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

Study: Female Shoppers Influenced By Social Networking

Most women in the united states now use social networking sites - and 50% of them say this involvement influences their shopping habits, according to the SheSpeaks Second Annual Media Study.

Facebook appears to be the most popular of the sites for women, while MySpace has plummeted in popularity - down 33% in one year. Twitter..exists..with 38% participation, v. a full 95% for Facebook.

Apparently, 50% of female social media users say they have purchased products based on reviews and information on soc-nets, and 40% say they have used coupon codes found there. 

Put it all together and you understand why gift retailer 1-800-Flowers has flocked to Facebook, is now plunging into actual e-commerce via soc-nets, instead of relying on links directly to its website.

Get the full scoop from MarketingVox, here.

In my new book, THE ON-DEMAND BRAND (April 2010, AMACOM BOOKS), I look at some of these dynamics, and how they've driven soc-net based offerings from the likes of Sephora. Check it out, 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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Justin Timberlake's 901 Silver Tequila Announces Winner of The Big Idea Contest

Here's a toast to Malachi Rempen, the aspiring filmmaker and Albuquerque native who has won 901 Silver's Big Idea Contest.

Justin Timberlake's popular tequila brand just sent me the announcement to Rempen's win, which means he'll get:

"A VIP trip to Las Vegas, including round trip airfare for two, hotel stay, two tickets to the Justin and friends concert, and VIP access to any and every party, an annual salary of $0 with a one time bonus of $25,000, the opportunity to get coffee for the other 901 employees and of course, bragging rights about being the Executive Vice President of Big Ideas for 901 Silver Tequila."

Rempen's entry, "Only One Way Your Night Should Begin," apparently wowed the judges.

"'Only one way your night should begin' demonstrated Malachi Rempen's understanding of the 901 Silver brand and the concept resonated with our panel of judges," said Kevin Ruder, 901 Silver President, in a statement.  "Anyone launching a new brand understands how challenging it is to get a product to resonate with consumers and we've enjoyed creating a forum for dialog with our target audience as well as an opportunity for our loyal consumers to demonstrate their creative abilities."

I'm actually not clear on how this is bringing a big idea to the brand - it was pitched as a way to present an idea for a new way to market the brad, v. just a user-generated TV-style commercial, but whatever. It's fun.

View the winning entry, here.

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Coke Zero Facial Profiler Launches - To Some Unexpectedly Hilarious Results

I've been so busy the last few days that I'm only now catching up with my email - which included a note from 360i about the official launch of the Coke Zero Facial Profiler that I posted about a few weeks ago, which finds people who look like you based on their Facebook photos. 

As 360i tells it, here's how the profiler works:

Using the industry’s most advanced facial profiling software, Facial Profiler will match you against the vast database of faces collected by Coke Zero (there are already over 105,000) to find your look-a-likes. Results will be delivered soon after, and you can then discover the details about your doppelgangers based on the privacy settings for their Facebook profiles.

Also, there is a fun feature called the “Match Bank,” where users will be able to rate which matches they think are the best. By combining human feedback into the Facial Profiler equation, this will help improve the accuracy of future matches.

I've posted in some of their matches here. As you can see, the technology seems to do a pretty good job.

But you'll find some hilarious (reportedly actual) matches here (I won't show it as some of the people will no doubt be embarrassed). 

On its face, some very interesting technology - and a fun social experience from Coke Zero.

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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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Is 'Crowd Sourcing' Hot New Ad Trend, Or More Of The Same Old Thing?

Much is being made in the industry press about Mountain Dew's Dewmocracy "crowd sourcing" campaign, which lets consumers decide product names, flavors, colors, packaging and even which agencies or individuals get to make new TV commercials – and Victor & Spoils, the new agency from a few Crispin alum, which will seek out ideas from people outside the firm.

On the one hand, I like term, because it sure beats what it really is: User-Generated Content and/or user-influenced content. In the UGC space, consumers were voting on work created by professionals or semi-professional/pro-sumers who ended up winning all the so-called "consumer-generated" content contests.

Now ad agencies are doing it, too. But while the term is new-ish, the idea is as old as advertising itself - when brands crowd-sourced jingles for TV spots back in the 1950's. For a more modern example, look no further than that 20-year-old crowd sourcer, America's Funnies Home Videos, where consumers create the content, which is then voted on by a studio audience.

Oh, there's another name that fits when agencies crowd source as well.

It's called "outsourcing." And it's been around for a long, long time.

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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Chik-fil-A's Cows Make Social Media Mooooves

How did Chik-fil-A go from 20,000 fans on its Facebook page to 1 million in just over a year and become an online sensation in the process?

Chock it up to a couple of bovine wonders.

As Clickz is reporting, the restaurant chain has launched a new site called EatMorChikin.com, which capitalizes on the popularity of its chicken-as-food promoting cows and features a "cow hideout," video games and clips. It comes on the heels of a successful effort to work with consumers who created their own Facebook page - and became a venue for the chain to run promotions like "Cow Appreciation Day," in which consumers who came to a restaurant dressed as a cow would receive a free sandwich.

