Dora Yin (DI, BJ) loves the new McDonald’s tray paper, which can be folded into a “Douban Radio”. This activity drives users of Douban into McDonald’s and is making more McDonald’s diners aware of Douban Radio — the streaming music service offered by the Chinese SNS.
Dora Yin(北京,DI)喜欢前段时间麦当劳的餐盘纸可以折成豆瓣电台的活动,它吸引了豆瓣的粉丝跑去吃麦当劳拿餐盘纸,吃麦当劳的人对豆瓣电台也有了认知。
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Jeremy is sure that “egotistical” displays of products and brands will not be shared online and will never go viral. Forget about your brand for a minute and think about what the target audience finds useful, funny, etc. The next step is then to see if any of this can be matched to the brand message. This is precisely what Lynx seems to have done with their “Wingman Academy” webisodes.
This Ray-Bandesign competition has generated awareness for the brand on Douban. Dora thinks that a brand which attracts trendy youth and a competition which attracts young artists is a great match.
Liza Levy (DI, SH) likes this social media campaign, which was created by a UK charity to raise money for a Royal Airforce cause. Five fictional characters are being brought to life through daily blogs and tweets, painting a picture of what life was like during the Battle of Britain.
一家英国慈善机构为皇家空军发起了一项有趣的社会媒体活动,以帮助人们提高对战争的认识并筹集资金。 5个虚构的人物每天通过博客日志和图片来描述不列颠之战中的生活是什么样,这让Liza Levy (上海,DI) 觉得十分新颖。
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Dianna Wang (H-Line, BJ) wants to share with you Intel China’s Weibo feed, Intel China Daily Express. This channel updates followers with Intel-related news and is a platform for hearing feedback from media and netizens.
Dianna Wang (北京,H-Line)认为英特尔中国官方微博“英特尔中国天天事”获得了巨大的成功,英特尔中国天天事致力于打造英特尔媒体社交平台,英特尔信息即时分享平台及与媒体、网友的互动平台。
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If you didn’t make it to the Foursquare for Business webinar yesterday, Jeremy suggests looking at the training deck online. Foursquare is blocked in China, but the strategic framework outlined in the presentation applies equally to equivalent Chinese services.
Last week I sat down with David Liu, CEO and founder of Jiepang, to talk about his company and check-in/location-based services in China.
Jiepang, which David describes as the “Foursquare of China”, is probably the leading service of its kind in the country. This is thanks to its relatively good Android and iPhone apps, huge database of locations (they added many themselves), and links to the major Chinese social networks.
If you haven’t done so yet, Jeremy urges you to check out Vancl’s latest viral campaign. All an agency needs to do, according to this great summary by Rand Han, is create the first few parodies of a popular campaign… and pretty soon everyone will be sharing their own versions!
如果你还没有看过凡客的最新病毒活动,Jeremy 催促你去看一看。Rand Han 给我们一个很好的总结是,一个机构所有需要做的是为一个流行活动创造一些模仿 – 然后很快大家都会分享他们自己的变体了。
Alfreda Jia (BJ) loves this Master Kong Youku campaign so much that she wrote a page-long email to me about it. Space here is tight, so to paraphrase: “short, easy-to-share, branded clips… fabulous!”
Love shoes? Love Choos? Liza Levy (DI, SH) loves how Jimmy Choo has used the current hot topic of geolocation to create a great treasure hunt campaign to launch the brand’s new trainers.
Our colleagues in the US helped Ford reveal the 2011 Explorer exclusively on Facebook, posting videos, photos, and live chats from the New York event to their Ford Explorer page.
Two teenagers have caught the attention of Dora Yin (BJ) with their iPhone speed test video. Social media makes anyone an influencer and means that highly influential content like this can appear at any time. For this reason it is essential for brands to constantly monitor what’s been said about them online.
Huang Chao (SA, BJ) and Jeremy Webb this week met some guys from Jiepang – China’s leading check-in service. They talked about one of the first check-in marketing activities in China, a campaign that generated interest by inviting users to check in to the soon-to-be-launched Shanghai Apple store.
For those of you that haven’t yet read OgilvyOne’s Connected, Sarah Guldin (Corp Comms) has an even easier way to understand the report’s Chinese social media research: check out these YouKu videos for an explanation from OgilvyOne’s very own Chris Reitermann.
