Facebook unsettled marketers in September when it altered its EdgeRank algorithm -- which determines what someone sees in their news feed -- ostensibly to reduce clutter and improve the user experience. It acknowledged that the changes would diminish the number of organic brand posts people see, but help increase engagement per post. A new study released today by WPP's GroupM suggests that users are indeed being bombarded with fewer organic posts, but that the dialed-down exposure has led to increased interaction as promised. The proportion of Facebook users that see an organic brand post has fallen 38% from 15.5% to 9.6%, following the EdgeRank update. At the same time, the average engagement rate has nearly doubled from .76% to 1.49%, according to the GroupM study, based on an analysis of 25 brands on Facebook by its Next Predictive Insights team in conjunction with M80, the agency’s social media unit. That sounds like a reasonable tradeoff, but GroupM points out that while marketers see more interaction per impression, they are also seeing fewer total impressions. “Taken together, these trends mean that advertisers should not expect an increase in aggregate volume of engagement of their posts on Facebook,” the report stated. "This result means that brands are not gaining additional organic engagement as a result of the change and are only losing organic reach." In short, the lift in engagement is not enough to offset the decline in reach on a site with more than 1 billion users. The results can be seen as supporting speculation that Facebook’s real goal with the algorithm changes was to boost demand for its paid solutions, like promoted posts and Sponsored Stories to broaden reach. But GroupM says the EdgeRank change also provides deeper insights that can help update their earned media strategy on Facebook without becoming solely paid-dependent. The reach of status updates, for instance, increased almost 20% -- even while brand posts like photos, videos, links and “shares” fell off dramatically. The findings show that organic posts are now being better targeted toward users with higher brand affinity. Still, GroupM suggests the importance of engagement on Facebook has been overstated at the expense of reach. Based on its research, the media buying giant advises brands to gain a better understanding of the impact of page post types and use that data to inform the type of content it publishes, as well as the pace of messaging. By adopting an optimized posting strategy, it indicates that brands can boost reach on Facebook by 28%. That will not get brands back to the 16% reach they had before the EdgeRank change, but would help regain some of the reach lost. Facebook itself has encouraged companies to use a combination of earned and paid media on the site to achieve the best marketing results, backed up by a series of studies conducted with comScore. The latest "Power of Like" report found that brands can reach five times as many people by using advertising to amplify page content. In a statement today, Facebook rejected the notion that it changed its algorithm so it could charge marketers to promote posts. “This meme is totally false. News feed is built to show relevant content. A few times a year we perform quality checks on the news feed algorithm to ensure high-quality and relevant posts,” the company said.
Social media analytics start-up Socialbakers on Monday is expected to announce $6 million funding. “With this funding, we will continue building our platform’s social measurement features,” said Socialbakers CEO Jan Rezab. The round was led by Index Ventures, along with help from Earlybird Venture Capital. Founded in 2009 as Facebakers, the renamed Socialbakers has quickly grown to 160 employees worldwide, and boasts top-tier clients, including McDonald’s, Nestle, Henkel, LVMH and Vodafone. Socialbakers' so-called “comparative analytics” platform measures social media performance across major networks, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn and Google+. All together, the company claims to monitor 10 million social media corporate profiles. Socialbakers is also recognized for establishing social media KPIs and measurements, such as Socially Devoted, which measures the quality of customer service in social media channels.Late last year, the company raised $2 million, and soon after acquired Social RSS, a popular feed reader app for Facebook. Also in 2011, Socialbakers bought Checkfacebook.com for an undisclosed sum. Over the past two years, the company has opened new outposts in Sao Paulo, Mexico City, Dubai and Istanbul, in addition to its Prague, London, Munich, Paris and San Francisco offices.
