One of the largest cinema/entertainment companies in Canada, Cineplex, has recently launched its very own - and I quote: “online social networking movie and entertainment community” (jeez, that was a mouth full!) called mycineplex (all lower-case letters; very creative, I know… also, btw, mycineplex will soon be available in french moncineplex - impressive).

According to Cineplex:

“Movies and entertainment news are a central part of the social experience and mycineplex provides entertainment and movie lovers with a new community to exchange their views. mycineplex is really a community built by movie fans for movie fans”

As part of the mycineplex experience, it gives community members the opportunity to rate, review and comment on movies, become fans of members and theatres, tag and bookmark interesting content, upload photos etc etc. Also, it offers members some cool contests, promotions, entertainment blogs and e-newsletters as well as online and mobile ticketing.

Now, some key things that I would like to point out from this initiative - lessons I think that can be learned from mycineplex:

1. Cineplex already has a “captured” audience through their various databases of movie-goers. Thus, they already have a good base for getting people to join the mycineplex community. A dream scenario for any starting online initiative.
2. mycineplex now offers Cineplex an excellent platform to diversify its revenue streams - offering more innovative and, often more measurable, marketig options to potential clients.
3. The one trait that mycineplex seems to display, the one trait that will most likely lead to its success, is the fact that they have concentrated on what they do best - movies. And this links directly to Cineplex’s core customer - passionate movie buffs.
4. mycineplex now offers Cineplex a very unique tool to garner customer insights, to build and/or improve customer profiles (demographic, psychographic, behavioral patterns etc), as well as being used as a platform to test and share some new innovations Cineplex might be thinking off.
5. mycineplex also now offers Cineplex a platform that can be easily merged with various other marketing initiatives, whether online or offline.
6. Purely as tool to build and increase brand loyalty, mycineplex’s offerings makes sure that every community member will stay loyal to the mycineplex brand - and, most likely, loyalty towards any other initiative with the Cineplex brand attached to it.

Again, mycineplex isn’t a unique online community (see Flixster) but fact is the Cineplex brand has now extended itself and has taken hold of an opportunity to send a message to their customers: “We understand your passion”.

If you have an established community or are looking to possibly build one, give mycineplex a visit, play a bit, test things, observe - chances are that you can only understand online community building better.

Not bad for an “online social networking movie and entertainment community”!

Online communities are essentially about social interaction. And, as in the offline-world, where there is social interaction unpredictability is a sure thing. In fact, as Jeremiah Owyang puts it: “…these interactions are the primary drivers for troublemakers in communities”.

Ok, so the bad news first - you will always encounter Bozo within your online communities. Fact.

So, what can be done to render the Bozo-effect? There are a few options…

1. Take them head-on, either in public or in private - appeal to their better nature

2. Ban them. Option 1 often leads to this. Remove their account.

Still, option 1 and 2, are temporary solutions. Often Bozo will find other ways to beat the system e.g. create another account under a false name, find other areas of your community to cause trouble etc. So, what else can be done… ?

3. Bozo-software - a feature that is built within online communities to label troublemakers as “Bozos”. In effect, what this does it renders “Bozos” invisible to everyone else in the community - something that Bozo is not aware of, therefore assuming that he/she is being ignored or their ploy has no effect within the community. This provides the community manager with a tool to diffuse the Bozo-effect in a non-confrontational manner. Other communities that make use of Bozo-software include Mzinga and Pluck.

Ok, so this all good and well, technology once again triumphs! But is this sustainable? Which leads as to our final option, Option 4…

4. YOU. The community manager. The custodian. The brand champion. Yes folks, you are the key. Using your savvy and experience to deal with troublemakers - whether through the use of conversation, technology or getting other loyal community members to join your cause in nullifying the Bozo-effect. You need to do a bit of scenario planning and put some contingency strategies together. It is a tedious process, but a much needed one!

Here at World Wide Creative, we strongly believe that a pro-active, innovative approach is always the most effective solution to any problem!

Below: Fiona Phillips, from Cybercellar.com (South Africa’s largest wine e-tailer), talking on the business strategy side of e-commerce:

Below: Andrew Smith, from Yuppiechef.co.za (2007 Food and Drink E-commerce Site of the Year), talking on the technical side of e-commerce:

There’s an article on Techcrunch telling the world that we should expect to see the first Google powered phone: the G1, hit T-Mobile stores next month.

