Not a whole heck of a lot happening in online marketing land this week as most of us struggled to get back into the groove after the holidays. But we still managed to scoop up a quintet of interesting, funny and innovative stories from the world of online and social media marketing. Here now is our weekly list of five things you might have missed!
1.) Say it with a frog: One little French restaurant in Moscow cooked up a tasty idea to get Russians to change their minds about French food. No press releases were sent out and there wasn’t a big social media launch — all they needed were some frogs. Vatel was looking to smash stereotypes about French cuisine, so it wisely sent tiny, live frogs with invitations to members of the media and local food bloggers. Vatel says 100 percent of the frog recipents responded and now the joint is, ahem, hopping.
2.) Written in cheese: Domino’s relased a funny app to celebrate the cheesy goodness of its New Stuffed Cheesy Bread with a font made entirely out of cheese. Fromage fanatics can compose a message with the gooey font and send it to their friends. Cheesetacular!
3.) Apple is thinking about your face: iPhone announced plans to dump the annoying number passcode system in favor of facial recognition software. According to a recently-filed patent, iPhone users soon will be able to simply look at their phone to unlock it. The feature is already available on “jailbroken” phones as well as on some Androids with Ice Cream Sandwich but we’re sure it’ll be Apple that takes facial recognition tech to the next level.
4.) A slippery social media slope (literally): Vail Resort has bought back its incredibly popular EpicMix app for the 2011/2012 ski season. The new version for IOS/Android allows skiers to use their smartphones as lift tickets, chat with friends on the slopes and see live stats from the mountain as well as photos taken by the resorts photographers.
5.) Amazon gets social, too: Social isn’t just for ski bunnies; top online retailer Amazon is looking to be the premier social shopping destination. New regime changes that brought in staffers from Quora signals a push forward on the social shopping frontier and, as always with Amazon, we can’t wait to see what the company does next.
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