21 June 2009

Posted at 18:04h in blogging, response, social media, spam by

Joseph Jaffe just wrote a post saying every time your brand is mentioned on a blog you need to respond. But he's wrong. And I reckon Adam Ferrier might even be onto something when he said brands should just leave consumers alone. Just because someone mentions your brand name, it doesn't mean you have to go in and "engage". Just because someone says something about jeans on Twitter, it doesn't mean you have to follow them if you're Levi. And just because someone mentions something remotely related to your product, it doesn't mean you have to comment on my blog. This is called spam. And if you do it on this blog I have no problem tearing you to shreds. I'm all for monitoring the social media environment. But when it comes to responding, don't do it all the time. Only do it when you can provide value. If it's relevant, and you can answer a question, point someone in the right direction or even give them something free or discounted, then you may respond. And if you want to see somebody doing social media response well, the Body Shop is a good place to start. Joseph and Adam, I give you both permission to respond if you please....

17 June 2009

Posted at 15:17h in blogging, fire, joker by

The editorial team here at Pigs Don't Fly have been having some serious discussions of late. So serious in fact, one member stated they "could no longer work in such an environment" and as such resigned from the writing team. Another is currently sitting in an emergency ward after one conversation turned physical.I've been thinking a lot about this blog lately, especially regarding the topic of content, being a joker, sensationalism and starting fires. So I'm sorry peeps if I've been blogging about blogging on this blog a lot lately, but unfortunately there's still a few posts left to write.I haven't written about my blogging hero in a while, Seth Godin. But in one of his latest posts he suggests doing what you want and what you're passionate about, even if it's at the cost of your audience. I love this concept of "Who?", not "How many?". With that said, I realise some of this controversy does brings in big numbers, but I also realise I'm losing some in the process. So based on that, let's get something clear; this is my blog. Therefore it goes by my rules. If I want to rant, write a disgustingly rude letter to your brand, be an asshole to you or drop the f bomb; I can. This is my wonderland to express my opinion, and if you don't like it then too bad. This is the internet, I'm sure there's something out there for you to read. Although I must admit I do secretly love when people abusively comment at me. A post on this topic coming soon.Sometimes I honestly don't want to add value to a conversation. Why can't I just write something for the sake of it? I think I've slowly realised that as I get more passionate about my writing, one of the things I want readers of this blog to get out of it is entertainment. Yes, I would love to be pumping out thought provoking content all the time, but I can't consistently do that. I want my readers to love reading this blog and sometimes that means having fun with what I write and how I write it.Don't get me wrong, which I know most of you will. I still want credibility and I still want to start conversations and participate in them. But I think sometimes people need to realise there's entertainment behind this content as well which isn't always conversation starting, but fire starting....

14 June 2009

Posted at 13:10h in six beers of separtion, social media, tooheys by

Perhaps one of my favourite campaigns so far this year is Tooheys Extra Dry's Six Beers of Separation. You couldn't really call it a social media campaign, but they did the standard, "Let's put it up on YouTube and MySpace".I really really dug this campaign. I almost applied to myself because I thought it was such a great idea, however what really surprised me was the quality of the execution. There's almost a few hours of content up online, and I loved every second of it.But the problem is, with the exception of the trailer, the most viewed video on the YouTube channel has just over 1,000 views. It's not much, and I'm sure the client will not be happy with this result. I'm almost annoyed that such quality content hasn't gotten the attention it deserves, even with all the print and outdoor ads I've seen around Melbourne.Luckily, this once off broadcast will also be playing on pay television in Australia, which will hopefully satisfy the marketers are Tooheys. But is this is just another example of how social media is unable to stand on its feet by itself? I'd suggest that at least at the moment, social media needs to be integrated with the rest of your strategy if you want traditional type results....

12 June 2009

Posted at 17:06h in bandt, controversy, fire, joker by

For those of you who have been following this blog for a couple of months or longer would know I'm a Joker who likes starting fires. Which is the approach I took in a recent posting in an open letter to the editor of B&T Magazine. Many of your criticised said approach and I think the comments that resulted are probably more interesting than the post itself. But let's take a look at the outcome...

10 June 2009

Posted at 20:47h in blood, donate, naked by

I recently hit double digits for the number of times I've donated blood. And I'm only 19. I am very passionate about blood donating. In fact, I probably hate you a little bit if you don't donate regularly. That's why I'm pimping out World Blood Donor Day and this campaign by Naked Comms...

05 June 2009

Posted at 15:29h in kitsch, marketing by

I was enjoying a coffee the other day with a design student mate of mine who introduced me to what I found to be a very fascinating concept; kitsch design.Kitsch design, he explained, at its most basic is design that is both useless and almost immediately becomes outdated. Perhaps the most common example is those cheap tacky plastic phone holders. They don't do anything except hold your phone, even though the desk is perfectly capable of that. Further, three months later every mobile phone on the market is too small to sit properly in the holder.This is kitsch design. Temporary with no real use that just ends up as land fill.I asked my mate why kitsch design even existed, and interestingly his answer was, "Marketing". The ability to make $2 million in two weeks from cheap crappy mobile phone holders means that kitsch design will always exist.But in a society where we place such importance on long term vision and sustainability, I hope you're not marketing something kitsch. And if you are, then it's probably worse than marketing ecstasy to children....

01 June 2009

Posted at 15:17h in amazon, tee by

I think perhaps one of the reasons I fell head over heals in love with social media is the ability for something small to go big so easily. It happens every day with video content. This tee is an awesome example. Somewhere, somehow it went viral. After the first rather ironic review of the tee on Amazon, it was followed by a flood of others. Currently there are 911 of them, most of which are worth checking out. But what I love most about this story is how often people criticise social media and how it actually leads to sales and profit. This week alone sales of the Three Wolf Moon tee have increased 2,300%. Booya. ...