Mobile phone cases have come a long way since the old belt-clips once popular with the IT crowd. These days the case one uses says as much about a person as the phone or tablet they have decided to carry. This September, Case-Mate, which makes covers for all sorts of electronic devices, will launch an advertising campaign highlighting how matching the right cover for the right occasion is essential in these digital times. The campaign, which employs the tagline, “Right Case, Right Occasion,” has already enlisted celebrity endorsers such as actress and pop star Selena Gomez and rapper Common. (Those endorsers are the first two in what Vince Young, the company’s vice president of marketing calls, a “series of announcements [representing] a variety of different partnerships.”) “For our customers, we understand the smartphone is the most important trusted companion that a person interacts with throughout the day,” Young tells Marketing Daily. “It’s very much viewed as an extension of you.” The campaign, which will include broadcast, digital and social-media programming, will target 18-30 year-olds and showcase the celebrities using different cases to express different styles. “Our customers are telling us, ‘I’m really not interested in owning one case. And the reason I’m not interested in owning one case is I have different situations I’m involved in on an everyday basis,’” Young says. “You may want a different style when you are at work. After work, you become an active person, whether you’re running errands, going to the gym, the function changes, and your definition of style changes. We want to drive the idea of owning multiple cases and matching them with the right occasion.” For its roster of celebrity endorsers, Case-Mate is selecting stars who have a distinctive sense of style, appeal to the target demographic, and (not insignificantly) a heavy social media presence. A former teen star looking to build a more adult resume, Gomez, for instance, has a “keen sense of style” and appeals to many of the different “lifestages” represented in the 18-30 demographic, Young says. “She does carry with her a large following on the younger end of that age range,” he says. “But when you look at her global appeal, she can appeal to a much broader group than the teen audience that her historical following to build upon.”
The number of people following the top 100 brands in the Google+ social network rose 54% to 12 million in the past two months, according to a study released Tuesday. The top 10 brands have more than 9 million followers, accounting for 75% of the Google+ total follower base. Although the BrightEdge study shows continued growth, the uptick continues to slow from 1400% between December 2011 and February 2012, and 150% between February 2012 and May, 2012. The top 10 brands on Google+ collectively have three- imes as many followers compared with companies from No. 11 through No. 100 on the list. At No. 1, H&M leads with 1.2 million followers. Toyota takes the No. 2 spot with 1.1 million followers. Google, which was No. 9 in February with 194,000 followers, now sits at No. 2 with 968,000. "Our brand customers focus on channels from which they can drive measurable traffic and conversions," said Jim Yu, BrightEdge CEO. "Google has Google+ content in their search engine results pages, and Bing has both Facebook and Twitter results in their SERPs. We see brands trying more than one channel." During Google's Q2 2012 earnings call, Google SVP and Chief Business Officer Nikesh Arora said retail chain H&M increased AdWords campaigns by an average of 22%. About 250 million users have signed up to use the network, which now offers Local features, giving users the ability to share information in about nearly 100 million places and local businesses, like restaurants and museums. Brands continue to add campaigns and followers at a rapid pace, but growth has slowed since launching one year ago. Despite slower follow rates by members, the momentum still suggests an industry looking for an alternative to Facebook, according to one industry source. "Brands want to take data out of Facebook to target ads on publisher sites and search engines, but the site remains a walled garden," he said. Adoption rates points to a rise in the importance of social content in search results, along with the growing adoption of Google+ by brands and users. When searching for companies using brand terms, 30% of brands with Google+ pages have their content serve up in search results, up from 5% in February. Brands with Google+ pages that come up search results include Accenture, AT&T, FedEx, H&M, Intel, Startbucks and Toyota. Since Facebook and Twitter launched well before Google+, 90% of the top 100 brands have a Facebook page and 80% of brands have a Twitter presence.
