Cadbury Wishes Video

Next generation Spotify becomes more social

Spotify’s latest version comes with an integration with Facebook connect, users can now add all their facebook friends who use Spotify to their Spotify friends, building their own spotify community instantly. Within this community users can listen to what their friends listen to and share recommendations by simply dropping songs in a users inbox. Users can also collaborate to create their own playlists, share them and pass between different friendship groups for a viral effect.

Demonstration of the latest Spotify


Why is this important to Cadbury?

We are fast seeing the use of Facebook connect move from asthetically pleasing campaign led initiatives to becoming a major longterm investment and for new startups like dating site Thread it’s the fundamental framework of their business model. With so many sites implementing this technology the bar is being raised for what we expect from a site, the community experience from the click of a button is fast moving from being an added bonus to becoming a demanded requirement. Soon sites which don’t adopt FB conncet or the new ‘Like’ functionality could face shorter dwell times and higher dropoff rates

Levis bring community shopping to their site with Facebook’s ‘Like’ Button

As Facebook released their ‘Like’ button last week many sites have been taking advantage of the revolutionary way to let your audience become advocates and spread the word to their friends via their facebook account. Even our very own PHD blog Feeding the puppy has users giving approval on the site, which in turn gains incremental exposure through user ‘Likes’ that transfer to user updates on facebook.

Levis have embraced facebook ‘Like’ and have become the first site to really take advantage of the new opportunity to personalise the experience for each visitor. Each item within the store can be ‘Liked’, not only to increase footfall to the site through user recommendations but to also improve the experience for users and their friends. As users engage with the site by giving approval to items for sale Levis quickly build a database of likes and dislikes between friend groups, this leads to a shopping platform which states each user’s friends favoured items to help with their own shopping decisions. You can then even switch to a personalised store which only displays items popular with friends.

Here is a demonstration video of the site:



Why is this important to Cadbury?

Implementing the ‘Like’ button is an easy win for all site activity, Wispa.co.uk would be a perfect starting point as it has multiple activities for users to try and currently has no media backing. The ‘Like’ Button could be implemented for each activity giving users the chance to give feedbback to the Wispa community on what they want to see more of. ‘Like’ will also allow friends to promote the site through their Facebook updates, even more important currently without media budget giving more of a view as to what activities are on offer by stating within the ‘Like’ copy. Growing a fanbase organically is increasingly important given Wispa.co.uk has a longterm content strategy and is currently without media backing.

Taking this a step further, similarly to Levis, Wispa.co.uk could begin to personalise for each user dependant on the interaction of their friends. This could also be implemented within Cadbury.co.uk Recipes for a similar effect, creating a community feel to the recipe guide to improve the footfall of the site and stickiness.

Foursquare tipped for celebrity advocates in 2010

Foursquare, the location based micro blogging service, has shown significant growth worldwide growing from only 96,000 users in December 2009 to 650,000 in March 2010 (Comscore). Although still relatively small in the UK with currently 31,000 users we can expect this to grow exponentially as content providers such as the Wall Street Journal move to integrate Foursquare into their offering – Bringing an new dimension to their content as well as educating their readers on the Foursquare platform . In addition social networks by nature grow in appeal as more users adopt the service, adding value by increasing the social community.

Similarly to Twitter, what will certainly add to the Foursquare hype is it’s celebrity appeal, as Arnold Schwarzenegger leads the way by encouraging fans to follow his whereabouts via the California Government site


Why is this important to Cadbury?

As Foursquare grows to critical mass we need to be aware of how we can benefit from the service and how it can bring extra dimensions to our activity. For example the newly announced Trident International Globetrotter, Katie P could be checking into each festival as well as her whereabouts when she’s back home – perhaps even with a micro blog offering any fans within the area a free drink with her to get a chance to meet her and talk about the campaign.

A celeb influx also creates a greater opportunity to promote PR parties giving a real-time view on which celebs are attending the next Caramel Nibbles party. For those users following multiple celebrities it would be very impactful if they could see they were all partying together at the same venue. Soon with celeb social media buzz becoming increasingly important celeb status may be judged on a Foursquare following and have a big role to play in the invite list.

Internet enabled TVs

TVs are increasingly becoming wifi enabled to allow internet access. Connected TVs are forecast to be in 350-500k UK homes by Q2 2010, by 2015 they are predicted to be in over half a billion homes worldwide. Yahoo are the first media owner to move into this technology offering personalised applications which appear as an overlay which appears at the click of a button on the remote control. This shift in how we watch TV will add personalisation and social interaction, imagine a Facebook connect integration which allowed users to chat to friends whilst watching their favourite soaps, bringing realtime FB updates a step further.

