JUST FOR FUN TUESDAY!!

Gratz on making it pass what i call the worst day of the week! For all Muslim readers, Happy Hari Raya and for all Singaporeans, enjoy the hol tmr (while i’ll be mugging in sch for ethics…)

Anyhows, today’s post will be short cause I just finished doing some work and i’m pretty beat…

But I can’t contain my excitement and I wanna share 2 sites with you. Remember how is tot there were 2 industries whereby web2.0 can be used perfectly because of the community spirit within these industries?

Well, I’ve been given a chance to view them and let’s start with the pet industry!

Vivian has shown me this social networking site for pets! I remember saying on my post on Pet Industry and social media in Singapore and how i tot web 2.0 would fit in perfectly!

Well, the social networking site is called wuffstaff for dog owners and it’s a pretty cool site whereby dog owners come together and share photos, stories, swap discussions on a social networking site! Neat huh?

Thank Vivian!

Next, i wanna share a social networking site on the sports industry. Oscar stumbled upon my post on Sports and Web2.0=Sports 2.0, Should Asia Embrace it? He’s got an interesting sports social networking site called sporting connections he’s set up for sports people to gather and not only discuss, but arrange team matches, training sessions etc.

However, his comments on my post were that while his target market were for Asians to join in, he’s getting more and more European based members.

I’ve asked him how has he engaged the Asian audience but he has yet to reply. While I haven’t seen any efforts to push the site out to Asians, I believe that by posting it on relevant sporting sites (soccer’s pretty big here in South East Asia, basketball’s huge in China) and engaging people who are on those sites to come and join his site.

I really hope to see his site take off cause its got so much potential! So does Wuffstaff, great examples of how industries have leveraged on the community spirit of the industry and used a medium which leverages on precisely the same thing!

Knock yourselves over those sites and have a good holiday as you read this. To the readers who don’t celebrate Hari Raya, its Wednesday, hang in there, we’re reaching the weekend!

F1 Singapore digital media efforts

This is probably the most talked about event in Singapore currently, it’s even bigger than MAN U and Liverpool’s match tonight.

With the road down from Brass Basah heading towards Suntec looking like the Mexican boarder with all the lights, Singapore is really gearing up for the most lucrative sporting event ever. I mean you have A list stars coming down to see THE FIRST EVER NIGHT RACE right here on our little island.

So let’s take a look at some of the digital marketing efforts that some companies have done to leverage on this sporting event.

1) SingTel. It seems their entire marketing budget this year is probably gonna be on the Grand Prix (a little going to PR for the Iphone Launch). They have been banging on this since the start of the year and you can check out their site here. From race simulations to the grid girls, SingTel is really leveraging on the sport to increase its reach for it MioTV.

The only social aspect of this? The Grid girls having blogs and photos of them being posted. Good move on their part? I think so. Consider this before I sound like i’m making a sexist statement. Porbably more than 70% of the fans of F1 in Singapore are males. Sex sells. Enough said.

2) Singapore Tourism Board, or STB for short have also included the F1 as part of a main attractor to tourists. It’s a glamor glitz party for tourists and they’ve even endorsed a 1 million dollar fashion party. This is to attract more Malaysians to come and watch the event.

But whats interesting is that their putting up their efforts on their website here. Think about this for a sec and you realize that tourists come to this site looking for information about Singapore.

So why is it just a one way web1.0 static page? What happened to asking us? (the people staying here for our opinions? Showing videos and allowing comments for the preparation of the event?) Bah… They should have listened to the prime minister’s speech last month about using digital media.

Right, I’m sure they’re other companies and I would really like for you to share with me their efforts!

Nike 10K Run

Nike’s done it again with another awesome campaign. The worldwide 10k run in my opinion is a huge success.

Basically, this campaign is a global event whereby the whole world (selected countries) run 10k together for various causes. One of which was WWF which i pledged my cause to. The purpose of the campaign was to promote the use of their new Nike sport band and iPod sport kit.

Why do i think it’s a successful campaign? Let me tell you from a runner’s experience during the run. The first 1km was jam packed at a slow pace and ppl actually started walking after the first 1k. This indicates that these ppl aren’t serious runners.

