The Digital Perm

No shame......

With AMP in your hands.....

Making your widget count

Here at WPNI, we have been experimenting and toying around with widgets for the past 12 months.  Just like every other publisher and brand on the block, we are constantly looking for new ways to attract new readers as well as serve our current customer base.  Widgets are the perfect vehicle to accomplish this goal.

Our biggest struggle with widgets (aside from monetization) is making sure the content that we widgetize is worthy.  Is what we are offering something you will want to grab and share with your friends.  We know you cannot force it - regardless of your wish viral is not viral unless it is worthy of being passed around. 

Well, today, I ran across a widget implementation that I feel is absolutely brilliant and I thought let's share it with the Perm readers.  Check it out below....

The widget is for a little known film called Cloverfield. Cloverfield is from the infamous JJ Abrams of Alias, Lost and Mission Impossible III fame.  Slowly but surely JJ and crew has released small tidbits and clips of the film.  Each time it is released you are a teased a bit more.

So putting the trailer or clip into the widget - sure that is a no brainer.  But what makes this different is the hook.....the person who grabs the widget, places it on their site and then it is subsequently grabbed from them the most wins the movie premier of Cloverfield in the their hometown. 

Simple, straightforward and effective.  Not only is the content good but you are offering something up to the user - a perfect execution.

Viral is PAIN-ful

I think I am going to file this one under - just because you can does not me ya should.

You see, apparently the folks at Bayer after careful due diligence have decided that the best way to reach a younger crowd while increasing exposure and awareness for their new Aleve Liquid Gels product was to enter in the realm of viral and create an online reality game.

According to the article in the NY Times, the "premise of the game is that two characters named Al and Eve (he’s a scientist, she’s an investigative reporter) have identified an online conspiracy by an organization known as P.A.I.N. (People Against Internet Networking)."  "Engaged" readers will then travel from blogs to wikis to networking sites searching for clues.  In the end, the hope is that folks like you and me will become hooked and pass the good word on to friends, family and everybody else on the planet.

When you first visit the site - Aleviator - you are introduced to Dr. Albert Briggs who apparently is in a bit of crisis and needs or help.  At the end of the video, we discover that he has been captured by PAIN.

Before his capture he asks you to search out Evelyn Bloom, an investigative reporter committed to covering the news beyond the news and encouraging “citizen journalism”.

At the bottom of the first and only post you find a comment from Dr Briggs that points you here - a social network created on Ning.

This page also promotes Evelyn Bloom's blog.

So my question is - are you lost because I am. It appears that Bayer is chasing cool but what the outcome is is hokey.  Granted it could be that I am just still on vacation, but I am just not seeing the value in this.

Apparently at the end, Bayer will even make a $5 to $10 donation to the Conservation Fund, an environmental nonprofit group.  But they don't even come right out and say that.  Rather it is supposed to be a surprise.

I love experimentation, but this just seems disjointed.  What about you?

UPDATE: Interested in following the conversation regarding Bayer and their PAINful viral exercise.  check out:

Marketingblurb and Dim Bulb

Blend this

How many of you have seen the Will it Blend videos from Blendtec?.  I first found them through Three Minds @ Organic.  Well now it looks like there is a spoof.  But as you get to the end, you realize this not spoof - it is ad from ShopLocal.com where you can buy Blendtec blenders.    Check it out below:

I have to say that I am impressed by ShopLocal and Blendtec.  The real question is it selling Blenders.  Are they attracting the Dyson crowd?  My first guess is no, but I am a Dyson user (swear buy it) and I am intrigued by these ads.  Enough to drop 500 on a blender that I would use once a month.  Maybe not yet.  But it took me awhile to warm to the Dyson, now I cannot live without it.

Kudos to both companies from going beyond the traditional.

What's that on top of your car?

Ran across this post just a few seconds ago and now the circle is complete.  I was driving to work last week when a car came through the intersection with what looked like a Starbucks cup on the top.  My first thought was wow, how the hell is that still upright.  My second thought was please fall (yeah, probably getting coal in my stocking this year).

When the car got through the intersection and came to a stop, a few guys screamed at him to tell him what's up.  Instead the car kept driving, leading me believe he was an asshole.

To the contrary, turns out this is a marketing stunt from Starbucks.  I have to agree with Intelligrad - very cool idea.  Thinking back on that day, I am pretty sure I went to Starbucks. They got me right before I hit work and were top of mind throughout the day.  I would love to know how many people saw the same thing and told a story to their friends about how they saw some dude with a Starbucks cup on the roof of the car.  Just mentioing the word Starbucks is enough to get the wheels turning.

Have you seen this?

Do you have cramps too?

Ran across a posting today on Digital Hive that discusses a new viral site called Men with Cramps that promotes P&G's ThermaCare Heatwraps.

I would agree with the folks at DH that the site is an interesting departure from the "norm".  My favorite part would be the world map with useful translations for when traveling the globe with cramps.

Next time I have cramps, I know what brand I will be reaching for.