Lacoste shirts may be about to celebrate the 80th birthday of that preppy little crocodile, but a futuristic new ad campaign shows why the brand is so appealing to its young fans. An upbeat video shows teens and 20-somethings cavorting in shirts that can change color with the swipe of a crocodile; that respond to the environment; that keep score during a tennis match, or even shorten or lengthen sleeves with a simple shrug. After viewing the video and the print ads that support it, fans are then invited to go to Facebook and invent their own version of the shirt. The most original contributions, the company says, will then be illustrated by an artist and featured on its Facebook page, which has some 10 million fans. So what will make for a winning idea? “We will choose the ones we had not imagined,” Louis Bonichon, creative director of MNSTR, the Paris-based agency that created the campaign, tells Marketing Daily in an email. “We will try to represent ideas from the worldwide community, and esepcially those which follow the spirit of Lacoste -- innovation at the service of comfort and elegance.” He says the illustrations will be based on the style of the ads used to introduce the tennis shirts back in 1933. It’s no accident that Lacoste launched the campaign on 12/12/12: It’s a play on L.12.12, the secret code name tennis great René “The Crocodile” Lacoste gave the shirt when he was perfecting the design back in the 1933. (L is for Lacoste, 1 code for the fabric, 2 code for the sleeve length, and 12 the number or prototypes he created before getting it right.) MNSTR created the campaign, and had Fleur & Manu make the film. Print ads are running in such publications as Tennis, The Times and the Guardian in the UK, as well as a variety of titles in Europe. While the Lacoste shirts don’t have any real digital capabilities (at least not yet), Gen Y clearly has an appetite for wired clothing. Recently, Macy’s debuted a men’s sweater with video embedded in its sleeve, as part of its newest Sean John collection.
Social networking technology firm Gigya is launching a new privacy seal of approval for Web companies that people use to register and sign in through Facebook, Twitter or other social media platforms. The SocialPrivacy Certification Seal aims to assure consumers that their activity won't be blasted to their Facebook friends or Twitter followers without their consent. To obtain a seal, publishers must promise to refrain from selling user social data, posting to social feeds without permission, engage in social data-based email marketing campaigns without permission, and sending private messages to users' friends without permission. Companies expected to display the seal at launch include Martha Stewart Omnimedia, Finish Line (which operates run.com), Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail and LUSH Cosmetics. Gigya CEO Patrick Salyer estimates that hundreds of thousands of sites allow consumers to sign on with the same user names they already use at Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other companies with social media platforms. But he says many consumers hesitate to do so due to fear that publishers will share data about them. Salyer says that a recent Gigya survey of around 2,600 Web users revealed that 41% of consumers don't use a social log-in because they are worried that information about their Web activity will be shared with social networks. Nearly that many -- 40% -- said they don't use social log-ins because they don't know how their personal information will be used, according to Salyer. At the same time, the survey found that most users -- 55% -- have logged in with social media credentials at least once, often because they don't want to create new user names and passwords. Gigya also has formed the Privacy and Safety Advisory Board, which will be chaired by Jules Polonetsky, who serves as director of the think tank Future of Privacy Forum. Other members include ConnectSafely co-director Anne Collier, Stanford Law's Omer Tene, and Gigya acting chief privacy officer Jill Nissen. Facebook, Twitter and other social networking platforms already require publishers using social log-ins to refrain from selling members' data. But the SocialPrivacy Seal conveys that promise to users -- which means that publishers who violate those promises could be on the hook for engaging in deceptive practices, Polonetsky says. Gigya intends to audit publishers that carry its privacy seal. Salyer says the service will probably cost publishers between $500 and $1,000 a month.