Now the only brand that can attract non-regular runners to run 10k would be Nike. The power of this consumer brand itself is enough to attract ppl to take part in this event.It really shows that the people it attracted went beyond their target audience!

In addition, the usual mediums of posters smartly designed with thousands of people waiting to start the run is pretty straight forward.

The use of digital media is really impressive. You can check out the site here. With a progressive chart to teach you how to train yourself for the run to partner details to providing music, Nike has pretty much covered everything a site can do to help runners. (Of course while promoting how their products can help you, but it’s Nike, who wouldn’t want 1?)

Using social media, there was a facebook group and the numbers RSVPing to the event was really impressive. I’m not one to promote setting up a facebook group and leave it hanging, but i guess the brand had enough draw and the campaign enough attention that using this medium was really effective.

Some of their videos involving the run was also featured on Youtube and they had interviews with celebs as well to help propel the event forward.

Wondering if they could have done more here…. Such a campaign was already pretty viral, could it have been fueled more? Perhaps a wiki that can help different age groups and different genders train? And that it can be edited by ppl?

Or how about setting up a blog to showcase the day to day trainings of a particular runner? ( The run today had more females than males!!) I would’ve have loved to see a sports 2.0 in action here…

The best part is the PR involved in this. Already I’ve seen this on the news and how the interview with a minsiter was happily encouraging the run, promoting Singapore to be a sports hub. It would seem Nike has propeled Singapore one step further after our winning at the Olympics. I can forsee more coverage being churrned out if Nike decides to showcase how the run has helped the various causes it was trying to promote.

So there you go, Nike does it again!

Do you think it’s a good campaign? Could they have done better with the use of social media to further fuel the viral aspect of the campaign? Share with me!!

Coca-Cola and the Olympics

With the closing of the Olympics today, I tot it was apt that i write about the last TOP and their marketing efforts. I’ve saved the best brand for the last and its Coca-Cola! (or Coke for short)

Coke is the exclusive non-alcoholic beverage for the Olympics. Having supported the Olympics in Amsterdam since 1928, they’ve been with the games all the way and became the official non-alcoholic beverage in 1986.

This is my favourite drink (Goes best with whiskey) and brand of all time. The brand equity is always number 1 and what they have done for this year’s Olympics has been nothing short of but remarkable.

What I like about Coke is how it ties sports with its brand. While most brands play on the passion of the fans or the excitement of the games, Coke has taken a step back and simply uses its feel good brand to leverage on the optimism that sports brings about.

I quote from this article about Coke’s marketing efforts,

“You will rarely see the Coca-Cola brand around the world in work which shows a lot of athletes running around,” he said. “The tonality of the brand is happy; the tonality of the brand is sharing optimism. There is no competition. The idea is how we can bring the world together in a positive way.”

So with data from market research gathered over the 2004 summer games and 2006 winter games, what’re some of the marketing efforts that Coke has done?

Going with their “Live Olympics” campaign, here’re some of their efforts

1) Like all brands mentioned in the TOP, Coke has an exhibition hall (ok, a 13,000 sq foot center) showcasing its history with the Olympics and their various CSR efforts. This site is expected to attract more than a quarter of a million visitors a day. You can read more about it here.

2) Social media efforts include “Design the world a coke” campaign. It’s basically designing a coke bottle and posting it on your social networking site to display your creative works.

I’m having really mixed responses to this campaign. I agree with Jane who argued that the campaign’s execution was poor. There was no extrinsic motivation for users to go design the bottle and spread the “love” of Coke around. While i realize that Coke’s campaign seems to be in line with harmony and optimism, it seemed by doing mash ups with Yao ming’s bottle was pretty generalized.

Coke as usual has made an impact at the Olympics. While it might already be dominating China, the Olympics was a great opportunity to leverage on its global brand name and reinforce it in the China market.

Who’s to argue, they’ve already achieved Marketing Gold for this year’s Olympics according to this article here. I love this OP Index and look forward to the results after the Games.

While its easy to argue that Coke could have done more, i think a brand of its stature doesn’t really have to do much. Once again, I’m in awe of Coke and the simple message that its brand brings across this Olympics.

GE and the Olympics

Moving on to the 2nd last TOP on the list of the TOP Olympics marketing efforts, we have GE!!

