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Fire & Rescue NSW Honours Everyday Heroes On Digital Statue

August 29, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Fire & Rescue NSW - Be Super OrdinaryFire & Rescue NSW has partnered with Insurance Company GIO to launch a new campaign on the FRNSW Facebook page as part of their 2011 Winter (yes, it is winter down under) Fire Safety strategy.

Members of the public who take part in the eight question Home Fire Safety Audit can have their picture projected on the face of a 3 metre fireman statue that will appear in several places around Sydney.

People who complete the audit will be receive a notice when and where their face will appear.  Along with the honour of appearing on the statue, people receive a list of practical fire safety tips as well as a reminder in 12 months to take the audit again.

I was quite surprised that the audit evaluated me as a ‘High Fire Safety Risk’, so looks like I have some work to do.

My top 3 recommended action items are:

  • Testing and cleaning my smoke alarm
  • Not to leave my dryer unintended, clean the lint, etc.
  • Clean the filters in my bathroom and kitchen exhaust fans
The campaign is supported by banner ads and eDMs, and will run to September 15 with a goal of 15,000 fire safety audits. The campaign was created by Sydney agency MercerBell.
Filed Under: Advertising & Marketing, Experiential, Non Profit, Social Media Tagged With: , , , , ,

Orangina Application Finds Your Original Facebook Friends

August 27, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Orangina Facebook Originals75 years ago, Orangina, the French citrus beverage made from orange, lemon, mandarin and grapefruit juice first went public as Naranjina at the 1936 Marseille Trade Fair. Now the drink and it’s familiar teardrop-shaped bottle are owned by Dr Pepper Snapple Group a spin-off of Cadbury Schweppes’ former North American soft drinks business.

To celebrate it’s 75th anniversary, Orangina has created the ‘Show Your Originals‘ a Facebook application that lets you look back at a list of the 10 Original Facebook friends who provided your first likes, posts and comments. You can then save the image to your photo album and even tag your friends.

After liking the page, a user clicks the ‘Start’ button to start looking back in time to the launch of Facebook in February 2004 when the social media site was launched to schools, then forward to the first interactions on your profile by friends. This part had me scratching my head a bit, the first 10 likes, posts and comments it displayed for me start on May 29, 2007 and finish on June 1, 2008. I’m pretty sure I had more than just those ten interactions that entire year. I’m wondering if the interactions selected have something to do with who has their profiles set to ‘open’. Try it out and let me know how it works out for you.

To create the Show Your Originals campaign, Orangina teamed up with KONG Amsterdam, Refunk and Super Social.

Filed Under: Advertising & Marketing, Social Media Tagged With: ,

Kraft Macaroni & Cheese Brand Asks Fans to Tag Links with a Smile

August 26, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Kraft Macaroni & Cheese - Smile TaggingThis summer Kraft Macaroni & Cheese wants to know what internet sites make America smile. They’ve created an innovative ‘Smile Tagging’ application to their Facebook Page.

Fans simply drag the ‘Smile Tagging Button’ to their browser’s toolbar. As they come across internet content that makes them smile, they click the button to share the content on the Kraft Macaroni & Cheese Facebook page, along with a image of their own smile captured from their webcam.

Fans also categorize whether the link is Amazing, Funny, Cute or Weird. The links are also shared to the user’s Facebook wall, anyone who clicks the link is taken directly to the page the user shared.

Some sites, such as I Can Haz Cheezburger, Fail Blog and The Daily What are including a Smile Tag right on their sites.

The campaign is the latest in a series of social media campaigns created by Kraft’s agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky.

Filed Under: Advertising & Marketing, Social Media Tagged With: , , , ,

National Geographic Launches Remember 911 on Facebook

August 8, 2011 by Leave a Comment

National Geographic Channel - Remembering 9/11For those of us here in the North America there have been few events in the past few decades that have affected our lives as much as the events that occurred on September 11, 2001. In a little over a month it will have been 10 years and we will again remember exactly where we were that September morning.

The National Geographic Channel has launched a special Facebook application to collect the stories of what people were doing that day. Right now there are 338 stories from people as far away as Australia and those who were only a few blocks away from the three sites.

Where was I on September 11, 2001

I had been working at home in Port Credit that day on some freelance web design work with several companies in Manhattan. I was eating breakfast and had heard that a small plane had struck one of the World Trade Center towers. It soon became evident that it was actually more serious than anyone thought as a second plane had struck the tower while I watched. The next few hours were a blur as a plane hit the Pentagon, another plane crashed in rural Pennsylvania and then the collapse of the two towers.

