Archive of the 'Promo Trends' Category

Marketers may find themselves in the regulatory crosshairs if the economy experiences a sustained downturn, as state and federal regulators may look to replace lost tax revenue by getting more aggressive about enforcing laws in areas like truth in advertising and “green” claims.

That was the message delivered by a panel of marketing attorneys to the Promotional Marketing Association’s 2008 Integrated Marketing conference in Chicago early this month. more

If you’re still sweating midnight tonight as the deadline for filing your 2007 tax forms, this story may come a bit late. But tax preparer H&R Block has over the last two years amassed an impressive array of social media-based marketing, all designed to become top of mind with tortured souls wrestling with their 1040s.

Block’s social initiatives are designed to reinforce two brand messages, according to Paula Drum, the company’s vice president of marketing for digital tax solutions: to reinforce the company’s overall expertise, and to announce its specific Web-based competence. more

Qtopia

Quicken Loans may be known as the nation’s largest home mortgage lender, but last month the Livonia MI-based financial services company stretched its town-building muscles, constructing a library, newsstand, café, shopping mall and sports arena. All online and all virtual, of course—but still, a big game-changing step toward constructing community around a finance brand.

Qtopia is designed to provide current Quicken customers with an engaging way to access financial planning tools and content, get tips and assistance in selling or renovating their homes, connect with both Quicken agents and with each other for money advice, and oh yes, enter some instant-win and weekly sweepstakes drawings. more

Red Bull’s Tahitian wave shoot

Web marketers and developers talk glibly about offering site visitors an “immersive” experience. Quite often, that simply means being able to see all four sides of a running shoe.

But when the creators of a new site from energy drink Red Bull talk about immersion, they’re speaking pretty darn close to literally—as in, being able to look up and see 20-foot Pacific waves curling over your head. more

TV camera people know two things: No visual is as dramatic as a burning building at night, and none is as appealing as a cold, foamy glass of beer.

But Pacifico Beer, a Mexican-brewed import whose U.S. sales have so far been held to the Western states, has decided that TV won’t play a part in its drive to reach a national market this year. Instead, the company will promote its brew with a Web site that plays up the adventure of exploring the unknown—and of unknown brands like pacific. more

In many of the areas of promotion the Internet has given rise to, being around for ten years qualifies you as a pioneer. If that‘s true, then Streetwise Concepts and & Culture is practically the Lewis and Clark of social marketing, mapping out the territory for those who came after.

The Los Angeles-based agency got its start more than 10 years ago when now-CEO David Benveniste hired on to promote and manage a new band, System of a Down. Realizing that their label in 1998, Columbia, wasn’t planning to support the band’s first album with as much marketing or airplay as he thought advisable, Benveniste logged onto that new Internet thing. He began visiting chat rooms where young people got together to talk about music and asking members what bands they listened to. more

Pepsi is one of the world’s most widely recognized global brands. Now it’s linking to one of the world’s favorite sports with a social network that lets members find out which of five major soccer stars most closely fit their personality type.

The site, www.pepsiyouniverse.com, is built on a networking platform from London-based Imagini Holdings, and one of its most interesting features is that it asks registered members to categorize themselves using pictures rather than text descriptions. Visitors answer questions such as “What do you like best about soccer?” by choosing one of 12 photos that show teammates working together, fans rooting in the stands, some tricky ball handling, and so on. more

Sony PSP3, Nintendo Wii and the Xbox 360 may get all the ink in the business press, but when it comes down to choosing where to place in-game advertising for the next four years, most marketers are going to turn to the browser, not the box.

Web-based casual games rather than gee-whiz dedicated consoles will be where the action is in in-game advertising for the short term. That’s the basic finding of an analysis done by marketing research firm eMarketer and published earlier this month. more

A story in this week’s Hollywood Reporter announced that Pepsi will launch an original Webisode series sometime this summer promoting its Mountain Dew brand. And “in a twist”, as the report has it, viewers of the videos will be able to choose from diverging plot lines at various points in the story, fashioning a kind of “Choose Your Online Adventure”.

If so, it’s a twisting that another Web video series is also wringing mileage from. Tassimo, a hot beverage system marketed at retail by Kraft Foods, has launched a microsite www.WhoHiredBob.com, about the misadventures of a middle-management goof who spends more time doing less useful work around the office than anyone else. more

Let me pull back the curtain and admit that sometimes I get more interviews under my belt than I have print space for. As a result, I sometimes wind up talking to very interesting companies and then having to wait a good while to write about them.

Last July I spoke with Neil Perry, acting CEO of XLNTAds, a start-up that brings together companies that want online ad content and video makers looking for a creative challenge. The company was founded in early 2007, just as the trend in user-generated ads was beginning to build momentum thanks to mass-media exposure such as the Super Bowl Doritos TV spot. more