The Super Bowl, Ads & Everything Else

For advertisers, it’s not the game, it’s the audience and the scene. It’s the ads.

Ads: a few picks

The Force: it garnered over 10 million views before the game even started

You can view a rundown of all the ads on Sports Business Daily

There were those that were banned, like this raunchy PETA one:

Historically, Mashable also offers the list of the Top 10 Most Shared Super bowl Ads Of All Times for you to see.

The celebrities:
Loads of them were there. Hugh Jackman, John Travolta, Adam Sandler, Jennifer Aniston, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Micheal Douglas, Owen Wilson, Jamie Foxx… as cited by the Canadian Press. More such gossip on Hollywood Today and you can see pictures of the celeb attendees on DailyPress.

The social networks:
Some of the aforementioned “celebs” even shared their Super Bowl on social platforms. Will I Am from the Black Eyed Peas, for example, shared via Twitter his whole Super Bowl experience, from the pre-parties to the game itself. Check out the stream of pictures Will I Am took and shared.

WillIAm SuperBowl2011

Facebook was all into it too, riding the tidal wave: take a look at at their live voting system during the game. Beyond that, the digital marketing agency Twist Image, published earlier last week an article rightly entitled: Who Will Win The Superbowl? Facebook… That’s Who

And of course, all the ads were available on YouTube… All of them are on the ad blitz channel. Go vote for your favorite!

But there weren’t just the celebs or the brands. ‘Real’ people too. Yes. I, for one, plead guilty too for playing around with the topic on Twitter and posting away on Facebook via a local Super Bowl in Paris group. Twitter was buzzing with comments as the action unfolded. The best avatar of all was Michelle‘s. You remember her, right? Take a look: she sure is rooting for the Steelers*.

Michmski SuperBowl2011 Steelers

Which brings me to…

The audience, i.e. the fans:
Did you know that the President of the United States also hosted his own Super Bowl Party? I would have guessed so much but CNN really took it to the nitty gritty by publishing the menu of the White House Super Bowl party. Uh. No wonder debates about journalism are rife. But let’s leave that debate aside for now.

So. Fans. According to a New York Times articles, Gridiron Girls, women are becoming big fans. Right, Michelle?

This leads me to the last but not least part of this quick roundup: the funkiest video by the one and only — Michelle. Go STEEEEELERS*!

*As I write this up, the game is ongoing so there is no reflection in this post of the upcoming score. I was showing the Packers some love… just because it seemed everyone was for the Steelers. LOL

UPDATE: 4.20 AM Paris time – The Packers have won! Congratulations!!! See you all next year – live from the U.S. maybe?

The Old Spice Guy Trending Big On Twitter: Awesome Digital Strategy

If you live in the U.S., you may know about this ad, the Old Spice Ad. Those guys have been shooting a whole series of self-deprecating videos but mostly, they have been bridging the gaps between what you expect traditionally from ads to take them to another level. So what they did is to involve their Old Spice character into Twitter conversations and challenges. Watch those two videos, you’ll see what I mean and why Old Spice is trending high on the chirpy platform:

Taking on someone’s friend:

And… more recently proposing on behalf of a Tweep (i.e. Twitter user):

Mashable tells us the lady has said yes… in real life.

For more fun, follow the Old Spice guy on Twitter: @OldSpice.
Follow me @merrybubbles

The IT – Happiness Correlation [study]

In case you missed it, UK research firm BCS has published a study showing a clear link between ownership/use of IT and happiness.

Sampling 35000 people globally, BCS found that IT provides people with an increased sense of freedom (+15%) and feeling of well-being. Life satisfaction increases by 10% with IT access, the study suggests.
Overall, access to communication devices was found to be the most valued.

Other research so far had tended to show the opposite, i.e. technology degrades quality of life as the frontier between work and private life becomes blurred with the use of smartphones and other such devices with constant access to the web and to email.

So what’s the deal? If you’d like to find out more, here’s BCS’ study, courtesy of Mashable.

