Everyday a bunch of digital stuff is uploaded by brands who hope it will strike a chord amongst users. Through social media these same brands hope consumers will share what has been created.

Have you ever asked yourself why is it that some stuff hits pay dirt whilst other stuff withers on the digital vine?

For brands, aside from ensuring that there’s a kick arse traffic driving strategy, we reckon it’s all about content and what we call the WTF barometer. Let me explain.

W is for Whimsy
The viral videos we love are often magical moments that allow us to escape from the everyday; think LED lights on a flock of sheep; think a funny looking Scottish woman transforming from a peasant to a princess when she starts to sing.

It could be a fairytale. It could be something that’s fantastic, say an African American defying gravity thanks to his latest Nikes. So if you want viral start thinking ‘whimsy’.

Zymil Tummy Tuner

T is for Topical
How quickly did news of Obama winning the Nobel peace prize buzz around the net? How quickly did we see all kinds of stuff related to Michael Jackson soon after his  death- some was in good taste some in poor. But in this ‘always-on’ world if you wanna be viral, you gotta be quick. Look to topical news and current events.

Eternal Moonwalk

F is for Free
Want to get some buzz. Then offer something for free. Recently KFC did just that for the launch of their Cajun Chicken Burger. People heard about it and shared the news on Facebook with their friends.

Starbucks in the states do this kind of thing on a regular basis with great results, as do Papa John’s Pizza. Strategic giveaways and sampling spreads like wildfire.  And when it comes to Free don’t just think product… It could be access to valuable information, curated content or some kind of utility that makes a consumer’s life a little easier, comfortable or less stressful.

KFC Cayan Grill giveaway

If you want people to share your branding stop thinking WTF are we gonna do and starting thinking about the WTF barometer.

Kevin Moreland is a Partner at BCM

As social media grows it’s becoming increasingly pivotal for advertisers to understand what consumers are saying about their brands, products and services in the market.

Most of us have rapidly become familiar with the most popular social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter (and the opportunities they offer for our brands), but does blogging rank as highly as these social media platforms when it comes to commenting on brands, products or services?

Not knowing that much about the world of blogging and what it entails I wouldn’t have thought so. That’s until I was told about a really interesting blogging site called www.2oceansvibe.com.

www.2oceansvibe.com is a lifestyle website that was started by a young guy named Seth Rotherham in his early 20’s based in Cape Town, South Africa.

He started the blog for himself and his friends for a bit of fun, but over years, Seth has become a “celebrity blogger” simply by blogging about things that inspire him in his everyday life, and events that happen to involve his favourite and most trusted brands, products or services.

He’ll blog about what he eats (Woolworths), drinks (Jack Black Lager), wears (Puma/Ray Bans), where he goes (Caprice) and what he does. He enjoys everything from the beach to restaurants, hotels, sport, nightclubs, and just happens to drop brand names along the way.

He lives to his motto “Work is a sideline, live the holiday” and has become a poster boy for this lifestyle in the process.

For some reason (possibly due to the humorous way in which Seth portrays his comments on his blog, or maybe it’s his unique list of celebrity friends and contacts that gain him insight into topical conversations) Seth’s readers have tapped into this online persona that he has created for himself and they trust and follow his advice on the brands he comments on unquestionably.

Seth has openly admitted himself that he would never put a brand up on his website that he does not believe in (even if he is paid) and it seems that it’s this kind of brutal honesty and commitment to his readers that consumers seem to tap into – and they just love it! A great example of how brands can use social media to endorse their products.

As a South African ex-pat living in Australia, I find it amazing (and I admit probably a bit of an eye opener to me) to see how this website is a favourite bookmark for both locals and those living overseas who wish to keep in-the-loop with the pulse of The Mother City.

Seeing this blog and the powerful influence it can yield over its readers/consumers, and vice versa, I realise that the power of blogging is not just another social media fad but rather an important element in the ever growing social media family.

