These changes have largely been brought about by a few brave brands that saw the social potential of Twitter as an opportunity and not a threat. One of the first brands in the UK to truly embrace Twitter was the RAC, who saw people were talking about their brand and set out to engage with these people. There were some nice examples of the RAC sending messages to those who had been happy with the service.

Other brands started to take note, and began reaching out to their customers, on the other hand customers started to contact brands through twitter. Of course it wasn’t just people saying how much they loved the brand and service, more often than not comments were negative. Many brands were scared off but a few remained focused on the opportunities and started to respond constructively to negative comments. As a result it hasn’t taken long for Twitter to become an established customer service channel.

In the UK the mobile phone networks were among the first to take Twitter seriously and O2 and Vodafone are good examples of how the tool can support customer service. Both networks have set up accounts that are manned by real people who actively respond to people who want to contact the brand through Twitter. Originally Vodafone and O2 were broadcasting general messages and announcements alongside the odd reply, however, as more and more users began to ask questions via Twitter now almost every tweet is an @ reply to a twitter user. This demonstrates a real understanding of the service, O2 and Vodafone know the brand doesn’t decide what content to provide on Twitter, the customer does. Vodafone have ensured they can dedicate the VodafoneUk account to customer service, by creating a separate account to broadcast exclusive news and latest deals called VodafoneUkdeals.

A lot of brands that have very active customer service departments are really starting to see the benefits of Twitter, not just to improve customer relations and improve the brand, but to actually take some of the weight off the customer service department. The likes of BT, and Virgin Media also offer great services, but it’s still very clear that not everyone is embracing the opportunities. Many brands that rely on customer service simply don’t even have a profile and some have a profile but aren’t exactly making the most of it.

Edf energy seem to be aware that twitter can be used as a customer service channel, but they certainly haven’t understood how or why. They have created a Twitter profile aimed at customer service, but have declined to actually engage with twitter users, in fact to date they are actually yet to post a single tweet. Opposed to actually using Twitter so far they’ve decided to simply set up a page and direct people to their website and call centre. This isn’t what twitter or any social media channel is about, if customers want a phone number they’ll use google or your website. Perhaps this is just a temporary measure, but for the time being the profile is probably doing more harm than good. Users will have certain expectations after they’ve searched for and found a brand Twitter profile, they won’t appreciate finding no one at home and having to go all the way back to where they started. Having no Twitter page is like not answering a customer phone call, but having an empty profile is like answering then simply hanging up.

Of course customer service isn’t the right purpose for every brand, for some it will be about entertainment (see redbull) for others it will be about the most efficient way to post special offers (see Dell). The key is that brands listen and respond to what their customers want, and if they’re sending you @ replies every hour with complaints then it might just be a customer service channel they’re after. If it’s customer service they’re after, then make sure you can deliver, you need dedicated staff with real knowledge of the brand and the etiquette of Twitter (see habitat), and remember an abandoned profile with a phone number is not customer service.

People are sharing more and more information about their lives, Facebook tells us that there are more than 60 million status updates everyday, and more than 3 billion photos uploaded to the site each month. Furthermore, people are beginning to broadcast their location through services such as Foursquare and Google latitude. The rapid rise of sharing suggests people are becoming more comfortable sharing information and the latest social media platforms are letting users share more and more types of information.

Whereas most social sharing refers to past and current events, services such as Plancast are letting users share their plans for future events. Users can share plans they’ve made or plans they’re thinking of making. It’s much like an Outlook shared calendar service for your social life that you’ve shared with the world. Users are sharing their information to making planning social events easier.

The service currently has a small user base, but the concept could take off within other platforms. Before Facebook included status updates it was a minority activity on a small start up called twitter, since they added status updates it’s become a global phenomenon. If the likes of Facebook placed an emphasis on sharing plans then the sharing of social plans could become a major activity.

As well as providing valuable information to help people live their lives, social plan sharing could provide advertisers with a major opportunity should the concept take off.

All I need now is for some people to actually start using Plancast so I can’t sort my life out!

Image: Dier madrid

A little late this month (my excuse is starting a new job!) but here’s the top ten tweets I sent out in March (based on link click rate). As always Hootsuite made this possible, so big thanks to them!

