It ran on Gruen Nation on Tuesday night, again on Wednesday night is now all over the web from the age to the tube and within a few hours has no doubt become the ad that will help The Greens pinch a bit of power in what has been a lackluster, negative and uninspiring election campaign. Todd Sampson called it “the best ad the greens have ever done” and to top it off, the ad finishes with a line the Greens could run with for the next 20 years “If you think, vote Greens” Bang!

I think the success of what we have just witnessed, and what we may see on polling day, can be summarised by three key learnings;

1) honesty, integrity, positivity and a great idea will always win people. Watching the Labor and Liberal party slam each other only makes them look amateur.

2) You don’t need a big (any) media budget if you have a great idea. If idea and timing are right, the digital world can do it for you. This ad, will become ‘The Ad’ for the Greens despite ABC not allowing it to be run as on official campaign Ad. They don’t need to. With the election in just over a week, news stations, youtube, twitter and blogs just like this will deliver an effective and free media spend. Nothing beats people actually wanting to watch your ad and an ad you want to watch only needs to be seen once.

3) Owning the digital space can play a big part in election campaigns. 95 tweets to Julia Gillard and 47 to Tony Abbott at the time of writing tells me that neither of the majors have a strategy around digital. Good on ya Bob Brown, at least you have tweeted 327 times! The greens, without event meaning to, are now probably going to have the most impact in digital.

And, talking digital, why have I not yet been clicking on any compelling online election ads?

@tonyprysten is the creative director at igloo

It was just one remarkable factor in a remarkable campaign, but it’s still surprising just how effectively Barack Obama was able to utilise social media and digital campaigning in his 2008 presidential campaign. He pushed his message and brand, generated support and mobilised financial backers. He attacked and diminished his opponent, without cheapening himself or tarnishing his image. Through this success in the “new media” he was also able to highlight the age difference between himself and his opponent, and add credence to his message of being the harbinger of change and innovation.

In considering the lessons this offers for the upcoming Australian election, there are a few qualifiers. The Obama social media campaign, particularly My Barack Obama, were primarily fund raising exercises. As well as financial factors, the length of the American campaign and the reliance on volunteers to facilitate their campaign rallies (occasionally quite elaborate affairs), so mobilization of supporters is vital just to keep the campaign running smoothly. As well, the Australian campaign is (mercifully) significantly shorter than it’s American equivalent and at a set time, which brings significant planning advantages.

Despite this, there’s a lot both sides can learn from Obama’s campaign, and from what’s happened since. Here, then, are the 5 tips we would give both parties, should they ask, about how they should conduct themselves digitally during the campaign. We are offering the advice to both parties because we are wise and benevolent like King Solomon and Quentin Bryce.

1. The Normal Rules of Twitter Don’t Apply (for the campaign period only)

I’m going to get slightly controversial with this one. For the next week or so, before the campaign hots up, expect to see several stories about Gillard and Abbott’s presence on Twitter. 90% of these will be bookended by a quote from a “social media expert” of some description, who’ll advise them that they are “broadcasting” too much, and that they need to “engage in conversation” (never “have more conversations”, for some reason) with their followers. Ordinarily, fine and sensible advice. Post-election, it’s just what they should be doing.  But right now, I’m not so sure. (more…)

In my post last week, I mentioned a report which blamed the lack of spending on internet advertising in part on the low quality of online advertising campaigns. It’s a claim that you hear from time to time working in the field,  either in the form of stray”I hate those pop up things” comments,  or from serious sources like this 2009 article from TechCrunch, which claims that “the internet is about freedom… and a truly free population will not be forced to watch ads”

The comment stayed with me through the week. I knew it was wrong and could thing of a lot of reasons, but didn’t post about it as I couldn’t think of a succinct way to explain it. Then the Old Spice Man exploded, and it dawned on me. It’s wrong because people LOVE internet advertising.

If you’ve been in a sleeping pill induced coma for the past week, the Old Spice Man is a deodorant campaign which has exploded. It’s mildly amusing bit in the Chuck Norris/ Barry “The Cougar” Dawson vein (you could almost call the humour Anchorman-lite)  which has exploded across the internet. It has 55 million YouTube views, and the campaign’s been given legs with the having the character uploading personal responses to users from various social media sources, answering questions on Yahoo, and so on.

