OTOinsights

Inspired Viral Video: Black Eyed Peas on Obama

Via Salon.com, I found a blurb about a viral video for the Obama campaign. I checked out the video, and I was quite impressed. The production qualities are high, which is what seemed to impress Salon. But that's not what got me excited enough to blog about it; what impressed me was how authentically YouTube this video was. This isn't some political hackery saying "me too!" to the Facebook generation. This video gets it.

One of the great, if not the greatest, creative strategies of online animations and videos is to take a work of mainstream culture and rework it, commenting on it, distorting it, and appropriating it. This is a dominant cultural logic of "hip" entertainment today.

The best examples of this strategy reveal and celebrate the voice of the remixer. In other words, the source voice is dominated by the viral video's producer/editor. It's not surprising that political campaigns, terrified of relinquishing control over their message, would be leery about fan-created videos. Certainly many inspiring online videos have been made about politicians, but they are commonly parodies (such as this one about Bush, or this one about John Edwards), or they are propaganda pieces.

But the Obama campaign has got to love how the Black Eyed Peas have reworked Obama's oratory into a video that can stand alongside their best work. This video neither parrots nor subverts Obama's message; it personalizes and extends it into the Black Eyed Peas own powerful idiom.

Jeffrey Bardzell, Ph.D.
Indiana University / Quantemo / t=zero

OTOinsight's Serious Games for Marketing Presentation: Corporate vs. Amature Builds

OTOinsight's t=zero research division bowed its initial set of findings focused on Serious Game Marketing by comparing corporate vs. amature virtual world builds at the MITX Digital Marketing Conference (hosted by UK Trade & Investment at the British Consulate in Cambridge, MA.).  This is an early insight to what will be the inaugural report that t=zero will publish in Q1 2008.   

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[NOTE: If your company is interested in participating in one of the limited sponsorship positions available of the above scheduled research, please contact sales@onetooneinteractive.com.]

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"Serious games" refers to the use of games and game technologies for non-entertainment purposes. Traditionally, the education, health, and military sectors were the primary actors in this domain. But in the past few years, marketing has arisen as a major subdomain of this area.  This presentation compares player engagement in some of Second Life's most successful user-generated areas compared with some of the more ambitious corporate-sponsored efforts in Second Life.

Download a PDF of the Presentation by click on the image below:

OTOlabs sets Industry "abuzz" with Branded Desktop Application, Widget, and Mobile Innovations

One to One Interactive's OTOlabs group has seen an enormous amount of industry attention based on its Branded Desktop Application, Widget, and Mobile innovations:

Forrester Research "What Travel Sellers Should Know About Desktop Widgets"

Below is both a research report and presentation given by Forrester Research that details how the travel industry is utilizing Branded Desktop Applications to engage their customers.  OTOlab's Vail Resorts' SnowMate and Hawaiian Airlines' BDA are featured.

Download PDF Version of the report here:

Download Audio and Presentation version of the report here (Requires WebEx Player):

Vail Resort's "The Snowfight" Facebook Widget

Related to the above analyst report regarding how travel brands are executing successful disaggregated media solutions to engage with their customer, OTOlabs recently launched a new Facebook widget for Vail Resorts called "The Snowfight".  Snowfight works like this - the more it snows at Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone and Heavenly ski resorts, the more points you get. The more points you get, the more snow you get. The more snow you get, the more you can pelt your friends.

Fox's Family Guy & Vail Resort Zumobi Rich Mobile App Highlighted by New York Times

The New York Times recently covered the future of the mobile internet in an article titled "Mobile Web: So Close Yet So Far".  In their article they published a picture of Zumobi's mobile user interface that included two tiles that OTOlabs produced on behalf of Fox's Family Guy and Vail Resorts.  OTOlabs is a partner with Zumobi and continues to actively participate in its beta and formal launch program.

McDonalds Embraces Open Source Marketing

Last year (March 30th, 2006 to be exact), I published a post titled "Consumer Generated Media Asset for McDonalds".  Within that post I included a great video that I found on YouTube of two guys in front of a McDonalds rapping about McNuggets (see below).  I also stated:

"If I where in their shoes, I would be posting this on McDonald websites, streaming it within ad banners, and placing it within their broadcast media rotation". 

Imagine my surprise when I learned that indeed they recently turned that footage into a television commercial.  Great job guys!  This is a  lead for other brands to follow.  Regularly track the blogsphere for good/positive consumer generated content and find ways to include the executions in your creative advertising/marketing rotation.

Original Consumer Generated Content:

McDonald's Commercial Broadcast Adaptation:

Bonus:  To my McDee's Marketing peeps, you absolutely should find a way to use the below consumer generated content titled "McDonald's: The Rap".  Contact its creator, Remy,  ASAP!

