Article: http://adage.com/article/news/pepsi-launches-social-viewing-platforms-x-factor/230473/?utm_source=mediaworks&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=adage
Quick Summary: X Factor’s sponsor, Pepsi, will launch its social campaign built around the show’s content this week. The campaign is comprised of two social platforms. One, called Pepsi Pulse, is a visualization of trends within the online conversation, like a beating heart when three commentators like competitor, Tiah Tolliver. The other is a conversation stream similar to Twitter called Pepsi Sound Off. It provides not only a constant stream of comments in real time, but also perks when your comment is liked the most. Your comment could even appear on a Pepsi commercial during that same show. Pepsi hopes the platforms are a hit, so they can use them for other events such as The Oscars or festival streams like Coachella.
PW: On first thought, I didn’t see the point to building a new destination for socializing about a TV show. We have GetGlue. Well not many people know about that site yet... wait, we have Twitter! But the article brings up a good point: when you tweet, ALL your followers see it. If half of your followers don’t care about X Factor, they will not appreciate your comment entering their stream. By providing a platform specific to X Factor, Pepsi can attract (and data mine) only the loyal X Factor socializers. It is a brilliant way to attract their target audience THEN gather substantial data about the audience to use in their brand promotion. The tough part will be attracting users to the platforms. People are used to Twitter and Facebook, so it might be overload to adopt another stream (see our Google+ analysis). With that said, I think this will work and will help the Pepsi brand because as an avid watcher of X Factor, I want to discuss the show with other fans. Every viewer is judging the contestants alongside Simon (just from their couch not his million dollar mansion.) This new platform gives them a way to connect to other home judges without alienating their friends/followers, who just plain don’t care about a silly singing competition. Pepsi will benefit from “hosting” this conversation with the branded content surrounding the stream and the insights it gathers from “mining” the stream.
SM: Social TV/Co-viewing is the new hot topic in advertising, but I think that it will take time to truly catch on. The concept is based on the ability of television users to multi-task while watching a show. The nature of shows like X-factor, award ceremonies, and political debates present a small inconsistent mental engagement that can allow the viewer the chance to successfully multi-task. I like the platform that will present the general trends, but for anyone who’s tried to simultaneously use twitter and watch a show understands the information overload of just irrelevant tweets. I think for this to gain momentum, either the program in question needs to be watched on a computer or this platform needs to simultaneously function on a television set, which for the time being is not the case. Until that day comes, I project this concept will also suffer a major setback when it’s tried for shows like Dexter, AHS, or even the Office where if you don’t give your full attention you’ll miss something. Overall, there’s definitely something innovative here, but I project only a small group of viewers to actually adopt this technology at the current time.
Let us know what you think by voting and/or leaving comments. Vote:
Patrick if you like this new social platform and plan on trying it
Or
Sean if you aren’t sold on the idea of this new social concept
Check back later today for the Ad of the Day
Quick Summary: X Factor’s sponsor, Pepsi, will launch its social campaign built around the show’s content this week. The campaign is comprised of two social platforms. One, called Pepsi Pulse, is a visualization of trends within the online conversation, like a beating heart when three commentators like competitor, Tiah Tolliver. The other is a conversation stream similar to Twitter called Pepsi Sound Off. It provides not only a constant stream of comments in real time, but also perks when your comment is liked the most. Your comment could even appear on a Pepsi commercial during that same show. Pepsi hopes the platforms are a hit, so they can use them for other events such as The Oscars or festival streams like Coachella.
PW: On first thought, I didn’t see the point to building a new destination for socializing about a TV show. We have GetGlue. Well not many people know about that site yet... wait, we have Twitter! But the article brings up a good point: when you tweet, ALL your followers see it. If half of your followers don’t care about X Factor, they will not appreciate your comment entering their stream. By providing a platform specific to X Factor, Pepsi can attract (and data mine) only the loyal X Factor socializers. It is a brilliant way to attract their target audience THEN gather substantial data about the audience to use in their brand promotion. The tough part will be attracting users to the platforms. People are used to Twitter and Facebook, so it might be overload to adopt another stream (see our Google+ analysis). With that said, I think this will work and will help the Pepsi brand because as an avid watcher of X Factor, I want to discuss the show with other fans. Every viewer is judging the contestants alongside Simon (just from their couch not his million dollar mansion.) This new platform gives them a way to connect to other home judges without alienating their friends/followers, who just plain don’t care about a silly singing competition. Pepsi will benefit from “hosting” this conversation with the branded content surrounding the stream and the insights it gathers from “mining” the stream.
