Socks away!

Drum roll . . .
Finally after 12 months of research + development, I'm happy to announce the launch of my latest baby - the socktastic and sockalicious - SocksforSir.com!

This little venture is based around a v.simple premise: we sell the finest quality socks on subscription, so that the busy modern gent will never have to wear an odd pair of socks again!

As part of the marketing mix, we're putting a fair amount of focus on the notion of brand participation. Kicking things off, we've launched an online magazine called forSir - providing tips for fine living for the modern man. Off the back of this, we'll also be hosting a number of informal dinners to which people (of the sock wearing nature) will be able attend to discuss manly type things. Beyond this we'll be providing an participation mechanic allowing our clients to help develop the next forSir range - going beyond socks.

Ultimately we want our clients to be an integral part of the forSir - as importantly it is critical that we understand customer needs - so we can build the business around these.

Brands and bedrooms

Whilst Raul's been discovering the joys of South African vino, I've been busy busy. So busy infact that my productivity at one point reached zero as I became overwhelmed by "stuff to do" - both for my own ventures and for clients.

The answer to my probs has been a whizzy online site called Voodo. What Voodo does is very simply organise my workload into lists - based around projects and tasks, to which you can allocate time and deadlines. This means that I can now very simply look at what needs to be done + tick the tasks off one by one. So far it's changed my life. No longer am I overwhelmed - as all my probs (work) is neatly organised and prioritised into manageable chunks.

One of the things that got me thinking about this in relation to brand participation was the fact that THIS is the kind of the thing brand could do in a cost effective way. As a brand aimed at the busy working professional this could be a great tool for them to develop (or sponsor) to help make people's lives easier so they free up time to do other things.

The basic notion is thinking of developing marketing / brand assets that have real value for the public - rather than just a throw away value. For me this is one of the key values that should underlie brand participation, and has ultimate value for the brand - leading to product innovation at the same time.

Importantly this kind of innovation doesn't have to be expensive if executed on the web. Voodo is a clever idea produced by a bloke in his bedroom, and I'd suggest brands spend more time fooling around in the bedroom too if they're looking for real innovation . . .

They're loving it

It looks as though Mc Donalds are loving brand participation too . . . to the extent that they've launched a global competition in which members of the burger loving public can win the chance to appear on their packaging (all 50 million pieces of it).
Read the full news story from Brand Republic here
All consumers will have to do is visit this website, and then explain why they love life - I'd expect if your answer includes the word burger, milk shake or Mc you'd be close to winning your ticket to an early heart-attack induced (but famous) death . . .

When participation goes wrong

Chevy are running a campaign in the US in which you can make your own truck ad online. Unfortunately for Chevy the campaign's been hijacked by a bunch of environmentalists who've decided to make their own anti-Chevy campaign using the very same marketing assets designed to promote the brand.
Not the best outcome for the strugling car group. Check out the results here