Brandcasting Archives

September 27, 2013 By Dawn Walnoha Leave a Comment

5 Things for September 27: #DiorRob, easyJet and the Return of Haunted House Reactions

Just because we love you, we promise that the following post will not, under any circumstances, make mention of Miley Cyrus, complain about iOS 7 or include Instagrammed pictures of the salad we had for lunch. Nope, our 5 Things list simply features the best stories from the worlds of digital engagement and online marketing that you might have missed. And really, what else do you need?

1.) Gravity Defied: A groundbreaking technological thriller like the new movie “Gravity” should have an incredible website, and that it does. The site allows visitors to put on their own spacesuits like the ones George Clooney and Sandra Bullock wear in the film and try to make it back to the spaceship in an online and mobile app game. It also features that creepy music you hear in the trailers along with videos guaranteed to freak you out.

2.) Haunted Hilarity: Nightmare Fear Factory, a Canadian-based haunted house attraction, is back with more funny photos of folks getting the crap scared out of themselves. For the third year in a row, the company posted shots of visitors to its haunted house in all of their freaked out and frightened glory. The shots are a viral hit every year and a perfect example of a smaller company using images on social media to really scare up new followers.

3.) Tweeted and Booted: Twitter marketing rocks for back and forth with customers, but only if you’re open to it. Mark Leiser of Scotland claims that UK discount airline easyJet refused to let him board after he tweeted a pointed critique of the airline. Leiser says an employee of easyJet told him, “You’re not allowed to talk about easyJet like that and then expect to get on a flight.” Naturally, easyJet says it would never deny boarding to a passenger based on remarks made on social media. Either way, the Twitter era continues to prove that how we respond to customer complaints has never been more important (or more visible).

4.) The Return of Rob: Dior scored a triple using Twilight heart-throb Rob Pattinson in a new campaign. First, the hashtag #DiorRob has gone viral with vampire-loving people everywhere. Second, the online videos for Dior featuring the star have racked up a combined nearly 10 million total views in less than a month, making them the most popular commercial currently on the Internet. Third, #DiorRob has single-handedly revived a men’s fragrance line. Maybe Rob’s popularity, like his vampire character, really will live forever?

5.) Bad Kitty: We wrap up this week’s list with another Halloween branding story. After blogs crucified Wal-Mart for carrying a child’s Halloween costume provocatively titled “Naughty Leopard,” the chain has apparently pulled the item from its stores. The costume ticked off more than a few parents and feminists so Wal-Mart’s move was probably a good one. Yikes. And we thought Sexy Big Bird was scary.

August 2, 2013 By Brandsplat Leave a Comment

5 Things for August 2: Slurpees, Hot Pockets and Cronuts

Can we get an “Amen” up in here? Divine Twitter marketing, holy Hot Pockets, salvation for travel bloggers and much more make this a list of five things you might have missed that’ll have you saying “hallelujah!”

1.) Oh Thank Heaven: When it comes to engaging with their Twitter followers, no brand does it quite like 7 Eleven. The convenience store rocks with clever, timely responses that evoke the brand’s sense of humor and fun. For example, this week a follower tweeted “There is no God” after discovering the Slurpee at her local 7 Eleven was broken. To which, @7ElevenCares replied, “We’re sorry this has caused you to question your faith. Can we get the location to eliminate your doubt?”

2.) Snuffed Out: This viral spot for Discovery Channel’s annual Shark Week featuring Snuffy the Seal is so funny, delightfully wrong and surprising, we won’t spoil it for you. Just go watch it — immediately.

3.) Blog Travel Advisory: This excellent post in The New York Times about the changing face of travel blogging is a worthwhile read for blog marketers, too. Written by Dan Saltzstein, the editor of the Times’ Travel section, the piece is chock full of sage advice as well as being illuminating on how blogging has evolved for travel writers. Example: “Despite all the growth and expanded opportunities, for successful bloggers it comes back to guiding and connecting with readers.” Haven’t we been telling you this?

4.) Cronutty: The hoopla around the pastry hybrid the Cronut is officially out of control. As if paying up to $20 bucks a pop for this donut-meets-croissant mutant wasn’t enough, creative agency BBH has taken it one step further. According to AdWeek, “‘The Cronut Project,’ spearheaded by some BBH New York interns, partnering with NYC Food Bank and Cronut inventor Dominique Ansel, features a daily raffle — with the donor who pledges the most money, plus another random donor, getting a free Cronut. ” All proceeds go to the NYC Food Bank. We’re thinking the BBH interns are behind the “another random donor” hijinks.

