The Greatest Beer Commercial Ever?

Making beer is quite probably a very simple unglamorous process that happens in very sterile breweries but that is not what the marketing team Hahn Super Dry want to convey. Their advert shows the glamorous side of making beer and shows a huge process that the grain goes through in order to “make it taste better”. I don’t think they sell Hahn here but next time I see one I am going to have to try and taste one to see if all the effort these guys put in to their brewing process really works!

The Google + Song

The buzz around Google + seems to keep going and now it even has it’s own song. The Queen classic another one bites the dust has been transformed by comedy site Break in a funny song themed around Google’s latest social network. The lyrics are hilarious and it actually does a really good job of explaining some of the best features of Google + to people who might have no idea what it was or how it worked.

How to ride a “Fixie” around a W Hotel

The trendy W hotel in London have come up with a very stylish video that helps promote their hotel and show the city of London off at the same time. A “Fixie” is a trendy type of bike that you can do lots of tricks on and they had a pimped out bike specially made for their hotel with the rider completing a set of tricks both inside and outside their hotel. He is seen having a drink at the bar, riding the streets nearly getting run over and finally chilling in the bath with the bike beside him. The video does a great job of selling the hotel as the coolest hip place in town and the video should get shared an awful lot in the coming days.

Stunning New Bike Video – Industrial Revolutions

We shared one of these videos before from Danny Macaskill before saying that it was one of the best pieces of branded content that we had ever seen and the good news is he is back with an even better video that is quickly blowing up on Youtube with nearly half a million views. The style of the video is stunning and the simplicity of the shots matched with the iconic location make this a compelling 4 minutes of footage that really captures the imagination. Although no brand seems to be involved this time the fact that his Reb Bull helmet features throughout the entire video means that they are getting some great brand recognition and probably paying handsomely for it!

The Class Of 2015 – Social Media Statistics

If you think that we are all very technologically minded and embracing social media with abandon these days you have no idea what is coming from the next generation. Luckily this video showing what the class of 2015 are up to and sharing stats about how they use social media does a great of explaining what an important technology will play in all of their lives. Some of the stats will make brands and businesses sit up and listen and start thinking about the rapid shift in consumer behavior that is happening right in front of their eyes.

How Social Media Is Killing Relationships

This video shows a couple of scenes that you see nearly every day of the week between couples as one person becomes more obsessed with social media than the other in the relationship. It really does get you thinking about the right to use things like your smart phone when out in a restaurant while ignoring the other person (for the record we think it is plain rude) and the role that social media is playing in all of our lives these days. Check out the video and let us know what you think? Have you been in that position where you get ignored and play second fiddle to social media?

500 People In 100 Seconds – A Compelling Video Story

This is one of the most beautiful and captivating videos you will ever watch which actually tells two stories within the one video. It was made in Israel and features 500 people appearing in just 100 seconds holding over 1500 photos to tell a short story. You will find you attention switching between the stop motion story being told in the photographs back to the people’s faces flicking through. It’s a really compelling watch and you literally won’t be able to take your eyes off this. A must watch and a great video to share.

Mexican Flash Mob Delivers Holiday Fun

A smart campaign from Mexico today a holiday company there turned a railway station in to holiday resort is getting lots of attention online. We’ve seen plenty of flash mobs in the past but this one was slightly different with people stripping down to their shorts and swimming costumes. As quickly as the flash mob appeared with their surf boards and beach volleyball nets it was gone again but not without creating a huge amount of buzz and something cool for people to talk about.

Unbelievable Human Slingshot Slip and Slide

This could be one of the best bits of branded content I have seen this year and although the stunts involved do look as if they could kill you if they went wrong it sure does look like fun. While at first this looks like some kids filmed this for a bit of fun it’s actually a slick piece of branded content from Vooray who make clothes and who clearly want us to think that anybody who wears those clothes are seriously cool! I love the way the video is shot with slick stylized shots and a brilliant track. Quality.

100 Years Of London Fashion In 100 Seconds

A stunning new video that promotes the opening of a new shopping center in the UK whisks you through 100 years of East London fashion in just 100 seconds. The video has half a million views within a couple of days and must have taken a massive amount of time and effort to shoot. It’s a great concept though and shows how a local business can promote itself by using a tool like Youtube. Stylish.

Brilliant Farting Advert Will Have You In Stitches

No matter how childish laughing at farts is we never seem to get bored of it. This brilliant advert features light bulbs coming on in all sorts of weird and wonderful places with farts providing the sound track and in a surprising move it all links back in with the rather more serious message about the product perfectly. I won’t ruin the advert any more but I think you will agree that this is more or less genius…

World’s Largest Water Ballon Fight

A college in the USA has come up with a unique way of promoting itself by using over 8000 of it’s students, 170,000 water balloons and a stunning video which has over 200,000 views in a couple of days. It was billed as a world record attempt at the world’s biggest water fight and it really really makes us want to go and study there! You see so many corny videos promoting colleges but this is fun, beautifully shot and will spread all over the world getting lots of attention. Exciting!

Nike Reveal Real “Back To The Future” Shoes

Nike have just released this video showing why they are the marketing kinds that they are because they are creating the real shoes as seen in back to the future. They are releasing 1500 pairs that will all be auctioned on eBay and all the money will go to Michael J Fox’s charity foundation. The one drawback is that the shoes won’t lace themselves up as claimed in the film but you’ll agree that these will be an absolute must have item!

Crazy Surfers Attach Flares To Their Boards

A group of surfers have come up with the genius idea of attaching flares to the back of their surfboards and capturing it all on film with impressive results. The video was made by Red Bull who are of course the masters of branded content and it’s the sort of video that is made for sharing. They don’t explain who it works or the technology behind it but it sure is pretty to look at!!

IKEA Introduces “Manland” – A Pace To Espace Shopping And Women

IKEA have come up with a genius idea that aims to sooth all the problems that men and women have when out shopping together. It called “Manland” and it’s an area within their stores that caters to everything a man could ever want including features such as computer games, football, sports on TV and even hot dogs. The hilarious part is that women can drop their men off in the same way you would a child and they are provided with a buzzer to go back and collect their children when their 30 mins is up. This is a great idea that is clearly going to save a lot of relationships and marriages the strain of a trip to IKEA. I want to go to manland!

