We set up an online title contest, encouraging anyone who was interested to submit title ideas and vote for a favorite. We harnessed the power of social media, using Twitter and Facebook to spread the word. We made a brief YouTube video and contacted bloggers. And for good measure, we threw in the promise of a $250 gift card to the participant who submitted the winning title.
The end result? Hundreds of submissions and thousands of votes — from the ridiculous to the sublime. Among them: “Smartest Guy in the Room,” “Director of Everything Nobody Else Wants to Do,” and “For Three Easy Payments of $19.99.” (Then there was my personal favorite: “I’m Jonathan Ressler, I’ll Be Your Server Today.”) In the end, “The Mouth That Roared” narrowly beat out the second-place entry, “Company Mascot.” It was so much fun, we might just make it an annual contest.
Jerry Shengulette submitted he winning title earning the $250 gift card. He plans to donate the money to Apex Sports Authority, a local volunteer organization that sponsors sports.
"The Mouth That Roared wasn't even my favorite suggestion," said Shengulette, who submitted numerous suggestions when he heard about the contest. "However, somebody out there in the ether started voting for it. Once that happened I mobilized my newly-made Facebook connections and my coworkers to my benefit."
Check out the video below to see me thinking about my titles and them the big reveal!
Monday, April 20, 2009
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
OLD FACEBOOK RULES STILL APPLY
You know...some things really stand the test of time and these Facebook Manners rules from the 1950's still apply. Isn't it wonderful how quality always stands the test of time?
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
SOME STUFF NEVER GETS OLD - WE'VE GOT CHEMISTRY HERE...
I had a thrill the other day when I made a reference to a Smart Beep commercial that I saw many years ago and the person I made the reference to actually knows the guy who made this commercial. This is funny, crude and creative all at the same time...and it never gets old. This version actually has some difference VO copy than the original so it just goes to show you that good creative is timeless!!
A colleague in the office sent me this one which is also a classic. I am not surehow old it is but it is destined to be a classic as well...
A colleague in the office sent me this one which is also a classic. I am not surehow old it is but it is destined to be a classic as well...
Friday, April 3, 2009
REALLY COOL INSIGHTS ON SOCIAL MEDIA AND FRIENDS
OK... so here is the deal... I created this contest to get a title for myself at The Catevo Group. Contest
My job is new business, social media, brand strategy, and a whole bunch of other crap that people don't want to do. I figured I would get a few responses to the contest and that would be it. Welllllllll not exactly. We have had over 500 titles submitted and close to 10,000 votes so far. it has been insane. We built a simple admin tool so I could approve each title before it goes live. We basically did this so all of the good ones would never go live. I have spent a lot of time approving submissions! If you want to see them email me and I will share a few of the best ones. Granted they might not look great on a business card, but they would be really funny to have to explain to a potential client.
So here are 8 things I learned about social media and my friends:
1. People will jump into the social media fray if you give them a good reason. I had no less than 10 people tell me this was their first experience with Social Media. The lesson is an old one... Content is King
2. The words you choose on Twitter are critical as we saw much different responses from tweets that were worded differently. I know that sounds obvious, but go to Twitter and see how many people don't think about what they post.
3. More people look at their Facebook stream than you would imagine. I can not tell you how many people told me they first saw the contest on my Facebook status update.
4. There are some really fun people on LinkedIn. Contrary to popular belief LinkedIn is used for more than just business. I had a tin of submissions and people messaging me from my LinkedIn contacts.
5. There is a lot of pent up creativity out there if you ask people to participate. I have seen (and they are posted) some incredibly creative title submissions that I would not have thought of in a million years.
6. This type of Open Source Marketing is the wave of the future. People are going to be enlisting other people to help them solve complex marketing problems. Granted this was not a complex one, but I am certain that there are many people who would comment on brand's positioning and other communications if they are asked to. I know some of you are losing your mind right now saying it is already happening,btu I am talking about complex stuff; not just do you like this ad.
7. You never know what social media platform is going to be the strongest. I would have thought that Twitter would be the one for this but I was wrong. Facebook and recommendations from people who submitted were the most powerful. I know of a few people that send out an update every day asking their friends to vote for their submission.
8. You never really know how deviant your friends are until they think they are submitting anonymously!
Stay tuned for more insights and information as the contest ends one week from today.
My job is new business, social media, brand strategy, and a whole bunch of other crap that people don't want to do. I figured I would get a few responses to the contest and that would be it. Welllllllll not exactly. We have had over 500 titles submitted and close to 10,000 votes so far. it has been insane. We built a simple admin tool so I could approve each title before it goes live. We basically did this so all of the good ones would never go live. I have spent a lot of time approving submissions! If you want to see them email me and I will share a few of the best ones. Granted they might not look great on a business card, but they would be really funny to have to explain to a potential client.
So here are 8 things I learned about social media and my friends:
1. People will jump into the social media fray if you give them a good reason. I had no less than 10 people tell me this was their first experience with Social Media. The lesson is an old one... Content is King
2. The words you choose on Twitter are critical as we saw much different responses from tweets that were worded differently. I know that sounds obvious, but go to Twitter and see how many people don't think about what they post.
3. More people look at their Facebook stream than you would imagine. I can not tell you how many people told me they first saw the contest on my Facebook status update.
4. There are some really fun people on LinkedIn. Contrary to popular belief LinkedIn is used for more than just business. I had a tin of submissions and people messaging me from my LinkedIn contacts.
5. There is a lot of pent up creativity out there if you ask people to participate. I have seen (and they are posted) some incredibly creative title submissions that I would not have thought of in a million years.
6. This type of Open Source Marketing is the wave of the future. People are going to be enlisting other people to help them solve complex marketing problems. Granted this was not a complex one, but I am certain that there are many people who would comment on brand's positioning and other communications if they are asked to. I know some of you are losing your mind right now saying it is already happening,btu I am talking about complex stuff; not just do you like this ad.
7. You never know what social media platform is going to be the strongest. I would have thought that Twitter would be the one for this but I was wrong. Facebook and recommendations from people who submitted were the most powerful. I know of a few people that send out an update every day asking their friends to vote for their submission.
8. You never really know how deviant your friends are until they think they are submitting anonymously!
Stay tuned for more insights and information as the contest ends one week from today.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
