During the Super Bowl, this commercial ran:

A classic example of a great, jam-packed Super Bowl ad with old-school effects.  But many were convinced there was either CGI or some editing tricks involved.  Eager to find out for himself, Tech guru Leo Laporte actually contacted the agency behind the piece, Wieden + Kennedy, and got to the bottom of things:

So not only did Old Spice get the expected impressions and return off the Super Bowl spot, BUT because of the nature of the ad and the online public, received millions of additional hits off online views and community discussion.

Remember – something is viral only when it causes you in the MOMENT of consumption to go “whoah, I have to forward this to (insert friend, family member, boss, etc).”  The incredibly funny and the incredibly shocking are good places to start, but the “how did they do that” route also works, as demonstrated here.

That was all going swimmingly until little over a week ago.  Google released a service called Buzz, a new component for gmail that integrates facebook-like social networking functionality.  On the surface this idea is interesting and actually provides some of the functionality originally promised in Google Wave.  Unfortunately, Buzz has turned out to be a nightmare on every level.

First, it attempts to merge email and social networking – two things that a lot of users still view as mutually exclusive.  Email has grown to become a utilitarian tool – social networking is a mini version of the internet.  Folks use them to communicate in different ways.  Google took a finely tuned, 5-year old service (gmail) and bolted on an untested, totally new service with a totally different form and function.

Second, it was thrown at users automatically as an “opt-out” service, not an “opt-in” one.  Gmail users simply logged in one day and found this mess running.  You had to search for and then remove the service if you didn’t want it, not the other way around.

Third, and most important, Google took the long-established trust of Gmail users and trashed it by circumventing their privacy and publicly displaying information that was otherwise private or obscure.  As a result, Buzz is now on the Federal Trade Commission’s insidious-services-to-watch list and multiple class-action lawsuits have been filed against it.  All within the span of about a week and half.

all avoidable

My biggest problem with this, and the fundamental jist of this post, is that this ALL COULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDABLE.  Google isn’t some little rag-tag “mom and pop” – it’s a major billion-dollar corporation.  Smart people work there.  Common sense should have easily made this a typical, successful release.

Even worse, Facebook has notoriously suffered major privacy snafus themselves, providing any competing business a case study in what NOT to do when rolling out a new feature.  Why did Google not pay attention?

who’s to blame?

Simply put, Google has become too big for it’s own good – too caught up in it’s success to consider the needs and behavior of the public.  Instead of listening to what their users need and creating products around it, they force-feed what they pompously think is best and throw privacy to the wind.  A recent interview with CEO Eric Schmidt proves as much.  Google engineers, who often are responsible for too much of a product roll-out, become more arrogant and blind to what users want.  They ask “why wouldn’t you like this?” after the fact instead of “how would you like this to work?”

And because they’re so big, they likely won’t change.  While Buzz is a failure, it hardly puts a dent in Google’s overall business.  The stock price may get dinged, legal defense will have to be paid for and egos will be bruised, but this event won’t sink the ship.

the point?

Even though Google won’t change, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t learn from their failures.  Small and medium businesses can’t afford such costly mistakes and rule #1 should ALWAYS apply: know your users, know the marketplace.

Google is huge, but slips like this are what give competitors the edge.

One of the prevalent issues with websites today is the issue of SEO, how you’re found, what driving factors contribute to people getting TO your site.  Moreover, once they’ve found you, what does your content say about your brand?

In prior blog entries we’ve discussed Content Strategy.  Today we’ll look at it from another angle, the struggle to keep your content fresh.

Content is the primary way in which you’re going to be telling site visitors about WHO you are, WHAT’S going on with you, and HOW they can actively get involved with your brand.  To put it simply, the easiest way for you to be found from a search engine, is good content.  At Strategic Blend, we’re experts in taking your content and displaying it in a way that is easy for the user to learn about what your site has to offer.

But what happens when you hit the wall, and find yourself in a frustrating struggle with WRITERS BLOCK?   A lack of content can lead to a serious limit on what you offer site visitors.  If your site becomes stale, it gives the impression that your brand is stale, has little new to offer, and practically says to the site visitor “nothing new to see here, move along.”

There are a multitude of reasons this happens; perhaps your site is brand new, and you just haven’t gotten to a place where your content is polished enough to be on display to the world, or maybe you’ve reached a place where you’re waiting on the arrival of a new product launch…  we get it… it happens, sometimes it’s hard to keep the site fresh!

The good news is, many times, we can help you bridge the gap.  Find ways to inject content into your site when a full news post / new offering / or product/service description is being formulated.

Here’s some things to consider if you simply don’t have a content rich site.

