These days, it’s not just print and television that secure dedicated campaigns — Instagram and Vine are getting them, too. Earlier this week, Polo Ralph Lauren began rolling out a series of nine 15-second videos on Instagram as part of its “Polo Ralph Lauren Survival Guide.” As of Sunday, seven of the videos have rolled out, demonstrating, for example, how to pitch a tent (see below), how to start a fire and how to chill and uncork a bottle of champagne. The videos aren’t practical guides, of course. Rather, they provide a backdrop to Polo Ralph Lauren’s cable-knit sweaters, down jackets and leather boots. A company spokesperson said they’re designed “to capture the essence of the new Polo collections — the Explorer’s Club and Country Gentleman,” collections that are both “rugged yet wearable.” The entire campaign was shot and edited on an iPhone, according to the company. And judging by the image, below, it had an impressive iPhone rig to work with. Although Ralph Lauren denied any connection, the videos remind us of Lowe’s wildly popular Fix in Six Vine campaign, which offers a series of home-improvement tips in six-second videos. (The campaign recently won Mashable‘s Best in Show award at The Mashies.) Image: Polo Ralph Lauren Read more: http://mashable.com/2013/10/13/polo-ralph-lauren-instagram/
Microsoft’s new anime ad is the latest creative response to one of the biggest marketing challenges in tech: rebranding Internet Explorer. The browser, often the butt of jokes among would-be technorati despite its overwhelming global popularity, is presented as a bulwark against all kinds of Internet bad guys. You don’t need a degree in English Lit to grasp the symbolism here as the young heroine grabs a shield with a monogrammed “I” and is transformed into a warrior. The protagonist is, in fact, Inori Aizawa, the “official mascot of the Internet Explorer,” according to her Facebook Page. Aizawa is the latest attempt to reintroduce IE to the masses, following “Child of the 90s,” one of the top viral ads of this year so far. That ad appears to have helped IE hold on to 57.8% of worldwide market share, according to The Next Web. This isn’t the first time Microsoft has presented itself as a consumer advocate. Once sued by the Department of Justice over monopolistic behavior, the company has in recent years presented itself as a less evil alternative to Google via its “Scroogled” campaign. Image: Microsoft, YouTube Read more: http://mashable.com/2013/11/06/anime-internet-explorer-ad/
What do you do when you’re an up-and-coming brand and you hit 100,000 “Likes” on Facebook? If you’re Bonobos, you evoke The Golden Girls to great comic effect. The people at the online menswear retailer appear to have had a good time mimicking the opening of the classic ’80s show’s tune “Thank You for Being a Friend” (get it?), though they acknowledge that there’s no substitute for Estelle Getty. Bonobos is the latest brand to celebrate a Facebook milestone with a musical tribute, following recent efforts from AT&T and Kraft Macaroni & Cheese. Is this the cheesiest yet though? Let us know in the comments. Read more: http://mashable.com/2012/08/07/bonobos-golden-girl/
Despite nearly 8% unemployment, a tepid economy and millions of dollars in negative advertising, President Obama managed to pull off a sizable Electoral College win on Tuesday. While Obama’s 2008 campaign is now seen as a real-world demonstration of the power of social media, his operation four years later was much more complex. The ’08 campaign is the stuff of textbooks, but the lessons of ’12 are brand new. Marketers of all types studied Obama’s ’08 campaign and they would do well to take a look at his subsequent mobilization effort. Here are some of the obvious lesson of Obama’s triumph this time around: 1. It’s the Big Data, Stupid Big Data may have its flaws, but this election shows that it’s indispensable. New York Times columnist Nate Silver showed how crunching numbers can render most pundits’ gut instincts irrelevant. The Obama campaign proved the same for the marketer’s gut. As Time chronicled, the O campaign relied on a team of dozens of number crunchers who made predictive calls on exactly the right type of pitch to right the right type of voter. After consolidating its database into one megafile, the team relentlessly tested pitches based on the targeting and learned from its testing. As the article states: A large portion of the cash raised online came through an intricate, metric-driven e-mail campaign in which dozens of fundraising appeals went out each day. Here again, data collection and analysis were paramount. Many of the e-mails sent to supporters were just tests, with different subject lines, senders and messages. Inside the campaign, there were office pools on which combination would raise the most money, and often the pools got it wrong. 