MIA

Hi all,

Sorry, I will be MIA until further notice.

In theory, once I come back from 10 days of no internet/cell phone coverage I will continue the blog.

Not sure though.

Wishing you all a wonderful Christmas, New Year and all the best for 2010.

Ciao

Monica

Social Media Smarts

Here is a smart way to use Twitter.

Big well done to @saintclairwine for seeing an opportunity and jumping on it.

A little over a week ago I posted a blog about twt4turkey and how I didn't think they had handled the campaign on Twitter very well. You can read about it here but basically, I don't think they were organised enough before they started their campaign and then completely failed to communicate the issues, which annoyed me (and many others).

Anyway, so following my post, Saint Clair Wine sent me a tweet:

And what turned up:

It's not even the fact that the wine turned up that I would like to make a point of, it was that they saw an opportunity (I was not previously following Saint Clair, nor did I know about their wine) to turn what was a negative experience for me into a positive one AND at the same time get all the warm fuzzy positive associations for their brand.

Good on them. I think this is one of the absolute amazing opportunities that Twitter holds. It doesn't even have to be free stuff. Don't get me wrong, I love free stuff, but it just shows that if you are listening (read: reading) these conversations, it gives you an in.

Anyway, thanks heaps Saint Clair Wines. I shall share the bottle with the family on Christmas. (Might use the Super Liquor vouchers to buy up Saint Clair while I'm at it...)

Tis the season

To build a Christmas tree out of green bottles.

Stella Artois:

This one is NZ. (Image - obviously AdMedia)

And Heineken:
In Shanghai. (Image Source)

Right, Steinlarger? Rolling Rock? Becks? Peroni? Where are your Christmas Trees?

Who's singing 1,000 green bottles in their head?

CRAZYHORSES!

Here's a tasty pre-Christmas treat for you kids.

I'm finally starting to wind down, and this is the perfect for a pre-Christmas stress relief giggle. You might recognise the leader of the gang? Maybe?

I guess the question is: Do you want to be a part of New Zealand's newest, bestest gang?

I sure do, but I don't hate parking wardens, so I don't know how that is going to go down.

Check out the site here it is pretty freaking hilarious.

The videos are great, I have to say though, this one is my favourite so far.

Looking forward to more videos. So so good.

Sign up to the gang, go on. It's the best gang in Aotearoa.

twt4turkey - take 2

Look at what came in the mail.
So, I am happy that the vouchers finally came. That is awesome and I totally appreciate it. Thanks Super Liquor, $100 worth of booze is very generous of you and I am very happy that for some reason of another you decided to choose me to give me vouchers. That is ace.

At this point, I am also going to apologise. Sorry. While I would like nothing more than to be 100% positive right now, just not quite in my nature to not say what I think.

I personally think Super Liquor do have a couple of learnings they could take from this, but I'm not sure they have.

I understand the need to defend oneself when you have received some criticism, not sure that this is the way I would have gone, in such an immediate broadcast fashion.I get it, I was not polite, positive or particularly cheery about all of this, when I should be extremely grateful (I am - $100 of free booze - woo hoo) but I find it absolutely amazing that people are not learning from others mistakes.

If there were only 2 things that everyone should have taken away from the Cadbury debacle was that

1. If people are having a conversation about you in an open forum, it is better for you to be a part of the conversation.
2. If it seems like you've f*ed up. Apologise. We'll get over it.

Its been interesting watching the responses come through today. Lots of support in what a wrote, a number of people who are as frustrated about the situation as I was and a couple of people who disagree. I guess that's the nice thing about an open conversation, we're all entitled to have our own opinion.

I will absolutely put my hands up and admit that I have my back up now and am on the defense. I believe that what I wrote is fair and that I have some valid points in there. Comments such as the above make me feel like I am an arsehole, and surely that is not the desired outcome?

Hopefully it will make Super Liquor happy to know that I intend on using the vouchers to bring some Christmas cheer to other people, and not myself.

Twitter promotion FAIL

And now a lesson in how to NOT run a social marketing campaign.