Take advantage of other outlets to help keep your site fresh with content, help you appear current, relevant, and search engine friendly.  Reach out to partner / affiliate sites and see if they’ll help promote your site or let you use a news article relevant to your site (always linking back to the original post).  You could also try running special promotions for your products/services.

Even if there is nothing new to say, there’s still a reason the site is on the web, and you don’t want to lose site traffic just because you haven’t added new content.

Another suggestion for sites in this situation is to embed social network status updates (facebook fan pages, twitter, etc).  The ability to embed these simple updates to your site show visitors that you, in fact, DO have a pulse, even if you haven’t updated the site’s news or added new offerings / products / services to your page.

This is not the most ideal way to keep the site current, but if you’re struggling for content, or it’s a slow business cycle, use these frequent and easily updatable sites as your platform to keep the site current.

It’s also a good idea to link out to social network sites from your actual site and from the social networks BACK to your site.  This can be a great help for SEO to show a legitimacy of your brand.

We specifically design our sites with these potential issues in mind.  Linking up social network badges and icons to ensure that your brand is verified by the other locations it can be found on the net.

If you need help syncing up your web presence in one location, contact us, we’ll be happy to help!

The Billboard Site

There’s the Billboard site, it’s informational, doesn’t really ask you to do anything, but tries to convey information in a concise and direct manner.  Sometimes it will walk you through the ins and outs of a product service.  It doesn’t pressure you to act immediately, but hopes to leave an impression, like driving by a billboard on the highway.  Their hope is the imagery and information stay with you long enough to a) visit their establishment, b) tell someone else about their business, or c) make you aware of their business so that you think of them next time you’re in need of their products/services.  Think of it as a multi-page ad in a magazine.  These sites should always gather an email address of those that are interested in the product, and give the brand an opportunity to reconnect with interested visitors.

The Sales Site

Most Billboard sites think they are Sales sites, but they fail at one crucial juncture.  To transform the user visit into a transaction.  The sales site drives you to action, it describes the product, but asks you to buy, or sign up, or act at every turn.  These sites, if poorly designed can seem overbearing and pushy at times.  A well designed sales site can be a great revenue stream (and sometimes the ONLY revenue stream) for an organization.  Well crafted messaging and product description are critical, where to place sales pitches are important as well, but most important is turning a casual visitor into a customer.

The Content Site

This site is heavy on, you guessed it, content.   The main purpose of this page is to inform consistently with new and relative content each post.  Much like this blog that you’re reading right now.  We rarely ask you to act and purchase anything, we occasionally call out our services, but the inherent reason you’re here is to read our ramblings, get some ideas, and potentially put them into practice.

The Issue with these Three Site Types:

Most sites want to do ALL of this stuff.  They want to thoroughly inform you of their product, hopefully get you to spread the good word about what it is they do.  Not only do they want you informed, but they’d LOVE for you to make a purchase of some sort.  They want action, follow through, and they want to know who you are so they can reach out to you and keep you coming back for more.  Moreover than just selling you on something, they want to PROVE to you have a great deal of knowledge in their craft.  They want to tell you how to use their products/services and build a rapport through consistent updates of content.

When you try to put all of this stuff on one site, it can become distracting and confusing.  I could call out hundreds of sites that have been constructed asking you to “check out my band” and also “buy this album” and also “check out our blog” and also “look at our tour dates”, etc.   These are all great aspirations, but what is MOST important to you.  What do you want featured?   Is it most important for people to know about you and what you’re doing?  If that’s the case then the blog/journal is your vehicle for your brand.

The primary focus of your site can be a vehicle to promote other aspects of your business (i.e. you can promote your product/service at the end of your blog, read a little further and you’ll see this in action).

Similarly you can use the promotion or sale of a product/service to reach out to your customer base and let them know about your content.  Every site should incorporate a method of capturing email addresses, building a list to reach back out to loyal customers.  When you begin producing enough content to garner followers, it may be a good time to reach out to this customer base via email and let them know there is a new way to keep up with your business.

As you can see, setting up this type of site is not impossible, but the concern becomes content layout.  9 times out of 10 this type of site becomes a disaster area.  There is no streamlined layout to tell the user, “hey, check this out first.”  It’s no surprise that most sites want to have it all.  To do that effectively you’ll need a great plan, a better sitemap, and seamless execution.

If you’re interested in our assistance in building a Billboard, Sales, or Content site, please let us know. (ah-ha, there’s a call to action)

Moreover, if you’re looking to “have it all,” we’ve mastered the art of focusing on one element of your business and connecting those pieces to the other (equally important) pieces.  Focusing on what your most viable hook might be, and then continuing the product/service experience with the other elements of your site.   If you’re in this boat…please let us know, we’d love to make your web presence a viable revenue stream, and create a great experience for your site visitors.

