The Internet went on strike last Wednesday over two controversial proposed pieces of legislation know as the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect IP Act (PIPA), respectively. Big names like Wikipedia, Google, WordPress, FunnyOrDie and Reddit worked together to lead an online movement to educate and inform the public. Countless other high profile websites protested the bill by blocking or restricting their sites to some degree.

Other concerned citizens sent out rallying cries to their peers via Twitter and Facebook to take action. Even Mark Zuckerberg saw reason to speak out against the bill stating:

“The Internet is the most powerful tool we have for creating a more open and connected world. We can’t let poorly thought out laws get in the way of the Internet’s development. Facebook opposes SOPA and PIPA, and we will continue to oppose any laws that will hurt the Internet.”

As a result of this online movement SOPA was shelved and the Internet rejoiced!

The SOPA victory is just the latest in a string of digitally fueled political protests that have literally shaped the course of nations. In just the past three years, social media helped fuel revolutions in both Egypt and Tunisia, countered brutal voter suppression in Kenya, changed the face of gender equality in India, and sparked deadly riots in the United Kingdom.

Activists in each of these counties used the power of digital to create awareness and spur action. Many Tunisians used Facebook to constantly upload videos of street demonstrations and ‘alleged’ gruesome police brutality. Twitter enabled people to express their frustrations and give important updates worldwide.

The “Pink Chaddi Campaign” (aka Pink Panty Protest) was launched when Nisha Susan created a Facebook group to help fight against gender inequality in India. That group acquired more than 15,000 members in the first few days and over 48,000 people participated in the movement!

In 2008, rioting was rampant across Kenya because many citizens believed that the presidential elections were rigged. There was increasing confusion and insecurity throughout the country because of a government-imposed media blackout. The Ushahidi Platform (Ushahidi meaning “witness”) was created to fill the void left by the media. The platform allowed individuals to report on incidents of violence; as well as identify places that needed aid. 45,000 citizens actively participated and their combined efforts had remarkable results.

In each situation, the formula was remarkably similar.  Despite the efforts of more powerful parties (governments, corporations, police, and establishment groups) activists were able to leverage digital to create mass awareness and spur organized action. Tools like Twitter, Skype, BlackBerry Messenger, and Facebook made organized resistance possible in a way that was not possible prior to the World Wide Web.

It’s hard to deny the central role played by the Internet savvy people in each of these situations. Digital is able to make a far greater impact than any other medium because it has the ability to easily connect individuals while resisting the control of any one party or interest. This, of course, is exactly what opponents of SOPA fought to perserve.

It’s been a week since SOPA was shelved and I’m sure we haven’t heard the end of it quite yet. But I can only think that our future is bright so long as we have the power of digital behind us.

I couldn’t be happier with my iPhone 4S and my MacBook Pro.  So before the Apple fanboys start flaming me, let me assure you: I’m one of you.

That said, Apple’s policy that “apps can read or play approved content that is subscribed to or purchased outside of the app, as long as there is no button or external link in the app to purchase the approved content,” is busted.  The policy stems from the fact that Apple claims a 30% cut of all transactions conducted through their payment system… now the only payment system in town.

The latest victim of this practice is Match.com who, last week, had their app pulled from the App Store because it “allowed the lonely to pay for Match subscriptions with a credit card through an external link rather than using the in-app purchases system.”  Apple was pissed it didn’t get their 30% cut, so it had the app pulled in accordance with App Store policy.

Apple’s stance on their popular App Store has long been “our store, our rules.”  Developers and brands hoping to have their wares stocked on Apple’s virtual shelves must play by those rules or risk having their product pulled.  It makes sense if you think of the App Store as a brick and mortar marketplace.  Certainly, Best Buy can choose what it will and won’t carry – that’s their prerogative.  If you don’t like it, stock your product somewhere else.

Except, in the case of iOS, which generates over 60% of mobile traffic, there is no “somewhere else.”  The only code that can run on the device is approved and sold through the App Store.

This means, Apple’s argument boils down to the fact that Apple deserves 30% of all commerce that runs through its hardware!

This is akin to Dell claiming rights to 30% of commerce conducted through its laptops or HP claiming 30% of all contracts printed on their printers.  It’s absurd.  And it’s bad for consumers.

Consumers, who thought they bought into the biggest, most advanced mobile app ecosystem in the world, are paying the price.  They’re paying it by way of less innovation and opportunity in the marketplace.  Brands are hesitant to launch ecommerce platforms through the iPhone because they don’t want to lose 30% of their sales.  They either don’t launch apps, launch crippled apps, or mark up prices to compensate.

