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It was just a matter of time before the kinds of people who vandalized brands at world economic summits resorted to brand cyber-vandalism. The Wikileaks hacktivists recognize brands as political symbols, targeting global brands like Mastercard, Visa, Paypal, Amazon, Twitter and Shell. Gone are the days when a brand was a simple guarantee of product …
Wikileaks, Hacktivism and Brands as Political Symbols Read More »
Today on Mashable.com, customer engagement expert Matthew Latkiewicz writes about new social web online marketing trends. He notes that early marketing efforts in new media were really attempts to apply broadcast and print advertising techniques to this new world. But new thinkers are exploring new ways to communicate. This article, which quotes Merriam Associates, reviews …
Firefly Millward Brown’s New Rules for Brand Engagement study discusses the trouble brands are having effectively using social media. As we have discussed in previous posts, many marketers come across as insincere, pandering, or boring. The relationship/conversation thing seems to still stump many, many marketers. Consider the different Twitter approaches of the worlds’ leading car …
Social Media Brand Engagement Rules Toyota vs Chevrolet Read More »
Facebook’s launch of a new email client runs smack-dab into brand problems: 1) The Facebook brand lacks consumer trust: It seems like every week, Facebook faces charges of releasing unauthorized user data or of making sneaky changes to user settings to exploit information on users without permission. How many people will trust Facebook with their …
Facebook Brand and Email: Brand Extension Lacks Permission or Purpose Read More »
While I was taking out the recycling, this little brochure fluttered from my empty Ziploc package: Wow! With a tagline of “Get more out of it!” I expect more out of Ziploc. Maybe this major brand thought they needed to “do something” in social media, but couldn’t figure out what that something might be. It …
Ziploc: Boring Doesn’t Work as a Social Media Engagement Strategy Read More »
Levia® launched a crowdsourcing video contest in September with much fanfare only to watch the entire effort fizzle. Called “Lights, Camera, Healing,” the program asked people to create and submit original videos extolling the virtues of the “healing power of light.” The Crowdsourcing idea famously worked for Doritos® in creating memorable (and cheap!) Super Bowl …
Crowdsourcing without a Crowd: Levia’s Failed Attempt Read More »
“Viral Marketing Can Make Your Brand Sick” was a post here from two years ago. Since that time, marketing executives have learned some key lessons. Take the current Mountain Dew Dewmocracy campaign. Here are the five key ingredients of its successful use of social media: 1) Social Media Needs to Be On Brand: The campaign …
Mountain Dew Dewmocracy: 5 Elements of Successful Use of Social Media Read More »
Target’s mom-bashing ad makes you wonder: Don’t advertisers test their ads before broadcasting them–even in “broadcasting” is “just” YouTube and in-store media? This Target brand ad would never have passed the mom test: While the outcry hasn’t reached the angry Motrin Mom level, Target has still made a mistake putting down a costume made by …
Uh-Oh–Target Brand Angers Moms with Halloween Ads Read More »
BP can’t seem to tweet. BP social media efforts hurt the brand BP Doubles Down on Damage My previous post discussed how the oil spill killed BP’s environmental brand positioning. BP’s response to the spill has done even more damage. While the company is focused on the disaster, surely their marketing people aren’t out personally …
Seems hardly a day goes by without a “busty blonde” wanting to follow me on Twitter. Though social media has been the darling of marketers for years now and its potential is obvious, the stumbling blocks to effective social media marketing remain. Social Media Marketing Challenge: Spam When you get past people talking about what …
Nude Followers on Twitter–Social Media Marketing Challenges Read More »