Brands have rushed to Facebook to build fan bases, with some amassing millions of connections. The nagging question has been: What is the monetary value of these fans?
Social media specialist Vitrue, which aids brands in building their customer bases on social networks, tried to put a media value on such communities.
The firm has determined that, on average, a fan base of 1 million translates into at least $3.6 million in equivalent media over a year.
In a move it’s safe to say no one saw coming, Conan O’Brien has found a new home on basic cable, signing a deal to host a one-hour late-night talk show on TBS.
O’Brien’s as-yet-untitled 11 p.m. show will bow on the Turner network in November, shifting Lopez Tonight to the midnight slot.
Yahoo News has partnered with the production firm Reveille and embattled automaker Toyota to launch a new daily Web series — Who Knew? — that will expound on the site’s most popular news story of a given day.
Who Knew? is aimed at providing a mainstream Web audience with snack-sized features on lesser known aspects of whatever topics are making news at that moment (Yahoo officials claimed that Yahoo News reaches 21 percent of the online audience). For example, today the show examined the Shroud of Turin, which was recently displayed in Italy for the first time in 10 years. Each episode runs 90 seconds.
The average person on Facebook has 130 friends, but most of them aren’t really “friends” at all.
That’s the premise of a campaign from Microsoft that introduces its Kin phone, which is pitched as a device designed specifically “for people who are actively navigating their social lives.” Kin, a long-awaited, touch-screen mobile device that was code-named “Pink,” was based on feedback from more than 50,000 consumers in the target 20-something age range. Like some other devices, notably Motorola’s Cliq TX with Motoblur, Kin pools several social media streams including Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and Windows Live. But unlike Blur, Kin lets consumers program their phone so their closest friends’ updates rise to the top, a feature Microsoft calls The Loop.
Back in August 2006, The Oxford English Dictionary updated its definitive record of the language with a new entry, adding “Google” as a verb, meaning to search the Internet. That put the firm in the exalted company of brands like Xerox, FedEx and TiVo, which also gave their names to the actions they invented.
Producer Mark Burnett and Video In My Backyard (Vimby) have formed a partnership to develop branded content in the digital space.
The new co-venture, as yet unnamed, will work with media companies and advertisers to implement “cost-effective branded solutions” that will be geared toward targeted demographic groups such as mothers, millennials, the environmentally conscious and health/wellness aficionados, among others.
Domino’s Pizza is going to great lengths to promote its reformulated recipe. The chain this week kicked off the next phase of its “Oh yes we did” campaign, and it’s asking consumers to help spread the word.
“We’re really confident that if people will try our new pizza, they will like it, and they’ll even recommend it to their friends,” said Domino’s CMO Russell Weiner.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs once famously said mobile advertising “sucks.” Now, he’s out to change that with the introduction of an ad network called iAd.
Apple, which bought mobile ad network Quattro Wireless for $250 million in January, plans to offer iAd to application developers. The ads will differ from many standard mobile banners because tapping on them won’t cause users to leave the applications. Instead, brands can provide various interactive elements in displays that pop up over the application pages.
The media recession is over — at least for Google.
The Web giant plans to hire over 500 staffers, according to officials, as it looks to continue its momentum in the search business while deepening its strength in burgeoning segments like display advertising, mobile and video.
Rumors began swirling around the iPad, long before its official late-February announcement. Since that time, the world has basically divided into two camps: those who think the new tablet will change the world, and those who believe it’s little more than an oversized iPhone.
Somewhere, Grimace is blinking his eyes, shedding a hairy, purple tear or two.
That’s because last week, a consumer watchdog group hit media pay dirt by demanding the retirement of Ronald McDonald. (Actually, for a group trying to deep-fry a clown, the organization bears the cartoonishly generic name of Corporate Accountability International. CAI? Sounds like a CIA cover.)
“Feel the Love” made sense on a number of levels, but first and foremost because of our proprietary Croslite technology — the soft, cushiony, foot-loving material in every pair of Crocs. This technology is what sets our shoes apart from any other in the casual footwear market. We make shoes that love you back, and people are passionate about our footwear because of this.
Advertising, Adweek http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1227613352http://www.brightcove.com/channel.jsp?channel=1126101268
Home Depot’s recent shift of Hispanic market creative duties to a unit of longtime general market shop The Richards Group is a classic example of client business consolidation. But that fact alone doesn’t explain the pointed reaction from the Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies.
The Apple iPad is now launched and even before the applause dies it will be confronted by a crowd of competitors: other PC makers moving in from one side and e-reader makers from the other.
The competition, we should hope, will be as spirited as in the early days of the personal computer; potentially, the implications of this new class of devices will be nearly as profound.
via Rewriting the Book.
A father at an aquarium reaches into the tank, carves out a block of water full of manta rays and fish and brings it home, placing it into a Samsung television set in his living room. When he and his family don 3-D glasses and settle onto the sofa, the sea life swims out of the TV toward them. “Ever wonder how amazing it would be to experience life in another dimension?” asks the voiceover.
Jason Uzarraga 