Friday, November 23, 2012

Social Media Revolution

Just exactly how big is social media? Well, it's pretty hard to imagine, but social media is now part of our everyday lives. You are immerse in it, exposed by it or using it either conciously or sub-conciously.

Just to illustrate, here is a video written by international best selling author and keynote speaker Erik Qualman (@equalman). It's part of a series of social media videos that are the most watched in the world. You'll be amazed with some of the stats. Enjoy!


About Erik Qualman
Erik Qualman is an American author of Socialnomics, Digital Leader and Crisis. He is also an international keynote speaker speaking on Gen Y motivation, digital leadership, digital media and future trends.Wikipedia

Monday, June 25, 2012

All You Ever Wanted To Know About McDonald's

Ever wondered how McDonald's burger patties are made? What goes into making the perfect Big Mac? What are Chicken McNuggets made of? These are some commonly asked questions about McDonald's globally and I bet even you would like to know the answers to them as well. Well now you can. McDonald's Canada (@McD_Canada) gives their customers to ask everything and anything about their food.


I first came across this when a colleague of mine shared a video which showed Hope Bagozzi, Director of Marketing of McDonald's Canada going down the field to answer a customer's question on "Why does your food look different in the advertising than what is in the store?". Bagozzi went to a McDonald's outlet, then bought a burger and brought it back to the photo studio and made a comparison to explain why that the ad and the real burgers are different.


The thought of opening a question forum like this, is always subjected to pros and cons. In this case, McDonald's as a brand seemed "more caring" especially when Bagozzi went on ground and took effort to shoot a video to answer a question posted by one of their customers. Customers do appreciate the effort for doing so and in turn, they will trust the brand more for it's transparency, honesty and effort. However, things like these could also lead customers into posting stupid things or using it as a channel to complain or to vent hate about the brand.

Q: "When you say 100% beef, do you mean whole cow: the organs, snout, brain, kidneys, etc or just plain beef we buy @ the grocer?"
Nevertheless, it's still a very good thing McDonald's Canada did. I love the campaign for the fact that they do not rely on a Facebook page for customer interaction, and I do hope that customers would use it for getting answers rather than for malicious intend.

Campaign site: http://yourquestions.mcdonalds.ca/
Note: You can only post questions if you're residing in Canada as it detects your IP address

Friday, April 6, 2012

Somewhere In The Near Future...

This week, Google gave a glimpse of "Project Glass" in a video and blog post. Still in an early prototype stage, the glasses looks like something out of a sci-fi movie. The glasses also showcase a whole suite of Google applications (Google Maps, Google Places, Google Plus, etc.). While I feel it might still take another few years before this actually takes off, at the rate Google is going, it doesn't seem that impossible and probably not too far away.


Another video that I find interesting is how digital screens will be used in the near future. This concept is brought to you by TAT (The Astonishing Tribe), a company that consists of engineers, visual artists and interaction designers who eat, sleep, and breathe User Interfaces. The company was acquired by RIM in December 2010, the very same people who brought you the Blackberry and Playbook.