Get Shouty

This fun and ultra topical viral piece in beta testing from the terribly clever Thought By Them  guys gave me some food for thought on my recent widget crusade.

I wanted to blog about it, add my own fuel to the fire and introduce it to people whose email address I don’t know…I wanted something to embed, something to share, to create a signpost so that others could discover it too.

This experience reminded me of a post I saw over at Greg Verdino‘s blog about an interview he had with Adweek about widgets on MySpace:

For advertisers, widgets hold the hope of cracking the social media code, giving consumers the ability to spread a brand’s message. This viral component is sorely lacking in standard ad placements on social sites. “Widgetization [is] about getting the consumer to take the brand with them,” he said. “It’s ultimately the key to success in community-based social media implementations.

I’m loving the notion that “time with brand” is not about demanding that people come and spend time on a brand’s website. Widgets allow brands to join in conversations where their consumers spend their time, and are a great starting point for consumer centric digital design. They can help answer some the most compelling questions brands need to ask and answer in creating digital brand expressions:

• Does this digital expression further the undersanding and the relationship between the brand and the consumer?
• Does it start a conversation?

Any ways….see what it’s like for the Australian Prime Minister to say something that you might want to hear (for a change) over at SameSame.

Thanks for picking up where my post (and adweek interview) left off. Your questions are spot on. I just might jot them on the whiteboard next time I’m in a brainstorming with creative folks who are hell bent on dreaming up yet another plain ol’ microsite.

Comment by Greg Verdino April 21, 2007 @ 8:41 pm

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Good to know we share the same issues, Greg.
White board and workshop away with those thought starters…onwards and upwards for all, I say!

Comment by katiechatfield April 23, 2007 @ 10:38 am

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OK I’ll comment in the comments section. And on a public holiday no less 😉 Thanks Katie, it’s spreading rather nicely!

Comment by Stig April 24, 2007 @ 11:36 pm

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Also to construct their own experiences. Using the widgets as tools to make it their own. I did try to construct some funny sentances but there were a couple of joining words that would have made it 10 times better!

Comment by Laura April 26, 2007 @ 5:05 am

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