5.) Drop It Likes It’s Hot: We wrap up our list this week with Hot Pockets. The stoner treat is back with a new makeover, and apparently we’re really excited about it. Like, over 3.5 million views on YouTube excited. The videos, which feature a variety of chefs plus “sandwich expert” Jeff Mauro, aren’t incredibly entertaining, but nevertheless the public still loves this brand. And with this kind of popularity, Hot Pockets could be the branding comeback of the year. Take that, Twinkies.

January 11, 2013 By Brandsplat Leave a Comment

Five Things You Might Have Missed!

Welcome to Brandsplat’s Five Things You Might Have Missed, where we dabble in online curation by calling out the week’s most fetching and far-fetched moments that just might have slipped right past you. Wouldn’t want that, right? Sit right down and you’ll hear a tale…

1.) A Simple Demand: Branded online video creation need not always be packed with special effects, catchy tunes or adorable animation in order to be memorable. Sometimes a powerful and timely message is enough. Demand a Plan to End Gun Violence, despite being packed with Hollywood A-listers like Conan O’Brien, Jamie Fox and Jennifer Aniston, is a simple PSA which demonstrates this point beautifully. A non-profit formed in response to the recent rash of deadly shootings in the United States, Demand a Plan created a video which does what any great campaign should do: speaks directly and honestly about something on the collective conscience.

2.) Kobe, Brief: “The antisocial has become social” and so began the newly-anointed Twitter career of Laker Kobe Bryant. Bryant has long been a holdout on the social network and his appearance is list-worthy indeed. Not because he’s another athlete joining Twitter, an occurrence that happens every 5 minutes, but because the hundreds of thousands that followed him during his first several hours on the site. Twitter marketing, especially for individual brands like Bryant, has never been bigger or more powerful.

3.) NMXcellence: Blogging conferences are a dime a dozen, but NMX, which happen this past week in Las Vegas, is noteworthy for the massive attendance and the serious coverage it received. Having nerd icons like Chris Hardwicke as keynote speakers certainly created a stir. But giving blogging, including blogging for business, center stage is what landed this function on our radar.

4.) Let the Poking Begin: After a few weeks of speculation, few would have predicted that Delta Lingerie would be the first brand to use Facebook Poke, the new mobile app which pushes out one-time only self-destructing branded messages. Delta used the spot to distribute a discount as well as a sexy but not too sexy video of a model getting dressed. Poke might finally just be the thing Facebook’s been searching for to bridge the gap between social and mobile.

5.) Cookie, Meet Rocky: Rounding out our list this week is a clever spot for Google Play that mixes things we love (Cookie Monster! The Rocky Theme!) with things we don’t love (exercise! New Year’s Resolutions!). The result is another charming Google ad that makes actually want to finally try Play. Mission accomplished, Cookie Monster!

December 7, 2012 By Brandsplat Leave a Comment

Five Things You Might Have Missed!

Go inside a blip that caused mega nightmares for blog marketing specialists! See how one brand is trying to make scrapbooking cool again! And oh-so-much more in this week’s Five Things You Might Have Missed.

1.) 20 Years of Texting: This week SMS celebrated two decades of “OMG” and “K”. The first SMS (short message service) or text was sent in 1992 and it read simply, “Merry Christmas.” Since then, text messaging has exploded and opened the doors for mobile marketing. While some wonder if the SMS days are numbered, the anniversary tops our list for creating a platform that has truly changed the way we communicate and market.

2.) Tumblr Typhoon: If you conduct your company’s blog writing and blog creation primarily on Tumblr, then Monday was probably not your favorite day. In case you missed it (and be thankful if you did), a major worm knocked Tumblr out, causing the popular blogging platform to disable posting. Tumblr urged users to reset passwords while it got things ironed out. The culprit for this blogtastrophe? Tumblr’s re-blogging feature. The worm spread from post to post each time Tumblr users innocently re-blogged posts.

3.) The Scrapbook Comes Back: Leave it to the digital engagement masterminds at IKEA to make the scrapbook cool again. KLIPPBOK (which actually means scrapbook in Swedish) is an inventive iPad app which lets users clip things they like from IKEA (furniture, paint swatches, meatballs, etc.) and create endless decorating combinations. It’s a little bit Pinterest, a little bit old school and a lot of amazing. We’re thrilled to see companies like IKEA take tablet marketing and apps to a more imaginative level.

