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A perfect follow-up to yesterday’s post about “Oversharers”, social network users who divulge too much information to the dismay of their friends and followers, a Japanese man in a jam found a new use for Twitter. User @naika_tei found himself in a predicament when he used a public restroom stall in an electronics store with no toilet paper. With no newspaper in sight and instead of resorting to using his sock, he pulled out his smartphone and desperately started tweeting for help. His post read: “Urgent request, toilet paper in Akihabara Yodobashi Camera 3rd floor men’s restroom.” His followers retweeted and after 20 minutes someone came and literally saved his ass. This particular instance proves the great value of having many followers.

Do you have social networking friends or followers that tend to go into great detail and often share too much information? Everybody knows at least one, a friend who feels the need to tweet about their latest bowel movement or extremely inimate detail of their life. Sometimes funny, sometimes disturbing, but always uncomfortable, these posts are the product of an “Oversharer”. To combat this now common practice of over sharing, and to coin a new internet term, Pringles has launched a new social media campaign. The P&G snack brand asks Facebook users to start naming friends who frequently post too much information on the social networking site using a Pringles-branded tagging button. Similar to the “like” button, this new capability allows users to show their disapproval of the personal information shared and label the user an “Oversharer”. The app allows any user who sees a ridiculous Facebook or Twitter status to notify and shame their contact with one click. Pringles will also host a site, similar to FML or Texts from last night, where posts and updates containing too much information will be showcased.
Along with this social networking campaign, Pringles is also selling “Overshare” branded merchandise and presenting prizes to encourage more people to spread the word about their new campaign and the growing “Oversharer” epidemic.
I think this is a great idea for a campaign. People on Facebook have been demanding a “dislike” button to counter the “like” button since it was introduced and this is the first app to provide similar capabilities. Also, Pringles has the potential to coin a new internet term. Pringles has found a way to integrate their brand into a high demand app. It will be exciting to see what companies follow Pringles example and make more useful apps for social networking platforms.

In an attempt to draw users back in, Myspace has begun revamping their site for a comeback. As more and more users shift over to social network applications like Facebook and Twitter, the former leader Myspace has been surpassed while quickly losing market share. With their lack of growth compared to the enormous rise in Facebook users and Twitter boom, Myspace isn’t the juggernaut it used to be. For years they were the undisputed king of social networking but they got complacent and failed to innovate, this presented an opening to Facebook and now they dominate the medium with over four times as many members. While Facebook has taken over, Myspace has remained profitable bringing in about $350million a year mainly from advertising, but this too could change very soon. They have a shared advertising revenue deal with Google currently that has been keeping the company profitable but with the recently announced Google Buzz social networking platform it is unclear if they will renew their deal. Between these problems and a recent management shakeup, Myspace has a lot of work ahead to accomplish their goal, but their strategy seems solid.

Instead of looking at Facebook and Twitter as competitors, Myspace is now changing their strategy and looking towards these once rivals and potential partners for distribution and synchronization. They have already synced services with Twitter so tweets or status updates on one service are automatically posted to the other.

They are also shifting their target market and content strategies. They will now appeal to a younger crowd focusing on music, movies, and games by using the service to discover new music, view movie trailers, and play games in a social environment. Instead of being a “place for friends” their new mantra will be “Discover and be Discovered” moving further away from social and focusing more on the media aspect. This rebranding will include simple, clean pages to avoid the unappealing cluttered pages that have become expected with the original design. They are investing a lot in their gaming channel by working with social-gaming firm Playdom. They have also teamed with Microsoft to improve their mobile web services and revamp its look. Lastly, they are keeping music a main focus.

Myspace Music has been an extremely useful and popular medium for bands to increase exposure and connect with fans. While Myspace’s user base is down compared to Facebook, their music channel is still considered quite successful. If they can continue their success of this channel while improving their video and game channels, it could prove successful.

Many argue that Myspace is already done and their failure to innovate along with other social networking sites has already sealed their fate. With social networking dominated by Facebook, Google’s new social network, and Apple trying to take over distribution of digital media there may not be room Myspace. But with their new strategy to reinvigorate the brand and network, their resources backed by their parent company News Corp, and their still popular Myspace Music channel I believe there still is a chance for them to find their niche and survive, it just won’t be focused on networking with friends. It will be very interesting over the following months to see how they choose to re-brand and if their strategies will work.

Twuition is a new web application integrated into twitter that automatically responds to tweets with information about products, local weather, directions, and other useful information. To use this service you simply tweet a specific “hashtag” like #twuitionweather Portland, OR. then in about three minutes you receive a response. Along with the informative tweet it also generates an advertisement.
Twuition was developed by Blast Applications; a New York based company that specializes in developing applications for Facebook, the iPhone, and Twitter. The application is intended to make twitter more convenient for mobile users, allowing them to stay on twitter instead of switching applications to find information. The technology is not necessarily groundbreaking; they have had similar applications for AOL instant messenger, but it is one of the first on Twitter that provides more information that just weather reports while effortlessly incorporating advertisements.

