1. Deliver news

Presumably, if someone bothers to follow a brand, first and foremost that individual wants to have the inside track on news about brand related activities. Depending on your category, the news could be related to product development, distribution changes, customer successes, promotions, stock price or what have you. This is the very essence of PR, you either have news or you create it. Twitter is a great channel to deliver that news as @DellOutlet with 760,000 followers demonstrates daily.

2. Manage Crises

You never know when a wacky employee might stick a piece of cheese up his nose, drop it on a pizza and then serve the sizzling video up on YouTube. While this particular example presented a challenge for Domino’s, every mass brand is vulnerable and needs to have a crises management plan in place. These days, Twitter should be part of that plan as it provides one of the fastest ways to mount a counter-attack to your core audience. Domino’s set up the Twitter account, @dpzinfo, after the fact but was still able to use it as part of its effort to successfully defuse the crisis.

3. Enhance Customer Service

Ever since Bob Garfield set up his Comcast Must Die blog, at least one company has come to see customer service via social media as a “must have” versus “nice to have” component of their on-going marketing activities. Comcast, which went from laggard to leader in this area, created a digital customer service director, Frank Eliason, who as the voice of @ComcastCares now has over 24,000 followers. JetBlue, another brand that faced a PR crises after an extraordinary service gaff, has become a huge voice on Twitter, engaging over 780,000 loyalists with a steady stream of helpful twavel tweets.

4. Build Loyalty

While cynics might say “get a life,” a lot of people enjoy engaging with their favorite brands on Twitter. In fact, one study found that 97% of Twitterers think brands should Twitter and 80% feel comfortably recommending a brand based on its presence on Twitter. Twitter can give a real voice to a brand and provide a level of engagement that goes well beyond the initial purchase. @WholeFoods cooks up healthy tips for its ravenous followers (907,000+) faster than an Emeril “bam!”

5. Drive web traffic

Twitter need not be an end in and of itself. In fact, it is a great way to start a conversation with your customers and prospects, a conversation that can be continued elsewhere. If the tweet is tantalizing enough, the consumer will thirst for more and follow you just about anywhere you suggest. @Marvel directs its 28,000+ fans to a variety of other Marvel sites including its official home on Flickr pages, “free Monday” comics posts and online polls on Marvel News. I have also since this work on a microlevel as my Twitter posts dramatically increase my blog traffic.

Keep in mind that the costs of keeping up a Twitter account are quite small compared to brand advertising. Of course, the reach is too unless you can achieve the kind of followings that Zappos and JetBlue enjoy. And that begs the question “how brands should Twitter” which I’ll just have to leave for another day or cocktail party, whichever comes first.

• @BaconVodka: Living up to its porcine name, Bakon Vodka provides tasty drink recipes while keeping their 2,055 followers informed on where and when they can buy this product.
• @MR1X supports a relatively new line extension from Belvedere Vodka that is imbued with the lifestyle of Parisian graffiti artist Andre. With over 880 followers, the tweets track Andre’s world travels and endless nightlife. MR1X aggressive use of Twitter, Flickr and YouTube may make it the first generation of truly social media-driven spirits.
• @Belvedere_Vodka keeps their 539 followers buzzed with a steady stream of summer drink recipes and other self-promotions.
• @Blackbottle: This whisky brand enthusiastically covered their appearance at the Taste of London for its 353 followers which may be just enough for them.
• @CieloTequila: This Mexican based tequila has 300+followers and claims to be “the smoothest tequila on the market” but with no events listed it would be hard for anyone to know since it hasn’t updated its page in over a month.
• @NudeVodka09: This scantily veiled brand keeps its 300+ followers updated on events and new concoctions. They seemed to be more engaged than most as many of their posts are fan offered thank you’s.
• @RepublicTequila: By Texans for Texans, this brand seem to focus solely on The Lone Star state reporting on local promotions for its 230+ long horned followers.
• @SoloranzoTkila: …..Tkila…..get it? The text-friendly name is about all this tequila twitter page has to offer its 178 followers unless they’re into historical facts about tequila, such as one of its most recent posts “For many years it was known as “mezcal wine” or “mezcal tequila,” since mezcal or mexcal is another Nahuatl term for agave.”
• @PinkyVodka: Despite this vodka’s small following (only 91), their enthusiastic self-promotion of the “world’s most beautiful vodka” and constant reminders of Pinky-drink ideas lets one know how to get and what to do with this product.
• @Mragave: After reading this site’s post you will know how strong this tequila is- but not much else. With a mere 37 followers, this brand claims to be more popular in “Agave Friendliest States” like CA, TX,NY, IL,FL,AZ, and CO.

