Influential Marketing Blog

Notes From the Twitterbowl: The Top 3 Strategic Super Bowl Ads

Last night during the big game, I joined a large group of marketing and social media types to share some live thoughts about the Super Bowl ads through Twitter (sending them to the @superbowlads user account).  The aptly named "Twitterbowl" consisted of lots of folks live rating ads and sharing some feedback about the ads live during the game.  Voting on ads in real time is nothing new ... however doing it and reading the thoughts of my other contacts during the game was an interesting way to experience the ads.  Though I would have expected a more sophisticated commentary from the group as a whole, being marketing people and all.  Many folks seemed to just be rating ads on entertainment value as opposed to whether or not the message actually made sense for the brand, but it was still a fun experience as part of the game.

Aside from realizing that people can really have completely opposite views of what makes a successful Superbowl ad, it was also clear that all of us love to have our opinions.  Everyone decides what is most entertaining for them, but since this is a marketing blog, I'm going to go with my own top 3 Super Bowl ad list based on strategic value for the brand.  So, here is my list of the top three 3 strategic ads that were creative, engaging, messaged properly and could actually have a real impact in terms of sales (and only one of them made the USAToday Top 10 popular ads list):

1. Tide "My Talking Stain":  This spot was easily relatable (everyone has had that stain they couldn't do anything about), funny, and generated awareness for an under appreciated product  In the Twitterbowl, most folks loved it, and it will easily have the recall when anyone is walking the grocery market aisles and sees it.  The only downside?  The word in the Twitterbowl was that their marketing site (www.mytalkingstain.com) went down under all the traffic.
   
2. Under Armour "Under Army":  Any company that is number 3 in a competitive industry has perhaps the most to gain from a Super Bowl ad because it positions them on equal footing with the other two.  For Under Armour, this meant taking the reigns from Nike and Adidas with their "Under Army" spot, which they did brilliantly.  Not to mention it was one of the rare Super Bowl ads that (gasp!) has something to do with football.  Ironically, it wasn't popular in the Twitterbowl - but for the masses and Under Armour's target audience, I think it was spot on.
3. Audi "Godfather": Audi's spot was a big deal in marketing circles before the Super Bowl even aired because it represented a rare entry from Audi into the Super Bowl mix.  The ad itself was a brilliant parody of the Godfather that positioned the new __________ as the ultimate in new luxury.  Anyone want to bet what percentage of the boomer males watching the game were picturing themselves in that car?

Of course, I am tough on these ads because I am putting the often forgotten lens of strategic value over deciding what was a good creative execution.  If we just looked at entertainment value, which I am sure lots of polls are doing today, the winners were probably a few of the Bud ads and the Pepsi Night at the Roxbury spoof.  Worst ads?  They have to be the Gatorade/Vitamin Water/Sobe combos (seriously, can anyone tell them apart?), the CareerBuilder nasty exploding heart ad (they should have stuck with the monkeys), and the singing Comcast ads (which, thankfully, most of the country probably didn't see).  Big props to Dell and Lionel also, for being the only advertiser (that I could tell) to actually be part of the Twitterbowl. 

Oh, and it was a great game to watch too ... congrats to Giants fans everywhere.  If it can't be the Redskins, it might as well be the Giants doing the NFC East proud.

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Guest Post: Is Word of Mouth a Discipline or Just a Channel?

by John Bell

Rohit has invited a handful of folks to post on his blog while he manages his true key influencers - family (including the newest member!). It only seems fitting that each of us post on what we care about most. In my case, that's word of mouth marketing.

My team uses digital marketing, social media and traditional strategy to amplify and activate word of mouth all to support our clients business objectives. While I love social media and it is a part of all of our work and personal digital lives, I must frame it as a set of techniques, methodologies and behavior geared towards motivating people to share, participate and even recommend products and services to their circle of friends, colleagues and family - their affinity groups. Why "must" I? At the end of the day, we have to measure. Social media is not a measurable unit. WOM is. To make WOM a reliable approach to marketing, it must be measured in a way that CMOs, Communications Officers and CEOs, can report its effectiveness to reaching their business goal. WOM can be measured and reported today. We do it. BzzAgent does it. Visible Technologies does it. In the near future, an industry standard for that measurement will arise. Social media drives WOM.   

I am fresh back from the Word of Mouth Marketing Summit 2007 in Vegas. I serve on the board of the organization so take any endorsements for the organization with that in mind. The quality of the experience was up there: good speakers, topics, brands, solid debate, some news. It reminded me of why I joined the organization. Still it wasn't perfect. But that's okay. I enjoy the naive enthusiasm we all have for creating a new discipline based upon the tenants of two-way conversation with people, authentic relationships and the value of advocates (or "promoters" in the Net Promoter Score framework).

