Craig Ritchie is on a mission to Humanize Brands, Build Communities, Focus On The Customer, Unleash Experiences and Create Magic.
Craig Ritchie is a Senior Strategist at Organic, making Exceptional Experiences for world-class brands.
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Build Something Great, Drive Traffic, Grow Community, Repeat.
Craig Ritchie is a Strategist focused on the new paradigms of the web.
Growing community around brands, products and ideas requires strategies built upon these 10 pillars:
| Ideas | Sales & Education | Business | Communities | Information Architecture | Design | Development | Tools | Measurement | Futurism |
Photo: MorroBayChuck (flickr)
Google made a splash with their demo launch video for Wave. The ripples flowed through the social web as some, me included, anticipated great things. It was Google after all, and when do they fail? (more often than you’d think, it turns out). Beyond the great Google stamp of awesome though, any communication product that could translate two-way conversations on the fly surely was a game-changer, right? That feature wasn’t even core to the product, in fact, it was almost mentioned as an afterthought — “… by the way,” the demonstrators seemed to say, “this Phaeton also turns into a plane. Moving on…”
Later, (though, probably not soon enough later) the Wave was unleashed to general users with “limited” invites. They joined, linked up, and tried to ride the Wave.
And, if Google Trends had been hooked up to Wave, the highest term would have been “uh… What now?”
Days later, the Wave never hit the shore.
So now that it’s gone, what can we learn?
Even the savvy users didn’t get it. (perhaps some of the savviest did, but I digress) What was the purpose? What problem is this product solving? It was undefined, or too complex.
Google seemed to go against it’s own process, so giddy on it’s own cleverness. What happened to Marissa Mayer and her crusade for simplicity? When the iPhone launched, it didn’t offer the app store or iTunes. These features were introduced later. Even when Google itself launched, it was a search bar and a results page. The value revealed itself, and seemed to work as if by magic.
So the Wave team didn’t answer the most crucial question – who is it for? Did Google understand it’s customer, or just focus on the product? As Steven Gary Blank describes in “The Four Steps To The Epiphany,” companies that are creating a product for a new market must sell simplicity. If it’s a new concept that I have to try to understand and a new set of behaviors I have to adopt, you’d better make it easier for me than whatever I’m already using (waaay easier). Moreover, did Google think past the launch – how the product would roll out socially as well as technologically? To what influencers did they roll the product out, first? As in the case of the recent Flipboard launch, where Robert Scoble tested first and was very happy to extol the virtues of Flipboard at launch. Wave could have partnered with not only individuals, but organizations to demonstrate through case studies or events just what it was for, and how it improved our lives.
Instead, the launch was pseudo-Steve-Jobsian, a tablet-on-the-mount speech that blew us away, but had no pay-off. With iPhone launches, however, there is physical social currency, whereas passionate Wave advocates and avid users were hidden. Which brings us to the most important point – one that Google of all companies should understand and execute without fail: Connection.
Connection
Ironically, this is what Google Wave set out to improve, and yet this is what it failed to provide. Modern services developed for widespread use must connect with other services. Wave didn’t even connect properly with Gmail. The most basic connection, notifications, required a hacky plug-in and a significant time investment. Of course, once one user had installed notification, there were few other users with it, so the Waves would stall anyway. Further, there was no connection to other tools and services that we use on a daily basis. If Wave activity was associated with a user’s existing social profile, on Facebook or Twitter, the product might have had a fighting chance.
Like Apple’s Newton, this could be another case of too much, too soon. As with Apple, its Newton and its iPhone, the market wasn’t ready for the technology or the change in behaviour. We knew it would happen, eventually, but there was still a long way to go. Will it be Google that reintroduces the wave concept in a few years, or will it be another provider, say Facebook with it’s unmatched engagement and depth of profile to facilitate Wave 2.0’s introduction; or an entirely new provider, with a more disruptive vision and an understanding of the future of on-demand, live, ubiquitous connection? Will it be you?
Regardless of whom starts Wave 2.0, at least we’ll always have the Pulp Fiction Wave:
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.
Ford’s astonishing and inspiring thought leadership in the online space continues, as they fully embrace WOMMA’s Code of Ethics with their rules, including:
“We want both positive and negative reviews of our vehicles.”
“In social media, it must be your authentic opinion or it doesn’t count.”
“Apologize quickly for any mistakes we make.”
Apparently, API stands for All Projects are Implemented, according to some agencies. Marketers are trying to find their way in the Times-Square madness of the Social Media space, but when someone is asking for directions, they don’t really want every street on the whole map.
With Twitter, for example, it’s still important for strategy to drive decisions on tactics. An open API seems to be a maddening siren’s call for agencies and developers, causing them to lose all sense and launch campaigns just for the sake of integrating Twitter.
Let’s learn from these campaigns and stop all the gimmickry.
