Next Generation Media Quarterly - July 2012

Have a look at my latest quarterly presentation, filled with illuminating stats and great examples from the last 3 months.

Next Generation Media Quarterly July 2012 from Dan Calladine

Past presentations here

The power of celebrity

Harry Styles posted this picture of Niall Horan holding a Wispa at 3.05pm on 21st of July.

Less than 48 hours later it's had 44,000 re-Tweets, 42,000 Favourites, and 152,000 Likes on Instagram.

I think Cadbury are probably quite pleased!

Whenever you see articles in the tabloids about One Direction and the individual members there are always lots of comments to the effect of "They'll be skint on the dole within a year."  This is clearly not a likely outcome - whatever happens with their music Twitter, Instagram, and other channels have given them a direct route to their fans that will keep them earning for a long, long time.

Ikea's app enabled catalogue

I think this will be pretty standard soon - it means I kea have to do extra work updating the content for different seasons etc, but the catalogue has a longer shelf life.  It works on multiple devices, and gives them the potential to do live cookery shows and other stunts, within the catalogue.



It seems to be US only, but I assume it would be easy to use the same technology around the world.

They have produced the catalogue as an app for a few years; this moves it on a bit, because catalogues occupy physical space in the house (& therefore act as a reminder that they exist), and are also more touchy feely.

More here

Yahoo! responds quickly to #DearMarissaMayer

Earlier this week Marissa Mayer was announced as the new head of Yahoo!, taking her away from her position at Google.  In the days after she's had lots of unsolicited advice from the great and the good, but one of the most common questions from internet users as a whole was whether she could do something about Flickr, for example this comment on MetaFilter

"Is she going to fix Flickr? That's the only part of Yahoo that I even know exists without having to look it up. I keep a ton of pictures and videos there, and I would love it if Flickr could thrive."

One user set up this page, DearMarissaMayer.com, essentially asking the same thing, with sharing buttons, and a hashtag reading #dearmarissamayer

So far the page has had nearly 23,000 tweets, and 12,000 Likes.

And...  It's worked.  Flickr now has this page, Flickr.com/DearInternet, acknowledging the request, with the hashtag #dearinternet and hiring people to work at Flickr.

Well done Marissa Mayer!  Now - what should be the next suggestion on DearMarissaMayer.com?

Drinks vending machine varies price according to the temperature

We love vending machines!  So much scope for fun, and in this case, integrating data.

Coke's Spanish Limon Y Nada brand has some machines in Spain that reduce the price the warmer it gets.

It borrows an idea from Budweiser's Ice Cold Index mobile app, which my agency did last year in Ireland - but it's great to do it with a vending machine.

Via Springwise

O2 winning Twitter

Last week O2 had a major network outage in the UK.  As always happens these days, users took to Twitter to vent their frustration, as they have done with train companies, government ministers and more. What was different was how O2 responded - effectively acting like a real person - contrite apologetic, but also feisty.  I wrote about brand sarcasm a couple of weeks ago, and this was more brand sarcasm but on a massive scale, and in real time.

You can almost compare it to what Old Spice did, although this wasn't through a humourous character, this was the brand having one of the worst days of it's recent history.

Some examples:

 &

&

More here

Washington Post teams up with Socialcam for Olympics coverage

Washington Post has chosen Socialcam as their video app of choice for the 2012 Olympics.  What this means is that it is asking all its correspondents to shoot short films on their phones with the app, which it will then aggregate, and be able to post onto the Wapo site.  They're calling it London Eyes.  It's also asking readers to use the app too, and submit to them by tagging the videos appropriately.

See the Washington Post Socialcam channel here.

More info here.  Very good deal for Socialcam, I think.

Delites Vending Machine - What would you do?

I've said it before, but vending machines are so hot right now.  The latest great example comes from Fantastic Delites (gourmet rice snacks) in Australia, who put this machine in Rundle Mall in Adelaide.



Everything tastes better if you have to work for it.

You can also play a game here, and on Facebook, where you can win prizes and suggest future challenges.

I imagine this would go down very well in the UK!

Hat tip to Alex, who was in the crowd, and sent the clip in to me.  ;-)

Santam vs. Nandos: TV Ad Feud

Recently South African insurance company Santam ran a TV ad (in South Africa) with Ben Kingsley that played a trick on viewers.

Nando's (another South African company) thought that it was ripe for parody, and so make their own film.  Then things escalated.  Watch below.



For clarity, it's Santam, then Nando's, then Santam, then Nando's.

Props to both companies!

More here

Mobile to web shooting game on YouTube for The Amazing Spider-Man

This is a fun game to promote the new Spider-Man film, and as far as I know the first time a certain sort of technology has been used.


On the YouTube homepage today there’s a Spider-man game

Wait for the game to load in the banner, then scan the QR code to load it on your mobile.

When it’s loaded (which can take a while) use your smartphone to shoot spider webs at figures in the banner.

Neat idea (see another version here – Frisbee Rush) but a bit clunky sadly.

(Although it may just be that I'm terrible at gaming)

Lauren Luke promotes Refuge

This is a great use of a celebrity in a campaign.  The domestic abuse charity Refuge have persuaded YouTube make-up tips star Lauren Luke to make a video on how to cover up the signs of domestic abuse.  Full background to the campaign on the Refuge site



Make sure you watch to the end.

Really great video.

Design and drive a Dark Knight Tumbler

Confusingly this is Tumbler, not Tumblr.  Tumbler is the car in the Dark Knight films, and to promote the new one there is this excellent site that lets you design your own, and then drive it around a disused warehouse.

A few years ago it would have stopped at the design stage - letting you drive your creation is something very new, I think.

I'd love to know if there are any Easter Eggs in the game, or any cheats - can you get out of the room, for example?

Play here; drive BatTron here