for and from the curious – web 2.0, social media and cause marketing explored

Nokia N97 – killer launch for a killer product?

I came across a pre launch party for the Nokia N97 in Cologne. It was one of only 4 locations in Germany where the device was being introduced. Since I am currently visiting our German office and was in town we decided to swing by.

We are heading toward the Nokia store and noticed a decent crowd outside. At least half of them were promoters wearing t-shirts and holding banners or signs. Most of them looked rather bored, sat on the sidewalk or smoked cigarettes. None of them approached me.

We were there at 5:30 PM and you could imagine that these guys were tired. But the event only started at 5PM. Hard to believe that 30 minutes could have been so exhausting. It also wasn’t just a bad moment or another mandatory break for them. We walked by the store again an hour later the chill out party was still going on.

Here or some images to further illustrate a little bit:

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Guerilla Marketing, Hot at the Bakery | 3889 Comments »http://www.conceptbakery.com/blog/2009/06/19/nokia-n97-killer-launch-for-a-killer-product/Nokia+N97+-+killer+launch+for+a+killer+product%3F2009-06-19+10%3A30%3A35Klaus+Holzapfel

Popgasm – Sunrise Avenue using web videos to support album launch

Shrinking marketing budgets in the record industry require creative solutions. Records label EMI took the step and asked moviebakery to produce some web videos to support the launch of “Popgasm” by the Finish pop band Sunrise Avenue.

The album name left a lot of room for creativity for our video producers. There was certainly no shortfall of great storylines.

Things did get a little challenging during the production process: One of our producers is located in Mexico City and shooting was supposed to happen in the midst of the swine flu outbreak. The city was in dead lock. On top of that a sequence with lead singer Samu Haber and guitarist Riku Rajamaa was shot in Cologne and had to be embedded into the video.

We took the unique step to have the same video produced twice since the situation in Mexico was very unstable.

Time to take a look at the videos – check out the comments and the ratings – apparently EMI and conceptbakery were not the only ones that are happy with the results:

This video is close to the Popgasm story line. You can see that the band is taking a very scientific approach.

We were long playing with ideas that involved an actual car wash. One of our star producers finally pulled it off.

Posted in Hot at the Bakery, Web Videos | 3771 Comment »http://www.conceptbakery.com/blog/2009/06/02/popgasm-sunrise-avenue-using-web-videos-to-support-album-launch/Popgasm+-+Sunrise+Avenue+using+web+videos+to+support+album+launch2009-06-02+14%3A14%3A41Klaus+Holzapfel

What’s your marketing strategy right now?

Not a day passes by with more horrendous economic news. As a former financial expert I understand the long term implications of this meltdown to some extend.

Businesses shut down or get rid of parts of their operations – without any intensions of bringing them back.

Everyone seems to hedge their bets, tries to keep a low profile and somehow make it through the crisis.

I think it is about time to realize that this crisis will not end soon and we see an economic book looming on the horizon anytime soon.

Of course there are few of businesses that are benefitting from the economic collapse – mostly at the cost of others. Netflix is one of the few success stories that comes to mind.

Assuming that you are still in business, what should your marketing strategy be for the short and the medium term?

1. Cancel all big ad campaigns on major media channels
This sounds very drastic. But a TV ad or national print ad campaign requires significant resources that might better be placed otherwise. The accountability of these ad campaigns is still horrendous. You really don’t know what the $$$ you spent will do for you. Stop spending big marketing  $$$ unless you know what you get out of it.

2. Does your product or service or business model still fit into the current environment?
It is time to take a VERY hard look at your products or services. Are they innovative? Are they affordable? Are they useful? Times have changed and so has the need for your product. Check your price points. Are your traditional distribution channels still the best way to go?

This is the time to question everything. One benefit of our crisis is that you can very easily justify drastic changes in your business model without facing too many hard questions from your business partners – simply because everyone else is doing the same thing.

This is something you can do yourself or with a little help from your friends. That is what social media is for. Do not hire a business consultant – rather give the money to the homeless.

3. Be creative
What a no brainer! Shouldn’t creativity be a given in marketing?

I am writing this, because you really need to step it up at least 2 notches in order to survive. Do you still work with a traditional (and expensive) marketing agency? Do you hire other outside contractors for services such as search engine optimization? Do you understand what every $$$ you spend on marketing is doing for you?

This is not the time to abandon marketing – unless you are in the process of closing shop. This is the time to be very sharp about every move you make. You can’t go back to your bank any longer and ask for a line of credit because you made some bad decisions that led to a drought in your cash flow.

Maybe it is time to hire an in house wiz-kid that will help you to restructure all your marketing efforts. Remember that I said this is the time to question everything?

You might also consider hiring an agency to develop concepts for you. But then do the actual work in-house instead of spending big $$$ on the hours the agency will bill you. I am simply talking about a creative powerhouse that can provide you with some unique marketing ideas tailored to your needs.

This is not the time to sit like a rabbit in front of a snake. The snake will eat you this time. Unless you have courage and the willingness to take chances and follow new paths your business might enter the graveyard. It is getting very packed right now. I would rather not see you there.

