This is the fourth time that Google has organised the Doodle Google. Doodle is a Google logo drawing competition. It is reserved for K12 students (5 to 18 year old kids) across the US .

Doodle - Google

This years topic is ‘What I Wish for the World’. Google invites all users to vote for their favourite logo based on the state finalists and regional winners. The winner will have his logo online on the 21st of May 2009 and the child’s school will receive $25,000 to go towards improvement of IT facilities.

Doodle - Vote

Doodle is a great online campaign (very similar to the one organised by YouTube, weird they are the same company!!!). It provides aid to schools….whilst promoting the brand awareness to the youth of America.

Once again it is a cheap and efficient online marketing campaign organised by the Google Group. Maybe next time Google will organise a world wild contest…

Today Google launched a lot of new services. A new interface for the Google Webmaster tool, some new options on the search engine results page and my personal favorite, the Wonder Wheel.

This function is really easy to access. On the results page of Google click on on the top.

Wonder Wheel - Google

The Wonder Wheel is a graphic way to search content by linking a topic to different sub-topic (e.g.: football to football training to NFL training).

It is a useful tool when you don’t know the best keyword for a specific subject. Just enter a generic keyword, click on the most relevant suggested link and Google will try to guide you to the right keyword.

This tool is not really an innovation, a few years back Microsoft devolved Tafiti with the same principle, with the exception that Tafiti uses the ‘new’ Microsoft technologies (Silverlight).

Tafiti - Microsoft

At the end of the day, I am not sure that a lot of people are going to use this option but it does explain a little how Google is working at the moment.

Wikipedia is the largest free online encyclopedia with over 12 million pages. It is funded by donations and volunteers (‘admins’) ensure the accuracy of the pages.

A few months ago a young Irish student from Dublin (Shane Fitzgerald) posted a fake poetic quote on the Maurice Jarre Wikipedia page following his death. Some newspapers (including the Guardian) used Shane’s quote in articles on the passing of the musician.

Maurice Jarre Wikipedia

Obviously some journalists did not check the accuracy and the source of the quote. However,Shane Fitzgerald’s experiment has sparked a debate about the accuracy and monitoring of Wikipedia.

Most people know that Wikipedia is not 100% correct all of the time but nevertheless it is regarded as a trustworthy source. It is easy to overlook the fact that it is still very easy to put pretty much whatever you want on it.

It is even easier when you have an auto-approve user login (once 10 of your modifications have been approved). All you have to do is to write something plausible on one of the less popular Wikipedia pages and here we go!

I tried this experiment for you using my boss (Maurice Lévy)! I added :‘Maurice Lévy is also famous for his quote ‘Viva la différence’ which is now the tagline of Publicis Group.’ to his Wikipedia page.

This statement is totally incorrect but plausible. In two minutes I have changed a Wikipedia page… now lets see how long this statement will stay on Wikipedia.

Maurice Levis Wikipedia

Fake Quote Wikipedia

This example shows how is easy to modify for at least a few minutes/hours a Wikipedia page and if you target the right page at the right moment you can do some damage!

Wikipedia is still a nice and useful tool but do be careful to double check the facts.

Now it is possible to tan via your computer! That, at least, is what the new website ComputerTan claims. For the past two months this new website has attracted a large number of users (over 1.5 million) by claiming that they can magically tan you via your PC monitor.

ComputerTan

This website has been created by McCann Erickson for Skcin Charity. Skcin is The Karen Clifford Skin Cancer Charity which was set up to bring vital information about skin cancer.

The website is composed of a few Flash pages. First you watch a marketing friendly video which explains how you can get a tan via your PC monitor. After you have access to a free trial. You click on few buttons and some UV lights turn-on on your screen.

UV light - ComputerTan

A few seconds later some pictures of skin cancer pop-up and you finally understand the ‘scam’!

Cancer pictures - ComputerTan

It is a great way of informing people about the dangers of the UV tan. It is ‘funny’ and creative, if not a little misleading for sunbed addicts .

This initiative is a very original idea from McCann Erickson! But once again, SEO has been forgotten…

In the weeks following my first post regarding Carrie Prejean, the public interest in this story has carried on increasing. The number of searches on this subject is growing as you can see on Google trends.

Carrie Prejean - Google Trends

So what has happened in the past two weeks? Carrie Prejean has joined the ‘National Organization for Marriage’ and has started a campaign against gay marriage. She also promotes ‘proposition 8’ (Keep Marriage Restored) on her Facebook page.

Carrie Prejean Facebook

 
So where are we online with Carrie Prejean? First, Carrie Prejean experiences a search engine reputation management problem. Effectively, TMZ covers the two first Google results for ‘Carrie Prejean’ keyword (with ‘sexy’ photos of her at 17 years old). Also Google news comes up with some negative articles relevant to Miss California.

Carrie Prejean - Google Result

So what has Carrie Prejean done? She has obviously started to ‘collect’ friends on her Facebook profile.

Carrie Prejean - Facebook Friends

And Carrie Prejean updated her Facebook profile with different messages…

Carrie Prjean - Facebook Update

Carrie Prejean Twitter is yet not available. Thanks Twitter!!!

Carrie Prejean Twitter

At the end of the day, it seems that Carrie Prejean is working by herself for an online reputation (I don’t know who and what is doing her PR) and the result is not great!

YouTube, the video website, has organised a contest for the Cannes Lions 2009. The Cannes Lions festival is a global event for those working in advertising world. The festival will be held in Cannes from the 21st to the 28th of June. During the Cannes Lions celebration a numbers of Lions Awards are attributing to the best press campaigns, TV ads, online campaigns etc…

48 Hour Ad Contest - Youtube

During this event YouTube is holding an advertising contest. The winning advertisement will be premiered at the Cannes Lions festival 2009 and will be shown on YouTube.

The advertisement should be about a charity project but the twist is that nobody knows the exact brief. YouTube plans to reveal the brief only 48 hours before the candidates need to post the video (the 15th of May) and between 17th May and 21st June. The entry will need to be promoted online in order to increase the number of viewers. The video with the most views selected by the YouTube judges will win the contest.

YouTube have organised a banner campaign, videos and a micro site for this event. Over 2500 people have subscribed to the contest so far and the channel has been viewed by 110,000 people.

Excellent idea from YouTube, it is very cost effective, creative and for a good cause. It is a top online marketing campaign considering the budget invested.

‘Operation Overlord’ was the code name for the World War II invasion of Europe by Allied forces. The Overlord list is a list of English veterans who wish to celebrate the event in Normandy in June 2009.

BMB creative agency has developed a website (overlordlist.co.uk) in order to collect £350 for each veteran. The £350 is for the hosting and transportation fees. You can select the area and specific veteran that you want to sponsor. Good idea ! You can also write a message on the website.

Overlordlist website

Message on Overlordlist

Sounds good, but there is two main problems:

1) Website accessibility. The website is a full flash website without any Flash alternative. Consequently, search engines cannot read this website and cannot index it. This makes it harder to find it on Google or Yahoo.

2) It does not make it clear where or how to the donate money…

This is a nice idea, but the website is very hard to find and it seems hard to give the money! Not very user or SEO friendly.