Noticeably absent from this list are any Diageo mega-brands like Smirnoff, J&B, Captain Morgan and Johnnie Walker. Since there is no way currently to “age gate” your Twitter followers, perhaps they are simply electing to “keep on walking” rather than risk the potential wrath of watchdog groups. Given the relatively small size of the followings of other spirit brands, at the moment being “ready to Tangueray” need not include tweets.

Top Wine Brands that Twitter

• @EaglesNestWine: With over 2800 followers, the owners of this Ramona, CA winery provide a steady stream of wine-related news without too much self-promotion.
• @LynFredWinery: The largest winery in Illinois (who knew?) has about 1700 followers whom they update almost too frequently with drops of relevance.
• @SokolBlosser: This Oregon winery actually engages its 1500 or so fans with an occasional provocation like “if Pinor Noir were a celebrity, who would it be?”
• @Veuve_Clicquot: True to its upscale nature, this classic bubbly indulges its 1200 or so followers with tales from VIP parties and polo matches.
• @ChalkHillEstate: This Sonoma winery offers a clear window into their wine making world complete with updates to their 900+ followers on currently blooming vegetation.
• @KimCrawford: This New Zealand-based winery, now owned by Constellation, is famous for its crisp Sauvignon Blanc, has close to 800 followers that it updates constantly with fun facts from festivals like SXSW.
• @ManoSinistra: This French wine is aggressively tracking the wine world, following about 2000 yet only gaining about a 1/3 as many followers. Since most of the posts are in French, I can’t offer much insight as to why its tweets aren’t gaining traction.

Please note that this list is by no means comprehensive and is based on the wine brands that show up in the top 250 when searching “wine” on WeFollow.com. With few exceptions, most of these wines have built up their followers by aggressively following wine people who Twitter. While there is nothing wrong with this approach, it certainly suggests that none of the wine brands themselves have cultivated an “organic” following. Clearly, the seeds of successful Twittering have just been planted and a bountiful harvest awaits the wine brands that find the recipe for enlightened engagement.

Beers that Twitter:

• @EpicBeer: this chatty New Zealand brewery has over 2200 followers and provides a steady stream of information-rich updates from the brewery (over 2200 tweets to-date)
• @GooseIsland: with over 1200 followers, this Chicago microbrewery pushes out offers on a regular basis to its fans
• @EdisonBeer: a Boston brewery with 1150+ fans that it mainly ignores tweeting only 11 times in the last 6 months
• @CrispinCider: a Minnesota beer alternative with 1100+ followers that it updates frequently with news about events and product development
• @Michelob: trying to remake itself into a craft beer, Michelob is the only national brand with over 1000 followers to whom it pushes rapid fire reminder tweets to buy, buy, buy
• @BreckBrew supports Breckenridge Brewery, a Colorado maker of craft ale with about 680 followers that are treated to tweets by a real person with whom you’d actually want to share a beer!
• @Corona_Beer has 586 followers that it hasn’t updated once
• @heinekenBeers has about 350 followers and appears just to aggregate other tweets that mention Heineken or Heiny.
• @heineken_beer calls itself a “global forum for beer” and provides a steady diet of updates from Heineken related activities around the globe to its 250 or so followers.
• @budweiser: the king of beers snubs its 214 followers with nary an update. Whassup with this?
• @summerbration: Corona’s promotional site has attracted nearly 200 followers in under a month as it offers a daily tip on how to celebrate the summer with Corona of course!

It probably shouldn’t be a surprise that the craft beers tend to lead the way having the most loyal and engaged fan base. These seem to be manned by real people who like talking about beer and the craft of beer making. The big brands either don’t bother to have a voice or it’s so forced like Michelob’s that it is actually off-putting. Given that Twitter hasn’t taken off among 21-29 year old males yet, these bigger brands aren’t necessarily missing out…yet. Also, many of these brands like Bud and Coors have done an admirable job building up and engaging their fan bases on other social media like Facebook and MySpace.

Before I wrap up, I wanted to raise the issue of brands following people. Personally, I’m still a little startled when a brand and not a person elects to follow me on Twitter. Some of the beer brands listed above have been aggressive in this area. For example, Epic follows 2109, Edison follows 1997 and Michelob follows 1097. This activity has driven up their follower numbers but in doing so also diminishes the power of their fan base. More impressive are the brands like Goose Island and Breckenridge Brewery who only follow 5 and 53 respectively yet have hundreds of followers.

