Watermelon World

This week's assignment called for a New Media experience that convinced Teenagers to eat fruit. The fruit I chose was a Watermelon. There were no limits put on the final product and we would hypothetically have an unlimited budget.



The main elements of a watermelon that aided my development of a New Media campaign targeted towards teenagers were as follows:

• A watermelon is a large fruit that feeds many.
• It is often consumed in the summer during communal events, such as summer bbq's, picnics, birthday parties and camping.
• Has a "cool" factor with it's bright pink and green colors, and playful zigzag skin.

See my watermelon exploration.



I thought the above features key in promoting watermelons to teens. Teenagers are a very passionate bunch, who are consumed with socializing and interacting with friends, enjoying summers off, and experimenting and having fun.

See my Teenager exploration, followed by various "Likes & Dislikes."



This brainstorming session went in a number of directions as I tried to draw on teens' obsession with celebrity, social networking and stimulation. My thought process can be seen in my process book. I will present my concluding campaign, and then explain a bit about why it would work.


THE BIG IDEA

My watermelon campaign would focus on inspiring kids to be active in both the VIRTUAL and the REAL worlds. It would do so by joining forces with the popular TV show Glee, which represents the underdog making it big, the importance of self-expression and strength, and the general passionate nature of teens. Not to mention the show reached 13.66 million viewers this spring. Teens are eating it up, and the best part of that is it focuses on teens just being themselves and being passionate about what they do.



1. The Virtual World

Welcome to Watermelon World brought to you by Glee. Watermelon World is an online platform for teens to interact with their friends, upload music, watch movies, play games and share ideas. This interactive platform is a place for all the elements of their online experience to come together - allowing for facebook and twitter feeds, personal email accounts, music playlists, and calendar events.


Teenagers will move in and out of sections of the watermelon, experiencing whatever interests they choose. They will also create a CUSTOMIZABLE CHARACTER to represent themselves on Watermelon World, and be able to see the characters friends' have created.


This site is about being yourself - active, healthy, expressive and inspired. It is user driven, and can be taken to the heights of the imagination in terms of content (of course, it will be screened monitored by official Watermelon World officials to prevent any illegal or underhanded activity).

Some key features and pages can be seen as follows:


The most important feature of this interactive platform surrounds "SeedTV: Where the watermelons grow." SeedTV is a video stream found on Watermelon World, that allows teens to display their talents, whatever they may be.

Singers, dancers, fashionistas, inventors, artists and do-gooders can demonstrate to their peers what they are accomplishing in the real world and what makes them an individual. It is documentation of these growing "seeds" and gives them the opportunity to be their own stars.

Inspired by the childhood song "Down By the Bay," SeedTV embodies teens expressing their creativity, challenging themselves and daring unknown territory.

WHY WOULD THEY BOTHER???

Because Watermelon World officials will annually evaluate the best of SeedTV and choose winners to attend Glee's Watermelon Camp!

2. The Real World

Teens are motivated to participate in Watermelon World because of the opportunity to attend Glee's Watermelon Camp.



The camp is about having a great summer, making new friends, playing games, seeing new talents, and best of all, learning from the professionals. The characters from Glee will be there every summer, coaching kids who want to sing or act, or simply encouraging kids who are pursuing a project. Other qualified instructors will be provided depending on the needs and interests of the teens.

This would be desirable for teens because it combines celebrity, self-expression, fun and friends. And on top of that, the progress made at the camp will be recorded and displayed on SeedTV. Fame is at a teen's fingertips.


Wrap Up

To recap the underlying principles of this campaign - watermelons are about community and socializing. A fresh, healthy piece of fruit during fun summer days. But I want to promote being an individual in that community. Through the virtual and real, teens can come together to express their individuality and be rewarded for it.



The campaign would also combine traditional forms of advertising to promote the virtual Watermelon World and chance to attend Glee's Watermelon Camp. Stickers on watermelons at grocery stores, merchandise, ads in magazines and newspapers, along with commercials with Glee characters would permeate the marketplace.


Who know where a little encouragement could take users?

New Media Exploration

This week, I explored the breadth of New Media. I watched various videos and scoured technology blogs to see what was out there. Here are a few interesting links that have helped me to further understand the concept of "New Media" and its possibilities:

Bunchball
"Putting the Fun in Functional: Applying Game Mechanics to Functional Software"
Daisy Whitney's New Media Minute
Coincident TV

In searching for some good examples of New Media, I set myself guidelines for the search:

• The media successfully gets people to interact in both the real and virtual worlds.
• It's accessible and far reaching.
• It is community driven and creates dialogue.
• There are numerous points of entry.
• It combines text, imagery, sound, video & function.

First Find

I first discovered “BunchBall,” a company that specializes in developing games to get consumers to be further engaged in a company’s website, prolonging time spent on websites and creating positive interactions between potential customers.

“Gamification” : integrating game dynamics into your site, service, community, content or campaign, in order to drive participation.

This lead me to Scvngr, which develops this concept even more by putting the “game” portion in the real world.

• Members of Scvngr are given challenges to complete in the real world.

• Members go out and complete these challenges, record that it was completed through pictures and “checkins,” and then receive points for completing it.

• The points are accumulated and members can receive rewards.
• Companies offer rewards through Scvngr, because the game drives customers to their businesses.
• Members connect and compete with friends, and follow different “Treks” (challenges), to motivate involvement.

The creator of Scvngr is Seth Priebatsch, a 21 year old, Princeton drop out who had an idea with huge potential. He was named America's 2009 Best Young Entrepreneur, and has a staff of 60.


This New Media application has worked because,

• It's engaging and goal oriented.
• Taps into a collecting mentality (points); redeemable points drive loyalty.
• Encourages competition and tracking between friends.
• Connects with Social Networking sites; Facebook and Twitter (many touchpoints).
• Businesses don’t have to sacrifice much to be a part of “the game,” and are motivated by the huge benefit of the game telling consumers to go to their business to accomplish a challenge.
• Gets people outside into the real world.

See an interview with Seth for more info: SCVNGR’s Seth Priebatsch Talks About Geolocation Wars, Facebook Places and More!


Second Find

Canada Tourism keeps connected with all the latest Social Networking sites, and has used its power to promote travel within Canada.

Through daily blog entries, facebook and twitter updates, those traveling Canada can stay connected with where to go, depending on what kind of traveler they are, and also catch-up on what other travelers are doing.

Canada Tourism started a campaign to address the problem of getting American’s to realize the travel potential right next to them. They used New Media to engage clients in the United States . . .

The Interactive Twitter Wall (Video)

• Installed in major cities, such as New York, Chicago and LA.
• A live stream of photos and comments from travelers in Canada.
• Walkers-by can stop and interact with the screen.
• Staff available on-site to provide further material, etc.

• People are then inspired to visit the Canada Tourism website, which has further information and constant updates of “what you can do.”

• There's a back and forth exchange, allowing customers to customize their experience and therefore have further investment and involvement.

• Blog documenting people’s actual experience.

It works because,

• It connects people’s real experiences, developing a group mentality.
• The giant interactive mural in the physical world structures the back and forth exchange; curiosity.
• People are familiar with Social Media; already know how to interact with it.
• The “live feed” aspect makes things immediate and evokes a response; virtual world constantly keeps information up-to-date; inspires people to do further research.

Conclusions

• New Media becomes powerful when it consists of multiple elements.
• Real world experience is still a very important part of it.
• Companies need to think on a grander scale, implementing numerous points of contact, keeping users engaged with up-to-date information and rewarding desired behaviors (good feedback).