Mad Men Yourself

AMC and Deep Focus, a full-service interactive engagement marketing agency, received Silver and Bronze Medallions at the Advertising Marketing and Effectiveness Awards for their Mad Men Yourself Avatar Maker. The awards were in two catagories:  Social Media and Entertainment Promotion.

The Mad Men Yourself micro-site is easy to use, loads quickly and a fun experience.  You can pick out our skin tone and body type, hair, eyes, eyebrows, nose, clothes, accessories, etc.  After you’re finished you can down load a profile pick for twitter, a full body image for facebook, and a full screen “setting” which can be used as wall paper.

I spent a few minutes creating mine, enjoy the background music as you make yours…I was in the mood for a martini after I finished.

http://www.amctv.com/originals/madmen/madmenyourself/

Congrats to AMC!

Papa John’s Win a Slice of Sales Promotion

This promotion caught my eye because it’s a great example of a campaign that leverages social media plus the prizing is unique.  The Papa’s Specialty Pizza Challenge is being promoted via the Papa John’s Facebook page which has over 1.1 million fans. In a nut shell, Papa Johns is looking to its fans to create the next new pizza. Fans need to come up with a combination of toppings that is both tasty and creative plus provide a strong back story explaining why their pizza is unusual and special  (in 250 words or less).  The company is judging the pies on appeal, taste, creativity of the name and the quality of the story on how the contest dreamed up their pie.

The coolest part to me is the layers with this promotion.  10 semi-finalists all get $1,000 to be used to help market their pies in the hopes of winning the grand prize:  1% of sales profits (up to $10,000 for 12 months ) and Pizza for life (based on 50 years of pizza at $480 per year)!

The $1,000 in marketing money for the semi-finalists can be used to create viral videos to support their pie, buy advertising, rent billboards, etc…or they can just keep the cash and keep their fingers crossed.  The semi-finalists will be promoting their pies in August.

I ‘m looking forward to seeing the grass-roots efforts.  Yeah, for Papa Johns…this is such a smart promotion!   It  fits the social platform perfectly!

Choo Stepping Up Print Ads

Jimmy Choo is one of my all time favorite luxury brands.  To the chagrin of my husband I’m not only a fan; I’m a customer.  Yesterday, I was blown away when I read about their strategy for mobilizing the print campaign in the April issue of W Magazine.

Pongr, a social media technology company, partnered with the magazine to make every ad in the April issue interactive adding a mobile component.  Pongr provides advertising technology products and services focusing on mobile consumer engagement via pictures, social interaction and brand media. “People have their mobile phones on them all the time,” said Wright Ferguson Jr., SVP of national sales at Pongr. “Image recognition brings the ad to life.”

This is how it works: readers take a picture of the ad with their smartphone and send it to w@pongr.com.  They receive an email letting them know they are entered for a chance to win $1,000 from W Magazine.

Jimmy Choo Facebook Page

Consumers are also given three site links from Jimmy Choo.

1. In the first link, they can view a mobile video, which features Tamara Mellon, cofounder/president of the company talking about the brand.
2. The second link directs the user to Jimmy Choo’s Facebook page.
3. The third link takes the user to its Twitter page.

Jimmy Choo Twitter Page

The best thing about this strategy is advertisers can monitor engagement, and fans can get more info about products they love by self-selecting.  I would love to see some results from this campaign, to see the type of participation rates it gets.

“Image recognition is a differentiating technology,” said Jamie Thompson, cofounder/CEO of Pongr, Boston. “Brands work to make their ads interactive with print.  For more info, including the Jimmy Choo Mobile video, check out mobilemarketer.com.

Foursquare the New Pop-Up Video

Just a few weeks ago I wrote about Bravo’s partnership with Foursquare…(again kudos to Bravo for being one of the first to partner with this impressive emerging social/mobile player).  Foursquare hit a million users last week, with the company being founded just a year ago on March 11, 2009! The colaberative trend continues with both the History Channel and VH1 leveraging the Tips feature of Foursquare to make their shows look and feel a bit more like the classic 90’s show “Pop-Up Video“.

These screen grabs show Foursquare tips that appeared on-screen during VH1’s show “What Chili Wants” which airs Sunday nights on the network.

