MMB 1/3

http://adage.com/article?article_id=147953

Coca-Cola Wraps Up Largest Social Media Project Ever

Coca-Cola had a public relations project where three twenty-somethings went to all the countries that sold Coke to document "happiness" in one year. These three people were given lots of gadgets and their travels could be followed on Expedition206.com, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. They could not visit all 206 countries in 2010 due to weather and visa problems but successfully went to 186 and made it to Atlanta on Dec. 29, in time for the new year. This publicity tour increased awareness of Coke in vital markets, such as China, where about a billion people were aware of or followed the travels of the three individuals. The success of this trip, which was followed by billions of people, was due to local management. Though the project was conceptualized and initiated in Atlanta, each local market in each country participated when the travelers were in that region, giving the trip a whole new flair.

Coke has always been known for its brilliant advertising, which are normally emotional and appeal to human nature. Such a trip would not only raise awareness around the world about Coke and how popular it is but appeal to the wonderment at the diversity of the world. I went to the website and the travelers focused on the both the diversity of the world yet the universality of various experiences, such as love, friendship, and Coke. This is just one more of really good advertising campaigns by Coke because it's so appealing and fun.

There's also a youthful vibe to it that I loved. This would have been lacking if official ad companies had gone on the journey or wrote the blogs. It looks extremely attractive yet accessible to all ages, making the spectrum of the audience as wide as the audience for Coke. It also did what it was supposed to: raise awareness globally about Coke. It was yet another successful ad campaign from Coke.

MMB 12/13

http://chestnuthill.patch.com/articles/top-10-coolest-gadgets-of-2010-4

Top 10 Coolest Gadgets of 2010
The list has the best new electronics that were released in 2010. Though I agree with most of the things on the list, I think it needs changes. For example, though the Kindle is really cool, I believe it's unnecessary and simply bad when compared to the iPad, so I thought it should be further down the list. I also thought the the Android was overplayed since the iPhone 4 is a lot better and much more popular. So, I would have added the iPhone 4 to the list and moved the Android phone further down. I also thought that 3D TVs should have been much higher on the list since they are just so innovative and basically the latest TV technology. I thought they should have at least been higher than the Kindle. Same with the Panasonic 3D camcorder. It should have been much higher on the list.

A few things that I definitely agreed with is the iPad and its place on the list. It's definitely number one since it opened up a whole new world of possibilities about computers and what, where, and when people will do work. The Dyson Air Multiplier seems like an amazing product also. It's basically a fan that is not conventional at all and it should have been on the list but it should be last (it is) because it is not as amazing as the other products. The Cio Mobile TV also seems great since it is really innovative and convenient. It can stream local TV stations like radio streams local stations. It seems great.

Products of 2010

Top products:

• Apple iPad
• Apple iPhone 4
• Android
• Kinect
• Blackberry Curve
• the new MacBook Air

Apple iPad:

The iPad was much anticipated. There were ads featuring a now signature jingle that stuck in people's heads which explained what the iPad can do. There were many newspaper articles on it and it was on the news for a while. The target audience was everyone. It has a touch screen and can virtually do anything a computer can do, camera, scanner, etc. can do. The public knew about this because it was on the news for so long. Apple also released amazing TV ads. Apple doesn't have official Facebook or Twitter pages, so it didn't but it benefited from social media because the iPad was really talked about on social media. Its competitors are the Kindle, Samsung Galaxy Tab, Lenovo IdeaPad U1 Hybrid, and basically all other tablets.

Kinect:

Kinect was marketed through ads on TV, internet, magazines, etc. The target audience was young people who like video games and/or people who want to have fun. With Kinect, no controller is needed. The motion sensor picks up movement of the body so nothing needs to be handheld. The public knew about this because of the ads and all the buzz around it. Kinect used Twitter and Facebook to publicize its release date and its release. Its competitors are the Wii.

Apple iPhone 4:

The iPhone 4 had been anticipated for a while so Apple used the buzz that was already going around to publicize the new iPhone. There were also ads telling people how convenient, useful and awesome the new iPhone was. Its target audience is everyone. It has the latest touch technology with FaceTime (which is like video chatting) and features a sleeker, more convenient design. The public knew about this product because of Jobs's announcement, ads, and the buzz surrounding it. Apple doesn't use social media but people on social media spoke about the new iPhone 4 a lot so it was publicized even more. Its competitors are myTouch, HTC HD2, Palm Pre, and all other smart phones.

