QRazystuff has just posted a really well-written article on the profile building we’ve been doing with Labrinth.
This one runs a bit more in depth about creating the enigma behind Labrinth, along with some of the techniques we are implementing in ‘The Internet of Things‘.
Have a look at the article over here.
(Via QRazystuff)
Tags: facebook,foursquare,Gowalla,Places,Spambook,Tabs
This week Facebook are rolling out their reduced Tab size change, which was originally mentioned last October. So make sure all of your custom Tabs and Apps are resized from 760 to 520 pixels otherwise you’ll be seeing the dreaded ‘broken’ icon.
More information can be found here. / Via InsideFacebook
So, a week after the launch of Facebook Places and what are your thoughts on it? Oh that’s right, it’s only had a US launch so you probably don’t have any first hand experience of it (unless you are Mark Zuckerberg or some other Facebook employee!). One particular luxury we have over here is we can sit back and watch with a reserved caution as others figure out the underlying privacy issues… Or get some good ideas on how to prank friends!
Dennis Crowley, owner of Foursquare doesn’t seem scared by the new competition, telling The Telegraph “I have now had a chance to play around with Facebook Places and it’s not that great or interesting. It’s a pretty boring service, with barely any incentives for users to keep coming back and telling their friends where they are.” He continues “The only interesting thing about Places is that it has a potential audience of over 500 million people around the world… but that can only be a good thing for location-based services, like Foursquare, as Facebook will educate the masses about check-ins.”
The introduction of Places seems to be working in contrast of Facebook’s push to monetise the platform by opening it up to marketers. We use Facebook for all of our clients. The way you can specifically target users based on the information they share makes it a platform that is second to none. But it is this that irks somewhat; with Places people don’t want to share where they are, or where their ‘friends’ say they are broadcast by default to ‘everyone’.
Facebook (well for me, personally) used to be somewhere my actual friends and I could chat online and share links, videos, events etc. Then school friends who I’d not been in touch with (or since) began using the platform and ‘Friend Requesting’ me, and it felt rude not to ‘Accept’ all of them. I realise I may be sounding a bit like a Grumpy Old Man and having contrary views to a company from progressing and growing but Facebook became a lot more open and a lot less personal. That was just the start. Facebook have 500 million+ users, I can’t imagine all of those users are completely web-savvy. Now people become some kind of Facebook celebrities with 1000+ ‘Friends’, reminiscent of the days of MySpace when it was common culture to friend collect. Imagine introducing Places to MySpace. It’s a thought TechCrunch made a whole lot more eloquently in a recent article. Would you feel comfortable sharing that much information with virtual/actual strangers by default? Is it time for Facebook to re-think their Social Graph? Should it introduce a friend tier, its own version of Followers/Following option?
Tags: facebook,i-D,Labrinth,New Media Age,Phones 4U,Strategy Eye
It was a good week for us. A lot of our social services were written about in several online magazines. Here’s the run down:
First up Facebook have created a Case Study (PDF) around the work we have done for Phones 4U.
Secondly there was Strategy Eye’s Hot Company Profile. Which features an interview with our MD Hal Stokes discussing his vision of a progressive approach to Social Media marketing compared to the older, more traditional forms.
And lastly but definitely not least(ly?) there were a couple of honourable mentions in New Media Age and i-D Online regarding our work with new Syco signing Labrinth. Both of which focussed on the QR Code based campaign and Transmission series of videos we’ve produced for him.
We’re wearing our chufty boots 
x
Tags: Alexandra Burke,All Night Long,Competition,youtube
We recently ran a competition for fans of Alexandra Burke to submit videos of themselves dancing, singing, drawing faces on their chins to Alex’s latest song ‘All Night Long’. The idea behind the competition came about as a response to the many videos that her fans had sent in for previous songs, and also as a way to say thank you for their dedication. We thought the best way to do this would be to create the ultimate fan video:
We were inundated with entries, in fact it turned out to be a very successful competition on the whole. But there could only be one winner, and YouTube user nakachwa who won £500, a Sony Bloggie camera and a Sony Vaio laptop with this fantastically creative entry:
Tags: p4u,Phones 4U,widget,youtube
Just as it says in the title; Phones 4u’s new YouTube page has just gone live (Phew, glad I was writing that and not trying to say it!). Packed with exclusive un-boxings, phone tips from store staff, and a whole lot more. Including or should I say featuring, Phones 4u’s very own daily show BOSH! packed full of film reviews, interviews, dares and challenges, and a pretty NSFW sweary guy sitting on a cloud!