Bottom line: Twitter is an opportunity for brands to engage with people as if they were people. To do this well requires the brands to behave like real friends not aggressive pitch men. If a brand elects to follow someone, it should have a good reason, a basis for introduction and not drop in out of nowhere like an uninvited guest. Just like people who tweet, brands should avoid becoming a Twitcher or Twitter Whore by maintaining a healthy following to followers ratio. Cheers.

UPDATE 6/15: @coors_light is not run by the folks at Coors so I took it off the list. See comment from the company below. Also, Molson is taking a multi-tweet approach with the following major brand tweeters:

• @MolsonFerg: Molson’s VP of Public Affairs has 2100+ follower.
• @toniahammer: Community relations, PR and social media girl for Molson has 1700+ followers.
• @MolsonMoffat: Manager of Brand & Marketing PR at Molson and member of Molson’s social media team has 800+ followers.

The CMO has evolved from Chief Miracle Officer to Chief Minutia Officer. The CMO used to be charged with creating a marketing miracle, finding that magical ad campaign that would have a multiplier effect on awareness, excite the trades and ultimately drive sales. If the CMO couldn’t deliver such a campaign either he/she or the agency lost their jobs and replacements were found. Just about every CMO wanted a mass media brand-building campaign like the Aflac Duck or the Geico Gecko.

Then along came Google complete with truly measurable results and tectonic plates of marketing started to shift. Suddenly CMO’s were emboldened to say “I only want to do what produces measurable results” and the super savvy ones had a dashboard with real time information from search clicks to web traffic to online buzz to 800# calls to retail sales. Jim Garrity, the former CMO of Wachovia was on the forefront of this trend, studying all the data points with unrelenting passion. Business Week profiled Garrity back in 2006 and noted he “sounds like a man who never met a data point he didn’t like” and “Garrity and those like him are quietly reworking the advertising mix of the American corporation.”

This new kind of CMO is less interested in the monumental and more in the incremental, seeking a steady diet of singles and doubles over the infrequent but more showy grand slam. This is not necessarily a bad thing either. The more metrics that a client has in place the more likely that an agency can prove that what it does for the client actually works. It also means that the CMO has a better chance of keeping his/her job for more than 24 months. CFO’s are far more likely to increase the budget if the business case is there to justify such an increase. This methodical approach also dovetails nicely with the current “make more out of less” economy.

For the record, I applaud this new kind of CMO since they make sure marketing aligns with sales and the metrics for success are clear from the beginning.  Without these two factors in place, it will take more than a miracle for even the best of agencies to build a successful partnership.

Parents who are having trouble understanding what their teens are saying to each other via text messages have a new resource for translation. LG Mobile Phones has set up a new Web site, www.LGDTXTR.com, that gives the meaning of more than 2,000 popular text abbreviations, such as MOS (mom over shoulder), PRW (parents are watching) and RUSOS (are you in trouble).

“Teens are constantly creating new ways to communicate, and while texting is not a new phenomenon, the unique shorthand phrases that have been created as a result are growing daily,” stated Ehtisham Rabbani, vice president of product strategy and marketing for LG Mobile Phones, in a statement. “LG DTXTR (detexter) is a tool to keep everyone — young and old — current with the language, and as it grows, it enhances our understanding of what’s important to teenagers.”

Seriously, this is a fun example of Marketing as Service demonstrating that LG both sympathizes with the challenges of parenting and wants to help parents keep up with latest texting lingo. This kind of empathy and support certainly creates an opportunity for engagement that goes well beyond a :30 TV spot.

TRANSLATION OF INTRO: Without a doubt texting is about to become a process too complicated to explain. Before you know it, you will be a foreigner or a completely obsessive really nutty person.

In a sense, we’ve all been depriving ourselves of the sunshine that comes with optimism, talking about the recession as if it was an inexorable force, a cloud that simply couldn’t be blown away. We’ve bathed in recession-strategies, cynical proclaiming that a “crisis is a terrible thing to waste.” Enough already. As far as I’m concerned this recession is over.

That’s right, you heard it here first: The recession is over. Now go tell someone else. And encourage them to do the same. Think of this as a logarithmic round of “pay it forward.” The more we tell each other that the recession is over, the more we will start to believe it and the more we believe it the more real it will be.

Of course, I have no rational evidence to support this proclamation. In fact, rationality has nothing to do it. What we need now is seismic emotionality. What we need now is a tremor of mini-indulgences and perhaps an earthquake of irrational exuberance. Meet a friend at Starbuck’s and splurge on Venti Caramel Frapuccino with whipped cream just because. It’ll do you both good.

