Archive for the ‘Social Media’ Category

Living Blade Runner

Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010

Bladerunner billboard Times Square

As MSI’s Director of Interactive Services, I love the part of my job that involves geeking out over technology. I was about 12 years old when Blade Runner came out and remember thinking, “Giant video billboards. Pfft. Yeah, right.” I pooh-poohed my way through the movie, scoffing at such impossibilities as video conferencing, in-ear communicators, tablet computers, and glowing umbrellas, among many other flights of fantasy.

Watching Blade Runner while sprawled out on the brown shag carpet in front of my father’s monster Betamax machine, I don’t think I could ever have imagined that so many of these items would have trickled into our everyday use within my lifetime. They seemed so far away as I would get up on hands and knees to flip the knob (“ka-CHUNK”) on our living room TV. I certainly wouldn’t have believed that only seconds after the birth of my son, I could wirelessly beam an image of his beautiful newborn face to my 95-year-old great aunt in Galveston, Texas from our hospital room in Chicago. I pass no fewer than 5 massive video billboards during my morning commute. People Skype each other regularly, Bluetooth devices pegged into random ears, and even the infamous glowing umbrellas are for sale on Think Geek. Now come developments like the iPad and Google’s response, the Chrome OS Tablet.

Maybe take some time today to think about the differences between the world that surrounded you as a child and the convenience and amazement that technology offers today.

MSI makes it our business to keep up with the monster steps that Interactive technology takes every day and how you can apply it to your marketing strategy. It’s not just our business, it’s our lifelong passion. If you think of your website as a static piece of brochureware, give us a call. I bet you’ll be amazed by what technology, and MSI, can do for you.

DieHard Viral Video

Thursday, January 14th, 2010

Check out this great viral video from our client DieHard, it made it on the Top Ten Viral Video chart from Ad Age.  Visit DieHard.com to view all 3 viral videos!!

 

Click here to see the video.

 

 

Ey Oh! The phenomenon known as Jersey Shore

Monday, January 11th, 2010

A few weeks ago MTV premiered a new “reality” series about young self proclaimed Guidos and Guidettes, that appear to have been rejected from Real World casting auditions, called “The Jersey Shore.”  I must say that previews for this awesomely bad show had me intrigued from the very beginning, and as the season continues I get more excited for each episode. Not only has the show given MTV another hit reality show, but the cast and the lifestyle portrayed has become a marketing force with in both interactive and traditional media channels.

Although big name advertisers like Dell and Domino’s Pizza have pulled their ads from the shows time slot, it appears that many nontraditional forms of marketing are capitalizing on the show’s popularity. From blog posts, quotes, to Facebook Applications such as “Jersey Shore Name Generators” and viral videos here – are some of my favorite Jersey Shore marketing materials.

 

Facebook added an application that would produce your Jersey Shore nickname.  Some of the more popular names from the show being Mike “The Situation” and Nicole “Snooki.”  I tried the generator out and it provided me the nickname Christos “The Sausage Party” Ellis.

Take the quiz for yourself

*note you may need to login to Facebook

 

Chicago’s local free news paper The Red Eye has several blog posts regarding the show.  My favorite being Vote for best fist-pumpin’ “Jersey Shore” quote – Part 5,  which is a weekly recap of the episodes including an area to vote for your favorite quote of the week. 

My favorite quote so far would have to be from DJ Pauly D where he explains how to battle to house music with fist pumps, he says “It’s like we beat up that beat!”

 

The new movie Youth and Revolt actually marketed their movie in ads that ran on MTV starring the Jersey Shore cast and actor Michael Cera.  The cast gives Michael lessons and tips on how to be a Guido.

Watch for yourself

 

 

 

Happy Holidays!

Monday, December 21st, 2009

Happy holidays from all of us at MSI! 

http://www.msinet.com/holiday/2009/ 

And kudos to the team in charge of putting together this year’s fantastic e-card!

MSI’s Latest Viral Campaign

Thursday, November 5th, 2009

Check out MSI’s latest viral campaign for AeroBed: 

 

www.thinkaero.com/guestrating 

Print

 

Beyond the babble

Thursday, August 27th, 2009

Value of Twitter (and other social media sites) for capturing human sentiment

If you happened to see the results of a study conducted in early August regarding the value of activity on Twitter, it probably would come as no surprise to find that 40% of the content was classified as “pointless babble”.  Pear Analytics, the research firm who conducted the study, gathered a sampling of 2,000 tweets over two weeks and put them into 6 buckets….News, spam, self-promotion, pointless babble, conversational and pass-along value.

However, the good thing about this study was it also revealed that 37% of content fell into conversational and 8% pass-along value.  That seems to imply that personal opinions are being cast: movie reviews, restaurant ratings, recommendations and other forms of personal expression.  And it probably involves conversation about what they wear, drink, eat, listen to and drive.  From a market research standpoint this emerging field of “sentiment analysis” can offer opportunities for MSI clients to listen in on how people talk about their brands and translating human emotion into hard data.

The number of these social media information tracking companies is growing.  A recent strategic partner of MSI’s in this specialized area is a company named Brickfish.  They are all about connecting brands with consumer conversations online.  Find out more by going to www.brickfish.com/

Yes, I will Yearbook Myself

Tuesday, August 4th, 2009

I may have just found my new favorite Web site/time-suck : www.yearbookyourself.com

This incredibly addicting site lets you upload a picture of yourself (or someone else) to see what you’d look like with classic (read: ridiculous) hair styles and outfits in various high school yearbook photos from 1950 – 2000.  As an added bonus, it plays music that coincides with each year.

