Grown Up Thinking

Finally! Ever since the emergence of Chatroulette I’ve been eagerly anticipating a viral marketing campaign that takes it to the next level.

For me it has arrived in the form of “The Last Exorcism” where some genius marketer has combined the two best things about Chatroulette: sex appeal and shock value. This viral move comes as a follow-up to the newly created Church of St. Marks website that provides tips and tricks to avoid being possessed by a demon, and in the event that this is unavoidable, also provides guidance to care for the possessed.

An important point to note with this is that the actual promotion on Chatroulette isn’t what will bring the movie in to the spotlight, but rather the virility of the reaction videos. Considering the largest demographic on the site is 18-24 year olds, Chatroulette seems like a perfect fit for this type of promotion.

All-in-all, I’m glad to see that someone is keeping Chatroulette in the headlines and giving us even more entertaining reactions to enjoy.

Check them out here.

Well, well, well.  NYC is finally moving forward with a $200 million project to bring Wi-Fi to the underworld in the next 2-6 years.  This project has been approved since 2007, but (as with other NYC undertakings) did not have funding until recently.  Transit Wireless and Broadcast Australia get credit for fronting the cash; the question is do we thank them or not?

There are many reasons I am glad I do not have service in the Subway:

1.    Convenient excuse to end a phone conversation
2.    I read more books that way
3.    Time spent disconnected from the world – which they say is good for you
4.    People are irritating when they don’t pay attention to where they are going, and this would expose them to the dangers of texting while walking

There are also times I wish I had service on the Subway:

1.    When I forget which stop I want
2.    When I am late(r than usual) and need to call my blind internet date… er… friends
3.    When someone asks me a question and I don’t know the answer
4.    When I think of something brilliant to Google
5.    when I open Facebook on my phone just to be reminded that I cannot

On the whole, it is an attractive and practical idea that will result in more meaningful, engaging advertising content.  It’s surprising it took this long to come to fruition, really.

Can you imagine being able to meet friends on a specific train car or play live online trivia with the plasma TVs that will definitely be installed by then? Cross your fingers the world doesn’t end in 2012 because I definitely want to be here for this.

What does the future of marketing on subway cars look like to you?

If you’re anything like me, you spend 72-85% of your “going out to dinner in NYC” time looking for a location that’s equal parts NOM-licious and affordable. Those of you familiar with the New York gastronomic scene know that “affordable” is the more fleeting variable in this scenario.

That’s why Scoutmob, the newest platform to jump on the Groupon/Woot bandwagon seems pretty spot-on to me. Bridging the gap between two of the hottest trends right now, geo-location enabled mobile apps and daily e-coupons, Scoutmob serves up hand-picked deals in NYC and Atlanta (usually 50% off) and delivers them right to your iPhone. The clincher? Unlike its web-based predecessors, there’s no purchase required for the adorably quirky Scoutmob. Simply present the app at your restaurant or bar of choice, and you have instant access to the 50% discount.

Did I mention the deal is valid on ANY combination of items on the menu? Guess I know where I’m eating tonight…

Monday evening I wandered downtown in search of Beauty 2.0, an Internet Week panel discussion about the future of the beauty industry in social media. Not knowing what to expect (except that two members of Rachel Zoe Inc would be in attendance, OMG), what I witnessed was an hour discussion about social media, lip plumper, beauty metaphors and the power of peer to peer (aka Beauty and the Geek.

One of my favorite moments was when Tina Hedges, a L’Oreal/Estee Lauder vet, broke down the importance of humanizing your brand using terms even the most inexperienced beauty-maven could understand. Urging prestige brands to be more transparent and less exclusive she said, “At a cocktail party, I want to talk to the person who is open and warm, not the girl who’s sitting in the corner thinking she’s better than me”.

Adding to that was Karen Robinovitz, my new crazy-haired idol and founder of PurpleLabs.com. “The internet and social media are the most democratic system”, she said, “People are going to talk. Some of it may be negative, but it’s like popping a pimple. It’ll be red for a second, but then it will go away and the good stuff will bubble to the top in the end”. Wowzers, how’s that for a beauty metaphor?

More generally, the conversation took an interesting turn when another panel member lamented about how concerned the marketing industry is with “what’s next”. In the mad rush to discover the next foursquare/twitter/gamechanger, we often overlook what’s happening now, at this very moment. Deep thoughts, beauty panel, deep thoughts. Do you agree?

This article first appeared as part of iMedia Connection’s Social Media: In Focus

More than a fan aggregator

With its recent F8 announcements, Facebook has again one-upped the world as we thought we knew it. Brand marketers need to start looking at Facebook as a much deeper and broader solution than one that purely amasses a fan base. As Facebook rolls out new functionality, brands have the opportunity to act immediately in a variety of ways. In addition, it’s important for brand managers to re-imagine their brands by leveraging social enhancements.

Brands need to be able to take immediate advantage of features such as the “like” functionality, but they also need to be visionary in how they can build their brands for the future and become truly social. While I encourage brands to take part in these new advancements, we also need to make sure that we keep an eye on the Facebook future and build with this future in mind.

So, in the quest to make your brand truly social, uproot your assets and think of new ways to infuse them through Facebook integration and by adding key social layers to the brand experience. Look toward the future and start evaluating the role that Facebook can play at retail, on the ground, and across every channel your brand touches. Not all opportunities will be a fit, but one thing is for sure: If you only look at Facebook as a place to have a fan page, you are missing the greater offering and will likely be sitting on the sidelines when the future arrives.

Get the full article here to take a look at some of Facebook’s new and evolving functionalities, as well as what they mean for your marketing efforts.

