Come Fly with Me

FRESH IDEA:  I love when “would it be great if we…” ideas actually come to life. And this is a great example in gaining press buzz.  Delta Airlines is the Official Carrier of the NY Rangers.  The Rangers are currently in the Stanley Cup playoffs with the NJ Devils.  Delta is offering a a free charter flight for select Rangers fans Saturday, May 19th.  The Delta flight departs from LaGuardia, NY for Newark, NJ at 10 a.m. And the flight is going to take all of 17 minutes total.  These fans will then be whisked to the next Rangers/Devils playoffs game in Newark via ground transport.  Indeed, there is a return trip back, too.  In order to qualify, you needed to have:  filled out a form online by yesterday; have tickets to Game 3; and qualify to fly with FAA regulations.  Winners are chosen first come, first served to fill the plane.  And there is an overlay to win two game tickets for next NY Rangers playing season.

Now, what I like about this program is that: it’s just fun PR…no payback, no sales bumps, just press buzz.  And what a great, once in a lifetime opportunity!  For a fan, this is excellent!  Particularly as the NJ Devils had a “no blue” campaign in place for keeping Rangers fans away from their home ice on Saturday.  Nice leverage of a partnership!

Hey, hope your weekend is equally as delightful and lightheartedly fun.  TASTY TREND:  Buzz Baby

Tweet & Save

FRESH IDEAS:  This is one of those executions that makes you say “Wow, how cool is that?!”  American Express is now linking card holder offers to Twitter.  Here’s how it works: As an Amex holder, synch your Twitter account to your American Express account (a one-time, easy process).  Then Tweet a specific hashtag to your Twitter followers.  Right now, there are hashtags for partner offers from Whole Foods, Best Buy, and Zappos.  As a reward, an offer is then loaded to the holder’s card so that when they make a purchase with the partner (Whole Foods, Best Buy, Zappos), they redeem the offer.  This is a natural extension of what Amex is already doing: rewarding card holders for Foursquare check-ins and Facebook Likes; and leveraging “social currency” among cardholders.  Personally, I am most impressed by the seamless of the transaction.  No need for codes.  No need to coupons.  Just “talk” about Amex partners using specific “language” (hashtags on Twitter) and get rewards loaded for you, ready to roll.  Nice!  See…you just said “How cool is that,” didn’t you?!  I knew you would.  TASTY TREND:  Socially Acceptable; Here and Now; Go Mobile

Leap It

CRUNCHY NUGGETS:  Happy Leap Day to you!  I’ve got the balloons out in the blog post to make it look festive –nice, right?!  Leave it to marketing folks to turn a unique, once-every-four-years day into a reason to talk about your brand.  I love it!  Here are some of the ideas I’ve seen.  I have not included the numerous free shipping and 29% off deals, nor the creative headlines and subject lines.  Rather, I’ve chosen to focus in on some of the more brand-activating and buzz worthy.  Feel free to save these ideas for the next go ’round in four years…

Many happy returns: Zappos — But anything on Zappos.com on Leap Day and get four years to decide if your merchandise is a keeper.  Zappos typically offers a one-year-365-day return policy, and they are known for excellence in customer service. So nice little PR, service-slant idea/offer.

Pah-leassse…just one more day: Disney — Disney Land and the Magic Kingdom are making families’ dreams come true by keeping the parks open for 24 hours — 6am today until 6am on March 1st.  It’s a nice, feel-good offer that clearly takes a uniquely timed day and makes it more magical.

Happybirthleapyearday:  Outback — With over 1.7 million Facebook fans, Outback has chosen to celebrate one of their fans’ birthdays today — her name is Jenn, she was born on Leap Day, and her picture is now up in their profile shot.  Become a fan of Outback and post a birthday wish to Jenn on the Outback page, and get entered to win one of four, once-a-month Outback celebrations for the next four years with Outback (i.e., until the next Leap Day).  Four years worth of free food once a month!  Nice means of positioning Outback as a monthly-let’s-celebrate destination for consumers.

You can google leap day offers and you’ll see the numerous codes and percentage savings and freebies (including free cookies at Subway, yay free cookies!).  Hope your day is leapin’ good!  TASTY TREND:  Brand Activators, Socially Acceptable

Be Creative

FRESH IDEA:  I can’t believe I haven’t shared this yet with you.  It’s a fun, worth-your-time web piece that a Tech company called Hitcents created.  They also turned it into a free iTunes app, and it’s now in the top 25.  What makes it nuggety to me:  1.  It’s guaranteed to make you smile, great user experience.  2. Wouldn’t you just love something a lot like this on your web site? Or for your brand? Or as your app to share?  and 3. The ending message serves to inspire.

