The central point of this video is how Facebook and the like become all consuming.  Your friendships and relationships are just as digital as they are ‘real’.  The more you use it, the more you propagate it, despite its sometimes negative consequences (queue the girlfriend dumping the central character) .

The one thing that makes this so clever is not actually the video itself but the effect of it.  Bearing in mind the point its making, the irony of producing such an effective video on social media platforms, like this video, is that it will inevitably go viral.  People will pass it on, show their friends, and yes, blog about it. Therefore, I feel really rather cliché for (a) having found this on a social networking site and (b) for doing what I’m about to do – but as it’s so good, have to share with you.  What this does prove however is that video or any other media really does rely on good content and clever concepts for the viral phenomenon to happen.

Watch and enjoy … and if you want to be part of the cliché why not share it too!

(London and Hong Kong) i-Mego, the global headphone brand, is launching a major new competition this August – the TopTrakz Challenge – to showcase the best talent amongst unsigned bands in Europe. The competition is being supported by PR and online activity, including social media.

This is the first session in the new i-MegoTopTrakz competition series, beginning on 1st September 2010. Unsigned bands and solo artists are invited to submit an original song of their choice. Only two entries per band or artist are permitted, but there is no restriction at all on style or genre. All entrants must be based in Europe. The judges’ decisions will be based partly on artistic judgement, and partly on support for entrants expressed by their fans. For each entry received, the artist or band will be given a URL where their fans can leave a vote for their band’s track.

Full entry instructions may be found at http://events.myspace.com/Event/View/6917715, or by visiting our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Imego/364438985044. Entry forms for the TopTrakz Challenge are available at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/TopTrakz1.

The i-MegoTopTrakz competition is designed to promote bands and artists who do not yet have a commercial contract, and help these unsigned bands to further their work. Each session of the competition will award a first prize of a professional studio day. Ten runners-up will receive one of i-Mego’s high quality audio products. Every entrant, and every fan who votes for their entry, will receive a rebate voucher/code for selected i-Mego products.

A shortlist of thirty second-round tracks will be chosen by the judges, before moving on to the final selection of one winner and ten runners-up. The shortlist, runners-up and eventual winner will be widely publicised in the final stages of the competition.

Miranda Hudson, Marketing Director for i-Mego, comments, “As a brand that is committed and connected to the emerging music scene, we are delighted to be launching this competition to highlight the work of all those excellent musicians whose work is not backed by major commercial marketing campaigns. We hope that taking part in the i-MegoTopTrakz challenge will provide an exciting experience for participants, a great publicity boost for shortlisted entrants, and a real accolade for runners-up and, of course, the overall winner.”

i-Mego
i-Mego is the global audio accessory brand that broke onto the market in 2009, and now has a distribution network across Europe, Scandinavia and North America. Bridging the gap between cool and quality, i-Mego headphones not only produce high-fidelity sound, but are also stylish gear for street, club or studio.

i-Mego products may be found at http://www.i-mego.com
TopTrakz entry forms are at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/TopTrakz1

i-Mego at IFA 2010
i-Mego is exhibiting at the IFA 2010 consumer electronics show, at the Messe Berlin, 3-8 Sept 2010. All new products will be on display at the i-Mego stand and visitors to the show, trade and public, will be welcomed with a variety of exciting promotions. Please visit us at Hong Kong Pavilion Hall 26C, booth number 831.

Trade visitors wishing to make a specific appointment, or to register as a reseller, should contact admin@i-mego.com

For further press information, please contact imego@lindsellmarketing.com

One talking point that has emerged so far is that just about everyone involved in the UK election industry – you know, those politicians, party activists, journalists, PRs, ad agency mad men, pollsters, quiz-show comedians and assorted pundits who live for the big campaign – is beginning to wonder if this one will be unlike any other when it comes to media.

With many of the consultants who helped devise the strategy behind Barack Obama’s successful US presidential run – with its extensive use of social media and other online touch points – heading to the UK as election advisors, the British political machine finally appears ready to embrace the digital age.

Will that make a fundamental difference to the way election campaigns unfold in the UK? Not very likely.

Social media has become a kind of cure-all for whatever ails marketing programmes of all types – and political “brands” are no exception. The Conservatives have already made an early, near-disastrous foray into the world of social media with the Cash Gordon website launched on Twitter and Facebook. The aim was to embarrass Brown by exposing links to the Unite union, but the site ended up being hijacked by opponents of the Conservatives who used it to embarrass the Tories themselves by uploading swearing, porn, links to Labour websites and even Rick Astley videos.

This underlines the inherent risk to any brand – whether it is a political party, a corporation, a charity, a restaurant, a car, a laundry soap, or a biscuit – if it chooses to engage the public through social media: this opens a dialogue in a medium over which the organisation that started the conversation has very little control.

When political groups, companies, or other organisations start using social media to get a message across, it all too often smacks of GMOOT (“Get me one of those”) syndrome, as it has been dubbed in AdAge. This is the trend whereby someone senior in an organisation sees that someone else is using some type of social media and demands that those below him do the same – without thinking things through strategically. 

Any organisation – especially a political party – has to weigh up the benefits and potential costs, and even dangers, of launching a campaign using social media. And digital activity still has to be part of a broader media campaign that unfolds and fits in with a wider strategy.

Social media might seem like a great way for a party like the Conservatives to make a connection with a younger demographic than they normally might, but it has already been shown that it can blow up in their faces. Would social media on its own enable David Cameron to connect with younger voters and finally get his chance to hug a hoodie – rather than be mocked by one? Don’t bet on it.

What you can bet on is that social media will play a part in the campaign – perhaps even a growing part as the run-up to election day progresses and the parties get a handle on digital – but television, newspapers, radio, doordrop brochures and good old-fashioned face-to-face campaigning will still all be big in the mix.

Cute tweets and virals may make for good water cooler chat and headlines but they won’t drive fundamental change – either in the political landscape or in business.