YouTube’s Got Talent
Now that the 2009 season of Britain’s Got Talent has come to an end, it’s time to hit YouTube for the maximum exposure and minimum drama kind of talent show. If you’re a brand, here’s your chance to reach out to these up and coming social musicians who could definitely do with some sponsorship arrangements.
| 1. DAVID CHOI | Genre: Pop/Acoustic | |
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The first one on the list is the romantic comedian whose talent landed him a perma-gig at Warner Chappell Music. David comes from a musical family though he claims he has had no formal training on the guitar. He began uploading videos of himself in 2006, and in three years he has acquired 119,000 subscribers, making him a YouTube superstar by social networking standards. YouTube | Twitter Website: http://www.davidchoimusic.com/ |
| 2. KINA GRANNIS | Genre: Acoustic/Folk | |
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The beautiful Kina wows with her acoustic guitar and songwriting skills. Her curly-ness is also the winner of the Doritos Crash the Super Bowl contest and the face behind the Gotta Digg! hit. She actively plays live gigs around the U.S. and makes weekly videos for her 74,000 subscribers.
YouTube | Twitter |
| 3. ZEE AVI | Genre: Acoustic/Folk/Retro-Jazz | |
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Fellow Bornean Zee Avi’s lyrical honey is so sweet that she has gone from gigs in Malaysia to a record contract in LA. With almost 25,000 subscribers, she’s got a throwback appeal the likes of female vocalists from the era of P. Ramlee, which is something the Malaysian public has been aching for in current times. Be sure to listen to her Honey Bee track!
YouTube | Twitter |
| 4. SINGINDORK888 | Genre: Rock | |
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SinginDork888 (also known as Afraid of Everest) has covered popular rock songs impressively and written some of his own. 27,000 subscribers wait eagerly for his releases as the singer-songwriter of passion serenades the ladies with his rich voice and helps other aspiring guitarists follow in his footsteps. You’ll never guess what he does for his day job… the Singin Dork’ is a pharmacist! What an inspiration to all the closet singers of the world! YouTube |
| 5. LANA MCKISSACK | Genre: Jazz/Pop | |
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Watching breezy videos of her hair flapping while she works the camera will make the lads loosen their collars and lasses imitating her moves. Lana is a playful songstress who can cover Disney hits and jazz classics with equal comfort. She already has 6,000 subscribers and it is only a matter of time before the list grows. YouTube | Twitter |
| 6. JANE LUI | Genre: Acoustic (Piano/Guitar) | |
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A newcomer on YouTube, Jane first impressed with Firefly on her guitar. Her primary instrument is her voice, seconded only by the graceful playing on her piano and rhythmic pluck action to accompany her silky vocals. Her album Barkentine is available on iTunes. YouTube | Twitter Website: http://www.janelui.com |
| 7. ZACK KIM | Genre: Experimental | |
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This South Korean whose hometown include Seoul and Kuala Lumpur can play two guitars simultaneously using a technique called “Free Hands.” With 55,000 subscribers, he’s definitely one of my favorite recent YouTube finds. Between serving in the Korean military, making YouTube videos and playing on Korean T.V., he’s just too cool to ignore!
YouTube |
| 8. JENNIFER CHUNG | Genre: Soul | |
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20 year-old American Idol rejectee has proven her critics wrong by acquiring 70,000+ subscribers on YouTube on her own. Jennifer does not need to be a reality TV contestant as her melodic propensities have already made her a YouTube starlet in her own right and she can now manage her musical career on her own terms. Be sure to hear some of her ‘bedroom’ covers and originals alike. |
| 9. MIA ROSE | Genre: Acoustic | |
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Here’s a British-born Portuguese lass who croons for her 194,300 subscribers. As an all-time Top 5 subscribed musician on YouTube, she has been featured on Rolling Stone, The Sun, and The Age. If she’s making news, you’ll have to at least find out why! YouTube Website: http://www.miarosemusic.com |
| 10. THEBATHROOMGIRL | Genre: Acoustic | |
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Last but not least, this British-born Malaysian-Chinese lass started making videos of herself singing in the bathroom. With 13,000 subscribers, she has left her bathroom and ventured onto bigger rooms to collaborate with other musicians. If you like watching someone with a funky sense of fashion to go with a beautiful feminine voice, this girl definitely has the quirky factor to keep you coming back for more. YouTube |
That wraps up my list of featured artists on YouTube. Happy listening!
Location-based Ad Targeting
Here is a screenshot of the NYTIMES.com website when viewed from Malaysia. There’s a Malay ad in there!