Here goes…enjoy! http://www.drawastickman.com/

TASTY TREND:  Experiential Traditional

Social Takeover

CRUNCHY NUGGETS:  I got an email from Sharpie yesterday — love Sharpie markers.  And it told me about a YouTube homepage takeover planned for this Saturday, August 27th.  Basically, anyone, anywhere can submit (upload) a Sharpie-drawn image.  It can be anything…a doodle, a thought, a real drawing, anything.  So long as it was started with Sharpie — playing back their newest campaign (“Start with Sharpie” – ah ha!).  These images will then be streamed this Saturday on YouTube.  Again, anyone who submits gets posted.  You can also view submissions and give them stars, too.

Now, why is this so cool and crunchy?  Because it’s a first of its kind takeover from a brand.  And not only does it bring to life the new campaign, but it does so using its own fans and followers.  So whereas prior campaigns integrated celebs, this one is all about the real-life users.  No matter what your level of artistic skill…go ahead and try (or continue to use) our product, is what is being said.  Very nice invitational feel to drive trial and loyalty.  Very nice means of supporting a brand benefit of self-expression.  Love.  I think I need to draw a heart and submit it.  At the very least, go and check out the submissions.  They’re beyond drawings and into shoes and other creations.  They’ll make you smile.  TASTY TREND:  Here and Now; Socially Acceptable

Ah Romance

FRESH IDEAS:  One of my favorite, crunchy nugget-sharing friends passed this program along.  She said she was surprised and delighted when she found out what brand was sponsoring this effort.  It all starts at a web site:  patentyourkiss.com.  Here are the details — be sure to reapply your lip balm before reading:

Of course, Harlequin – With 60 years of delivering romance novels that all include kissing, “owning” a kiss is a natural for Harlequin.  And so the cornerstone of this program features their effort to get an actual US patten to “preserve the Essential Romantic Kiss.”  Literally, getting a patent for how to kiss.  It then moves on to engage consumers…

Submit, Explore, Determine – Consumers can create their own kisses, selecting and enhancing the participants (note, indeed – kisses do not discriminate out same-sex couples, but they do ask that you keep the interactions clean), naming the kiss, and then submitting it.  You can also get inspired by other kisses that have been shared.  And if your brain isn’t feeling the love, you can take a quiz to determine your best style kiss.  One winning kiss will be judged to be the best based on creativity, romantic quality, and originality, and will win a trip to Las Vegas. And if all this wasn’t enough…

Mushy and Crunchy – Harlequin also shares the results of a kiss-centered “Romance Report” survey (aww…you know how much I love free survey finds!).  Nuggets include tid bits like:  Only 10% of people would end a relationship over bad kissing abilities; and 1 in 3 women will kiss and tell if, indeed, they have a bad kisser in their midst.  And so on.

Yes, there is also a whole section dedicated to their books, with “Red Hot Reads,” and lots of e-Reader samples for free (note that romance novels are a big big seller in the e-reader world).

Again, thanks to Danielle P-M for sharing the love.  If you want to check out the site again, it’s http://patentyourkiss.com/Default.aspx  It’s a fun, make-you-smile, fully-integrated effort worthy of a few minutes of your time.  Nicely done, Harlequin!  TASTY TREND:  Traditional Experiential

A good idea? Bingo!

FRESH IDEA:  Who would have thought that I’d be blogging about OfficeMax beyond Elf Yourself?!  And applauding them for their use of new technology (again), and actually linking it to something office related?!  OfficeMax has just launched a Holiday Party Bingo game through Facebook.  The FB app lets you create an event, and then party go-ers can predict from among 12 categories, who is going to fulfill each of the different titles at the party.  Categories range from “Last Man Standing” to “Most Elftastic,” to “Appetizer King,” to the “World’s Wildest Dancer.” Based on these predictions, you can then create a bingo board.  Now, all of this is pretty fun…but wait!  It goes mobile!

Download an iPhone app (for free, you get the code on the FB app).  And then use your mobile to keep track at the party.  You can also take, tag, and share photos as part of the FB event, to confirm who did what (proof, i.e.!).  These photos can also be uploaded into a calendar for sale by OfficeMax (good for them for getting a sale!).  The calendar is, in their words, to “keep the holiday party laughter going year-round” (gotta love PR spin, right?!).

