Most Contagious 2011

Contagious have completed their wrap up of the year, covering the key trends, technology trends and best campaigns from around the world. Well worth a read.CheersNic 

Communications Council urges Australian mobile manufacturers to front NFC technology revolution

The Communications Council believes Australia has a major opportunity to become a world class innovator in NFC (Near Field Communications) services – a technology becoming more omnipresent in Mobile phones and other swipe to pay systems. Despite some handset manufacturers holding back NFC technology in mobile phone models in Australia, the Communications Council believes the time is right for manufacturers to incorporate NFC in all future handsets.

Already integrated into some credit and debit cards, such as Visa payWave, the introduction of NFC ‘chips’ embedded into mobiles will be a revolution in how people pay for goods and services on the go.  

50% of all Mobile handsets are predicted to have the technology enabled by 2014

with an anticipated value of mobile payment transactions in excess of $50bn worldwide.

In addition, given every NFC chip will be linked to an individual’s mobile phone, numerous other marketing opportunities will be created such as; accessing additional information from traditional and digital forms of advertising, delivering targeted offers to shoppers when they enter a store, or acting as contactless check-ins for social networks.      

 “We think there are numerous creative applications for NFC technology beyond transactional interactions. Marketing communications clients and agencies are eagerly awaiting critical mass of handsets in the marketplace so they can really start engaging consumers in these exciting new ways.” Iain McDonald, Chairman, Digital Committee.

With the Android powered Google Nexus S becoming the leading mass market NFC handset, and Samsung, Blackberry, Nokia, Windows, and Sony Ericsson all finalising plans, The Communications Council is looking to all manufacturers to accelerate release dates to propel this sector forward.

Australia is already a top 5 Mobile market due to the high penetration of smartphones, and an eager, early adopting consumer base. It is estimated that 60% of Australian Brands have rolled-out a mobile initiative to date, with over a quarter now having a web site optimised for Mobile. “The growth of Mobile marketing in Australia in the last 18 months has been rapid so we’re encouraging marketers to look at where NFC can fit into their Marketing and Customer programs, and take the connections they have with audiences to the next level”  Graham Christie – Communications Council Digital committee member.

About the digital committee:

The Communications Council’s digital committee was formed to represent member agencies’ digital interests, drive digital industry leadership, and develop forward and innovative thinking in digital.  Committee members include Heather Albrecht (Digital Connections), Kathryn Apte (Google), Charles Clapshaw (Tequila), Nic Chamberlain (303), Graham Christie (Big Mobile), Craig Galvin (The White Agency), Nic Hodges (Mediacom), Aden Hepburn (IdeaWorks) Simon Morgan (Publicis Mojo), Ruud Spierings (Facebook), Stephen Von Muenster (Von Muenster Solicitors),  and Mike Zeederberg (Zuni), Joshua Frith (The Dubs), David Whittle (M&C Saatchi), Jenny Williams (Ideagarden).The Committee is chaired by Iain McDonald from Amnesia Razorfish.

About The Communications Council

The Communications Council is the peak body representing agencies in the marketing communications industry to media, government and the public.  The Council creates a footprint across the increasingly integrated world of creative, digital, healthcare, design, direct marketing, promotion, PR, plus creative production companies and strategic planning consultancies. Based on the concept of ‘together stronger’ it champions a proactive and united industry approach. We help grow member businesses and develop individual careers through the provision of professional development services, advocacy and support.

For further information contact:

Linde Wolters

-0282973806

303 wins digital award at Create Awards for Perth Arts Festival ‘Totems’

Our 2011 Perth Festival campaign continues to receive plaudits, after last night winning in the Digital and interactive Category of the Create Awards, from Desktop Magazine. Our personalized ‘Totems’ saw out competition from Guinness, British Airways and Schweppes to win.

The idea gave festival goers the opportunity to create their personalised festival image, unique to them – based on the events they chose to visit. This became their avatar, shareable in the Festival’s online art gallery and via social media, and even able to be purchased as a high-resolution print.

