GottaQuirk

Like Coldplay? Like Free Stuff?

by Matt Riley

Well here’s a little humdinger of a promotion using the very source of masses of lost music industry revenue - the Internet … dum! dum! dum! (dramatic sounds ensue).

Shabang! (magic surprise effects) Free tickets to watch Coldplay if you can solve their cryptic clues.

Here in the UK we are lucky enough to be flooded with great shows (sorry Claire), so it’s not often that you see an innovative approach to a launch or a show. It’s usually big money media and not too much thought. But this is a bit different...

Those clever chaps at the record label have found a way to gather more fan data, and ‘leak’ (check out Carlos’ article) some fresh content ahead of the album launch.

What I really liked was the use of the widget:

It’s a great example of social media engagement. The more people that install the widget the more content will be released. And if you put your SEO cap on… each widget represents a link. Turn up the record sales and let the link juice flow!

I’m a big fan of the band - having spent many a slightly hungover Saturday morning single, alone, and finding deeper meaning in ‘Fix you’ than was ever intended.

So if like me, you can’t wait to add hidden meaning to your weekends might I suggest we club together and solve this riddle, get some great content, and hopefully go and see a great show!

If you crack the code let me know. I’m feeling introspective.

2008/05/09 | permalink | comments (0) | trackbacks (0)

Protecting Children on Facebook

by Katharina Scholtz

49 Attorney generals in the United States have signed on with Facebook to protect children from being bullied or contacted by potentially dangerous people through their profile pages. Given how easy it is to contact and learn information about people through Facebook (and any other social networking site) the safety features do seem like a necessary and important step.

Forbes.com reports that the features to be implemented include moves to:

Remove groups whose comments or images suggest they may involve incest, pedophilia, bullying or other inappropriate content.
Participate in the Harvard-based task force set up in January under the national agreement with MySpace. It includes scholars, a prosecutor, businesses, state officials and child safety advocates.
Send warning messages when a child is in danger of giving personal information to an adult.
Review users' profiles when they ask to change their age, ensuring the update is legitimate and not intended to let adults masquerade as children.

Facebook has also agreed to enforce the safety requirements on all Facebook applications (in an attempt to stop children from giving out their information to unknown adults) and delete the profiles of registered sex offenders.

The steps have been suggested in response to a number of incidents involving Facebook that have had negative consequences. In 2006 hurtful comments from a fake Facebook profile (set up by an adult) led a 13 year old girl to hang herself. This is obviously an extreme example, but gives an indication that Facebook profiles can be a tool to cause harm.

It remains unclear how Facebook can verify the identities given by people who register, but some kind of monitoring does seem to be the only option. Individual privacy is going to come up against child protection in a number of respects here, but it’s tough to argue that no kind of monitoring should be carried out.

2008/05/09 | permalink | comments (1) | trackbacks (0)

A Finnish Edition

by Peter Lehto

Hi, my name is Peter and I’m a Quirkaholic... Just kidding... kind of.

Who is Peter Lehto?

Well, I was born in Helsinki, Finland, to a South African mother and Finnish father. (Quite a weird combo I know. Can't say I know too many South African-Finns.) I studied at the international school of Helsinki and graduated in 2001. Army service for Finnish men is mandatory so I served 12 months in the rapid deployment force. After my "time" was served, I couldn't picture myself living in a cold and dark country any longer. I packed 1 suitcase and jumped on the next plane to Cape Town...

After settling in Tamboerskloof I started my higher education at City Varsity where I studied multimedia design. The 2 year diploma course offered by City Varsity was of a high standard but it was a degree I was after. This decision prompted me to apply to study at the African Film and Drama Academy (AFDA) where I completed my BA in 2 years and specialised in Motion Picture Medium and editing.

Since my varsity days I have been working as a freelance "serial-innovator". I have worked with companies big and small, offering multi-facetted design in a range of mediums, such as web, video editing, sound and animation.

Anyways, it’s been an interesting few days for me as I started my Quirk career on Monday and am very happy in my new position as a web designer.

I'm gonna end this post, which I am sure will be the first of many, with an interesting fact: In the last 4000 years no new animals have been domesticated... Makes you think, maybe one day I will catch that illusive BigFoot. ;-)

2008/05/08 | permalink | comments (2) | trackbacks (0)

Does PPC influence SEO... the results

by Damian Burke

We’ve had a fair amount of interest in the past while from those in the eMarketing game about our PPC/SEO tests which we have been running for a few months.