So…unlike Elf Yourself, this has lots more interaction time, social and mobile elements, more of a tie to “office,” and a possible purchase at the end.  Nicely done, OfficeMax!  *clap clap clap*  I am SO not any of those categories…maybe “The Wallflower,” hmm.  TASTY TREND:  Traditional Experiential; Go Mobile

QR Code Critic

CRUNCHY NUGGETS:  So I read an article on Monday from this past Sunday’s New York Times about QR Codes (see example in the image*).  It was about how 2D codes are being used now within TV spots.  The article talked about a recent ad for Bluefly, running on Bravo.  Use a bar code reader on your smart phone to snap the on-screen code during the commercial, and you’re privy to a $30 discount on a $150 purchase.   Pretty cool stuff.  And then later in the day, I browsed the latest issue In Style magazine and spotted a QR code in a boot ad.  Now, being a curious sort, I decided to get myself a code reading app on my Droid (check), and try it out (check!).  What happened next wasn’t just a cool touch point in a marketing campaign, but a transformation for me — turning me into a QR code critic!  Here’s why…The bar code brought me to the boot brand’s web site.  And not a mobile browser friendly version.  That was it.  OK sure, my inner brand girl says “but you’re giving the consumer more information beyond the ad.”  Yeah, but nothing beyond what I had seen in the ad, nor anything that prompted me to try/buy/opt-in/engage.  Nada.  A written out URL would have served the same purpose — only, I would have seen it more clearly on a bigger screen.

Now, I actually really like the idea of QR codes.  Sure there’s a learning curve among consumers to recognize and snap. And smart phones need to continue in growth.  But for now, QR codes seem like a pretty easy (and FREE FREE FREE – no cost to generate one, peeps) addition to a campaign that delivers another opportunity to interact with consumers or customers (B2B folks).  Deliver not just offers and info, but special tips, behind the scenes stuff, a free app — go on and reward consumers for their extra effort.  I’ve seen QR codes not only in ads (especially fashion magazines), but also on POP — specifically, Whole Foods’ window signs which house them in the lower corner.  So note to Whole Foods:  Look out! Next time I’m in store, I’m going snap and see what’s being delivered.  Hope it’s something good like savings or a free app!

Here is the NYT article’s URL if you need it:  http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/27/business/media/27bluefly.html?ref=media

And to close the loop on my asterisk (*) noted above…The QR code in this post, links you to Crunchy Marketing Nuggets — created for free, by me.  Not bad for a sorta-tech-but-not-really girl!  Luckily, Word Press has an app, so if you link from your smart phone to Word Press to the crunchy goodness, it shows up in a phone-friendly version.  Aw, thanks, Word Press!  TASTY TREND:  On the Go; Here and Now

Social Currency

FRESH IDEA:  I could easily create a sub-category of “Fresh Ideas” to include “Fresh Ideas…From Target.”  Once again, the retailer is seeing consumer behavior trends and delivering unique opportunities.  This time it’s in the form of a prepaid card for Facebook credits.  No other retailer is bringing the online social giant (500 million users, peeps) in-store.  Now, why is this so darn smart?  Oh, thanks for asking — nibble on these nuggets:

• According to USA Today and FB stats, more than 200 million people play free social games on Facebook each month.
• At least 19 games on Facebook have more than 10 million active users a month.
• The prepaid card allows gamers and app happy types to help pay for (initially) more than 150 social games and applications.
• And add to this the huge number of fans Target has on FB: more than 1.5 million!

Wow – so smart!  The card will be available in $15, $25, and $50 increments in the coming months.  Just in time for gift-giving-stocking-stuffer-season.  Virtual gifting and play facilitated in the real world.  Nicely done, once again, Target!  TASTY TREND:  Socially Acceptable; Playing Games

Real Time Marketing

FRESH IDEA:  If you weren’t paying attention to the marketing world this week, then you missed a really cool, incredibly unique social campaign.  So late Wednesday, one of my Creative Directors asked me if I had seen what Old Spice was doing and just how brilliant the thinking.  And sure enough, the next morning, the press was buzzing about it.  And by Thursday afternoon, it was all over.  In case you blinked or you were just really busy and missed it, here’s what happened…

• P&G’s Old Spice campaign spokesperson Isaiha Mustafa (aka the smooth, shirtless guy in the towel from the ads) turned tweets into real time, YouTube video responses.
• 100+ videos were shot, addressing everyone from celebs to brands to regular peeps, all whom had tweeted something to him or about him on Twitter.  The responses were custom created in direct response to the specific @address.
• Wieden + Kennedy was responsible for the fleeting spots;  Fast Company has an insider’s look interview with the creative team:  http://www.fastcompany.com/1670314/old-spice-youtube-videos-wieden

If you go to YouTube and look for Old Spice’s channel, you can watch all of the responses — they’re funny and well written and maintain the tone of the campaign:  http://www.youtube.com/user/oldspice?v=uLTIowBF0kE&feature=pyv&ad=5066079497&kw=old%20spice&gclid=CKnEhN7R8KICFRecnAodMxFHmw#p/c/484F058C3EAF7FA6

So very real time, so very powerful, so very clever.  Well done, P&G!  Hope your weekend finds you inspired.  Or maybe feeling as smooth as Isaiah.  TASTY TREND:  Real Time – Here and Now Marketing; Socially Acceptable