Michelle Joubert is an Account Manager at BCM Brisbane

The other day I saw a Coles ad in the Courier Mail promoting a weekly special on V energy drink cans. The headline of the ad read “V good price”. Although it’s clearly a play on words for obvious reasons, it got me thinking about the way we converse in everyday language, in particular Generation Y.

Through mobile phones, chat forums, and text messaging, a new language has spawned, made up of abbreviations, acronyms, alpha-numeric words and emoticons.

Whilst some may believe it’s the end of spelling and grammar for the English language, I believe it’s an inevitable part of the evolutionary process, and that it will only continue to evolve over time.

Due to space constraints of mobile phone text messaging, it has become socially acceptable by people of all generations to abbreviate words when communicating this way.

However what I find most interesting is how this language has now become widely used by our Gen Y’ers in face-to-face communications. For example “probably” translates to “probs”, “totally” translates to “totes”, and “definitely” translates to “def”.

This type language may be considered as dialect or slang, adding to the negative traits of this ‘me’ focused Generation, however it is quickly becoming a part of our everyday communication.

So for those of you wondering what on earth us Gen Y’ers are talking about, below is a list of abbreviated words and acronyms quickly becoming used in our day-to-day communications.

• Ave (average)
• Deets (details)
• Def (definitely)
• Delish (delicious)
• Devoed (devastated)
• Diff (different)
• Fab (fabulous)
• Fave (favourite)
• Fo’sho or Fo’shiz (for sure)
• Gorge (gorgeous)
• Haps (happening)
• Mo (moment)
• Norm (normal)
• Obvs (obviously)
• Peeps (people)
• Pos (positive or possibly)
• Pregs (pregnant)
• Presh (precious)
• Probs (probably)
• Sesh (session)
• Sors (sorry)
• Spesh (special)
• Totes (totally)
• Ug (ugly)
• Uje (usually)
• V (very)
• Vom (vomit)
• Whatev (whatever)

Acronyms:

• BRB (be right back)
• LOL (laugh out loud)
• ROFL (rolling on the floor laughing)
• OMG (oh my god)
• WTF (I’ll leave that one up to you to decipher)

So if ‘Google’ has become a recognised word of the Oxford English dictionary, could that mean this butchered version of the English language will also become accepted in years to come?

And what could that mean for the future of brand communications? Will we start to see more of this abbreviated language incorporated into our advertising?

Jenna Happy is an Account Coordinator at BCM Brisbane

For years it’s been a staple of the TV sketch comedy programs to take a classic piece of foreign film footage and apply to it a set of completely unrelated, hopefully funny, English subtitles.

In the age of YouTube it’s easier than ever for all of us to generate topical, hopefully funny, content using this method.

A year or two back someone had the idea of taking a particularly tense scene from a film called Downfall (Der Untergang) which was all about the final days of Adolf Hitler. In the particular scene they chose Hitler is ranting, tearing shreds off his cronies from the Third Reich. So it’s perfect fodder for incongruous subtitles to make Hitler look and sound ridiculous.

Since that first parody was launched on YouTube there have been hundreds and hundreds more with Hitler seen ranting about pretty well anything you can think of from finding that someone’s stolen his car, to discovering there’s no Santa to being banned from Xbox live.

More recently these parodies have seen people from different countries using that vision as the vehicle to quickly comment on topical, everyday issues from sport to technology and  politics to pop culture. Here are a few title examples:

• Hitler finds out St Kilda lost the grand final
• Hitler finds out Sarah Palin resigns
• Blu Ray has won
• Hitler finds out Lampard is signing for Inter
• Real estate downfall
• Hitler finds out Kanye West disses Taylor swift
• Hitler finds out Pokemon aren’t real
• St Choke (NRL reference)
• Hitler gets angry Manchester United won again
• Hitler finds out about Usain Bolt winning
• Hitler plans to upgrade to Windows 7

Inevitably there had to be “Hitler rants about Hitler parodies”:

The people from surfinglife.com.au have created their own branded version entitled Hitler’s surf trip ruined. Who knows how many other brands might follow suit?

