Cx3: Get your racy Calvin Klein ad

Whilst we are talking 'fashion', Burberry is not the only fashion brand to be embracing digital. Calvin Klein Jeans has replaced three of its billboards in New York and Los Angeles with a bright red QR code and the words “Get It Uncensored.”

Snap the QR code on your smartphone (go on, try it), and get a racy 40-second Calvin Klein Jeans commercial featuring models Lara Stone, “A.J.,” Sid Ellisdon, Grayson Vaughan and Eric Anderson. After viewing, share the QR code on Facebook and Twitter.

RELATED LINKS:
Cx3 blog entry: The digital renaissance of Burberry
Cx3 blog entry: QR codes - the future of mobile channel communication?

Cx3: The digital renaissance of Burberry

UK luxury group Burberry announces a forecast beating 24 percent rise in first-quarter underlying revenue. Reuters TV takes a look at how the 154-year-old brand is using technology to connect with consumers.
Watch the video from Reuters TV: The digital renaissance of Burberry
Christopher Bailey, Burberry's Chief Creative Director, is credited with connecting the Burberry brand with digital technology and e-commerce.
Burberry supports the launch of its 2010 Autumn/Winter collection with an interactive 3D-campaign on their website that enables the user to view the collection from multiple angles by just moving the mouse - simple, and not a chav in sight!
RELATED LINKS:
Cx3: Burberry digital runway 
Cx3: The digital renaissance of Burberry

Cx3: Interact with your iPad

So, I purchased an iPad yesterday...yey! I had clear thoughts on how and what I intended to use it for. Less than 24 hours later, and the iPad's intuitive interaction design and the interest from a circle of friends has generated unexpected user behaviour.

I intended to use the iPad to access the Internet and email, listen to music, watch videos, share photos, write blog articles remotely - all of which I have done already.

However, in addition to this, my creative side has been unexpectedly explored and I've doodled a few pictures (see left), relaxed with a few games of backgammon, shared a game of Scrabble with friends in the local park and badly played 'flight of the bumble bee' on Magic Piano's app (which is my left hand, again?).

Genuinely, in a short space of time, the iPad effortlessly challenged my own preconceived user behaviour, connected me with the iPad in a way I wasn't expecting and the iPad became a focal point for enabling social interaction with others.

The iPad truly is a revolutionary cornerstone driving interactive communications.

RELATED LINKS:

Cx3 blog entry: One million Apple iPads sold
Cx3 blog entry: Apple iPad overview
Mashable blog entry: Apple Has Sold 1 Million iPads

Cx3: The social media content grid

Our friends at JESS3 have worked-up another infographic to help demistify the ever moving social media landscape. It is meant to help organisations figure out (and work through) oft-asked, burning questions about social media such as:

1. Which platform works best for what we are trying to achieve?
2. Where does social media figure in the purchase funnel/sales cycle?
3. Who should "own" social media?
4. How can we utilize social channels outside of just Facebook and Twitter?

Along the X-axis, they've plotted the purchase funnel: from awareness to consideration (and ultimately conversion and advocacy). Along the Y-axis, they've plotted to what extent their should be organisational input, oversight and control - and to what extent employees should be leading the charge to create content.

More information on the content grid can be found on JESS3's blog.

RELATED LINKS:
Cx3 blog entry: The conversation prism 2.0

Cx3: BBC iPlayer and Facebook link

The BBC will forge closer links with social networking firms this week when it unveils a new version of its catch-up television service iPlayer that integrates with Facebook and Twitter.

The corporation is trying to strike a more conciliatory tone over its digital expansion plans after coming under fire from commercial rivals, which accuse it of attempting to colonise the web.

The BBC is proposing to close or merge half of its sites by 2012 and cut its £135m online budget by 25%. But the launch of a range of iPhone applications has been held up by the BBC Trust after the complaints.

The iPlayer remains central to the BBC’s digital push, however. There were 118m viewer and listener requests to the service in March, including 84m to watch television programmes. The new version will let users share what they are watching with Facebook friends or comment via Twitter.

“We want to do fewer things even better,” said Erik Huggers, the BBC’s director of future media and technology. He added that the new iPlayer would be more “simple, personal and connected”. “We must no longer try to do everything online but focus on delivering genuinely world-class services like the BBC iPlayer.”

Last week Project Canvas, a BBC-led plan to bring internet television to the masses, avoided an Office of Fair Trading investigation despite being attacked by BSkyB and Virgin Media. By combining Freeview with a broadband connection, catch-up services such as iPlayer and ITV Player will be more widely available on television sets.

RELATED LINKS:
BBC links iPlayer to Facebook

Cx3: One million Apple iPads sold

Based on the the quotes from Steve Jobs, Apple's iPad is exceeding market penetration expectations to deliver a serious interactive communications platform:

“One million iPads in 28 days—that’s less than half of the 74 days it took to achieve this milestone with iPhone,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Demand continues to exceed supply and we’re working hard to get this magical product into the hands of even more customers.”

Engaging interactive multi-dimensional digital comms are the 'here and now', and businesses should be aware that interactivity will very quickly become the expected stakeholder norm.

RELATED LINKS:
Cx3 blog entry: Apple iPad overview
Mashable blog entry: Apple Has Sold 1 Million iPads

Cx3: Apple iPad overview

Not that I try to be swayed by sales pitches, but the Apple iPad does appear to be extraordinarily simple and a beautifully executed user experience that takes interactive communications to another level. Very excited about this.