MMB 12/6

Facebook is completely redoing its format. Its profile page, which was previously in no important order, now has the bio section right underneath the name. Then, it has a much larger photo section. People can also view histories of friendships more easily. The reason for this overhaul is to organize profiles better and to show who people actually are. Not all members get the new format today. People have to option of choosing the format for a while before Facebook mandates that everyone must switch over. Privacy is a huge flare up with Facebook right now. The Wall Street Journal a while ago showed many of Facebook's popular apps selling personal information to advertising companies. Rapleaf is a company that merges all online data about a person and sells the info to advertising companies to create a narrowed interest window on the Web. They use Facebook profiles and data to create the consumer profiles. Zuckerberg does not plan on creating a phone just for Facebook but plans on continuing to build software for phones. He also does not believe in going public. Facebook had the option of selling to Yahoo! in 2006 for a billion dollars but refused to.

In 60 Minutes, Mark Zuckerberg spoke of wanting to create more personal experiences on the Internet by transforming all of it into a social networking site. The highly competitive company expanded almost exponentially within the last few years. He then explained "hacking" and how Facebook encourages creativity and competition. He also explained the Facebook profile and messaging overhaul and new features on the website. When questioned about Facebook's dubious privacy issues, he defended Facebook and stated any apps which were selling information to ad companies were going against FB policies and would be deleted. He discussed lawsuits brought against him and the movie that was released about him. He also avoided saying anything bad about Google and stated that he did not want to be compared with them. He was later described as going from a "toddler CEO" to a "prodigy."

I like the redesign but I hope FB also improves its privacy options because if an outside company can access such detailed information, I would hate it. It definitely helps the social network because more people can access more information easier but it could also gain negative publicity because it's one more step towards less publicity.

EC 12/1

What is the future of online marketing?

http://www.marketingtitan.com/what_is_the_future_of_online_marketing

The Internet is so young yet we already depend on it so much. As it grows, so will online marketing. The future is definitely bright and as more people join the Internet phenomenon, e-commerce will only become more influential. It will also grow more sophisticated as a younger generation moves into adulthood. Simplistic and old methods such as banner ads and email advertising are dying out due to the various disadvantages they present. Banner ads tend to force a person to keep clicking in order to exit the window and email often results in spam and identity theft.

The dominant models right now are pay-per-click advertising and search engine optimization. Search engine optimization will last as long as search engines do. The future of pay-per-click advertising is less clear because of constant "click fraud" where an ad is artificially clicked to make the advertiser pay. This rate could be as high as 40% of all clicks, which basically means that 40% of money has been wasted. The author thinks this method will only last if changes are made to it to make advertising more efficient.

The author predicts the search engine optimization will the most prominent way of advertising with the pay-per-click advertising in second place, and edited information releases in third. He/she warns, however, that anything can happen in the future.

I agree with the author that those forms of advertising will remain important but I think that social media will also have a huge impact on online marketing because many businesses also promote their brands and advertise their deals online. So I think that eventually social media will trump even search engine optimization when it comes to marketing because of its growing influence in people's daily lives.

MMB 11/29

An article from shreveporttimes.com states that this Black Friday was phenomenal. According to the National Retail Federation, the average person spent much more this Black Friday than the last and retail sales went up. Ads just for Black Friday were released by large retailers like Target aimed to telling customers how much people can save by shopping on Black Friday and many stores opened early.
Today is called Cyber Monday. More people buy stuff on Black Friday than on Cyber Monday but when the increases from last year are compared, Cyber Monday had a bigger increase in sales than Black Friday did.
Social Media incentives for Black Friday
http://www.cfnews13.com/article/news/2010/november/176859/Social-media-incentives-for-Black-Friday
If you check in at certain places through Foursquare or Facebook Places, you could get a certain percentage off your purchase or get free gift cards. Also, if people unlocked a certain badge on Foursquare, a certain percentage would be taken off the purchase or if enough people "liked" a deal on Facebook, the deal would be activated for those people. Businesses also tweeted about certain deals that they otherwise did not advertise about.

MMB 11/22

The Future of Advertising Has Been Promoted: A New Study

http://www.briansolis.com/2010/11/the-future-of-advertising-has-been-promoted/

Solis writes about how Twitter is no longer seen as a microblogging network and is now seen as a one-of-a-kind network on its own platform. It's special among social media sites because while other websites built off of an established or burgeoning social media, Twitter built its community from the ground up. This highly engaged community combined with the ability to spread information and advertisements creates the perfect blend of a social network and an ad network. Recent changes to Twitter, like its format and CEO who has a different way of monetizing Twitter, have resulted in greater advertising done on Twitter.

