“Shoppable” videos have been on wish lists for some time, enabling consumers to shop whilst watching a video by clicking on, say, a lipstick, a pair of shoes, a jumper etc and finding out where that product is from, it’s availability and potentially making a purchase.

When “shoppable” videos were first rolled out in 2012 few adopted it, larger brands partnered with third-party technology providers to allow viewer interactions, but now with YouTube tightly under its belt Google is releasing a “channel gadget” that brings some of that functionality straight to the video channel.

Google describes the functionality as,

“The new channel gadget will enable shoppers to seamlessly move from browsing videos to finding which retailers carry them, check availability, compare prices and make a purchase streamlining the user experience.”

Google states that the new gadget will be made available as a “premium offering” for its consumer goods clients first with a broader roll-out possible in the future.

This development will break down barriers between celebrity glamour and high-street consumer fashion by enabling users to purchase items within the context of which they were first influenced. By rolling this out to a broader audience and potentially more platforms it will challenge more traditional methods of advertising, reinventing the way brands promote products and consumers purchase them. Next stop, shoppable TVs!

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Following the launch of the humorous Snickers ‘You’re not you when you’re hungry’ TV campaign AMV BBDO has built on its success with a very clever digital version.

The agency worked with Google to serve the campaign to the search engine’s users, every time someone misspelt one of their selected keywords, the search results included a bespoke ad message, encouraging the user to eat a Snickers. Starting from the premise that office workers are ‘off their game’ when hungry, the agency used a special algorithm to identify various misspellings of some of the most commonly searched terms on Google.

Clever stuff indeed.

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My other half shared this photographer with me last week as inspiration for her new band shots. Massive admiration for his work, it’s incredible.

Find more of his stuff here: http://www.matthenryphoto.com/

You’re welcome. :-)

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I’m a bit of a geek when it’s comes to weather, I’m fascinated by it, growing up when my friends had posters in their bedroom of boy bands and celebrities my room was plastered with posters of weather facts from the Met Office, I even organised my own work experience there when I was 16. Yep, total weather geek.

So when I see my favourite government agency tweet (yes I follow them on Twitter) I can’t help but dissect everything they send out, so let’s see what they have to say.

Who? @metoffice

How often? The Met Office tweets multiple times a day, even on weekends and public holidays. (Well how else are we going to find out about the weather?) :-)

What? Breaking down their daily tweets they mostly share

1. Updates on the weather, phew
2. Historical news
3. Hitting milestones
4. Job vacancies
5. Photo of the week
6. Weather facts…

So what? Most of what they tweet (aside from the obvious weather updates) takes followers to their website, a dinosaur of a website that desperately needs some life injected into it. I know government agencies have to abide by strict rules when it comes to websites and social (I used to work with the Cabinet Office) but that’s really no excuse any more.

What I find most annoying though is their lack of creativity when it comes to social channels they are on, Twitter, Facebook,  YouTube, Flickr, and Pinterest.

Flickr/ Pinterest Their presence on Flickr and Pinterest is minimal, they have content on each, but neither have been managed to their potential, they’d be better off deleting one account and concentrating on the other, my recommendation, shut down Flickr and concentrate on Pinterest.

YouTube Their YouTube channel is a lot more effective for their content, they upload the channel often, with interviews, explanations and forecasts, each with hundreds if not thousands of views. Not bad Met Office.

Facebook/ Twitter Now we come to the reason for this blog post, their Facebook and Twitter pages, their prime social channels. Content is duplicated across Facebook and Twitter, many brands do this, there are two main reasons why they shouldn’t

1. People digest content differently across the two platforms
2. Why would people be a fan of brand page and follow a brand on Twitter if the same content is on both? You need to excite your audience by offering them new content on each channel, only occasionally duplicating content when it’s worth highlighting

When they do try to be creative in their ‘weather facts’ their content appears to be half-hearted. The idea is a great one, creative post cards of weather facts to be shared and amplified across Facebook and Twitter, young me would have loved them (actually old me thinks they’re pretty cool too), but their execution lacks creativity, and if something doesn’t look good why would I want to talk about it or share it with my friends?

Their most recent ‘weather fact’ postcard (above left) received 46 retweets, that’s 0.36% of their Twitter fans – not even half a percent. With a bit of creativity and I think these pieces of content could fly across social, the facts they use are great, insightful and interesting, but the creative alongside them let’s them down.

