· meng chao · annie · wang

As I browse through Youtube, its fascinating to see how many companies are going full speed with their online campaigns. What captivated me was the video of the best advertisement in 2012. We all have learned how mood congruency plays a role in recalling effective marketing campaigns and TNT channel has brought this approach to a whole new level.

The campaign is called “Push Button to Add Drama”,sounds pretty straightforward and it is!  For the launch of  the high quality TV channel TNT, a button was placed on a square of a town in Belgium  that invites people to get involved in an unexpected scenario. Once the person presses the button, the show begins. Even though the initiator and the bystanders lack the knowledge of what is going on, but they are fully attended to the actions ( “cops” and “criminals” going full fire) and are pleasantly surprised and excited ( from their facial expressions). As the intensity diminishes, the actions come to an end. After the criminal scene has cleared up , the ad poster is reveal to clarify the purpose of the”mess”.  After seeing the poster, some people dropped their jaws, others simply giggled  out of joy. Even I was astonished after watching the entire campaign and it has left a powerful impact in my memory.

This elaborated experiential marketing not only let the initiator to be involved in the process but also the bystanders. When the whole experience is documented and presented online, viewers like myself are able to experience the impact of those actions vicariously as an observer. Speaking of mood congruency, people are better to recall  those memories with the same state of mind as their current mood. This campaign elevates the excitement level as people encode this event into their memories and next time when those viewers look for action packed movie channels, most likely TNT will flash through their mind as they think of the possible options! (priming effect and schema is the key and the proper implementing the mood congruency theory )

It might be doubtful that instagram would bring any cash value to Facebook at the moment, however on the brighter side the users are  taking the full advantage of this app.  Since the acquisition of Instagram, Facebook has been revolutionizing this free photo sharing experience.

Vine is a free video sharing app that allows users to record a six second looped video and share it with the broad community. Facebook saw the potential and replicated the success by adding the option to record and share a 15 second video on Instagram. It went viral since the update of the app. Me, myself is a very active Instagrammer and my first Instavideo was done under the peer influence ( Everyone was talking about it!). This new feature allowed users to connect in depth and share experiences in a lively manner.

While the firm might not yet figured out a way to turn the hype into monetary value, many active users have already taken the privilege to use the platform to amplify awareness. Hashtags, Hashtags and more Hashtags. the embedded hashtags allow users to explore pictures according to context and like-minded users are instantly  grouped together this way ( Ways to gain followers!).  Bloggers update their Instagram more frequently than their blogs, because this allows fast updates and real-time connection. By gaining more and more followers , many bloggers have also attracted business to sponsor them. For example, one of my favorite fashion blogger , Aimee from ” Song of Style” currently has one million followers on Instagram and an average of 12000+ likes on every photo that she posts (hooray  for fashionista!) This phenomenon has attracted many big brands like Tiffany & Co , Luisaviaroma, Vita Fede , etc to sponsor her outfit or inviting her to their events as a spokesperson. ( I personally bought a Vita Fede bracelet because Aimee had it , What a fan I am ! ) Establishing a well rounded online appearance  and amplifying awareness for many brands is crucial, so why not capitalizing on those opinion leaders’ influential power?

It might sound strange that this is also a C2C platform, but indeed many personal users find  this cost free platform a great channel to promote their goods.  If Facebook is realizing the potential business that is also driving Instagram’s popularity , shouldn’t it fast forward its track and perhaps change the business model? Perhaps add more valuable features at a cost of paying premium and maintain the existing features at a free cost? Perhaps a free-mium model like Linked-in and Skype? This is just a personal thought. Stay tuned for my next blog post!