GEN WOW: The Latest In Digital Marketing, from the Author of BRANDING UNBOUND, and THE ON-DEMAND BRAND

And Motorola Goes A-Twitter, Too, For Android

Trident Layers gum isn't the only offline brand running offline advertising evoking social media. Full page ads appearing The New York Times and others today tout Motorola's Droid phone, and is essentially a testimonial ad featuring Twitter, Facebook and other quotes culled from everything from the digirati to everyday people. 

Most of the missives are just what you'd expect them to be. Others are just kind of sadly indicative of the soc-net age. When Facebook is said to be a factor in 1 out of every 5 divorces, we should expect posts like these: "I spend so much time with my Droid my girlfriend calls it my mistress," and "I love my Droid more than my kids, more than my husband. It is my fantastic digital photo album, it is my wifi anywhere I want to go browser/email/facebook/news/weather/on demand connection. And I hear that it is a pretty nifty phone, too."

Oh well. I like the "on-demand" part, anyway (look right below this line to find out why)!

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Trident Goes All Twitter On Us, To Mixed Effect (And Media)

As the ad says, "The People Have Tweeted."

But does chewing gum really need to be a social media experience?

As I write in my new book, THE ON-DEMAND BRAND (AMACOM, April, 2010), Sure, you can go to the Facebook page of Tide 2X Ultra Tide Detergent and share your "favorite places for stain-making moments." Or you can even visit the soc-net fan page Quaker Oats, and its unintentionally funny tagline "Go human, go."

You could also poke yourself in the eye with a stick.

Nonetheless, Trident is mixing social media across platforms to varying effect. Print ads use twitter comments about the gum (the tweets are real, even if they don't seem like it), and there are Facebook, Flikr and YouTube experiences - as well as a QR experience that lets you connect with more content via mobile phone.

On the one hand it works - it's fun, it makes the brand "relevant," and it connects people to on-demand experiences around this new product offering, a kind of gum sandwich with "real" fruit flavor.

But it's also about gum. Try as marketers might, you're not going to create a lifestyle brand just by creating social media experiences.

But overall, this particular effort does do a good job of inserting the brand into digital age, and equating Trident Layers with such cutting edge brands as Apple, Twitter, and so on.

Will it work? Hard to tell right now.

But it's certainly something to chew on.

Read Frog Design's take on the campaign, here.

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My Exclusive Interview with ADWEEK's 'Creative Director of the Decade'

You'll want to check out my exclusive interview with Alex Bogusky, ADWEEK's Creative Director of the Decade, in my new book, THE ON-DEMAND BRAND (AMACOM, April, 2010), which hits stores in April. Bogusky talks about his creative approach doing "whatever it takes" to make his clients famous in the digital age.

You'll also go behind the scenes with Derek Robson, managing partner of Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, ADWEEK's Agency of the Decade, as he talks about Goodby's efforts to reinvent itself for the on-demand era.

And you'll get the inside scoop on ADWEEK readers Super Bowl Spot of the Decade, "Free Doritos," from the guys who created it - and a whole lot more.

Okay, that's enough shameless self promotion for today.

Check out the book, here.

And check out ADWEEK's Best of the Decade report, here.

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Coke Zero Reveals Early Results for 'Facial Profiler' Facebook App

Just got word from Coca-Cola about early results for the Coke Zero Facial Profiler Facebook app. Yes, it's creepy and cool at the same time. And so far, it seems like the perfect match for Coke Zero's demo.

According to 360i, one of the companies behind the app, the stats so far: (a reader informs me that that it's actually Coke Zero agency Crispin that's behind the app):

• The app launched last week doubling the number of users in the first two days alone!

• Over 100,000 new images have been uploaded; over 100,000 votes have been cast

• The photos have an average accuracy at 58.78% and will only improve here by incorporating voter feedback

Try it yourself, here.

(I personally have been afraid to try!)

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'Avatar' XBox Live Goes Augmented Reality Route

I was just commenting that with Coke Zero's "augmented reality"-inspired "Avatar" cross-promotional TV spot that I hoped there would be actual augmented reality components to the movie's marketing efforts.

Now there is, with this AR-based element of the new Xbox game.

I hope there's more than this - this seems like the perfect movie for AR experiences - it appears someone in James Cameron's camp is on the same page - or floating off it, as the case may be.

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Discovery's Australian 'Shark Week' Promo Has Bite

With apologies, to paraphrase an old beer commercial, "Shark" is Australian for fear.

