Twitter: The social publisher

Twitter has cemented its identity as (what I would call) a ‘social publisher’ by rolling out the ‘home timeline’ on web, that pulls together popular public tweets from across verticals like movies, sports, politics, business, music etc. This gives users the opportunity to check out popular bytes and engage with tweets without logging in. The popular social platform has been taking this feature live in various versions, across select geos since last year. 

The home page does look like a digital publisher’s home page, just that instead of curated content, this gives you the most popular content on the platform. With news and PR increasingly being disseminated through social channels, this is a smart move.

This also seems like a great platform to integrate brands and accelerate revenue generation – think takeovers, branded posts etc. I think it’s just a matter of time till these options are launched for advertisers.

No wonder traditional horizontal digital publishers like Yahoo! are feeling the heat.

Today we're bringing Tweets to more people around the 🌍 on our homepage: https://t.co/VIVfJCt2PU pic.twitter.com/C0htvdamPn

— Twitter (@twitter) February 2, 2016

Campaign Watch: #Lifewelltravelled with Cathay Pacific

Cathay Pacific’s new campaign picks on interesting themes related to travel.

The core campaign thematic is #LifeWellTravelled. The landing page says ‘We believe travelling well is an important part of living well.’ I couldn’t agree more!

The web interface pulls together tagged travel images and stories from contributors across social media. There is a separate section dedicated to travel stories from bloggers profiling their inspiring journeys through vibrant images.

#LifeWellTravelled Web Page

#OneDayOffline is a promise wall where you pledge to take a day off from your connected gadgets and enjoy a real-world holiday in its true sense. The page offers mind-numbing data on the amount of time we spend online and our addiction to social media. You can create a post, decide the tile color and share it across social media. 

#OneDayOffline 

Of course there are brand videos and links to all the information you need about Cathay Pacific.

Overall, great ideas and a well put together campaign.

The tiled interface was a good thought but I would have liked a more dynamic and visually appealing web user experience. We are talking travel after all! Browser compatibility issues is another bugbear. 

Cathay Pacific Brand Video Page

Campaign Watch: Carat Lane celebrates Women Of Mettle

Carat Lane recently celebrated 7years in business with a smart campaign celebrating their main target audience. You guessed it. Women!

The #WomenOfMettle campaign pays tribute to women who make a difference in our lives. The social campaign got people to nominate and share stories of women who inspire them. The campaign trended right on top on Twitter. The fact that there were Carat Lane vouchers to be won helped the cause.

The campaign microsite featured informative statistics and nuggets pertinent to women in India and a TwineSocial plugin that brought together #WomenOfMettle posts from across Social Media. 

Short topical burst on social media, yet a great way to drive impact and get people to take notice. Sometimes getting the idea right and keeping it simple, is all it takes to stand out.

Exide Life Insurance and Sulekha.com’ s similar messaging conundrum: Jugaad much?

Two advertising creatives, same thematic. The timing couldn’t have been worse for Sulekha.com and Exide Life Insurance with their ad films launching within a couple of days of each other featuring the same theme of protagonists living their lives with Jugaad (short term stop gap solutions) and getting around at the end of the story to learn their lessons. With the amount of time and resources that go into creating and executing a concept, this is plain unfortunate.

Not only is the theme similar, the storytelling and execution echo each other as well. Uncanny!

Go #AntiJugaad: Sulekha.com




#NoMoreShortCuts : Exide Life Insurance



Exide Life Insurance has a great website, though. Easy to navigate and get to the information you need.

Sulekha.com and Ponds pick YouTube Video Masthead Widescreen ad unit for their ad films

Good News! Indian Advertisers are exploring minimalism when it comes to rich media.

The seamless video experience on the YouTube Masthead widescreen, full-bleed ad unit stands out for its clutter free, high impact, video-only rendition. The video is on auto play mode with muted audio. The reason it catches your attention is that the entire masthead ad space is taken over with the video and the only copy is the video title or key brand communication.

I haven’t seen many brands go with the widescreen video option in India but this week alone two brands used it to advertise their ad films which makes me want to believe that advertisers are making the right choices rather than cramping an ad unit with every bit of their branded content.

Sulekha launched their 1:30min #AntiJugaad brand film with this ad unit and the only copy on the banner was the hashtag/ tagline (to connect back with their social campaign). Today Pond's used the same ad unit to advertise their TV commercial. 

Sulekha.com on YouTube Masthead

Pond's on YouTube Masthead

Let’s hope the good run continues.