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Great catch by Marc at Osocio: a campaign for Reporter Without Borders, by Publicis Brussels with a print ad that speaks to you.
Don’t have an iPhone? Try the website.
Just shows how dead trees media can still be relevant on this digital age. Sort of.
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Cross posted at Osocio.org
In one more example of multiples or synchronicity of ideas, today i tweeted an idea for turning 404 pages into a charity opportunity. Well, a few hours later i found out a campaign by Fischer+Fala for AACD (The Brazilian Handicapped Association).
When browsing to a partner website with an incorrect URL (which have over 17million of uniques), instead of the usual “Page Not Found”, the user is surprised with a plea for help by AACD, inviting donations on AACD’s website. And if your organization wants to do the same, just download the 404 page assets on the website.
Turning a browsing error into a charity opportunity is a great example how we don’t always need big budgets, but rather be ingenious with what we have available.
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There. Just submitted my vote for 15 campaigns showcased on the best blog on social advertising and non-profit campaigns.
Visit Osocio.org and find out more about the great works nominated, showing that advertising and marketing can also help to make the world a better place.
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Reposted from TheTrendWatch.com
Mobile devices, and particularly smartphones, are building a silent revolution, happening at the edges of the mainstream. While many are playing Angry Birds or checking in at Foursquare, entrepeneurs have been discussing and engineering a new set of of technologies and hardware that will deeply transform commerce and culture.
The first few weeks of 2011 are rather elusive of how the talk around mobile payments will get louder. From the lively discussion at Peter Paul Koch’s blog to the recent announcement of Google allowing operator billing for their Android platform, things will get really, really interesting.
If you need further examples how deeply this affects our lives, just think about a world where you’ll travel without your credit cards, as they’ve been replaced by secure SIM cards and upcoming NFC (Near Field Communication) technologies.
A light demo by Timo Arnall of NFC applications
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Yes! it’s Blog Action Day, the right time to get your Age Of Conversation 3 book and help charity:water.
Blog Action Day joins bloggers to support a common cause, with water being the selected theme in 2010. Help me, Gavin, Drew and all the Age Of Conversation bloggers to support this non-profit organization by purchasing this collaborative book:
charity: water is a non-profit organization bringing clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations. 100% of public donations directly fund water projects.
Did you know that just $20 can give one person clean water for 20 years? The simple act of buying a book, written by some of the most influential marketing authors, can indeed make a difference!
P.S. Do let me know of what you think of my chapter.
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Cross-posted at TheTrendwatch.com
Original Flickr photo by badjoni
E-commerce was at first a personal activity, where each user was a self-determining agent regarding products and services. With wishlists, customer reviews and ratings, recommendation or referrals it evolved into what is now usually called Social Commerce.
The past few months have brought some new patterns, that further confirmed the importance of the social graph for e-tailers as confirmed by recent studies by comScore and Performics/ROI Research , with consumers connecting with brand channels (40%), recommending products and services (32%) and finding out about new deals on social networks (37%).
Another study by Sage Pay, revealed that while on average 7% of visitors to an online store make a purchase, when directed from social media network, the percentage of visitors who will go to the transaction section goes up to 71%. Social proof is even more important for e-commerce, as Simon Black, managing director at Sage Pay, says: “The modern shopper often looks for reassurance from a positive review, a special offer to make it more affordable, inexpensive delivery options and a quick, easy and secure way to pay.”
Video case of Levis Friends store
Adding the social dimension to e-commerce websites was once difficult, but with the release of social plugins by Facebook (Like buttons, Recommendations, Activity Feed) e-tailers have now instant access to a network of more than 400 million people, used with succes by global brands like Levis or TripAdvisor. It has also expanded the reach to social services and platforms such as LivingSocial, SocialAmp or Fluid Fan Shop . And youre not limited to Facebook: with Cheap Tweet, the best deals right are delivered to your Twitter timeline, with the site picking the best ones ranked by users votes and re-tweets. Altough this latest service risks becoming obsolete with the announcement by Twitter of @earlybird.
Image by Emarketeer
Entertainment, by definition, is one of the more promising areas where to apply this new social dimension of shopping. Take for instance the Facebook app Tickets Together created by Disney that lets users buy tickets fo Toy Story 3, not only for themselves, but also inviting their friends.
Not only does this app makes it easy to choose where to watch the movie (local listing) but it lets you engage with the ones youd probably will watch the movie with, and invite them right on Facebook, by integrating with ticket-buying services like Fandango.com.
Exciting as it is, these are only tools and technologies. Whats really interesting are the new behaviors brought by the social web and connected consumers.
Making purchases together is one of the biggest web trends in 2010. Its easy to understand why: when users reach for their friends to get a deal (usually a minimum number of buyers is required), a viral loop is created. New models of authentication to social networks (Facebook Connect, Friend Connect, OAuth) have only made it easier and faster. From limited time offers, to price anchoring (show how much it would cost on a normal purchase), its one of the most effective ways to generate word-of-mouth.
These deals are available on social web services like Groupon, This Next, Tippr, LivingSocial, TownHog, Homerun , Milo or even as integrated applications such as Special Deal group-buy app by preferred Facebook partner Wildfire.
Groupon is the biggest player, with a simple proposal: advertise a special business offer, only valid if a certain amount of users purchase it immediately.
