My contest (hosted by Brick and Click Consulting) is winding down, and today's the day to put aside a few minutes, put your creative cap on and come up with a brand idea, slogan, jingle, poem ... just about anything related to Coca-Cola or one of its products you can dream of. Simply register at OceanOfIdeas.com, look for the confirmation e-mail, click the link, then submit your entry. You can add a picture, document or video link, or make it very simple and do a 'roses are red' type poem (I did a sample one). It's all about a little fun in your week and some creative 'consumer generated idea generation'. It's also a geat opportunity to showcase your talents. You never know who might be taking a peek, like the folks at Coke headquarters in Atlanta (you need to visit their blog, a nostalgic trip down memory lane each day, chock full of Americana: Coca-Cola Conversations).
Check a previous post for details on the prizes I'm offering. Grand Prize winner gets some great Coke gear, months worth of carbonated beverages, and a Webforce Open Innovation platform license (the platform the contest is on), worth about $6,000. Six grand. Your own consumer generated idea platform to play with or integrate into your business as you choose. Two runners up will receive some cool gear, beverages and a Premium Open Innovation Challenge on Fellowforce.com's global crowdsourcing platform (value $495).
If a minimum number of entries is not reached (details at OceanOfIdeas.com), the contest may be extended one more week. Voting will extend several days beyond the deadline for contest submissions. You're encouraged to spread the word about this (and your entry!) to your social networks and friends and family. Folks can register and vote even if they don't have an entry submission. Thanks for playing along with my Social Media/Open Innovation contest ... it's a small way for me to share some of the wonderful experience I enjoyed in Atlanta recently as the winner of Coke's 'Experiencing Coca-Cola Sweepstakes'. You don't have to love Coke as much as I do to enter the contest. But hey, why not enter the Coke contest and a have a asmile today :-)
It's in the wee hours of Friday morning ... Black Friday 2008 ... the day retailers kick off a slew of outrageous deals to tempt offline and online shoppers to part with their dwindling dollars. This Thanksgiving weekend will be a closely watched and dissected canary in the economy coal mine, an early glimpse into what could be a sluggish shopping season.
One of my favorite retail events is Amazon's Customers Vote. It works like this:
This year's potential winning deals include a Samsung 46-Inch 1080p HDTV for $699, an ASUS Eee PC 900 Netbook for $129 and a KitchenAid Professional Stand Mixer for $69. For complete details, go to the Customers Vote page and check the FAQ. It looks like the biggest difference between this year's consumer generated 'sweet deals' event and last years is that this year it's a race. Amazon will invite more customers to participate in the buying round than they have available deals. So get your competitive juices flowing if you're on the hunt for a too-good-to-be-believed deal.
Amazon has a central Black Friday page with a Gold Box featuring hourly deals and limited time specials on thousands of items. A quick look shows popular products offered at discounts ranging from 30-60%.
I'll be keeping track of Black Friday numbers for brick and mortar and online retailers, and monitoring Cyber Monday sales as well. Cyber Monday, coined in 2005 by the Naional Retail Federation, is normally the biggest shopping day for online retailers.
A quick update on my Coca-Cola Brand Fan Contest, being held at OceanOfIdeas.com (the other URL I originally gave, TwitFizz.com, works as well). Due to the unexpected arrival of a new goodie package from a friend at Coca-Cola, and the fact I had some server issues over the weekend, the contest is being extended one week, until Wednesday December 5th. I also want to 'get the word out' (your help in that is EXTREMELY APPRECIATED) and give everyone enough time to cook up up a creative entry, since it's your chance to impress the community and some folks at Coke with your sparkly genius. This is not an official Coke contest. It's hosted by me (Brick and Click Consulting's Jeff Crites). But my three days in Atlanta - courtesy of Coke and my Experiencing Coca-Cola Sweepstakes win - introduced me to a fantastic and friendly group of folks who work at Coke HQ. Some of them operate the Coca-Cola Conversations blog (you're highly encouraged to add it to your daily reading). All of them are now considered friends (they treated us like family), and I know they're taking a peek at this contest ... and I'm also asking several of them to vote for their favorite entry.
The Grand Prize winner gets: a Coke Canvass bag (declared the 'coolest bag ever' by my wife), Coke red scarf, Coke red winter cap, Coke journal, Coke bottle from their Veterans Day celebration at Coke HQ, Coke Mardi Gras beads and six cases of Coca-Cola carbonated products. Plus: a Free Webforce 2.1 Consumer Co-Creation & Feedback Engine license from Fellowforce.com (it's the platform the contest is being hosted on), worth $5,000 Euro or about $6,200 USD.
