It’s a Wrap! Monday!!!

It’s been a pretty all right week and once again, congratz to all for passing the most dreaded day of the week. I’m gonna make this pretty chop cause I’m running a fever right now…

So here’re the happenings for the week:

I talked about Are we ready to monetize social media? I basically wrote about the tools we have and how communications and marketing need catching up to fully utalize these tools. Not to forget the 2 factors holding us back.

Next, i talked about empowering your brand through web 2.0 and how disappointing adtech blogger’s universe was… It’s really a repeat of some of the things i said b4 but its pretty cool that I’m collecting more and more examples of brands leveraging social media as a medium

Lastly, i discussed the possible correlation between ROI and Reputation. I discussed the traditional media approach assumed cycle of

Increased circulation=increased exposure

which leads to enhanced reputation

which leads to better sales?

And i felt social media being the tool used for engagement, the in between tool that raises brand awareness before an enhanced reputation of the brand is perceived by consumers.  Would all this then lead to increased reputation and sales? And should we even measure the returns of social media then?

Seems every time i do anything related to ROI, i end up with more questions than answers… Forgive me for the short summaries today, my flu and headache are hitting me pretty hard… What a time to fall sick…

For those who had a worse day than me, here’s a little something to cheer you up, the world ain’t so bad.. Sides, it’s  JUST FOR FUN TUESDAY tmr!

Correlation between ROI and Reputation

I stumbled on this neat article on Measuing the Effect of WHat you Heard, and the best point brought out was that social media is great for engagement and tracking of consumers through the purchasing process.

Eventually we realized that we needed to look at measurements beyond simply counting banners. We needed to look at how we could create a vibrant community that would serve the customers and the advertisers.

We needed to look at the cumulative effect of that social media.

Also stumbled across this hilarious article  on Ten Questions not to Ask a Social Media Panelist. While the article has bits of humor in between, the first 2 questions on measuring and returns on social media.

How do we draw a correlation with increased level of engagement, level of reputation and sales?

By using a traditional media approach, does number of prints in circulation (More Exposure)= better reputation which eventually leads to better sales?

We all know that social media is a tool used for constant engagement, as Augie brilliantly puts in the use of analogies here.

I guess social media’s “exposure” (Print’s circulation versus social media traffic of unique visitors) is differentiated by the level of engagement which can enhance reputation.

I think Club Roxy is a great example of increased exposure through social media (Because of the engagement and community feel amongst consumers and Roxy owners), leading to enhanced reputation which led to increase in sales.

With that, social media is a  medium used to facilitate the in between process of raising awareness and enhancing of brand reputation before purchase and tracking consumer information.

So at the end of the day, should we even be measuring the ROI of social media? Is it fair for a company to ask PR and marketing folks to determine the returns of using this medium which costs little or next to nothing compared to a TV ad?

Or am i just questioning the harsh reality of life where we have to answer for everything?

Empowering your brand through Web 2.0

I was attending the “Blogger Universe” today at AdTech and the topics discussed were similar to what I did this summer in social media class. There were a few notable speakers but I didn’t think too much of it. In all honesty, it seemed like the whole gig was a set up for a nuffnag ad….

It was the basic idea of 2 things:

1) Corporations using blogs to reach out to their consumers and not remain at web 1.0 with a static flash

2) How to empower your brand through a blog

While a noteworthy point from the panal was the lack of Asian companies using blogs to do an outreach to their consumers, i felt the empowering of brands through a blog was skimpish and not backed up with any examples…

Sure, empowering your brand through the bloggers isn’t simply placing a banner ad in their blog post. It’s about getting the right fit for your product, like Priscilla mentions here in Quality versus Quantity.

So what’re some examples then which were lacking in the discussion? Not just for blogs, but using web2.0 to empower your brand?

Daryl provides a great example with the HP campaign here and one of my favs today is the mashup youtube video between David Usher’s new single “Kill the lights” and one of the movies I can;t wait to watch, Batman, the Dark Knight. (What a wicked kick ass video)

What’s my point with these 2 examples? That if consumers are talking about your brand without you pushing it in their face, then leveraging on that, you can empower you brand in positive ways like those shown above.

Given the recent studies shown here about the influence of the internet, brands need to control. (Yes, same old argument the tadionlaist put up when thinking of using web 2.0. Like i said yesterday, the fear of falling due to ROI demands)

But ignoring it could be just as disastorous. Hey SMU, check this out. Universities need to take care of their online brand.