Launched in November 2008, it has sold over 7 million online coupons in 70 cities and is now expanding worldwide (UK, DE, ES, PT). Paying attention to small details is their main strenght: from putting a phone number on every coupon to 2 way ratings (customers rating merchants and vice-versa) it created an engaged community. Even unsubscribing from their newsletter is funny.
Graphic by Compete.com
From June 2009 to January 2010, the number of monthly visitors went from 26,000 to over 2.1 million, increasingly engaged with an average of 2.5 visits per month for each user. And whats really amazing is that these visits are not coming from the usual sources. Last January, Facebook represented 44% of all referrals, Twitter 8% and search only around 3%.
Growth happens not only in visits but also as a platform, helping third-party developers and affiliate members get the word out about its daily specials. Groupons API has become available both as Division API (about cities) and Deals API (about daily deals for specific locations), further explored by integrating with Groupons geolocation service.
Another example on how groups and communities will become increasingly important in shopping is Woot.
The basic idea behind Woot is to offer only one discounted product each day, a “One Day, One Deal” policy until the stock is sold out, with no announcement of whats the next offering. Innovative events and product specials like Woot-Off, “Bag Of Crap” or “2-for-Tuesday” coupled with bold marketing have built one vibrant community where its members actually have fun shopping.
Woot shows their different business culture, on their Amazons acquisition wicked celebration rap
Recently acquired by Amazon, much of the coverage focused on how Amazon captured the opportunity of real-time shopping, but the real value might be on the social side, venturing into new business models where communities represent a bigger role than the usual 20th century e-commerce.
The concept of collaborative consumption is the subject of the upcoming book Whats Mine is Yours: The Rise of Collaborative Consumption by Rachel Botsman and Roo Rogers.
Recently speaking at TEDx Sydney, Rachel explains that “collaborative brands make it easy for communities to act on behalf of their brands”, where we are no longer defined as consumers by our personal possessions, but also by what we are part of, what we share and the groups we belong to.
Original Flickr photo by boostventilator
New trends like swaptrading (such as Swaptree.com, sort of online dating service for all of your unwanted media), reveals new models of commerce, where trust mechanics and collaborative behaviors are principal. This groundswell of collaborative consumption is further accelerated by the rise of mobile communication.
Rachel Botsman defines 4 big drivers of the shift to collaborative consumption:
People are starting to share resources without sacrificing their lifestyles or personal freedom, supported by 3 clear systems:
You can get an overview of this new model of consumption on the promo video below:
Collaborative Consumption Groundswell Video from rachel botsman on Vimeo.
After the financial crisis, consumers are adopting these new behaviors that will impact e-commerce for the years to come. Group buying and collaborative consumption are the latest of these trends that brands will need to pay attention to and embrace the value of social capital and not only the monetary side of commerce.
If you know of more examples or want to discuss how communities are impacting e-commerce, please drop a note in the comments.
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Last week Steve Jobs put one more nail in Adobe’s Flash coffin, further confirmed with Microsoft’s support to H.264 codec for HTML video on Internet Explorer 9. What i find amusing was the fact i left serious Flash development almost 3 years ago, becoming increasingly interested in open standarts, not only XHTML or HTML5, but also on the interoperability between systems, almost as important as openess.
Trying to figure out trends is on of the key assets for a creative technologist like me. Dealing with social media before it became popular, playing with Flash when it was still version 3, getting curious about OAuth in 2007, or betting that Facebook would become huge in Portugal, i wonder if this isn’t only a confirmation bias.
So, what are the tea leaves that i’ve been reading lately?
Maybe i’m dead wrong in a few years, but prescience delivers great new challenges.
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Helpers-EU.com is not your traditional campaign, but rather a web series promoted by the European Union to raise awareness about the dangers of tobacco.
In partnership with Daily Motion, but also with a Youtube channel the animated films are a fun way to inform young europeans, but also engaging them with the web series by allowing them to vote on the theme/tip for the next episode.
The series depicts 3 super-heroes who try to save smokers and non-smokers from the negative effects of tobacco, by giving them absurd tips and advice. Chuck, Skinny and Loona, accompanied by Tapas, a masochistic freak of nature that wont leave them alone, unify their strengths for better or for worst.
You can also find the Helpers on Facebook and Beebo.
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A short break on these holidays didn’t helped to pick up my regular posting schedule, as i forced myself to unwire my lifestyle. As i resume a lot of on-hold projects, and decide what to do in 2010 on this digital canvas, time to do a short mention to another place were my writing goes, Osocio.org, that has recently announced the nominees for Best Social Campaign of 2009:
The winner is to be announced next week, and hopefully 2010 will bring a new fature: “Campaign of the Month”. For more details, check the original post at Osocio.org.
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Land’s End is sponsoring this year the Big Boston Warm-Up, an effort to make the season warmer for the homeless people in the Boston area. Collecting one coat at a time (donated at Sears), but also setting up a beautiful website, developed by Firstborn NYC.
The infographic rich website also informs about the installation at Boylston Plaza with 738 figures waiting for a warm red heart, meaning that 10 people have donated coats for each figure.
Finally, do check the also special and personalized video after the jump.
Source: @brianjeremy
Cross-posted at Osocio.org