Donna's Promo Talk

Mandela Day Campaign Integrates Social Media to "Make an Imprint"

Here's a new campaign for a social marketing cause that is utilizing social media marketing, a highly interactive promotional website, viral marketing components and some big name celebrities, all in it's marketing mix.

The Nelson Mandela Foundation, along with the help of 46664, Interpublic Group's Gotham, Morgan Freeman, Clint Eastwood and a host of several other big name personalities, are inviting people to "Make an Imprint" through community activism in an effort to celebrate the legacy of South Africa’s former President Nelson Mandela. The campaign is urging people all over the world to join them in a bid to create an official Mandela Day, which would be held on Mr Mandela’s birthday each year, July 18.

46664 is the campaign that bears Mr. Mandela’s Robben Island prison number and which was originally launched to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS. Mandela Day celebrates the idea that each individual has the power to transform the world, the ability to Make an Imprint.

TV, print, outdoor and Web advertising has been implemented over the past week to drive visitors to MandelaDay.com where they can sign up for volunteer work directly and learn more about the broader initiative which is to raise awareness for social issues, inspire volunteer work, and commemorate the former South African President's 91st Birthday, July 18, as Mandela Day. Here's one of the videos:

Mandela Day from mandeladay on Vimeo.

Visitors to the site are also invited to create and upload their own personal content in the form of a video in which they can insert images of themselves alongside up to six of the partner celebrities. The video will also display the campaign's official open-hand symbol which participants can then send to friends by posting it on Facebook, YouTube, and other social media platforms. A Facebook fan page has been created that people can join to stay current on the campaign as well as follow it on Twitter @mandeladay.

"They brought us in around November [of last year] to figure out what to do next," said Peter McGuinness, CEO of the New York City-based Gotham. "We said, 'Why don't we go farther upstream,' which meant tackling the root causes of HIV/AIDS."

Addressing such a range of issues -- race, inequality, gender inequality, poverty, and lack of education -- also, in theory, appeals to a far larger base of potential volunteers, according to McGuinness. "That was the breakthrough," he said.

Perhaps as a result, in less than a week, the site has registered over 50,000 volunteers and as of tonight there were 123,875 minutes pledged.

Gotham developed all creative work for the larger integrated campaign for Mandela Day, all of which features a call-to-action asking individuals for 67 minutes of their time -- a figure correlating to the 67 years Mandela has spent fighting social injustice.

Last week, the agency unveiled an art exhibition at Grand Central Terminal in Vanderbilt Hall dedicated to telling the story of Nelson Mandela that will run through July 22. On Mandela Day, July 18, there will be a special concert at Radio City Music Hall hosted by Whoopi Goldberg and featuring artists such as Stevie Wonder, Alicia Keys, Will.i.am, Gloria Gaynor, Dave Stewart, Aretha Franklin, Cyndi Lauper, Queen Latifah, Josh Groban and others.

So while the majority of us marketers don't have the luxury of putting on such an elaborate campaign, there are elements of what they're doing here that can be implemented on a much smaller scale, even at a local level. So please check it out and while you're at it perhaps you can spare 67 minutes of your time to "Make an Imprint".

Wildfire's Online Promotions App Helps Promote AT&T's Favorite Foursome Sweeps on Facebook

I first wrote this post called Interactive Promotions Together with Blogs Create a Winning Combination back in February of 2008. Well now that social media has really gone mainstream, it's not just integrating promotions with blogs, but also with social networks like Facebook, which is now the largest social network, and Twitter, which has become the fastest growing web brand. Back when I wrote this post I coined the term "Social Sweeps" and I've seen quite a lot of these types of promotions make their appearance since then.

Interactive promotions are highly measurable and most of the time can be very effective when integrated with the right incentive, however they certainly can't achieve defined objectives if proper awareness of the promotion is not created. Well now this new company called Wildfire Interactive has created a web tool and Facebook application that can help do just that. With the Wildfire App you can create an integrated promotional campaign for your brand on Facebook, Ning, MySpace and your website that includes a sweepstakes or a user generated contest.

Wildfire is currently in beta and it's been by invite only. I requested an invite, so I'm on board and just dying to try out a first promotion utilizing it on Facebook. I've got a couple of small programs I'm working on that may be a good fit for this.

