Adland Upstart

Well, we’ve had a bit of a hiatus lately but I’ve finished my travels and am back on board. What you may not know though, is that there have been some pretty major changes, which have happened. Not only did I finish up at LOUD Sydney, but I kept my bags packed and headed to Singapore to start at BBH to become their new Engagement Planner. If you are interested in hearing more about the move, check out my warts and all accounts at lincutripping.wordpress.com.

But back to the internetz.

ESPN-ville Facebook game gains 350K users in 2 weeks 

A social game for sports fans, the ESPN game takes a Farmville style approach to make gamers run their own sports bar filled with sports paraphernalia and TVs streaming sports games. The games also allow you check out real time scores and listen to ESPN radio. But where this game is sure to really come into its own is the inevitable (at least I hope they are heading this way) opportunity to combine the real world with the gaming world by allowing users to stream live sports matches from within the game. 

Gaining 350,000 users in just 2 weeks, this will be a game with enormous potential.

Instagram reaches 150 million photos

Instagram is the iPhone darling of recent times and the latest round of stats sees no slowing of its popularity. Instagram, the photo sharing app available only on iOS, has announced that they have had 150 million images shared through the app at a rate of 15 per second. But the really interesting fact is that 80% of these photos have used filters. So what does that say about us?

Hierarchy of digital distractions

Another great infographic from Information is Beautiful.

       Urging people to line up with the various iconic London images when they are taking their photos of the famous intersection, this to me, it's a perfect example of digital media. It gives people something they can interact with. It gives people a "I'm in London" moment they can share with their friends. And all the while sending the Maccas's  'M' worldwide.

What I think they do really well though, is the fact that they offer instructions at the beginning. Too often advertisers assume people will know what to do with their ads - it's good to see people getting a bit of help now.

Need a product shot to appease the client? Even some overt pics of burgers and fries are welcomed because they have earned the right after giving so many other shots.

But I'll be back. Stay tuned.

Twitter to launch brand pages (rumour)

Yes, word on the grapevine is that Twitter is set to launch brand pages similar to Facebook’s pages to allow brands more space to communicate with followers. If this is in fact true, this will be a major change to Twitter and something which will either make it or break it. My prediction – it will break it. We already have FB so we don’t need a copycat. Stay true, Twitter. Stay true.  

Angry Birds Rio

Are you an Angry Birds addict? How would you feel if you could play it guilt free for your client? This is how the promoters of the new movie, Rio, feel right now. Actually, not only are they probably guilt-free, but are probably high-fiving their way to the bank as their partnership with Angry Birds has given them 10 million downloads in 10 days. At $AU1.19 per download, that’s $11.9 million from a promotion. Win.

So what other apps are you obsessed with and how could you make them work for your clients?

Facebook for mobile

With over 250 million users logging into Facebook from their mobiles, it makes sense to have as much functionality as possible without impacting on usability. Facebook feel pretty confident that they can squeeze some more function into their mobile apps (let’s face it, there wasn’t that much to begin with so it was a fairly safe bet) and have launched maps, unfriending and most importantly, the ability to check-in to events, not just locations.

To be able to check-in to an event you have to be invited and RSVP’d “yes” to attending. Your location also has to match the location of the listed event venue, and it has to be the correct time of the event. This will be an interesting addition to watch as it merges real life social with online social. Update your software on your phone to start checking in now.

Vice and WPP join forces

Google gets +1

In a direct move to combat Facebook’s “like” button, Google have introduced the “+1” button. The button will appear on articles, websites, etc for you to click and give your “public stamp of approval” towards. While I love the idea of “+1” as it taps into an already well-used terminology and acts as more of a indication of agreement, be it good or bad, rather than the positivity of a “like”, when I stop to think about it, the possibilities that come with this (if it takes off) are actually quite worrying. Let’s not beat around the bush here, Google already know everything about your internet habits. But what they don’t properly understand is the sentiment around your habits. By introducing this button, every time you click +1 Google will be able to build up a more accurate profile of you in order to better target ads and search results to you. More so though, this is actually a really smart move by Google. As the US prepares to introduce a “do not track” option for web browsing, Google will need other ways to play big brother...and this is it. Let’s just hope they remember their tagline is “don’t be evil”.

Get more info here:

  Facebook announces profiles can become pages

If you are one of the many confused brands out there that is struggling to manage a business page when people keep trying to friend your profile page instead, you’ll be happy to know some changes are coming. Profiles were set up to operate for people only, however as pages became more popular for brands, many companies were setting up profiles for their employees to work from to manage the brand. The double up of pages vs profiles confused users and many were friending and fanning both, resulting in information overload. Now businesses who have built up a big friend base don’t have to worry about losing them and can convert their profile into a page and administer the page via a business account. I’m still investigating whether profiles can be merged with existing pages – fingers crossed! Stay tuned.

Amazon Music and Cloud

Everyone likes a topical ad.

Ok, well this week is shaping up to be a bit of a Google edition, so forgive the apparent favouritism, it’s not intended but there has been some interesting things going on over there.

Google goes Gaga

In an interview dubbed “one of the most watchable pieces of tech-related content ever produced”, Lady Gaga popped into the Google offices for a 73 minute chat. Taking questions from fans via Twitter and YouTube, Gaga surprised and delighted throughout the live stream. Following the questions raised in last week’s Rebecca Black post about the validity of internet famous popstars, Gaga discussed how YouTube is in fact a “star marker” and Google’s role to help you find out more about your heroes once you know what you like. It’s not surprising that Gaga is one of the most searched stars/terms on Google, so there was actually a purpose to her making an appearance at the tech company. Check out the following video which sums up the impact of Gaga:

     or watch the full interview here:

Paid Search adds video

Just when you thought you were search experts (thanks to Dom), Google goes and upgrades it again. Just launched in the US is a new “Media Ads” format, which includes a small video that expands when clicked. Initially this will only be available for movies, but I’m sure it won’t be long until you see commercials or the next “viral” hit make an appearance too.

Google Analytics is getting a makeover

If you use Google Analytics, get ready for a new dashboard. It’s going to be more customisable and you can have multiple dashboards so if you have a few people looking at the same analytics account, you can set the various dashboards to suit the needs and priorities of each user.

And in non-Google news...

Crowdsourcing event of the week

Last week kicked off the beginning of LOUD's Revolution Sessions. Rather than just show advertising from around the world, I decided to try and inspire people to use their skills to help improve our community and perhaps even the world (yes, let's aim big). In short, it was Creativity for Good. The presentation is below.