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Sunday Funday

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Sunday Funday is a weekly round-up of the week’s news in the marketing, advertising, or PR industries. Or anything else I find amusing.

Good news for all the Instagramers out there! The photo app will now allow you to tag other people in your photos. I know I’m not the only one who’s been waiting for this for a long time.

While advertising can often be fun, witty, bold, and informative, there are also times it can be very, very wrong. Hyundai recently aired a commercial using an attempted suicide to promote its new clean emissions. Um, what? Fast Company explains the controversial commercial and other advertising faux pas.

And the hits just keep on coming. This week PepsiCo had to pull a Mountain Dew ad that outraged many online viewers for being insensitive to racial and gender issues. I don’t typically get offended by many things, but this ad was pretty bad.

Though this isn’t new, I really love the idea of this article from Forbes: Why Weird is Wonderful (and Bankable). It’s good to know that all of my adorable quirks will actually pay off in the end.

This comic perfectly illustrates the latest battle in the Google vs. Apple war (I’m Team Google and I’m not ashamed of it). Which would you prefer, Siri or Google now?

You’ve got to admit, some things that go viral are pretty stupid. I still don’t really get the online cat obsession. But recently a teenager in Utah started a twitter account to tweet compliments. The account was up to 500 followers in a matter of hours and inspired several other compliment-driven accounts. This is definitely worth going viral.

Ok, this is getting ridiculous. E! Online’s twitter account was hacked this week by the Syrian Electronic Army. Really? E! Online? If you’re going to hack a twitter account, you might want to go after someone a little bigger. Just saying.

Many companies are embracing the move towards mobile marketing, even big shots like Disney. Disney Interactive is about to launch a storyteller app aimed especially at moms. According to this article, “The app, which goes live next week, is designed to pull photos and videos from a user’s phone (like say, all the pictures of the new baby) and put them together into a shareable story.”

Yesterday the Bruins paid tribute to one of the Boston Marathon Bombing victims, Jeff Bauman, by making him an honorary captain in a pre-game salute. See Bauman’s reaction and the support of the crowd in this truly touching video.

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Sunday Funday

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Sunday Funday is a weekly round-up of the week’s news in the marketing, advertising, or PR industries. Or anything else I find amusing.

I’ve always been a huge fan of Dove’s True Beauty campaign. But Ad Age makes a good point, asking if all of their viral videos actually help them sell their product. That is the goal of advertising, after all.

You know a video truly went viral when the parodies start showing up. In a video parodying Dove’s new Sketches video, men learn that they’ve been… overestimating their looks.

Having spent my childhood only 45 minutes from Boston, the Boston Marathon Bombings hit particularly close to home for me. It’s been so heartwarming to see how people across the world have rallied together in support of the victims. Even different cities across the US showed their love for Boston in an act of solidarity and pride.

There’s been a lot of news surrounding the release of Facebook Home. Personally, I don’t know how I’d feel about having access to Facebook 24/7. You can only “Facebook stalk” so much before getting bored. But now that it’s out, many people wonder what’s next for Facebook Home.

Sometimes it feels like Facebook records every single moment of our lives. But aparrently there’s still one stone unturned. Budweiser is developing a glass that, when clinked in a “Cheers”, will connect the two drinkers on Facebook through a microchip in the cup. Because who wouldn’t want to wake up after their 21st birthday with 53 new Facebook friends?

Being a 90′s kid, there was no cartoon more peculiar than the Kool-Aid Man. Part terrifying, part party animal, the Kool-Aid Man burst his way through the walls in our hearts and the cavities in our teeth. Kraft Foods revealed this week that the Kool-Aid Man is being resurrected and getting a makeover. 90′s kids around the world, rejoice!

KMart recently released their “Ship My Pants” commercial. In an effort to create relevance and brand equity through tongue-in-cheek dialogue, KMart might have actually succeeded with this one. Fast Company looks at how KMart used social listening to create this cheeky commercial.

Many conversations in my college marketing classes focused on creativity, how to develop it, and how to utilize it. Unfortunately, many people worry that the way our education system is set up (with standardized tests, a focus on math and science, and the demise of more arts-focused classes) is diminishing future generations’ abilities to discover their creativity.

Another thing we often discussed in my marketing classes was how to be the next Apple. Every time we developed a marketing or advertising plan someone would always bring up wanting the product to “become the Apple of [insert industry here]“. Personally, I find Apple to be slightly overrated (I know, I know. Blasphemy!), so you can imagine my joy when I saw this: 5 reasons why you shouldn’t try to be the next Apple.