Industry insiders believe agencies, brands and publishers need to take steps to create and adopt drag-and-drop display ad units online -- or they risk losing dollars to offline and falling CPM prices. The do-it-yourself ad units encourage publishers to "de-clutter" Web pages. Peter Minnium, head of brand initiative at the Interactive Advertising Bureau, told MediaPost the approach works well on tablets and mobile phones. "We see it in interstitial full-page ads that sit between content on tablets and mobile phones," he said. "We hope this will encourage desktop publishers to de-clutter the page." The ad units, based on the IAB's Rising Stars program, were created to revamp antiquated industry standards. Now Minnium wants tech companies to build "do-it-yourself ad-maker kits," so those who build brands can concentrate on the design. A few companies have begun to develop platforms, he said. "The majority of ad units still follow old IAB standard, and only 7% are custom," Minnium said, calling the new ad units a piece of real estate with specific behavior. "I'm certain if more companies adopt this new practice, the ad units would solve ad blindness." Plug-and-play ad units are akin to easy-to-scale, repeatable ad formats. The strategy follows what Microsoft did for Web Services, allowing companies like Oracle to build one function in a module that it could plug into numerous applications, thereby creating the same results for different applications. The project aims to draw the consumer to the one ad on the page integrating search, audio, video or other social elements, but also support the ad industry's "scarcity" initiative to help raise CPMs and conversion rates.
Hearst Digital Media has tapped social media management firm Sprinklr to help take its social strategy to the next level. A unit of Hearst Magazines, Hearst Digital Media will use Sprinklr’s tools to help its media properties -- including Elle, Cosmopolitan and House Beautiful -- post across social networks, as well as review analytics and measure engagement. According to Sprinklr CEO Ragy Thomas, Hearst’s spanning media empire requires serious managing. “Hearst demonstrates exactly why managing social interactions for a global enterprise is critical -- across channels, functions, geographies and business units,” said Thomas. That’s not to say that Hearst needed any help in the social department. Brian Madden, executive director of social media at Hearst Digital Media, said the unit has already experienced “incredible growth … in social over the last year." Still, Madden said Sprinklr’s services were attractive because they cut down on redundancies -- and would likely streamline Hearst’s social strategy. Sprinklr also delivers Facebook Apps across multiple brands, while allowing each to customize their offerings. Although it has fierce competition in the social media management space, Sprinklr's client list includes Dell, Virgin America, Cisco Systems, Samsung and Newell Rubbermaid. Despite continued reservations from brands, Forrester Research has predicted that social media will have the highest cumulative aggregate growth rate across all channels through 2014. Furthermore, Forrester recently predicted that spending on social media marketing will catch up to email marketing by the end of 2012.
A new video from Ultimat vodka has generated more than 1.1 million views in the four days since it was posted on YouTube on July 26. The video, part of the brand’s “Find Balance, Find Ultimat” campaign, shows a window washer dressed as a businessman flashing signs at office workers from his perch outside their skyscraper windows. The signs include messages such as: “You people are hard to reach,” “Let’s drink to you getting out of here before 6,” “Cheers to less work and more play” and “When was the last time you got some fresh air? It’s awesome,” and of course: “Find balance, find Ultimat.” The brand shot similar footage on a skyscraper in Chicago. Both shoots were done on a summer Friday afternoon, to dramatize the campaign’s theme and results of a Harris Interactive poll conducted for Ultimat that found 70% of respondents saying that Summer Friday benefits would improve their work/life balance (just 12% reported having such benefits). Ultimat hosted late-day cocktail parties for the workers in the skyscrapers where the ads were shot. The creative is from the Amalgamated agency, and was directed by Xander of the East Pleasant production company. Thirty-second and long-form versions were launched through social and paid media, including Hulu and Tremor, as well as YouTube. In addition, the brand is running targeted ads on WSJ.com and other finance Web sites on weekend nights after 5 p.m., to “catch” professionals with deficient life/work balances. The ads have messages targeted/personalized to the user based on the content of the articles they are reading. They urge the reader to find balance, and provide a map to the nearest venue where they can order an Ultimat vodka. The brand is also running direct-to-consumer initiatives. These include Ultimat-hosted parties at corporate offices (such as Gilt Groupe’s) featuring a “build-your-own-cocktail” bar, with fresh ingredients provided. In addition, on Fridays in August, Ultimat will sponsor complimentary manicures and other spa services, as well as cocktails, for men patronizing New York City’s Truman’s Gentleman’s Groomers (described as a cross between a dream man-cave and modern-day barber shop).
