18 Comments so far

1. Dan Masnick on July 24th, 2009

   Interesting analysis Warlach, thanks a lot for sharing. Your comment about how wannabe viral campaigns live and die by luck is pretty accurate: while this one had an interesting hook that captured some initial attention, as you noted, the concept may have proved more attractive than the execution.

   In response to pointer #4 and the campaign’s stated desire to make the trending topics - why did you take issue with this? From what I’ve read here and on the account itself, the campaign was always going to be public and transparent from the outset. It was an online promotion to show young Australians that LA is appropriate for a short holiday. Okay, so their attempts at making the trending topics ‘failed’, as you put it. But if you were manager of this campaign, how would you have gotten the topic trending on Twitter?

   Finally, on pointer #6: I didn’t see anyone involved with the campaign use ‘web 2.0′. So does that mean we shouldn’t listen to you?

2. Warlach on July 25th, 2009

   I’m going to cover two points here. Firstly, I’ll respond to your comments:

   Of course there’s nothing wrong with trying to make the trending topics, but the thing is one should do that by making people interested in the event, not by being spam. I believe I said that much above. How would I have done it? As I’ve said, you have to actually include the community if you want them to give a shit.

   Also, I have never used the term ‘Web 2.0’ myself - both uses of the term above clearly refer to the person who came up with this campaign and is merely a reference to people who use buzz words rather than actually know what they’re talking about.
   
   This actually brings me to my second point, which is more directed at you personally, ‘Dan.’

   I find it interesting that you refer to Droga5, who was behind the campaign, in the third person, as to be honest, I suspect you’re a little more involved than you let on. You see, I did a little snooping. While you only used a Gmail address with no website listed to comment on this blog, your name turned up over on thUMBRELLA, surprise, surprise, being REALLY enthusiastic about this very competition!

   

   Strange, huh?

   Also, someone using the same name joined the Sydney Airport Message Board, presumably just to let them know about something: that’s right, this very competition. I mean, it’s the only post that account made, for crying out loud.

   

   And then, you’re telling me that you just arrived here, purely by random, a few hours after I published this post? That is a very keen interest in something which the rest Australia has barely even heard of.

   So, here’s my working hypothesis, ‘Dan’ (I’m guessing by now you’ve realised I don’t think that’s your actual name, seeing as other than commenting on 4320LA, Dan Masnick doesn’t seem to exist.) I think you’re either involved with or the actual person behind this campaign.

   Do I think it was wrong to try and talk it and its ‘zany’ fun up on thUMBRELLA, or to create false personas in order to virally spread the competition on forums? Not really. I mean, it’s pretty lame, but being lame isn’t being stupid, it’s just, well, lame.

   However, using that same fake persona to comment on this blog, after the campaign has failed, while not disclosing your own connection, thus allowing yourself to be caught? That’s… that’s pretty stupid.

   If I’m wrong, I’m happy to admit it, but I don’t think I am.

3. Damian Damjanovski on July 25th, 2009

   Nice one Warlach,

   Totally agree with your summation of the campaign. Quite honestly, I’d heard about it when it launched, fell asleep when seeing the ‘content’ created during the three days, and then just heard that it ended. It was far from compelling.

   I find it funny that you’re school mates with 4320Matt, as I’m school mates with 4320Nathan. It’s a small city I suppose.

   Meanwhile, I think you’ve hit the proverbial nail on the head with Dan. It seems increasingly, agencies are trying to use third-party ‘characters’ to promote and seed this stuff, without any disclosure. Which is fine, but sometimes (such as in this case with Dan) it just comes off rather forced and silly.

   Cheers,
   D

4. Dan Masnick on July 25th, 2009

   Oh you’re not wrong, Warlach, I suppose we just have different definitions of ’stupid’. I chose to continue using this name when commenting, and I knew you’d Google me as you’re a very savvy web user.

   But please don’t take this ‘gotcha’ moment out of context. Yes, I was involved in the campaign and its online seeding strategy component, that much is obvious. I’m more interested reading your thoughts on where we went ‘right’ on this, rather than the typical sniping and cold, holier-than-thou cleverness we’ve come to expect from bloggers. (’We’ referring to the average web user, not the agency for which I work.)

   Your Twitter profile suggests that you’re a Community Manager and Social Media Advisor (which might have been why we followed you in the first place). Since you know what you’re talking about (by refusing to use web 2.0), here’s a challenge. How would you have run this campaign, assuming that the competition premise/concept remained as-is?

