Volkwagen employees rock the scirocco

Volkswagen Germany just launched a rather unique employee contest: the scirocco song contest. Out of the ca. 100.000 Volkswagen employees, more than 100 opted in take part in the contest and sent in their version of the scirocco song. A Jury put up the best 25 songs for a vote by all web users on a voting microsite.

A pre-produced clip of what these versions could sound like:

So, click here and vote! (There even is a sweepstake!) Sorry my readers from abroad, but the site is in German…

The scirocco song was written by Leslie Mandoki – one of the most successful german producers, in Germany well known through songs like Dschinghis Khan,. But he also worked with internationally known artists like Phil Collins, denNo Angels, Jennifer Rush, Lionel Richie and German rapper Sido.

The Jury consists of Leslie Mandoki, as well as Volkswagen head of PR Stephan Grühsem, head of marketing Jochen Sengpiehl, Felix Magath and starlett Mina.

disclaimer: this is a project of my agency, in which I also take part. So far, I have not blogged about work related projects, because this blog is a hobby of mine. But I wanted this blog to support this particular project and the Volkswagen employees taking part in it…

(PS: yes, I do have a favourit, but I don’t want to influence the vote 😉 )

Vote for marketing memes on the web

I should have known. The chances of having an idea first are really slim. So someone, Alister, to be precise, came up with the idea to block the URL for Marketing Meme first. A URL that could be the meme-tracker of the marketing world, just as techmeme is the meme-tracker of the technology world.

Not sure when he came up with this, of course, it doesn’t say on the site. All it says is: your vote and support is needed here. And the post behind that link was written in December of last year (so I am probably only 5 months too late – which is a decade in internet terms). Now he is asking us from the marketing community to help him to get the guys from techmeme to setup a special service for the marketing industry:

I’d be happy to see some nice ongoing volume of inbound links from SEM Search, but honestly, I’d really like to see Gabe Rivera over at techmeme.com create a “marketingmeme.com“, that removes SEM/SEO/SMO/PR/etc stuff out of techmeme and puts it under its own “engine”, building off, say, Lee Odden’s list, with some fuzzy logic around that, finding other on-topic blogs as well.

So if you’re interested in having such a service (I am, for sure!), go over to this site and put your vote in the comments!

10 new buzzwords you might like (but not need)

Nevermind the fact that there are sooo many marketing buzzwords out there already, enough for a prolonged bullshit olympics, behind this link are 10 more you most likely haven’t heard yet – but might well hear often in the future 🙂

Here are some examples:

2. Viruseful.
Viral marketing initiatives that are actually useful.
„Not only did Shave Everywhere make me laugh—I was able to configure and purchase my new electric razor online“

4. Emotrics
The analytical measurement of emotions.
„Yes—we’ve seen the metrics. But what about the Emotrics? We need to measure emotional engagement!“

6. Intercommunes
When people meet on the internet, form communities and eventually move into a commune together. For real.
„When I first started participating in social media, I didn’t leave the house. Now, I never have to leave the Intercommune.“

Building trust even when you don’t need it: Social Media Marketing

Seth Godin, godfather of good quotes, recently wrote this:

The best time to look for a job next year is right now. The best time to plan for a sale in three years is right now. The mistake so many marketers make is that they conjoin the urgency of making another sale with the timing to earn the right to make that sale. In other words, you must build trust before you need it. Building trust right when you want to make a sale is just too late.

Publishing your ideas… in books, or on a blog, or in little twits on Twitter… and doing it with patience, over time, is the best way I can think of to lay a foundation for whatever it is you hope to do next.

This is why, in my opinion, Social Media Marketing cannot simply be viewed as another tactical discipline within marketing – or even advertising, as many companies might currently think about it. You shouldn’t just do Social Media Marketing as a one-off, as part of a campaign („we’ll have som TV commercials, some online banners, and, let’s see, some social media activities“).

It needs to be a strategic, long term goal to engage in Social Media activities, to build relations with the target audience, and to build trust for those moments, when you (urgently) need to activate your greatest brand/product fans…