Social Media

For eight years, NYC-based former “The Colbert Report” writer Peter Grosz (driver’s seat) and Chicago-based improv comedian T.J. Jagodowski (passenger’s seat), were best know as “those two guys” from the Sonic Drive-In spots. While noshing on fast food from the front seat of their car, the duo’s silly inane (and mostly improvised) slice-o-life conversation made unlikely stars of the pair. That is, until the two were “phased out” two years ago.

Since then, Sonic left indie Kansas-City, MO-based Barkley after a 17-year run to name GSP+P as the chain’s new AOR. Perhaps inspired by a drive-in serenade video that caught fire on YouTube last month with over 1.2 million views, Goodby decided to slowly re-introduce the brand’s longtime spokesdudes via social media. As Jeff Goodby told The New York Times in this gargantuan feature that ran this morning, the two guys “were put away a little too early because if they stayed around they really would have come into their own in the social media context.”

Over the last few weeks, Grosz and Jagodowski seemed to plead for their old jobs back via Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and a few “self-produced” videos posted to YouTube. Now, before we start declaring this a shoo-in for every social media award in adland, let’s look at the numbers: 158 followers on Twitter, 10,701 “Likes” on Facebook, nine connections on LinkedIn, and 3,100 views on their most popular YouTube video (excluding the video which is a direct response to the aforementioned drive-in “serenade” video).

Even if it’s not quite the social media sensation that some are making it out to be, at least it’s nice to see “those two guys” back in the saddle. Now, what happened to all of those other Sonic spokespeople? Credits and another video follow after the jump.

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Create a clear, strategic approach to the way you use Facebook to market your business in our new Facebook Marketing Boot Camp. The online conference and workshop starts April 24. Learn more.

Most of you are probably aware of the work of Innovative Thunder, aka a couple of blokes from R/GA NY who won a Cannes Cyber Lion Grand Prix for their “Pay With a Tweet” project. Well, the R/GA duo is back and has teamed up with a Brooklyn-based hip-hop/alt-rock crew called Riot !n Paris for a new side project separate from “the agency for the digital age” called “Track Me.” If you’re feeling lucky and are in the mood to stroke your ego even more, R!P is ready to record a track based solely on your social media persona.

To give it a go, check out this site, hit the “Track Me” button then wait and see if your social profile is deemed songworthy. And from what the parties involved, the track is yours forever so perhaps you’ll avoid and publishing tangles. To give you a clearer picture of the project, Innovative Thunder and Riot !N Paris have released some work as as examples based on the profiles of folks like comedian Aziz Ansari, SI model Kate Upton and photographer Terry Richardson.

 

It’s hard to believe that it’s already been over a year since Ted Williams, the homeless man with the “golden voice,” captured the collective heart of the internet. It’s also nice to see that CP+B and Kraft are still getting some mileage off of the Macaroni and Cheese spokesperson, including Williams in a Valentine’s Day social media campaign aptly titled “The Golden Voice of Love.” With Barry White and Issac Hayes both in the grave, could Williams ascend to the throne as America’s new voice of romance?

“The Golden Voice of Love” is basically the same exact thing as W+K’s award-winning “Responses” campaign for Old Spice. Tweets featuring the #voiceoflove hashtag will be eligible for a reading by Williams through Feb. 14, which will then be posted to Kraft Mac and Cheese’s YouTube page. The main distinction between “The Golden Voice of Love” and “Responses” is the former’s charitable twist. For each tweet featuring the #voiceoflove hashtag, Kraft will donate 100 boxes of Mac and Cheese (up to 100,000 total) to Feeding America, an organization that Williams says is “very near and dear to my heart.”

So, if Isaiah Mustafa ignored your tweets during “Responses,” here’s your second chance to get your social media witticisms read aloud by an Internet celebrity. And, this time around, your tweet is supporting a good cause. Learn more about Feeding America here.

Well, it probably won’t make up for yet another Patriots Super Bowl fumble, but perhaps regular Padma Lakshmi sightings could bring some folks in Boston a little cheer. Digitas is trying to lure Lakshmi, head judge Tom Colicchio and the rest of the gang from Bravo’s Top Chef to film their tenth season in Beantown via a social media campaign called “You Gotta Try Boston.”

As you’d expect, the Digitas effort includes a Facebook site (nearly 600 likes and counting) where visitors are (obviously) raving and posting photos/links about Boston’s restaurants, dishes and the like. Of course, Twitter also comes into play and Digitas is asking folks to tweet about what makes Boston the best with the hashtags #topchef and #yougottatryboston. If you’re so inclined to join in on the conversation, go here.

Speaking to the site called, yes, Wicked Local, Digitas ECD Rob Rizzo says that the campaign idea was hatched a couple of weeks ago and regardless of the outcome, he hopes that some of the smaller, low-profile restaurants around town gain notice. We’re big fans of Top Chef, but to be honest, we’re not willing to go all in on a Boston season next year.