This is the kind of marketing partnership that gets me truly energized…not only is it additive for the viewer, giving them more topical information, but both companies are benefiting, and most likely there wasn’t much cash exchanged , making it a cost effective – smart move!

The Complex Art of Simplicity

I’m a huge fan of commoncraft, an educational video production company.   They are masters of explanation and instruction and their product is distinct and unique.  When a product is marketed well the impression on the consumer should feel effortless and organic.  These videos appear simple and easy, but the process behind the production specifically the “story telling” is actually very complex.

Commoncraft has two main product offerings: pre-produced educational videos for sale and custom videos specifically designed to meet the needs of the client.   Some of their clients include: Google, Ford and Linkedin.  The pre-produced videos focus on topics like: Technology, Society, Money and Green Practices.

It was the videos that focus on social media tools that lead to my discovery of the company.  Trying to navigate the word of digital marketing inclusive of mobile and social platforms can be overwhelming even for the most seasoned marketers. Among the Commoncraft library of videos, some of my favorites include: Augmented Reality, Podcasting, Protecting Reputations Online, RSS, Social Bookmarketing and Web Search Strategies…all “in Plain English.”

The twitter video above is so well done, it was used on ABC Nightline and Good Morning America.

Urban Cannibals Eating Up Social Media

My good friend Molly, recently turned me on to a local business in East Atlanta, called Urban Cannibals.  She suggested I become a fan on Facebook because she thought this small business was a great example of social media marketing done right.  I became a fan a few weeks ago and I have to agree with Molly…these small business owners are a great case study!  

First the name is both clever and clear: Urban Cannibals Bodega + Bites. As a start-up or new business what more could you ask for.  It is both convenience store (bodega) and cafe (bites).  So right from the start you get a sense of what this place is all about.  Seems really simple, but so many businesses and brands over-think and over-complicate.

Second, they are 100% authentic, which comes through in everything they do for the business from stocking the shelves to communicating with their customers. The two owners, Doria & Calavino, who I met this morning stock the place with things they would buy…a mix of organic rare finds, like local milk and farm fresh eggs and classic staple brands they grew up with like Crest toothpaste.  Their menu changes daily, which keeps folks coming back, plus they have themed weekly offerings, like Sundae Sundays, Brunch Bites on the weekends and Friday Pizza Fixins’.  Their authenticity comes through in the way they communicate to their fans…which is all via social media on twitter and via Facebook wall posts.  They remind fans to place orders for homemade dinners when they only have a few left for the day, or to pre-order fresh baked bread.

Third, they leverage partnerships. Last month, they partnered with Scoutmob, which gave them exposure to more folks outside of East Atlanta, where they’re based. This coming Thursday, April 22nd, they have teamed up with Lady Rogue Business Network to host a meet-up event.  Which again, will provide more exposure for them…and provide them a chance to WOW the crowd with their great food, service and products.

portabella burger w/ pimento italia (mozzarella, basil & roasted tomatoes)

Which brings me the last point…they have a great product and provide great service.

Glee’s Cool New App – Extending The Users Experience

This post is dedicated to my sister.  She was a founding member of her co-ed acapella group in college and I thought it fitting to write about a Glee app today…the same day as her debut in a local production of RENT.  I am a proud big sister.  Way to go Steph!

Fox Digital Entertainment introduced the app created by Smule in conjunction with season 2 of the show.  The app lets users sing along with music from the show and create their own virtual glee clubs – karaoke style.

Users can:

• Download songs, from the show’s soundtrack
• Record their own versions of songs and share with friends via Facebook, Twitter and MySpace
• Buy additional tracks and broadcast their versions of a song to other users around the world on a “virtual radio tower, located in the application on the Glee Globe.”
• Create their own virtual glee clubs, by inviting friends to join, when friends are invited to join a specific song, each user adds their own voice and those voices combined and harmonized to create song recordings.

The app also offers:

• Subtle voice enhancements for the tone-deaf (like me) so singers sound better
• Three-part harmony from a single voice
• A periodically updated catalog of songs from the show

The app is available on apple iphone, itouch and ipad for $2.99.  For the full article and more technology behind the app go to mobilemarketer.com.