Problem is - are we a discipline? An expertise? Or just another channel? Having spent last week with about 500 people from brands, agencies and start-ups who think word of mouth is important enough to travel to Vegas during the final budget-clampdown quarter of the year, here's some points to consider:

Discipline or channel?
Discipline: Word of mouth marketing takes belief (based on understanding and knowledge) and discipline. There are no shortcuts. As Sean Driscoll from Microsoft points out , there is a 'right model' and a 'wrong model' of influencer marketing (which I interpret as a part of word of mouth marketing). The wrong model suggests that I can just tell people about the wonder of my brand and they will yak about it. The right model assumes a truly engaged conversation model where we listen as much as we talk. To do things "right" in Sean's vernacular, it is very hard to just tack on some WOM-stuff to a large traditional marketing campaign and expect significant results. Like any discipline, word of mouth marketing requires certain procedures and conditions to succeed.

Channel: The media buying companies and some advertising agencies want to see WOM as a channel. They deal in channels. They want to fill up on the 360 degrees of our lives reaching us at home, at play, at work. They want a new channel to deliver messages. Preferably one that is as predictable as other channels ("if I spend $1 more on WOM it will deliver X"). That's why BzzAgent's current configuration has been so successful with media agencies. they can just buy 6000 agents in three markets for 12 weeks. Feels like media. While the agents will talk about the product, this is not two-way conversation. And the brand is renting those agents not building a long-term relationship. Still, it is a form of word of mouth.

Discipline: To deliver on the promise of social media, word of mouth marketing, influencer marketing, conversation marketing - whatever part of WOM you want to emphasize - we need a simple, shared approach to measurement that compares well to what brand managers are used to. Yes, that probably means some sort of ad equivalency. That approach - comparing to advertising - may be a trap. Look what happened to public relations. In most cases PR reports media "hits" as equal to ad impressions. Shouldn't they be valued far north of simple paid impressions? And WOM, shouldn't that be like 10X and ad impression (with a true "recommendation" even north of that)? WOMMA and other groups are working on an industry standard for measuring WOM. I think we will have a solid model in 2008 that will be a tipping point for the discipline.

Channel: Many ad-based marketers see viral video as the answer to their WOM aspirations. If they can just get enough views of a video, it starts to feel like traditional media. And if the mechanism for accummulating those views is people sharing and recommending amongst their friends then that, my friend, is social media. Within the Ogilvy family, we have the ultimate accomplishment/curse: the Dove Evolution video. With millions of views under its belt, it really deserves to be the poster child for viral video. Because those views grew from people recommending it to others, it is more valuable than TV impressions (pull vs. push) BUT, it is one dimensional and doesn't fully utilize what is possible in word of mouth marketing. Still, many marketers will use this case as their compass for word of mouth and try to leverage the channel of video-sharing to meet their goals. Viral video leverages something that ad agencies are very good at: storytelling and filmmaking. That's why branded entertainment is ad agencies' social media technique of choice.

It's a discipline

Word of mouth is a broad discipline like advertising or public relations. It requires technique and methodologies that are particularly relevant to do it well. It is possible to treat it like a channel by tacking on some WOM tactic to a larger advertising program, but it may not pay off in comparison to those more traditional marketing tactics.

Most WOM strategy is about engagement and building strong relationships with a core group. If it serves a "reach" purpose, it is through the long-term multiplier effect of one satisfied and engaged customer telling 3 friends who tell 3 friends and so on. If you want to reach millions with a product launch in January and have no existing set of WOM relationships, word of mouth marketing is probably not your first choice. BUT if you had those relationships in place - oh, what a launch it would be.

Now the next interesting question is whether word of mouth will be a stand-alone discipline or be integrated into either PR or ad firms or both. Think of account planning (or connections planning). More often than not, this is a discipline found inside ad agencies. Yet several firms like Naked have cropped up where account planning is the defining discipline of the firm. Will the same thing happen with Word of Mouth? Forward thinking communications/marketing firms will build or acquire the expertise for a true word of mouth discipline (not just channel experience). they will do this in droves once the measurement nut is cracked. Until then, you will have the visionary companies who believe that business objectives for many (not all) clients can be achieved well and efficiently using WOM - setting up a WOM shop. That's where our team - 360 Digital Influence - comes in. I still believe that enlightened PR firms (i.e. more than 'media relations') shops) stand a better chance culturally of making these units work than traditional ad agencies.  Some specialty shops are already cropping up - Brains on Fire and Zocalo Group come to mind. Since WOM can be enhanced by advertising, PR, digital marketing, you name it, I prefer as much integration as possible.

