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/
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/
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/
Image: iStockphoto, mr_wilke The world’s biggest brand marketers are seizing the opportunities that LatAm presents as a booming and emerging digital market, but many of them make the mistake of taking a one-size-fits-all approach to the entire region. Effectively scaling a brand in LatAm requires — at a minimum — a critical understanding of cultural nuances, a keen awareness of differences by country, knowledge of formality of tone of voice, and comprehension of the intricacies of each country’s legalese and history. Localized and even regionalized campaigns have proven successful in influencing LatAm markets, as evidenced by brands including McDonald’s, Coca-Cola and PUMA. McDonald’s: Showcasing local values Tip to learn from: Taking a regional approach and then localizing it even further, through content, is a powerful way to be impactful in overseas markets. McDonald’s serves more than 70 million customers in 119 countries, and a key contributor to the company’s global success is its understanding of each country’s cultural differences and needs. The brand places an importance on locally relevant marketing, menu innovations, service variations and sourced ingredients. For example, the menu in India features Masala Grill Burgers, and in Italy you can order a Mediterranean salad. Diverse initiatives across the globe, from “It all comes together at Macca’s” in Australia, to the “Just Because” campaign in neighboring New Zealand, showcase the brand’s regional values — and its marketing approach in Latin America is no exception. McDonald’s “Glad You Came” or #quebuenoqueviniste campaign in Latin America effectively showcased the LatAm consumer’s love and core cultural pastime of entertaining guests in their homes. The campaign emphasized these characteristics — consistent with its corporate values — by putting customers front and center, showcasing real patrons and emphasizing the cultures’ joy of hospitality. The campaign spanned across the region in countries including Colombia, Argentina, Costa Rica, Mexico and Chile and featured real customers from each country in social media content. Colombia: Plan de amigas y McDonald’s ¡Lo mejor! #QuéBuenoQueViniste pic.twitter.com/Y12gML6E0k — McDonald’s Colombia (@McDonaldsCol) February 19, 2014 Argentina: Brenda y Rodrigo comparten sus momentos de felicidad en McDonald’s ¡Compartí el tuyo con #QueBuenoQueViniste! pic.twitter.com/fYDKrtuQnn — McDonalds Argentina (@McDonalds_Ar) February 13, 2014 Costa Rica : ¡Compartí vos también tus mejores momentos usando el hashtag #QueBuenoQueViniste! pic.twitter.com/3jmz5vxrKR — McDonald’s CR (@mcdonaldscr) March 10, 2014 Capturing local personalities regionalized the campaign in LatAm and made it resonate on a country-by-country basis. The fact that this campaign was specific to LatAm and no variation of it appeared in the U.S. further underlines its regional specificity. Coca-Cola: Giving consumers in Argentina (and beyond) what they want Tip to learn from: Research and deeply understand local customer demand to create locally tailored products, particularly in emerging markets. Coca-Cola Company owns over 500 brands and is available in over 200 countries worldwide. One of the many factors that’s positioned the brand as a global leader is its ability to act strategically on local consumer demand and market trends. A 2013 study from the Ipsos Open Thinking Exchange suggested that Argentinians and […]
If Wayne Rooney wasn’t a footballer, he’d probably be a fisherman. But the only way he wouldn’t be a footballer is if the clones took over. Nike’s latest ad, “The Last Game,” in support of World Cup fever takes on a similar premise to the latest dystopian sci-fi movie. It pits man vs. the “perfect” clone — a soccer player that performs like a machine and is, supposedly, unbeatable. But they’re missing one thing: heart (or, as Nike puts it, the willingness to take risks). It’s sort of like a Gattaca that substitutes soccer for space travel. The best players unite to challenge the clones. We won’t spoil the ending, but lets just say it’s clear is Nike is reminding you that winning players are willing to take risks. Risk makes the game worth watching. Yay risk. All the 2014 World Cup action starts up on Thursday, June 12. BONUS: Six Apps to Fuel Your World Cup Fever Apps to Follow the World Cup ESPN FC Soccer & World Cup ESPN’s app for the World Cup featues in-depth analysis and commentary from their team of experts. Customize the experience by choosing your favorite teams to follow and set detailed alerts for everything from in-game substitutions to sore updates to team stats. Users in the U.S. can also see exclusive video highlights from the games. The free app is available for iOS and Android. Image: ESPN FIFA ’14 Fans of EA’s FIFA series for Xbox and PlayStation will appreciate the company’s latest World Cup iOS offering. In FIFA ’14 players can compete in their own World Cup brackets and customize their team’s lineup to compete with their ideal fantasy team. Those who want to make it more competitive can challenge friends and other online player’s in the game’s multiplayer mode. The free app is available for iOS. Image: Electronic Arts FIFA Official FIFA Official provides comprehensive profiles of each team, player and coach detailing the past national and World Cup history of each organization. The app has a daily live blog that provides a constantly-refreshed stream of updates from the matches and exclusive photos and videos from the tournament. Super fans can also play games, vote on each game’s “Man of the Match” and sign up for a shot at winning kick-off balls used during the actual games. The free app is available for iOS and Android. Image: FIFA Onefootball Brasil Choose your favorite teams and get up to the minute updates from both on and off the field. Listen to live commentary from matches and chat with your fellow fans when you connect the app to your Facebook account. The app also has in-depth pre and post-game videos of press conference, interviews and analysis. The free app is available for iOS, Android and Windows Phone. Image: Motain GmbH Travel Portuguese Futebol Edition For those actually traveling to Brazil to watch the games, Travel Portuguese Futebol Edition from Rosetta Stone will give you a crash-course in essential Portuguese to help you […]
