Four months after Soulja Boy got his iPhone app--which let
users remix his songs--50 Cent gets his, dubbed "50's Sound Lab."
Only 50 Cent's app is part of a marketing campaign for
Vitamin Water. Like Soulja Boy's remixer, the older rapper's free app uses
Moderati's music remixing platform Romplr, but users can only mix one song: "Baby By Me," 50 Cent's first single
from his latest album, Before I Self Destruct. You can then post your creation on Facebook, send it to a friend, or enter the
contest for a shot at winning a trip to NYC to meet the rapper and New York Times bestselling author (for his book, The 50th Law.) 50 Cent will
supposedly even pick out the best remix himself.
Even though the actual app and contest have little to do with Vitamin Water (the "flavor creator" Facebook app was way cooler), at least we got a kick out of the literal interpretation of the song title in the promotional video.
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) is calling out the
Federal Trade Commission on a new bill that would expand its power to making it
easier for them to bring civil lawsuits and create new rules. The Consumer
Financial Protection Agency Act passed in the House Energy and Commerce
Committee last Thursday, and is expected to pass in the House as well.
Mike Zaneis, the vice president of public policy for the
IAB, says certain provisions of the latest bill make it a "fast track vehicle for
expansion of the FTC" and calls it "Washington D.C. at its finest." He also
says that while they expected the committee to pass the bill, the urgency for
lobbying against the provisions is increasing.
In October,
the IAB had already made an open call to the FTC to repeal blogger
rules, calling the extra rules imposed on blogger--and not those of traditional
media like TV--unconstitutional.
MediaPost even says that if the bill is passed, FTC Chair
Jon Leibowitz would essentially become an "Internet czar," while Leibowitz told
the energy and commerce committee the bill would help them fight fraud.
Supporters of the bill include groups like the Consumers
Union and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, who are in
favor of the FTC playing a bigger role in regulating online marketing and
advertising to protect consumers.
Current rules support industry self-regulation--are consumers
really so susceptible to fraud that we really need government regulation?
The Hospital Corporation of America's East Florida Division is using tech to "lure" patients into their emergency rooms--and are supposedly seeing success.
The campaign began with electronic billboards that blasted
ER wait times--sent via RSS feeds--to show that HCA ERs are indeed faster than
other hospitals in the area. The first billboard went up late last year, and
spokesman Ed Fishbough says they've seen "substantial increases in the number
of patients visiting all of our (12) emergency rooms in South Florida."
HCA has also recently launched an iPhone app and texting
service for those who prefer at-the-fingertips service. The app iTriage
pinpoints all local ERs, with additional information--like current wait time--for
HCA hospitals. With texting, you send "ER" to 23000, reply with your zip code
after prompted, and then you get the address to the ER in your area, wait time,
and phone number.
Obviously, this isn't for those in need of immediate
attention (heart attack), but could come in handy for those still needing
urgent care (broken leg). Though it's not exactly groundbreaking, it's helpful when
you have a choice of more than one nearby hospital in non-fatal situations.
There are currently five billboards up, and five more will
go up in the next two weeks.
Update:Google posted
a message at 2:45 a.m. Pacific Time to the Postini Support Panel and help
forum, explaining that the delayed mail issue was resolved and that no mails
were deleted. They also apologized:“We sincerely apologize for the impact to your organization and users.
We will post an incident report, which includes the root cause analysis and
corrective and preventative actions, within the next 48 business hours.”
Some clients of Postini, the Google-owned mail service security
company, are experiencing major delays with incoming e-mails today.
Google spokesman Jay Nancarrow responded via email to our inquiry about the mail delay (not an outage): "We're aware of an issue that's causing a delay in mail delivery
for some Postini customers in the U.S., and are working to fix it as quickly as
possible. Outbound mail is fully functional, but inbound mail has been flowing
at a reduced rate for affected users. We know how important mail is to our
users, so we take issues like this very seriously, and apologize for the
inconvenience. We encourage anyone having technical difficulty to visit the
Postini support portal at https://www.postini.com/support/support_login.php."
According to the Postini Services help forum, some users are
experiencing mail delays of up to four hours. Some were having issues with the
support site, and many are frustrated with the lack of an official announcement.
Jpcnc, who says he/she has been a Postini admin for 7 years, writes on the forum:
"Google you are a total failure and the process to move all my clients away
from your products has begun."
More than half a year after Starbucks announced its entry
into the instant coffee market, the company is launching its first major ad
campaign for Via. From today through Monday, the 30-second TV spot invites you to
one of its 7,500 locations in the U.S. and Canada to “take the taste challenge”
and see if you can tell Via from Starbucks’ fresh-brewed coffee. Additional
incentives include a coupons for a free coffee on your next visit and $1 off
your purchase of Via. The taste test idea came partly from the results of ads in
its first test market, Chicago, where people noticed the product but weren’t
checking them out in stores. Besides Starbucks cafes, Via will be available in other
retailers such as Office Depot, Barnes & Noble Cafes, and REI, and will arrive in
major grocery stores next year.