   (PS for future reference: http://dashes.com/anil/2009/06/the-end-of-fail.html)

5. Warlach on July 26th, 2009

   Oh, hey, I’m not that proud of myself, it’s a trail anyone could follow. You see though, that explains why you used that name the first time you commented here, but not the second time. I mean, the fact you’ve commented twice on this blog means you’re looking to engage with people, and yet you’re not being honest with me, or the people who read this blog, as to who you are. I mean, you’re involved with a social media project; transparency is probably a good idea if you want to be taken seriously.

   While we’re discussing interacting with the online community, “typical sniping and cold, holier-than-thou cleverness” is probably not the best way to show that you want to play in the online sphere. Oh, there are arseholes and self righteous ‘gurus’ who don’t know what they’re talking about (there are even, shock horror, anonymous marketing people), but increasingly the online community is as diverse as the physical community, and ignoring that just makes you sound bitter.

   You want to know where I think you went right? How I would have run the campaign? And, as you mentioned earlier, if I were manager of this campaign, how I would have gotten the topic trending on Twitter? Seems to me you want a little more than advice, seems you want me to do your job for you.

   Ok, seeing as you guys are apparently gearing up for http://www.4320.syd.com, I’ll tell you what could have been improved. Be open about the plans for the integration. Don’t jump onto blogs and forums and create fake accounts, rather get involved. If the @4320LA account had felt less like spam, and had aimed at engaging with the people you wanted to pay attention, you might have got a better response.

   Also, the format is clearly not a great idea. As I mentioned above, tweeting every minute would have to be damn compelling for anyone who actually uses Twitter (which, less face it, are the people you’re aiming this at) to want to follow. The time constraint however ensures that this is not possible, so how you could succeed with the premise/concept remaining what it was is a little beyond me.

   You could always switch the format to Twitter supporting a video life streaming service. Being able to actually follow what the contestants were up to, as opposed to incoherent tweets attached to reused pics on the website, didn’t really allow anyone to get involved.

   Which is what you want, if you want to get the attention of being a trending topic. One of the biggest trends that swept through Twitter recently was the simple request for people to help demonstrate how news and ideas spread on Twitter by sending an update with the hashtag #watchitspread and asking their friends to do the same.

   You’ll notice my first point towards you, ‘Dan’, and my advice on how the sequel could be improved both involve the same advice: if you want to succeed in social media campaigns, you better start treating the platforms and the users with a little more respect.

   I’m actually happy to talk more, and have further ideas on how I’d actually improve this campaign, but this comment is already a little long. If you want more you can go about it two ways: either reveal who you actually are, or hit me up and we can talk about a more formal arrangement – I am after all in the market for a job, and you guys are based in Sydney.

   (PS for future reference: lighten up on the FAIL thing. Not only did I provide feedback above each time I used the term, instead of shouting it into the ether, but it was predominately inspired by the pun I could use for the headline.)

6. Taezar on July 26th, 2009

   Interesting views Warlach, as always.
   From what little advertising I did come across during the lead up to this competition, it certainly wasn’t to your demographic (from what I know of you from Twitter and your brother). This was targeted at the lowest common denominator on a low brow, highly commercial station with “cheap stunts” used to chose the winner. Myself and others currently I interact with on Twitter thought the competition intriguing at first, till we read what the competition was for (Tweet every 60 seconds? Yawn) and that “stunts” would be required.
   As to your points re trending topics. I cannot think of a single time I have clicked on a trending topic. I have searched a couple of times, but never seen some odd hashtag in the trending topics and gone “wow that sounds really cool I should click on that and find out more.” None of the tweets you showed above were RT’able or Via’able.
   As to your points re stream. I cannot agree with you enough. I like my stream, and I don’t need a heap of spam tweets from someone I don’t know, saying less than interesting things in a poor format.
   IMHO, this whole competition and its implementation reflects many professional’s lack of comprehension of the uses and users of this shiny new (not new, just all the late adopters coming to play) tech. VAustralia and V have spent a LOT of money promoting a young, hip, fresh, a little irreverent “persona.” Pity this campaign promotes none of the above.

7. Sheila (@stinginthetail) on July 26th, 2009

   “If the @4320LA account had felt less like spam, and had aimed at engaging with the people you wanted to pay attention, you might have got a better response.” well said. It reminded me of those people who say they ‘get twitter’ then start spamming about getting more followers.

