1. What are your position/your responsibilities at Disney Parks?

Vice President, Creative Inc, an internal marketing agency of idea champions & innovation catalysts.

2. Do you think viral and buzz marketing is important now, compared to traditional advertising?
Brands now need to think of themselves as both content providers but also content curators. I believe successful brands will evolve very quickly from Marketing to Engagement and Co-collaboration.

3. How did you associate the Disney Brand with the message in the video? Why choosing the Muppets?

The viral video encourages consumers to actively get involved in their local community, by helping a charitable organization for a day. In return, the first million people to participate get to celebrate by getting a free ticket to one of our theme parks at the Disneyland Resort or Walt Disney World Resort for use in 2010. We chose the Muppets to help with our Give-A-Day, Get-A-Day campaign across the board because of the sense of irreverent humor and chaos that only they could bring to the campaign. My personal favorite is when Gonzo crashes headfirst into your computer screen.

4. What do you believe drives users to forward the video to their family & friends?

Based on the success of our “What Will You Celebrate” viral campaign, that we produced in collaboration with Vanksen last year, we learned that above all the campaign needs to be both fun & entertaining and allow consumers to personalize the content for their friends and family.

5. How do you engage the audience and make sure they are compelled to watch the video (tricks of the trade)?

Receiving the video from a personal friend is crucial in obtaining trust and acceptance. The fact that you can then personalize the written and verbal content really puts a smile on people’ faces. I believe that the addition of a personalized blog greeting with Kermit and Fozzie, that bloggers can embed into their own personal blogs, is going to be huge. I also believe by adding two new endings that consumers will receive each time a new friend sends them the video will really extend its life cycle.

6. How did you come up with the creative concept for the experience?

Working with Christie, Katy and Jim in our Digital Marketing team, as well as the irrepressible Michael and Thierry at Vanksen, we developed a concept around the Muppets encouraging people to volunteer. Then we turned it over to Gonzo and his amazing performing chickens to add their own unique perspective.

7. What role do you see viral marketing / social media campaigns playing in marketing in three–five years?
As consumers have an increasing ability to select the brands they choose to interact with, I believe that those brands that fully engage consumers in the decision making process and fully embrace open source collaboration will be the most successful.

8. Do viral campaigns monetize at all for Disney or is it only conceived as a PR stunt?

The “What Will You Celebrate” viral video was passed along by millions of consumers around the globe in 2009, creating enormous awareness of Disney Parks as the place to celebrate life’s special milestones. The response certainly exceeded our expectations and clearly impacted consumers’ decisions to take a Disney Parks vacation. It was a major element in our overall integrated marketing campaign.

We thank Mr Wardle for this interview.

Click here to read the interview with Duncan Wardle about the “What Will You Celebrate” campaign.

Susan Sachatello, Senior Vice President, Marketing for Lands’ End

What is Lands’ End’s mission statement in the US today? What is the promise the brand brings to its clients?

Lands’ End promises to give our customers a great shopping experience where they will find stylish, high-quality products at an amazing value. We strive to be the beacon for what’s real… real value, real people, real difference.

Can you please describe the campaign and how it came to life?

The Big Warm-up was inspired by a similar endeavor in Boston known as the Big Boston Warm-up. In addition to collecting warm coats during November, a public art installation to elevate the issue of homelessness and engage the community opened on November 2nd in Boylston Plaza at Prudential Center in downtown Boston. The installation features 768 life-sized figures, each representing ten of the 7,681 homeless women, men and children in Boston. As coats are collected, the installation will be used to count down the number of coats collected and hearts warmed.

After positive response and strong support in Boston, Lands’ End extended the Big Warm-up effort to communities nationwide. Donation sites are located at more than 252 Lands’ End Shops at Sears and 13 Inlets® across the country and coats will be collected until November 30th.

How involved is Lands’ End with the Web and specifically Web 2.0 and social media efforts?

From Landsend.com and Facebook to viral videos and microsites, Lands’ End is always looking for ways to connect with customers through technology. Landsend.com sets the bar for online shopping with features that make it easy to find a great fit, the right product and customer service. The company also regularly communicates with customers through the dedicated Facebook Fan Page and via email. Personalized viral videos are also another way the company engages with customers in a fun, interactive way.

What are the objectives of the campaign? How is it working so far?

The goal of the campaign is bring communities together to help those in need. Through the Big Warm-up, we hope to collect and distribute thousands of gently used coats for those in desperate need in communities across the country. Within the first seven days of the campaign in Boston, we collected over 1,000 coats! We are off to a great start and hope everyone will join us to make a difference this winter.

Is producing a personalized Web video a way for Lands’ End to build a closer relationship with customers?

Absolutely. We are always looking for unique ways to communicate with our customers in an engaging format. A personalized viral video is just one way that we can enhance their experience with Lands’ End either through Facebook or dedicated campaign websites.

Can you talk about how you see the future of Lands’ End marketing/communications using social media/viral marketing?

Lands’ End has built a solid reputation for listening to customers whether it’s through our call centers, online or even through heartfelt letters. Social media and viral marketing is an evolution of how we will continue to connect with and engage our customers.

BuzzParadise thanks Susan Sachatello for this interview.

Several things have evolved regarding the subject, so here is an update on the situation:
As you probably noticed, you have to confirm your billing information and status for each campaign to make sure it is up to date for legal, fiscal and accounting purposes. We do need to make sure that your personal information (or professional for those concerned) is valid for the establishment of a “bill/certificate of payment” that you will find in the “My earnings” section.

