TRACTA :: 4eyes

The people have spoken, and New Zealand’s favourite websites have been announced in the Netguide People’s Choice Web Awards 2010.

Amongst the results, Stuff was awarded the Site of The Year prize, but missed out on Best Media Site, to TVNZ.  TradeMe came top in the Trading Site, Property and Employment categories, and runner-up in the Mobile Site and Site of the Year categories.  And international trends are reinforced by our votes for Google (Favourite Search Engine, Best Homepage), YouTube (Best Entertainment Site) and Facebook (Favourite Social Networking Site).

In other trend-watching news, an American university does an annual survey of incoming freshmen to find out what they are doing, thinking and believing.  This year’s incoming class were born in 1992.  Amongst the insights:

- Fergie is a pop singer, not a princess.

- Czechoslovakia has never existed.

- Clint Eastwood is better known as a sensitive director than as Dirty Harry.

- Rock bands have always played at presidential inaugural parties.

- They’ve never recognized that pointing to their wrists was a request for the time of day.

This is the voice of the new generation, where communication technologies are omnipresent and information (but not knowledge) is available at the click of a button.

In Social Media News, Facebook is starting up location-based services.  This means users can tell Facebook where in the world they are, and Facebook will tell the world.  This will offer more chances to meet your virtual network in real life, and more opportunities for nearby businesses to promote their products/services to you.

Facebook are also launching a live video streaming channel.  They are using it for Facebook information and promotion at this stage, but there’s obviously the opportunity for it to rival TV channels for audiences, if they can gather enough “Live” content.

Still on Facebook, a bit of research has revealed the obvious.  Brands that are most successful on Facebook are those that have multiple pages, each cross-promoting each other; use easy-to-find names for the pages; adopt a conversational tone; update often; post video and other rich-content types; allow fan-initiated interaction; and encourage fan-to-fan conversations.

And finally, in more “so-obvious-but-we-had-to-do-the-research-to-prove-it” news:  A Twitter user is more likely to be a brand advocate or influencer than your average Joe.  They engage with more brands partly for the benefits such as discounts and new product knowledge, and partly so they can be seen by their followers as being in-the-know.  It’s largely a self-fulfilling cycle, and those of us that understand the need of these influencers to have “prior knowledge” can use that to  the advantage of our businesses.

That’s enough heavy stuff for a Monday.  Be careful out there!

Cheers,

You know what they say about an apple a day?  Well lately it feels like Apple have been releasing new products to keep up with that saying!

Hot on the heels of the launch of the  iPad in New Zealand last week, the press releases have been coming out thick and fast.  First cab off the rank was ACP’s North and South magazine, who are selling each issue on the iPad for the same price as a standard printed copy.  NZ Herald wasn’t far behind with an app release, and TVNZ are nearly ready to release theirs.

Then this week Apple told us the new iPhone 4 would be available in NZ on Friday.  Friday morning came, and there were no iPhones.  There were some unhappy iFans around New Zealand!  The truly committed were finally able to get their hands on the new puppy from midday Friday.

The funny thing is, while incidents like lack of product supply, connectivity issues and software failings could spell the end of any number of products or brands, Apple Inc seems to be Teflon coated. While everyone knows about the aerial issues with the iPhone 4, the first run of stock in NZ (through Vodafone) has all sold out.  New stock will be arriving “in the coming weeks”.  And they will sell out too!

In other Apple news, watch out for the new “Magic Trackpad” which will make using your Macbook as much fun as using an iPad.

And in other internet news, New Zealand reportedly has the 42nd fastest broadband in the world.  That might not sound great, but at least it’s better than Australia (50th).

Finally, are you into Facebook?  Or over it?  An increasing number of young adults are over it, according to new stats from Inside Facebook.  It seems it’s getting too complicated, too commoditised and users are also concerned about privacy issues.  The article fails to mention, though, what I think is one of the biggest reasons users are backing away from Facebook… that our parents are on there now!

Cheers,

Facebook News

~ Microsoft has finally acknowledged the power of social media with the creation of a Social Inbox within Outlook, integrating Facebook and Twitter feeds into the world’s most-used e-mail handling service.

~ Starbucks is now the biggest commercial brand on Facebook, having recently reached 10 million fans.  Check out what other “brands” have that level of loyal fans…

~ And in other not-really-surprising news, it has been revealed that gays and lesbians spend more time socially networking than straight people.  So if you’re targeting the pink dollar, hit those social networks!

