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You know a viral video has achieved success when it starts to become a MEME parody. First it was crack smoking mayor Rob Ford, now Channing Tatum has jumped in on the Epic Split action.
Remember, viral videos are shared, while a meme is mimicked, emulated or reproduced - this is a classic example.
Having actually tried something this stupid when I was a kid, I know how this feels.
In advertising, we have all been guilty of chasing awards. But why rely on ideas, complex productions or parody videos to win then when you can just 3D print one of your own.
Great promotional work from Rethink from Canada. It seems like the best advertising at the moment is definitely self referential content mocking advertising.
When I was a kid, JCVD was the man. I remember Bloodsport was the greatest film ever made, and the fact that Van Damn could do the splits between two chairs had to be the greatest martial arts achievement on celluloid.
JCVD still holds a lot of nostalgia for me, which is why I love this new Epic Split stunt from Volvo. Great work in turning a fairly boring vehicle feature (the Volvo Dynamic Steering) into something amazing.
Bonus: You know you are on to a winner when your ad gets remixed. Embattled crack smoking Toronto Major Rob Ford gets his own Epic Split moment.
#VANFORD.
If the most powerful emotion we have isn't love, but fear, and stunts in advertising are so hot right now, why don't we combine the two to create ExFEARiential Marketing. We can sear our brand on to the minds of our customers forever!
Great promotional work from Canadian agency John St.
Give your customers an experience they'll never, ever forget. Muggings. Riots. Babynappings. We'll do anything to get your brand noticed.
This post picks up from Understanding SEO Right Now: Part 1.
In Part 1 we established the history of Google, and where it is heading. But what is relevant for us right now?
A few key points and refreshers from my previous post and some general concepts:
Search Engines use algorithms to rank websites by subject and relevance. The criteria for evaluating websites are commonly referred to as Ranking Factors. Google calls theirs PageRank.
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is a hugely important part of digital marketing, but is often one of the least understood tools available to a marketing team. On the one hand, the evolving nature of search engine algorithms have meant that the SEO mindset has needed to change quite rapidly, while at the same time SEO practitioners have often made the practice seem like some complicated dark art. This post tries to clear some of this up so we can understand what we should be focused on.
As a note on this post, while there are a number of Search Engines out there, I am almost exclusively focusing on Google. It is by far the dominant engine, and represents the biggest opportunity to marketers (at least in the Western world).
There is no disputing the impact of Search. It has not only redefined how people find and use the worlds information, it has become so reflexive and essential people would fundamentally struggle to live without it.
"There are known knowns; there are things we know that we know.
There are known unknowns; that is to say, there are things that we now know we don't know.
But there are also unknown unknowns – there are things we do not know we don't know."
- United States Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld
The Society of Good Taste
One of the great original social campaigns was the Burger King Whopper Sacrifice. This was built on such a simple insight - we aren't really friends with most of our connections on Facebook, but we are addicted to checking their posts. So how comfortable would we be sacrificing 10 of them for a free burger? (It turned out to be a lot, since Facebook shut it down for losing too many members).
The Grey Poupon Society of Good Taste app is the first campaign idea I have seen in a while that builds on a similar beautiful insight - that most brands are obsessed with getting as many Likes as possible, which is often a quantity over quality race to the bottom in terms of their fan base.
With the app, once you connect, it scans your profile for check-ins, types of status updates, and if you use good grammar and spelling. If you don't prove to be as classy as Grey Poupon itself, it will unceremoniously remove you Like, and point you to the nearest finishing school.
Great work, and a great way to build on the brand ethos.
Buffalo Trace Distillery
I have no qualms admitting that I love a good drop of Whiskey, which is why I found this Atlantic article so fascinating:
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/11/the-new-science-of-old-whiskey/309522/
It's amazing to think how dependent we have become on instant gratification and immediate feedback as everything starts to digitise. With Whiskey, trying things like A/B experiments mean waiting 8 - 10 years for the final results. It's comforting to think that good things can still come to those that wait.
I have also discovered my new dream job; following a freighter loaded with barrels of Whiskey around the world, and stopping to try it at every port all in the name of science.
Now pour me an Old Fashioned!
Why is it that so many digital marketing initiatives fail? There are always excuses ("the banner ad wasn't creative enough", "the people involved were idiots", "the MD killed it before it could get off the ground"), but the root cause may in fact be a lack of an effective measurement plan to allow the identification of campaign or platform success.
In an attempt to make this process simple, Google have developed a framework to try and simplify the process of developing a solid digital analytics infrastructure in any business.
There are two trends driving the need for digital analytics to be a high priority.
The first is access; the Internet has now made the world's information available to nearly everyone at the click of a button. To add to this, mobile has created the ability to connect to everyone 24/7.
With this access, the consumer journey has forever changed. People are now empowered with information - they can read product reviews, get expert opinion, connect with friends for recommendations, check store inventory, or look up competitive pricing instantly from the device in their pocket.
The second trend is the invention of cloud computing, creating cheap, nearly infinite computing power. This trend has now empowered organizations to collect and analyze more business data than ever before