While I did not know any of the people who lost their lives that day, the horror of the events of that day will never leave my mind. It’s amazing to consider how the events of that day changed our lives. From simple things like not being able to fly with fingernail clippers to terrorist bombings in Europe to the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Where were you when you first heard about the events of September 11? It’s interesting the memories of people who were still in school at the time. Check out their stories on the Remember Nine Eleven Facebook application.

The site was produced by Neo Pangia, who have produced several other projects for National Geographic in the past.

Filed Under: Digital Culture, Social Media Tagged With: , ,

UK Car Fans Play Hide and Seek to Win a New Citroën DS4

July 28, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Citroen DS4 SeekersCitroën UK has launched DS4 Seekers, a new mobile and online multi-player game designed to promote the sporty new Citroen DS4.

Each day for 10 days starting July 19, registered players were given a virtual DS4 to hide somewhere on the streets and roadways around the UK. The players use the DS4 Seekers app and web interface to both hide and find the hidden DS4s on Google Maps or a Street View of their area. Points are earned for both hiding and finding cars, with each point giving the player an entry into the draw for a real-life Citroën DS4.

I’m curious to see what the online and mobile game interface actually looks like. It’s not clear from the promotional video above exactly how the game play actually works.

The campaign was created and produced by OMD and Candyspace Media. For more information check out the Citroën UK Facebook page.

Filed Under: Advertising & Marketing, Gaming, Mobile Tagged With: , ,

Immortalize Yourself & Your Friends in a Clip from True Blood

June 25, 2011 by Leave a Comment

True BloodYou think there would be no room for more creepiness in Bon Temps where fairies, shapeshifters, werewolves and of course vampires all battle for attention. Now with Season Four of HBO’s True Blood ready to get started this weekend, the word around the backroads of Louisiana is that a coven of witches are joining in on the fun.

Before all the onscreen craziness rolling again why not take a few minutes to Immortalize yourself and your friends in a clip from True Blood. The Facebook application grabs photos and information from your profile in a story that begins with Eric and Pam choosing a new dancer at Fangtasia. You’ll notice amongst the applicants the names and faces of a few of your friends. Watch my True Blood clip here.

Season 4 of True Blood premieres June 26 at 9PM on HBO.

Filed Under: Television Tagged With: ,

Race Your MINI on Streets All Over the World

June 22, 2011 by Leave a Comment

When creating any branded game, it’s important to provide an experience that immediately engages the user. The MINImaps Facebook Application does a great job by allowing users to drive their personalized MINI on a Google Map anywhere in the world.

MINImapsSo where did I take my MINI first? Paris, Tokyo, London? No, no and no. I dropped my mini in the middle of Mississauga and drove it home to my building. Boring choice maybe, but the game had me imagine driving a MINI around on the streets I see everyday.

The application allows you to create a race track anywhere in the world and race your MINI on it. The tracks can then be saved and shared with your friends or made available for anyone to race on. Each track even has its own leaderboard.

While the keyboard controls are clunky and the car very hard to control, I was having a ball driving the MINI around familiar roads in Ontario and Nova Scotia.

The game was developed by DDB Paris and built by Unit9.

This is not the first time that Google Maps have been used as the source for a driving games, including the A-Team Drive the Van and Vodofone’s Hometown GP.

Filed Under: Advertising & Marketing, Gaming Tagged With: , ,

High-Speed Tweets: IndyCar Series Drivers & Social Media

June 5, 2011 by Leave a Comment

The IndyCar series is definitely drawing more interest these days. The incredible finish at the Indianapolis 500 that saw Dan Wheldon take the win after a crash by JR Hildebrand in the last corner was discussed online and off.

IndyCar drivers have embraced social media platforms to express themselves and stay connected to their fans. Below Ryan Briscoe discusses how he uses social media to stay connected with fans and provide them with a behind-the-scenes look on the track and off.

The following is a list of their official websites, Facebook and Twitter profiles, and in some cases YouTube channels and Flickr photostreams.

Drivers

If you have any additions or corrections, please let me know.

Filed Under: Social Media, Sports Tagged With: , , , ,

Who Leads? Who Follows? NASCAR drivers on Twitter & Facebook

May 29, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Which NASCAR driver is the most popular on Twitter & Facebook?
We’re well into the 2011 NASCAR season and for now at least, infamous backflipper Carl Edwards sits on top of the points leading into tonight’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte. I thought it would be interesting to see which Sprint Cup driver has the most popular accounts on Twitter and Facebook.