Mobile phone cases have come a long way since the old belt-clips once popular with the IT crowd. These days the case one uses says as much about a person as the phone or tablet they have decided to carry. This September, Case-Mate, which makes covers for all sorts of electronic devices, will launch an advertising campaign highlighting how matching the right cover for the right occasion is essential in these digital times. The campaign, which employs the tagline, “Right Case, Right Occasion,” has already enlisted celebrity endorsers such as actress and pop star Selena Gomez and rapper Common. (Those endorsers are the first two in what Vince Young, the company’s vice president of marketing calls, a “series of announcements [representing] a variety of different partnerships.”) “For our customers, we understand the smartphone is the most important trusted companion that a person interacts with throughout the day,” Young tells Marketing Daily. “It’s very much viewed as an extension of you.” The campaign, which will include broadcast, digital and social-media programming, will target 18-30 year-olds and showcase the celebrities using different cases to express different styles. “Our customers are telling us, ‘I’m really not interested in owning one case. And the reason I’m not interested in owning one case is I have different situations I’m involved in on an everyday basis,’” Young says. “You may want a different style when you are at work. After work, you become an active person, whether you’re running errands, going to the gym, the function changes, and your definition of style changes. We want to drive the idea of owning multiple cases and matching them with the right occasion.” For its roster of celebrity endorsers, Case-Mate is selecting stars who have a distinctive sense of style, appeal to the target demographic, and (not insignificantly) a heavy social media presence. A former teen star looking to build a more adult resume, Gomez, for instance, has a “keen sense of style” and appeals to many of the different “lifestages” represented in the 18-30 demographic, Young says. “She does carry with her a large following on the younger end of that age range,” he says. “But when you look at her global appeal, she can appeal to a much broader group than the teen audience that her historical following to build upon.”
The number of people following the top 100 brands in the Google+ social network rose 54% to 12 million in the past two months, according to a study released Tuesday. The top 10 brands have more than 9 million followers, accounting for 75% of the Google+ total follower base. Although the BrightEdge study shows continued growth, the uptick continues to slow from 1400% between December 2011 and February 2012, and 150% between February 2012 and May, 2012. The top 10 brands on Google+ collectively have three- imes as many followers compared with companies from No. 11 through No. 100 on the list. At No. 1, H&M leads with 1.2 million followers. Toyota takes the No. 2 spot with 1.1 million followers. Google, which was No. 9 in February with 194,000 followers, now sits at No. 2 with 968,000. "Our brand customers focus on channels from which they can drive measurable traffic and conversions," said Jim Yu, BrightEdge CEO. "Google has Google+ content in their search engine results pages, and Bing has both Facebook and Twitter results in their SERPs. We see brands trying more than one channel." During Google's Q2 2012 earnings call, Google SVP and Chief Business Officer Nikesh Arora said retail chain H&M increased AdWords campaigns by an average of 22%. About 250 million users have signed up to use the network, which now offers Local features, giving users the ability to share information in about nearly 100 million places and local businesses, like restaurants and museums. Brands continue to add campaigns and followers at a rapid pace, but growth has slowed since launching one year ago. Despite slower follow rates by members, the momentum still suggests an industry looking for an alternative to Facebook, according to one industry source. "Brands want to take data out of Facebook to target ads on publisher sites and search engines, but the site remains a walled garden," he said. Adoption rates points to a rise in the importance of social content in search results, along with the growing adoption of Google+ by brands and users. When searching for companies using brand terms, 30% of brands with Google+ pages have their content serve up in search results, up from 5% in February. Brands with Google+ pages that come up search results include Accenture, AT&T, FedEx, H&M, Intel, Startbucks and Toyota. Since Facebook and Twitter launched well before Google+, 90% of the top 100 brands have a Facebook page and 80% of brands have a Twitter presence.