4.) For the birds: “What would happen if real birds used Twitter?” you ask. The creative folks at Voldemars Dudums advertising created this fun, time-killing video to find out. You’re welcome!

5.) Jason____: And finally, if you thought the guy who wrangled brands to pay him to wear their t-shirts couldn’t come up with a crazier marketing idea, you thought wrong. Jason Sadler announced last week that he was auctioning off his last name. For an entire year, Sadler will now change his last name to the highest bidding brand name. The winner? At $34,500, JLabAudio is the winning new last name… but Jason and his company, IWearYourShirt.com, score millions of dollars in free press coverage.

November 27, 2012 By Brandsplat Leave a Comment

Memorable Marketing is All About the Funny

While researching a piece on online marketing, I stumbled across the Overly Attached Computer. This viral phenomenon is a Samsung ad that has been spun off from the ridiculously popular Overly Attached Girlfriend videos which racked up millions of views earlier this fall. At a mere two weeks old, Overly Attached Computer is already hovering in the 5 million views neighborhood. Why? The concept — a stalkerish computer played by new comedy star Laina who warns her owner to pay attention to her or else — is certainly ridiculous and not exactly sophisticated. But when it comes to digital engagement that really resonates, a new study says ridiculous is exactly what followers want.

A recent report put out by Forbes Insights and Turn called “The New Rules of Engagement: Measuring the Power of Social Currency” finds that funny might just equal money. When asked what makes them stop and notice an advertisement, 67 percent said simply “It’s funny.” Even 14 percent of marketing professionals (who should be above a cheap laugh) confessed that funny wins when it comes to ads they remember. Well-designed or eye-catching was No. 2 (50 percent) with consumers and No. 1 (49 percent) with ad execs. Thought-provoking ads (33 percent), emotionally-charged campaigns (19 percent) and ads forwarded by friends or family (19 percent) rounded out the list for consumers.

These results are interesting, even if they hold few surprises. Turns out our tastes haven’t evolved that much even if online marketing seems to change daily. Whether it’s websites, custom content, social media marketing campaigns or viral videos, we the people will remember it if it’s easy on the eyes and makes us laugh.

So, dear readers, I ask you: What’s the funniest online campaign you can remember from 2012? While we’re at it, tell us about a great-looking website or social media campaign, too. Educate us in the comments section below!

November 8, 2012 By Brandsplat Leave a Comment

Crash Course in Content Marketing, Part 3: Make it Meaty!

Today’s Crash Course in Content Marketing is all about making your content fascinating and fun to read. You can have a lovely-to-look-at blog or a newsletter that you send out to thousands of addresses, but if it isn’t any good, you’re pretty much dead in the water. We happen to think you can have it all: good-looking, well-distributed and substance-filled. So how do we give our content marketing depth, character and must-read qualities?

First of all, remember this: We may be “content marketing,” but what we shouldn’t be doing is selling. Or at the very least not pushing or hard-selling. Branded content doesn’t need to pummel followers over the head, screaming “PLEASE BUY ME!!!”-type messages. In fact, pushy, sales-driven content drives consumers and web traffic away from us and not toward us. Instead, teach your readers something. Introduce them to a video they’ve never seen, make them laugh during an article, outline some industry-insider tips in a blog post or create entertaining infographics. This “more flies with honey” theory works nearly every time with content marketing.

Secondly, much of enticing an audience in content marketing begins with dynamic, grab-you-by-the-throat headlines. There are literally thousands of blog posts on the Internet which claim to have the secret of writing these types of headlines. Read some — or all! — of them if you like. But know this: A headline that accurately describes your blog, email marketing efforts or article while managing to be entertaining or memorable is magical thing, indeed.

Yet it’s what’s beyond your terrific headline that separates content ninjas from mere mortals. Good content should be timely. Good content should be newsworthy on its own. But mainly, good content should have something to say. Fill your content with the things people are talking about in your industry while offering your own unique take. Use content to show off your services and products while talking about what is important to your organization. Essentially, let your content tell your story in a million different ways. Each article, blog post, podcast, what-have-you has the chance to show off your company’s substance and mission statement.

Tomorrow we wrap up our mini-cram session on content marketing with a chat about where to market all this meaty goodness!

July 20, 2012 By Brandsplat Leave a Comment

Five Things You Might Have Missed

So you’ve had that kind of week, huh? You know, the one where seemingly everything, including the latest social media marketing and digital branding news, has just slipped by you? Don’t worry about it! Our Five Things You Might Have Missed List will get you all caught up.

