Like me, an ever-increasing number of people are discovering the joys of Pinterest. Since joining, I’ve pinned tons of delicious recipes to try, lots of cool DIY projects and entirely too many ideas for fun ways to use mason jars. Outside of providing countless hours of entertainment and inspiration (and alerting me to my severe mason jar obsession), Pinterest is also proving to be a powerful tool for retailers.
Pinterest’s traffic more than quadrupled between Q3 and Q4 2011, bringing in 7.5 million unique visitors in December. With this influx of new pinners comes a significant increase in the amount of traffic sent to retailers’ websites. According to recent reports, among social networks, Pinterest is the fifth largest driver of referral traffic.
This post from Mashable has a cool infographic with stats about Pinterest and tips for how companies can use it to their best advantage – check it out.
And if you’ve ever got an extra mason jar lying around, I’ll gladly show you how to make it into a soap dispenser, a chandelier or a terrarium.
In today’s top social media news, it was announced that News Corp. has sold MySpace to advertising network Specific Media for $35 million. That has to hurt since News Corp. paid a whopping $580 million to buy the site from its original owners in 2005. Of course, the hit isn’t a complete surprise since MySpace’s popularity and traffic has dropped drastically in recent years, but News Corp. was reportedly expecting at least $100 million.
What IS surprising is that Specific Media announced that Justin Timberlake is taking an ownership stake in MySpace and will have a direct role in reshaping the focus of the site. Apparently JT was inspired by his role as former Facebook president Sean Parker in The Social Network….ironically, just last week, Parker explained why MySpace failed in an interview with Jimmy Fallon at the NExTWORK Conference in New York.
Timberlake released this statement on his vision for MySpace, “There’s a need for a place where fans can go to interact with their favorite entertainers, listen to music, watch videos, share and discover cool stuff and just connect. MySpace has the potential to be that place. Art is inspired by people and vice versa, so there’s a natural social component to entertainment.”
It should be interesting to see how the new MySpace shapes up, and what it means for both users and advertisers.
According to MySpace, we should know more about what to expect later this summer. Stay tuned!
So yesterday Goose Island announced that Anheuser-Busch InBev is buying out the brewery for just shy of $40 million dollars. As Chicago’s biggest and most highly acclaimed brewery, Goose Island being taken over by a corporate giant is less than exciting for several reasons.
In a time when buying local is an ongoing (and awesome) trend, it’s disappointing to see a huge Belgian company operated by Brazilians take over our local microbrewery – the one that pioneered Chicago’s craft beer market and has brought us countless bottles of unique, delicious beers. But regardless of who bought it and where they’re based, it’s no longer “ours” – which is hard to swallow for a city that likes to support its own.
There’s also the concern that Anheuser-Busch InBev will dilute the quality of Goose Island’s beers, especially since its brewmaster has stepped down with the acquisition. His dad, founder John Hall, is staying on as CEO at least, so ideally he’ll keep the Goose Island quality afloat. Messing with it would be a major misstep on InBev’s part, and surely they’re aware of that. But it’s certainly a possible outcome as Goose Island transitions from a passionate, independent brewery to one of many operated by InBev.
Although I seriously hope that the integrity of Goose Island is never compromised, I also won’t blame the Hall family if it is. However disappointing this buyout is, I’m not going to jump on the hater train and point fingers at Goose Island’s owners for not hanging on to their independence forever. Yeah, that would be great for those of us who would enjoy sipping our beers more if we were buying them from the brewery’s founders, but it’s unrealistic to ask that they turn down a $40 million offer if they’re comfortable with the deal and ready to sell. Over the last 23 years, they’ve built an amazing operation that has built an enormous following and achieved great success. And cheers to that. Not to mention the fact that they led the charge for other great Chicago microbreweries, which we’re seeing more and more of with Half Acre, Revolution, Haymarket, Two Brothers and Metropolitan.
On a related note, this is not the first time InBev has taken over a hometown brand for me. As a native of the St. Louis area, I grew up being a fan of Anheuser-Busch – even before I could drink beer, their name was on my favorite baseball team’s stadium, they owned and operated Grant’s Farm – the coolest place for a third-grade field trip and they had those awesome Clydesdales. Anheuser-Busch was synonymous with St. Louis and undoubtedly one of the strongest American brands in history.
And while the Goose Island buyout doesn’t appear to have anywhere near the level of drama that I’m reading about, InBev taking them over does take the craftiness out of craft beer.
In honor of World AIDS Day, which was Wednesday, Dec. 1st, a group of tweet-tastic celebrities vowed to stay silent on their social networks until a total of a million dollars was raised for their charity.
How’d that work out, you ask? Well, the day came and went and apparently they’re much closer to $100,000 than $1,000,000 so far, prompting quite a backlash in the blogosphere. With posts titled “People Hate Kim Kardashian’s Tweets More Than AIDS” and readers commenting about how they would donate more money if it meant keeping these celebrities silent forever, I’m guessing Kim Kardashian, Lady Gaga, Usher and some of the other participating celebs may be regretting their decision to join the “cause.”
Don’t get me wrong – raising money to help people affected by AIDS is GREAT. And we all know that once they just can’t handle dealing with their “digital deaths” any longer, any one of these multi-millionaires can donate the ransom money themselves to be able to type their every thought once again. They just might actually realize that some people don’t care…
Yesterday, Facebook introduced its latest feature – Places. Similar to Foursquare, Places is all about location; it allows users to share where they are with their friends, see who is near them and find new places around them.
