Slow-Jamming the News

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon has come up with a brilliant new form of infotainment... slow-jamming the news. With the help of Brian Williams of the NBC Nightly News, a frequent cameo-maker on NBC comedy shows like SNL and 30 Rock, a sultry Fallon delivers the latest news on health care reform. Check it out below.

Mad about Movie Marketing: Tetley Tea Ventures into Limited Edition Wonderland

Early this week, I opened the cupboard doors in our cozy makeshift kitchen at Marketing Breakthroughs, only to discover a fun surprise: a well-conceived, appropriately themed marketing piece. And just what was this little marketing gem? A limited edition Disney’s Alice in Wonderland Tetley Tea tin. It’s quite a mouth full, isn’t it? Perhaps a cuppa of Tetley’s English Breakfast featuring Alice will help wash it down…

Using Canada’s number one tea as a cross promotional tool to hype the new movie and boost tea sales is a nice strategy, as Tetley and Disney are a perfect pairing. When you think of the movie, whether it’s the classic animation we all grew up with from Disney’s original, or their current adaptation from Tim Burton, tea is as Tetley Marketing Director Michelle Faris puts it: “steeped throughout”. It’s a natural marketing extension and one I’m willing to bet will do quite nicely for Tetley. If I could have made one suggestion for the campaign? A plain tin of tea with only two words written on it: Drink Me.

FAIL: Nestle's Social Media PR Blunder

One of the foremost reasons why engaging with social media can be advantageous to businesses is that they can catch customers' concerns about their company that they are sharing with their neighbours in cyberspace and address them directly before too much damage is done. Earlier this month, the people over at Nestle found themselves in some hot water (or shall I say, hot chocolate?) on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and numerous blogs.

The kerfuffle stemmed from a campaign that has been initiated by Greenpeace, accusing Nestle of "threatening the livelihoods of local people and pushing orang-utans towards extinction" due to their use of "palm oil from companies that are trashing Indonesian rainforests". Part of this campaign was a gruesome online video, which Nestle lobbied to have removed from YouTube citing copyright infringement. This probably wasn't the greatest PR move, since this stirred up even more controversy and conflict.

Round two of the battle between Greenpeace supporters and Nestle took place over on Facebook. Unfortunately for Nestle, their representative on Facebook did not keep things professional and later had to backpedal and apologize "for being rude" in his/her comments. Bridget Carey of the Miami Herald sums up the lesson of all of this pretty well:

"If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all... Companies can learn something from this moment... Companies use social media to present a voice. When people are screaming at you, it's best not to scream back."

Friday Breakthrough: Twitter Saves Lives, Cola Kills, and Who Knows What Calbee Does?

The Friday Breakthrough is Ottawa's weekly roundup of some of the Internet's best marketing and social media articles for a less-than-intense day at the office.

1. In social media news this week, two celebrity Tweeters, actresses Demi Moore and Nia Vardalos, were involved in the intervention of an apparent suicide threat/attempt by a young man in Florida after allegedly receiving disturbing Twitter messages from him. Apparently, Demi Moore's Twitter account was involved with a similar case last spring. With a great number of followers comes great responsibility, I suppose. It's nice to hear that Moore and Vardalos took action.

2. A group called The Alliance for a Healthier New York has initiated an advertising campaign to garner support for a soda tax bill proposed by Governor David Paterson. Darren Franich of EW.com points out the relevance of this campaign to Lady Gaga's latest hairstyle, wondering aloud if the pop star is showing her support of this campaign with this new look.

3. Well, this video certainly was the highlight of my Friday so far. Check out this weird/creepy/unintelligible commercial for Calbee, a Japanese snack food company. Why? Why not? It's Friday. I can't say I get how the commercial's content relates to the product being sold, but I'm sure it catches people's attention!

Have a nice weekend!

The Most Worthy of the World’s Best Commercials 2009

Recently, I had the pleasure of viewing the World’s Best Commercials as per the 2009 London International Awards. Although some spots were obviously made with the sole intention of winning awards, others were able to do the near impossible: connect us with the brand in an entertaining and surprising way. Here’s my top pics from the World’s Best:

First up, an automotive ad for Volkwagen that actually had an idea in it. I say that because the other automotive spots that took home hardware were all about making the Art Directors look like gods, and little else. You can’t help but be charmed by this one and good on Volkswagen for keeping up their tradition of amazing advertising.

How do you take a 19 second beer commercial and make it not only memorable but also absolutely freakin' hilarious? See for yourself.

