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It appears birds of a feather don't always stay together.
A new study from Nielsen Online reports that more than 60% of Twitter users stop using the social network a month after joining.
"Twitter has enjoyed a nice ride over the last few months, but it will not be able to sustain its meteoric rise without establishing a higher level of user loyalty,'' David Martin, Nielsen Online's vice president for primary research, tells the Reuters news service.
Even after the Oprah-Kutcher Twittermania began, the network seems unable to hold onto users. By comparison, Martin says, when Facebook and MySpace were emerging networks like Twitter, their retention rates were twice as high now enjoy retention rates of nearly 70 per cent.
Personally, I think the odd nature of the twitter pages themselves are partly to blame. When you go to someone's page, you see out-of-sequence dialogue, and with everything needing to be coded to fit in 140 characters or less, you really have to care about that twitter feed to pay attention.
Time will tell if new enhancements to Twitter is able to keep the flock coming back to the nest.
Read more, here.
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l'm probably at least partially to blame for "Chuck's" predicament.
I came to the show late, and I've been banking episodes on my DVR while I catch up with episodes on iTunes.
Which means I don't show up in any ratings for the show, a kind of "Alias" meets "Office Space" that is one of the funniest and most enjoyable shows on TV.
Alas, if a whole lot of people don't catch up with the show soon, it's a potential goner. That is, unless the burgeoning fanbase doesn't succeed with its Facebook, Twitter and blog-based effort to save the show.
Now, even Subway sandwiches is getting into the act. According to AD AGE, a new "Finale & Footlong" is a campaign to get NBC to renew the show - which is apparently "on the bubble" in TV speak - by having viewers buy Subway sandwiches. (I bought one today, and The Canadian Press reports Subway is "thrilled" with results so far.)
According to the Ad Age, Wendy Farrington, a pharmaceutical sales rep, created "Finale & Footlong" in a blog posting on a site called Television Without Pity. She asked fans to write letters, buy foot-long sandwiches at Subway today, and watch the second-season finale live tonight (which is a spoiler for me, as I'm, like 10 episodes back) to demonstrate the group's buying power.
It's unusual for an advertiser to be enlisted to help save a show, but hey, these are desperate days for The Intersect. NBC isn't fighting; it's working the refs with a video of star Zachary Levi in a Subway restaurant in England, shown here.
Personally, I'm wondering why fans aren't pressing Best Buy to get into the action - the entire show is a kind of loving spoof of everyone's favorite electronics store.
Still, I can't help thinking something is afoot, pardon the pun. I was under the impression that "Chuck" - critical and fan darling - was one of the few shows to actually gain viewers this season.
Must be some plot from Fulcrum.
We'll stay tuned to see how it all turns out.
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The big, one-off effort from Time and Lexus to launch "Mine" - the highly personalized pub in which the Lexus ads are targeted to you, and where you literally choose which articles to receive - hit some personal snags.
Oh, the ads are fine - tuned to your geographic area (think New Yorkers getting ads about driving to the Hamptons". It's just that the system that enables readers to go online to register for content culled from five of eight magazines (think Food & Wine and Sports Illustrated) in order for the print pub to carry content of personal interest had some hiccups.
As in, editors chose evergreen articles that seemed dated by the time the pub reached readers, and a glitch caused readers to receive articles thy had not chosen.
Not that the idea didn't sound interesting.
"It's almost similar to an RSS feed or something like that, where you get a selection" of content you're interested in, David Nordstrom, vp of marketing at Lexus, tells today's New York Times. "Longer term, if you look at what's going on with media, whether it's interactive or behavioral targeting, especially with the younger audience, they expect you to be talking to them. They want you to talk to them as an individual. In print, it's much harder, but to us this was an opportunity to start experimenting with it a little bit."
Fair enough. But you have to wonder what will happen when we pre-vette all the content we consume, disconnecting the serendipity of finding something that might change a point of view.
If you have to go all gimmicky, at least in the near term, it might be better to pull a Wired, what with its current Myster Issue from guest editor JJ Abrams. The issue, inspired by Abram's famous Magic Box presentation at the TED conference, includes Abrams-ian hidden puzzles that lead to a secret website.
Not so personalized, but very interactive.
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To paraphrase Twain, the reports of television's demise are greatly exaggerated.
The content that is, but not necessarily the box we watch it on.
According to a new report from Accenture (by way of Reuters), consumption of TV content is up, with folks now watching six or more TV channels and eight or more shows per week (39% say so, v. 33% last year).
That's contrary to popular perception, of course - and mirrors similar reports that newspaper readership is actually up, not down. But the trouble for broadcasters is, we're increasingly watching shows on devices other than our TV sets. And, what's more, 74% of people surveyed say they're interested in watching shows on their computers, up 13% from last year. In terms of mobile, it's 45%, likewise up 13%.
Much will be made about how broadcasters had better look out.