Skittles
If you haven’t heard of the Skittles.com debacle (which they continue to host), welcome to the Internet. Kidding aside, this web site has thrown away caution and its brand, allowing Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to define its message and its value. Upon launch of this “strategy,” users gamed the sites, associating swear words, offensive posts and negative messaging. Now, weeks later, the aggregate social destination sits passive; the brand message confused and tarnished.
The glass-half-full viewpoint: I should, however, acknowledge the 1 million+ fans subscribed to the Skittles Facebook fan page. It will be interesting to see what, if anything, Skittles does with these subscribers.
FixOutlook.org
This recently launched grassroots site hopes to grab the attention of the Windows Beta evaluators, and send a powerful, organized message to Microsoft before they commit to the sin of continuing to use Word to render emails in the 2010 version of Outlook. I admit, it’s a noble cause. But the twitter implementation at the core site is reminiscent of 90s designers using animated gif backgrounds just because they could. It was a terrible idea, and the addition of a Twitter avatar feed doesn’t change this. This is/was a great opportunity to unite these users in a deeper way.
The glass-half-full viewpoint: The people behind this cause did keep it simple, and don’t necessarily have a need for a long-term view. The virulence of the tweets are visible, and I’ve yet (with 17,489 “tweetitioners”) to see any tweets against the campaign.
Terminator Salvation (Resistance 2018)
The film over-promised and under-delivered, so I suppose we could say the Twitter campaign stayed true to the brand. This Twitter game sent Jumbled words to decode and trivia questions to answer to followers who would earn points. It also incorporated some Terminator-world messages, such as, “You have been harvested by the machines, you lose 5 points.” Games on Twitter are starting to multiply, and this one seemed to have good promise, but the challenges became repetitive quickly, and the burning Terminator face rolling by among my smiling happy Twitter friends weakened the impact of the experience. If this is SkyNet, we have nothing to worry about.
The glass-half-full viewpoint: Games on Twitter are still a new concept, and this early attempt did earn some pretty good reach and buzz. It does foreshadow more robust and solid twitter contest and gaming to come.
Polar Ice
The ultimate in Twitter API gimmickry lives at PolarIce.ca. This flash site pulls in what appear to be completely random Tweets, with a muddled interface featuring confusing functionality creating the ultimate why-am-I-here experience for users. It seems Polar Ice just likes Twitter. But what does this have to do with Vodka, or partying?
The glass-half-full viewpoint: If you have a glass half full of Polar Ice, tip it back and Google your way off this site.
Nike’s The Hookup
Nike’s work-in-progress started with a whimper, but is now, it appears, starting to evolve into something a little more useful. The Hookup tweets local shoe drops to followers, and has other functionality pulling key terms for their fashion product/item/lines called “icons.” Fans are starting to use the tag #thehookup, which may connect to this strategy too, but it’s difficult to say.
The glass-half-full viewpoint: There is a lot of activity around these items on Twitter, and this team has a long-term view. A few changes will lead to success for this program.
(Full disclosure: I work for Organic, with Nike Canada as one of our clients. I haven’t, however, worked on The Hookup)
What’s the common thread here? These API implementations are all ideas conceived based on the brand’s needs, instead of the users’.
If instead, one considers the drivers behind users’ behaviours on Twitter and other Social Media, one realizes that these are surface ideas that don’t serve their preferences, desires and needs. Start with user-centric thinking, think long-term, and ease into Social Media with grace and success.
Photo by Chinaguccio
I’m an Olympics junkie. But, until the olympiad when I can watch the event I want, when I want, wherever I want, my craving will remain unsated.
Athens 2004 gave a glimpse at the potential of the future of Olympics coverage, and as Beijing 2008 approached, it seemed that on-demand, super-immersive web strategy and mobile tactics would be ubiquitous and all-encompassing.
As it turns out, it’s not quite there yet. NBC’s has no regrets however, as their lock down of the coverage has grabbed a 17.6 Nielsen rating and $1 Billion in advertising revenue.
Nevertheless, social media and Web 2.0 has opened new doors for the dissemination and celebration of the games to spread higher, faster and stronger.
Here are some of the strategies and memes that are defining the Olympic Games online and on your mobile device:
Video
Wired’s “How to watch the olympics online”
If you’re hunting for the ultimate on-demand and live coverage online, this is a good place to start.
CCTV Olympics Flash interface
Flash designers are boasting about the scope of the content being delivered on a Flash platform implementation. It’s “pretty,” I suppose, but severely limited as far as organization of the content and usability. It’s possible this answers the question whether Flash can support large projects, but that’s secondary to delivering a good user experience… and Flash just isn’t the right fit for this type of content.
NBC using Silverlight
… but at least the CCTV site is Flash and not Silverlight. Users, if they’re so fortunate to own a Windows PC, are forced to download the new Microsoft Silverlight plug-in to view NBC’s online video. After that hurdle is cleared, the experience is good for some, terrible for others.