Digest: Managing Your Online Identity
No matter where you are in the world managing your online identity should be a priority. There are many reasons why you should be aware of where and how your details are being used on the Internet. Social networks collect and store so much personal details about you, your network and thoughts and so it is important to make sure you understand and know where you are spreading yourself.
Applications
If you’ve been on Facebook for a while now, chances are you would have replied to some of the hundreds of application requests in the past. You may have added them and authorized many random applications like Blood Lust, Booze Mail, Hatching Eggs and/or the hundreds of others out in Facebook ether. These applications collect information from your profile, remix them and serve it out for their own purpose. Maybe you’re aware of the apps you’re using but there are many that you have probably lost interest in and aren’t actively using anymore.
One of the ways to manage your profile well is to make sure you delete all the apps you are not using and revoke rights to access your profile if you are not using them anymore.
Removing Applications
You do that by going to your applications page and deleting them off your account. If you have only selected to not show it on your profile, chances are these applications are still lurking in the background with access to your profile and usage behavior.
Stop Authorization to Access Profile
To make doubly sure that those applications can’t do anything anymore with “new” information about you, select the Show: Authorize option on the pulldown menu on the right hand side of the same Application Settings page and begin deleting the programs you don’t wish to have access to your profile.
You may not be paranoid about what the people behind seemingly harmless programs like “Hatching Eggs” and “Hug-a-Friend” want with your information, but intent has nothing to do with what actually happens to your data. There is a high probability that your information would be used without your awareness such as access to your friends list, behavior and profile that could transpose to a sea of unwanted spamming and aggressive marketing in the future. Your information can be spun out of context if you don’t manage it carefully.
Generally I would advise for serious social network users to consider several accounts to serve different purposes. These can include but are not limited to a business, professional, personal and anonymous account.
Business Accounts
For business accounts the general rule is to crowd-hoard at the beginning and progress to using that account for PR, marketing and support. If visibility is your intent the formula is simple. Maintain and/or grow your audience and continue to use the account for anything from announcements to damage control. The business account angle is best used by companies and brands announcing new products and service packages, but mostly this is should really be a PR channel for businesses.
For larger organizations, there can be subsets of the business account (several accounts forming the larger social network strategy). Employees with special roles such as the CEO or CMO would be able to engage with social networks that way.
Professional Account
Think of the professional account as a PR channel for an individual’s career. These accounts should be purposed for tweets that are only related to a person’s profession. This would be a perfect account to use to announce blog posts related to what you do professionally, also the account to use on your business card and portfolio website. Depending on the type of profession you’re in generally it is best to use your real name for professional accounts. On the flip side, I wouldn’t suggest total visibility if your job involves discretion. (i.e.: Doctor, lawyer, accountant, policeman, etcetera). Those roles represent practices or firm which can be represented by business accounts rather than an individual’s professional account. Of course that discretion is up to you but definitely, weigh the risks and benefits associated to the open promotion of your profession before you talk about a patient’s punctured left spleen or your civil cases as that could be illegal. In other words, think before doing!
Personal Accounts
Whether you are a social butterfly or like to keep your tweets between your friends and family, keep your personal account separate from your professional account. This is where statements like “I baked some brownies today for 200 people” would be best served. If you do not want the world to access your tweets, you can set them to private. The amount of visibility you have on the Internet is completely up to you though I would advise to use a nickname instead of your real name for your personal account without direct references to your full name.
This is not a shady rally (you can do that with an anonymous account)! The use of nicknames is simply a smarter way to minimize the gate-crashing of your personal tweet-party from the rest of the Internet. (I.e.: potential employer/client with Google access).
Anonymous Account
For those needing a canvas to vent and rant about things that may not be socially appropriate, there’s always the option to create an anonymous account where you can be completely honest about how you feel about a host of things without worrying about offending or upsetting anybody who knows you. This option gives your mind the freedom to roam, which for some people is an essential space to have. Needless to say, extra care must be employed when tweeting as you have to consider the damage to your professional and personal life should any of your tweets lead back to your name and face. Perhaps this is a cowardly way to say what you truly feel, but consider the fact that not all your thoughts should be shared with people you know. You would be wise to keep this account a secret if ultimate freedom is your goal, though bear mind that you are not above Twitter’s terms of use and neither are you immune from law enforcement if your tweets begin to sound wayward!
