Cable Capers

How is your broadband speed these days?  This is the kind of question often raised between consenting adults, and the cause for their concern, our increasing reliance on the many kilometers of undersea cable.

As this map produced by South African Greg Mahlknecht clearly shows, our oceans are crisscrossed with telecommunication cables.

See the original

The network wasn't so complicated in 1858 when the first cable across the Atlantic was dropped on the seabed but laying the cable certainly was.

Map of the 1858 Atlantic Cable route

As Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper of the time records:

"The laying of the great Telegraph cable has necessitated the invention of new and even complicated machinery, while at the same time the accidental failure of the first attempt has brought about changes and improvements in the construction of the breaks and drums. We engrave, from drawings by our own correspondent, a complete representation of the machinery used. As is well known, the principal difficulty in the important undertaking is the even descent of the wire into the ocean without acquiring such velocity as to be broken by one of the sudden strains to which it is exposed, or coiling itself in a "kink." Of course the heavy swell of the Atlantic - and it must be remembered that even a calm implies a gigantic roll or swell of the mighty waves - will alternately raise and lower the vessel which is paying out the cable to such an extent as to necessitate a regulating power upon the descending wire, and in a gale of wind or on a chopping sea this necessity is vastly increased."

and later:

Cyrus W. Field

"Around midnight on the Tuesday a break occurred aboard ship and repairing it took until 7.00 am the next morning. Noon Wednesday 29 August a second conductor failed and during the day the wind and sea got up. Another break occurred on board ship and by the time this was repaired the pitching and tossing had strained the cable so badly that a third conductor had failed. By now the weather was so bad, the wind having reached near hurricane force, that the ship was in danger of foundering, it was decided to cut the cable and abandon the expedition."

The first cable was a failure but in 1866 the project driver, Cyrus W. Field succeeded in his quest. By 1901 our 'connected world' had become even more so, albeit very USA and Europe-centric.

The Eastern Telegraph Company map of 1901 shows that  in the short space of 35 years much of the world was cabled. It is no surprise that these connections echo the major global trade routes of the time.

The fiber-optic transatlantic cables of today are of the fibre optic variety.  These super fast lines shave milliseconds of data speed which can mean millions to a stock trader.

The 2011 Japanese earthquake caused widespread damage to undersea communications according to reports.

Japanese cables

Which all begs the question, with our dependence of the internet, how much more global disruption will there be when major 'quakes on the world's other fault lines decide to rupture?  It may be too late to sell those shares when it happens.

Related articles

• Old maps of undersea cables (visurus.wordpress.com)
• History of the Atlantic Cable
• Fiber-Optic Transatlantic Cable Could Save Milliseconds, Millions by Speeding Data to Stock Traders (popsci.com)

On The Ball - How Social Media Is Building The Rugby World Cup Buzz

Open publication

It hasn't been the easiest of tasks promoting a world class event such as the 2011 Rugby World Cup.  Shortly after New Zealand won the rights to stage it the world plunged into a deep financial recession which must have put a dent on ticket sale projections.

Then followed two significant earthquakes that affected Christchurch, one of the main venues for the Cup. The second one on February 22nd caused massive damage and loss of life.

Key Phrases over 6 months - Note February 22nd impact
Click on the chart to view larger version

Undaunted by this malevolent force of nature, the RWC organisers have soldiered on rearranging schedules and shifting venues to other cities.

Hand in hand with the extraordinary circumstances of this global sporting event has been the use of digital media and in particular social media, to build positive buzz about the tournament and entertainments.

As the research in the above presentation reveals online sentiment has largely remained unerringly positive over the past month.

Growth on social media networks is now starting to gain momentum with :

• 3,000 new twitter followers in the past four weeks
• 65,000 more Likes on Facebook over the same period

Network associated online with Rugby World Cup -  Note 'Bob Parker' is the Mayor of Christchurch.
Click on chart for the larger version

The main web site receives 159,443 unique users per month and 14, 625 page views per day.  As might be expected most interest in the website comes from rugby playing nations:

New Zealand 31.0%

South Africa 9.9%

United Kingdom 8.4%

Australia 6.6%

A key reason for the success of the event's digital strategy is the integration of various channels; for example the social media icons are clearly visible in the top third of the web page.

Web landing page

With the Rugby World Cup kicking off this September it will also be interesting to see how users of twitter and Facebook record their experience.

Related articles

• England will open Rugby World Cup in Dunedin (independent.co.uk)

Putting The Boot In - But Which Boot?

Image via Wikipedia

The world is buzzing about the World Football Cup being held in South Africa and mega events such as this present global opportunities for digital marketers.

Neilsen details how the shoe giant Nike has undertaken a very effective piece of ambush marketing, no doubt to the chagrin of the major event sponsors.

By monitoring the social media buzz they had noted that it was their brand that were most associated with the World Cup, even more than the official partners and sponsors.

Nike's "Write The Future" campaign neatly gazumped that of Adidas by capturing 30+% of the Buzz while the official sponsor has thus far only registered a little over 14%.

Carlsberg Beer have done something similar, bettering the official sponsor, Budweiser.

According to Alex Burmaster, vice president of communications for Nielsen. "Social media has made ambush marketing easier, simply because of the virality of it. Some people call it an echo chamber."

FIFA is not taking this lying down and at last count their lawyers have filed 2,519 cases globally against parties it accuses of ambush marketing.

Some social media platforms themselves are suffering as a result of the World Cup.  Twitter appearing to be feeling the strain.  Track activity by topic, players, or team using CNN's Twitter Buzz.  There are reportedly 150,000 tweets per hour per game;  no wonder Twitter is creaking.

Neilsen has also used Brand Association Mapping to identify the differing perspectives of the Cup between countries.  Note the UK example below.  The words "winning" and "championship" reveal high expectations of their team. Click on the chart to enlarge it.

Trendrr provides a good overview of social media activity associated with World Cup 2010

Related articles by Zemanta

• How Nike and Pepsi Hijacked the World Cup (adage.com)
• FIFA Battles 'Ambush Marketers' Targeting World Cup (Update1) (businessweek.com)
• Nike ad beats official World Cup sponsors for online buzz (guardian.co.uk)
• Ambush Marketers Tackle World Cup Organizers, Sponsors (time.com)