Much has been written on the characteristics of the best word of mouth marketing. Suffice it to say that it is different than the discipline necessary for successful advertising campaigns.

John Bell runs the 360° Digital Influence team at Ogilvy and blogs at the Digital Influence Mapping Project

Lufthansa Proves Sweden Is Full of Gorgeous Blondes

Typical marketing advice says that you should never focus on marketing your category, but instead focus on what makes your service distinct from your competitors.  Marketing an industry or type of service is usually a losing proposition because even if you convince someone they need something, you have not convinced them that they need to get it from you.

In the travel industry, this lesson is somewhat different.  Today American travellers are increasingly choosing destinations outside of Europe for their vacations because of the weak dollar against the Euro.  Europe needs to find a way to get its appeal back and Lufthansa (an airline with many of the most frequented routes from the East coast to Europe) is helping the cause with a smart new campaign called Rumor Travels at www.rumortravels.com.  The site offers a few videos focused on three of the greatest rumors about great European countries:

1. Sweden is full of hot blonde women - Watch Video
2. Germany has beer everywhere for every meal - Watch Video
3. France is full of lovers who cannot stop kissing each other - Watch Video

The videos are meant to visualize silly stereotypes and all end with the compelling tagline, "you'll never know if you don't go."  There is a contest on the site where users can submit their own videos to win 2 business class tickets to Europe and a new Sony digital video camera.  Strategically, the campaign works on on several levels:

1. Demonstrates the necessity of travelling in a world of increasing virtual experiences.
2. Positions Europe as the ideal destination to travel for challenging your preconceptions (something people may usually associate with other more "exotic" destinations)
3. Targets the young, professional and single travellers (who will likely be least deterred by the negative exchange rate between Dollars and Euros)

Of course, it doesn't hurt that each video features attractive people and focuses on the romance of travel.  Europe, romance, professional, single ... you get the picture.  This campaign seems like it would work - if only Lufthansa was doing any perceptible amount of marketing around it.  I read about the campaign on Adrants and most of the less than 20 blogs that are listed on Technorati as linking to the campaign come from people reading about it on Adrants.  Even the Lufthansa US homepage only features a blurb on their promotion with Iron Chef instead of any links to the RumorTravels.com site.  The video views on YouTube are still super low, and the contest ends in just 2 days.

As far as I can tell, it seems like a classic smart, strategic and engaging campaign that will ultimately underperform and fade into obscurity because the team behind it was unable to coordinate enough marketing support from whomever controls the ad budgets for Lufthansa.  If anyone has insight into the campaign, please share.  I would love to be wrong on this one ...

Blog Action Day: 7 Tips on Eating Differently To Impact Climate Change

One thing I can't resist is an ambitious project.  As a marketer, if there is a groundswell for something that I believe in or find interesting, I am highly likely to try and be a part of it.  That's why I join all sorts of groups, and why I try to lend my voice to causes that I believe are worthwhile.  The latest effort that I have been looking forward to being part of is also the reason why I'm posting twice in a single day ... something I don't usually do.  Today is Blog Action Day - something I have been promoting on the sidebar of my blog for several weeks now.

The aim of the project is to collect together all kinds of bloggers to talk about the environment.  The site featured a very smart way of letting bloggers sign up early and attaches a currency to being first in how all the blog participants are listed (in order of joining rather than by size of blog - so I'm in the 4001 to 5000 list).  The built in measurement of the site is also done through aggregating the readers via RSS, which they planned for by requesting the RSS link for every blog that wanted to participate when you signed up.  So far, it's a brilliant model for how to run a blog centric social marketing campaign - and the results are stellar so far.  The site boasts more than 15,000 blogs participating with an aggregated RSS reach of more than 12 million readers, and is publishing real time updates on buzz on the Blog Action Day blog.

Let's consider this reach for a moment.  One of the big measurement challenges in blogging is to equate an RSS reader with a regular old impression.  Impressions are typically measured on a monthly basis and multiplied out.  RSS readers are individual readers and therefore far more accurate.  I happen to believe an RSS reader is more involved than a regular impression as well - but how much more?  Even if you conservatively say it is worth 2x as much, this gives the reach of Blog Action day nearly 25 million readers.  On a single day.  That's pretty impressive.

