March, 2010
Starbucks has rolled out the largest mobile payment effort to date with their mobile Starbucks Card being accepted at over 1,200 Target and Starbucks locations. Consumers will be able to use their mobile card to make purchases in-store. In addition to making purchases, Starbucks Card customers can also use the site to check their card balances as well as reload their card.
March, 2010
American Idol partnered with Facebook to create an application that allows fans to vote for their favorite contestants from the convenience of their computer. Users are given five votes during every episode and are awarded additional votes when they are able to get friends to join and install the application as well.
March, 2010
Burger King’s new campaign uses unsuccessful search results on social news site, Digg.com. When users fail to find an article with their respective search query, a Burger King advertisement appears suggesting that the failed search is a result of the “user’s small hands”, which is the slogan for their latest ad campaign.
March, 2010
The hit TV show, Glee, partnered with Myspace to host casting calls for its upcoming season. Up until April 26, fans, ages 16-26 can submit audition videos to be considered for the new cast.
March, 2010
Check.In is a new online application that provides users with “check-in” information from Foursquare, Gowala Bright Kite and Yelp. The site uses Google maps as its platform to display check-ins amoung the four previously mentioned sites. This one-stop-site for viewing check-in infomration makes searching for popular venues oa quick and easy.
March, 2010
Google announces file transfer functionality for iGoogle and Orkut are now availible. Users can now enjoy the convenience of using these chatting services with the added benefit of being able to send small pictures, videos, documents as well as other files. Google has also announced that this functionality is to be added to Google’s Gmail chat, which is the chat client that operates through the user’s Gmail account and browser without the need to instal any software on the users computer.
March, 2010
Linkedin partners with Blackberry to develop a new mobile application that allows users to harnest the power of Linkedin on their portable Blackberry devices. The application has 6 main features including search, network updates, Invitations, connection, messages and reconnect. However, the most intruging feature of the application is its integration with your mobile device by adding Linkedin contact and calendar information with the user’s Blackberry address book.
March, 2010
The MapQuest app for the iPhone now provides voice navigation. This update comes soon after Google announced they would be providing GPS turn-by-turn directions on Android phones. The app will equip drivers with turning directions and warn them if they steer off course. The app will also provide consumers the ability to save routes to their phone in addition to finding the driver on the map in relation to their specific route.
March, 2010
As social media continues to grow, Psychster Inc. and AllRecipes put together a study to find which ads were the most effective on social media sites. Ad types that were studied were banner ads, corporate profiles on social networking sites, corporate profiles without any identifying logos or fans, get and give widgets, sponsored content and newsletter subscription ads. Findings show that sponsored content had the most consumer interaction, but the lowest intent to purchase and viral pass-along. The most effective content proved to be the advertisements placed on a site with relevant content. For more information on the findings of this survey, visit Mashable.
March, 2010
eBay launched two new apps for the iPhone, and is the process of developing an app for the iPad. Of the two iPhone apps developed, one will be for sellers and one will house classifieds. Jim Larkin, an eBay spokesman, said, “We think this will be a huge boon for casual sellers to list their goods on iPhone in less than a minute.” eBay expects around $1.5 billion of their revenue to be generated from sales made on mobile devices.
March, 2010
H&M organizes a flash mob dance crew to display this season’s newest children’s wear in front of one its flagship stores located at Union Station in San Francisco. The event was recorded and broadcasted all over the internet making its way onto youtube and a number of widely read blogs.
March, 2010
Tim Pawlenty, governor of Minnestta, holds the first town hall meeting on Facebook. Leveraging his growing fan pase of 31,000+, the govnor plans to use Facebook as a platform to communicate with rupubican voters on the internet.
March, 2010
Jim Beam, in conjunction with ESPN, will focus their marketing dollars towards consumer engagement with a web series titled “The Next Round”. The series will be led by Scoop Jackson and feature guests of all sorts of entertainment professions, such as actors, athletes and comedians. Kelly Doss, the senior director U.S. bourbons, Beam Global Spirits & Wine said the spirit will be directing money away from traditional media and into digital and social media within the year.
March, 2010
Panelists at the International CTIA Wireless 2010 have predicted that mobile video will take off this year with the average user now consuming 25-30 minutes of video on Flo through Verizon and AT&T. “The reason that it’s going to grow is that it’s part of an evolving consumer focus,” said Jonathan Barzilay, senior vice president of programming and advertising at Flo TV. AT&T Executive Director Robert Hyatt said his company will look to use sites such as Hulu to increase mobile video service subscriptions.
March, 2010 Nature’s Path Organic, North America’s largest organic cereal brand, launched an integrated campaign with an emphasis on their commitment to sustainability. The campaign encourages consumers to “get on the path” through a website where users can take a quiz and find out where they are on the path, and then share their stories via Facebook and Twitter.