A current promotion that I entered and have promoted on my Facebook Page is for an adventure travel agency called Access Trips that's based in New Zealand. They are utilizing the Wildfire App to promote their Brazil Surfing Trip Sweepstakes. So I entered the sweeps and invited two of my friends on Facebook to join me if I win. Then I invited some of my other Facebook friends to enter the sweepstakes.

AT&T has integrated the Wildfire App into one of their big summer promotions. Up until just yesterday, June 22, golf fans could enter the AT&T “Favorite Foursome” sweepstakes to win a VIP trip for themselves and three friends to the final two days of the 2009 AT&T National Tournament, to be played July 4 and 5 at the Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, MD.

AT&T offered three different ways to get into the game. One was through mobile using any wireless carrier in which fans could text TRIP to 21234 to be automatically entered for a chance to win. They could also visit AT&T’s Facebook page in which they could enter using the Wildfire App and they could also choose to invite three of their Facebook friends to join their own “Favorite Foursome” and in exchange could get a special AT&T national sweepstakes graphic posted to their Facebook Wall.

The third method of entry into the Favorite Foursome Sweepstakes was by clicking through a banner ad at the AT&T Fan Zone web site and filling out an entry form there. The winner will be selected by a random drawing from all the entry methods and win four round-trip flights to Washington DC, two nights of lodging, transportation passes and access to the Grey Goose lounge at the event, and a $400 gift certificate redeemable at the competition’s Front 9 merchandise area, among other perks. I entered, so wish me luck!

The new twist that the Wildfire App brings to the promotion is the viral marketing component on Facebook. Those that have hundreds of friends on Facebook can promote it on their wall and very easily invite their friends. So I believe it is this type of brand awareness that is a perfect fit for social networks. If anyone would like more information you can contact me or Wildfire. I would be happy to toss around some ideas on how it may be a good fit with your marketing objectives and get one of these started!

Will Twitter Change Marketing? Some Local Businesses Think So After Their Successful Twitter Promotions

There has been so much talk about Twitter lately that there isn't a day that goes by were you don't read someone's point of view about the micro-blogging site. Today there was quite a few articles that I tweeted about so I thought I share them with you here.

First there was this commentary on Media Post's Online Media Daily blog written by Will Akerlof who's president of Liquid Advertising Inc., a marketing agency based in Venice, California. Will doesn't seem to think that Twitter will really change marketing and he started off his post with the following "A couple of years from now, we'll look at Twitter as another online flash in the pan that the press and digerati got all excited about until they found the next new thing." Hmmm...he thinks we'll soon be embarrassed to be tweeting right now since all of us internet marketing folks are really just talking to each other.

Another point that Will makes is that Twitter is not particularly young or hip. In the March 2009 Nielsen Netview, Twitter has an index of 40 against the demographic of kids 12-17, and below-average index against full-time students. The highest indexing demographic group on Twitter is Males 35-49 (167). Well Twitter is still fairly new and if you read my post on the Digital Moms Survey that I wrote last week it shows just how powerful social media is with women who are the major purchasers online. What influences them the most? Product recommendations made on social networks and from bloggers. Now most bloggers today are not teens or full-time students. They may have started out being predominately male but now have shifted to include many women with "mommy bloggers" being a major force.

So you can read Will's post which he goes on to make other points to help reinforce his case that Twitter is mainly just a fad along with the many comments from those adding their perspectives. So yes, I do agree with Will in a way. Twitter will not change marketing. I still believe in the basic principals that apply to marketing and it's the way you use the social media tools that we have at our disposal today that can help marketers succeed or fail.

Verizon Promotes Nokia Phone with a Star Trek Augmented Reality App

TGI Friday, so let's talk about a movie and a brand that's got a cool entertainment marketing promotion to go with it.

Paramount Pictures's Star Trek movie opened up last week to a huge draw which dominated the box office taking in over $79.2 million during it's opening weekend in North America, the biggest opening for a Star Trek movie to date. Seems like we have a whole new generation of Trekkies out there now.

Verizon Wireless has launched a campaign themed around the Star Trek movie to promote the Nokia Intrigue 7205 phone and V-CAST. They partnered up with Total Immersion to develop an augmented reality app which can be found at joinstarfleetacademy.com/discover. The goal is to drive "Star Trek" fans to this site and blend physical with digital worlds. Fans download the app from the site, print out a jpg file and hold it up to a Web camera to see on the computer screen a teleport effect that turns into a Nokia Intrigue 7205. The phone opens and closes before it disappears.