By now a lot of you will know about the @twt4turkey competition/promotion that Super Liquor are running at the moment. This is their twitter page.

The first I heard about this was on Wednesday the 25th of November when this tweet came my way. Choice, I thought to myself. I could do with $100 worth of liquor in the lead up to Christmas. Ace. I also thought to myself, It's interesting that I am a 'winner' when I have not entered anything... Hmm, I thought, I smell a scam.

So, like my cynical self, I of course checked out their previous tweets. They started their account on the 23rd of November and I am not sure who they started with, but I am going to guess that they picked up someone's list(s) and just followed everyone on it.

Reading further I found this tweet:So, I find this curious. I wasn't following twt4turkey and I certainly had not retweeted any information. So how had I won? I'm not one to look a gift turkey in the mouth though, so I DM'ed for more details.

They asked that I sign up to their promo on a separate site and that they would send me a voucher. Easy. I can do that. So I did.

Bring on the booze!

Yeah, that was OVER 2 weeks ago.

I'm not being completely unfair on this one. I gave them a chance, after waiting for 2 weeks. In a really nice way too. Being that I use tweetdeck you have to read from the bottom up, sorry.See, nice. It can happen.

Now, telling me to stay tuned isn't going to do it for me to be honest. Tell me why I am waiting. Most of the time I am a reasonable person. I'm happy to listen at least. But 'stay tuned'?

As it turns out, I am not the only one who has been waiting... waiting... waiting...

Graeme from AdAgeBusiness has been waiting too. It would seem he has been much more studious than I when it comes to asking Super Liquor what the hold up is, however that part is his story to tell if he so chooses.

Crux of the matter is, when people have started to question Super Liquor as to where the vouchers are, they have said that there was a hold up with Tegal and the vouchers. One small problem there, I'm not waiting for a turkey. Surely Super Liquor have access to their own vouchers?

Graeme and I have even been putting the boot in a little over the last couple of days, in the hopes of eliciting some form of response from twt4turkey, but to no avail. This is a fail in itself.

Why are you not monitoring what is being said about your brand? Again - read from the bottom up kids.Right, general bitching done. Serious points now. How has this campaigned fallen flat - in my view:

• Don't expect your campaign to fly in 2 seconds, and when it doesn't, throw your rules out the window and just start throwing around prizes - it makes you look like a joke.
• If you are going to start in one place and ask your entrants to move to a new site, GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER and think about the information you need to know. When I was filling out the form on Super Liquor site I thought to myself, "hmm, I wonder why they are not asking for my Twitter user name?? How are they going to know who I am?" I am not so bad as I have my real name loaded against my account, but what about those who don't?
  
• Get your turkeys (I mean ducks) in a row before you commence a promotion. I know you're all excited about the wonderful world of Twitter but secure your prizes before hitting the market. This is just poor organisation.
• When you work out that there is an issue with supply prizes, FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS NOT CHRISTMAS (I'm not a Christmassy person) don't continue to give away things you don't have. Fail. Fail. Fail. Having been kept waiting, I thought, I wonder if they have said something in their Twitter feed and halted the promotion until whatever it is gets sorted? Nope. Still promising the world and delivering nothing.
• If you are going to keep a winner (this goes for customers too kids) waiting, keep them informed as to why. Don't, for any reason, let it get to the point where they are hunting you down for answers. Like I said before, on the whole people are reasonable. If you tell them what the issue is, they are much less likely to bitch about you in a public forum.
• If people start bitching about you in a public forum, RESPOND. Seriously, if you are in the space, why aren't you monitoring what people are saying about you? Be a part of the conversation, not the focus of it.
• Finally, if this has been a database building exercise, I would recommend not using said database in the near future, especially to those who you have kept waiting. They will not be happy about that at all (read: me)

As a tangent, I had an interesting conversation with someone who runs a restaurant a few months back about Twitter. I suggested that it would be a good place for them to be, however they were hesitant as they didn't want to have to give away free stuff. That was how they saw Twitter, as a mechanism for businesses to 'win' friends by giving things away for free. I just don't believe this to be true.

