According to John McCrea, General Manager of Tunerfish, the company “lives at the intersection of social and TV”. Tunerfish is a new social media application that lets users share what they’re watching on TV so that people can discover new shows and see what’s popular with their friends….while earning rewards for being active. The site is still on its “beta” phase, but we love it already…and you will too. Be sure to download the iPhone app…and get ready to get hooked! Sign up now!
New brand identity for Tunerfish has lots of personality!
Tunerfish was developed while John McCrea was VP of Marketing at Plaxo (which became part of Comcast in 2008). BTW: Check out John’s blog …lots of cool insight into the workings of Silicon Valley and Social Media. Working with Nida Zada, Plaxo’s Director of User Experience, John championed the idea that there were opportunities for Comcast to leverage its network and join the social media conversation…and from this concept emerged Tunerfish – which was officially launched in June at TechCrunch Disrupt. Altough still in its infancy, the company has started to generate buzz with mentions in AdVenture and the NY Times.
Having worked with John in the past, we were very happy that he called upon us to help him and Nida develop a brand identity for their new venture. It was a pleasure working with both of them, since they are smart, experienced and have a great sense of humor. Yet, this does not mean that the project did not have its challenges. John knew he wanted an identity that had lots of “personality” and he pushed us to continue exploring until we landed on the friendly character that now represents the brand. He was very encouraging and patient along the way…but did not want to settle until we came up with something special.
The real breakthrough came when we decided to “dress up” the little “Tunerfish” in clothes that represented the types of shows that someone might be watching. Holding on to a martini glass helped represent “MadMen”, and sporting fangs was perfect for “TrueBlood”, while a hat and cigar suggested the gangsters from “Boardwalk Empire”. These icons become part of the reward ecosystem by which you get recognized for being a fan…or being an influencer…and now we have created a whole library of these quirky and fun little characters.
By the way, one last little secret about what happened behind the scenes: At some point we had to “sell” other people on the team. That’s when we mocked up the Tunerfish “plushie”. As anyone in Silicon Valley knows, these days if your brand can’t be a great “plushie”, it simply will not measure up!
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