New York Times' Interactive Graphs

On the day Barack Obama was elected President, the New York Times introduced an interactive poll they called the “Word Train.” It asked one simple question: What one word describes your current state of mind? Readers could enter an adjective or select from a menu of options. They could specify whether they supported McCain or Obama. The results appeared in six rows of adjectives, scrolling left to right, coded red or blue, and descending in font size. The larger the word, the more people felt that way. Throughout the entire day a river of emotions flowed through the chart. You could click from Obama to McCain and watch the letters shift gradually from blue to red, the mood change from energized, proud, and overwhelmed to horrified, ambivalent, disgusted, and numb.


http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/11/04/us/politics/20081104_ELECTION_WORDTRAIN.html?scp=1&sq=what%20one%20word%20describes&st=cse

Recently, the New York Times created another interactive feature that harvested all Twitter chatter surrounding the Super Bowl. By pressing play on this graph, the reader is able to watch the location and frequency of commonly used words during the Super Bowl. In all, there are six different categories to choose from including, “Talking about Ads.”


http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/02/02/sports/20090202_superbowl_twitter.html

These features have proven to pull readers closer through comments and interactivity, rendering the relationship between reporter and audience more intimate, immediate, and exposed. Of the massive 20 million unique visitors per month compared with the daily print edition’s readership of 2.8 million, the readers are flocking to these interactive features. As Jonathan Landman, deputy managing editor puts it, “We’re trying very hard to protect it [the interactive features], because that’s where the action is.”

For an advertising or marketing agency the implications for these interactive maps/graphs are big. The ability to get real-time answers about our products or services has existed for sometime now; think twitter, online forums, live chat…but not in this way. These interactive graphs create an entertainment value and coolness factor for the user while generating a visually appealing way to aggregate all their messages, emotions, or displeasure's about a brand, product, or service and communicate it back to the client in a simple way.

Here are links to some others:
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/02/02/business/media/20090202-business-superbowlads.html

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/08/04/sports/olympics/20080804_MEDALCOUNT_MAP.html?scp=6&sq=interactive&st=cse

And the link to the article about the people who create these graphs:
http://nymag.com/news/features/all-new/53344/index1.html

Reebok: Perfectville Still Just A Town of One

Speaking of a smart post Superbowl ad, check out Reeboks angle in:



Not only did they (like Miller High Life) avoid the nearly $3 million pricetag, but they built up some buzz and interest with their Perfectville microsite in the days leading up to the game, and they tapped into something that was a BIG deal for those of us who love football: the prospect that the perfect season record held by the 72 Dolphins could have been broken last night (and most people were expecting just that result).

Maybe the start of a new era for advertisers Superbowl strategy? Avoid paying to actually be in the game, and find a way after the jump to do something interesting and stand out from all those who ponied up the cash just to be a part of the clutter (and maybe even make the guys who opted for game time spots feel a little foolish for having done so).

Guilty Pleasure: Miller High Life Delivers Common Sense

a) Nice strategy
b) Great way to join in the conversation and continue the dialogue
c) ...and save a buck or two on Superbowl rates (talk about it, don't actually be on it)
d) Fast delivery of a idea to capitalize on relevance (presumably they trolled the preview spots of last week and didn't actually shoot last nite and edit this am)

Black Sheep of Advertising: SalesGenie.com

Figured I'd take Seth and my discussions public and take a look at Salesgenie.com post-Superbowl.



I quote from USA Today (who ranked Salesgenie.com's SuperBowl ad dead last creatively):

"The sales-lead website generated more than 10,000 new customer subscriptions by late Monday, far more than the 700 it said it needed to break even on its ad cost. "Our ad wasn't supposed to be funny or clever," InfoUSA CEO Vin Gupta says. "It was supposed to bring in subscribers, and it's been successful beyond our wildest dreams. We're already working on next year's ad."

It ain't exactly a pillar of creativity...but one has to ask: "well, didn't it work?". And if it worked, well, to again quote that statesman Bishop Don "Magic" Juan, "Don't hate, congratulate."

I do agree with Seth, though, that surely there is a CHEAPER MEANS TO GET THESE SAME RESULTS...AFTERALL, SALESGENIE SUPPOSEDLY CHAMPIONS SMART AUDIENCE TARGETING. "I don't work hard. I work smart," proclaims Pierce so smugly.

A true Black Sheep of Advertising, such as Ron Popeil, champions THRIFT ABOVE ALL ELSE. Black Sheep Orthodoxy typically endorses anti-advertising in lieu of more POP, or economy/weakened judgement effects of late-nite media flights, or :10-only buys, cluster flights of 2 or 3 :10 or :15 TV ads ganged up to pummel the senses and/or co-promote multiple products, strong mnemonic jingles and repetition (ie "you bet your sweet Aspercreme!"), or just plain smarter audience targeting with their media money.

It is somewhat ironic that SalesGenie didn't get their 10K subscribers more smartly than with this very mass blast at America during SuperBowl.

On an unrelated note...I've been working on a SuperBowl assessment and some of you may find the following figures interesting for SalesGenie.com:

SalesGenie.com Suprbowl XLI AftrBuzz
Social Media Metrix
v.Tue13Feb/4:40pm CST


Topline Highlights
Total Social Media =655,236 Views @ YouTube+MySpace+iFilm

@ YouTube
:30 Spot =224,023 Views @ YouTube
@ MySpace
:30 Spot =343,847 Views @ MySpace
@ iFilm
:30 Spot = 87,361 Page Views @ iFilm





Some of the online sentiment included: Fervent disapproval, Violated, Not relevant, Disengaged...

To quote a few respondents...
"Biggest piece of shit commercial ever.”
"Douche-baggery”
"umm... that was crap”
"BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO…DELETE THAT BULL"
"i want my 30 seconds back..."
“poor"
”suckness
"positive side to this commercial? gives you time to run to the bathroom"

Of course, SalesGenie would say phooey to this mass sentiment...afterall, the 10,000 marks he needed were engaged enough to activate whether you liked it or not.