The campaign’s not a great one, but it shows just how deeply internet advertising can penetrate if it is popular – or more correctly, how deeply a popular campaign can disseminate with proper integration and some momentum. This is advertiser created content as a legitimate entertainment source – people are engaging because they like the campaign in and of itself, not the product. Advertisements – not advertiser funded content, advertisements – are now a legitimate form of entertainment. (more…)

Not really related to anything, but as the office is beginning to be gripped by World Cup mania I thought it fitting to include this awesome ad by Nike.

Is it just me, or are Nike and Coca Cola 2 companies that consistently make really good ads?

A recent experiment with a camera, a lighting storm and a single tweet was a great example of how the internets has empowered us all to viral – without meaning to.

Our obsession with weather, be it hot, cold or unseasonable combined with the recent storms in Melbourne, means hardly a rain shower passes without a serious amount of news coverage. Knowing a storm was on its way, we set up a camera on the igloo balcony. Set to take a pic every 10 seconds, we let it run for nearly 4 hours resulting in around a 35 second time lapse of the sun going down and the storm coming in over the Melbourne skyline. Watch the video.

A single tweet later, I received a call from The Age, asking if they could use the footage on, wait for it…, an article on “last nights lightening storm” Of course!. Within minutes it was featured on the front page of The Age online, was part of the article and was also viewable in The Age video library. All with a credit to ‘Tony Prysten’ and with a great big igloo logo next to it. (and they have offered to pay us to film big storms when they come in!) Now we didn’t set out to gain this kind of exposure, but it shows that a good idea at the right time can go anywhere.

Later that day I was presenting to an auditorium students from the design school and one of the many questions was “What can I do now?” (In the context of getting known or building a personal brand) – good question.

The above example is you’re a student, company, brand etc and want the world to know about you, your product or company, create some relevant, topical content, get it out there and the web will do the rest.

A recent social media nightmare exploded for Nestle last week in the face of a recent Greenpeace campaign. The result has been a lesson to any corporate committed to engaging in the social media space.

Greenpeace launched a campaign featuring a graphic video to highlight the use of palm oil in Nestle products. (If you love Kit Kat, avoid this vid) The video soon went viral with hundreds of thousands of views on Youtube and significant exposure in facebook and twitter. With 92,000 facebook fans and a global media machine hungry for mess ups like this, Nestle chose to do just about everything they possibly could to make the situation worse.

Rather than following in the footsteps of progressive companies such as Starbucks (who set up a blog to hear the concerns of their customers), Nestle broke some of the golden rules of the digital world. Firstly, they have tried to remove the video (on the grounds that it was improper use of their brand!) and subsequently deleted negative comments from their facebook fan page. Obviously hearing, addressing and ‘engaging’ with the concerns of their ‘fans’ and followers was just not a priority. Maybe the social media team at Nestle thought that status updates on how sweet chocolate is was enough. The result? Not only have they lost the trust of many of their customers, a subsequent global media backlash has seen a boycott of their products in the lead up to Easter. Only then has the company implemented change and canceled its contract with the palm oil supplier.

The opportunity missed here was massive. Firstly, Nestle could have engaged with their global community and made the change before it became a PR nightmare. (Lets just forget for a moment that they were using palm oil in the first place) If Nestle had reacted in this way, it would have showed them as being interested in the concerns of their customers, the well being of the planet and it would have been a big win for crowd sourced (or in this case, ‘crowd forced’) change. Blogs like this would be referencing Nestle as a great example of how they listened to the people. Instead, they have become a figurehead for corporate social media neglect.

If you are committed to social media, breaking some of the rules can have enormous consequences. Consider the following.

- Engage with negative feedback like you do positive. Don’t delete, edit or hide from negative comments (unless abusive)

- Be part of the conversation and don’t try and ‘control’ the space.

- Listen to the crowd. They are probably your customer.

This also throws some obligation back onto the consumer or follower. If you would like a company to respond to your feedback, be polite, honest and play nice. I personally believe a company has a right to not respond to anonymous, abusive and rude attacks much like you wouldn’t respect a person in the street approaching you the same way. It’s a great world we live in when an organisation like Greenpeace can start a global movement that gets a huge corporate to change its way by posting a video on Youtube.