More Genius From T Mobile As They Dish Out Parking Tickets

T Mobile are famous for their marketing videos and they are back with a new one that will put a huge smile on your face. The concept is simple in that they have a bunch of parking wardons giving out tickets to people all over Brighton in the UK and getting people really wound up. I’m not going to ruin the video for you but suffice to say the people don’t stay angry forever and all ends well in the end. It’s a smart campaign that gets the message across and this will be shared all over the web in the coming days.

Taxidermy TV Advert Is A Youtube Viral Hit

It’s pretty hard to make a video about taxidermy (the act of stuffing dead animals) aimed at promoting your business that is going to get much attention but Ojai Valley have come up with a classic. After watching the video a couple of times I still don’t know if it is done tongue in cheek or as a serious exercise or with humor in mind but either way it is a classic that has had over 2.5 million views since it’s launch. Sure to put a smile on your face.

Glamour Model Has Balls – NSFW

This video is very much not safe for work but although the content is shocking it does a fantastic job of capturing males attention and getting the message about cancer detection across. Lingerie model and page 3 girl Rhian Sugden shows us her raunchy side in this darkly seductive short film shot by world renowned photographer Rankin and it’s all done for the Male Cancer Awareness Campaign and you have to take your hat off to them for raising awareness no matter how provocative the video is.

Incredible Homemade Bastketball Advert Is Pure Magic

If this video was actually made with no editing involved I would be stunned because it is timed to perfection as a group of youngsters bounce basketballs in unison. It was submitted to a Youtube competition hosted by Samsung and they have turned it in to an advert for their tablets and the video really is so good that you can’t stop watching it. Addictive.

If Carlsberg Did One Night Stands For Women…

This is an advert for a Norwegian bank which tells the story of a women who has had a one night stand and wakes up without being able to remember what has happened. It’s one of those ads where I don’t want to ruin the story line by telling you here so you’ll just have to watch it for a surprise appearance…

Ford Explorer Made From 30,000 Pieces Of Leg

The title of this video does all the explaining I really need to do and it’s a great example of a unique way to promote a car. We’ve seen cars made out of cake and QR codes in the past but the passionate online community obsessed with Lego are going to lap this up. There have clearly put a huge amount of effort in to building this and it looks superb.

Children Create Casino Fountain In Swimming Pool

A group of children have come together to create a casino style fountain using water guns in their swimming pool. It’s for a company that provides equipment for cleaning swimming pools and they have to be admired for their creativity in promoting a product like theirs in such a unique way. This will put a smile on your face at the very least.

Lewd Advert For Lawyers Laced With Sexual Innuendo

You wouldn’t expect the association of Finnish lawyers to be making viral videos full of sexual innuendo to promote their services but that is exactly what this video aims to be. I would have pegged them for being a pretty conservative bunch but this advert is far from it but it does do an excellent point of getting it’s message out there and with 25,000 views in the first day you can expect this to get massive attention online and not just in Finland either!! I’ll leave the punch line for you all to watch in the video itself.

Wild Animals And Bugs Used To Charge A Smartphone

This advert shows some of the world’s scariest animals and bugs in a circus setting used to charge a mobile phone. The video is to promote Snapdragon and you have to appreciate the effort they’ve gone to in making this video . We think the best bit is when the beetle lands in the cotton wool at the end. At least this software won’t be buggy!

Will It Blend? The iPhone 4S Siri

If you have not come across the “Will it blend” Youtube series then you really have been missing out and today is as good a day as any to start watching it as they try and blend an iPhone 4S. They’ve have tried to blend plenty of iPhones in the past but this is the first one that is activated by voice control and even though they are destroying the phone it’s all about promoting their new app. So what do you think? Will it blend?

Forget The iPhone – Your Hand Will Be Your New Phone

Even though touchscreen phones like the iPhone and the latest Android devices are the most desired gadgets of the moment, this early concept video shows what could be coming down the line. The new projection technology means that surfaces including your hand, desks, walls or books could be used as a touch screen surface in the future.

Google Analytics Shows Us Online Checkout In Real Life

We’ve all purchased products online at one point or another but have you ever thought about how longwinded the process actually is. This video does with a consumer dealing with a cashier who mirrors the online process, making a routine purchase of a load of bread the most arduous process imaginable.

App Will Bring Movie Scenes To The Real World

A new app that is set to launch soon will give you the ability to watch movies on your phone depending where you are. It means that as you wander around cities, you will be able to see where some of the most famous scenes in the world have been filmed.The app has been in production for some time and you have to imagine it is tricky for them to get the license for all the films. However, if and when they do launch it, it will be a great use of location based technology.

Impressive Nike 3D Water Projection

For the last couple of years 3D light displays have been all the rage with brands all over the world trying to out do each other but a Nike launch in New York has taken things to a new level. Launching the new Jordan Melo M8 they turned water in to stunning 3D projections that captivated the audience and brought the water to life. Impressive.

Concept Video Shows The Future Of Computers

Microsoft have not always been known for their cutting edge technology and usually lose the cool wars to Apple but a new video which they have just released changes all that. It’s a concept video that shares the future of computers and touch screen devices in the office and in cars and it is where Microsoft think we are all heading. It feels like minority report but unlike when that movie was released and you couldn’t see that far in the future you can really see all of the things in this video happening pretty soon. The future is here.

The Best Hemorrhoids Advert You Will Ever See

Hemorrhoids are not the easiest thing to talk about and creating a marketing campaign that raises awareness with the general public is even harder. This superb piece of creativity from Holland where the billboard on the back of the bike says “Problems with Hemorrhoids, Sperti Helps”. Its a great campaign and it managed to put a smile on the face of hundreds people while thinking about a tricky subject to talk about.

Microsoft Regain Cool Factor With New Kinect Adverts

When it comes to computing, Apple have had the ‘wow’ factor in their ads for the last few years, but a new advert from Microsoft that has just been released is seriously impressive. Featuring their Kinect gaming device, it features some of the social ways in which it has been hacked by the general public to improve people’s lives. It’s the sort of advertising that moves people to buy products, and we are happy to say that at long last, Microsoft can be called cool again.

