Skittles Cozies Up to Social Media†

Candy's Site Is Built on Consumer-Created Content From Twitter, Facebook

Wall Street Journal, March 3, 2009 — For years, Skittles has encouraged consumers to "Taste the Rainbow." Now, the candy brand wants people to "Chat the Rainbow."

Mars Snackfood, maker of the chewy, multicolored candies, launched a new homepage at Skittles.com on Thursday that may represent the closest embrace of social media yet by a mainstream marketer. Instead of a typical product site that highlights information about or videos and games related to a product, Skittles.com features content created by consumers — most of it gleaned from other Web sites.

Tropicana Discovers Some Buyers Are Passionate About Packaging

IT took 24 years, but PepsiCo now has its own version of New Coke.

New York Times, February 22, 2009 — The PepsiCo Americas Beverages division of PepsiCo is bowing to public demand and scrapping the changes made to a flagship product, Tropicana Pure Premium orange juice. Redesigned packaging that was introduced in early January is being discontinued, executives plan to announce on Monday, and the previous version will be brought back in the next month.

The Five Biggest Digital Marketing Cliches†

Why Marketers Use Them, Why They Often Don't Work and What to Do Instead

Advertising Age, September 29, 2008 — Once upon a time — say, 2002 — digital spending was a negligible portion of total marketing budgets and we lived in a world where few marketers would dare go "beyond the banner." Fast-forward to 2008, and in some cases we have the opposite problem. Digital spending is still too low, but in the spirit of wanting to appear current, some marketers have rushed to embrace any and every new digital tactic.

This has resulted in a scenario where some digital tactics are dangerously close to "jumping the shark." Everyone is doing them, so they're not original anymore. They generally are not done well (i.e., in a way that builds brand equity, awareness or sales), and they may be so commonplace that rather than making a brand seem current or hip, they have the... continue reading

Brave New World of Digital Intimacy

New York Times, September 5, 2008 — On Sept. 5, 2006, Mark Zuckerberg changed the way that Facebook worked, and in the process he inspired a revolt. Zuckerberg, a doe-eyed 24-year-old C.E.O., founded Facebook in his dorm room at Harvard two years earlier, and the site quickly amassed nine million users. By 2006, students were posting heaps of personal details onto their Facebook pages, including lists of their favorite TV shows, whether they were dating (and whom), what music they had in rotation and the various ad hoc “groups” they had joined (like “Sex and the City” Lovers).

What's the Future of Brand Journalism? Collision Content†

How to Balance Consumer-Generated Content With Brand Content

Advertising Age, August 12, 2008 — There is no denying the radical shift from companies and brands controlling their messages to consumers controlling them. From blogs to YouTube to social networking, consumers have a bigger, louder voice than ever. And they're being heard.

Calling on NBA Fans†

How T-Mobile's user-gen contest took the brand's 60-second Super Bowl spot into overtime

Adweek, June 30, 2008 — It could have been the same old Super Bowl story. A creative team toils for months, and a client spends millions, on 30-seconds of big-game glory. Then, faster than the MVP can say "Disneyland," the applause fades, the spot is relegated to routine rotation and, ultimately, assumes its final resting place on the agency reel.

J.C. Penney Faults Fake Ad on YouTube†

Recent Branding Effort is Mimicked in Video; Saatchi Cites a Vendor

Wall Street Journal, June 24, 2008 — J.C. Penney Co. officials are upset about a racy, fake advertisement on YouTube in which the retailer appears to be endorsing teen sex, and they are blaming the company's ad agency, Saatchi & Saatchi.

The purported ad, which surfaced on the Internet after winning a prestigious international advertising award at Cannes this past weekend, shows two teenagers in their own bedrooms stripping down to their underwear and then timing themselves as they race to put on their clothes. All this is done in preparation for the boy and girl to hang out in her basement while her mother is upstairs.

An Unlikely Promoter Drives Nokia’s Push in Hollywood

New York Times, June 23, 2008 — Tero Ojanpera is an unlikely media entrepreneur. Mr. Ojanpera, a veteran Nokia executive, is not a fan of “American Idol,” although he says he enjoys it from time to time. And when he tried to watch a recent episode of “Hannah Montana,” one of his sons switched the channel.

But four years ago, Mr. Ojanpera and his colleagues in the research center had an epiphany: that entertainment was crucial to the future of Nokia, the Finnish mobile phone maker.

Consumer Vigilantes

Memo to Corporate America: Hell now hath no fury like a customer scorned

BusinessWeek, February 21, 2008 — In the annals of customer service, 2007 will go down as the year fed-up consumers finally dropped the hammer. In August a 76-year-old retired nurse named Mona Shaw smashed up a keyboard and a telephone in a Manassas (Va.) Comcast (CMCSA) office after she says the cable operator failed to install her service properly. During her first visit to the branch outlet, the AARP secretary says she was left sitting on a bench in the hallway for two hours waiting for a manager.

Social Media Will Change Your Business

Look past the yakkers, hobbyists, and political mobs. Your customers and rivals are figuring blogs out. Our advice: Catch up…or catch you later

BusinessWeek, February 20, 2008 — When we published "Blogs Will Change Your Business" in May, 2005, Twittering was an activity dominated by small birds. Truth is, we didn't see MySpace coming. Facebook was still an Ivy League sensation. Despite the onrush of technology, however, thousands of visitors are still downloading the original cover story.