The Webforce application can be loaded on a hosting service of your choice at no cost - something like Meta Fusion is recommended (you're responsible for the hosting service & fees). Integrating Webforce into a company's existing IT/server infrastructure may require a 'load fee'. My goal is to keep this all at 'zero cost' to any winner.
First Runner up (2nd prize) gets a long sleeve Coke T-shirt, collapsable Coke six-pack cooler and four cases of Coca-Cola carbonated beverages (coupons for the beverages).
Second Runner up (3rd prize) gets a cool 'sling-style' sports backpack (with padded laptop sleeve) and four cases of Coca-Cola carbonated beverages.
PLUS: Both runners-up receive a Premium Open Innovation Challenge on the Fellowforce.com global Challenge Board (value $495). Posting an Open Innovation Challenge is a great way to reach a global pool of consumers for innovative ideas and solutions. You can use this to solicit ideas for just about anything ... and it's a great marketing tool as well.
All you need to do is go to OceanOfIdeas.com, Register (very quick, just name, username, age, e-mail), dream up a creative slogan, poem, jingle, brand or marketing idea relating to Coca-Cola or one of its many products, and enter (follow directions at the site). You can spend fifteen minutes or as much time as you want on this. Remember to ask your friends and network to enter and vote as well. If people don't want to submit an entry, they can register and vote for their favorite (yours?).
I wanted to do something that would share a bit of my experience at Coca-Cola with everyone, and tap the viral and empowering nature of social media and Open Innovation. You may not be obsessed with Coca-Cola as much as I am, but enter this contest and show your 'brand creativity'. In addition to a chance at some great prizes, you'll have an opportunity to showcase your 'personal brand/expertise' for all to see. Good luck!
I decided today to launch an ambitous Crowdsourcing effort, and I need your help to make it happen. It'll benefit just about anyone: Prosumers (producing consumers), creative freelancers, stay-at-home moms and dads, idea generators -anyone looking for opportunity and work. It'll also benefit any business small to large interested in a non-traditional, dynamic way to tap a variety of innovative ideas from people from around the world. The platform would enable extremely affordable, impactful business solutions, and offer talented people opportunities to earn money and build/showcase their personal brand. I'll use three main tools:
1) A Global Crowdsourcing Platform - I have the keys to Fellowforce.com, an Open Innovation platform and portal. Fellowforce has an Open Innovation/Crowdsourcing Challenge Board where businesses post challenge contests to ask for solutions and ideas. All the platform needs is a growing, vibrant and passionate consumer community ... and a Challenge Board offering a variety of fresh, interesting opportunities. The Challenge Board has a legal framework and community forum/voting/reward system. When a challenge is posted, an e-mail is sent to the global Fellow Community - people looking for the opportunity to put their ideas to work. To become a Fellow, all it takes is s simple registration and quick profile creation to let us know the type of challenges that would interest you, along with your areas of expertise and passion. Fellows can choose to enter Challenges and compete for cash and other rewards. Challenges can be Fellowforce-hosted, or hosted elsewhere and linked on the Fellowforce Board so you don't have to search for opportunities. We find them and bring them to your attention.
2) Twitter - there's nothing like the viral connectiveness of Twitter. I remember hearing about a group on Twitter half joking about joining forces to create a Twitter Agency to compete for a large advertising account. Laurel Papworth, aka @Silkcharm on Twitter, 'tweeted' this idea and wrote a post called Twitter Agency: Crowd-sourced Consultancy.
I thought after reading her blog post ... what if I could use Twitter as a massive, all-encompassing crowdsourcing platform? Not just for ad agency pitches ... but for anything. However it wasn't until today, on that brisk dog walk, that the idea gelled. I didn't need to build a new platform. I already had access to one (Fellowforce). What I needed to do was explain the benefits of Open Innovaton and Crowdsourcing to my Twitter friends, ignite interest in the existing platform, then combine the two (Twitter & Fellowforce) to communicate about opportunities for consumers and businesses to connect. There are several benefits in taking part in this effort and telling others to join it as well:
I believe that if this catches on ... if people 'retweet' this post and get excited about creating a global crowdsourcing powerhouse ... energized about the potential that we have to be problem solvers and creative idea generators .. then we can build a community with tens of thousands of people in a short period of time - a community that will attract businesses and create opportunities.
