Are you a social gamer? I’m not, but every time I’m on Facebook, someone is pinging me about a Mafia game or Farmville. Social gaming is a new religion and Zynga is the preacher. The statistics are pretty incredible, with over $1 Billion in revenues expected from social gaming and approximately 55% of social gamers being women.

McDonald’s digital marketing team is paying attention. They teamed up with Zynga to create a branded farm for the day and like all first movers, they have garnered some great press and reviews.

Related articles

• Old McDonald’s Has a New FarmVille Deal With Zynga (nytimes.com)
• Old McDonald’s has a new FarmVille deal with Zynga (venturebeat.com)
• The Tense ‘Friendship’ Between Facebook and Zynga (newsweek.com)

I was on the PSFK site reading a great post from a beautiful brand strategist.

What was the post about you ask?

Remember those singing telegrams?

Neither do I, but your parents might.

Well, the day of the singing telegram has been twitterized, courtesy of Orange. That’s right…modern technology has evolved and now your tweets can be turned into songs.

According to the Orange site, here is what you have to do:

Here’s a snapshot of the site:

This great idea and site was put together by the Poke London group. They’re same crew that brought you Youtique….those guys are busy being disruptive.

How long have brands been trying to figure out how to use YouTube to build their brand or drive sales? 

I would say since inception, and there are very few who have done it well. So, when I saw the Adverblog post on the new YouTube channel by French Connection, I had to investigate for myself. The channel is called Youtique, and it is an amazing step forward in using YouTube to drive sales, interact with consumers and build the brand.

Designed by Poke London, Youtique uses the YouTube pop-up buttons to create an incredible experience for the consumer. In just a few clicks, Youtique lets buyers decide an ensemble and buy it. Here is a screenshot giving you a glimpse:

As you can see, you can change looks on a whim or buy an outfit with the click of a button.

How did they pull this off? Why hasn’t anyone else? As Fast Company points out in their post:

“Though the pop-ups traditionally only link to other YouTube videos, FCUK has made an arrangement with YouTube to allow certain buttons to lead directly to the FCUK site. After FCUK’s stylist Louise Roe makes a case for buying a sequined top or a gold-tone pendant necklace, the video presents a model who stands and sways for several seconds wearing the outfit in question. Her different items of clothing become annotated with a “buy” button that the viewer can click to be taken directly to the FCUK page selling the item in question.”

YouTube as a direct sales channel has just been officially launched…I can’t wait to see what’s next. 

I actually found this on icanhasinternets.com and not Rolling Stone. Nonetheless, I love it…mainly, because I love music.

Having worked around musicians and DJs, there is a definite attitude musicians have towards the music labels… and over the past few years, it hasn’t gotten any better.

The thing is, when you’re antiquated you have two choices – innovate or ride it out to the end. The music industry opted for the latter and it has made all the difference in the world.

I suppose it’s to be expected. These labels are not made up of passionate musicians who had business savvy and did it for the love of music. The music labels that make the industry are corporations with their passion and duty devoted to money. They are the BPs and GEs of the music space – they file a 10K, report to shareholders and look at artists for ROI.

So…when the internet came along, instead of embracing the new, they opted to sue.

Napster caught them off guard and instead of looking at Napster as music lovers sharing tracks and their love of music…they looked at them as common day thieves, stealing their product off the shelves.

And why not?

The music industry was built on organizing these artists, marketing them and distributing TANGIBLE products for a profit.

They look at music as a product, a TANGIBLE item. It is was packaged in a case, wrapped in plastic and even had a bar code. You can could hold it, feel it and profit from it.

We the music lovers look at music as love, heartache, sorrow and every emotion evoked with the sound of a voice, a guitar, a beat…it is INTANGIBLE to us. We connect with the artist through the song – we fall in love, say goodbye and dance our first dance as a married couple to music. It DEFINES us and our memories in so many ways.

The internet allowed us to share music and our passions in ways we had never dreamed of. We were sharing our libraries, our most intimate moments with each other via music….

You already know the outcome of the music label’s war against the internet. Their penchant for slapping lawsuits against music lovers, shutting down peer to peer companies and locking down everything digital did something else…it locked out those lovers of music.

The people who built their mansions were now looked upon as the enemy…and it tore apart the industry.

When you are no longer worried about taking care of the customer…

When you are not worried about fulfilling a need of man…

When you no longer care about the quality of your product…

YOU ARE AS GOOD AS DEAD.