Unlike Foursquare though, Places is less about gaming (e.g. getting points for checking in at various venues, becoming mayor of a location, etc.) and it brings a new level of engagement to Facebook’s 500 million users vs. the fraction of that number who use Foursquare. For now, though, this first version of Places is only being rolled out in the U.S., and Foursquare updates (as well as a few other services) will be integrated into Facebook Places.
Places can be accessed through Facebook’s most recent iPhone app or via touch.facebook.com on a smart phone. Users can add places or check into places that already exist, check in by themselves or as a group by tagging friends, see which of their friends are in the same area and discover what places are around them.
Facebook posted this beautiful video to show how Places can improve our lives -
For marketers of companies with physical locations, it definitely presents a new engagement opportunity, allowing for targeted interaction with consumers right outside – or inside – their door. For example, companies can send coupons and special offers to consumers who check in at or around a store, restaurant or theater, enticing them to make an immediate purchase. Once a location has been added to Places, the business owner can claim its location’s page.
From a user standpoint, it will be interesting to see how people – including myself – feel about these added updates that will pop up on the Facebook newsfeed (the check-ins will also show up on the user’s profile and the location’s page). If you already don’t care about half of what is posted on your newsfeed, you may not be interested in the fact that your friend Joe just checked in at Starbucks in Kansas City. On the flip side, you may find out that your friend Mary, whom you haven’t seen since college, is at a store right down the street from you – prompting a spontaneously delightful reunion.
As always, it will be interesting to see where this latest social networking tool takes us…
There are a few key things that scream summer to me – baseball games, the smell of boat gas, constantly crowded beer gardens and the sound of Tim Allen’s voice.
For the past few years, every time one of his radio spots or TV commercials for the “Pure Michigan” campaign comes on, I don’t change the station or fast forward – I listen and fight the urge to jump in the car and head to the “19 million acre playground” he’s inviting me to (a magical place where I can realize water’s true potential, find out what pure feels like and smooth out the ripples of the day).
A few friends and I followed Tim’s advice and headed up to Michigan for a weekend last year, and we had an awesome time there.So now I know he’s not lying, and it makes the commercials even harder to resist.
Obviously I’m not the only fan – the campaign has received numerous awards and attracted millions of visitors. Kudos to the Birmingham, Michigan office of McCann Erickson for developing the strategy and creative on the Pure Michigan campaign.
Keep ‘em coming, Tim the Tool Man.
It’s hard to pick, but here’s one of my favorites:
This post is dedicated to Ashley Wood, born and raised in Pure Michigan.
Like many people in Chicago, the only thing that gets me through the seemingly endless, brutal winter is knowing that someday – although we’re never sure exactly when – the temperature will rise above freezing and eventually it will be summer once again.That’s enough to keep me here, because summer in Chicago is that awesome – street festivals, beer gardens, the beach, biking and running on the lakefront…all of these and more somehow make the six months of winter bearable – or at least survivable.
And even though I dread and despise the winter, I almost think the cold weather itself is crucial to my survival here too.There are so many fun things going on during the warmer months, by the time winter rolls around, a small part of me is relieved.Reuniting with my couch for lazy Saturday afternoons, getting together with friends for cozy game nights, going bowling and seeing movies…while none of these are as exciting as the wealth of activities summer has to offer, they do bring a somewhat welcome change and a chance to slow things down for a bit before the summer fun inevitably begins again.
That said, I’ve always considered these harsh winter months here to be a time of “chibernation” for me.Even though I’m guessing that the term makes sense to anyone who has experienced a Chicago winter, I decided to check out what expert information Wikipedia has to offer about both hibernationand Chicago to see if it would help me bridge the two for this post:
·Hibernation is a time of inactivity. Some animals hibernate, usually during the winter, when food is short. They fall into a sleep-like state, regulating their metabolism to consume less energy. They lower their body temperature, slow their breathing, and slow other vital functions. During hibernation, the body uses fat for energy, which the animal has typically gathered in summer and autumn. Typical animals that hibernate are bats, ground squirrels (like marmots), hedgehogs, and marsupials.
·Chicagohas a very well-known culture. Some of the many things Chicago is famous for are: Chicago-style hot dogs, Chicago-style (deep dish) pizza, Maxwell Street Polish Sausage, jazz music, and 1920s gangsters like Al Capone.
Considering three of the five cultural highlights Wikipedia cites for Chicago are food, I suppose chibernation is slightly different than regular hibernation in that there’s certainly not a lack of food around these parts…so basically, it’s just a time of inactivity.But I still think that about sums it up.
And, finally, to back the credibility of my source, I give you Michael Scott:
The other day on my way to work I saw the most amusing sales pitch from a homeless person. Standing on a corner downtown with his change cup between his feet, his sign read:
“Girlfriend kidnapped by Ninjas. Need money for ransom and Kung Fu lessons.”
It’s been a few days now, and I still remember his awesome sign. If I pass him again, I might even have to donate a dollar or two to the “cause” just for his creativity.
Clever marketing…I hope it works out for him!
Has anyone else seen any memorable “marketing” in odd places recently? I’m sure it’s everywhere…
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…
A branding and integrated marketing agency, MSI offers brand strategies, packaging, merchandising, public relations, advertising, social media, sales promotion and interactive.