While the US version of Shark Week hit in August with its popular "Frenzied Waters" advergame, summertime is just getting going in Australia.

And Discovery Network has decided to kick things off with this Australian Coastal Watch site featuring alarming satellite link showing sharks swimming right next to bathers at Bondi Beach (via Adverblog).

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James Cameron's 'Avatar' Gets Mobile, Multiplatform Push Via LG

The James Cameron "Avatar" juggernaut is fast approaching (the movie comes out December 18), and now it's accompanied by a new mobile marketing cross promotion with LG.

There are television spots, of course, but also an interactive microsite (with an unintuitive url: lgexpo.com; it's for the LG eXpo Smart Phone, but it could have used a more promotion savvy vanity URL, too) which includes exclusive movie content and the usual downloads and whatnot.

But the really interesting component comes in mobile, which includes "advanced projection capabilities of LG eXpo, which allows users to digitally project their own images, videos, and documents – anywhere, anytime, and to anyone," according to mobile marketing watch. At first I was thinking that meant something along the lines of augmented reality like the "Avatar" Coke Zero television ads.

But it looks like literally projecting on a wall - though the video scenes featured on the site could have been accomplished on a large computer monitor, so I'm not clear the value add.

(For meetings, however, that's a different matter - I would love this capability on my iPhone!)

In the meantime, read more, here.

Read more here.

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'Iron Man 2' Gets Facebook, Game Action - Along With New Movie Poster

Marvel's "Iron Man 2" doesn't hit theaters until May, but the poster and other fanboy maneuvers are already taking the web by storm.

The Hollywood Reporter released the poster peak today (shown here)(I think that's War Machine behind the hero). And as I posted last summer, games related to the release are already big hits.

But what's really interesting is that while the movie's official site is feature sparse, the action over at the movie's Facebook fan page is hitting a fever pitch. With most brands sporting only 10 to 10,000 followers, and mostly big brands topping 1 million fans, the film's fan page has a respectable 436,540 fans.

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HP Sends Celebs Scaling Mt. Kilimanjaro to Raise Funds For Global Clean Water Crisis

HP's hoping to reach new heights with an ambitious, star-studded initiative designed to raise awareness and funds to fight the global clean water crisis.

Summit on the Summit is a project that will send music star Kenna, Jessica Biel, Elizabeth Dole and other celebrities, activists and notables climbing the 19,340 feet of Mt. Kilimanjaro. Along the expedition, the team will use HP computers to blog, tweet and post video about the ascent, all of which users can follow at the summitonthesummit.com website.

You'll want to check out the site, from Goodby and Number 9. It scales the height of Kilimanjaro to nice effect. During the climb, which begins January 7, users will be able to scale the mountain with the team, and check out video posts and other content based on the team's actual position.

Users can also buy gear and sponsor a foot of the climb to raise money to get clean drinking water to those in need. (Full disclosure: Our agency is working on facets of this campaign.)

Check it all out, here.

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MasterCard & Amazon: Peyton Manning & Alyson Hannigan Help Launch 'Priceless Gift Finder'

I'm mostly just surprised this isn't an iPhone app.

Stealing a page from Target's Holiday Gift Globe, MasterCard and Amazon have teamed up to launch The Priceless GiftFinder.

The site apparently helps you find gifts for folks, and the sequences begin by asking questions about whether the gift is "for a Facebook friend" or "a real friend." Just kidding. "For a friend who isn't on Facebook." I assume the first option uses data from the friend's profile.

You can enter a price range, gender, age, relationship to the recipient and phrases that best fit the recipient, such as "The Do-It-Yourselfer," "The Sports Fanatic," "The Pet Obsessed" and more. 

I guess this is one way to go. I think an iPhone app would have been more useful for those of us who, you know, don't plan ahead when it comes to holiday shopping. Then again, it's probably harder for MasterCard and Amazon to place the transaction through an iPhone app.

But I'm not totally convinced (yet, it's still early in the season) that this app rises quite to MasterCard's usual level of "priceless."

Start shopping yourself, here.

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Coke Zero Mines Augmented Reality In 'Avatar' Cross Promotion

Coke Zero - they of the Coke Zero Facebook Facial Profiler app - are mining the augmented reality wave  with a new commercial tied to James Cameron's new movie Avatar, which opens next month (if it can be completed in time.). Not sure if this is from Crispin, and I'm not sure if there's an actual AR experience tied to it yet. But I hope there will be.

