Twitering

As marketers and brands are still looking for ways to effectively utilize Facebook, another social network is taking hold in a big way. It’s Twitter. You’ve seen it in the newspapers, you’ve heard people talking about it and even the evening news is feeding parts of their discussions by utilizing Twitter.

For a brand it can be a bit overwhelming, Twittering, tweeple, tweets, what is a brand to do? It’s intriguing though; there is a lure here for many marketers and brands alike. Think about how amazing is it for a brand to have all these followers that hang on every word said? How could you go wrong?

Well, the answer is not that black and white. The big question you face is, does your brand need an active and daily dialogue with customers? Does it have enough to say on a regular basis? Can your brand even support that sort of dialogue and is it in your brands nature to do so? Twitter is not the equivalent of a dry corporate website it is VERY different. Twitter has the potential to be a lot more personal if used correctly.

Brands that have spent a lot of time successfully developing their brand personality certainly may have an easier time at it. Look at Jet Blue with 240,000+ followers. This brand dialogue didn’t start on Twitter, Jet blue simply uses Twitter as another natural extension of their brand and customers are eating it up. For the right brand under the right circumstances Twitter is a low cost way to communicate effectively. Indeed, there is massive potential to build brand equity and to keep fans and followers informed, but choose wisely and understand the hills and valleys before you start tweeting.

NFL Fantasy Files: The Best Players

I'm not sure about the history of this, but the special effects are great. Clearly this is Reebok sponsored, I could not find a supporting site, but this video has over 7 million views. Fun stuff.

Skittles.com : Interesting take on information architecture

Skittles.com has a new online experience to check out.  This is the 2nd time i've personally seen this type of information design in place, the other time i saw this was on Modernista's web site. I guess imitation is the best form of flattery.  In short it's using social sites on the web to host their content. So friends of Skittles are on Facebook, videos are on YouTube. The main page their navigation sits on is Twitter. It's pulling in everyone who's talking about Skittles, which is pretty cool. Products are hosted on Wikipedia.   This is still an interesting approach.  Outside of this you can't help but realize that there are many ways for a brand to utilize social sites (Other than the obvious ways) and utilize their benefits.

Tropicana pulls back new packaging after a few weeks.

So Tropicana redesigned their packaging and put it into market just a few weeks back.  Here's the thing, they promptly pulled it off the shelves after just about a month and went back to their original package design.

Did sales plummet?  Was the shift to an entirely new look and feel just too much for consumers?  To the left you can see the 2 designs, on the left he classic orange with straw inserted into it and on the right the new design.

Personally, i'm glad they went back to the original design.  It's a classic brand and classic design that everyone knows.  The new creative feel too much like a generic orange juice brand.  It's contemporary and attractive, but It just doesn't hold onto any of the brand equity or frankly, the heritage that has been established over the years by Tropicana.  So hit your local super market for this limited edition Tropicana packaging, get them fast, because they'll soon be gone.

Brand Resuscitation

The New York Times reports that a company called River West in Chicago has begun quietly buying up brand names of once beloved products. Names like Brim ("fill it to the rim with Brim!"), Underalls, and Quisp cereal are starting to make a come back on a store shelf near you. 

This strategy is based on the insight that just because a $40BB company like Unilever or Anheuser-Busch can't sustain a smaller brand like Nuprin or Eagle Snacks doesn't mean that there isn.t still lingering brand equity in the market place that can be tapped to create a resuscitated brand presence. 

In fact, River West did research that showed, for instance, that Brim coffee still has over 90% aided awareness in the market despite being off shelves for over a decade.

Apple: so hot right now

What's the best brand to accompany to a dinner party? With whom to get into an argument? Not sure? Looks like you might have to dig deep and appreciate the emotional value of brands in everyday life.

Interbrand's Brandjunkie survey advocated just that earlier this year. They delved into the emotional impact brands have had on consumers with up-close-and-personal questions. The end result? Apple, for the win! (One participant made an interesting point about Microsoft; for a company so fast and multi-faceted, there has been "very little innovation".) Concur?

Read the full article.

Echo Gets Adopted

We do a lot of interactive work for Pedigree and this is a big part of the offline campaign. Enjoy.

Ads of the world.

Most creative people are inspired by what they see and hear. I came across this great site : Ads of the World

I've been to the site before but then forgot about it. I realized this time what a treasure it really is.

First of all it is great to see what marketers can get away with outside the states and secondly, it's just nice to see different perspectives on creative. Some of the stuff you'll see we simply couldn't get approved here in the US.

Enjoy.

Visual Shopping

For the visual shopper here is an interesting site. I actually am not a fan of this type of architecture, but I applaud the massive undertaking. Unfortunately for me, It's hard not to feel overwhelmed by the amount of information and products on this site. The more I 'zoom in' the more lost I feel in this environment. You may feel differently though. Regardless, it's definitely worth checking out. http://browsegoods.com/