As a marketer in the digital space, anything that’s bad for consumers and bad for innovation is a big frowny face in my book.  Unfortunately, I don’t see this being resolved any time soon.  Lawsuits will undoubtedly last decades (and by then the industry will have moved on) or Congress would need to invoke the Commerce Clause and do some regulating (don’t hold your breath.)

So in the meantime, we can only just make some noise and hope Apple does the right thing here.

I love Apple.  But I hate this practice.

With the year coming to an end, I decided to make a few digital trend predictions for next year:

ROI will not be the sole focus

Finally, agencies will not be held accountable for only bottom line ROI. More brand marketers will be looking to agencies to increase visibility, engagement and brand affinity, not just sales. New important metrics will not be static independent numbers like Facebook likes, ROI, Twitter followers, etc., instead we will use an algorithmic cocktail of weighted social and sales metrics.

Google will get smarter, SEO will become less relevant

When SEO works, Google has failed. Search is a huge part of media plans, but that just increases visibility. Google is known for getting consumers what they want organically, not what someone with SEO software optimizes for. Google will continue to update its algorithm to include more personal and social data to serve more accurate results based on interest, less so on keyword optimization.

The purpose of mobile websites will be defined

The majority of mobile sites are built for easy browsing (and most look like crap). Designing for mobility will be more important going forward. What does this mean? Mobile sites will not be mini versions or tab-browsing versions of .com websites. They will have a specific purpose in the marketing system that is different than the main website. Designing for mobility means designing for context, utility, and purpose.

Agencies will be more responsible for content

Commercials suck. Content rules. Branded content will become more important and will ultimately be what agencies get paid the big bucks to do. Short content and social experiences can only be so engaging. Longer content to engage with and share will become more important.

Alright, time to sit back, relax, and see if these take place!

And it’s no longer restricted to pre-pubescent teenage boys. For example, Zynga’s newest game, Castleville peaked at 5 million players in less than a week. And 68% of its users play it at least twice a day.Whatever your end marketing goal, gamification can help you achieve it. Here are two ways AgencyNet has applied gamification successfully for their brands.

1. Achieve end user action desired.

For its 2011 Kids’ Choice Awards, Nickelodeon wanted its core audience – typically averse to voting – to cast votes for the 2011 Kids’ Choice Awards nominees.

So, we turned the act of voting into a game.

The insight was that teenagers may not like to vote, but they love to play pranks on their friends. So why not take pranking onto their social networks, by letting them slime their friends with Nickelodeon’s trademark slime.  Users earned slime for every engagement with the KCA 2011 app and cast over 14 million votes, far more than we or Nickelodeon expected!

Read the full case study here.

2. Heighten awareness of product

We applied game mechanics to Rihanna’s latest album launch with immense success.

Rihanna:Unlocked is Facebook initiative that rewards users who complete fan missions with fresh, exclusive content. In gaming terms, we used “challenges” to encourage gameplay – users had to complete a fam mission in order to access new content and the next fan mission. This is similar to a user advancing to the next level in a SuperMario  game.

Furthermore, every challenge unlocked “currencies” (or incentives to keep playing the game) in the form of Rihanna content like album art, a new music video etc.

Read more about Rihanna:Unlocked here.

It’s not just what you make, but how you make it.

The future is green.

With “Climate-gate” debunked and the Occupy protests still going strong, it is more important than ever that brands and companies behave as good corporate citizens.  This means transparently adhering to rigorous environmental, labor, social and manufacturing standards.

Every year, Ceres, a non-profit coalition that addresses business sustainability challenges, assesses sustainability reports from companies around the globe to help each take realistic stock of their performance in the past year and set goals for the future.

Last year, we helped Anvil Knitwear submit their first ever report.  That effort was recognized at the Ceres Conference as the “Best First Time Report” of 2010.   This year, we helped them publish an update that shows off their strides towards greater sustainability.

We broke the report into two sites.  A slickly produced executive summary that offers a top line look into Anvil’s progress and the full report for the serious Sustainability enthusiasts out there.

We’re glad to work for brands that take their responsibility so seriously.

View the Executive Summary

View the Full Report

It’s not everyday you find yourself being honored alongside the biggest pop star in the world…

… but last Thursday, on a chilly November evening in New York City, that’s exactly where we were. At the first annual Pencils of Promise Gala, more than 500 people gathered to celebrate the incredible work of Pencils of Promise (PoP) and honor the efforts of Justin Bieber, Scooter Braun and AgencyNet.

