How did I miss this?

Axe’s Clean Your Balls campaign was the most talked about viral hit in 2010.  Though video only received 4.5 million hits, compared to  Old Spice’s ‘ Smell Like a Man’ Campaign, which racked up 25 million hits, it generated more online buzz.

According to Zeta, which scours 200 million comments on social media including blog,tweets, message boards and other outlets, more people commented and talked about Axe’s  ‘Clean Your Balls’ fake infomercial than any other campaign.   Maybe because it was aimed at a much younger audience who appreciates sexual double entendres, the AXE team used dead pan humor, rather than special affects, to deliver their message.

What does this mean? this shows that going viral doesn’t just mean raking up millions of youtube impressions, it means that the ad was sticky and connected with more people who felt they had to comment, tweet and share what they had just watched with their personal network using social media.

Google announced the results of its annual zeitgeist report, revealing the most popular search terms of 2010 by region and worldwide.

The number one top search was Chatroulette, the iPad second most searched and Justin Beiber was the third most search word.

Mr Karl Lagerfeld, Creative Director of CHANEL interviewed by Imran Amed – talking about the roles digital plays in fashion, and being inspired, at the 2010 International Herald Tribune Luxury conference in London for The Luxury Channel.

Jay-Z is one of the very few rappers who has stayed relevant and innovative in this fickle music industry.

Adding to the list of feats, is his new book – Decoded – a book of memoirs that reveals the genius complexity of his lyrics, and the innovative use of online and offline media for the marketing campaign, thanks to ad agency Droga5, who created an  interactive game and campaign collaboration with Bing decision search engine, to create a buzz around the anticipated release of the book.

All 320 pages from the book were placed around the world with a majority in the New York area, in locations related to specific content.  From the projects where he grew up in Bedstuy to the clubs where he found inspiration, each and every page was carefully placed in a physical location directly related to its specific content.

Players had to answer clues about Jay-Z’s life and lyrics, which hint to the real-world location of those pages, using Bing Maps to uncover the exact location.   Players who located a page online or in-person (by texting unique game codes from the page) were entered into a drawing for a prize: the specific page they’ve located, signed by Jay-Z, and  credit towards the purchase of the book.

Like I said, you can never get tired of Jay-Z.

Decoded is available at  Amazon.com

Kudos to UK retailer French Connection for being innovative and social media savvy.  I am big fan of French Connection, they made history last month when they launched the world’s first YouTube store – YouTique by French Connection

Viewers are guided through the latest collection by stylist Louise Roe, with YouTube annotations directing interested shoppers through to the brand’s e-commerce site.

Greenpeace is now battling Mark Zuckerburg and Facebook  with this new campaign highlighting the need for leading companies to source environmentally friendly electricity, instead of “dirty old coal”… and it seems to be getting a pretty good reception so far with over 500,000 people joining the petition to demand Facebook gets off coal powered electricity.

via digitalbuzzblog

One quality of a great Facebook Fan Page is a strong level of engagement. But where does one even start a discussion? How do you keep your fans engaged, especially if you feel as if you have run out of ideas? A look at some conversations from strong brand Facebook Fan Pages can help steer you in the right direction.

A look at the Toy Story 3 Facebook Page and we see that content is not even posted every single day and yet the posts generate over 1,000 “likes” and over a 100 comments on a consistent basis. On the Toy Story 3 Page, the conversations are always fun and focused on the toys & the movie — a direct reflection of what Toy Story 3 stands for.

Tip 1. Keep the discussions vibrant on your Page by keeping the focus on what the brand represents – be it an unconventional nature, ways to have great snacks or even couture fashion. Whatever is most important for your brand or product, have your content reflect those inherent qualities — be authentic. In this way, you keep your fans engaged since they likely joined your community to experience more of your inherent qualities.

On the Red Bull Facebook Page, content is posted every single day and usually generates over 3000 “likes” and over 300 comments consistently across their posts. On this Page, the posts range from surfing, to a Red Bull gaming show and even to a Red Bull DJ player for the iPad. On the surface, these may not appear to be connected but in this case, all of these posts require a higher than normal energy level – something that Red Bull represents. This core quality representation coupled with Red Bull’s consistent posting, gives its fanbase something to look forward to each day.

Tip 2. Maintaining the discussion and fostering engagement requires a constant effort in ‘growing the relationship’ with your fanbase. Think of your fanbase as your friend — if you flake out enough times on your friend, your friend will not trust you. However, if you consistently show up and give to your friend, your friend will come to trust you and feel less inhibited about interacting with you. So, be consistent.

If you enjoy donuts, then you will love this example. With the Dunkin Donuts Facebook Page, Dunkin Donuts’ fans post on the Wall and generate content of their own. However, Dunkin Donuts does not just leave its fans to their own devices. Dunkin Donuts provides contests, such as Dunkin Donuts’ “Create Dunkin’s Next Donut” contest, along with perks (ie: a free medium beverage for ‘liking’ the page). Dunkin Donuts allows its Page to be open to its fans’ input — which fosters a multitude of user-generated content each day.

Tip 3: Don’t take your brand too seriously and be sure to give your fans some freedom to invest their time and energy into your brand. By inviting your fans to share themselves with you, you foster a bond between your brand and your fans. When people feel personally invested in anything, they are more likely to continually engage with it, spread the word and protect it since they see it as an extension of themselves. So be open and extend yourself and you will more than likely have fans who do the same.

Please share any tips that you may have on how to keep your facebook fan page engaged.

Via 360 Digital Influence Blog

Radiohead, keeps on pushing the boundaries by changing the music industry paradigms.  This time they let their fans make their concert film video. Taken from the  band’s August 23, 2009 set in Prague.  It is available in a number of totally free downloadable formats here. Radiohead handed over the show’s soundboard recordings for the audio portion, and judging by the YouTube footage (that’s “The National Anthem” above), the Flipcam-wielding fan shooter-editors did a pretty fine job on the rest.

Via This is Brand X