Constant Learning Through Marketing

The year 2010 has truly proven to have changed the digital landscape. Only a few years ago, the term “mobile application” was infrequently used and bizarre to the average person. Now, however, mobile applications, more commonly referred to as “Apps”, has become a household term. These Apps not only provide mobile users with games and other forms of entertainment, they also enable users to access the Internet from anywhere! With this appification and mobilization of the web, as well as with group buying start-ups sprouting here and there, marketers of today are definitely faced with new challenges. We can no longer rely on the marketing tools and efforts which may have worked in the years past—with the way technology is advancing at a rapid pace. Marketers should therefore learn how to use these changes to their advantage—and this web marketing philosophy blog helps by aptly stating what marketers should learn in this digital era.

Live Chat with Jeremiah Owyang, IMMAP

When Music Videos Are No Longer Enough

Music has always been a huge part of people’s lives. Just a quick walk out on the city streets will reveal a good number of people with earphones glued to their ears and feet happily tapping to some beat. Everyday, it seems, newer songs are being composed and created—and what better way is there to promote a new song than by video?

In the 1980s, back when the television set was the most popular tool for entertainment, MTV was born, and music videos became a big hit. These videos certainly helped promote whatever song they were being accompanied with. Even at present, with the Internet taking over other forms of media (including the TV), music videos still find their way to a big audience. A quick search for the most viewed videos on YouTube (the most popular video-hosting website) will return mostly music videos from different artists. However, at the end of the day, music videos, no matter how creative or unique they may be, are still really just videos accompanied by music. With the fast-paced change in technology these days, it won’t be long until we find music videos to be just a thing of the past.

The band Arcade Fire seems to have noticed this. In promoting their new song entitled “We Used to Wait,” they decided to take their music video to another level. Working with Google (which also took this chance to promote Google Chrome and Google Maps), the song was made to accompany not only just one music video, but an interactive series of videos designed to trigger the viewer’s memories of his/her own past.

It starts off with the website asking for the address of the hometown you grew up in. A browser will pop up and the video starts off with a person running down a street. Moments later, another browser will appear with the image of the streets of your own hometown, and a small figure running down it—the person running earlier is now you. Other browsers pop up with images of birds flying and close-ups of your street, all these playing in time with the song. The highlight of the video comes later, when a browser appears asking you to write a letter to your younger self. The letter then becomes animated and becomes part of the video, turning everything more personal.

Songs are most often liked because people can relate to them. Now, this particular song by Arcade Fire may not appeal to other people because the lyrics may not be of any significance to them. This interactive video, however, literally takes images and memories of the viewer’s past to make it something of significance to every person who sees it. In the end, the song and the video only reminds yourself of who you were, and it becomes something of personal importance to you. The song, then, becomes your song—and this inevitably makes a good number of people want to purchase the song, merely because it triggers this emotional memory in them.

An Opportunity to Engage with Jeremiah Owyang, IMMAP Keynote Speaker 2010

Advertisers Catch a New Beat with Music Marketing 2.0

It's no secret that the music industry is one of the most affected by the internet's growth. Peer-to-peer sites like Napster and Frostwire have made it easy for music lovers to share and download music with a click of a mouse. While there are issues around piracy and copyright laws, the challenge remains that it’s difficult to fight off all these sites since they all operate virtually. Shut down one today, and a new one will surely crop up tomorrow.

Instead of the ‘aim to blame’ approach on who should be persecuted for this kind of behavior and who is at fault, perhaps it is better to ‘aim to frame’ and look for opportunities in a time of crisis. For advertisers and brand marketers, this is an excellent time to expand music marketing activities online. Welcome to music marketing 2.0!

Take the example of C2 who recently launched a campaign on Multiply to ask consumers to make their own music video from the C2 jingle. The results were amazing not only in terms of the quantity of entries but the quality of submissions were also quite good, enough to make any marketer jealous. Check out the finalist videos here.

Another route to take is by distributing your offline events online through a popular music site. Nokia Independent Artists Club (IAC) and Myxph.com recently worked together to promote some of featured bands from IAC on the website. Videos of the band gigs were featured as content alongside band write-ups and features of their songs. If you’re already spending for an offline gig/event, why not try to get as many of your audience to learn about it. Use the internet to distribute your content and you’ll be able to effectively maximize your marketing spend. Technology now allows for streaming as well, if your venue is wired there’s no stopping you from showing your event online. Doing this lets people join the fun from the comfort of their homes or their offices. Our streaming capabilities also allow for interaction through chat and polls. Get the fans to chat with their favorite bands and gain some brand love in the process.

Once again, we’re reminded of the infinite possibilities online marketing offers. If it’s free music that people want and a chance to strike-up a conversation with your music endorsers, the Internet can be a great tool to bridge that. Learn more about music marketing and the opportunities on Myxph.com and Multiply.com from ABS-CBN Interactive.

Start Right, Start White, Start Online

Celebrity. Everyone wants to be one, even if it's just for a little bit. And with the Internet, everyone is practically a mini-celebrity in their own right. So when you offer little girls Php 100,000 and a chance ot be Myx Celebrity VJ, get ready to watch a deluge of singing 12 year old girls in front of their webcams.

This was what happened in Skinwhite Teens 'Search for the Next Sam' campaign. Targetting girls aged 9-14 years old who happen to love to sing or at least have the guts to belt out a tune, these girls were tasked to record themselves singing (or lipsynching) the Skinwhite theme song, "Start Right, Start White" and to upload their videos to www.brandnewme.ph

Knowing these girls are online all the time (on Facebook, Twitter or just surfing the web), it wasn't surprising that the campaign received over 150 videos ranging from the simple girl in front of a webcam, to the more production heavy ones (where you would find amazing editing and change of location!).

And who knew there were so many ways to use the Skinwhite Teens bottle in the video?! There were those that simply had the bottle in the same shot, but then there was the Skinwhite bottle-as-a-microphone or shots of girls applying lotion to their arms in between verses. Leave it to the girls to get creative!

Though there was an on-ground audition, the online auditions were still beneficial to those from farflung provinces in Mindanao like Surigao and up north to the Cagayan Valley! Those who couldn't audition in real life made up for it with their sweeping locations (imagine a litle girl singing in a rice field) and multiple costume changes.

The target market's affinity with online social networks helped the girls in promoting their videos too. On Skinwhite Teens' Facebook Like Page, one would find links to their videos asking people to watch and 'like' their entries. The result? Over 25,000+ likes on the girls videos.

From the many entries, four winners were selected including one grand winner Gabriella Louise Lopez who just got herself a sting on Myx and is not Php 100,00 richer. Watch out, this 12 year old girl may be a household name soon.

The Jeepney Company Culture

Simple SEO, Social Media, Design, and Usability Philosophy

Last week, I've launched my personal blog at SEO Taoist--an Internet marketing philosophy blog that deals with SEO (Search Engine Optimization), Social Media Marketing, User Experience, and all those other stuff that goes with the package.

I recently posted an article about how bad company cultures hinder overall growth and success of businesses and their employees. Sadly, employees are the majority of all companies, and they themselves contribute to this counterintuitive company culture I call the Jeepney Company Culture.

Do you work for one? Or worse, maybe you're running one?

Read the entire article at here.