What should Nestle do now?

Its still not to late for Nestle to engage with their following. They will need to be transparent, open and prepared to be exposed to a barrage of negative commentary around their brand. At least they have the opportunity to be part of this conversation. As for regaining trust in the social media space? I don’t think canceling a few palm oil contracts will do the trick.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA—Responding to recent public outcries over its handling of private data, search giant Google offered a wide-ranging and eerily well-informed apology to its millions of users Monday.

“We would like to extend our deepest apologies to each and every one of you,” announced CEO Eric Schmidt, speaking from the company’s Googleplex headquarters. “Clearly there have been some privacy concerns as of late, and judging by some of the search terms we’ve seen, along with the tens of thousands of personal e-mail exchanges and Google Chat conversations we’ve carefully examined, it looks as though it might be a while before we regain your trust.”

Added Schmidt, “Whether you’re Michael Paulson who lives at 3425 Longview Terrace and makes $86,400 a year, or Jessica Goldblatt from Lynnwood, WA, who already has well-established trust issues, we at Google would just like to say how very, truly sorry we are.”

Schmidt’s apology appeared suddenly at 9 a.m. Monday on Google’s homepage, Chrome browser, and YouTube, as well as on every single Android-enabled cell phone, and sought to reassure Americans that the company would take all necessary steps to keep confidential information, from Social Security numbers to Gonorrhea test results, absolutely safe.

Acknowledging that Google hasn’t always been open about how it mines the roughly 800 terabytes of personal data it has gathered since 1998, Schmidt apologized to users— particularly the 1,237,948 who take daily medication to combat anxiety—for causing any unnecessary distress, and he expressed regret—especially to Patricia Fort, a single mother taking care of Jordan, Sam, and Rebecca, ages 3, 7, and 9—for not doing more to ensure that private information remains private.

–Article excerpt taken from The Onion

One thing I have always loved about U2 has been their ability to evolve with the times. Today’s U2 webcast concert available as a stream through youtube was no exception. In an apparent world first, not only could you watch (live from pretty much anywhere in the world)  but you could comment (110,000+ comments), live tweet (probably in the millions by now), buy the new album (of course) and donate to their new cause (red). Before the stream had begun, social networking blogs, sites etc were doing their thing – for a more in-depth review with some stats click here. Like them or hate them (and obvously a lot of people are in the like), these guys sure know how to be quick to embrace the best the world has got to offer to spread their music and raise interest around a cause. Me, well this just makes me love em even more!

A decidedly automotive theme this week – it’s going to drive you wild.

GM USES THE WEB TO REBUILD CONFIDENCE

General Motors have had an extremely challenging period, with sales dropping steadily to the point where it was forced to undergo a Chapter 11 bankruptcy restructure, and was essentially only saved from going under by the US Government.

This move was extremely controversial, as it was seen (quite correctly) as a “socialising” of the auto industry, and it presents GM with a whole raft of challenges. Along with with obvious challenge of selling enough cars to stay afloat and repositioning themselves as environmentally aware (the image above is their new hyper-efficient car) ,they have the incredibly difficult PR task of rebuilding confidence in their brand, and selling the idea that the government was correct in bailing them out, and that despite this bailout out they are operating as an independent entity.

They’re calling their campaign to do this GM Re-invention. The TVC is pretty much as you’d expect right down to the shots of stampeding horses, moon landings and touchdowns, but the website is far more forward looking.  The site really seeks to be a conversation between the company and it’s customers, shareholders, and a sceptical public.

The key features include “Ask Fritz”, which lets users put questions to GM’s CEO directly; live chats with the heads of various departments, of which transcripts are available, and well maintained Twitter , Facebook and Flickr pages.

It’s an ambitious approach, and one that would have to be well monitored, given the amount of negative sentiment surrounding the company at present. But it seems to be quite successful – Business Week’s assessment can be found here, showing that consumers have generally reacted positively.

Awesome app that is actually useful

It’s pretty normal to come across an iPhone app that’s entertaining for 24 hours. It’s somewhat rarer to come across one so useful that it will be ubiquitous. But Mini USA’s new auto assistance app is just that. Basically, it allows one button connect to roadside assistance services, specifying the kind of trouble your in. As well, it uses the phone’s navigational devices to tell the assistance service your exact location.

