February 9th, 2010
by Eric Larson

Just a few weeks ago, we blogged about the Super Bowl vs. Social Media question and how Intel and Pepsi had answered it. Now that the Super Bowl and its commercials are over, let’s take another look. Who made a splash? How did the commercials attempt to engage beyond their 30-second ad spots?

Here’s what we saw on Sunday:

• Pepsi’s withdrawal from the Super Bowl time slot meant an easy monopoly for Coke. Coke ran two ads during the game as well as sponsoring the Hulu.com AdZone 2010 (for those lacking televisions) and running a philanthropy-based promotion on Facebook. As the New York Times’s Stuart Elliott put it, “Coca-Cola is telling Pepsi-Cola that when it comes to Super Bowl advertising, you can walk and chew gum at the same time.”
• Much of the post-game ad-analysis focused on pants (or a lack thereof) and alleged misogyny. In ads for Budweiser, Dockers, GoDaddy, Chrysler, and even Dove, gender stereotypes were trotted out and replayed for laughs or titillation. Unsurprisingly, those ads were also the ones that showed up embedded in critical and defensive blog posts, roundups, and rants. One way to engage people through social media, it seems, is to give them something to be mad about.
• Other companies—like Intel, who we’d discussed in the past—opted for much safer, less potentially offensive material. A cute lunchroom robot and a pair of geeky friends made for amusing, appealing spots that highlighted the passion Intel inspires in nerds.
  But what about Pepsi? Did they miss out by shifting their energy to social media?

Instead of spending on Super Bowl ads, Pepsi invested $20 million ($13 million less than they spent on the 2009 Super Bowl) in the Refresh Project, which will donate that money to social causes nominated and voted on by fans. According to Nielsen Co., Pepsi received over 20% of online chatter about Super Bowl advertisers over the last two months—not a bad percentage for a company without an ad spot.

But to gauge the real impact, we’ll need to watch what Pepsi does with the Refresh Project going forward. Will they give away the $20 million to deserving causes and resume TV ads as usual? Or will they use Refresh Project as a way to transform the way they reach consumers? For instance, what if Pepsi were to film the idea owners and the people they help to show how this $20 million dollar investment changed the world? And what if that inspired others to donate money or create new efforts to help people?

tags: advertising, communities, engagement, media

January 29th, 2010
by Corey Mahoney

Every year much of the pre-Super Bowl buzz is about the ads, and this year is no different. Some weeks ago, Pepsi made a splash (at least on the marketing blogs) by announcing they’d be forgoing the big ad spots to invest $20 million in social media campaigns. Pepsi’s caused a stir just by making the announcement—which won’t be true for the second, third, and forth companies to forswear the Super Bowl. It’s entirely possible that this move is just as much a PR gesture as a genuine bet on social media.

It will be interesting to watch how Pepsi uses that $20 million, and whether it works for them. So far, they’re using it to launch the Refresh Project, which will crowdsource the question of where Pepsi should donate the cash. Of course, corporate philanthropy is worth cheering for, but it’ll also be interesting to see if it works to strengthen Pepsi’s brand—and sales.

This week Intel announced they’d be taking a different tack by sponsoring the CBS post-game show and debuting two new commercials during the game. This set of choices, at first glance, seems almost backwards—with consumer giant Pepsi moving away from broadcast advertising and technology supplier Intel looking to reach a broader general audience.

But Intel knows social media. Their social computing guidelines are often cited as an example of best-practices policy, and they have an active family of blogs and twitter presences that are generally well-regarded. Because Intel knows social media, Intel’s marketers know that one of the most successful uses of video-sharing tools like YouTube is to serve as another channel for distributing popular TV ads (especially if they’re funny, which Intel hopes they will be). Their Super Bowl presence may be a counter-intuitive social media move, if they’re hoping it will spur online discussion, sharing, and viewership.

Which move do you think will work better? Can social media and traditional advertising work together?

tags: advertising, social media

June 16th, 2009
by Ben Hawken

Last week Microsoft launched its new search decision engine, Bing.

Bing comes equipped with some very cool features, and offers citizens of the intrawebs a unique, impressive web experience.

Although it’ll be quite a while before we can see the lasting impact of this effort from Microsoft, there are several features that do bode well for the future.

First and foremost, Bing is a quality product, and Microsoft has the resources and energy to maintain and refine it.

Second, Bing’s advertising has taken a decidedly positive tone, focusing on the product’s features rather than calling out any direct competitors by name. (more…)

tags: advertising, marketing

March 6th, 2009
by Tena West

What do you do if you’re walking down the street and you see an advertisement for something you’re interested in? Do you take a mental picture of the website address and try to remember to check it out later? Or perhaps you quickly type the URL address into your phone? What if you could simply point your phone’s camera at the advertisement and have it automatically take you to the website? Would you consider that a huge step forward in the continually evolving marriage between advertising and technology, or just another ease-of-use phenomenon that may never catch on?