Industry insiders believe agencies, brands and publishers need to take steps to create and adopt drag-and-drop display ad units online -- or they risk losing dollars to offline and falling CPM prices. The do-it-yourself ad units encourage publishers to "de-clutter" Web pages. Peter Minnium, head of brand initiative at the Interactive Advertising Bureau, told MediaPost the approach works well on tablets and mobile phones. "We see it in interstitial full-page ads that sit between content on tablets and mobile phones," he said. "We hope this will encourage desktop publishers to de-clutter the page." The ad units, based on the IAB's Rising Stars program, were created to revamp antiquated industry standards. Now Minnium wants tech companies to build "do-it-yourself ad-maker kits," so those who build brands can concentrate on the design. A few companies have begun to develop platforms, he said. "The majority of ad units still follow old IAB standard, and only 7% are custom," Minnium said, calling the new ad units a piece of real estate with specific behavior. "I'm certain if more companies adopt this new practice, the ad units would solve ad blindness." Plug-and-play ad units are akin to easy-to-scale, repeatable ad formats. The strategy follows what Microsoft did for Web Services, allowing companies like Oracle to build one function in a module that it could plug into numerous applications, thereby creating the same results for different applications. The project aims to draw the consumer to the one ad on the page integrating search, audio, video or other social elements, but also support the ad industry's "scarcity" initiative to help raise CPMs and conversion rates.
Hearst Digital Media has tapped social media management firm Sprinklr to help take its social strategy to the next level. A unit of Hearst Magazines, Hearst Digital Media will use Sprinklr’s tools to help its media properties -- including Elle, Cosmopolitan and House Beautiful -- post across social networks, as well as review analytics and measure engagement. According to Sprinklr CEO Ragy Thomas, Hearst’s spanning media empire requires serious managing. “Hearst demonstrates exactly why managing social interactions for a global enterprise is critical -- across channels, functions, geographies and business units,” said Thomas. That’s not to say that Hearst needed any help in the social department. Brian Madden, executive director of social media at Hearst Digital Media, said the unit has already experienced “incredible growth … in social over the last year." Still, Madden said Sprinklr’s services were attractive because they cut down on redundancies -- and would likely streamline Hearst’s social strategy. Sprinklr also delivers Facebook Apps across multiple brands, while allowing each to customize their offerings. Although it has fierce competition in the social media management space, Sprinklr's client list includes Dell, Virgin America, Cisco Systems, Samsung and Newell Rubbermaid. Despite continued reservations from brands, Forrester Research has predicted that social media will have the highest cumulative aggregate growth rate across all channels through 2014. Furthermore, Forrester recently predicted that spending on social media marketing will catch up to email marketing by the end of 2012.
A new video from Ultimat vodka has generated more than 1.1 million views in the four days since it was posted on YouTube on July 26. The video, part of the brand’s “Find Balance, Find Ultimat” campaign, shows a window washer dressed as a businessman flashing signs at office workers from his perch outside their skyscraper windows. The signs include messages such as: “You people are hard to reach,” “Let’s drink to you getting out of here before 6,” “Cheers to less work and more play” and “When was the last time you got some fresh air? It’s awesome,” and of course: “Find balance, find Ultimat.” The brand shot similar footage on a skyscraper in Chicago. Both shoots were done on a summer Friday afternoon, to dramatize the campaign’s theme and results of a Harris Interactive poll conducted for Ultimat that found 70% of respondents saying that Summer Friday benefits would improve their work/life balance (just 12% reported having such benefits). Ultimat hosted late-day cocktail parties for the workers in the skyscrapers where the ads were shot. The creative is from the Amalgamated agency, and was directed by Xander of the East Pleasant production company. Thirty-second and long-form versions were launched through social and paid media, including Hulu and Tremor, as well as YouTube. In addition, the brand is running targeted ads on WSJ.com and other finance Web sites on weekend nights after 5 p.m., to “catch” professionals with deficient life/work balances. The ads have messages targeted/personalized to the user based on the content of the articles they are reading. They urge the reader to find balance, and provide a map to the nearest venue where they can order an Ultimat vodka. The brand is also running direct-to-consumer initiatives. These include Ultimat-hosted parties at corporate offices (such as Gilt Groupe’s) featuring a “build-your-own-cocktail” bar, with fresh ingredients provided. In addition, on Fridays in August, Ultimat will sponsor complimentary manicures and other spa services, as well as cocktails, for men patronizing New York City’s Truman’s Gentleman’s Groomers (described as a cross between a dream man-cave and modern-day barber shop).
