As our newsletter subscribers will know, PLAY has some exciting news! We’ve been invited to make a guest appearance on The Gruen Transfer, selling the unsellable in The Pitch segment. Filming will take place on 25 August, with the show airing on 1 September. Our creative is in production now and we can’t wait to show you, so watch out for us and fingers crossed!

You may have heard of a guy named Marco. I must admit, Marco’s a bit of a hipster and always seems to know exactly what gigs, parties, exhibitions and shows are happening around town and he’s always got tickets! If you’re between 17 and 25, there’s a fair chance that you’ve met Marco either on Facebook or in a shinny new Volkswagen Polo…

Marco Polo is one of the latest campaigns to come out of the PLAY studio. A fusion of social media, street activations and PR; Marco Polo took to the streets of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth offering free rides and tickets to the best events in town. Using Facebook to drive all the activity, the first to post “Polo” when Marco posted “Marco” on his wall, were in for a night to remember! Say what’s up to Marco a www.facebook.com/marcopolo.

I have just started reading Tim Flannery’s book ‘The Weather Makers’. For those of you who haven’t read it, as the title would suggest, the book is all about the history and future impact of climate change. For those of you that have…you probably think I’m pretty late to the party. Well…better late than never. An admittedly new reading topic for me, my knowledge around climate change is limited. I understand it on a very basic level, but I hope to get further entrenched in this issue and make some changes of my own after reading ‘The Weather Makers’.

My interest to read it was sparked a couple of weeks ago when I attended an Innovation Forum held by IF Talks. Several speakers including Matt Perry from the green and ethical advertising agency ‘Republic of Everyone,’ Melinda Tually from ‘I ran the wrong way’ and Blair Palese CEO of 350.org amongst others made stimulating and often opposing debates around the future of our planet and our responsibility within it.
Ben Rennie, founder of Innovation Forum will be hosting another panel discussion in September. To find out more go to

http://www.theweathermakers.org/

http://iftalks.com/IF_TALKS/IF_TALKS.html

We already know that there is an ongoing exponential increase in social media usage. Facebook is now used by over 500 million people worldwide. A third of worldwide Internet users log into Facebook to update their status and photos. That’s a lot.

From an advertising and marketing perspective though, it pays to understand just how in-depth this usage is. North American Technographics conducted an online survey to ascertain the depth of online usage. This was compared against results from a survey conducted in 2006 by the same organisation.

The population was divided into Creators, Conversationalists, Critics, Collectors, Joiners, Spectators and Inactives. It revealed that 70% of the population identify themselves as ‘Spectators’, which includes reading blogs, listening to podcasts, watching videos and reading online forums. Only 24% identified as ‘Creators’ who were defined as people who’ publish blogs, publish web pages, upload videos and music and post articles or stories.’

At face value, this may all seem a little bit ‘captain obvious.’ It’s not exactly an astute observation to suggest that there are more people online who are ‘spectators’ as opposed to ‘creators.’

I do, however think it’s something to bear in mind when we are in the process of creating campaigns. It’s so easy to get carried away thinking of exciting ideas for consumers that involve content generation and sharing. ‘Why don’t we get them to upload a video to win something?’ is quite a common catch phrase. Next time though, consider the audience and how many of them are actually the type to create and share content.

theaustralian.com.au/news

forresters

Easyjet has recently launched a holiday planner within its Facebook fan page. It’s an application that allows fans to plan holidays with their Facebook friends. There is also an option to purchase tickets directly from Facebook eradicating the need to even visit the Easyjet website.