A Twitter Tracker tool created by the digital experts supporting "VH1 Divas" scheduled to air live on Sunday should stir up some social conversation around the show. The tool will show viewers the celebrity Twitter buzz on desktop and mobile, allowing them to click through for more information. The site will show the popularity based on the number of retweets. Another tool allows viewers to track and view photos in real-time as the show airs. Fans determine the way photos get organized, rather than VH1's editorial group, according to Jonathan Mallow, executive producer for VH1 Digital. "It's about consuming content while the show runs, but the social universe determines the order." For VH1, it's about bringing the fans closer to the artists and talent they love. Last year, VH1 live streamed a photo shoot around a show that had come back from hiatus with two new cast members. Fans opt-in to receive the content. "These types of campaigns give us get a better sense of what resonates with the audience," said Dan Sacher, VP of digital of VH1. "It can help us better entertain the audience." VH1 broke records in social engagement surrounding a show called "Love & Hip Hop," which ranked No. 1 as the social show of the summer by Trendrr. While VH1's digital team builds the content, the network's marketing group monitors what's trending and buying keywords that match with the performance that occurs on live shows, such as "Divas." It completes the circle. Rather than lead people back to a page, the strategy matches keywords and content. The VH1 Red Carpet Web cast preshow on VH1.com will debut the Twitter tracker hosted by some of the other network's talents.
Lacoste shirts may be about to celebrate the 80th birthday of that preppy little crocodile, but a futuristic new ad campaign shows why the brand is so appealing to its young fans. An upbeat video shows teens and 20-somethings cavorting in shirts that can change color with the swipe of a crocodile; that respond to the environment; that keep score during a tennis match, or even shorten or lengthen sleeves with a simple shrug. After viewing the video and the print ads that support it, fans are then invited to go to Facebook and invent their own version of the shirt. The most original contributions, the company says, will then be illustrated by an artist and featured on its Facebook page, which has some 10 million fans. So what will make for a winning idea? “We will choose the ones we had not imagined,” Louis Bonichon, creative director of MNSTR, the Paris-based agency that created the campaign, tells Marketing Daily in an email. “We will try to represent ideas from the worldwide community, and esepcially those which follow the spirit of Lacoste -- innovation at the service of comfort and elegance.” He says the illustrations will be based on the style of the ads used to introduce the tennis shirts back in 1933. It’s no accident that Lacoste launched the campaign on 12/12/12: It’s a play on L.12.12, the secret code name tennis great René “The Crocodile” Lacoste gave the shirt when he was perfecting the design back in the 1933. (L is for Lacoste, 1 code for the fabric, 2 code for the sleeve length, and 12 the number or prototypes he created before getting it right.) MNSTR created the campaign, and had Fleur & Manu make the film. Print ads are running in such publications as Tennis, The Times and the Guardian in the UK, as well as a variety of titles in Europe. While the Lacoste shirts don’t have any real digital capabilities (at least not yet), Gen Y clearly has an appetite for wired clothing. Recently, Macy’s debuted a men’s sweater with video embedded in its sleeve, as part of its newest Sean John collection.
Social networking technology firm Gigya is launching a new privacy seal of approval for Web companies that people use to register and sign in through Facebook, Twitter or other social media platforms. The SocialPrivacy Certification Seal aims to assure consumers that their activity won't be blasted to their Facebook friends or Twitter followers without their consent. To obtain a seal, publishers must promise to refrain from selling user social data, posting to social feeds without permission, engage in social data-based email marketing campaigns without permission, and sending private messages to users' friends without permission. Companies expected to display the seal at launch include Martha Stewart Omnimedia, Finish Line (which operates run.com), Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail and LUSH Cosmetics. Gigya CEO Patrick Salyer estimates that hundreds of thousands of sites allow consumers to sign on with the same user names they already use at Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other companies with social media platforms. But he says many consumers hesitate to do so due to fear that publishers will share data about them. Salyer says that a recent Gigya survey of around 2,600 Web users revealed that 41% of consumers don't use a social log-in because they are worried that information about their Web activity will be shared with social networks. Nearly that many -- 40% -- said they don't use social log-ins because they don't know how their personal information will be used, according to Salyer. At the same time, the survey found that most users -- 55% -- have logged in with social media credentials at least once, often because they don't want to create new user names and passwords. Gigya also has formed the Privacy and Safety Advisory Board, which will be chaired by Jules Polonetsky, who serves as director of the think tank Future of Privacy Forum. Other members include ConnectSafely co-director Anne Collier, Stanford Law's Omer Tene, and Gigya acting chief privacy officer Jill Nissen. Facebook, Twitter and other social networking platforms already require publishers using social log-ins to refrain from selling members' data. But the SocialPrivacy Seal conveys that promise to users -- which means that publishers who violate those promises could be on the hook for engaging in deceptive practices, Polonetsky says. Gigya intends to audit publishers that carry its privacy seal. Salyer says the service will probably cost publishers between $500 and $1,000 a month.
