Welcome to your Digital Training Academy: a great way to boost your knowledge and skills, helping you and your team get the most from digital marketing, publishing and communications.
All of us here at Digital hope you'll enjoy your Digital Training Academy, but we also hope you'll instantly be able to achieve more in your firm.
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Here is the place you can discuss issues with your tutor and other Academy participants
Is there something you did not understand on the Academy? Is there a new point you would like to make? Are there any new issues that you have discovered now you are applying your knowledge? Use this space to make your comments and to ask your questions.
Try to include the title of the Academy Lesson that your question relates to (if there is one). Putting this at the start will help other participants find the topics they are interested in.
The classroom is open for three weeks following your Academy
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In this space we're listing things from the Academy that we feel 'Rock' in online advertising, and things that, if we're honest, 'Flop'. By helping our clients harness the rocks and steer away from the flops they'll produce more powerful communication and enjoy even better results. Remember, it's still a new media for many people and this can help marketers make smarter decisions...
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23rd June 2008 | London
Why do some campaigns gain a life of their own on the web and others never get talked about? Why do some marketing budgets stretch much further than others on the web? Why do some firms fail to unlock the value of their existing websites, content and messaging? Viral and buzz marketing are powerful sets of tools and in the right hands they can transform a web marketing presence. In the early days of the web, viral was confined to emails and video clips, but today’s rich landscape includes the range of social media, widgets and rethinking the design of your own website. Digital marketing veteran Danny Meadows-Klue leads this intensive Digital Training Academy (advanced level) which includes a marketing planning workshop that will help you turn these ideas into a structured plan for your business. If you’ve always wanted to learn how viral marketing works, then this is just what you’ve been looking for.
Materials: Materials are restricted to participants.
Bookings: To apply for a place email our events team.
In this Intensive one day Academy, you’ll learn the answers to these key questions:
How does viral marketing really work?
Why do some messages achieve the viral effect and most never get passed on?
How can you harness the power of viral messaging?
What are the tricks in getting it right?
What are the risks brands need to avoid?
What are the success factors that need to be in place?
Which models can convert buzz activity into sales?
What’s the right model for you?
How can your next product launch be accelerated through viral marketing?
How can you build seed lists and a fan base to work with in the future?
Digital Training Academy learning outcomes
You’ll come away with a deeper understanding of the theory as well as scores of practical ideas, including:
A deeper knowledge of the processes behind viral marketing
A new way of reading the social landscape
An understanding of the social media models behind the new generation of viral marketing
Who should attend?
This intensive one day Digital Training Academy is geared to the needs of:
Client side brand marketers and marketing directors
Campaign planners and strategic planners in agencies
Specialists in email marketing
Specialists in social media
Creatives developing viral communication
What’s an ‘Advanced’ level Digital Training Academy?
This level is intended for marketers who already have some experience of digital marketing and want to accelerate their use of viral and buzz communications. To get the most from an Advanced programme at the Digital Training Academy we recommend participants have at least 18 months experience in digital marketing.
What did previous Academy Graduates say about this programme?
''This Digital Training Academy opened up the world to me and started me thinking. I've got lots to find out and work on.''
''The best bits? Speakers were great and it was good to get an idea of how it works practically, rather than just the theory.''
“I now feel confident to navigate my way through this area successfully.”
Want to know more?
If you’re unsure about whether this is the right Academy (or the right level for you) then email our Academy Managers with your questions: AcademyManager@DigitalTrainingAcademy.com
]]>Consumer package goods firms are often seen as being conservative when it comes to internet marketing. The Tea Partay viral video was one of those ground-breaking creative executions that triggered a stepchange in the way the sector saw itself and the possibilities of marketing drinks on the web. Created for Diageo, it wasn’t long before millions of downloads had taken place and the entertainment content was getting the big buzz on YouTube. Today may be well past the campaign’s target end date but it’s still getting audiences and traffic: take a look – it’s not hard to see why.
]]>We’re living in exponential times. Created by a North American teacher, the Did You Know video is a marvellous way to explain to kids how society is changing and the scale of media and technology change. Sometimes in the digital media industry we are so close to the change and the technologies that we fail to appreciate the scale of the change happening around us. This little video is a great reminder of the scale of change.
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When the Army planned their assault on the West Ridge of Everest in 2006, there was an opportunity to engage young potential recruits by letting that story be told. Climbed only once in 30 years, only one group had ever made it to the top. PCIFitch were supplying the raw materials from the field back into the mainstream media as well as the web. The intention was to touch audiences through streams on the web, podcast downloads, iTunes and the broadest range of touchpoints. Over a million viewers enjoyed streamed content, blogs were posted to the site from the mountain and to feed into the recruitment processes, schools were targeted with lesson plans created for teachers and games for their students. Integration included downloadable posters and images, text alerts and more than a dozen different channels. The campaign went on to win the “Best digital campaign of 2006” at the Campaign awards. When we interviewed Peter Cowie, Managing partner at FitchLive who were behind the work, said “great work comes from the chemistry of the teams working together. The effect of the campaign included attracting 1m people, 30,000 of whom claimed they were ‘interested’ in joining the army. 3,500 are likely to be recruited as a direct result of the campaign”. For Peter it’s clear that “the future of advertising is about using all of these new channels together”.
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Fight for those kisses | BMWFilms did it first | Dove: Evolution or Revolution?
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In 'Ambush' (Dir John Frankenheimer), Clive Owen plays a driver who gets a passenger with some rather dangerous extra baggage. Written by Andrew Kevin Walker, it’s a classic in short movies with a powerful story, a compelling thread and in spite of the length, strong character development. The hero? The BMW of course. ]]>
Along the way the brand plays a central role as key performer; stylish, slick, non-nonsense, high performance and rock solid. In fact, the very fact the car not only survives a fight with a bigger bully, but walks away with only some bad scratches, gives the body the parallel of the action hero’s face where the make-up artist places that token scratch after he’s taken on an army single handedly. From a brand marketing perspective, this showcases the product (in detail), builds the brand (around key attributes such as safety, speed, exceptional control, design, thrills), weaves in celebrity endorsement (and probably brand aspiration), and gets under the radar of advertising standards’ regulators (because it’s there is no paid for media involved, at the time it was very much beyond the advertising code of practice). Having a viral mechanic successfully achieve distribution gives even more weight to the marketing through the way the pass-on effect achieves cut-through. Masterful, and deservedly multi award-winning.
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Watch also Dove Evolution Parody 1 | Dove Evolution Parody 2
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As for the results? Over 8m views and counting. But what made the campaign so incredibly powerful is the amplification. This was not just talked about online, but trickled quickly out into the blogs and wider press. It was a truly integrated campaign with many strands working to support a brand truth of Dove that built empathy and recognition among their customers. The marketing message gained talkability, and fed into a much wider marketing engine. If the complement to a strong viral campaign is a spoof, then the spoofs that followed Dove, such as the ‘slob evolution’ viral created in the UK, actually enhance the discussion. As to whether the model in the original ‘Evolution’ film was the art director’s partner, and enjoyed unexpected celebrity status within weeks? That’s part of the backstory we couldn’t comment on ;-)
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Watch also: Bush gets the same treatment with 'Imagine'