January, 2012
McDonald’s started a Twitter campaign that was supposed to ignite discussion about positive stories around McDonald’s experiences. This hashtag, #McDsStories, turned into a way for unhappy customers to display their more than unpleasant stories. Customers completely bashed McDonalds, and their social media director Rick Wion, had to change their course. To watch the video and learn more about this campaign gone wrong, visit Mashable.
January, 2012
A leader in leveraging digital technology, Starbucks will turn to QR codes to poll consumers on their favorite coffee blends. To encourage code captures, Starbucks delivered the code via a coupon flier. Users who scan the code can vote on their favorite blend and link to Facebook to see what others have been voting. This QR code usage is a good example of a brand providing engaging content through a mobile medium. To learn more about this promotion, please visit MobileMarketer.com.
January, 2012
Beer Brand Samuel Adams has created a Facebook app called Crowd Craft Project to involve Facebook Fans in the brewing process. The beer that is created by using this app will be brewed next month and served in select bars for SXSW patrons. It will determine the beer’s color, clarity, body, hops, and malt. For more information, please see AdAge.com.
On January 1, Pizza Hut opened it’s “Top This” contest that allows fans to enter for a chance to appear in Pizza Hut’s Super Bowl ad. Consumers can enter by creating their own version of the Pizza Hut ‘featured song’ and upload a video of it to the brand’s Facebook page. A total of six winners will be chosen based on uniqueness and creativity in their video and song rendition. Three of the winners will be able to appear in the Pizza Hut Super Bowl ad that will air during the pre-game of the upcoming Super Bowl XLVI. Pizza Hut also has a youtube video describing the contest that features the song that people will be creating. Fans of the page can rate the video submissions, although fan votes will have no effect on the outcome of the winners. The contest is open until January 15th for submissions. For more information, see The Real Time Report.
January, 2012
Mountain Dew is taking advantage of the new Facebook look, Timeline, by offering consumers customizable Timeline covers. Users can incorporate their own images into a number of visuals Mountain Dew has available. Assistant Brand Manager for Mountain Dew, Jenny Danzi, said, “We’re always looking for ways to create new experiences for our fan base.” Currently Facebook Timeline is not available for brands, so brands will likely be finding creative ways to keep in touch with consumers via covers or photos.To learn more about this new social marketing effort, please visit PopSop.com.
December, 2011
Bud Light has launched its search for a Super Bowl Correspondent through Facebook. Consumers who would like to be considered can submit a 30 second video to Bud Light’s Facebook page now through January 20th. Consumers can like and comment on the videos to support their favorite candidates. Bud Light will then judge the entries based on their video, relevance to the brand, and consumer response on Facebook. Once chosen, the new correspondent will cover the 2012 Super Bowl from the 180-room “Bud Light Hotel” in downtown Indianapolis that Anheuser-Busch is finishing renovating for the game. In return for an unspecified salary, the correspondent will also appear in exclusive videos for Bud Light through out the week leading up to the Super Bowl game. These videos are expected to include red carpet interview, behind the scenes of the Super Bowl, and coverage of the Playboy parties scheduled to be held at Bud Light hotel. For more information see Mashable.
December, 2011
Diagio, the parent company of liquor brands such as Captain Morgan, Johnnie Walker, Smirnoff, Baileys, and Jose Cuervo, has seen a notable increase in sales and Facebook traffic that they are attributing to an increase in Facebook ads. In September, Diagio entered into a multi million dollar partnership with Facebook, since then they have been steadily increasing their spend on Facebook ads with a large power period of ads during this holiday season. The ads have been targeting Facebook users of legal drinking age and are largely targeted towards consumers who had “liked” competing brands. Diagio has reported that an in-house, five brand study showed a 20% increase in sales and an increase in Facebook likes from 3.5 million to 12 million over the last year due to their increase in Facebook ad spend. For more information, see ClickZ.
Starbucks has become quite a trend and an addiction, and now the addiction has become convenient. Starbucks has launched a mobile app that allows customers to just “scan and go” by using mobile pay for all their Starbucks purchases. The app has been a huge hit, bringing in over 3 million transactions in the first 9 weeks, and growing. For more information please visit Mashable.
November, 2011
Beck’s, the German beer company, has created an app to promote sober driving. The idea combines the beck logo, a key, and a common problem with having a few beers and attempting to drive, placing your key in your car door. In the app, users must try and keep a key in a keyhole for 25 seconds while it moves around their mobile screen. If they cannot the app automatically locates a taxi service within their area. For more information, please see AdsOfTheWorld.