Viggle, the social TV rewards site, has bought bigger social TV media competitor GetGlue for $25 million in cash and stock. Viggle, launched only 11 months ago, had a base of 1.2 million registered users. The newly merged company will have 4 million users.Viggle's TV users receive points for watching and engaging in TV shows and can redeem points for purchases at Best Buy, Amazon, Fandango, Hulu Plus and iTunes. Viggle’s audio verification technology recognizes and allows users to check into live, time-shifted and online TV content from more than 170 of the most popular broadcast and cable channels.New York City-based GetGlue, which started five years ago, also is TV-centric in the social media space -- enabling users to tell friends what they are watching, track their favorite shows, and find videos, images and links. It has more than 3.2 million registered users, as well as a database with more than 500 million entertainment ratings and check-ins. "With this deal, we are combining very experienced and creative product, engineering and management teams that will continue to build great user experiences and provide industry leading platforms for consumers, networks and advertisers," said Robert F.X. Sillerman, executive chairman/CEO of Viggle.Sillerman added that the company would increase "the Viggle user base and quadruple our network partnerships."Alex Iskold, chief executive officer/founder of GetGlue, will join Viggle in a senior executive position on its management team and as a member of its board of directors. Viggle will also hire all 34 GetGlue employees.
Gap is running a new global marketing campaign for the holidays, showcasing all kinds of love in high-energy photos of celebrities, with social components that all shoppers let in on the pictures. Called “Love Comes In Every Shade,” the effort features an offbeat selection of actors and musicians, who pose with their loved ones to illustrate the many different flavors of love. For married love, actor Michael J. Fox poses with wife Tracy Pollan; musician Rufus Wainwright stands with artistic director Jörn Weisbrodt. There’s also fatherly love (rapper Nas and his father, blues musician Olu Dara); modern love, featuring the cast of NBC’s “The New Normal”; puppy love with actor Jack Huston and his dog Orso; and then best friend love with director Gia Coppola and actress Nathalie Love. The print ads are running in December issues of Vogue, Lucky, InStyle, Glamour, and Vanity Fair; as well as outdoor in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago. But the real innovations are in social. The campaign kicked off on Postagram and Pinterest, encouraging users to turn their own photos into real postcards, which the Gap is mailing to loved ones at no charge. And those who pin Gap fashions on Pinterest wish lists are entered in a drawing for Gap gift cards, with five winners each week through Christmas. The brand is also continuing its Styld.by digital catalog collaboration for the holiday, with each of its partners (including Refinery29, WhoWhatWear, Lookbook and Rue) creating gift guides, using pieces from Gap’s holiday collection. Finally, the San Francisco-based company says it has also introduced a new gift card program, which donates a percentage of each gift card purchase to CARE and Communities In Schools.
As retailers roll up their sleeves for the onslaught of Black Friday shoppers, a new study from the National Retail Federation finds that this year, virtual deals will be virtually everywhere: 97.3% of online retailers will offer at least some type of deal or promotion during the Thanksgiving weekend. That’s an increase from 90.2% last year. And with more brick-and-mortar stores announcing that they will open their doors on Thanksgiving Day to woo consumers, the survey finds that online retailers plan to follow suit: 45.7% say they intend to offer those specific online deals on Thanksgiving. The survey, conducted for the NRF’s Shop.org arm by BIGInsight, also reports that 85% -- a record -- intend to create promotions specifically for Cyber Monday. In last year’s survey, 78.4% said they would do so last year. On cue, Walmart.com just announced what it claims are its most aggressive Cyber Monday prices ever: First, it is starting its event Sat., Nov. 24 -- two days before Cyber Monday. Second, in some case, discounts are in the four figures, such as a 55” Samsung TV for $1,500, a full $1,000 cheaper. The retailer says it is also beefing up its online, mobile and social options -- including perks for liking local Walmarts or downloading its shopping app -- with these “connected” customers learning first about daily specials. And it has also created an interactive store map, which enables shoppers to view Black Friday specials including price, product description and location within each store. Meanwhile, stores are also banking on plenty of actual shoppers. Macy’s is breaking a new spot just for Black Friday, starring teen heartthrob Justin Bieber.