Some clips are better than others but for me the fascinating thing about them is that the more of them you watch the funnier they are.  As you become familiar with the sheepish looks from Hitler’s goons the more you look forward to seeing what the writer will come up with to match that discomfort. It is a little bit Groundhog Day but not annoyingly so.

This is another good example of simple ways people are making technology their own to share opinions and have some fun.

Alan Kewley is an Account Director at BCM Brisbane

• “Use other door”
• “Back in an hour”
• “Your call is important to us”
• “Batteries not included”
• “May I put you on hold for a minute”
• “This may sting a little”
• “Use other door”

Please add your favourites you will find it quite cathartic, or maddening.

Bill Bristow is a Partner at BCM

You might say your work blog is not the ideal place to confess to something you’ve kept to yourself for too long. However, after finally owning up to my wife and kids last week, I thought I’d keep going while I was on a roll.

It concerns something I did at a boating store in Brookvale (Sydney) last year. I was there looking for a life jacket and a pair of padded sailing pants to protect myself from the hard fiberglass gunwale of my Laser sailing dinghy.

Anyway, after choosing a life jacket I was in the change room trying on a couple of sizes of sailing pants when I noticed a tag on the floor. It was barely branded, had some tiny type that read, ‘Child’s wetsuit pants’ and a barcode with a price, $24.95.

Now the garment I was trying on was a little more expensive. It had purpose-built zipper pockets, key and belt clips, removable padding sections and was made with heavy duty nylon which allowed for sliding your weight up and down a racing Laser’s gunwale.

At this moment, two things went through my mind. The first was disbelief at how the amount for the life jacket and the pants was going to total well over $200. The other was how young and disinterested the girl and the guy at the cash registers had looked.

I approached the check-out and coolly put my purchases on the counter. The bored girl scanned them through, put them in a bag and starting taking my money as the guy looked on, seemingly into space.

‘Excuse me!!’ My heart jumped. The guy’s eyes had suddenly pulled focus on the electronic read-out. In a moment he was right there (much bigger than I remembered) looking accusingly from read-out to barcode to tag to me all at once. A couple of people who were now queued up started looking at me accusingly too.

I remember clearly that it was the actual second I nervously uttered, ‘Is there a problem?’ that he made his mind up that the tag must have been attached fraudulently. I made a small move to the door which he followed like a shadow. ‘Sorry sir’ he said, ‘I’m afraid we’ll have to speak to the manager about this.’

As he ushered me (with evidence in hand) towards an office at the back of the store I started to realise I was not in a good situation. Are they going to call the police? Will I be charged and if so, what with? Do I use my one call to organise legal help or tell my wife I can’t meet her at Coles at 11.30am?

He knocked lightly and we entered the manager’s office only to find it empty. ‘Have a seat sir.’ His look was firm and threatening and I sat down obediently. ‘The manager and I will be back in a sec.’ He closed the door heavily behind him and I heard his footsteps slowly disappear as he hurried away.

I was distraught. My once tiny decision, in the smallest of moments had suddenly escalated into something really serious. I looked around me like a schoolboy in a principal’s office. There was the manager’s desk, all neat and tidy, and who by the look of his kid graduating in a framed photograph, must have been in his forties at least.

I sensed a draught and looking up, noticed a window, only about 30 cms high, running the length of the wall just below the ceiling. I also noticed it was slightly open.

I quickly looked away then just as quickly back again. No, no, no. What I’d done was ridiculous enough surely? I ran to the door and put my ear to it. I could hear a couple of distant footsteps then nothing. I began to realise I could actually get out of this. Get my day back to where it started. Maybe even meet my wife at Coles at 11.30am.

With a huge backward lunge I dragged the manager’s desk over to the windowed wall. It groaned loud as a monster as it vibrated across the lino floor. There was no turning back now. Next I flung the chair I’d sat in onto the desk. As I jumped to join it, I heard the first thump of running footsteps accompanied by wild and aggressive yelling.

