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Being on the frontline of a digital marketing agency means I’m often the first person a client asks when they have a digital-related question. There seems to be a theme lately, as clients ask me to pinpoint the day that Facebook is going to die and what is going to come next. The opinion I’ve held for the last 18 months is quite simple… Facebook is going to be around for a long time and there is nothing coming to replace it any time soon.

For the foreseeable future, Facebook is only going to increase in size, strength and exposure. A few people have been distracted by how fast Facebook caught up with MySpace and presumed (logically?) that the same was going to quickly happen to Facebook. People were touting the same thing back in the early 00’s when that upstart company called Google surged over Microsoft and Yahoo! search. Many people subscribed to “it won’t last”, “there will be another one soon”, etc. Seven years later (Google was technically set up in ‘98 but it took a few years to really take over) and Google is a powerhouse online. Yahoo! and Microsoft fight over a measly 10% (depending on sources) slice of the Search Marketing pie. The reason is simple. Google took the lead, invested, acquired, innovated and never sat still. As long as Facebook maintain the same ethos there is no reason why in 3-4 years time, they will not be the de facto ‘address & social network’ of nearly all adults. I’ve already seen the little ‘F’ logo appearing on biz cards of ‘new media’ folk.

The problem is that as Facebook growth is a double-edged sword. It is great for me as a user as more of my contacts get a Facebook account because it enables me to stay in touch with more people. The down side is that I have been selective when accepting Facebook friends and already have 300+ (I know someone with 1,300+). In real life it is impossible to maintain meaningful relationships with 100+ people. Why should ‘virtual’ life be any different? It’s not. People are fooling themselves if they think they can be a real ‘friend’ to this many people.

The power of Facebook is realising this and using it as a social tool to empower your ‘real’ life. This is where brands can really enrich user experiences and connect with their audience. Facebook applications (games/ functionality/ etc) are more numerous than friend requests. I stopped deleting them a few months back and currently have about 900+. Just like my Facebook friends, I do not have the time to engage with everyone. I cherry pick. Often this is based on my existing relationship outside of Facebook. Do I know the brand? does it tie-in with an existing ATL (TV, radio, etc) campaign? Is the application productive to my real life beyond Facebook? These are a few of the questions that identify if an application is likely to gain traction with users. A big successful brand and ad campaign is no guarantee that the application will be a success but it means there is likely to be a higher install rate than a total unknown - check out the Indy campaign. Obviously, there are always exceptions to the rule (see a recent blog post about big brand/ big bucks applications that sit around with only 4 daily users).

So, the conclusion for Brand/ Marketing/ Account Directors and Managers looking at Facebook is that for the next 18 months, it is a safe bet to invest in to reach a mainstream adult audience. However, Facebook (like MySpace, Bebo and the other networks) campaigns are most effective when they are not the entirety of the campaign. It is rare that you see an application succeed and deliver campaign goals without any additional support outside of Facebook.

After only one week of airtime, Heinz have pulled the plug on their latest TV advert in an apparent move to appease the sensibilities of a vocal homophobic minority. When I first watched the ad I couldn’t quite believe that people could feel so strongly about a short peck on the lips. I was truly expecting tongues and all sorts.

The ad, by London-based agency AMV BBDO (now there’s a catchy name), revolves around the central concept that Heinz Deli Mayo tastes so good “it’s as if you have your own New York deli man in your kitchen”. At the end of the ad, as the father prepares to leave the house with his sandwiches, the two men share a brief kiss.

According to the Guardian, viewers have complained that it is “offensive” and “inappropriate to see two men kissing”. What exactly is inappropriate about this, in an age where same-sex relationships are perfectly accepted and same-sex marriages legal? Other parents complained that the ads would require parents to discuss the issue of same-sex relationships with their children. I can’t see how this can possibly be justified.

As reported in the Independent, Ben Summerskill, the chief executive of the gay rights group Stonewall, has urged its supporters to stop buying Heinz products. Whether this will be carried out to the point where it actually harms Heinz remains to be seen.

I personally don’t feel as angry with Heinz as I do with the idiot viewers who took it upon themselves to complain. As someone in the office pointed out, the Heinz brand is centered around the idea of the family, and a protracted fight over this issue may go against the overall interest of the brand.

