Filed under: Abraham Harrison LLC, Authenticity, Brand, Brand Advocacy, Brand Promotion, Branded Entertainment, Branding, Branding Online, Conversation Marketing, Internet Strategy, New Media Marketing, Online Brand Promotion, Online Branding, Social Meda, Social Media Marketing, Social Media PR, Viral Advertising, Viral Marketing, YouTube, YouTube Marketing

I’m going to go against the orthodoxy of my fellow social media practitioners. I’m going to commit heresy. I’m going upset the apple cart of the proverbial echo chamber.

The new 2008 version of Where the Hell is Matt YouTube video isn’t going to live up to it’s intended purpose. It will be something that many of us will talk about, blog about, pontificate about. Then it will go away.

Here’s the video if you haven’t watched it:

The reason this campaign will not live up to hype is because it is a direct example as to how social media fails to act as a promotional vehicle. Viral, yes. Promotional, not so much. Sure, some aspects of it may make us feel good…but so what? The object of marketing is to enhance a brand, sustain longterm sales growth, and create profit. I doubt this will really do a great deal for much of the above.Sure, it may result in sales increases for the sponsoring company, Stride Gum. But that’s only if sales right now are very low. They’ll get some good press. But unless they piggyback on it in a couple of months, it will be a social media version of a one hint wonder.We’ll all love the concept. We’ll be inspired by it. The sense of this one guy dancing away throughout the world with citizens of all these countries. We’ll be amazed.

But that’s it.

Read more…

9 Comments » Posted on July 14th, 2008 by Jonathan Trenn

Filed under: Aggregation, Blowback, Brand Promotion, Brand Protection, Case Studies, Citizen Generated Media, Content Filtering, Content Management Solution, Content Management System, Controversial Marketing, Copyright Issue, Copywriting, Corporate Responsibility, Crisis Management, Google, Google YouTube, Honesty, Information Technology, Integrity, Intellectual Property, Internet Culture, Internet Strategy, Legal Issues, New Media Strategy, New Technology, Online Brand Protection, Peer-to-Peer, Technology, Television, Video Over IP, Viral Advertising, Viral Marketing, Viral Media, Viral Propagation, Viral Videos, Web Strategy, YouTube, YouTube Marketing

The current legal battle between Viacom and Google/YouTube is going to have significant ramifications beyond today’s headlines.  It’s getting surprisingly little play amongst much of the social media digerati, but it’s something we all need to be aware of.

The lawsuit and the proceedings around it are truly a sign of the times.  It’s a direct outgrowth of what we’ve been emerging via the internet over the past several years.  Sites such as YouTube have essentially become free communicative vehicles to not only view, but  share and alter video productions of all types.  The concept of “share” is important because most of us use it.  But in reality, it is a nice way of saying “distribute”.  And from distribute comes distribution - a fundamental with tremendous legal ramifications.

Alter is a tough one too.  The “mash-ups” that many in social media and digital marketing talk of enthusiastically can be as problematic.  As, I guess, it should be.  At least in some cases.  An artist creates an original piece of work.  Then distributes it, usually netting some sort of financial gain.  Others take it, and now because of new tools can alter it and redistribute it.  Many times this new process leads to lost potential revenue for the original artist. Read more…

2 Comments » Posted on July 11th, 2008 by Jonathan Trenn

Filed under: Environmentalism, Facebook, Hearts and Minds, Industry Reputation, Influence, Microblogging, MySpace, National Security, New Media Strategy, New PR, Online Communities, Online Community Outreach, Online Evangelism, Online Outreach, Online Participation, PR Tactics, Popular Culture, Propaganda, Propaganda Warfare, Public Affairs, Public Affairs Blogging, Public Relations, Public Space, Social Meda, Social Media Marketing, Social Media News Release, Stealth Marketing, Twitter, Viral Marketing, Viral PR, YouTube, YouTube Marketing, presidential election

T. Boone Picken’s, Texas oil man, 1980’s corporate raider and current manager of BP Capital Management has something new up his sleave. And it features an internet strategy.

In 1997, he shifted his focus to natural gas. and 10 years later, in 2007, on wind energy. He formed Mesa Power LP in west central Texas and is constructing what will likely be the world’s largest wind farm. The project will feature thousands of wind turbines and cost hundreds of millions of dollars. This follows his belief that natural gas remains the best alternative to oil for motor vehicle fuel. That’s why he formed Pickens Fuel Corp eleven years ago.

Now, with $4 a gallon gas prices, he’s funding a public affairs effort to help us cut out oil as a our primary fuel for transportation, substitute it with natural gas, and then substitute the use of gas for other types of energy needs with, you guessed it, wind energy.

Today, he’s launched an online public affairs effort to convince Americans to look to natural gas and wind as proper alternatives. He points out that we currently import 70% of our oil - up from 24% in 1970. What’s new about his effort, is that much of it is bein launched online.

He’s got a YouTube channel.
They’ve got a page on Twitter.
A fan page on Facebook.
And a page on Mypace.

They even have an online community that they’re building.

Pretty neat concept. I’ll be following this campaign to see how effectively they use social media.

No Comments » Posted on July 8th, 2008 by Jonathan Trenn

Filed under: Jennifer Laycock, Viral Advertising, Viral Marketing, Viral Media, Viral PR, Viral Propagation, Viral Videos, Word-of-Mouth, Word-of-Mouth Marketing

I have been trying to record some of the sessions at PodCampOhio but since my lovely Nokia N95 8GB isn’t working with 3G (thanks, AT&T 3G for breaking on me), I have been doing my best using Qik with EDGE, which sucks. The good news is that I was able to record quite a little bit of Jennifer Laycock’s session on how to get your podcast to go viral and how to do online promotion and blogger outreach. Jennifer is a guru and an expert and I am damned glad to know her! The session below was called “Orchestrating a Viral Explosion.”

Unfortunately, I only recorded six-minutes of the session… From the session notes:

Everyone wants the benefits of a viral campaign, but few people really understand how to put the pieces together to create the best chance for success. Find out the most common mistakes companies make when aiming to go viral and how a little bit of brainstorming can set you up for success. Jennifer Laycock will walk you through the actual brainstorming process she uses with clients to help you gather information needed to put things together. She’ll also help you learn to identify “key influencers” within your industry and will offer concrete tips on the best way to approach them with your campaign.

Via Chris Abraham

No Comments » Posted on June 30th, 2008 by Chris Abraham

Filed under: Abraham Harrison, Abraham Harrison LLC, Chris Abraham, Extreme Publicity, Facebook, Facebook Application, Facebook Apps, Facebook Contest, Facebook Game, Facebook Social Ads, Life Changing Box, LifeChangingBox, LiveChangingBox.com, Lowe New York, Lowe Worldwide, Viral Marketing, Viral PR, Word-of-Mouth, Word-of-Mouth Marketing

One great thing about owning a Social Media PR firm is that I get to do cool stuff. Another great thing is that I can bogart some of the stuff. Well, I am number-one box of the Life Changing Box, which you can see over on my Facebook Profile! (Please feel free to add me) I will be holding onto the box for a full eight hours today, so feel free to “touch my box.” You know you want to — and you don’t have to go “through” me — feel free to just join up yourself directly! I have a feeling that you can add the app to your Facebook Pages as well — check it out! Via Chris Abraham.

Read more…

No Comments » Posted on June 12th, 2008 by Chris Abraham

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