Back in February, our own in-house panel of java junkies
participated in a blind taste test. They found Via wasn’t just undistinguishable
from Starbucks original brew: It was better.
So what if coffee lovers everywhere discover that the instant
coffee tastes just as good as Starbucks’ fresh brew—or even better? While
Starbucks may be targeting the powdery version to
travelers and campers, what’s preventing Via from becoming a replacement to fresh-brewed? For less than $1 a cup (a 3-pack retails for $2.95 and
a 12-pack for $9.95), penny pinchers may just stay home for
their morning cup of joe.
More than half a year after Starbucks announced its entry
into the instant coffee market, Starbucks is launching its first major ad
campaign for Via. From today until Monday, the 30-second TV spot invites you to
one of its 7,500 locations in the U.S. and Canada to “take the taste challenge”
and see if you can tell Via from Starbucks’ fresh brewed coffee. Additional
incentives include a coupons for a free coffee on your next visit and $1 off
your purchase of Via.
The taste test idea came partly from the results of ads in
its first test market, Chicago, where people noticed the product but weren’t
checking them out in stores. Besides Starbucks cafes, Via will be available in other
retailers like Office Depot, Barnes & Noble Cafes and REI, and will be in
major grocery stores next year.
Back in February, our own stable of coffee aficionados
participated in a blind taste test. Our testers found that Via wasn’t just undistinguishable
from Starbucks original brew: It was better.
But what if java lovers find this weekend that the instant
coffee tastes exactly like Starbucks’ fresh brew—or even better? While
Starbucks intends for the powdery version to serve an extra audience like
travelers and campers, what’s preventing it from becoming a replacement, if it
really tastes the same. For less than $1 a cup (a 3-pack retails for $2.95 and
a 12-pack for $9.95), the penny pinchers might skip out on waiting in line for
their morning cup of joe.
Kidrobot fans--who live in NYC and own
smartphones--can now download virtual Dunnys--a.k.a. images of the company's latest line, the Dunny Series 2009, which launches September 10.
Dubbed the Dunny Hunt, the 5-day promotional scavenger hunt
involves downloading a free app--BeeTagg Reader for the iPhone and a QR Code
Reader for other phones--to scan and read QR codes, which send you to URLs for
Dunny downloads. Collecting the virtual toys ups your chances of winning. Clues from
the Kidrobot newsletter, the Kidrobot store, and its Twitter feed will
lead you to the QR codes around the city.
QR codes have long been in use in Japan--from packaging to
promotional fliers to brochures--easily scanned by taking a picture with a phone
(any regular camera phone works)--but they have yet to be widespread in the U.S. They've been seen more recently
though, with a QR code on the cover of The Hills
star Lauren Conrad's new book L.A. Candy
and in Green Day's promotional materials for their May album "21st Century Breakdown."
The campaign, launched by brand specialists We Are Plus, is
clearly targeting a niche of Manhattan-based, smartphone-wielding designer toy
fans, so it could be a good (and creative) use of QR codes. And seeing how
there are only about 69 followers on Twitter right now, you might have a good shot
at winning something if you get on it quick.
HP and Amazon's latest ad campaigns may use crowdsourcing to generate advertisements, but the concept is far from new. Dorito's "Crash the Super Bowl" contest, launched in 2006, has been one of the more successful campaigns of this type. The first year, the winning ad took the No. 1 spot on YouTube for most viewed Super Bowl commercial and ranked fourth on USA Today's Super Bowl Ad Meter. In 2007, MasterCard's campaign invited consumers to help write ad copy, and JetBlue promoted its ad contest heavily on college campuses. A less successful Chevrolet held a contest in 2006 for its new Tahoe SUV, allowing consumers to put together images and text to create their own ads, but anti-SUV people saw it as a tool to make ads condemning the product.
As advertising budgets shrink with the economic downturn, the crowdsourcing trend is back. After a year off, 2009's Dorito's "Crash the Super Bowl" prize money was upped to $1 million, and according to a comScore survey, Doritos even improved its brand perception with the airing of the winning commercial. HP's "You on You" campaign for its Artist Edition laptops is especially fit for crowdsourcing because of the theme (you!) and format of the contest. HP invites users to upload videos of themselves directly on to the Web site, use the Web cam option, or try remixing their own commercial with Getty Images stock footage with the site's Adobe Premiere Express tool--entrants are just asked not to show their faces: "We know you're cute, but HP is all about telling your story in a more creative way." The sample video is clear but simple, with a torso shot with images from the subject's life floating around, much like the celebrity-endorsed "Personal Again" ads.