It could be the Olympics, or the fear of another early ending to the Mets’ season, or Ben Folds reuniting with the other two guys as they ironically tour again as Ben Folds Five. Whatever the reason, I’ve got comeback fever. While I try to find the cure, I keep thinking about social media. Here are 10 social media comebacks that I’d love to see: 1) Facebook’s stock: As a marketer, I don’t care what Facebook’s share price is. But the price indicates that Facebook is struggling to properly value its assets and communicate that value to marketers and investors. As a public company, Facebook is more accountable to marketers. With ads now appearing in the News Feed and on mobile devices, Facebook is delivering more of what brands want without sacrificing the user experience. It will have to keep moving faster, though. 2) Yahoo’s relevance: Yahoo’s still great for display media buyers, but there was a time when Yahoo was a pioneer in search (well before Google), an innovator in mobile (well before Google), and a scrappy social disruptor (Google’s working on it). Yahoo brought together acquisitions like Flickr (alive, but in need of resuscitation), Delicious (which it sold), and Upcoming (which somehow still exists as a Yahoo brand). OK, its homegrown network, Yahoo 360 ,was a Google Buzz-esque flop, but now its one big social idea is to connect all its pages to Facebook and get people to automatically share everything they read. There better be more. This week’s updates to IntoNow are a start. 3) Hashable’s idea: Hashable had a vision of replacing business cards and making introductions easier. It relied too much on game mechanics, and the company took itself so seriously that it inspired the memorable post “Hashable is Worthless” during SXSW 2011. Someone will come up with a better way to digitally connect people professionally, and when it happens, we’ll probably see just how close Hashable was. 4) Foursquare’s mojo. Yes, Foursquare is growing, and it just released Promoted Updates. The company matters less for what it is than what it was. Foursquare was a catalyst for marketers to expand their thinking around mobile marketing, location-based services, and game mechanics. Now, when I encounter someone using Foursquare, it’s often to get $5 back on their AmEx statement. That’s a great reason to love American Express, but it turns Foursquare into a coupon pusher. I still like and regularly use it, but I want to get back to loving Foursquare again. 5) Groupon’s original approach: Groupon’s etymology derives from its origins as a group buying platform. It was exciting, in the way that winning your first eBay was exciting ten or fifteen years ago. If deals didn’t get enough subscribers, they wouldn’t materialize, much like Kickstarter projects today. If you loved it, you’d need to tell your friends. Who’s bragging to their friends they bought a Groupon now? 6) Barcode Hero and Stickybits. There was a brief time when barcodes were wonderfully weird marketing vehicles. Barcode Hero added a gaming layer to barcode scans. After scanning relevant products, I was the king of Kraft, and even the king of shoes after killing time waiting for my wife to finish up at DSW. Stickybits treated barcodes as a content gateway, so you could scan a code and leave comments, photos, and videos. While neither company was destined to be a mass market hit, it was fun looking at black and white lines and boxes in entirely new ways. 7) Chat bots: Before there was Siri, there was SmarterChild, an instant messaging bot that was a fun alternative to search engines. Before instant messaging, there was Dr. Sbaitso, a DOS program that was the world’s first mass market virtual therapist. They didn’t catch on in time for brands to take part, but Siri will have a longer shelf life. 8) Color’s concept: If Instagram was the “Blair Witch Project” of mobile apps, Color was the “Waterworld.” It had a creative premise but couldn’t live up to the expectations set by its funding. The idea of an app that displays content shared from your immediate location sounds like a great social experiment, and perhaps even an important technology underlying the future of how content will be shared. Color pivoted and is now a video-sharing app. Yawn. 9) Second Life: I have fond memories of hanging out on H&R Block’s virtual island, where the avatars of real tax advisors would answer consumers’ avatars’ tax questions. I also recall another time tagging along with some clique of avatars (this may or may not have been when I met my first virtual furry), and one of them kindly offered me some digital genitalia to make my avatar look less