What’s Fresh?

Presidential candidate Barack Obama has added a ground-breaking medium to his bid for the White House: online gaming. The already internet-savvy Obama campaign has begun implementing banner advertisements in 18 video games for the Xbox 360 system. The ads feature a photo of Obama and encourage viewers to visit his campaign site www.voteforchange.com.

This is the first time a presidential candidate has taken advantage of the technology which allows advertising within video games that are updated through the Internet. Both candidates were approached with the opportunity, but only the Obama camp chose to utilize this medium. The campaign is targeted to only 10 states, all of which are swing states (Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Indiana, Montana, North Carolina, New Mexico, Nevada, Ohio, and Wisconsin).

The ads launched on October 6^th, and will continue running up until November 3^rd.

Microblogging platform Twitter breeds skepticism— both inside our agency and among our clients. I can understand this skepticism, because for months I derided Twitter as useless. But I’m now a huge believer in this tool, and I think it holds exciting possibilities for anyone with anything to promote.

It’s important to remember that Twitter is merely a platform; it combines many features of forums, blogs, text messaging, email, social networking sites, and instant messaging. When used with finesse, Twitter encompasses all the best features of all of those tools — and the marketing potential.

So, how can businesses use Twitter? In the simplest terms:

1.    Learn what your biggest fans — and your biggest detractors — are saying. Enter your brand name (including variations and misspellings!) into search.twitter.com and see what people are saying about you on Twitter. Why bother with old-fashioned focus groups when you can get valuable, up-to-date customer opinions so easily?

2.    Spy on your competitors — and your competitors’ customers. Get valuable insight into how your competitors are using Twitter to connect with their customers, and learn what people do and don’t like about your competitors’ products.

3.    Connect with your detractors — before your competitor does. Again, Twitter’s Search feature gives you near-psychic ability to see what your customers are saying about your brand. When someone complains about your brand, why not step in with a helpful tip, a coupon, or simply an acknowledgement that you care about them and value their opinion? It may just win them over.

4.    Be a hero. When a Twitter user pipes up with a problem or question about your product, swoop in to save the day. Help them solve their problem or acknowledge their complaint — and if they have a real beef, take the conversation offline so it can be resolved fully.

5.    Solicit feedback. Twitter’s short format encourages candor, so ask your customers questions. How do they use your product? What features would they like to see? What do they like the most, and the least, about your product? You’ll be amazed what valuable input can be communicated in just 140 characters.

6.    Reward your customers. Use Twitter to promote contests, distribute coupons, invite your fans to try out new products, and distribute fun factoids about your brand, company culture, etc. The key here is to give your fans and customers a compelling reason to follow you on Twitter and stay engaged with your brand. Also, never underestimate the value of an occasional contest or coupon giveaway —Twitter users love freebies.

7.    Attain CRM nirvana. If used wisely, Twitter can help you build and maintain mindshare, build up a loyal customer base, and turn your detractors into diehard fans. It can help you promote new products, get candid feedback, and be a hero when people have a problem or complaint. And it can help you trounce your competition. In short, Twitter is an extremely valuable as a CRM tool.

So, before you dismiss Twitter as trendy or dumbed-down, ask yourself:  “My customers are on Twitter. Don’t I want to hear what they have to say?”

Why is it so easy to forget to blog?  Wait!  Why is it so easy to make excuses about why you didn’t blog?  Wait again!  Why is it so easy to take a bloggers vacation?  Or is it?

Taking a bloggers vacation is what I like to call any period over a week when a blogger doesn’t make a post.  I recently took the longest bloggers vacation of my blogging life.  It has clocked in at about two weeks, but seems like it has been far longer.  At first, I was giving the traditional excuses (I am so busy.  I don’t have time.  We have visitors in town.) but then I was oddly intrigued at how long I could let myself go before I wrote something and hit that publish button.

During the first week I did OK.  I didn’t get a terrible urge to write and felt oddly empowered not having to think about it.  However, in the start of week two I found myself feeling a bit sad that I hadn’t shared some random thought, marketing find or other.  It went beyond feeling sad.  I almost started to feel anxiety over what I would write if I were writing.  I understand that it sounds strange, but when something becomes part of your life/routine it is odd when it is not there.  Think about exercise.  When you exercise regularly and take a break for a few days, your body starts to not feel quite right.  Your system gets upset at the change.

I am not suggesting that everything in life is based around routine, but there is definitely a huge piece of life that is.  I am a huge proponent of taking risks and trying new things, yet think about all the normal occurrences that would still happen on a day when you did push yourself in a new way.  I never imagined that blogging would fit into this bucket, but for me it really did.