Superb Advert Lets You Race Against Marathon Runner

Do you think you could keep up with the last man in the world over a marathon distance? What about for 10 yards? Asics have created a new advert in a New York City subway to celebrate this year’s marathon that actually lets you compete with US runner Ryan Hall and see how you get on. It’s a brilliant piece of interactive advertising and the results are not surprising.

Coke Reward The Noisiest Fans At Football Game

A smart campaign from Coca-Cola in South America rewarded fans watching the Copa America the more they sang and cheered on their team. Using a sound system linked up to a large screen, the footage would start to dim the quieter the fans got, but as soon as they started cheering, it would pick up again. It does sound like it could be a tad annoying to watch an entire game in this fashion, but it would certainly ensure a good atmosphere throughout.

Christmas Ads Are Normally Predictable – This One Is Brilliant And Unexpected

Christmas advertising is the most predictable and dull of all the marketing you see during the year but this advert is absolutely brilliant and will surprise and wow you in every possible way. I don’t want to give away the plot but after I shared it with a number of people from my personal account they said they had a small tear in their eye. A beautiful advert that will put a genuine huge smile on your face.

Dubai International Airport Flashmob Video

Everything that happens in Dubai is bigger than anything in the world, and you just know that when they did get around to doing a flash mob, it would be big and spectacular. The venue was Dubai International Airport as it came to a standstill, which bore witness to some serious dancing to a load of different popular songs.

Dominos Brings Pizza Making To The iPad

A brilliant new campaign has just launched from Dominos in the USA which allows users make a pizza and then order what they’ve made in the game. It’s a super interactive promotion that is effectively turning ordering dinner into a fun game allowing you to compete against others. This is the perfect promotional tool for kids and adults alike.

Nandos Launches Hilarious Dictator Advert

Nandos chicken have launched a hilarious new advert which features some of the world’s best known dictators from the last couple of decades. Most of them have been killed and the story revolves around Robert Mugabe and how he will have to have his last dinner on his own now that all of his friends have been killed off. Genius piece of creative this is.

Introducing The Brilliant “Little Printer”

Every once in a while a new gadget comes along that you simply have to have and this new printer that is launching in 2012 is the one we will all want soon. As they say themselves….Little Printer lives in your home, bringing you news, puzzles and gossip from your friends. Use your smartphone to set up subscriptions and Little Printer will gather them together to create a timely, beautiful mini-newspaper.

Heartwarming Coca Cola Campaign Reunites Emigrants With Their Families For Christmas

If you were working abroad and hadn’t seen your family or loved ones for years? For many people who emigrated from the Philippines, this is a reality where many work abroad for their families that they haven’t seen in years. Coca Cola decided to reunite some of these families and the resulting scenes are incredibly moving and touching. To say why would spoil it but if you’re in any way unmoved by this, you may want to check your pulse to see if you’re still alive.

Stunning Compilation Of The 200 Best Youtube Videos In 2011

This is a brilliant video which features the 200 best Youtube videos in 2011 all spliced together with some brilliant music to entertain you for a few minutes. They are all in full HD and we have actually featured most of them here on Simply Viral so we want you to sit back and enjoy them and see how many you can recognize. Stunning.

Peugeot Create Breathtaking Live 3D Mapping Performance In Rio

To promote their new 208 model in Brazil, Peugeot unveiled it at Cinelândia (the major public square located in Rio de Janeiro) through an event called Motion & Emotion. The show combines 3D mapping, Microsoft’s Kinect device, multi-sensory effects and a live performance to create a special effects show that left its audience amazed and speechless.

Hilarious Tom Tom Advert Makes Fun Of Snowy Driving

This advert which has been created using videos cut together from Youtube shows some drivers having a hard time with snowy conditions. The video was created by an agency in Amsterdam and is to promote the sat nav service Tom Tom and ironically is all about highlighting safe driving. Although people are having a hard time in this video it really will put a huge smile on your face.

Apple Turns To Santa Claus To Promote Siri

Apple have just launched a new Christmas themed advert to help promote their new iPhone 4S and Siri in particular. The ad comes at the perfect time of year to help drive even more sales for the new phone and it shows the big man himself using Siri to get around the globe and manage his tight schedule.

Google Plus Turn To The Muppets To Promote Hangouts

Google have tried all sorts of wonderful things to promote their new social network “Google Plus” and their latest advert sees them turning to the Muppets. Its all to do with the video conferencing feature called “Hangouts” and it’s a great creative way of highlighting the best features on the site

Stunning Video Recreates Whislter Ski Resort On Tiny Scale

Whistler is one of the biggest ski resorts in the world and in a bid to promote it they have launched this brilliant video which recreates the entire resort on a tiny level with huge detail. It is a stunning piece of work that must have taken months to create but it certainly makes you feel like going there so it is job done from their perspective.

How Santa Claus Spends His Time Online After Christmas [Video]

Have you ever wondered what Santa Claus does when he has finished delivering the presents to over 2 billion children all over the world? He has eleven months to kill and according to this video he spends that time online using all of the latest social media tools. It really isn’t the toughest life he has is it?

Rally Driving Taxi Driver Shows Speed Of 4G Networks [Video]

How do you show just how fast a 4G network can be while putting it in the context of modern day living? Well a mobile company in Oslo used a rally driving taxi to show how fast their new network would be. It’s a brilliant advert that we can all understand and is instantly sharable while still conveying the core message about the product.

Youtube are also encouraging users to get involved in voting by earning points and getting extra kudos by being the first to spot the best talent on the site and vote it up. Each section will have it’s own leader board and you can imagine that people seeking fame and fortune on Youtube will be analyzing this new feature in great detail and trying to get as many votes as possible.

This is clearly going to be a massive winner for the guys over at Youtube because it is a tried and tested internet formula and will quickly get users hooked. If you want to waste half an hour head over there now and see just how addictive it is!

