Do metrics really kill creativity?
JP Holecka Mar 5, 2010 - filed under: Advertising Comment (0)
In an Adage article by Patrick Sarkissian, he makes the claim that metrics are indeed killing creativity. His point is really about using metrics to make creative decisions exclusively. Metrics have always been in advertising and I suspect have driven the decisions of many clients that are too afraid to take risks in general. Metrics and measurement are always important, but so is the ability to take a chance with a creative campaign that may not have all the numbers and metrics to back it up. ROI and reduced risk for business is always an important thing to consider for campaigns, but so is taking a risk. Not taking risks will get you slow and steady returns with little ,to no loss there is no question. Risks can pay off huge when the creative resonates with the audience and in the end makes for a remarkable campaign that elevates your brand or product to new levels. 
 
Measurement is essential but the human spirit quite often surprises. During the Olympics crowds of hundreds, and sometimes thousands, would spontaneously breakout into the national anthem when they were finished quite often the crowd would do it all over again. I noticed that the anthem was notably missing from most ad campaigns during the Olympics. I am not sure if it was metrics or not but if there had been an anthematic ad campaign it would have resonated without a doubt. My point is that humans are not always predictable and great creativity connects in ways that metrics cannot always predict.
 
Metrics are important sure, but should they drive all creative choices for your campaign? Sure if slow steady returns are what you are looking for. If you want the potential of a "knock it out of the park" campaign you are going to have to take some "calculated" risks to make that happen. 

tags:// Strategy, olympics, metrics, marketing, Branding, agency, advertising
Go Canada Wallpaper
JP Holecka Feb 24, 2010 - filed under: Powershifter Media Comment (0)
I know I was a bit grumpy the Twitter after that Canada US hockey game. As a thank-you for putting up with my passion for Canadian hockey I give you the official POWERSHiFTER "Go Canada Vancouver 2010" wallpaper. The hockey team is back on my good side but I am still a little choked about the overall medal count...GO CANADA! Wallpaper>>1024x768, 1200x1024, 1280x800, 1440x900, 1680x1050, 1920x1200, and the iPhone

tags:// wallpaper, vancouver 2010, olympics, canada
Toyota seems to have a sticky Twitter foot too.
JP Holecka Feb 23, 2010 - filed under: Social Media Comment (3)

Over the last few days I have noticed a sudden and strange behavior on Toyota's Twitter account. There was a huge influx of uber positive re-tweets from other Toyota fans on Twitter. There is nothing wrong with re-tweets (RT's) per say but like most tools in your toolbox understanding how and when to use them is key and from what I could see Toyota did not understand the tool at all.

toyota-tweetsThe subject matter was regarding the quality of Toyota vehicles from point of view of Toyota owners. That in its self is not an issue but the shear volume of RT's on the subject was quite large and it made more of an impression of a "See we are ok and so and so even says we are..." kind of approach. Tweets like this from @Benne420 "@Toyota as a teen driver, I still get amazing gas mileage out of my 02 Camry LE. I love my car!", from @OmarHenry "@Toyota is still the best cars around! a guy at my gym still drives a 1980's toyota with the original engine! dont believe the hype...." and from @FireCat_7 "@Toyota my first car is a 1998 Toyota Camry LE. I LOVE IT and I love Toyota. Much love guys. Keep the good work up :)" were the norm in yesterday's tweets. That is really a very guttural and unsophisticated old fashioned PR approach. Like talking really loud with your hands over your ears "LA LA LA I CAN'T HEAR YOU".

Anyone that knows me knows that I simply can't stand over use of passive self flatulence on social media sites and this was clearly one of those instances. The tactic of re-tweeting praise from other users is really no different than making the statement yourself. Who are we trying to kid here? I don't care what any social media guru tells you or your company. Be careful on that tactic because as the public become acclimatized to the vernacular of social media marketing so will they see through the thin veneer of that type prolific of re-tweeting. It's lazy social media to flood your stream with.

