“The Briefcase”: Not your ordinary YouTube video

Have you helped Needlebaum deliver the goods?

Well, you should, if only to get a first hand look at some really fun advertising.

I’m giving the app world a rest this week in favour of interactive videos, which are a

great way to encourage interaction from consumers and get them to spend more time with your product.

Blame it on my “blog idea!” detector, but yesterday I clicked on one of those big advertisements at the top of the YouTube homepage - something I usually try to ignore.

This one was an ad for Rogers’ Handset Protection Guarantee program, featuring Needlebaum, their character who is accident-prone when it comes to his cell phone.

Viewers watch the opening sequence of Needlebaum buying a hotdog from a street vendor until suddenly, the video stops and, just like a digital choose-your-own-adventure, you’re asked to choose his next course of action.

These interactive, branching videos (videos with links embedded in them) have been around for a while ever since YouTube created the video annotations option back in 2008.

Only recently, however, have I begun to see larger organizations adding this to their marketing toolbox. For Rogers’ campaign, every video ends with a plug for their handset protection program, meaning that the viewer hears the message anywhere from 12 to 20 times if they follow through the entire story.

"As long as it's entertaining and as engaging as possible then you can really deliver your product information and consumers won't be upset by that because you're rewarding them with entertainment,” said Tim Kavander, the creative director behind the video campaign.

And he’s right - after I finished the game, I was curious to see what would happen with the options I didn’t choose, so I went back and played again.

Even charitable movements are in. The Robin Hood Tax campaign videos from Britain were the first interactive videos I watched and - although simple compared to Rogers - I think they work well. They use the emotional pull of the videos to get people to choose, immediately, which side they support and the subsequent link to the organization’s website reflects their choice.

A great way to turn the stationary viewer into a participant!

iHobo: real charity starts with virtual giving

Raising awareness? No problem. Creating online publicity? Done.

Asking for money? Er... I’ll get back to you on that.

Our first major project as public relations majors is developing a strategic communications plan for Winnipeg Harvest to raise awareness of the hunger problem in the community, generate online publicity for the organization, and motivate people to donate. For me, the latter is going to be the biggest of challenges.

Last year, we developed a promotional campaign for the film Zooey & Adam, which, looking back on it now, wasn’t all that difficult. Come see a movie? Sure, why not - part of the incentive is in the grab itself.

When it comes to encouraging people to part with their money, however, I’m going to need a bigger draw.

What’s in it for me?

Take the communicator’s new favourite tool - the app - as an example.

There are some out there who simply offer an easier way to give. Instead of phoning your local charity or writing a cheque, you can donate just by tapping your iPhone/iPod Touch screen.

(There are even a few of these that - get this - aren’t free. Paying for an app whose main function is to ask me for more money? I'll pass!)

But taking your charity’s current method of donation and changing the interface to suit smartphones isn’t enough.

Lets face it - if all the app does is ask you to donate, how many times are you going to launch that app? What’s in it for your audience? (And don’t just say warm fuzzy feelings.)

iHobo

Say hello to your very own homeless person.

He lives on your iPhone for three days, asking you for food, money, and shelter, and letting you know when he’s in trouble.

Likened to Tamagotchi from the 90s, your response depends on his survival, and is intended to educate users about the daily struggles of living on the street.

Controversy aside, this app is genius.

Not only does your audience want to check in on the app to see how their hobo is doing, the app - with push notifications - will check in on them if they’re away for too long.

Form an attachment to your virtual “hobo” and you just might give some food or money to a real one.

Money and a change of heart? Now that’s good PR.

Hippies and their habits: considering the WFF app

Mainstream media is dead. (Or so we’re told).

In the not-so-old days of pre-new media, an organization had to go through the newspaper, TV, or radio if they wanted to communicate a message to their audience. That was the starting point.

Today, that’s no longer the case. With the emergence of social media, it’s easy - almost instinctive - to put Facebook and Twitter at the top of the list. But wait: just as you wouldn’t choose mainstream media unless it’s where your audience gets their information, the same goes for new media.

Start by considering your audience, their habits, and your resources before choosing tools that will fit the bill.

Photo by heather oh

This past summer I worked for the Winnipeg Folk Festival and was really interested in the new methods they’re developing to communicate with their audience - particularly attendees.

Time and again, one of the major themes I heard brought up at meetings was keeping up with new media: the festival was already on Twitter, sending out e-newsletters, and had a Facebook page for their volunteers. This year, the new tool was “the app”.

I downloaded it onto my shiny new iPod Touch the moment it came out and got my friend, a first-time camper, to do the same. After only a few minutes, I was immediately excited by how useful I imagined it was going to be.

Basically a more user-friendly, electronic version of the festival program, the app allows you to search the lineup by artist, day, stage, or time with the option of creating your own schedule. Other features include artist info (with links to Myspace & YouTube), “now playing”, and of course - status updates to Facebook and Twitter.

All in all, a highly useful and interactive app for festival goers (minus some glitches).

But in the end, neither me or my friend used it at the festival. Why?

My friend who was camping didn’t want to pack unnecessary valuables to take to the campsite, have to worry about losing it, or find a place to charge it if the battery died.

While I did bring my iPod to try the free WIFI onsite, I never had it on for long. For myself and others I talked to, the festival is a time to get away from all the electronics and communication devices that tie us down during the rest of the year and just enjoy being outdoors, listening to great music, and getting away from it all.

The tool was appropriate for the audience at home, but not as much when they were at the festival and their habits of communicating changed.

