As you know social media is about sharing. Marketers are dying to figure out ways to match the ability to share with honest feedback. I think we figured this out in this video. Watch carefully how the first person, despite their inital reaction to the product encourages the next person to try it. I personally took on this project to see if Listerine would appeal to kids. These are first and second graders who just so happen to be getting ready for their first day of school. In the spirit of giving, I trust it gives you a smile.

The hollering in the background is mom making pancakes. Happy Holidays from everyone at Provident Partners. Remember every comment on this blog results in Provident Partners giving a food item to a St. Paul, Minneosta food shelter.

The technology dilemma: New technologies are developed quickly and less costly today than even 10 years ago. New technology implementation requires the precise work of three groups: path finders, bridge builders and commoditizers.

1) Path finders: They forge a wild river. They develop for the joy of a challenge and/or the dream of wealth. Many times they traverse to unknown places. They prudently cut a path with precision moving toward a desired destination. They may not know exactly where they are going, but they are learning and discovering with every step.

2) Bridge builders: These are the ones who help the masses on the populated side of the river come across. They painstakingly educate those fearful of going over the bridge and in some cases hope they don’t loose sight of the path finders.

3) Commoditizers come along with the masses and build different uses for technologies that have become common. They help drive the price down, expand usage and, with it, less risk in implementing that technology in a typical business.

The issue that Jeremiah Owyang of the Web Strategist Blog raises in his Utterz post from Nov. 29 is whether the technologists are moving too fast. In my parlance, are the path finders rushing ahead so fast that they are in danger of being alone in the wild?

The pace of what technologists can do is outracing how significant portions of the population can use it or can pay for it. The question technologists and consumers should answer jointly is: Can the new technologies be applied to provide sufficient value that it is worth changing from what we do now?

Social media and different issues than the 90s:

• A more fragmented market, which could mean less total revenue per technology
• Less costs, which potentially mean higher profits per technology
• Insanely short product life-cycles, putting all technologies in danger of being overtaken
• Potentially misunderstood brand power of technology, when the real asset is the communities

The Bar Syndrome

What would make me the most nervous as an investor? Understanding exactly what the asset is and how will that asset sustain itself and grow. I believe a good metaphor is that many of these social media technologies are like investing in a bar or restaurant. If that establishment can be replicated to attract enough people, then you’ve got a winning franchise. If, however, the people are fickle or a new bar opens down the street with better looking, livelier people, then what is left?

The accessories

We are to the point of application accessories; widgets is the accepted term. The issue is how these accessories are going to be paid for. An interesting question formed in the negative, just to make it more painful: What two technologies can you give up today?

A typical business with an abundance of meetings, limited budgets and cautious management needs time just to understand how these technologies are going to add value to the company. Patience is a virtue. Will the marketplace reward patience?

I worked at a venture capital firm in the 90s. There were companies working on 360-degree images of shopping malls, med-tech applications for desktop radiological reading, and video-on-the-Web capabilities. It was just a question of timing more than applications. Those ideas are well in place today and profitable.

History does help predict the future; we just need the patience for the future to catch up with us.

Ah! I really like Brightcove, but there model is changing which may cause users to look at other alternatives. Here’s the email they sent out this morning. Those using Brightcove need to review their videos and potentially move them before Dec 17.

Dear Brightcove.TV member,

Beginning December 18, 2007, we plan to end support of direct consumer uploads to Brightcove.TV. As a result, you will not be able to upload new videos to Brightcove.TV after December 17, 2007. But videos you have already uploaded to Brightcove.TV will remain available on the site and through your Brightcove.TV channel. Videos you have embedded in other sites and blogs will also continue to play.

If you have a Brightcove Platform or Network account, which means you use the Brightcove Console, then you will still have the option to promote videos on Brightcove.TV.

Brightcove.TV will continue to be a guide to great video from Brightcove media and business partners. The site will have new videos added to it daily from these partners and these videos can be saved as favorite videos in your channel.

If you work for a media company, marketer, non-profit, or business and are looking to purchase the Brightcove platform to publish and distribute video on your own site, please visit the Brightcove Products Overview section of our website.

We appreciate your interest in Brightcove and apologize for any disruption this change may cause you.

Sincerely,
The Brightcove Team

Added November 28, this is a great article by Jeremy Allaire, CEO of Brightcove about the current landscape for video players on the net and the 2008 for the category. http://www.brightcove.com/about_brightcove/perspectives.cfm

www.brightcove.com

Time 14:43

OK, let me put social networks into some kind of perspective so those that have a life beyond the Web can appreciate the concept:

So you’re having a baby. I understand, having five children myself, that women get together for a baby shower and talk about baby stuff. That stuff might include some of the experienced mothers sharing the joys of an early epidural or the sense of victory they have when scoring a great sale at Baby Gap. It could also be the expectant mother asking about C-sections or the complications of having twins. (Tell me about it: I almost fainted when I heard we were getting two for the price of, well, eh…two.)