GE is the exclusive provider of a wide range of innovative products and services that are integral to a successful Games. From providing power, lighting, security and modular space solutions at Olympic venues to supplying ultrasound and MRI equipment to help doctors treat athletes, GE works closely with the Organising Committees, local municipalities and other Olympic Partners to understand their needs and then deliver solutions that only GE can. NBC Universal, a division of GE, is the exclusive US media partner of the Games. The GE and NBC Universal partnerships extend through 2012.

Now what kind of marketing efforts would a company like GE have?

1)They have a green theme of “Ecomagination” for a marketing campaign. Basically showcasing all their green initiatives to reduce the carbon emission of various places. By using their technology on the Bird’s nest and the water cube, GE has solidified its position in China through these examples and earned a neat 600 Million dollar revenue. They plan to further push their green initiatives during the Shanghai world expo and the Guangzhou Asian games.

2) They launched various commercials to be part of the “green Olympics” initiative set by Beijing. Here’s the link for the ads.

3) They’ve also chosen an interesting medium to market their message. They have interactive ads on 1000 taxis in Beijing being displayed on a small screen in the cab for passengers. You can read more about it here.

4) As mentioned earlier, NBC, part of the GE umbrella are the exclusive US media partner. This Olympics marks the transition of NBC shifting their video coverage to online. Whats more, there’re showcasing thousands of hours of film previously not shown in games. This is to cater to the niche groups who are more interested in certain sports. There’s the long tail theory working for u!

That seems to be about GE’s efforts for the Olympics. You can check out their homepage for more details.

Now, since they’ve committed themselves to reducing the carbon emission and going on a green theme (Certainly not a case of green washing), wouldn’t it be great if they could involve the ppl as well?

I’m thinking Facebook groups to encourage greener initiatives. Wikis to generate more green solutions.They have a healthcare blog, but what about one for the “ecomagination”? I’m guessing social media here might not be a huge consideraton cause its gonna be a lot of B2B marcomms going on. However, if their intiative can spur ppl on to make the change, then it might make demnad greater!

So while i admire their green intiative, interesting ads and mediums to push these ads, it would have been nice to invovle the ppl who ultimately use their service.

Panasonic and the Olympics

Moving down the list of TOP Olympics marketing efforts, we’re moving on to Panasonic!

Under the Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd, Panasonic is the exclusive TV/audio/video TOP and started being a TOP since 1987.

Before we look at some of their marketing efforts, I found this insightful article whereby the use of social media for the various brands have been highlighted. It’s a good read, do take a look.

So what’re some of their marketing efforts?

1) Having a theme of “Sharing the passion”, they have a nice flash page on their website which showcases their involvement in the Olympics for the past 20 years.

What’s interesting is that they have thrown in what they call ‘digital journalists’ in the ‘Beijing Diary’, where these journalists use their products to experience and capture the Olympics. There’re various video reports which you can check out in the site as well.

Also with a tinge of social media, these journalists have blogs as well! Nothing much written in them but interesting to read nevertheless.

Panasonic is also promoting the country’s various top day and night tourists spots, which is a really great way to go, following Visa’s example.

Lastly, part of the site has a short 60 sec movie clip which you can watch here.

2) Within China, where brands have already spent 6 billion dollars maxing out their sponsorship to increase their brand reach in the most sought after country this year, Panasonic also has a small micro site which allows users to display photos of users on it. It’s in Chinese so I wouldn’t really attempt to explain more. You can check it out here.

3) Like all brands, they have a huge booth set up near the “Bird’s Nest”. Impressively, Panasonic TVs are being used by other brands as well in these booths. You can read more about the mishaps of organizing the logistics on site, man i hate it when those hic-cups happen.

So there you have it, Panasonic’s efforts have been above what i’ve expected. 2 more TOPs to go!!

Omega and the Olympics

Moving down the list of TOP Olympics, we have Omega of The Swatch Group Ltd. Omega is the official Time piece (for example, watches, clocks and official countdown clocks), timing systems/services, and electronic timing, scoring and scoreboard systems and services for the games.

So as the offical timekeeper for the games, what are some of their marketing efforts?

1) From online mediums, they have this flash animation scroll thingy which traces the history of Omega and China. Further, it also traces bits and pieces of the Olympic history.

