We read about smartphones and all of the capabilities that they have now-adays, but the newest use for the smartphone that I just read about blew me away….
Apple is now looking at launching applications and morphing the iPhone into a diagnostic device for taking blood pressure, etc. Some medical apps would even offer a feature that would allow patients to check what procedures are covered under their insurance provider.
Talk about an untapped market.
I’m interested to see how this pans out. Not sure how I feel about taking my cholesterol with a phone. What do you think?
Social media is nothing new these days, but it’s the latest catchphrase to enter the advertising industry so now companies are finding new ways to broaden their consumer outreach. Facebook and Twitter seem to be providing the perfect outlet for that need. Many brands are getting excited about using social media. Starbucks, Kraft, Target, and Burger King are just a few of the big brands reaching out on a person-by-person basis. Kraft used a charity approach by vowing that every single person who downloaded their app would in turn be donating 6 meals to Feeding America in Kraft’s name. Within a few weeks more than 200,000 people had downloaded the application and the numbers are still growing.
What makes this so amazing is that people are involved, they are having a conversation, talking to each other, to big companies, the world is now a place where consumers are choosing to open the dialogue between themselves and the brand, this is everything we could have hoped for and dreamed of in advertising. Social media is a tool with endless possibilities. Is it possible that we have discovered the holy grail of advertising?
The social network site is blowing up.I feel like I don’t go a day without hearing the word Twitter.
I am sure you all read the news about Ashton Kutcher and CNN racing to see who could get 1 million followers first. Of course, Ashton won - he’s much cuter. But now, even without the support of a billboard campaign – Oprah has hit the mark. She joined twitter exactly one month ago. At first, I was hesitant to follow her – thinking I would get a million tweets with shameless self promotion, but it hasn’t been the case. What is Oprah doing right?
She’s being herself
She’s listening, not just talking
She isn’t bombarding people with tweets
She is plugging herself (and her brand) – moderately
I’ve been joining a lot of social networks for a while now and developed a handful of them. LinkedIn, Twitter, FaceBook, MySpace, Delicious, Digg, etc., the list goes on. If you’re like me, you’d like to have one universal remote control that can operate all of your entertainment at once. Check out Flock and Minggl:
A web browser (powered by the same people who created FireFox) built for the networking gurus in us that can view all of our friends’ activities, status, pics, videos, etc. Like iGoogle, you can also stream in RSS and news feeds, mail, share your stuff, even blog straight from Flock.
It’s an add-on to your IE or FireFox browser, but like Flock, you can view all of your friends’ activities and status in one place. You can also update your status on all of your profiles with one click.
Like any online tools, they’re not perfect, but what do you expect from an ever changing platform. It’s just exciting to see tools made with the user’s behavior in mind. If you know other must have networking tools, please share.
Monday’s New York Times included an article about a summer internship opportunity with Pizza Hut. The position was for a summer Twintern. That’s Twitter language for a person to Tweet 24/7 about how wonderful Pizza Hut is in its community, service, etc.
The kicker is that job seekers are required to demonstrate their social media ability in a creative way. Of course this got me thinking….hmmm…if I were a 20 something college student applying for this prestigous position how would I creatively show my social media prowess??? Well, instead of using too much of my own brain power, I took a quick poll of agency youngins and here are the top 5 ideas they provided:
1) Submit a YOUTUBE video resume using a Pizza skin as the core graphic.
2) Send resume via a Tweet but use Pizza in front key words (i.e. Pizzalicious, Pizzadiculous).
3) Have your Twitter followers Tweet your resume to Pizza Hut.
4) Submit your resume as a Tweet.
5) Via Twitter or YouTube or Facebook, provide a list of social media ideas that could be deployed over the summer for Pizza Hut.
It’s your turn…what other creative social media ideas can you come up with to help a college student a summer Twintern with Pizza Hut??? Send us your toughts.
Imagine. You start making YouTube videos of yourself wearing makeup that you sell on eBay. Fast-forward 18 months and you’re about to launch a global cosmetics line. That’s what happened to Lauren Luke, a young single mother from Northeast England.
Her capitalization of the most popular user-generated content site got her noticed by big whig - Anomaly partner Duncan Bird - one of the 5 million viewers who’ve watched her amature videos. Now he is the manager of her soon to be launched cosmetic line that is partnering with the same manufacturing, branding, and design company that works with L’Oreal and Estee Lauder.I wonder if we’ll be seeing any traditional advertising coming from Ms. Luke any time soon…or just more YouTube videos that lead you to her web site www.bylaurenluke.com.
Do you have something to say or sell? Don’t forget traditional advertising mediums, but also don’t be hesitant to try something alternative like social media. You never know who may be listening.