It’s so useful that it could genuinely be described as having the potential to influence a purchaser’s decision when they’re buying a car.

Help Me, Rhonda

Rhonda is a cool new tool for designers and animators. It was developed about 5 years ago, but until now has only been used in museums and galleries. Basically, it allows you to flip images onto different planes, using 2d line drawings to make 3D shapes. It’s in beta testing now, but will be in the market soon. I’m not sure why they chose Neil Young’s mournful 1972 classic “Out on the Weekend” to soundtrack the demo, though?

Now That’s What I Call Digital Advertising

I thought I’d start this week with a few examples where companies got their digital advertising right. When you’re exposed, like I am, to a lot of web campaigns, it’s easy to become a bit blase and not see the forest for the trees.  But these, for differing reasons, stood out.

First up, Toyota have partnered with EA and produced a virtual version of the Prius for Sims 3.  While this kind of integration has been happening in the movies for time immemorial, it’s less common in the world of video games. The Sims is the perfect starting point as, as well as being the most successful PC game ever, 50% of its audience is female, very unusual in a market dominated by young males. A simple, clever idea, hitting the Prius’s demographic right on the head.

Another thing we often work on are online competitions, and the mantra we repeat  when doing so is keep it simple, make it interesting, make it easy and make the prize memorable. The World’s Cutest Dog Competition ticks every box – simple, easy mechanic, everyone dog owner thinks theirs is the cutest, a million dollars worth of prizes. Tick, tick, tick – and the result is a huge number of entries and unbelievable exposure for the sponsor. And on a completely different tip, but great for the same reason, is  Canadian beer Okanagan Spring’s Sponsor Me Spring. Visitors to sponsormespring.ca could appeal, through video, to Okanagan Spring to sponsor their small-scale or backyard social gatherings. This saw the sponsor of events as salubrious as Hanging Around After Ed’s Soccer Game. It generated some some really funny content – definitely a site worth browsing for a while. The promotion obviously really speaks to the beer’s target market.

But if you’re not going to go with simple, make it memorable. Wrigley’s France have launched this fantastic augmented reality competition to promote 5gum, where you mix a track and create a visual, upload it. A few similar things have popped up lately, including one to promote Eminem’s “The Release”‘s UK launch, but I haven’t seen it done this well. The site around it is nicely done as well.

Four clever ideas, well executed – great stuff.

Privacy in the Public Space

A couple of privacy-related stories popped up this week. Firstly, once again, a lawsuit against Facebook for privacy breaches was dismissed as being groundless, and a report was released in the US that found 45% of employers screen potential employees via social media.  It still amazes me how people still have the “Invisible in my car” mentality when using social media. Even though cars you’re perfectly visible to the outside world  in their car, they behave as if they are in public – picking noses, singing, putting on make up. And it’s the same on with social media – as private as it feels, it’s not. Sites’ number one concern is UBs, not making sure no one sees that photo of you drunk at Schoolie’s Week in 2001.

Interestingly, the reality of lives being increasingly led in public are the subject of a new documentary We Live In Public, which won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance this year. The film, directed by Ondi Timoner (who also directed the cult classic Dig!) looks at the life and work of Josh Harris. Harris was a pioneer in the first dot com boom, launching pseudo.com, the first internet television network. He used his fortune on an event he called Quiet!We Live In Public. Part art installation and part social experiment, he gathered 100 artists in a Japanese pod hotel style building for 100 days, all of it on web cam.  Basically, he was commenting on how, as the internet made greater levels of connection possible, people would be increasingly willing to sacrifice, or rather redefine, their notions of privacy. It’s an observation which has proved to be very prescient.

What this probably all means is that we’re at the end of the anything goes era of social media. As a social media presence becomes an accepted part of everyone’s life, we’ll be forced to meet the same standards there as in the “real world”. Which also means there is potentially a commercial opportunity for someone who works out a way of keeping social media private, whether through paid subscriptions or comprehensive history kills.

Twitter in Pictures

Finally, a nice little infographic showing what the Twitter community would look like if it was 100 people – although I wonder what criteria they were using when they categorized other people’s tweets as “inane”, and how big the sample group was.