Advercation = Advertising + Education

On May 10th, 2007, I produced and co-hosted a Blattner Brunner Brand Energy Workshop entitled: “The Non-Profit Marketing Plan Walkthrough”. This session focused on teaching small non-profits how to think like marketers so they can connect with potential donors, volunteers and clients.

As a passionate alturist, I was happy to create the following doucment with the help of Mark Adams and Greater DC Cares.

Click the image to go to Scribd.com - a nifty document sharing site:

Direct link to The Non-Profit Marketing Plan Walkthrough

Social Mapping is not new. But Google MyMaps is.

I just created one for DC and sent it to some friends. I wonder what kind of craziness will pop-up: DC is a Hot Mess MyMap

I can hear the nails driving into the coffin of Platial and other social map apps as we speak…

It’s no surprise that Broadband Video is the perfect channel through which politicians can reach their varied and desired target audiences.

Ken Liebeskind of ShootOnline’s iSpot gives a good recap of it’s initial usage thus far in the 2008 Presidential campaign:

“Candidates Use Broadband Videos To Announce Presidential Bids”

I’m quoted in the article and agree with is conclusions. I have to say though that the last qoute should read:

“What we call ‘web 2.0′ technology is enabling users to share media. This sharing ability creates social media. People can comment on it, tag it, mash it up, and foward it on. How do you interact with a TV spot? Really?”

I’m looking forward to working on some interesting interactive implementations this political season and seeing how the rest of the field embraces the new tools that have been created for them to use.

It hasn’t hit the mainstream yet as it is still a little early in this election season, but the political marketing/campaigning buzz will center around the social media aspect of each campaign.

You know what though…I have to wonder if a democratic candidate will create a profile on myspace (owned by FOX> FOX no likey ‘democrate party’ [sic]). Will a republican?

Bartle Bogle Hegarty has created a YouTube viral execution spoofing hip-hop culture.

Think: Yuppies rapping in Vineyard Vines attire - and instead of swilling Cristal, they’re pouring out Smirnoff Raw Tea for their homies.

Analysis: At first sight this effort by BBH seems dead on. I loved the video on YouTube. However, I have to ask…Why doesn’t teapartay.com have any related content? When you go to the site you are redirected to Smirnoff’s general site, where Smirnoff Ice is prominantly displayed. Even worse, there is a banner in the bottom right of the homepage that has Tea Partay imagery, but it says “coming soon” and you can’t click through. Did BBH not have enought time to make this a complete package? WTF? Looks like the microsite is up.

ARTICLE: WSJ.com - Yo! Smirnoff Raps for Malt Beverage

VIDEO: YouTube Video of ‘Tea Partay’

I have to thank Ernie Mosteller for blogging about my use - and possible coining of - the term “Branded Tagging” even before I got a chance to.

If I’m the ‘owner’ of this term…great (I first used it on 8/05/06). If not, it doesn’t really matter does it?

So what is Branded Tagging anyway? Well, as you may already know, tagging is a methodology associated with Folksonomy and is a way of identifying content with a certain keywords.

The process of folksonomic tagging is intended to make a body of information increasingly easier to search, discover, and navigate over time. -Wikipedia

Branded tagging is the process of folksonomic tagging which is intended to make content relatable to a brand - whether that brand wants that association or not. -Peter S. Corbett

Examples:

1. Negative Brand Tagging: A web user reads an article about how SUVs are exacerbating global warming. In their del.icio.us account that user can tag that content with “Hummer”. The tag in del.icio.us for the keyword Hummer just shifted a little towards the negative side.
2. Positive Brand Tagging: Peter Corbett visits www.adrants.com, reads a post about something Steve Hall felt compelled to write about, and comments on it. Within that comment section the commenter’s name could either be my own, or the Brand I’d like to attached to that comment/article. Namely, I could comment with “Blattner Brunner” as the commenter name so that people will associate my knowledgeable response with the agency I work for - better yet, I can link my Branded Tag to the Blattner Brunner homepage.

The point is that content can be associated with brands whether those brands like it or not. More than ever consumer have control over the brand.

I guess the customer is always right…