1. Stats that suggest Facebook and Twitter are Making a Major Impact on Purchase Decisions: http://ow.ly/1n7s6

2. Watch: The Last Advertising Agency On Earth… http://ow.ly/1pi03

3. The Social Media Cheat Sheet – http://ow.ly/1fu3R

4. Great idea: Marmite ads to stage parallel election – http://ow.ly/1s5Qk

5. Clever girl: Lady Gaga’s Social Media Genius – http://ow.ly/1fitC

6. Specsavers parodies Lynx bikini commercial – Good stuff. http://ow.ly/1kZ68

7. Brilliant – Mad Men Barbie! Is it wrong that I want one?? – http://ow.ly/1gBWb

8. Google facts and figures: Infographic – http://ow.ly/1cfAz

9. Trendplanner Twitter Top 10: February 2010 – http://ow.ly/1cGeY

10. Save money on your campaign: Use money (if it’s not illegal!) – http://ow.ly/1o3AR

Image: raster

Another great piece of video content from Transport for London. This clever clip follows previous greats such as ‘take the test’ and ‘whodunnit’.

However, when it comes to making clever videos to make your point you have to make sure that your audience actually understands the message.

The feedback goldmine (mostly rock but the occasional lump of gold)  that is the comment field can provide some insight here. A brief look on youtube suggests that not everyone gets the message; for example one comment reads “why were the policeman, money, police car, and button so big?”. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to react to this feedback, either getting involved in the comment feed, or adding to the video to provide some assistance to ensure the message gets through to everyone and that a great piece of content isn’t wasted.

In English Football there are 4 dominant teams, Man United, Chelsea, Liverpool, and Arsenal, collectively they’re known as ‘The Big 4′. Their dominance on the pitch is reflected in their level of support both in the UK and across the globe. The Premier League is a global phenomenon, millions of people across the world are football obsessed and loyal fans of their chosen Premier League team. But this support is nearly always given to a member of the big four, these fans might be able to tell you every player in the Man United squad, but will struggle to name more than a handful of players that reside outside ‘The Big Four’.

For years now clubs have being trying to break into the top 4, some have come close, but none have pushed anyone out of even made the big four into a big five. One of the most recent clubs to fancy their chances is Manchester City, and thanks to some rather well off new owners from Abu Dhabi they might just stand a chance. Man City are determined to become a major force in English and World football, and are doing everything they can to cement their place at the top. As well as splashing the cash on world class players, they’re using other methods off the pitch to ensure the club is perceived and supported like one of ‘The Big Four’.

While the players get on with their end of the bargain (with limited success so far), advertising and marketing agencies are working at convincing the world they are the real deal, and in turn gaining respect and support. Of course it is nothing new to see the influence of marketing on football, this is a sport where players can be almost primarily signed simply for their marketing potential. For better or for worse football became a business long ago, however, it is interesting to see how Man City are using new techniques in order to achieve their goals.

One of the most memorable campaigns was run at the start of the season after Man Utd player Carlos Tevez did the unthinkable and made the move across the city to fierce rivals Man City. Playing on the fact that United are based in Greater Manchester and not the City of Manchester, a poster was put up in the City of Tevez with the words ‘Welcome to Manchester’. In a similar vein City ran ads featuring their new signing Emmanuel Adebayor formerly of Arsenal in the days before the two clubs met. Both campaigns are clear and direct attacks on the competitors, in both a sporting and marketing sense. Although the attack might have had a limited effect in a sporting context (Utd did beat city in their next encounter), it gave football fans around the world a clear message of City’s intent and suggested they were directly taking power off the so called ‘Big 4′.

Man City are also making use of the digital channel to boost their support and reputation across the world. Thanks to top digital agency Poke they have one of the best club websites online. The professional and functional site helps represent the level of quality that City strive for, while various features and social media content allow the club to interact with fans new and old. Man City have seen the importance of their website while other have yet to understand the role it can play. Man City understand that the site is a window into the club for many fans, and they have ensure they provide their fans with an experience that is useful, enjoyable, and appears to be built around the fans needs opposed to the clubs. Although other clubs do have great sites, far too many of them offer very little content of real use, or appear to be built around the needs of anyone but the fans with an abundance of advertising and a limited supply of content that fans actually want.

Furthermore, Man City are creating some great video content to build support before major games. We are now used to the likes of Nike and Adidas creating content using players but it’s not often we see clubs creating such content. Thanks to the Internet this content can easy circulate the globe, and can build support by rousing the people of Manchester to get to the game, and also making people thousands of miles away to consider tuning into the Man City game opposed to the usual choice involving one of the big four. One of the latest pieces involves Craig Bellamy, and as with Tevez and Adebayor it will be pushed in the run up to the Man City game involving Bellamy’s former Big four club, who in this case is Liverpool. Incidentally the remaining big four club in need of build up material is Chelsea, Shaun Wright-Phillips is a possibility for the star, but I think people would love to see something from Wayne Bridge (if this means nothing to you read here).