Verizon Wireless just passed 3 million fans on Facebook, beating out competitors like AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile to that milestone. To celebrate, Verizon has released a special video thanking its fans that features a Rube Goldberg machine. For those who don’t know, a Rube Goldberg machine is one that uses an unnecessarily complicated series of steps to accomplish a very simple task. In this particular video, the end goal is to switch on a tablet that displays a thank you message to the company’s fans. In recent months, we’ve seen several brands come up with clever ways to celebrate reaching Facebook fan milestones. Bonobos released a video parody of The Golden Girls when it reached 100,000 fans on Facebook and The Walking Dead put out an awesome poster when it reached 100,000 fans. Read more: http://mashable.com/2012/09/13/verizon-facebook-fans-video/
Lisa Frank has colored our worlds with rainbows, hearts and teddy bears since 1979, but rarely do we hear much about the woman behind the magic. But the woman really exists, and her office is just as amazing as you’d imagine it to be — filled with giant puppies, waving mascots and, of course, rainbows galore. A crew of filmmakers stepped inside the Lisa Frank headquarters in Tucson, Ariz. to interview the founder herself. The video, shown above, is part of Lisa Frank’s recent partnership with Urban Outfitters. Frank requested to remain visibly out of the frame, in the interest of privacy. In the interview, Frank reveals tidbits about her childhood that should come as no surprise to fans, like her fondness for coloring books. Perhaps the most unexpected moment in the video is when Frank very openly admits “I’m a lunatic.” “We have to stop me and say, ‘Okay, it’s enough,’” says Frank about the hundreds of hours put into one illustration. Urban Outfitters has more of the interview on its blog. Many Lisa Frank fans are upset about the partnership, due to increased price and speculation over Urban Outfitter’s past controversies. Lisa Frank responded to the concerns on Facebook, saying that the price was appropriate because “these items are very limited and rare. And, this will be the very, very, last time they will ever be available.” Lisa Frank has also requested an official statement from Urban Outfitters, which will be posted on the Facebook page. BONUS: 12 Tumblrs for ’90s Nostalgia Radical! 12 Tumblrs for ’90s Nostalgia 1. Oh, It’s The 90s If you’re a fan of ’90s music reviews, this site features write-ups on all of the biggest celebrities via hundreds of scans from magazines like Spin, Q, Rolling Stone and Select. 2. Fuck Yeah Ugly ’90s Clothes! The 1990s were a decade of polyester, denim-short overalls, skorts, JNCOs, puff paint and stupid hats. All of these styles and more can be found at this site 3. Fuck Yes JTT Johnathan Taylor Thomas was a National Treasure in the 90s, and it’s no surprise there’s an entire blog dedicated to him. 4. ’90s Are All That If you were a child of the 90s, the SNICK lineup was a big part of your weekend routine. Teen Nick created this Tumblr as part of its comeback. 5. Buffy Confessions Buffy the Vampire Slayer was such a hit show, there is an entire site today where you can share confessions about the show. 6. Those Were the 90s If you’re nostalgic for ’90s culture — whether that’s food, toys, games, films or books — this site has you covered. It’s been organized so that you can easily find your favorite TV show or celebrity from the decade as well. 7. I Love 90s R&B If you’re into ’90s R&B and hip hop, this site has playlists, movie soundtracks, GIFs, photos and quotes. 8. Lisa Frank Party Of course, the ’90s wouldn’t be complete without the colorful, glittery world […]
Samsung and Apple have been going head-to-head with claims on the Galaxy SIII and the iPhone 5, respectively. But until now, neither has been able to answer one question: Will it blend? In this stress test by Blendtec, it appears that Samsung has an edge. The Galaxy SIII holds out longer than the iPhone 5 — something to consider if you plan to put either in a Blendtec blender. In the end, though, both end up as a pile of dust. Perhaps the only question about this video is, what took Blendtec so long? Well, it just so happens that Blendtec PR manager Tim Provost and company founder Tom Dickson were in Australia when the iPhone 5 hit. Though you can buy an iPhone 5 Down Under (Woz did), the two waited until they got back to the U.S. to put the iPhone 5 through the company’s rigorous stress test. For the uninitiated, Blendtec has gotten more than 200 million views on YouTube for its various “Will it blend?” video challenges. Blending the iPhone seems to be a favorite, though. The brand’s most-viewed video is a “Will it blend?” with the original iPhone in 2007. Read more: http://mashable.com/2012/10/16/iphone-5-will-it-blend/
