1. I get quite a few of requests for meetings to look at products that may be of interest to me.
2. Reports say that about 50% of companies / employees have banned / no access to Facebook, this includes my place of work.

Therefore, trying to get hold of me via Facebook is not the best plan if you want to get a quick response.

Just a tip!

• oobject
  “…like Billboard Charts for Gadgets”
  (tags: design technology gadgets)

Here’s a Google Analytics graph of searches for the keyword “bmw m3” that land on the M3 product overview page.

It’s pretty clear to see that since the start of the print and television campaign, search volumes for the car have increased considerably.

This is where online comes into its own. The opportunity now exists to take the searcher from being an inquisitive web-surfer to a very real prospective lead. It’s no secret that search traffic, on average, converts better than most other referring mediums because the searcher is actively looking for something specific. And – Google is the highest single referrer to the M3 landing page.

Landing page setup

It’s vital to ensure that the user’s expectation of the landing page (the page the search engine send you to) is met with what he/she needs. With the BMW M3 overview page, we’ve made sure that we’ve included a prominent link to the campaign that’s currently running. The user is also able to do a quick colour and wheel configuration, download a brochure and a price list all from that page.

From there, exploring the rest of the product is all a click away.

2 Questions

If you’re running a TV / Print or other mass media campaign I suggest that you ask yourself (or your agency) the following questions:

1. If a prospective customer does a search for your brand name or advertised product, where are you sitting in the results pages?
2. If a user clicks through to your website, either from a search engine or by the URL on the advert (I’m going to presume that the presence of a publicised web address is a given), what will he/she see? Are you actively trying to acquire new customers? Or have you left him on his own to wonder through the 100-Megabyte woods that is your website?

Other reading:
» Online vs. Offline Marketing

• Web Analytics Standards: 26 New Metrics Definitions
  26 brand spanking new metrics that have been published by the Web Analytics Association standards committee.
  (tags: web analytics webanalytics)

Logo with shiny reflection .. check.
Rate, share and embed music .. check.
Create customised playlists .. check.
Free .. check.

Deezer = Web 2 point whatever compliant..

With Pandora shutting out non-US users, and CBS’s acquisition of my favourite favourite last.fm (on May 30th) the personalised-music-on-demand landscape is probably ready for something like this.

Who knows what the future holds for last.fm. Although it’s miles ahead (imho) of any other music service, the fact that it’s no longer your friendly neighbourhood, independently run system, but rather an arm of an American media powerhouse is enough to have many users worried (from last.fm: apparently CBS won’t mess with the site).

Anyway, enough about all that. I actually wanted an excuse to test Deezer’s embeddable music player.

This is in my current top 5 songs of the year:

The National – Mistaken for strangers (from The Boxer) (video).

On the subject of top lists, The Muso is doing a top 20 of the year so far: 20 – 16; 15 – 11; 10 – 6 (their site seems to be down at the moment though)

I seem to attract static shocks more than a super-magnet attracts metal filings.

From touching the window or doorknob, to pushing the button on the machine that gives you your parking ticket, i feel like one of Pavlov’s dogs – anything metal is now dangerous and to be approached with extreme caution.

Here’s a bunch of articles explaining how to prevent this from happening:

People who know me say that it’s just my electric personality.

sorry, my monday morning jokes aren’t usually funny.

let’s just say, I’ll be ex-static when summer arrives..

i’ll just stop. right. there.

Right! Now that 1 Series is out of the way (sort of), M3 starts on Monday.

Be sure to sign up here. The new M3 ad goes on air on Sunday (and will be up on the various video sharing sites too). It’s been a lot of hard work from our marketing team and by far the most integrated campaign from TV to web we’ve ever done.

The web stuff is intense!

Update: Here’s the TV ad..

I don’t want to get into the overall weaknesses of Dros’ website, but i’d like to focus on one particular area where i think they could put a little more effort.

When trying to locate a store on their site, three words come to mind “Mystery Meat Navigation”. A term I learned when i first got into usability (one of my first interests) at quirk in 2002.

from the originator’s site (great site btw – rss feed):

Mystery meat navigation (also abbreviated MMN) is a term coined and popularized by author, web designer, and usability analyst Vincent Flanders to describe user interfaces (especially in websites) in which it is inordinately difficult for users to discern the destinations of navigational hyperlinks—or, in severe cases, even to determine where the hyperlinks are. The typical form of MMN is represented by menus composed of unrevealing icons that are replaced with explicative text only when the mouse cursor hovers over them.

I have nothing more to say…

..
…

In fact, i do. Woolworths in the Bag could so with a serious overhaul too. Is that a rant-post I hear getting closer?

The day has been pretty slow here. I’ve settled for reading blog posts to get me back into the swing of things (which has been made even more difficult by forgetting my reading glasses at home).

I think I can sum up this years ‘koppi in 3 words – “Another skitterende skop”. All the factors came together:

Weather: Much warmer this year. no need for gloves and arctic explorer gear.
People: the usual happy go lucky crowd.
Organisation: Very good. From the way the website gave visitors the info they needed, and built up a bit of a pre-event community right through to the ticketing, the kreef hotel and their flipping amazing showers, the bars (so glad Amstel beer left SAB as it was an SAB-free event, refreshingly!), i could go on.
Music: As usual, some old favourites mixed with some new, for me at least, treats.

New personal discoveries:
- Closet Snare (interview and live vid | myspace) [superb]
- Youngblood Brass Band (The times interview)
- Unit R (myspace
- Max Normal TV (myspace)

And some previously seen highlights:
- kidofdoom (nice lighting by Peter, especially those extra cool LEDs (see top pic))
- Desmond and the Tutus (previous mention on this blog) – opened quite early on saturday afternoon, but perfect for some lazy snoozing under the trees, as if they were playing in my lounge.
- The Rudimentals – saw them at the armchair theater about 4 or 5 years ago, still cranking out some seriously catchy ska.

For some reason, it was quite a lot more subdued for me this year. I think it was a combination of the usual group dynamic (which was generally very chilled out, maar lekker!) and not really knowing who/what was playing on the Sipho Gumede stage (my guide from Kreef hotel didn’t have that column). this is a pretty lame excuse but i do think that the event would benefit from a huge big board in the main area with a “what’s on now” guide.

all in all, i’m a better man for going.

Idea for next year – a broadcasting system with a range of about 1km to broadcast a RadioOppikoppi signal to the cars in the campsite. I think that would be sweet, inexpensive, and a cool opportunity to add more value to the festival goers options.

Am I the only one who gets some kind of deep down guilt whenever I decline joining some Facebook group invitations? Or even clicking the dreaded “Not Attending” button on a event invite? When you decline the invite, does the originator get alerted to this? My current strategy is to ignore until the event is over.

I think Dale Carnegie’s 1936 classic “How to win friends and influence people” is in need of an update with a new section titled “How not to seem like a jerk in social media spaces”.