While slightly cliche, it does bring some interesting facts from the past to today’s generation who are too engrossed with Michael Phelp’s 8th gold medal. Things like the “Flying Housewife” and the “Czech Locomotive” are great stuff to know from the past century.

You’ll probably see some of these in the shops selling Omega watches as well being displayed…

Sadly, this site is solely one-sided with little interaction or use of social media…. Would be great if they could have included other great moments in the Games voted by the ppl, which Omega was there to capture the winning timings…

2) What’s a brand without an ambassador? You can check out the list of ambassadors they have here, heck, they’ve been sponsoring Phelp’s since 2004, good shot at that one considering how his market value is going up.

Even James Bond is one of ‘em, lol….

3) Lastly, like most brands in the Olympic Green, they have a pavilion built which showcases their watches and other neat stuff. Read more about it here.

It’s a pretty normal marketing campaign considering the amount pumped in but i guess they should know what they’re doing since they’ve been doing it since 1932.

Would like to see a heavier usage of social media considering the history they have with the games and how they could connect with the people then.

Another thing I would like to share is how Olympics can help a country as a brand and you can read more about that from this article here. What’s most important i think in an Olympic sponsorship is that it not only helps a brand being a TOP, the brand must also help the country. This would allow the brand to have a stronger association wit that particular year’s games and build its brand presence in the host country.

Atos Origin and the Olympics

Moving down the list of TOP Olympics marketing efforts, we have Atos Origin.

Atos Origin manages and integrates the contributions of all technology partners and suppliers to deliver seamless and secure technology operations and services that provide instant communications to athletes, spectators, organizers, officials, media, television viewers and Internet users worldwide. The company became a Worldwide Olympic Partner when it joined the TOP Programme as SchlumbergerSema in 2001.

So as an IT service provider, their marketing efforts are really pretty limited.

1) It’s mostly business to business deals and their main point of joining the games was to showcase how they can work with potential partners.

I quote from this article what the Olympics can do for a B2B marketing:

“The Games are very useful in raising the broader awareness of our firm through the recognition power of the Olympic rings. You are also more credible as a business if you are associated with the Olympic rings.

“The visibility of the rings has also been used internally; it is very reassuring for our staff to know the firm is associated with the Games.”

2) They’ve also helped the IOC achieve its aim of zero carbon emission games this Summer to make it “the green games”

I’m sure Jacky Tai would have more to say, I wonder if more efforts could be done for a B2B marketing. Think about it, I mean building credibility is one important factor of B2B marketing, but isn’t there anything else that can be done?Going green reenforces that image. But what else could be done? I just realzied I’m pretty clueless when it comes to B2B marketing… lol…

I’m thinking if social media would work here. A corporate blog? A twitter like Dell service?

So how else do you think Atos Origin can leverage their Olympic Sponsorship? What else can they do to achieve a more credible image?

Johnson & Johnson and the Olympics

Moving down the list of TOP Olympics marketing efforts, we have Johnson &Johnson!

J&J is the first company to be a health care products company become a TOP. They are the official health care product partner for the Olympics.You can check out the press release here.

While this is a great step forward for the pharmaceutical industry in terms of marketing, J&J have got some interesting moves for their Olympic Sponsorship.

I found this amazing article here which states how marketing the Olympics used to be like a 100 meter catwalk. The media plan was easy, and all u had to do was have a huge ass budget.

But now, it’s so different. You can see the contrasting difference of the % of the marketing budget that companies used to spend on the Olympics for digital media then and now.

I liked this particular quote here that states the ever growing importance of Digital media and social media.

Millions of Americans will watch the Olympics but never turn on a TV set.

So back to J&J, what’re some of their Olympic marketing efforts?

1) Prior to the Olympics, they had a  series of spots tell stories with multiple meanings about Chinese people who are unsung heroes as they care for others.Directed by Tony Kaye, American history X (Love that show), it again relates back to their core message about a brand that cares.

Unfortunately, i couldn’t find the video for you guys but I’m sure it was good. If u haven’t seen his other tv ads, do have a look. Pretty raw stuff, check out the drink driving ad here….

