Posts Tagged “communication”

Highlights from Ad Age’s Inaugural Social Engagement / Social TV Conference

The opening panel gets underway at the inaugural Advertising Age Social Engagement / Social TV conference

It’s been almost two weeks since I had the opportunity to attend Advertising Age’s inaugural Social TV conference in New York – and my head’s still spinning.

As is often the case with these conferences, it’s hard to describe the depth of each session, but for those who couldn’t attend, and who have an interest in this space, I wanted to put together an overview of the main sessions and big points that I took from each (you can also find a Storify of the event by Mo Krochmal over here).

I’ve also included a few best practices for Social TV campaigns at the end of the post that were shared at last week’s Digital Flash NYC Social TV event for Internet Week New York (featuring Sabrina Caluori, David Berkowitz, Mark Ghuneim and Chris Stephenson).

So, without further ado, below are my take-outs from what were two excellent events, and an exciting multi-media space that continues to innovate and evolve.

It will be interesting to consider how these are applied to the social/digital/mobile spaces by other forms of media moving forward.

From the discussions surrounding Social TV, the primary points I took included:

  • It’s all about enhancing the user and viewer experience,
  • Create and sustain partnerships,
  • Engage fans before, during (real-time) and after broadcast to extend the story,
  • Invest in considering how you can scale projects and experiences, and
  • Curate to win and provide value.

If you attended either event, I’d love to hear your thoughts on the content and presentations, and the overriding themes and points you took from the discussions.

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1. Inside Coca-Cola’s Polar Bowl   

Jennifer Healan, Integrated Marketing Content, Coca-Cola.

This was a particularly informative keynote covering everything from planning to execution and the stunning results for Coca-Cola (you can watch one of the commercials below).

One of the featured Polar Bowl commercials from Coca-Cola

Some key learnings from Coca-Cola’s approach to this campaign included:

  • Be nimble and able to react in real-time,
  • Incorporate research before, during and after to gauge viewers’ use of multiple screens, devices and platforms,
  • Be prepared and rehearse for multiple scenarios and levels of engagement,
  • Resource accordingly with both technology and personnel to meet the needs of all scenarios,
  • Be additive to the viewing experience – don’t detract from the program or event, and
  • Build anticipation for the second-screen viewing engagement and experience.

2.  Social TV to Better TV: Will The ‘Second Screen’ Deliver for Networks, Brands and Users?

Panel discussion featuring: Aaron Lilly, Media and Branded Entertainment, Bing, Chris Stephenson, President, Viggle, Lisa Hsia, Executive VP – Digital Media, Bravo Media, Mike Darne, Senior Director, Social Media & Mobile Marketing, Capital One. Moderator: Mark Ghuneim, CEO/Co-Founder, Trendrr.

The importance of being real-time and incorporating research were reinforced in this panel discussion, particularly in relation to brand advertising in the Social TV and application space.

That is, brands need to understand that the use of Social TV applicationss is on the rise, with real-time engagement an opportunity to drive interaction and business. This requires an understanding of how your target market is searching for and talking about your brand.

For production houses (and networks), Social TV is already being thought of at the production level – something that the panel believed will only increase moving forward, to the point where Social TV will (if it already doesn’t) require its own programming strategy. Will we see Social as another integrated component of the production houses’ and networks’ annual up-front presentations?

With advertisers now demanding full integration across social activity leading up to and during broadcasts, the answer may very well be yes.

As for users and viewers, the panel believed that co-creation was the next evolution in this space – although scaling this kind of production will be a challenge to make this a reality.

3. Presentation

Kay Madati, Head of Entertainment and Media, Global Marketing Solutions, Facebook.

Kay gave a great presentation entailing the move of the (social) web from following the wisdom of crowds to the wisdom of friends – claiming that friend to friend discovery on social networks drives more value than your average campaign.

Facebook has its own Social TV Opportunity Activation

Or, to use Mark Zuckerberg’s words – people (the audience) are the most powerful media.

With that in mind, he encouraged networks and production companies to give due consideration, and leverage the opportunity to use social and digital assets not only during broadcast, but before and after programming – citing the upcoming series return of Dallas as a great example to extend the viewing experience (the show’s Facebook page already has 665,000 fans before the return on June 13).

He reinforced the idea that Social TV deserves its own individual programming strategy where the content is king – something Facebook is paying particular attention to with its Social TV Opportunity Activation (where facebook + content = Social TV). A great example of this was the partnership between Facebook and Pepsi at the recent Cricket World Cup in India.

