This time, to hype the launch of their new extra-strength spread, Marmite XO, they recruited a secret cult of devotees through social media sites. Just 200 bloggers, fans and fanatics were welcomed into ‘The Marmarati’, having proved their worth by uploading Marmite-related photographs, videos and poetry to marmarati.org

The lucky few were then given limited-edition hand-made jars of the new Marmite XO and, wouldn’t you just know it, all of a sudden the web was awash with rave peer reviews – just in time to whet the general public’s appetite for this week’s big launch.

It seems apt that a product which has long marketed itself on an ability to divide opinion should take so naturally to social media – which has itself proved more than capable of polarising opinion.

But for those who are yet to be won over by social media, Marmite has showed that any brand can feel the love – as long as they play smart. The brown goo’s success in the social space isn’t by chance. Their ‘love it/hate it’ campaign inherently encourages the kind of debate that fuels effective social media marketing. And, by rewarding their most partisan brand advocates with exclusive freebies, they’re giving the chattiest, most enthusiastic, and most relevant voices on the web an endless supply of blog fodder.

It all adds up to a brand you can’t help but love. Even if you hate the taste.

Charlie Thorogood is spreading the love.

The problem here is too much content and too little time. Driven by a desire to consume ever greater amounts of information and entertainment, we’re skimming, skipping or scanning the content we’re currently on (you may even find yourself skim reading the MZ blog occasionally).

It’s as though the entire world is collectively developing Attention Deficit Disorder. But what’s next for the Ritalin generation? Where will our hyper-caffeinated adventures to the boundaries of infotainment take us?

Here.

Complete films, triple filtered, double distilled and hermetically sealed in 60 seconds. No more complex plot development, self-indulgent direction, or laboured dialogue for us. This is Cinema Espresso – a quick hit of Hollywood, then on to the next thing. Sure, it’s superficial. But hey, that’s entertainment!

Charlie Thorogood is wishing he’d known about this before watching Atonement for real.

Vast amounts of money, and many years, can be poured into them, all sorts of agencies can slavishly devote themselves (for a fee of course) to them, they can be hailed industry wide as the future of, well, the industry. And yet they can be flushed down the toilet in a heartbeat.

This can happen for many, many reasons, but two examples have caught my attention recently (well, they were both on the front page of the magazine that’s been sat on my desk for a good week):

Dove puts its faith in science
You know the multi award winning, incredibly popular campaign for real beauty? The one that redefined marketing to women, revolutionising their portrayal in advertising in the process? The one that stretched beyond a campaign to become a globally-recognised brand identity, an identity that stood for something in a crowded ‘me too’ market place. An identity that people could put their faith in?

It’s gone.

Instead, they’re doing exactly the same as every beauty ad since the dawn of time: science. Or as I hilariously refer to it as: sighence (yes my colleagues are very, very lucky).

So that’s that up the swanny then.

The new campaign is the work of Ogilvy, the same agency that masterfully created the real beauty schtick. But in the words of their founding father, Mr D Ogilvy Esq. “..nobody has ever built a brand by imitating somebody else’s advertising.”

Toyota fails to put the brakes on PR disaster
One day you’re one of the most successful car brands around, with a reputation for reliability, quality and green, sustainable stuff. One faulty pedal, and one massive PR snowball, later, and you’re recalling hundreds of thousands of cars and facing potential ruin.

I think that qualifies as ‘bad news’.

Of course, I may be wrong. Dove’s new work may redefine the faux science, badly-dubbed, ‘Here comes the science’ genre. And Toyota’s little oopsie moment may be old news in a week or so.

But I doubt it.

Tom Hurrell is initiating a campaign for real brand beauty.

Avatar, the film that ran out of records to break, showed the immense potential of 3D – a visual banquet for cinema goers, and unprecedented box office receipts for studios. No surprises then that the clamour to replicate this success in the home entertainment sector is approaching fever pitch.

Sky has already announced plans to launch a 3DTV channel during 2010, and next month’s Six Nations grudge match between England and Wales will be broadcast live to cinemas in 3D. So the technology is in place, the beers are in the cooler, all we need now is for the TV manufacturers to show up at the party.