For those interested, The Andriod Guys (known as a trusted resource) have the technical specifications of the G1.

This is all good and well but what about the iPhone? With more then 6 million iPhone 3Gs in consumer’s hands sometime next week, just seven weeks after going on sale, surely Google has a lot of catching up to do!
Time will tell what happens in the fight between Apple and the rest of the world. They dominate with their iPod but can they really expect to do the same in the complex mobile phone market? Apple is all about beautiful UI and ease of use. But their phone doesn’t “have it all”, where’s the 10 megapixel built in camera for example?
The cell phone market is moving at an incredible speed and i think it’s going to be about being able to integrate with as many systems as possible and continually moving to support the latest technology. Something the open source community does reall well!

Personally i think that Google Andriod is the way forward. But then again i’m just your everyday, crazed Google fan. What do you think?

Corona will be the official beer sponsor to complement the exquisite stylings of Perdeberg Winery’s range of award winning Chenin and Reserve wines.

Once again, the super-slick venue will be provided by 24.com who will also be filming the event.

Welcome on board!

World Wide Creative is launching a  branch in Johannesburg in September to look after our growing roster of web marketing clients and new business leads. As a result we’ve brought in the talents of one Louis Janse van Rensburg, who

• has a Masters Degree in Entrepreneurship (seriously)
• has considerable experience in the online marketing sector
• has a wardrobe of superfly pinstripe suits
• is multilingual (Afrikaans, English and Marketing)
• appreciates great coffee
• lives in Pretoria
• can langarm (seriously)
• plays flyhalf
• loves most sports, including cricket, golf and curling
• will head up the World Wide Creative Jozi office

You can gauge from the list above pretty much how the interview process evolved.

Louis will be looking after our Johannesburg clients, as well as looking after new business leads in the City of Gold. Anyone wanting to speak to Louis about new business, web marketing opportunities, building communities online or Kurt Darren, please phone our studio number at 0861 932226.

In recent years, it has felt like Corporate South Africa has been asleep to the online world, but we’ve noticed a sudden awakening to our dark and mysterious world of Web Marketing. World Wide Creative have now started working with some of South Africa’s biggest corporate names, consulting on areas such as Social Media, Online Advertising and Search Engine Marketing. As if experiencing a simultaneous myoclonic twitch, it appears as if Marketing Managers, Business Owners and Entrepreneurs have all woken up and are climbing on to the internet  bandwagon - often not really knowing what they’re doing, or how to go about it.

And so, it is with great excitement that we announce the speaker for the  August Heavy Chef Session.

Rob Stokes is the CEO of Quirk eMarketing, and will be presenting a Session entitled: ‘Introduction to eMarketing’.

Rob is one of the foremost thinkers on the topic, and has recently co-authored the book ‘eMarketing: The Essential Guide to Online Marketing‘ Rob’s company has been in the industry for 10 years, a lifetime, and we greatly respect their expertise as leaders in highly specialised field. This presentation is essential for anyone wanting to enter into the online marketing world, or build their understanding of the basics of Web Marketing.

Want to attend?

If you’d like to join us, please email Rowan (rowan at worldwidecreative.co.za) or phone the studio at 0861 932226.

Venue: 3rd floor, 24.com building, Foreshore, Cape Town  (directions here)
Date: 27 August 2008
Time: 5pm – 7pm (slightly earlier because some of us are going to the 27dinner!)
Cost to attend: 2 hours of your time, and a big, apple-crunching grin as you walk out the door.

There are 50 seats available, on a first-come first-serve basis.

The truth is, there’s no way you can make a viral video. You can only make a video. Your audience will make it viral.

And that’s only if you’re very, very lucky.

Cartoon via ReadWriteWeb.

Er, nope…

The result is actually an apocalyptic vision of mediocrity.

I may be wrong, but I’ve got a feeling this is another example of the IT dept. developing a big corporate website. This is a dangerous thing. You can’t leave a bunch of techies to create what is fast becoming the most important touchpoint of a brand. Your website is a marketing function, and Telkom’s marketing doesn’t come across with any conviction in Telkom’s new website.

You’d think SA would be getting it’s act together by now. After Standard Bank’s shocker a while ago, it seems that the suits are not learning their lessons fast enough.

People, speak to your marketing dept!

Preferably not the older chain-smoking marketing folk either; speak to the younger guys (you know, the ones that hang out all day on that £%$^£ Facebook!)