‘This was a perfect project for 303 - we’re a blend of technical and creative types who love to push the envelope. Like much of this year’s festival, ‘Totems’ was a balance of art and science. Now that we are live, its incredible to watch people play with it, obsess with it, and create unique forms with it.' says Richard Berney, Associate Creative Director.

Nic Chamberlain, Head of Digital commented, “we’re delighted with the award, credit to the creative team and my Technical guys for delivering this as well as we did. The ‘Totems’ played a huge part in the total festival design on and offline, and really engaged with audiences of all ages at Festival time”.

You can read more about Totems and this award in next months Desktop magazine.

Plans for the 2012 campaign are already well underway.

Optimise for mobile or lose out...

19% of all emails are now read on mobile device, and Google reports that 14% of all searches are via Mobile – a 3000% increase in just 3 years. This is more than enough evidence for brands to ensure users on a mobile enjoy an experience that that befits their screen size.

As Google says, a poor mobile web experience can negatively shape a consumer’s opinion of a brand or company and make it hard for them to engage or make a purchase. In fact, 61% of users are unlikely to return to a website that they had trouble accessing from their phone.

Check out these two competing brands, you don’t need me to tell you which one is the better experience.

Google added to the importance yesterday, announcing that websites optimized for mobile will have a better quality score than those that aren’t. So the discussion is not merely about the user experience, not having a mobile enabled website will now impact on the success of your Google search budget.

At 303, we’re soon to launch our own mobile site, and we’re also developing some cost-effective development packages to take to clients that haven’t yet optimized for mobile, so watch this space.

More here: 

10 inches not enough for you ?

A new iPad accessory called Padzilla has been release that turns your 10 inch iPad into a 70-150 inch multitouch screen. While this is great for the people that love to see their Apple products super sized it brings a great opportunity to have large interactive screens outdoors.

Having this set up with in a public space or potentially installed as an AdShell gives us the opportunity to simply purchase an iPad build a game or application for our client which then provides the user a service or experience while they are out and about.

The cost I’m lead to believe is fairly ridiculous at the moment sitting at about 20K + however this should come down pretty quickly as most things (Remember all those people paying 20K for their plasma TVs ?)

For more information check out the link
http://crunchylogistics.com/portfolio/padzilla-70-inch-ipadiphone-case/

Google plus or a minus?

2 months have passed since Google’s latest social media re-incarnation, so I thought it might be interesting to see where they’re at, and a look at what’s next.

Firstly, they’ve had quite a start, reaching 25m users quicker than their friends at Facebook and Twitter did. It’s taken 1 month to reach such mass, whereas it took Facebook almost 3 years. A false number perhaps as social media was at a very different stage in its lifecycle back then, but a positive for Google all the same.

The other key plus for me is around functionality, ‘Circles’ allow users to organize connections in to pots, so you can have ‘close friends’, ‘family’, ‘work’ and so on – which gives the service a lot of flexibility. This is crucial for Google+ on-going success as Facebook isn’t as flexible in this regard. Interestingly, Facebook have tweaked the site recently (you can manage privacy on individual posts now), and expect more to come as they track the progress of Google+ and manage privacy concerns over time.

On the negative side, that 25m+ audience is jam packed full of nerds… perhaps unsurprisingly it’s over-indexing on early adopter Engineers, Software professionals and most importantly – men. The site currently has 70% men, 30% women which is the total reverse of the rest of the social network sphere, where 60/40 women to men is far more commonplace (Twitter has the highest ratio of women to men with 64/36% women to men, Pew Research Study).

The key step now is how they take the service in to the public mainstream and your network of friends, celebrity, sport, news etc. Basically, Google+ needs to step in to the world of your average Joe on the street, who with 2-3 social profiles already may think they simply don’t need yet another service in their lives.

