Week One - Researching Social Media Campaigns Pt. 2

image above from:http://m.twitter.com/account/profile.mobile?page=6&user=lanceArmstrong

Project Name and URL: Lance Armstrong's Twitter Ride - http://m.twitter.com/account/profile.mobile?page=5&user=lanceArmstrong

Location & Creator/Author/Organisation: Adelaide, created by Lance Armstong

Media and How its used: Earlier this year before Adelaide's Tour Down Under, Lance posted on his twitter page, an invitation to the cyclists of Adelaide to join him in a public ride.

Points Reflecting on its success: Posted on twitter on the 13^th in two and a half days, the ride was estimated to have attracted over 1,400 riders (which is how many riders rode in the Lance's Dublin Public Ride). The ride gained wide media coverage which gave cycling, the Tour Down Under and Lance's return to the pro-circuit exposure.

Points of possible transfer to the Newcastle context: In the above case, there was a celebrity draw card. Maybe its about attracting someone to the Renew Newcastle campaign who will create media coverage for Renew Newcastle.

image above from:http://www.greenpeace.org/international/campaigns/oceans/whaling/great-whale-trail/mrsplashypants

Project Name and URL: Greenpeace Name the Whale - http://www.greenpeace.org/international/campaigns/oceans/whaling/great-whale-trail/mrsplashypants

Location & Creator/Author/Organisation: Greenpeace

Media and How its used: Greenpeace were placing tracking devices on Humpback whales and for ease of reference, an online polling system which was created to name the whales. They included some well thought through names as well as for fun: Mr Splashy Pants

Points Reflecting on its success: Interestingly, many online websites latched onto the idea that this whale should be called Mr Splashy Pants and so many websites including Boing Boing, Reddit and Facebook got behind naming it so. To the point where they had major control of its name. This gained the cause major world-wide media coverage and the Japanese Government called off their hunt.

Points of possible transfer to the Newcastle context: The success of this strategy was for the most part accidental. It is then difficult to see how the success of this project could be transferred. It does however emphasise how important it is to make people feel like they actually have power in changing the world.