This little experience taught me a few things:

• Stop blogging just to blog - taking a few days off isn’t that big of a deal

• Cheating by using twitter is like eating cake on a diet

• Stopping to listen to what others are saying makes your insights even better

• Don’t stop blogging long enough to give yourself an ulcer

Two Geary Interactive’s very own are taking it to New York to compete against Crayon in a hotly contested agency shoot out. In the grand finale of the iMedia Financial Summit, Tim Warder and Sarah Kotlova will go head to head and pitch their hearts out, so Geary can claim a victory.

Will the gloves come off? Will Geary reign victorious? You’ll just have to check back and see.

I was reading some recaps and interviews from AdWeek in New York, and I stumbled across one from CBS’s President. He said he has personally turned the corner from waking up in a cold sweat about the “cannabalistic” characteristics of the Internet to now thinking of it as more of a “lab” for testing content.

That is quite a u-turn.

I am glad to see that the big networks are finally taking steps to use the Internet to their advantage. My favorite part about this (since I am no longer a proud DVR owner) is that I can watch shows online when I miss their scheduled time slot. This works to broadcasters’ advantages as well. Now, I can still be exposed to their advertisements and stay loyal to my beloved shows.

Tracking capabilities alone should have allured networks online–and now I think it has–it just took them a little while to get here. By overlaying the statistics that Web analytics can track with more traditional TV metrics, broadcasters can have a much more complete picture of who is watching their programming.

At the end of the day, that is what every marketer wants–a better idea of who their consumer is. That way advertisements, programming, and creative direction can all be tailored accordingly.

Should TV stations still be worried about losing their primary audience to the Internet? What steps can they take to keep people in front of their TV sets?

We have recently evolved the meaning of man’s best friend.  Pets have whole wardrobes, multiple beds, organic food, and the list could go on.  Lets face it-some pets have it better than people.  Well pets now have something else that is traditionally made for humans-a social networking site.  ZooToo.com is a site that is self described as “Social Pet-Working” and offers a place for pets and their owners to connect.

Do you think this is a cool idea or is it for the dogs-literally?

Sarah Silverman and the Jewish Council for Education & Research use entertainment, humor and smarts with a clever, yet almost naughty marketing campaign. The Great Schlep campaign asks you to visit your grandparents in Florida. It also provides you with “tools” to use while there to convince them to vote for Obama.

http://www.thegreatschlep.com/

John McKusick

Here is a guest post I wrote for Jacob Morgan’s Blog on Social Media, Marketing, Technology, and Life:

Are we really all “So much cooler online?”

This is not a new idea. We have seen it after the deaths of celebrities, musicians, and people involved in highly publicized situations, such as the massacre at Virgina Tech.  However, my first hand experience with it is something new.

Yesterday, someone I went to college with passed away very suddenly.  The cause is still unknown and he was barely 25 years old.  He was the type of person who could make friends with everyone, wore a smile like it would never go out of style, and had his whole life ahead of him. 

As you can imagine, the news spread like wildfire throughout various online social channels from Facebook status messages wishing peace to the creation of a group in his memory. 

The most touching outpouring of support is his wall. It is being bombarded with messages and photos from aquaintences, friends, and family members.   Scrolling through the page and seeing the variety of  sentiments from simple goodbyes, silly memories and expressions of anger is not only beautiful,  but pretty amazing.

Before social portals like Facebook, people did not have such an immediate and expansive outlet for publicly dealing with a loss like this.  These mediums allow people to share their feelings and comfort one another with the simple tap of a few keys.  I can only imagine what this support will mean to the people who were closest to him or to others that have gone through similar experiences.

I spend a lot of time studying and discussing the uses of social media and its place in our society.  How it makes our lives easier, how companies can benefit from it, which sites do it the best, and so forth.  I could go on for days about any of these topics.  This is the first time I have found a use for social media that has left me almost speechless.  Connecting with people online takes on a whole new meaning when it connects users like this.

Businesses are created to make money. Sure they offer services and satisfy the needs or desires of clients, patrons and/or consumers, but at the end of the day…it’s all about the bottom line.

To achieve goals and hit numbers, companies have to compete–and compete well. Sometimes this evolves into a “take no prisoners” mentality where competitors become the enemy which MUST be beaten. With agencies this can equate to poaching clients and sabotaging pitches. Is there or should there be an unspoken code of conduct amongst agencies to keep the peace?

Not to sound naive, but if an agency lands a clients and has a multi-year contract with said client…haven’t they earned the right to service the account without intervention from other agencies? I can appreciate a strategic email or comment by another agency along the lines of “Hey I noticed this” or “Did you think about that,” but where should the limit be? Is there a time when pitching to a competitor’s clients is inappropriate?