From now on, in a process simplification for everyone,  a period of 7 days preceding the payments will be reserved every 2 months for the validation of your information.
Just to remind you, payments from BuzzParadise are done via Paypal exclusively, during the first week of each odd month: 7/8th of January 7/8th of March 7/8th of May etc…
Every 23rd of the month preceding a wave of payments you will receive an email inviting you to validate your information regarding the campaigns available in the “My earnings” section. You will have until the end of the month, so 7 days to validate the campaigns that you wish to be paid for. Starting on the night of the 31st, the validation period will stop so that we can check everything is ok on our side and send out the PayPal payments in the next following days.

Earnings

To give a concrete example: The next validation period will take place between the 23rd and 31st of October 2009 at midnight. All the profits validated during this period will be transferred to your PayPal account on the 7th or 8th of November. Not so difficult in the end, right?

Just pay attention to fill in your profile with your PayPal information!
One important detail: a minimum of 10 €/$ is necessary to validate your profits and be paid. If you haven’t reached this amount, your profits will be transferred to the next payment period. If you still haven’t reached the limit after two payment periods, you will exceptionally be allowed to validate your profits and be paid.
All your profits will appear as usual in the “My earnings” section, the only difference being that you can’t validate them outside of validation periods. One of the interests of this method are to make you validate all your campaigns in one go, as well as to reduce the steps necessary to lower the number of bills/certificates to edit. Yes, at BuzzParadise we’re also trying to help preserve the planet!

The two videos are already creating buzz in the blogosphere. Belgian, Swiss, British, German and US bloggers are invited to spread the buzz in the framework of one of our new media campaigns. French blogs have also started talking about it.

If you enjoy moonwalk and breakdance, you’ll certainly love these Evian babies who are amazingly fit for their age…

The campaign unveiling is scheduled for July 3, so stay tuned!

An extraordinary and mysterious campaign which invites bloggers to investigate and find out more every day…

MA DAME presents herself in a humorous way. Secretive as she is, she has invited a very special artist to the Jean Paul Gaultier Maison de Couture and has kept the artist’s name a secret.

The bloggers’ challenge? Find out who the invited artist is with the help of their readers and win a surprise by Jean Paul Gaultier.

Who wins? The first thirty bloggers to post an article containing the name of “the guest star”.

Who is participating? Handpicked bloggers from the UK, Belgium, France, Italy and Spain. MA DAME is not only one-of-a-kind, she is also cosmopolitan!

The contest is launched and the first clue has already been published on numerous blogs, but we would also like to share it with you. Here it is:

Those who wish to can also adopt the teaser video that provides a little more information about the campaign:

And of course you are invited to follow MA DAME’s adventures on the dedicated Facebook page and on her website.

We will continue to publish the clues we get and keep you posted on this campaign which seems to have lots of surprises in store!

Once you answer your phone, you embark upon a unique and exciting adventure. You become the true game master. The goal of the game is to direct the hero via the shortest route to the closest airport using your cell phone.

Does this not strike you as a utopian concept? easyJet developed the concept in collaboration with Vanksen, relying mostly on the revolutionary technology known as web call-back. This brilliant technology allows the player to interact directly with the game using his/her cell phone keys, which synchronizes the video based on the player’s directions. (The game is open to players from Germany, Switzerland, France and Italy only.)

Try it out at itstimetoleave.com!

Now we have decided to offer you two new kinds of campaigns (additionally to the ones you are already used to: events, product trials, and contests):
- Participation in sponsored post campaigns, in compliance with the BuzzParadise philosophy
- Inserting a video banner in your blog in order to broadcast videos, widgets, or other content

Now you’ll certainly ask yourselves: what exactly is the BuzzParadise philosophy?

BuzzParadise believes in freedom of expression, therefore our bloggers’ posts are not moderated. Objective, constructive criticism is always welcome, as long as you provide relevant arguments. We are interested in reading what you think, because as you are informed consumers your opinion matters to us. This makes sense for all of us: our clients, our bloggers, and readers…

In order to ensure maximum transparency, inserting a “disclaimer” (in the form of a picture, see below) in every sponsored posts is compulsory. That way your readers know at once that you have been remunerated for writing and publishing your blog post.

This also allows us to provide our clients with guarantees and with measurable results: number of posts, number of post views, reading time, and so on…

Of course the remuneration comes attached to certain obligations. You will need to comply with some specifications regarding the format of your article: links and images to use, post length, publication period… These specifications are explained in the campaign briefing which is available to you before you decide to participate in a campaign and to post your article. And most importantly, your personal ideas and editorial style, in other words the content of your post, are not concerned by this. You are free to write what you think.

Broadcasting video content is just as easy. You only need to insert a banner in the sidebar of your blog. If the cursor is placed on the banner (roll-over) the BuzzParadise video player is launched and the video/animation is shown. That way your video is viewed by Web users if they so choose. They can also spread it using the usual tools (embed code, Facebook and Twitter sharing buttons, bookmarks etc.). You will be invited to new campaigns and can decide yourself if you wish to publish certain content on your blog or not. Easy as pie!

In order to be able to participate in this kind of campaign, you’ll first need to become a “media member”. For this you simply enter you Paypal account in your profile and insert a blog marker in your blog.
You can do so now in your BuzzParadise member space, where you can also find more information about these new campaigns. Or check out our updated FAQ to learn more!

Like the first movie, it stars Kristen Stewart as Bella and Robert Pattinson as Edward as the main characters. Kristen Stewart has played in Panic Room, and Robert Pattinson is mainly known for playing the role of Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Speaking of Harry Potter, the movie release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is scheduled for July 15 this year. Only a couple of weeks to go…

But was this really the best performance? Who do you think was best?