Hyperhappen

How to win friends and influence people

Whisper Everyone is banging on about the Influencer: the magic, fee-free solution to spreading brand messages. Most of the debate is polarised around the existence of these amazing individuals. A long with everything else in marketing that claims to make selling bad products easy I’d postulate that it’s utter rubbish.

It does seem more than obvious that some sources influence my decisions around a given subject more than others.

Duncan Watts work is getting a lot of press and thankfully knocking the magic-influencer notion. But some might criticise it for considering that influence is equal to connectedness. Onalytica have an interesting take on the matter and do some great work using influence measurement.

Hyper advice: Watch the space but don’t believe the hype.

Posted by: Ben at slope on Wednesday, 16th April 2008 (0)

Sperm for tickets

Sperm for tickets logo I feel compelled to make our loyal readership aware of something that disturbed some of us just after lunchtime today. At the same time I don't want to tell you because I'm then aiding the spread of the message.

Oh let's stop being silly. Here it is:

Whilst browsing Resident Advisor I struck upon a very direct piece of comms from Ireland's sperm bank. I can't quite bring myself to explain it, but it's really very simple so go read for yourself:

www.spermfortickets.com

I still don't know why it struck me so - I know we always say keep ideas simple, but this does just seem crass.

Posted by: Ben at post-Biggles on Monday, 17th March 2008 (0)

How long's a piece of string?

The Long Tail and what it might mean for marketers and ad agencies

The power of unsaid words

People talk a lot these days - but sometimes it’s best when they don’t.

The results can be far more rewarding.

Posted by: Simeon at pizza express time on Wednesday, 5th March 2008 (1)

WTF is the semantic web?

teacher in front of balckboard Manu Sporny of Digtial Bazaar has created a wonderfully simple video which explains the ambition of the semantic web.

I'm not going to try and explain it here, suffice to say that a truly semantic web would mean that your browser/reader/search engine would understand that this post is an explanation of the semantic web rather than that this post contains the phrase semantic web. Wonderful! I might even have to remove WTF so your computer doesn't get offended.

[image from foundphotoslj]

Posted by: Ben at Haribo-devour-hour on Monday, 11th February 2008 (0)

Urban (conflict) art

Tuesday saw street art launched squarely at the art world’s radar with Bonhams successfully auctioning pieces by Banksy, D*Face and Faile for up to ten times their estimated value.

Meanwhile, in a world far less glamorous, a similar principle is being applied in the Palestinian ‘Sendamessage’ project. It’s an excellent way of using the ugliness of barriers to remind friends and loved ones, as well as Palestinians, that we’re thinking of them. However, whilst it’s important to show that we care, it’s probably more important that we continue to probe the question of how we can get Israelis and Palestinians to care for one another.

It's a question much pondered by my friend Asi – and it’s becoming increasingly clear to both of us that a full exploration into the power of social media in such cases is necessary.

Posted by: Simeon at sell-sell-sell time on Thursday, 7th February 2008 (0)

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