2. Facebook Advertising Works There are lots of reasons to doubt Facebook’s assertion that ad units like Sponsored Stories are effective. For instance, the recommendation you see may be from a Facebook “friend” you actually barely know. You may find it creepy to see advertising intrude upon friendships as well. But in Obama’s ’12 campaign, Facebook worked. As Time detailed, the O campaign used Facebook to “replicate the door-knocking efforts of field organizers” on a mass scale. During the final weeks of the campaign, Obama’s supporters received pictures of their friends in swing states. They were then urged to click a button asking the swing state voters to register to vote, vote early or get to the polls. The campaign found that the tactic worked 20% of the time “in large part because the message came from someone they knew.” 3. All the Money in the World Can’t Overcome Bad Advertising Super PACs supporting Mitt Romney poured millions into swing states to convince voters that voting for Obama and other Democrats would be against their self interest. However, as Slate points out, many of these ads were crude and insulted the intelligence of targeted voters. For instance, a Super PAC attack ad against Ohio Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown “portrayed Brown as a demented cartoon, sitting at a desk with an […]
Think about it: How many hours do you spend researching where to go, what to do and where to eat when you’re planning a vacation? The information you need is spread across dozens of travel sites and local vendor sites, which can be hard to navigate, especially if they’re in another language. Ruzwana Bashir feels your pain. That’s why she launched Peek, what she describes as “OpenTable for the activities market,” in 2012. The site curates activities in cities around the world — London, Chicago, Napa and more — and lets you book activities, including wine tastings, hot air balloon rides and tours on the Seine. Perhaps the most fun element of the site is “Perfect Days,” which are 24-hour itineraries curated by celebrities and tastemakers with local knowledge of various cities. Jack Dorsey (a Peek investor) describes his perfect San Francisco Day, the band Neon Trees curates a day in Santa Barbara, and designer Cynthia Rowley shares her favorite Miami hotspots. Not only is Peek’s one-stop shop for activities booking a welcome addition to the $27 billion activities planning industry, but Bashir has business chops to make it a success. She’s an Oxford alum (a former president of the Oxford Union) who did private equity at the Blackstone Group and investment banking at Goldman Sachs, then went on to do business development at Gilt Groupe and helped to found Art.sy. Bashir earned her MBA at Harvard in 2010, where she was a Fulbright Scholar. So it’s no wonder she got Twitter and Square co-founder Jack Dorsey and Google CEO Eric Schmidt to be part of Peek’s $1.4 million seed round. We spent a day with Ruzwana Bashir and one of Peek’s other early investors, Todd Kimmel of Montage Ventures, to learn how Peek is scaling smarter (hint: more cities). Homepage image: Mark Kolbe/Getty Images Read more: http://mashable.com/2013/10/15/peek-scaling-smarter/
Airtime — Sean Parker‘s new startup that lets users video chat with friends and strangers who share their interests — released a slick new video Tuesday that shows off the power of the service. Describing Airtime as “the Best Internet You’ve Ever Had,” the slickly produced ad shows off the service in a way that is both entertaining and easy to understand. Of course, it wouldn’t be Airtime without celebrities. The spot features cameos by Kurt Russell, MC Hammer, Gary Vaynerchuk and Ronnie Lott. I’ve had my own brush with celebrity using Airtime. The first time I tried the service, it connected me with none other than co-founder Sean Parker. The spot was produced by Portal A, the company behind the Ed Lee 2 Legit 2 Quit video. (Disclosure: Portal A also works with Mashable on original video content.) The star of the video — Ian Pfaff — is described as Portal A’s “creative jack-of-all-trades.” He works full-time at Portal acting, editing and producing music. Read more: http://mashable.com/2012/07/17/mc-hammer-airtime/