The most concerning stat for Google HQ from the first two months might just be the active user base, statistics show that 83% of the base are inactive, which is higher than Twitter (which is saying something). So they’ve seen a very high take up rate, but now people are inactive and deciding where this actually fits with their other networks.

Another factor is that they’ve not launched business profiles yet, which will inevitably have an impact in terms of buzz around the service – expect that to come in the next couple of months. However, I’m not convinced that’s going to see a new swathe of engaged users arrive and stay.

Google+ will need to find its place in the social world soon enough; but personally I fear that your regular Jane doesn’t have time for another social network, so there’s a lot more work to be done to change pretty entrenched behaviour amongst that group.

The other concern for me is that Google just doesn’t feel inherently social.... you go to them for something different – and social isn’t it. Only time will tell.

Thanks

Nic

 *Bime Analytics Research

303 asks IKEA to pay rent in WA and SA

303 and IKEA has launched the 2012 catalogue campaign in WA and SA, the catalogue is a key element in the brands armoury and 303 have taken a totally fresh approach to the launch. 

The people of WA and SA can earn rent from IKEA just for keeping the catalogue in their home. By signing up, users are able to receive monthly rent cheques via email.

Nigel Richardson, Marketing Manager of IKEA (WA & SA): "The annual catalogue launch is the pivotal point in the year for IKEA and is key to our marketing program. Historically, the focus is on new products and the campaign runs for just a few weeks. We wanted to focus on the inspiration that comes from the catalogue and encourage people to use it throughout the year. The international theme for the 2012 catalogue is 'create space'. That was the brief for 303. We are excited by the concept and the collaborative process of developing this with 303 has been an open and rewarding one."

Sydney-based Simon Langley, ECD at 303: "The IKEA catalogue is an institution. People anticipate its arrival, get excited about it, read it and then it put it on the shelf. We want it to have pride of place. But, with living costs increasing we figured it only fair that IKEA should pay their way. This led us to the idea of IKEA paying people to keep the catalogue in their homes by renting the space it occupies"

To find out all about the campaign, and to start earning rent, go here!

Cheers

Making the New, Old Again

We are all aware of how saturated the globe is now with new technology.
You are even likely to see grandma’s walking around typing an SMS these days.

The convenience that this technology offers us makes it an easy choice, hence its growth as the preferred means of communication.

It could be easily assumed, therefore, that we as consumers prefer everything to be on a screen.

But there is an opposing force, which is driving consumer desire. As technology changes so rapidly there is a longing for how things used to be.

Nostalgia for the more tangible, personal, and authentic ways of the old days reinvented in modern times

So we have a desire for convenience.
Clashing with a desire for engagement.

What if advertising could bring these two ideas together?
If our campaigns don’t just focus on the digital space, but use this as a platform for collaborative projects that the audience can then translate into their own world.

A nice example was executed for the Swedish postal service last Christmas.
The insight being that people still prefer to receive a traditional Christmas card, even though online e-cards were increasing in popularity for the givers.

The creative execution, ‘Living Christmas Cards’, allowed personalised ‘one-off’ cards to be created and ordered online and then mailed to the recipients home as a hard-copy, similar to a post-card.



Another proof of the pudding is the campaign involving the use of iPhones to catch ‘invisible’ butterflies out in the ‘real world’.



Multi-dimensional campaigns that weave their way into peoples lives both on and off-line.

Thanks

Cassie

Excelbook from Diesel

Another cute extension of Facebook's Be Stupid campaign, this time in the guise of an app, where full Facebook functionality sits in a (lookalike) Excel spreadsheet so your boss can't see you checking out what your mates are up to.


Ideas similar this have floated around before, but not quite to the extent of delivering all the functionality in to this format. It taps in to a great truth about our desire for endless social connection and people getting in to trouble when they should be working... so good on Diesel for that.

Check it out here, http://www.bestupidatwork.com/. Question marks remain over how often it'll get downloaded given stringent admin rights for some office users, and the execution could probably have been a little tighter to push it a little.

