Sky buys Amstrad

Mindshare's Simon Andrews with some good analysis of Sky's decision to buy Amstrad:

With over 700k broadband customers Sky can develop hardware that maximise the synergies between (Satellite) TV and the web - defining the sector before new players like Apple and PlayStation emerge as real competitors.

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The 7 deadly sins of digital

Iain Tait has compiled a list of the 7 deadly sins of digital, most of which I'd agree with. Useful for all of you above-the-line types who don't want to repeat the mistakes us digital types made years ago...

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Is the digital revolution killing TV advertising?

The IPA are running a debate on Wednesday between DDB's Les Binet, European Director at DDB Matrix and Matt Dyke, Head of Planning at DDB London. Matt will argue that it is no surprise that the more savvy marketers are turning to the web instead of exclusively TV. Les, on the other hand, will put forward the case that as evidence suggests, so far the shift to a digital world has made TV more effective and efficient.

I'm going. Anyone else fancy it?

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Manufacturing curiosity

Faris Yacob has a good post on how manufacturing curiosity can drive buzz:

Curiousity is an instinct - an emotional response that motivates exploration and investigation. A lot of animals have this instinct, which suggests it has evolutionary advantages and that it's a hardwired cognitive mechanism. As such, it's an incredibly potent communication tool because if you can make someone curious, they are naturally inclined to do something, which is shifting behaviour and moving them towards you.

Read the whole thing.

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The service is the advertising

Asi Sharabi on Tesco's new price check website:

Increasingly, brands develop utility applications for their consumers to enjoy or benefit from. And these applications have ‘advertising’ embedded in them or in other words, the application is the ‘big idea’, the service is the advertising.

The ultimate example and best practice is, of course nike+. It is so damn good you want to get married to it. And from an advertising point of view there is no need whatsoever for a ‘big’ idea. It is the fucking biggest idea.

Kudos to tesco for their newly refurbished price checker (can’t believe I praise the devil). They wisely embraced the transparency of the web and rather than wait for a third party to create the definitive supermarket price checker, they did it themselves and this service stars in their TV and outdoor advertising.

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Agency Republic rolls out social media campaign for Unilever

Agency Republic are up to some interesting stuff with Unilever:

Following the Impulse theme of matchmaking, social networkers will be able to download a 'MySparks' widget to their profile. This can be customised and used to tell members how well they 'spark' with others.

A campaign site has been created for girls to interact with the fragrance brand, with information about the ranges, a 'mixology' section and an talk with TV presenter Dave Berry.

Site visitors will also be able to watch the TV ad and buy a limited edition below bag by illustrator Daisy de Villeneuve. Users entering their details on the site can text to a shortcode to buy the Impulse-branded bag for £2.

Impulse brand manager Javoneh Daneshpay said, "As we begin to target a slighter older audience, we have to go where they are and speak to them using their own channels. That's why we chose MySpace. It also allows users to be creative with their profiles, which reflects our brand."

The site was created by Agency Republic, which also managed the mobile element. Unilever business director at Agency Republic Gavin Marshall said this was its first work for the brand. "To work with a brand that even on your first project is so open and receptive to cutting-edge ideas is great," he said. "Impulse holds an ambition to be an innovator in the field and to create exciting work in relevant spaces, such as social networks."

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Have W+K learnt their lesson?

From a good article on the current turmoil in the London agency world, bizarrely in Adweek:

"While digital was not what we were looking for, we asked what the role of digital would be from each of the agencies," says Jo Harlow, svp, marketing, Nokia Mobile, who is based in London. "That's what set Wieden + Kennedy [London] apart. They used digital as a starting point, not an afterthought. They gave us a very digitally led idea. They came up with a complete dialogue with the consumer."

Perhaps I should take all those nasty things I've been saying back. Another choice quote:

Mark Cridge, managing director at Glue, which also made it into the finals for 3 Mobile earlier this year, says: "Eurostar was a watershed because we came very close to getting the business. It's an expensive new business strategy. But even [though we didn't get] the business, we can now get the ear of marketing directors, which is critical. For a digital agency you have to pitch the whole account to do that. We wouldn't have this strategic role without pitching the whole account."