Since web 2.0 here to stay, leverage it, in a proper way. And the next damn discussin i sit in better show me some god examples and ROI to back it up… Geezzz… whats the point of sharing when we already knew all that…

Are We Ready to Monetize Social Media

With the recession looming over, everyone is banging on new/digital media to be THE medium to grow. And why not? With Google launching their Ad Planner (Pretty awesome tracker) and Trends for website, it’s almost like knowing which TV channel your demographic group was watching back in the 90’s.

And while most ppl believe that there will be an increase in the digital medium spending, does that equate to an increase in social media spending? Gavin has an interesting point here, where he mentions research being the key takeaway when using social media.

I have to admit, this post was largely influenced by Ashkan, who wrote Is Social Media Rampantly Monetizable?

It’s a good read, do have a look.

We have pretty good technology today that makes the web more social. From blogs to social networking sites, bookmarking tools to IMs, social media is becoming a dominant force.

Oh, but these tools don’t stop there, the possibilities are still increasing. Check out this article which might might not harm Google. Creating a social search is such a wonderful idea, all that content is gonna be gold. Users who compile everything of worth together is already being done, but putting them in one place with regards to a topic? Now, that’s a sweet deal.

But so what? I mean it’s great for end users, how about marketing and PR folks? I think e consultancy’s gotten it right. Right here Right now is an apt tag line for their future of digital marketing conference.

We have the technology for a more personalized message to reach out to consumers, but we’re missing 2 links.

1) The fear of failing. ROI is such a strain on behavioral change for using social media ( I don’t blame them) but w/o that behavioral change, social media bloggers like you and I are gonna be like the picture below:

Picked from Groundswell on ‘Help you boss understand social technology”

We’re going to be like the mimes in the glass box where nobody understands what we’re doing or saying till we get more people on the bandwagon with us!

2) The lack of understanding. Social media is not online media. I think of it as reaching out to your consumers face to face…Not mashing them with ads and groups down their throats…

So are we ready to monetize social media in Singapore? What’re your thoughts?

JUST FOR FUN TUESDAY!!

Yeah!!!! Talk about the slowest day of the year, it had to be a damn Tuesday. Whatever the case, it’s over!!!

And what a great time to do JUST FOR FUN TUESDAY!! Yup, today’s gonna be all about games.. Yes, I’m a self confessed gamer geek… I like it… I like it a lot… hmmmm….. Games….

So what games did you play when u were kids? I played…

Bare Kunckle ( Loved Axel)

+

Sonic (OMG, Iplayed this for 6 hrs a day… damn this guy doing the demo is good)

Then when PS 1 came out, we had

Resident Evil

FF7 (Yeah, i played from 4 till 12 which i tot sucked big time, wonder what 13 is like…)

You know, there were a few others along the way like Xenogears, Breath of Fire, Metal Gear Solid,

Then in PS 2, (For me anyways, there was Grand Theft Auto, More resident evil, more MGS but more importantly there was

FF 10 and 10 part 2

Yes… I like Yuna… i tot she was hot, i had a crush on her when i was in camp (See how deprived we become in there!)

That was the ‘perfect’ ending video, i played the damn game 4 times to see her be with Tidus. (See, I’m a geek, a romantic one too)

So while I decide to get a PS 3 for FF13, MGS4 and GTA, it seems they’re doing better than last year. Plus it suits my age group.. (Damn i’m old…)

What is great about this blog is that you get to meet a lot of cool ppl, and I met Sheylara at SMB2 breakfast unofficially and officially at CMMA 08. She’s got a pretty cool blog which has got some nice games ( She’s got tons of posts to read! She left a pic of herself today though, lol, that’s funny, I’m gonna do that when i go for my hols too!) I haven;t read all of them (Busy, summer class started again)

So what other games kicked ass in our time? (Yeah Mario was pretty neat, Pacman and older do not qualify)

What games would you recommend me now?

Oh, just for those who are curious, I’ve got no PS3 and I’m thinking of getting one. But I’m playing World of Warcraft now, kick ass game with my Guild’s blog. (They;re such nice ppl)

But advertising guys, check out this result, let’s see if they’ll really mind if we put ads into the games… It’s got some really cool stats for product recall from gaming ads too…

Till tmr, I’ll share with you environment 2.0, let’s save Gaia….

“It’s a Wrap!” Monday

It’s been a pretty busy week but I’m glad its over, its gonna get crazier with summer term…

So Here’s what I’ve blogged about for the week:

I was at CommunicAsia 2008 and it was great! So I talked about CommunicAsia Part 1: Yahoo! at the Event and what Yahoo! was launching.

