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Category : MAKING A RUCKUS

HomePosts in MAKING A RUCKUS (Page 4)

How to Un-Suck your content

Hands up if you think social content has jumped the shark lately? Far too much emphasis on disposable, one-and-done tweets or posts or trying to salaciously jump on the “trend of the day.” Hands up if you think a lot of social content these days’ sucks?

Yeah so do we. So much so, we built an entire agency designed to help brands start to un-suck their content in a hurry. Enter: ruckus!

We built ruckus to work with brands to find and tell their story through rich, compelling and relevant social content – tracking the value of that content with deep social analytics. From the outset we challenged ourselves to push farther, to create a unique agency model and offering, and distinguish ourselves across the board from everyone else. To unsettle the status quo. To make a ruckus.

So we did.

We looked at what passed for compelling social content these days. We found lots of examples of people leaning into “real time” marketing and failing . We saw a lot of misguided brands relying on their tag lines or repurposing their ad creative in a tweet, again – without much luck.

Time and time again we found social tactics pulled from the same playbook. Relying on gimmicks and trends to interrupt people’s experience and force their way into the conversation.

So we threw out the playbook and made our own.

Our goal was straightforward: Evolve the way we tell stories for a digital age. The equation: Be visual, be timely and – overall – be captivating.

We’ve created a foundation around the essential elements for being successful in social conversations.

  1. Borrowing from our APEX PR heritage, we get people talking – having a conversation around your brand. We create a lasting and tangible story fans can immerse themselves in and craft along with you.
  2. Social is all about big, beautiful visuals to tell your story in a memorable and engaging way. So we’ve built an agency to create gorgeous visuals to accompany the narrative.
  3. We’re digital natives who quickly identify the right real-time opportunities to crank up the volume on your story and get people talking.

All of this comes together to form the evolution of story telling and ensure your story is heard clearly. A story that your fans will feel, live and experience with you.

We are ruckus and we’re here to un-suck your content.

Posted by
Gary Edgar
on 03/10/2014

WTR – what the ruckus on Pinterest

Ever wonder if your brand should be on Pinterest? Who is the main audience for this platform? What does it take to run a successful account? This and more in our latest WTR on Pinterest.

We’re back with our third installment of WTR (what the ruckus). This time we’re taking on Pinterest and whether or not it’s right for brands. If you ever wondered what it is that makes the platform tick and this particular form of “story boarding” interesting to consumers, we are here to help you figure it out. As with the previous installments you can expect a quick breakdown of the platform, stats, examples of good (and not so much) Pinterest branding and of course our recommendations. 

Posted by
Gary Edgar
on 19/02/2015

Video Showdown: Facebook vs. YouTube

Taking a closer look at the rise of Facebook’s native video player and how it challenges YouTube.

There was a time when it was hard to imagine anyone unseating YouTube as the king of online video. While it’s not quite time to declare a new champion, it’s no longer unfathomable that someone will be up to the challenge, and it’s looking like that “someone” will be Facebook.

In 2014 we have seen a significant change on how users chose to both view and post videos. Here is a quick snapshot of change in worldwide Unique Desktop Video Viewers and what service they use to view it:

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Companies like Buzzfeed and WestJet have been weaning off posting their videos to Facebook via YouTube and opting to use the platforms built in software instead. Facebook video is optimized for the platform, with features like autoplay, making it easier for users to view the content and for publishers to get it to play on screen. The process of sharing and distributing content is also more intuitive on the native platform. 

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As you can see, at least on Facebook, the native player is already gaining the edge over YouTube because of its built in capabilities. It makes sense from a metrics perspective too, allowing you to gather all of the information in one place (not go to views to YouTube and engagement to Facebook and YouTube). Facebook is making it easier to track analytics on your video.

However, this is also where the differences come in. YouTube only registers a “unique view” when a user actively clicks “play” and only registers one view per unique connection. Facebook on the other hand counts any video that played for 3 seconds as a view and duplicates the count if a user later returns to view the content again. The stat can be deceiving since users pause while scrolling through their feed, allowing for the video to play.

What does this mean for my brand? As always all of these stats are pointless unless we can apply them to your brand and make them work for you.

What this is means is that YouTube is still more valuable to your brand overall. It keeps better metrics about user engagement and actively pushes content. Customers viewing your content on YouTube are more valuable because they are engaged and present; they are interested in the content (at least initially).

YouTube also stretches the shelf-life of your content. If you miss a video in your Facebook feed, odds are you are not going to come back to it. YouTube on the other hand maintains a library, allowing users to return to content.

However, if you post primarily to Facebook, you should start using the built-in media player on the platform. An array of handy features like autoplay helps you get your content in front of more eyeballs reduces the number of interactions required to view the video, especially on mobile.