But the point of this post is to talk about the reach but to talk about the environment.  My original thought was to come up with something new to say about it ... but while I was live blogging at the Corporate Climate Response event a few months ago, I published a post about tips for eating differently to impact climate change.  That's my contribution for Blog Action Day, republished below:

7 Tips on Eating Differently To Impact Climate Change

During a session run by Tara Garnett from the Food Climate Research Network at the Corporate Climate Response Conference, she shared a wide range of interesting research that was likely difficult for most participants to absorb quickly enough (and extremely difficult to keep up with for blogging purposes!). Luckily, FCRN has a fantastic research archive published online at their website and also provide links to an assortment of research from other groups collected into a single archive. One of the more interesting points Garnett raised was what steps regular consumers could take in order to change their own eating habits to make an impact on CO2 emissions. This is often a little talked about topic, and as Garnett noted, it is notoriously difficult to ask consumers to do - mostly because of the huge cultural significance of food and the difficulty of sacrifice. For many consumers, however, it may simply be a lack of information. For all of them, here are 7 tips Garnett shared about ways you can change your eating habits to have an impact:

1. Change the balance of what you eat (less meat and dairy, “lower down” on the food chain)
2. Choose seasonal field grown foods (require less storage, heating & transport)
3. Do not eat or purchase certain foods (including foods that are hothoused or those that are air freighted)
4. Reduce your dependence on the “cold chain” (get rid of the second freezer, choose less processed robust foods and do more frequent non car-based shopping)
5. Waste less food (improve your “food turnover” to eat what you buy sooner and reduce wastage)
6. Cook more efficiently (cook for more people and for several days at a time, use the oven less frequently)
7. Redefine your ideal for quality (be willing to accept variability in quality and supply

In addition to this post, here are a few other posts from this blog over the past year which may hopefully inspire your thinking and perhaps even inspire some action:

"Greenest Hits" From Influential Marketing Blog:

• The Greenest Sports Event on Earth
• The Marketing of "An Inconvenient Truth"
• Live Earth Includes DC, Thanks To The Native Americans
• One Hour No Power Campaign - And Other Ways to Save the World
• Wikimapia, Google's Green Summer and Marketing Mashups

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The Gun Is In The Wrong Hand

When you watch a film, do you notice which hand the character on screen is holding the gun in?  And if you do, would you notice if in a following scene, the gun happened to be in the wrong hand?  I guarantee you anyone who has ever worked on editing a film will notice this.  They can't help it.  When shooting the same scene over multiple days (which happens often), consistency is key.  It's usually even someone's job to check this.  The problem with noticing the gun is in the wrong hand though, is that it overshadows your experience of the film.  You have too much knowledge to enjoy it.  If you think about it, we deal with this tyranny of excess knowledge everyday.  Once you have flown business class, it's hard to accept flying economy.  After working as a waiter at a particular restaurant, it is nearly impossible to enjoy a meal there (once you know what happens behind the kitchen).

Would it be better to have no knowledge of a situation before walking into it?  One of the best movie experiences I remember having was going to see Confidence in Australia on its opening weekend.  It was the rare case where, somehow, I managed to make it to my seat in the theater with absolutely no knowledge of the film.  No one had recommended it to me.  I did not know who was starring in it.  I hadn't seen any reviews or trailers, or read any plot summaries.  I hadn't even seen a movie poster.  Walking into the theater and sitting down to watch that movie was a completely blank slate.  And I enjoyed the film in a way I can hardly remember enjoying any other, because I did not know what to expect.

Of course, when it comes to choosing a film to spend your hard earned $7 to $12 bucks on on a Friday night, Hollywood knows that most people don't want to go in blind.  They want to know what to expect, who the stars are and that they won't be disappointed.  This is why the franchise movies (Spiderman, Ocean's Eleven/Twelve/Thirteen, Elizabeth II, etc.) are so popular.  Because the movie studios are betting on proven idea.  This also explains why independent and small budget films have such trouble getting box office time and large audiences.  Small or new businesses have a similar challenge.  A consumer knows what to expect when they walk into Target or purchase a box of Oreo's.  Going against that knowlege is a tough thing.  But when you do, you can create an unexpected and memorable moment.  Giving consumers what they expect is overrated.  Sometimes the most powerful way to reach someone is by giving them an experience they know nothing about.

Influential Marketing Blog Featured in Wall Street Journal

Many of you may have already caught this yesterday, but this blog was cited in the Recommended Reading  section of the Wall Street Journal yesterday in an article by Keith Huang.  As Jay Berkowitz from Ten Golden Rules shares on his team blog, my blog was one of 60 resources that they recommended to the journalist as part of their reading list and was selected from that list as a recommended resource for companies looking to "optimize their online presence."  Here's the writeup:

Influential Marketing Blog, rohitbhargava.typepad.com
Rohit Bhargava's blog is intellectual and educational. In a recent post, he discusses the art of stamp collection and how, even today, many smaller countries use stamps as a key marketing tool. He writes, 'Next time you pass a post office in any country, pay attention to how they are using their philately to promote the country, cater to tourists, or commemorate moments of significance.'

