WWW Truly Going Global

It has been all over the news, in the last couple of days, that WWW will finally live up to its name. The Internet, born in the USA, for the first time in history, will incorporate non-Latin characters. This marks a great technological change in the way web works and is expected to open up access to millions of new users.

Being born in the Latin alphabet-world, this may not be such a radical change for most of us. However, in many countries like Korea, China, Thailand, it has been a great struggle and inconvenience for users to switch back and forth between their native alphabet and the Latin alphabet modes. It is also believed that this improvement will also help remove the inbuilt cultural bias.

At this point, I believe it would also be appropriate to look at the e-marketing implications of this change. Using the native language may help users locate what they are looking for more easily, let it be local flower-shops or consulting companies. As a result, the e-marketing efforts are bound to be more fruitful in the end, being able to target a more specific group of users, following up on their different ways to access information. Furthermore, in terms of local businesses and community projects, people will have the opportunity to describe themselves in their own language, and thus distinguishing themselves for better marketing techniques.

Of course, the change is not without its critics. However, it is also a small change on the bumpy road to a more "fair" WWW.

2 Great Online Ads

Wandering on the bcc.co.uk website I came across an article that has specially hand-picked some great ads from the industry. My favorites were the Burger King's Whopper Virgins and the Pringles' banner advert that has won a Cyber Lion award at Cannes this year. They both topped aspects of creativity and interaction. In addition to this, they have a deep understanding of who they are talking to and based on the success rates of the ads, also of what turns them on. They have engaged these two angles and have been successful in attracting people and piquing their curiosity through teasing them.

Burger King Whopper Virgins

I don't know if it's me or the music in the background, I have found this ad considerably touching. They have gone beyond the whole aspect of Big Mac vs. Whopper, and also have brought in a social ambience, the exchange of culture.

Pringles' online ad brings a new line with every click you make on the ad, all being very unexpected and humorous. Once you click this ad, it becomes seriously addictive to continue (usually with a smirk on your face), which seems to be in exact collaboration with Pringles' advertising motto, "once you pop, you can't stop".

Online advertising vs. TV advertising: Rivals or Allies?

Times have changed. The typical day of an average adult has changed. Thanks to the technology that allows us to check our e-mails even during the stretch break of a pilates class, we are a lot more engaged in the digital world. Facebook messages have replaced the SMS, and the online messengers have lessened the amount of time we spend talking on the phone a great deal in our daily lives, meaning: Internet ALWAYS ON, and TV? Ehh, I'd rather have my laptop close for the commercial breaks or even watch the my favorite shows online.

Changes in the advertising industry have also seem to fit the general trend we converge towards in our social lives. According to a BBC report, for the first time in the UK, online advertising spending has overtaken TV advertising expenditures. (You can check out the article, for the actual figures.) This is described as a huge milestone, since for years, online advertising has been seen as a "poor cousin" to TV advertising.

(I can't embed the video with Nick Fox from the DDP, but be sure to check it out!)

However, the question to be discussed is whether this comparison is fair. Online and TV advertising seem to be most fruitful when they go hand in hand. Furthermore, the description of online advertising in this case includes "E-mail campaigns, classified adverts, display ads and search marketing". How fair is it to bundle all that in one pot, without assessing the productivity of each tool?

Given the tough economic times, it is exciting to see online advertising thrive and bring out stimulating opportunities for online marketeers. Therefore, for my next entry, I will be taking another dive to the e-world to discuss what makes a great online ad!

uSocial: How would you like fries with that friend?

"How dare you to think you can own me? You can have my body, but never my soul!" may be a typical line from a Latin soap opera, but probably not the case with uSocial, an Australian online-marketing company that recommends potential friends to companies, after having trawled Facebook for users by criteria like age, location and interests. This is because, once you fall into the vicious network of uSocial (in other words, agree to be its friend), you are sold, both your cyber body and soul, to those companies who are willing to pay about 15 cents for you. So, if you are wondering, that is pretty much how much you are worth online. uSocial also sells Twitter followers to companies looking for the ever so desperately sought positive buzz.