Ariel Fashion Shoot

Starting with something on a pretty adventurous budget, Ariel in Stockholm gave us an impressive video campaign earlier this year with their real life ‘fashion shoot’. The campaign used live-stream video integrated onto their Facebook Page, to engage users in a new way. Via the Facebook Page, you had the ability to control a game that was put up in the centre of Stockholm, to squirt jam, chocolate etc.. onto moving white garments. Anyone could come along and play on the Facebook Page, and if you were lucky enough to hit one of the items of clothing, you were then sent it as a prize, having been washed in Ariel of course. The campaign showed how live stream could be used in a two-way interaction with fans : using it not only to show them something live, but to give them the chance to interact in real time.

Domino’s Pizza in Times Square

Domino’s took a bit of a risk earlier this year, with their campaign integrating live stream video with customer feedback. In July 2011, they put up a stream on a giant billboard in Times Square, that showed the comments they were receiving via customer feedback forms, live. Some may consider something like this to be a bit opportunistic, but it shows a brand that is serious about fixing their reputation, following ‘that’ Youtube video from 2009. It shows they are willing to use new technology to improve transparency around the brand, with new ways of interacting with customers and importantly, making this public.

Interactive Zombie Story

Another campaign from a pizza brand here, this time from New Zealand. When Youtube introduced annotations on videos, allowing you to click to other Youtube videos within the video itself, Hell Pizza ran a completely original campaign that made use of this new functionality. They created a fictional horror film ‘Deliver Me To Hell’ that made use of this feature to offer interaction to fans. The campaign launched at the end of July 2011 and took people on an interactive story set in Christchurch, where a pizza delivery boy has to encounter zombies on his quest to deliver a pizza to a stranded woman. At different points in the story, users were given the option of what they wanted to do next, meaning you could construct your own storyline and decide the outcome. The full video was then later released by Hell Pizza, showing their version of the storyline in full.

Honest Tea

The organic drinks company Honest Tea, used video in a campaign to show how honest people were, and which was the most honest city in America. The campaign involved a public stunt, as special tea stands were put up in different cities across America. Passersby could take the drink if they wanted, but were encouraged to pay $1 for every drink they took. The videos released then showed how ‘honest’ people were, and whether they decided to pay or not. The campaign received huge recognition online as using video to bring the product message to life. Remember that if you’re filming the public in this way, you have permission to show their image online.

Vodafone – Who Should Upgrade?

This campaign comes from Vodafone Holland (disclaimer – Vodafone are a client of ours) in 2009. They used video in a Twitter campaign, to let their followers decide who should receive an upgrade. The campaign ‘Upgrade a Stranger’ involved live streaming 2 customers that were picked from a street in Holland. Users could then vote via tweeting, to decide which of the 2 were deserving of a free upgrade from Vodafone. An interesting way of using live stream with online followers, to impact something in the ‘real world’.

Interactive murals

When the Canadian tourist board needed a campaign to promote Canada as a holiday destination to Americans, they decided to use live video to show people on the street what was so great about Canada. The live Twitter mural, showed a video stream of live tweets and photos coming in online from tourists currently on vacation in Canada. This is a video campaign taken to the extreme, as people could also interact with the live stream, clicking on certain tweets or enlarging images. It’s a great example of interactive video advertising, using real time content to let others do the talking for you.

Oprah on Skype

An interesting campaign using Skype here, which is rarely used in social media campaigns. Oprah (the one of talk show fame!) embarked on a live video campaign via Skype, with writer Eckhart Tolle who had just released her new book ‘Awakening to your life’s purpose’. The two held a live video class in which the book was discussed and key learnings disseminated for online viewers. The campaign was a significantly high profile use of Skype by mainstream media, showing the ability to integrate traditional and digital. What’s encouraging about this campaign though, is that while in this case it had the big budget of an international talkshow host, a video campaign like this is accessible no matter what size your budget. It’s about using a different site than you might normally consider, to encourage interaction in a new way.

Ashley Boo

When Rounds wanted to promote their video chat client for Facebook (which may now sadly be redundant thanks to Facebook’s own offering), they appropriately decided to use an innovative Facebook campaign to do so. They achieved this through the Ashley Boo Facebook profile, which starts off by looking like a normal Facebook profile, but is actually an interactive video app. Through the status update bar ‘what would you like to do together?’ you can enter in updates which trigger certain actions by Ashley. So if your update contains a trigger keyword such as ‘sleep’ , Ashley will fall asleep while a lullaby plays. A great example of an interactive video campaign.

Draw a Stick Man

A slightly different campaign here, that uses animated video. The website ‘draw a stick man’ was launched by a software company as a completely new way to promote themselves. The campaign is run via the ‘drawastickman.com’ microsite and takes user interaction to a new level. It also possibly the most fun you could have in 3 minutes online. The site takes people on a story using your own stick man you’ve drawn, who you then have to navigate through a series of challenges. For example when it starts raining you need to draw an umbrella to protect him. Though it may not be a video campaign in the ‘traditional’ sense, it uses animation to bring your creations to life instantly, showing the unique uses for digital video and how it can be used to entertain your fans.

Now just three weeks later, that app is about to hit one million users in what has to be one of the most explosive growth spurts and acquisitions of new readers by a newspaper in the history of publishing.

It remains to be seen if those readers will keep using the app but what this does show is that Facebook could become a huge new distribution channel for publishers. With discovery of new content being the key and given that all the action happens within Facebook, this has to be a huge worry for Google+ even if it is only early days.

Explosive Growth

As you can see from the graph below, the app is about to hit one million users which is remarkable for a newspaper within just three weeks. Of course, it’s very early days and a lot of users like myself could just be trying it out the new service.

I certainly don’t use it on a daily basis because the news focuses on the US but if there was a similar version here in Ireland or the UK, I could see myself using it daily. Given how much trouble traditional newspaper sales are experiencing now, any glimmer of hope like this should be explored as the ability to sell advertising against a million users should not be underestimated.

A New Frontier For News?

The news gets shaped on Twitter these days with journalists using it for sources, citizen journalism taking over and links getting shared. Having said that, with Facebook closing in on a billion users and people spending large amounts of time on the site, this app shows that it could be a new frontier for people to read content.