Thankfully, we won’t have to wait long; all the major players have announced plans to launch 3D sets this year. Which is great news, unless you’ve just shelled out for a soon-to-be redundant HDTV. And there could yet be more pain around the corner: even the format war here has a third dimension, as various technologies compete to become the 3DTV standard.

Some R&D departments have favoured the ‘passive’ approach. Like the technology used in cinemas, their goggles have a polarisation filter which ensures each eye only sees one of the two overlapping images.

On the other side of the fence are the ‘active’ team. Their screen and goggles work in harmony to block individual frames from alternate eyes. By rapidly shifting the perspective from one eye to the other, this technique delivers a continuous stream of 3D goodness to the viewer.

I’m in no position to suggest which of these formats will join the Betamax hall of fame. But whatever happens, 2010 could be the year that 3D finally makes a lasting impression.

Charlie Thorogood has seen the future, and it’s three dimensional.

Despite the kiddie’s TV legend having a seriously bad hair day, many of the YouTube comments are focussed around how (ahem) sharp Pat still looks. Which got us thinking…

Traditionally viewed as the decade that fashion forgot, the 80s is like so hot right now. Films, music, art and clothing, all seem to have an 80s twist, but is there any technology from that period that’s still relevant (and still works) today?

A very brief, and some might say lazy, Google search revealed the following:

1. The International Space Station relies on 80s technology
Amazing, but true: ‘the most complex scientific and technological endeavour ever undertaken’ relies on Intel chips from the mid 80s. My toaster is more powerful.

2. The Walkman is way cool
Big, yes. Clunky, yes. Brilliant, yes! Not content with sowing the seeds of the iPod revolution, even modern kids love it – sort of.

3. It’s a laptop. You know, for kids.
It may resemble Kryten from Red Dwarf’s much-ridiculed square head, but the VTech Precomputer 1000 helped a generation become computer (well Basic) literate and paved the way for affordable, portable solutions like the One Laptop Per Child’s XO.

And that’s just the tip of the dung pile. What else would you add to the list?

And, what, if any, of the many new technologies developed in the last few years will be relevant 30 years from now?

Tom Hurrell still wishes he was Tom Hanks in Big.

However, one notable trend which seems to have been a factor in the dying days of this decade, may set the tone for the new one. And that’s the return of the underdog.

If mass media and social control’s your thing, you could say that nothing blinds the public to the inadequacies of the ruling minority than a good old underdog success story (X-Factor or the Lottery anyone?) Or if you prefer the half-full outlook, there is a historical connection between times of economic uncertainty and great creativity.

To cite just a few current examples, we have:

• Paranormal Activity – the ‘homemade’ movie, created for just $15,000, that went on, via a certain Mr Speilberg, to make over $100 million at the box office

• Ataque de Panico (Panic Attack) – a 5 minute YouTube CGI fest, supposedly produced for just $300, that landed its creator a $30 million dollar deal to make a Hollywood blockbuster

• Rage versus Joe – a Facebook campaign topples Cowell’s evil plan to fill the airwaves with yet more festive dross

• Jack Bauer interrogating Santa – OK, this one is a little self congratulatory, but the festive Rebel Virals film, made for peanuts, went straight to the Christmas number one YouTube viral video slot with no ‘unnatural’ seeding

Now I know that movies billed as ‘underground sensations’ seldom actually are. I know that Sony Music wins either way. And I know that there’s no way a video with that many people in the credits could possibly be made for $300. But it does seem to signal a shift away from safe, designed-by-committee, vanilla media; and a move towards a braver, more creative approach – raging against the mundane if you will.

And that can only be a good thing.

Tom Hurrell is wondering if any movie shot in his house could make millions.

The QWERTY keyboard is nothing more than a 125-year-old hand-me-down that removes the true interactivity possible in a connected world.

The iPhone and iPod Touch have done wonders to introduce us to beautiful interaction. They’ve spawned acres of new creative applications that utilise touch features, and got us all thinking again about how a tactile world could really look.

I once had the pleasure of spending a week in Holland studying how people interact with technology. The conclusion was that tactile, logical movement enabled better creativity and production. So are we any closer to entering an interactive utopia?

Well of course we are. I’m pleased to announce that we’re fast nearing the critical point where the cost of producing touch-screen technology will hit a price that means everyone can enjoy its benefits.