The next trend/challenge to watch out for? Marketers utilising engagement and insights from Social TV to begin to inform the programming narrative and direction.

4. NewFront Panel: Social’s Role in TV Buying

David Cohen, Chief Media Officer, Universal McCann, Joel Lunenfeld, VP Global Brand Strategy, Twitter, Marc DeBevoise, SVP and GM, CBSi Entertainment. Moderator: Jordan Bitterman, SVP, Social Marketing Director, Digitas.

Right from the start, the panel highlighted that social buzz about television is now pulling audiences to television from their second screens – with spoilers a particularly effective tool driving live viewing as opposed to time-shifted consumption.

In the case of CBS, they are seeing 15 percent of their web traffic derived from social platforms – a statistic that contributes to views, advertising and money.

Screen shot of the CBS Connect page

More than that, the network has launched CBS Connect, a hub for conversation surrounding viewers’ favourite CBS shows.

From the agency perspective, David noted that only 10 percent of his clients are currently buying space in social and Social TV (apps, pages etc) –  a statistic he expects to increase.

The challenge ahead? To begin to measure and investigate the relationship between Social TV and ratings. That is, does correlation equal causation with regard to social buzz and viewers? And how does time-shifted viewing then factor into this equation?

I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

5. Leveraging Social Media to Connect Talent, Fans and Brands

Kristin Frank, SVP-Digital, MTV and VH1 and Drita D’Avanzo, Mob Wives star.

MTV and VH1 are two networks that have adopted the ‘storytelling without borders’ approach – planning shows with social engagement factored into every step of the process, and continuing the storyline between seasons and episodes.

As Kristin described it, they are a 24/7 media company.

The networks have introduced a social media education program for their talent (something I think we’ll see more and more of) with great results.

Mob Wives star Drita D’Avanzo was one of the first to partake in the program, and has launched herself into the social space, and at the time of writing has more than 317,000 followers.

With its talent as trans-media storytellers, the network is now taking the opportunity to break the confines of individual program episodes to simultaneously tell and extend multiple stories at one time.

As Kristin put it, they’re employing social media and technology to make good content great.

6. Transforming the TV Experience with Social Engagement

Bonin Bough, Vice President of Global Digital and Consumer Engagement, Kraft Foods and Amanda Richman, President of Digital, MediaVest.

Bonin and Amanda shared a great example of partnership and integration in the Social TV space, with Kraft’s Wheat Thins executing a highly unconventional (but exceptionally entertaining) integration with The Colbert Report. For an excellent clip and interview with Amanda discussing the campaign check out this video from Beet TV (embedding disabled).

So, what are Bonin and Amanda’s tips for Social TV and social business success?

  • Be agile & responsive,
  • Innovate with new technologies, and
  • Partner to create great content.

7. Special Presentation

Ryan Osborn, Senior Director, Digital Media, NBC News. 

Ryan underlined that although there are a number of skeptics in the Social TV space, the area will continue to grow and thrive.

In particular, he described filtering as the future – with smart players in the space such as Breakingnews.com already paying attention to as they curate content of value (a point also highlighted by Steve Rubel in his inaugural Clip Report covering the evolving mediascape).

8. Creating Social Engagement Around Live Sports

Bob Bowman, CEO, MLB Advanced Media, John Kosner, EVP-Digital and Print Media, ESPN, Jason Hoch, SVP-Digital, WWE. Moderator: Christian Waitzinger, Executive Creative Director, SapientNitro.

This final panel echoed Ryan’s sentiment and called for brands to provide value by cutting through the noise with curation and information.

For younger audiences, they will grow up demanding, and indeed already demand connectivity and the extended social viewing experience, and will migrate to the largest screen available. In that regard, the meaning and definition of the second screen is still a work in progress.

At the heart of this is the viewer experience. Pro-wrestler Zack Ryder’s organic communication with fans was cited as an example of engagement that talent and networks should look to emulate.

With regard to advertisers and partnerships, it’s about scaling these kinds of experiences in a bid to establish and maintain partnerships and drive even more value from Social TV initiatives (an example being the original programming partnership between the WWE and YouTube).