A Twitter Tracker tool created by the digital experts supporting "VH1 Divas" scheduled to air live on Sunday should stir up some social conversation around the show. The tool will show viewers the celebrity Twitter buzz on desktop and mobile, allowing them to click through for more information. The site will show the popularity based on the number of retweets. Another tool allows viewers to track and view photos in real-time as the show airs. Fans determine the way photos get organized, rather than VH1's editorial group, according to Jonathan Mallow, executive producer for VH1 Digital. "It's about consuming content while the show runs, but the social universe determines the order." For VH1, it's about bringing the fans closer to the artists and talent they love. Last year, VH1 live streamed a photo shoot around a show that had come back from hiatus with two new cast members. Fans opt-in to receive the content. "These types of campaigns give us get a better sense of what resonates with the audience," said Dan Sacher, VP of digital of VH1. "It can help us better entertain the audience." VH1 broke records in social engagement surrounding a show called "Love & Hip Hop," which ranked No. 1 as the social show of the summer by Trendrr. While VH1's digital team builds the content, the network's marketing group monitors what's trending and buying keywords that match with the performance that occurs on live shows, such as "Divas." It completes the circle. Rather than lead people back to a page, the strategy matches keywords and content. The VH1 Red Carpet Web cast preshow on VH1.com will debut the Twitter tracker hosted by some of the other network's talents.
It seems that in today's “tweet to create Lincoln's next Super Bowl television spot” world, the Wild West of social media marketing continues to reshape its horizons with exceedingly new and vibrant ways to drive consumer engagement. Shifts in what captivates consumers' attention and their social media experience across a rapidly evolving landscape of social networking sites and apps are forcing real-time change in social media strategies across brands. And as social newsfeeds become ever more cluttered, the attention span of the social audience is becoming shorter, prompting brands to enact new strategies to effectively engage their audiences in meaningful ways that will keep attention. An increasing number of smart marketers are doing just that by leveraging a mix of paid, earned and owned media in their social strategies. Gone are the days of siloed marketing strategies with strict definitions of owned, paid and earned media and their supportive roles with social. By mixing all three forms of media the right way, the resulting concoction can be a powerful tool to fuel the growth of a brand's social community while still being true to its audience and the brand. The recent launch of a high-profile video game illustrates this integrated approach quickly expanded its social community, spiking consumer engagement at the critical point of product launch and successfully converting social activity into product sales. How did they do it? The game's official Facebook page was the foundation of a multiplatform strategy. Support from the game’s official Twitter and YouTube channel pages, as well as the game publisher’s owned media channels and display ads on top gaming enthusiast sites, worked to spike traffic to the brand's social media hub. This illustrates an opportunity for marketers to maximize paid, owned and earned media to engage with a growing enthusiast-based audience through cross-promotional initiatives across all platforms and channels. For example, Facebook is an excellent platform to host a robust suite of multimedia content including video, music, thematic graphics and interviews that can actively engage a social media community and encourages feedback and user generated content. Community feedback from the multimedia content can then be amplified by Sponsored Posts and Tweets, which further powers both organic and viral growth. At the same time, a strong presence on influencer websites, through both publicity outreach and display ads, help to extend the social media reach of the brand to its core demographic and beyond. In a social world dictated by what is viewed in the newsfeed, content plays a major role in delighting a socially engaged consumer base -- not just owned content in the way of promotional trailers, music videos and behind-the-scenes videos, but earned content created by the consumer and the people they respect in the space, all supported by paid media. In the end, this strategy not only intrigues the consumer but elevates social engagement, leading to customer conversion and product sales. In many respects, entertainment consumer marketing, including video games -- rich with content, compelling narratives and unique personalities -- continues to push the envelope of social media marketing. Social media campaigns such as this also illustrate that strategies that actively integrate paid, earned and owned media can find success in measureable ways. Brands that are already adopting these cross-media formulas as models find themselves ahead of the curve and position themselves for greater success.