"I'm holding this piece of paper that projects a triangle on the screen in front me that starts to spin in my hand as I move," said Shawn Moore, VP, Group Creative Director, Moxie Interactive who manages the brand for Verizon Wireless. "By spinning the triangle, I can look at different content on each side." But you have to have a web cam for this to work.

Happy Belated Mother's Day - Post Holiday Insights

Yesterday was Mother's Day and I did actually take the day off and I was away from my computer for most of it. I checked in on Facebook though in order to wish my friends and family members there a happy Mother's Day. I did not get to spend it with my mom unfortunately, but I did spend it with my two daughters, my mother-in-law and my husband and we had a very nice day.

So I still wanted to wish all my readers that are moms a Happy Mother's Day. I hope you enjoyed the day. As I mentioned, I had both my two daughters home with me which was the best present I could ask for since we just brought my older daughter home from college the day before. She finished her first year of college at NYU and is now part of the household again for a few months. I did receive some gifts such as three hanging flower baskets for the patio from my husband, who also cooked us another fabulous meal, and the girls gave me a digital picture frame which is really cool since I've been wanting one for awhile for my office.

Now according to a release from industry research firm IBISWorld, many moms missed out this year since gift giving was down an estimated 14.7%. The recession apparently has impacted Mother's Day as consumers scaled back purchases to $12.9 billion. They reported that those who did make purchases were staying away from department stores and specialty retailers and instead shopping in discount outlets. Their data also showed a strong trend of shoppers downgrading their gift purchases to smaller, lower-priced merchandise and services and choosing to make a home-cooked meal for mom, like at our home, rather than go out to a restaurant. This chart shows the  percentage by category for this years gift spending.

Sortprice.com, a fast-growing shopping search engine, reported higher traffic and user visits compared to this time last year, indicating that more consumers were utilizing the internet to find Mother's Day deals. They included a full list of gift ideas on their site here. Sortprice compiled data on traffic and user searches between April 27 and May 4 which the following data on the most popular categories and products is based on:

• Flowers - Mother's Day
• Women's Fragrances - Daisy by MarcJacobs
• Digital Picture Frames
• MP3 Players - iPod Touch
• KitchenAid Mixers
• Hugs for Mom Gift Set
• Vacumm Cleaners - Hoover Platinum
• Chocolates - Godiva Chocolates
• Women's Sleepwear - Bath Robe -
• Women's Handbags - Prada Handbags

Since flowers are the biggest selling gift item for Mother's Day I just wanted to mention this fun, interactive promotional website that Telefora created for the holiday. Their  Mother's Day Gift Guide includes different "Mom Types" such as the Super Mom, Classic Mom, Stylish Mom, Gourmet Mom, Modern Mom, Down-to-Earth-Mom and even Grandmother. Each type has a collection of different gifts associated with it.  

Teleflora also maintained a social media presence on Facebook and Twitter, and its website linked to this flower blog. They offered bloggers a special promotion that enabled them to give away a mother's day bouquet to their readers, providing they gave Teleflora credit in their blog. They also have this sweepstakes going on now that anyone who makes a comment on the blog will automatically be entered for a chance to win a bouquet of flowers.

Lasting, my blogging buddy, Yvonne DiVita, included this in her Mother's Day post on Lipsticking which I utilized to send to both my sister and my mother-in-law and wanted to share here as well. It's very cute and a clever use of viral marketing to help celebrate the holiday and you can still send it today. "Visit this link and have your Mom recognized on TV! Thanks go to Moms Rising for that one".

Happy Mother's Day!

PMA '09 Wrap Up - The UK's Give a Few Bob Campaign

With being out of town last weekend and most of this past week I'm just now getting caught up around the house. I always enjoy visiting Chicago, however, I do regret that I didn't get a chance to do any shopping at all. I usually at least make it to Nordstrom's on Michigan Ave. and purchase a new pair of shoes. So I'm sorry I didn't do my part to help the economy. With hotel prices still high you can't afford to spend that extra night to have a little downtime.

Anyhow, I thought the PMA and the team did a good job of putting together this year's two-day conference. It had a little bit of everything for both the brands and the agencies. Yes, the number of attendees was certainly down from previous years, but that's to be expected. Having a smaller number of people though really made for a more intimate gathering and a good opportunity to meet those that where there and have some interesting discussions. I met some really great people who we've already found each other on LinkedIn and Twitter.