Campbell Soup is running a cause-related Pinterest promotion to encourage Thanksgiving cooks to include its classic green bean casserole recipe, made with Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom Soup, on their menus. Through Nov. 30, Campbell will donate $1 (up to $10,000) to Feeding America for each image of the casserole pinned or repinned. In addition to appearing on Pinterest users’ boards, the images are being aggregated to create a “Most Colossal Casserole Pinterest board” on the Campbell’s Kitchen Pinterest page. Campbell is driving awareness of the promotion through its condensed soup Facebook page and Campbell Soup Twitter account, as well as through the Campbell’s Kitchen site and Pinterest page. The green bean casserole recipe (which also calls for French’s French Fried Onions), was created in 1955 in Campbell’s Kitchen by home economist Dorcas Reilly. It took off after being featured in an Associated Press Thanksgiving piece in the same year. According to Campbell, more than 30 million households will include the side dish in their holiday meals this year.
Impressions mean less these days than proliferation through social channels: It's about the buzz. And that's what NBCUniversal Integrated Media purports to derive with its "Brand Power Index" (BPI) ranking of brands. The NBCU division tracks buzz by gauging online chatter around some 500 brands. In the auto sector Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, Chevrolet, GM, and Acura lead the four-wheeled pack because of their efforts around music, food, and gaming. John Shea, EVP and CMO of the NBCU division, said those tactics are also effective because they build awareness without a hard sell. "And this subtlety is paying off in organic buzz,” he said in a statement. He added that 21% of respondents said brands don’t take the right steps to build community. Mercedes-Benz got a 52% lift among women and 36% improvement among men with its in-house designed Style Furniture Collection, as well as its food and music programs. Those include a "Mixed Tape," downloadable, bimonthly compilation of world music, and an epicurean program, "On the Road," involving a picnic menu developed by chef Daniel Humm of Eleven Madison Park and NoMad. That effort promoted 2013 SL Roadster. Humm is a James Beard award winner, which furthers MB’s tie-in with the yearly James Beard Foundation award ceremony. Toyota improved from 23rd to 21st place among all brands with women and from 18th to 16th place with men, per the Q3 study. Helping with the lift was a sponsorship of NBC's "Toyota Concert Series" on Today, which included a partnership with Pandora. Also boosting the brand was a 10-part video series called "Becoming Fearless" with the Huffington Post, based on Arianna Huffington’s book with that theme. The automaker also re-upped for the fourth year its road-trip Web series touting the Venza crossover via a partnership with MSN. The show has foodie voyager Andrew Zimmern touring the south in a Venza, visiting local -- and usually offbeat -- restaurants. Chevrolet went to baseball (it has "official vehicle" status with MLB) with a cause-marketing program called “Diamonds and Dreams,” dangling a refurbished baseball field for communities. A Country Music Awards promotion let people vie for a chance to write a brand fan anthem. Chevy's position in the BPI rose 12% (from 29 to 26) in the third quarter. To spotlight the Acura ILX, Honda’s luxury car brand partnered with indie rock band Metric with five exclusive concerts for Acura owners and Metric fans. The firm said Acura rose 80% among females because of that. GM’s OnStar telematics division tied with digital auto-share firm Relay Rides, allowing GM owners with OnStar to earn money by renting their own cars to other people.