The tweets felt somewhat desperate and like the usual person responsible for the Twitter account had suddenly been yanked from their duties and a desperate Sr. manager with orders in hand to "DO SOMETHING' was now at the helm. The strategy veered off coarse and felt like there was a sticky accelerator on the RT button.

What should Toyota be doing? They should stay the course of the original strategy by helping the thousands of Toyota drivers out of this mess, through helpful links on how to get there cars fixed quickly, and demonstrating what the company is doing to rectify the matter and to restore confidence in the brand.

When someone is stuck at the bottom of a well that you pushed them down, get a rope and help them out. Don't stand there and tell them that everyone else you pushed was able to avoide the well all together. The whole feed in recent days is nothing but bogus PR fluff. Between the massive recalls and the congressional hearings that begin today it would be better use of social media to take this head on as apposed to head in the sand as they are continuing to do today.

Photo credit emrank

tags:// twitter, toyota, social media, recall, Brands, Branding
Some recent Canadian Facebook statistics
JP Holecka Oct 18, 2009 - filed under: Social Media Comment (3)
Last month I had the pleasure of sitting on a "Social Media for Business" panel discussion with Louise Clements, the Director of Sales for Facebook Canada. She shared with me some of the latest data on Canadian Facebook users that I would like to pass on. The most staggering figure that I was presented with was that "16 million Canadians spend no less than 1 hour a day on Facebook". Wow Canada has a population 33,212,696~ [stats Canada July 2008]. That's an amazing 48.48% of Canadians in total. This is why they have been working on making fan pages more useful to business and brands. With that level of Canadians engaged daily on Facebook having a fanpage for your brand is more important than ever.
 
I am just going to post the statistics and will provide some analysis later this week.
13-17 year olds
  • 54% Female
  • 46% Male
  • Each has an average of 220 friends
  • They make up 12% of the Facebook population.
  • They represent 80% of all online 12 - 17 year olds†
How are they using Facebook?
  • 77% use it more than email
  • 44% use it more than cell phones
  • 40% use it more than any other communication tool
13-17 year old Facebook behavior (in the past week):
  • 57% add/use an application
  • 41% become a fan of a page
  • 62% upload/view/share a photo
  • 39% RSVP to an event
  • 47% share/post/watch a video
  • 58% read their news feed
  • 13% send a gift [that surprised me!]
18-24 year olds
  • 48% Female
  • 52% Male
  • Each has an average of 247 friends
  • They make up 29% of the Facebook population.
  • They represent 93.8% of all online 18 - 24 year olds†
How are they using Facebook?
  • 82% use it more than email
  • 43% use it more than cell phones
  • 45% use it more than any other communication tool
18-24 year old Facebook behavior (in the past week):
  • 52% add/use an application
  • 33% become a fan of a page
  • 63% upload/view/share a photo
  • 56% RSVP to an event
  • 47%share/post/watch a video
  • 67% read their news feed
  • 20% send a gift
25-34 year olds
  • 53% Female
  • 47% Male
  • Each has an average of 153 friends
  • They make up 32% of the Facebook population.
  • They represent 27% of all online 25 - 34 year olds†
How are they using Facebook?
  • 79% use it more than email
  • 49% use it more than cell phones
  • 44% use it more than any other communication tool
25-34 year old Facebook behavior (in the past week):
  • 50% add/use an application
  • 31% become a fan of a page
  • 59% upload/view/share a photo
  • 34% RSVP to an event
  • 44% share/post/watch a video
  • 63% read their news feed
  • 19% send a gift
35-44 year olds
  • 56% Female
  • 44% Male
  • Each has an average of 85 friends
  • 67% are parents
  • They make up 16% of the Facebook population.
  • They represent 78.2% of all online 35-44 year olds†
How are they using Facebook?
  • 58% use it more than email
  • 56% use it more than cell phones
  • 47% use it more than any other communication tool
35-44 year old Facebook behavior (in the past week):
  • 62% add/use an application
  • 30% become a fan of a page
  • 60% upload/view/share a photo
  • 37% RSVP to an event
  • 43% share/post/watch a video
  • 62% read their news feed
  • 26% send a gift
45-54 year olds
  • 62% Female
  • 38% Male
  • Each has an average of 49 friends
  • 75% are parents
  • They make up 9% of the Facebook population.
  • They represent 74.8% of all online 45-54 year olds†
How are they using Facebook?
  • 65% use it more than email
  • 60% use it more than cell phones
  • 49% use it more than any other communication tool
45-54 year old Facebook behavior (in the past week):
  • 55% add/use an application
  • 28% become a fan of a page
  • 64% upload/view/share a photo
  • 29% RSVP to an event
  • 50% share/post/watch a video
  • 58% read their news feed
  • 31% send a gift
55+ year olds
  • 59% Female
  • 41% Male
  • Each has an average of 51 friends
  • 81% are parents
  • They make up 6% of the Facebook population.
  • They represent 61% of all online 55+ year olds†
How are they using Facebook?
  • 60% use it more than email
  • 69% use it more than cell phones
  • 40% use it more than any other communication tool
55+ year old Facebook behavior (in the past week):
  • 51% add/use an application
  • 25% become a fan of a page
  • 51% upload/view/share a photo
  • 30% RSVP to an event
  • 46% share/post/watch a video
  • 51% read their news feed
  • 30% send a gift
†Statistics are  from Comscore July 2009

