Flip Video has released a new campaign being featured in its latest commercials. And recently, celebrity videos have been incorporated as well including Andre Iguodala, Stephen Colbert, Tony Hawk, and Lenny Kravitz. This strategy reminds me a lot of Youtube and the philosophy that anyone can promote themselves online and be seen by the world. Flip has made traditional video recording seem effortless, simple, and fun! What do you think of this new promotion? Do you Flip?
Mashable recently featured ‘The Power Outlet of the Future’ with True Power’s new outlet containing built-in usb ports. Ever been on vacation and forgot your wall charger for your iPod? Well, with this new socket, you would be able to charge your electronics anywhere! It’s exciting to think of the possibilities that adding increased usb ports will bring, and to be honest, I’m surprised this hasn’t happened sooner. How many of you are interested in converting to this new invention?
I apologize for the lack of activity recently… life has been getting in the way. More posts coming soon!
The Twoddler is the latest toy to integrate with Twitter’s increasing popularity. “Twoddler is a prototype that has been created as part of a course on mobile and pervasive computing at Hasselt University, and was designed and implemented for the Innovative and Creative Applications (INCA) 2009 awards.” Their contest entry describes the product’s purpose as:
Parents have busy lives these days and often have to leave their young children at the nursery during the day. Twoddler allows toddlers to communicate their presence and activities to their parents and to their friends. They use an enhanced activity center that is connected to the Internet and to other activity centers (using Zigbee). Playing basically means twittering and being connected with others, even if you don’t know how to talk yet.
What do you think about this latest invention? With social media’s immense presence, I am anticipating many more attempts at product integration; however, it is our job to separate the winners from the useless. The main use of this new toy is for children to ‘communicate’ with their parents while they are separated. In a time where daycares are equipped with video cameras for parents to watch their children at work, I see huge market potential for a toy that fosters further connectedness. On the contrary, I also see this as another step towards over-protective parenting. If this product reaches the market, how do you think it will affect, if at all, the current parent-child dynamics?
Despite Microsoft backing out of their Windows 7 sponsorship on Family Guy, they have released these clips on their official youtube page:
What do you think of the skits Family Guy writers came up with? The product placement seems a little to obvious to me, and not in a satirical 30 Rock way. But at the same time, you gotta love Stewie….
Check out Ikea’s video above which shows them using the Facebook picture tagging feature in a unique way. I think this is a very creative contest and love that they are using capabilities Facebook already provides in new promotion tactics! Do you know of any other companies who have done similar things with social media? And do you think this contest was overall successful?
Aol’s traffic statistics above show the downward trend in number of page views throughout the past year. The have recently prepared to split from Time Warner, added lowercase letters to their logo, and launched this new re-branding campaign:
With users increasingly switching to other internet providers and other search engines, Aol seems to be desperately rebuilding their brand. When the internet first became popular, Aol was arguably one of the most popular internet providers and it seems they have failed to keep up with the times. What do you think of their new campaign? Do you think comparing themselves artsy images, skateboarders, and back flips will help drive consumer acquisition, OR is this tactic too little too late?
AT&T uses Luke Wilson to combat the popular ‘There’s a Map for That’ ads Verizon has been promoting. In the above commercials, they specifically target maps and are trying to prove that their coverage is in fact superior to Verizon’s. Below, Wilson explains an AT&T feature that Verizon lacks:
From an advertising perspective, I think these are both good examples of specifically competing with Verizon’s current campaign. I’m also impressed that they responded so quickly with these new advertisements (instead of waiting too long like PC did when Mac began its aggressive campaign). However, from a personal perspective, just because many people use AT&T does not mean that it is the best service and I also can’t think of a time when I have ever needed to talk on the phone and surf the web simultaneously…. so I’m not sure how important that feature is to begin with. What do you think of this new ads series? Does this change your opinion of AT&T? And is there anything you would change?
In the spirit of today’s game, I thought I’d share an old ESPN commercial. This video has become popular over the years as emphasizing the deep-seeded emotions & loyalty that come along with college football. I’m always a fan of an effective and humorous sports advertising campaign, enjoy:
Youtube Direct has launched as a “new tool that allows media organizations to request, review and rebroadcast YouTube clips directly from YouTube users.” This new portal is allowing for ordinary citizens to become news reporters and making it easier to share news worthy stories with official broadcasters. In my opinion, this is a much needed strategy move on Youtube’s part. Everyone loves watching the latest funny clips, but this new tool increases legitimacy and has the potential to revolutionize broadcasting. Are you interested in watching amateur clips? How do you think Youtube Direct will affect the news?
