- Samsung has unleashed the SuperSwypers, a team of Netherlands-based reporters who will attend events you want to go to but can't get into.
- For the Fiesta This Is Now campaign, Ford has developed an interactive application that gives Facebook users the opportunity to put themselves in the Now and star in the latest Fiesta TV ad.
- Here's a little infographic for you that illustrates the Geosocial Universe according to creative interactive agency, JESS3.
Social Rewards, a new service for brands that want to add a social media element to their loyalty programs launched today during Connected Marketing Week in San Francisco. The company, which aims to blend together loyalty marketing and affiliate marketing with social media will allow brands to reward people for spreading brand messages across the social media universe.
Sanyo, The Venetian and The Palazzo are the first brands to launch with Social Rewards.
Who new wrist cutting could be so sexy? A Japanese commercial for what appears to be a box cutting tool uses a wrist cutting motif - complete with pleated plaid skirt-clad school girls, of course. With copy like, "Let's go stylish with wrist-cutting. It's cute. When you cut, it doesn't hurt that much. The blood becomes tastier," the commercial fits squarely in the "this would never happen in America" category. But, thankfully, there are still people in this world with a gleefully twisted sense of absolutely politically incorrect humor. And we could all use a dose of that from time to time.
Earlier this week, we hit Affiliate Summit in New York. As is always the case, the conference was informative, entertaining and fun. One day prior to Affiliate Summit, conference organizers Shawn Collins and Missy Ward along with Loren Feldman held The Audience Conference, a mashup between social media geeks and comedians. While that combination may sound strange, it was striking to realize just how much a comedian's work process is similar to that of an online marketer.
Along with the likes of Chris Brogan, who humorously recalled the early days of bulletin board services...complete with motormouth imitations of modems connecting; C.C. Chapman who discussed the importance of "being human" online and Jason Calacanis who, well, gave us all the parts of Jason we love the most: fearlessness, fortitude and diligence, comedians took the stage and amused as well as educated.
At Affiliate Summit East I spoke with two women hired to represent BikiniBabesNetwork. Dressed in nothing but tiny bikinis, they were the hit of the exhibit hall floor.
They explained BikiniBabesNetwork and discussed the controversial role of booth babe.
At the ASE10 keynote Frank Luntz offered up a simplistic demographic profile of the human race. Among other stats:
- Men want more money
- Women want more time
- Hispanics and Latinos value home ownership highest
- Best not most important. Constant improvement is.
- Accountability most important brand attribute followed by integrity amd respect.
- More people believe there are UFOs than social security's ability to sustain itself.
Luntz also discussed the importance of visuals in advertising and the psychology behind them. For example hotels should never show people in a hotel room because everyone wants to believe they are the first and only person to use the room. No one wants to know they aren't the first person to use the toilet.