The CP+B-aided reinvention of Domino’s continues as the pizza chain is heralding the launch of its new Facebook platform called Think Oven, which serves as both a suggestion box (or “Idea Box” as they’re calling it) and an outlet for Domino’s to dish out projects for its consumer base to take part in.

First up to bat on the Think Oven project list? New uniforms. Yes, it appears that Domino’s is looking to update the ol’ blue and red-based outfits and is looking for your best ideas. The two best visual and written submissions will each win a cool $500, so why not channel your inner Project Runway designer. If you need a prettier explanation of what Think Oven is, see visual presentation above. Deadline for the uniform project, by the way, is March 4. In conjunction with the Facebook launch, Domino’s has also rolled out a new TV spot that tells the tale of how the brand’s new Parmesan Bread Bites came to be. Hint: The product idea wasn’t hatched at corporate HQ. Check it after the jump.

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Our Super Bowl-related submissions continue to roll in, and today, we hear from Mr. Youth VP of marketing Christian Borges, who discusses his love for the game, ad meters and more.

I love Super Bowl Sunday. Especially when the #Giants are in it, but I digress. For me, it’s a day chock-full of friends, family, chips, dips, wings, beer, gambling and #smacktalk galore. It’s an opportunity to gather around the TV to watch what is arguably the single greatest sporting event of the year. Hard to believe that just 28 years ago, on January 22, 1984, more than 90 million people watched when Apple famously launched the Mac with a $1.5m, 30-second commercial that ran during TV’s biggest event, the Super Bowl.  Today you’d be hard-pressed to find anybody worth their salt who wouldn’t agree with the sentiment that when Ridley Scott created Apple’s iconic “1984,” it effectively changed not just advertising, but the Super Bowl viewing experience.

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You might remember Miami Ad School alum Charli Hoffman as the better or worse half of that hire us or we’ll get married pair from months past. Now, the young lady is telling us how to “Spotify your status” as you can see from the clip above. Frankly, I’ve hated Spotify since the mandatory Facebook integration, so it makes yours truly glad to be grandfathered in before such things were necessary. Anyhow, those of you willing to be more social media-savvy can get a gander at what she’s talking about above.

Our Super Bowl-related submissions continue to roll in, and today, we veer from the party scene to the social one as Brian Cavoli, an MPG/Carat alum who currently serves as director of marketing at WOM shop BzzAgent, discusses social media measurement come game time.

Social media gets a lot of attention this time of year. Early in January, every social media guru shares predictions for the year about what’s ahead for Google+, Facebook and the next great social sensation. Now at the end of the month, Super Bowl advertisers take over with talk about video contests, ad hashtags and Facebook games to extend the life of their message beyond their 30 seconds of glory in the big game.

30 seconds during the Super Bowl goes by fast and it can be easy to miss. Especially if nature calls, or if a chipful of con queso dip spills on your friend’s new sofa (sorry Steve). Advertisers need to make sure their 30 seconds are memorable. But being memorable is hard. Looking at Nielsen’s Top 10 most-recalled Super Bowl ads for each of the last four years shows just how little people remember.  Just four companies – Doritos, Budweiser, GoDaddy and Pepsi – made up 75 percent of the memorable ads during this period. That’s tough competition, kinda like the New England Patriots of advertisers.

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Super Bowl: The only day in America where TV viewers actually want to watch commercials. This year’s NFL championship, pitting the New York Giants against the New England Patriots, is in a sense a “rematch” of the 2008 edition of the big game. Due to this unfortunate match-up (blame Billy Cundiff and Kyle Williams for their failures), it’s possible that TV ratings could actually be lower than last year’s game. This would clearly be a total bummer for advertisers who spent $3.5 million for a 30-second spot. But, on the bright side, maybe people will be talking more about the ads than the actual game at the water cooler the next day, right?

Of course, the veritable “water cooler” has evolved in the digital age. The folks at Venables Bell & Partners have decided to provide a handy infographic that maps the who, where and how of post-game advertising conversation. Out of the bevy of stats they’ve given us, a few stand out. For example, “Almost one in five (19%) Americans searched for ads before the game in 2011, about double (11%) who did in 2010. Of that group, 48% searched for ads on Facebook, putting the site just ahead of popular video sharing site YouTube, brand sites, and media sources as the lead destination to find ads.” In other words, Facebook is becoming a more popular video search engine than YouTube, a fact than is no doubt pissing off the powers that be at Google.

Also, “Americans are almost as likely to ‘like’ a brand on Facebook that advertises during the Super Bowl (20%) as they are to ‘like’ a team (29%), with 23% of young adults likely to ‘like’ a brand.” Not a bad way to measure social media ROI compared to TV ROI, is it? Well, at least it’s somewhat “believable.” Check out a full-size image after the jump.

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Ahh yes, let’s cue the blurry dream sequence and shimmering music to reveal a new social media-related infographic from The Barbarian Group, which is giving us the reminder that it seems like only yesterday…or three weeks ago. Anyhow, it’s a nice little refresher and as always, you can read about the behind-the-scenes info on TBG’s blog.