Children in Need have come slap bang into the technology age this year and look like they’re aiming to appeal to the technology hungry audience that might not traditionally sit down this evening to watch 5 hours of fund raising.
They’re right to do this too, today people don’t idly sit and watch TV, those who do watch the fun and frolics on the BBC tonight are likely to be iPadding, Facebooking, Tweeting and BBMing and by providing the latest in tech tools to play with they’re much more likely to capture their audiences attention and keep it for longer. I’m guessing that once people start pinning, tweeting and facebooking Blipped pictures of themeselves with celebrities it’s going to spread around their social circles like wild fire.
eBay shop design by 247TopSeller
For the seventh year in a row they’re holding the Children in Need official auction on eBay, and have had a fully featured eBay shop designed by the guys at 247Topseller. The shop even highlights five items you can buy without even having an eBay account, as well as links to everything you need to get started fundraising or simply make a one off donation. As well as the auctions the Children in Need eBay shop is also home to Pudsey merchandise.
Social Media
It would be surprising if the BBC Children in Need wasn’t getting social and they’ve pretty much got the major social networks covered. They’re on Facebook, twitter, Pinterest, Google Plus and YouTube.
Each channel does of course vary in the type of content from games on Facebook to the promise that BBC Children in Need will repin a range of your own Pins to help spread the word in pictures and video.
iPudsey app
Children in need have their very first official mobile App, iPudsey, and you could be Peggy Mitchell, a Dalek or Del-Boy. You can even get your dog to speak with your own voice! They say to search your “usual App Store”, but in reality I can only find the app for Apple devices, which is a big mistake. What happened to Android and Blackberry users?
If you do have an Apple device it’ll work on iPhone (4 or later), iPod touch (3rd generation or later) and the iPad
Blippar
I first came across Blippar back in June of this year, and it’s a fun way to discover more about a product or service simply by viewing it through the Blippar app (which IS available on Android, as well as iPhones!). From a marketing perspective you can simply scan a product (such a a bottle of Heinz Tomato Ketchup to get exciting augmented reality experiences and instantaneous content so it’s a fantastic way for a brand to get user engagement with their product.
Scan the Children in Need logo with Blippar and you can have fun with their Celebrity Photobooth – Kiss Stacey Solomom, high five Alexandra Burke or Peter Andre or snuggle up with Blue! They will be adding more celebrities over the next few weeks so you can pretend you’ve been schmoozing with your favourite star!
I really like Blippar, it’s definitely something that sites such as eBay and Amazon could use as a fun interactive way to find new content on marketplaces. Download the Blippar app today and scan the Children in Need logo above for a live demonstration of Blippar in action.