Born from a $25 bank deposit and sustained by the passion and donated efforts of a fleet of young volunteers, Pencils of Promise operates in some of the poorest regions of the world, combining community outreach, leadership training and school construction to build sustainable educational opportunities in the developing world. Since it’s humble beginnings four years ago, PoP has broken ground on 50+ schools in the developing world and has empowered young leaders to take action, both here and abroad.

“The PoP Gala was the culmination of three years, more than fifty schools and thousands of peoples’ efforts,” said Adam Braun founder of the organization. “We collectively raised over $1MM to enable the education of countless children in the developing world, and we were so excited to honor AgencyNet as one of the three honorees of the evening.” In fact, the Gala raised enough money to build 40 schools in the developing world and will allow Pencils of Promise to break ground in Africa next year.

We began working with Pencils of Promise in early 2010. Moved and inspired by their mission, the dedication of their team, and the passion of their founder, our team donated their time and effort to help them with their Digital strategy and to rebuild their award-winning website from the ground up. Read more about that here.

We were so proud of AgencyNet’s CEO Richard Lent when he got up to accept the award. ”This organization is different. You can feel it in Adam’s passion. You can feel it in the energy of PoP’s supporters. And you can feel it here in this room,” said Richard.

To make event even more special, our team decided to prepare a little gift of innovation to commemorate the evening.

To remind the attendees why PoP exists, we created a custom “digital guestbook” that ran on portable tablets that the PoP staff walked around with during the cocktail hour. At the event, participants were asked to sign the guestbook and reveal their hopes for a generation empowered.

Their thoughts are now shared at our ‘Quilt of Promises’ which you can find at: pencilsofpromise.org/quilt/. We hope they will serve as a source of inspiration and memory of a magical evening.

Additionally, AgencyNet Art Director Melanie Newson created four beautiful bespoke canvas artworks inspired by the poems A Pencil Transforms and The Impossible Ones to be auctioned off at the event.

We had a wonderful time and could not be more humbled to be honored by such a wonderful organization.

Check out a video recap of the evening here.

See some of the photos from the star-studded event below:

Chris Fullman with Sophia Bush

Richard Lent receiving a special token of appreciation.

PoP employee carrying our Guestbook App around the event.

Audrey Sianko and Melanie Newson with Shaquille O’Neal.

Melanie Newson with her amazing artwork.

Audrey Sianko with Adrian Grenier.

Justin Beiber helping auction off charity items.

]]> http://anidea.com/news/agencynet-honored-pencils-of-promise-gala/feed/ 0 http://anidea.com/innovation/forget-f-commerce-for-now/ http://anidea.com/innovation/forget-f-commerce-for-now/#comments Wed, 16 Nov 2011 19:21:37 +0000 Jesse http://anidea.com/?p=8426 Seriously! Stop it right now!

With all the buzz surrounding F-commerce, one would think that brands would be crazy not to enter this space as a new sales channel. For some brands it makes sense, but for others, it does not. In my personal opinion, I think F-commerce is not worth jumping into.

F-commerce is, in my opinion, is not necessarily the best place to sell goods. Brand pages exist to foster a community, engage new fans and excite brand loyalists. F-commerce does not serve this purpose. These brand communities are great to use as a feedback loop for new product concepts and even sampling, but will purchasing ability take place? People tend to buy from retailers they trust: 82% of people tend to buy from a trusted retailer, and 33-50% of people buy from trusted online retailers.

Looking at this statistics shows that paying through Facebook, especially if they have to convert dollars into credits, is going to be a struggle. Will it work eventually? Sure, maybe, but the adoption curve could be crazy.

That being said, F-commerce does have a future, and a purpose. It would be a great place for brands to allow users to spend social reward points to redeem for new product samples or exclusive content. It should not cannibalize or detract from any of the other sales channels in which the brand.

Will my thoughts change as time goes on? Maybe, but for now, we are a ways out.

If you’re looking for a solid argument about why you need to allocate more marketing dollars to mobile in your budget, look no further. The Google-Ipsos study offers fascinating insights about smartphone users that have great implications for brands in general. This article, however focuses on the impact on beverage brands in particular.

Who?

About half of all teenagers and 62% of young adults 25-34 own a smartphone, reaching critical mass in the latter segment. These just happen to be the target demographic for soft drinks and energy drinks.

What?

While smartphones are used for varied activities, major uses are apps, watching videos (entertainment, even TV programs), research and to stay connected(read: social networking).

Why?