Creative aside there’s one other glaringly obvious disappointment about these pieces of activity, spotted it yet? Yep, no hash tag. The Met Office tweet these out at regular intervals (weekly), a consistent piece of content that delivers the same type of content and yet they don’t have a hash tag in place to unify or collaborate them. Not only would adding a hash tag help fans find and follow content, it would also allow the Met Office to track them, understanding their reach, engagement levels and helping them identify their top influencers, those with the most social impact engaging with their content and their brand. A massive oversight by their social team.

Right, download done. My thoughts aside what do you think of the Met Offices social presence and especially their ‘Weather facts’?

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I’ve only been to Berlin once, years ago, and to be honest whilst it was a brilliant city I’ve not been rushing to go back despite friends continuously telling me i’m wrong.

I recently came across these little street art pieces created by Evol who creates intricate stencils that mimic the city blocks surrounding Berlin, gradually creating miniature cities within cities. Documenting them as he has Evol helps position these blocks of flats in situ and by placing larger street objects the viewer is reminded of their true scale.

The urban project is intriguing and very realistic and I’d love to see similar creativity come to London. Time to get your stencils out and hit the city streets.

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I’m working with a new consumer Photography brand (shortly to be released so more details to follow) but whilst researching opportunities and strategising it’s launch I came across this amazing series of photos. Russia based photographer Murad Osmann followed his girlfriend around the world, her leading the way as he snapped on his smart phone.

The series of photos tell a creative, aesthetical and colourful view on the world, with the chaotic scenes surrounding the main feature in every shot for consistency. The viewer is lead around the world through the eyes of Murad, a great start to a fascinating project.

Follow me to…

Follow me to…

Follow me to…

Follow me to…

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Rumors are circulating that Facebook will be rolling out the use of hashtags in the coming months. Giving users the ability to index conversations around a particular topic, just as they currently do on Twitter.

This development seems quite natural if you think about it, Twitter uses hashtags, Instagram began using them to allow users to share images on Twitter, and Facebook now owns Instagram.

What’s more this development seems like the natural evolution of Facebook’s newly released Graph Search. The search is currently limited to information shared by users on their friends, likes and locations, by adding hashtags to this search functionality users will have the opportunity to tune into public posts based around common topics. What’s more it will allow brands to place adverts around these key words, engaging with new consumers through hashtag advertising. Clever.

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So what are Twitter cards?

Twitter cards began rolling out last year, giving new experiences to users via expanded Tweets, this new functionality gave partner websites the option to present their content in more engaging ways on the channel. When users expand Tweets containing links they are presented with further information on that media, in the form of a written summary, a photo or a video, all capable of playing in their stream.

Since launching these initial cards Twitter has now announced three new cards, app, gallery and product.

App card

The app card reveals the app name, icon, price, rating and a short description taken directly form the app store allowing users to see how people are sharing content across Twitter. What does this mean? Well, in short more downloads and greater awareness to apps and technologies others are using.

Gallery

The gallery card allows you to show a collection of photos within a Tweet. This Card type is designed to let the user know that there’s more than just a single image at the URL shared, great for creative brands and individuals.

Product

The product card is a brilliant addition to Twitter’s card collection, giving brands the ability to add direct links and share important information (price, availability, sizes etc) with fans without taking them away from their own stream. The ability to share such key details about products will drive sales and increase brand awareness as tweets are retweeted to new consumers.

So what do these cards mean for consumers and brands? Well, for consumers more information delivered straight to their streams, insightful content with the ability to quickly click through to purchase items. For brands, increased awareness and sales, amplifying key items to existing and new targeted consumers. All in all, happy Twitter users.

Well done Twitter.

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A quick thought:

In a couple of months I turn 30, a lot of people around me are doing so at the same time, some are coping whilst others are struggling. For me birthdays are just a number, I could be upset at the things I haven’t yet achieved in my life or I could be positive at everything I’ve experienced that’s got me here today.

Gaining my degree and having a fantastic time at college and Uni, living in Nottingham, Brighton and now London, and being in a position to take eight months out to explore South America. I’ve lived and learnt, lost love and gained it. So as I turn 30 I’m looking forward and planning for the things yet to come.

Hello new decade. x

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I was catching up on blogs the other day and came across this post by Whatleydude. I have to say it’s rather embarrassing when a friend pulls you up on your own blog writing absences. Sorry James, you’ve kicked me into shape, pen to paper (or fingers to keys) starts now.

PS- Yes it has been a while, Compari cocktail soon? ;-)

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