8. Juha on July 26th, 2009

   d spam @4320LA

9. Nathan Bush on July 26th, 2009

   I had an interesting run with this campaign. I was contacted directly by the @4320LA account to encourage me to put an entry in. They also engaged in some friendly banter. So great work there. However, I was also emailed by a mysterious Sebastian Frier from a Gmail account asking me to enter (after I’d already entered). I replied asking why and how he contacted me (especially after I entered) but no response. Not cool. If it had been from Droga or V Australia PR I would have been OK with it. I don’t like spam from strangers.

   I think this campaign could have been improved by not only using social tools but making it social. Everything pointed inwards on this campaign. For example, the Tweeted entries were posted on the @4320LA feed, not the entrants feed. Word of mouth would have spread much quicker if it was published on their own site so their friends could see they’ve entered and start conversation about it. The best entries could be retweeted on the @4320LA feed.

   I applaud V Australia for having the balls to have a go, it’s much better than being too scared. However, next time they could learn by being more transparent and external in their approach.

10. SJ on July 26th, 2009

    Well I entered the competition and I was a finalist, in the top 3.

    I entered because I thought the prizes were great and it would be a great chance to get away with the girls.

    I think the entry mechanism was great however I tend to agree with Damian and Warlach in that once the winners were announced and starting tweeting, the promotion was no longer interesting.

    I visited the 4320la site a few times but couldn’t make any sense of the images and as expected, the tweets were boring and mostly nonsensical.

    For those of you who may be thinking I am writing this because I am bitter at losing, well that is not so.

    I don’t think the girls and I could’ve made the tweets any more interesting, because in essence, minute by minute tweets of anyones life no matter where they are is a f**king boring topic.

    However, were we chosen, I guarantee the images on the 4320la site would’ve been far better to look at which may have greatly lifted interest in the campaign

11. inspiredworlds on July 26th, 2009

    interesting write up of the @4320 campaign. i thought it was an innovative approach to promoting the new LA flights as a weekend getaway.

    if we constantly bag out these kind of promotions, brands are less likely to engage with social media as a marketing medium. we need to be encouraging brands to use social media not just telling them where they failed =) I don’t mind a critique or a case study, so kudos for rounding out with some pointers.

    i agree with your point of it looking like spam. i was following the campaign as i noticed @mattnhodges talking about it (disclosure - i know matt). i added matt’s @4320 campaign and i was following that for a while, but the tweet stream was just getting boring and clogging it(how often can u say unique stuff every minute on twitter?).

    Perhaps this is what they could have done - I was on holiday recently, and I tweeting constantly, because i was excited about my trip and wanted to share that with everyone. Share interesting moments of the trip via twitter and use the hashtag so it could be categorised, pics and perhaps even a video stream (like a diary entry). Display these moments on the website in a blog style or interactive format.

12. Cade on July 27th, 2009

    I was a member of the ‘top-10′ list, before the final three groups of three were selected. Much like SJ’s comment, I too haven’t followed the campaign very much, although I thought its beginning was pretty interesting.

    When the representative from Droga5 contacted me by telephone, we had a long chat about the format of the competition and how the trip to Los Angeles would be executed. As somewhat of a media type myself, I asked a few questions regarding the planned logistics of the trip and the Droga5 guy fumbled through the answers. Although he was an extremely cool guy, my suggestions seemed to fall on deaf ears, and it was at this point that I realised that while the contest would be fun on an individual level it would fail as an advertising campaign. A couple of thoughts on why:

    Firstly, my interactions with Droga5 made it clear that the company doesn’t understand how Twitter works. For example, it doesn’t make sense to open separate accounts for users because that cut off the existing follower-base. While I understand the need for branding and control, the 432LA_[NAME] accounts completely removed the personal aspect of a Twitter account and the “THIS COULD BE YOU!” aspect that I know Droga5 and Virgin were trying to achieve. Tweets also had to be sent through a convoluted email system - presumably for moderation - but this basically ensured that there was no opportunity to read or respond to others’ tweets. I asked about video and audio tweeting (eg, TweetMic) and discovered that there would be none of this, that although photos, video and audio could be captured, it would be handled by Droga5. By desiring and controlling the entire experience, they deprived potential campaign followers of the sense of actually being THERE.

    After we lost the competition (a relief, to be honest, as I am currently finishing a Masters degree), I didn’t really hear that much about the winners. I tried to follow the campaign for a while, but it just wasn’t interesting, simple as that. As the competition loser, I really wanted to be jealous, and watch the entire thing unfold and go “man, if only I was there.” I imagine Virgin Australia wanted that, too. But although the guys who went probably had a GREAT time, nothing clicked. There was no human face to it, nothing to relate to except hastily typed text from a group under pressure to perform.

