by Steve Smith on Mar 31, 8:35 AM
Chipotle appears to have a good sense for combining broadly engaging branded entertainment with direct marketing payoff using mobile channels. Its new "Farmed and Dangerous" series engages viewers in an SMS trivia game that both supports the series and leads viewers directly to retail.
by Steve Smith on Mar 28, 9:18 AM
Tablet growth is likely to slow as the platform reaches saturation among those who have a use for the device. As much as we were surprised by the market appeal of a new lean-back/lean-in mode, the experience still strikes many as in between laptop and smartphone -- either of which is good enough.
by Steve Smith on Mar 27, 10:13 AM
American Express has been playing imaginatively with Instagram of late. A few months back it turned the feed over to a member to record their uses of the card in everyday life under the nom de plume of CF Frost. And this week the brand let the minions take over. Well, the bug-eyed minions of "Despicable Me" fame.
by Steve Smith on Mar 26, 8:55 AM
In the fiercely competitive pizza category, tech leadership means convenience and speed. And so this week Papa John's unveils a national campaign touting its tech leadership while at the same time arguing that it's all about the pie.
by Steve Smith on Mar 25, 8:33 AM
The newsweekly may be at death's door, but the last one left, "Time," is making a good final stand. Its newly relaunched site works especially well on devices, and is very well tuned to the mobile use cases.
by Steve Smith on Mar 24, 8:43 AM
A new program for Golden State Warriors fans detects when a ticket holder enters the cheap seats section so it can offer an upgrade.
by Steve Smith on Mar 21, 8:51 AM
Many marketers are still unsure of Twitter's utility. So are most of the rest of us, by the way. Twitter may have turned 8 today, but I for one am still not enamored of the youngster. It still feels like an incomplete engineering project to me.
by Steve Smith on Mar 20, 8:37 AM
Burger King will enable all 7,000+ of its U.S. outlets to accept mobile payments through its own app in coming months. Okay. Another m-payment rollout for a major brand. What is it all adding up to? Virtual loyalty cards or a larger m-payment ecosystem? Can't tell.
by Steve Smith on Mar 19, 7:37 AM
Singing in the car is an even more prevalent multitask than talking on a cell phone, according to a new survey. Since no one is implicating the practice in higher rates of accidents, perhaps we should be marketing cars with Karaoke features.
by Steve Smith on Mar 18, 8:55 AM
In an experiment that proves more interesting than you would think, Cartoon Network broke a 22-minute series episode into 15-second snips. Go figure. It kinda works -- and even recalls the aesthetic of the Burma Shave roadside signs.