As the debate spreads across the Internet it seems that despite being withdrawn, the ad will find an audience on YouTube and other video sharing sites.

I think that Sarah Britten, a blogger from the South African newspaper The Times, sums it up well:

“Heinz showed even less spine than Thabo Mbeki on Zimbabwe.”

“Never underestimate the wilful stupidity of the viewing public”

Occasionally, and I mean very occasionally, I put myself through the hell of a London Tube in summertime. This is an experience that I thoroughly recommend against. So whilst I have always maintained that there is a great business opportunity for deodorant and cool water vendors - most people squashed against me tend to be the sweatiest and smelliest on the carriage - I rarely take on any other advertising.

The other day at Piccadilly Circus though I saw a new installation being trialled. A projection display with changing advertising - that also cuts out 30 seconds before the train arrives.

Pretty nifty, eh? Yeah, it’s OK but without sound and animation it looks like one of those crap screensavers. And sure enough, with a bit of development, it will be pretty cool in the future - although we done a better digital installation project for Puma with their brand design agency GBH. But this is not the best tube ad.  That honour (or ‘honor’ for our American readers) is reserved for the station one-stop north on the Bakerloo line: Oxford Circus. I thought this was so great I actually got off the tube to take a photo to show the power of ‘negative space’.

In a world saturated with advertising, sometimes it’s nice to view the same environments ’sans-ads’. Just imagine these same blank sheet spreads with a simple red chocolate bar image, small and in the centre, with those three little words… ‘Take a break’. I’d buy a KitKat that instant - as long as the deodorant and cool water vendor had some in stock.

What do you think about a break from advertising every now and then? Or any other great ads (or technology) you have seen?

Once arguably the best-known “social networking” site in the UK, even before the term social-network was widely used, Friends Reunited recently been redesigned to give it a new “contemporary” feel. According to Airlock, the London-based agency responsible for the facelift, there has been a “dramatic” improvement in activity since the launch. But is it all too little too late?

It is interesting reading the history of Friends Reunited to see just how dramatic the rise of the school-friend catch-up site was. Launched officially in July 2000, by the end of the year it had 3,000 members, a number that had increased to 2.5 million a year later. By 2005, Friends Reunited had been the centre of a TV show (The curse of Friends Reunited), resulted in libel payouts and attracted 15 million of us to the site. Looking back, it seems crazy how a site that demanded payment to actually contact anyone could become so popular.

When ITV bought the site at the end of 2005, there was every reason to believe that the site would continue to grow in popularity. Facebook was, at the time, a high school network, only opening up to key companies in 2006. However many of the features which have come to define modern social networking sites, including the ability to make friends and communicate with these friends for free, were not a part of Friends Reunited. It seems that over the next year or two social networks moved on whilst Friends Reunited stood very much still.

My experience of the new Friends Reunited site was generally positive, albeit this was when I recently deleted my profile (having not been able to unsubscribe from emails without logging into my profile, I thought that having gone to the effort of figuring out my username and password that I may as well just go the whole hog and delete my entire profile). The new design is very much in the “web 2.0” mould; stripes, gradient-background titles, uncluttered.

The new features also go some of the way towards replicating the key features of modern social networks. It seems that it is now possible to join up with friends, and all monetary barriers have been removed (it’s free!). From the new-look homepage it looks like there’s a news feed feature and more of a focus on sharing pictures.

But do people need another social network? I personally don’t know a single person who uses Friends Reunited regularly, and this is going to be a huge barrier to wanting to use the site. Whereas most people I know do use Facebook. Now I don’t even like Facebook (I’ll save that for another day) but I think the key thing here is that if I do want to contact one of my friends, Facebook is currently the place to do it – simply because of the number of people who do use it.

I think another problem with Friends Reunited is that it’s lost much of the original purpose and focus. The original idea was simple – log in and find out what your friends are doing. Right now I’ve been there and done that. I don’t actually care anymore what everyone from school is up to; and the people I am vaguely interested in are all on Facebook.

In place of the focus of the original site, Friends Reunited now offers an expanded set of features, including Genealogy (Genes Reunited of course!) and dating.