Looks like the Apple/Adobe “feud” just got a lot more interesting. Fresh off the heels of Steve Jobs’ condemnation of flash on the Apple blog, Adobe released a full page ad in the Wall Street Journal proclaiming its “love” for the computer giant.

While a traditional media play may seem contradictory for a brand whose product resonates most with the online crowd, the provocative ads demonstrate just how powerful the synergy can be between traditional and social campaigns. Already, there are thousands of blog posts dedicated to the subject, and the twitter-sphere is buzzing as the tech-savvy crowd rushes to choose sides.

Regardless of where your allegiances lie, the Adobe example demonstrates an important point for marketers: traditional and social needn’t be mutually exclusive. When executed strategically (with an inherent understanding of your target’s behavior), a traditional mass awareness play can be so powerful that consumers will willingly turn to social media to weigh in, amplifying your message exponentially. All you need to do is start the conversation, and let your audience take it from there.

Who are you rooting for, Apple or Adobe?

An hour-long high school dramedy series that’s a musical? Let’s face it: Glee initially had everything going against it. Time will ultimately tell, but skeptics be damned. This year’s Golden Globe winner for Best Comedy Series turned out to be a runaway hit that has yet to lose steam as it heads into the second part of its freshman season. Above all, the show’s writing is top notch by melding a perfect blend of edgy dark humor and a lot of heart. The talent of the young cast is undeniable. And Jane Lynch turns anything into comic gold. But producers were faced with some tough challenges right from the start. How to get people to actually tune in? Enter social media and a relatively risky gamble on an aggressive interactive marketing campaign.

First of all, Fox chose to debut the pilot episode months before its actual season debut in order to capitalize on its 20+ million captive audience from American Idol. They then utilized the down time to really gain traction online by engaging with their most passionate fans (or ‘Gleeks’). Currently, @gleeks has a nearly 50,000 person following on Twitter and almost 2 million fans on Facebook. Mix that with its very own YouTube channel with exclusive content, PR-worthy appearances (Oprah!) and even nationwide mall performances. Yep, everyone’s all abuzz over the little show that could.

Blurring the line between fan and fiction even further, Glee has since launched a national casting campaign for new characters to appear on the series. Fox also recently released an interactive “hypertrailer” allowing viewers to click and “fan” the show’s cast members on Facebook, who also participate live on-air in weekly re-run episodes (or “Tweetpeats”) much like the cast commentary on today’s DVD and Blu-ray discs.

So what’s so significant about Glee’s marketing strategy, anyway? At its core, it is truly a niche show. But a very enthusiastic niche crowd at that. And Glee is giving that very core audience exactly what they want: access and interaction. At a time when studios are shuttering unauthorized playback of content and guarding creative copyrights like a fortress, this show is practically shooting it across America through a t-shirt cannon. Whether it be the show’s music content (consistently charting week after week on iTunes) or capturing that “underdog” spirit in everyone, Glee has succeeded in truly crossing all media types, including a forthcoming iPhone/iPad app. That makes it one of the very first scripted shows to actually achieve results in reaching out to a young, digital audience with significant viral success. That’s definitely a social media coup to be gleeful about. I, for one, am proud to be a Gleek. Who’s with me?

Glee resumes its season on Tuesday,  April 13 on Fox.

QR codes have been all the buzz these past few weeks and many companies are taking advantage of this new trend. QR stands for Quick Response- because they can be scanned quickly by a mobile phone via its camera. QR codes can be used to pull information from one location and stored directly into your mobile phone- anything from links, videos, photos and more.

One company that sticks out (literally and figuratively) is Stickybits. Stickybits produces two-dimensional barcodes users can attach to any real world object. For example, take a sticker and put it on your business card, scan it with either the iPhone or Android app and upload a full PDF version of your resume to the sticker. When others scan the barcode on your business card, your resume will be at their fingertips.

This is just one example of how QR codes are changing the way we think about barcodes. Facebook is also jumping on the QR bandwagon and will be used with an upcoming version of the Facebook mobile app. Facebook is still keeping the details under wraps until April, but some predict that QR codes will be most useful for Facebook’s integration of location-based social networking. In addition, QR codes will be useful for businesses who want to engage with consumers on a deeper level.

Stayed tuned, and don’t be surprised if you start seeing QR codes everywhere. Happy scanning!

“Help me fight this gang in Mafia Wars!”, “Join my wagon in Oregon Trail!”, “I’ve just found a golden egg in my FarmVille!”.

Most people have likely seen one of these updates in their Facebook news feed before, and many of them have participated in one of these popular social games. They’re fun and addicting, and millions of people all over the world just can’t get enough of them. In fact, FarmVille has over 80 million users monthly, and nearly 75% of Facebook’s 400 million users participate in online social gaming.

My question is, why hasn’t Madison Avenue capitalized on this yet? Bing recently made a push into marketing via FarmVille, but we have yet to see a real attempt at infusing marketing into online social gaming.  This raises an important question: How much marketing are you willing to put up with to play these addicting games? Will you spend money for special features, or give up screen space for ads? Will you be open to branded content, or even entirely branded games? If you got an email saying you couldn’t play FarmVille anymore unless you paid for it, what would you do?

From outlandish one-on-one encounters to themed bar nights, ChatRoulette has swept the nation with its unapologetically uncensored take on the classic internet chat. Marketing types around the world held their breath wondering who would be the first brand to tap in to the 500,000+ unique users per day.

And the winner is…. French Connection. The international clothing brand has launched a ChatRoulette competition challenging participants to use the service to seduce a woman in exchange for a $250 voucher. Risky move for an international brand, considering the proliferation of shady stuff going down on the site. But foolish or not, they’ve been getting a lot of coverage for being the first.

Only time will tell if ChatRoulette can become a useful tool in the marketer’s arsenal. Thoughts?