Facebook unsettled marketers in September when it altered its EdgeRank algorithm -- which determines what someone sees in their news feed -- ostensibly to reduce clutter and improve the user experience. It acknowledged that the changes would diminish the number of organic brand posts people see, but help increase engagement per post. A new study released today by WPP's GroupM suggests that users are indeed being bombarded with fewer organic posts, but that the dialed-down exposure has led to increased interaction as promised. The proportion of Facebook users that see an organic brand post has fallen 38% from 15.5% to 9.6%, following the EdgeRank update. At the same time, the average engagement rate has nearly doubled from .76% to 1.49%, according to the GroupM study, based on an analysis of 25 brands on Facebook by its Next Predictive Insights team in conjunction with M80, the agency’s social media unit. That sounds like a reasonable tradeoff, but GroupM points out that while marketers see more interaction per impression, they are also seeing fewer total impressions. “Taken together, these trends mean that advertisers should not expect an increase in aggregate volume of engagement of their posts on Facebook,” the report stated. "This result means that brands are not gaining additional organic engagement as a result of the change and are only losing organic reach." In short, the lift in engagement is not enough to offset the decline in reach on a site with more than 1 billion users. The results can be seen as supporting speculation that Facebook’s real goal with the algorithm changes was to boost demand for its paid solutions, like promoted posts and Sponsored Stories to broaden reach. But GroupM says the EdgeRank change also provides deeper insights that can help update their earned media strategy on Facebook without becoming solely paid-dependent. The reach of status updates, for instance, increased almost 20% -- even while brand posts like photos, videos, links and “shares” fell off dramatically. The findings show that organic posts are now being better targeted toward users with higher brand affinity. Still, GroupM suggests the importance of engagement on Facebook has been overstated at the expense of reach. Based on its research, the media buying giant advises brands to gain a better understanding of the impact of page post types and use that data to inform the type of content it publishes, as well as the pace of messaging. By adopting an optimized posting strategy, it indicates that brands can boost reach on Facebook by 28%. That will not get brands back to the 16% reach they had before the EdgeRank change, but would help regain some of the reach lost. Facebook itself has encouraged companies to use a combination of earned and paid media on the site to achieve the best marketing results, backed up by a series of studies conducted with comScore. The latest "Power of Like" report found that brands can reach five times as many people by using advertising to amplify page content. In a statement today, Facebook rejected the notion that it changed its algorithm so it could charge marketers to promote posts. “This meme is totally false. News feed is built to show relevant content. A few times a year we perform quality checks on the news feed algorithm to ensure high-quality and relevant posts,” the company said.
So I guess by now you’ve cancelled your reservation at Guy’s American Restaurant and Bar, because the cocktails are said to taste like formaldehyde, the rice isn’t rice, but “an insipid Rice-a-Roni variant,” and the fish tastes like toasted marshmallows. (Wait. It’s the other way around -- the marshmallows taste like fish.) I quote, of course, from the now famous (or infamous) New York Times review of Food Network star Guy Fieri’s new restaurant in Times Square. I can’t believe someone hasn’t shared it with you by now, but if no one has, here’s the rundown: the review starts out by asking Guy Fieri if he’s ever eaten at his new restaurant, and then asks him a long series of questions about it that builds a sense of snarky wonderment at just how awful the reviewer thinks the restaurant is. It’s an invisible chair kind of thing. The questions include: 1. "Did panic grip your soul as you stared into the whirling hypno wheel of the menu, where adjectives and nouns spin in a crazy vortex?" 2. "What exactly about a small salad with four or five miniature croutons makes Guy’s Famous Big Bite Caesar (a) big (b) famous or (c) Guy’s, in any meaningful sense?" 3. "Were you struck by how very far from awesome the Awesome Pretzel Chicken Tenders are?" In other words, even though it’s 150% negative, it’s the best restaurant review you’ll ever read. But now I’ll ask a question of my own: What does this have to do with social media? Since it has been the Times’ most emailed story for three days running, has racked up more than 1,000 comments and been the subject of endless conversation on Twitter, social media has everything to do with it. This hit home for me when I saw what Donny Deutsch had to say about the controversy on “The Today Show.” Directing his comments at Fieri, who was also on set, Deutsch told him how to position his PR debacle: “These critics up here, they eat at chichi places. This is real food for real people. Enough with the critics, make it the populist movement. This will turn into gold for you, my friend.” Essentially, it was an attempt at class warfare, pitting all of those sad sacks who actually come to New York and eat at The Olive Garden (quelle horreur!) vs. snobby New York restaurant critics and the people who love them. But unless real people prefer their French fries “limp and oil-sogged” and “also served cold”, or simply love “baked Alaska that droops and slumps and collapses while you eat it,” gastronomic class warfare isn’t going to happen. Even tourists, lured by the name, won’t spend money to make Guy Fieri feel better. But the bigger point is that when content is shared, it has a long shelf life, not to mention broad reach, and no amount of concocted spin can change that. It lives. We’ll never know just how many people have seen or shared this review. Maybe it’s not as many as “The Today Show”’s daily average of about five million viewers, but anyone who saw the segment featuring Deutsch, and is thinking of going to the restaurant, is going to look up the review. Game over. So where does Guy Fieri go from here? He goes back to the oldest lesson in marketing. He improves the product, and if he wants news of his improved restaurant to go viral, he invites that reviewer back for an encore. Sorry, Guy.
