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Looks like our work here is being used to promote a series of conferences on Social Advertising.
Am I psyched? I want to be.
Maybe if we got something for it, other than exposure, I would be.
Our friend, Catharine P. Taylor, wants the virtual you to go clubbing and then report back in the morning.
Check that. Coca-Cola wants you to do so. Catharine P. Taylor wants to report on the action, or lack thereof.
image courtesy of Mashable
Here’s what she’s saying so far:
…if you believe that one thing social media marketing needs is great apps from major advertisers, it’s as good a place as any to start. Admittedly, the Burn Alter Ego (application) promotes Burn, an energy drink that is only available in Europe, Brazil and Morocco, but anyone is allowed to play.
Here’s how it works: once you’ve downloaded the application and set up your alter ego, it goes clubbing (which sounds rather attractive to me because I don’t get out a lot) and promises to post to its own blog in the a.m. Mine went out for the first time last night, and apparently spent some quality time using the Xerox machine to make copies of body parts (none all that naughty, unless you count my avatar’s bum). Those who download the app receive this warning: “If reading about drunken nights, nakedness, and crazy decisions make you uncomfortable, delete this application and go back to your knitting.” Cool! Well, I don’t knit, anyway.
You can set up your avatar to go out with friends who also have Burn Alter Egos or meet new friends while it’s out, and the more it goes out, the more options it will have in terms of wardrobe, furniture for the flat, and so forth. I’ve set up mine to find new friends mostly because I barely know anyone who has loaded it so far, but wouldn’t mind it if a few of us Social Media Insider avatars went out together in the next few weeks to see what our blogs would report to us in the morning.
Stafford Green, Head of Interactive Marketing for Coca-Cola Europe, says, “It’s creating a lot of funny confusion at our offices. People overhear that I went out last night with Eva and we partied in Paris with some beautiful models. And we have pictures on Facebook to prove the event! But in fact, it was actually our Burn Avatars, Eva’izzle and Stafford’elicious.”
According to BusinessWeek, big brands are looking to widgets to cure some of their banner ad ills.
A&E, Electronic Arts, Viacom’s Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures, Gap, Hewlett-Packard, Hallmark, and Blockbuster are among the businesses hoping to spread a marketing message or raise brand awareness through widgets.
“Content and functionality are the new creativity—it’s not about whether you have a whiz-bang rich media banner running,” says Andy Bateman, CEO of brand consultancy Interbrand New York. “Are you doing something that’s actually helpful and useful to people?”
A&E’s Parking Wars widget on Facebook has attracted more than 198,000 unique users and generated more than 45 million page views since its Dec. 17 introduction.
According to Ad Age, the CondeNet division of Conde Nast has decided to turn its Flip.com business model on its head — and cut headcount from 18 to two in the process.
CondeNet yesterday said its focus for Flip, a 10-month-old virtual scrapbook site for teen girls, would shift to ad-supported Flip applications that run on much more popular networking sites such as Facebook.
The move underscores the difficulty growing that many teen sites are having (in an environment where MyFaceSpace dominates). Traffic at Flip peaked last May, when the site attracted 468,000 unique visitors, according to ComScore; that figure fell to just 104,000 last December.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
