A Source Of Inspiration

Blurring the digital lifestyle

The gap between offline and online has narrowed in 2007, blurring the difference between consumers and users. The so called web 2.0 has reached mainstream, with regular users adopting Rich Internet Applications like online word processors or flocking to virtual worlds. The convergent consumer created a online hub for work and entertainment that nurtured the growth of technologies that enabled the creation and distribuition of immersive experiences.

Online Platforms

The digital lifestyle was also adopted by other platforms, with the iPhone becoming one of the main icons of convergence in 2007, a landmark in technology and a mobile device sales champion. Also in mobile, Google took a major step away from the desktop, with the Android platform, converging the interest of companies, developers and consumers. Other technologies, such as multi-touch devices, with research from PerceptivePixel for Microsoft Surface or the hack on the Wii remote, envisioned the need to integrate offline experiences with online.

Will it blend?

Even one of the most famous online videos of 2007 had convergence in mind, reminding us that the power of word-of-mouth is still the most effective forms of marketing and that advertising should be seen as a conversation igniter about products and services, and not a trespasser on consumers’ lives.

More consumer power

As consumers felt empowered, the need for defining their digital self grew stronger, with a louder online voice. Consumers are now brand ambassadors or become part of online communities, with social networks creating major buzz in 2007, Facebook beeing the rising star.
With great power comes great responsibility, and new concerns arose regarding digital privacy, an important on the main online advertising deal of the year: Google buying DoubleClick.

Online moves

Other online advertising moves were made by companies like Hitwise, aQuantitative, Nielsen or Compete, with innovations on services and metrics provided, questioning even more the obsolete model of traditional media. Google, despite too many product launches (Street View, Knols), etc, etc) has strengthened their lead on search advertising, and also bought RSS advertising network Feedburner. But there’s life beyond Mountain View, with Yahoo, Live.com and Ask.com showing that they’re still around, with some refreshing competition from niche search by Wikia, Spock or Mahalo).

A small, small world

Media convergence creates an apparently smaller world, that set stage to new forms of publishing like microblogging (Twitter) or tumblelogs (Tumblr), and promote a more imediate and objective communication. With the dividing line between online and offline-online blurring, more creative campaigns are set to connect these two realities: the promos for The Simpsons movie or the Year Zero ARG campaign for Nine Inch Nails were amongst the most memorable marketing moments of 2007.

Something to remember

Finally, in Portugal, a promising year in tech and new media events, with e-Mkt 2007, TakeOff and Barcamp in Coimbra, and a big November with Sapo Codebits plus the news of OFFF 2008 in Lisbon. In blogs, the launch of blog networks Tubarão Esquilo and Prt.sc were a sign that Portuguese online media is shaping up, perhaps encouraged with the growing interest of brands on social media, as for instance with the Rexona blog. In fact, Rexona has also one of my favorite international campaigns at “Quien es Fermin“, joining “Good Things Should Never End” and “Get The Glass” at my top online marketing campaigns of 2007.

No 2008 predictions, please

I won’t do the usual 2008 predictions, despite my pretty good hints last year. Instead, I’ll ask you to reflect on this: more than blogeratti or geeks, it’s regular consumers that will set the trends, and they will keep visiting MySpace, wondering around on souvenir shops and eating Oreo pizzas. No matter how strange and un-convergent that seems to “us”.

This article will soon be available in Portuguese, at blog network Prt.sc

(Cross-post from Osocio.org)

Tired of putting your name on web forms? Don’t give up yet as you can do something different for a change and unsubscribe.

Amnesty International UK is inviting people to do just that, on a message to governments that citizens are no longer quiet while human rights are attacked under the false pretext of ‘the war on terror’. And while most petitions ask you to sign up, the British AI is asking citizens to take your name off.

The campaign uses email and social media to encourage others to spread the message, and at the same time building a humanitarian life-stream conscientiousness.
With a subscription process that feels like a regular social network service, you’re invited to write your views on the subject and share it to your friends.

Data visualization is also one of the main features of the “true” social network, with live updates on the progress you and your friends have made to stop the government manipulation of public opinion, with a call to action against such acts as the ones being perpetrated at Guantanamo.
It then extends itself to other networks, such as Orkut, MySpace or Facebook, and links to other online media activists, again building on the concept of networks and how these can make a change. With such a magnitude, I guess we could call it human-rights crowdsourcing.

