V/Speak

From Laughing Squid… Awesome

David Veneski Online Advertising, Social Media Social Media, Vintage Ads

This graphic pretty much captures the essence…  it’s not just one component – it’s all components dancing in unison.  (courtesy: FastCompany).

David Veneski Social Media Social Media

Normally, I shy away from profanity in my blog posts.  Today I came across a great presentation on Social Media through, well, my Twitter feed via David Armano.  Passing along for your benefit. Some compelling data, visuals, and theories to be mindful of.

David Veneski Social Media Social Media

Sporting events are one of the largest branding opportunities around.  There is not a more popular sport in the world outside of soccer – it’s truly a global game with an unparalleled fan base. The World Cup takes that to a whole new level.  The brand that is leaving the competition in the dust is not even an official Fifa Partner or World Cup Sponsor, but a company that has winning in it’s very DNA – Nike.  Their campaign, Write The Future, is a prime example of ‘ambush marketing’.  Not an official sponsor, Nike turned to the web for initial distribution of their 3 minute, highly produced spot featuring some of the best ‘Footballers’ in the world.  Greeted with overwhelming praise, this long form advertisement has been deemed by Trevor Edwards (Vice President, Global Brand & Category Management) as “one of the best we’ve ever done.” (courtesy, OregonLive).  The traffic would agree, with the spot having just surpassed 15M views in only two short weeks.  Even Nike CEO, Mark Parker, gave high praise to the campaign:

“Our ‘Write the Future’ football campaign is the most complete, innovative and creative project we’ve ever done, and we’ve got more excitement on the ground than anybody else in the game.” (courtesy, MediaPost)

No doubt that Landon Donovan helped extend the fictional narrative into a literal embodiment of the ad with yesterday’s heroic goal in the 91st minute sending the U.S.A. into the knockout round in this year’s Cup.

The campaign goes far beyond the initial video.  As you can see from the graphic above, Nike has invited the fans into the experience – giving them the opportunity to ‘Write The Future’ through social means with the chance to have their headline displayed on one of Johannesburg’s largest skyscrapers (100 will be displayed each night).  What I love about this is that it empowers the fan to be an active part of the campaign and involves them in a meaningful way (very similar to the way we {Intel} included everyday people in our Sponsors of Tomorrow Campaign last year).  This is the human face of advertising.  People naturally want to be included in the celebration.  They want to be heard, and they want a participatory voice in their favorite events and with brands they are passionate about.  Hat tip Nike – you’ve created an amazing campaign and you’ve invited your biggest advocates, your customers, to help Write The Future.

David Veneski Social Media, Sponsorship, Sports Soccer, Social Media

Unbelievable Web traffic today around the World Cup match between the U.S. and Algeria. Personally, I was sitting in our company cafeteria with about 400 of my closest Intel friends watching the dramatic conclusion to the game – which was capped off with a stunning goal by Landon Donovan in the 91st minute.  Amazing.  The whole room erupted and I think more than a few laptops and smartphones hit the floor in all the excitement.  I immediately hit Facebook and Twitter with the excited exclamation of GOOOOAAALLLL!!! which was commented upon almost instantaneously by my friends on the social graph.  I wasn’t the only one.  According to Mashable, who’s staff was watching the net traffic on Akamai’s Net Usage Index, traffic spiked tremendously soon after Donovan put the ball in the back of the net:

“In the minutes following Landon Donovan’s game winning goal in the 91st minute of action (which sent the U.S. to the round of 16), traffic spiked to 11.2 million visitors per minute, which moves the event past the 2008 presidential election as the second highest traffic spike of all-time.”

Even their Editor in Chief, Adam Ostrow, called the impact on the social web with this tweet:

“that goal is so taking down Twitter …”

Pretty impressive…and you can see from the chart below, the English have got nothin’ on us.

David Veneski Social Media, Sports Soccer, Social Media

Arguably, the 2010 World Cup will be the most watched sporting event in history.  What’s unique about this edition of the largest futbol tournament in the world is how it will be activated on the social web.  Try Google’ng ‘World Cup 2010 Social Media‘.  Boom – NINETY EIGHT MILLION results.

