The world of marketing is constantly evolving as brands get more creative with new technology, platforms and ideas. Every company wants its “Oreo moment” or come up with the next big thing. We think it’s important to keep up with the latest and greatest happenings in the industry, beyond buzzwords. Here’s what we’re hooked on this week.
Eighteen states, 15 cities, 14 days and hundreds of MINI Coopers: Welcome to MINI TAKES THE STATES 2014.
MTTS is one of the largest road rally events, bringing together MINI owners from all over the country for one epic road trip. This year’s route kicked off in San Francisco with Tony Hawk last weekend and runs cross-country, ending in Boston on August 10. The tour includes events each night, including bowling in the world’s largest bowling alley in Reno, keeping it weird in Austin, rocking out at The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland and much, much more. Peeps Minis will be there for all of them as GNF manages the Peeps Minis-sponsored MINI and its driving team. They will be spreading the word, and the taste, as they sample New Peeps Minis at all the stops.
We might be a day early, but this throwback Thursday campaign is worth talking about all week long, and all throughout August. Expedia’s new “Thrown Back Thursdays” is taking #tbt literally by giving away chances to recreate a throwback photo, complete with the same place, people and similar outfits.
This is really cool. We’ve seen people recreating photos from the past before, but we’re excited to see a brand jumping on this nostalgic online trend and getting people even more engaged with throwback Thursday. Plus, the campaign ties in perfectly with what Expedia is all about – traveling, journeys and memories.
180LA, the agency behind the campaign, says there have been more than 228 million #tbt hashtags to date. Our bet is that number is going to continue to rise, especially throughout the month of August as people get a little more selective about what posts they want to highlight – and hopefully recreate.
This is perfect timing as a rebuttal to a recent post in the Wall Street Journal about the blizzard of hashtags, and whether corporate hashtags are late to the game. From the looks of it, they still have a lot of life and creativity left in them, they just have to be the right message, for the right brand, for the right audience.
Expedia is picking an Instagram photo tagged with @Expedia and #ThrowMeBack every Thursday through September. Good luck, and happy reminiscing!
Most people either start or end their days with showers, and may not fully grasp how much of a luxury that is. Non-profit organization Lava Mae does, and aims to serve people lacking access to necessities like showers and bathrooms.
Every day, brands keep an eye out for real-time marketing opportunities while simultaneously rolling out innovative campaigns to reach audiences in creative ways. We too are keeping an eye on what’s happening in the industry and staying updated on the latest news, trends and viral content of the week. Here’s what we’re hooked on!
Burger King ran a special promotion in San Francisco for the “Proud Whopper,” a special edition of its signature burger, the Whopper, that featured a rainbow-colored wrapper and the message, “We Are All The Same Inside.”
Happy Fourth of July weekend! While many may be out already enjoying preliminary BBQs, warming up the sparkler action and going to the beach figuring out what Arthur’s plan is, this week was still a good one in terms of marketing news! Here’s what we’re hooked on.
Facebook’s psychological experiment
Facebook did not start the week off on the right foot. A recent report revealed Facebook experimented with almost 690,000 Facebook users in 2012 to manipulate their emotions – it wanted to see if negative posts would fuel negative emotions, and vice versa for positive content. The trouble is that users had no idea this experiment was happening.
Why we’re hooked:
First and foremost, people are upset because Facebook was toying with their emotions. It raises ethical questions. But it’s also important to note the findings too – it’s not very surprising that content on a News Feed can alter someone’s mood (FOMO is a real thing), but this speaks volumes on the power of social media, digital content and how users interact online.
Facebook Buys LiveRail
Facebook apologized for the experiment, but it kind of feels like a “Sorry not sorry” move. In other news, Facebook acquired video ad platform LiveRail to boost video advertising online and on mobile. LiveRail delivers video ads to websites and apps for Major League Baseball, ABC Family, A+E Networks, Dailymotion and more.
Why we’re hooked:
Video and images is the name of the game today with digital and social advertising. LiveRail connects marketers to publishers on the Web, so this is definitely Facebook pushing its ad efforts forward. Expect to see improved video ads on Facebook in the future — and don’t be surprised if your mood changes after seeing them.
Twitter Shopping
Another week, another round of Twitter news! In the world of ecommerce, Twitter started showing some “Buy now” buttons appearing in tweets. Along the same lines, Twitter acquired TapCommerce this week, a mobile ad tech company.