November, 2011
Admit it, you’ve always wanted to make your own pizza, right? Domino’s is letting you knead your own dough and add your own cheese and toppings with its new iPad app, aptly named Domino Pizza Hero. We suggest you don’t toss your iPad in the air like a true pizza maker. Users can complete up to six levels of the gaming app and even challenge others. You can even place an order for the pie you created using the “Make An Order” tab. For more info, please visit: http://mashable.com/2011/11/21/dominos-ipad/
November, 2011
Tatler is connecting with luxury diners through their latest 2011 Restaurant Guide application. When landing on the main page of the app, guests can search for restaurants based on a few categories: up and coming chefs, best restaurants, small bites, and more. In addition to listing prices and locations, the app also allows users to share restaurant information with friends through social functions. At this time, the app only features restaurants in London. To learn more, please visit LuxuryDaily.com.
November, 2011
Starbucks is partnering with Jiepang, a Chinese location-based app, to draw attention to their holiday campaign which features near-feild communication, NFC, technologies. Consumers are prompted to check-in to one of the over 200 Shanghai Starbucks via swiping their phone over a NFC postcard, which will appear in all store locations. If 20,000 people check-in by Dec. 17th, users will receive a free size upgrade on a drink of their choice. For more information, please see AdAge Digital.
Jiepang, one of several Chinese location-based apps looking to move ahead of a pack of competitors there, is partnering with Starbucks on a giant holiday promotion utilizing near-field communication, or NFC, technologies.
Bitehunter, a new mobile app that locates nearby dinning establishments offering deals, has just received $800,000 in funding. The app launched in June of this year in New York, San Francisco and Chicago. Bitehunter intends to add a personalized recommendation capability as well as the option for users to purchase deals without having to register with different deal providers. For more information, please see TechCrunch.
November, 2011
Pepsi Co. partnered with SavingStar to provide incentive to consumers to purchase Pepsi Max. When users on Facebook buy $15 worth of Pepsi Max product during the month of November, they will receive $5 back in cash at the end of the promotion. Currently, the Pepsi Max and Diet Pepsi pages have seen an increase in likes, with users visiting the page to learn more about the promotion. Please visit Insidefacebook.com to learn more.
October, 2011
Heinz has a new UK-only Facebook promotion that allows fans to send their sick friends cans of soup with a customized get well message. For a small price, users can send real cans of Cream of Chicken or Cream of Tomato soup which can be customized through the brand’s Facebook page.
October, 2011
Popular dessert company, Entenmann’s, is pushing their first mobile marketing campaign to provide fans with recipes for at-home dessert creation. The company’s mobile application breaks recipes down into parts for ease of creation. The application provides over 100 recipes from the brand, and users can find recipes based on taste preference, dessert type and more. To learn more about this campaign, please visit MobileMarketer.com.
October, 2011
Pretzel Crisps launched their “Spice Up Your Life” sweepstakes on Facebook. The campaign ran for five days, and offered free product to any consumers who engaged with the brand. The promotion was designed to push the brand’s new line of spicy flavors, including Jalapeño and Chipotle Cheddar. The goal of the campaign was to increase fan “likes” from 62,000 to 100,000. The page received 36,000 additional fan “likes” during the week-long promotion, and as of October 3, the brand had 98,700 likes. To learn more about this campaign, please visit InsideFacebook.com.
September, 2011
To continue their support Fair Trade, Ben & Jerry’s is pushing “Fair Tweets”. For anyone who needs help finishing up the last of their 140-characters on Twitter, Ben & Jerry will provide additional characters that push Fair Trading. The “Fair Tweet” messages change over time and users can visit FairTweets.com to see used messages and generate new ones. Currently, 563,803 characters have been committed to the campaign. To learn more about this new activism campaign, please visit PromoMagazine.com.
September, 2011
Hooter’s has a new promotion just in time for opening football season called, “Lee Corso’s Saturday Ticket.” The campaign offers consumers a “Buy 10 wings get 10 free” offer simply by liking the Hooters Facebook page. The objective is to drive overall brand awareness through mobile bar codes and social media. The campaign also includes QR codes that drive to the Facebook page that also has a sweeps overlay. For more info, please visit: www.mobilemarketer.com
September, 2011
Chipotle has become the fast food industries leader in sustainable farming. They have recently released a new “stop-motion animation” video which features Willie Nelson’s new cover of Coldplay’s The Scientist. The video depicts a farmer who it tired of corporate food production and decides to start his own sustainable farm. To watch the video and see how they produced it, or for more information, please see Sustainable Farming.