Plenty of campaigns use pretty girls to get our attention yet few are managed as well as this online sensation from Acer laptops, thinks Liu Yan (DI, SH). Users of Sohu Microblog were asked to help a journalist track down a girl met in a chance encounter during the World Cup. Since the laptop left behind by the girl was one of the only clues available, the Acer Laptop enjoyed enormous exposure as it became the focus of this “romantic manhunt”.
Seen sand painting online? Well, Liu Yan (DI, SH) has seen something she thinks is even more impressive: water ink art. She hasn’t seen this turned to commercial use yet and thinks it would be great for a brand that wants to be seen as being “with the times”.
Jeremy Webb (DI, BJ) thinks it’s worth keeping an eye on which foursquare check-in service will triumph in China. Jiepang and Lashou are just a couple of the individual competitors out there, US-based Gowalla is yet to be blocked, and internet giants like Sina are likely to come out with contenders at some point. With great “geomarketing” campaigns in the West, there will be huge opportunities for brands in China as soon as these services gain critical mass and a winner emerges.
Jeremy Webb(DI,北京)觉得我们应该关注究竟哪个定位签到服务将“赢”在中国。已经有街旁、拉手多等众多模仿美国foursquare模式的独立网站,美国的Gowalla还没被河蟹, 而且新浪、搜狐等国内互联网巨头很可能快会出类似服务了。有这么多相关案例在西方,Jeremy估计一这些服务有一定的活跃性,一个“冠军”出现,品牌的机会就会增多。
Want to ensure the biggest online influencers write about your campaign? Liza Levy (DI, SH) thinks Old Spice has the perfect “recipe”: Use a good advert as your base then mix in some personalized videos responding to messages you have received through social media. Once risen in popularity sprinkle in some personalized videos made just for the highly influential. Serve hot.
Liza Levy (DI, 上海): 你想要保证网上最具有影响力的人来为你写你的提案吗?这就像烹饪一道美食:一个好的广告就像一道烹饪所需的基本食材;然后通过社群媒体,用个性化的视频来回复给你留言的人,这便是在你的原料上调配的完美比例;这些有个性化的人物视频将提升影响力,就像在一道菜上撒上调味料一样使食物更加鲜美。Old Spice Guy.
Joyce Qiu (DI, SH) came across this hilarious video of a group of university students performing Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance. By noticing this kind of online sensations early on, brands could gain huge exposure through sponsorship of their clothing, shoes, etc.
Dora Yin (Beijing) has seen lots of companies working with a growing online phenomenon in China, Groupon-style group-purchasing websites. A good example is how Meituan helped a little know gaming bar rocket to fame.
My colleagues in OgilvyOne are today releasing OgilvyOne Connected – a research report into how Chinese consumers use social media to interact, both with each other and with brands.
A section that I found particularly interesting categorizes Chinese social media users according to their social media habits, assigning percentages to the relative sizes of each group:
A larger-than-expected 26% of all Chinese social media users are “Initiators” — people that regularly start conversations, create content and publish their opinions online. They are also the fertile starting point for new ideas, services and products.
A further 29% of Chinese social media users are “Commenters” — people who may not initiate, but who do react and comment on other people’s views. They are also the “accelerators” of new ideas, giving them momentum and wider acceptance.
The largest group, comprising 45% of social media users, are “Gawkers” — those who quietly browse, observe and look for entertaining ideas and brands that are already popular.
Weibo, China’s answer to Twitter, is now allowing users to show support for their favourite football team by adding that country’s flag to their profile.
After selecting from a list of all participating teams, the flag appears both on the profile and next to each Weibo update:
Weibo did something similar during the recent Yushu Earthquake, allowing users show their respects by displaying a ribbon.
The vast majority of users view Weibo through their browsers instead of a desktop client, which makes this kind of innovation more successful since Weibo has more control over how users view their feeds.
Weibo’s World Cup activity also allows you to see, at a glance, which teams are most supported by the Weibosphere. England tops the table, followed by Argentina and then Spain:
Still think social media is a fad? For those who haven’t seen it, Jeremy Webb wants to kick off this week’s update with the following clip: A Social Media Revolution (CN subtitles).