So has the horse already bolted? Alexa traffic graphs seem to suggest that interest in Friends Reunited did increase markedly after the new launch (June 2008), although shown over a ten month period traffic is still definitely decreasing.

Compare this traffic with Facebook and Bebo and you start to get the impression that the founders of Friends Reunited got a good deal, and maybe ITV should have kept their money in their pocket! (Hint: Friends Reunited is the blue line that runs at a parallel to, and infinitesimal above, the x axis).

It will be interesting to see if the redesign can have a long term impact on Friends Reunited, or if the horse really has well and truly bolted.

This Thursday, the internet’s regulators will vote and ultimately decide whether the strict rules on top level domain names, such as .com or .uk, can finally be relaxed.

If the plans are agreed, it will have a huge impact on the address system, as companies will be allowed to turn their brands into domain names. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann) oversees the domain name system and has been working towards opening up net addresses for the last three years. They have said that any string of letters will be allowed to be registered as a domain, but there will be an independent arbitration process for people with grounds for objection (who hopefully won’t treat every possibility with rejection as they did .xxx - although I’m guessing they are going to). However, hundreds of new domain names are expected to be created by the end of the year, rising to thousands in the future.

While there are clear reasons as to why these plans have come about:  a) the Internet has changed so much since the original address system was established that this system is dated; and b) existing domains are running out; I can’t really see many existing brands and companies actually using them. Maybe in the future once a few others have tried and tested the new domains they will start to catch on, but to start with I think most brands will stick with what they’ve got. After all, brands know that consumers are familiar with their current addresses and that their consumers know exactly where to find them. For example, if I want to visit a site for a brand, say Nokia, the chances are I’ll type in nokia.com and that’s where the site will be. I don’t want to have to start guessing at nokia.nok, mobile.nokia or nokia.nokia (which looks stupid anyway!). Also, changing domain names to turn your brand into a domain will have implications for your SEO. Well established and search engine friendly sites are not going to benefit from starting from scratch - especially taking into account Google’s 6 month sandbox period.

However for some sites, I think the .brand domain will work really well - .ebay is a domain that it’s suggested will be introduced and this make a lot of sense for them. Individual store owners/sellers could then have their own address at .ebay, so for example, my clothes range could be on sale at laurawear.ebay. This system would also work well for other huge sites that have individual pages or subdomains - Facebook members could each have their own address at .facebook.

Another interested point is that the plan would also allow for the new domain names to be internationalised, and so could be written in scripts for Asian and Arabic languages. And again, like most things these days, it will all come down to money in the end. Icann are still working through how much the application fee to register a domain name will be, but it is expected to be at least several thousand dollars. And, in cases where there is a dispute over a domain, there will be an auction and it will go to the highest bidder.

I guess we’ll just have to await the outcome on Thursday to find out whether the rules are relaxed, but hopefully they will be because it will be interesting to see how brands react to the new possibilities.

You may have already heard about this YouTube video as its been viewed over 2,700,000 times since it was uploaded two weeks ago. It shows an ‘unsuspecting’ girlfriend being filmed by her boyfriend’s hidden camera while she tries to keep her hula hoop up on Wii Fit. The video was posted in response to a video “Wii Fit Hula Hoop makes you look stupid”.

The video is a great response to the negative video and will probably encourage a few guys to go out and buy their girlfriends the game - and the creator, Giovanny Gutierrez (who just happens be a Director for an Advertising agency in Florida) clearly knew that when he created it.

So, is the video a response to a secret brief from Nintendo? Many people in the industry suspect that it has to be, and I have to agree with them. According to Nintendo and Gutierrez it’s ‘100% nothing to do with Nintendo” - although they wouldn’t admit it anyway would they?

And if it wasn’t a secret brief, Gutierrez must have known that his video would get his agency, Tinsley Advertising, some positive publicity.  I’m sure they’re not going to be short of a few briefs for a while.

Watch the video and see what you think…http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v31qxrXsxv0

On Tuesday I spent the day at the Being Digital Mashup conference. It was a really interesting and insightful day - although there were way too many pitches crammed into the programme.