And of course, with a widget that you can use to share the campaign latest film:

Credits
Client: Amnesty International UK
Link: unsubscribe-me.org
Agency: Drugstore

Well, i guess i’m on a re-blogging week, this time with a few words for Adverblog’s advent calendar.

Adverblog was one of my inspirations to start blogging last year, authored by Martina Zavagno, an Italian interactive marketer and one of the masterminds behind the Diesel Heidies campaign.

So, here’s my 2 cents on it:

1) Which is the digital project that impressed you more this year and why?
Orange Unlimited, for reminding us that simple is beautiful, and building a successful integrated campaign. Other notable projects include the Heidies by Diesel or the recent one by Rexona Power, Spain, “Quien Es Fermin“. As for agencies, Northkingdom and FarFar still amaze us with outstanding work, with some great work coming from Eastern Europe, like ParkStudio’s work for Fanta or Nokia.

2) In your job, which is the most important thing you learnt this year?
I’ve learned to quit looking at my own bellybutton, and start looking to what regular users are doing online. Call it interactive etnography or something like that, but the truth is that we professionals are so much self-absorbed that it all feels like a big echo chamber. For instance, it amazes me the tons of people that don’t have a clue what twitter is, but instead use regular email to keep their friends updated.

(Reposted from Osocio.org)

From Canada, an update on the workplace safety campaign by WSIB (Workplace Safety and Insurance Board of Ontario).

The ad invites us to visit the website prevent-it.ca, where users can learn more about workplace safety.

The recent addition on the website uses the desktop metaphor as a quick access to many resources on workplace safety, such as rights and responsibilities, downloads or WSIB videos.  Or you could play the prevent-it challenge, a linear narrative where we must spot the hazards on the workplace, with helpful tips on safety.

If you’ve enjoyed the site, there’s plenty of sharing tools to spread the message.

Advertiser:
WSIB

Agency:

DraftFCB Toronto

Sorry for the triple edit on the latest Beowulf post, but with 3 hours of sleep it’s hard to review titles or use spell checkers.

The reason is quite simple: Sapo Codebits, the programming contest i was in the last 3 days, helping out a Prt.sc team last night.

Master coders and blog mates, Samuel and Luis (photo by JPAntunes)

Our project “Sapo Boa Vida” (Sapo Good Life) was a winner in the Mashup category, an idea of social recommendation based on geo data and Sapo webservices.

Time to get some sleep now.

You probably have already visited some of the blogs at 9rules or Weblogs, Inc but have you ever stopped to think about what makes a blog network ?
Let me answer that … well, I’m getting myself in trouble in trying to define a concept that even Wikipedia hasn’t answered, but at least I’ll give it a try.

Basic Conditions

First thing first, the network members should write blogs, in the form of a daily journal with original content updated regularly. If we agree on this obvious premise, that immediately excludes networks such as MyBlogLog or social bookmark services such as Digg. Also excluded are multi-author blogs since these are themselves a author network.

My second premise is they should have some sort of quality control, with a human authority determining which blogs are included and assuring premium content, leaving out networks such as Blogger.
Following the same line of thought, but with a more technical focus, the network should not enforce any platform or domain name, leaving out Wordpress.com or Instablogs for example. Both power and identity should be distributed across the community, so it makes no sense to require members to adhere to a particular set of tools.

One thing I’m not considering is the quality of blog content as a determining factor, since it’s subjective and biased to each network.

Having focused on the blog side of things I’m moving now into the network aspects. One thing that arises above all aspects is the community building, the conversational network, the bonds that establish between the blog members, way besides link-baiting or SEO concerns. I truly believe that you can only become a blog network if the members are passionate about it, help each other and feel responsible for the future of the network. One example that stands out amongst all them is 9 rules, that has a devoted community, greatly supportive of the network initiatives.

Being a network also means that you are able to aggregate information or have a global overview of content stream, whether through aggregating portals or tools such as widgets or rss feeds, allowing readers to browse the blogs from a nuclear location. That alone leaves a big player such as Gawker out, that I’ll rather classify as a media network.