After discovering this ingenious site/time machine (and then promptly spending entirely too much time on it), I looked into its background and found out that apparently it was first introduced last fall by Taubman Centers, a national mall development company, and has just recently been reintroduced – just in time for the new school year.  This makes perfect sense considering the site also offers discounts from a variety of retailers at Taubman malls across the country.  The new version also offers Facebook integration that allows you to post your photo directly to your Facebook page.

To Taubman and their agency (Minneapolis-based Colle+McVoy), kudos on the ingenuity behind the site and the ’09 edition!  To anyone who hasn’t already yearbooked themselves, beware and enjoy.  It’s seriously awesome.   

Feel free to share your best (or preferably worst) yearbook photos online - we’d love to see them!  Or if you’d rather email them to me, perhaps I could create a commemorative 50th anniversary Mixed Nuts yearbook for a future post…

Here’s a random sampling of some MSI nuts (well, the PR team + Christos for now) throughout the decades…

Gaelen Bell

Gaelen Bell

MaryAileen Bell

MaryAileen Bell

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Maureen Brennan

Maureen Brennan

Mandy Meszaros

Mandy Meszaros

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
Christos Ellis

Christos Ellis

Emily Towey

Emily Towey

 

Facebook FYI

Friday, July 24th, 2009

Just a quick note for all of you Facebook users – in case you haven’t already heard, Facebook has agreed to let third-party advertisers use your posted pictures in ads displayed on your friends’ Facebook pages.  Not a fan?  Here are a few quick, simple steps to avoid it: 

– Click on SETTINGS up at the top of the page where you see the log out link.

– Select PRIVACY.

– Then select NEWS FEEDS AND WALL.

– Next select the tab that reads FACEBOOK ADS.

– Select NO ONE in the drop-down box.

– Then SAVE your changes.

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Why do you Tweet?

Wednesday, July 15th, 2009

As a marketing research professional, I am always curious about what motivates people and why they make decisions. In terms of the Twitter phenomenon, I have casually asked friends and business associates why they go to Twitter and post tweets but no one has given me a definitive answer other than “It’s interesting,” etc,. There are over approximately 200 million people belonging to the Twitter community, with possibly just as many reasons to tweet.  I would like to dig deeper to try and understand the underlying emotional and intellectual drivers that draw people to “tweet”.

tweetSo, why do you tweet? Please send us your reasons why (140 characters or less of course) and include your age, gender and the typical number of tweets you post per day.

What’s Your e-Handicap?

Monday, May 4th, 2009

Odds are, you’ve probably been challenged with the philosophical question, “Which one of your five core senses could you do without?” (You know, sight, hearing, smell, touch and taste). In reality, if you had to give up one, you would be at a handicap as compared to the rest of society.

A similar concept can also apply to electronic communication. With our texting, internet surfing, blogging, YouTube postings, Facebook updates and twittering, branding our personalities and re-branding others, there are some definite repercussions on our intellect, personalities and behavior compared to what might have existed 10 or more years ago without these technological advancements.

As an interesting, non-scientific research project, I ask you to choose one of the following handicaps that you would be most comfortable living without as it relates to electronic communication/social media. Post your selection here and MSI will post a final tally in a few weeks.

A.  No more txting 4 me.

Rules/Regs: In addition to never texting anyone, you also can’t view any text messages sent to you. Texting in general is disabled on your phone. It’s all back to actual conversations and face-to-face interactions for you. Might be a good idea to stock up on some mints…

B.  I will log-off my email for life.

Rules/Regs: Whether for professional or personal use, your email accounts will be permanently frozen. While having to leave your desk to walk down the hall to communicate to co-workers could add to your “friendly-factor” around the office and add a few thousand more steps to your pedometer, how would your communication with your clients or vendors change? Also, a trip to the post office is in order, you’re going to need some stamps!

C.  I will “unfriend” Facebook forever.

Rules/Regs: No more logging on for your daily fix, scouting for past classmates or former loves, telling your network of friends that you prefer wheat bread over white bread or taking a quiz that proves you are the champion at recognizing “Movies from the 80s”. Your newsfeed ends now, my non-Facebook-friend. And you can’t even change your status update to “MIA.”     

D.  I will turn the channel on YouTube to Never.

Rules/Regs: When everyone else in the free world is talking about the clip of a guy losing an arm to an alligator or a news anchor going postal on camera, you have to just hope it appears on the evening news or there is a still shot in the newspaper the next morning. You can no longer experience immediate gratification when it comes to wanting to watch videos of puppies sleeping. You are not allowed to look at YouTube, or open any links sent to you of videos on YouTube. YouWhat?  That’s right – it’s no longer in your vocabulary.

E.  I have Googled my last Google.

Rules/Regs: Never again can you use Google or any other internet search engine to instantly find out whether a peanut is a nut or a legume (and I’m not telling), get a recipe for any type of macaroon you could possibly be craving, find a map with the location of your dinner date or even zoom in on a photo of your house taken by the amazing Google Earth satellites.  You may just want to answer the door the next time the Encyclopedia Britannica salesperson comes knocking…