Strategic Public Relations

Thesixtyone Turns Social Media Up to Eleven*

Characterized by TechCrunch as “a Digg for Indie music,” my new favorite site of the week/month and beyond is thesixtyone.  

Thesixtyone serves up the latest Indie bands in a format that is as simple as it is dramatic, telling visitors that “new artists make music and listeners decide what’s good.”

With well-established sites like the Hype Machine and Pandora indulging my online music needs, why am I proclaiming my love for this self-described music adventure? Well in addition to music, thesixtyone has several interesting elements in social media and design to catch my attention. 
 

·         Focus: thesixtyone only offers Indie music. It goes deeper than it goes broad with 50,000 tracks uploaded by artists and music labels. This allows them to do one thing very well. 

·         User Control: Site visitors can listen to all 50,000 tracks and create playlists. This means users can listen to what they want and bands can upload what they want…this ability to customize the user experience ensures more repeat visits. 
 

·         Addictive Sharing: The site includes social gaming elements, giving you reputation points that encourage you to listen to more songs, rate them and then share them via Facebook and Twitter. More like foursquare than Pandora in this regard, the site tracks your efforts. 

If songs you “heart” get more popular after the fact, your reputation grows. You can also unlock badges but, much like foursquare, you’re not exactly sure what activity unlocks each badge. This of course encourages more activity on the site. Visitors even get reputation points if they are listed as having referred someone to the site. So tell them prblog tipped you off…my reputation depends on it. 
 

·         Simple, Beautiful Design: Site navigation is subtle, but not so simple that you can’t figure it out. This makes it easy for site visitors to immerse themselves in thesixtyone’s full-screen images and of course listen to the music. This combination of simple design, with music and images helps connect the listener to the artists vs. simply connecting the listener to thesixtyone. 
 

·         Info Bits for an ADD Audience: As each song plays, band schedules, back story and smaller images flash on and off the screen to keep your attention.
 

The end result of thesixtyone is an engaging social media listening experience that is…wait for it…music to my ears. Check it out.

*If you knew that the headline’s reference to “turn it up to eleven” is a quote from Spinal Tap? You get reputation points from me.
** Cross-posted to my work blog, Social Study.

Using Visuals to turn Data into Content | Four Links | 11.22.09

My appreciation for all things visual did not peak with my article on why PR needs visual thinking.

My focus on the topic has increased and there are plenty of sites driving this passion. Here are just a few of them.

The Popular Ones: It’s no surprise that Indexed and Post Secret have books stemming from their popular sites. Post Secret tapped into an entire world’s need for expression while Indexed shows us the power of simplicity.

The Smart Ones: Flowing Data and Infosthetics are my two must reads when it comes to the latest in data visualization. They even point to great content like this article outlining how to create an infographic.

The Wild Cards: Logo Design Love is arguably not a wild card, but it has helped me be more appreciative of the subtleties behind brand redesigns. And Strange Maps brings us visuals like the one to the right showing how large the social sites are getting. It's a great site showing the creative potential in combining the old and the new.

The Future: Google Swirl shows us how important visuals will be to navigate the data streams, rivers of news and content flowing all around us. I’ve also created a Twitter list to track many of the leading data geeks as this field continues to unfold.

The above are just a start. They don't include the media outlets that are also pushing visualization mainstream. The New York Times Multimedia section immediately comes to mind. But The LA Times has its Data Desk and, in my own backyard, The Cincinnati Enquirer’s Data Center and WLWT’s Weather Dashboard point to an even bigger picture of data in the future.

Much Ado About Avatars

From the minutia department, I’ve been talking a lot about Twitter avatars lately. I enjoy swapping out my avatar. It’s my version of a t-shirt --expressing my personality in a small way. And, as I have my pic on my Twitter background, people can put a face with the name the first time a person follows me.

This goes against conventional Twitter wisdom. In Trust Agents, Brogan and Smith recommend using your picture across all social site profiles in an effort to be more human online. Even Twitter notes: “A real picture of yourself is encouraged. It adds personableness to your tweets.”

But avatars are very polarizing. The Bob Ross and Big Boy avatars never fail to encourage Twitter love. While the Charlton Heston and Hanson Brother avatars usually wig people out a bit. The end result is that changing out my avatars has become a great conversation starter on Twitter.

At the same time Trust Agents also talks about the benefit of going against conventional wisdom. The book devotes an entire chapter to making your own game. Now I’m not going to try and tell you that swapping out my avatars is a strategy or a game-changing technique on Twitter. Or is it?

Millions of Mad Men
AMC’s MadMen Yourself is the most recent avatar-swapping craze to hit Twitter. It resulted in 1 million visits to AMC’s microsite and 600,000 avatars have been created. This is a great example of everyone wanting to wear the MadMen t-shirt by turning themselves into an early 60’s cartoon. And it successfully flies in the face of Twitter wisdom. Sure I can see a resemblance between people and their avatars, but only if I already know what they look like.