Inactive Accounts at Other Social Networks and Websites
Import all your contacts from places where you are inactive to the social networks you are currently using (manual or otherwise). Eventually data portability will become a reality but until then, a phasing method of directing visitors using a link with a near-intention of closing inactive accounts should be the plan. It only makes sense to erase your presence in places where you are not present anymore. Remember to keep receipts of all the places where you have been present as being aware of your online footprint will help you manage your identity better. Knowing where your accounts have been closed is a good thing as you maintain a macro view of where you’ve been and and how you’ve used the Internet. This will minimize unpleasant phenomena such as identity theft, phishing and a host of other horribly inconvenient experiences.
By managing your online identity, your lifetime experience on the Internet would likely be more pleasant as you minimize the potential for unsolicited flack. It is time to put on your french maid outfits before all that stuff comes back to bite you in the back!
Trends: Cupcake Social Branding Emerging
Ever since discovering Buttercup in London I knew the cupcake would play a larger role this year and so I was determined to frame a story around the cupcake phenomenon.
Believe it or not, the humble cupcake is now a viable marketing tool. Early adopters started paying attention to cupcakes in 2006, but this craze is now infiltrating the mainstream and is just going to spread farther and wider. What was seen as an old-fashioned indulgence of the yesteryears is now growing a new rep as a trendy “brandable” delicacy to have at some events.
The Comeback of Cupcakes
This isn’t just my intuition talking. Time magazine published an article Cupcake Nation in August 2006 discussing the rather unhealthy mania which has pushed the cupcake to unprecedented popularity. The New York Times published a story about the cupcake’s comeback, Resident Publications posted a list of cupcake bakeries in Manhattan, and ModernBaking.com published a story about customers going cuckoo for cupcakes.
From the groundswell cupcake aficionados Allison Bojarski, Nichelle Stephens and Rachel Kramer Bussel created the blog Cupcakes Take the Cake to cover everything related to the world of cupcakes. Their success has brought them on the Martha Stewart Show and also MSNBC. Other bloggers like Mej at Yo Mama confirms the comeback of cupcakes, EatLikeAGirl shares where cupcakes can be found in London, many others have given accounts of people going absolutely bonkers for cupcakes and the mania is showing no signs of abating.
Capitalizing on the Cupcake Mania
I have begun to notice that some companies have already jumped onto the cupcake bandwagon and are using these edible joythings ever so creatively.
Merchandising with the Cupcake Concept
Some companies are taking advantage of this trend and are creating cupcake-themed merchandise. Action Toys, Inc. announced in February 2008 that Crazy for Cupcakes toys are now available for children 3 years old and up, Johnny Cupcakes continues to cash in with themed merchandise and even luxury brands like Tiffany & Co. created an 18k-gold cupcake charm to serve cupcake enthusiasts.
Labeling of Cupcakes
Meanwhile on the more conservative side of the collective phenomenon, corporations are labeling their cupcakes for functions and events to foster loyalty among employees, express brand pride and extend brand awareness.
Absolutely anything from logos and images can now be printed using edible inks on icing sheets. It might surprise some to know that some Canon bubblejet printers are used to create them. These bespoke cupcakes can be ordered at specialist bakeries in most major cosmopolitan cities like San Francisco, New York, Chicago and London.
The Cupcake as a Product
While labeled cupcakes are bound to amuse some, Tiffany & Co. has taken the cupcake to a whole new level with the creation of the “Tiffany Cupcake.”
Last weekend I came across these Tiffany cupcakes inside a glamorous candy box-house setup with a touch of Hansel and Gretel charm. The signature Tiffany-blue cupcakes can be purchased for a little under £3 each by anyone visiting Somerset House. Tiffany is sponsoring the ice-skating event there and on Saturday mornings adult ticket holders can get them for free in conjunction with Breakfast with Tiffany.
Cupcake-as-a-product works very well for a luxury brand with a cult following like Tiffany. Many can’t afford to buy Tiffany items on a frequent basis and few of their products cost less than £100. What the Tiffany cupcake does is offer brand loyalists the exclusive Tiffany experience for £3. Some may argue that it brings down the exclusivity of the brand but cupcakes are perishable and the brand-addiction fix is only temporary. If anything the sugary cupcakes only serves to strengthen and proliferate an addiction to the Tiffany brand.
Should luxury brand owners decide to give the cupcake-as-a-product route a miss, they should still keep their eyes and ears open for groundswell activity. Brand loyalists are willing to spend more than just money but time to evangelize their favorite brands. As with the case of Tiffany, if brand enthusiasts can’t get the real thing in a blue box they’ll create their own experience by baking cupcakes or purchasing knockoff versions from artistic bakeries.