But in truth, this should be neither here nor there for broadcasters. They, like most media companies, need to start viewing themselves as content companies, not TV or radio or Internet or mobile or newspaper companies. Content is content, and the owners of that content should make it work as a business model on whatever platform consumers want to experience it, using whatever devices and networks they want to experience it on.
So the Accenture survey really ought to be glass is full, rather than half-full scenario.
That is, for anyone hoping to thrive in the digital era.
Read more, here.
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Is the big news about Ashton & Oprah conquering Twitter a sign of the micro-blogging service's ascendancy?
Or that it's already hit its peak?
And isn't the next step of this whole hype cycle the discussion of whether it's really Ashton posting his tweets, ala Tina Fey?
Or is it a sign that Twitter has fabricated many of its tweets and will perform a mea culpa on a very special Oprah?
And what will it mean when Gale King starts tweeting?
We'll monitor it all, whether you read it here - or follow us on, well, Twitter.
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There's something unintentionally funny about Cheez-It being a product sponsor of the new Stark Trek reboot, which hits theaters May 8.
But the brand has created a fun "Trek Yourself" web app that enables you to upload an image of yourself, and you can become "the big cheese" of your own Star Trek fantasy.
You can turn yourself (or, more mischievously, a friend - as I've done here) into a Vulcan, Earthling (can't be too much of stretch, hopefully) or a Romulan. You can choose pre-recorded greetings or create your own through text-to-speech, and then post the image to your Facebook page or send it via email.
Like so many other such experiences - including the one for "Surrogates" with Bruce Willis, which opens later this year, and VW's "Routan Baby Maker" - this personalization experiece is powered by Oddcast, which has found itself in an odd, but highly entertaining, niche itself.
May it live long and prosper doing just that.
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I was on the phone this morning with Prinz Pinakatt of Coca-Cola Europe, who told me about this new Green Eyed World series, which the beverage giant calls a "reality remixed" online series – from Coke's Sprite brand – that will feature Facebook social network interactions inside videos on YouTube, enabling users to be part of the story in a highly unique way.
The audience can follow and interact with 23-year old British singing sensation Katie Vogel - an appealing sprite herself - as she creates new opportunities for herself by following her dream.
By joining her journey online, the audience can influence her choices through commenting and voting directly in the Green Eyed World videos using their own Facebook profiles.
The series will run for five seasons of four episodes, culminating in a finale in December 2009.
Viewers can also download a free application for their iPod/iPhone in time for the beginning of the season. "Instead of repeating single messages in traditional media, Sprite
supports these new experiences and deep storytelling to communicate our
core brand values over time," explains Stafford Green, head of digital marketing for Coca-Cola Europe, in a statement. "It’s a fresh advertising model. And everyone wins: the artist, the brand and the especially the audience – getting free on-demand, truly interactive content without commercial interruption"
Actually, it works something like "In The Motherhood" and "Waking Hannah," but works directly off the YouTube and Facebook platforms.
Check it all out yourself, here.
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Well, more like "White Gold" The Game.
Goodby is launching a new advergame called the "Thrashteurizer" tied to the faux rock band White Gold the agency created for the California Milk Processor Board last year. At stake: A Gibson Guitar, among other prizes.
What's perhaps most striking about the effort is the fact that, as ADWEEK reports today, it symbolizes the dramatic shift underway in CMPB's efforts to market milk.
According to the pub, CMPB has gone from spending 60 percent of its budget on TV spots three years ago to about 35 percent today.
It rolled out the White Gold effort on MySpace. And the new game is now available on the White Gold Facebook page and by texting "Thrash" via mobile phone.
"We're going [online] where we believe our eyeballs and hearts and minds are," Steve James, executive director for CMPB tells the pub.
That jives with a conversation I had last week with Derek Robson, managing partner for Goodby Siliverstein & Partners, which has likewise been working to become the kind of powerhouse in digital as it has been in television.
In fact, Robson tells me, roughly 60 percent of its billings - spanning CMBP, HP, Frito-Lay and many other major brands - are likewise in digital. That's nearly a complete flip flop from just a few years ago.
I guess CMPB's not the only brand that feels the battle for eyballs, hearts and minds are online.
Rock on.
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"Whopper Sacrifice" was about dropping friends. The Facebook app for "Crank: High Voltage" - the sequel to the hit film "Crank" starring Jason Stratham - is about upsetting them.
As ADWEEK puts it, a series of 14 posts - a status update about video of someone having sex with your grandmother, another telling your network you have gonorrhea - get you to crank "call" your online friends - and freak them out in the process.
Complete all 14 dares, and you could win $1,000.
The movie opens April 17.
You may not have any friends by then.
Find out more, here.
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Even the ultimate comfort food's got its own user-generated content contest.
In honor of "National Grilled Cheese Month" (I can just envision the dairy lobby pushing that through Congress), Kraft has launched a new website called iheartgrilledcheese.com in which consumers are invited to write 50 words about why grilled cheese brings a smile to your face.