Good all the same. Thanks to @adenhepburn for the share.

Cheers Nic

Museum of Me

Here’s a very clever Facebook app from Intel.

http://www.intel.com/museumofme/en_AU/r/index.htm

Called “Museum of Me” it appeals to everyone’s principle interest: themselves.

The app trawls through your Facebook photos, status updates, posts from friends and movie clips then, in astonishingly quick time, creates a video showing a museum exhibition based on your Facebook life. The whole thing is set to a poignant music track and people have been getting very emotion at seeing their life displayed this way.

The programming is astonishing as the camera tracks from room to room in the exhibition, panning past spectators interacting with your pictures and videos. There is even some performance art as a robot arm collects photos to build a montage mosaic that forms a giant version of your profile picture.

You can post the highlights of your Museum on your Facebook wall and it shows your 5 friends you most interact with and the word you use most in status updates.

There is no overt “sell” from Intel here. Presumably, the product demonstration of turning all the Facebook data into a museum movie so fast says something about Intel processing power, but I think Intel’s motivation is more about the love coming back to the company for building this experience.

Thanks

Malcolm

Memolane - Timeline your digital life

New site has been released to help you rediscover great memories. You simply connect all your social network accounts to the site and it goes and scans all the sites and time-lines all your activity for you.

Another great tool for you and your friends to rediscover all the embarrassing moments stored on the net that you would just hope would disappear.

Check it out here

http://memolane.com/

View my page to see a working example without needing to sign up.

http://memolane.com/aaroncollyer

The Rich List of Social Media

http://www.the-social-list.com/

Ever wondered where you stand in the world of social media networking?

The Sunday Times have created a site where you can work out your worth based on your networking activity so you can see who’s who in the world of social networking.

All your shares, tweets, likes, comments, updates, re-tweets, tag and mentions are all taken into account so you can see where you rate on the list. This is a great way to use social media to get your brand out there.

Thanks

Belinda

Stadsmission - Homeless banners

Stadsmission is a small charity dedicated to helping the homeless in Stockholm. The “Homeless Banners” campaign was based around a blank, homeless banner with no website to live. Users are prompted to the micro site to copy the embedded code and paste it onto their own website, effectively giving the banner a place to live. The longer it was left up on a website and the more that it was interacted with, the brighter the banner became. When people interacted with it they were directed to the micro site to prompt donations and to host a banner of their own. After just 1 month there were over 400 websites hosting the homeless banners, generating 36 million impressions and tripling donations.

A very clever concept to generate interaction and achieve results with a very tiny budget! Pretty amazing.

Thanks

Jess

What were you doing on February 22nd?

People in Christchurch, who had just been hit by the horror earthquake immediately began to Tweet and Facebook their urgent pleas for help, to find loved ones, offer their homes for refuge or just let people know that they were safe and well.

Fresh off the Haiti disaster Google created an App called the ‘Person Finder’ a missing persons database specifically for Christchurch, which people could use to spread or search for critical information. This App also supplied immediate satellite map updates of the destruction zone as it happened.

So who would you turn to if your life was torn apart… Social Media?

Its immediacy and convenience is highlighted in emergency cases like this. But its utility for surges of spontaneous and widespread social interaction also waits to be harnessed for brand emergencies… an exclusive event perhaps?
Or even better is for brands to join in and lend a helping hand in times of crisis by tracking any distress calls in social media.

http://gcn.com/articles/2011/02/24/social-media-role-in-new-zealand-rescue-effort.aspx

Thanks

Cassie

Selfridges - Project Ocean

Selfridges as taken it upon themselves to try raise awareness of overfishing in our oceans. They have put together a diverse campaign utilising multiple channels to push the message out and try get people involved and donating.

The consistency and scale of the digital pieces for this project was quite impressive as well. Obviously the website and mobile apps were the main pieces of the project but I love the different outdoor digital executions that have been integrated with user activity on the site and apps.