Social media analytics start-up Socialbakers on Monday is expected to announce $6 million funding. “With this funding, we will continue building our platform’s social measurement features,” said Socialbakers CEO Jan Rezab. The round was led by Index Ventures, along with help from Earlybird Venture Capital. Founded in 2009 as Facebakers, the renamed Socialbakers has quickly grown to 160 employees worldwide, and boasts top-tier clients, including McDonald’s, Nestle, Henkel, LVMH and Vodafone. Socialbakers' so-called “comparative analytics” platform measures social media performance across major networks, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn and Google+. All together, the company claims to monitor 10 million social media corporate profiles. Socialbakers is also recognized for establishing social media KPIs and measurements, such as Socially Devoted, which measures the quality of customer service in social media channels.Late last year, the company raised $2 million, and soon after acquired Social RSS, a popular feed reader app for Facebook. Also in 2011, Socialbakers bought Checkfacebook.com for an undisclosed sum. Over the past two years, the company has opened new outposts in Sao Paulo, Mexico City, Dubai and Istanbul, in addition to its Prague, London, Munich, Paris and San Francisco offices.
Historically, return on investment (ROI) has been predominantly based on financial considerations. This is changing as other parameters must be considered. The explosion of social media and the resulting impact on businesses are key developments. I believe ROI needs rethinking -- not because it’s no longer effective, but because it may result in the strategic emphasis being placed potentially on the wrong kind of marketing activities. Despite all the apparent excitement and buzz dedicated to digital marketing, brands are still struggling to find the perfect social media campaign. The brand teams often fail to achieve the results they need because their social media campaigns fluctuate wildly. Finding the true ROI of social media becomes a considerable challenge because it throws up a multitude of data points from likes, comments, follows, shares, and retweets to Web site visits. Despite the growing number of tracking tools available, social media is also difficult to benchmark and relatively easy to leave off and pick up again. On the one hand, social media has similarities to other forms of communication. We can ask what the true value of a follower on Facebook is versus the value of a TV commercial viewer. As with any new media, people quickly adopt it and then spend considerable time with it. Marketers are aware of this and increase their budgets accordingly. Companies have faith in the power of television commercials, demonstrated by the fact that they continue to invest vast resources in them (although the proverbial conundrum of ‘which 50% of the budget is working?’ remains unresolved). The same is being experienced today with investment in social media campaigns. Yet social media offers a different style of engagement, taking on a more “intimate process” as the brand sets out to engage on a personal level, nurturing the relationship and persisting in the building of confidence levels to the point where a purchase is made -- whereas conventional advertising may actually take longer to convert a follower into paying for a product or service. It could be said that developing a level of trust with the consumer will be significantly more enduring than a sales connection made via advertising. This loyalty and trust strengthen the brand and pave the way for potentially lucrative business in the future. For many companies, social media networks can be a compelling communications environment to attract new customers and retain existing ones. In their recent analysis of the top 100 brands on Social Media in 2012, Blogmeter (a social media monitoring and analytics organisation [www.blogmeter.eu]), reported that 70% of the world’s most valuable brands have a Facebook and/or Twitter profile. Almost 25 percent of the brands analyzed used more than one Twitter account and almost 15% had more than one Facebook profile. It is easy for brand teams to get carried away with their new found ability to reach millions of potential customers with a click of the mouse. It is also easy to come horribly unstuck. Pepsi’s much-heralded 2010 online social media initiative known as the ‘Pepsi Refresh Project’ is a good example of heavy investment in social media with a substantially reduced marketing spend on traditional advertising and promotional projects. While the Pepsi Refresh Project was running, the company lost market share and sales volume, dropping to third place behind Coke and Diet Coke. Coca Cola, on the other hand, continued to invest in both social media and traditional mass media campaigns, taking vital market share from its biggest adversary. Of course, this loss of share could be a result of the execution rather than simply the fact that Pepsi focused primarily on social media, but it does raise significant concerns about how we use -- and indeed measure -- the social media impact. In terms of social media metrics, Pepsi’s campaign was deemed to be successful. It has been reported that in a short space of time, more than 80 million votes were registered, there were around 3.5 million “likes” on the Pepsi Facebook page, and almost 60,000 Twitter followers. As we know all too well, companies bank profits, not metrics -- and the ‘Pepsi Refresh Project’ simply did not produce the former, although the company was widely lauded for its involvement in social causes. Few will doubt that social media activities create a level of interaction with a brand, but it should not come at the cost of involvement or engagement typically associated with other mass media campaigns. Television, radio and print media are a long way from following the Jurassic era into oblivion. Marketing teams may well be able to quantify their efforts to their bosses by latching onto the metrics everyone easily understands -- views, likes, followers etc. -- but all they are doing is lowering the bar. In the short term, they may succeed, but not in the long term. And it is the long term that ROI and branding should be all about.
