the political system and the sheer amount of information that needs to be communicated.

I found much talk - more than I expected - about how to use technologies such as podcasts, feeds, and social network services to reach into the personal lives of target audience members and have an open dialogue about burdensome political messages.

I am interested to know how you have been using social media to access campaign information and reach out to like minded individuals online. Please feel free to leave your thoughts in comment form.

Nicholas Kinports (follow him on Twitter @ADMAVEN) has worked in the interactive technology world for over 15 years. He is the Digital Strategy Lead and founder of Chicago-based digital marketing firm lonelybrand, where he directs the creation and execution of digital marketing programs that generate measurable signups, conversions and sales.

Bridging The Gap - YouTube Links to iTunes, Amazon, and Others

The biggest problem faced by Web 2.0 technologies involves measuring the success of a campaign in dollars. Creation and distribution of content is the first step to a great campaign, but how does one move from clickthroughs to actual sales. Last week YouTube took steps to sell - albeit through affiliates - content related products and services online.

The new model has been reviewed by many analysts, bloggers, and pundits; so I am not going to cover the specifics of how it works (read marketingpilgrim, seorountable, adverlab, and searchengineland for more details). Rather ADMAVEN will look at the fundamentals of the YouTube model; and why bridging the gap between social media campaigns and direct sales is so critical to the future of online campaigns.

Linking products and services directly to YouTube videos on a content specific basis allows vendors to benefit from product placement, use of music, and overt commercials that are often viewed by millions.

The holy grail of all social media is moving one step past the clickthrough rate to the conversion rate, or number of viewers that actually perform the desired action, such as purchase, register, or otherwise interact with a vendor.

When advising clients on how to properly execute social media campaigns, it is important to ask yourself how a campaign might be structure to remove as many layers between viewing content and actually making a purchase, registration, etc...

Too few campaigns measure success based on number of clickthroughs or video views alone. As we move forward in the Web 2.0 space, these metrics will become increasingly irrelevant as the industry restructures toward conversion rates.

Nicholas Kinports (follow him on Twitter @ADMAVEN) has worked in the interactive technology world for over 15 years. He is the Digital Strategy Lead and founder of Chicago-based digital marketing firm lonelybrand, where he directs the creation and execution of digital marketing programs that generate measurable signups, conversions and sales.

Corporate Blogging For Self Defense

I have recently been discussing with clients and the blogosphere why it is important for companies to author blogs.

This evening, in lieu of the last week of economic turmoil on Wall Street, I did a quick search on Google for the term, "CEO".

The top articles returned were very negative in nature. What can a company do to counter the onslaught of negative press and foster an image of customer service and relations?

Step one: set aside a tiny amount of your marketing or public relations budget to start and maintain a blog.

Step two: discuss relevant corporate issues and bring your customers and concerned interests one step closer to the board room.

As Allison Guimard, CEO of Alijor, recently commented on ADMAVEN:

"I’m a follower of Tim Ferriss’s 4-Hour Work Week, and his guidelines on time management have been very influential for me. Yes, I am a busy CEO, and I try to post regularly, but thankfully I have people working for me who make sure that happens! So I get friendly reminders every now and then from my co-workers/PR people to update my blog!"

Allison may be in command of a promising venture, but she does not have millions at her disposal for marketing and public relations. The point of the matter is you do not need a seven figure marketing budget to take initiative and utilize social media.

As we move to the fourth quarter of 2008 and enter 2009 corporations will come under increased scrutiny. Take your pick - John McCain or Barack Obama - both include policies of tighter corporate financial control and demand more transparency from American companies. Consider social media tools when planning your defense against attrition due to bad press and economic uncertainty.

Nicholas Kinports (follow him on Twitter @ADMAVEN) has worked in the interactive technology world for over 15 years. He is the Digital Strategy Lead and founder of Chicago-based digital marketing firm lonelybrand, where he directs the creation and execution of digital marketing programs that generate measurable signups, conversions and sales.

Reasons Your Company Should Have A Blog

In follow up to B.L. Ochman's article in AdvertisingAge entitled "Nine Great Reasons to Blog" I thought I would add my two cents. Clients are asking more and more about how best to create and maintain a blog, and aside from the obvious caveats about content and relevance, here are some outstanding reasons companies should make the investment.

There are some very pragmatic reasons your company should have a blog:

1) Search Engine Optimization. Search engines reward content that is not deeply structured (a blog usually consists of one HTML page) and frequently updated. A blog can ensure your company stays number one when a potential customer hits a keyword

2) Your competitors are doing it. I was just asked in a conference call with a large company to look at their competitors website, "Look at this, they have a personal CEO blog, a general PR blog, and a Flikr group! We want that!" My immediate response was, "What content do you have to offer? Give me something I can use to attract readers."

3) Your customers want it. A marketing manager at a large cinema group is using Twitter (a microblogging service) to give away free movie schwag (film posters, premier tickets, etc...). He got a modest initial following from the giveaways, but noticed something interesting. His dissatisfied customers were using Twitter to let him know they had a bad experience. He was able to bring these angry customers back into the fold by offering complementary tickets, a quick word of apology, or an explanation of company policy. The point is these customers were able to quickly issue feedback through the blog that is reviewed by peers and gave the company a chance to reduce attrition.

In addition, there are other - less tangible - benefits from having a company blog:

1) Your employees read it. Having a centralized place to deliver a more personal message can boost employee morale in tough times. Think of how C level bloggers have used their platform to discuss layoffs from an honest, no nonsense perspective, or how the same C level bloggers have congratulated individuals or groups within the company on better than expected performance.

2) Your company can create perception. Companies and individuals can use blogs as a way to self-brand. Choosing an author, imagery, rich media, and topics for articles allows you to actively manage your company perception. Individuals trust and seek out blog posting much more than press releases, and data from a blog cannot be bent through the lens of biased media groups. So long as the content remains honest, useful, and relevant to the audience a company may enjoy a high level of brand awareness without being literal.

3) Increase personal value. As an employee, your ability to manage and produce a successful blog increases your value. You have an opportunity to establish yourself as an informed and knowledgeable industry pro in a public forum. Encouraging employee contribution to the blog is a win win - individuals gain recognition and the company that employs them is increasingly viewed as having the best talent by customers and competitors alike.

Nicholas Kinports (follow him on Twitter @ADMAVEN) has worked in the interactive technology world for over 15 years. He is the Digital Strategy Lead and founder of Chicago-based digital marketing firm lonelybrand, where he directs the creation and execution of digital marketing programs that generate measurable signups, conversions and sales.