Although these were my absolute favs, there are plenty more on the list that are worth watching. Check them out after the jump.

Friday Breakthrough: Clotaire, Conan, and Stephen

The Friday Breakthrough is Ottawa's weekly roundup of some of the Internet's best marketing and social media articles for a less-than-intense day at the office.

1. Clotaire Rapaille is a fascinating character in the world of marketing. He is currently working for a "completely neurotic" "sadomaschist[ic]" client with a "primal reptilian core"... aka Quebec City. His words, not mine, I assure you. The Globe and Mail reports that Rapaille is getting a $300,000 paycheque for his analysis of the city and a resulting strategy to give its image a facelift. That's a whole lot of money, but apparently this guy gets results. Some happy customers include Dubai and Signapore. The website for his company "Archetype Discoveries Worldwide" describes his "Archetype Studies" approach: striving to find the answers to the question "why do people do what they do?" by combining "a psychiatrist's depth of analysis with a businessman's attention to practical concerns". Want more of an explanation? So do I. However, according to the Globe and Mail's article, "it can cost as much as $135,000 to get information contained in the studies has has already done". Fascinating.

2. The Internet is a buzz due to the fact that Conan O'Brien (@ConanOBrien) is randomly following one young lady named Sarah Killen (@LovelyButton) on Twitter. Her world has been turned upside down in a very short time for simply being the only person this very famous person is following: "she [now has] nearly 19,000 followers, a new iMac, a free wedding gown, wedding rings, $2,600 in donations for her cancer walk, and the chance to meet Ludacris". As you read this blog post, I believe her 15 minutes are just about up.

3. Stephen Harper is taking a page from Barack Obama's book, reaching out to younger voters and interacting with them using using social media. The TalkCanada YouTube channel enables Canadians to submit their questions for the Prime Minister. He will answer a selection of top-voted questions on YouTube next Tuesday. So far there have been 65,080 votes on 873 questions from 2,496 people.

Jane Austen is to Zombies as Sir John A. MacDonald is to the Rolling Stones

Lately, I've noticed a few OC Transpo buses around Ottawa sporting a new ad by Chez 106. They are certainly eye-catching, due to the uncanny image of Sir John A. MacDonald with a bright red Rolling Stones' Forty Licks-style mouth supplanted on his face.

I'm impressed by Chez's mashup in the ad. It's clever and modern, reminiscent of the recent book "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies", by Seth Grahame-Smith (and Jane Austen).

How about you, Daily Breakthrough readers? What local ads have appealed to you recently? Let us know.

Friday Breakthrough: Wiki, Wicked, and Web 2.0 Wizard

The Friday Breakthrough is Ottawa's weekly roundup of some of the Internet's best marketing and social media articles for a less-than-intense day at the office.

1. Ten Word Wiki may provide you with a few minutes of enjoyment on this Friday afternoon. Pretty self-explanatory, this site describes random things in exactly ten words. For example, here's the entry for Canada: "Similar to America, except more laid-back, worse at hockey." Whooooa! Them's fitting words. Someone needs to remedy that entry, stat!

2. Just when you thought getting dumped the old fashioned way was depressing, just wait until you hear about Bradley Laborman's company IDUMP4U. Not feeling up to being a decent human being and ending your relationship yourself? Well, you're in luck. For a measly $10 fee ($25 to end an engagement and $50 to initiate a divorce), Mr. Laborman will take it upon himself to call your significant other and break the news. He then uploads audio from the call to the IDUMP4U website, a "therapeutic" act, according to him.

3. Finally, a shout-out to Paul Chaney, the fabulous keynote speaker at the very successful inaugural Ottawa Web Marketing Club event yesterday morning. Check out his blog for some key insight into social media: The Social Media Handyman.

Based On A True Story

Tim Hortons is in a bit of hot water due to a marketing misstep. Their latest television commercial is a touching one, so much so that many viewers were moved to learn more about the featured family, the "true story" that this commercial was based on. The problem there is that there isn't one.

Dakshana Bascaramurty of the Globe and Mail burst everyone's bubbles today, reporting that Tim Hortons spokesperson David Morelli says the commercial was in fact based on "an amalgamation of stories". Cue eye-rolling by cynics everywhere.

Does this fib take away from the commercial? It is still heartwarming and patriotic, but it would definitely be even more so if we knew that it was 100% authentic. What do you think? Are you disappointed in Tim Hortons for misleading the public or should we expect such little white lies in today's advertising realm? Let us know what you think!