Viggle, the social TV rewards site, has bought bigger social TV media competitor GetGlue for $25 million in cash and stock. Viggle, launched only 11 months ago, had a base of 1.2 million registered users. The newly merged company will have 4 million users.Viggle's TV users receive points for watching and engaging in TV shows and can redeem points for purchases at Best Buy, Amazon, Fandango, Hulu Plus and iTunes. Viggle’s audio verification technology recognizes and allows users to check into live, time-shifted and online TV content from more than 170 of the most popular broadcast and cable channels.New York City-based GetGlue, which started five years ago, also is TV-centric in the social media space -- enabling users to tell friends what they are watching, track their favorite shows, and find videos, images and links. It has more than 3.2 million registered users, as well as a database with more than 500 million entertainment ratings and check-ins. "With this deal, we are combining very experienced and creative product, engineering and management teams that will continue to build great user experiences and provide industry leading platforms for consumers, networks and advertisers," said Robert F.X. Sillerman, executive chairman/CEO of Viggle.Sillerman added that the company would increase "the Viggle user base and quadruple our network partnerships."Alex Iskold, chief executive officer/founder of GetGlue, will join Viggle in a senior executive position on its management team and as a member of its board of directors. Viggle will also hire all 34 GetGlue employees.
Gap is running a new global marketing campaign for the holidays, showcasing all kinds of love in high-energy photos of celebrities, with social components that all shoppers let in on the pictures. Called “Love Comes In Every Shade,” the effort features an offbeat selection of actors and musicians, who pose with their loved ones to illustrate the many different flavors of love. For married love, actor Michael J. Fox poses with wife Tracy Pollan; musician Rufus Wainwright stands with artistic director Jörn Weisbrodt. There’s also fatherly love (rapper Nas and his father, blues musician Olu Dara); modern love, featuring the cast of NBC’s “The New Normal”; puppy love with actor Jack Huston and his dog Orso; and then best friend love with director Gia Coppola and actress Nathalie Love. The print ads are running in December issues of Vogue, Lucky, InStyle, Glamour, and Vanity Fair; as well as outdoor in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago. But the real innovations are in social. The campaign kicked off on Postagram and Pinterest, encouraging users to turn their own photos into real postcards, which the Gap is mailing to loved ones at no charge. And those who pin Gap fashions on Pinterest wish lists are entered in a drawing for Gap gift cards, with five winners each week through Christmas. The brand is also continuing its Styld.by digital catalog collaboration for the holiday, with each of its partners (including Refinery29, WhoWhatWear, Lookbook and Rue) creating gift guides, using pieces from Gap’s holiday collection. Finally, the San Francisco-based company says it has also introduced a new gift card program, which donates a percentage of each gift card purchase to CARE and Communities In Schools.