The keynote luncheon on Day 2 of the conference was very interesting. It was a tribute to the Globes and featured three different speakers that enlightened us Americans that yes, marketing does go on outside of the U.S. I wanted to take a moment here to tell you about the "Bob" phenomenon, which was a great example of an integrated marketing campaign which won quite a few awards. It was created by The Communications Agency from the UK and was presented to us by Robert Prevezer.

The task at hand was to raise awareness of prostate cancer in the UK and drive donations to the Prostate Cancer Research Foundation. The challenges were that there was a tiny budget, not an easy topic to talk about among the reserved Brits and they were to integrate into the campaign a dead comedian, Bob Monkhouse, who died of the cancer.

The big idea the agency came up with was to bring Bob back to life in a TV ad and integrate him into all the communications of the ‘give a few bob’ campaign. They planned to have Bob himself tell the story for us. So they created this amazing film called ‘bring Bob back’ in which they used archive footage, a body double and voice artist to basically bring Bob back to life.

Next they developed an exclusive media partnership with The Sun that included articles in the printed newspaper, ads online along with premiere rights of the film. The TV exposure and news coverage the campaign received from all the press was incredible and an online donation website, www.giveafewbob.org, went viral with over 4000 targeted applicants.

Retailer WHSmith got all of their 723 nationwide locations involved displaying posters and badges. A direct mail piece was also created that included Bob on the envelope with a "Direct Male" label that was sent to a targeted list. Newspaper ads were placed and movie theaters were integrated into the campaign with screening of the film in all Vuecinemas, plus POS in their foyers, ads online at the Vue website and an email blast that was sent to Vue’s 280,000 database.

Outdoor ads were donated by both Clear Channel and JCDecaux. Other out-of-home media channels were utilized such as taxis that included exterior messages as well as tip-up seat posters with a donation mechanic in the interiors of 250 London taxis. The London Underground featured 4,000 tube cards and Ambient  Media donated the truck advertising and provided this funny bumper sticker.

This truly integrated campaign resulted in the following:

• £3.5million media value from a total budget of less than £50,000
• An estimated 83% of the UK population has seen the campaign an average of 4 times
• There was a 228% increase in the charity’s donor base
• A rise in the number of regularly monthly donors by 580% 
• Traffic to the charity’s website increased by 2000%
• The PCRF annual income shows an increase of 70% year on year - $1 million donations

But much more importantly, Mark Emberton MD FRCS (Urol.) Senior Lecturer in Oncological Urology at the Institute of Urology, a Trustee of the Charity commented "I have seen a marked increase in patients being tested and diagnosed with the disease as a consequence of having seen the Bob campaign…it’s saving lives”

The campaign won numerous awards. The top lesson from ‘Bob’ to pass on is: make it simple for the consumer...get one great idea and then execute it consistently through every available communications medium using one message, one look. Thanks Bob for reminding us all and thanks again to the PMA for inviting me.

Twitter, Facebook and Skittles...Oh My!

The last two posts I wrote centered around this post about Facebook and this post on Twitter. These two social networking sites have been getting quite a bit of press lately and I have to admit that I've been following many of it. Yesterday I read about how the candy brand Skittles is using social media and has apparently received quite a bit of media coverage and buzz online

The brand decided to dramatically change its website and on Monday they turned their actual homepage into their Twitter stream. The only thing that they left was a widget-like navigation console in the upper left part of the screen. The idea was very radical and showed that this corporate brand had some real risk-taking marketers at the wheel. However, what they learned is that not everyone is a fan of Skittles and even if they do like the candy, they thought they would express themselves with a few comic tweets and some that even included profanities.

The Skittles brand managers may not have slept well Monday night having nightmares from one to many negative tweets. So the next morning they made a quick decision to switch the homepage from a Twitter search for “Skittles” to their Facebook fan page. They did keep the Twitter stream available on the site however by moving it under the menu bar “Chatter". It's now still there, but just a little less in your face.

Purina's Holiday Critter Carols Gets The Pets Viral

My good friend Yvonne DiVita who is the founder of Lipsticking.com, which I am honored to be a guest blogger, also writes a blog for Purina called Scratching and Sniffings. Yvonne brought to my attention on this post she wrote today about this holiday promotion that Purina is doing on their PetCentric site. Since I've written a few posts this holiday season on some fun holiday viral marketing campaigns, how could I ignore one that has gone to the dogs (and cats too).