When Bobby Day wrote the lyrics to Rockin’ Robin in 1958 he probably never thought the words Tweet, Tweet, Tweet would be as popular as they are today. With the help of the social newtork Twitter all the little birdies on J Bird street are tweeting day and night. About everything from shopping at the mall to what they ate for breakfast. But according to Forbes, Twitter is not just for the little birdies it’s also for bigger birdies like Dunkin Donuts and Whole Foods. In the article Twitter Land: Does Your Brand Belong There? Forbes shares with us how some brands are successfully tweeting while other’s chirps are missing the mark.
And if you’re like me…still trying to figure out what the heck a tweet is…for now, just stick to the song. Here’s the J5 version in case you forgot the words.
I admit it – I’m not the most popular. I don’t have any Facebook bumper stickers. I’ve only received 1 gift in my lifetime. I thought 366 friends was a respectable number… oh wait, 367 (thanks Meagan!). But I think I’ve got something going for me… I haven’t been sacrificed for a flame-broiled sandwich!
Leave it to the creative geniuses at Crispin Porter + Bogusky to come up with another great advertising story for Burger King. They’ve utilized a social networking tool – but dared to be different. Instead of asking you to join a group or find new friends… the Whopper Sacrifice application allows you to trade in 10 of your Facebook friends for a free Whopper. Not only that – once you’ve made the sacrifice, everybody knows about it! “John sacrificed Jane for a free WHOPPER.”
Not only is the idea outrageously entertaining. It’s got everybody talking (and generating a ton of free press for BK). According to www.whoppersacrifice.com - over 231,872 friends have been sacrificed (with my help).
So, I’m sorry Maria, Scott, Misi, Melissa, Dave, Vong, Micci, Ennis, Katrina and Laurie – for the sake of a great idea, I hope you can forgive me! I’m getting a free lunch.
So yesterday I purchased a patio set online. (Not during the working day OR using work computers, as that is not approved by company policy.) Rather unremarkable. Except for the fact that my purchase was promptly and automatically posted to my Facebook page. With my permission, I suppose. This is homage to the fact that many folks keep connected via social media. They share photos, events, activities and the minutia of their lives. As we social beings are wont to do. Instead of casual conversation around the water-cooler, people are staying connected in new and wider ways. No longer is proximity a requirement for intimacy. (Except, of course, for intimacy of a particular sort.) Now all my Facebook friends know I purchased a patio set (and more importantly FROM WHOM) and I didn’t even have to tell them myself.
How smart is Overstock.com to understand this way of communication and find a way that uses this social marketing tactic to market themselves? Very. As I said in my twitter comments… “my patio furniture purchase was posted to my Facebook page. Thank goodness I hadn’t purchased a vibrator.”
OK, I am at that awkward age… no right to be twittering or Facebooking. Old enough to remember marketing on a matchbook yet young enough to comment on marketing on my Facebook page.
So, do you like the patio set? Do you think I care?
If you were one of the lucky recipients of February issue of Brogan & Partners 60 Second Impact – a free monthly e-newsletter that takes :60 or less to read (money back guaranteed) – you saw the article titled A Great Example of Social Media: BigThink.com For Big Ideas. The article talked about a new social media site that offers visitors intellectual discussion on everything from faith and beliefs to science and technology. Here’s their overview video.
No Facebook or YouTube wannabe. According to BigThink, when you log in you get access to hundreds of hours of direct, unfiltered interviews with today’s leading thinkers, movers and shakers. Although still in beta testing – a quick browse of the site shows contributions from various subject matter “experts”, not to mention paid ad links from presidential hopefuls Hilary Clinton and Mike Huckabee. With about 60,000 visitors in January this online community seems to be steadily growing. If you’ve got BIG questions, BIG opinions, BIG concerns, BIG answers check out BigThink.com. And if you missed the BigThink article in our e-newsletter and don’t want to miss any other cutting edge ideas, products or helpful information sign up for the 60 Second Impact at Brogan.com.
According to Wikipedia, the lyrics from this 1979 hit by the Buggles express a desire to remember nostalgic radio through which many “stars” were created and a fear that children of current and past generations would not appreciate the medium due to the introduction of television music videos. Many people know it was the first video shown on MTV, but many do not know that it was also the millionth. Who would guess that almost 30 year after its release, stars would be created on a medium called the Internet. So, the question is: If video killed the radio star, and the Internet killed the TV star, any guesses as to who will kill the Internet star? One thing is for certain, this song and this video will go on forever. It never gets old.
Social media is nothing new these days, but it’s the latest catchphrase to enter the advertising industry so now companies are finding new ways to broaden their consumer outreach. Facebook and Twitter seem to be providing the perfect outlet for that need.