September, 2011
World Wrestling Entertainment and 7-Eleven are teaming up for an end-of-the-summer promotion. Slurpee and Super Big Gulp cups and straws will be branded with WWE stars like The Miz! and The Rock! Social media will play a large part in this promotion, said the WWE, by posting weekly alerts and new product collectibles. The WWE fan base is extremely loyal and is expected to draw many into 7-Eleven stores. For more information, please see WWE Summer.
August, 2011
To help consumers avoid the long lines, Five Guys restaurant chain has created a mobile phone application that allows users to place an order on their cell phone. Users can save their favorite meals, or place the order immediately by inputting their credit card information. The company plans to release iPhone and Blackberry apps to accompany their existing Android app.
August, 2011
Ben & Jerry’s and their digital partner Amalgamated are now using the left over characters on their tweets to promote fair trade. They are calling this campaign “Fair Tweets.” Each of their tweets that does not fill the allotted 140 characters will be filled with fair trade information. The tweet “Watching the new Planet of the Apes” for example, would instead read “Watching the new planet of the Apes. You know what’s fair? Putting leftover Twitter characters to good use. http://fair.es/051 #FairTweets.” For more information, please see #FairTweets.
August, 2011
With the help of technology company Scanbuy, Taco Bell has started placing QR codes on some of their products. As of late last month codes can be found on the packages of the fast food chains large fountain drinks and Big Box Remixed. The QR codes will unlock exclusive footage related to Taco Bell’s sponsorship of MTV’s Video Music Awards, such as interviews and music videos. For more information, please see T-Bell QR Codes.
July, 2011
Lipton Iced Tea is now running a mobile campaign to drive Facebook “likes” and Pandora visits by promoting the sites on mobile ads. The ads, which are currently running on Pandora, share a link that takes consumers to a branded Usher station. From there, visitors can click a link to visit the brand’s Facebook page. To learn more, please visit Mashable.com.
July, 2011
Kraft’s Jell-O Pudding brand released a new Twitter feature this week called the Jello Pudding Face Mood Meter. The system measures the mood of the country by happy or sad face emoticon trends on Twitter. There are typically 1,200 smiles and 800 frowns a minute on the social networking site. When the mood is different from this average Kraft sends people who have recently used the sad face emoticon a coupon for free pudding. Once they try to redeem this they are urged to use the “pudding face” emoticon, 
, which counts as a smile, therefore bringing up the amount of happy Twitter users. This stunt to gauge the nations mood also has it’s own Twitter feed under @Jell-OMoodMeter, which will continue to interact with users. For more information, please see Mashable.
July, 2011
Coca-Cola is giving away a free Spotify subscription to its followers via @DocPemberton, one of its twitter accounts. Spotify is a Swedish DRM-based music streaming service offering streaming of selected music from a range of major and independent record labels. For a free subscription, or for more information, please see Spofity.
July, 2011
Ghirardelli Chocolate has launched a new mobile campaign with advertisements on the Everyday Food app. When a user looks up recipes on the app, banner ads for Ghirardelli Chocolate appear with the idea that buying Ghirardelli chocolate is easier than making desert. When consumers click on the ad, they are directed to a website that allows them to locate the nearest place to purchase the candy. For more information, please visit Mobile Marketer.
July, 2011
Market Street, a small grocery chain with only six locations in Texas, has developed an online program that offers daily giveaways and sweepstakes to its loyal customers. Facebook, Twitter, and in-store touch-screen kiosks are utilized to make the program quick and easy for the customers. Points are added to the customer’s account at a rate of one point for each dollar spent. The customers are also given choices with the points they accumulate, such as a five-dollar discount on their future purchases or a twenty-five cent per gallon discount on gasoline. For more information, please visit Promo Magazine.
June 2011
Coca-Cola has released a new application on Facebook called the Like ‘O Meter. This unique app “lets you and your friends know how cool you are!” by calculating the total number of likes you give by liking a fan page and likes you receive on your written statuses. Each new app user will start off as an “Awkward Turtle”, but everyone has the chance to move up the Like ‘O’ Meter ladder and maybe even become as “Cool as Coke.” To learn more, download the app, or visit the Coca-Cola Facebook page.