1.) Chicken Run: Certainly the social media branding story of the week — perhaps even the summer — was the hubbub over Chick-fil-A. You couldn’t tweet or log onto Facebook without reading the controversial comments from the fast food company’s COO Dan Cathy. Cathy said he and his organization were “guilty as charged” when it came to being “anti-gay.” So everybody online was buzzing about Chick-fil-A and a social media boycott was in full swing. How Chick-fil-A plays its next PR moves as this story developes will certainly be something to watch.

2.) Hold the Lettuce: Another viral story from the world of fast food came from Burger King this week. When pictures of employees sticking their feet in a tub of Burger King lettuce popped up online, BK rightfully flipped out. Posted on free-for-all site 4chan.org, the photo’s tag led the company to find the violators in a northeast Ohio franchise of the chain and they were fired immediately. Handled quickly and using all the proper channels, Burger King put out a fire that could easily have gotten out of control.

3.) Something Stuck in Your Teeth: This print campaign for Colgate, courtesy of Y&R Brazil, shows Photoshop disasters trumped by the power of good-looking people with stuff stuck in their teeth. Nevermind a missing ear or six fingers! That guy didn’t floss! It’s clever and memorable stuff — and heavily blogged about too.

4.) She’s the Mayer: Everybody, it seems, from TV’s talking heads and branded blogs to tech writers and politicians, had something to say about pregnant newly-anointed CEO of Yahoo! Marissa Mayer. Jaws dropped when she announced she would be working through her pregnancy and they continued to drop when rumors of a $500 million salary circulated. Whatever happens with the former Google employee, one thing is for sure: Mayer was a blogger’s dream come true this week, and for that we salute you.

5.) Mariachi Moments: And, finally, what better way to shake the blues away than a little Latin music? Doritos UK continues its viral video awesomeness with more mariachi covers of unlikely songs performed for some o.g. British gringos. This recently-released video for “Love Machine” should cure whatever ails you.

June 22, 2012 By Brandsplat Leave a Comment

Five Things You Might Have Missed!

Twitter marketing meltdowns! Juicy blog writing plagiarism scandal! A dirty old broad selling beer! All of this and even more exclamation points in this week’s edition of the Five Things You Might Have Missed!

1. Gimme Pizza: Let’s Pizza, that mind-blowing fresh pizza vending machine with the gangbusters global viral video, is coming to America. News hit our shores this week that the miracle vending machine from A1 Concepts will be stateside later this year. OK, so Americans don’t need yet another way to get fat. But don’t pretend your inner 10-year-old isn’t excited to see this magic pizza maker in person.

2. The Lehrer of His Ways: Jonah Lehrer, the author of the bestselling book Imagine: How Creativity Works, committed a blogging blunder this week when he padded a post with previously-published content. The twist? Lehrer got busted for recycling content he’d written for last October’s Wall Street Journal in the June 12 edition of the New Yorker. By Tuesday afternoon, Lehrer had apologized and promised it wouldn’t happen again. It’s a 21st century blogging issue for sure and we doubt Lehrer is the first or last to “borrow” from himself.

3. Meet Ethel: Using a raunchy old lady to sell a microbrew from Brooklyn doesn’t sound like the world’s most original idea. And it’s not. What’s more, the company’s line of comedic hooey on how this grandma got into business is as believable as a conversation with Mrs. Butterworth. Still, we’ve gotta give Ethel’s Brew major props for great digital branding and kick ass online marketing. Since its debut earlier this month, Ethel’s Brew and its randy senior citizen spokeswoman have ignited Twitter, YouTube and Facebook, and beer bloggers can’t stop talking. Not bad for an 88-year-old.

4. #Donations: Politicians are just cuckoo about Twitter, so leave it to those crafty marketers to use it to get more donations! Politico reported this week that both sides of the election will be rolling out Twitter-based donation programs via the new startup Chirpify.

5. Redditors Do Right: We round out this week’s fivesome with a story of how one brutal video inspired Reddit users to chip in. The now-famous video, which features a school bus monitor being violently harassed by a student, prompted Redditor Max Sidorov to start a fundraising campaign via Indiegogo. Sidorov and his cyber buddies have raised more than $200,000, a gigantic amount more than the $5,000 goal to send the woman on a once-in-a-lifetime vacation. That’s social media marketing we can really get behind.

Five Things You Might Have Missed!

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Five Things You Might Have Missed!

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