Heineken - The Invite

Tired of drinking by yourself ? You might have a problem. That's ok Heineken is here to help. They have created a bottle opener with Bluetooth that can connect to your Facebook and create an event each time you feel like a drink.

The event is created based on your location and then goes off and invites your friends in the same city. Friends are able to RSVP and the event with the most attendees win's a case of beer for the following week.

Another great example of a simple idea using social media to spread mass awareness of your brand. Plus everyone loves free beer.

Mini involve their fans once again in their advertising

To celebrate customisation Mini, Berlin have set up a live photo booth and facebook page which enables people to have their photo taken with their choice of coloured earphones and car model. Let’s say you selected pink earphones, it would generate of photo of you sporting a pair of pink earphones alongside your favourite Mini featuring pink side mirrors.

The photos are sent to a live billboard on Berlin’s busiest intersection, online and on facebook. One participant wins their customised Mini.

Check out Mini It’s Personal Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/MINI?sk=app_191638194215171


Thanks
Emily

ROME and WebGL

There was a new music video release recently that wasn't made for TV but rather for a web browser. It's quite an impressive visual display using code to render the 3D elements together with video and 2d graphics.

Check it out here. http://www.ro.me/ (view in chrome)

The technology they are using is WebGL. It is an extension of JavaScript to allow developers to generate 3D graphics within a web browser. Only issue with it currently is there are only a couple of browsers that are able to render it.

www.ro.me/tech is a page put together by the creators of ROME. It has a model viewer of some of the animals used in the clip and a great collection of some WebGL examples.

Also you can see the making of the clip here.

Axe Multiple Girlfriend Facebook App

A simple yet clever use of Facebook. Mimicking relationship status updates on Facebook Axe has been able to create some buzz with their new Multiple Girlfriend app. Basically it allows guys to post to their wall the fact that they have 356 or so girlfriends.

Not sure how happy Facebook would be able this. But until they pull it down it will continue to spread.

Topshop brings AR and Kinect together

A virtual change room has been created by Topshop using augmented reality and the Microsoft Kinect. What is a pretty good idea it is a shame that all the clothes look terrible over the top of existing clothes.Despite this issue it's another example of digital installations becoming more relevant in real world situations.

I would like to see it taken one step further and have the installations outside of the shops and the ability for the people to purchase the clothes and have it sent out to them.

Check out this article for more information.

Ben & Jerry's - Fair Tweets

This is just an amazing yet simple idea for twitter. Using the fairtweets website or apps users can promote fair trade with their left over character limit on all their tweets.

Check out their site at http://www.fairtweets.com/ and start tweeting.

Google goes indoors

Ignoring the obscurity of the video, this Google product kicking around that I haven't seen much of. It's called Google Business Photos. The purpose is to get streetview users off the streets and into businesses to check out what a place is like past the front door.

Currently there are photographers being sent out to selected cities to kick this off. Anyone can apply to have a free photography session and Google is keen to hear from anyone that is interested. Check it out.

http://maps.google.com/help/maps/businessphotos/

1 year of the Facebook 'like', now meet the 'send'

Now we're all accustomed to using the Facebook like button, with more than 2.5million websites adopting it, Facebook are extending their functionality with the 'send' button, which allows for a more personalised share of content. Whilst the like allows us to tell our whole network, the share allows us to pinpoint particular friends.




This is what Facebook had to say:

"A year ago, we launched the Like button, which gives you a quick way to share the things you find on the web with all your friends. But there are times when you find something that you only want to share with a few specific people. Say you're on Orbitz and want to tell your roommates about a great idea for a summer vacation, or you come across a Huffington Post article that you only want to share with people at work. With the new Send button, now you can share things with any of your Groups or individual friends on Facebook."

