Joanna Lyall's Blog

Joanna Lyall — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 17:33:32 +0000

Video: Jo Lyall from Mindshare on Sticky Stories, Purchasing Paths – #AdVision – Microsoft Advertising Blog – Microsoft Advertising Community

Joanna Lyall — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 17:32:34 +0000

Video: Jo Lyall from Mindshare on Sticky Stories, Purchasing Paths – #AdVision – Microsoft Advertising Blog – Microsoft Advertising Community.

Mobile applications turn static comms into engaging experiences

Joanna Lyall — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 18:29:42 +0000

Technology provides the vehicle that turns paid advertising into owned and earned value. Autonomy, a UK search technology company developed application called Aurasma that allows a user to point their iPhone or iPad at a static image and generate a video. essentially this allows you to bring a print ad to life and creates a richer more engaging brand experience for the consumer. This type of technology falls under the augmented reality category and Google offers a similar tool in it Goggles application. I think we will see more of this integrated advertising made possible through the growth of smart phones. The FT recently used this technology in a partnership with Wally Yachts, it turned a still image into a film of boat racing. http://www.brandrepublic.com/news/1075744/Ad-recognition-app-feature-FT-super-yacht-campaign

Is Britain entrepreneurial enough to create social businesses?

Joanna Lyall — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 12:27:03 +0000

In my opinion an entrepreneurial spirit is key becoming a social business. When you consider that the big brand leaders in the social space they typically originate from the US or Asia; take Starbucks, Dell and Air Asia as just a few examples. These brands and business have recognised that being social goes far beyond the boundaries of the marketing department and fundamentally is starting to change how they do business and connect with their customers. The rub for many is that there is no blue print for getting this right first time so it requires an amplitude and appetite for failing, learning and trying something different in a short space of time. This approach take resource and takes courage for a company to re-engineer themselves to make this acceptable. The fail fast attitude is one is that is often quoted from leading digital businesses like Google, Apple and Facebook, the idea that a project is never quite finished and is continually developed and improved is one that comes hand in hand with their business model. There was a time where products were reviewed and updated periodically now through the power of real-time data products can change daily. Apparently, Zynga’s business model is to advertise games before they go into production to assess the level of popularity, this model combines focus group testing with real-time development. In theory it should cut both cost and risk.

For traditional businesses to become social businesses they need to find a way to isolate and use the most insightful real-time data they can lay their hands on. This insight allows brands to respond real-time to customers and to evolve their products around a need at any given time.

Culturally Asia is a natural birth place for entrepreneurs, their ability to make something out of very little is in their blood, you see it from the streets to the business world. On the other side of the world the home for entrepreneurs in technology resides in California and it seems that some of the Silicon Valley attitude and approach to business development has worked its way into large corporations like Ford, Dell, Starbucks, BMW and many more. In Britain there are examples of socially engineered businesses but they have tended to start out that way than have evolved from traditional models. So I wonder if the big British companies or the global brands with significant business here in the UK have what it takes to change the model and re-engineer themselves to become social right at the centre of their being.

I love the internet because of the things that I get to see that I wouldn’t without it

Joanna Lyall — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 17:07:52 +0000

Digital and real world shopping experiences are getting closer

Joanna Lyall — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 21:01:55 +0000

When I shop online it is becoming standard to see not only the product descriptions and maybe some reviews but also more often than not I will get some social context. I can see how many people have liked the product and when I am logged in I can see whether that applies to my friends. Social context appears to drive increased sales by stimulating impulse purchase and encouraging wavering consumers. So I am increasingly interested in how this will be possible when I am in a real store. I actually think that most of the technology is there and we are just waiting for retailers to make the connection or for consumers to demand it. Some stores are ahead of the game; Allsaints and now the new Burberry store in Covent Garden are all teched up with digital screens that in theory will make this connection possible. Allsaints have gone for the iPad option and Burberry have gone all out with huge digital screens and wi-fi throughout. Both of these stores are making it easier for me to bring my digital and real world shopping closer together. The other option I have is to use my mobile, I could use an app like Google Goggles to get access to any available information about any given object, assuming that the object owner is well optimised then I might be able to see all sorts of interesting information including what other people think about this product. Augmented reality technology like Layar can also help bring these shopping worlds together. Bings latest developments on their search engine are also geared to help bring more social context to shopping experiences; combining location with social data and recommendations. Every brand owner should be thinking about how to make sure that they are ready and optimised for the new consumer demands…