    Imagine if the contestants had met some LA-based musicians or hollywood actors with Twitter accounts and their interactions had bounced between their accounts? Imagine if, say, Kevin Spacey (@kevinspacey) had spent a good hour or two with the contestants, and the two groups had been posting photos and generally messing around on Twitter during that time – not just from @4320LA, but from @kevinspacey, too? Or imagine if LA twitterers had been involved, where people were encouraged by gift vouchers or whatever, to meet up and take photos and do crazy stuff. There is a mountain of things that you could do, and it’s pretty clear that not much was done. More on that a little later.

    Before I talk about why I think this failed, I want to raise one more point. That is, there was too much emphasis on performance. What I mean by this is that when the proposal was described to me, it seemed like the contestants would be bombarded with activity and stimulus - while being filmed AND having to stop every minute between them to tweet. I imagine that I would’ve seen 4320 posts as more of a number to achieve, rather than an opportunity to make each tweet the best it could. Tweeting with so much stimulus + video cameras around you would’ve been an incentive to push the tweet out as quickly as possible - especially considering the fact that tweeting on a mobile phone is so slow it basically ensured that whoever was designated twitterer was constantly typing away.

    I suspect that Droga5 just assumed that people would be interested due to the fleeting nature of Twitter posts. Along with my interactions with them, there were other telltale signs of how the people involved viewed Twitter. The lack of hashtag from the moment it began was a bit strange, but what was weirder was the belief that just adding a hashtag and spamming twitter would result in #4320LA trending. Twitter trends aren’t just based on the number of mentions of a particular topic. Rather, it’s about the number of people talking about a particular topic or hashtag. If you understood how the model works, it would be easy to understand why - You can’t just make an account that follows and is followed by noone, and spam your hashtag onto the front page. It’s just not how it works. But their expectance that it would trend is not surprising. The majority of marketing on Twitter is an attempt to broadcast loud, one-way messages like a television ad. Because Twitter is a space of conversation (I’ve heard it likened to ‘The closest humanity has come to ESP, and although that’s a fairly sensationalised description, I agree to an extent), 1-way advertising on twitter is essentially the same as a marketer stepping between two people talking on a street and shouting at them. As a side note, I suspect that we’ll hear a story pretty soon about massive PR fallout as a result of a mishap with a marketing company (and its client) and Twitter. I suspect it will have to do with one-way broadcasting and astroturfing (ie: this Dan Masnick character), because Twitter is based entirely around conversation, and one way broadcasting of any kind is really just not tolerated.

    This is getting almost as long as your original post, so I’ll finish up. Thanks for writing about this, it was interesting and confirmed all of the concerns I had when I had the opportunity to get involved. I also think that the idea of marketers getting involved in this is NOT a bad thing and would after all of that criticism, I would like to congratulate Droga5 and Virgin on trying something new. I really think this sort of thing will be, in the end, will result in more effective advertising and significantly more interesting than billboard/television megaphones. I really hope they get the opportunity to do it again, because there are opportunities to make some really, really innovative and CHEAP campaigns out there (eg #moonfruit, which due to promoting creativity and interactivity, trended at number one for like, ten days straight, and cost the company who executed it something miniscule like $15,000 for massive amounts of exposure and unbelievably good PR.) I really think the primary mistake that was made here was the belief that Twitter is just another medium.

    -Cade.

    PS, Although I’m not expecting anything, if anyone at Droga5 want to get in touch, I have many, many more concepts on how to make this a lot better than it turned out the first time round senatorcade at gmail dot com.

13. Cade on July 27th, 2009

    As an aside, sorry about my grammar. I was really too tired to write all of that :\

14. O_P on April 15th, 2010

    Great post, I even read all the comments, but I can’t get over the fact you want people to spell properly and then in the very next point managed to spell publicly wrong. Spelling Fail?

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17. links for 2010-06-24 « Digital Stuffing on June 24th, 2010

    [...] Warlach’s World » V Australia: “Come FAIL with me, let’s FAIL, let’s FAIL away…” Virgin Australia using Twitter poorly – a review of what they did, what they could have done. The comments are great as well, wit the agency busy astroturfing. (tags: twitter marketing casestudy socialmedia) [...]

18. Emilia Palmer on July 26th, 2010

    online promotion is a great way to introduce new products on the market.:;:

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