News Posts
Social media spotlight: McDonald’s Germany jumps on the crowdsourcing train and engages one in four Germans
May 14, 2012 by creative · Leave a Comment
As increasing numbers of major brands exhaust the basics of a social networking presence, more and more are turning to social crowdsourcing as an innovative way to engage their customer base. We’ve seen Nissan launch a comprehensive crowdsourced car-building campaign , American beer brand Sam Adams crowdsource a new draft beer via Facebook, and makeup maestros Bobbi Brown bring back old lipstick shade favorites based on crowdsourced feedback . Now, the universally-recognised McDonald’s is tapping into social crowdsourcing success, with its Germany-centric ‘ Mein Burger ’ (My Burger) campaign. Here, users built their own burger using a smart online application, choosing every detail from bread and sauces to meats and cheese. “We gave them the tools, they created the buzz,” says the accompanying review video , and create a buzz they did. After creating their dream burgers, users were encouraged to use the application’s poster, video and banner tools to generate noise about their tasty inventions and get votes from the German public. By the fifth week of the campaign, a burger was being created every 26 seconds (yep, even after five weeks), and 1.5 million people had voted for the burger they deemed worthy of the title of ‘McDonald’s First Crowdsourced Burger’. The winning burger – the Pretzelnator – is topped with ham, American and Italian cheese and comes in a pretzel-like bun, and is now being served in McDonald’s restaurants around Germany for a limited time. According to the video, the campaign not only reached one in four German online users, but one in four Germans overall, thanks to the hype generated within the traditional media, too
Why video is killing the old white paper for marketers seeking thought leadership prominence
May 14, 2012 by publisher · Leave a Comment
We’re on the tools beat again this morning. Last week we looked at a McKinsey survey of business executives who showed their growing fondness for social networking and, in particular, video sharing. Today, we look a bit deeper into the latter phenomenon to show just how companies are deploying video to position themselves. The study comes from the trade publication Chief Marketer (its findings were summarized in eMarketer ), saying that while email and a visible social media presence are now standard digital marketing tools, a new category to emerge on radar screens this year is video. SMI readers probably won’t be surprised by this finding. After all, as we reported last month, the ad revenues around social+video combined now represents a £443 million market in the UK alone. These two are the fastest growing segments of digital. Let’s take a closer look at how video is being deployed.
Free Ecards for Mother’s Day: Here’s Help [VIDEO]
May 13, 2012 by admin · Leave a Comment
It’s Mother’s Day, which means its time to buy Mom a card to tell her how great she is. If you forgot today was the big day — or waited until today to pick up a card — you’re not alone. Searches for free ecards ranked third on Google this morning, peaking around 9am – right about the time most people were getting their day started. While there are tons of sites out there that offer electronic cards you can send Mom’s way, finding a free e-card is a little more difficult. Popular card maker Hallmark , for instance, offers one card free , with all its other options requiring a subscription to send them. If you’re still in the market for a free card to send Mom, egreetings offers a few unique options. Yahoo and American Greetings are also offering a free option you can send Mom’s way. Nothing there seems appropriate? Here’s a bonus gallery with even more suggestions: 1.
Apple Drops 4G Branding From New iPad
May 13, 2012 by elegant · Leave a Comment
Apple is changing the way it’s marketing the iPad + 4G, dropping the 4G altogether and replacing it with the word “cellular.” The move comes after complaints from an Australian competition regulator. While Apple was marketing the tablet as “4G” in the country, it currently cannot connect to Australia’s 4G network or the 4G networks in other countries outside of North America. Due to that fact, regulators felt Apple was misleading Australian customers about the device’s possible data speeds. While much of the iPad’s website marketing — at least here in the U.S — still has the the 4G LTE designation, when it comes time to buy the tablet in the store, you’re now given the option to purchase just a “Wi-Fi” version, or a “Wi-Fi + Cellular” model. While the term “4G” does refer to the data speed a device can achieve, it simply means that it can connect to a 4th-generation data network faster than its 3G predecessor. In the U.S., many device manufacturers use the “4G” label on devices that are not capable of data speeds as fast as some of their 4G competition. SEE ALSO: What is 4G? An FAQ on Next Generation Wireless One example is Apple’s iPhone 4S on AT&T , which now has a 4G designation, although according to the International Telecommunications Union the network the iPhone specifically runs on (HSDPA) is not a fourth-generation network.
Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 Highlights Android’s Tablet Problem [REVIEW]
May 13, 2012 by admin · Leave a Comment
Is the large-size Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 a worthy iPad alternative? With its 10.1-inch screen, this is the Samsung tablet that competes most directly with Apple ‘s flagship “post PC” product. And with a price $100 cheaper than the entry-level iPad (for the same 16GB of storage), the $400 Tab is certainly a temptress for tablet buyers. In tablet society, though, Samsung and Android have a thinner pedigree than the iPad, and it shows in the Galaxy Tab 2 10.1. While the tablet will certainly please anyone who just wants a decent screen for checking out Netflix videos, the tablet falls short in many key features — notably, the screen. To be clear, the new Tab is a fine Android tablet. Running version 4.0 “Ice Cream Sandwich” out of the box on a dual-core 1GHz processor and sporting a 1,280 x 800 display, Samsung’s latest toy has a lot to brag about. But when you’re talking tablets, you simply can’t ignore the iOS elephant in the room. Any tablet up for sale doesn’t just have to convince buyers it’s worthy of their cash — it has to show why it’s more worthy than the iPad
The History of Social Recruiting Technology [INFOGRAPHIC]
May 13, 2012 by creative · Leave a Comment
Digital recruiting has certainly come a long way in such a short time. Since the dawn of the computerized job process, quick and simple strides have been made in recruiting that have ultimately produced a major impact on how employers find young talent with the right skills. Of course, it’s no secret that one of the biggest advances made in recruiting in the last 20 years has been the advent of social media. These networking platforms — LinkedIn being the most noteworthy — have altered the foundation of recruiting to allow for more efficiency, higher speed and better results. But why not introduce social media into other great tools of recruiting? This infographic, with research and art provided by Jobvite , not only chronicles the major leaps in recruiting since the ’90s but also shows how social media can be cleverly integrated for even more efficiency.
Google Doodle Offers Sweet Mother’s Day Surprise
May 13, 2012 by creative · Leave a Comment
Google’s done it again, creating a Google Doodle for Mother’s Day that’s touching enough to warm the cockles of even the hardest heart. There’s mom, the blue g, standing there all alone wearing her string of pearls and wondering if those two little ones, her brood depicted as the letter “o” in red and yellow, will remember to honor her on this special day. As you can see, she’s not disappointed, as they come running through the door with their tiny floral offering and heaping helpings of love, jumping into her arms and showering her with love and thanks for bringing them into this world. Makes me want to call my mom. Thanks, Google . By the way, see this little gem for yourself by going to Google.com , and here’s a little viewing hint: Ironically, the animation looks a whole lot cleaner in the Firefox browser than it does on Google’s own Chrome browser. Bonus: Of course, this is not the first animated Google Doodle — here are our favorites: The Christmas Google Doodle Each package gets larger with a mouse-over, and a click on it returns search results pertinent to a specific country or the particular items featured in a scene. This one is from December 24, 2010
Google May Be Close to Acquiring Meebo for $100 Million [REPORT]
May 12, 2012 by creative · Leave a Comment
Google is in discussions to acquire Meebo for as much as $100 million, sources have told the often-reliable AllThingsD . Meebo was founded in 2005 as a messaging app for the browser, a product that still exists as Meebo Messenger . The Mountain View, Calif.-based startup has since developed an expanding suite of social and mobile apps for consumers as well as publishers, each designed to enable online communication. Meebo raised $25 million in its last round of financing in 2010. The round was led by Khosla Ventures with participation from Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Sequoia Capital. The company has raised $62.5 million to date.
Samsung Galaxy S III: Is the Screen Its Achilles Heel?
May 12, 2012 by elegant · Leave a Comment
The Samsung Galaxy S III , due to arrive in the U.S. this summer, is the current hot Android phone of the moment. Anticipated for months and unveiled last week at a gala event in London, the latest model in Samsung’s Galaxy line of phones brings to the table many impressive features , including Siri -like voice control and auto-tagging of photos. However, the new superphone may have one weak spot: the display. Samsung decided to give the Galaxy S III a 4.8-inch PenTile display — what the company refers to as HD Super AMOLED. The relatively new display tech works differently than other types of screens, using individual pixels in novel ways to boost resolution. Here’s how it works: In a normal display, the individual pixels are made up of three sub-pixels — one each for red, green and blue (making them “RGB” displays). Those sub-pixels switch on and off depending on what color the pixel is tasked to display.
30,000 Dominoes Capture the History of Nintendo in 3 Minutes [VIDEO]
May 12, 2012 by admin · Leave a Comment
Nintendo has been in the gaming market for a long time. So long, in fact, you might think it would be impossible to encapsulate its many iconic characters in games in just three minutes. One young Nintendo fan was up for the challenge. Describing himself as a “professional domino-ist” on Reddit, the 15-year-old behind the video set up 30,000 dominoes of various sizes and colors, some game cartridges and a few accessories (like a tape measure) as a tribute to the Japanese game company and its various franchises — including Mario, Sonic and Zelda. The result is spellbinding. We particularly like the various structures that collapse slowly as dominoes from beneath are knocked over. Be sure to watch all the way till the end, where you’ll catch a slight blooper (?) as a few of the dominoes fail to fall. More About: Nintendo , viral videos , YouTube