View this document on Scribd

Does access to IT infrastructure or ownership of IT devices make you happy and how ?

The Pepsi Refresh Project: a bold 20 mln usd Social Media Bet

It’s social media fest out there.

The facts
In February, Pepsi took a bold step by deciding NOT to sponsor the emblematic Super Bowl event but instead to shift to social media and devote 20 mln usd to its new digital campaign: the Pepsi Refresh Project.

That in itself, created a worldwide buzz for the soda maker and proved to be great publicity: a brand that decides to turn to new forms of user-engagement sounds like an amazing pledge to the consumers of Pepsi.

The question
What people (you, me, consumers, onlookers), corporations at large, but also PR, advertising firms – you name it – want to know is, how can this new stance drive revenue growth ?
Did that just sound like I said a rude word ? Well, no, it’s not and I did not.

It’s simply the bottom line. The riddle is of course that in today’s landscape, the acts of selling, maintaining customer satisfaction AND gaining momentum to increase sales … have become both easier and a challenge.
Easier because with social media, companies can tap directly into the ideas, wants and needs of their end-users/customers/consumers to design their products and offers.
More challenging because with social media, companies need to learn to listen to and engage their end-users/customers in order to go forth.
Great riddle. Doesn’t this sound like the chicken and egg story, in the end ?

Pepsi Refresh: What it is
So finally, what is it ? Last month, I shared with you Coca Cola’s social media strategy so here is the Pepsi Refresh Project.
The motto is “In 2010, we’re giving millions of dollars to fund ideas that will refresh the world. Your ideas.”
Pepsi is calling on consumers to present their digital pro-social ideas in the form of an interactive competition where anyone can vote to elect the best ideas. In turn, those winning ideas will receive Pepsi funding — they call them grants — to be implemented into reality. The grants range from 5,000 usd to 205,000 usd, depending on whether the contender is an individual, a group of persons or organizations and also the size of the bounty depends on the size of the organizations.
Categories: Health, Arts & Culture, Food & shelter, The Planet, Neighborhoods and Education. The competition kicked in on March 1st.

Sorry folks, the video embedding code provided by Pepsi does not work (!!). But you can go watch the Pepsi Refresh Project video HERE .

Ideas can be submitted on the Pepsi Refresh website and those that get validated will be voted upon for the grants. The process renews itself every month. Companies like Mashable are jumping on the bandwagon, promoting the Pepsi social-media race by offering their readers to submit ideas through them and thereby benefit from a 50,000 usd grant as an organization instead of going solo. Read about that initiative
here

Refresh The World ? Global or U.S.-only ?
Back to Pepsi Refresh and the motto: “…ideas that will refresh the world. Your ideas.”
So far, it looks like U.S. residents only are allowed to enter the competition. I have gone through a few of the submissions and, quite logically, it also looks like the projects are about improving America locally or on a national scale, in each of the categories I mentioned above.
So does Pepsi intend to open up the competition to the rest of the world at some point ? Or is “the world” they refer to solely limited to America ?
I’m sure global fans, consumers and on-lookers will have a say about that. But hey, I’ve no idea of Pepsi’s concrete geographical spread and market shares.

Let’s see how this bet turns out for Pepsi. Stay tuned.

PS: remember YOU can participate to doing GLOBAL SOCIAL GOOD too by clicking on the Water charity box in the right sidebar. Thanks !

4 Steps for Effective Online Networking

Here are four online networking “Do’s” by Alexandra Levit, author of New Job, New You: A Guide to Reinventing Yourself in a Bright New Career.

1. Look for Ways to Expand Your Networks
2. Know What You Want, and What You Can Offer
3. Contact the Person Privately
4. Follow Up Regularly

Details here: 4 Steps for Effective Online Networking (via Mashable)

Learn more about Alexandra’s book at www.newjobnewyou.com.

With 5 “Dont’s” and 4 “Do’s”, aren’t we just ready for a great week of social
networking ?!

Have more suggestions ? Share them here.