Yvonne invited me to hop on over to PetCentric to create a Critter Carol. Once there you can create a pet holiday greeting e-card and let your dog or cat wish your family and friends a happy holiday season! All you need to do is upload a photo of your pet to their background, choose a holiday song, and let 'em sing, let 'em sing, let 'em sing!

So I uploaded a photo of my dog, Shadow, that I took and used on my holiday photo greeting card last year and I made Shadow sing, sing, sing. He's accompanied by two other dogs that Purina supplied.

PetCentric gives you the option to embed your greeting, which I have here, put in on your Facebook page, which I have as well, and email it to your friends. We just can't seem to get enough of these viral holiday promotions this year. So check it out and enjoy! Thanks Yvonne for letting us know about this fun promotion!

JC Penny Goes to the Dogs with Holiday Viral Video

In continuing to highlight some of this year's best holiday interactive marketing promotions, I was just introduced to a hilarious viral video by, of all people, my husband. Now I'm the one that's supposed to be staying on top of what marketers are doing this season, but I hadn't seen this till today.

 It coincided with the yearly question, "Dear, what do you what for Christmas?, the kids are asking". This is the time of year that most men start to think about what gift to get their wife or girlfriend and most don't have a clue. So I'm sure that both men and women can really relate to this viral video called "Beware of the Doghouse" which was created for J.C. Penny .

The gift that a man buys a woman for Christmas (or her birthday) is very important and tells a lot about him. If he gets a great present most of us women will be very appreciative and proceed to tell everyone about how great a job he did. Get us a "practical" present and it’s the doghouse for that man. So any man who watches this video will really think twice about his gift selection this year.

In this clever viral marketing campaign created by Saatchi & Saatchi, New York, JC Penny shows us what happens to one man who dared to give his wife a vacuum cleaner for Christmas. As my mother has always said, "when in doubt give gold!" Now if every many would remember that jewelry is always a girl's best friend it would be a win-win for us all. Enjoy!

UPS Regifting Holiday Promotion Aims to Go Viral

Now that Thanksgiving is over and we all survived Black Friday we can turn our attention to the Christmas Holiday promotional marketing campaigns. It's December 1st already so I thought I better get started reviewing some of this year's top online holiday promotions.

This one from UPS that launched last week got my attention. It's a take-off on the regifting phrase that originally was coined on a Seinfield show back in January of 1995. Regifting, the practice of pawning off unwanted gifts that you may have received to unsuspecting friends and family, is now going virtual in this viral marketing campaign.

UPSRegifter.com is a comical Web site where visitors can upload a photo of an unwanted gift or choose one from UPS' gallery, and then regift it. The site makes it possible to send these virtual regifts to friends, family and co-workers in an eco-friendly way which requires no wrapping paper.

Michael French, a spokesperson for UPS said that the effort is an attempt to find the cutting edge: "UPS delivers packages, and we want people to know we can deliver fun in cyberspace." The company hopes the idea goes viral to promote general brand awareness as well as UPS' desire to promote sustainability.

This 1950s-era B&W instructional video is available to help explain the concept to amateur regifters.

A recipient of a virtual regift item will receive an e-mail with a link to claim the regift. Then the regiftee can join in by regifting the item they received to someone else or by uploading a photo of a new item to regift.

UPS partnered with integrated marketing agency T3 to design and develop the site.The campaign is meant to raise awareness of UPS at a time when DHL has left the domestic shipping business, said Chris Wooster, group creative director at T3.

"We wanted to find some touchstones for the holidays that everyone shares. Everyone has had the regift. We all have closets full of them," Wooster said. "We didn't have to explain [regifting] to everyone. The less you have to set the stage, the more success these things can be."

UPSRegifter.com also is integrating social networking site Facebook by offering a downloadable regifting application. The Facebook distribution is "gravy" for the UPS campaign, said Wooster, citing the network's recent layout changes that downplay the role of applications. Banner ads on ups.com and on Facebook are promoting the campaign.

We'll have to wait and see if this viral campaign gets anywhere near the success that Office Max's Elf Yourself has had over the past couple of years. Check it out and let us know what you think.