When comparing any social media accounts of celebrities or sports figures, you first have to realize it’s a little like comparing apples and oranges. Not all accounts were started at the same time. Some are maintained by the drivers themselves, others by members by their teams or PR agencies. Some driver’s also have a fragmented presence between personal sites and sites for their foundations or personal racing teams.

NASCAR does maintain a highly sophisticated site with driver profiles but has little official presence on the individual sites and social media profiles of them. This is in stark contrast to the carefully choreographed post race show where driver’s don their sunglasses, caps and take that all important drink with their sponsor’s logo facing the camera.

Without a doubt Dale Earnhardt Jr. is NASCAR’s most popular driver and he’s tops the Facebook list over five-time champion Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon.

On Twitter (Dale Jr. doesn’t tweet) the outspoken Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya leads by a huge margin (probably leveraging his international appeal) over the equally outspoken Kevin Harvick and Kasey Kahne. These three driver’s are obviously tweeting through their own accounts and responding to fans questions and comments.

Most Liked Facebook Pages

  1. Dale Earnhardt Jr – 989,093
  2. Jimmie Johnson – 521,000
  3. Jeff Gordon – 327,099
  4. Tony Stewart – 309,360
  5. Carl Edwards – 162,194
  6. Kasey Kahne – 104,865
  7. Ryan Newman – 90,626
  8. Kyle Busch – 70,662
  9. Juan Montoya – 58,463
  10. Denny Hamlin – 48,274

Most Followed Twitter Profiles

  1. Juan Montoya – 326,786
  2. Kevin Harvick – 85,432
  3. Kasey Kahne – 68,635
  4. Kyle Busch – 64,669
  5. Jeff Gordon – 63,226
  6. Denny Hamlin – 63,161
  7. Trevor Bayne – 34,924
  8. Jimmie Johnson – 43,556
  9. Ryan Newman – 40,691
  10. Jamie McMurray – 40,241

And what the heck, who had Klout?

  1. Kevin Harvick – 75
  2. Jimmie Johnson – 75
  3. Jeff Gordon – 74
  4. Kyle Busch – 70
  5. Juan Montoya – 68
  6. Kasey Kahne – 68
  7. Trevor Bayne – 68
  8. Brad Keselowski – 68
  9. Denny Hamlin – 66
  10. Regan Smith – 64

Twitter & Facebook figures collected May 29, 2011 12noon EST

It was difficult in some cases to find the official accounts of some drivers. If I have missed someone please let me know and I will correct the list if needed.

Filed Under: Social Media, Sports Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Deftones Engage Fan Base With Instagram Contest

May 22, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Deftones Instagram ContestSacramento hard-rock band the Deftones have been early-adopters of internet technology to stay connected to their fans and it’s paid off. While other rock bands of the late 90s and early 00s have faded from relevance and any measure of success, the Deftones have continued to release new material to a vibrant and eager fan base.

The latest tool the band interactive arsenal is the iPhone photo sharing app Instagram, where they already have over 9300 followers. During their current North American tour they are asking fans to post and tag (#deftones #cityofconcert) the best photos from each tour stop. Each day one photo will be named the “Fan Instagr.am of the day and will be featured on the Deftones Facebook wall. At the end of the tour all featured photos will be entered in a draw for a grand prize of an ESP guitar and 5 runner up prizes of a signed copy of their 1997 breakthrough album ‘Around the Fur’.

Their website features a long-running Community area which was first established in 2000 with DeftonesWorld, over the years an area for fan posts and the Sharing Lungs forum were added.

The band has a solid and established presence across all the major social networks: their YouTube channel has 36,390 subscribers and millions of views, their MySpace page has 615,533 friends, the Deftones iLike profile shows 423,112 friends, on Twitter they tweet to 84,904 followers, and biggest of all, the Facebook fan page with 1,385,723 Likes.

Bands, like any company or organization cannot be complacent about staying engaged with their fans. They can no longer afford to wait on the chance of one big hit album, instead they must rely on maintaining a loyal fanbase with a long term vision. This is something than bands like the Deftones understand and remain focussed on.

‘You’ve Seen the Butcher’ from Deftones 2010 album ‘Diamond Eyes’.

Filed Under: Music, Social Media, Technology Tagged With: , , ,