Why Ford Fiesta Social Campaign rocks

We have gotten past Social Media Experimentation. We are entering the era of normalization and best practices.

Its no more cool to do social media now. Its work! Came across this amazing social campaign by Ford Fiesta

The idea

Ford invited for web enthusiats to sign up for the Ford Fiesta movement (local teams of 2 within the US). Screened ‘agents’ are given six months and a Ford Fiesta – fuel and insurance costs included – to create some amazing web content. They have to travel around, complete missions, create videos etc. Winning team gets to win a Ford Fiesta.

As of date, 100 agents (out of some 4000 applied) got screened and all their adventures, photos, videos, missions and such can be seen in the Chapter 1 of the movement.

The application for the movement is well designed. Few snapshots below:

- Your industry?

(Design/ Photography/ Performing Arts/ Advertising and Marketing/ Gaming/ Music/ Films and Video/ Fine Arts/ Creative Writing/ Other)
Immediate screening of the non – creative types.

- Creative Showcase

Put up your work on the web here. Anything from flickr, youtube, blog, vimeo to web design projects goes here. Ford Fiesta is looking to screen good web content over a period of time. Six months would mean better videos, better photos and better contnet overall as the race to grab the car gets tougher.

I think this is the best method of crowdsourcing – you are in a competition and the best effort gets to win a car!

Social Media FTW!

Artist or Accountant

What defines you best.

Ever since I quit my big company job in 2007 November, I tried donning the artist hat almost completely. Doing things at whim and not clinging to said practices. Three years, Career gaps, sanity checks and lots of sleep later I would say every artist has an accountant in him and vice versa.

1. Artists and Accountants both require attention to detail for best results.
2. Creativity is a must for accountants too. How do you make sure that your numbers tell a story?
3. If you are not committed to your craft, sticking to it could be a huge challenge. Boredom can attack artists too.
4. Left vs. Right brain lobe debates are overrated.

What do you think?

A Personal Note on 2009

2009 was a quiet year mostly and when it got loud, it got a lot very loud for a short period of time for me.

I did hurt some people then – intentionally! I was not that nice a person nor very stable.

If you came across some fit of my rage, thank you very much for still reading me! One who pains the most is the one who inflicts it.

Thankful to the holy spirit, the genie, my roomies, my parents and the very special people around. Sure feels good to be alive!

All peace for 2010!

When reading on net COSTS!

Rupert Murdoch sounded it and a lot of media companies are echoing it – pay for consuming media online.

This means you might actually have to pay to read news or other articles on the web. In Wall Street Journal (owned by Murdoch), you have two types of content – one with pictures, rich information (lot cool) and the FREE stuff (less cool).

Hulu.com is already asking for money, if you want to watch TV shows. Too bad it didn’t start its service outside the US.

This could mean few things –

1. Media firms are sick of letting their hard earned content for free. Slowly, internet will move towards the “Free is Nothing” strategy.

2. Page Views and Unique visits would recieve some serious blow. Ad rates could be affected.

3. Lot of bloggers might spring out only to publish this paid content for free. Sounds like new grounds for ad networks and such.

4. Serious net users may actually start paying to make sure they are not wading in shitty contnet.

Two years down the line, we could as well be looking at our credit card bills for ‘virtual content consumed’ and looking back at today as Good Old Days, when Shit was Free!

How to put your price down

Do you feel a pang in your heart when you over charge your offer?

This article came across which talks about the view in a digital photography context.

Imagine you wear a pair of boots which costs you Rs.15,000/-. These pair must not have cost more than a few hundred rupees to make.

1. Value – You do not pay the price for the product – you pay the price for the value the product represents. Another person who has the same pair of boots immediately connects with you because of the value.

2. Feeling – What came into you when you saw your first bicycle? What did that seat tell you? What did the treading on the tyre convey? Does your product compare to that feeling?

The traditional view talks about cost price and a sales price. Am I making x% profit? Instead, you could price it the other way around. Fix a number for the price tag on the product. Work backwords till you reach your Cost Price.

Mad about “Oh ten”

I stepped out for some non-grocery shopping yesterday – for the third time in 2009. Was quite excited to see the welcome 2010 messages in the mall. Been waiting for this year for quite a long time.

A few thoughts on going to ‘oh ten’:

- Work is back. Planning to keep it that way.
- Going clean. No smoke, No booze, No meat.
- Focus on art in a major way.
- Maybe convert Weltan Butterfly into an art showcase blog.
- Create a lot more art.

Trials are on. Waiting to see how long!

I see predictions

Lots of people looking at 2010.
That translates to a lot of predictions.

Content, No shout please talk, Reduce Spam, Go Mobile, Increase Video, Be transparent!

Looks more like Moral Science Lessons from school rather than marketing tips – Maybe Moral Science was important after all.

Some good reads

I have got back to working, put Weltan Butterfly on a temporary hold (sigh! I flunked the test!) and it sure is not bad.

Better, got in touch with some intense blogs. Highly recommend these ones –

1. Fear No Project – Project Management Blog

This is a well written blog on various angles of daily project management troubles. A must read if you are into IT and Web Projects

2. Looks Like Good Design

Do you have the eyes for things that look awesome? Do you appreciate new age art? Never miss this one! Ranging from digital illustrations to visting card designs to amazing CD covers, this site sure can pop!

3. Graph Jam

Pie Charts, Line Charts and all those things from your 8th standard Math class explaining music and pop culture. From the makers of LOL Cats!

4. Flickr – Most Interesting Photos feed

Flickr as is does not have an RSS feed. But catch all the killer snaps of the day here. Every day you get to access 500 most interesting photos for the day. IMO, present day art kicks ass.

The coke pop

TV ads get more ‘pop’ these days.

The new coke ad called “Strange Love” has been doing quite a lot of rounds on TV these days. It shows a teenaged boy and girl flirting in a library.

There seems to be a huge undercurrent meaning in this ad though. The coke bottle on the boys hand and the glass with ice on the girl’s hand could be a very subtle way of showing their respective genital areas. The flow of coke from the boy’s hand to the girl’s hand could be a pointer to under age sex.

And all this happens in mainstream media targetting teen and youth. I say this is a very smart move.

And thanks to John Pathrose (www.twitter.com/johnpathrose) for suggesting the idea behind the ad.

Green in ‘o ten’

I spy a lot of 2010 predictions online.

Green seems to gain a lot of mileage and it may step out of the books and the NGO types into the mainline scheme of things.

This post talks about products to watch out for in ‘10.

I liked the charger which uses your kinetic energy to charge your electonics. Or, walk for an hour and get 80% in your mobile phone.
Say what- Walk and Talk?