Advertising on Twitter is based on interest groups rather than social groups, so it's all about reaching the right people at the right time rather reaching a bunch of friends. A brand's success depends on its ability to raise awareness and "clicks to action," which are basically desired outcomes. According to various studies, it is important for Twitter to understand the difference between intention and attention. A company might intend for something but get a different outcome. Basically, we're living in an age where advertising by focusing on interest groups rather than social groups has become more welcome to everyone and is becoming revolutionized by Twitter.

I agree with Brian Solis that advertising is being revolutionized. It's no longer about watching ads or just listening to information. It's become much more interactive where people are becoming a bigger and bigger part of spreading the information. People's opinions also count much more because advertising is much more reliant on people. Brands now have to do more than just spread information; they have to inspire people to spread the information for them.

Twitter analytics could have been a money making machine
Twitter is releasing an analytics service that analyzes a brand's influence and popularity on Twitter. In other words, it is "launching a powerful tool that will make marketers salivate." Best of all, it is doing this for free. This seems a little foolish because many services and products charge a lot of money to analyze a company's influence in social media so Twitter could potentially be throwing away a lot of money. For example, Radian6 charges its users at least $600. However, many brands are unaware of the service, so Twitter bringing its service out and introducing it to 175 million users is a big deal and worth millions of dollars.

However, releasing it for free would make sense if Twitter was trying to get businesses to tweet more often or retain their Twitter usage. By releasing an analysis service, Twitter is basically showing brands how influential they are and thus persuading them to use Twitter more. Also, Facebook has a free analyzer so if Twitter charges, people might prefer Facebook's services over Twitter's. In addition, when using a free service, customers tend to have lower expectations and thus less complaints so this could be a way of pleasing people in the easiest way possible. It is also likely that Twitter is following the "freemium" model, where it introduces a free service to its customers. After customers start using it often, it introduces better versions or extra features for money. So, making this service free could actually be a good business decision for Twitter.

I agree that making the service free makes sense. However, I do hope Twitter tries to monetize the service or tries to make some profit by using the "freemium" model because that is just good business sense. The "freemium" model is also a really good business model because it introduces something great to a customer and hooks them and later monetizes rather than attracting just a few customers by charging from the beginning.

How Social Media is Changing the Way Movies are Promoted
http://mashable.com/2010/11/29/social-media-movie-marketing/
The film industry has completely embraced social media and this makes sense because it is a modern version of the fan magazines of old Hollywood. In modern times, studios can gauge social media to find where interest in a film truly lies. The best example for this was Paramount's Paranormal Activity, which cost less than $15,000 to make but grossed over $150 million. What Paramount did was use Facebook to see where people wanted to watch it most and released it in those areas. MGM also did this with Hot Tub Time Machine. What's appealing about this method is that fans feel as if they have some sort of ownership or special affinity with this film.

Social media also allows extensive viral marketing campaigning, which is what Inception's PR was largely based on. Marketing for films evolved from having to go to the movies to watch previews to watching previews during TV shows to watching previews online to what social media does now. Although movie studios still have special sites that people could access for information, more and more studios are using Twitter and Facebook to release the latest information about movies. Disney used Facebook to debut its Alice in Wonderland characters and release trailers. Facebook apps are used to create interactive ways of advertising as in the case of TRON: Legacy. The fact that many of the most successful films of the year had strong social media campaigns demonstrates that social media will be embraced more and more by studios.

I agree with the author that social media has a huge impact on movie advertising and this impact will only increase. Many of the movies that were released, I heard for the first time on Facebook and learned more information about on the movie's Facebook page. So, to continue appealing with younger audiences and more engaged audiences, studios will have to embrace social media more and in more innovative ways.

What is Black Friday?
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-black-friday.htm
http://www.dailyworldbuzz.com/black-friday-2009-ads-best-doorbuster-deals-for-walmart-target-and-kmart/1070/
Black Friday is the discount shopping day that follows American Thanksgiving, which is always on a Thursday. Many retailers mail special Black Friday circulars to consumers, announcing deeply discounted items in the hopes that consumers will visit their store on Black Friday because the profits they make depend on the volume of sales that day. Retailers profit (although not greatly) through the deeply discounted deals because many people come out to buy them, so it is important to them. I've noticed ads from many clothing and electronic stores. I thought the deals were good if I was going to buy the product anyway. However, it would not be a good deal if I was not going to buy the product but I do just because there is a sale. Many of the products were also cheap products or products that no one wanted, so those were bad deals too.