Image: Patrick Fallon/Bloomberg Diet Coke’s new ad campaign, which features the tagline “you’re on,” is drawing criticism for appearing to reference drugs. But the company dismisses such talk. “Diet Coke in no way endorses or supports the use of any illegal substance,” a statement from the company reads. Instead, “you’re on” is meant to remind young achievers that “Diet Coke is there to support them in the moments when they are at their best,” according to the statement. “Every single day, young people around the world experience ‘You’re On’ moments big and small. It could be a job interview or a national TV interview, a first date or a final exam, a presentation to your boss or a performance in front of thousands.” A TV ad in the campaign, which features Taylor Swift, underscored that theme. The ad features a montage of moments, such as a best man’s wedding toast, in which young people assuage their performance anxiety with a sip of Diet Coke. The ad culminates with Swift, sitting in front of a mirror, being told it’s time to perform. The cola giant launched the campaign, created by Droga5, in early February at the launch of the Sochi Winter Olympics. Droga5 is know as a somewhat edgy agency; some of its past projects include “Hot Malms,” a fake porn site for IKEA beds, and a 2006 Mark Ecko campaign that was designed to trick fans into believing someone tagged Air Force One with graffiti. After the launch, several people alleged that the agency and the brand might be offering a subliminal cocaine pun. Stark outdoor ads appear to highlight such a possibility. Is it just me or does this ad for Diet #Coke do a better job at marketing #cocaine by reading as “You’re on coke”… pic.twitter.com/azk1fKsAaF — NewYork TaxiCab (@aNYTaxiCab) February 26, 2014 “You’re on coke.” I see what you did there, @DietCoke! pic.twitter.com/P3QsWOkLEg — John McDermott (@mcdermott) February 24, 2014 Gothamist and Adweek both amplified such sentiments, which had been scarce, at least on social media. Diet Coke sales fell 3% by volume in 2012, according to industry tracker Beverage Digest. Across the board, sales of diet sodas are down as consumers grow wary of artificial sweeteners like aspartame, which is used in Diet Coke. The concern prompted the brand to launch a campaign last year reassuring consumers about the sweetener’s safety. As sales are falling, the brand faces an environment in which some marketers are trolling consumers and executing elaborate pranks to get attention. YouTube’s Most-Shared Ads of February 1. Budweiser: Puppy Love Shares: 1.16 millionBudweiser’s tear-jerking puppy ad is still basking in its post-Super Bowl glow with more than 1 million shares. Video: YouTube, budweiser 2. Learn for Life: Set Yourself Free Shares: 540,887The most no-holds-barred “stay in school” ad you’ll ever see comes from Australia (where they apparently use their pristine and beautiful beaches as explosive testing sites). Video: YouTube, henryandaaron 3. SOS Mayday: Would You Give Your Jacket To Johannes Shares: 456,769A campaign […]
Dallas Mavericks guard Vince Carter (rear) with forward Dirk Nowitzki of Germany during an NBA game against the Washington Wizards in January 2013. Image: Nick Wass/Associated Press When the 2014-2015 NBA season tips off this fall, the league’s official game ball will still be that familiar orange-brown hue. It will still be made by Spalding and will still have the same feel as last year. But the ball will come with one change — a minor one, but one that speaks volumes to how heavily the NBA has adopted and benefitted from social media in recent years. The NBA announced that it will imprint its social media handle — @NBA on all major networks — on official game balls, proclaiming the move a pro sports first. The NBA’s official game ball will feature its social media handle for the first time. Image: NBA It may not seem like a huge deal, but the NBA’s new marketing twist does signify the increasingly intertwined digital and physical segments of the pro sports world. It’s also appropriate for a league that has found success on social media like few, if any, of its peers. “First and foremost, it’s really about acknowledging our social media-savvy fans,” Melissa Rosenthal Brenner, the NBA’s senior vice president of digital media, told Mashable via email. “The ball is the instantly-recognizable symbol of our game, and now our fans have a place there too, where they belong.” The NBA claims 660 million social media followers, rolling together league, team and player accounts across networks and countries. The league says its official @NBA accounts have 25 million Facebook fans, nearly 11 million Twitter followers, over 3 million Instagram followers and 72 million total followers on Chinese social networks. LeBron James, not surprisingly, is the league’s most popular player online. With more than 20 million Facebook fans, 13 million Twitter followers and 6 million Instagram followers, he outpaces the league on the latter two social networks. So how did the league and its players amass such a massive social following? “It’s probably a combination of things,” Brenner told Mashable. “First, it is our tech-savvy and prolific players; second, we work very hard to provide our young and passionate fans with all the information, stats and highlights they tell us they want; and third, it is our leadership — starting with our commissioner Adam Silver — that encourages us to use new tools in order to continually enhance the fan experience.” Those millions upon millions of fans will be represented in NBA games starting this fall. Social media handles have become ubiquitous in arenas and stadiums in every sport, but don’t be surprised to see more leagues follow the NBA’s lead and stamp them on actual game balls in the future. 15 YouTube Videos of NBA Stars Dominating in High School 1. Derrick Rose The Chicago Bulls point guard starred at the Windy City’s Simeon Career Academy in high school before playing one season of college ball then getting picked first overall […]