This is interesting. Ad Week noticed that the act of shaving is used in an insane amount of ads, even when promoting brands that have nothing to do with shaving. According to the article, “By associating a product with a culturally sanctioned act… these ads are trying to elevate their brands.” Makes sense, but why shaving? Why not, say, getting into the car?

And finally, enjoy this Coca Cola ad about the joys of first love… at an amusement park.

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Snaps to: TOMS One Day Without Shoes

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I seem to be on quite the philanthropic, feel-good kick right now. I say this because this week I’ve decided to highlight the One Day Without Shoes movement from TOMS.

For those that don’t know, TOMS is a company that sells shoes. Here’s the kick (haha, shoe pun): for every pair of shoes they sell, TOMS also provides a free pair of shoes to a child in a developing country. To raise awareness for their cause, TOMS started the One Day Without Shoes campaign six years ago. Basically, you go one whole day without wearing shoes. When people see you walking around with no shoes, they ask you why you’re doing that. You then explain the idea behind One Day Without Shoes and the need to provide shoes to children in need. Hence, spreading the word about the cause.

This year, the One Day Without Shoes occurred yesterday on April 16th (unfortunately, I can’t imagine it was easy for anyone participating in Denver given the freak snowstorm we just had).

According to an interview with Time Magazine, TOMS founder Blake Mycoskie explains the reason behind the movement: “Children need shoes to go to school as part of their uniform requirements, children need shoes to protect their feet from disease, and people could internalize that. But it wasn’t until we said, you try going one day without shoes and see what the experience is like. That really brought it home to people. People [who participated] would get all different types of questions; they would get treated differently. Their feet oftentimes would be tired and sore after a day without shoes. We found this is a really great way for people to raise awareness for the millions of people around the world who don’t have a choice but to go barefoot every day.”

I love the idea of One Day Without Shoes. It proves that a company, specifically a for-profit company, can be driven by their need to do good in the world instead of just increasing profits. In my sophomore year of college I learned about the concept of the Triple Bottom Line: companies striving to increase profit, better the planet, and better the lives of people. TOMS was constantly mentioned as a company that embodied this principle. With their One Day Without Shoes movement, TOMS takes it one step further (I’m really on a role with these shoe puns!) by bringing the cause straight to their consumers and making it a more personal issue that increases awareness and action. Snaps to you, TOMS for bringing a necessary cause to our eyes in an inspiring way.

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Sunday Funday

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Sunday Funday is a weekly round-up of the week’s news in the marketing, advertising, or PR industries. Or anything else I find amusing.

For many, the meaning of life comes from finding what truly makes us happy. Fast Company posted an article about how the media agency MEC offers a “happiness workshop” to employees and the effects these workshops have. Sounds awesome to me.

I’ve mentioned it before, but cats seem to have taken the internet by storm. Many of my friends are OBSESSED with cat videos, .gifs, memes, and personalities online. The level of cat love is a little terrifying and definitely intriguing. Mashable decided to create an infographic analyzing the online cat craze.

Social media has had a huge impact on multiple facets of our lives today. How we communicate, find news, track our favorite celebrities and interests, and even meet new people have all been affected. But who knew that crime fighting and, dare I say, modern-day superheroes would find a place in the social media world? A LA woman has started using Twitter to fight street crime.

Dating is tough, no doubt about it. It’s made even more difficult by the endless online dating sites, apps, and social media opportunities. It can all seem a little overwhelming, yet strangely liberating. But don’t forget, there are rules for how to date (and how NOT to date) on social media.

It’s no secret I’m a fan of HBO’s Game of Thrones. But I’m also a huge fan of Disney. Two very contrasting themes, I know. I found this gem online, tying my two TV loves together: What if Disney created “Game of Thrones”?

A major focus in Marketing today is the consumer shift towards mobile platforms. Fast Company posted this article about how to thrive during Marketing’s shift toward the mobile realm. This is definitely a must-read.

I mentioned the release of Facebook Home in last week’s Sunday Funday. Facebook rolled out several commercials promoting Facebook Home, hoping to convince Android users to download it. One of these commercials features Zuckerberg himself, announcing the completion of Facebook Home at Facebook HQ. Facebook Home comes to life as one of his engineers browses the program on his phone, apparently bored with Zuckerberg’s speech. Gotta love Facebook’s sense of humor.

