Controversy for Conversation

Budweiser had recently come out with a new slogan for their Bud Light brand. The slogan reads...

'The Perfect Beer For Removing "No" From Your Vocabulary For The Night' #UpForWhataver

It just seems that the company has resorted to being controversial just to create conversation amongst social media. It's sad that in order to be talked about, the company could only write a dis-tasteful and horrific slogan, insuring exposure for the brand.  

Due to its controversial nature, you can assume that this campaign will become viral for the wrong reasons. Twitter and Facebook will most likely be the platforms where people will express their complaints and concerns. It can also be assumed that after the Budweiser brand had reached a peak in exposure, they will then remove the slogan, as it had achieved the marketing objective of increasing exposure of the brand. 

The Webby Awards

With the popularity of social media constantly rising, means that there are creators out there that should be recognised for their achievements in social media. There are countless amounts of people who have been made famous through social media, but few who have been able to continue on and end up having a job consisting only within social media. The majority of these people and creators, have been highlighted through the likes of the Webby awards and the YouTube awards.

Some of this years winners include:

Special Achievement: Jerome Jarre
Webby Breakout of the Year: Tinder
Special Achievement: ALS Ice Bucket Challenge
Website: Last Days

The categories are vast, ranging from websites to individual art, actresses and actors, to applications and even trends that rise in popularity on social media.
This following clip, narrated by Stephen Fry, is a montage celebrating 25 years of the internet at the Webby Awards, 2013.
Warning: Explicit language is used.

www.webbyawards.com

Reddit High Profile Q&A's.

iAma: an 'ask me anything' forum space on the social media platform, Reddit.com.

This forum space is used by various professionals to promote and talk to Reddit users directly. Obama, David Attenborough, Bill Nye The Science Guy, Snoop Dogg, Bill Gates and Korean pop star Psy are just some high profile names that have used this space to converse with those who have questions for them. Rather than using traditional social media advertisements, such as Facebook, Reddit hosts a scheduled and structured Q&A where Reddit users view a brief promo written directly from the professional, (mostly actors, musicians, politicians and comedians.)

It is quite a unique way to reach out to their audience. Even Obama has had a Q&A session on the website, making it the most popular and commented iAma session of all time. These informal sessions allow the professionals to answer questions they would not normally have a chance to answer, from people who wouldn't normally have the chance to ask.
For example, here is a question that Barack Obama answered.

But how can you tell that it is actually Obama, and not someone impersonating him?
Of course, that's covered with a link to Obamas personal twitter account, stating that he will be answering questions on Reddit.

To see other top past Q&A's, click here.

Emojis, Not Jst 4 Txting.

Emojis were introduced into the 2011 iOS update, and then Android soon adopted the graphics into their software as well. First used predominately to make texting a little more fun, they are now used across multiple social media platforms, particularly SnapChat. It's users are able to resize and reposition the graphics, to make cool and unique images to share. Here are some examples I found.



It's pretty cool how something that was originally only available in Japan, moved onto everyone's smartphones. Then, people started using the graphics more creatively, rather that just using them in text messages.
Images: instagram.com/ableparris  For more, visit: ableparris.com

Snap Chat 'Discover'

In a recent update, Snap Chat introduced a new feature called 'discover'. It allows users to view snippets of video/images from companies and brands such as CNN, MTV, National Geographic, Daily Mail and Cosmopolitan. The unique thing about this advertising, is that it will not show up in your direct Snap Chat feed. It is hidden away and can only be found by people who explore the application and who actually want to find and use it. Snap Chat sent out a video to its users when they launched the feature, showing people where to find it and how to use it. Since then, users have been left to their own devices, and haven't consistently been pestered to use it. To me, Snap Chat is refreshing. When I am using it, I am not constantly being advertised to. I am only subjected to content that I want to watch. When people use the discover feature, they are doing so willingly. It isn't annoying, it isn't interruptive and it's not in your face.
I guess I can thank Snap Chat for not taking Facebook's offer of $3,000,000,000!

Unwanted Instagram Ads

As an Instagram user for the last four and a half years, I was surprised when I saw advertising material on the application earlier this year in my own personal feed, but I guess I just forgot that Facebook owns Instagram. Since Facebook bought the popular app in April 2012, the social media giant has been able to use both Facebook and Instagram data to target its advertisements to particular users, in order to increase likes on the posts and potentially sales as well.

      Image: www.marketingland.com

The advertising material is distinguished by the "sponsored" title. It is also clear what company is behind the ad by the accounts name displayed on the post. Personally, every-time that I see an Instagram ad, I click the button that allows me to hide it. I also select the "I don't like this ad" button, hoping that Instagram will get the hint that I don't want to be advertised to on yet another platform. But of course I know that I am wasting my time by clicking this hide button, because no matter how many times I hide the annoying, intrusive content, there will always be another ad from another company.

I don't even read much into the advertisement before I 'hide' it, as I don't want to be sucked into something that I will probably be interest in, as I have been targeted to view it. It just makes me want to disconnect completely from social media all together... but we all know that's not going to happen any time soon.

Paying For YouTube

As I have a YouTube account with my own videos and am a YouTube partner (meaning that my videos are monetised), I recently received an email from YouTube about a new app that will affect how people with monetised videos make money. In the email is stated that YouTube were to release a second YouTube application that would charge is users a monthly fee in order to view ad-less content. Here is a snippet of the email...