Jeremi Karnell-President, One to One Interactive

Desktop Applications, Screen Mates, Widgets, Gadgets, Modules, Oh My!!!

Consumer control of media continues to shatter old paradigms of content publishing and distribution.   More and more enterprises are exploring disaggregated media strategies that embrace the web as a platform for services and allowing consumers of information to install, embed, and/or configure small executable applications that are customized to fit into very individualized and personalized media portfolio.  From Branded Desktop Applications such as Southwest Airline’s Ding! to Apple’s iPhone Mobile Widgets, the marketplace is heating up with new and innovative solutions to answer the consumer cry for rich, modular, and customizable streams of content and information. 

Last week, One to One Interactive and MITX hosted the second Digital Marketing Series event that explored these emerging platforms, case examples of successful deployments, and best practices.  Participating in the session was Chris Heitmann, EVP One to One Interactive & Managing Director of OTOlabs, Stephen DiMarco, CMO of Compete.com, Nick Quagliara, M.S. IU School of Informatics, and Dan Gallagher, VP Audience & Architecture of NetworkWorld. 

The presentation and survey data that was discussed at the session may be downloaded here:

Speakers' Presentation (PDF, 11MB)
Compete Disaggregated Media Survey (July 2007)

Special thanks goes to Jeffrey Bardzell, Ph.D. and Shaowen Bardzell, Ph.D. for their valuable contributions.

Comcastic Island Videos

Below are video segments that represent just some of the activities made available to residents of Second Life who visit Comcastic Island.  This footage was shot prior to our final release, so some small things have changed (enhanced really).  However, this will give you a good idea of Comcastic Island if you do not have a Second Life Account and wish to check it out.

Comcastic Island Video: Introduction

Comcastic Island Video: Island Entrance

Comcastic Island Video: Race Track

Comcastic Island Video: Jet Ski

Comcastic Island Video: Jet Pack

Comcastic Island Video: Parachute

Comcastic Island Video: Soda Fountain

Comcastic Island Video: Entertainment Complex

OTOi helps Comcast Launch "Comcastic Island" in Second Life

Yesterday, Comcast announced the opening of Comcastic Island in Second Life, officially becoming the first major North American communications company to establish a presence in a virtual world environment.  Comcast, a client of OTOi, started planning a Second Life initiative at the end of last year.  OTOi developed the strategy and outsourced the build to Million's of Us.  There was a concerted effort  to not do anything overtly marketing.  Instead, efforts were focused on creating value for the overall Second Life Community by developing a massive entertainment venue where in-world residents may go to play and have fun. 

Comcastic Island, which may be accessed by typing in the Keyword "Comcast" within Second Life's World Map search bar or by visiting the following SURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Comcast/128/128/0, contains a futuristic race track, jest ski course, jet pack course (where the jet packs may be acquired for free and used by residents as transportation  anywhere within Second Life), parachuting, an entertainment complex, cafe, and a secret lab (which you are going to have to try to find on your own).

This is the first of many initiatives planned by Comcast within Second Life.  Ultimately, this project will help inform them on how to engage with individuals in this and other up and coming virtual worlds (see Dr. Bardzell's post titled "Tourist vs. Resident Research").  This learning is vital for Comcast has they continue to transform themselves into one of the worlds leading entertainment companies.

Additional articles and posts about this launch may be found below:

Press:

Forbes.com
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/06/14/ap3822528.html

MediaPost
http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.showArticleHomePage&art_aid=6239

Multichannel News
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6452096.html

GameDaily BIZ
http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/news/?id=16508

 
Blog Posts:

3pointd
http://www.3pointd.com/20070605/comcast-parachutes-into-second-life/

MOU blog
http://www.millionsofus.com/blog/

SL Universe
http://www.sluniverse.com/pics/Default.aspx?Name=Kumi%20Kuhr

Blog Spot
http://slambling.blogspot.com/2007/06/comcast.html

ScottSecondLife
http://scottsecondlife.blogspot.com/2007/06/enter-comcastic-island.html

MindBlizzard
http://blog.mindblizzard.com/2007/06/comcast-plugged-in-sl.html

RipTen
http://www.ripten.com/2007/06/15/current-life-got-you-down-comcast-has-the-answer

mySecondLife.it (Italians are into it)
http://www.mysecondlife.it/comcast-apre-un-parco-a-tema/20070615.html

Slandreamedia (the French too, dammit)
http://slandreamedia.wordpress.com/2007/06/06/un-fai-dans-second-life/

Virtual Worlds News
http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2007/06/whos_new_to_sec.html

Jeremi Karnell-President, One to One Interactive

Tourist Versus Resident Research

I talk to a lot of business professionals and academics alike about Web 2.0, Second Life, and other emergent Web social spaces and phenomena. Many of the business folks have ideas about doing startups in this space; some of them have gotten some real money to do it. Academics are interested in practicing knowledge-production and teaching in these spaces. All these experts are ready to jump in and colonize these new spaces.