The biggest loser could be Google (who have never had a great relationship with publishers) and the biggest winner could be the publishers themselves who desperately need to tap into the one billion Facebook users. It’s too early to say what will happen but the experiment described in the video below by the chairman of the company has certainly hit the ground running. Watch this space.

With the new plans for the site, music is evidently taking centre stage, with a heavy focus on content to capture and keep audiences.

Haven’t we heard this before?

Okay, so the new Myspace was unlikely to have a different focus on music, given it’s standing association with bands and investment in the form of one Justin Timberlake, who also stands as creative director at the site. But at the moment it all sounds a bit wishy washy. Specific Media (the owners of Myspace) have stated their aim is to “to feed the energy of youth culture everywhere.” No, I have no idea what that means either. If they are to come out and do battle with Facebook’s newly launched integration with music, then they will need to develop some serious tools to do this, or at least focus on a niche that they can do well, such as live streaming concerts and intimate gigs.

So what do they have planned specifically? Early screenshots show a social playlist that will live on the right hand side of the site and fully as-supported music and video streaming. Is this really enough to come back with a bang and show the world why Myspace is relevant again?

working with record labels

The CEO of Myspace and co-founder of Specific Media has discussed the new launch of Myspace and specifically where their strengths lie with the ‘big four’ record labels. “No other company has the rights MySpace has,” says Tim Vanderhook, who along with brother Chris is co-founder of Specific Media and CEO of MySpace. “Nobody has the relationships we have with the four major labels, the catalog of 25,000 independent artists and 42 million songs. If you take Facebook’s music announcements with Rdio, MOG and Spotify and you aggregated all those services up and took their audio catalog, it’s not even half of what MySpace has.”

What they have also outlined specifically is plans to take on internet radio – a space which is currently very much owned by Pandora. Though what’s still not clear is whether this will focus on independent or established artists. On the one hand, Tim Vanderhook that under News Corp, Myspace lost the association of independent artists that they once had, which was bad for the site. Yet on the other hand they have an international artist as their creative director and are boasting of their unrivalled relationships with the big music artists.

This is something that they need to sort out quickly, as they need to establish their stance with the public. Are they a place fo internet radio, live streaming, indie music, big names, or are they trying to a bit of all of these? If you want to find out a bit more about what’s planned at Myspace, check out their pitch deck , where for some reason they’ve decided to include a graph that shows only half of the people surveyed had heard of them as a music social network, behind Pandora who they claim they can compete with.

Users Noticing Privacy Concerns

I’ve seen multiple people in my feeds explaining the new features to each other and instructing one another on how to switch the ticker off (via browser plugins) or how to change your settings so only some of your information appears to friends. If anything the ticker has just surfaced the sheer volume of information that we are already sharing on Facebook and making us aware of how public our online lives now are. There are also already thousands of articles on how to remove the ticker with options for both Firefox and Chrome

Facebook Scaling Back Ticker?

When the ticker first launched it took up a large part of the upper right hand side of my screen and followed me around everywhere that I went on Facebook. Since yesterday Facebook seem to be testing a new version that is half the size and also only appears on my homepage and not on every single page that I visit. I’m guessing here that Facebook might be playing around and testing a couple of versions to track user engagement and see which one works best. The smaller version is more subtle and allows for more ads.

Unexpected Results

One of the things that people using the music apps have noticed is what horrendous taste in music some of their friends had. The fact that the ticker surfaces every single action from listening to songs to reading books and watching films as well as menial updates like comments and updating photos means that Facebook is getting some unexpected results. Facebook thinks that everything is for sharing but maybe not everything in the world is made for sharing. Maybe I want to listen to a corny music track that only I like? Maybe I’m reading about a competitor and don’t want all my friends to know that. The ticker is brand new and is changing what we know about our friends and family and Facebook are learning as much as we all are with this roll out. You can expect the ticker to evolve over time.

The headline is the holy grail

There is no doubt that seeing your name in print still brings a pretty special feeling with it. You know it means something when this happens – for good or bad. And this largely comes down to exclusivity. A national newspaper will print less stories than a major blog because they are restricted by space. You know if you’ve made it into the paper that you’ve ‘made the cut’ whereas we know that blogs can potentially publish stories endlessly throughout the day. While this does not mean that blogs/online news sites have any less strict editorial policies, you know that a paper only has one chance a day or week for a headline. When it’s online, you have multiple chances. So if you’ve hit the front page of a newspaper, you are going to be seen all day long, no matter when someone picks it up. With online, it’s not the case. You can get pushed further down, which if it’s a negative story can bring with at an (inaccurate) feeling that your story is kind of forgotten and you can move on.

This is, of course, a dangerous way to look at it. While there is a very physical experience to holding a paper in your hand and reading your or your company’s name, the actual impact on your reputation is no different to that of online. And let’s not forget that there’s no such thing as ‘tomorrow’s chip paper’ when it comes to online. You’re there forever, so why does the attitude persist that print matters more than digital?

Misunderstanding

It can be largely attributed to a misunderstanding of how social media functions. Because it’s seen as immediate and there is generally more content produced and shared, it’s easy to see a negative brand mention as just ‘one of many’ and that it will soon pass. But this shows a misunderstanding of just how influential social or digital platforms can be, and also a misunderstanding of how influential the person writing something is.

If you’re faced with a negative mention of you or your brand online, it can be easy to just take it at face value and see that one mention as the totality of the coverage. But if you look at how influential that individual might be across other platforms, you begin to see a different story. Then they have the power to tweet that story, influence other bloggers in their area, turn up in the search engine results for your brand, and you suddenly have a big problem on your hand. Ignoring something that’s said online ‘because’ it’s just said online shows that you might not understand what it is you’re dealing with.

Where did the story start?

What’s perhaps most amusing about the findings in this study is that it ignores where a story might actually have originated. Nearly all significant news stories will no doubt now start online, as it’s the most immediate medium for discussing and generating news. Further to this, a story can make the papers purely because of the hype that’s built up online. So while you may not feel something is important until you’ve seen it in print, the chances are you probably could have stopped it becoming a story worth printing altogether. Or failing that, you might have been able to influence the story that was printed, by acting fast online.