Why we’re hooked:
Twitter is in the midst of a transition to integrating commerce more seamlessly into social media, and TapCommerce brings more robust capabilities and tools for advertising on the app.
Understanding consumer behavior, technology innovations and platform capabilities is critical to becoming a more effective marketer. There are so many campaigns, announcements and viral stories each week that it seems hard to keep up, but don’t worry — we’ve got you covered. From the Internet giants Facebook, Google and Yahoo to Ikea’s creative spin on Instagram, here’s what we’re hooked on this week!
Facebook and Teens
Facebook has gone through its ups and downs over the years, but one of the biggest challenges for the social network seems to be maintaining its younger user base. “Teens are fleeing Facebook,” “Parents are on Facebook” and “Facebook’s audience is dwindling” are not uncommon phrases heard over the past few years. But, the big news this week was that the teens aren’t going anywhere – nearly 80 percent of U.S. teens still use Facebook and are more active on Facebook than any other social networking site.
Forrester Research released a report this week that found almost half of U.S. teens and tweens (ages 12-17) use Facebook more than they did a year ago, and 28 percent of respondents are on Facebook “all the time.”
Why we’re hooked:
Facebook is cool again! From tweens to grandparents, its user base offers the best of all worlds for brands. The platform is also growing in terms of content sharing and is constantly tweaking its news feed algorithm and ad platform. It’s impressive how long Facebook has held on and dominated the social media sphere, despite competition like Twitter, Snapchat and Pinterest – it owns Instagram and is acquiring WhatsApp – and dwindling attention spans of today’s connected generation.
Google I/O
Google hosted its annual developers conference this week, which ran almost three hours long and included interruptions from protesters. The gist of what was announced: Android L, Android Auto, Android TV, Android Wear and Android One. Aka….Android everywhere.
Why we’re hooked:
Google is bringing Android beyond phones and tablets to watches, televisions, cars and more. With more than one billion active Android users, it’s a big community that marketers, brands and developers need to be able to serve. Plus, these announcements support the shift toward almost everything in our lives getting connected – how will smart cars, TVs, cities, homes and watches impact marketing and how brands reach consumers?
Retweet with Comment
Retweet /riˈtwēt/: repost or forward a message posted by another user on Twitter.
Today, there are basically three options to retweet on Twitter:
One challenge is adding your own comments to a tweet but not having enough character space – a tweet can only be 140 characters total, as we know. Twitter is reportedly experimenting with a new feature called “Retweet with comment” that would better allow users to participate in a conversation while providing context. This would replace the “Quote tweet” option.
Why we’re hooked:
It’s a huge improvement to manually trying to edit an original tweet just to add a few characters of comments. This keeps conversations in context and enhances content sharing on Twitter.
@Ikea_ps_2014
Ikea created a website on Instagram! Kind of. To promote its IKEA PS, a 34-item designer collection, Ikea decided to put a creative spin on how Instagram is used. You can’t include any [clickable] links in Instagram descriptions, but Ikea took advantage of the tagging feature by creating an interconnected experience with separate Instagram accounts for different parts of the collection.
Why we’re hooked:
This is such a creative spin on how to use Instagram, and we love hearing innovative ways brands are taking available platforms to the next level. Instead of focusing on and accepting Instagram’s lack of linking capabilities, Ikea identified how it could use what was available in its favor.
Yahoo Motion Ads
Yahoo announced Motion Ads in March this year, enabling brands to advertise with a little more rich media. This week, the company is claiming these ads are leading to higher sales and increased positive brand association – Kraft featured a steaming grilled cheese sandwich and saw 24 percent more click-through engagement than a standard video ad. Yahoo says people who saw the ad were 77 percent more likely to search for Kraft-related keywords.
Why we’re hooked:
It’s no coincidence that online platforms are taking advantage of rich media. Twitter just rolled out support for GIFs last week, a form of media that has completely taken over the Internet. Video, stop motion and GIFs are all improvements to the static photo, increasing engagement, encouraging creativity and making the Web a more interactive place.
Why are women always apologizing? Saying, “I’m sorry,” has become almost a reflex for women in everything they do, and Pantene is urging women to change their habits and stop apologizing, bringing “sorry, not sorry” to life.
The world of marketing is constantly changing. Add in the “always on” mentality of social media, digital platforms and technology today, and brands are challenged to keep up with available capabilities and consumer behavior. Here’s what we’re hooked on this week!