Now those same conversations and more are taking place both down the street and on the Web at sites like Real Savvy Moms. This site also includes medical experts taking mothers questions and — oh, yes — plenty of things to buy, if necessary.

Those babies grow up, and drive cars, and go out well too late at night. And when they do (in Minnesota’s Twin Cities) they share their experiences (well, not all of them, but just the ones they want to share) at Vita.mn. The site is a networking hub of sorts for night life, culture and entertainment. And of course, the concept is that a restaurant, band, theatrical play, etc. that is recommended is worth experiencing. It’s true: “Everybody is a critic.”

And if you thought you have seen it all, there are 448 members of the Handbell community on Ning.com. (You need to be invited to be a member; those who don’t play handbells need not apply.)

Emarketer.com has an interesting report by Comscore showing that heavy users of social networking sites are heavy users of online retail Web sites. It describes the top 10 categories of products that are most active among online retail users of social networking sites (which proves you can lead a horse to water).

Give me more social networking

If you wish to drink more social networking water, then consider Blog World and New Media Expo, November 7-9 in Las Vegas. Excellent line up all three days, and there’s also a two-day conference package.

The variety of tracks lets attendees focus on a clear path to greater understanding, whether it’s the early-adopter jumping into the medium with both feet or the skeptic that is just trying to figure out what all this stuff means for their next marketing management meeting. Give a look-see.

If you are going, ping me at amaruggi@providentpartners.net and perhaps we can get together. You know, socially.

How do I reach all of these social networkers?

Lotame (LOW-tuh-mee) is one way. Lotame calls its audience analytical technology “Crowd Control.” The interview in this podcast with Lotame’s president, Andy Monfried, highlights how advertisers can reach users of social media sites within the topic areas important to both advertiser and user. After all, that’s the beauty of how technology and communities are progressing: It’s offering information to a person who is more likely to value that information as a enhancement to their knowledge base instead of considering it a chunk of time to be Tivo’d from their mind — if, in fact, it even made it that far.

Profiling can be a good thing, even for the consumer. Crowd Control can show the degrees of interest in a user’s participation with information and social sites of a certain topic and, like magic (well, kinda), more information is presented that the user values. This technology is best suited for midsize and large enterprises. Lotame’s Web site is directed to publishers and advertisers.

Time 17:04

Many companies are trying to understand how forms of social media can be applied to achieve their business and branding objectives. This podcast features two examples of the successful use of social media and user generated videos.

On this episode of the Marketing Edge, we feature Vespa scooters’ Go Green Challenge and the UPS new product launch of Delivery Intercept. We also provide some of the elements of these very different campaigns that may help other companies determine whether they have the chance for a successful social campaign.

The technology platform used in these two cases is Vsocial www.vsocial.com . To me Vsocial is a video platform that is on the opposite end of the spectrum from YouTube. It is structured for businesses to host a video generated campaign as a complete web-based platform or with developer APIs so agencies can create the custom experience for those engaged in their campaign. Provident Partners has a vSocial site at http://www.vsocial.com/user/?d=144923

The agency work featured here is Matrixx Pictures for Vespa’s Go Green Challenge and Lbi Atlanta that created the UPS Delivery Intercept program. Side mention here, Archie Manning (old school) Peyton Manning’s dad, is the spokesperson for the Delivery Intercept program. Script and copy writers should listen to Archie’s segments, the writing is outstanding.

What Makes These Good Campaigns

Here is a general list of criteria for these two examples that I believe companies can use to evaluate their audiences as they consider similar types of campaigns. Let me underscore, these are general profiles of an audience. In some ways even trying to put people in categories goes against the grain of social media and 1-1 marketing, nonetheless, marketers like to have some semblance of structure as we describe the market we are seeking to attract. So here goes.

The Vespa campaign audience I categorize as Creative and Socially Conscience. This includes people who may be in areas including:

The creative type of audience is more likely to participate when the campaign involves producing something from scratch or interpreting a situation. Some may be in it for professional exposure so incorporating a set of judges known in that craft is also helpful. These types of campaigns involve lots of work and time on the part of those producing the content.

The UPS Delivery Intercept campaign is what I call Naturally Occurring

These are events that are part of everyday life and as such are likely to be recorded. This audience is participating for fun, hobby, 15 minutes of fame, and being part of a group.

In this category, there is less burden on the participant to be creative in building a storyline and requires less production skills. Their submission is a chronicle of an event that is potentially appealing to a similar audience. These are the characteristics of the Delivery Intercept program. In many cases, successful campaigns also have some recognition and reward, whether it is prize money for the winner or a charity of the winner’s choice.

