DaxThink: Digital life

ING have launched a new free ebank account and are using an interactive video to promote it. It is one of the better campaigns I have seen with good interactive content, pretty funny on viral video scales too.

It also has an easy way to add some content to your blog (see below) which should help spread it around. But is that the point? It is still a microsite campaign with some viral content. Would it not be better to spend the budget on places where you know your audience are? I feel that days of campaigns like this might be behind us.

Best of luck to ING, would like to see campaign results if anyone is willing to share them with me.



:~Dax~:

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The Dutch. Sterotyped for clogs, legal drugs and tulips. Perhaps now to be known as the first country to prosecute a real person for the theft of virtual furniture.

A 17 year old and a few of his friends have been arrested for hacking into users accounts over at Habbo Hotel and stealing their furniture to place into their own rooms of the same game.

As you have to use real money to buy the furniture (by calling premium rate phone lines) that constitues a crime in the real world and so they are to be charged with hacking and burglary.

There are going to be some interesting legal challenges over the coming years as the boundaries between real and virtual continue to blur.

:~Dax~:

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In the interests of being fair, read today they shifted 100,000 units in the first 24 hours. Not bad at all, still think the argument will be in sustained sales.


:~Dax~:

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I have a smug feeling this evening having NOT been one of the people stood in the rain for 2 days to queue for an iPhone.

The iPhone is a tremendous piece of technology, the screen design and interface alone has revolutionised phone design and forced other manufacturers to roll-out decent touch screens.

However, there are many reasons why it was not going to be the overnight success it was in the US, including:

1. It's lacking 3G
2. Cost - the UK market is used to getting the latest and greatest kit every 12 to 18 months for free
3. It's lacking 3G
4. The iPod Touch is out and offers all the cool bits of the iPhone without the uncool 18 month O2 contract
5. It's lacking 3G!!

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Guinness launched their new TV advert tonight on UK tv.



Before it had seen the light of day it was being discussed online, talked about on the radio and was even on the second page of the London evening papers. At half past eight we were to be treated to a £10m ($20m) tv spectacular squeezed into the traditional 30 second slot.

Having just seen it, my reaction was to think what I might have missed.

The concept is good and involves an Argentinian village playing host to a giant domino rally, starting with a multitude of dominos (reported to have taken 2 experts 3 days to assemble), moving onto books, mattresses, flaming hay bails and even cars. The finale was a giant pint of Guinness made of books with white pages that toppled open to act as a rsising head.

Quite honestly I am mystified as to what cost so much money.

However, it's not my intention to critique the advert itself; it's a great piece of footage and no doubt better than I could have produced.

What I do find suprising is the very 'traditional' 30 second format that they have chosen to go for. Who spends anywhere near that kind of budget anymore on producing a tv advert? I would want to question the comparative results that could have been acheived with this money on other channels such as online.

One of the reasons for the ongoing success of the Sony Bravia series or the Dairy Milk gorilla ad was the strategic use of online creating a genuine viral buzz. These ads are of high quality and are quirky and unique enough to grab the consumer's attention; not an easy thing to do. Importantly it was a chance to validate the ad and understand its potential success, or failure, before spending a large tv media budget.

'Guinness White Horses' this is not, but it's going to generate awareness and buzz, just perhaps not as much as £10m might have done in other ways. Part of me things there must be more to come on this, follow-ups, YouTube formats, spoofs etc.

Let's see.

Ps. A great example of a spoof follow-up can be seen here with a WonderBra version of the Gorilla advert; very clever hijacking of a marketing campaign. "Two cups of joy". (Read the background here - sorry its the Daily Mail!).




:~Dax~:

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Googlewhacking is a time wasting activity that involves looking for a two-word query to run in Google that returns a single result.

Read more background on this at Googlewhack.com ... yes, there is a whole site dedicated to it!

So why would spammers want to use this?

Spam filters are programmed to look for links in emails that may point to unfavourable content, including spoofing URLs, illegal substances etc. What they weren't programmed to eliminate was a link to Google search results.

Knowing this, spammers produced very specific search queries that would only list their own site or at least rank it in the number one spot. They would then modify the URL so it ran the not often used 'I'm feeling lucky' feature of Google and hey presto, you have by-passed all the spam filters by disguising your own link as a Google search page.

Spam filter 'makers' are onto them and some now eliminate emails that use this type of link. Sadly for most of us that just means even more of our legitimate emails will be accidentally black-balled.


:~Dax~:

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Run a quick search for the term "search engine" in Google and you may be suprised by the results, or rather the big omission from the results - Google.

Yes, Google does not rank as a search engine in its own index.

I debated this with a colleague, Nilhan (Head of Natural Search at iCrossing UK) today and we feel this is due to the brand positioning that they have acheived; the brand name Google has become synonimis with being a search engine. They have joined the ranks of Hoover from this point of view.

Positioning in Google is effected strongly by the links pointing back to a site and the words used in that content. Becuase of their brand positioning there is no need to refer to them as a search engine, just saying the name 'Google', or 'I am going to Google it' are enough.

This creates a lack of suitable links to produce a good ranking for the own industry term.

A great example of how the Google algortithm can be treated as a true emergent system, but one that would benefit from some human input from time to time.

:~Dax~:

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It appears that when the iPhone launches in Frnace in 2008 it will not be locked to a network for more than 6 months due to local laws. This could represent a saving of £360 (USD$720) against the UK bundled price on offer from the O2 network.

Apple consider it a "cat and mouse game" between themselves and the iPhone unlockers and will continue to try and block current and future functionality for those owners who have chosen this route. Therefore, an official 'unlocked' version from France could be the sensible solution.

:~Dax~:

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