As Duncan puts it, these are my basic criteria for being considered a blog network:

• network members are individual blog authors
• admission isn’t automated but based of human judgment
• network does not enforce publishing platform
• encourages community building
• nuclear aggregation of content

Classification

If a blog network complied with the previous conditions, then it could fit in one (or many) of these classifications:

• Category Network: network members write mostly about a particular topic. Examples include SBNation, a blog network discussing sports;
• Affiliated Network: that shares a common feature between bloggers: Example includes Prt.sc, where all authors are Portuguese;
• Local Network: members write about local subjects, geographically determined. Example includes MetroBlogging;
• Commercial Network:Network generating revenue to their members either through advertising revenues or paying their authors for published content. Examples include b5media.⁽¹⁾

Advantages

• For Blog authors: they apply or are invited to become part of a blog network with the perspective of increasing their audience and gain some additional advertising revenue;
• For Blog network owners/promoters: with dimension comes personal visibility and advertising opportunities;
• For Readers: they can find good blogs on a particular topic (by aggregation or hyperlinking between network members), a task increasingly difficult with today’s information overloa;.

One thing i must address here is that a blog network that doesn’t promote their own internal community (blog authors) has few chances of being successful, since no synergies or innovation occurs.

Ranking

Although some have tried to rank blog networks, there is much work to be done. Weblogs SL from Spain is in the right path by distributing metrics provided by third media parties (Nielsen Netratings), and it would be interesting if there was some way to judge blog network reach and frequency besides Technorati or Alexa.

List of Blog Networks

• 451 Press, http://www.451press.com
• 9 Rules, http://9rules.com
• Corante, http://www.corante.com
• Fodder Network, http://www.foddernetwork.com
• MetroBlogging, http://www.metroblogging.com
• Podcast Network, http://www.thepodcastnetwork.com
• Prt.Sc (Portugal), http://www.prt.sc
• SBNation, http://www.sbnation.com
• ShinyMedia, http://www.shinymedia.com
• Web2.0 Workgroup, http://www.web20workgroup.com
• Weblogs Inc, http://www.weblogsinc.com
• Weblogs SL (Spain), http://www.weblogssl.com
• TC Magazines Network (Germany), http://www.tcmagnet.com/

(*) Note: the list above is incomplete, so feel free to suggest any other networks that meet the criteria.

References

• http://tihane.wordpress.com/2006/12/24/3-blog-community-paradigms/

This is a work in progress and perhaps i’ll even submit it to Wikipedia, so let me know in what you think, and what other issues i should address.

(1) Deleted the Advertising Network (blog networks can exist without advertising, it’s not a common feature), and is now included in the Commercial Network, since by legal reasons no advertising revenue can be collected without a owner or company.

In one more episode of shameless promotion i’m featuring the work of Carlos Quitério, a portuguese artist that just launched Fitacola.com (translated as tape glue), a site/blog with collages from him and his wife Graça.

His personal website is Kodap.com with great drawings, illustrations and other mixed media.

Being itself a former student from ESTGAD University, at Caldas da Rainha, he does regular collaborations with other portuguese artists (such as Adriana de Barros or MusaCollective), altough his work has a worlwide reach.

One of my regular blogs to visit is “Toma e Embrulha“, that can be roughly translated as “wrap-it up”.
Created by Bruno Luís, the blog is a selection of posts and examples for those working or interested in advertising.

On the sidebar you can find the latest commercials, with links to all the new stuff. You’d probably find out some unusual posts if you browse for a while in the archives or try your luck using the tags.

Bruno’s main focus are the new media campaigns, guerrilla marketing and viral marketing, with the most popular posts being:

http://tomaeembrulha.blogsome.com/2006/06/12/vale-o-que-vale/
http://tomaeembrulha.blogsome.com/2006/06/28/slim-mais-slim-nao-ha/
http://tomaeembrulha.blogsome.com/2006/10/05/relacao-amorodio/
http://tomaeembrulha.blogsome.com/2006/10/16/pt-e-partners/
http://tomaeembrulha.blogsome.com/2006/09/17/chapa-3/
http://tomaeembrulha.blogsome.com/2006/07/01/golf-r32-the-miniaturizer/
http://tomaeembrulha.blogsome.com/2006/05/09/ingenious-billboard/

Ah, of course, as all my posts made under the title Shameless PromoTion, Bruno is from Portugal.