Recently, on Jimm Wagner’s blog, he proclaimed that “Text URLs Are So Last Year” due to Microsoft’s new Tag Technology. There’s a lot of buzz – both positive and negative – about Tag on other industry blogs such as i started something and TechCrunch.

What the heck is a Tag, you ask?

(more…)

tags: advertising, marketing

January 27th, 2009
by Tom Pollock

All marketers can appreciate the importance of a good logo. Millions of dollars and decades of effort go into creating a strong, clear, recognizable symbol that represents a brand. Companies like Nike with their “swoosh,” products like Campbell’s Soup with its venerable red-and-white label, and even celebrities like Oprah with her “O” have succeeded in linking an image in our mind to a feeling of familiarity with what they have to offer.

The latest frontier in online marketing is the favicon. While you may not have heard of these little gems, you’ve no doubt seen plenty. A favicon (short for “favorites icon”) is that small graphic image just to the left of the address bar in your web browser. You can probably see the orange Projectline favicon atop this browser page. Favicons are popping up more & more, and that little piece of real estate presents a great marketing opportunity. (more…)

tags: advertising, brand, marketing

July 30th, 2008
by Projectline

In catching up on my RSS feeds over the weekend, I found myself staring at a short New York Times article that suggested a long story left unwritten. How does anyone build a viral campaign that succeeds out of any force other than blind luck?

Believe it or not, there is an equation for just that purpose:

[Be Amazing] + [Act Amazing] = [Get Amazing]

Viral is really that simple – just be worth talking about and do something worth talking about. The only catch is you have to have both to succeed. Notice also that I’ve not mentioned timing anywhere. There is a reason for this: Great campaigns always make their own timing.

(more…)

tags: advertising, audience perception, Best practices, creative services, Digital Content, early adoption, marketing, marketing goals, messaging, new media, web 2.0

June 10th, 2008
by Projectline

Move to an edge. Declare your edge the center. Let the world reorganize around you.

The great misconception of marketplace leadership is that success comes from saddling up and blazing a new path for all to follow. Intuitively, we all know it doesn’t work like that.

People don’t connect with an idea because some commander inspired hearts and minds – they connect with an idea because it makes sense on a fundamental level. Something works better/faster/easier/cheaper. It’s more fair or honest or viable or responsible.  It’s more exciting, or makes them more exciting.

(more…)

tags: advertising, audience perception, Best practices, marketing, marketing goals, messaging

April 6th, 2008
by Anika Lehde

Just a quick note for all marketers: Ad Club Seattle is hilarious. Check out their two promotional videos below.

For Puget Sound-based marketers: At 4 PM Thursday April 10, 2008, Seattle Ad Club plus the Puget Sound Chapter of the American Marketing Association (AMA) are having a “spring mixer” at Victory Studios (2247 15th Ave W., Seattle). (more…)

tags: advertising, community partnership, events, humor

October 30th, 2007
by Erica Hansen

For you marketers out there, the notion of using customers to carry your marketing message is not new, but the evolution of social media (AKA social networking) has taken ‘word of mouth’ marketing to a whole new level. I think about this daily in my B2B marketing work and just the other day, I experienced it first hand in a B2C (a web site and blog) turned customer-to-customer (C2C) medium (a personal email with links). A friend of mine told me about a great new store, Nau. Not only did she tell me about it, but she also sent me a link to their website and a link to the blog that introduced her to Nau. Based on her experience with their products, she became a loyal customer and a staunch customer advocate. Plus, I became a new Nau customer without ever leaving my chair. Simple, yet important and repeatable.

Basically, I think our typical B2B content now must be blended with C2C contact methods and content. Interesting, but not difficult. As marketing pros, this opens up some incredible opportunities for us to reach our audience much faster. For traditional marketers, the switch and blending of C2C messages and mediums into B2C marketing campaigns can seem daunting, so here are a few ideas that I have noted seem to help: (more…)

tags: advertising, audience perception, B2B, marketing, new media, social media, word of mouth

September 20th, 2007
by Anika Lehde

Those of you who know me probably would not be surprised to hear me preach the value of empathy in business dealings and personal life, but you likely haven’t heard me rattle on about the importance of using empathy to help make good marketing message decisions. It always seems that I am pointing out the obvious, but if that were true in this case, we’d have a lot more resonant and genuine messages floating out there.

To be honest, I don’t think empathy is an area where most traditional marketers excel. Of course, we know how to analyze market research, review customer feedback, comprehend market perceptions and trends—but I don’t think we all explicitly ask, “How would I perceive this communication if I were in this person’s shoes?” (more…)

tags: advertising, audience perception, marketing, messaging