like a Ken doll. Second Life is still around, but it’s been a long time since I’ve seen it in a marketing plan. 10) Digg: Digg introduced millions of people to social discovery, crowdsourcing, and creating content that’s designed to spread through social networks rather than search engines. Now there are new owners that want to make Digg a verb again. I’m especially excited for two reasons. First, Buzzfeed is on the verge of a monopoly for publicizing stories like, “Gotye’s 50 Funniest Kittens at the 2012 Lego Olympics.” Buzzfeed needs more competition. Secondly, as much as I couldn’t stand Digg’s fanboys with their hero worship of the site’s founders, Reddit’s insular crowd of contributors is even worse, voting up photos about – what else? – what it’s like introducing people to Reddit. Digg, you can do better. I may often get nostalgic, but not everything needs an encore. I’m perfectly happy to say farewell to MySpace, Google Buzz, the hype around widgets, and every game that resembles FarmVille. Yet the Internet is the best comeback generator the world has ever known. It rebooted Betty White’s career, brought “Arrested Development” back from oblivion, and made Nikola Tesla a scientific folk hero. Some of these social media comebacks are destined to happen. When they do, you’ll hear about it – on Digg, from friends sharing a Yahoo story, via SmarterChild, or by scanning a barcode sticker in Second Life.
Twitter has long had a reputation for standing up for users' rights. Last year, the company distinguished itself by going to court to challenge a subpoena for information about account holders who appeared to have ties to Wikileaks. The company also drew praise from digital rights advocates for appealing a court order requiring it to disclose data about Occupy Wall Street protester Malcolm Harris' account. But today, the microblogging site is under fire by free speech advocates. That's because Twitter suspended the account of journalist Guy Adams, the Los Angeles bureau chief for The Independent, who forcefully criticized NBC's decision to delay broadcasts of the Olympics. "While Kobe Bryant and other big names in US sport were completing a 98 to 71-point victory, viewers of American network NBC were forced to watch edited highlights of a women's cycling race that had been completed several hours earlier," Adams wrote this weekend in The Independent. He also took NBC to task on Twitter. "Am I alone in wondering why NBC thinks (it's) acceptable to pretend this roadrace is being broadcast live?" he wondered in one tweet. Another said, "America's left coast forced to watch Olympic ceremony on SIX HOUR time delay. Disgusting money-grabbing by @NBColympics." Yet another tweet read: "The man responsible for NBC pretending the Olympics haven't started yet is Gary Zenkel. Tell him what u think!" That tweet included Zenkel's corporate email address, which prompted NBC to complain that Adams violated the microblogging service's policy against tweeting "private" information. Twitter responded by suspending Adams for posting Zenkel's email address -- even though it could be found on Google before Adams tweeted it, and could be deduced by anyone familiar with NBC's pattern of assigning email addresses to employees. Adams denies that he violated Twitter's terms of service. "I'm of course happy to abide by Twitter's rules, now and forever," he wrote to a Twitter representative. "But I don't see how I broke them in this case: I didn't publish a private email address. Just a corporate one, which is widely available to anyone with access to Google, and is identical [in form] to one that all of the tens of thousands of NBC Universal employees share." Twitter has yet to publicly respond to Adams. As of Monday evening, the site had not restored Adams' account. It's certainly possible that Twitter was merely following standard operating procedure by suspending a user who tweeted a supposedly "private" email address. But it also seems possible that the company's judgment was clouded by the desire to placate NBC, its official Olympics partner. Meantime, the move has sparked some high-profile pushback. Reuters journalist Chadwick Matlin urged Twitter users upset about the decision banning Adams to email NBC's CEO Steve Burke, and included an apparent email address for him, along with the hashtag #comeandgetmetwitter. If nothing else, Twitter's ban has cost the company some of the goodwill it gained from standing up to the government on behalf of users. Hopefully, the company will realize that tweeting a top corporate official's work email address isn't the same as exposing someone's private data.