Digital Discourse

BMW Spreads DESIR3 with Co-Creation Branding

Head over to YouTube.com where BMW has launched a video contest with a home page takeover.  The contest is fun, creative, and the prize is pretty fantastic – win a BMW 3 Series!  I worked on the digital strategy behind this effort and have to say it’s really exciting to see your recommendations become a reality.

 

The effort is part of the larger DESIR3 campaign that is focused on raising awareness of the all new BMW 3 Series.  For this particular work, the original challenge was to develop a recommendation around how to fully leverage a large media buy and amplify the media value beyond the impression and click.  What we did was create a program that lives longer than one single day (during the homepage takeover). 

How it works:  Show BMW how much you DESIR3 the new 3 Series in 5.9 seconds or less and it's yours - but you have to be as quick as the 3 - which hits 60mph in 5.9 seconds.

 

One of the driving activation insights behind this effort is that collective branding via user generated content (UGC) can help aspirational drivers feel an emotional connection to the brand.  And further, co-creation generates creative assets that spread!  I posted my video last Friday and it already has over 1000 views (see bottom of post).  If you start to project that engagement out with hundreds or thousands of submissions you inevitably see a nice amount of earned media value. 

As a final thought - whenever working in UGC, it’s important to offer some creative structure to participants – or else it just becomes a free for all that loses site of the campaign and brand message.  The structure we provided was focusing on an emotional brand value and placing limits on the submission to 5.9 seconds.  "Less is more," right?  The cumulative effect – beyond media exposure and awareness – is that BMW’s DESIR3 means something completely different after this partnership with consumers has taken place.  In today's modern media landscape, brands need to show that willingness to cede some control to their enthusiasts.

If you don’t have time today, the contest will live on after our take over media.  The amount of time you have to enter is, of course, 3 weeks.

Here's my submission - I shot it on the Super 8 iPhone App!

 

Content for Non Profits

I’ve just returned from a trip out to Rwanda with the medical non-profit organization, Team Heart.  Their mission is to address and prevent Rheumatic Heart Disease in Rwanda and East Africa, which is a significant problem to the tune of causing 30% of all hospitalizations.  Their strategy is to administer penicillin for prevention and operate on those who need heart surgery.

When I first met Team Heart I realized that their mission was multi-layered and that the language of medicine is not easily familiar to those outside of the medical world.  I produced this video to help them explain their mission in an accessible and easily digestible manner.

For my most recent trip with Team Heart, my goal was to create a video that they can use for their fundraising efforts.  Strategically, my aim for this work was not just to help people understand the mission, but also to build more of an emotional connection between the story and prospective donors. 

Every messaging strategy mixes logic with emotion but I think when it comes to giving your money for good, the logic needs to hit a certain baseline threshold and then the emotion needs to be the ultimate selling point.  Generally inspiration will always beat out urgency of the mission.  There are lots of urgent causes – but inspiration is ultimately going to be what make people feel good about giving and telling their friends.  For Sr. Cardiac Surgeon, Dr. Chip Bolman, the patients inspire him.

Short term, I’ve been sharing photos on Tumblr and Picasa (hit me up on G+)… Mid term I plan to deliver a 5-10 minute video for fundraisers… As for long term?  Dave Wilson, Chairman of Team Heart tells me I should think Sundance - but we’ll see about that!

Of course non profits do not need to hire a photographer / videographer to produce great content.  Simply starting a blog, Tumblr or YouTube page can allow you to share great content frequently enough to keep everyone engaged with the mission.  The key is to keep it simple and let the story tell itself.  And as always, the more visual the better!  Make sure to check out Team Heart's Blog.

 

Team Heart Mission Overview

 

Team Heart is a non profit medical organization that aims to address rheumatic heart disease in Rwanda.  The approach is two fold.  First, the organization works to prevent new cases through screening and medical treament. For those who have advanced cases, surgeons operate on the heart to restore the individuals back to strength.

I met Ceeya and Chip Bollman and was instantly drawn to their story in its own right, but also because of my past experiences working in Rwanda.  Their effort is one of remarkable heroism and they cannot do it alone.  They've turned to digital and social media to spread the word and raise additional funding.

I worked with Team Heart to produce these video interviews, which are meant to more fully explain the organization's mission and approach.  While the video is basic, it is my hope that we can raise additional funding to support a trip out their to capture additional media, that can more fully tell this story.

During my last trip to Rwanda, I gained a great deal of understanding about how telling human stories can establish an emotional connection to organizations and individuals.  I hope that someday we will be telling the whole story of Team Heart from the field.

Website: http://www.teamheart.org/

Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/TeamHeartRwanda

 

Cause Marketing: TownePlace Suites on Facebook

TownePlace Suite's Make-A-Bed program is a cause marketing promotion that aims to reward consumer engagement with donations to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief.  In addition, participants can win a grand prize free extended stay at TownePlace Suites.  

I've been honored to support this effort strategically and I'm really proud of what we've come up with.  One of my main tasks was to determine our conversation strategy.  Because we are giving away Flip Cameras as secondary prizes, I recommended that Flip Cam video interviews with the ARC be a part of our wall strategy.  As is the case with many social media campaigns, we were working on a limited budget and the Flip interviews were a great way to develop compelling content on-the-fly.  Justification for shooting on the Flip Cam was essentially that while the production value may not be at the level of traditional marketing and advertising, Flip interviews speak in a uniquely social voice and humanize both the partnership with the Red Cross and also the prize that is being given away.