This is not the only case of ecommerce ever seen on Facebook (take 1-800-FLOWERS and Basketballer Amar’e Stoudemire’s Facebook fan store) yet it raises some interesting questions around the role of the social networking tool in marketing. Instead of using Facebook as a channel to drive traffic back to a central hub, in this instance Facebook is acting as the location for business transactions. So then – is this a one off or the beginning of a trend? Well it all comes back to value – will Facebook users feel they are gaining value being able to shop on Facebook? Or, conversely, will they feel that these ecommerce elements will interrupt their social networking experience? From a business perspective Facebook is a very clever way to reach diverse audiences and interrupt conversations and opinions around products, however, if ever the day were to come when Facebook was evidently more marketing activity than personal interactions and conversations I believe this functional shift would result in turmoil for Facebook.

easyJet on facebook
1800 Flowers on facebook

Last night I had the pleasure of attending a Wake Up Sydney! event at the recently refurbished Townhall. Wake Up Sydney! are challenging Sydneysiders to make Sydney the ‘kindness capital’ of the world, through anonymous acts of kindness. Imagine sitting in a café over the weekend, sipping your morning coffee and listening to the (seemingly never ending) rain pouring down. You get up to leave and realise that someone’s paid for your coffee and left you a kindness card instead of a bill… pretty cool idea isn’t it!

So after news of earth quakes and oil spills, the evening became a refreshing celebration of kindness and our connection to the living earth. Seen through the eyes of indigenous storytellers and dancers, visionaries and artists; the power of experience was truly inspiring and galvanising. Come on Sydney, let the kindness flow!

Like it or not, the need for recognition and status is at the heart of every consumer trend. Status is the ultimate (hidden) motive, a subconscious but ever-present force. Trend Watching has identified 5 ways that consumers get their status fix:

1. Bigger, Better, Harder.
This refers to a consumer’s appetite for expensive, in-your-face brands and products.
2. Generosity
This kind of status comes from feeling part of a greater good through aid and contribution. The online world also makes these random acts of altruism far easier to showcase (so maybe the old line “there’s no such thing as a selfless act” really does ring true!)
3. Green Credentials and Consumption
This refers to a consumers’ interest in green credentials that eco-conscious owners can show off to their peers. Bold, iconic markers and designs often assist with exhibiting eco-credentials to the world.
4. In the know and skills
There is a growing segment of consumers who find pleasure in mastering new and sometimes unusual skills and acquiring knowledge. Status comes from finding an appreciative audience that’s impressed with what they know, and can create, instead of what they consume.
5. Connectivity
Another form of status comes from accumulating the largest possible number of fans, friends or followers. Retweets, the number of views for a photo on Flickr or a video on YouTube are also associated with one’s social status and that can be shared instantly and on a potentially large scale.

So – what does all of this mean? Well there are opportunities amongst this egotistical, status-seeking mentality that afflicts us all to some degree of another. It’s worthwhile finding out who and how your customers are trying to impress. If you’re customers are all on the eco bandwagon, maybe the old bigger, better harder approach isn’t going to cut it. From an experiential perspective, it’s all about status stories – now more than ever we need to create experiences that have talkability and are worth sharing with friends to build status.

Trend Watching

Nike recently developed a campaign that used the London postcode grid and existing telephone boxes as the main components for the Nike Grid experience, driven virally online.

As the video demonstrates, the aim of the game is to run to as many post codes in the London grid and prove you did it by dialling in from a phone box and entering your given number – all in 24 hours! Sound like a challenge? Perhaps, until you take a closer look…

Some responses online include, “how can you stop people from cheating and driving the circuit” and “can’t you get your mates to sneakily help out”? Perhaps I am taking the game element a little too seriously…

While some may have found holes in the execution, results speak for themselves…15,000 you tube views, 2851 people who gave it the thumbs up on Facebook, hundreds of twitter postings, not to mention the many blog postings – including this one!

Check out Nike Grid online.

With final touches being made as we speak, PLAY’s new campaign for VW is raring to go! Word on the street is that Marco’s got a few surprises up his sleeve… get the inside scoop at facebook.com/marcopolo

It is always great to get clients who want to push technology to the edge – however it usually comes with a large price tag that is hard for some marketing managers to grasp. But as digital equipment evolves the outcomes are only going to get more impressive and show stopping…

Take for instance, this incredible virtual catwalk created for Diesel. Not only does it tick the “wow” factor box, but it also has fantastic legs from both a viral campaign and WOM perspective. This is a great example of how some creative thinking can produce a small event that can be leveraged online and shared with the rest of the world. I love it! Just make sure you watch at least 1.30 into the video because it will surprise you…