tags:// statistics, social media, marketing, facebook, Branding, advertising
Control your branded story headlines 140 char at a time
JP Holecka Jul 21, 2009 - filed under: Social Media Comment (1)
Want to get your story or product description out there in the lifestream of others in more controlled and branded way? I have discussed,  in the past, the fact that referral traffic of social networking/media sites is rivaling that of Google and Yahoo search. It's because of this your headline needs to be able to play nice in these applications if you don't want the referrer to change your carefully crafted message. Just as you take the time to create key words for maximum search ability so should you take the time to ensure that your headline will fit in these often character limited sources of referral traffic.

More and more people are using javascript "Post this to blank social network " browser buttons and site side "tweet this" functionality to quickly get the story they are interested in promoting into the user's preferred social networking news feed or lifestream. The scripts are designed to grab the page or h1 story title automatically and use it as the base of the post or tweet. Many times when I post there is a bunch of unnecessary copy that needs to get weeded out in order to fit the space. I will use my personal blog as an example of what not to do "Jaypiddy's Blog  >> Blog Archive   >> Winners for the first annual Canada Day photo contest. http://ow.ly/hN0N" See how the headline now becomes a bread-crumb trail? This is unnecessary because there is a shortened URL that the users will click and it takes up valuable space in the post. This is a built in trait of Wordpress and I need to look at how to build a work-a-round. Now the user will be tempted, or forced to, edit the copy in order to make the post fit the stream. This means that there maybe the removal of your brand name, typo or personal spin put in the headlines place. Personal opinion granted can be great if the comment is flattering but if possible why not get the headline into the stream as you planned it. Another thing that looks odd when people post into lifestreams is when the post has capitalization throughout the entire headline. This make the headline feel unnatural or more obviously a branded message and will lose the sense that the headline originated with the original poster. Witting in a natural language with proper capitalization will always work better for posting into someone's lifestream. A headline should quickly discribe your story, product or severice in less than 125 characters so that it can fit into a Twitter stream or Facebook News Feed. The reason for 125 characters maximum is that in Twitter there needs to be room for the story's URL without the need for the headline to be truncated. This means the message flows into the stream as you intented it to.

The strategy may seem simple but with the lifestream and newsfeeds of real people being where your brand is being advertised so heavily, every step must be taken to reduce the accidental mucking of your hard earned and consistent brand message.

tags:// Untagged