You can take a look at the first post here and the follow up findings here - but in a nutshell, we created two pages for a unique phrase which yielded no results through Google, and targeted it via a PPC campaign using Google AdWords to test the effects. There were no incoming links, and interlinking was kept to an absolute minimum.

It was soon indexed by Google, but not Yahoo!, and interestingly without the ‘www’ – something didn’t add up. We added Google Webmaster tools to the site to dig a bit deeper, but little seemed to change, apart from the fact that the sub-domain which we created in the second phase of testing had also been indexed.

We thought perhaps we had contaminated the process, but after much research our SEO team along with our man in development, John Rightford, figured out that the company we bought the domain from automatically submitted the URL for indexing. Bum.

The site has still only been indexed once, on February 24 this year, and it would seem that the case is closed: There are no direct SEO benefits from running a PPC campaign.

2008/05/05 | permalink | comments (2) | trackbacks (0)

Nike: The Next Level

by Carlos Menezes

Following a fantastic week of football I just had to post another great one from Nike.

Now I have some idea of how Cristiano Ronaldo's opponents must feel.

2008/05/04 | permalink | comments (0) | trackbacks (0)

Ready or Not...

by Garrick Jones

We all hate to use public toilets and most of us would do anything to avoid it. This ad plays on the humour of the reality one faces when taking this plunge, and then goes a little bit further.

So you've exhausted all options and decided that there is no choice but to venture into the public restroom. Sitting there, you see a phone number on the wall – don't try and tell me you've never seen this because there is always a number on the wall!

Haven't you ever been tempted to call one of these numbers? Just to see what's on the other side? I would expect that it would probably be some unsuspecting individual who's had their number left there by someone with a grudge, but that's just me.

This ad takes the step I think most of us have thought about and makes the call. The result? I think someone may have gotten a little more than they bargained for, but I'll let you take a look for yourself and see the outcome.

I enjoy the little smirk our star has on his face as he starts to dial the number on his phone, and I enjoy it even more when it gets wiped off.

I do have to say that it is quite a funny, quirky ad, but I don't see it exploding virally and finding its way into millions of inboxes. I do however see it being enjoyed by all who watch it. The fact that it plays on a potentially real situation (at least to start with) and throws in a bit of light humour gives it appeal.

It is relevant to the idea the brand is trying to get across (cheap calls), which is great, but I get the feeling that people will remember this as an ad for a telecomm rather than ad for Tele2 – the branding isn't strong enough for me.

I think this is something that is often forgotten. Creating a great viral isn't always good enough – you don't want or need people to remember the ad, you want and need them to remember the brand.

Catchy tune...:-)

2008/05/03 | permalink | comments (0) | trackbacks (0)

TheWB.com - The New Tv

by Garrick Jones

In an effort to occupy a higher percentage of consumers' time, media companies are researching new outlets to show their stuff. Broadband distribution is the most recent of these.

The latest platform for entertainment is upon us. The Warner Bros. Television Group is in the process of launching an ad-supported, video-on-demand network called TheWB.com. This is their latest strategic step into digital production and broadband distribution.

This platform will specifically target adults falling into the 16-34 demographic with the aim, of becoming the premiere destination for original dramatic entertainment on the Internet.

The programming will be comprised of both new content developed for this platform as well as a re-release of older content that has proven to be popular with audiences that fall into this much coveted demographic.

When referring to the programme habits of his 20-year-old daughter and her friends in The New York Times, the president of the Warner television group, Bruce Rosenblum said, “ They're watching on laptops and cellphones. Here's the interesting part – to them, that is television.”

Rosenblum was also quoted in saying that this was a natural progression for the Warner Bros. Television Group and complemented their “core business, which is based upon episodic storytelling, first-class distribution and providing value to partners through advertising in a premium environment.”

Individuals that represent the online realm, or aspects of it, have for ages made noise about the movement away from traditional media to the Internet and here is another big step to support this. Personally I have only respect for the guys over at Warner for taking the lead and taking a chance. I think it is something that may or may not pay off, and will be very dependent on the way it is handled.

I do believe, however that it is imperative that it is kept interactive – polls to influence which shows are broadcast and the like could go a long way towards getting viewers involved and interested.

At the moment, it is planned that users will be afforded the chance to engage and interact with the brand through both the site and the Facebook application – a good start.

The beta launch is scheduled for early May, and it will be interesting to see how this pans out and who else joins in.