I love using Instagram. And I will admit, sometimes I use it to post pictures particularly aesthetic food (don’t judge, you know you do it too).  Someone realized that one of the most common subjects on Instagram was food, and decided to use that to help the world. A new filter on Instagram, FoodShareFilter, will donate money to Salvadoran charity every time it’s used to help end hunger. Now your food pics will look good and do good too.

I’m a huge fan of Sheryl Sandberg’s “Lean In” movement to help encourage and inspire women in the working world. I recently found this TED talk she gave back in 2010 about why there are so few women fulfilling leadership roles. It was so true and very inspiring.

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Snaps to: the Bridge of Life

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map bridge

“Snaps To” is a weekly post highlighting a marketing, advertising, social media, or PR campaign that I find particularly intriguing and stand-out.

Okay, I’m just going to put it out there right now: this post is about a “Suicide Bridge”. I know that sounds weird, but bear with me.

There are few events more tragic than that of someone losing all hope and deciding to take their own life. Apparently the Mapo Bridge in Seoul, South Korea has become the site of numerous suicide attempts, causing South Korea to have the highest suicide rate of the OECD countries. These days with the excess of social media, technology, and consumerism, the world can feel quite lonely and isolating. However, sometimes it’s possible to create something beautiful out of tragic situations.

Samsung Life Insurance decided to take this Suicide Bridge and turn it into a Bridge of Life, bringing hope to the hopeless through technology. According to an article by Ad Age, “ Samsung Life Insurance and Cheil Worldwide teamed up to solve the problem by repositioning the bridge as a place of life, not death. The interactive bridge now has sensors on the guardrails that light up when people walk by — offering up messages of comfort (‘The Best is Yet to Come,’ or ‘How would you like to be remembered?’), kind words and even jokes. Those messages were crafted after consultation with psychologists and suicide prevention activists, according to the agency. The bridge also includes an ‘Image Zone’ that shows happy photographs of smiling kids, couples and grandparents, as well as a brass statue of two friends, called ‘Just Once Again’”.

Adweek interviewed Leo Burnett CCO Susan Credle about her thoughts on the project. Credle said, “So much of the time I feel like technology and content steal one of our most valuable resources from us: time. Samsung Life Insurance turned a bridge that took people’s lives into a bridge that gives people hope. This idea takes nothing from anyone, and on its most powerful day, it reminds people how precious the time we have on this earth is. If we create work that easily answers the question, why does this matter?, people will see the value of what we do and probably want more, not less, of it. Samsung Life Insurance, through a simple creative idea, lets people know it values life”.

While this isn’t necessarily a marketing or advertising campaign, I thought that Samsung’s Bridge of Life deserved recognition (but maybe it counts as PR). It always warms my heart when a company looks past the bottom line and the profit margins to accomplish something for the good of others. In marketing, we strive to understand people: what they want, how they think, and what will fulfill their needs. Sometimes, that means doing something that may not always benefit the company directly, but can instead benefit the world in some small way. So snaps to Samsung Life Insuance’s Bridge of Life, for all the good it will do and for reminding us that we are part of this world too.

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The pros and cons of rogue Twitter hashtags

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Twitter has quickly become the go-to marketing tool for many companies. From creating brand accounts, communicating news or changes in the company, to featuring company-generated hashtags in commercials and TV shows, it seems that everywhere we look we are being “gently nudged” towards the internet’s little blue bird. Unfortunately for marketers, relying heavily on social media can sometimes backfire because as it turns out, the public can have a mind of its own.

Twitter allows “promoted” posts, hashtags, and targeted ads, all utilized by marketers looking to get their brand names in front of individual users. Sometimes, though, individuals can use the promoted hashtags in ways that the company might not have expected. An example of this happened recently, when the #Obamaisnotsatan hashtag became popular after users noticed an interesting resemblance between the Satan character in the History Channel’s The Bible and our president.

According to an article by Adweek, “In the latest example of how marketers are using Twitter’s Promoted Tweets to jump on digital chatter as it happens, the AARP and Seamless… have gotten numerous ad impressions from consumers clicking on an #ObamaIsNotSatan hashtag. But this one has an unusually bizarre twist—even beyond the hashtag’s content—in that the marketers who purchased the ads probably only bid on the keyword ‘Obama’ rather than the randomness that is ‘ObamaIsNotSatan’…. And #ObamaIsNotSatan has sat atop Twitter’s trending topics section for much of Monday. Viewers who clicked on the hashtag have either seen a Social Security-focused ad from AARP or breezier copy about a soup-and-sandwich lunch from Seamless”.