It is a great media hit and to be selected from a list of what I am guessing were 60 stellar resources is flattering.  I'm in awe at being included among the other bloggers and authors mentioned in the article - including Seth Godin, Steve Rubel, Matt Cutts, John Battelle, Chris Anderson, Joseph Jaffe, and Danny Sullivan. Thanks to Jay for including me in this great list, and to Keith for selecting to include my blog!

Casting Call: Your Chance to Speak at Ad:Tech NY

One of the questions I have gotten from more than a few readers is how to get into speaking at events and conferences.  It is surprisingly more easy than it may seem, but the real challenge is breaking into your first conference speaking chance.  Perhaps you work for a small company, or you are still starting out your career.  Whatever the reason, you might feel like speaking at events is open to a closed realm of people.  It's not.  In an effort to open up what can sometimes seems like an insular world of marketing speakers, I got clearance from the organizers of Ad:Tech NY to do something different in recruiting speakers for my upcoming panel at Ad:Tech.  Consider this post an open casting call for a speaking slot on the panel.  Here is a description of the panel:

wednesday, november 7, 11:00am - 12:00pm
Creating Talkability: Using WOM Lessons to Make Your Marketing Go Viral
No one creates a "viral" video. As much as any marketing team wants to go into a campaign with the goal of having it take off and get discussed all over the Internet, the real aim is to create something talkable. Once enough people talk about it, you go viral...but that is an outcome, not the intial goal. In this session, we've gathered individuals who know all about going viral—both on purpose and by accident. Each will share tips on what it takes to go viral, and whether doing so should be your aim. If you want to know how to avoid getting ignored, create something worth talking about and understand whether a science exists for taking something viral, this panel has the answers.

I could fill this panel with folks that I know (as most panel speakers are selected) - but I thought it would be more interesting to see if we can use the panel to discover a new speaker.  Someone who hasn't spoken at an event before but is looking for their first chance. 

So, here's your shot.  Here's how you can participate:

1. Write a paragraph or two explaining what perspective you would bring to the panel that the audience would be interested in.
2. Post your submission through a comment on this post, or on your own blog and provide a link through a comment.

That's it.  The only requirement is that you be a new speaker who has not spoken at industry events before.  Next Tuesday, I'll post the three strongest and open up voting through the rest of the week for the winner.  The aim is to get a variety of voices on the panel (ie - agency, client, vendor, etc.), and there are several folks I and the conference organizers have already been speaking to for filling the other slots. 

UPDATE: Last month I selected a winner of this casting call and notified all the entrants who submitted prior to the deadline I noted above.  The winner was Terence Thomas from BIA Information Network.  Congratulations to Terence and thanks to everyone for their interest!

Note - For those unfamiliar with Ad:Tech, it is a huge show generally considered one of the largest in the interactive marketing industry.  This year in New York, the event has lined up some top notch speakers - including Beth Comstock, Teresa Iezzi, Ted McConnell, Suzie Reider, Jon Fine and many others.

Behind the Scenes At The Battle of Kruger

One of the hottest videos on YouTube this past year is the Battle at Kruger video featuring the amazingly watchable battle of lions, crocodiles and buffaloes on a Safari.  The video is nearing 8 million views in just a few months, and is an obvious prediction to take over the crown from the Free Hugs campaign for video of the year in 2007.  Chad Hurley, founder of YouTube, even pointed it out as his favourite video at the recent Webby Awards.  Here it is in case you haven't seen it:

A good friend of mine from college, Jason Schlosberg, was one of the pair behind the Internet phenomenon which was just featured as the lead video on NBC News' new program, i-Caught (which premiered last night).  The show is just one amongst several others that features popular online viral videos, but takes the slightly different approach of featuring the stories behind the videos and how they were made and why there were uploaded.

Watching the show, and seeing my friend and his story, the most interesting part was when they interviewed a pair of videographers who had been shooting video and documentary footage for 25 years.  The pair listed off all the hardships they had gone through, from suffering malaria to dealing with near desert climates.  And they had never witnessed a moment like the Battle at Kruger.  This is the next evolution of the funniest home videos.  It's no longer enough to capture moments of extreme stupidity (staged or real) on grainy footage.  The new age of amateur content creators are capturing once in a lifetime moments that even the professionals watch with envy.  Welcome to the new world of media.

The Complete Gallery Of Simpsons Movie Marketing

In what may go down in history as one of the biggest integrated movie marketing efforts in the history of Hollywood, the pre-promotion for the upcoming Simpsons Movie is in full swing right now.  Unlike many other Hollywood promotions, the marketing for the Simpsons movies is going beyond billboard and print, beyond television, and beyond even interactive or viral.  This campaign has everything from creating your own animated avatar (that's mine on the left!) and having a chance to star in an upcoming episode, to winning the chance to get the premiere of the movie in your hometown provided you live in one of 14 Springfields around the US Vermont (the winning city ).  This post is an attempt to round all these marketing efforts up in a visual way.  Be warned, you might end up wasting an hour or more following all of the links below ... so read at your own risk!