National News

TV audiences continue to hit record levels.  Last week’s peak (6-10:30pm) TV audience (in terms of share of population) was the highest we’ve seen in 14 years.  So more of us are watching TV.  But that viewing is spread over more channels than ever as well.  This chart shows the share of viewing each channel received from the key All People 25-54 target audience set.  TVNZ’s main two channels account for just under 48% of all peak viewing, Sky channels account for 24% and TV3 just under 20%.

Local News

Havelock North online marketers Mogul are taking the bull by the horns (and getting some good media coverage) by offering to create Google Places listings for all Havelock North businesses, for free.  The idea being that it will make Havelock North businesses more visible to visitors planning their trips or seeking goods or services when they are here for the Rugby World Cup.  I expect they’ll generate a bit of paying work from this initiative too!

A Warning

Sponsoring or seeding brand stories within blogs is becoming a common addition to the online marketer’s toolbox.  But (this may seem obvious) it pays to understand the environment your brand is trying to infiltrate.  Pepsi found that out recently when they paid for a blog within the popular and highly respected site ScienceBlogs. The blog was called Food Frontiers and was purportedly about food nutrition.  But the backlash from the scientific community using the site was swift, and Pepsi were forced to remove the blog less than a week after launching.  Users felt the blog was clearly promotional and did not fit with the purely scientific content the site offers.

Lessons: Don’t try to be something you’re not, and don’t try to fool people – they are smarter, more cynical and keener to diss your brand than you might expect!

Cheers,

OK, it’s a bit late.  But the wait will be worth it!

NZ News

Reader’s Digest have released their list of NZ’s Most Trusted Brands.  No real surprises, but interesting to see Sony top both the electronics and computers categories (not Apple, Microsoft, Google or HP).

Air NZ did well, ranking as our most trusted travel company. Their clear commitment to offering additional value to their customers – evidenced by Grabaseat, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter presences and ongoing promotions locally and internationally – results in customers feeling they have a closer relationship with Air NZ than they do with most other brands.

Now Air NZ are taking their digital social connection strategy a step further, with the launch of their FourSquare account.  What’s FourSquare?  The news item on Stoppress gives a good synopsis of what it is and what it’s for.  If you think it’s a bit geeky, I’d say you’re right, but remember:

(a) that’s what we thought about Facebook at first; and

(b) the geeks will inherit the earth!

In other news… TradeMe Jobs has reported its highest level of visitors ever for the month of May.  Is that down to the success of their “On The Job” ad campaign, or is it more closely linked with the fact that over half the population may be unhappy in their jobs?

And finally, while speculation has been rife that TVNZ were to further dumb down their news service by reducing staff numbers, they have assuaged our fears. Although it sounds like the journalists will now be spending more time editing and supplying stories than they will researching and collecting news?

International News

Probably unsurprisingly for a lot of you, an American study has shown that more than a third of women aged 18-34 are “addicted” to Facebook.   34% say checking Facebook is the first thing they do in the morning, even before their morning ablutions.

In other online news, an upcoming report on the effectiveness of banner advertising is expected to show that banners complement offline and search activity, despite some pundits predicting “the death of banners”.

YouTube has announced a couple of new initiatives recently, the most groundbreaking being Leanback.  It’s a new interface for YouTube that is designed to be accessed by remote control (rather than mouse and keyboard) and is easier to use at a distance… allowing easier access to YouTube content through an internet-enabled television set.

YouTube are also on the hunt for footage of A Day In The Life from around the world, to be combined into a documentary produced and directed by top Hollywood talent and screened at Sundance.  (Sponsored by LG who’s tagline is Life’s Good).

But despite all the innovation, developments and increasing engagement, the internet is completely over. So says hasbeen music superstar Prince.  And he’s always been so in touch with reality! (as you can see from the album cover, right).  Don’t you hate it when you realise someone you thought was kinda cool is just… well… old?

Cheers,

I’ve managed to find some pretty hot stuff lately. I’m burning up.

Getting ready to beat the world, the              All Blacks Facebook page shows us how it’s done. With videos, promotions, online shop, frequent updates and over 300,00 fans, it’s a great example of brand allegiance on Facebook.  And how about their visiting a whole street in Taranaki? Shouldn’t they have been carrying fenceposts up farm hills or something?

On a personal level, the ads this site for US electronics retailer BestBuy (see Videos) resonate with me.   But they also extend the campaign by having it available to share, along with interactive “tell your friends” and an automated link with mobile providers to identify the user’s current phone type and eligibility for an upgrade.

As we are not in an uber-cool metropolitan location, you won’t have seen this campaign for a programme launch on TV2 in real life. It’s quite cool, but properly targeted? Vampire Diaries is currently rating slightly below the programmes that previously ran in the same timeslot.