The channel features a custom flash carousel to showcase Phones 4u’s branded video content. We based the design of the interface on a smartphone with which you can use to navigate videos. The channel also features a multi-platform sharing functionality plus a twitter feed for good measure.
Graeme Ford, Head of Social Media for Phones4U said ‘We’re keen to connect with our customers by giving them genuine user value propositions in the places they choose to spend their time. The new channel is not just about selling phones; it’s about us as a company earning awareness and consideration for the brand, and ultimately a sense of trust.’
‘We’re very serious about social media. Our YouTube channel not only fits into a much bigger picture, but gives us a relevant home for our content, which can be seeded and shared further.’
Tags: Escape Card,EZ Pay,facebook
EZ Pay Escape Card is a simple prepay credit card, and they have three versions of these; The original Escape Card with which you use just like any other credit card, plus it’s free top up credit free at Phones 4 U. The Escape Travel Money Card in which can load up with credit before a holiday to assist with budgeting. And finally the Neon Prepay Card aimed at educating the younger generation in budgeting and the responsibility of owning a credit card.
Originally EZ Pay had three separate pages on Facebook, one for each pre-pay card, which we thought was a bit too convoluted for a company who’s core ideology is simplicity. With this in mind we re-designed and developed one new, streamlined page to focus their strategy with one tab per card.
To kick off and celebrate this re-launch we created a competition to win a camera and one of their cards already loaded with £250. Get liking to enter.
Here’s a special edition Labrinth transmission all about how to use the QR codes.
The latest in the weekly series it takes it’s inspiration from 80’s Manga style cartoons. Our editor Leif Johnson found a box of his VHS’s (remember those?) that he taped off late night Channel 4 when he was but a child and just ran with the idea:
What do you think? The authentic-looking characters, backgrounds, and typefaces were all drawn by a huge up and coming talent and our in-house designer Ben Marsh, who has already gained quite a bit of internet notoriety for his Gameboy condoms.
We’re incredibly proud of this series, each one aesthetically different from the last. Here’s a little retrospective of the QR code based videos in case you missed any, just follow this link and tell us what you think. (Glad that rhymed!)
Tags: susan boyle,susan's search
We’ve just launched Susan’s Search; a YouTube competition that gives Susan’s fans the chance to sing on her next album. We’ll let Susan explain below:
She’s very excitied about the competition and is really looking forward to collaborating with the winner. “When I did Britain’s Got Talent, I was given a chance by Simon Cowell to show what I could do. This got me thinking about people who maybe missed the opportunity, so I came up with the idea for Susan’s Search. It’s about giving other people an opportunity, it’s about letting them live the dream that they’ve always wanted to do.”
Since the story originally broke on Billboard followed then by all sorts of massive music sites the response has been insanely huge. We’re currently being sent, on average, one video every seven minutes. Susan is now sat on Simon’s side of the desk ready to judge the contestants.
Tags: Labrinth,Pet Shop Boys,qr codes,Smart Phones,syco
Labrinth is busy bustin’ sick beats hidden in a studio somewhere, meanwhile we’ve been doing some hiding of our own.
If you’ve signed up to Labrinth’s various social media sites, you may have noticed the sneaky inclusion of QR Codes which lead to some exclusive content produced by Labrinth and ourselves.
QR Codes have been used by pop stars like The Pet Shop Boys before, however we feel the infrastructure had been lacking until recently (namely the mass adoption of Smart Phones we’ve seen in the last two years or so) and therefore there has been limited success with campaigns utilising them. We see the timing as being right now and the use of QR Codes as a perfect fit for Labrinth; not only does it aesthetically suit his name but both are still relatively new, so only people in the know… well, know. Overall it’s an accessible and forward thinking way for Labrinth to find his place in the physical web.
Tags: Channel 4,Endemol,facebook,social media,The Million Pound Drop,twitter
Recently we continued our work with Endemol; on the social media element of their latest production ‘The Million Pound Drop’. The show was live on Channel 4 at 10pm for six consecutive nights, with Davina McCall playing quiz master as contestants faced the ultimate high stakes game. They were given their prize at the top of the show – a million pounds. All they had to do was keep hold of it….
Punktilio was engaged to advise on social strategy. We worked closely with Endemol before, during and after transmission week to drive conversation and engage social network users. The week of the live shows proved to be very busy – the Facebook profile alone saw its fanbase grow from 5,000 to 53,000 before the series finale.
Following the success of The Million Pound Drop, don’t be surprised to see more gameshows with a social media cross-over.
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