Comments Bring Good Things

Remember any comments to this blog or emails to marketingedge@providentpartners.net will result in a food item contributed to a food shelf in St. Paul, MN. Also did you listen to the opening minutes of this podcast for the movie quote question? If you are the first two listeners to submit the correct answer you will win a $10 gift certificate to Subway, so quick hit the play button and send your email answer. What can I say, we like to see people satisfy their hunger.

The YouTube era becomes mainstream.

You know, I’ve been at a few of those goat rodeos called presidential debates back when I was press secretary of the Republican National Committee. My expectations were low regarding the YouTube experiment with CNN and Anderson Cooper.

I was hoping it was not dominated by a bunch of people who finished uploading a Jackass contest entry and threw on a question for the candidates. I thought CNN would do its usual headline grabber followed by the always handy “Most Trusted Name in News” or something like that. It is entertainment after all: plot, conflict, antagonist, protagonist, etc., etc., etc.

But no. Anderson Cooper and the producers earned a good deal of praise. The questions did, for the most part, seem to represent a cross section of the country’s most pressing concerns. It did indeed seem like we were talking in America’s living room. Congrats to Senior Vice President David Bohrman and CNN Political Director Sam Feist — not to mention YouTube — for giving a voice to individual.

Of course, some of those individuals are political types, playing the game, working the system. So be it. It’s a free country. Expect it and live with it.

The way this format works — if the American people want honest answers — is to reward those answers. For example, when Joe Biden keeps hammering on the fact that you can’t physically get the troops out of Iraq for a year, and gets others to reluctantly concede that fact, then Biden’s numbers need to move in a positive direction.

For the public’s role, they need to appreciate that an honest answer is likely one with which they might not agree. And the manner in which we reach these conclusions needs to be one of mutual respect and civility. Only then will candidates and the political machine take notice and change. If not, then this format runs the risk if further trivializing the election cycle circus.

A couple of questions were, well, questionable. For example, reparations for descendants of slaves. I thought, “Where did this come from?” There are plenty of other significant ways to get to the issue of race: police brutality, predatory lending practices, and so on. But reparations? Maybe the question-selection team wanted to get questions that would allow for a clear split among the candidates instead of the lip service usually applied to those issues.

CNN needs to be careful on questions like the snowman talking about global warming and the gun toter. Stick to the substance; we can handle it. The format is engaging enough without dramatizing the questions, too.

Other questions were priceless, like the gay marriage question asked by the two women from New York. Great timing gals. The best question of the bunch was the one that attempted to separate BS from real deal on the issue of “working together,” the current politically tested phrase that means nothing. The question went something like this: If you are so good at working with Republicans, which one would you pick as a running mate if you could only pick a Republican? Nice answer from Biden on that one.

I hope the format underscored that we are all Americans, and it’s not about Democrats and Republicans. Statistically, one side can’t be wrong all the time and visa versa.

The media tries to play that “you’re wrong, I’m right” game, as well. Anderson tried to get Edwards to say yes or no about whether he is better on women’s issues than Hillary. To Edwards’ credit, he did not take the bait. Why? Because that’s the bait that leads to unnecessary, mindless conflict. It might be good for TV in the old model — the “Hey, fight in the schoolyard!” sort of dribble — but the country needs more substance.

Perhaps this format will teach the media that lesson.

Image courtesy of CNN.com.

Time 18:15

Audio and video content on the Web has raised the bar for search engines — consumers demand superior search capability that provides context as well as accuracy. While Google redefined search a few years ago, the next wave of search now includes video and audio, which brings into play technologies like EveryZing.

Today’s podcast features an interview with Tom Wilde, CEO of EveryZing.com. We highlight how translating formats into searchable text and providing context around those keywords will further advance the way marketers can package information.

This is about marketers having the full spectrum of media at their disposal to communicate and add to that the ability to search all of those formats. Give it a try: see the EveryZing search box to the left (if you’re reading this on providentpartners.net). Type in “viral video” — use the quotes — and make sure you choose to search the Provident Partners channel, then click “Zing It.” I bet you’ll get a results page that shows you the time code where I mention “viral video” in this podcast.

So how do you think multimedia search can be used? Use the comments box on this blog post and we’ll give a $25 Amazon e-certificate to the application we like best. Deadline for comments is August 31. The winner will be announced on Labor Day.

Also a big thank you to Mihai Banulescu, a wonderful instructor of dance that can be found at Beyond Blues. Mihai e-mailed us a question about whether Beyond Blues would be a good candidate for a vidcast or podcast.

