Address Is Approximate from The Theory on Vimeo.

I love this. I know its been out a while and had loads of views, but its here so I can look at it in a few years time and smile. The video was created by Tom Jenkins of Theory Films.

I think this Heineken campaign is really cool and pretty ingenious to boot. Heineken have set themselves the challenge of creating the most social Christmas tree in the world and to do so have built an 11 meter tall construct comprising of 48 LCD screens. The ‘tree’ will be situated in Clarke Quay, Singapore from December 17th-24th.

The concept of the campaign is that users head to the Facebook app and create and share their own trees by adding friends, custom messages, photos and animation. These trees will then be displayed on the big screens.

Other events planned are a virtual choir singing from all round the world and a photo booth turning people into digital decorations! 

Heineken’s utilisation of Facebook is something to be admired they have amassed the best part of 5 million likes on their Facebook page with apps such as the beerfriender in which you buy a beer keg for someone in the world and they return the favour with seasons greetings!

Taking digital social interactions and displaying them in the physical world is cool enough. But where I feel this campaign is really smart is in the way it addresses the issue of encouraging people to share their brand interactions openly on Facebook. This is something digital marketers are grappling with at the moment (I know as it comes up in interviews a lot). I, as a Facebook user am very concious of what content is placed on my wall. It says a lot about me and the last thing I want, is to be thought of as a spammer! Therefore its going to take a fantastic piece of engaging content for me to send it to my pals!

To me, this campaign is the perfect example of a beautifully creative wrapped app that provides me with a unique experience whilst subtly encouraging me to share the Heineken brand page.  And guess what, my face might be a bauble in Singapore on Saturday!

Hope the needles don't fall...

Freestyle Klout league table

Hi, I’m Tom and I’m a networker. I have a Klout score of 41 and use social media effectively to influence my network across a wide variety of topics. I have a small and tightly formed network who is highly engaged and I am influential about social media and college basketball.

Pretty good eh?

To say it all started innocently would be a lie. I knew that signing up to Klout was propelling me into a vicious office cock fight. As the newbie at Freestyle I knew it would be an uphill struggle and that I was up against some seasoned pros, but I was ready to prove that I had Klout. The subsequent weeks involved massive cheers when I went up and muttered expletives when I dropped points for no good reason. It became a mini obsession. I found myself tweeting without proper cause and searching “how to improve your Klout score” on Google. Is this healthy? I imagine not. Therefore with this new sense of perspective I have been asking what does Klout show and when is it useful.

What I love about Klout

• It is one massive game. The competitive nature makes it completely addictive as you strive for more points. This is accentuated by the fact that you don’t how the score is created, adding an element of mystery.
• It offers brands and marketers an opportunity to identify and target influencers. Though this is not foolproof, it does allow speedy identification of those who are at least vaguely active in social spaces.
• The free swag that could be just round the corner. Klout Perks offer excitement. If you are considered influential in a specific sector you may receive free stuff from the likes of Audi, Virgin Atlantic or Sony. (I may be starting a campaign based on my love of Playstations in the near future).
• It seems to be evolving rapidly. In the last two weeks FourSquare, YouTube, Tumblr, Instagram, Flickr, Blogger and Last.FM have been added.

Where it fails

• Klout is essentially a score of how effectively you get the content you create and link-to on Twitter retweeted, replied to, read and ‘favourited’ and is thus quite easy to game.
• Klout is poor at recognising a person’s influential areas. Our own Andy Wood is apparently influential on hurricanes. Therefore if I was the Met Office using Klout to identify a meteorologist with a passion for hurricanes, I may be a little disappointed with Mr Wood….
• The score itself is a little ambiguous. Take Justin Beiber’s perfect 100 score. Does it mean that he’s completely influential to everyone that follows him? By the same token does my score of 41 give me nearly half the influence of the pint sized Twitter monster?

How should we view it?

When all is said and done, social media is just one section of a person’s influence. We influence through connections, at meetings and through reputation, all of which are conducted offline. Spending hours on Twitter chasing Klout may come at the expense of these other channels and lead to those with huge Klout scores having little real-world influence. Therefore we should view Klout as what it is. A number indicating a person’s level of activity in certain social spaces not their level of influence. As individuals we should concentrate on creating content and conversations that we are passionate about and through that we will all gain ‘true influence.’

What do you think of Klout? Waste of time or the best influencer measurement we have?

In the last few hours Topman has being experiencing the wrath of the Twitter community regarding two ill advised t-shirt designs that have been accused of being sexist and glamorising domestic violence.

The issue came to our attention early this afternoon with prominent journalists such as Jonathan Haynes and Claire Phipps who tweeted “So today we learn that Topman really doesn’t like women all that much.”

