O2 have produced what I think is a fantastic new handset, it's called Cocoon, you can play around with it here. We are working the launch and I'm really excited about it.
I like my Cocoon for some quite girlie reasons, firstly I just think that it looks great and very different from other phones out on the market at the moment. When I take it out in the pub or at a dinner it always draws comments.
I also like the fact that this is what I would term a piece of "insight-led design." By that I mean, strip away the hype about mobiles and the reality is that after talking and texting, the third most used functionality is the alarm feature (in fact in today's Ofcom Report they said just that) Cocoon has a nest which it sits in at night, charging, and it becomes an LED alarm clock.
It also has a cool functionality which allows you to see in-coming texts that scroll via the blue LED lights on the outside of the phone (that has led to many hours with friends texting me rude words just to see the phone light up and effectively swear at us while we giggle like 12 year olds)
That is very...
...and quite funny.
So I believe in in the product which from a Planner's perspective is a good place to start.
We decided to launch the phone in the Blogosphere before any advertising started. The fact that you're reading this blog probably means that you understand the power of digital advocacy, but if you need any more evidence see the chart below.
We used a proprietary tool called Web Mapping to uncover who we think that key influential UK bloggers. It made me smile that in the category of Thought Leaders, some old London Beersphere mates turned out to rank really highly. So if you see Faris, John, Russell or Henry around ask them to have a look at their Cocoon. I've also found smart bloggers who I was not aware of before, like Techno Kitten, Tom Hume and Di Overton.
You can see some of their thoughts and postings over at the Cocoon Blog. Please drop by and feel free to leave any thoughts that you have there, or on this blog.
We have had some really positive feedback to the way in which O2 is reaching out to the new blogger world in a transparent dialogue It's quite brave for large clients to do something like this as suddenly control moves out of their hands over to consumers, but the learnings that they are getting for the future are, I think, priceless.
like a smart one and provides
a potential blueprint for
brands to engage with
bloggers beyond the
sending of press releases.”
Look. Just stop messing about and give me my 'sample'.
Posted by: Charles Frith | Thursday, 23 August 2007 at 08:46 PM
I'm with you Charles. I could really turn on my fellow country dwellers to this new thing.
Posted by: dan at innocent | Thursday, 23 August 2007 at 11:24 PM
Really interetsing way to launch a cool product. Also very cool way of using web mapping. I miss making my web maps since leaving vccp :( My only question is where is mine?!
Posted by: Nicola | Friday, 24 August 2007 at 11:50 AM
Got to echo everyone else here...I could really go for one of those right about now.. ;)
Posted by: Will | Friday, 24 August 2007 at 12:24 PM
Hey Amelia,
Thanks for the comment on the blog. I chatted more about it on youtube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Swg6XZ3Nkkw.
The design is truly yummy as is the alarm clock feature. In fact, if it weren't for the storage and camera probs I'd go for it. It's not even that I mind 2MP as oppose to 3.2MP on the new walkman THAT much, but the tracking is so very slooooow.
Posted by: Ru | Friday, 24 August 2007 at 12:35 PM
Coincidentally I saw John's last night at TDC.
It looks very gay on a chap. I'm not implying anything though ;)
Posted by: Charles Frith | Saturday, 25 August 2007 at 10:55 AM
I too saw John's at TDC on Friday, loved the outer shell but not so keen on the keys and useability. Any chance of getting one to try?
Posted by: claire | Monday, 27 August 2007 at 02:33 PM
Hey Amelia, we've really enjoyed having the phone around and the whole project reminded me of something Russell wrote about in Campaign (I think) about how market research should be considered part of the brand experience. Well you've certainly made one O2 customer very happy through this, even if it's not strictly research.
Posted by: henry lambert | Saturday, 01 September 2007 at 07:36 PM
Hi I think the campaign is really interesting. I have just done a post about it on my blog for Brand Republic 'Bloggerati'. Clever stuff. What would be interesting is to see how O2 builds on this going forward and how they might involve the bloggers in the development of their products and services. I didn't think the actual blog was any great shakes though. I run my own blog advisory/social media company (www.itsopen.co.uk) and so I suppose you might expect me to say that but overall this is progressive and a good example to big brands many are simply too scared to get involved or are still locked in a traditional media communications mindset. How the landscape will change when the next generation take charge!
Posted by: justin hunt | Friday, 14 September 2007 at 12:57 PM
the phone looks cool - something brilliantly lo-fi about the alarm clock / LED thing.
the Forrester chart is drawn from a sample of PlanetFeedback.com members - so not a surprise that peer review is top of their list... quite a good example of the "feedback" you hear a lot in the blogging.
Posted by: Jon Miller | Thursday, 20 September 2007 at 03:15 PM
PS. hope you appreciate the use of the definite article - "the blogging".
I'll have an internet to go, please...
Posted by: Jon Miller | Thursday, 20 September 2007 at 03:20 PM
have you seen this:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/nov/05/mondaymediasection.comment
has some relevance to what you're talking about here.
Posted by: Tom Cole | Tuesday, 06 November 2007 at 05:13 PM