New EMI site – Review

The new EMI site sparked a wee ‘discussion’ in our office and as I’m the consumer champion i.e. Planner I thought I had to add my two pence worth.

…..”Any site and any social site included still needs to be a well thought through digital idea.

I don’t see the point of having a music site limited by the label (i.e. Emi) – who actually knows which artists are signed to which labels? I personally don’t think that people don’t care about music labels they care about music.  What was EMI’s starting point when they thought about this?  Did they really think about what the consumer wants?  Also what about the artists existing sites that will already carry a lot of fan orientated material.  I have to ask myself what new stuff is this site really bringing to the party?

It looks to me like a case of…’oh isn’t social networking something we should get on the bandwagon for’ without thinking through what is actually missing in the market and what the audience really want – instead they seem to have rehashed a lot of existing stuff from the web rather obviously.  Could they have done something better as a tie up with last.fm maybe rather than creating another social network?  What do music lovers want they don’t have in terms of social networks?…..maybe at the moment nothing…..so putting another badly thought through social site out there isn’t going to create much ROI for them.

I hate it when brands jump on the digital band wagon and don’t think it through fully or give a fig about consumers.

Rant over.  I haven’t looked at the site in great great detail, so pardon any misinformed ranting”.

So there you go – my opininion – what’s yours?

Twitter as a social PR tool

I won’t apologise about my theme of blogging about twitter.  As a fast growing communications medium, it’s fascinating.  Also as a relatively new user I’m just getting to understand the benefits and I want to share them.

I’ve just spotted a great use of twitter as a PR tool (and a great way to build your network of followers).  The BBC are opening up Erik Huggers – Editor of Digital – to an audience of twitter followers, for a Q & A session.  A real conversation with your consumers I hear you say?  Good work BBC I say.

Perhaps not the most exciting senario for twitterers but how far could this be extended?  Music brands opening up their celebs to a real time conversation?  Or Honda engineers talking in realtime in a Q&A session for fans?

It’s not genius but well done BBC for embracing social media.

Advertising for free? – widgets

I read a really comprehensive blog about widgets today. I agree that they are massively useful tools for brands to advertise in a cost effective way that is unprecendented in the advertising world.

However I think in order to do this affectively, brands (and agencies creating them) need to fully consider these issues:

1.  Scaleability – there are only so many mini-apps, are we really going to want loads of desk top clutter?

2.  Durability – is it going to be a one hit wonder (and is that part of it’s USP as a widget?), a form of geniuinely engaging entertainment or my preference for engaging consumers with the brad; a lasting app, which gives a truely useful function e.g. Nike + or the learndirect motivation widget we created at Collective.

3.  Usefulness - similarly, there are really entertaining widgets, but I have a slight fear of these.  I think they allow for a the creative agency to get a little lost in their ‘creative playtime’.   Snicker’s Mr.T widget we did at Collective was massively entertaining and viral (dresses you up as Mr.T) – but it was also unique when it was created.  There is going to be only so much space in the market for the same mechanic.

My personal preference is for widgets to  to be really lasting mini-applications e.g UPS – parcel tracker.  I think in this way the consumer and their needs is put more at the heart of the concept and will ultimately provide more lasting value for the brand.  Probably from the use of a digital Planner, who has provided this consumer insight.

Cost?

Another interesting comment raised is the cost of installing a widget.  The put it at $5 per install.  This is not what my experience of widgets has been.

The cost of distribution can be high if it is adserved.  But in the case of a Clearspring widget we did at Collective for learndirect*, the technology was free and download also free as it was hosted on the learndirect website.

In this instance the widget was less about entertainment and actually provided a functional app for users – motivating learners on their learning journey. Clearspring said they might be changing this model in the future, but for now it has represented a massively cost effective way of communicating with customers and in learndirects case, providing a truly useful widget for motivating learners.