Social Mallard - by Kevin Briody » Case Studies

A catchy dance video, and a social media near miss

Kevin — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 18:52:08 +0000

This is a wonderfully cute new video from Samsung for their Galaxy 580 smartphone, with a tagline that fits perfectly with what I talk about here all the time:

“use your influence”

Watch:

What this commercial (seeded “viral” video, actually) positively SCREAMS for is some kind of action to be taken to help you, the viewer, “use your influence” to share the video, interact with it in some way, connect with the dancers or music, or engage in some fashion with the brand or product.

The concept is cute, and nicely done. Anyone with kids will recognize their own in this little girl as she just lets her imagination spill out all over the dance floor, meaning millions of people could instantly relate to the ad and likely (like me) want to pass it around.

But this is a great campaign concept that, to my mind, is only about 25% done. It could get enormous payoff by extending it across the social media sphere in some manner, inviting viewers in to interact and share it with their friends and networks. A viral video attempt is great, and I suspect this one will get some moderate steam. But take the next step and pull me, the viewer, in deep.

And no, getting me to use this as a social media “near miss” case study doesn’t count. Yes I’m using what influence I have to share it on my blog, but I’m doubting “marketing bloggers” were a target market on the original Samsung campaign brief. I’m talking about doing this at scale.

New Client Work: Little Lala’s apps getting some nice reviews

Kevin — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 22:57:09 +0000

One of the projects we’ve been working on is building awareness of the Little Lala iPhone applications – illustrated, narrated ebook and ABC flashcard apps. These are wonderful (*yes, we’re biased) little apps perfect for entertaining young readers, and both are permanent residents on my iPhone.

Fortunately, a bunch of other people feel the same way, such as Deb from Just a Mom’s Take on Things (thanks Deb!):

The bottom line: The Little Lala and Little Lala’s ABC’s iPhone apps are a charming way to not only help keep kids entertained for a few minutes when necessary, but also to sneak in a little bit of education into their day as well.

Here are some more great recent reviews of the apps:

Beyond the apps, be sure to follow Lauren (the author) on her travels, and check her out on Twitter.

New Client Work: Social Media Case Studies for Visible Technologies

Kevin — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 20:46:14 +0000

We recently completed two case studies for Visible Technologies (@Visible_Tech), a leading vendor in the social media monitoring and measurement space. Both focus on online brand management: One covers Microsoft and how they are using Visible to better engage their IT community, and another centers on how Xerox used Visible to monitor online buzz around the launch of a major new product.

Both are now available from Visible: Microsoft and Xerox (direct links to the PDFs).

We’re currently available for new copywriting projects, from PR and Web copy to case studies and brochures. Drop us a line!