Is this another Bud frogs (or even California Raisins) in the making? 

Nobody'd have a beef with that.

Read more, here.

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Back from Digital Hollywood

Just don't call us the Digital Hollywood Squares.

I was in Santa Monica this week to participate in a panel discussion on games as an advertising and marketing platform for entertainment and consumer products brands.

It was a lively discussion with executives from several of the online and mobile gaming outfits, and hosted by James Green, CEO of Giant Realm. Great group of people, and an interesting debate.

Some really intelligent (and funny) people aboard - which made it feel like a game show.

Peter Marshall, eat your heart out.

Read more, here.

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See Rick at DTC Fall Conference: Top Digital Marketing Trends for Pharma Marketing in 2010

DTC's is having a decidedly tough year, what with the economy, reform measures like the "Just Say No To Drug Ads Act" and other reform measures, and new FTC rulings of search engine marketing and social networking.

So on Thursday, I'm going to be addressing the second day of the Fall DTC conference on ways to leverage the power of digital to reach consumers in amazing new (and highly ethical) ways.

This is the second time the conference has asked me to speak, and if it's anything like last time, it should be a lot of fun. Read more about the conference, here. 

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First Look: The Cover of My New Book, 'The On-Demand Brand'

Forgot to mention that during my speaking engagement at the Global Retail Executive Council at CTIA this week, I was able to share the first glimpse of the cover art for my new book, THE ON-DEMAND BRAND (Amacom/McGraw-Hill, Spring, 2009). Be sure to read all about the book, here. 

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Coke Zero Finds Your Double Via Facebook

Coke Zero wants to find your opposite number via Facebook.

As part of a new promotion called The Coke Zero Facial Profiler, a new Facebook app uses next generation facial recognition technology to find people who look like you based on your profile page picture, and that of others around the world.

"If Coke Zero has Coke's taste, is it possible someone out there has your face?" shouts a trailer for the intiative, from Crispin, Porter Bogusky, in what's touted as a "worldwide social experiment."

I'm not sure what it all has to do with drinking a Coke Zero, but you just know this is the kind of thing Zero's target demographic's going to drink up.

Find out more, here.

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'Whip It' With Your Own Personalized Derby Player Card

For some strange reason, I'm a sucker for personalization experiences, so maybe it's understandable that it's even funnier when the personalization experience comes from a chick flick.

In this case, it's Drew Barrymore's "Whip It, " which opens today.

At the movie's official site, you can enter your name to have it translated into a roller derby racer name ("Rick Mathieson" is "Turbo Smacker"...though I think the names are just randomly generated).

But my favorite part is the Derby Player Card where you can upload a picture of yourself - or, make that one of a friend, so you can turn one of the guys into a cross-dressing derby dude. Which of course, you can turn into total humiliation by sharing on your Facebook page.

Or your blog, as the case may be. 

Try it yourself, here.

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Coke Finds Sweet Sound of Success With Fan-Created Facebook Page, New 'Open Happiness' User-Gen Contest

Don't you just love those old Coke ads where you hear the bottle pop open, ice dropping into a glass, followed by the sound of Coca-Cola pouring in, just waiting to quench your thirst?

Coke's going all SFX on us with a new user gen contest in which Facebook fans are invited to create the sounds for a new commercial.

It's called "Open Happiness," and this particular contest is a kind of global casting call on the popular social networking site, hosted by a Coke Facebook page that wasn't even of the brand's own creation.

Instead, the site was created by two seriously Coke-obsessed fans, Michael Jedrzejewski and Dusty Sorg. Wisely, instead of taking over the page - as Facebook's policies allow the brand to do - Coke has decided to work with Dusty and Michael, providing unique content and opportunities that have attracted 3.7 million Facebook fans on six continents. 

To offer fans pointers on producing their own "Sounds of Coca-Cola" submission, Michael & Dusty have even put together a video to reveal their impressions of what it's like to enjoy the world's most refreshing beverage.

This is a good example of a brand gaining some control by giving it away - a notion I explore in my new book, THE ON-DEMAND BRAND (Spring 2010). It's a case study on letting users drive social media experiences in just the right way.

Check out the contest, here.

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HP Reveals 'You on You' User-Gen Contest Winner

Meant to mention this the other day - HP has revealed the winner of its ambitious "You on You" user-generated video contest.

Filmmaker Lucas Ridley is the winner of $40,000 in cash, and a tribute from Grammy-nominated artist Kenna on the YouTube home page that will link to Ridley's video, "Live is My Adventure."

As I posted a while back, the contest was designed to give consumers the chance to compete for cash and other prizes by emulating the style of HP's "Personal Again" campaign. (Full disclosure: HP is a client.)

Ridley was among 4,000 entrants and while I can't say I've ever loved the way cut-off heads are meant to convey how the computer is personal, HP has stayed consistent with it, and this contest has lived up to the brand positioning. And what's not to love about that?