Seriously, I think that's a good approach. Because if it was 50 words about why you love Kraft Singles, consumers would need to spend hours perfecting celebratory prose for "American Pasteurized Prepared Cheese Product." Most of which would not be presentable in a family website.
But hey, there's a great prize at stake: Every week, 500 people will be randomly selected to receive a coupon for a free pack of Kraft Singles!!!!!
I do, however, like the sound of this other element to the campaign, in which Kraft is sponsoring the 7th Annual Grilled Cheese Invitational cooking competition. I'm not sure why April is "National Grilled Cheese Month." Why not February or March when it's cold enough to freeze your Kraft Singles off?
Either way, Kraft is betting comfort foods like grilled cheese are going to rock this recession. And they could be right. The campaign will even position Kraft Singles as a way to eat for less than $1.
Factor in the 1-in-500 chance to win a coupon worth a free pack of Kraft Singles - and Kraft's own economic stimulus plan may just save the nation.
(There's going to be a incongruous "Jonas Brothers: 3-D Concert Experience" element thrown in along the way, but never mind all that.)
Hey, the Big Cheese says you should never let a crisis go to waste.
Apparently Kraft has the pasteurized prepared cheese product machines ready to make the most of this one, too.
Read all about it, here.
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Dan Schawbel's doing something right.
Still in his mid-20's, Schawbel's out with a new book that's perfectly timed for today's cut-throat employment environment. Titled Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success, the book hits stores today, and is designed to teach people how to use social media tools for personal branding.
The book is also wisely targeted to Schawbel's own generation, which has been especially hard hit by the recession, though it is salient for anyone of any age looking to gain a competitive edge.
Schawbel is walking the walk, too. After graduating from Bentley University in 2006, he has rocketed onto the national stage with a self-published magazine, his "Personal Branding" blog, which is consistently ranked in the top 100 marketing blogs by Advertising Age, and a newer venture called Personal Branding TV. He even runs an Personal Branding Awards event, of which he is, naturally, head judge.
After Fast Company ran an article on Schawbel, calling him a "personal branding force of nature," things have taken off for the young dynamo, and he has been cited by Business Week, ABC News, and Yahoo Finance, among others.
I've only browsed the book so far, but it looks engaging, insightful and inspirational.
I first came into contact with Schawbel when he interviewed me for the Personal Branding blog. I have to say, he's pretty impressive. I'll have to do an interview with him here in short order.
That is, before he's officially crowned the Tom Peters of the 21st Century.
Learn more about the book, here.
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AXE has axed all the content from its AXE Effect website and replaced it, ala Skittles, with navigation that just points users to Axe pages on social networking sites.
Want to see AXE commercials? Link to the YouTube videos.
Want information on AXE products? Here are links to AXE pages on Facebook, Wikipedia, and whatnot.
Want information on AXE promos? Here, at least, are links to bona fide promotional sites.
Hell, this has got to be a big money maker for agencies. Why go to all the effort of creating an actual site when you can just link to outside, user-generated sites?
Never mind that it puts the brand out of its owner's control. Some will argue there's no control anyway. So why fight it?
Weird phase or long-term trend? Try it yourself here, and then tell us what you think.
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I guess Buying In: The Secret Dialogue Between What We Buy and Who We Are has been out about a year now.
It just got on my radar a few weeks ago - I think I heard an NPR interview with author Rob Walker, the New York Times writer and "Consumed" columnist, and it sounded pretty cool.
Turns out, my book, BRANDING UNBOUND is cited in the book, in chapter seven, which is titled, "Click."
I know, right?
Now I have a moral obligation to pick up a copy and see what that's all about.
And by "moral obligation" I mean "egotistical impulse," of course.
I'm sure it's a good read - Time magazine calls it "a compelling blend of cultural anthropology and business journalism." And what I've read of Walker's in the Times has been outstanding.
There's obviously no mystery as to why I'm Buying In.
But I'm sure I'll enjoy it anyway.
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Remember that whole ruckus over social networks in an uproar over Motrin television ads that in some eyes seemed to indicate women wear babies as fashion accessories?
Never mind.
You remember all the buzz: Johnson & Johnson’s Motrin brand sparked an online backlash last fall when its ads seemed, at least to some, to suggest that women who use baby bjorns are wearing their babies as fashion accessories.
Never mind that the ad was about alleviating pain for women who carry their babies. Social networks lit up with criticism and the ads were eventually taken off the air, and Motrin apologized for the insult.
Yet for all the hype about the power of social networks to impact the way consumers view brands, according to surveys from Lightspeed Research, 90 percent of women had never seen the ad, and once they saw it, 45 percent said they liked it. Forty one percent said they had no feelings about it one way or the other, and 15 percent said they didn’t like it. Only 8 percent said it made them think negatively about the brand – compared to 32 percent who said it made them like Motrin more.
The point: Social networks can be echo chambers with little bearing on how everyday consumers view brands.
I'm just glad somebody finally figured it that out.
Read more here.
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