If there’s one takeaway from Verizon’s newest phone ad, it’s probably that Edward Norton needs to do more karaoke. The actor stars in the Droid Maxx commercial that is a mini-movie about Norton’s adventure-packed 48 hours. He sings karaoke, meets a girl, crashes a plane and almost dies at the hands of a really creepy dude. But thanks to his trusty phone, he remains unscathed — unless you count waking up in a morgue. The commercial ends with the tagline “Whatever you do in 48 hours, Droid does,” referencing the phone’s impressive battery life. The ad also showcases Google’s hands-free commands in several scenes, most notably when Norton is tied up and hanging upside (a situation Verizon probably assumed we could all relate to?) The spot aired on television Dec. 5, but was posted to YouTube a week prior. The video already has more than 9 million hits. Verizon’s recruitment of A-lister Norton comes after Robert Downey Jr. starred in a similarly odd ad for the HTC One over the summer. That campaign didn’t seem to do much for HTC’s sales. Now only one question remains: Could the Droid Maxx survive a fight club? BONUS: The Most-Shared Ads of 2013 The Most-Shared Ads of 2013 1. Dove “Real Beauty Sketches” 4.24 million shares Dove uses a clever method to make women confront misconceptions about their appearance and the result prompts some very emotional reactions. Video: YouTube, doveunitedstates 2. Geico “Hump Day” 4.03 million This ad, featuring an excitable camel, gets a spike in views every Wednesday. Video: YouTube, GEICO Insurance 3. Evian “Baby & Me” 3.34 million The sequel to the uber-successful “Roller Babies” ad does just fine on its own. Video: YouTube, EvianBabies 4. Kmart “Ship My Pants” 3.05 million A silly, off-color pun goes from mildly amusing to hilarious in 30 seconds. Video: YouTube, Kmart 5. Cornetto “Yalin Keyfi Yolunda, Aşkı Sonund” 2.91 million A Wes Anderson-esque tale of young love from Turkey. Video: YouTube, cornetto turkiye 6. Budweiser “Brotherhood” 2.72 million One of the best-received ads of this year’s Super Bowl features a sentimental trainer raising a Clydesdale. Video: YouTube, NFL TV Super Bowl Ads 7. PepsiMax “Test Drive” 2.69 million OK it was fake, but it was fun: Nascar driver Jeff Gordon goes incognito for a test drive and an actor does a great job pretending to be freaked out. Video: YouTube, Pepsi 8. MGM/Carrie “Telekinetic Coffee Shop Surprise” 2.17 million More fakery, this time in a coffee shop to promote the movie Carrie. Is it me or does everything seem fake about this? Ironically the movie was overtaken by Gravity at the box office. Video: YouTube, CarrieNYC 9. Ram Trucks “Farmer” 1.88 million Another ad that proves that you don’t have to (try to) be funny to be remembered during the Super Bowl. The ad was a rip off of an older one, but this one was much better. Video: YouTube, ram 10. Volvo Trucks “Jean-Claude Van Damme Epic Split” 1.82 million A latecomer, Jean-Claude […]
Over the past three weeks, we’ve shed light on America’s 8.3 million women-owned businesses, spurred by American Express OPEN‘s recent report, The State of Women-Owned Businesses. In our Female Founders Series, we’ve spoken with prominent female founders about their influences, their ambitions and the challenges they’ve faced, in hopes of helping other aspiring female founders to embark on the journey, or to keep going. We’ve named 44 female founders whom every entrepreneur should know, and the series has sparked quite a conversation in the comments and on social media. Now it’s your turn to ask a few of these female founders your questions — face to face. At 2 p.m., we’re going live with three female founders to talk about the entrepreneurial journey and how to build your own business. Join us at 2 p.m. for a Spreecast panel — moderated by Allison Silver, VP Brand, Advertising and Advocacy at American Express OPEN — with these accomplished women: Rachel Sklar, Founder, Change the Ratio and TheLi.st Angela Jia Kim, Founder, Om Aroma and Savor the Success Kellee Khalil, Founder and CEO, Lover.ly The Spreecast is embedded below — log in to ask questions via chat or to go on-camera with the panelists. You can also tweet your questions, but be sure to include the hashtags #FemaleFounders and #PoweringTomorrow. Thanks