It’s likely that this change in thinking won’t happen as quickly, at least in the upper echelons of an organisation, because newspapers are steeped in tradition and remain much more of a physical experience than reading something online. But thinking about it in this way only brings with it risk, that you ignore something until it’s too late.

Beating Facebook

What’s interesting in this study, is that Twitter is also beginning to dwarf Facebook as the social network of choice for decision makers. While Facebook is still the most popular tool for senior executives, with 77% maintaining profiles on there, this actually represents a drop, from 81% the year previous. Facebook is the only network that saw a reduction in use among executives, showing that social media adoption overall is not slowing down, but that key decision makers within a business are learning to streamline their activity and focus on those channels where they can derive the most value.

LinkedIn may be able to offer the best resource of people online, from a business point of view, but it’s evidently not where businesspeople are seeing the value. Twitter provides a better, more real-time networking experience and it’s developing as the place where business gets done and the best connections are to be had.

Decisions are not made in the boardroom

CEOs, execs, directors, board members all have to adapt to social network technologies because the place that business is done has now changed. Decisions are not made in the silo of the boardroom anymore. Instead, the doors have been thrown wide open and if any meaningful decisions are to be made, then you need to have your finger absolutely on the pulse of what is happening online and what is being said about your business. If what’s said in the boardroom bears no relation to what’s being said about you on Twitter, Facebook etc.. then you risk getting left behind and developing in a different direction to what your stakeholders want or need. The fact is that the ‘boardroom’ as a concept will no longer exist in the traditional sense for much longer, as everything happens externally and it’s opened up through social media.

I recently wrote about how we are now ready for the next phase of social media : using it to connect employees, instead of just using it as a way to connect customers. There is a perceived risk in this by organizations however, as they view social media in the workplace as shorthand for ‘employees messing about on Facebook all day’. This is exactly why companies need to develop a coherent social media strategy for internal communications, to help ensure that use of social media is productive and conducive to the development of the business and its products. So how are you meant to do this, and do these theories really work in practice?

Using Yammer effectively

Yammer is arguably the best tool around for connecting employees via a social platform ; it is free, secure and easy to use without becoming a distraction to work. It will only provide real value however, if it’s used effectively and not just created as an alternative to simply sending an email. Firstly, you need to educate employees into how Yammer actually is different to email. And this is where collaboration comes in. Within email, everything is essentially contained within silos. You choose the employees that are likely to be relevant to the subject of the email and contain the conversation within that group. But great things can happen when you look outside of the normal group, and open something up to collaboration. So maybe you’re organizing a brainstorm for a particular client, or you’re looking for a strategy to promote a particular product and you ask your normal team. It might just happen however that you have someone within the company that is a key fan of the particular area you’re looking at – sports for example – that can contribute far more than you ever expected. But they might sit in the accounts department and HR and would normally be left out of these conversation. By openly creating this conversation to all staff on Yammer, you are opening up your knowledge sources, which is a key facet of social technologies.

You also shouldn’t be afraid to use Yammer for things that are strictly outside of the normal work subjects. The fact is that discovering new content can aide you in ways you may never have thought possible, and this can be constructed on Yammer if employees are trained in how to use it. So encourage link sharing to particular articles, videos etc.. that everyone can access. In this way you open up the conversation.

Give everyone an iPad

Okay, so it not be financially feasible to give everyone in your company an iPad – we don’t all have the luxury of a United Airlines who can distribute 11,000 iPads to their employees. But you would be surprised at the huge discrepancy in knowledge and acceptance of social media within an organization. This can come down to the basics of internet access outside the workplace and how feasible it is for a particular employee to spend their spare time on social networks. Everyone has a right to access social platforms and I believe organizations have a role to play here (that will ultimately benefit them) in educating staff into how social media functions and how it’s transforming businesses. By organizing a pool of iPads that can be distributed around staff, you can allow staff to familiarize themselves with how social media works and open up the tools that they have to access this. Encourage them to download apps, visit company Facebook Pages and experience first hand how social media access can transform your daily life.

Create a company slideshare

Now companies are creating more and more information that is distributed online, but it’s not always distributed internally. You might have execs giving presentations, case studies being shared, reports and research from within the organization that is even more valuable for your internal stakeholders than you external ones. But it’s not very nice for employees if they’re not granted access to this information or they have to find it online at the same time as everyone else. Companies should create a Slideshare account that is circulated to all employees, where all the latest presentations are uploaded and notifications sent to staff when new presentations are available. This information will still be public, but you are creating a centralized resource for all information. An alternative is to create a private slideshare account that only employees can access, but make this collaborative and open up feedback.

Put everyone on the customer service desk

If you’re working on the customer service team for your organization on Twitter, Facebook etc.. you are going to gather an incredible amount of information from your customers by being very much at the ‘coalface’. The insights gained here are invaluable for understanding how your company is perceived and what are the key issues facing people, as well as the positive points about your company or service. There is a danger though that this creates a division of knowledge within the organization, where one set of employees know very much what’s happening on the ground, but this is separate to people that might be the decision makers, or have to process these customer queries online. Everyone in your organization should have experience in running your social media profiles (where possible) to see first hand the information that is available and what is being discussed. This kind of experience can’t be replicated elsewhere in the business but is essential if social media is to be embraced at all levels.

Use video chat

If you’re a large organization, there may well be people in the company that never speak to each other, aside from flat communication via email. There are a range of video services available that allow for private video chats and this should be strongly embraced in organizations. Consider putting your exec in front of the camera once a week, fortnight or month to address employees and importantly engage in 2 way conversation, instead of feeding information from the top down and expecting this to filter through to everyone. Social technologies can be used to create connections internally that weren’t possible before and the benefits abound.