Cx3: 2009 social media highlights

2009 is almost over, and no blog would be worth its salt without the obligatory picking out of choice highlights from the year - and Cx3 is no exception. Yes, I may be slightly biased with my selection towards the UK and my indulgance in the banal, but hey...it's Christmas!

Twitter
What can I say? 2009 was the year Twitter went mainstream. Twitter progressed from the techy early adopters to the majority in the product lifecycle. Why? Most noticably was an acceptance by traditional media broadcasters that Twitter was a powerful channel for real-time news distribution (that acctually beat them at their own game). The publicity and exposure Twitter received with the Hudson plane landing and Iran elections catapulted the Twitter communication channel into the spotlight. Secondly, the increased share of the iPhone in the smartphone mobile market allowed the mainstream masses access to a multitude of Twitter apps.

Susan Boyle
Who would have believed that Britain's Got Talent would be the source of the most watched video on YouTube in 2009. Susan Boyle, the fiesty wannabe singer from Scotland, became a worldwide conversational buzz overnight. Yes she didn't win the show (and maybe this was a blessing in disguise), but it's not stopped the '#susanboyle' having the UK's Christmas number one album in 2009.

#uksnow
Us weather obsessed Brits demonstrated our need to share our meteorological interest when, in February 2009, we suffered the worst snow for 20 years. The '#uksnow' hashtag trended on Twitter, and mobile pictures / videos were uploaded to Twitpic, Flickr, blogs, Youtube etc...The world suffered a global drift of British snow - what are we like? Sorry world.

iPhone
Ok, so I finally succumbed to Apple's charms and purchased the iPhone 3GS in July 2009. Seriously though, Apple has made a major dent in the share of the UK smartphone mobile market with the iPhone, and is doing the same in the US. The iPhone has been elevated to a desirable must-have object that is transforming the way we communicate..."What iPhone apps have you got?"

Stephen Fry
Stephen Fry has become the unlikely champion and celebrity spokesperson of Twitter in the UK. The expert wordsmith and linguist, has perfectly tweeted his intelligent wry wit to the score of 1,000,000+ followers. A worthy face to represent British Twits (that didn't come out right, did it).

Citizen journalism
The Iran election (influencial event rather than highlight), proved the demonstrable truth that Twitter had arrived as a channel for citizen journalists to broadcast real-time news worldwide, where traditional news broadcasters failed. The Iran election was also a milestone for integrated media channel broadcasting - BBC TV news adopted to broadcast YouTube videos when their reporters were denied access by the Iranian government, in order to sustain a newsworthy story.

Facebook v X Factor
The might of Facebook against the might of X Factor saw a historic battle to reach the prestigious number one spot in the UK Christmas singles chart. A Facebook campaign 'Rage Against The Machine for Christmas No1', created by Jon and Tracy Morter, was a reaction against X Factor potentially spawning the UK's Christmas number one single for the fifth year in a row. The Facebook campaign captured the public's imagination and Rage Against The Machine's 'Killing in the Name' successfully beat 'The Climb' by X Factor's Joe McElderry into second place by 50,000 copies.

2009 really has been a year where social media 'est arrivé'. In observing these choice highlights, there is a bridging commonality of the seamless social media integration with mainstream communication channels - predominantly broadcast and mobile.

Marketers realise that social media reaches an audience, and its dynamics sit within the holistic communications mix - let's see how marketers maximise the effectiveness of social media in 2010.

Merry Xmas!

Cx3: Rage Against The Machine beats X Factor

One of the most competitive battles to reach the UK's Christmas number one in chart history has been won by Rage Against The Machine's 'Killing in the Name' (supported by a fierce Facebook campaign), beating 'The Climb' by X Factor's Joe McElderry into second place.

The Facebook campaign 'Rage Against The Machine for Christmas No1', created by Jon and Tracy Morter as a reaction against X Factor potentially spawning the UK's Christmas number one single for the fifth year in a row, resulted in 500,000 downloads being sold beating the X Factor winner by 50,000 copies.

Colin Paterson, BBC News Entertainment correspondent comments:

"It is simply one of the biggest shocks in chart history.

The common belief was that the race for Christmas number one had been destroyed by the X Factor.

For the last four years the winning act has been top of the festive charts by a landslide. Bookmakers only took bets on who would be number two.

This year the corporate might of Simon Cowell has been defeated by a husband and wife's Facebook campaign.

The result is 'Killing In The Name', which most parents would be pretty reluctant to play to their children. It contains 17 uses of the F-word.

This chart shock is right up there with Spiller's 'Groovejet' derailing the start of Victoria Beckham's non-Spice Career in 2000 or crooner Engelbert Humperdink ending The Beatles' run of 11 number ones in a row.

Two other points - this could become an annual event - the public deciding on a track with which to take on the X Factor winner.

Secondly there is still every chance Joe will reach number one next week.

The Rage Against Machine campaign was designed for one week only so Joe could get the top spot, saving him the indignity of being the first ever X Factor winner not to hit number one with their debut single."

RELATED LINKS:
Cx3 blog entry: Facebook, the influential social networking book face

Cx3: UK's best handheld - The Sun

The Sun newspaper hits back and champions paper-based news distribution with this wonderful pastiche of the iPhone advert. The UK's best handheld for 40 years. Brilliant!