Now on the chair, I pulled the window open wide enough for me to squeeze through and as I dragged myself upwards and into the sunlight, I heard them burst into the room behind me.

There I was, three-quarters of my way into a blissfully sunny carpark (for a split second smiling stupidly at a stunned woman and her toddler next to their open boot) when my progress was suddenly reversed as a person (and then another) took hold of my leg.

As much as I could try bracing against the window frame with shaking arms, I was losing the battle. They were just pulling my leg too hard.

Pulling my leg. Just like I’m pulling yours.

While I have to apologise for telling stories, this is one story that for me has great resonance. Ever since my mother somehow kept a straight face telling a version of it to me when I was a teenager.

I just wanted to use it to demonstrate that whether a story is true or not is irrelevant. Only that any story which engages and involves people will always be remembered.

That’s something we would do well not to forget when we’re putting communications of any sort together. As soon as a story resonates with people, it becomes true, and effective.

Geoff Reid is BCM Sydney’s Creative Director

We always talk about ‘borrowed interest’ in the advertising game but I don’t think I’ve seen a case quite so “hot right now” like this one.

If you haven’t heard of New Moon, the second book and soon to be released movie in the Twilight series, then you probably don’t have any hormonal women in your household; haven’t seen the front cover of ANY gossip, woman’s or entertainment magazine for the past few months; or are not one of the over 70 million people that have bought one of the books.

In a nutshell, the series is about a girl (Bella) who falls in love with a vampire (Edward), has a best friend who is a werewolf (Jacob), who both fight over who loves her more, and then she spends about the next 3,000 pages deciding which one she can’t live without. Insert worldwide phenomenon here.

In the first book Twilight, the main love interest character of Edward drives a silver Volvo C30 which is featured prominently in the movie too. In the movie sequel New Moon, he has upgraded to the Volvo XC60.

Volvo, not one to let a marketing opportunity like this pass by, are cashing in big time on the legion of loyal fans. Volvo created an entire microsite devoted to their C30 back when the first movie became a worldwide hit and now they’re backing it up again for the sequel.

I introduce you to What Drives Edward – Volvo’s latest microsite dedicated to a competition for fans to win an XC60 just like Edward drives in New Moon.

Talk about genius product placement. Considering the books mentioned these cars way before it was ever known that movie adaptations would be made, it’s hard to know whether it was the publishers or Volvo themselves who saw the opportunity to cash in on this.

Either way, I’m sure it isn’t hurting Volvo’s reputation or working against building brand awareness among the tween-teen fans that will be looking to purchase their first cars pretty soon!

Pamela Olah is an Account Manager at BCM Brisbane

I was humming to myself as I sprung up the stairs of the Watermark in Circular Quay on the way to hear Patrick Collister’s thoughts on direct marketing and effective communication in the new media age.

For those of you who don’t know him, his CV is rather long and career highlights include winning Gold at Cannes, being a member of the D&AD Executive from 2001-04, editing the Won Report, as well as having been the Executive Creative Director and Vice Chairman of Ogilvy & Mather in the UK.  So basically, he knows his stuff.

Anyway, his opening gambit struck me as a practical one, when he challenged ‘us’ his audience to consider the ‘line’ that has for many years etched a permanent divide between the big shiny and glamorous world of the 60sec TVC or above the line advertising, and the world of direct marketing or below the line advertising.

This got me thinking, having spent time working in both an ATL and BTL capacity in a former life, why do so many agencies still feel the need to rationalise their output in this way?

With the explosion of new media and the digital age now well past its infancy there are now literally hundreds of different channels to deliver a message in the digital space alone.  That would mean if we were to decide that digital’s rightful place is sitting beneath this so called ‘line’, there are now many more channels below the line than there are above it.

Furthermore, what does this mean for the big agency networks and their many sub-brands?  Surely, this would make the sub-brands more potent, financially viable, and future proof than the parent brands from which they derive their equity and notoriety.

When I say this I’m referring to those agencies that have a company called “Brand A” and a direct or digital offering that is often housed in a neighbouring building or even a different physical address altogether named “Brand A Direct” or “Brand A Interactive”.