Some best practices for Social TV campaigns from Digital Flash NYC…

  • Give people a creative call to action. When managing a campaign, you’re like the DJ at a party – it’s your job to direct and fuel the party with music,
  • Set realistic expectations. Do your homework up-front and manage expectations accordingly, and
  • Find ways to channel the passion of fans and demonstrate that you ‘get it’. If you do, they’ll give you the right to follow through and interact with the campaign and program.

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Thanks to Advertising Age and Digital Flash NYC for putting on these events, and to all the speakers for their insights and time.

What are your thoughts on Social TV?

 

 

 

 

 

Magazines: From digital to community

Are magazines developing community hand-in-hand with digital?

I was reading through the media section of The Australian newspaper a few weeks ago and came across the news that magazine sales in the land of Oz continue to slide.

As a lover of magazines it’s disappointing to see this trend continue, particularly in light of all the exciting changes to media, technology and connected communities of consumers.

While I still enjoy picking up a hard copy magazine to flick through the glossy advertisements and in-depth interviews (yes, magazines actually do these), I’d be lying if I wasn’t excited by the addition of tablet technology and the potential for new content cycles.

In response to a comment I left on the facebook page of one of my favourite Aussie magazines (I’ll refrain from naming them here), I received a comment from the editor that the magazine’s iPad application was currently in production – something I was pretty wrapped to hear.

However, scrolling through the magazine’s social media and web presences, I began to question how much magazines are linking digital to community and leveraging the opportunity for increased engagement, brand exposure and sales.

At a time when sales are dropping but consumer engagement and expectation is rising, it seems to me that community and digital are two elements that must go hand-in-hand for magazines and publishers to survive.

So, what would I love to see from magazine’s to increase engagement and make me come back for more?

1. Take it offline

I recently attended a number of evenings for brands that coincidentally advertise in sport and lifestyle publications that I enjoy reading. While one was paid (a small fee of $15) and the other free – both allowed like-minded members of the brands’ communities to gather and share their passion and interests in real life – all while capturing and sharing the experience through social media and driving brand exposure. No VIPs or red carpets – just brand evangelists looking to engage more with the brand and catch a glimpse behind the product. I’d love nothing more than the publications I enjoy to do the same, and to connect me with like-minded individuals.

2. Expand and extend the content life-cycle

For me, this one applies whether you’re a weekly, fortnightly or monthly publication. As a consumer, I now see your physical product as just the start of a perpetual content life-cycle. If I follow you on Twitter, Like your facebook page, follow you on Pinterest and link back to your homepage, I’m hoping for more than a PDF version of what I’ve already read. Now, more than ever, I’m looking for the stories behind the stories, the glimpse behind-the-scenes, and the inner machinations that make the publication tick. I want to be engaged and entertained (see examples below from GQ Magazine that go behind and extend the brand). The channels and tools are already there, and in all likelihood so is the content. It’s up to you to identify and share – and not just on the day you publish the latest edition.

GQ Rules

A Day at GQ Magazine (via H&M)

3. Listen and respond

Okay, so you’ve decided to set-up your channels and commit to a content calendar to share with your community – but what about listening and responding? With an extended and expanded life-cycle comes (hopefully) added shares, comments, and engagement from your fans. Take the time and invest the effort to converse with them in this space. As someone who has tweeted, messaged and mentioned a number of publications and rarely received a response – I can tell you first-hand that there’s nothing more frustrating for a fan than not receiving a hat tip or reply after taking the effort to engage with a brand.

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In a great panel session last year, Edelman Australia held a discussion regarding the future of the media, featuring (among others) Michael Short from The Age newspaper.  In discussing the transition of the newspaper from hard copy to tablet format, he described the interactivity of the tablet version at roughly 20-25 percent of what it may one day be.

In short, media (including magazines) will only become more interactive.

Whether this shift to digital and interactive emerges hand-in-hand with the focus on and development of community will be subjective for each publication – and as with all industries there will be those that lead and those that follow.

The question is, how long will the followers survive as smaller niche publications emerge and barriers to entry for publication dissolve?

Only time will tell – and it’s certainly going to be intriguing to see how different publishers and titles continue to respond to this opportunity.

As Michael reflected – there’s never been a more exciting time to be working in media.

What do you think? Do you have any favourite magazines that execute digital and community side by side in their publishing and communication efforts? What elements in particular capture your attention and encourage you to engage beyond a physical magazine or digital version? What would you like to see from magazines and media outlets more broadly to increase their community engagement?

I’d love to hear your thoughts, and which publications you enjoy consuming.

Image credit: Font Shop, via Flickr, CC 2.0