At the end of the day, I guess I’m saying there’s more than one way to skin your profile on Twitter. Whatever approach you take, make sure your tweets, background and profile give potential followers a good idea of who you are as a person.

avatari uploaded by prblog

Selling Ideas with Words, Numbers and Pictures

We're always trying to tell more compelling stories...delivering messages that get our point across credibly and effectively with our target audiences.

It's one of the reason research and hard numbers(regardless of the sample size) tend to make big news.

When creating messaging to tell a story, consider if words, numbers, pictures or a combination of all three get the job done. Let's say you're trying to note that Wal-Mart has far more stores than their nearest competitor.

omg, Wal-Mart has a freakin' buttload of stores.
or
Wal-Mart has over 4100 stores and clubs in the U.S.
or
As you can see above, the biggest retailer in the world covers an area larger than Manhattan.

All Hail the Infographic
Especially in our social world where people pass around good content like a joint at Woodstock, turning a compelling factoid into an infographic gives you the ability to share it and to share it much more easily than in the past.

And while it would behoove you to work with a graphic designer in creating said infographic (to ensure it doesn't look jank), if you have no other option you can jump into Powerpoint, use Smart Art to create your own and save the slide out as a .jpg.

You can see the dramatic impact a visual makes in truly getting a point across. Creating one is time well spent.

Cross-posted to the Bad Pitch Blog

Pepsi’s SXSW Mash-Up Creates Content from Twitter Cacophony

Social media continues to morph the definition of content -- the latest example of this evolution comes from Pepsi. Pepsi Zeitgeist, a Twitter Mash-Up, tracks activity at the SXSW festival to serve up content that is equal parts fun, pretty and impressive.

Fun: If you’re reading this blog, odds are good you’ve seen more than a few tweets in your Twitter stream sporting a #sxsw tag. Pepsi categorizes all of these tweets into one of six buckets (arriving, drinking, registering, eating, connecting or partying). The tweets are aggregated into a simple visual so you can keep your finger on the pulse of the event.

It’s a smart way to aggregate the metric ton of #sxsw tweets being dispatched from the army of mobile phones and laptops in Austin, TX for the next few days. It also gives the event’s non-attendees a fun way to easily connect with it (and Pepsi).

Pretty: The interface is dead simple. The content is served up as easy-to-digest visuals and the end result is powerful in its simplicity. If I tried to wade through 500 tweets and create something like this for a tracking report it would not be as easy on the eyes.

Impressive: This is only one facet of Pepsi’s efforts at SXSW this year, including their own Twitter ID, blog posts and their Podcast Playground. But for someone not at the show, the Pepsi Zeitgeist site is their crown jewel. The site is a simple way to make a big impact.

Perhaps the most impressive part of the site is the Swarm page. The Swarm page measures the sentiment of food-related tweets and maps them to eateries around the Austin area. So someone tuning into the site can get a great WOM recommendation to see if it’s worth their time to stand in line at that barbecue joint they’re anxious to check out.

The Zeitgeist site is a smart use of Twitter data and a great example of how even thousands of tweets can become visual content.

Zeitgeist also provides a memorable brand experience for consumers by providing value without requiring anything in exchange.

screen grabs uploaded by prblog
tags | public relations | PR | social media | marketing | Pepsi | SXSW | brand

Issuu Transforms PDF Files into Online Publications

Get your own - Open publication

The best way to tell you about Issuu is to show you. So I embedded this publication I help create at work for our customers.

According to the site you can “upload any PDF file and have it instantly converted to an online publication.” The site is pretty slick -- easy to use and it serves up the files very elegantly. Issuu also makes it easy to post your publications on Facebook, MySpace and several blogging platforms.

Issuu is to PDFs what SlideShare is to PowerPoint decks -- a blessing for anyone publishing content in these formats online.

Much like SlideShare, your content will be part of a library of other publications. You can also rate the content and share it with others/republish it. It looks like folks are also using Issuu to host their portfolios. This is a great idea as the interface and user experience are perfect for the creative/design set.

via Shane Haggerty
tags | Issuu | SlideShare

Chanel Turns iPhone App Store into a Fashion Show

♫On ze catwalk I do my little turn….♫

Just in time for Fashion Week, Chanel dropped a new application into the iTunes App Store. Chanel’s Haute Couture Show F/W 08/9 puts its latest fashions into the palm of your hand.

This application is smart. It includes a quick video of the fashion show, more than 60 pics of the latest fashions, news feed and a store locater.

As marketers scramble to connect with the iPhone demographic, they should consider this approach. It's a mobile event blog, with time-based value. You could encourage the application owners to include their own content through a page with event tags and links to mobile Twitter and Flickr apps.