Nearly a third of Americans own smartphones. 82% use their phones to research. According to another Google/Compete/KantarRetail study – “Impact of Search on Offline Beverage Purchasing” – searchers are more engaged than non-searchers on beverage sites, visiting often and spending more time per visit.

And guess what? About 53% of smartphone searches lead to a purchase.

Where?

As illustrated, people are buried in their phones pretty much everywhere.  I think I’ve seen a beverage commercial set in nearly every location listed. Can we afford to ignore a medium that has such a high overlap with consumption and therefore opportunities for brand engagement?

When?

Mobile plays a huge role in the multi-channel purchase process. Being chronic multi taskers, 40% of users socialize while using internet on their smartphone, 48% while eating and 70% use their phones while shopping in-store.

That’s a staggering amount of people open to messaging and who just happen to be hanging out in the perfect environment for trial and conversion.

The beauty of the mobile space is that it’s fairly new. And with its endless opportunities, it levels the playing field so that even small beverage brands can make a giant impact.

The audience is out there. All you need to do is speak up.

The update not only freshens up the interface, but also introduces an entirely new set of metrics for analysts to digest.  Notably, they’ve called out a new set of metrics at the top of their overview page.

• Total Likes
• People Talking About This
• Weekly Total Reach
• Friends of Fans

The new metrics replace the previously called out trio: “new likes,” “lifetime likes” and “monthly active users.”

Three of the new four aren’t really new at all.  They’re simply different ways of slicing the original top three.  (“People Talking About This” is a more inclusive counting of “Monthly Active Users”.)  The fourth, “Friends of Fans,” is an entirely new metric.  What are “Friends of Fans” and why should brands care?

The metric is simple enough: the number of friends your fans have.  The number is usually a significant multiple of your current follower count.  But more simply stated, friends of fans are your opportunity.

Though the relative size of "friends of fans" varies by page, it is always significantly larger than the core following

The ‘Power of Like’

It’s already been established that a brand’s fans are more likely to purchase a brand’s product and recommend the brand to fans. But a recent study from ComScore found that friends of fans are also significantly more likely to be interested in a brand and purchase their product.

Which makes a lot of sense— we tend to share similar tastes and activities with our friends.

Every time a user shares your brand on their social media feed, they’re exposing that targeted demographic to your brand.  In this sense, “Friends of Fans” measures your opportunity horizon— how wide a circle of interested consumers could you reach if all of your fans were to post about your brand.  Brands now have a quantified measurement of the potential impact of their pages.

Why Facebook Did It

The decision to replace the top metrics reflects a deliberate shift in focus and strategy.  Facebook clearly wants brands to stop focusing excessively on growing fan bases and start actively engaging them.

This makes a ton of sense for Facebook.  Quantifying the upside for marketers provides a little perspective for the value of investing in Facebook pages (and ads.)

But it is also a useful gauge when determining marketing strategy and spend levels.  Instead of sending messages merely to your core followers, can you create content and initiatives that encourage them to share with their friends?  In other words, instead of spending heavily to shotgun messages out to an undifferentiated general market, can you spend more efficiently to influence the pre-targeted “Friends of Fans” demographic?

After all, as Facebook reminds us, the opportunity is certainly big enough.

This stems from “product innovation,” or as I will call it, “Absurd Culinary Genius.” A couple of years ago, we were introduced to the repulsive-looking but oh-so-tasty KFC Double Down. Then we heard about Denny’s Fried Cheese Melt. And now, I cannot help but think of the latest return of a cult favorite, McDonalds’ McRib.

Food products make headlines either because they are unusual, bloated with calories or- on a more positive note- play off of our love for edible extravagance.

The web began buzzing as the revival of the McRib was announced . But why? Why does something that generates off-the-charts buzz only get sold once every couple of years? We can answer this question in a number of ways. My hypotheses boils down to a few simple ideas that other fast food restaurants can leverage when releasing a new buzz-worthy product:

1.  Positioning

Time magazine compares the allure of this phenomenon as “same way that some people are attracted to bad boys (or girls) who won’t commit, the elusiveness of the McRib is part of its appeal.” Marketing is inherently in these types of products. For the Double Down, it was something so unhealthy-looking, but deep down inside, consumers CRAVED it.

2. Limited time only

The small window of time to buy products creates an instant rise in demand that- for a year-round product- would not exist. This man-made scarcity gives consumers the impression that they need to run out and grab one before it’s too late.

3. LISTEN!

There were countless Facebook groups and Twitter hashtags demanding that McDonalds bring back this product. McDonalds listened, and they delivered.

Leveraging social media, capturing the buzz and responding to it are keys to success that McDonalds used in order to elevate the golden arches.