• The Official Simpsons Movie Site
• Official Simpsons Marketing Partner Site
• Xbox Contest
• JetBlue Contest
• JetBlue Downloadable Movie Banners
• Be In An Animated Simpsons Episode 7-11 Promotion
• List of 7-11s Nationwide To Get A Kwik-E-Mart Makeover
• List of Simpsons Inspired Products To Be Sold at 7-11/Kwik-E-Marts
• USAToday Springfield Hometown Movie Premiere Challenge (UPDATE: Vermont Wins!)
• Simpsons MySpace Page
• Kwik-E-Mart in Burbank, CA Flickr Gallery
• Kwik-E-Mart in Dallas, TX Flickr Gallery
• Kwik-E-Mart in Orlando, FL Flickr Gallery
• Kwik-E-Mart in Bladensburg, MD (outside DC) Flickr Gallery
• Kwik-E-Mart in Denver, CO Flickr Gallery
• Kwik-E-Mart in Vancouver, BC (Canada) Flickr Gallery
• LAist Writeup of Burbank, CA Kwik-E-Mart
• DCist Writeup of DC Area Kwik-E-Mart
• Update: Kwik-E-Mart in New York City Flickr Gallery
• Update: Kwik-E-Mart in Las Vegas Flickr Gallery
• Update: Kwik-E-Mart in Mountain View, CA Flickr Gallery
• Update: Simpsons X Vans Custom Skateboard Shoes (via comment from rj at SneakerPlay)
  
  • Simpsons X Vans (Mr. Cartoon Design)
  • Simpsons X Vans (Gary Painter & Geoff McFetridge Designs)
  • Simpsons x Vans (Tony Munoz & Taka Hayashi Designs)
  • Simpsons x Vans (Futura & Todd “Reas” James Designs)
• Update: Simpsons Create 180ft Homer Chalk Drawing in UK Field (Via reader Mark Tong)
• Update: Ben & Jerry's Release Two New Simpsons 1-Day Only Flavours (Need an image if anyone has one)
• Update: Simpsons Mobile site offers phone downloads and first mobile game
• Update: Burger King Simpsonize Me Site to "Simpsonize" a photo you upload
• Update: Full story and fashion spread in Harper's Bazaar magazine
• Update: 4 Different Collectible Simpsons Covers for Entertainment Weekly (Via DeliFaks)

If anyone has any other links of marketing related efforts from partners, or other images from Kwik-E-Marts, please email me or leave a comment to this post and I'll add them.  Also, below are lots of images and screengrabs from these efforts -- enjoy!

The Simpsons Movie Poster (with every character from the show):

Simpsons - Create Your Own Avatar Tool:

Simpsons USA Today Springfield Challenge:

Simpsons Official Partner Page - www.seeyellow.com:

Simpsons MySpace Page and "Simpsonize Your World" Contest:

7-11 "Get Animated Into A Simpsons Episode" Contest:

7-11 Real Store "Kwik-E-Mart" Makeovers:

Images from Kwik-E-Mart Makeovers (images taken from Flickr Galleries referenced above):

Simpsons XBox Promotion (Winner of "Lamest Promotion" of the lot so far):

JetBlue Blog Takeover by Mr. Burns (Winner of "Most Unique"):

JetBlue City Destination Bubbles (brilliantly boils the essence of each city into a single Simpsonesque stereotype - 14 cities in total):

 

And last, but not least ... a real life Squishee! (from DCist post linked above):

Update: Simpsons X Vans Sneaker Designs (images from www.hypebeast.com & www.honeyee.com)

UPDATE (07/11/07): Vermont Wins USA Today Contest for Hometown Premiere

UPDATE (07/13/07): Influential Marketing Blog reader Christopher Trela shares this image of In-Theater Marketing from NY

Update (07/19/07): SimpsonizeMe Site From Burger King (with funny error messages when site doesn't respond):

Update (07/19/07): Simpsons Mobile Website and Mobile Meltdown Marketing Game:

Update (07/19/07): Fashion Spread In Harper's Bazaar (via FYI-Mag)

Update (07/19/07): Simpsons "Homer Erectus" 180ft Chalk Drawing at Cerne Abbas (via Influential Marketing Blog reader Mark Tong):

Update (07/20/07): 4 Different Collectible Covers for Entertainment Weekly Magazine

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Live Earth Includes DC, Thanks To The Native Americans

Today might be the largest simultaneous social marketing event ever staged - as Live Earth concerts light up stadium stages on 7.5 stages on 7 continents.  In case you're wondering, the "0.5" stage is right here in DC.  The concert taking place now is at the American Indian Museum after they offered their venue for a "Mother Earth" version of the concert.  Why this venue instead of the preferred larger one on the steps of the Capitol in DC?  Mainly because partisan politics from Republicans who believe global warming is a "hoax" (led by James Inhofe) threatened to keep the DC event from happening and blocked it from taking place in Gore's originally preferred venue.  Regardless, the event is here in DC and I will be heading out to see it live and share photos later tonight.

