Two Cents

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

It’s been around 12 months since we launched this blog.

In that time we’ve explored a whole bunch of stuff. We’ve talked about marketing brilliance and blunders.

We’ve showcased our work.

We’ve offered friends of BCM a chance to debate and comment on everything from whether Aussies will embrace Twitter, through to the lament of New-South-Welshmen losing State of Origin.

We’ve run experiments (remember when Anthony, our Interactive Strategist swore off Google for a month – albeit with serious withdrawal symptoms).

We’ve run research forums (yes, people did indeed think iSnack 2.0 was a  massive marketing hoax).

We’ve broken news (Two Cents noticed that Ben Southwell, winner of  ‘Best Job’  had enjoyed  lunch at Hayward Island … ahem … I mean Hayman Island) and the press picked up our post and ran it internationally.

12 months later, we’ve posted 160 articles and  over 11,500 visitors have checked us out.

To the 30 staff  who have taken the time to write a post, a big thanks for sharing your thoughts and observations.

Hopefully it has given some insight into how we think  here at BCM and what we’re about.

Thanks for coming. Please come again!

Kevin Moreland is a Partner at BCM

We’ve recently launched a great integrated campaign for Parmalat brand Zymil.

As you may know, Zymil is an easy-to-digest milk -- a great dairy alternative for those who don’t agree with regular milk. The new campaign seeks to convey Zymil’s benefits -- easy to drink, comfortable, never unsettling and never a pain in the guts -- with a TVC, website and blog that build on Zymil’s promise of ‘loving you’ like regular milk can’t.

The website -- www.zymil.com.au -- is brought to life with customer reviews of Zymil, recipes (which can be submitted by customers), news, an FAQ and, of course, all the basic info. It’s a great example of the Flash skills of our ID team here!

Zymil are also embracing the world of social media and have kicked off easy2digest, the Zymil blog -- a way for Zymil lovers and the wider community to have a deeper conversation about all things Zymil and healthy living. Keep your eye on it, because it will be rolling out a heap of great content throughout the year.

Take a look at the TVC:

There’s also a fourth, quite amazing, element to their interactive approach launching in the next couple of days  -- stay tuned!

Congrats to Parmalat on the launch of all their great new interactive assets! And congrats too on the fantastic increase in sales that Parmalat have enjoyed since the commencement of the campaign.

Regular readers of this blog have probably noticed we talk a lot about the brave new world of social media around here. After all, as somebody much more clever than I said some time ago, markets are conversations, and no longer are marketers in full control of their brand and consumer interactions with their products and services.

We have been offering our clients solutions for their social media needs for some time. But the amount of social media work we are now doing necessitates another expansion of the BCM ID team. We are pleased to announce the appointment of Anthony Dever as Social Media Manager.

So, what does a Social Media Manager do? Anthony will primarily be listening and responding to the masses of ‘virtual chatter’ out there about our client’s brands and campaigns within all forms of social media. He’ll be teaming with ID strategists, developers, designers and channel planners to ensure we harness the power of social media for all BCM clients.

Anthony is an experienced blogger, social media commentator and consultant, specialising in blogging content and strategy, social media networks, and online user behaviour and engagement. He has previously acted as a technology correspondent for ABC Radio, and was the creator and organiser of the TV Fugly Awards (anti-event to the TV Logies Awards).

Welcome to the BCM team, Anthony.

I make no apologies for coming back to the subject of great mobile innovation on this blog. There’s just far too much great stuff out there not to share!

So, here’s a few more things that have appeared this week.

Firstly, how about using your phone as a projector?

A company called Microvision has developed a projector designed to fit inside any mobile device, or an iPod, or a laptop – anywhere really. It can project in any size from A4 right up to the equivalent of a 254-centimetre TV – about as big as the largest commercially available TV (if you’re a billionaire).  What’s more amazing is, it’s always in focus – there’s no manual focusing required.  It has to be seen to be believed, so I strongly recommend you check out this video.

Secondly, how about using your phone as a mouse?

Using your phone as a mouse doesn’t seem like much sense while sitting at your PC, but as living rooms converge a mouse will be required more and more while you’re sitting on the couch. Enter the mobile air mouse, an iPhone app that turns your phone into a mouse:

Mobile Air Mouse uses the built in accelerometer to translate your hand motions into mouse movements on your screen. It can also operate as a trackpad, allowing you to control your computer with a single finger.

I don’t know about you, but I want one.

Applications are now open for submissions to the next installment of More Mobile Goodness!

The BCM Blog will take a short break over Christmas but will be back next week.

In the meantime, here’s a few of my favourite online things from 2008 – some light holiday reading!

The Sprint Widget – best described as a dashboard for the planet. Very cool! Make sure the sound is on.

Social Media in Plain English – part of the popular ‘Plain English’ series, this is a great short video primer for those who are unsure about the future of the web – social media!

The TimeTube – a visual represenation of Youtube videos over time. Enter a term like ‘Barack Obama’ and see how he has evolved over time on Youtube.

Popular Mechanics – 10 Tech Concepts You Need to Know for 2009

New York Times – Year in Ideas 2008

And finally, my award for the most savvy media owner in the world for 2008 goes to the American teacher who sold advertising space on his student’s exam papers. Now that’s entrepreneurship!

Merry Christmas to you all, see you next week.

Forrester’s Social Technographics research is without doubt the most well-known classification of social media activities worldwide. Even if you’ve never heard of Forrester, you might have seen these terms before (in the image above) – Creators, Critics, Collectors, Joiners, Spectators and Inactives.

Last week Forrester released their Australia-specific Technographics report. It’s an interesting read, and I’ll post my thoughts about it here on the blog very soon. For the moment, I thought it would be an interesting exercise to take a sample of dubious statistical merit – BCM staff (sample size: the 16 attendees of my lunchtime training session) – and compare it to the Technographics figures.

So without further ado – are BCMers more or less social online than the average Australian online adult?

Phew… that’s a relief! Thankfully we also have an ‘inactive’ in the office to round it out (and it’s a Gen Y too!)

More to come on the Forrester report soon.