SM: Social TV/Co-viewing is the new hot topic in advertising, but I think that it will take time to truly catch on. The concept is based on the ability of television users to multi-task while watching a show. The nature of shows like X-factor, award ceremonies, and political debates present a small inconsistent mental engagement that can allow the viewer the chance to successfully multi-task. I like the platform that will present the general trends, but for anyone who’s tried to simultaneously use twitter and watch a show understands the information overload of just irrelevant tweets. I think for this to gain momentum, either the program in question needs to be watched on a computer or this platform needs to simultaneously function on a television set, which for the time being is not the case. Until that day comes, I project this concept will also suffer a major setback when it’s tried for shows like Dexter, AHS, or even the Office where if you don’t give your full attention you’ll miss something. Overall, there’s definitely something innovative here, but I project only a small group of viewers to actually adopt this technology at the current time.
Let us know what you think by voting and/or leaving comments. Vote:
Patrick if you like this new social platform and plan on trying it
Or
Sean if you aren’t sold on the idea of this new social concept
Check back later today for the Ad of the Day
I'm also not totally sold on the idea of social TV viewing, especially if it requires seeking out a platform separate from the standard group (Twitter, Facebook, etc., all of which serve as live feeds).
ReplyDeleteI may be in the minority on this one, but I don't tend to care what strangers have to say about what I'm watching. I'm a fan, but do I really care what XFactorBabe5647 in Indiana has to say about Simon's biting commentary? No. My prediction is that these live feeds would look something like this:
grt8867: Can't believe this right now.
sweethomealabama78: omg!!! <3 Simonnnn
pats45: sooooo good!!
xfactorrrgurl*989*: vote4
grt8867: Seriously. Can you believe this right now?? Speechless.
sweethomealabama78: Simon<33333
xfactorrrgurl*989*: <3 him sooo much
...And so on. Just because they're X-Factor fans doesn't necessarily mean I value their opinion. I get more satisfaction talking with friends, which I can do via Twitter, Facebook, or the old fashioned AIM.
Pepsi's platform streamlines X-Factor viewers to one place, where people who don't care don't need to set foot. And yes, it offers some perks. But, I think those who are likely to be interested in Pepsi Sound Off are the same people who will turn to Twitter or Facebook to post. Because what do they care if they're friends and followers aren't interested? The platform seems to benefit those who don't want their Twitter and Facebook feeds littered running show commentary, but I'm not convinced it will draw in those who do.
Thanks for the comment, Anonymous.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the difficult part will be to draw socializers away from the traditional streams, but I think there is value in show specific sites. What it comes down to is how you use your Twitter. If you tweet about the mundane daily occurrences, sure, you don't care what is entering your follower's streams. But if you use your twitter as a focused source for specific information you should not tweet random TV show opinions into the stream. This platform allows those focused Tweeters a place to converse about topics that they don't usually tweet about. I know I've lost twitter followers for losing focus and tweeting randomness.
As for social TV, I think it is truly awesome. And yes, your prediction is fair. There is a range of substance tweets in a stream, but, with enough participants, the comments organically gather the audience's pulse. Who do they love? Who do they hate? Who are they arguing about? I've been watching the Twitter stream along side the show and I find it fascinating that someone could love a contestant's voice who I absolutely loathe. It's like having all your friends over to view a show, only now the whole show's audience is at your party.
Lastly, I think it would awesome to have my comment seen on the live show. But, as the saying goes, one man's trash is another man's treasure.
Annonymous, I completely agree with your assessment and would say you are probably with the majority. The significance of this platform will be in how successful they are at depicting trends, highlighting insightful comments, and spotlighting celebrity comments. If they ignore these factors it won't be successful, but through learning from this attempt they will hopefully be able to innovate this platform into something much more attracting to main stream audiences. -SM
ReplyDelete