March, 2010
Marc Jacobs partners with Foursquare to launch a location-based marketing promotion campaign. For Fashion Week 2010, Marc Jacobs will design a “fashion victom” badge that will be given to Foursquare users who visit any Marc Jacobs retail locations around the country. Furthermore, four lucky shoppers who unlock the badge in the retail location in New York will each be given a ticket to attend the Marc Jacobs show during fashion week.
March, 2010
The NCAA partners with CBS to broadcast this years March Madness online for another year. Results have shows an increase in 20% of viewership from last year bringing the number of unique visitors to 3 million for a single game. Additional features and improvements to the online stream have contributed to the increase in online viewership. For example, the addition of the “Boss Button” quickly hides the video stream and presumably saves workers from being caught watching the game when they should be doing their work.
March, 2010
Digg will launch redesigned buttons and widget generator to be more consumer-friendly. The new buttons will feature a “thumbs up” symbol rather than “Digg This” for newcomers to the website. In addition to the update in buttons, Digg will provide a faster widget generator that will allow for customizable widgets.
March, 2010
Skype has teamed with Verizon to offer free Skype-to-Skype calls on nine of the Verizon Wireless 3G phones. Skype mobile users are able to make Skype-to-Skype calls around the world, send and receive free Skype messages, and call international phone numbers with competitive international rates.
March, 2010
Opera, an internet browser, has submitted a request to add an app for the Opera Mini to the iPhone app store. Opera claims the browser will run faster than Apple’s own browser, Safari, in addition to reducing data transfers. However, Apple may reject the request, as the app’s function is too similar to the iPhone’s Safari browser.
March, 2010
Digg partners with Apple to develop a mobile Digg application for the iPhone. Now users can enjoy and navigate through the most popular stories on the internet with ease. It should come as no surprise that the release of this application coincides with Digg’s new simplified aestetic on it’s home page and of its widget.
March, 2010
Foursquare partners with MTV and VH1 celebrities to launch a new feature called “celebrity mode” that allows Foursquare users to “follow” celebrities without actually having to “friend” them. This feature can be fully controled by allowing the celebrity to pick-and-choose what information he or she wishes to share.
March, 2010 Verizon is tapping into the recent popularity of making donations to mobile phone bills by offering consumers the opportunity to charge online mobile payments to their monthly Verizon bill. Consumers will have the opportunity on participating mobile sites to click the “BilltoMobile” button and verify their phone number. The payment will then show up on their Verizon monthly bill.
March, 2010 Sobe launches a bracket challenge asking NCAA fans to compete to win up to $10 million not only in a pool, but against celebrities such as former NBA player Kenny Smith and Kendra Wilkinson. Players can create or join a group and compete for the grand prize, tournament cash prizes, and the chance to meet a celebrity. The social site is also supported by a mobile site at sobe.fanhouse.com.
March, 2010 Kotex launched an online component for the brand’s new U line to support messaging that “breaks the cycle of weirdness” associated with feminine product advertising. The site serves as a social media platform that encourages a dialogue among women. Users can chime in with their own opinions, take quizzes about their own bodies, request a sample, join the cause, and read fun facts such as “79 percent of girls don’t see what dancing around in white dresses has to do with periods.”
March, 2010 A new Wikipedia app, Articles, has been launched which features a nice interface that makes it easier to view and search for Wikipedia articles. It also features searching based on your location, a photo viewer with ability to save photos to your phone, bookmarking and random searching with the shake of your iPhone.
March, 2010
Bubbly, a subsidiary of bubblemotion, is a mobile social networking service that allows users to leave and listen to audio messages (up to a minute long) from members within their network. Bubbly’s popularity has taken off primarily in Asian and South American countries such as India, Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia and Brazil. Much of Bubbly’s popularity in India is attributed to it’s recent endorsement by Bollywood celebrities.
March, 2010
My6sense is new mobile application that filters content for users from mutiple social media sources based preferences learned over time. Using a number of variables to determine preferences including frequency and duration spent on pages, My6sense gets better and better at predicting the user’s favored content the more it’s used.
March, 2010
Lil Wayne has increased his DVD sales by 20% after promoting mobile content on Myxer.com. Mobile content offered included wallpapers, ringtones and downloads. Music producer Quincy Jones III used the site and campaign to help build buzz for Lil Wayne’s documentary titled, “The Carter with Lil Wayne.” In additiona to the campaign on Myxer.com, Myxer also created a WAP/Web site specifically for the documentary.
March, 2010
Fisher Price launched three iPhone apps for two through five-year-olds. The apps include a game where children can spin an arrow to identify an animal, similar to their See-And-Say product. Another app is for the Little People Farm, featuring two theme songs and three games for children to play.