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Pepsi Courts NASCAR Fans With Social Network Video Contest

Who knew "the choice of the next generation" meant "the NASCAR generation"?

Pepsi's launching a social media-based user-generated video contest inviting NASCAR's famously ardent fans to upload videos of their favorite NASCAR moments to Facebook and other socnets.

It's not clear if those moments can include scenes from "Talladega Nights."

(But beyond that, aren't the crashes the most memorable moments?)

The effort comes from TBWA\Chiat\Day and Reality Digital, and you just know it's going to be fun. 

Read more here.

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Inside Justin Timberlake's '901 Silver Tequila' User-Gen Contest

User generated content promotions suddenly seem back in vogue, what with HP's You on You back-to-school promotion getting high marks and now, Justin Timberlake's new Tequila brand.

It all started a 9:01.com last night, at 9:01 on 09/09/09 if you catch the drift - in the form of a video call to action inviting consumers to come up with The Big Idea - an ad campaign, a breakthrough promotion, a viral video or what have you. The celebration for the promotion was held at LAVO at the Palazzo Las Vegas (natch) this morning at 1:09 AM.

My invite must have been lost in the mail. Justin and I have never been all that close anyway. But still.

The conceit is that consumers who participate are applying for the job of Executive Vice President of Big Ideas for the brand. They're asked to submit their big idea for 901 Silver and a photo or video to support their concept via www.901.com.

At stake: "A VIP trip to Las Vegas, including roundtrip airfare for two, hotel stay, two tickets to the Justin and friends concert, and VIP access to any and every party, an annual salary of $0 with a one time bonus of $25,000, the opportunity to get coffee for the other 901 employees and of course, bragging rights about being the Executive Vice President of Big Ideas for 901 Silver Tequila."

Sounds like a big idea in its own right.

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HP Launches 'You on You' User-Gen Contest For $300,000 in Prizes

I mentioned this the other day, and now it's live: HP has launched a YouTube-based user-generated video contest encouraging you to declare what makes you uniquely you to the world. 

I'm not sure how the "tell us who you are, but don't show your face" component will translate, but a.) it alleviates the need to get clearance on images, and b.) provides continuity with HP's longtime "The Computer is Personal Again" TV campaign.

At stake: Up to $300,000 in prizes, including some of the HP dv6 Artist Edition notebook PCs, which were part of the big HP/MTV Engine Room design contest.

Check it out here. (Full disclosure: Our agency has worked on elements of the You on You campaign.)

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Are You The Fourth Fantana? Fanta Wants To Know

If Fanta rhymes with Santa, then Fantana is a spoof of which musical group?

Well, technically, it's the Fantanas, a fictitious band more reminescent of the Cheeta Girls than Carlos and the gang. And in a new online campaign, the three existing Fantanas, Summer, Melody and Isabela reunite to go in search of a fourth Fantana.

Each of the existing members seem to map to a flavor - Summer is Orange, Melody is Grape, Isabela's Strawberry. So I'd say if you decide to enter the online video contest  to become the fourth member, think Peach, Apple, Pineapple or Grapefruit.

The whole thing seems to be stressing that Fanta has all-natural flavors, but that's like saying Snapple is health food. 

Either way, I'm wondering how there can be such a disconnect from Fanta Europe, where they do cool things like augmented reality tennis games you play with your smart phone in a kind of Wii Meets The Real World (you can even connect with an opponent via Bluetooth). 

This effort feels like White Gold for teenage girls.

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Kraft's New Microsite: Heavy On The (Grilled) Cheese

Even the ultimate comfort food's got its own user-generated content contest.

In honor of "National Grilled Cheese Month" (I can just envision the dairy lobby pushing that through Congress), Kraft has launched a new website called iheartgrilledcheese.com in which consumers are invited to write 50 words about why grilled cheese brings a smile to your face.

Seriously, I think that's a good approach. Because if it was 50 words about why you love Kraft Singles, consumers would need to spend hours perfecting celebratory prose for "American Pasteurized Prepared Cheese Product." Most of which would not be presentable in a family website.

But hey, there's a great prize at stake: Every week, 500 people will be randomly selected to receive a coupon for a free pack of Kraft Singles!!!!!

I do, however, like the sound of this other element to the campaign, in which Kraft is sponsoring the 7th Annual Grilled Cheese Invitational cooking competition. I'm not sure why April is "National Grilled Cheese Month."  Why not February or March when it's cold enough to freeze your Kraft Singles off?

Either way, Kraft is betting comfort foods like grilled cheese are going to rock this recession. And they could be right. The campaign will even position Kraft Singles as a way to eat for less than $1.

Factor in the 1-in-500 chance to win a coupon worth a free pack of Kraft Singles - and Kraft's own economic stimulus plan may just save the nation.

(There's going to be a incongruous "Jonas Brothers: 3-D Concert Experience" element thrown in along the way, but never mind all that.)

Hey, the Big Cheese says you should never let a crisis go to waste.

Apparently Kraft has the pasteurized prepared cheese product machines ready to make the most of this one, too.

Read all about it, here.

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