How does this affect Cadbury?

• VOD ads across TV – With Internet TV it will be possible to use the same targeting we use online but across TV adverts. For example for GHFP we could appear on the X Factor final but only to females 21-29, for Flake could even use behavioural targeting to only appear to users who have watched Beauty content.

• With a central hub distributing wifi internet access to both TV and PC we can be more advanced with our tracking and analysis, the following could be measured:
o TV & Online unique users and ad impressions
o Extended reach generated from Online
o Advanced engagement mapping which measures TV’s performance for driving to a microsite

Apple reveal iAd platform

Apple have announced plans to significantly develop the ad functionality within applications. As users swiftly move towards accessing content via Apps rather than the mobile internet Apple have identified monetising apps as a key consideration for the latest iPhone which is being released in the summer. Rather than driving through to a URL or YouTube users will now be able to engage with brands within their application of choice.

This change will have two positive effects on the iPhone app market:

• Taking users out of their app and into the web browser was bad for the user journey, integrating with apps will encourage user engagement with brands and reduce drop-off

• Content providers will be more likely to invest in ad funded iPhone apps as users will not be driven away from their content

o They will also potentially look to integrate the iAd platform within their content to offer bespoke solutions. For example an app which uses the camera could instantly layer branded augmented reality when initiated by the ad format

How does this affect Cadbury?

Previously we have only used app ads for Fairtrade as the technology was already available to drive users to iTunes – utilizing the iphone’s integration with our only Zingolo MP3 supplier. Applications will soon provide a greater opportunity to engage users with the brand, Cadbury can build solutions for each campaign which utilise iPhone functions without having to build applications themselves.

Soon we will be able to provide augmented reality experiences combined with location services through an ad format, we could even work with key app partners such as Foursquare to integrate competitions within their product. If this technology was available this time last year it would have lent itself to the Twisted Top Secret Agent campaign adding another dimension.

Design your own Conservative Ad

For this year’s election the conservatives have tried to compete in a popularity contest rather than a policy contest. They invested heavily in an outdoor campaign targeting Gordon Brown with unflattering photos and spoof captions – Seeing a comparison between their prime minister candidates as their primary edge over Labour. What they didn’t count on was just how much influence one person, Clifford Singer, could have by creating a site called MyDavidCameron offering users the chance to retaliate by creating their own versions of the David Cameron ads. In six weeks his site has already got over 250,000 unique users, which is nearly six times the amount of visitors of all of the UK Government sites combined (Comscore Stats).

Success stories like Clifford Singer campaigning are becoming more frequent, in December Jon and Tracy Morter successfully managed to overthrow the X Factor’s dominance on the Christmas number one by campaigning for users to buy Rage against the Machine’s ‘Killing in the Name’. These case studies show what remarkable feats can be achieved by just one person beginning a movement, with the internet eliminating barriers to social connections it is possible to reach those of a similar view and grow a tribe of followers – Generating substantial numbers to make an impact which otherwise wouldn’t be possible.

How does this affect Cadbury?

While politicians and Cadbury seem a million miles apart they do have similarities, both have loyal fanbases who will spread awareness if given a compelling reason to do so. We have already seen what Wispa fans can collaboratively achieve and for Trident Perpetual Festivals we’re seeing the job candidates self promoting and adding value to the campaign. For Spots vs. Stripes we will be looking to inspire users in a similar way, increasing participation exponentially allowing our fans to recruit team members. This way fans not only increase our awareness but increase the competitive element of the Spots vs. Stripes by creating two tribes.

For more information try Seth Godin’s book Tribes

Love it or hate it?

Marmite has had a lot of trade press coverage recently, launching their new cereal bars with their most outrageous campaign yet. As part of the campaign they have been the first advertiser to use the new Facebook sampling ads to encourage users to try the new cereal bar and to become fans of the page. This is a truly integrated activity with multiple strands that all pull together to feel like a cohesive rather than disparate campaign.

This is running concurrently with the introduction of Marmite XO, their new extra strong product, which has been named by its Facebook fans and subsequently launched on the site. There has also been a lot of effort put into building the community including special Marmarati events, a first peek at the product and a gallery of peoples’ reactions.

Why this is important for Cadbury?

It’s a great example of an what an FMCG brand can achieve by thoroughly embracing and integrating digital into a broader campaign. Their thinking seems to be closely aligned with Cadbury – pushing for media firsts, thinking carefully how to use social networks and online media, looking after existing fans and creating brand ambassadors. Marmite is in a unique position as a product rarely elicits such polarized responses. They have embraced this to create a brand that everyone you can like, even if you hate the product itself –no mean feat.