For now, the labels will continue to worry about getting other pieces of the artist – percentages of merchandise sales, ticket sales and any type of ventures into other industries…such as consumer electronics.

Thom Yorke may not be correct about his prediction of the music industry collapse within months, but he is correct in seeing a major change taking place.

Whatever the outcome, as Rolling Stone points out…the industry brought it upon itself.

Technorati Tags: rolling stone, thank you to record execs, music industry, thom yorke, thom yorke music, thom yorke labels, music labels, artists, dj, djs, music industry collapse, icanhasinternets, music, emotion, musicians, record labels

Do you remember the Nike Women’s Ad back in 2005 that began MY BUTT IS BIG?
It was a good ad, focusing on the beauty of the rump and helping women with them to OWN it. In case you missed it, here it is again…

I liked it then because it celebrated the real woman…not the one on the magazine cover. Plus, it fits Nike. Nike is athletic apparel with a tag line that says it all – JUST DO IT. With the 2010 version of this ad, they updated the photo to include the entire model and kept the copy the same…

I like these ads. I like any ads that remind women they are beautiful, no matter their size, shape or color. I have a niece and remind her of her beauty on a regular basis. Soon, she’ll be bombarded with videos, billboards, magazines and more which create the illusion of beauty.

That’s all it is, an illusion – an illusion which was eloquently displayed in a Dove ad titled EVOLUTION from a few years back.

Here it is for your enjoyment:

Dove – Evolution Commercial (higher quality)

Nike Ad linked from WeAllScheme.comTechnorati Tags: my butt is big, my butt is big ad, big butt ad, nike women, nike womens ad, nike my butt is big, dove evolution

It may not be a 5.1 surround sound system, but if you’re like me, having music wherever you go is essential. With the Rock-It Speaker System by OrigAudio, you can turn any surface into a speaker. They call it a vibration speaker system – I call it badass. I love this demo video where you can see everything from a picture frame to a Kleenex box transformed from the ordinary into a home speaker.

Meet Rock-It

Plus, when you check out their site, you’ll see they were named one of Time Magazine’s 50 Best Inventions of 2009. They may not be making audiophile sound systems, but these are a music lover’s dream. Check out the HighT3ch post here.
Technorati Tags: rock-it, speaker, origaudio, time magazine, vibration speakers

What is a Browser?

I am working with some students right now, teaching them about marketing…most importantly, marketing messaging. One of the key things to understand is that not everyone knows what you do – does that make sense?

Let’s break this down into a quick example:

My friend Bret is an amazing hockey player. In fact, he played for the NHL and for the US Olympic Team.

I know very, very little about hockey. So, when I watched a hockey match with Bret, he was throwing out strategies, past games and terms that made absolutely no sense to me.

What he thought was common knowledge was not so common to me.

You see, we can’t know everything about everything. We garner knowledge through education and experiences. Everybody is different.

So, when you are launching a new product or service, it’s always smart to gauge your customer’s knowledge. The video above clearly illustrates the importance of real market research. When Scott from Google asked 50 random people in New York, “What is a browser?” – what he found was nothing less than amazing. Watch and learn from this video.

What would your find if you asked 50 random people “What is a “x”?” OR “What is your favorite “x” service?”

Technorati Tags: google, google chrome, browser, what is a browser, market research, how to conduct market research, market research video

What is a Browser?

I am working with some students right now, teaching them about marketing…most importantly, marketing messaging. One of the key things to understand is that not everyone knows what you do – does that make sense?

Let’s break this down into a quick example:

My friend Bret is an amazing hockey player. In fact, he played for the NHL and for the US Olympic Team.

I know very, very little about hockey. So, when I watched a hockey match with Bret, he was throwing out strategies, past games and terms that made absolutely no sense to me.

What he thought was common knowledge was not so common to me.

You see, we can’t know everything about everything. We garner knowledge through education and experiences. Everybody is different.

So, when you are launching a new product or service, it’s always smart to gauge your customer’s knowledge. The video above clearly illustrates the importance of real market research. When Scott from Google asked 50 random people in New York, “What is a browser?” – what he found was nothing less than amazing. Watch and learn from this video.

What would your find if you asked 50 random people “What is a “x”?” OR “What is your favorite “x” service?”

Technorati Tags: google, google chrome, browser, what is a browser, market research, how to conduct market research, market research video

Technorati Tags: wil it blend, blendtec, iphone 3, iphone 4, you tube, tom dickson, blend my phone, social media, social media success, social media video, video strategy, b.l. ochman