American Express and Internet Marketing

“American Express went from virtually zero social media presence in 2009 to being hailed by Advertising Age as the ‘real winner’ at South By Southwest this year,” notes Mashable. “How did AmEx do it? Leslie Berland, SVP of digital partnerships and development at the company, attempted to retrace the brand's steps during a talk at Mashable Connect, and then dispensed a few social media tips on Friday. Berland highlighted two major inflection points in AmEx's social media marketing history: its introduction of Small Business Saturday and its promotion of Sync at SXSW. The former started with a ‘lofty goal,’ which was to ‘start a movement,’ Berland said.” Read more.

More on American Express’s digital (Internet) marketing campaigns:

http://venturebeat.com/2012/03/06/amexs-new-twitter-integration-is-brilliant-marketing/

http://digitalmarketingremix.com/profiles/blogs/remix-campaign-of-the-day-american-express

http://www.clickz.com/clickz/news/2095212/amex-emerges-digital-deals-leader

http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/news/1073673/VisitBritain-partners-American-Express-digital-marketing-drive/

http://www.brandchannel.com/home/post/2011/03/16/american-express-rewards-expand-to-digital-experiences.aspx

http://dana238.blogspot.com/2012/02/amex-users-get-to-run-promotional-ads.html

How Men’s Warehouse Uses Social Media

“You may not yet know Mr. Joe Nolan, but after reading this interview, you will want to knock down the doors of Men's Wearhouse to get inside his super social media brain. Mr. Nolan is what I term a ‘social media junkie,’" reports ClickZ. “He has been immersed in the social media craze from the beginning; Mr. Nolan is a proven mover and shaker and authority on social business. He has facilitated transformations at industry-leading companies and spearheaded the establishment of social operations at Lexus, General Motors, Symantec, and currently at Men's Wearhouse.” Read more.

Social Outreach Campaign by Taco Bell

“Long-suffering Taco Bell fans were finally rewarded Thursday with nationwide availability of the Cool Ranch version of its Doritos Locos Tacos,” says ClickZ. “The launch comes almost exactly one year after the debut of Nacho Cheese Doritos Locos Tacos. The elder Locos Tacos have since become the most successful product launch in Taco Bell history with more than 350 million sold to date, the brand says. To appropriately fete the latest variety, Taco Bell began its social outreach campaign in January. And, according to Taco Bell, the newest Locos Tacos are already making a splash of their own. In fact, Taco Bell says the arrival of Cool Ranch Doritos Locos Tacos, or DLT, has been more liked, shared, and talked about by consumers than any other product in its history.” Read more.

McDonald’s Works with Social Media

"McDonald’s sees an enormous volume of social media conversations each month. Social media director Rick Wion talked with eMarketer’s Debra Aho Williamson about how the company mines this stream of information to find real-time marketing opportunities.” That’s the start of an eMarketer interview with Wion. Read more.

Unilever Increasing Digital Marketing Budget 40%

“Unilever has struck global partnerships with Samsung, Sony's Arcade Creative Group and EA Sports as the packaged-goods giant looks to expand its universe of deals on the heels of a nearly 40% increase in digital spending last year,” according to AdAge. “Programs are still in development, but the Samsung partnership will involve advertising and content creation for smart TVs, smart appliances and mobile applications. Initial projects will involve Axe and Hellmann's, said Gail Tifford, Unilever's senior director of media for North America. A deal finalized last week with Sony is based on ‘understanding how central the role of music is for some of our brands and how we can work with Arcade,’ Ms. Tifford said.” Read more.

Indie Movie “Girl Rising” Avoids the Traditional for Social Media

“The producers of Girl Rising, a 100-minute film featuring nine stories of heroic girls from around the world, concluded that they would circumvent the traditional route of theater distribution and rely instead on social-media tools—Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn—to drive their message and build a community,” reports the Daily Beast. “Girl Rising has more than 245,000 fans on Facebook, and the film will open next week. About 500 screenings have been requested nationwide, with more than 32,000 tickets pre-reserved.” Read more.

Real World Impact of the Digital Era on Marketing

“Last week I sat down with Will Coleburn, a CMO employed most recently at Toy State,” starts an AdAge post. “As the name suggests, the company is in the toy and games business, an industry Will has served for decades, running marketing at several organizations along the way. In our conversation we discussed his journey from traditional marketer to digital CMO. At one point he summarized the difference between his job twenty years ago and his role today in a neat statement:”

In the old days our agency meetings were ninety percent about the campaign creative and then in the last minutes, we checked off the list of which media we would buy with our budget. Today, we start with the customer, then we figure out what channels or media we have to use to reach them, only then do we talk about the creative.

Read more about the impact of the digital era.

How 16 Brands Get the Most Out of Social Media

“Becoming a social business isn’t easy. It takes planning, organization and teamwork.” That’s the start of a post on Social Media Today. “But when established and executed well, social businesses find ways to drive business results, and win the loyalty of social users. If you’re looking for inspiration on how to lead the social brand pace, the following 16 brands embody the best of the best – broken down by social area of excellence.” Read more about the brands.

