Lindsay Casey

Netflix Is Blowing My Mind

A long time Rogers customer (or should I say hostage?), I’ve been becoming more and more unhappy with not only the quality of my traditional media services, but also the inflated pricing and lack of caring customer service. I’m also ethically opposed to corporate monopoly and incredibly sick of the stranglehold that companies such as Rogers and Bell are allowed to have on Ontario. So I’m finally pulling the plug.

I’ve cancelled cable at our Toronto place. It’s not that I don’t enjoy watching TV. I love TV! I mean, I get so much more accomplished when I’m not watching TV, but that’s beside the point. I’m way behind, anyway, I need to get working on my list. I haven’t even seen a single episode of The Sopranos yet. How lame is that?

The thing is, I hate waiting. Patience has never been one of my strong suits, and when it comes to waiting for a TV show, I just won’t do it. I’d rather download it and watch the whole season, which is what I’ve been doing lately. When I finally got around to watching Sons of Anarchy (which I loved!) I barely saw another human for about 2 weeks.

To cut a long story short, I’ve been thinking about joining Netflix for a while. Since I’m on my own at home in the country this weekend, I decided to go for it last night. At first, I thought I was in for a disappointment, because as soon as I signed up, I realized my Macbook was too old to run Microsoft Silverlight and thought I wasn’t going to be able to watch anything. Luckily, before I got too grumpy, I remembered Netflix had an iPad app. I logged on and was watching a show in no time.

This opens up a whole new world for me. Take right now – I’m sitting at home in a rural area not serviced by cable companies, and I’m typing away on my laptop while watching Misfits on my iPad. I’ve had zero issues streaming shows, I haven’t had to sit through any commercials and I can pause my show whenever I want. Hell, it’s on my iPad, I can take it to the bathroom with me if I want. And all for $8 a month? Count me in!

 

Lindsay Casey

Speed Network: Revving Up Social Media

When you picture an automotive auction, chances are you envision a bunch of rednecks standing in a barn & bidding on beat up vehicles. However, Barrett Jackson auctions on Speed Network are no regular auctions. They are the epitome of collector car auctions. The cars are hot, the bids fly sky high within minutes, and everyone who’s anyone in the collector vehicle market is in the audience.

As a fan of vintage vehicles, Barrett Jackson auctions on Speed Network are my Superbowl. I love seeing these beautiful vehicles rolling across the auction block, and it’s fun to window shop and pretend you have the crazy amounts of money thrown down to own them. It’s basically porn for car lovers. Just search #cargasm on Twitter and you’ll see what I mean.

In terms of having their audience engaged, Speed Network is absolutely killing it with Barrett Jackson. From their super engaged main Twitter and Facebook accounts to the Social Garage on air segment aired between auctions, the 7 person team behind the campaign has their well oiled social media machine purring like a kitten.

My personal favourite aspect of Speed’s Barrett Jackson event is the Hagerty Fantasy Bid. As North America’s leading collector car insurance company, this is great sponsorship on Hagerty’s part too. Several fantasy bid cars are chosen throughout the day, and viewers guess their bids through the website or via text. Points are racked up when you guess close to the actual hammer price, and winners receive all kinds of prizes, ranging from iPads to gas cards.

Another cool feature added this year is the Social Garage. Every now and then, the cameras roll away from the audience and over to the Social Garage, where the team invites viewers to submit their questions and engages with the audience over the air. Viewers can respond to questions via Facebook and Twitter, and I noticed more than one fan mention on Twitter that hearing their question or answer on Twitter made their day. The Social Garage is a fantastic interaction strategy that does an excellent job of engaging an audience and getting them involved with the live event.   

Speed Network has been actively promoting its Twitter account by airing its announcers personal Twitter handles and advertising its hashtags, #BJA2012, in the case of Barrett Jackson. A search on #BJA2012 reveals pages and pages of tweets and conversations, and that’s only counting today.

The key to Barrett Jackson’s social media success is consistency. The chatter doesn’t stop when the auction ends. It continues on Facebook, where their 65,000 strong fan base posts pictures of their own cars and engages with the team behind the scenes. All of this helps to build momentum for upcoming auctions, with more and more viewers tuning in each time.

The collector car market is a niche one, for those privileged enough to be able to purchase their dream vehicle. Barrett Jackson and Speed Network are doing a fantastic job at reaching out to their car loving audience and making them feel like they are part of a community, no matter whether they are lucky enough to have that Corvette in the driveway or, like most of us, just enjoy the eye candy.