I didn’t think that was possible.  This social revolution is not just limited to blogs, message boards, and the random video posted to YouTube.  Quite the contrary – the depth and breadth of how people are sharing – Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, Live Streaming – is astounding.  Fifa is getting in on the action, with the latest post on their official Twitter page exclaiming:

“People are singing on the streets, fireworks are being set off – a great day for football and South Africa #worldcup ”

Not only that, we’re in the year of Mobile.  As such, we can expect people to be strolling down the street, driving, or in their next boring staff meeting staring down at their iPhone to see if Wayne Rooney, Landon Donovan, or Ronaldo have placed the ball in the back of the net with a strike from mid-field.

In short, social media has changed how the world watches the most popular sport on the planet.  How will you be tracking your favorite team and players throughout the next month? I’m sure I’ll send a tweet or two with the emphatic #Gooooaaaaal!

David Veneski Social Media, Sports Soccer, Social Media

As you can see from the graph above, Facebook users 18-34 continue to be excited and enamored with the Social Networking site and it’s ability to integrate into every aspect of their life.  35+, not so much, with the ‘buzz’ score in that age demo flat-lining and, effectively, declining over the last several weeks.  I think part of that can be attributed to a significant amount of angst around Facebook’s clear lack of regard for privacy of it’s users (as denoted in a comprehensive infograph of the evolution of privacy on Facebook since it’s inception in 2005).

It’s apparent that we are in an age where people are more apt to share the details of their lives with their friends and their extended social network. What’s also apparent is that the level of comfort to do so clearly falls in an age group that is, ahem, younger than me.  I guess I am an outlier in some regards as the propensity to share is a natural extension of my job. What is interesting, is that while the younger generation is more willing to share daily habits, escapades, and activities, they are also more diligent in ’scrubbing’ their tracks when information they don’t want to appear makes itself present in their social timeline.  As reported in today New York Times:

“In a new study to be released this month, the Pew Internet Project has found that people in their 20s exert more control over their digital reputations than older adults, more vigorously deleting unwanted posts and limiting information about themselves.“

My take?  Careful what you post – words, pictures, information – as it’s always available and very hard to remove.

David Veneski Social Media Privacy, Social Media

I happen to work for a Fortune 100 company (Intel) and I would say that the following infograph is a fairly accurate representation of most companies with regards to their Social Media participation.  I think Intel is a bit different and we’ve been recognized as an early (and often) adopter of Social Media within our marketing and media campaign efforts.  The graphic below is a small snippet of the full infograph – click for expanded version.

David Veneski Social Media Fortune 100, Infograph, Social Media

It’s no secret – 2010 is the year of the Mobile Phone – every analyst, journalist, and pundit are stating their case on why this is the year that mobile finally rings the proverbial bell of success.  As a marketer, I certainly see that it is very important to focus on this ‘emerging’ platform – people are using their mobile devices in more robust ways than ever and, sometimes, even abandoning their computer all together and relying on their handheld as their only ‘connected’ device.  According to Mary Meeker’s Mobile Internet Report, the #1 driving force for the uptick in mobile is Social Networking (slide 30).  The number of people accessing their favorite social network or taking a social ‘action’ on their mobile device has sky rocketed over the last year.  Facebook is head and shoulders above the rest as she outlines.  If you want a more visual portrayal of how Mobile and Social are converging, Flowtown has put together (as usual) a very compelling infograph…teaser below, click on the image for the full version.

David Veneski Mobile Marketing, Social Media Mobile, Social Media

Jess3 (Jesse Thomas) strikes again, and creates a fantastic video that shows us the ‘latest’ state of the internet… Kudos on a really interesting look at the trends and factoids in the social graph.

JESS3 / The State of The Internet from Jesse Thomas on Vimeo.

David Veneski Facebook, Online Video, Social Media Internet, Social Media