Well Played: Converse Search Engine Spelling Bee

June 28th, 2008

My sister sent me this cool link and I thought I would pass it along, since I found it really interesting. Converse shoes launched a really creative campaign called the Converse Spelling Bee.

Here’s how it works. You click on the url, which takes you to a video of a shoelace (LOL) who tells you the word you need to spell.

The Converse Shoelace

Once you hear the word, you have to open a search engine in a new window and type in the word. If you get it right, you’ll see a Google Ad link which will take you to the next video and the next word. I’m not sure if you’ll be able to make it out below, but the first word was “ludicrous” and the link can be found on the top right hand side of the screen.

Very clever! What a unique way of using search engine links to generate interest. I won’t tell you the rest of the answers- you should go and try them yourselves, but you end up at the converse official site. Now, whether or not the campaign sells any shoes has yet to be determined, I can guarantee you that they are getting a lot of brand exposure and buzz online. Besides, as my sister pointed out, after you play and you’re on the site, you’re probably going to take a few minutes and have a look around. I know I did.

I love seeing campaigns like this because it illustrates that untapped space still left to explore and the opportunity for innovation. As the social media space continues to evolve, I am very curious to see how viral campaigns will tie in other tools like SEO to create a unique web browsing experience for their consumers.

Well Played: Viral Video Where the Hell is Matt

June 26th, 2008

The web’s favorite dancing traveler is back with another installment of the hugely popular “Where the hell is Matt?” video. Sponsored by Stride Gum, this video takes Matt all over the world, as he dances his signature dance, but this time, invites other people to join in on the fun. As of this posting, the official video on YouTube has over three million views, not to mention the loads of other sites that are hosting it. I am so envious of all the cool places Matt got to see and it’s definitely ignited my own wanderlust!

You can get more information about Matt at his website here.

Managing Online Criticism – When to respond

June 25th, 2008

One of the best things about the web is the whatever you’re doing for, someone, somewhere is an expert. The worst thing about the web is that whatever you’re doing, someone, somewhere is an expert. I recently had an interesting conversation with a few friends about online reputation and managing the fall out if you do something wrong.

Little did I know, that a few days later I would have a chance to practice what I preached! Last week I co-hosted an episode of CommandN with my friend Amber Mac. It was my second time on camera in a hosting capacity (the first time was the Foush Reports) and I was super nervous!

Anyway, one of the stories I talked about was the Copy Act article and some of the restrictions it contains. So the first time around, I say everything normally, but for some reason or another we had to redo the story, and by third (and final) take, I had jumbled up some of the words in my mind, and instead of saying “Canada’s version of the DMCA act,” I said, “Canada’s DMCA act.”

Now I didn’t even notice this, until one of the CommandN viewers pointed it out to me, which made me so glad  since I’d much rather know that something is wrong than continue on unaware. So I was faced with the dilemma of what to do. Do I ignore the comment? Just pretend it never happened and go on with my blogging?

That didn’t really feel right to me. So I thought that I would tie both the conversation and what had happened into a mini-case study of what I recommend doing if you make a similar misstep.

1) Apologize, but don’t give excuses or pass the blame

2) Give people the necessary information

3) Learn from your mistake going forward.

I mean the reality of the situation is this: when you put everything out on the web, you’re bound to make a mistake. As long as you are quick to correct it and take responsibility for it, you should be ok.

So, it should look something like this:

CommandN – Retraction

On Episode 137 of CommandN I gave misspoke during one of the stories. Instead of saying “Canada’s version of the DMCA” I said “Canada’s DMCA.”   What I meant to say was that there is a bill being introduced to amend the Copyright Act, and make it more similar to the United States’ DMCA.

Here is some information on the Copy Right Act

For an actual expert on the topic, check out Michael Giest’s Blog.

Thanks to the CommandN viewers who pointed this out! I will definitely be extra diligent when communicating these types of stories from now on.

When to not respond

Now among the nice and constructive comments there always seem to be those few people who enjoy just making mean remarks. Don’t respond to those. As long as the comments are well intentioned then you should respond, otherwise, just move on.

Innospa: The Unilever Project

June 25th, 2008

http://www.innospa.fi/logo.jpg

In collaboration with InnoSpa, I worked with Chief Imaginator, Alexander Manu, to help  Unilever identify areas of opportunity for brand evolution.  Throughout the project, I was responsible for designing the social media strategy and defining the tools and best practices needed in order to successfully engage consumers in the online space.

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