I also did a part 2, CommunicAsia Part 2: The Intern’s learning, and what I tot was neat about the show… I got to know some of the bloggers too! Great meeting them!!

 But guess what? I got a pic of myself with the guys from FH and Dawn Yang on her blog!! Check it out here or below… hahaha…

 

 

 

 Pretty swell huh? Its like appearing on a mag with the number of readers she’s got. Thanks Dawn!

Anyways, I talked about Adidas geeting it right with the Big Dream Campaign at Adidas got it Right with DREAM BIG (Finally!). I love the simplicity of the core idea and how beautiful it is. I’ll bounce this off my creative comms prof and sees what he thinks of it… Sweet idea…

Till then, see ya’ll tmr for JUST FOR FUN TUESDAYS!!

Adidas Got it Right with DREAM BIG! (Finally)

Adidas has a new campaign called Dream Big, and i think this time, they really got it right. Rather than go head on with Nike’s coolness and flair like ads, they’ve really tuned into the core message of this on going campaign. It’s also an awesome way of extending the Impossible is Nothing campaign

So what is the Dream Big campaign all about?

It’s a CSR effort, which uses endorsments of its players, to help countries who’s footballing standards aren’t as high as the rest of the world. What I’ve found so far are San Marino and Andorra. Simple, easy to understand and really effective. If you play football. it really reaches into your footballing soul. All of us dreamt big some point or another but we kindda lost that feeling along the way (mine was crashing out of A Div in JC), but this really brings it back.

Of course some skeptics to such a campaign might ask, is this really gonna generate more sales? I have no idea, but looking at the euro with Russia going through, maybe if the smaller teams are knocking the giants off, then ppl can resonate with such a brand message. I would love to see the ROI on this campaign.

I haven;t really checked out the full extent of this campaign, but what I’ve seen so far are TV ads and the Youtube videos of these ads… I’ll be exploring more on this.

Anyways, enjoy the videos below, you can see the rest on Youtube if it interests you!

San Marino

Andorra

I really dig the starting song too! Good one Adidas, you nailed it this time, solid campaign! 2 thumbs up for the creative core idea of this campaign!!!!

CommunicAsia Part 2: The Intern’s Learnings

Being at a mega event like that for an intern is pretty awesome! Here’re some of the learning points I took away:

Media:

I never knew it would require so hard to handle the media. What they taught in school of managing the various stakeholders involved, they always mentioned media. They forgot to mention how tough they can be sometimes. Especially the India media!! They’re good! I guess when it comes to mobile they probably know it better than the rest of the region, considering their penetration rate is increasing at such a rapid rate.

Also, getting the right spokes person is so vital. I’m glad we had David (MD for Yahoo! Asia mobile) to do most of the talking. He’s comfortable in front of the media.

When i missed the media conference, i was like damn… But thanks to IZ, i got to see what it’s like! Hahahaha…

Man, and the press release rush? (Thank god not heavily involved in that) when all press had to hit the wire, that was busy…

Interesting Highlights:

So there were various interesting things which I got to see as well.  From the super environmentally friendly solar panels, to I really dun know what that machine is suppose to do… But these 2 caught my attention over the past 4 days…

Social Networking Site for Gamers

So i came across this company called Vion mobile which was started in Singapore. They have 2 services, one which allows you to aggregate all you IM’s onto your cell, and the other which is a social networking site which allows users to play the games provided by the company.

When i asked if the games were opened to developers, they said it’s still in the works. They seemed pretty proud of 2 things:

1) Launching of their Chinese version, aiming to capture the Chinese market. I wonder how that would work out… I hope all goes well!

2) Being top 30 in Alexa.. (Dun know why i kept hearing that, but its a good start i guess…)

Check out their booth below (Didn’t get a good shot)

Sports Marketing at work!!

Here’s an interesting use of sports marketing used by Singtel to promote their mioTV. Rather than emphasizing how many channels there are for viewers to watch, it was totally geared up for F1. By focusing on THE major sporting event gonna happen in Singapore this year, Singtel really stretched their partnership with the F1 for this event.

Check out the cool race car where you can actually sit in it and go through a visual race course…

Got the whole outfit for display too:

Not to forget the spider seats with the com, the wheel and the pedals… Neat stuff…

I guess as the sporting industry is growing in Asia, its a great chance for a brand to utilize a sports sponsorship. Having that strong association by tying the sport and aligning its values to your brand is an impressive way to stand out, especially here in Asia, where not many brands can claim to have a strong foothold by being associated with a sport!

Blogosphere in Asia

Yahoo! invited some of the top bloggers in Singapore to allow them to experience our products and services. So when Cory (Our PR from Sunnyvale) saw the bloggers who came down, he was pretty surprised!