Dear YouTube Partner, 

Your fans want choices. Not only do they want to watch what they want, whenever they want, anywhere and on any device they choose, they want YouTube features built specifically with their needs in mind. Over the past several months, we’ve taken bold new steps to bring these experiences to life. Since inviting hundreds of thousands of fans into our YouTube Music Key Beta, we've seen tremendous engagement. And we've seen an equally enthusiastic response for our new YouTube Kids app, designed to give families a simpler and safer video-viewing experience – it’s already crossed 2 million installations in less than a month. We’re excited to build on this momentum by taking another big step in favour of choice: offering fans an ad-free version of YouTube for a monthly fee. By creating a new paid offering, we’ll generate a new source of revenue that will supplement your fast growing advertising revenue.         (YouTube, 9th April, 2015.)

So basically, there will be two YouTube applications. One where advertisements are shown before and during content and one where there is no advertising at all. I assume that there are people out there that are willing to pay for free content... but I don't think there will be many. I am eager to see how this application goes down the line. It is ultimately advertisers that lose in this, as the revenue from looking at YouTube content on this new ad-free application will go directly to YouTube and not to any advertisers. I personally do not think that advertising companies have anything to worry about, as I don't think many people will actually pay for free content.


When ad-block can be installed onto mobile devices, that's when they need to worry. 

Natural Dolls Go Viral

"Tree Change Dolls" is a project that Sonja Singh (the creator) didn't think would get so much attention and become viral. Sonja is a scientist from Hobart, Australia. Due to having a job that became redundant, she took up a craft that she found enjoyable. The art involves taking the makeup off of second hand dolls and re painting natural faces on them. It has an amazing affect, and makes the dolls look a lot more inviting and less fake.

Sonja was encouraged by her family to put photos of the dolls onto the internet, thinking that some people might like the transformations of the dolls. She posted some photos onto her Facebook profile that connected with just 200 friends. As time went by, the photos made it to Reddit and a lot more people were able to see this amazing hobby that Sonja had. Because of the popularity, she was able to start her own Etsy page (where she could sell the dolls) and also create her own independent website.

"When you google 'What happens when you go viral?', it's all about HOW to go viral. There's nothing on what to do if it happens by accident." - John, Sonjas partner, (SBS2)

If Sonja had never shared these dolls with the world via the internet, she would not now have a career in creating and selling these popular dolls. SBS2 featured this story on their show 'The Feed'. SBS2 then uploaded the full story to YouTube on the 19th of Feburary, 2015. Today, less than 2 months later, the video has 3.37 million views!

With the help of social media, Sonja has been able to turn a hobby into a job that she loves! 

GoPro Mini Documentaries

Anyone that has just a slight interest in video or video production will know about the brand GoPro.
For those reading this that aren't familiar with the brand, GoPro is a camera company that produces compact, sturdy and durable cameras are able to be strapped to poles, mounted on helmets and are able to be used underwater. I personally associate GoPro with extreme sports, high quality production and creative videos.

But... I have never seen a GoPro television advertisement.

Instead, their advertising is predominately done on YouTube, through the GoPro channel that currently has 2.9 million subscribers. The channel has videos ranging from 30 second clips to 20 minute mini documentaries. Their videos are high quality, showing off the power of the small camera. Every clip on the channel starts with a small logo animation, labelling it as a video that has been shot with a GoPro camera. The only thing that all the videos have in common is, is that they all have been shot on GoPro. The stories range from a clip under 2 minutes of a skateboarding cat to a 19 minute mini documentary titled "GoPro: Ocra Rescue", shot in 4K resolution.

Each clip is a direct advertisement to the viewer, as the viewer is seeing what the GoPro camera is capable of. It is a brilliant and effective way of advertising as the videos are engaging. The most popular clip on the channel, a 5 minute ad for the GoPro HERO3+, currently has 37.5 million views.

This video published on the 4th of June 2012, titled "GoPro: New York City... A Day In The Life - Starring Skate Legend Ryan Sheckler", has 4.3 million views. In the video, GoPro cameras are mounted onto ally way gates and are connected wirelessly to the skateboarders phone, where he can see the live video feed. He also has a GoPro stuck underneath his skateboard giving an interesting angle to the clip. He uses a remote to turn on the cameras whilst he is skating. It's both an engaging video and an effective advertisement, showing the different ways that GoPro users can use the cameras.  I highly recommend watching this video start to finish, especially if you have never seen a GoPro video before.

The most viewed advertising on TV (advertising screened in the annual Superbowl in the U.S), receives the attention of approximately 110 million pairs of eyes. A 30 second advertising spot in the 2015 Superbowl was a casual $4,000,000. $8,000,000 would buy you a 60 second spot. When you compare this amount of money with GoPro's small expense to upload a video, it's easy to conclude that GoPro wins.

Superbowl Commercial: $4,000,000, 30 seconds, 110 million viewers.
GoPro Video/Commercial: Free advertising, 5 minutes, 37.5 million viewers.
Even though the GoPro videos are not getting the viewership that the Superbowl advertisements get, they do not need to spend such large sums of money to get a decent amount of people viewing their content. Even though it may cost some money to produce the video, it doesn't cost anything to publish the video to YouTube. Saving money is always a win, especially when it comes to promoting something.