2) Caring world is an ongoing exhibit on the Olympic green. I quote from the press release what this is about:

The Caring World features a series of eight high-tech, interactive exhibits that demonstrate how the Company celebrates the spirit of caring to create a healthier world. From the “Our Aspirations” exhibit where individuals share stories, reflections and memories about giving and receiving care in their lives, to the “Global Challenges” exhibit that depicts how Johnson & Johnson engages in major global health challenges on many fronts, to the “Vital Technologies” installation that shows how medical technology can restore the joys of life, the Pavilion experience conveys how caring for others makes life more meaningful.

3) Their core message has always been about caring. So their Olympic message was simple, gratitude to their moms for the Olympics. They have a website linked to Youtube which shows how athletes are thanking their moms. While this might seem like a mother’s day message campaign rather than the Olympics, the more I listened on, the easier it was to relate to the brand.

So good or bad campaign, what do you think? I applaud the fact that they used Youtube to spread this campaign, and while the Olympics stirs up heart warming and exciting emotional moments, so does this sweet little campaign which is easy to relate to the brand like i mentioned earlier achieve its aim?

Here’s an article which states that J&J’s reputation has been soaring because of its efforts to leverage their brand on the Olympics. This is great news cause ROI is pretty hard to measure. While brand reputation increase and return on investments is by no means an wasy feat to measure, I’m sure the positives of the campaign achieved far outweigh the costings involved. Especially in China, a market with such huge potential.

4) With all the controversy surrounding this year’s Olympics, one of the most scrutinized issues was the environmental issue China was facing. In its bid to help the country, J&J has installed is green and sustainable building technologies to 18 building structures in China. These include the bird’s nest and the international conference center to name some of the many. You can read more bout it here.

So there you have it, really amazing stuff by J&J, and i’m surprised to say this for a new sponsor but they’re really leveraging their Olympic sponsorship. I dare say their almost as good as Visa which I blogged about earlier. They helped the host country, they relate to its culture by using their core message of the brand and they did utilize social and digital media with good effect to push out their Olympic sponsorship and core message.

Kudos to J&J, one of the best Olympic sponsors in terms of marketing efforts!

ManuLife and the Olympics

Today’s TOP Olympics really doesn’t interest me, but I thought I’ll just take a look. Yup, today I’ll be looking at Manulife, the official life insurance partner of the Olympics. See how interesting this sounds already? I really don’t have much interest for financial companies’ marketing, but let’s just take a look shall we?

So what’re some of their marketing efforts for this game?

1) They’ve started a campaign called “Bringing dreams to life”, with a concept of “real people, real dreams”. Here’s the core message of the campaign as abstracted from a press release.

Its core message is that, just as the Olympic Games can make the dreams of nations, sports fans and athletes come true, so the insurer, with its wide range of products designed to bring financial security and peace of mind, can help ordinary people achieve what they most wish for in life.

Hey, real interesting huh? Whichever boring uncreative agency tot up of this must have really been in a rush or having a really anal client, this is soooo boring…

Right, since this was the core message selected, wouldn’t the best medium used be social media rather than traditional print ads and TVCs?

Its all about the people right, their dreams being achieved with a peace of mind? Why not do it the way one of the airline companies did it by mashing up a bunch of short video clips on how good the airline was. But in this case, just what ppl’s dreams are and how which financial plan helped them. Now there’s a medium to consider when doing your media plan.

Look at this ad below, the core message is so week in it really annoys me…

2) Of course there’re other efforts, the norm of sponsoring outstanding athletes. ( The Malaysian branch sponsored a fencing athlete, who’s the son of a Manulife employee….)

3) Lastly, you can check out their Olympic website then… Too corporate with little interaction…

While I understand that financial institutions need to maintain a professional image (i prefer to call it stuffy necktie image) and that there’s a fine balance in any marketing campaign for them not to go overboard and ruin that image. However, when it comes to sports sponsorship, cant they just let down their hair?

Maybe have that “Bringing dreams to Life” campaign with 2 phases. The early part which utilizes social media, making it more relaxed, fun and not so uptight. The 2nd phase can be where you break down how your products can help your clients.

I just feel so much more can be done with this 55-60 million dollar sponsorship. Does any1 else feel their efforts are insufficient? Or as a financial institution, this is the best they have done?