How much would you pay for million subscribed fans? How much time would you invest to build such a huge audience? Sometimes all it takes is a few minutes — just set up the right execution with some real insight.

The “Mom, mom, mommy, ma, mom, mom, ma, ma, mommy, mommy… WHAT!!… hi! (endquote sic) Facebook fan page has crossed 5 million fans, with no content whatsoever; it’s powered solely by the social currency traded amongst friends as they fan this page with a nudge and a wink.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mom-mom-mommy-ma-mom-mom-ma-ma-mommy-mommy-WHAT-hi/231423647287

It’s hard to describe the insight this fan page creator has leveraged – only a parent can fully understand the experience of moving from ceiling-clawing annoyance to cheek-squeezing adoration as their child vies for their attention…

Now, the page creator sits on a gold mine of news feed access… which begs the question, should brands change the topic?

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Filed under: Community, Facebook, Focusing On The Customer by Craig Ritchie
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Tags: Brands, Facebook, fans, gifts, threeminds

Tucked away near the end of one of the best Slideshare’s I’ve come across, is this lil’ gem of UGC brilliance. Musicians C-Mon & Kypski need a little help with their music video, and it’s crowdsourcing that makes this video memorable (and affordable, I imagine). They’ll show you a frame from their video, and all you have to do is mimic it via webcam.

But before I tell you why I love this so much, let me share the Slideshare presentation with you – In “Stop Saying Viral – A Case For Spreadable Media,” Eva Hasson of Trendspotting makes an argument against “The Viral” strategy on which so many agencies and brands are stuck. If you’re a marketer, the best thing you could do today is open your mind to Hasson’s Wisdom Bombs…

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Filed under: Marketing, Social Media, Tools, User-generated Content by Craig Ritchie
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Tags: c-mon, Community, crowdsourcing, eva hasson, kypski, slideshare, threeminds, trendspotting, ugc, video, viral

There’s a lot of buzz about the Pepsi Refresh project and how they’re pulling their usual investment in Super Bowl Advertising and moving funds to a broader social strategy. It’s exciting news for people like me who work on big brands and are trying to bring perspective to the old-school Mad Men wanna-bes who still crowd this industry while the world moves away from traditional one-way advertising to deeper experiences. But, even as Pepsi tries to break new ground by cancelling their standard multi-million dollar 30-second football spot, their television ad agency proceeds to fumble the ball by blatantly ripping off a brilliant YouTube video to sell the new social initiative.

Here’s the Pepsi Refresh ad:

And the original music video that Pepsi “Refreshed”:

Much more magical, don’t you think?

Imagine if they contacted SOUR and worked with them to take SOUR’s concept to a whole new level, as opposed to just blatantly copying it. Wouldn’t that be more in line with the ideals of the new Pepsi Refresh Project? Imagine the positive wave of support from SOUR’s fans, and the 1 million+ other viewers of this video who surely would like the band to succeed. Please agencies — it’s not about you anymore. It’s not about your ads. It’s about the customer; the consumer; the user; the publich; the individual. It’s about The Human.

Filed under: Brands, Creating Magic, Marketing by Craig Ritchie
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Tags: 30-second spot, advertising, agencies, Brands, pepsi, pepsi refresh, Social, Social Media, sour, super bowl, television, ugc, User-generated Content

Sketch-a-Move from Superflux on Vimeo.

(via @karrio)

Filed under: Ideas, Usability, User Experience by Craig Ritchie
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Tags: cars, interface, sketch a move