One Twitter user commented,

The event was another example of how quickly Twitter outrage snowballs leaving the brand’s community management team a difficult task to diffuse the situation. During a one hour window their Facebook statement received 125 comments as well as over 1,200 tweets relating to the issue.

The second 'sexist' t-shirt

Throughout today Topman have taken a number of steps which shows a good level of community and crisis management.

1. Active Monitoring: From the speed of the response it is evident that they were actively listening to their community for brand mentions and feedback on products.
2. Able to act quickly: From the time we noticed the story around 1pm (before it was trending) it took 90mins for Topman to release a statement saying they were pulling the item from shop floors and online stores. This demonstrates a crisis management system is in place where by the community management has the channels available to communicate the situation to senior management who can then react in a quick and decisive manner.
3. Open Communication: Topman maintained communication channels open and posted swift apologises to all channels directing users to their Facebook page.

Despite this there is still a stiff challenge ahead for Topman’s brand team. As the debate continues on twitter and in blogs (like this) they will need to decide what approach to take regarding;

1. The sexism vs anti-feminism debate now raging on Twitter and their Facebook page. Though it is a risk to engage an angry mob, Topman must be conscious not to allow their Facebook page to become a platform for bigotry.
2. Internet copycats have designed a number of mock t-shirts satirising the Topman t-shirts and are being readily shared across Twitter.

Digital presence and crisis management procedures are becoming increasingly integral for brands as social media and Twitter become influential opinion setters in how a brand is perceived. As demonstrated today  an angry Twitter mob can form in a matter of minutes and left unchecked can devastate a brands reputation. It is important that brands such as Topman have the tools to monitor these conversations and the ability to act decisively when things turn nasty.

Will be an interesting one to keep an eye on.

Me and my fellow interns candidates with some Freestyle staff

In essence an internship offers work for experience rather than wage. But when does the pursuit of experience lead to exploitation? And to what extent is the internship culture barring those who cannot afford to work for free from the labour market?

I’m 23 and aspire to a career in advertising. I am under no illusions as to the difficulty of my task and how hard I will have to work to get there. We live in a world where I am numerous and the opportunities are few. To gain one of the ‘golden tickets’ I must stand out in a crowd of equally qualified and ambitious people (with lots of pretty letters after their name)… I have therefore been very fortunate in being selected for an internship at Freestyle Interactive in their Content, Search & Social team. Here I am gaining practical experience and exposure to the digital marketing industry whilst making me more attractive to potential employers.

An internship in its most positive light will provide invaluable experience and insight into an industry and also pay the graduate a wage that allows them to live. Yet these internships are few and far between, most are unpaid roles offering little in the way of experience or insight.  Ross Perlin’s book Intern Nation: How to Earn Nothing and Learn Little in the Brave New Economy,details graduates falling into what he describes as a “cycle of exploitation.”

There have been a large number of reports, some of which are included in Perlin’s book, where interns have been threatened, sexually harassed and prevented from telling their story. Why do these organizations act in such away? Because they can. Graduates are seen as replaceable commodities that can be used with the promise of a potential job and ultimately discarded when no longer required. Moreover, as temporary workers, interns have little means to defend themselves. Speak up and lose your window to paid employment or sit and take the abuse. It’s a catch 22.

The other side effect of the unpaid internship is the creation of a two tiered system based on wealth. Those with a strong financial structure through family members are more likely to be in a position to take internships and thus be a step ahead in the race for a job. There is no conceivable way in which I could afford to travel the 140 miles round trip if my internship was unpaid. Yet these opportunities are so rare and sought after travelling is often a requirement.

This problem is exacerbated by the worrying trend of auctioning internships to the highest bidder. This has been performed in the USA for the likes of Richard Branson costing £53,000 and even closer to home a Tory fundraiser auctioned a number of internships making £15,000.

I must now state that I am very fortunate at Freestyle. I have been involved in live projects from my first day, varying from helping in the development of pitches to the implementation of ongoing SEO and community management projects. It is a steep learning curve and a challenge (as it should be) and has very much affirmed my own career goals and desires. To a young person leaving university an internship offers an invaluable insight into an industry. It also shows us exactly how hard we have to work to attain success, which can only be a motivating factor. The worry comes when companies stop seeing internships as a way to nurture talent but as a cheap method to fill administrative rolls. It must be the role of the government to ensure that young people are not having their desire to become ‘more employable’ exploited into working for free.

I have been meaning to set this up for ages. Its goal really is to represent my progression in this industry and hopefully evolution of thought. As technology improves and our sophistication in this connected world increases and becomes mainstream I believe it will be the most integral part of a brands strategy due to the ability to connect with users on such a person level.

Hope its not too shit…