Most users will be familiar with the functionality as it's exactly the same as the share functionality we use on Facebook, so in that regard it shouldn't confuse. Users can send to email, friends or any Facebook groups they may have set up. From a development perspective, it's terribly easy to implement, in the same way as Like is. 

Take a look on Orbitz, they're one of the initial 50 partners adopting this, and then I'm sure we'll see it pop up as often as we have the like in the coming months. 

Cheers
Nic

Finally a creative approach to LinkedIn

There’s plenty of brands accessing Facebook profile information to feed into fun campaigns. Now VW are venturing into LinkedIn.

This new campaign taps into your LinkedIn profile so you can compare how big your head is compared with other people in your Linkedin network. 


The actual outcome is pretty disappointing but it’s inspiring to consider how brands could tap into more professional information in LinkedIn.


Thanks
Emily

Facebook taking over the world - still

Because you know we love a moving infographic, especially one about Facebook. Jokes aside, there's some quite interesting stats in here and for a minute or so of your time it's worth a look. 48% of people under 35 check Facebook as soon as they wake up, come on you know who you are.


Cheers
Nic



The World Is Obsessed With Facebook from Alex Trimpe on Vimeo.

Google launches its version of like, +1

Google has added a new social element to its search with the launch of “+1”. The new button will appear next to search results and adverts. Clicking on it will allow users’ friends to see what they liked and add to public data.

This is Google's latest attempt at 'social', one that might actually work as in time it might be used to improve search ranking (doesn't for now). Video says it all.

Time we enjoyed the ride

303 have created a new campaign, launching this week for Office of Road Safety.

The campaign is a shift in direction for Road Safety messages and is based on a number of new insights:

• Shock, gore & emotional manipulation are increasingly less effective, as audiences are de-sensitised
• The way we drive is a symptom of the way we live. Too fast*
• Life is better when we slow down

The result is Enjoy the Ride. A campaign that acknowledges the frantic world we live in and takes a holistic approach to reducing speed. Culturally the campaign couldn’t have come at a better time. The ‘Slow Movement’ is gaining traction across the developed world.

The campaign suggests that we take a look at not only how fast we drive, but also how fast we live. When we slow them down they both become more rewarding and less stressful. We should treat our vehicles as a sanctuary from speed and enjoy the ride.

“We don’t want this to feel like an ad campaign, we wanted to help create a movement - in WA and even across the world, where people recognise that life is better enjoyed at a more natural pace, where we don’t feel the need to rush, both on and off the road”. Derry Simpson, Planning Director. 303

The message was launched via a 3-minute launch TV commercial, road-blocking commercial free-to-air TV. This will be followed by two 30-second TVCs, a dedicated lifestyle website featuring editorial and consumer content, radio, outdoor, community posters and a coffee-table book targeting opinion-leaders.

Carl Honore, the bestselling author of ‘In Praise of Slowness’ will officially launch the program. He’ll be supported by a team of industry leaders who will promote the benefits of slow in various aspects of life.

*70% of people with hectic lifestyles admit to speeding.

Only 40% of people with relaxed lifestyles admit to speeding.

Synovate Research 2010

Lovers of art become the creators of art...

In 2011 the Perth International Arts Festival wanted to maximise online ticket sales, so the 303 Group conceived a unique digital device to entice patrons to participate in a unique online digital arts experiment.

303 created a series of generative artworks, called ‘totems’ - one for each event on the festival calendar.

 
Theatre totem

When a patron shortlists the events they plan to see, they bring together their respective event artworks to create their own festival image, as unique as a fingerprint - a personalised visual representation of their 2011 festival experience. This becomes their avatar, shareable in the Festival’s online art gallery and via social media, and even able to be purchased as a high-resolution print.

 
An individual totem

A heady array of totems has been created by the citizens of Western Australia, with site visits currently up 34%, and an artistic phenomenon has emerged from one of the most remote capital cities in the world.‘This was a perfect project for 303 - we’re a blend of technical and creative types who love to push the envelope. Like much of this year’s festival, ‘Totems’ was a balance of art and science. Now that we are live, its incredible to watch people play with it, obsess with it, and create unique forms with it.' says Richard Berney from 303 Perth’s Creative Department.