This may seem like it would present a major setback to AARP and Seamless. Luckily, not all rogue hashtags are bad. This actually worked out well for AARP. The article continues, “It’s arguable that there’s nothing wrong with these ad impressions. That would especially seem to be the case for AARP, since many tweets around the hashtag have been pro-Obama. And because the org clearly wants the Democratic president to protect Social Security financing for its constituents, one could reasonably surmise that there’s positive association happening for the brand”.

Many top business executives believe in the idea that high risk equals high rewards. The unreliability, variability, and individuality associated with social media can make heavy usage, or any level of utilization, very risky in marketing plans. There are certainly examples of companies who made social media missteps, ultimately resulting in consumer backlash. And while it’s true that users ultimately determine the direction of the social media world, sometimes that surprising direction can benefit companies in ways they couldn’t even predict.

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Sunday Funday

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Sunday Funday is a weekly round-up of the week’s news in the marketing, advertising, or PR industries. Or anything else I find amusing.

As always, this month kicked off with April Fool’s Day. Personally, I’m not a huge fan. I walk around even more paranoid than usual. But I will admit, there were some pretty clever pranks played on the unsuspecting public. Mashable rounded up the best of the best in this year’s online April Fool’s pranks. Luckily, I wasn’t fooled for a second (I’m talking to you, Google).

While April Fool’s Day gets most of the holiday attention this month, the New York Times decided to highlight a lesser known holiday, National Poetry Month, by launching a new Haiku Tumblr.

In recent Facebook news, Mark Zuckerberg announced the launch of Facebook Home this week. Facebook Home is “a new launcher that turns Android phones into Facebook phones”. Because who wouldn’t want to spend every waking moment on Facebook, right?

Sad news hit the Internet yesterday as Roger Ebert, infamous movie critic and writer, died at the age of 70. Many celebrities and other fans of Ebert took to Twitter to lament over the loss of this legendary figure.

Social media can represent many things to many people. But I never expected it to actually change someone’s life. That’s exactly what happened for possible twins, Samantha Futerman and Anaïs Bordier, who found each other through Youtube. Now, the twins have started a Kickstarter campaign to fund a trip that will finally bring them face-to-face. Cue the collective “Awwwwwww”.

If someone asked you to describe the average Pinterest user, what’s the first thing that pops into your mind? That’s right, it’s a woman (which is ironic since two men created it). Men want in on the action, leading to suggestions of a Pinterest-esque website specifically for men. Others think the idea is sexist since men are already more than welcome to use Pinterest. What do you think?

Speaking of women on social media, Forbes just released their list of the Top 20 Women Social Media Influencers. Tweet on ladies, tweet on.

And finally, for your viewing pleasure, I present to you the Backtreet Boys performing the Harlem Shake. I’m a ‘90s girl, so my heart just about melted when I saw this. There’s no way I was going to leave this out.

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Snaps to: Kings County Distillery

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I recently saw this article on Fast Company highlighting the simplistic packaging of Kings County Distillery’s Moonshine. It reminded me of my Intro to Marketing class where we bright-eyed, bushy-tailed college sophomores learned the Marketing Mix (product, price, promotion, place), and STP (segment, target, position). As many of us get further into our careers, constantly chasing after the next bright and shiny marketing tool, it’s easy for us to forget the principles at the core of our marketing efforts.

According to the article, “In 2010, Kings County Distillery–the first whiskey distillery in New York City since the prohibition era–started churning out moonshine and bourbon…. Today, they run a commercial distillery whose small-batch products have garnered boldly positive reviews. The New York Times says Kings County’s barrel-aged whiskey has an ‘almost piney tang of new American oak embracing the grain’; GQ said of its moonshine that there’s ‘no grimace when you take a sip–just a mild burn that makes you want another.’”

However, the founders hit a snag when deciding how to label their bottles. It would have been easy to go for the flashy colors, giant logo, and fancy words typical to alcohol labels. Instead, Colin Spoelman, co-founder of Kings County Distillery, took a different approach. He decided to go for a much simpler look by just typing out the labels on a typewriter. According to Spoelman, ”It just became about the words and that simple sort of approach. And I think, weirdly, that makes sense from a branding point of view.”

Spoelman was able to accomplish what so many marketers struggle with: understanding the core of the product and the true personality of the brand. He let the product’s quality speak for itself instead of covering it up with distracting labels. While this approach may not work for every product, Spoelman’s simple labeling proves the value of the long forgotten lessons taught in Marketing 101. Taking a step back and and going back to basics is something all Marketers need to remember. So snaps to you, Kings County Distillery, for reminding us of the true value of Marketing.