We are still yet to see Man City perform like a top four team consistently on the pitch, but it appears that if they manage to break into those top four places they’ll have the backing to ensure that they can convert success on the pitch to success off it. What’s more it will be interesting to see how the big four react in the marketing area if Man City start stealing fans as well as points.

The location based social network (and game) Foursquare should be in London in the next “few days” according to co-founder Dennis Cowley.

I was actually lucky enough to have a go on the trial version last week (cheers @dens). It’s all coming together nicely and looking just as good as previous city versions, but as with all social media it’s all about the users, so hopefully any day now we’ll get see what Foursquare London really has to offer, and if it can take off in the London like it has across the US.

No word on any other UK cities yet, but if it’s a success in London then I’m sure it will get rolled out across the UK like it was in US.

Here’s my August Twitter round-up.

Using the power of Hootsuite here are the most clicked links from the Trendplanner Twitter account for August. For other useful Twitter links on similar themes, check out Qapture which collects links shared by various interesting people on Twitter.

1. Nike: “We don’t do advertising any more. We just do cool stuff” http://ow.ly/kGup

2. The Portable Social Graph – the next big thing in social marketing? http://ow.ly/j1he

3. What playing Poker can teach us about using Social Media – http://ow.ly/krqz

4. 41 Shockvertising Campaigns – From Deplorable PSP Posters to Powerful PETA Ads http://ow.ly/lmIo

5. First iPhone Augmented Reality App Gets Past Apple and Appears in the App Store – http://ow.ly/lmLS

6. Ebay wicked sick BMX – Does creativity work? http://ow.ly/jxaX

7. “Don’t make digital strategy a speciality, make it cost-of-entry to all planners”(via @benshaw) http://ow.ly/lxfj

8. Everything You Never Knew About Facebook – http://ow.ly/j2q1

9. Steve Jobs on why Apple doesn’t do market research – http://ow.ly/iyXN

10. 10 ways musicians are embracing digital – Not everyone is fighting change. http://ow.ly/loT9
Image: Wiselywoven

Obviously Lego is a toy of many peoples’ past, but this needn’t be a negative thing. Lego has used it’s history to create a whole new audience for it’s product – people who aren’t kids any more. Lego is retro, retro is cool, so now you’ll find the Lego brand in some rather unexpected places. So people are loving Lego again, but perhaps they feel they’re a bit too old to be making things out of blocks? No problem, Lego has teamed up with fashion label Paul Frank to bring you Lego products that you can wear. You can also get your hands on a section of Lego accessories such as cameras and mp3 players, not all of these are official Lego products, but all go towards keeping that Lego brand in fashion.

It’s all very well appealing to new audiences, but this is no good if you end up neglecting your original and still primary audience. Lego are still providing products aimed at children, and key to this is the work they do around these products. Toys such as Lego face serious competition from digital content such as computer games and various online activities. Many brands would try and fight this digital technology, fortunately for Lego they are not one of these brands. Instead of working against digital technology, they have worked with it. Lego can’t stop kids playing computer games, so Lego have made their own, Lego can’t stop kids spending their time online on social networks, and online games, so once again they have made their own online content, and put themselves in the places people already are. More brand collaboration has enabled Lego to turn competitors into partners with the likes of SpongeBob Squarepants and Harry Potter Lego, and take the brand into new markets such as their recent tie in with Kickers school shoes.

Lego have not just been getting involved with the technology their audience are currently using, but they are heavily involved in developing the technology they will be using in the future. Augmented reality appears to be starting to take off, and Lego are one of the brands at the forefront of developing the technology and essentially directing the path it takes into the lives of their audience. Lego has used the technology to complement and assist the current product. Lego has installed AR terminals into their stores (above) in which customers can hold up a box full of Lego pieces to get a 3D image of what the product will look like when it’s finished. Then when the customer gets home they can even use AR to help them build the product.

Lego haven’t been doing the hard work by themselves, some of the best content has been done by Lego fans (see above) and can be found all over YouTube, and other Social Media sites. But then that’s what happens when you’ve built a brand people are happy to associate themselves with and most importantly when you’ve got a great product that lets your audience be creative.

Key to Lego’s success is synergy, isolate anyone element of the Lego offering and its very unlikely to perform at the same level, but together each element works along side one another which benefits the individual elemetent and the brand as a whole. Lego have managed to expand and evolve their product offering while staying true to their brand, be it amazing theme park rides or augmented reality experiences you can always trace it back to those original plastic blocks.