I'd read the whole thing, if I were you...

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The buzz on Word of Mouth

Worth of Mouth marketing is set to grab a larger and larger share of marketing budgets (along with consumer PR), and of course much of this will be through digital channels and social media in particluar. With that in mind, it's probably time you started to get your head around it.

Luckily, there have been some good articles on the subject recently. Start with the FT's how to work a rumour mill, move on to Media Week's branding talks and finish with Nick Carr's slightly cynical look at the blurring of marketing and editorial in Social Media. And of course, browse through Advertising 2.0's viral and buzz marketing category.

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The Facebook ecology

Since the release of Facebook Platform, everyone's being going nuts about Facebook apps. However, there's not been much more than conjecture about what it all means, and little other than the developers site to help you out when building your own. Today we fill that gap.

First, news of the effects on web traffic having a successful app can bring:

• Slide has seen its global reach triple, while daily global unique visitors have grown from 753,000 to more than 2.3m, an increase of 207%.
• HotorNot has doubled its global reach, boosting daily traffic by 152%, from 289,000 to more than 722,000.
• RockYou has also tripled its reach, and daily visitor numbers have risen by 339%, from 286,000 to more than 1.3m.

Secondly, a detailed analysis of the Facebook Platform from a functionality perspective (well worth a read in full), which reveals the implications of the above:

This is a "success kills" scenario - the good news is you're successful, the bad news is you're flat on your back from what amounts to a self-inflicted denial of service attack, unless you have the money and time and knowledge to tackle the resulting scale challenges.

Thirdly, and perhaps inevitably, some tips on how you can make your app stand out by using what's been dubbed NFO (News Feed Optimization):

Optimizing your product’s News Feed items is the single most important thing you can do as a marketer on Facebook. Not only should Feed items be designed for optimal conversion, but they should also be invoked by your application in ways that will maximize their distribution.

And Fourthly, comes news of the London Facebook Developers group:

I thought it would be useful to get the Facebook developers all together in a room, have a beer and share some ideas about Facebook. We plan to have a get-together once a month to share the knowledge

Which should coming in handy if you're looking for help or for someone to develop your app for you...

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June's Creative Showcase

The winners of June's Creative Showcase awards have been announced. Go check em out...

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The dark art of negative SEO

Forbes has an enlightening article covering the dark art of negative SEO:

reducing a competing site's visibility to searchers - or making it seem to disappear from search results altogether.

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The downfall of Second Life and the rise of Barbie Girls

Second Life is beginning to take a real pasting in the American business press (don't say I didn't warn you), meanwhile in the first 60 days of its existence, Mattel's virtual world, Barbie Girls, has signed up three million members, and they’re adding new ones at the rate of 50,000 a day.

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Advertising will destroy the world

Just watch, it's Friday after all:

Update: In light of the comments below, it's probably worth re-capping the Vatican's guidance on the ethics of advertising.

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2006's best online branding campaigns

Dynamic Logic (who measure the branding effect of online campaigns) have belatedly announced 2006's 10 most effective* online campaigns (caveat: of the 111 they studied). You can see the ads here (remember that they're in no particular order).

*The criteria for inclusion were those with the highest Online Ad Awareness scores, which were characterised by statistically significant increases at 90% or above. Additionally, the top-ranked campaigns performed in the top 20th percentile compared to other online campaigns within their industry category in either Brand Favourability or Purchase Intent, the two measured persuasion metrics.

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Facebook's traffic growth

This is the chart we've been waiting for. Note how both Bebo's and MySpace's traffic is falling while Facebook's grows ever faster - at this rate, Facebook will overtake MySpace by September, and then Bebo shortly after (which corresponds with the Nielsen//NetRatings data released last month). A thing of beauty. Heather Hopkins has more analysis, if you need it.

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