sMoRTy71.com

The World's Greatest PSAs in the World!
As part of our The World's Greatest Spokesperson in the World campaign, we had to craft a compelling back story for the character. One of the things we did was create a series of public service announcements from the 70s and 80s.

While the one about germs was the most fun to shoot, it is a toss-up between bears and safety as my favorite.

How The World's Greatest Spokesperson in the World got social
This week, we launched our new The World's Greatest Spokesperson in the World ad campaign for Nationwide Insurance. Of all of the campaigns I've been in involved with over the past 19 months, this one is, by far, the most integrated with 3rd party social media sites.

In fact, much of the content from the campaign is housed exclusively on sites like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

On nationwide.com
There are two key elements of the campaign that live on nationwide.com:

1. Home page element
We have replaced our feature graphic on nationwide.com with an image of The World's Greatest Spokesperson in the World. In addition, we have placed prominent links to his Facebook, YouTube and Twitter accounts right alongside the link to his nationwide.com launch pad.



2. The World's Greatest Spokesperson launch pad
Rather than build a microsite for this campaign, we chose to build a "launch pad" that houses some content, but really serves as a jumping off point for all of the other great content we have on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.



Off of nationwide.com
The rest of the digital campaign lives somewhere other than our website. The biggest difference with this campaign, though, is that the content was produced with that in mind. In other words, we're not just reposting our TV commercials on Facebook or YouTube and calling it a social media campaign. We created two Facebook apps and more than a dozen web-only videos to integrate The World's Greatest Spokesperson in the World into the leading social destinations.

1. Facebook page
The World's Greatest Spokesperson in the World has his own Facebook fan page that allows us to post historical photos, web-only videos and the TV commercials. It also gives him an opportunity to interact with fans through status updates.



2. Two Facebook apps
We build two Facebook apps for the campaign. Actually, they are the World's Greatest Facebook Apps in the World!

One is a t-shirt generator that allows you to create a "The World's _________ ________ in the World" t-shirt. I made "The World's Baldest Hair Metal Fan in the World" for mine. The first 1,000 t-shirts are completely free, so hurry up!



The other app allows you to caption any of your Facebook photos using the same concept of "The World's __________ ___________ in the World." For example, I could caption my profile photo as The World's Smoothest Forehead in the World.

3. YouTube channel
In addition to the videos you can also see on his Facebook page, we also have some exclusive content on YouTube. We have posted some content related to the campaign on other YouTube accounts and we have them listed as The World's Greatest Spokesperson in the World's favorite videos. These include clips from his 1984 movie "Talk Back 2: The Mic is On" complete with VHS tracking lines and poorly overdubbed profanity.



4. Twitter account
His Twitter account will provide status updates that will be separate from anything posted on Facebook. We wanted him to have a distinct presence on each site rather than just repost the same content in both places.

It is still too early in the campaign to determine how well it is performing with consumers; however, I am willing to go on record saying that this is the best campaign work I've been involved with at Nationwide and sets a high bar for social integration moving forward.

Meet The World's Greatest Spokesperson in the World
Tonight, we are launching a new ad campaign for Nationwide Insurance featuring The World's Greatest Spokesperson in the World. The new :60 spot will air during the opening ceremonies of the Olympics.



In addition to TV spots, we also shot a lot of supporting digital material for use on the web and in social media.

I was able to be in L.A. all last week to be a part of the digital shoot and I think it is the best work we have done since I have been at Nationwide. I took a lot of behind-the-scenes photos and video that you can check out on Flickr (including this gem below).



Check out the launch spot below and then head over to www.worldsgreatestspokesperson.com to see more video, connect with him on Facebook or follow his tweets.



Here is one of my favorite web-only videos:



As always, would love to hear what you all think, so please leave a comment and let us know.

Overcoming your fear of user-generated content

I am going to be participating in a webinar tomorrow (February 11 at 11:30am EST) with our partners from Rosetta and Bazaarvoice. It is titled "Overcoming Your Fear of User- Generated Content: A Webcast for Highly-Regulated Industries (catchy, huh?)."

Here is the description:
"Consumers want to hear from others like them when they shop for insurance, banking, healthcare—just like they shop for everything else. How do you conquer corporate fear, consumer privacy, and liability concerns to give them what they really want?

This webcast gets to the heart of these concerns and how Nationwide Insurance tackled these issues—and won big with consumers."

I will be joined by Adam Cohen, Partner and Social Media Lead at Rosetta, Marc Ostryniec, Vice President of Financial Services Division at Bazaarvoice, and Sue McManus, Leader of Direct and Customer Solutions at Nationwide.