Beer ads often portay men as uncaring, and focused only on their mates.  The “teletransporter” (surely there’s a better name? Maybe it’s in the translation) doesn’ t do anything to dispel that perception.  Still, I wonder would it cost to get one installed in the Brazenhead?

Sponsorships take many forms… check out this offer from The Rock radio station to sponsor a female listener’s boob job.  The Love Songs sponsorship is completely different, but if you wanted both I’m sure they’d do a deal.

Cheers

WELCOME to an all-new thread of posts within the Four Eyes stable.  You will now see internet news in Four Eyes, media news in M4 and the best of the rest in What’s Hot.

In the news this week, The Independent business weekly is to cease publication.  Fairfax Media, who bought the Independent (it used to be truly independent) just four years ago, had this to say.  There’s nothing like a bit of spin to make a closing-down story sound like progressive development!  Apparently the BusinessDay sections of Stuff and Fairfax papers will pick up and actually improve on the content The Independent had delivered.  This may be so, but I bet the NBR are quietly rubbing their hands together with the prospect of their monopoly on weekly business news returning.

In TV news, TVNZ found itself caught out by a hoax interview on Breakfast last week.  “Jay Prior” was interviewed by Paul Henry, and then met with John Key, about his organisation’s support for Japanese whaling.  It turns out this was a clever, if somewhat obscure, piece of ambush marketing for C4 and The Jono Project (hosted by Jono Prior – geddit?).

Jono is picking up the ball that was left rolling around when “Newsboy” Jeremy Wells stopped his media hijacks, and he is well and truly running with it.  Expect more media confusion and consternation over the coming months!

While it is true more people are consuming media over the internet, and digital video makes up a significant chunk of that media consumption, and despite what the naysayers are saying (they mostly say “nay”), there is no denying that television is still a big part of our lives.  A lot of what people are viewing online is related to TV content, and the latest Nielsen stats show that more Kiwis are watching TV than in the last 12 years.  The viewing is split across more channels than it was 12 years ago, but this is a comforting sign for the TV industry.

Finally, how cool would it be if our TV weather presenters did this?  About as cool as airline staff doing the macarena?  Oh well, props to the guy for trying (dawg!).

Cheers

Welcome back!  After an absence enforced by “technical issues”, I’m stoked to be back bringing you the latest internet news, digital developments and advertising awesomeness.

I’ve got a bit of catching up to do, so this post is all about developments.  What’s happening in the online world?

Limewire has lost a court case and been found guilty of facilitating copyright infringement.  What a surprise!  The upshot of this may be the closure of the site.  That would no doubt lead to a new file-sharing site taking prominence until it faces legal action.  And, unless the music (and movie and TV and gaming) industries can work out some technological fix to completely prevent copying and file-sharing, that’s how things will stay.

TVNZ continues to develop its commercial-free channels on Freeview/Sky platforms. On 1 June the Heartland channel launches on Sky only (they’ve run out of Freeview channels to use).  It will be running a mix of old and not-so-old NZ-made dramas, documentary series and nostalgia.  Lots of Gary McCormick and Marcus Lush, by the looks of it.

Taking a more cerebral direction is TVNZ-7, which has recently formed a partnership with the Royal Society of NZ to bring us a series “designed to excite and inform with great stories of science and technology in contemporary New Zealand”.

Meanwhile over at TV3, they are slowly catching up!  This month they launch a new Video on Demand service, promising more content (most of their top programmes) and a better viewing experience.  Here’s hoping the programme selection interface is more engaging than the interface they have now!

In social media news, Air New Zealand has reinforced its dedication to social media with a quirky PR response to a “critical” editorial piece in The Listener magazine.  The piece was released through social media (and, no doubt, emails to media organisations), with a guaranteed distribution to nearly 20,000 “likers” on their Facebook page and over 13,000 Twitter “followers”.

Finally (well… nearly finally… at least finally before the stuff that comes below), I got an email from Metservice.com – NZ’s most popular weather site and 7th most popular site overall – announcing some new things.  Most interesting is the fact they are launching a mobile site (mobile internet is slowly gaining traction).  But also check out the creative they’ve done with EECA, incorporating live weather stats into banner ads.  Unfortunately it’s not live any more, but it shows the potential for incorporating live data into advertising creative.

Have a lovely week and just for fun…

Headline of the week

Bravest client of 2009 (32nd John Caples International Awards)

Most awesomest thing ever (this one is a bit noisy, but fun!)