If I were headed to a major event like the Super Bowl or the Grammys, I wouldn't think twice to download an application supporting the event…even if it would be essentially useless post-game. The Chanel store locater is getting mixed reviews, but the news “chanel” may make users more likely to keep the app on their device.

OK, I’m more of the t-shirt set than the jet set. So I have to ask, does this app make me look fat?

On ze catwalk, I do my little turn... uploaded by prblog
tags | advertising | marketing | Chanel | Fashion Week | branding | brand

Kraft’s Green Packaging | DMI Brand Design Conference Day One

Consumer packaged goods marketing has always interested me. So I was all ears when the DMI’s Brand Design Conference kicked off with a presentation from Scott Young, of Perception Research Services.

Young discussed packaging and the environment from the consumers’ perspective.

CPG brands have three (conflicting) challenges when it comes to packaging.

1) Doing “the right thing” environmentally. More accurately, defining what exactly the right thing is when it comes to packaging.

2) Educating the consumer on what makes packaging good or bad for the environment. Young’s research findings showed a surprising lack of awareness around environmental terms.

3) Creating packaging that addresses consumer preferences. Consumers know environmental issues are important. But they still want packages that look good, show off the product, protect the product and are easy to use. And if the package is environmentally-friendly? Consumer’s want them to cost the same (or less) than current packaging.

Defining Terms
Confusing packages and a lack of awareness around terminology has created a clear need for better package messaging and an education campaign (e.g., terms like sustainable are industry terms, not words that consumers fully understand).

Product messages are getting confused with packaging messages. Is a product good for you and/or is its packaging good for the planet? Consider how products tell us they are everything from USDA approved, free trade, organic, environmentally friendly, recycled, locally owned, recycled and several shades of green. The end result is an overwhelmed consumer.

The Impossible Dream?!
Packaging that meets environmental and consumer needs reads like a tough order to fill. But packaging can look good, be easy to use and be environmentally friendly. Kraft’s new salad dressing bottles present a powerful example.

This award-winning package design uses 19 percent less plastic. This means a lighter package, saving more than 3 million pounds of plastic annually, and increased shipping efficiencies by 18 percent as the package is smaller.

Consistency is Key
Environmental messaging is valuable and vital, but they must extend beyond the products. From product to brand, it’s best to link to a larger environmental proposition.

Aveda for example has made the environment much more than a product differentiator. It’s part of everything they do from corporate social responsibility programs and the corporate mission statement to its stores, services and products on the shelves. And they need to go from being the stand out to being the standard.

tags | marketing | brand | design | DMI

Heading to NRF, the CES of Retail

Heading to NYC this weekend to attend the National Retail Federation Show at the Javits. In addition to media briefings, we have two presentations and a booth so we’ll be plenty busy.

But I’m pumped to see this year’s ”Store of the Future” exhibit. I’ve covered pop-up retail here before as a great marketing and public relations tactic. The exhibit features technology that supports pop-up retail.

The exhibit will show what the pop-up might look like in the future – “demonstrating technologies such as rear projection film, use of retail scales, pedestrian traffic measurement methods, in-store design, electronic shelf labeling, custom store fixtures, high-definition display screens, user-interface shopping technology, mobile marketing devices, interactive communications systems, innovative anti-theft security solutions and more innovative products.

The M-Wallet, one of Motorola’s latest mobile phones which allows consumers to pay for their purchases with the handheld device, will be displayed. Additionally, IBM will feature a 3D Second Life experience to demonstrate both the consumer and retailer perspective of virtual retailing.

Looks pretty interesting. We’ll see.

If you’re in NYC next week and want to check it out, let me know. I have plenty of free passes.

tags | marketing | retail design | NRF 08

Corbis Taps Bloggers To Help Turn a Profit

Reuters details a new program from Corbis giving bloggers access to some of its photos.

Corbis and its digital rights partner, PicScout, will allow bloggers to access photos via a Web link from the site PicApp.com, now in a test phase.

The photos will either include an ad overlay on part of the image, or embedded advertising that pops up when a Web user runs a cursor over the picture.

Any program making blog content more visual is OK in my book. I’m looking forward to seeing the program unfold and the images we’ll to which we’ll gain access.

What blew me away about this news is the revelation that Corbis hasn’t turned a profit since it was founded -- nearly 20 years ago.

“Shenk was promoted to the CEO role in July and charged with turning around privately held Corbis, which has not posted a profit since Microsoft Corp Chairman Bill Gates founded the company in 1989.”

Hmmm, the phrase "viable business model" comes to mind, but I guess it’s rendered meaningless by words like "bajillionaire" and "pet project."

9 coffe favorites uploaded by visualpanic
tags | Corbis