You'll Never Win

Okay, the last of my #firstworldrants. For a while.

If someone writes a post about you or flames you in a comment, don't reply. Don't add fuel to the fire in an attempt to explain yourself or start an argument.

It's like playing in a game of women's hockey. You might win, but at the end of the day you're not really a winner, are you?

It doesn't look good.

If you can't post your response in a witty comment that is no more than two sentences, don't do it. Write a response on your own blog sure, but don't be a woman who plays hockey for anything more than fun.

Comment From Jerk Face

For fuck's sake, stop commenting under a fake name.

I don't mean here. You can be anonymous all you like here.

I mean on trade press websites. If you're from the agency or the client the article is about, the general rule should be not to comment. And if you do, do it under your real name with a link back to your blog/twitter account/email address.

Even if for no other reason than the fact most of these blogs track IP addresses on comments. And you look like a jerk face when you get caught.

#firstworldrants

No One's Space

Unless you have a really fucking good idea, you're a band or you're targeting prepubescent emo tweens, do not set up a MySpace page.

It's a waste of time and money, and it tells the consumer you have no idea what you're doing.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but it's worse than setting up a Facebook Page for the sake of it. Or a Twitter account because everyone else is.

#firstworldrants

Selling To Clients Not Consumers

Advertising is a B2B service.

Discuss.

Pun With Lower Case I In Front Of It

Fuck it. I'm getting an iPad.

But why is it so hard to work out the pricing structure if I go with the 3G option? I Googled four different telco's, and only three had paid search results leading me to the correct place. Two of those asked me to register my interest and told me they'll get back to me at some point (never). And the one remaining is my current provider who doesn't give me reception in my own house.

One of the telco's has an amazing opportunity to get a massive share of the iPad market. Too bad they're all fucking it up.

That, and the fact they're all bloody expensive, is the reason I'll probably go with the WiFi only version.

Gold For Your King

Generally my thinking goes through phases. What I wrote about a few months ago I may now disagree with.

And my thinking at the moment is about feeding communities content. They don't have to be large communities, and any brand with any budget can get on it. Look at these three examples...

Expensive: RedBull
Ongoing production of high quality videos.

Moderate: Cabeoke
A mate of mine jumped in a cab the other night. Instead of handing over money, they were offered to put on a costume and sing karaoke until they reached their destination. I'd be willing to put a month's revenue from this blog's advertising on that there'd be video content of him somewhere on the internet (interestingly I can't find it. Damn). They've creating their own platform to create and capture content, not with high production values I'm guessing.

Cheap: Dr Pepper
Using an existing platform and simply capturing content.

So maybe I was wrong to criticise Gatorade for this piece of content. As an ad, I think it's a terrible idea to slap a logo on the end of it. But as a piece of content to feed a community, it's probably pretty damn awesome.

All On Red

I've seen some posts lately questioning a marketer's purpose in using Chatroulette. People criticise the lack of long term strategic thinking when it comes to social media, particularly the relevance of a short term campaign.

But if you're building a community or a following or a tribe or a cult, you need small campaignable ideas to keep them ignited. Or even reward them. Or keep your brand top of mind... you know... so they buy the shit you're trying to sell.

And Chatroulette could be the perfect platform for your brand to produce a shit load of great content to feed these loyal peeps. And on the cheap too.

Dr Pepper did it well...

So some more advice I said I didn't want to give on this blog; don't overlook the small short term campaignable ideas.

You'll just have to ignore the obligatory masturbators.