3) Blog - the third leg of this project is a blog acting as a central communication point. Right now, it's Consumer Passion. I'm considering a new blog specifically for this project, and have a couple of names under consideration. I'm also using #hashtags in all of my Tweets that relate to crowdsourcing, open innovation and this effort, to enable effective search and tracking. Right now, I'm using the hashtag #TwitForce on Twitter (conbines Twitter & Fellowforce), and when you enter that hashtag in the search field on Twitter, you can quickly locate any conversations about this, anyone else Tweeting about it, crowdsourcing opportunities and ideas and so on. I'm also considering the name #TwitSourcing - a play on crowdsourcing and Twitter.
This is the idea in a nutshell. I'm open to any thoughts and suggestions. Leave your opinion about the #name in the comments section. Any suggestions you have about this Twitter + Fellowforce plan to rule the crowdsourcing world, leave them in my Suggestion Box, which enables and manages transparent feedback. If you're interested in posting a Crowdsource Challenge on the Fellowforce platform, or would like to know more about Suggestion Box as well (I'm affiliated with both), contact me at jeff@brickandclick.com. And don't forget about my Coca-Cola Brand Fan Contest at TwitFizz.com. Come up with a creative jingle, slogan, poem or brand idea, toss it into the ring, and you might win cool Coke gear, products and a $6,000 Fellowforce Webforce Consumer Co-creation & Feedback Application license (the platform the contest is using).
Cheers!
Jeff Crites (Brick and Click Consulting)
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Have you read Jeff Howe's book? (he coined term crowdsourcing):
Crowdsourcing: Why the Power of the Crowd Is Driving the Future of Business
Picture at top of post courtesy of this Flickr account
I recently returned from a magical three day journey to the Coca-Cola headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, having won the Experiencing Coca-Cola Sweepstakes via MyCokerewards.com. Some of my spoils: two nights hotel accomodations overlooking Olympic Centennial Park, chauffeur driven tour of the city, VIP tour of the Coke HQ (including a rare peek inside Coke's Archives where they keep brand item dating back to the 19th century), lunch with Coke employees, dinner at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, breakfast at Ruth's Chris, VIP tour of the World of Coca-Cola, a huge duffle bag full of wonderful Coke stuff and a year's supply of soda.
I'll have a detailed post about my time at Coke. Suffice it to say it was a passionate consumer's dream come true, pushing the admiration and brand love I had for Coke to atmospheric levels (the picture is one of dozens of very large Coke inspired pieces of art from various countries at the Atlanta HQ). It also inspired me to host a social media contest, combining Twitter, this blog and an Open Innovation platform to see what kind of creative brand love others might have for Coke, and also see what can happen in a very short period of time if you put your mind - and the right tools - to good use.
You're invited to play along in my Brand Fan Contest. Go to TwitFizz.com, a consumer feedback-co-creation platform I customized in about a half day for this contest. It's powered by Fellowforce.com's Webforce Consumer Feedback & Co-Creation Engine, an off-the-shelf Open Innovaton product that can be customized to act as a Dell IdeaStorm-like platform for any business, government or organization. My goal was to take this contest from idea to creation and launch in one day, which I have. Ultimately, my hope is to show how new platforms that connect people and their ideas can be energized by the viral explosiveness of a social media channel like Twitter. This entire contest - and social media marketing experiment - will last about ten days **(UPDATE: Nov. 19 Contest extended due to more prizes being added)** from idea to creation to launch to the finish line. All you need to do is to go to Twitfizz, register, and submit a creative entry. What kind of entry? Glad you asked.
The full name of the contest is the Coca-Cola Talent, Jingle, Slogan, Poetry and Brand Idea Challenge. The rules are fairly loose: impress the community with an original slogan, poetry piece (Coke cans are red, etc), jingle (a video link to yourself singing, sure), marketing idea or just about any talent + Coke + idea thing you can muster. You don't have to love Coke as much as I do, but it has to mention or be about Coca-Cola or any of its products. It has to be tasteful, brand positive and G-rated. This contest is not sanctioned by Coca-Cola, but we are very friendly, and I'll be passing the results to Coke officials I've met. The Grand Prize entry with the most votes will win a Coca-Cola winter cap and scarf (red, handsome, from their Recycled line), a Coca-Cola Journal, six cases of Coke product (pictured) AND (Nov 19th update): A FREE Webforce Consumer Co-creation & Feedback application license worth more than $6,000!! (some integration fees may apply, see details at TwitFizz.com). Two runners-up will receive four cases of Coca-Cola related carbonated product AND (Nove 19th add): a FREE Premium Open Innovation Challenge on Fellowforce.com's global crowdsourcing platform ($495 value!)