Kraft Mac & Cheese Goes Digital to Feed the World

“Though kindergarten teachers all over the nation may disagree that using elbow noodles in art projects is wasteful, Kraft Macaroni & Cheese's ‘Dinner, Not Art’ initiative has one aim in mind: to help people create lovely macaroni art without putting a single noodle to waste,” writes Direct Marketing News. “To that end Crispin Porter + Bogusky designed an iPad app, also available on desktops and laptops via a microsite, which allows users to make digital art using a paintbrush and virtual Kraft noodles. For every noodle used in an art piece, Kraft gives 10 real noodles to Feeding America. Participants who want their artwork considered for display online must provide an email address.” Read more.

P&G Hooks Up with Sitecore to Converse with Customers

“Sitecore has announced that Procter & Gamble will begin using its Customer Engagement Platform (CEP) to help manage interactions with customers,” reports ClickZ. “Sitecore is a web content and customer engagement software manager. Its CEP software works in conjunction with its web content management suite to add customer insight information into a company's tool set….Sitescore's software offers firms the ability to see a single view of an individual customer's web, email, and social communication information. The company touts its products as having the ability to increase conversion rates and build lifelong communications with consumers.” Read more.

Why Social Followers Important to HP

“​LinkedIn may serve 200 million monthly users, but few brands can say their social media content reaches more than half of the site's members. In fact, LinkedIn has only one company with a million followers: Hewlett-Packard,” notes a Brafton post. “HP announced its accomplishment on its LinkedIn Page, and the social media network followed up with its own announcement and a detailed infographic on how and why HP uses the network. LinkedIn explains that HP benefitted from the site's follow button, which came out last year. The feature lets companies promote their Pages similarly to how they tout their Facebook and Twitter accounts. According to LinkedIn, HP also used Follow Ads to attract about 300,000 followers over two months:

HP's followers are 2.5 times more likely to recommend HP to their colleagues and 1.5 times more likely to consider buying HP products before any other related brand.”

Read more.

Toyota Tags along a Weather Channel App

"The Weather Company (TWC), formerly The Weather Channel Companies, released a redesigned version of The Weather Channel app for Android on Monday. Toyota, the app's exclusive launch partner, is featuring a new ad unit with branded background within the app," says ClickZ. "'The app offers a bigger palette for creatives to use to tell their stories but still be contextual and not completely interruptive,' says Cameron Clayton, president of TWC Digital Group.
The ad unit combines the correct creative assets from an advertiser with real-time information about weather conditions and time of day at an individual's location. For example, if it's a rainy day, Toyota will show a rainy scene and a car that fits with those conditions. The Toyota ad partnership also includes co-branded media on The Weather Channel network and weather.com." Read more.

Honda Supplements TV Ad Campaign with Social Media

“Honda has launched a social media program, the #HondaInnovator Series, to support a TV ad for its 2013 Civic that focuses on inventors and innovation in various fields,” notes ClickZ. “The series incorporates Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter and YouTube to push conversations about innovation and the car itself, as well as the idea that progress never stops. In a series of six one-hour tweet chats, users will be able to submit questions to inventors featured in the Civic TV spot, like baby product company 4moms co-founder Henry Thorne, Waterfall Swing inventors Ian Charnas and Drew Ratcliff and 2013 Civic Senior Product Planner Jay Guzowski. As of Monday, a video of the TV spot on YouTube has about 454,000 views. Users can also see #HondaInnovator feeds from Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, Honda says.” Read more.

Fix Oil Spills with Social Media

“The brand reputations of oil giants BP and Shell are frequently haunted by past controversies. For BP, it's the 2010 oil spill caused when the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico. For Shell, it's concern over its recently defeated Arctic drilling initiatives. Both companies struggle to pump up their respective brands' reputations—no easy feat in a digital world where consumers have fast access to information and social forums to post their discontent” (Dupre, 2012).

Dupre, Elyse (Dec.1, 2012). Oil giants try to stay slick while containing the spillage of negative perception. Direct Marketing News. Retrieved from < http://www.dmnews.com/oil-giants-try-to-stay-slick-while-containing-the-spillage-of-negative-perception/article/270033/>.

Coke's Social Media Campaign for the Super Bowl

“Using animated polar bears making jokes on Facebook to win the hearts of Super Bowl ad lovers? That's so 2012. Last year, Coca-Cola's Polar Bowl became one of the most talked about campaigns of the Super Bowl. Now, it's hoping to duplicate that success and do something its executives call "gamify the game" with the launch of a 60-second spot that depicts three teams trying to get to a giant bottle of Coke -- and asks viewers to help them via social media” (Zmuda, 2013).

.

