Despite some icky weather in KC, the Spiral16 crew spent a few hours at Lucky Strike Lanes hanging out, eating and being merry on Thursday night. I threw together a short pic/video blog!
(Observe Justin trying to bowl on crutches. It brings the LOLs.)
Happy holidays!
JCPenney has this cute video for the holidays. My friend Todd sent it to me after I suggested getting my mom a cleaning lady for Christmas (without any sarcasm!)
Notice it has nearly 300,000 views. They even have a cute Web site that goes along with it.
| Photos by Zachary Cobb |
Often times I hear “so your software is just for big businesses, right?” And then my brain explodes.
No! Spark’s capabilities are very diverse. It can work many different ways for many different purposes, from the largest corporation to… let’s say… small local charity benefits.
Oh wow - I just planned a small local charity benefit in Kansas City. Weird coincidence.
The Ugly Christmas Sweater Party began as a keg party amongst friends at the University of Kansas four years ago, and this year we turned it into a benefit for Operation Breakthrough. Because we wanted the money to stay in KC, nearly everything at the party was from a local business (venue, beer, auction items… even the ice luge).
For this case study, I used Spark to point out our strengths and weaknesses in marketing the Ugly Christmas Sweater Party. I want to show the benefits of using Spark on a smaller scale.
More than 77 percent of the Ecosystem consists of blogs and social networks.
Knowing that KC has a strong social media community, Ramsey and I used our online influence to spread word about the benefit.
We focused on sites like Twitter, Flickr, Facebook and our personal blogs, which is why the Blog and Social Network categories make up over 77 percent of this Ecosystem.
Next year, we should expand the “News” area. The benefit was a hit, but we could create more demand if we had put together an official media release package. I noticed that one of the news organizations that mentioned the party didn’t even know our Web site… which was the only place to purchase tickets. That’s a big weakness I discovered through Spark.
The Semantic Cloud lists the most popular words on all of the Nodes in an Ecosystem. The words in large font are used most frequently.
The 100 most frequently used words in the Ecosystem.
According to the Semantic Cloud, we didn’t mention our beneficiary enough. Operation Breakthrough doesn’t appear anywhere on the list of the top 100 words. Neither does our venue, Tower Tavern.
Some words I do like are:
Next year we should reword every Tweet and blog post. The data shows me we didn’t effectively communicate the purpose behind the benefit.
Only a few people have posted reviews of the party, but they were all “Very Positive.” I remembered running into one local blogger who wrote about the party:
“If I knew the date for KC Sweater Party, I would mark it on my calendar right now. It was such a blast, and awesome knowing that all the money went to Operation Breakthrough - I think it was over $5k that was raised. Incredible.”
Since October 1, 2008, there have been over 180 mentions of the party online. Of those 180 Nodes, 56 are linking directly to the Web site for the party (created by Digital Evolution Group).
Watch the video below to watch Spark visualize these connections.
This was the first year for this party as a benefit, and it was a smashing success. Tickets were beyond sold out and we raised thousands of dollars for Operation Breakthrough. Next year, we can use this information to improve our planning and marketing strategies and raise more money for the organization.
Engage with us to learn about getting this type of data for your company.
Disclaimer: The following blog post contains some language that may be offensive to some readers. Because our software does not filter profanity… and this case study is on Guns N’ Roses… a few four-letter words are part of the research.
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When Guns N’ Roses began working on their latest album, Chinese Democracy, I was 10 years old.
It was also the year that Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman were murdered, Tony Blair became Prime Minister of Great Britain and the Buffalo Bills were in the Super Bowl (whaa?)
It was 1994.
Their fans have been waiting over half of my life for this CD, so it seemed like an obvious choice for a case study. The hardest-rocking-turned-up-to-11 case study ever. I wanted to see what fans were actually saying about an album that was practically an urban myth until Nov. 23, 2008.
I’m also going to try and use as many bad GNR puns as possible… so have a little paaayyyshunce… yeaaaah (cue whistling). That’s one.
Keep in mind that this case study is a sampling of information. I pulled in 137 Nodes (separate Web pages) mentioning Chinese Democracy using a few different queries. While not scientific, I feel it’s an accurate representation of what’s out there.
Live and Let PieTo the right is our Relative Insight Scenario Spread chart. It breaks down the types of Nodes in the Ecosystem into categories. In this case, a wide variety of categories are represented with various percentages.
Everyone is talking about Chinese Democracy. From legit news organizations and music magazines to random forums, blogs and social networks.
If Axl wanted plenty of attention for waiting Dakota Fanning’s lifespan to release this project - he got it.
The two largest categories - Reviews and Social Networks - contain the bulk of the sentiment, or positive or negative reactions to the album (we’ll get to that in a minute). Nodes in these categories represent sites like Twitter, MySpace, personal blog reviews and professional critics.
P.S. Live and Let Pie! Get it? Like Live and Let Die but it’s a pie chart! No? Mmmk…
The Semantic Cloud lets you see the language that people are using to talk about your company or product. The cloud consists of the most popular words found on the Nodes in an Ecosystem.
The most frequently used words have largest font. It’s basically a giant tag cloud (hence Tagxl Rose - props to my friend Ryan for coming up with that one.)
Our software does not censor or filter out profanity. Though it can be offensive, it can also be valuable - especially when you’re talking rock. Judging by this cloud, there are some pretty strong feelings about Chinese Democracy.
It’s worth noting that former GNR guitarists Slash (1985-1996) and Buckethead (2000-2004) are mentioned on 61 of the 137 Nodes. What’s interesting to me is that Slash is mentioned more frequently than Buckethead, yet he doesn’t play on the album.