Muscle Milk, a protein drink made by CytoSport beverages, has recently launched a new campaign featuring viral videos and special edition bottles. The campaign also features Shaquille O’Neil, who recently became only the 5^th player in NBA history to score 28,000 career points, as the spokesperson and star of the viral videos. “Special Edition” bottles are featured in almost every beverage campaign and viral videos are no longer considered the pinnacle of new media, but what makes this campaign stand out is how the viral videos are delivered incorporating the actual bottle. It is part package advertising, part viral campaign, and part augmented reality campaign. The drink container will include a link on its packaging that consumers can visit to view the videos by holding the bottle with a special marker code in front of their webcam to watch O’Neil jump out of the bottle!

Unfortunately, this special-edition Muscle Milk will be released exclusively in Ohio, O’Neil’s home state, for now. The videos are not exclusive however; anyone can visit the campaign’s page, and print out the interactive marker to view the videos. Although this campaign was likely very expensive and will only reach a small market to its full potential, it is very interesting to see how marketers utilize relatively older technology (webcams) for new exciting ways to reach customers. Also, it serves as another unconventional medium utilized by Shaq to market his brand; following his incredibly popular Twitter, his business with Efuel, and the unforgettable Shaq Fu video game.

Chado Advertising & Design is launching a Twitter campaign leading up to the release of our advertisement for the Epic Group celebrating the Bangladesh Independence Day. Chado will post tweets daily with interesting facts about the country of Bangladesh and the Epic Group, one of the world’s largest textile manufacturers.

Follow the new campaign here!

It is now a common practice for ski areas across the country to boast recent snowfalls and the opening of new lifts. Most resorts will advertise this via their website, twitter account, or in some cases a Smartphone app. These mediums have been proven to be highly effective in reaching avid snow sport enthusiasts who regularly check for updates but not for reaching casual skiers who are actively searching for condition updates.  Mammoth Mountain has used the same strategy but fused it with in an old medium to display their updates to the masses. With David&Goliath, a small L.A. based agency, they have created a series of digital billboards that beckon skiers and snowboarders in the L.A. area to make the six hour trip to the mountain by creatively displaying new snowfall amounts recorded in the past 24 hours. These “Dump Alerts” are displayed on the digital billboards using information from the weather widget on the resort’s website. This is a great strategy that breathes life into an old medium; billboards for ski resorts have not been very successful in differentiating their competitors and providing useful information, most have the same basic taglines that merely state that they are open while this contains a call to action. This new campaign’s goal is to entice consumers with updates in hopes they will impulsively go on a ski trip based on new snow conditions. Although Mammoth is located a fair distance from L.A., I predict this campaign will be very successful, that is if Mammoth continues to accumulate snowfall.

To promote their newest product Trident Layers, Trident Gum has integrated fan twitter feedback into their print campaign. This unconventional strategy has successfully merged two very different mediums to effectively carry their message. The full-page color ads with the headline “The People Have Tweeted” displays multiple tweets from users that have used Twitter to share their enthusiasm for Trident’s newest product. Trident found the tweets while using Twitter Search to monitor what people were tweeting about the new product. Recently released it is unknown whether or not this new ad will influence readers more than regular print advertisements but it is an interesting tactic using testimonials from real customers using the popular social networking site.

As brands continue to try to find new ways to connect with customers and shape their product to appeal to them, Pepsi decided to have their customers do all the work with their newest Mountain Dew social media campaign “Dewmocracy 2.0”. Brands like HP and Vitamin Water have already called upon their consumers for branding materials. After all, consumers should know themselves better than anyone. Last year Mt. Dew launched a similar campaign where they allowed consumers to vote for the next Mt. Dew flavor and name, but has taken this branding practice to a whole new level this year. They are now letting their consumers invent and name three new flavors, design the package, AND create commercials. They launched a new website 12seconds.tv where Dew enthusiasts can submit their own commercials and vote for their favorites. Brands have resorted to similar tactics putting brand choices in the hands of the customer but never to this extent. This campaign gives the consumer more control and interaction with their favorite brand. Going beyond simply consulting consumers for ideas they are making them an integral part of creating a new product and marketing it utilizing different social web applications like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. They expect that this will help foster a strong relationship between the brand and the customer because they are now able to have the feeling of owning and being part of the product like never before and brand loyalists are now empowered to be a part of the brand. Only time will tell how effective this new campaign will be but with the brands existing loyal fan base and cross platform social marketing strategy it looks very promising. It will be interesting to see how other brands follow suit utilizing social media to empower their customers to become part of the brand.

The newly redesigned website for Chado Advertising & Design has officially launched. This new site has been redesigned to have a new look similar to this blog, a flash slideshow showcasing recent work, and has additional content added. There are also links to all of Chado’s social media pages, more detailed case studies, team bios, and an added link to XCD, our cross cultural design social network. This new website is easier to navigate and has a new look more consistent with Chado Advertising & Design. Check it out at www.chado-design.com!