Zmuda, Natalie (Jan. 22, 2013). Coca-Cola builds social-media game around Super Bowl spot. AdAge.com . Retrieved from <http://adage.com/article/special-report-super-bowl/coca-cola-super-bowl-ad-create-social-media-game/239327/?utm_source=digital_email&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=adage>.

Red Bull's YouTube Series

"After flying to an altitude of 39,045 meters (128,100 feet) in a helium-filled balloon, Felix Baumgartner completed a record breaking jump for the ages from the edge of space, exactly 65 years after Chuck Yeager first broke the sound barrier flying in an experimental rocket-powered airplane," goes the YouTube post.  "Felix reached a maximum of speed of 1,342.8 km/h (833mph) through the near vacuum of the stratosphere before being slowed by the atmosphere later during his 4:20 minute long freefall....Experience the world of Red Bull like you have never seen it before. With the best action sports clips on the web and YouTube exclusive series, prepare for your "stoke factor" to be at an all time high. Red Bull on Facebook: http://win.gs/redbullfb Red Bull on Twitter: http://win.gs/redbulltwitter Subscribe to Red Bull on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=redbull"

Just four days after Red Bull posted this video, it had more than 20 million views.

By the way, this is the last post for the semester.

Coke and P&G Angry about No-Track Default of IE 10

"Association of National Advertisers CEO Bob Liodice hasn't been shy about expressing his opposition to Microsoft's coming Internet Explorer 10 web browser, which will ship with a 'do-not-' feature as a default setting. The browser 'will likely cause irreparable damage to the advertising industry,' he said at the ANA annual meeting in Orlando, Fla., last week," according to Advertising Age. "But while the ANA has been forceful in its opposition to Microsoft's approach, the individual members of the organization had varied views on the issue, and while most said they support the ANA's position, the bigger issue they see is confusion it creates for consumers.
Wendy Clark, senior VP-integrated marketing communications and capabilities at Coca-Cola, said brands, including Microsoft, shouldn't be assuming choices for consumers. 'All we want is an opportunity for consumers to make their own choice rather than have the choice made for them.' Read more.

Ford's Social Media Strategy

"This is the keynote presentation from Scott Monty (Head of Social Media @Ford) at the 2009 OMMA Global conference in New York on September 21. It tells the story of Ford’s social media experience and highlights the key elements that make them one of the top companies using social media," notes Digital Buzz. "Ford’s Social Media Strategy is simple 'to humanize the company by connecting consumers with Ford employees and with each other when possible, providing value in the process' and when executed with creativity and passion like most of their campaigns so far, can deliver incredible results." Read more.

Shaming People to Vote

"The campaigns have planted software known as cookies on voters’ computers to see if they frequent evangelical or erotic Web sites for clues to their moral perspectives," reports the New York Times. "Voters who visit religious Web sites might be greeted with religion-friendly messages when they return to mittromney.com or barackobama.com. The campaigns’ consultants have run experiments to determine if embarrassing someone for not voting by sending letters to their neighbors or posting their voting histories online is effective." Read more.

The Tip of Nike's Marketing Iceberg

1. "Nike is doing something a little different with projection mapping for the new Jordan Melo M8 shoe, this time throwing in water, in fact the whole thing is projected onto water fountains, which perfectly complement the movement and desired effects to create something pretty special for your eyes," reports Digital Buzz. "Sure, there isn’t any interactivity as we’ve seen of late, but the water really changes the game!" Read more. What amounts to a promo or advertisement has generated slightly fewer than 150,000 views.

2. ClickZ notes that "Nike and Adidas definitely get digital marketing...Those are the conclusions of a new report from New York-based digital consultancy L2...[It], in conjunction with the NYU Stern School of Business, recently released its first digital ranking of the sportswear industry...Nike and Adidas, the top-two ranked companies, were ranked in the "genius" level by L2." Read more.

3. "Sportswear maker Nike has extended its Nike Training Club program to mobile to target active women on the go," reports Mobile Marketer. "Nike agency R/GA, New York, created a Nike Training Club iPhone application that complements the wired Web site at http://www.nikewomen.com. The app was already among the top 10 on Apple's "What's Hot" section for iPhone apps a few weeks ago. 'It's actually a trend that we'll see more of,' said Richard Ting, executive creative director and vice president of mobile and emerging platforms at R/GA, an Interpublic Group interactive marketing agency in New York." Read more.

4. "Ten years ago, Nike spent 55 percent of its advertising budget on traditional media. This year that figure is down to 33 percent according to a story in the New York Times," goes the post on Sundog Interactive. "In the last 20 years, Nike has gone from its renowned 'Revolution' TV campaign in 1987 introducing its AirMax shoes (I’ve bought AirMax running shoes ever since), to another revolutionary approach today that substantially alters the way it approaches advertising and marketing. Nike has re-channelled large amounts of budget from traditional media, to instead connecting with the customer via the Internet and in-person events." Read more.

Keywords: Nike+"Digital Marketing", Nike+"Interactive Marketing".