In the meantime, there are live video streams and information available at http://liveearth.msn.com/ as well as a full schedule of artists and shows.  Despite this live satellite feed - I can't help but wish for more integration of social media so I could share in people's experiences of the shows real time throughout the day.  There is a Live Earth blog, but it is authored by a single individual who is going to the concert in NY and watching the rest online and on TV like the rest of us.  Even the Unofficial Live Earth blog is mostly updated by a single person.  Michael Prospero from the Fast Company Blog is promising to live blog the New York event, and I am sure there are other similar individuals at the other concerts doing the same - but there doesn't seem to be a way to collect this aggregated conversation in a single location, which seems like a big missed opportunity. For a global concert event across 8 cities - one person is never going to be able to share the entire experience of the event in a comprehensive way because they cannot be in more than one (or 2) places at once.  If there was ever a moment where I might actually care to read Twitter updates from lots of people I don't know, this would be it. 

Regardless, watching these events unfold live around the world is addictive and I've been spending much of a day where I intended to work on my book watching the films and concert performances in HD on TV.  The campaign has a very simple call to action and plenty of easy ways for each and every person to make a pledge to "answer the call."  Every social marketing campaign should be so relevant and have such a clear way for anyone participate.  If you haven't seen any of the shows, be sure to visit the Live Earth site today - and stay tuned for a report from the DC event and hopefully some live photos from me later this evening.

Update Rant - Can someone explain to me why the sound and video crew covering the DC event are the only ones that don't seem to understand how to get a good camera shot (without sun flares or blue overtones) or how to get microphones to work where you can actually hear the singers performing?  There's a big step down in quality of the TV broadcast between the DC event and all the other events I have seen so far ...

One Hour No Power Campaign - And Other Ways to Save The World

I love a good grassroots campaign to change the world - and usually I do all I can to help these causes when I find them.  The latest one that's caught my attention is the "One Hour No Power" campaign which is asking everyone today at midday in your local time to forego using all power.  That means turning TVs and computers off, not driving, and just being outside or away from technology and power for an hour.  I love the concept of this - but the problem is that a short term awareness stunt like this may not lead to longer term behaviour change.  We need the stunt to be viral and (hopefully) drive media interest ... but the real question is what to follow it up with. 

I came across an interesting article on the website for the Today Show yesterday where they highlight some lessons from the "Live Earth Global Warming Survival Handbook," which offers 77 tips on how to make an impact on the world.  On that stands out from this article and also has been getting recent attention is what the piece terms "phantom power" - namely, the power that is drained by your electronic devices while they are in standby mode.  It points to what I believe should be a shift in how we all think about all social marketing campaigns that relate to energy usage and global warming.  It's not about reducing consumption, it's about reducing waste.  Reducing what we use means a sacrifice, which people may or may not take.  Reducing waste means getting smarter and more efficient.  It means saving money.  And best of all, it means no (or little) sacrifice.  Am I saying we should tell people to use all the energy they want as long as they use it?  Of course not.  But in a culture where "me" usually comes before "you" ... reducing waste is a message that gives the impression you can do good for the world without sacrificing anything.  That may not be true, but it certainly makes for more compelling marketing.

Hellmann's Takes Search For "Real Food" Into Blogosphere

Today the Wall Street Journal published a piece about our upcoming branded entertainment campaign that we are officially launching tomorrow for Hellmann's in partnership with Yahoo! Food.  Not surprisingly, the site is going to be supported by a large online ad buy across Yahoo and we are doing lots of related PR activities with the host, Dave Lieberman (Food Network TV Host).  One of the most interesting parts of the campaign (aside from the fact that the show is being produced entirely for the web), is going to be the way that we are taking the search for real food beyond the 12 weekly video episodes and events around the country and into the blogosphere.  Each week, our team will be working with Dave to choose a single blog post and an image from a Flickr gallery that explores the theme of "real food" and republishing this content on the official campaign blog (with the original author's permission and direct links back to the original post or image, of course).