As Facebook finds itself at the intersection of social media and mobile, they are quick to introduce features that make mobile experience more convenient and streamlined for both users and advertisers. The analytics and statistics in Facebook video views increase makes it a no-brainer for brands to start posting their content to the platform using the built-in player. 

This week’s ruckus makers (June 15 – 19)

This week’s ruckus makers (June 15 – 19)

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  • Many apps have tried taking on seamless news delivery, but we might finally have an answer. The new app that could be the Instagram of news
  • Google analytics offers a lot of robust tools to help you find out everything you need. Here is how it can help retailers determine the effectiveness of what they do. 

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  • Google Streetview is a powerful tool, and with a little bit of application, it can be a powerful agent of change.

Dispatches from Austin – Day 2 & 3

Dispatches from Austin – Day 2 & 3

Saturday and Sunday brought rain and chilly weather, but we braved the elements to bring you more great insights from Austin @SXSW.

Our SXSW stretched through the weekend as Day 2 and 3 covered off a number of fascinating topics ranging from loyalty programs to the new sharing economy and how audiences are shaping events through social media.

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Saturday’s first panel was Beyond Likes (featuring Jordan Roth CEO of Culturalist), talking about the implications social media audiences have on cultural and current events. How are Twitter audiences shaping live television? As more and more people tune it together for shared experiences watching shows like Scandal and The Oscars, are they actually responsible for bringing back the idea of appointment television?

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Then came the rain – but this didn’t dissuade us from seeing some amazing sessions from astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson and entrepreneur Mark Cuban. Both drew massive crowds and delivered amazing, informative talks.

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Sunday brought better weather and even more great sessions. First up was Loyalty is Dead – a conversation about the current state of loyalty marketing programs (buy 10 coffees, get the 11th free) and posed the question are these programs truly building loyalty? The general consensus being that true loyalty is based around an emotional connections and consumers motivations aren’t about chasing that free coffee. They’re loyalty is shaped through how they’re treated and the desire by the brand to engage with them.

After a weighty presentation by Stephen Wolfram (Wolfram Alpha) around computation, we checked out a panel on The Economy of Sharing – looking at a new emerging economy where platforms like Etsy, HomeAway and ThredUP are facilitating platforms to help connect people and empower them to become sellers.

We capped the day with some great BBQ and Monday’s weather is clear and warm. Only two days left in Austin but still lots of great stuff to come. Stay tuned and follow the conference @madearuckus.

Posted by
Gary Edgar
on 10/03/2014

7 ways Google Creative Lab invents the future

One in nine individuals at Google has a PhD. For Scarborough raised Robert Wong (he attended the same school as Mike Myers), chief creative officer at Google Creative Lab…the final FITC 2014 presenter found his niche within the tech giant by answering one simple question “What can a designer do?”

One in nine individuals at Google has a PhD. For Scarborough raised Robert Wong (he attended the same school as Mike Myers), chief creative officer at Google Creative Lab, that means the six years in his current job have been most humbling.

Still, the final FITC 2014 presenter found his niche within the tech giant by answering one simple question “What can a designer do?”

Turns out, the answer is not so humble – invent the future. And it all started with an Oral B charcoal grey medium toothbrush.

In art school in New York, Wong headed to a Duane Reade pharmacy to buy that exact toothbrush –the one he always bought. Problem was all that was available that day was pink.

He actually left the store by the time he thought to himself, why can’t I buy that pink toothbrush?

Wong described this experience as living in chains that stop us from living our full potential.

“It’s all about letting go of things the way they are right now,” says Wong.

Fast forward to his time at Google. When they began hiring designers, Google didn’t really have job descriptions for them. The designers had to invent their jobs, and so Google Creative Lab was born.

So how as designers do we invent the future? Wong says to look at the immediate and figure out how to “desuckify” things.  

Not all ideas are great ideas though.

One of the first to come out of Google Creative Lab was Gmail keyboard shortcut stickers. They were a good idea at first but the bad printing job meant that the copy wore off within seven days and they were impossible to remove because of their incredibly sticky glue.

But, that was the launching point for some even better thinking including seven ways Google Creative Lab invented its own future.

1. Exceed insanely high expectations.

In looking to their immediate environment the first thing Google Creative Lab came up with was letting people know about the stuff that already existed. That was showing the power of Google search in a video piece called Parisian Love.

We’re excited to be working with Questrade

Questrade has chosen ruckus as a partner to help launch their new product Portfolio IQ

Social content agency ruckus digital was recently chosen as a partner for Questrade. The financial services firm was founded in 1999 with a clear mission: help Canadians achieve financial independence by providing them with the best investment products, trading technology and client services.

Since its inception, Questrade has been known for doing things differently from others in the space.

