Seems every man and his dog is launching some form of Olympics-inspired ad campaign, but not many can match an oldie but a goodie that’s been wildly successful for over twenty years by Australian telecommunications giant Telstra. Called ‘Testra Hero Messages’, what started as a simple way to send telegrams offering best wishes to sporting heroes at the ‘98 Seoul Olympics has now evolved to incorporate a custom- built interactive website allowing users to send words (or videos) either via their mobile phones (SMS, Photo or Video MMS, or WAP message) or online (upload text or video) to offer encouragement to the Australian Olympic team. Sporting “celebrities” also offer best wishes via pre-recorded video messages, and punters can also send their greetings via an application on Facebook.
The introduction of video to the Hero Messages mix really brings the site to life, and you can imagine users spending hours viewing all the content on offer. Sure, we’re a bit biased - Soul Arch Media’s own Gold Coast videographer Dave Emge filmed several of the celebrity video clips, including those of swimming legend Duncan Armstrong and Titan’s footy star Mat Rogers - but we’re sure that as Olympic fever reaches full pitch, the mind-blowingly massive influx of activity on this site will create more brand awareness/ goodwill than most marketing exercises could even dream about. Check the Hero Messages site out and let us know what you think.

Just a note that if you happen to be online this weekend and are twiddling your thumbs, get over to http://www.boostsurfsho.com.au

Soul Arch Media & Marketing’s own Dave Emge is filming surf video for the live webcast of an international aerial surf competition for Boost Mobile & Globe. With ASP world tour surfers like Mick Fanning and Taj Burrow amongst the action, it’s well worth a squiz!

Webasts are rapidly growing in popularity for niche sports (like surfing) that don’t receive great  TV coverage,  thereby enabling specialty events like this to reach thousands of viewers online.  Make sure to get over to the event site to check out a great example of streaming video production in action.

Caz x

Well it’s only part way through April but it has been a busy month here already at Soul Arch Media and Marketing. Although we have been online for several months now, we’ve only just started our online marketing push to really “launch” the site.
It’s all very exciting watching campaigns detonate across the web. There’s been three press releases already, with many more to come. You can view them online here:
http://pressroom.prlog.org/CazSoulArc/
In the meantime we’ll be getting back to publishing our marketing tips and commenting on worldwide online marketing news very shortly — we’ve just been getting caught up in all the hype and glory, ’tis all! We’ll get back to earth (and back to blogging) very shortly, we promise.
Caz x

How user-friendly is your website? When potential clients stumble across it, can they tell straight away what you do and what you’re about?

It’s always hard to convey a company’s core message without writing half a novel. And even if you do follow the expert’s advice and keep your text short and sweet, and despite what your designer might say, there IS such a thing as not providing enough content to read.

 75% of consumers visit a company’s website to get more information about products, but only 44% find the information they are looking for says a recent study by InQuira.

This isn’t just due to lack of text - badly organised and poorly written text or just plain hard to navigate sites may also be to blame. But whatever the cause, just think of all those wasted sales opportunities. I don’t know about you, but just thinking of all those eager customers seeking information on YOUR product only to come up empty handed makes me a tad queasy.

So many people prefer to research purchases without speaking to salespeople. But how do you satisfy all website enquiries without adding mountains of text that can render a site too complex? The solution: a very organised copywriter and designer, and a few video instructionals embedded into your website. You can have a welcome video that explains who you are and what you do, like a streaming video business card to mesmerise and greet customers. You could have videos showing people how to use your products, or informative videos in the case of a hard-to-explain product. Or you could even use video to drive visitors to your website in the first place, and introduce them to your products and brand identity before they even reach your homepage.

That’s what the attached video is attempting to achieve for small Australian designer toddler label Monster Baby.  Since many mums with toddlers prefer to shop online rather than brave outings with unruly offspring, the brand needed to come up with a web video that could attract the attention of it’s target demographic of mums who are looking for something very different, a little bit punk rock, and definitely off-beat. It’s just getting unleashed on the world today, so the results aren’t back yet, but we’ll keep you updated.

Video could definitely make your website more appealing. But could a video ad work for your brand too? Food to think about.

Caz

 

 Monster Baby Video: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

I’m not usually one to harp on and on about a subject ( OK, maybe if I’ve had too many glasses of wine..) but despite having just posted on how web video seems flavour of the moment, I just read a great post by Jeff Beringer over at the Next Fifty Years blog. His entry, titled “Placing bets on web-based video”, covered a whole different set of  signs that compelled him to deduce that web video is one of the most promising opportunities in the future of PR and marketing.

His reasoning shortlist? (I’ve condensed it here, but for best effect please go check out his original post at www.nextfiftyyears.com)

1.  A new Zogby poll that indicates a full 2/3 of Americans are dissatisfied with current journalism standards, which in turn has persuaded over half of the survey’s respondents to use the internet as their primary news and information source.

2. The big guys are convinced. Disney’s Bob Iger decreed that broadband-enabled Web content represents the future of communication, ultimately replacing television as the prime source of entertainment.

3. Google, again. It just made a move to open its uber-popular YouTube technology to the outside world. Just days ago the video sharing giant announced a new set of developer tools(known as APIs) allowing individuals and organizations to intermix the YouTube experience into their own Web sites and online properties.

4. Hulu.com, an online video platform created by News Corp and NBC Universal  launched yesterday. The ad-supported online video network allows consumers towatch more than 250 TV shows or 100 full-length movies in any Web browser, anytime, anywhere.

Add these events all together and it’s clear more people are watching video online, and the companies in the know are doing everything in their power to make it easier for them to do so. What are you doing about promoting your company online? If the answer is nothing much, then maybe it’s time to investigate web video too, huh?

Caz

www.soularchmedia.com