Yet many of these experts in the real world are naive n00bs in the Web 2.0 spaces they seek to colonize.

There are a few different reasons for this. One is that press accounts of these spaces are written by journalists who themselves have only superficial understandings of these spaces. Another is that many of these professionals are making good faith efforts to understand these phenomena, but are looking in the wrong places.

For example, when I talk to business professionals interested in Second Life, they tell me they've been to Reebok's and Pontiac's islands. Academics tell me they've been to look at new media consortium or the activities of such-and-such university. They've all visited IBM, and they're fired up to learn there is a highly active distribution list for Second Life educators. They've read about U2's Second Life concerts, and they know that some woman made, like, a LOT of money selling virtual real estate.

So what's wrong with that?

It's kind of like writing a literary critique of Jane Austen on the grounds of having seen Keira Knightley's Pride and Prejudice at the cinema. It's like an American going to Europe to visit Disneyland Paris. You're not experiencing the culture. You're seeing a cartoon picture of your navel. There's nothing wrong with it as far as it goes, but you don't want to base a startup or a dissertation on that alone.

If you want to understand Second Life, MySpace, Facebook, or whatever, don't be a tourist. Don't limit yourself to the spots Business Week and the New York Times bleat about.

Go live it.

Read blogs written by longtime residents, not scholars and professional marketers, and follow their URLs. Visit their spots in-world. Watch their "home movies" on YouTube. Completely fill in and regularly change/expand your profile. Dress up and make a killer avatar. Customize your user interface. Use new features. Upload your own pictures. Spend a little money. Ask someone you don't know for help. Learn who the famous residents and users are, read their profiles, and visit their del.icio.us pages. Develop online-only friendships that actually mean something to you. Organize a real-life event using a friends list on Facebook.

Nothing says it wouldn't be possible for a tourist to help develop a city, but a resident is in a better position to get it right the first time.

Forget The Risk. Let Your Customers Sell Your Products

In the past, generating word of mouth was a goal for every marketer but getting the buzz going was a huge challenge.  Today, on communities and in blogs, customers are talking about your product whether you want them to or not.

Earlier this month, Yahoo presented a research study on brand advocates with some interesting findings. Of course, the term “brand advocates” inherently implies that these folks are loyal.  Turns out they are also likely to generate twice as much revenue as non-brand advocates through their recommendations.  For example, in the auto industry, 38% of customers are advocates and 14% of them had at least one friend make the same purchase based on their advice.  Think about it…hundreds of thousands of friends buying new cars without additional marketing spend.

How are these advocates spreading the word?  They have broad social circles online.  On a weekly basis, brand advocates are three times more likely than non-advocates to communicate in an online community, read a blog, or post an opinion.   They like being “go-to” people and they have a built-in audience – 76% of consumers would rather turn to another consumer for information about a product or service than get an expert recommendation.

So…what does this mean for all those risk-adverse companies afraid to jump into social media? They need to stop trying to control the flow of information and meet it head on.  They should provide forums for conversation, take product suggestions from advocates seriously and contribute to the dialogue, even when it’s negative.   It's simple.  Companies need to keep their brand advocates happy and engaged.  The revenue is worth the risk.

Forrester Research Points to OTOinsights

Thank you Brian Haven, Senior Forrester Research Analyst, for pointing to OTOinsights  in a recent report titled "Interactive Marketing Channels to Watch in 2007" as an example of how marketers should leverage their email and RSS content to support their initial steps into the blogsphere. 

Brain writes:

" Make your first strides into social media with RSS and blogs:  Last year, we said holding off on social media was OK>  But rapid consumer adoption of these channels indicates that the time is now to enter this space.  How to dive in?  RSS is relatively simple first step for marketers with mature email marketing programs in that initial RSS feeds can consist of repurposed email content.  Likewise, email or RSS content can also create initial blog posts.  For example, interested users can find insights from interactive agency One to One Interactive from its blog, via RSS, or in email alerts."

In addition to leveraging existing e-mail/RSS content to support initial blog initiatives we would like to add to Brian's advice by recommending that marketers actively educate their internal constituents on their company's corporate blog strategy and, when appropriate, seek regular contributions from their staff as a way to begin generating new and more relevant content.  Additionally, marketers would be well served by incorporating social bookmarking (like De.licio.us) into their blog strategy as a way to augment their existing content with complimentary content on the Web authored by external sources.