In my view, the really wonderful thing about Twitter is that it gives you the opportunity to engage with businesses on a level that you generally wouldn't. That of course depends completely on who is running the account, however there are a number of businesses who give nothing away, but I follow them because I am interested in the company/brand and what they have to say.

Super Liquor, if I were you, I would have come into the Twittersphere a few months back, put your toes in the water and started a few conversations. By jumping straight in, sure you've made a splash, but perhaps its a little colder than you anticipated?

Right, slight edit... I just found this:

Now, I don't meant to sound like a bitch, but seriously, who do you think is on their Twitter feed at 6.34pm on a Friday night this close to Christmas? Seriously. While I am glad that they have, finally, said something, in my opinion they have not timed it well, and they are still asking their 'winners'/potential customers/customers to look for this information. It shouldn't (if they are organised) take too long to @ reply those who have been waiting some time for their vouchers.

Will be interested to see if/when this voucher turns up...

Floor Decals

I am venturing into my first foray of floor decals this month. It's quite exciting.

You know how once you have bought something (esp. when it comes to new cars) you suddenly see them everywhere? Well, that's now happening to me with floor decals. Ok, maybe not everywhere, but they were in Wanganui Countdown... Who would have thought??

At any rate, when it comes to FMCG products, floor decals in a supermarket = perfect!

Hmm, booze... What kind of booze do I feel like today? Coupled with a special - this would be super smart.Same with beauty products, to be honest, it took me a minute to find the related product, but it made me look for it.
And Loreal, wanna talk to woman about wrinkles, spell it out in big letters on the floor! Great times.
Floor decals. Big thumbs up from me!

World Vision take 2

So, last week maybe I blogged about the World Vision ad at the top of Stuff and complained that I couldn't read it and that it was ugly. This was all true.

What I didn't notice was the integration that World Vision has worked into the Stuff site. Well done that person. It is really nicely done and not at all in your face. Good times.

So, below is a shot of the homepage, note the black thing in the top right corner, below that, in the space where Stuff promote blogs or places pull quotes, they have a promo for do-gooder Nathan King - talking about World Vision. Click on through and they have their own space under 'World' with a spanky wallpaper to match.
It's been very nicely executed (this integration part of the offering, not the black rectangle in the top right) and is not an in your face promotion. You will only click on it if it interests you.

Shows what you can find when you click on through. One day I will take my own advice.

An open letter...

May or may not have said some of this before.

OK, so, I really love the fact that people enjoy reading what I write and what I have to say. I love the fact that people share what I have to say with others in the industry. Thanks. Really, thanks. If you think that something I have to say is worth sharing, I really appreciate it. Honestly. You guys, rock my world.

Here is what I have to say however. If you have something to say about what I write, then man the F up and comment. Seriously. I don't need to hear that you have any form of an issue about what I write from a 3rd or 4th party. Deal with it. I've already said it, but I'm not about to go back on MY OPINION unless someone gives me facts and figures to say otherwise. If you have an issue then comment on the blog, OR talk to me (FYI - I'd appreciate it if it was outside work hours, because that's when I write the majority of this content).

I'm not going to apologise for voicing my opinion. At the end of the day I'M NOT A SHEEP and I am not going to buy into whatever you're selling if it is not well executed.

Thanks.

Yours truly,
Monica.

Please don't make me click more than I need to

Isn't there research somewhere that says you lose 30% of your audience each time you make them click? Or is that one of those random stats that people who are trying to sound like they know what they're talking about fling out there in the hopes no one questions them? Maybe it's proven, I don't know. At any rate, I honestly thought that the last advertiser that would make me click more times than I need to would be Trade Me. Yet:
Here's a close up for you:I click on Boyfriend and I get taken to:
Which makes me click again on 'Gifts for your husband or boyfriend' and then I get taken to this:
Why not take me to this page directly? You're not advertising on these pages, so all that you're doing is hiking impressions and annoying me. Doesn't make sense to me, maybe there is a perfectly valid reason for it though?