Develop social media policies

This is a very real consideration for organisations, as there is incredible value in allowing your employees to use social media but you might find that people don’t know what they can/can’t say or even how they can use social media. There’s an element of responsibility by the organisation to educate their employees into how to use social media effectively, which can also help you avoid getting into hot water if someone says something they shouldn’t. Often people don’t understand the consequences of sharing something publicly on a social network, so they might be so excited about a product launch for example that they tweet about it, before anything should be said in public. By taking the time to educate staff into social media and developing a social media policy document, you can enable better connections between employees internally and the external perception of your company. This might be as light as just letting people know that they need to disclaim if talking about a client, but it’s best practice to have these guidelines in place overall, while recognising that they need to be flexible and not constraining on people’s personal use of social media.

TED mobile (iPhone and Android)

Cost: Free
The influential and inspiring video site gets its own app so you can now see inspirational talks and discussions from around the world while you’re on the go.

Evernote (iPhone, Android and Blackberry)

Cost: Free
The virtual note taker and archival tool is also available for smartphone. Take notes, images, screenshots and recordings and Evernote will save and index it for quick retrieval later on. This allows you to take notes or document your ideas away from your computer so you can access them later on.

Flashcards Deluxe (iPhone) & Flash Card Maker Pro (Android)

Cost $3.99 (Flashcards Deluxe) & $4.95 (Flash Card Maker Pro)

There are many apps that allow you to use flashcards on your phone but these are two of the most diverse examples you’ll find. Among the many features each app has, you can download over four million flashcard sets as well as text to speech capability, making learning multisensory instead of just words on a screen.

WolframAlpha (iPhone and Android)

Cost: Free
Another web to app transition, for those not aware of it, WolframAlpha is a search engine with a difference. Allowing you to search for answers to questions, the app gives you access to straightforward answers, charts graphs for a number of topics which include mathematics, history, sociology, finance and geography among many others.

Graphing calculator (iPhone) and Algeo Graphing Calculator (Android)

Cost: $1.99 (iPhone) and Free (Android)
Most graphing calculators can range in the €80 price demographic but if you’re a iPhone user, then all you need to spend is €1.99. This app has all the features you would normally associate with a graphing calculator except it allows you to take screenshots and email graphs, zoom and scroll through your graphs and display them on a TV or projector. Android users can use Algeo Graphing calculator, while not as slick as its iPhone counterpart, can be gotten for free.

Grammar up (iPhone and iPad)

Cost: €4.99
An interactive iPad app which provides over 1,800 questions; it covers over 20 different grammar categories such as adjectives, prepositions and conjunctions among others. How vigorously you test yourself is up to you but each test gives you a summary of your results and progress is noted as soon as you start.

Human anatomy (iPhone)

Cost:€1.59
For those who like to learn the names of various body parts, organs and other terminologies related to the human body. There are full and detailed descriptions of each part and gives you the option of completing tests to see how far your knowledge has progressed.

Math Ref (iPhone)

Cost: Free or $1 for full version
Giving you access to over 1,400 (600 in the free version) formulas figures, tips and examples in areas such as Algebra, Trigonometry, Physics and Algorithms among many others.

Blackboard Mobile Learn (all smartphones)

Cost: Free
Blackboard has become the online portal of choice for the majority of universities and their courses. Downloading this app will gain you access to all the features you would normally find through the site such as course information, lecture notes and assignments. This app only works for Blackboard versions that are 8.0 or later.

Sixty Four (Android)

Cost: Free
Learn grade 1 & 2 Braille cells used by the blind to read and write. You can study the cells in a list or construct them yourself in tests.

Nook (Android)

Cost: Free
Basically a kindle for Andriod, users can purchase any book available from the Barnes & Noble bookshop which amount to over two million. The app allows you to sample any book available for the app for free or try any magazine subscription for the National Geographic and the Economist for free for fourteen days.

Google Sky map (Android)

Cost: Free (in beta)
Point your phone at the sky and Google Sky Map will show you all the stars, constellations and planets that are in its view. You can also browse the skies in manual mode and search to find a specific planet or star.

QBox (iPhone and iPad)

Cost: Free
This quiz tests you on over 1,500 different quotes of wisdom spanning over three different eras such as the Middle ages and Modern times.

Vocabology (iPhone)

Cost: Free
A simple app that helps you improve your vocabulary by giving you a word of the day every day. The words can be in six different languages and can test you on them to help the learning process.

The Elements: A visual exploration (iPhone and iPad)

Cost: €10.99
The app version of the best-selling hard cover edition of the same name, this app allows you to look up every element known to man, and view facts and figures including its current market price and density. With over 500 different objects to look at, all 3D and rotatable, it is an incredibly detailed piece of software that will occupy you for hours. if the price puts you off you can download iElements for free, which gives a simple periodic table of the elements.

Stanza (iPhone and iPad)

Cost: Free
Similar to Nook except there are over 50,000 contemporary titles to purchase and a additional 50,000 classics available from Project Gutenberg, Feedbooks and other sources for free. You can also transfer documents from your Mac or PC onto Stanza if you wish.

Dictionary.com (all smartphone devices)

Cost: Free
And last but certainly not least, the most popular online dictionary also has a free downloadable app with nearly a million words and definitions and 90,000 synonyms and antonyms to search for. Explainng any more about this app would only come across as patronising.
Are there any other apps that should be in this list?

Get there quickly

It’s easy to see the concept of flash sales heading the same way as group buying, with the risk being that there is consumer fatigue and an increasingly crowded marketplace. Brands have an opportunity now to effect a flash sale in a new way and provide entertainment to their customers. But you need to get in there quick if you hope to stand out from the crowd. ZDnet report that visits to online flash sale sites have increased by over 100% in July this year, compared to July 2010. Consumers are quickly getting wise to the fact that if they have their wits about them, they will rarely have to pay full price for anything, if they use the right social sites and follow brands through social sites. But with this comes a risk. The same article highlights the fact that 52% of online consumers in the U.S. claimed they were starting to get overwhelmed by the amount of emails they are receiving from deals/discount sites.

For this reason alone, brands should begin looking at how they can offer flash sales through their own sites/social platforms, instead of being one of a number of brands contained within a broader flash sale site. While the technology behind this might sound complex, Facebook store applications are beginning to add this functionality themselves. SortPrice – a Facebook store plugin, recently added the option to allow brands to add a flash sale to their Facebook Page. This could represent the single biggest opportunity for brands – making the commerce experience for users different and entertaining, while making it a more social process, using Facebook functionality such as sharing or messaging, to allow fans to tell their friends about the offer.