As retailers roll up their sleeves for the onslaught of Black Friday shoppers, a new study from the National Retail Federation finds that this year, virtual deals will be virtually everywhere: 97.3% of online retailers will offer at least some type of deal or promotion during the Thanksgiving weekend. That’s an increase from 90.2% last year. And with more brick-and-mortar stores announcing that they will open their doors on Thanksgiving Day to woo consumers, the survey finds that online retailers plan to follow suit: 45.7% say they intend to offer those specific online deals on Thanksgiving. The survey, conducted for the NRF’s Shop.org arm by BIGInsight, also reports that 85% -- a record -- intend to create promotions specifically for Cyber Monday. In last year’s survey, 78.4% said they would do so last year. On cue, Walmart.com just announced what it claims are its most aggressive Cyber Monday prices ever: First, it is starting its event Sat., Nov. 24 -- two days before Cyber Monday. Second, in some case, discounts are in the four figures, such as a 55” Samsung TV for $1,500, a full $1,000 cheaper. The retailer says it is also beefing up its online, mobile and social options -- including perks for liking local Walmarts or downloading its shopping app -- with these “connected” customers learning first about daily specials. And it has also created an interactive store map, which enables shoppers to view Black Friday specials including price, product description and location within each store. Meanwhile, stores are also banking on plenty of actual shoppers. Macy’s is breaking a new spot just for Black Friday, starring teen heartthrob Justin Bieber.
Campbell Soup is running a cause-related Pinterest promotion to encourage Thanksgiving cooks to include its classic green bean casserole recipe, made with Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom Soup, on their menus. Through Nov. 30, Campbell will donate $1 (up to $10,000) to Feeding America for each image of the casserole pinned or repinned. In addition to appearing on Pinterest users’ boards, the images are being aggregated to create a “Most Colossal Casserole Pinterest board” on the Campbell’s Kitchen Pinterest page. Campbell is driving awareness of the promotion through its condensed soup Facebook page and Campbell Soup Twitter account, as well as through the Campbell’s Kitchen site and Pinterest page. The green bean casserole recipe (which also calls for French’s French Fried Onions), was created in 1955 in Campbell’s Kitchen by home economist Dorcas Reilly. It took off after being featured in an Associated Press Thanksgiving piece in the same year. According to Campbell, more than 30 million households will include the side dish in their holiday meals this year.
Impressions mean less these days than proliferation through social channels: It's about the buzz. And that's what NBCUniversal Integrated Media purports to derive with its "Brand Power Index" (BPI) ranking of brands. The NBCU division tracks buzz by gauging online chatter around some 500 brands. In the auto sector Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, Chevrolet, GM, and Acura lead the four-wheeled pack because of their efforts around music, food, and gaming. John Shea, EVP and CMO of the NBCU division, said those tactics are also effective because they build awareness without a hard sell. "And this subtlety is paying off in organic buzz,” he said in a statement. He added that 21% of respondents said brands don’t take the right steps to build community. Mercedes-Benz got a 52% lift among women and 36% improvement among men with its in-house designed Style Furniture Collection, as well as its food and music programs. Those include a "Mixed Tape," downloadable, bimonthly compilation of world music, and an epicurean program, "On the Road," involving a picnic menu developed by chef Daniel Humm of Eleven Madison Park and NoMad. That effort promoted 2013 SL Roadster. Humm is a James Beard award winner, which furthers MB’s tie-in with the yearly James Beard Foundation award ceremony. Toyota improved from 23rd to 21st place among all brands with women and from 18th to 16th place with men, per the Q3 study. Helping with the lift was a sponsorship of NBC's "Toyota Concert Series" on Today, which included a partnership with Pandora. Also boosting the brand was a 10-part video series called "Becoming Fearless" with the Huffington Post, based on Arianna Huffington’s book with that theme. The automaker also re-upped for the fourth year its road-trip Web series touting the Venza crossover via a partnership with MSN. The show has foodie voyager Andrew Zimmern touring the south in a Venza, visiting local -- and usually offbeat -- restaurants. Chevrolet went to baseball (it has "official vehicle" status with MLB) with a cause-marketing program called “Diamonds and Dreams,” dangling a refurbished baseball field for communities. A Country Music Awards promotion let people vie for a chance to write a brand fan anthem. Chevy's position in the BPI rose 12% (from 29 to 26) in the third quarter. To spotlight the Acura ILX, Honda’s luxury car brand partnered with indie rock band Metric with five exclusive concerts for Acura owners and Metric fans. The firm said Acura rose 80% among females because of that. GM’s OnStar telematics division tied with digital auto-share firm Relay Rides, allowing GM owners with OnStar to earn money by renting their own cars to other people.