It’s an interesting dynamic which I’m curious to know if and how the festival tries to balance.

Or, maybe this discrepancy doesn’t exist at all - maybe it’s just me!

Festival goers: what do you think? Do you bring/use your smartphones at the festival? Are apps and other new media at the festival a good communication tool?

Breaking trail: apps in the world of PR

There are some apps, like the Kissing Test, whose novelty wears off quickly, and are deleted even quicker.

Then there are apps that stay on your device and actually are somewhat helpful in your everyday life!

Some of these are being produced by well known companies as a PR tool: as a new way for them to interact with their audiences - not by giving them another fridge magnet with the company logo - but by giving them something actually useful.

The trick (or key to PR) is knowing what that something is which your audience finds useful.

For the popular outdoor clothing and equipment company The North Face, that something is the Trailhead app.

This free app appeals to their customer’s love of exploring the outdoors by providing a place to discover and share trails for a variety of activities. Once the app keys into your location, you can search the database for trails near you, narrowing down your choices by activity (walking, mountain biking, back-country skiing), length, and proximity. During your trip, the app uses GPS to track your progress, with the option of sharing your journey with friends, family, and other outdoor-sy people on Facebook and Twitter.

The key here is that there is no direct call to buy any North Face products; rather, the idea is that through interaction with this practical app, users will come to associate outdoor activities, exercise, and exploration with the North Face, and the company itself as one that understands (responds, works to fulfill) their customers’ needs.

And hey, down the line, maybe those brand associations might induce some purchases and great customer loyalty!

Il y a une app pour ça - learn French by app

If you want to learn a language through new media, you’re going to have to spend some time with the newest and most popular toy on the market: the app.

I brought my iPod Touch with me to Paris this summer, and decided to make use of it by trying to learn French on-the-go.

A week before my trip, I scoured the Apple App Store for anything “learn French” related, and since I’m doing this project as inexpensively as possible, I eliminated most of the bulk by choosing only free apps.

Doing this does limit some apps to the “lite” or “ad version” which, in most cases, isn’t a big deal.

For me, the big deciding factor in choosing apps was WIFI access. Or, rather, those that worked fine on a lack thereof.

Going across the pond, I had no idea if or where I would find free WIFI (although I did download the handy Wi-Fi Finder to point me in the right direction) and looking at my intensive itinerary, whether or not my ‘free time’ would coincide with a WIFI hotspot. In the end, finding WIFI was a problem. (And so was finding “free time” to learn, but that’s another matter...)

I took seven apps along with me - here are my favourite 4:

1. French Word of the Day.

Like most in its category, this app requires an Internet connection to access the dictionary database. A sample sentence is included with each word, and to test your burgeoning vocabulary, a basic Scrabble-look-alike spelling game.

The interface is very simple, clean, and doesn’t look amateur like French Word of the Day! (note the !) which does not require WIFI, but doesn’t offer much else.

2. French-English Translate Dictionary Lite.

I’ve used this offline dictionary to look up verbs I didn’t understand, and most times found the entry I was looking for, but being the lite version, it isn’t as well stocked as the paid one. However, in testing it out with words I do know, I’ve found it can be not wholly accurate: “midi” for example, is listed as meaning “south”, when it also more commonly means “noon”, or “midday”, or “lunchtime”.

3. Memorize Words for French Lite

Boosts your French vocabulary, using flash cards, audible pronunciation, and simple games. The app keeps track of which words you master, and those you’re having trouble with so your review sessions can focus on the latter.

I’ve scrapped BYKI (and the buggy BYKI app) from my curriculum for this app. Both are nearly identical in terms of teaching methods (flash cards) and sitting at my computer for half an hour clicking through cards felt like a waste of time. Having MemWords on my iPod Touch means I can be learning during wasted time that’s already in my daily schedule (like commuting).

4. iTranz Language Matrix Lite

Translates basic dialogue between languages of your choice. That said, you can’t type in sentences and have the app translate it for you (iTranslate is the better app there); rather, you choose templates, like “directions”, and follow along sentence by sentence, with the option of hearing the pronunciation. In this sense, iTranz is more iScript, providing simple conversations which you can follow in both your native language and the one you’re learning.

The problem with the lite version is the templates are extremely limited - directions, keywords, and a hello-how-are-you type dialogue. iTranz doesn’t actually teach you French, but teaches you to memorize French phrases - which, as I’ve mentioned before are two entirely different things!

Still, it’s a handy app to pick up (and probably buy the full version) as a substitute for a French phrase book.

Know a great French language app I didn’t mention? Let me know in the comments!

Up next: review of Radio Lingua’s French audio/video podcasts.

Managing the Da Vinci crisis

Let’s go back to 2003-2006.

Those of you who remember the Da Vinci Code phenomenon will recall the controversy it created, particularly its portrayal of certain aspects of Christianity.

Those of you who also read the book or watched the movie will remember the part where Silas, the murderous, albino monk, goes to St. Sulpice church in search of the Holy Grail.

Today, you can walk inside St. Sulpice in Paris (like I did this summer) and see that which was made famous by the novel and subsequent movie: the Rose Line; where Silas smashed a hole in the floor; the place where the nun may have been standing in the balcony... if a balcony existed in real life.

You can also see evidence of the church’s attempts to separate fiction from fact, but avoiding one of the principles of crisis comm - “tell it all”: Recent best selling novel? Do you mean The Book That Must Not Be Named?

If I ever go into crisis communications, it will be a shame to have to fix amusing signs like this:

See more of my European experience here.