Case Study : Saks

Showing how this can work from a brand-centric approach as opposed to working with a flash sale aggregator, Saks have recently invested in a flash sale site that is proving successful for their customers. The site is due to launch next week and it will offer customers a completely new way to shop within the Saks site :

The flash sale site is an impressive launch from Saks, as they will offer multiple flash sales throughout the day, making it a major part of the online shopping experience on the site, as opposed to being something more gimmicky. The fact that such a large retailer is getting behind flash sales in such a big way shows the potential here, but interestingly, it shows how it can fit as a social shopping mechanic for luxury brands. When it comes to social media, luxury brands have to approach it carefully, striking a balance between making the brand accessible, but somewhat exclusive and aspirational. While group buying may not necessarily have fit with this approach, flash sales are a concept that can be applied to luxury brands perfectly.

Opportunities on Facebook

The concept of a flash sale lends itself perfectly to Facebook, as an updated way of running the sale via app alerts as opposed to email, and the same concept can also be applied to Twitter. When consumers shop on Facebook, there is an expectation that you want something more out of the experience than you would get on a normal commerce or brand site. F-commerce requires a different approach, that utilise social technologies as an intrinsic part of the transaction, using it to do business completely differently. Instead of implementing a flash sale as you would through a website, think about the ability to offer personalised flash sales based on your fans’ interests or even the possibility of allowing people to create their own flash sales. Imagine if you could create a private flash sale for your friends that allowed you to get a single product at a completely different price than anyone else? If flash sales are to really take off for brands and reach their full potential, there are many opportunities to bring them up to date through social technology and provide an experience for your customers that they can’t get anywhere else.

There are 100 questions to answer dealing with topics such as viral, mobile, internet fame and memery (video, audio and visual memes that have gained massive popularity online). Also you’re only allowed 30 seconds to answer each question to prevent you from using Google and rely on yourself for answers instead. However, there’s nothing to stop you from using it after to discover the answers for whatever questions you get wrong.

With a mixture of serious, cultural, and historical questions alongside a few light-hearted questions thrown into the mix (one question asked is ‘True or False: The number hours you spend online is a direct correlation to your degree of social outcastness’ while the only answer offered for ‘Those who don’t know about viral videos until a week or more after they debut properly:’ is ‘live under a rock’), it’s a fun way to kill 15-20 minutes of your spare time.

Starbucks luxury coffee

Last year Starbucks showed how social commerce is done well, by running a promotion based on customer loyalty. They had partnered up with the luxury site Gilt Groupe, to launch a new luxury line of coffee. Instead of just launching the product directly to Gilt members, they decided to reward loyalty instead. MyStarbucks card holders were invited to an exclusive sale of the coffee, before even Gilt members could get their hands on it, and way before the product was released to the general public. Starbucks did two things right here. Firstly they partnered up with a social commerce service in the first place – through Gilt – but they then found a way to create real talkability among their loyal customers. The initiative was launched in August 2010 and is a good example of social commerce being done in the right way, targeted to a loyal fanbase and finding a very real way to reward them. Though it didn’t include integration on their own Facebook Page, the strength of this came in with partnering with Gilt – they found an existing community  and worked with them.

Social selling for charity

In a recent charity campaign around the film ‘Life In A Day’, people were asked to become mini movie moguls and use the power of social commerce for good. For the film, the organisers set up a facility where people could become social sellers and create their own online ticket booth. You could then use your online booth to sell film tickets to friends and family, via a partnership with easyfundraising.co.uk  and 25% of the ticket revenue was then given directly to charity of your choice. This significantly incentivised people to keep selling more tickets. This is an entirely new social commerce concept, and it forms part of a completely social project overall, as Life In A Day’ was made up of clips submitted by people from all over the world, to Youtube. This is an interesting approach to the idea of social selling and using people’s own communities with a side benefit to charities. Though a concept like this wouldn’t need to be restricted to charities, it’s a great way of facilitating online fundraising in an entirely new way. You can check out the film trailer below :

Uniqlo Under Construction

This has got to be one of the best social commerce campaigns ever. When Uniqlo were rebuilding their site last year, they decided against using a standard ‘under construction’ page and went for something completely different. When they landed on the holding page, users were asked to set the price for 10 featured items, by integrating with Twitter. The more tweets a certain product got, the cheaper it became. Uniqlo called on people here to use their own social communities to determine the outcome of the new site, bringing them in early on in the process to fully engage them with the brand the products. The concept is simple yet genius, successfully bringing social features into the site, but finding a way to bring people back to the site eventually, so you don’t lose the end benefit and ultimate sale that you’re hoping to drive.

Chanel’s Popup Store

A great campaign from Chanel here, that showed how you can take an offline concept and transform it online. When Chanel were launching their new lipstick line, they opened up a popup shop on Facebook. To reward their loyal Facebook fans, Chanel opened up a store on their Facebook Page, where you could purchase the lipstick ahead of the main launch. The chance to purchase this through the Facebook Page was limited, to extend the ‘popup’ concept and they also added in some nice social features here. As well as being able to purchase the lipstick through the Facebook app, you could also buy it directly within the wall itself, making this an inherently social concept. What I like about this campaign is that it also shows social commerce is a viable option for luxury brands, where it may not seem like there’s such a natural fit.

Dropbox Referrals

Dropbox is one of my favourite online services around and they show how to give something back to a loyal community, with their social referral scheme. While you can choose to buy extra space on Dropbox to store your files, you can also use word of mouth to earn extra storage. You can earn extra space within the site simply by inviting your friends with your unique discount code. This shows forward-thinking by Dropbox. They’ve kept the social commerce completely centred around their product, and are willing to say goodbye to extra revenue, in return for a bigger community on their site. The action for the user is simple – tell a friend about a service you probably love anyway, get extra space, which in turn encourages you back to the site more.  This is a great scheme by Dropbox and it shows that the new currency may be social, rather than monetary.