Only Dead Fish

Clickable Video

Video advertising is still at a relatively nascent stage on the web but make no mistake - it will be a huge part of whatever digital advertising looks like in the future. As recently as 2 years ago there was not much of it around, but it's been on a pretty steep growth trajectory (82% year on year according to the IAB). Cisco have predicted that by 2013, 90% of the web's bandwidth will be video. And wherever content goes, advertising is generally not far behind.

So it's kind of interesting that we still haven't yet necessarily arrived at the default format for video advertising on the web. Pre and post-roll is by far the most dominant format right now, but in my view it is far from the most interesting. Taggable and clickable video on the other hand, is way more interesting because it enables people to interact directly with video content rather than interrupt their content experience. One of the best clickable video technologies is You Tube Annotations (in fact I think YouTube are consistently smart innovators in this space), which has been used to create both fun interactive applications (like one of my own favourites the Hot Wheels Custom Motors Cup Challenge), and genuinely useful commercial content like the French Connection YouTique channel created by POKE.

And I rather like this technology from Wirewax that I came across the other day (HT Peter Abraham.You can try it out below) which allows you to add your own tags to objects (and people) in videos, and then add information, images, links and Flash applications which viewers can interact with. You can then get some rather neat behavioural data enabling you to watch your content through your viewer's eyes and see where people interacted, what they did, where they jumped off. For me, this kind of tech has the potential to really come alive when you're interacting through a touchscreen. Taggable, touchable, clickable. And all rather cool.

Props also to the good people at Wirewax, who swiftly came to my rescue when I was having trouble with the embed option on their video example. Thanks guys.

News+

What would a newspaper look like if it was invented today? That's the question that Bonnier have asked themselves and it's a good one. Because the answer is quite possibly not much like the current crop of digital news apps. Almost a year ago, Bonnier collaborated with BERG for a pre-iPad re-imagining of the digital magazine. What I liked about it was that it didn't make the mistake of trying to impose inappropriate analogue features onto a screen based digital experience.

Similarly, there's also a lot to like about News+. Like the fact that they have advocated a 'third way' that differs from both the traditional newspaper and the web, but combines editorial curation with plenty of opportunities for social curation, interaction and conversation. Publishers have seemed very keen to develop apps which look great, but are relatively closed systems that box content in and speak of a desire to control. It's almost like they're already forgetting the digital lessons that have long been so painful to learn.

News+ concept live from Bonnier from Bonnier on Vimeo.

What Is Content Strategy?

"People engage with ideas, not channels. Ideas drive channel behaviour"        Derek Robson, Goodlby, Silverstein & Partners

I was asked recently by a client to put together a workshop on digital content strategy. My own version of what content strategy is involves fulfilling customer needs and acheiving business goals by answering the kind of questions that have always been important for content: what's the story, who should hear it, how do you make it easy for them to do so, and what do you want to happen once they've heard it? One of the models for content strategy that I like comes from Yahoo (HT to the guys at We Are London):

Find:- making content accessible, available, discoverable

Use:- the content is fit for purpose, high quality, fun, relevant

Share:- spreadability and shareability

Extend:- the extent to which it can be interacted with, commented on, engaged with.

But it's the kind of subject, it seems, that is not short of different definitions. Some talk about "the practice of planning for content creation, delivery, and governance". Or there's "a repeatable system that defines the entire editorial content development process". Or then there's "using words and data to create unambiguous content that supports meaningful, interactive experiences". Sometimes it seems to be about content analysis, other times more about User Experience Design, or Information Architecture, or editorial development processes and content planning. It's a little confused. There are companies (including Facebook, Disney, Verizon, Ebay) who employ people who have Content Strategist on their business cards. But I'd be surprised if they do the same thing.

Our interpretation of what content is is broadening beyond recognition. And the ferocious rush of the media ecosystem (whether bought, earned or owned) towards complexity is as unrelenting as it is unstoppable. So it seems a better definition of what content strategy is is overdue. I'm rather intrigued to know, what do you think it is?

Tanzania 2010

So, we're finally back from The Great (Ad & Media) Football Giveaway. There's a lot of adjectives I could use to describe the last ten days. Most of them would be entirely inadequate for what has proved to be an experience that I shall never forget. And one that has given me many things, including a massive dose of perspective. Which is a brilliant thing to have every now and then.

The numbers tell one story - 9 ad & media bloggers and ragtags, 3 brilliant drivers, 1 stolen bag, 2 car problems (thankfully not serious), 2 stomach upsets (not serious), a 'few' bottles of the local firewater (pretty serious), and countless rounds of Rummy in the evening (very serious).

But the important numbers of-course, are those that speak of what we were there to do. Over the course of the trip we distributed over 2,000 footballs and believe that we managed to reach somewhere in the region of 30,000 children. This was achieved mostly through the 70 odd schools that we visited and distributed balls to, but there were also the random groups of kids that we would see by the side of the road, and those that we reached by hooking up with other NGO projects like the Save The Children health centres who will be using the footballs we gave them to help encourage mother's to come in and learn about life threatening diseases, through allowing their children to play football while they do it.