I looked at him and i understood immediately, lol…. I kindda guess he was expecting them to be all dressed up  formal (Suits and ties), but our bloggers came dressed smart casual. So i had to explain to him, in Asia, and Singapore specifically, the blogosphere is dominated by casual/diary bloggers who write and share stuff of interest to them in a more casual setting. (Like me trying hard to emulate them here) Then i had to tell him that this is what we (as audiences) like to read, and that these bloggers have a huge following and a large influence on their audience.(Why else would we invite them? Shamelessly practical, I would’ve invited myself if i could… lol…)

Then you could see the “AH-HA!” in his eyes! Thank god i took social media b4 this event, lol… See Michael, you would’ve been proud. Hahahaha… But handling them at an event is another thing… It’s an interesting blogosphere scene we have here, and to mix tech and lifestyle bloggers together needs careful thinking through… See CommunicAsia Part 1: Yahoo! at the event!! to see how I think bloggers can benefit from Yahoo!’s products and services.

I’m glad i finally got to meet Nadnut and Sheylara offically in person although i did remember seeing them at SMB2.I never knew there were such hardcore gamer gals like Sheylara ard, I’ll be checking out your blog when i do my JUST FOR FUN TUESDAY on gaming…  Do you play WOW?

So that’s pretty much what an intern can learn at such a huge event. I did my best to be proactive and listen to whatever’s going on or lending a hand wherever it was needed, it was a great experience! But interns being interns, we gotta have fun at the event, so here’re some pics on the 3rd and 4th day which was just basically me and Robin goofing off!! Hahahaha…

Me taking a pic with the modals (LG had the best looking ones this year, hands down!)

So did Robin….

Posing for this midget thingy (What the heck are these things called?)

And of course eating the ice cream at our own booth (I tot the apple was the best)

That’s pretty much it for CommunicAsia 2008 and the perspective of what an intern at Yahoo! can learn out of this. Cool huh? Lucky me. Enjoy the weekend ppl!!!

Info Overload

I don;t know how many of us face this problem, but when i neglect my Google reader for 2 days, i get the 1000+ unread stuff and i go “Man…..”

So i tot I’ll like to share this article here which will help us cope with the load we have here.

One thing I’ll like to ask (man, this makes me sound dumb), can Google reader organize the items I’ve starred? For example, I would like a folder for “Social networking sites’ containing all the neat stuff going on with social networking sites… Anybody can help??

Even my starred items are way too piled up….

CommunicAsia Part 1: Yahoo! at the event!!

After an long and hard week, CommunicAsia 2008 is finally over!! I apologise for the lack of updates which i promised, but here they are!! Man, it feels damn good it’s a Friday too. (See, too tired to go out, so i wanna spend good quality time in front of my desktop)

So what is CommunicAsia? It was an exhibition held at Singapore Expo, with a tag which pretty much says it all, “Where the business of technology comes to life”. So you’ll see most of the technology companies here trying to promote new products or services. Of course, Yahoo! was in the thick of it. (Hey Robin, if you doing the media monitoring for Fleshman, does my blog become part of it now? heh…)

Some pics of our awesome booth:

The touchscreen nobody could resists

And our 2 lovely gals who were there all the way (with their killer heels), Celest and Lyndia.

And what an exciting show. Got to experience an event of this magnitude, seeing the different booth designs and models, the latest handsets etc…So what did Yahoo! do there? We were basically promoting our mobile services, and the wickedly cool ones (in my opinions) were the oneSearch with voice, oneConnect and the widgets section.

I will wouldn’t tell you what they are, I rather let the pros do it. You can watch the videos on IZ’s blog (once he’s fixed them up).

Pretty neat huh? I wouldn’t be telling you what you can do as an end user, but as a blogger I think to use mobile through this platform is fascinating.

Imagine

1) The increased reach you can have with more viewers using the mobile to see your blog on such an easy to use and open platform

2) Being able to update your blog and share it on the go, without having to miss out on anything (Ok, this is just me but i see things which i like to share and i tend to forget…)

3) Developing your own blog widget for ppl to dl on their mobile. It’s not like bookmarking something, its making your blog more personal, sweet deal huh?

Know what the best part is, this deal is free!!!! Advertisers are paying for you, so go ahead and download it here.

All right, so this might sound like I’m getting something (Like the rest of the bloggers that came), but I’m not. I just think we had a kick ass event and i wanna share it with you all!

Catch CommunicAsia part 2: The Intern’s learnings tmr right here!!