Cheers,

Social media. Heard of it?  Use it personally?  Professionally???

While recommendations from Social Media sites are still not as well regarded as true word-of-mouth from friends or family, social media channels are an important means of connecting with current and potential customers.  The common rule of “don’t put all of your eggs in one basket” still applies, so social media should not be seen as THE solution to all marketing problems, but should definitely be part of the mix.  And not just for da yoof, as Facebook is experiencing biggest growth amongst the 50+ age group. 

Pepsi are taking this on board, as they commit more to social media conversation and interaction with their customers, rather than just shouting messages.  They have even gone so far as not placing an ad in the Superbowl this year (the first time in 25 years), reasoning they get better return on investment from alternative media.

Here are some tips on effective use of video marketing for small-medium businesses.  Of course it includes social media distribution!  I hope we all know this already, but it doesn’t hurt to reinforce the basics!

So how will you access your favourite social media sites in 2011?  Desktop, laptop, netbook, smartphone, game console, television?  What about a games console/smartphone in one?  There are whispers that Sony is planning to launch a Playstation smartphone sometime in 2010.  Where will it end?  And when can I get my hologram-video-phone-watch like they have in the movies?!

In more local news, TVNZ have made a couple of announcements recently.  Reservoir Hill - TVNZ’s first online-only, interactive programme for teens – has been nominated for a Digital Emmy.  That’s the real deal, so they can be very proud of themselves.  It’s not often NZ-produced TV gets awarded anything!

TVNZ today also announced they will be launching a new channel on Sky.  It will be available as part of the Sky start-up package, and will be called TVNZ Heartland.  Content will be entirely NZ-made, sourced from TVNZ Archives.

My picks for programming: A Dog’s Show, Country Calendar, maybe University Challenge and Krypton Factor?  It will be a challenge to present “old” content that is relevant and not just reminiscing, but they say they are aiming for a 40-64 year old demographic, so perhaps reminiscing is the way to go.  The channel will carry advertising: TVNZ say they are in the process of approaching selected advertisers for exclusive agreements with the channel.  Read TVNZ’s report and see an interview with John Fellet (Sky TV) and Rick Ellis (TVNZ) here.

Ads of the week

Two more outdoor executions that utilise the environment to carry the message.

Painting the town red… and blue and pink and yellow and green…

Clever, but I don’t know about walking through in a white shirt…

Cheerio!

Phew!  Next week it will be December.  Christmas is coming, the sun is shining and we’re all busy as really busy things, so I’ll keep this short and sweet.

In fact, I’m going to keep this post clear of any “hard” news.  Nothing Googley, nothing statisticy, this is pure entertainment.  But be warned – you may learn something too!

In New Zealand…

Did you know that some courier companies are offering advertising on their fleet vehicles?  As they have dozens of cars doing hundreds of kilometres around urban centres, TelstraClear saw this as an opportunity to promote their Business Network in Auckland.

Want to know what’s going to be on TV in March 2010?  TVNZ have released their New Season 2010 programming and schedules – all the links are here.

Want to know what TV people have been complaining about in 2009?  It’s all here.

Around the World…

How to integrate outdoor, PR, online and viral activity to sell 337% more chowder.  Clever, well executed and successful!

According to Guiness World Records, this is the most viewed online ad in the world.  Cute eh?

Sorry, I couldn’t do it.  Again!  I couldn’t do a whole post without a reference to Google Almighty. Sometimes their algorithms throw up results they’re not proud of, and they have to apologise.  However when I read this article and clicked on the “see the search results here” link I didn’t see the image in question, BUT Google kindly suggested a separate search for me!  And then they’ll apologise for it!

That’s the weird world wide web wrapped up for another week.  Have a good one!

Here we go again!  More mad news and interesting insights derived from the wonderful world of the web.

I’m going to call this post the TOP 5 at 5.  Because it’s 5pm.  And I have 5 news items.

Number 1: TVNZ OnDemand has a new, bigger, better viewer.  See it here.

Number 2: Dominion Post have a new layout.  See what the editor, and readers, have to say here.

Number 3: Farmers want broadband!!

Number 4: Free MySkyHD for Vodafone customers! Cross-media deals anyone?

Number 5: Google’s next big thing… the Google Phone.  Next… Google jeans, Google cars, Google ice cream?

But I won’t leave it at that!  You know you hang out for the fun bits at the end of these posts!

Here’s a little game from Seek (the recruitment website).  You can upload your own (or someone else’s) photo and shoot yourself (or that someone else) from a cannon!  Would you like to know who I have shot out of the cannon so far?

That’s all.  Have a good one!