4. Finally: Some suggestions
So far I have told you a lot of things not to do. I’d encourage you to look at all the avenues you haven’t explored yet. Have you taken a look at all the ways social media networking could benefit your business?

Have you looked at cause marketing to gain an edge over your competitors? People are in need. This is great time to support others and be acknowledged for it. This can be done without you spending a ton of hard $$$.

Have you thought of producing some viral content?
The success of viral marketing efforts can’t be predicted. We tell al our clients that it is a crap shot. But it will only cost you a fraction of many traditional marketing efforts and could potentially have 100 times the impact. Therefore it is an option to consider – if you have some extra $$$ you can spend on it.

This is also the time to barter. Think of other businesses that could help you to promote your products and services. Do you have something to offer in return? It is time to contact them right now. Call or email the parties that come to your mind.

You do that and your chances of survival will somehow increase.

Posted in Digital Marketing, Guerilla Marketing | 371No Comments »http://www.conceptbakery.com/blog/2009/03/11/whats-your-marketing-strategy-right-now/What%27s+your+marketing+strategy+right+now%3F2009-03-11+16%3A38%3A42Klaus+Holzapfel

20 no-brainer commandments of social media

1. Thou shalt not get sucked in by others to disclose too much private information.

2. Thou shalt have at least one face-to-face and one phone conversation per week.

3. Thou shalt not use performance-enhancing drugs (alcohol, Viagra, pot, etc.) before engaging with others online.

4. Thou shalt limit the number of social media accounts to 10,000.

5. Thou shalt abstain from inappropriate language, and use private channels to resolve conflicts.

6. Thou shalt not use more than 3 digital devices at a time while engaged in a face-to-face conversation.

7. Thou shalt practice talking without any lingo or acronyms for 10 minutes each day.

8. Thou shalt come up with at least one original thought per day.

9. Thou shalt maintain personal hygiene during 36 hour online marathons.

10. Thou shalt not threaten your service provider with anthrax during an Internet service interruption.

11. Thou shalt not pretend to be a guru, when in reality thou art a fool on the hill.

12. Thou shalt not be afraid to talk about being in jail – if thou are serving a lifetime sentence without parole.

13. Thou shalt not use thy dog’s or child’s name as a password.

14. Thou shalt not pretend to be someone else – unless thou absolutely must spy on their kids.

15. Thou that hath a thick accent shalt not become a podcaster.

16. Thou shalt not get a Second Life before a first one,

17. Thou shalt not speak up unless thou understands the language and conventions of the community thou hath joined.

18. Thou shalt not send every single email from thy iPhone or Blackberry.

19. Thou shalt be prepared to answer questions about those online pictures of thou downing shots in thy underwear, during your next job interview.

20. Thou shalt not live with thy head completely in the clouds.

Bonus commandment:
Thou shalt accept that if thou art an online pedophile, thou shalt rot in a dark non-digital hellhole. All pleas for forgiveness and redemption shall be summarily rejected.

Let’s hope you haven’t broken too many of them, yet.

Confessions will be heard at your next local Tweetup.

Posted in Hot at the Bakery, This n That | 3591 Comment »http://www.conceptbakery.com/blog/2009/02/20/20-no-brainer-commandments-of-social-media/20+no-brainer+commandments+of+social+media2009-02-20+20%3A58%3A55Klaus+Holzapfel

How long to do you whine when you accidentally erased your work?

Yesterday, I lost an entire blog post that was finished and ready to go. The fault was mine completely. No one else is to blame. Blaming someone else is rarely an option since I switched to a Mac ;-)

I usually type in TextEdit, the basic Mac editor. I simply open up a new window and type away. I finished my post, and then added something of lesser importance above it. Later, I closed the window without ever saving the file -completely forgetting that my article was in the same document.

This is the fast & easy way to lose what you created.

So, please save your file before you close the window. Otherwise you’ll lose your work, and it won’t even show up in your trash bin.

But that’s not why I am writing this. I’m writing to talk about what happens after you lose your work.

What can you do when you lose a file?

• You can do some online research on how to recover it. I spent 10 minutes to find out that I was out of luck. My article was gone. Time well spent.
• You can talk to someone and vent. The someone will probably commiserate with you (out of courtesy). Unfortunately, my usual suspects weren’t around, and. I am also a little too seasoned to find anyone on this planet who would feel sorry for me.
• You can whine a little by yourself. Not too much fun, but I couldn’t resist and whined for about 60 seconds. No tears – just a few inhales and 2-3 “OM’s”.

We could easily go on for 15-30 minutes, but let’s look at this another way. What if losing my work was a good thing?

What?
Think about it.

• When you have to recreate a document, does it take less time to write than the original?
• Is the recreated document often better than the original?

That’s what happened to me. I ended up with a better post and it took me only 15 minutes, versus one hour for the original. My thoughts were better organized, and because I didn’t want to type it again, I removed all of the unnecessary information.

Maybe I should delete all my posts and rewrite them before publishing.

Yet, why create more work for myself?
I’ll save this one.