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Sunday Funday

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I realize it’s been a week since my last post and I missed this week’s Snaps To. My apologies, I was a little busy adjusting to working full time. Anyway, here we go!

Sunday Funday is a weekly round-up of the week’s news in the marketing, advertising, or PR industries. Or anything else I find amusing.

With the ever-increasing presence of social media in our day-to-day lives, it’s becoming as common to some of us as eating and sleeping. This has led to an interesting trend as many people decided to give up social media for Lent this year. Jesus died for our sins, so we can lay off the tweeting, right?

Tonight was the season 3 premier of Game of Thrones on HBO. Big news to those of us who can stand the confusion long enough to have watched all the previous seasons. To celebrate the premier Ommegang, a craft brewery in Cooperstown, N.Y. that specializes in Belgian-style beer, teamed up with HBO to release a blonde ale called “Iron Throne”.

My Facebook newsfeed turned a brilliant shade of red this week as many people changed their profile pictured to a red equal sign showing support for marriage equality and gay rights. Huffington Post takes a look at the popularity of this trend through numbers and geographic location.

In recent years Microsoft has struggled to compete with Apple’s seamless operating system and software. Businessweek takes a look at how well Microsoft’s Xbox, Skype, Office, and SkyDrive work well together.

I’ve never been a big fan of weight-loss products, diet fads, and the way they are promoted. Luckily, Weight Watchers and Slim-Fast have abandoned diet-focused ads in favor or ones promoting overall wellness.

Some claim that ads are nothing more than heartless industries trying to take advantage of unknowing consumers. These days, though, advertisement can be used to spread important cultural messages. Expedia’s “Find Your Understanding” commercial, promoting gay rights and marriage equality, actually helped the couple featured in the film with their efforts to secure parental rights to their son.

One more article about Game of Thrones (can you tell I’m excited?): Voyage to 10 Game of Thrones Cities on Travel Site Kayak

I might be one of the few people that doesn’t like April Fool’s Day. I don’t like being pranked, OK?  Youtube just made an announcement that they were shutting down and removing all their videos (GASP!) but it just turned out to be an April Fool’s prank. Jerks.

Money can’t buy happiness, sure. But there’s nothing wrong with using technology to track it. I love the idea of the app featured in “Can an App Actually Make You Happier?“

I posted a video previously about Bing and Jay-Z creating an interactive map around the world for users. Similarly, Artist Jay Shells has wandered around New York, putting up signs with rap lyrics at the specific places the songs referred to in the songs, creating a new map of the city based on its homegrown art form.

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Sunday Funday

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SUNDAY FUNDAY

Writer’s note: this is the first post of a new weekly column called Sunday Funday, a round-up of the week’s news in the marketing, advertising, or PR industries. Or anything else I find amusing.

Twitter celebrates its 7th birthday this week. Remember when the # symbol was known as the pound key? Me neither. Happy 7th birthday, Twitter! Here are 7 of your biggest moments so far

It’s a great feeling when your favorite brand replies to your tweet. But Oreo and Kit-Kat really take the cake with this response. Oreo and Kit-Kat play Tic-Tac-Toe on Twitter

I don’t know about you, but  the last time I lost my phone it felt like I lost my left arm. As everyone grows increasingly reliant on their smartphones, industries have to figure out how to take advantage of it. As we start doing everything with smartphones, will publishers find room?

I’m a huge Boy Meets World fan, so I’ve been following all the news on the upcoming spin-off Girl Meets World. Which makes this piece of news absolutely life changing: William Daniels to return as Mr. Feeny!

Adweek’s Ad of the Day: Anti-Defamation League. So inspiring.

Frankly, I don’t understand why we don’t have flying cars yet. But I’m sure they’re coming soon…hopefully. 2013, as imagined by futurists in 1988

Honestly, this isn’t that surprising. But it’s good to know. Study shows link between twitter volume and TV ratings

It’s very thrilling, and a little scary, how much technology has changed over the past decade. Who would have thought we’d have social TVs? Samsung’s smart, social TVs coming this month

With all of the power and efficiency technology has given us, it’s astounding that we use it to watch cat videos on Youtube. But you know what they say, if you can’t beat them, join them. “Lil Bub & Friendz” brings internet cat celebrities to big screen

Everything is moving online these days, including retail. Find out how Fab.com proves how successful this move can be for retailers. Fab.com: Winning in E-Commerce with whimsy

I love Sheryl Sandberg’s “Lean In” movement. Women of the world, unite! Sheryl Sandberg’s “Lean In” brand goes global