For those of you that didn’t attend, I’ve put together a summary of the key predictions from the event, outlining what is going to happen within digital marketing over the next 5 years:

• Media fragmentation and the decline of mass audiences will continue as there will be constant shifts in the way consumers live their lives, but this should be seen as a positive instead of a negative. After all, ad spend can be reduced through advertising to smaller fragmented audiences, as there is less money wasted on irrelevant audiences. Advertisers will need to create innovative and targeted ‘marketing pieces’ for their consumers, reaching them via their niche channels.
• Although it is often thought that young people watch less TV than they used to, research shows that there has been a 10% increase in the time that 16-24 year olds spend watching TV each day (since 1997 their daily viewing has increased from 1.61 hours to 1.77) and this is likely to remain constant.
• The penetration of mobile internet is currently at 30%, but with continued promotion from the iPhone and other key players in the mobile industry, this is going to see huge growth.
• Most sites will have an element of social networking or online community in the near future, as consumers continue to want this functionality.
• Online shopping is not going to take over or replace offline retail. Research has proven that consumers like being able to use a combination of online, store and call centre when shopping, and when given this option to shop across multiple channels, consumers exhibit a higher degree of loyalty – their average relationship ‘lifetime’ with the brand is 2 ½ times greater which is very valuable. As a result, the future will see online and retail work hand-in-hand.

However, the two areas that I think are going to have the greatest significance over the next five years are branded content and location. Predictions for these topics are:

• Branded content is going to be huge over the next five years and brands are likely to benefit hugely from being associated with entertaining or relevant content, as indicated by Nigel Conway from Nestle. Their annual advertising budget currently stands at around £5bn, of which £3.5bn is spent on TV advertising. However, Nigel believes that in 7 years time, this £3.5bn will be spent on branded content. Research has shown that branded content is the most popular of all advertising formats, with 67% of all consumers finding it acceptable or valuable.
• Location is going to play a major part over the next few years, as GPS and mobile internet become more widespread. We all know how to find things on a map if we have the postcode, and with GPS we will all know where people are located - but the key question is how do marketers use this data to add real value to consumers? Many companies are trying to create 3D search interfaces and immersive environments for consumers but at the moment they are too expensive and very difficult to develop, and despite all efforts the interfaces are really hard to use.

My prediction is that whoever can create a user friendly, and ultimately useful and valuable location mashup for consumers will be much much richer in the next five years.

The other week I was fortunate enough to get an audience with Jonathan Mildenhall, Vice President Global Advertising & Creative Excellence, Coca-Cola to find out more about what Coke have been up to and what’s this ‘trans-media storytelling’ he keeps chirping on about.

You should have already seen the last few years of Coke’s activity; from an explosion of colour and images flowing from the iconic bottle silhouette to the Grand Theft Auto inspired advert, where the ‘bad’ guy goes around town doing good things (check out the images and movie below). These are all part of Coca Cola’s most recent strategic direction called ‘Coke side of life’. The idea being that anything can happen in the Coke side of life. Not a million miles from Dr Pepper’s ‘What’s the worst that can happen’ but as you shall see from reading on, the implementation is indeed a million miles ahead of Dr Pepper’s proposition.

Coke side of life press adverts

Coke ‘Grand Theft Auto’ inspired advert

Jonathan assured us that the ‘Coke side of life’ campaign had been very successful but was just the beginning as Coke looked to transform their creative thinking and advertising/ marketing with the evolution of ‘Trans-media Storytelling’. Oh dear, another marketing approach to learn, but thankfully this one is actually quite easy and only has three parts:

1. Trans-media Storytelling is about extending an ad or entertainment property across multiple touchpoints.
2. Trans-media Storytelling is narrative driven, so in that respect, the idea/ solution never ages.
3. Trans-media Storytelling requires significant initial investment but generates real money

The astute reader at this point will notice some striking similarities with Branded Entertainment but trust me, there is a difference. And whilst Jonathan himself was quick to point out that Coke are fully on the Trans-media Storytelling side, I think I’ll use examples from Coke to illustrate both points.

Branded Entertainment essentially piggybacks an entertainment property or story to marry the audience to it’s own mythology. In the US, Coke is very prominent in the American Idol series. This is very much branded entertainment, marrying one of the most iconic American brands with the (currently) most iconic American dream. Coke presents special ‘behind the scenes’ footage, Coke cup contests and much more besides. This is all very successful for Coca Cola and looks like a partnership set to continue. But this is branded entertainment. There is nothing particular that Coke are doing here that would be out of place with a number of other American superbrands. One irony I love is that Simon Cowell probably has the whitest teeth in the world and is promoting a drink that can dissolve an immersed tooth overnight – if you believe the urban legend!