Say Hello to Social Branding
The Groundswell is Baking and Sharing Brands with Each Other
Whether successful brands like it or not, the groundswell is happily baking at the moment and if brand owners pay attention they could benefit from these activities. Brand loyalists, cupcake artists and bakeries are using the cupcake as a means of expression at parties and weddings to share brand experiences with their customers, friends and guests. Trademark and copyright violation concerns aside, people are baking works of domestic art and sharing that with other people at parties and also pictures of their creations on social networks like Facebook and Flickr.
Take a look at these cupcake pictures I found below:-
Tiffany Cupcakes
Beijing Olympics 2008 Cupcakes
Here is another example of branded cupcakes made to celebrate the Olympics. Some are professionally made-to-order and some are baked by amateurs. Notice how different the designs are.
Barack Obama Election Campaign 2008
Where the cupcake phenomenon has really made a noticeable impact is in the area of politics. Obama supporters have used the cupcake strategy to raise campaign dollars and to rally for more votes. A Flickr search for the term “Obama cupcakes” returns 527 results (as of today), not counting cookies. There is even a special interest group dedicated to Obama cupcakes and cookies.
Nintendo Super Mario Bros. Cupcakes
Video game enthisiasts from children to adults are enjoying Super Mario Bros. cupcakes independent of Nintendo’s involvement. This experience outlives the life cycle of a product version and will likely help sustain continued interest in Super Mario Bros. until a new version is released with a new gaming system.
Chanel Cupcakes
Last but not least, here are some amazing looking Chanel cupcakes. These will do well as treats girl friends give other girl friends on special occasions. Maybe they only seem relevant to women, but then so is the whole Chanel brand save the men’s line.
Embracing the Groundswell Bakery
Instead of panicking and threatening to sue Mary, Jane and Jill for trademark and copyright violation, brand owners should observe what is happening in the groundswell and learn to embrace the validation of their brand. It would serve brand owners well to sit back and enjoy the free promotion from volunteer brand evangelists, because the more people enjoy looking and eating knockoff cupcakes the stronger those brands become as a result of the viral sharing. The offline sensory experience will leak onto the online visual experience courtesy of cupcake creators and citizen journalists alike.
If you are a brand owner, this may be a good time to think about planting a seed for the groundswell to pick up on. Maybe they may just bake and share your brand with their friends.
YouTube Live! Streams its First Event
3:00am – London Time
Youtube Live! is currently streaming its first event from San Francisco, CA. Amazing [idea]… I’m watching it right now. Check it out!
11:14am – London Time
YOUTUBE LIVE! JAPAN
There seems to be a lot of confusion about when YouTube Live! Japan was to be on, but as stated on the channel it would be on at 3pm Japanese Standard Time. It is now 8:50pm there, so I think they are just about wrapping up. You can watch the replay here. Acts to watch out for is BoA, IQ and Blue Man Group. I love BoA! A multilingual Korean singer-songwriter pop-star who can speak and sing in Japanese too. Here’s a video of Boa’s collaboration with M-flo (my favorite Japanese hip-hop group).
SET DESIGN
The set design in Japan is awesome.
RECAP ON YOUTUBE LIVE! SAN FRANCISCO
So just what did I think of last night’s YouTube Live! event?
The idea of having such an event is brilliant, but I say this with a disclaimer. I thought that the program was trying to do too much and I found it more like a party among YouTube maniacs in the process of trying to be a talent show. YouTube Live! can definitely be improved and the organizers should now keep their eyes and eyes open to the Blogosphere, even on YouTube itself. There will be some thumbs up reviews but for most part I think many people will slag off the program as leaning on the boring side and suggest improvements.
There were quite a few talented acts doing some amazing things. I particularly liked the B-boys, Parkour peops, cup stackers and the DJ for the event did some interesting mixes on the turntable and mixers. Some people were annoying; actually very annoying. It was clear that their fame is attributed to how much attention they feigned on YouTube. I’m beginning to think that an event like this could hurt some YouTube broadcasters who have had the good fortune of many viewers to their videos and have a strong subscriber base. When people are shown to be trying “too hard” in person, their appeal disappears. Fred was actually the least annoying one out of the chatterboxers.
I love the idea, YouTube should continue bringing YouTube stars together but I definitely think the program should be planned and executed differently.
For more information on YouTube Live!, here’s an AFP article about the event.
