© 2006 ORGANIC, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Who Brought the Brand to the Party? Your brand’s role in Social Networks Shane Ginsberg Executive Director, BD Organic, Inc.

2 Social Networks are an Emerging Platform

3 June 2006 More than three out of five Web users between the ages of 13 and 17 have visited social networking sites like MySpace, with the majority of those who visit also joining such sites. - Burst Media Study, 2006

4 Now MySpace is getting a middle-aged spread. More than half the visitors..are now 35 or over..up from less than 40% last year…The proportion of MySpace’s audience between the ages of 12 and 24 has dropped to 30% from 44.3% over the last year - Online Media Daily & comScore, October

Social networks are the new shopping malls Social networks are the new shopping malls Malls built by users and ruled by their own rules Inhabited by people seeking identity & connections

6 for a long time, consumers have been coming to advertising spaces.

7 but now advertisers are coming to a consumer-created space

8 how can advertising remain relevant in this space?

9 “The spirit of social computing is the spirit of leaving value in your wake” >Bradley Horowitz, Technical Director - Yahoo

10 It’s the injection of social currency It’s unique content or functionality they can’t get elsewhere It’s tools to make the content portable Exploits the natural desire to be the first on your block with something cool Surprise & delight

11 What Can Advertisers Gain? Advertisers have the opportunity to engage an audience with their brand in the audience’s environment They can prove their product’s relevance They can provide the audience with the tools and badges to better represent themselves. "Teens are brand networking on their pages--they are trend-setters and they want to be the first to know or to spread something..that’s the cultural currency of life on MySpace.” - Shawn Gold, MySpace

12 All Advertisers Have Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt This is about brand-building + loyalty building – NOT direct response. >DM approach is boring for users. Rejection is painful. Porn! >Its there, but you can’t have successful digital content and technology without the adult entertainment industry… The waters move quickly..one misstep and you are likely to drown Horror stories for users of transparency gone wrong / too far - Walmart, Sony Will people really buy products they see on social networks? But will they know about them? Metrics are pretty soft >Counting friends and organic brand mentions is the current mainstream method >Its your job to count - get creative. Have fun with the initiative

13 Social Networking is not dissimilar to a role playing game. Brands need to decide..Am I a badge, a destination or social currency?

14 Let’s look at an example where an advertiser leveraged social media to empower their fans, spread the word and build a community of customers.

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17 Creative Value by Enabling the Network

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19 How Did Fox Gain? Over 2,956,000 friends Opening weekend of $122,861,157 Total US gross: $234,360,014 An excited user base Control of a “switched on” viral marketing force An established marketing base to continue communications and sell the DVD

What’s on the Horizon? Growth, Functionality & Better Ad Support >More Partnerships (Google & MySpace) >Facebook? >Continued growth of older audiences >Deeper inclusion and support of video >Measurement & Metrics >Profile aggregators Mobile extensions and mobile communities >Group connectivity & community >Mobile content expansion (YouTube & Verizon) >Location based services >Mobile widgets & RSS push >Content downloads and viral pass along tools Gaming >Community gaming >Portable network gaming >Casual social & icebreaking games More Social Collaboration >Social networking in the enterprise >Group productivity, travel, shopping >Physical meetups >More mashups & RYO (Roll Your Own)

© 2006 ORGANIC, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Thanks Shane Ginsberg Executive Director, BD Organic, Inc.