Beyond Blues features the style of dance called Blues Dancing. It is a complex mixture of blues music with pair dancing. It’s a sophisticated, sultry combination that has some of the essential elements of a good vidcast or viral video. They are:

–an element of user generation; hell, the very nature of dance as a form of self-expression flows right into the concept of user-generated content
–beauty; you have to see some of these dancers to appreciate the grace that goes into this dance style
–folly; self-deprecating humor, after all, is what made America’s Funniest Home Videos so popular
–instruction; just like the popular vidcast Tiki Bar TV uses a mini-plot to carry the knowledge of making drinks, Beyond Blues has that same potential
–characters; video lets people make a connection with the audience, and to the extent that Mihai and his colleagues or students have an interesting story or look, that will make the vidcast more compelling and give it a loyal following.

Some examples of this include Amanda Congdon, formerly of Rocketboom, Dusty Wright of Culture Catch, and Shel and Neville from For Immediate Release. Their personalities have built a following along with the valuable content they provide.

There is also a foundation of socialness, of being together and learning. Mihai holds dance sessions around the country. Some examples can be found on his site, www.beyondblues.com.

Remember: for each comment or e-mail we get, will give a food item to people in need.

OK, YouTube is great for parties, vacation videos and has some utility for business, but is it the perfect platform for a company’s multimedia social engagement?

There are a few other video/social platforms that are better suited for an in integrated interaction with audiences. Enter vSocial, a dynamic platform that allows companies to post, share and build communities. As we uncover with vSocial CEO and co-founder Mark Sigal, other tools on the vSocial platform let you build microsites that can be filled with user-generated content.

Boston Acoustics and Denon Electronics currently have such integrated campaigns with vSocial. Denon has launched a site called the Makeshifters, where home theater enthusiasts can provide their own stories of building their home entertainment centers.

In addition to typical sharing of these personal reflections, the microsite informs users about new products, best practices, and acts as a host for other information in an entertaining way. The site was created by the interactive agency The Loomis Group.

Now take this interaction one step further because, after all, hearing is believing when it comes to audio. And the Makeshifters have an answer by tying in retail resellers like Circuit City. Now you have a comprehensive, interactive experience that entertains shares, informs and maybe even sells a few products, right at the finger tips of the users.

Sigal is also a visionary thinker on digital media applications in the social world of the Web. Other interesting items on his blog, called The Network Garden, include an article about creating a path of breadcrumbs and Sigal’s commentary on partnering with CBS Interactive.

SOCIAL MEDIA SEMINAR IN TWIN CITIES

I will be hosting a seminar on social media on Tuesday, June 26, at the Pool & Yacht Club in Lilydale, MN. My colleague Mike Keliher and I will provide an overview of the new changes in business communications while answering questions submitted by attendees at time of registration. Register at www.providentpartners.net/answers.

You know, questions are the first form of user-generated content. The seminar’s focus is to help business owners and professionals understand new media trends and how to effectively incorporate them into their business communications.

Coming from the broadcast journalism world, I find these tools amazing. We’ll tackle practical uses of these tools to help address daily challenges you face.

We invite you to comment on this posting or email us at marketingedge@providentpartners.net. Every comment generates a food item donated by Provident Partners to a local food shelter — So what’s on your mind will put food in someone’s stomach.

Old-school advertising: Madison Avenue makes the rules. New school: Main Street makes the connections.

In the growing trend to reach beyond traditional messaging, corporate America increasingly taps the unlimited pool of user-generated content as advertisements. Doritos is sponsoring the “Crash the Super Bowl” commercial contest in which they’ve received hundreds of 30-second spots from regular Janes and Joes armed with video cameras –- definitely not your traditional Madison Avenue types.

The final group of five videos promoting the super cheesy, crunchy snack is now up for a vote. The winner will be shown during the Super Bowl. It’s a classic use of social media, user-generated content, and a major consumer product tapping the talents of their customers.

Are they savings millions of dollars? You bet. Are they getting tons of free publicity? Yup.

And they have done it all without compromising an inch on creativity. In fact, they’ve expanded the idea of creating a compelling message and will surely have one of the most memorable commercials in Super Bowl history.

In this episode, we interview Brett Snider, one of the creators of “Mouse Trap,” a finalist in the Doritos “Crash the Super Bowl” contest. Brett and his “Mouse Trap” co-creator Billy Federighi, both 25 years old, are pursuing their dream of breaking into the advertising business. Both have worked in production companies, and they recently won a similar content for Converse. Still, they are certainly outside of the mainstream advertising hierarchy, but that seems to be changing.

We talk about how user-generated content is breaking barriers in advertising and how, despite that fact, there are still traditional power brokers with heavy hands in the game. We also discuss how social media is being used to generate continued buzz for this contest and how other companies could use some of these same ideas.

Their “Mouse Trap” commercial is one of the best Super Bowl commercials I’ve seen – and I’ve seen them all. Watch “Mouse Trap” and other videos – and vote for your favorite – at www.crashthesuperbowl.com.

[tags]advertising, social media, user-generated, Doritos, Crash the Super Bowl[/tags]