Is there any other brand out there doing a better job marketing themselves on Facebook? If so, let me know because Vitaminwater just continues to both amuse and innovate on the social network. Via Techcrunch, their latest flavor will be called “Connect” which was chosen via a contest on the brands Facebook page. Vitaminwater was the 1st brand to use their Facebook presence as the URL in a major television campaign and continues to hit all the right buttons in activating their Facebook fan base. I think I just might have a ‘brandcrush’ here…
On a final note, if you never saw the infomercial for their initial contest, it’s spot on and definitely worth checking out. And to think you could do about 5-6 of these social media campaigns (including the web video production) for about the same cost as 1 traditional television campaign.
LBS (Location Based Service) and Mobile Transactions (e-Commerce / Couponing) are often cited as the next big growth areas / tech for mobile devices.Video is another growth area, but outside of viewing Film/TV content and capturing very low res video, there hasn’t been much to get excited about.That’s why this recent announcement from Ustream (courtesy of Techcrunch) that they have gone mobile, IMO is going to be one of the next big things that combines the best elements of Mobile, Interactive Video and Social Media.This will be big not only in Mobile Marketing but in overall Interactive Marketing as well.As the article mentions:
“The broadcasting app, however, is what we are excited about. It includes integrated chat, audience polling, and GPS mapping. The polling lets broadcasters ask their audience what they want to see or what actions they should take in a live broadcast situation. Another key feature: mobile video broadcasters can send out a message via Twitter or Facebook to their audience to tell them when they are about to start streaming live. (See video below). Under the hood, Ustream has developed its own low-latency streaming technology which reduces the amount of transcoding that needs to be done on the server as well as the amount of buffering that needs to be done on the phone.”
What’s exciting about Ustream heading over to mobile (and iPhone specifically) is that this now allows for real-time ‘interactive’ live streaming.Add in the ‘audience participation’ and you have a mobile version of EdTV.Vacation photos and videos are huge for just about everybody – now imagine streaming your walk up Machu Picchu live to your parents or friends and have them direct a virtual tour? Or doing your own version of ToddTV and illicit instant feedback on what your audience thinks you should do in certain situations (note: this could be dangerous for that 18-24 year-old male demo – why didn’t we have this tech when I was that age???)
Most importantly, this will also be huge for brands that want to use innovative interactive marketing methods for future campaigns.You could easily drive brand awareness and engagement for your product through a real-life, instant ‘webisode’ that adds in a promotion / contest type element for the engaged and active viewer.This is the UGC version of American Idol. This is a future game changer…
P.S. If you haven’t heard of Ustream before think of it as YouTube but for live broadcasts via webcam.Whereas YouTube video is uploaded and then streamed, Ustream is streamed live all across the internet.Ustream was recently in the news for one member’s Shiba Puppy Cam which generated over 14 million views – http://www.ustream.tv/channel/shiba-inu-puppy-cam.This is just a bunch of puppies in a cage – over 14 million views!!
Recently I became aware that YouTube updated their annotations feature via an article on TechCrunch by Jason Kincaid. I was excited at first, however I was soon to be let down. Being an interactive director my mind went straight into the potential creative uses. Talk bubbles, notes, pause, linking, sharing, all these features are great when used appropriately with a strategic or creative purpose, annoying when they aren’t.
What I really wanted to find out is would YouTube fix the linking feature to incorporate Flash interactive cue points or something similar. Having used YouTube annotations in the past to create choose your own adventures I have been disappointed by the fact that the page has to refresh in order to continue an interactive narrative path. Hoping the TechCrunch article missed the feature, I decided to upload a test and give it a spin myself.
After testing all the features in the latest update I found myself at a loss. Cool, it’s easier. Cool, new creative tools. However, by not incorporating que points YouTube stains the true interactive experience. Throwing an unwanted, uncontrolled and unnecessary black slate, a digital hiccup, in the users fantasy. Breaking the perceived reality that content creators strive to create, disengaging them, and creating confusion. Until YouTube incorporates cue points interactive content creators will struggle to define the cognitive and affective process by which perceived reality is built. The interactive experience will not be true until the stain is wiped clean.
Sure I will continue to use annotations when warranted. There are some great interactive uses for annotations, and I will continue to explore new ways to use them. I am thankful for the feature. I can even imagine a few creative uses for the hiccup. Just give me the choice. Let creative freedom reign.
We Are Organized Chaos (WAOC) is Zugara’s (www.zugara.com) interactive marketing and advertising blog where we’ll be featuring some great projects and discussing upcoming trends in the digital world. Work — good and bad — will be critiqued. Hope you’ll enjoy reading our insights and thoughts on interactive.