With this piece of the campaign, we are hoping to include conversations from blogs around the web to add to the dialogue of what real food means to real people.  There is already a good amount of discussion about this topic and this a great way for us to get more content into the site while also providing a way for individual bloggers and photographers get more visibility for their content.  Unfortunately for me, I can't participate in this part of it (and trust me, I'd love to get all the eyeballs from Yahoo Food visiting my blog).  Luckily for you, most of you won't be limited by this.  So send me a link to your best content (blog post or Flickr image) that describes what real food means to you (or wait until our site launches tomorrow and you can post this online) and each week we'll choose a new one to feature on the homepage of our site.  Also, check back each week for the new video episodes to follow Dave's journey around America searching for real food.  Good luck!

Full Disclosure: I'm part of the panel that will be choosing the post and images to feature each week.

500 Things You Can Learn From A Supermodel

Chances are, the idea of learning anything from a supermodel is probably not an easy idea to accept.  Yet despite your initial skepticism, consider for a moment the fact that the job of a model is to look good.  We all know that part of this look can be due to creative photoshop artistry and "post-production" - as Dove's Evolution video brilliantly pointed out.  What few of us are willing to admit is that we all engage in our own forms of "photoshoppery" on a daily basis--whether it is selecting a certain kind of makeup, or taking that week long vacation to get tan for the summer, or starting a summer workout regimen to get those washboard abs.  These are things we all do ... and more importantly, these are things that models are uniquely qualified to tell us about.  They have the personal trainers, they work with the hair stylists and they see the tricks of the makeup artists.  In many ways, a model is the person most qualified to teach you about beauty.

This is the brilliant concept behind Ford Models TV, a site run by Ford Models - one of the premier modeling agencies in the world.  Through their site, they have created nearly 500 unique videos that are each nearing 100,000 views just over the past year.  Do the math and they may very well have quietly been amassing the largest number of views for branded short videos of any company online.  Someone will be sure to correct me on that, but there is no arguing that their videos are very popular and are driving a large amount of brand interaction.  You might expect the main reason to be that they all feature hot people - and that is certainly part of it.  But no one gets naked and instead the videos cover topics ranging from how to use blush and bronzer (whatever that is) to how to do pushups properly (video embedded below).  Johnny Lavoy - one of Ford's hairstylists has a series of popular videos showing how to achieve certain looks with your hair.  Particularly interesting is the smart strategy the site has of also distributing their videos through just about every large video sharing site online. 

The result is an archive of content that has multiple distribution points, engages viewers, and positions Ford Agency very well for new talent looking to get started in modeling (which seems to be the goal of the effort).  Following through to their recruiting page, they encourage aspiring models to take real photos and position the agency as representing the "most beautiful people in the world."  Their models may not have a crush on Obama - but the way Ford Models is using online video to promote their brand goes beyond viral.  Trying to create the next viral hit is not the only strategy for using online video for marketing.  Just take a look at Ford Model TV to see how one marketer is doing it right.  Now we all just have to hope this success can be duplicated even if we don't happen to have an arsenal of the most beautiful people in the world to use as our spokespeople.

SxSW, Nuclear Tacos, and Other Authentic Experiences

Last night I had nuclear tacos.  You've probably never heard of them until last night, but as part of Mozilla's BBQ event, the nuclear tacos were out in force.  Today there are lots of images of Flickr of people experiencing nuclear pain and several images of the actual tacos and event (including the one at left from the gallery of Arvind Grover).  Encouraging this sharing was the smart placement of a sign asking people to "interact" by tagging images "nucleartaco" on Flickr and other sites.  Nuclear tacos are a sign of the vibe here at SxSW.  Companies are giving away voodoo dolls in the conference bags (Ryko) and sticking balloons to index cards to promote the premiere of Twisted, the first ever "balloonamentary."  At any other event, these would probably stand out.  And here they do too - but the experiences people will be talking about are the ones that have the nuclear tacos.  The experiences that you just had to be here to experience.  That was also the feeling at the 20x2 event last night. 

It is another example of the popularity of our snack culture with "bite sized entertainment" that Wired magazine recently explored in their cover story this month.  At 20x2, 20 speakers had 2 minutes each to answer the single question "What if?"  The answers went from optimistic and hopeful, to cheesy, to desperate ... but each was watchable because they were linked by a theme and short enough to keep things moving.  This was the type of experience that people will remember - and everyone at the event knew it.  But why does this stand out where others don't?  The main reason is that the experience is limited.  It's the same for nuclear tacos.  If you could get them at your corner store, or everyone had seen or known about it, they wouldn't be the same.  There may have been 20x2 events in the past, but the topics change and as result the event stays fresh.  People seek those authentic experiences, and at an event like SxSW they seek them more then ever.  If you can stand out here, you can stand out anywhere.  What's the secret?  Be unique and offer something limited and exclusive.  Ask people to share their experience and most importantly, give them the help or guidance to do it.

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