Alternatively, if I don’t want to leave my home but do want the experience of trying things on before I buy then XBOX Kinect might just have the answer with its virtual shopping experience technology: http://solsie.com/2011/06/kinectshop-a-new-augmented-reality-shopping-platform-for-the-xbox-kinect/

Related post on Microsofts developments for social real world commerce: http://www.internetretailer.com/2011/01/26/e-commerce-tech-provider-escalate-adds-mobile-shopping-options

Time and technology + story the new model for modern marketing

Joanna Lyall — Sat, 28 May 2011 20:15:51 +0000

The new Audi Le Mans ad premiered tonight before the Champs League kick off. The 2.5 min ad tells the story of what it is like to be an Audi driver in the 24 hour Le Mans race. The ad in shot in 2d and 3d (viewable on Sky and in cinema). It is beautiful and engaging, it is an ad that you want to watch. Longer time lengths, smart use of technology combined with a story gives a brand stand out but will it pay back on the media cost (at circa £160k per 30 secs)?

From what I can see they have a fabulous piece of owned content + an incredibly high quality paid media spot but have made very little effort to maximize the earned media value…. In my opinion if you are going to spend that much on one spot it should be supported by digital media in the paid and earned space. The YouTube film has not been posted publicly so that it is discoverable and there is not any paid search to overcome the lack of natural visibility.

I really believe this is the new model for marketing in a POE world but you have to get all the elements working together to make the most of the new media ecosystem.

Why more women aren’t sitting at the top

Joanna Lyall — Sun, 22 May 2011 17:54:20 +0000

Made for me – BMW owned driving earned

Joanna Lyall — Tue, 03 May 2011 11:39:58 +0000

I enjoyed reading an article in the FT this morning about BMW’s built to order business that is starting to take off in the US . For some years now BMW have already sold cars on a made to order basis in Germany but now the US consumers can also get involved. From their Spartanburg factory you can order an X3 and with over 70m possible configurations you can get quite personal. Allowing your customer be part of the product creation without actually having to change anything that you do is a smart way of making your owned assets work harder. In this example BMW have been clever in also giving their customers a film that shows their car being built at various stages of the production line. The built to order models are no more expensive to the consumer and actually are potentially a better business model for dealers to avoid them having speculate over which cars to have in the showroom. This product gives people a reason to choose BMW and most importantly gives them motivation to talk about it. If you ‘designed’ your own car you would tell all your friends wouldn’t you? and you may even want to show them the film…

BT paid owned and earned for the second biggest wedding of the year

Joanna Lyall — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 17:37:15 +0000

I quite enjoyed the 1min 34 second BT advert at the weekend showing the wedding of Jane and Adam. I especially admire the fact that BT have told a consistent story that more recently had the input of their fans along the way. They have once again modernised the BT family communication to connect better with todays consumer. Whether you like the ads or not is somewhat irrelevant, I think BT have put themselves out there much more than usual and have been innovative in their approach to capture some emotion and engagement from UK consumers. 480k votes were cast over what dress she should wear, what car they would travel in and what song would be their first dance. As far as I can see they seem to have done things in the right way and showed the finished ads and extra behind the scenes content to facebook fans first as a reward for their input and fans even got the chance to be extras at the wedding. Last year 1.6 million people voted on Jane’s pregnancy, based on numbers alone the wedding doesn’t seem as quite as successful but it certainly grew the facebook following.
BT have successfully used a long standing owned content asset to generate conversation and positive sentiment from consumers as well as delivering impact through traditional paid media channels. This integrated campaign is a good example for other advertisers to see how a story can be told simply across multiple channels which encourages sharing and contribution along the way.