Posted in This n That | 3544 Comments »http://www.conceptbakery.com/blog/2009/02/10/how-long-to-do-you-whine-when-you-accidentally-erased-your-work/How+long+to+do+you+whine+when+you+accidentally+erased+your+work%3F2009-02-10+14%3A59%3A35Klaus+Holzapfel

Where do you get your news from?

Blogs and micro-blogs have greatly enhanced my communication: I can reach out, I can share, comment, learn etc.

Here is what they can’t do:

They will not replace papers and magazines as my #1 resource of information.

Why?
Comparing a leading paper and news blog might explain where I am coming from:

Look and feel
The Huffington post and NYT and they simple don’t match up. One is a blog (and looks like a blog) – the other is an online paper (at least for me) with social media features. But it still resembles the look and feel of a paper. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in This n That | 3507 Comments »http://www.conceptbakery.com/blog/2009/02/09/where-do-you-get-your-news-from/Where+do+you+get+your+news+from%3F2009-02-09+19%3A02%3A39Klaus+Holzapfel

Brainstorming for a better Twitter

Twitter could use a little makeover. The objective of this post is to initiate a discussion and come up with a list of suggestions for Twitter on how to improve. I  met Twitter co-founder Biz Stone personally. He appeared to be very humble and is a good listener. Why not give it a shot?

Brief History
Twitter has changed its order of displaying followers a few months ago. The latest followers are now shown on top. This makes it very easy to follow a person who aggressively adds new (auto) followers and build a big number of followers for themselves. Many people have issues with this and call it spamming.

Instead of complaining about the status quo I’d much rather look ahead and address some things that could easily be improved – without making Twitter too complex and all of us ending up with the almost permanent “fail whale” again:

1. Freeze Twitter names once a user is past 500 followers
It is easy to change a Twitter username and keep your followers. You essentially hire some kids in India and build an account with 100,000 followers in a month or two. You could then sell this account to someone else who can stick their own name on it. I am surprised this service isn’t available yet – maybe it already is? Please do NOT run to the USPTO with this. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in This n That | 3448 Comments »http://www.conceptbakery.com/blog/2009/01/28/brainstorming-for-a-better-twitter/Brainstorming+for+a+better+Twitter2009-01-28+17%3A03%3A50Klaus+Holzapfel

The beginning of a new era for marketers?

President Obama called on Americans to confront “our collective failure to make hard choices.”

How does this apply to us?
This country could change quite fundamentally with the new administration. The President called the Americans to action. Many people that enthusiastically supported his election took on a liability and won’t pull back now from their end of the deal.

His election came with a little homework for all of us: Increased focus on the common good.

We went through a phase of selfishness unlike anything we have seen in recent history. Many of us (Investors, CEO’s, government + plenty others), chose to ignore the signs at the wall and rather took our piece from a poisoned cake.

The big underlying theme was to serve your own interests first.

The new administration tells us (and will tell us again and again) to shift focus on the common good. As a consequence, some of us will begin to look out for each other in new ways. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in This n That | 33721 Comments »http://www.conceptbakery.com/blog/2009/01/21/the-beginning-of-a-new-era-for-marketers/The+beginning+of+a+new+era+for+marketers%3F2009-01-21+13%3A49%3A22Klaus+Holzapfel

TÜV Rheinland – using social media to reach out to car tuners

I’d like to share some background information on a social media project we  are currently working on.

The purpose is not so much to toot our own horn but to give you something you might be able to take to your clients or even implement yourself.

It might be worth reading on unless you constantly run social media campaigns yourself that are leaving your customer and their clients 100% satisfied.

BACKGROUND
One of our long-standing clients is the TÜV Rheinland. They provide technical certifications for a vast array of technical devices and operate in over 60 countries.

They are also responsible for the technical inspections for cars in Germany. Germany has very demanding security standards for cars. Cars are being inspected thoroughly every 1 or 2 years. Any modifications to a car in Germany can very quickly render it illegal to drive.

Therefore the car tuning freaks and the TÜV traditionally have a rather “challenging” relationship. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Digital Marketing, Hot at the Bakery | 3114 Comments »http://www.conceptbakery.com/blog/2009/01/16/introducing-tuv-rheinland-on-facebook-twitter-youtube-and-flickr/T%C3%9CV+Rheinland+-+using+social+media+to+reach+out+to+car+tuners2009-01-16+13%3A18%3A57Klaus+Holzapfel

You really don’t need my new years resolutions

I won’t spill my new years resolutions over you but I’ll share this much with you:

I was (and am) very passionate about our political and economical debate. Due to a lack of self discipline that spilled over into this blog. That will stop in 2009 and I will stay closer to the roots and the purpose of this blog – to inform you about current developments in my core fields of expertise: Non-traditional marketing, trends to reach out to a target audience, web video developments including production and distribution. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Hot at the Bakery | 3032 Comments »http://www.conceptbakery.com/blog/2009/01/04/you-really-dont-need-my-new-years-resolutions/You+really+don%27t+need+my+new+years+resolutions2009-01-04+16%3A25%3A03Klaus+Holzapfel