Archive for January, 2010

Dockers has found a new use for a popular music identifying technology.

The technology, Shazam, was developed for smartphones to let users identify music by simply pointing their handheld in the direction of the music and clicking the “tag now” button. The technology recognizes the music and opens a Shazam landing page that identifies the song and artist, and offers other information, like where to buy the song and musical recommendations.

Dockers may just be one of the first brands to use the technology as a means to market to consumers, driving viewers of its Super Bowl ad, “Men Without Pants” to a splash page it created. During the ad, the song, “I Wear No Pants,” is sung. People who tag the song will be directed to Dockers content that includes information about its new campaign to drive sales of men’s khakis, learn about its products, purchase the “I Wear No Pants” soundtrack or enter a contest.

Read more at bigfatmarketingblog.com

Digitas New York’s 2009 Holiday e-card, “Let’s Get Flurrious” is not only a fun interactive snowflake creator, but also the winner of a Dope Flash Website Award!

Anyone can visit the site to check out the array of design tools to make unique snowflakes (you know the saying, no two snowflakes are alike). If you weren’t privileged enough to drive to work in the snowstorm this morning, you can click “Let it snow” to watch your snowflake come swirling down with everyone else’s creations.

And best of all, Digitas promises to donate $1 to UNICEF for each snowflake created and shared with a friend. No word on when this offer ends, so get creating at flurrious.com!

Source: Zoomdoggle

Lawn-care manufacturer the Scotts Company has announced a deal to start licensing the grass seeds and blends used in some of the most iconic baseball parks in the country, allowing homeowners to put a piece of Fenway or Wrigley in their backyards—without vandalizing the outfields of those famous stadiums.

Announced last week, the multi-year relationship with Major League Baseball Properties (MLBP) designates Scotts as the “Official Lawn Care Company of Major League Baseball” and extends beyond the license deals to sponsorship, national MLB-themed advertising, and partnerships with local MLB clubs.

Five MLB franchises will put their names on the first batch of Scotts “Grounds Keepers Select” grass seed  mixes, available at retail in March—in time for baseball’s Opening Day. Under those arrangements, Scotts will market blends in conjunction with Fenway Park, Wrigley Field, the Cincinnati Reds’ Great American Ballpark, the Philadelphia Phillies’ Citizens Bank Park and the St. Louis Cardinals’ Busch Stadium.

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Apple held a press conference and media event to announce the launch of it’s much-hyped new tablet, the iPad. Prices range from $499 to $829 (depending on hard drive size and WiFi/3G connectivity).

Notable features include capabilities to use all iPhone/iPod Touch apps, USB syncing, enhanced music browsing, PDF-viewing, and an iPhone-like “Home” screen rather than desktop/dock.

Notable MISSING features include a camera (front-facing or otherwise), Flash capabilities, and any CD/DVD drives.

Initial consumer feedback isn’t overwhelmingly positive; many (myself included) were expecting something a lot closer to the MacBook in functionality. Perhaps there will be a desire for developers to create apps exclusively for the iPad, but as of now it is mostly an oversized iPhone… without the phone.

Source: MacRumors

NYC & Company, the city’s marketing arm, will promote NYC Restaurant Week (Jan. 25 to Feb. 7) with a little red truck. Trucks serving coffee, waffles, and ice cream have become a micro-trend in New York (arguably started by the Mud Truck, which now has at least one brick and mortar café).

The Restaurant Week truck will be serving soup, though. Bearing the NYC Restaurant Week logo, Web address and the “Get Lunch on the Go” message, it will be parked during lunch at: Broadway and 50th Street between Jan. 25 and 29; 5th Avenue and 18th Street on Feb. 1 and 3; and Greenwich Street between Warren and Murray on Feb. 4 and 5.

The truck will serve soups from places like Delmonico’s, Chez Josephine, the “21″ Club and Le Cirque for $6. One dollar from each sale will be donated to The Haiti Relief Fund at the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City.

Print ads in publications like New York Magazine, TimeOutNY, New York Observer, Metro, Village Voice, and the New York Post support. There will also be a full-page spread in the New York Times; online on the Gothamist, Menupages, Citysearch, New York Magazine and others, plus out of home.

Source: Marketing Daily

In 2009, shoppers redeemed 3.3 billion consumer packaged goods coupons, a whopping 27% increase over the 2.6 billion redeemed in 2008.

Marketers in turn, invested heavily in coupons, boosting the number available to the highest level in over 30 years. Brands issued 367 billion coupons, at an average face value of $1.44, indicating that they were committed to promotions in 2009, Inmar said.

The use of online coupons contributed to the rise in both distribution and redemption, with Internet distribution up 92% and consumer redemption of these coupons up over 360%.

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Due to all the Throwback tweets, Facebook fan pages, videos, blog posts, pics & pleas, Pepsi Throwback is back for a limited time only! From December 28, 2009 to February 22, 2010, Pepsi and Mountain Dew Throwback will be available again with the same formula and real sugar, but this time with an even more rad vintage look!

Visit www.pepsithrowbackhub.com to get the 411, download neato throwback wallpaper for your social networks, and more! Also visit Mountain Dew\’s Facebook Page for throwback challenges and win.

Source: www.pepsithrowbackhub.com

Kraft is sponsoring the implosion of the famed Texas Stadium — now slated for April 11 — as it looks to plug a new version of its Mac & Cheese brand.

With the Dallas Cowboys having vacated the historic venue, the Irving, Texas city council has a $150,000 arrangement with Kraft for naming rights on the stadium’s destruction.

Companies have placed their names on stadiums for years, such as the American Airlines Center in nearby Dallas, but this is believed to be a first time for an implosion.

Irving is not profiting from the agreement directly. Kraft is donating $75,000 to local charities, as well as various products valued at the same figure to local nonprofits.

Kraft is branding the process a “Cheddar Explosion” with an essay contest to select a young person to press the button.

Source: www.MediaPost.com

Cottonelle wants to know, America: Should the toilet paper go over the roll or under?

The Thunderdome for this great debate is a Web site, http://www.cottonellerollpoll.com/, that lets visitors cast their vote and then offers a surprisingly full-featured look at how the voting is going both state by state and nationwide. The site also offers video clips assembled by street teams and user comments collected, 140 characters at a time, from an app within the site itself and posted by state.

The national vote is currently running 73% to 27% in favor of the Over faction. Most of the state races are about equally slanted in favor of the front-loading technique. The exceptions, as far as my research took me, are California (68% underhanded, as of last night) and Connecticut, where 60% of voters favor the back side—so to speak.

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The New York Times announced today that it will be introducing a paid model for NYTimes.com at the beginning of 2011.

The new approach, referred to as the metered model, will offer users free access to a set number of articles per month and then charge users once they exceed that number. This will enable NYTimes.com to create a second revenue stream and preserve its robust advertising business. It will also provide the necessary flexibility to keep an appropriate ratio between free and paid content and stay connected to a search-driven Web.

Through 2010, NYTimes.com will be building a new online infrastructure designed to provide consumers with a frictionless experience across multiple platforms. Once the metered model is implemented, New York Times home delivery print subscribers will continue to have free access to NYTimes.com.

Read the rest of the article at BussinessWire.com