The growth in the use of mobile devices and apps when accessing social media is well documented. This USA TouchPoints analysis looks at where people use those devices most for that purpose.The ubiquity of mobile media means the potential exists to use a cellphone to access social media anywhere, but it is more valuable to understand which locations are most dominant. Also, it's helpful to understand what average weekly reach of the total 18-64 population they deliver, rather than just social media users.To that end, we conducted the following analysis of the top five locations by average weekly reach:*In line with other research -- last week's column showed that prime time for social media use is in the evening -- we see that the Home has a 79% weekly reach of adults 18-64, which outstrips the second-strongest location by marginally over 30%.*That second-place location is not actually one specific type of location but a composite of several. It is categorized as Other Out-of-Home locations -- anything from shopping malls, movie theaters, restaurants, bars, etc. Considering the ubiquity of mobile media, this intuitively suggests the potential for social and mobile as a powerful combination, if the brand messaging vehicle can be effectively developed and leveraged.*The Workplace and the Car and other modes of transport each deliver a weekly reach of 30%. Work may be expected to deliver higher reach than travel-based media. But considering constraints on social media access in many workplaces and that Americans spend a great deal of time in the car, these numbers are less surprising than they may seem.*Perhaps time spent in Someone Else’s Home only delivers 18% weekly reach reflects the social pressure to focus on socializing.
The other day, while I was sitting in the waiting room at the pediatric orthopedist, I saw the strangest thing: it was the soap opera “General Hospital,” playing on the flat screen in the waiting room. I thought that show, not to mention soap operas, was dead. But it turns out even Robert Scorpio is alive! Forgive me, but now I’ll turn to the kind of soap opera that only people in social media care about. It’s our own little internal drama, wherein the major platforms are fighting over photos and fretting over filters. This soap opera -- let’s call this one “Dark Shadows “ -- proves that the genre may not be dead, but the open social Web is. I mean, seriously, when the Instagram photos you so lovingly post to Twitter start to get cropped funny -- and then, only days later, show up as a link to Instagram, wow, that’s a sad day. The major platforms are at war, I tell ya, and it’s not a pretty sight! Um, OK, forgive the facetiousness, but I can’t help but be amused. I’m not laughing at people’s Instagram pictures getting butchered, but at the overanalysis of what’s going on here. Here’s what’s been happening, followed by the trenchant analysis you have not come to expect from the Social Media Insider. Plot Point #1: Last week, Instagram pulled its integration with Twitter Cards, which let you embed media into a tweet. The result? First, those nasty, badly cropped photos, and then, the ultimate downgrade: the posting of a mere link to Instagram in a tweet! Oh, the humanity! What It All Means: Despite the explanation of Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom, that this was really about enhancing Instagram’s Web presence, don’t believe that for a minute. Instagram is working on its Web presence, sure, but is there any doubt that photo-sharing services will only become more mobile going forward? This is really about Facebook and Instagram’s increasingly cozying up together, up to -- and including -- the expected policy change that will have Facebook data and Instagram data being shared between the two services. Plot Point #2: Twitter earlier this week unveiled its own Instagram-like photo filters, using a third party, Aviary, to create them, eight in all. Take that, Instagram! What It All Means: The most excruciating bit of navel-gazing I read in the social media-o-sphere was some rant about why Twitter didn’t create its filters in-house. Who cares? My guess is that Twitter discovered they’d get photo filters up faster and better by using a third party that specializes. While I’m not suggesting that Aviary created the filters overnight, it’s not a coincidence that Twitter was able to respond to Instagram-gate, with a competing product, in less than a week. Plot Point #3: Flickr turns around from its journey to photo-sharing obscurity to emerge as an unlikely eminence grise, by launching its own photo-filtering, to positive reviews. In fact, it has seven more filters than Twitter! What It All Means: Marissa Mayer’s gettin’ it done! But now lets get back to “General Hospital.” Here’s the weird thing about soap operas: somehow, even as the particular plot points change, the big (dare I say it) picture seldom does. It doesn’t take long for you to pick up where you left off. In fact, the moment you realize that is the exact same moment you realize that spending so many hours obsessing over every little plot detail is a complete waste of time. So what you really need to know about all of this internecine photo conflict is that visuals matter. And that whoever coined the term “A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words” was actually writing one of the most succinct plot summations of all time.
Mark Jeffery's comparison between Paul Revere and William Dawes rides exemplifies the idea of social networks. Most people heard of Revere's, but few know Dawes' role. Dawes had a closed network, while Revere's network was open, he said. A cluster analysis shows the support of the networks, as well as from social, display and search.