Learn more about the webinar here.

How Apple should have announced the iPad
I have given Apple a lot of grief over the years. My main gripe is with their fans who think they can do no wrong. Or with the press who continues to call them the most innovative when, lately, they have been the most iterative (going from 8GB iPhones to 16GB iPhones, EDGE to 3G, etc.).

Regardless of which side of those debates you come down on, I think many can agree that Apple completely mis-marketed the iPad yesterday during the big press event. I know, I know, that's almost blasphemous. Even with all of my gripes, the one thing I have *always* given Apple credit for is how well they market their products. With the iPad, we see that even Apple makes mistakes.

So what's the problem? There were a couple of big ones for me.

1. The positioning
Jobs lead off the press event and tried to make the case that consumers are longing for a device that sits somewhere between an iPhone and a MacBook that does e-mail, web browsing, photos, music, games and video better.

This leaves us all scratching our heads and asking, "If I have an iPhone and I have a MacBook Pro, why do I need an iPad?"

When you saw the iPhone, you recognized the innovation and the need it met instantly. It was the phone people had been waiting for. No one has been waiting for the iPad that Jobs gushed over yesterday.

2. The name
Because they were positioning this as a multi-purpose web device, they had to give it a generic name. Not only did they pick a generic name, they picked a name that was ridiculed around the world on Twitter for sounding like a feminine hygiene product. Ouch!

So how should they have done it?

The positioning
Whether they want to admit it or not, the iPad is taking aim at the e-reader market that is currently surging, thanks to the Amazon Kindle. Had Apple lead with the e-reader capabilities, they could have shown how primitive devices like the Kindle and nook really are.

I think it would have a clearer value proposition, gotten more positive buzz (the "Kindle killer!") and would allow the iPad to live along side iPhones and MacBooks.

The name
If they had positioned it to compete with the Kindle, they should have named it the "iRead" or "iReader." Those names work whether you are reading an e-book, a website, RSS or even e-mail (though that's a stretch).

They showed the same approach with iPhone. Sure, it is a phone, but the real innovation was in all of the other things the phone could now do (apps, true mobile web browsing, etc.).

They had the opportunity to do the same thing with the "iReader," but chose to announce a Swiss Army knife device with a generic name and no clear market. This is the biggest flop in terms of their marketing approach that I can remember.

What do you think? Is this a device that will find a niche once people get their hands on it? Would you shell out $500 for one when it launches?

An Apple tablet is still a tablet
The nerds of the world, myself included, are all worked up over Apple's big product announcement slated for tomorrow afternoon (1pm EST). The consensus opinion is that we will finally see the mythical Apple tablet. Speculation is all over the map, so expect something between an iPhone and the Holy Grail. And, depending on which end of that scale the tablet ends up, expect to spend accordingly.

So, taking a step back from all of the hype for second, am I the only one who has absolutely no desire to use a tablet? This isn't my usual, tongue-in-cheek, anti-Apple ramblings. Forget the manufacturer. I have absolutely no desire to adopt the tablet form factor.

Because of the size, text input seems like it will be trickier than it needs to be. You'll have 3 choices (unless Apple unveils some sort of iMind UI) that I can think of off the top of my head:

1. Using both thumbs while holding the tablet -- similar to how you use the iPhone keyboard in landscape mode now

2. One-handed hunting and pecking while holding the tablet in the other -- similar to how some people use the iPhone keyboard in portrait mode

3. Traditional typing approach using a virtual keyboard while resting the tablet on another object -- similar to how we use laptops today, but with some annoying limitations

Am I missing one? One that would make the tablet form factor more compelling or easier to use than an iPhone or netbook or laptop? I completely expect to see something I don't expect when it comes to the interface (remember, we all knew the iPhone was coming, but we still blown away by how they implemented the UI), but I still can't see myself falling for a tablet.

Of course, if they go the e-reader route and make this a content consumption device (which would require much less text input), then maybe my objections don't really matter. Then again, if this $800-1,000 device is all about taking on the nook or Kindle, then I am definitely out. I may be a nerd, but at least I'm not a book nerd :)

Guess we'll find out tomorrow. So what's your take? Excited?

I created one of the worst domain names of the decade!
Laurel Sutton, from brand name development company Catchword, posted an article on MarketingProfs.com today that included profilactic.com in a list of the 10 best and worst domain names of the decade. How awesome is that? I always say that is better to be really, really good or really, really bad than lost somewhere in the middle. Mission accomplished, profilactic.com! :)

We wanted a funny, memorable name for our site that aggregated all of your social media profiles and content (this was pre-FriendFeed). Seemed like a winner to us.