What is a rock album without reviews? That’s where Spark could be invaluable to recording artists.
Spark brought back relevant reviews from professional critics, but also from personal blogs, forum comments and Twitter “reviews.”
While Chinese Democracy had a reputation for being a monumental disappointment, the Nodes that Spark found showed an equal number of people either really loved or really hated the album. Maybe the positive reviews weren’t reaching the right people?
I have to admit some of the negative reviews were creative. One of my favorites:
The idea that “Chinese Democracy” had actually been released was like finding a unicorn in the middle of the woods. But upon closer inspection, the unicorn was nothing more then a donkey with a pine cone atop its head.
Another fav:
This is the mythical burrito microwaved by God that’s so hot, God Himself cannot eat it.
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Finally, take a look at how the Chinese Democracy Ecosystem grows in Spark’s Virtualization engine. This is a 3D, interactive map of the Ecosystem. Here are a few guidelines:
Chinese Democracy was easily one of the most anticipated rock albums ever, but judging by this data, GNR didn’t take advantage of social media to expand their fan base. After all, teens with buying power weren’t even born when they released their last album.
Want this type of data for your company? Engage with Spiral16.
It’s after Thanksgiving, which means it’s officially OK to discuss the “holiday season.”
Ian made us some cool S16 holiday logos. I am using the black one as my desktop image. Thought I’d share the goodies!
Kansas State University recently fired Ron Prince after two and a half lackluster seasons as head coach.
The firing of both Prince and Washington’s Ty Willingham leaves only four black coaches in the FBS: Turner Gill of Buffalo, Randy Shannon of Miami, Sylvester Croom of Mississippi State and Kevin Sumlin of Houston.
According to a study by the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport (TIDES) at the University of Central Florida, this is the lowest number of minority coaches in 15 years.
Nearly 40 percent of this Ecosystem is news organizations.
We used our Spark software to do a quick sampling on the reach of the TIDES report. In a few days, Aaron and I pulled in 224 Nodes (Web sites) mentioning the report or Dr. Richard Lapchick (the report’s co-author).
Just by looking at the Relative Insight Scenario Spread - a graph in Spark that organizes sites into categories - you can tell that TIDES and Dr. Lapchick are newsmakers.
Of the 255 Nodes mentioning the report or TIDES, nearly 40 percent of them are news organizations.
Blogs are the most prominent conversational category, with nearly 17 percent of Nodes. If you add in social networks and bookmarking sites, about 19 percent of the Ecosystem consists of these conversational sites.
Another huge chunk of this graph is the Company/Organization category. These Nodes consist of mostly University of Central Florida and TIDES pages.
The Semantic Cloud shows the most frequently used words in an Ecosystem.
In the Semantic Cloud, we can see the most frequently used words in the entire Ecosystem.
This tool helps us understand the language that people are using to talk about a specific topic.
In this case, there are not many surprises. Words associated with diversity, sports, gender and minorities are part of the list.
Also appearing are the words Obama and president - showing that journalists and creators associate this topic closely with the election of the country’s first black president.
In the Virtualization video, you can see a small cluster of connections in the center of the 3D map. Those Nodes are mostly pages from the University of Central Florida and TIDES.
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 Only eight Nodes displayed obvious sentiment about the TIDES report. |
These “Company/Organization” sites link to each other, and to a few blogs or Web sites.
Most of the Nodes in this Virtualization are from news organizations.
Surprisingly, there was not an overwhelming amount of sentiment related to this topic. Out of the 224 Nodes surveyed, only eight showed any positive or negative reaction to the study.
That’s 3.5 Percent.
In this Ecosystem, the story comes from the amount of news organizations covering TIDES’ report - not necessarily the amount of connections or links between a few influential Nodes.
The timing of the release (just after the election and Prince’s firing at KSU) made this information newsworthy. If the goal in releasing this report was to get exposure and generate discussion… mission accomplished.
Find this type of data for your company by engaging with Spiral16.
It’s 4:47 p.m. on Friday, and I’m on vacation all of next week. I thought I’d fill your computer screens with some eye candy before I go!
I’ve been tracking the social media efforts of the Ugly Christmas Sweater Party benefit my friends and I are planning. I’ll do an entire postmortem after the party in mid-December, but for now…
Take a look at this quick Virtualization to see how our buzz has grown since October (while I watch the clock tick to 5:30!)
We started with just one or two Web sites at the beginning of November. In the past week it’s shot up to 52 separate pages mentioning the benefit!
The gentlemen at Scene Stealers asked me to be a guest critic for their review of “Twilight.”
Check it out below!
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Yesterday I got a cool opportunity to be in a national commercial for Coke Zero put together by our good friends at Crispin Porter + Bogusky.
Obviously I was a lowly extra, but it was fun to observe how these Hollywoodesque things work.
About 90 people spent all day in Allen Fieldhouse in magical Lawrence, home to the University of Kansas (a.k.a. 2008 NCAA Basketball and Orange Bowl champs). I wore the first t-shirt I bought after Bill Self became KU’s coach my sophomore year. It’s blue and says “Self Respect” with a Jayhawk on the front. After six years, it’s showing it’s age, but it’s still my favorite.
The costume lady asked me to wear some red, sparkly sunglasses… so I wore those, too.
They placed me just behind the “principles,” so hopefully I won’t end up on the cutting room floor!
I got to scream the Rock Chalk chant and perform a few other KU basketball traditions for the camera. When the commercial starts airing nationwide around the time of conference play (Jan/Feb), I’ll be sure to track it’s impact and show you the results!
So ready for my close up right now.
Here are five more Spiral16 wallpapers that you can download for your desktop!
