Have you ever wondered how special effects commercials are being shoot. You may think that nowadays is all about the computer editing. Everything goes though a professional editing program and turns artificial scenes into reality. How would you think this commercial was shoot?

Well, there have been many things said about this amazingly successful campaign, however the way this commercial was shoot is amazing itself. You may have thought that this is really high tech computer engineering, combined with some standard special effects. It seems that is actually basic engineering with a lot, a lot of human creativity!

Enjoy:

I was inspired by Seth Godin’s recent post on self determination where he quotes “Safe is risky”. Somehow I connected it with marketing campaigns in general. Don’t you think that safe is risky in any marketing communication campaign anymore? In the Attention Age we are all witnessing, only sound and intriguing messages have a chance to be heard. The benefit of taking a risk in marketing messages started with guerilla marketing where marketers had to be brave enough to expose their brands in the most bizarre ways, in order to draw attention. It now continuous with Social Media where marketers have to decide whether to take the risk (!) to stand in front of their audience and initiate a dialogue.

For some reasons (which I believe are flaws) businesses are still skeptic regarding the decision of using social media in their media mix. In most cases, the uncertainty of how negative comments will have an impact on the brand, moreover the  inability to control information in social media is what makes marketers turning their back in this rich and cost-effective communication channel.

The flaw actually is the simple fact that information about your brand will flow liberally through social media anyway and regardless of who is initiating that flow. Think of it from another perspective now. Would you rather let this happen without your participation, or it would be wise to become a part and maybe lead the conversations… As I have previously discussed in an older post, is not social media that will establish your reputation. It is your brand it self, the product, the service and the way you serve your customers that will trigger people’s positive remarks and make your message viral and sound in social media channels.

Focus on the marketing basics and harness the marketing trends to enhance your brand’s value… Don’t do the opposite! Sorry to be so repetitive about Seth’s quotes but I am a big fan of him as well as any witty quotes “Try different, not harder”

A big part of marketing is promoting an idea, a product or a service. It usually takes the form of a message that has to be delivered in a way that it will reach the right audience, moreover it will call for action. The virality of such messages was always an important metric to consider, however it continuously gains a lot more of attention in the Social Media Marketing Era, where the ability to share, connect and link is tremendous and most importantly easy.

And if there’s something that no one in marketing could ignore about Social Media, is the enormous potential of viralizing a message. According to Torsten Henning Hensel, a Creative Consultant from Berlin, the virality power of Social Media comes straight from the power of Links. The more you can link people with messages, the more your message becomes viral. And then, the Matthew Effect comes into the game to play its own role: “The rich get richer and the poor gets poorer”

So, what about your message? Is it rich or poor?

Virality is the new term that Medicine has bestowed to Business. However, as marketing always does (make things sound better!) virality now has a positive image. Being viral in business, means being healthy!

That’s why Twitter and Facebook has gained such a tremendous attention in the business world. They are the perfect contaminants of our information consumption. Always in a good sense…

So what’s more viral? Twitter or Facebook? My personal experience on this: Twitter. In only 2 weeks of starting this blog followers have already reached 150! The facebook fan page is still under 100 fans but there might be some reasons to that:

Reason 1: People are currently more excited on what’s going on on Twitter rather than on Facebook. It’s just the new trend.

Reason 2: Twitter is less aggressive than Facebook and people seem to appreciate this. Twitter gives people the choice. No one spams you to become a follower, sending those fb suggestion emails you never read. Hint: Permision Marketing.

Reason 3: Twitter is more rewarding! What usually happens on Twitter is that once you follow someone, he or she “pays you back” by following you as well. It is a more give-and-get space, which by default speaks to people’s minds.

There is still a question that hasn’t been answered yet: which one is more meaningful? Followers or Fans? I’ ll keep you posted on that…