Is it me... or is it all Ding Dong Digital?
Deck the halls with social media,
Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, In-sta-gram
Tis the season to be trending,
Twitter, twitter, tweet , t-wit, t-tumblr
Holy Santa, the world’s gone hashtag–tastic. Monty and Mabel are trending, good old Coca-Cola's making everyone happy, but Magic and Sparkle might just have taken the Christmas crown.
Seems Patrick Bousquet-Chavanne, has gone all out for M+S “switched to promotional activity on social media such as Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr" rather than TV. So now it’s official, forget the mistletoe, switch on the iPad and have yourself a virtual Christmas and don’t forget the death star decorations.
I hate to say I told you so - decreasing TV spends are hardly new news - but connectivity seems to have come of age. Thankfully we’ve moved on from adapted facebook pages allowing you to put your face on the derriere of a baboon to properly integrated campaigns such as John Lewis’s cross-promotional behind the scenes production video of the Monty advert. Not to mention Jamie Oliver’s digital Christmas recipes, which compiles festive foods with lists of ingredients linked directly to the supermarkets that sock them. Also an honourable mention goes out to TK MAXX with their big european hashtag push #youbyme which has been prominant in the German market, it sticks with you thanks to Solmon Burke's "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love."
I've also had a busy online year thanks to some lovely folk at Isobar, shooting a series of online films for Kellogg's – the latest offering used five go pros inside cereal packets to film families at breakfast. Very interesting results - more of that in the next blog. Amazing results, especially as the films have gained nearly 2 million views. Turn that into US box office and we’d all be retiring to a Hawaiian Island, even though I don’t do holidays.
I’m also excited about the chance to turn this online talent into longer formats combining agency know how with my tool kit as a writer director. You only have to look at some of the current successes - The Power Inside by Intel and Toshiba – to see the potential to produce an engaging ongoing series for brands across the globe. I mean wouldn't Magic and Sparkle make a great prime time show or web series? Two fairies whose aim to help others but just can’t stop meddling in human affairs because secretly they want to become human. Hold on, I have to go, I think Disney’s calling….
Watch this space for more online news in the new year. Until then have a Happy Hashtag wherever you are and thank you all for a fabulous year and all the gifts you bestowed on one lucky director for hire…
Keep posting!