Facebook to launch Mobile location features

Facebook have been very slow on utilising their 400 Million+ mobile following by implementing an ad funded model, choosing instead to let the surge to mobile organically improve Facebook updates with spontaneous real-time updates becoming the norm rather than a reflective end of the day update.

Next month this is widely expected to change with the introduction of location based services. Frighteningly this will mean users will then have the option to be visible to their friends wherever they currently are as well as being able to keep up to date with their status updates.

Why is this important for Cadbury?

Facebook already has an incredible amount of data on their users that advertisers have at their disposal but we’ve been waiting for that extra dimension that embraces the evolution into a real-time interaction model. Dependant on when Facebook decide to monetise these changes, Cadbury will soon be able to drive point of sale activity via mobile handset, targeting a specific demographic only when they’re within close proximity of a retailer.

Google Fiber raises the bar for broadband suppliers

Last month in the US Google announced plans to give away high speed broadband up to 1 GB per second – One hundred times faster than we have today. During the trial Google will choose cities with a need for rejuvenation, promising between 50,000 & 500,000 people will have access to the Google Fiber service. Despite speculation that the service will be rolled out worldwide if successful, even as the trial currently stands user expectations from broadband services will no doubt increase with comparison. To stay afloat ISP services will have to compete and it won’t be too long before we in fact rue the decision to name today’s speeds as ‘Broadband’

As we’ve seen previously the increase in internet speed opens up the potential for a much richer and more engaging experience. Moving to a 100 times faster internet allows communities and organisations to use a ‘cloud computing’ infrastructure with more fluidity, changing the way we store and retrieve our personal data.

Why is this important for Cadbury?

A large increase in internet speeds would eliminate limitations over what could be provided to their audience within ad formats. The Fairtrade fortnight album could be downloaded straight from a standard format, the 2009 Creme egg game could be hosted within an expandable MPU and moving forward we could even host a high definition feature length film which could be expanded to full screen.

If Google Fibre internet speeds were freely accessible we could pack all the attributes of a content rich micro site into an ad format and distribute it to our audience and where they want to be, rather than pull them towards a destination to engage.

Thread – The Dating service, fully powered by Facebook Connect

Launched in September, Thread prides itself on saving users from the long questionnaires and registration processes of other dating sites. Rather, because the free service is based on Facebook Connect, users begin by simply logging in to their Facebook account and answering a few quick questions including their gender, city and relationship status. Once connected, they can easily browse a list of their "friends of friends," or second-degree Facebook connections, sorted by gender and relationship status.

Rather than shoehorning in FB connect functions, Thread is one of the first services developed solely reliant on Facebook Connect. With the ability to piggyback off Facebook’s vast database of users Thread has the potential to offer an easy to use, easy to sign up service with more potential matches than the long running (and major investing) Dating Direct and Match.com

What’s this got to do with Cadbury?

The uptake in Facebook connect is increasing user expectations for when they land on a site. Users are beginning to interact with sites within their Facebook community rather than have a standalone experience, making it increasingly important to take FB Connect into consideration and maximise the content offering on all Cadbury sites. Users will become more comfortable logging into sites using their Facebook account, in turn they will be less inclined to create bespoke site login details – Making it increasingly difficult to collect Traction data.

Facebook's mobile user base reaches 100 million

Latest figures released show that Facebook now has 100 million users accessing the site via mobile, remarkably Facebook only reached 100 million online users 16 months ago (Oct 2008). The figures show that users are quickly changing the dynamics of their social media usage, opting to update throughout their day on topics as they happen rather than summing up their day at the end when they have PC access.

How does this affect Cadbury?

Realtime updates make it possible for users to alert friends on small novelty elements throughout their day which they would otherwise have forgotten/ wouldn’t be relevant in an end of day update summing up their day. Because of this publicity stunts such as the ‘Single Ladies’ and ‘Musical Chairs’ stunts will be the topic of social conversation within minutes of happening.

Social media is changing the goal of a publicity stunt, at the moment advertisers are looking for editorial coverage within magazines but now a stunt’s success could be measured on the social buzz that it receives as witnesses effectively report back to their peers. Realtime social media buzz could also increase traffic to product sampling activity as people tip off their friends within the area.

Market sentinel will be able to monitor the stunts coverage and thanks to Facebook’s new search functionality we can instantly search and find all mentions of the stunt providing users have their status available to all.

Realtime updates also make it feasible to run small competitions within event such as the Buttons farm for fans to feed in their entries via mobile and at the same time alert their friends as to where they are.