Digigen & The TinMan

If Google did bring the cost of hosting and delivering a live debate down from £600k on YouTube. Yes, that is £600k, not £60k. Then I fully believe that 2010 could be a year where we see frequent live debates within the YouTube channel.

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I recently commented on two ad campaigns; Budweiser and Yahoo. The first campaign appears to have been relatively successful in driving increased searches on Google, and thus could perhaps be deemed to be making inroads into the UK mindset. The chart below seems to indicate this.

The Yahoo campaign however appears to be less than successful. Alot has been mentioned about the campaign, yet I still don’t really get it. The campaign doesn’t really tell me anything apart from that its about “You”. Its a relatively strange way of advertising for Yahoo and given the stock images it feels they have used, I feel they could have spent their $100m significantly better. Anyway, don’t take my word for it, the chart below shows the sizeable decrease in buzz for Yahoo. Thanks to Silicon Alley Insider for this. I am going to take a more indepth look in Radian 6 at mentions for Budweiser and report back.

So I work with some really smart people, who come packed with information that I really like hearing about. One of the great stories I have had recently is about the Michelin Guides. You probably know the story, but I didn’t so I would repeat it here. I know you have heard of a Michelin Star even if you haven’t heard of the guide.

The story starts back in the 1900s with Andre Michelin, the inventor of the tyre. Back then tyres did not last very long, but usage of cars was so infrequent that they were not replaced that often. The Michelin Guide was created to encourage users to drive to restaurants, so much so that the guides were given to all Michelin customers purchasing tyres. The smart thing about the guide was that the star system within the guide was created to encourage drivers to drive further for good food, thus creating more wear on their tyres.

Although the guides originally encompassed blue and red guides, they have since been replaced by one red one which all restaurateurs strive to get into on a yearly basis. You can buy the latest 2010 guide here.

I love a new site launch. Especially when the owner has to remove all known English grammer rules including the all important vowels. Gdgt launched on the 1st October to a bit of fanfare. I picked up the post on PSFK.

The site itself is really interesting, almost a Hype Machine or Gadget lovers social network is how I would describe it. The premise being that you upload the gadgets that you have or love, and GDGT will connect you directly to other users so you can discuss, review, and rant about the gadget of your choice. Its a nice idea, clearly very geek orientated, so it will be interesting to see the make-up of the audience once the site gets fully up to speed.

I particuarly like the site because it offers advertisers some really interesting targeting opportunities. Like the Motorola Razr? (no I don’t know why you would either) well we should be able to target these users with the new Motorola phone to get them to upgrade. On the iPhone with O2? Well, did you know you can get a better package with Orange, and we will upgrade your data package for free. I think its strength will be in being able to segment the audience by type of gadget and this will help to boost the longevity of this site.

So Yahoo have just splashed $100m+ on an ad campaign in the US, whilst Budweiser continue to push one of the UK’s largest ever campaigns highlighting the fact that “Good Times…they’re out there”. Presumably, this means there are good times out there, especially if you like drinking watered down, tasteless American beer. Give me the Czech Budweiser anyday over the US version. It seems to me that both Yahoo and Budweiser have missed the point about their products.

1) Yahoo’s ad campaign focuses on telling everyone about how big they are. FANTASTIC. Big doesn’t mean cool and it certainly doesn’t mean useful. I know about Yahoo. Everyone who uses the internet knows about Yahoo. Therefore, we are all presuming they are pretty big. Tell us something a bit more interesting with your $100m campaign…perhaps an Apple-esque discussion about Apps, plugging Yahoo Answers, talking about Flickr, Delicious, etc. But please don’t tell us how big you are, it isn’t going to make me convert.

2) Budweiser are telling us that “Good Times…they’re out there”. That would certainly be correct if Budweiser enabled you to have one of those “Good Times”,  but I think the majority of beer drinkers in the UK would not consider Budweiser a drink worth choosing. I would much rather opt for a Becks Vier or new Stella at 4%. Its no suprise that this campaign comes out of the Fallon stable, although with the business up for review I’m not sure this will really deliver what Bud want. It is a bit disappointing that the cityscape chosen isn’t a UK one, surely there would be alot more resonance or salience by saying “London. Good times… they’re out there” and using some great London imagery.
So I feel Budweiser and Yahoo may have spent big, but got it wrong. Budweiser continues to push its American heritage for lager, even though we think US lagers are pretty shoddy. Yahoo focus on their size, rather than the intersting elements of their service. A real shame as both campaigns could have had much more potential…