Ad Tactics from Japan: Tissue Flyers
What is the best way to prevent people from throwing your flyers seconds after you’ve handed it out to them? Give them something they need — tissue wipes! These tissue paper packets that my friend brought back from Tokyo have advertising content either printed directly onto the plastic wrapping or come with a printed flyer insert placed at the base of the packet below the stack of tissue wipes.
YOUR AUDIENCE, THE RECEIVER
Consider the fact that every time someone takes out the tissue pack to get a sheet or two to use, they are exposed to the ad again and again until they finish using the tissues. Based on common sense, most people will keep these tissue packets for as long as there are still clean sheets of tissues in there that haven’t been used yet. On a subliminal level these ads are presented to the naked eye as it navigates through to find the opening of the packet. The ad presentation process is cleverly placed within the natural engagement process of a person getting a sheet of tissue. On an attentive level, people who are inquisitive would naturally let their eyes roam and analyze the literature of the products they interact with, thus allowing you that opening to send your message across.
SECONDARY ATTENTION, THE RECEIVER’S IMMEDIATE NETWORK
Here’s another possible scenario. If a tissue pack makes it around a post-meal table, other people are also exposed to these ads. I imagine some of the more attractive and creative ads would act as conversation triggers, and what better way to get people to talk about your products, services, and brand. What a smart, cost-effective, and practical way to advertise!
There are many other scenarios where such a tissue flyer may work very well for some. Everyone needs to wipe their mouths, sweat, and goo off of their faces and skin. Why haven’t western businesses caught on to this yet? I’m just waiting to see the western world get creative and adopt this smart little tactic to communicate their products and services to an audience that are just waiting to hoard some free packets of tissue paper for daily use.
COMPELLING AVENUE OF OPPORTUNITY
But of course, I would not bother discussing this little-known avenue if I did not believe there is a compelling potential for success behind it. I do however believe marketing has to be relevant or it is akin to flushing your money down the toilet. Retailers and restaurants will probably benefit from the tissue flyer the most because of its relevance. People need to wipe after they eat, mothers need to wipe their babies constantly, and women need to soak oil off of their t-zone, and people generally need tissue paper to maintain personal hygiene.
LIFE, INTERCEPTED
In any economic climate (not limited to a recessive or depressive one) businesses have to be creative and work smart to avoid sinking. That acumen should reach a breadth that is not confined to a design canvas alone. Businesses need to seek ways to appeal to an audience that are more resistant to traditional advertising, and a very controversial but promising place to start is to embrace the way of life of your target audience. By intercepting the process in which they carry out the necessary steps to complete a task, you have automatically created an awareness of your message, however effective. In the case of the tissue flyer, the goal for the user is to remove a lingering discomfort by way of drying and cleaning the body and its immediate environment of undesired particles. In order to execute that task successfully, people would need to look at the tissue wrapper’s surface to find the opening in order to reach the holy whiteness of a solution to their problems, which is tucked inside the glory that is your ad message.
I think it is an absolutely brilliant idea. What do you think?
Free Project Management Templates from BERR
Today, as I was doing a feasibility study for a business idea I have, I came across some project management templates in WORD format from the (British) Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR). I think this set of templates is very practical for small business owners, consultants, and also looks like a great tool for use on smaller* projects. You can download these templates here.
* For larger projects that have multimillion dollar budgets and larger scopes, a dynamic tool like @task would be more practical to avoid from volumes and volumes of manual documentation.
Change.gov: Obama Continues To Use the Web
Ladies and gentleman, check out http://www.change.gov. I am officially rendered speechless for the rest of the night, but I thought I’d share this with you. I am especially impressed that Obama has put his agenda out for all to track. That is so incredibly professional of him. Kudos to him and his team for even bothering!
I admire the fact that the site was all done in anticipation of Obama’s victory because it shows that a lot of pre-work was done before he was even elected president. I’ll bet you ten dollars there’s a PMI or PRINCE2 certified programme manager behind Obama internet projects. This is exciting stuff, so very exciting!
CNN: How Obama Used the Web
This is proof you really cannot ignore the Internet. Barack Obama used Youtube, Twitter, Facebook, and relied on viral marketing to further his campaign.
The Recycling of Advertising Ideas
The Beer Boys have come together to back Obama! Here is a 2008 rendition of the Budweiser Wassup Campaign from 2000 that is adapted for the Obama presidential campaign. Although I think this idea did outlive its appeal on television sets, to see it resurface in the context of the U.S. election is a delight. This goes to show that good ideas, even those that have gone stale can be reused and adapted for other brands through capitalizing on the relationships that were formed by a legacy brand. In this case, the Obama brand is clearly benefiting from its genius. Enjoy!