The photographs that many of us took tell a brilliant visual story of our adventure, so we're setting up a Flickr group to host them, and our friends at Motherlode have kindly said they will edit the footage we shot into a short film of the trip which I will put up here when it's done.

The Great Football Giveaway allocate a grant of $1,000 to each project team to give to an NGO project they encounter on their journey. So we've decided to allocate ours to the Malaika Children's village, the orphanage that we visited and gave footballs to on our first day out of Dar Es Salam. It's a wonderful place, that provides a safe haven for kids who basically have no-one. Kids like Yassin, below right, who was found abandoned in a hotel.

I want to say thank you, again, to everyone that supported us and helped us to raise over £10,000. It will likely take us a while to get through our long list of donors, but as long as you've given us your e-mail address, each and every one of you will receive a photo of the balls that you bought being handed over to the kids who got so much joy from them.

I want also to say a huge thank you to the eight amazing people who came with me. Eight people who I now count as great friends. When I first put that post up, I had no idea of the amazing journey that it would begin. I asked for two volunteers, and I got four times that. I think it's a wonderful thing that 9 people who barely knew each other can come together through the power of a simple idea and do some good in the world.

My enduring memories of the whole thing will come back to the great fun we had as a group, but most importantly to the smiles on the kids faces - the sheer joy that we saw and heard every day. The happiness that a simple thing like a football can create really is a magical thing. And that, after all is said and done, is what this has all been about.

This post is cross posted over on the Tanzania 2010 blog where you can read some more about the trip.

Blogging From Tanzania

We've managed to find an internet connection (of sorts) here in SE Tanzania so this is just a reminder that we're putting up some updates on The Great (Ad & Media) Football Giveaway over on the posterous we set up for the trip. So do head over, take a look and subscribe. I'll leave you to read about what we've been up to over there, but suffice to say for here that so far it has been simply magical. 

Leaving For Africa

And so it begins. Later today I'm leaving for Tanzania to lead a team of ad and media bloggers to travel to some of the remotest parts of the country and distribute footballs and netballs to schools and orphanages as part of The Great Football Giveaway. When I put that first post up, I thought it would be amazing if maybe 1 or 2 people would respond and we could get a car load of three people together to form a mini project team. So I was blown away when 8 people came forward and said they wanted to come with me.

Once we reach Dar Es Salam, we'll hook up with our drivers, get to the SOS Childrens Village offices to pick up some footballs for the way down, and then head down to Kilwa Masoko in the South, where we will base ourselves and from where we will travel out into the surrounding rural areas. At time of writing we've managed to raise over £8,700 which is just brilliant, and enough to provide plenty of footablls to distribute that will spread a lot of happiness. So I'd like to say a huge thank you again, to everyone that has supported us.

It may be a tad quiet here for a few days, but I'm hoping (connectivity allowing) to be able to put some posts and pictures up from out in Tanzania, and we've set up a Posterous for the trip to put up some stuff as we go and hopefully report on progress so please do visit that, subscribe, and follow us on our journey. Thanks again for being a part of it - it's been amazing to have such goodwill behind us.

Post Of The Month - October 2010 - The Winner

Somewhat of a runaway winner in this months vote, which is no bad thing. But I'm delighted to announce that the winner of Post Of The Month for October 2010 is Heidi Hackemer with her excellent A Letter To Myself. So well done Heidi - you get the props of your blogging peers and are entered into the ThinkTank Hall Of Fame. Again, I'd like to thank everyone for taking part and remind you to bookmark your good reads for next months nominations.

Post Of The Month - October '10 - The Vote

A good set of nominations this month (including another double nomination) so thanks everyone. Our shortlist is between:

My iPad Magazine Stand by Kohl Vinh

A Letter To Myself from Heidi Hackemer

The Future Is Behind Us by The Ad Contrarian

The Engagement Agency Manifesto by Ian Schafer

Transformation: easy to talk about, harder to do by Edward Boches

Identity And The Independent Web by John Batelle

Warning: the zettabytes are coming from Edward Boches

Digital vs Traditional vs Media by Mark Cridge

And you can vote below...

Post Of The Month - October '10 - Nominations

Some properly provocative posts this month, which is good to see. I'm opening up nominations promptly as I will be leaving soon for Africa with The Great (Ad & Media) Football Giveaway, so need to get a move on with the nominations and voting. So nominations for October are open - please do nominate your favourite posts that were posted in that month in the comments below. As a starter, I've listed four nominations of my own - please add yours and I'll stick them all up for a vote. My starting four are:

My iPad Magazine Stand by Kohl Vinh

A Letter To Myself from Heidi Hackemer

The Future Is Behind Us by The Ad Contrarian

Social Media Is Dead by Adriana Lukas

And you can nominate your own favourite below...