Friday 14 November 2008

The Feed


Justin Billingsley, Brand Director at Orange, spoke at the IAB conference the other day. He made the case for an advertiser being 100% digital and very inspiring he was too. He has also put his money where his mouth is and created this social media and content (social content? Blog with loads of fun stuff to do?) site through Poke. Well worth checking out.

Phil

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

The first post on 'the Feed' is a gender analyzer for bloggers. They think http://eatthewholebuffalo.blogspot.com is written by a man (74%). Very interesting in an agency that is predominantly female, especially as Emily set it up.

Anonymous said...

To be honest; I left a comment on this post - then considered my previous comments (and how they could be taken to be uninformed cynicism) and deleted it.

Since you have put that voting thing up I have re-thought and decided to put another comment up on this Orange thing.

Again - I just don't get it. What are Orange trying to do here ? Increase the value / relevance etc of their brand ? Amongst existing or to new audiences ? I can understand how, if aimed at an existing community of loyal visitors then it might work. That's what a blog is, after all. Or if it's just them putting their money where their mouth is (which admittedly it definitely is) - then fair enough - to test stuff out.

But just in the same way as I can't see people going to the BBC site to network - I can't see how people will go to an Orange web site to do the same - or even less to do 'a whole load of fun stuff' or other - even - useful stuff - because there are more obvious places to go on the web to do all this stuff.

I'd go to Orange's site to buy a phone or a tariff or something - which is where most of the links take you to anyway (probably).

There. It's just opinion.

PS - The Balloon Race - THAT was cool.

Anonymous said...

It's interesting that the internet provides an opportunity for brands to move into territories they previously wouldn't have considered.

I like the idea that the user journey can be more enjoyable - in the same way you may visit a certain shop because they give you a cup of tea and a friendly smile, you visit the orange site to buy a phone and are rewarded with interesting news / information etc. The challenge for orange is perhaps putting their own stamp on it – the net is saturated with lots of these sites, what makes the orange feed unique?

Anonymous said...

Hi there, this is Ria from The Feed. Thanks ever so much for your comments, it's really useful to hear what you have to say and is an important part of us evolving the blog. Glad you like Balloonacy! This is just the sort of thing we want to be talking about on The Feed - we'll be featuring much more insider news from Orange as the months go by and while we won't be able to cater to all the people, all of the time, we hope everyone can find something they like. Your feedback and ideas are always welcome!

Anonymous said...

I think part of the reason the balloon thing was great was that it came to US - didn't require me to put yet another bookmark in my tabs so I have to visit YOU - whether prompted or not. It fit in with MY life (well, maybe not MINE but you get the picture).

This is what social media should be about - observing the needs of communities online by meeting them on their own terms - not presuming people will be interested even enough to go and visit you.

Anonymous said...

I absolutely agree with you Tom. And that's only going to become easier with mobile technology becoming more widespread.

Anonymous said...

True. But not in my case because I don't know how to bloody use all this stuff.