Posted: 09/11/2015
Once upon a time playing an advert in the middle of the Saturday blockbuster or having your brand emblazoned across the back of the number 6 bus was enough to guarantee engagement. Then, like most things, marketers all around the world ruined it for everyone. Adverts overtook the movie, buses became indistinguishable from their posters, and we as humans learned to look without actually seeing advertising.
Fast forward to today and the challenge that brands have is the same challenge that they’ve always had: How can I capture some of the mindshare of my potential customers. The rise of social celebrities is the newest form of customer engagement. Customers look at their social celebrities as attainable visions of themselves. They are personal, authentic and REAL. And this is the new holy grail. How can brands have an authentic, real dialogue with potential customers in a world of social set ups and fake realities?
Channels on eva is the latest tool for brands to engage in real dialogues with their potential customers. Our first partner Movember quickly saw the value of what a real social network can offer. They are able to engage with fundraisers who are growing their moustaches and recording the growth of the mo’s every day for 30 days. This type of engagement and authenticity is invaluable to a brand as they can leverage this content on their paid and owned media well after Movember.
We have the ability to control the channels remotely which means we can quickly respond to trends and get a brand up and running in minutes. It’s pretty amazing to be able to combine hashtags and user handles to create a channel of videos stitched together. It’s so simple but a very powerful feature.
I believe that branded channels can be of massive value to any company looking to engage in meaningful, authentic, real discussion with customers. It may take some time before we launch any rented branded channels and we’ll need to do a lot of learning along the way, but judging by the number of brands already in our pipeline, I think brands are starting to see the value too.
If you download eva today you will already see some of our internal channels. The majority of our channels will always be owned by us. It’s a great place for us to pilot ideas and grow our eva community of real people around real interests.
Blackbird is best-of-breed
Jon Hanford - Group CTO, Deltatre