Googolympics
StartupMeme lists the many Google initiatives for the games, including Gadgets, One-box search, Maps visualizations and the (arguably) revolutionary dedicated YouTube channel.
And here’s Google’s mobile access to stats and updates.
Widgets
All the major content providers have built desktop widgets.
Lenovo’s TVTonic Super-Widget
Lenovo’s has sponsored a skinned TVTonic app that allows you to subscribe to full-length events, viewable on- and off-line.
Interactive Strategies
CBC’s Sport Explainer
CBC explains events with simple animations. You can learn water polo by clicking on the link at the bottom right here>
BBC Interactive Olympic Map
The BBC leverages Microsoft Live Search Maps to surface blog and twitter coverage via a geographical visualization.
NYT’s Medal Count Map Visualization
The New York Times shows us the historical (and current) medal counts for all of the modern games.
BBC’s Olympic Myth: “Monkey”
The Gorillaz’ Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett adapt and animate a classical Chinese novel to promote BBC coverage.
Mobile
Blackberry Cool’s Olympic Roundup
Follow on your Blackberry with these apps.
Softpedia’s Blackberry Beijing Travel App
Going to Beijing? Here’s an interesting targeted Travel App.
Zumobi’s Olympic iPhone App
Zumobi has a simple app – no video, but general coverage, including photos and blogs. If you have an iPhone, let me know what you think of this…
Social Media
Twitter Hashtags: BG08, Beijing, Olympics
The twitterati can’t make up their mind on a tag, so here’s all three as they are rolling out on Twemes.
Flickr
Wow, Flickr had a great opportunity to capitalize on all the great photos from the event… but finding the good photos is tough. Most searches return almost an equal number of protest and political images as mediocre shots of the games.
Facebook Apps
Pramati has built an interesting Guess-the-Podium app for Sun. It’s a good idea, but tough to guess many events – that is, I could have an educated guess on a World Cup or March Madness app, but I’m not sure who to pick for 60kg Men’s Freestyle Wrestling. Will it be He Qin, Yandro Quintana or Mavlet Batirov who take the gold?
NBC’s and other also-ran apps are available too.
Wikipedia
Blogs
Bloggers Blog Olympics Blogs and Twitterers
A great list of bloggers and twitterers is collected here.
Athlete Blogs
With so many to follow, I haven’t had a chance to sift through these massive lists. (If you have any highlights of great athlete bloggers or entries, let me know.)
- danwei.org/blogs/athletebloggers_at_beijing_oly.php
- hehe2.net/misc/60-beijing-olympic-athletes-blogs-opml-file-directly-to-your-reader/
- summergames.lenovo.com
Wordpress Tag: Olympics
Of course, there are lots of other bloggers talking about the olympics. Wordpress aggregates the tags from these posts.
Reuters Olympics Podcasts
User-generated content and Memes
We can’t ignore the waves of UGC and the viral contributions of general public.
FriendFeed Spanish Faux-pas
This story exploded across the web, and gains strength still via social networks.
Blue Screen of Death @ Opening Ceremonies
The meme says Windows projected its infamous artwork on during the opening ceremonies. Real or fake? Either way, geeks grabbed on to the story and added another chapter to the Windows Fail mythology.
- gizmodo.com/5035456/blue-screen-of-death-strikes-birds-nest-during-opening-ceremonies-torch-lighting
LOLBush @ Olympics
The Guardian wonders if Bush “can haz” anything else to do, besides watching Misty May dig sand.
Sponsor Strategies
Most of the official international sponsors have weak (if any) strategies – Flash timelines and movies that unapologetically cram the brands down the users’ throats. If your computer doesn’t crash, check out Panasonic’s “World Wide Wave.” Yikes.
On the other side of things
McDonalds’ The Lost Ring Cross-channel Immersive Storyline
Wow. I stumbled on to this only recently, and it looks expansive, and impressive. It also looks like it’s nearly over. I’ll be looking deeper into this multilingual social media play.
Atos Origin’s On-site Infrastructure
Here’s an overview of Beijing 2008’s IT provider’s offerings, including the “Olympic Family Intranet”
Kodak’s Blog?
Meh. Kodak’s final olympiad as an Olympic sponsor passes on a weak note online.
… one interesting post however, is the comprehensive gallery of Kodak’s Olympic Pins.
Samsung’s Medal Mania
Medal Mania is a cross-Internet hunt for medals. The clues are kind of lame, but it’s a good attempt at engagement.
Official Web Strategy
Beijing 2008’s official site
One wonders at the missed (?) opportunities for the official sites to host and stream on-demand content. And for revenue streams? Sponsorships, subscriptions and fee-driven access. How about a deal with iTunes?
Vancouver 2010
Finally, a shameless proud plug for the home team currently building towards the next winter games. Go Canada Go! (See you there.)
This list is a work-in-progress. Send me your links and thoughts on the games…
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