In my new book, THE ON-DEMAND BRAND (Amacom/McGraw Hill, Spring 2010), I look at AR as an increasingly popular way to create engaging brand experiences for consumers. Prinz Pinakatt, head of interactive for Coca-Cola Europe, has some particularly insightful things to say about the future of AR in branding. You definitely won't want to miss it.

Find out more, here.

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While Pepsi's 'Refreshing' Communities, Coke Seeks Happiness Through Social Networking

The soda wars have gone social.

While the Pepsi Refresh Project is pumping $20 million for projects people create and vote on to "refresh" their communities.

Now, Coca-Cola is launching its most expansive social networking campaign yet, with Expedition 206, which will send three 20-somethings - Toño, Kelly and Tony to 206 countries and territories where Coca-Cola is sold. The kids will embark on a 275,000-mile tour stocked with laptops, video cameras, smartphones and other youthy gadgetry to document their search for happiness in these communities.

As AD AGE reports, the whole thing will be tracked at Expedition206.com, as well as through Facebook, Flickr, YouTube and on Twitter@x206.

Just looking at the two initiatives together, it seems the Choice of the New Generation is taking on the Me Generation. Or, looking at it another way, one campaign is about how to help others, the other seems to be about being inspired by others.

So far at least, IMHO, Pepsi's sounds more relevant and compelling - despite seeming like yet another Obama rip off.

Read more here.

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Burger King Cooks Up 'New Moon' Interactive TV Commercials

Hopefully Burger King will make this work better than Volvo's website touting the new XC60 as the #1 new car for dead people.

As part of a major new integrated promotional effort, Burger King is launching an interactive TV campaign on DirectTV. Viewers will be able to use their remote controls to take a quiz testing their knowledge of the "Twilight Saga."

As today's Wall Street Journal reports, the effort is among others being launched by Unilever, Johnson & Johnson and Kraft Foods, to leverage new interactive TV capabilities that enable consumers to click through to find out more about products they see in advertisements. Unilever's Axe body spray, for instance, has a "Double Pits To Chesty" campaign that features free-style motocross champion Adam Jones performing a motorbike stunt that freeze frames to show Axe being sprayd across his chest, from armpit to armpit.

DirectTV viewers to could to Channel 115 to learn the move.

Something tells me the Burger King effort will be more engaging. As long as the brand is able to avoid references to dead meat.

Read more here.

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Gap 'Cheer Factory' Lets You Send Personalized Holiday Cheers

Get it? Holiday Cheer. As in Gap-clad twentysomething's shouting cheers at your friends to wish them Happy Whateveryouwannakah.

You're going to want to hurt someone when you see this - and your friends are going to want to hurt you for sending it to them. But then again, what are the holidays for?

Cheers include "You Office Party Hardied;" "Mo' Mistletoe;" "Vegetarian RSVP;" "The Present of My Presence;" "Still Got That Receipt" and more.

The personalization features make it work quite well - with the cheer team calling your friend by name via email, Facebook or Twitter. A decidedly cynicism-free new effort from Crispin, Porter + Bogusky.

And a nice integrated campaign that pays off new television ads for the clothing chain - and a YouTube-based cheer contest from local Gap stores, too.

Start spreading the, um, cheer, here.

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Volvo Pushes 'What Drives Edward': 'New Moon' Takes Shining To MySpace, Mobile Marketing & More

Teen girls are about to go ga-ga all over again - this time with the help of their trusty mobile phones.

And this time, they won't be alone.

Summit Entertainment's sequel to "Twilight" called "New Moon," hits theaters November 20 - and is already putting new blood into its marketing efforts with a MySpace homepage takeover and an iPhone app.

As Clickz reports, even Volvo's getting in on the action. Apparently, the main character, Vampire Edward, drives a Volvo.

Which is kind of funny when you think a dead guy can be persuaded to buy a car known for staid styling and safety.

But alas, product tie-ins are to be had, so Volvo's got a "What Drives Edward" microsite, where you can enter to win a Volvo XC60. I know. 

Now, when they find out you have to be over 18 to win the car, a lot of teen girls are going to say this sucks.

But that's exactly the point.

Read more, here.

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Pepsi's Stimulus Plan: Putting Up Money To 'Refresh' Communities

Call it the American Renewal and Refreshment Act.

First, Pepsi seemed to have taken its cue from Barack Obama when it refashioned its logo.