The article I came across the Economist, September 19th issue, discusses whether the idea of selling friends makes for good marketing. Does purchasing friends or fans establish brand loyalty? How likely are you to bribe a friend to make them come to your party? Does that mean they will enjoy that party? Or is it more like you are demeaning your own idea of entertainment by making yourself seem so desperate? I think the bigger harm might be that websites like Twitter and Facebook may lose popularity if users feel that they are being 'used' for advertising, instead of being care-freely stalked and gossiped about. uSocial would not want to upend the big guys' revenue sources. Oh no.

Even though it is up to you to decide what you want to do with that body and soul, keep in mind the virtues of uSocial's business plan.

Start Hunching!

Hunch.com is a website that I have been invited to by a genius friend, Volkan, from high school. I say genius, because he is really one (MIT Engineering, full scholarship) but maybe I should leave my praising of Volkan for another blog entry.

The email he sent looked like this: "What's Hunch? It's a new way to help you make decisions and solve problems. Because Hunch is powered by user input, it gets smarter each time someone contributes to it. But what decisions, what problems? You name it. Volkan Gurel thought you might be particularly be interested in: *Laptops. "So accepting my friend's personal invite (you can only log on with a personal invite from someone who is already registered and Volkan works for them), I actually went onto the website to try the test for laptops. It asked me a couple of questions, some are somehow related to laptops, some completely off. The final result it gave me was actually the laptop I had bought a year ago. I was pretty impressed!

However, I didn't restart thinking about this website till I was studying for the midterm and going over Web 2.0. The power of collaboration among people and high interactivity rates were the underlying roots of this website since it is designed to help you make decisions through asking you 10 questions or less powered by collective knowledge.

So what could be the implications for e-marketing? Could marketers utilize this service through asking you totally unrelated questions about a topic but still find out your views on it? It could be used for doing customer research on more sensitive topics that people be more reluctant to answer questions about. Limits on individual human intelligence may be traceable, but there are no boundaries for collective intelligence!

Capucine for Edurelief!

Yesterday, one of my friends forwarded me this video on Facebook:

It is one of the cutest videos I've seen. (Even guys I have seen it with have said: "Oh! She's too adorable!")  On top of that I realized that her mom is using views of this video to raise money for a Mongolian charity called the Edurelif. Wanting to see more of this cute girl's videos, I went on to the website where the mother uploads more videos of her daughter, Capucine and explains her motivation of increasing awareness for Edurelif. 

Capucine for Edurelief in Mongolia from Capucha on Vimeo.

This is another example how social media can be used for cause marketing. Her mother has taken a great idea and has launched something cute, exciting and motivating enough to initiate a viral buzz. Placing the video on Youtube has also definitely increased the number of hits it has received. 

Check out the other funny videos and spread the word yourself!

Effective Use of Web 2.0 Tools

As we go through hard times in the economy, some Web 2.0 tools can come handier than expected for creating growth in companies. Through the use of tools like Twitter and Facebook, some companies have been creating an online buzz and implementing online marketing campaigns. Zappos.com is one of these companies. The online shoe and clothing company tweets about what happens to them at the airport, what they ate "between phone calls and state of the economy", stressing on the fact that their product is less important: It's more about the business. 

However, not all companies can benefit from Twitter and Facebook as much as other companies. The usage really depends on the products and services they offer. Twitter and Facebook greatly differ among themselves too: Even though Twitter may have less users than Facebook, their users seem to be hyper connected and are very different from mainstream Facebook users.

An article I came across talks about some key steps to take before enjoying a Twitter presence:

1)Listen and learn about Twitter

2)Establish your objectives and metrics for success

3)Set up your company's Twitter profile

4)Mind your Twitter etiquette

What it could be seen is that using Twitter as a marketing tool requires steps that should be taken when implementing any kind of an online marketing plan and greatly ties in with the Forrester objectives that should be taken as guidelines. You need to listen to your customers, and talk to them in the proper way. Furthermore, your success on Twitter depends on how much you are able to energize your customers.