The contest will end on Wednesday, Nov 26th (may be extended if more prizes appear, or a minimum number of entries has not been met). It's all about having a good time, impressing the community (and hopefully Coke!) with your creativity, and showcasing the viral power and brand/consumer connective possibilities of Social Media and Open Innovation. I'm asking friends on Twitter especially to help spread the word. Submitting a Twitter-length entry (140 characters or less) is encouraged, so you can Tweet it to your network over and over and over. Inviting friends to register and check out your entry and vote is encouraged. I want to mention one of my favorite blogs, CopyBlogger, which hosted it's second Writing Contest that utilizes Twitter (entries must be 140 characters or less). I entered the first writing contest, which was a hoot, and it helped inspire me to host a contest of my own.
Complete rules for the Brand Fan Contest are at Twitfizz.com. You'll see a couple of my sample entries (I can't win my own contest). You can vote for as many entries as you want, but the platform will only allow you to vote 'once per entry'. Please check out the other entries, vote for good ones and leave comments if you'd like. This is an UNOFFICIAL contest, conceived and launched in one day, inspired by my Coke Sweepstake trip ... and I'd like to pass some of that experience and loot to others. Check back for updates here and on my Twitter page. I'll also be doing mobile podcast updates via Utterli and connecting with folks via Linkedin and Facebook as well.
I can't say enough about the wonderful people I met at the Coke HQ in Atlanta. They treated my wife and I like family. They're the classiest, friendliest and most generous bunch you'd ever have the pleasure to meet, and I'll always have the fondest memories of my time in Atlanta thanks to Mike, Carlos, Adam, Helen, HB and others. I encourage everyone to stop by their fabulous blog, Coca-Cola Conversations, which taps into the magical (and bottomless) treasure trove of Coke advertising, memorabilia, artwork, products and historical items.
Good luck in the contest (and tell your friends to register and vote!).
Jeff
**** UPDATES*****
Monday, Nov. 17th, 10:30am ET: I just added the journal to the Grand Prize pot.
Wednesday, Nov. 19th, 3:40pm ET: I just added significant Open Innovation prizes, including the $6,000 Webforce license to the Grand Prize. Also, the contest has been extended until Wednesday, November 26th at 9pm ET. Additional Coke gear will be added as well, thanks for a friend at Coke HQ. As soon as I find out what is coming, I'll add it to the pot.
The newest edition of Activision's award-winning video game franchise released November 11th, Veterans Day, taking players to beaches of the Pacific and the streets of Europe for what the maker describes as "the most intense and grittiest WWII experience to date".
"Our goal from Day 1 has been to make sure that Call of Duty: World at War re-defines players' expectations of World War II first-person action," said Treyarch studio head Mark Lamia. "From cooperative gameplay to a multiplayer that combines vehicle and squad combat, along with a host of new weapons, settings and enemies, we've left no stone unturned to make this the best experience possible."
Also, from Activision's press release:
Troops from around the world will be among the first to play one of this year's most-anticipated new video games, Call of Duty: World at War. Pro vs. GI Joe, the USO, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are teaming up with Activision Publishing for a series of online matches featuring Active Duty troops stationed around the world. Coinciding with Tuesday's launch, Pro vs. GI Joe will match members of the famed gridiron against U.S. troops serving in Germany, Japan, Kuwait and a fourth undisclosed overseas base. Participating troops will also link-up via webcam and members of their families will be on-hand to share in the moment.
Pro vs. GI Joe is a 501c3 nonprofit organization that sets up real-time video game competitions between professional athletes in the states and troops stationed all over the world via the internet. Working with AirTran Airways, Pro vs. GI Joe transports the troops' families to the gaming venue so that they may reunite via web cam with their loved ones serving overseas. Founded in June 2007 and based in Fairfax, Va, Pro vs. GI Joe aims to boost the morale of our military men and women in truly unique and exciting ways.
Call of Duty: World at War is rated "M" (Mature) by the ESRB for Intense Violence, Strong Language, Blood and Gore and is available on Xbox 360 and PLAYSTATION 3 computer entertainment systems.
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Order now (great price online): Call of Duty World at War Collector's Edition