for joining us and for #PoweringTomorrow! Series presented by American Express OPEN The Female Founders Series is presented by American Express OPEN. For the full State of Women-Owned Businesses Report, visit openforum.com/women. American Express OPEN salutes, celebrates and wants to help fuel the future of women business owners. Join the conversation on Twitter and tell American Express OPEN how you’re #PoweringTomorrow in your community and with your business. American Express OPEN There are 8.3 million women-owned businesses in the U.S. Women-owned businesses employ 7.7 million Americans The top cities and states for women-owned businesses may surprise you. Laura Fitton, Founder, One Forty Nell Merlino, Founder, Make Mine a Million Rashmi Sinha, CEO and Co-founder, SlideShare Sandra Yancey, CEO and Co-founder, eWomenNetwork Read more: http://mashable.com/2012/08/21/female-founders-spreecast/
Imagine, for a moment, that you are Golf Digest magazine. You have been publishing golfing instruction month after month for 62 years. Some of that advice has, of course, been regurgitated now and again, while a wealth of original instruction has been divided among individual issues moldering in the basements of some long-running subscribers, likely never to be rediscovered. How, with the many new opportunities that digital technology now affords, do you repurpose that great archive to make it more useful and accessible for your readers? One smart solution is to combine the technology that powers the most popular mobile app for golf, Golf Logix, with your own content. Golf Digest Live, which is available through the GolfLogix app, helps users navigate courses, and tracks and analyzes their game performance — think of it as Nike+ for golf. The app then serves up a personalized magazine made up of tips and video drills from Golf Digest designed to address weaknesses players exhibited during their last game. That advice, which can be read on your tablet or computer as well as your smartphone, comes directly from the many acclaimed instructors and players Golf Digest has worked with over the years. The idea, as Lou Riccio, a statistics professor at Columbia University, says in the video above, is to “produce a magazine not on a monthly basis for the masses, but for you specifically after every round.” Beyond personalized, post-game instruction, the app also serves up some welcome content in-game. Some, like the audio library of golf jokes, is pure fun. But there’s also warm-up drills, tips and videos players can pull up to help address an issue they’re having mid-game, like how to hit from an uphill or downhill lie. Access to Golf Digest Live costs $19.99 per year with a free, 30-day trial. It’s available for more than 60 smartphone models, including iPhone 3G and up, as well as many Android and BlackBerry devices. With newsstand sales suffering from heavy declines, coupled with the growing popularity of content discovery and aggregation apps like Twitter, Flipboard and Instapaper, it may be time for magazine publishers to rethink the way they’re bundling content. This is a start. Golf Digest Live The main menu. Analyze your latest round, and access warm-ups, drills and video lessons designed to guide you through range practice. Access quick video tutorials during practice. The app also offers up content designed to be consumed mid-course. Some of it, like jokes and inspiration, is meant to be fun; other parts are more useful. The app also offers up content designed to be consumed mid-course. Having a panic moment? The app displays advice designed to refocus your game. The app uses GPS to help players navigate courses. Access your stats after every round. An example of post-round advice. An example of post-round advice. Read more: http://mashable.com/2012/08/16/golf-digest-live-app/
Not since Denise Richards donned a lab coat in The World Is Not Enough have we seen such an unlikely scientist as Megan Fox. Yet Fox makes a somewhat convincing marine biologist in this ad for Acer, which shows a hidden side to the sex symbol — a passion for dolphins. Like a previous ad that presented Kiefer Sutherland as a baker, the aim is to underscore Acer’s brand mission to “explore beyond limits.” Fox, however, is no stranger to technology. Back in 2011, she was seen slinking around a bathtub and exposing her famously unattractive thumbs in a Motorola Super Bowl TV spot. Read more: http://mashable.com/2012/10/30/megan-fox-acer/
