For the last two weeks I have been having major issues with my Telkom line, and not knowing what to do about it, until know…

I stick with Telkom because I’ve signed a contract, but I voice my utter disgust at the service delivery while singing the praises of an age old method of getting a message, and now data, from one point to another via the wings of a carrier pigeon.

Winston the Pigeon, owned by The Unlimited,  has gained overnight fame on all  social and media fronts with over 2600 Facebook fans, nearly 400 followers on Twitter and mentions across many news channels.The idea for Winston was born from the concept that a pigeon could do a better job transferring large data files than a Telkom landline. And who did a better job? Well, Winston was able to get a 4Gig card from Howick to Hillcrest in an hour and 8 minutes according to Kevin Rolfe of Unlimited, this excludes the download and short travel by car. This added to the total “data transfer” time which took it to two hours, six minutes and 57 seconds, giving Winston an upload/download speed of about 525kbps. The Telkom line was at 4% complete by the time Winston was picking at seeds and being admired by many, for his awesomeness.

So with the arrival of Seacom and now Winston, at R1 per day, it seems that Telkom might have a bit more competition than it had initially expected.

Responsibility and accountability of social media.

With all the insights and research that are at the marketers fingertips as of late, there is another level of responsibility when it comes to marketing campaigns and execution thereof.

With all the marketing tools available, messages are becoming more targeted and are more likely to take effect on the receiver of that message. The challenge, other than getting that message to target group, is the control of the interpretation of that marketing message.

Most competitions lately require that consumers [I guess they should be called participants] submit some sort of media for entry and a community built around that brand and its competition vote for who they feel deserves to win. The concept is great, and as I have been part of this sort of competition before, I can vouch for the results obtained, as well as the public scrutiny that comes with it. One thing I did notice was the length that I, and my fellow contestants, went to, to get votes. Strategies varied from knocking the other contestants to posting very private information in the hope of “winning the crowd” on familiarity. Whichever strategy was employed, I’m sure most were out of their comfort zones but had to push the limits to stay in the running.

People are willing to go to extreme lengths to stay in the running for this sort of thing, they push their personal limits by trying new things, taking their existing skill sets and challenging themselves. Some succeed and some, unfortunately, do not.

NBC Orlando reported earlier this week on a 13 year old that had a friend set him alight while he was wearing a banana suit, which he tried to recreate after seeing it on Youtube. The boys mother is pointing the finger at Youtube and warning parents to take tighter reigns on their children’s browsing habits. Although this wasn’t linked to any marketing campaign, this sort of thing should be taken into consideration when planning CGM based campaigns as no-one wants a PR fiasco when/if people get hurt or do something stupid. Someone is eventually going to be held responsible.

Most of us spend years at a tertiary institution then go into the real world building up hundreds of working hours in the hope of finding that one light bulb moment that will launch us into the career stratosphere and, if all goes well, industry wide recognition. For some it is a bit easier.

15 year old, Matthew Robson,  whilst doing an internship at Morgan Stanley. He was placed in their media and internet research department and this was a task assigned, which obviously he passed with flying colours.

The report is clear, to the point and doesn’t waste time with the usual report structure and jargon, but what I find the most appealing about this report is the rate at which it spread across the world, from Tokyo to Wall Street.

Morgan Stanley’s executive director of the media team in Europe, Edward Hill-Wood, said Robson’s report was “one of the clearest and most thought-provoking insights we have seen”. They were so impressed with it that they made it available to clients for insights, which “generated six times the usual level of interest” according to the bank.

The report was made available on Scribd, the social publishing company and has thus far had 7,343 Reads, 12 Likes, 1 Comment & 12 Favorites.

Now for the most interesting part, the actual effect of disseminating this very sought after report through social media. Compete.com shows a total of 352,927 visits and a 30% increase in unique visitors to their site.

This alone should stand as a case study, to the effects of social media and content on consumer interaction with one’s web presence.