The Queen of the Net’s Crystal Ball Predictions

Rhonda Lowry, VP of Social Media Technologies at Turner Broadcasting, moderated a panel discussion event I coordinated for WICT Atlanta this morning called: Strategic Partnerships in the Social Media Space. I am a big fan of Rhonda’s and as anticipated she shared many insights and little gems with the audience. Rhonda referenced Mary Meeker, Managing Director and Head of Global Technology Research for Morgan Stanley.  Specifically she referenced Mary’s April 12th “State of the Internet” report.  I am not sure which I found more interesting, Mary’s report or Mary herself.

Mary Meeker

In 1998 Barron’s magazine nicknamed her “Queen of the Net.” She was covering the sector during both Netscape’s and Google’s IPOs.  Clearly she is one smart cookie.  Her report focuses on two trends that “will affect consumers, the hardware/infrastructure industry and the commercial potential of the web: mobile and social networking.”

1.) Meeker predicts within the next five years “more users will connect to the Internet over mobile devices than desktop PCs.” As she puts it on one of the slides in the report: “Rapid Ramp Up of Mobile Internet Usage Will be a Boon to Consumers and Some Companies Will Likely Win Big (Potentially Very Big) While Many Will Wonder What Just Happened.”

WHY? One of the reasons for this projection is the rate at which mobile internet usage is ramping up compared to the way desktop usage did.  “According to Meeker, adoption of the Apple devices is taking place more than 11 times faster that of AOL, and several times as fast as that of Netscape.”

MOBILE COMMERCE…MORE COMING SOON!

Meeker says users are more willing to pay for content on mobile devices versus desktops because it is:

• Easy-to-Use
• Has Small Price Tags
• Is More Secure
• More Personalized

2.) Social Media is bigger than e-mail, in terms of time spent (200 billion minutes/monthly- globally) and raw numbers (800 million users).  Plus social media continues to grow at a very face pace.

The entire presentation can be found on Gigaom.

My take away as a marketer…we should be incorporating mobile plays into our campaigns as an integrated component NOW, even if we start small.  Learn as we go, so we can ride the trend rather than getting beaten by it.

Not All “fans” Are Created Equal

Today’s article on Adweek Digital caught my attention.  According to Vitrue, a social media technology company, Facebook ‘fans’ are valued at about $3.60 each.  With some of my favorite brands amassing fan followings well into the hundreds of thousands, that translates to some pretty nice media value.

Vitrue Image

The most interesting part of the article was when they discussed how all brands are not created equally…especially when it comes to social media.  Vitrue found big differences in impression-to-fan ratios.  One brand “generated just .44 impressions per fan, while another saw 3.6 impressions.” Vitrue chalks this up to sexier brands having more engaged connections.
“Vitrue arrived at its $3.6 million figure by working off a $5 CPM, meaning a brand’s 1 million fans generate about $300,000 in media value each month. Using Vitrue’s calculation, Starbucks’ 6.5 million fan base — acquired in part with several big ad buys — is worth $23.4 million in media annually.”

On a related note, Reggie Bradford, CEO of Vitrue will be speaking at several upcoming events in Atlanta.  This Thursday, April 15th, he will be a panelist at WICT Atlanta’s Strategic Partnerships in the Social Media Space. And next Thursday, April 22nd,  he will be a panelist at the AMA Atlanta’s April Marketing Technology SIG Luncheon: CEO Roundtable – A Conversation with Digital CEO Entrepreneurs.

Trust & Reputation via Social Media = Power

I read yesterday’s blog posting on cnewmark (Craig from Craiglist) titled: Trust and reputation systems: redistributing power and influence.  This bold statement made me stop and think: “By the end of this decade, power and influence will shift largely to those people with the best reputations and trust networks, from people with money and nominal power.”

With brands leveraging new social media tools and exposing themselves to an open dialog with the masses, the task of being good brand stewards becomes even more challenging.  Just perusing some of my favorite brands’ Facebook pages it is clear how quickly one voice, or opinion can change the “conversation” and if that one voice expresses something negative, and others join in, the brand is slightly tarnished.  According to Craig, ” we are already seeing a shift in power and influence, a big wave whose significance we’ll see by the end of this decade. Right now, it’s like the moment before a tsunami, where the water is drawn away from the shore, when it’s time to get ahead of that curve.”