Now, it appears to be stealing a page from the Obama administration with the "Pepsi Refresh Project," a campaign designed to pay up to $20 million for projects people create to "refresh" their communities.

The whole thing gets underway in tomorrow's (Tuesday"s) Wall Street Journal and USA Today. According to the AP, the effort will fund thousands of projects, and could involve getting other businesses to participate. Consumers will list their projects online and vote on winners.

Not to be outdone, Coca-Cola seems to be taking a cue from Obama's diplomatic overtures in a campaign that will send three people - chosen by online voters - to 206 countries as part of its ongoing "Open Happiness" campaign. 

How all this plays in 2010 - think about those president's-party-on-the-outs mid-term elections - remains to be seen. 

Will Pepsi move past Obama to whatever's next to capture the zeitgeist?

Now that would be refreshing.

Read more, here.

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Inside 'HBO Imagine': Interview With Alison Moore, VP, Brand Strategy & Digital Platforms, HBO (Part 1)

HBO gave itself a tough act to follow - and it's working to do just that.

During the last few weeks, HBO has launched an ambitious sequel to its double Cannes Grand Prix winning "Voyeur Project," called "HBO Imagine."

Not to be outdone by "Voyeur's" projection of dramas on New York City buildings, "Imagine" features, among other things, a giant video cube that displays scenes from a mini-drama shot from four different perspectives, so you have to view each side of the cube to get the big picture.

At hboimagine.com, viewers can unlock each of these video sequences as they progress through a broader narrative, with a pay off for people who unlock each of 37 complete scenes.

It is a massive new undertaking for HBO, which hopes to top the number of impressions it earned for "Voyeur," as well as reinforce its brand positioning in a compelling new way.

In my new book, THE ON-DEMAND BRAND (AMACOM/McGraw-Hill, Spring, 2010) I talk to Courteney Monroe, HBO's executive vice president of consumer marketing - and a newly minted Brandweek Marketer of the Year - about the brand's approach to efforts like "Voyeur" and "Imagine," and why they're so central to creating consumer marketing that's as inspired as it is effective. (Despite the recession, HBO's subscriber numbers are actually up, to 27 million.)

In the days just after "Imagine" launched, I also spoke with Alison Moore, vice president of brand strategy and digital platforms for HBO, about why this campaign is such an exciting successor to "Voyeur," and about her views on how this initiative will fuel subscriber growth (and reduce churn) in the year ahead.

Part One: "Imagine" That: HBO's New Take On Making The Physical/Virtual World Connection (approx 7:33)

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ABC-TV's Reboot of 'V' Includes Online 'Peace Ambassador Program'

The Visitors are back, in a new series from ABC.

And since the show (starting tomorrow) faces a still hill keeping the action alive over a long period of time (unlike the 1980's NBC miniseries), marketers at ABC are working overtime to develop online initiatives to keep viewers interested over an already-planned hiatus that will hit after only four episodes. (In fact, it's reportedly not coming back until March.)

First among them: The Peace Ambassador Program. So far, that means registering for news updates. But given this is from ABC - home of online alternate reality games for "Lost," you can bet efforts will get far more ambitious over time. 

Start your orientation, here.

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The Windows 7 Whopper: Crispin Pleases Two Clients With One Giant Burger

Now, this is out of Japan, so maybe Crispin - the agency for both the Microsoft and Burger King accounts - isn't behind this curious offering (odd that Business Week didn't mention the connection if it is).

This Windows 7 Whopper, by the way, is a seven-patty burger weighing more than 1.4 lbs and sporting 2,120 calories - not to mention more than a little cheese.

Read more, here.

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'Paranormal Activity' #1 Debut Backed by Extraordinary Online Buzz Campaign

Mobile has played a major role in the micro-budget horror flick that could.

How'd Paramount do it?

First, it ran "Paranormal Activity," the movie produced for just $10,000 that spooked up $22 million and the #1 slot on this weekend's box office, only in 10 cities. Then, it launched a campaign to get consumers to "demand" that it become a national release.

Consumers could vote via mobile text message, Twitter, Facebook, and other social networking sites.

“We were thrilled,” Amy Powell, a Paramount marketing executive, tells the San Diego Business Journal. “We said to the fans, ‘If you demand it, we will bring the movie to you.’ And we did.”

You can bet all the word of mouth sent to Twitter via mobile phones over the weekend helped out a bit, too.

Look for even bigger business this Halloween Weekend - thanks to a campaign so smart, it's scary.

Read more, here.

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BRANDING UNBOUND The Book
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