3 Wise Men – a successful New Zealand based business shirt label. Their slick Italian style designs, quality fabric and palatable prices combined with a decidedly cheeky tone of voice has made the brand a Kiwi businessman’s favourite. The famous “3 shirts for 3 hundy” offer has given them an almost cult-like status in the brands’ home country. With stores in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch the next obvious step was for the cheerful 3 Wise Men to say g’day to the Australian market. A store in Sydney was opened – that’s where we came in.
The Solution
A heavily social media driven strategy was devised – with a cautious eye on budget to minimise risk for the new Australian venture. We started by creating a Facebook presence along with a Twitter account and began building followers. Then we went on to re-skin the 3 Wise Men home page to freshen up the look, improve navigation and the overall shopping experience to better suit the brand – without having to go through the expensive process of an e-commerce redevelopment. The site also had geo-location added to ensure users would be presented with information relevant to their location.
To create a soft-sell environment for the brand to live out it’s cheeky personality we created a separate social media web universe – “The Bored Room” was born. Built around a video blog this mini site allows users to view selected video clips, comment, share and connect with the brand. To aid in viral spread we built in a variety of social media tools. To drive return traffic, the Bored Room also features changing discount codes for visitors to use in the e-store – ultimately driving sales.
The popularity of the Bored Room spun into production of a 3 Wise Men viral video. We took the popular story of the Emperors New Clothes and gave it a new, slightly bizarre twist to suit the cheekiness of the brand.
Next out of the gate was a Christmas campaign to drive traffic to both on and off-line outlets. “Smells like Christmas” is an online version of an advent calendar. At the core of the campaign is the mini site featuring a new offer – available for 24 hours only – made available every day from the start of December to Christmas day. The campaign is supported by social media tools (Facebook and Twitter) as well as off line collateral, window decals and local promotional events.
3 Wise Men are an exciting and fun brand to work with and we can’t wait to let you know what we’ll do next…
I read an article from The Baltomore Sun today that very quickly showed that large companies are really starting to understand the potential of social media.
It said:
“Before the latest social media revolution, Jessica Gottlieb would have probably watched helplessly when her kids, Jane and Alexander, were trapped on the tarmac, waiting for their Virgin America flight to take off.
But that’s so 2008. When it happened to her last week, the Los Angeles-based blogger reached for her iPhone and twittered about her troubles. “Dear Virgin Air,” she wrote. “My children have been on the tarmac for one hour with 90 more minutes to wait. I am at JFK gate b25. Pls RT.”
That last request — please “RT” — is shorthand for Gottlieb’s nearly 10,000 followers to “retweet” her message, or rebroadcast it to their followers. And re-tweet they did. Within minutes, Virgin had phoned Gottlieb to reassure her that her kids would be fine.
“They contacted the gate agent manager and explained to us the entire weather situation,” she says. “Within 20 minutes of that conversation, the plane took off.”
The same forces that threaten to unravel a repressive Iranian regime are revolutionizing the way Americans travel. Social media sites that allow people to interact in the moment are changing how travel companies talk to their customers — and how their customers talk back. ”
It’s a few years old but still one of the great TED talk.
From the TED website - ”Great design is a never-ending journey of discovery — for which it helps to pack a healthy sense of humor. Sociologist and surfer-turned-designer David Carson walks through a gorgeous (and often quite funny) slide deck of his work and found images.”
Social networking has hit new heights in America. Companies are asking agencies to submit proposals for social networking contracts – over Twitter. Read the whole article
MIT Labs have produced some amazing things over the years. If you would like a quick look at what is going to be in our future have a look at this video.
Once a year Herald Sun, The Nine Network sponsor the Melbourne Marathon. Working Three was brought in to develop an application to increase participant interaction and engagement through the Herald Sun website.
Working with the Herald Sun team, we came up with an application that used RFID technology to log the time of every runner as they crossed the finish line and transferred that information directly into an online database.
We then digitised a HD video feed from the finish line and fed it into our online application.
Our Flash based application subsequently allowed the user to see themselves crossing the finish line, pause the video, and email it to a friend.
The application served as a highly successful viral component. We planned this technology and it’s development from the ground up and as a result were able to release the application with all of the video less than 20 hours after the race was completed.
This application is no longer live but there are some screen shots attached.