What I ask everyone to try and answer as truthfully as possible is this:

How can “Brand A” and “Brand A Direct” who have entirely different financial targets, different CEOs, CFOs, ECDs, CDs, as well as different company ambitions and cultures, share a client and offer true integration?

The answer to this question is a simple one, they can’t.

The irony is that some agencies (or at least the smarter and more responsive ones) have been offering true integration for decades, but unlike the big cumbersome networks have not had to invent clever names for it like horizontal integration and put it on their rate cards for their clients to absorb.

What’s even sadder is that there are still many blue chip clients who fork out truck loads of cash for these so-called TTL services only to be let down by their agency who due to their very own organisational structure and politics are incapable of delivering it.

There is much written about the digital revolution, vertical integration and the proliferation of new channels.

Never before have there been so many exciting and unique opportunities for brands to reach the consumer at various stages of the customer experience, from pre-purchase and preference formation, through purchase, consumption, feedback, and around the loop we go.

Who is best placed to handle these opportunities?

One school of thought is that it will be the agencies who’ve already abandoned the antiquated way of thinking, the converged agencies that acknowledge that the ‘line’, as long as it exists, creates and perpetuates conflicts of interest and can never result in a fair result for their clients and business partners.

The other is that it will be agencies that put digital at the heart of everything they do and who are happy to evolve with the changing needs and requirements of the consumer.

Whatever the case it seems most likely that the agencies who decide to walk in a straight line rather than dancing above and below it will reap the greater rewards.

Simon Jarvis is a Group Account Director at BCM Sydney

The other morning on the ABC I heard the announcer advise that the story just broadcast was available online. He did not give the expected URL but rather told listeners to simply search “AM ABC”. This is the first time I have heard a URL replaced by a simpler, more easily remembered search term. And it works. Ballsy ABC.

Instead of remembering and typing, “abc.net.au/am”, simply put “AM ABC” into Google, click, “I’m Feeling Lucky”, and there you are.

I must admit that I don’t by any means know the complete history of URLs but my URL primer required “http://www” as the must have prefix.

People wanting a web presence scrambled to find a relevant, memorable and short name for their URL. BCM wanted “BCM” but found it taken so was initially stuck with “http://www.bcmpartnership.com.au” – 32 keystrokes.

Many companies and entities had similar issues.

We eventually bought the “bcm” URL which cut 11 keystrokes and the made the new address, “http://www.bcm.com.au”.

Then we were all able to drop the clumsy “http://” and key in only the “www” prefix. Winner! Another 7 keystrokes hit the dirt.

Next, most URLs were able to drop the “www” so BCM landed at “bcm.com.au”, 10 keystrokes – 22 less than the original 32. Pretty good although we all resent the Americans needing no “.au” country suffix, don’t we.

So home page URLs are well sorted by most but what about complex sites with many links to key landing pages?

Looking for a Canon digital camera, the following is not too snappy:

“http://canon.com.au/products/cameras/digital_compact_cameras.html”

Where is all this leading?

Is the ABC onto something? Are there search term options unusual enough or SEO seeded well enough to be advertised simply as search terms instead of clumsy URLs?

Might Canon set up, “GO CANON GO” as a primary search term that would deliver the surfer direct to the desired landing page?

Just a tactical thought anyway.

Bill Bristow is a Partner at BCM

The race that stops a nation seemed like a perfect occasion to get the nation to stop and think about the Artline brand.

And so on Melbourne Cup Day as well as the two days approaching it, we ran full page and page-dominant versions of this ad right around the country.

As usual, Martin ‘The Shark’ Durek wrung incredible value out of our media dollar while Sutts and the studio made it really jump off the page.

Special credit and our farewell wishes go out to Artline’s departing marketing manager, Lynn Dewick whose trust has helped produce some memorable work on the brand which includes executions for Red Alert, Deficit and April Fool’s Day.

Geoff Reid is BCM Sydney’s Creative Director