The American Idol judges - with their Coke cups

Relaxing with Ryan on the ever subtle Coke couch

Trans-media Storytelling is different. Trans-media Storytelling builds a brand mythology without piggybacking an existing entertainment property or story. In Trans-media Storytelling there is no difference between the story and the brand. They are so richly entwined that they cannot be viewed separately. Coke’s latest campaign is a fantastic example of this, and one which you should of already seen in some form or another…

Happiness Factory is an advert about what happens inside a vending machine when you purchase a Coke. The premise started on the ‘Coke side of life’ before evolving in to the magical ‘story’ it is today. But there is so much more to come. If you have not seen the advert for Happiness Factory then check out the video below.

Original Happiness Factory advert

The great thing about this property is that Jonathan and the team did not stop there. They applied the properties of Trans-media Storytelling to take this story to the next level as a major piece of consumer entertainment. First, let’s look at what those Trans-media Storytelling properties are:

• An immersive world – with a past, present and future
• Involving characters
• Compelling story arc
• Timeless theme
• Multiple access points
• Loyal fanbase

Second, let’s think about what major consumer entertainment project would help them realise the full potential of this story. That’s right… Coke are making a movie! They have set out their vision over the next 5-10 years and looked at how they can really deliver a unique Trans-media Storytelling experience to their audience – potential and existing. The story is about what happens when the vending machine runs out of Coke. A tale of one worker, chosen from the masses, who must face the odds and find the source of the ‘Coke from the sky’. Of course, he will save the day and along the way meet some wonderful characters. This story was packaged as a second advert but there is a trailer version also for the forthcoming move. Check out the advert below.

Second Happiness Factory advert

So what are the thoughts on Trans-media Storytelling? My feeling is that it is a great new direction for creative in advertising and marketing but the sheer size of projects mean that it will remain something for the elite few who can bankroll such grand designs. Based on the stats that Jonathan was throwing my way there is no doubt that it has proved extremely successful for Coke already – and it sounds like there are still 10 years to run on this thing! When done right (as appears to be the case in Happiness Factory) it also opens up a wealth of touch points to reach new consumers – as in merchandising, music and much more.

You can go to the Happiness Factory website and immerse yourself in the story and a rich experience - but be warned that content varies across different territories and even on a good broadband connection you are going to spend way too much time looking at loading screens.

My only concern for the whole thing, and this is directed at this specific story and brand, is that Happiness Factory is extremely child friendly and something cynical inside me can’t help but feel this is a resourceful way to get around the whole ‘marketing high sugar/ fat products to children’ issue. Though that is a discussion for another day. For now let’s enjoy the wonderful story, production values and wonder who on Earth picked that ugly guy for the second advert!

Another project this week sees neoco working on a really cool digital showpiece for Puma and the 2010 World Cup. It’s an internal comms projects which brings to life the strategic positioning of their Puma football brand. The animated showpiece is being developed closely with GBH (Puma’s Brand Design Agency) so it reflects their offline work. The project highlights what makes Puma different from the other brands involved in football (or soccer as some people still insist on calling it).
The showpiece will feature in upcoming Puma keynote presentations.

The response to Paramount’s “Indiana Jones” Facebook campaign has been enormous — with all of the 250,000 available Indy-branded Fedora free virtual gifts being snapped up and sent to friends in under 12 hours. The virtual Fedoras linked recipients back to the movie’s Facebook page, where reviews and showtimes were posted. More than 62,000 fans signed up to the Facebook page ahead of the movie’s release. Reviews on the page run the gamut between glowing to scathing, but ultimately the site provides a forum for fans to exchange their points of view and chat about the movie.

I haven’t been to see the movie yet. I really want to as Indy was so big when I was a kid but I feel by not going, it’s a kind of protest against Hollywood and their onslaught of remakes and rehashes from yesteryear… do something original! If I was thinking of going to watch the movie, what is your opinion of it? Bother or not?