The bespoke animation was created by FutureDeluxe with cutting-edge programming by Zenbullets, both working out of Brighton, the UK’s current creative hotbed. 


Experience the Totem art on the Perth International Arts Festival site.

New facebook ad unit - Sponsored Stories

Hi

Facebook recently launched a new ad unit called Sponsored Stories. It turns peoples likes or checking in at a place into a branded ad. The ad will only appear on the right column of that persons facebook friends pages.




The controversial aspect of this new ad is that people can’t opt out. So, if a customer has liked a brand and this brand have bought Sponsored Stories they have no say whether this gets made into an ad to show their friends.

However, when people ‘like’ or check-in somewhere they are, in effect, advertising to their friends aren’t they? What do you think?

For more information see this Involver write up.

Thanks
Em

Predicting what Australian customers will want from brands in 2011

PART 2 (GETTING MOBILE)

Australians are getting mobile in more ways than one. This year we’ll see an even bigger increase in smart phones and a wider choice of tablet devices at lower price points. With an increasing number of customers getting mobile they will be expecting location based information and deals and richer experiences.

Location Based Deals

Foursquare and it’s check-ins were certainly one of the digital darlings last year. With 9 million Australians on Facebook, Facebook Places and recently launched Facebook Deals are set to be the most widely used location based service this year. What’s likely to engage customers in 2011 are deals or rewards in exchange for checking in. Brands can layer location based rewards with existing loyalty programs and consider how to reward customers for checking in with time/location based deals.

Tactile and rich in media

If you own or have played with an iPhone, iPad or Kindle you’ll agree it’s a tactile experience. You navigate through content by stroking, pinching and tapping. Customers expect brands to design tactile tablet experiences. Brands need to design tablet experiences with the tactile experience in mind.

Customers want to play with ads on their iPads. Last year Neilson reported 39% of iPad owners consider ads on their devices as “new and interesting” and 35% saying they actually enjoyed viewing ads (especially multimedia ads). After viewing an ad they are also more likely to make a purchase. Brands should experiment with targetted iPad ads using multi-media and the tactile functionality.

Some examples...

Jimmy Choo Treasure Hunt

Safeway/Pepsico Loyalty Program

Predicting what Australian customers will want from brands in 2011

There's a couple of areas we want to cover when looking at 2011, that of being social, and going mobile. I've split them in to two posts to keep these nice and short. Firstly, we take a look at the changes in social media we see in 2011.

Thanks

Emily

BE SOCIAL (don’t just do it)

Customers want brands to display social etiquette - listen, value opinions and remember information about your acquaintances and friends.

Show you are listening

This year customers will continue to share their frustrations and good experiences with their social networks. They’ll be asking questions in forums and the likes of Quora. They want brands to recognise and respond to their rants, raves and questions. Brands can set up social media monitoring and response guidelines to show they are listening.

Peer opinion rules

Before customers make a purchase decision they want to know what other people say about brands through peer reviews, forums, videos, photos, Facebook ‘likes’ and location based reviews through the likes of Foursquare, Facebook Places and Urbanspoon. To demonstrate how they value customer opinion brands can include social functionality in their websites, feature customer reviews and opinions alongside product information on their website and in-store

Get more personal as you get to know them - Social CRM

This year the brands who are jumping into social media monitoring will have access to a whole new world of ‘social data’. They will learn what their customers are saying, key themes of conversation, the kind of language being used and where conversations are happening. Customers are essentially telling brands what’s important to them. The brands who can translate this into their customer relationship management to tailor and improve the customer experience will have a real advantage.

Good examples of being Social

Totally cool banner for Go Airlines

Great engagement piece this for an airline, integrating your mobile in to the website experience. Neat.