Take a look at the link below and imagine what your new boardroom table will look like.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1waekoP6zo

Measuring activity is crucial to enable you to work out what works and what doesn’t.  And yet E-consultancy (2009) released a study showing that more than 80 per cent of UK businesses don’t tie online analytics to business strategy let alone to social media. So why are we not getting value from interacting with our audience?

It would be ideal to isolate the contribution of each type of marketing activity and provide tangible figures from social media activities, but which metrics do we use and, actually, what do we want to measure?

Are your customers actually engaged in social media?

An obvious starting point is to ask yourself whether this media really is relevant to your audience. The answer for the technology industry is “yes”.  It is historically an early adopter of new online activity – forums, for example – and this is also true of many of their customer and influencer segments.

According to technology analysts Forrester Research, 91 per cent of technology buyers (both B2B and B2C) are now regular consumers of social media content. This means they are reading recommendations and reviews and making buying decisions based on them; this is a strong justification for a social media program.

Is ROI a valid measurement of social media?

Marketers are divided on the question of the validity of measuring social media campaigns in terms of ROI. Some think that reporting ROI is meaningless and misleading, as social media is about people, not money or companies. They use the people-centric nature of media buzz words such as “community, conversation and sharing” to support this.

The majority of marketers, however, constantly strive to define measurement tools and attributes as a means to proving ROI in this continuously shifting media environment. Some report a convincing correlation between brands’ deep social media engagement and their financial performance. Charlene Li presents the media and technology industries as being the strongest performers in this respect in her study Deep Brand Engagement Correlates with Financial Performance.

Remember, though, that a customer’s value is worth far more than the money they spend with you. If you consider that 70 per cent of consumers have visited social media sites and that 49 per cent of those made a purchase decision based on the information they found through the site, then you realise how powerful an influencer your customer can be on future purchases. Consider that in the same study, The Impact of Social Media on Purchasing Behavior by DEI Worldwide, 60 per cent of people said they are likely to pass along information using social media sites.

What do you want to achieve?

Before you go any further down the measurement road, you need to define your campaign objectives. Then define the measurements of success. Tie these in with your business objectives and ask yourself, “What would make me think it had worked?”

As leading social media business analyst Jeremiah Owyang says, “Social media measurement is like driving a modern car. You may have a dashboard with all the lights, toggles, gauges and metrics but, remember, the most important piece of data to have in front of you is the GPS screen. The GPS screen indicates where you want to go (your objective), where you are now, and how to get there.”

So what do you measure?

As media consumption grows more fragmented, and social media brings sentiment analysis to the mix, so the evaluation of marketing campaigns grows increasingly complex. Social media does not operate in a vacuum; traditional media continues to influence, and without evaluation of both traditional and social media, you will see an incomplete story.

In terms of purely social media, however, first identify which social media channels will help you achieve your goals. You will want to consider social media sites, blogs and widgets/social media applications. For example, Twitter can be used as a promotional channel, a customer service centre, for buzz tracking and for brand mentions.

How do you measure success?

If you want to achieve deep social engagement, you must consider the importance of using every available metrics system: web analytics, buzz monitoring, community management listening – the whole shebang. Remember, though, that not all social media are equal; some will have greater reach and influence for your campaign audience.

The good news for measurement is that clever techie types have developed management tools that allow us to gain an holistic view of customers once again.  New data-mining technology, for instance, already allows us not only to measure the volume of online chatter, but also to examine the tone of conversations and determine their relationship to increased engagement, recommendations and even sales.

We now live in a world of instant communication, with access to unmatched levels of information and a multi-networked society; we have the instant power to know how our brand is performing from the voice of our own customers. With these capabilities we should put as much effort into finding out about the 99 per cent who don’t respond to our communications, as the 1 per cent who do.

We are entering the age of customer engagement and customer satisfaction, and social media will magnify our audience’s voice, thoughts and actions – looking at the customer journey and how all elements work together will be the first step to provide solid results from those activities. Measuring ROI shouldn’t be something that’s reserved for recessions; it is the information that will enable us to optimise the effectiveness of future campaigns.

ADDENDUM: WHEN SOCIAL MEDIA WORKS… AND FAILS!

Social media might be crucial to get ahead, just so long as it is implemented wisely – otherwise it can be a minefield.