For many brick and mortar operations, the web presents an opportunity to conduct business 24 hours a day, worldwide.

For instance, if you sell a tangible good in your store.  There is very little to prevent you from marketing the same product to the entire world by utilizing the web.  This is, of course, no revelation.  Thousands of businesses have shopping carts, or utilize eBay, Etsy, amazon or the smörgåsbord of other retailers to help sell products.

But what if your business isn’t in tangible goods.  Many firms provide expertise, training, consulting services.  These type of products are more difficult to bring to customer who is not already a client or customer.  What if these type of organizations were able to peddle their wares to the world just as a retailer?

That time is now.  Content Based Subscription models are the focus of Strategic Blend marketing services in 2010.  If your content has value, whether in a one time sale, or as a subscription based service, we can help you monetize it.

For our entertainment clients, this is an opportunity for you to start a music subscription service, or begin a “fan club” type scenario where fans reach content behind a login.

As we continue to roll out this service, we’ll use the blog to show examples of how this service can be utilized in many aspects of business.

Here’s to a successful 2010!

Three Internet companies — Affinion, Vertrue, and Webloyalty — and their hundreds of partners were pilloried by Senate lawmakers and academics on Tuesday for deceptive marketing tactics.

“[T]he companies we are investigating have figured out very clever ways to manipulate consumers’ buying habits so they can make a quick buck,” said John D. Rockefeller IV, chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, in a statement.

Read the full story here…

What makes video games stand out from other entertainment genres?  Why aren’t music and film sales following a similar trend?  Let’s compare costs of a new video game to a ticket for a recently released movie:

$10 for a 2 hour, single showing of a movie in the theatre
(not including popcorn)

vs.

$50 for 40+ hours of entertainment in a video game that is accessible at any time.

Granted, these numbers vary depending on the individual medium, but it is interesting to compare in terms of cost per hour and lasting appeal.

Another useful benefit for gamers is in-store credit or even cash back for trade-ins. This specific market is what keeps giant retail chains like Gamestop on top.  Once you have played your game to its fullest extent and when your playtime starts to exceed the number of hours you slept that week (yikes), simply trade it in for credit towards a new game.  Even online retailers like Amazon have this policy now.  If the game is in reasonable condition, Amazon provides the shipping and you get a gift card in return.  Many movie retailers offer a similar service, but companies like Gamestop will buy used movies as well!

Much like Netflix and other online rental services, video games can now be accessed from anywhere through services like GameFly or NumbThumb. If you aren’t one for paying monthly fees for renting, game systems now incorporate game marketplaces where you can purchase a variety of individual titles. The Xbox Live Marketplace has games from generations past and current hits that are fully downloadable onto your hard drive. There are similar features in both the PS3 Store and Wii Shopping Channel.  This interactivity is what makes video game consoles so successful.  Who needs a DVD player or CD burner when you can have all in one simple package?  A video gaming platform is no longer JUST for playing video games.

Still, the question remains about why the video game industry is so successful in relation to other forms of entertainment.  Daniel Ernst, an analyst for Hudson Square Research responded to this question earlier this year by stating:

‘Consumers are increasingly in control of their media experience – narrowing in on what they consume, where they consume it, and when they consume it. We see interactive entertainment as an extension of that control, where the protagonist, settings, and outcomes are dictated not by the author or screenwriter, but by the players themselves.’

I think that Ernst answers this question completely.  This concept of interactivity is becoming increasingly critical in our rapidly developing world.

Most of the success of the video game industry over the past few years can be attributed to bundle packages and Nintendo’s excellent marketing campaign to make the Wii enticing to all age demographics. Needless to say, it worked. 2008 sales in video games alone surpassed over $21 billion (in the U.S.) – with over half of that gross figure belonging to Nintendo’s Wii alone.  In terms of game sales, Guitar Hero/Rock Band made up around 16% of total revenue during last year’s holiday season and Wii Play sold over 5 million copies.

Recently, the sales of the video game industry have started to decline, but this is somewhat expected.  This Summer has not seen many new ‘big’ titles like the 3rd and 4th quarters of 2008.  However, expect this to change drastically as Nintendo begins to populate the online store for their newly released DSi and highly anticipated titles start flooding the marketplace like Assassin’s Creed 2, Mass Effect 2, Final Fantasy XIII, WoW Cataclysm, Pokemon Heart Gold/Soul Silver (US), and Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Expect big things as we enter 2010.