Liu Yan (Digital Strategy Director) is impressed with Pringles’s RenRen page, which features an excellent example of augmented reality that blends an online football game with images of the gamer. Lots of people are discussing the game online and are able to move conveniently to a Taobao store to make a purchase.
Liu Yan (Digital Strategy Director), 喜欢在人人网的一个品牌互动活动。这是一款针对年轻群体的3D实景互动游戏,主题为:品客 挑战你的咔嚓劲力!品客薯片包装盒作为游戏的主要道具,用包装盒对准摄像头,就可以操作游戏。因为玩法新颖、界面设计也很酷,引来众多年轻的网友参与。同时引导网友在人人网的论坛中讨论此款游戏。也可以通过游戏链接到品客在淘宝的网店。
Emily Brown (BJ White Belt editor) likes Mengniu/MonmilkEcograssland Fund’s use of social networking sites because they have attracted a community of supporters to their interactive, informative RenRen page who may have otherwise never visited either party’s official site.
Emily Brown (北京的白带editor) 喜欢蒙牛和Monmilk Ecograssland Fund社交网站的运用, 是因为他们已经吸引很多网友来访问其互动且信息丰富的人人网页,同时这些网友可能从未访问过其中任何一家公司的官方网页。
Jeremy Webb wants you give you all a big kiss… on DoubleMint’s RenRen page. Users start a “kiss chain” by sending a kiss to their friends; their friends then extend the chain by doing the same, and so on. All members of the longest chain get a prize. Like all good kisses this is memorable, fun, and potentially viral!
Jeremy Webb想KISS你… 在绿箭的人人网活动!用户用“kiss链” 向自己的好友传递kiss,他们的好友也可以继续传递这个kiss给别人,以此类推。最终拥有最多人参与的“KISS链”中所有用户都将得到奖品。跟所有的kisses一样,这个活动很难忘,很好玩,也很有传染性!
Yalding Xu (SH Digital Specialist) says, “There’s always more fun ways to promote your products.” This video made by Nike to promote their new running shoe is proof of this. Running, just like music, needs rhythm; and this video is the perfect cross over.
Yalding Xu (SH Digital Specialist) 说:“你的产品其实也可以更好玩”,这个视频(优酷版)是Nike为了推广它的新系列Free产品,拍摄的一个病毒视频。跑步需要节奏,音乐同样需要节奏,视频中这样的跨界可能你从没看到过。但是看完这个视频后,相信你会增加对于跑步运动的兴趣。要知道,病毒视频的效果有时比花费巨资的电视广告要更好。
If their latest ad campaign is anything to go by, RenRen – China’s answer to Facebook – seems to have shifted its marketing focus to social gaming:
The animated animals, vegetables and furniture are references to China’s leading social games, which allow users to manage virtual farms, vegetable patches and restaurants.
The message and tone of this campaign contrasts with its campaign last year, which showcased ‘real-life’ stories of people using RenRen to connect:
Adquan.com (Chinese) claims that this shift is RenRen’s answer to the much-discussed question of whether China’s online social networks are for meeting new people or allowing existing friends to play.
This might be going a little far, since Chinese social networks can provide both services simultaneously. For me, however, the new campaign at least highlights one thing: that social gaming is currently far more important to Chinese online social networks than their Western counterparts.
This viral video has been viewed 1,038,068 times on Youku [Update: Since I accidently left this post in the draft folder, the view count has gone up to almost 3 million]. It was uploaded just one day ago:
I’m pretty sure this viral is an ad for Peugeot: Why would such an event be caught on camera – and in HD? Why does the driver leave her car roof open? Why do the hushed voices mention the exact model of the car? I could go on.
Granted, these ads — if that’s what they are — create buzz; in turn, discussion as to their authenticity creates further buzz. Such ads can also be memorable ways to communicate a car’s features: in this case, it is the Peugeot’s automatic fold-away roof.
Yet the response from viewers is often negative: a large amount of the comments simply say “fake” or “ad”; many give reasons for their suspicion. In my opinion, associating “fake” with a brand in this way is not a good way to build the trust necessary to persuade someone to buy a car.
I’d really like to know what others think about this kind of video? Are they ever a good idea?