Success: The Tourism of Queensland campaign tied together nicely with an online strategy which generated 200,000 new visitors to the website and 11,000 (one-minute) video entries.

Failure: Unfortunately, the Habitat “Twitter fail” could be the perfect textbook case study of failure.

This is done through split-run tests, which compare the effectiveness of multiple variations of an advertisement, offer or list by apportioning two or more options of the marketing message to the selected audience. Real-time tabulation of the results provides immediate feedback and a true performance comparison.

Although it has only fairly recently been applied to the online world, split-run testing is not a new technique; it has long been used in traditional direct mail. For online campaigns, it’s a very efficient way of quantifying design and content. Planners, designers and copywriters all have the freedom to drill down and test specifics very quickly.

Effective split-run testing demands the fulfilment of certain parameters. Firstly, the recipient lists must be of a sufficient size to be statistically significant; a minimum of 500 contacts or, ideally, five per cent of the total contact list for each test. This allows the maximum possible number of contacts to receive the highest performing email. Secondly, the tests must be sent at the same time. Tests sent either a day or a week apart will be of limited use, as uncontrollable factors such as seasonal and world events – even the weather – can cause severe fluctuations in performance.

Results
In a recent split-run test performed at Mason Zimbler, a change in the subject line almost trebled the click-through-to-open rate. Subject line testing can also affect the very deliverability of a campaign. Spam filters monitor subject lines very closely so if, even after spam scoring, you are unsure or if you have a few great ideas for a subject line, try out a couple and see which performs the best.

Test results have also led us to discover that B2B emails are most effective when sent from Tuesdays to Thursdays.  It varies by audience, offer and engagement type, but broadly the best time of day has also been monitored and results show that campaigns sent between 9-11am and 2-4pm local time achieve the highest activity levels.

Wider applications of split-run testing
Split-run testing can be effective in countless other areas. Do you find, for example, that you receive a high volume of traffic to your site, but struggle to capture data?  Try altering your subscription/data-capture page by tweaking the design. You may find that altering the button capture type or even the way in which you order your questions can affect results. Choice and information architecture is a powerful tool in persuasive marketing.

Perhaps you are unsure whether your call to action should be located at the top left or the top right of the page? Try it out and see which performs best. Naturally there is a danger to over-analyse, so try to pick key areas and work on one at a time – don’t introduce multiple variables. Testing will also help determine segmented preferences, so you avoid the one-size-fits-all trap.

Split-run testing spread over multiple campaigns will allow you to make the small adjustments necessary to show your customers that you are aware of their specific and ever-changing needs and wants. Such measured engagement will ultimately improve your campaign ROI.

*source: B2B Marketing’s Insight Report, November 2009

Designed by New Orleans ad firm Zehnder Communications using Layar 2.0, it could just save hours of aimless wandering. Point your mobile device at the stage to see what band is playing, how long their set finishes and who’s up next. Point it around you and immediately know which beer tent serves MGD and where to get the cheapest hotdogs. Don’t quote me on this, but I’d like to think it could indicate which portaloos may be worth giving a few minutes too.

This demo explains better than I.

Even working in a technology agency, the speed of progress can be bewildering. And when it comes to predicting which new technologies, platforms and applications will take off and reach the mainstream, it really can be anybody’s guess.

Now I’m a pretty cool guy by any standard…why the laughing? Oh, you were remembering an old joke…well that makes sense…Anyway, I’m a pretty cool guy…another old joke, really?…Anyway, the point is that I’d barely heard of AR a year ago. And I’d never seen a practical, everyman use for it until I got an iPhone and downloaded Layer a couple of months ago. Now I only ever look at things with my naked eye when 3G drops off.

Maybe it’s my friend Mark’s fault, but every time I use Layar I’m transported back to his 14th birthday trip to the cinema to watch Terminator 2. You have no idea the willpower it takes not to coolly declare ‘hasta la vista baby’ every time I check where my nearest library is.

I digress. As predicted by much cleverer people than me at least a year ago, AR will soon be everywhere. And it will be fascinating seeing which brands really make it work for them, and which ones fall a little flat.

Now the really key question for anyone looking to actually innovate is not ‘what’s now?’, but ‘what’s next?’

Tom Hurrell wants your clothes, your boots and your motorcycle.

Thanks to Springwise for alerting my lazy ass to the Voodoo app.