I think our effort with the Flip Cam interviews speaks to a larger trend in our industry around the need to spark 2-way conversations between brands and consumers.  The quick video interview is effective at sparking conversations through taped conversation.  We've seen some great comments on our Flip Cam videos and I'm hopeful that marketers will begin to see that in "always-on" social channels, on-the-fly efforts are often appreciated by fans and followers when they are posted.

Go to www.facebook.com/makeabed to help support the program give up to $50,000 to the American Red Cross.  Every click on the Make-A-Bed tab helps TPS donate 2 dollars to the ARC.  "You Click - We Donate."

Check out causemarketing.biz to see a full interview with Marriott's head of public relations about the TownePlace Suites Make-A-Bed program.

Below are 2 of the Make-A-Bed Flip Cam interview videos:

 

 

VideoEgg buys SixApart

Video Egg is buying SixApart (this blog is on TypePad, which is a part of SixApart).  I thought it was pretty interesting to see a video network consolidating with a blog platform.  VideoEgg is an interesting ad network because of their Cost-Per-Engagement (CPE) model and the fact that they can get a lot of the creative builds done right in-house (great for quick turn-around).  When I worked with them they were also very flexible about optimizations and creative updates on-the-fly.  With the blogging acquisition, VideoEgg will definitely have increased scale and also likely offer some social-oriented solutions.

If VideoEgg is broadening from a video ad network to a social ad network, they may start to look similar to a network like SocialVibe, now known as SVNetwork (although still distinctive).  In the case of SVNetwork, they established themselves as an ad network based on influencers and social channels.  Social media has always been challenged with the task of scale.  SVNetwork was always a unique offering in this regard.  It looks like VideoEgg (soon to be known as SayMedia) will be addressing this marketing need as well.

Additional reading:

NYTImes:  http://nyti.ms/cqWJsz    Mashable:  http://bit.ly/b4UC5y

And now, just for fun, I'll be dusting off a screenshot of the first media buy I ever did, which was for Samsung's NV24HD Digital Camera - one of the first pocket-sized cameras to shoot both stills and HD video.  Our task was to distribute video produced on the camera by emerging directors.  The execution of the media buy was really exciting because we were successful in connecting paid video distribution to social media sharing (big deal back in 2007!).  The network's CPE model did very well on delivery for impressions, engagements, video views and shares.  Ahhh, getting all sentimental about the good ole' days...

#StreetClips: SXSW RVIP Karaoke Lounge

 

While shooting Flip Videos for Digitas during the Speed Dating Panel, #StreetClips connected with Kestrin Pantera, one of the content creators making a pitch to Miller Lite’s VP of Brand Marketing.  Check out her pitch at the Digitas YouTube Channel.   Based on the creativity Kestrin displayed on stage, it was a no-brainer to take up her invite to check out a her SXSW side-project, the RVIP Lounge, which was cruising around Austin non-stop during SXSW ’10. 

 

The RVIP is a karaoke lounge on wheels.  Anyone and everyone in Austin during SXSW is invited to join the lounge and you can stay and sing for as long as you like.  The only catch is that you track down the lounge with a simple #RVIP Twitter search and get to the latest pit-stop before the a new set of party nomads is enlisted and in motion.

I thought this was a novel idea because it connected well with the theme of networking and brought great serendipity into the mix.  Joining RVIP for the ride took a certain level of commitment to the party – because you were never quite sure where in Austin you would end up.  That brought a sense of “we’re all in this together” to the moment.  Too often the social media world seems to be about quick exchanges that last only momentarily.  When you hop on the RVIP lounge, you sign up for an uncertain journey with strangers – but by the end of the ride you’ve met some great new friends. 

One of my new friends (among many) from RVIP was Boston Phoenix Photographer, Kelly Davidson who created the shots for this #StreetClips post.  See Kelly below in Elvis hair.   Check out Kelly’s work at http://etchedonfilm.blogspot.com/

 

 

 

SXSW Speed-Dating with Miller Lite

Rising stars in the branded content space were given a golden opportunity at SXSW on Sunday to pitch Miller Lite’s VP of brand marketing.  The forum was hosted by Digitas Chief Creative Officer, Mark Beeching and the winning pitch was to be named on the spot as the idea that would be produced for Miller, in partnership with Digitas’ branded content group, The Third Act.

#StreetClips was there to catch all the action during and after the presentation.  Below, watch Digitas' Mark Beeching lay down the ground-rules and see the winning pitch by Austin natives Chris and Owen – it features Ninjas, Guns, Women, Secret Agents and Beer! 

Go to www.youtube.com/DIGITASclips to see all the video as it's posted.

 

 

 

Ethiopia Coffee Ceremony

After travels in Rwanda with the United Nations we had an impromtu two-week stop-over in Ethiopia with my good friend Eli Kamara.  During that time Eli was a gracious host, a knowledgeable guide and a facilitator of rogue antics at times. He showed us some of the medical work he was doing with a community of Ethiopian Jews, who are preparing to claim their birthright and migrate to Israel.  This coffee ceremony is the first of a series of videos I will be putting together about stories in Ethiopia that Eli helped us find.