Amazon's crowdsourcing advertising competition is currently in its finalists voting stage--HP's contest ends Sunday, August 30--and also emphasizes the consumer by asking contestants to draw on their Amazon experiences, but it doesn't offer nearly as much guidance, mostly just requiring the videos be original. Though some of the finalists borrowed styles from existing popular ads, the quality is much higher than what typically comes to mind when you hear "user-generated."
However, HP seems to be doing a better job with getting contestants involved in various phases--there are finalists for every week--and enticing them with numerous prizes, so even if you're not the best, you could still walk away with one of its 200 Artist Edition notebooks that the company is giving away. Through the contest, HP has an opportunity to successfully promote its brand, especially since the user-submitted ads feature a similar atmosphere and tone as existing HP commercials--easily preserved by having contestants choose one of the pre-approved songs.
While it's still too early to measure the success of HP and Amazon's campaigns, it seems that crowdsourcing advertising may finally be growing out of a fad into an actual strategy--though one that should be employed with care and caution.
Taking advantage of Twitter's real-time aspect, CommuTweet
lets commuters share traffic updates, regardless of the mode of public transportation. You can sign in on the CommuTweet Web site with your Twitter account and save your commuting preferences (for example, New Jersey rail) for easy updating that includes the hashtags and commuting codes (#CommuTweet NJR), and choose whether to post to your commute only or the public timeline. Or just do it directly from Twitter. Viewing is the same: go to the Web site, or search on Twitter. CommuTweet is also subscribed to all the official public transit feeds, so there are plenty of updates even if users aren't generating them.
While it may seem like a good use of Twitter, CommuTweet is
probably more useful when the transportation is not underground, like most
subway systems. With lack of reception, it's questionable how many people would
actually remember to update if they can't do it immediately--and doing it later
would defeat the real-time purpose. For subways, if delays are an issue, it
might be easier to just subscribe to local transportation authority's
feeds.
With the Apple App Store having paid an estimated $50 to $115 million in revenue to app developers--with one indie developer reportedly making $250,000 in two months--even the technologically impaired now dream of winning the iPhone app lottery. MEDL Mobile has built a business around that desire: The company turns ideas for iPhone apps into actual apps (which are then sold back to the people who submitted the ideas). The hardest part was not getting the ideas--people submitted 20,000 of them to MEDL's Web site in 90 days--but choosing which ones to pursue.
The company winnowed the list down according to five (subjective) criteria: Originality, functionality, simplicity, revenue opportunity, and fun. And this week, the first dozen apps made from user-generated ideas will be released. The winning concepts include Problem Halved, which invites others to provide anonymous solutions, and This or That, where friends help you choose between two things (like a black dress or a blue dress).
What does MEDL get from giving "ordinary people around the world an opportunity to become the next iPhone success story?" Seventy-five percent of the profits. So if you really think you have a million-dollar idea, you're probably better off hiring a developer.
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) is calling out the
Federal Trade Commission on a new bill that would expand its power to making it
easier for them to bring civil lawsuits and create new rules. The Consumer
Financial Protection Agency Act passed in the House Energy and Commerce
Committee last Thursday, and is expected to pass in the House as well.
More than half a year after Starbucks announced its entry
into the instant coffee market, the company is launching its first major ad
campaign for Via. From today through Monday, the 30-second TV spot invites you to
one of its 7,500 locations in the U.S. and Canada to “take the taste challenge”
and see if you can tell Via from Starbucks’ fresh-brewed coffee. Additional
incentives include a coupons for a free coffee on your next visit and $1 off
your purchase of Via. The taste test idea came partly from the results of ads in
its first test market, Chicago, where people noticed the product but weren’t
checking them out in stores. Besides Starbucks cafes, Via will be available in other
retailers such as Office Depot, Barnes & Noble Cafes, and REI, and will arrive in
major grocery stores next year.
Kidrobot fans--who live in NYC and own
smartphones--can now download virtual Dunnys--a.k.a. images of the company's latest line, the Dunny Series 2009, which launches September 10. 
HP and Amazon's latest ad campaigns may use crowdsourcing to generate advertisements, but the concept is far from new. Dorito's "Crash the Super Bowl" contest, launched in 2006, has been one of the more successful campaigns of this type. The first year, the winning ad took the No. 1 spot on YouTube for most viewed Super Bowl commercial and ranked 
Taking advantage of Twitter's real-time aspect, 
The company winnowed the list down according to five (subjective) criteria: Originality, functionality, simplicity, revenue opportunity, and fun. And this week, the first dozen apps made from user-generated ideas will be released. The winning concepts include Problem Halved, which invites others to provide anonymous solutions, and This or That, where friends help you choose between two things (like a black dress or a blue dress).