“We’re excited to be working with ruckus digital to help us through our most recent phase of growth,” says Lynn Suderman, director of communications at Questrade. “For us it was the match with Questrade’s personality – one that stands out – that made ruckus digital a natural choice.”

As part of the relationship, ruckus built a comprehensive public relations program for Questrade including social and digital content as well as earned media, for the launch of Portfolio IQ™ an ultra low-cost wealth management service run by Questrade Wealth Management.

“At ruckus, we believe everyone has a story to tell – including your brand. Stories are what shape and define us,” says Gary Edgar, director of digital at ruckus digital. “We built ruckus to work with brands, like Questrade, to find and tell their story through rich, compelling and relevant social content – tracking the value of that content with deep social analytics.”

The Portfolio IQ story is that while typically someone would need $250 to 500 thousand of investable assets just to be taken seriously, Questrade democratized investing by only needing a dollar to open an account and $2000 to get a customized portfolio.

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The campaign includes sports broadcaster Cabbie Richards who ambushes an individual acting as a financial advisor (AKA as F.A.) to try to get respect for his own money in three videos focusing on

Other versions of the videos will appear in commercial spots including one during the 2014 Grey Cup. 

Questrade, Inc. has been ranked by Investor Economics as the fastest-growing online brokerage for the past two years. Questrade Financial Group Inc. is also the proud recipient of a Best Managed Company award – three years in a row – and recently received first place ranking with Dalbar for direct and full-service brokerages (combined). President and CEO Edward Kholodenko was also recently recognized as Entrepreneur of the Year (Ontario) in the services category. Questrade Wealth Management Inc. provides managed accounts through Portfolio IQ. Questrade, Inc. and Questrade Wealth Management Inc. are wholly owned subsidiaries of Questrade Financial Group Inc.

For more information:

Diane Bégin, account director

ruckus digital

416.934.2116

diane@wemadearuckus.com

Posted by
Diane Bégin
on 28/11/2014

This week’s ruckus makers (May 25 – 29)

This week’s ruckus makers (May 25 – 29)

Check out our round up of all the great campaigns, links and notable reads this week.

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  • The NBA is utilizing a lot of social listening and analytics to create content on the go for its consumers. 
  • E-Mail newsletters may have been a thing of the past yesterday, but now, some publishers see them as a separate platform
  • The U.S. Air Force is competing with Google when it comes to recruiting. 

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  • Violence against women is a serious issue and technology often helps us shine a light on it in unexpected ways. 
  • Heineken got creative by turning your Tweets into music:

This week’s ruckus makers (July 6 – 10)

This week’s ruckus makers (July 6 – 10)

Check out our round up of all the great campaigns, links and notable reads this week.

Posted by
Serge Leshchuk
on 11/07/2015

Dispatches From Austin – Day 4

Day 4 at SXSW – We’ve got Mythbusters, Millennials and a look at how to create content your audience will love and how to make sure they’ll see it.

As with the whole conference Monday’s sessions really mixed insights and entertainment on topics such as content generation, digital place-based ads and the convergence of science and art.

Our first session featured Birchbox’ Molly Chen and Outbrain’s Jeff Pyatt talking about not only the importance of content but tips and tricks to draw readers in.

Chen runs Birchbox’ content development, a company that values content so much their first hire was an editor (they’ve since added 18 people to their editorial team). Creating content for their consumers – who she also calls readers – isn’t just about profiling the brand, but also delivering informative and timely posts their audience loves. She broke down the “secret sauce” Birchbox uses including a checklist that every post has to meet before going live – an always-needed call to action.

Outbrain’s Pyatt then talked about how brands are using their platform to take quality content and amplify it to even more readers. Outbrain’s premise is simple – deliver relevant content to readers who are already consuming content. He also touched on ways to not only distribute content but also convert readers with a strong call to action.

Next up was a panel looking at digital place-based marketing and how brands are taking their out-of-home marketing game to a whole new level. We looked at companies like Heineken’s brilliant Dropped campaign and Coke’s curated social content as key examples of how digital display ads can create true stop-and-stare moments for people and include them in the experience.

The second half of the day was a panel discussion on Millennials featuring Mashable’s Pete Cashmore, Cosmo editor Joanne Coles and MSL CEO Olivier Fleurot.  While an almost exhausted discussion at this point, it was nonetheless interesting to see companies like Mashable and MSL struggle with similar generational complexities.

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Lastly we caught Mythbuster’s Adam Savage talk on the convergence on Art and Science and people’s misconceptions that the two are in any way related. As a (self-professed) creative person, it was fascinating (and a little gratifying) to look at the creative process as a scientific one.

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One day left but still lots of great sessions to come including gamification, disrupting television and talks with former Twitter founder Biz Stone and social media icon, George Takei. Oh Myyyy.

Posted by
Gary Edgar
on 11/03/2014