No, I did not suddenly take some happy pills. Consumer sentiment is the fuel that drives our economic engine. When we feel better, we spend. And up until recently, we’ve been reveling in our collective misery, and turning penuriousness into an oh-so-chic art form. Enough is enough. Everything is on sale. Buy something already. Nothing like a little retail therapy to shed this malaise.

Earlier I mentioned that I had no rational evidence that the recession is over. And that is true but there is plenty of evidence that our worst days are behind us. In April, consumer confidence actually “soared past forecasts” according to this Yahoo News article. Investor confidence is also growing as the Dow spends a couple of months over 8,000 and the world markets show significant gains. Add it all together and its time to shave those recession beards and let the sun shine in.

GENERAL SOCIAL MEDIA MONITORING TOOLS

Social Mention aggregates user generated content from the web into a single stream of information. It drills down into these individual category levels: blogs, microblogs, bookmarks, comments, events, images, news, videos, audio, Q&A, and all.

Addict-o-matic instantly creates a custom page with the latest buzz on any social media topic on channels such as Twitter, Friendfeed, YouTube, Google Blog, Wordpress, Digg, and Flickr.

BackType is a conversational search engine. It indexes and connects conversations from blogs, social networks, and other social media so people can find, follow, and share comments.

IceRocket provides real-time blog, Twitter, MySpace, news, and images search engine with trends tracking.

BLOG MONITORING TOOLS

Google Blog Search is Google’s index of blog posts. The advanced search tab allows you to search based on additional criteria.

Trendpedia searches blogs to find out who’s discussing what, where, when and how and displays it via a blog trend chart.

BlogPulse.com is a blog search engine that also analyzes and reports on daily activity in the blogosphere. BlogPulse.com is owned by Nielsen BuzzMetrics.

TWITTER MONITORING TOOLS

Twist shows aggregated data about what people are saying about your brand on Twitter.

TweetGrid creates a Twitter search dashboard that updates in real time.

Summize, a very popular Twitter search tool, was purchased by Twitter last summer so now it’s Twitter’s official search engine.

Twithority lists Twitter search term results by rank and time.

Twitrratr categorizes searched terms into positive, neutral, and negative buckets and assigns percentages to each bucket.

Tweetbeep is like Google Alerts for Twitter. It also has an email service.

Feel free to let me know what we missed or if you think any of these don’t merit further investigation.

ADDENDUM 5/22/09

Eric von Coelln (@evcinnyc) recommends Vitrue Social Media Index and Facebook Lexicon .

Define Guerrilla PR
For Renegade, Guerrilla pr is an attitude not a tactic. It is the belief that you can make up for a lack of resources with ingenuity. As such, the possibilities are limitless even if your budgets aren’t. Like all marketing, guerrilla PR needs to be grounded in strategy with a keen understanding of your target. Once you know thy target, then ask yourself, what can you DO for them NOT what can you say to them. We call this approach Marketing as Service. Samsung figured out they could help road warriors by putting charging stations into airports. This service spoke volumes about Samsung and offered proof positive of their commitment to helping the mobile professional. KFC recently started filling potholes as a service to its customers who had to drive to their stores over bumpy roads. A Colonel Sanders look-alike did the repair work and spray painted KFC logos on the fixed potholes ensuring that the brand got lots of exposure for their efforts. Every company big or small can do something for its customers—the trick is to find something to do that is also newsworthy.

Some Emerging Categories to Consider in Non-Traditional PR Programs
There is definitely a rush by marketers to capitalize on the iPhone app craze. Zippo has enjoyed tremendous success with its virtual lighter (that you can blow on to affect the flame) and is currently the #1 downloaded app in the lifestyle segment. Kraft created the iFood Assistant which for $.99 puts 7,000 recipes at your fingertips. Consumers don’t mind paying the cost of one song if the app delivers real value. But this is definitely a category in which the early bird catches the worm. With over 25,000 apps already out for iPhones, you better make sure you have a fresh, fun and simple idea for another one.

Guidelines When Planning Guerrilla PR
Obviously knowing your target is critical to any successful marketing effort, guerrilla or otherwise. For guerrilla, it is particular helpful to understand the pain points of the target on both a general (lifestyle) and a specific (product category) basis. Knowing this will help identify things you can do for the target rather than just what to say to them. For example, we knew that New Yorkers have a love hate relationship with taxis, they love the convenience but hate to pay for them. So for HSBC customers, we created the HSBC BankCab which gives free rides all over Manhattan. HSBC customers simply can’t believe its free and feel like they’ve won the lottery and end up telling at least five friends about it after every ride.

Guerrilla PR Makes News When You Don’t Have It
Ideally, if you have some real news about your product or service, then it will be a lot easier to spread the word. If you product is better, faster, cheaper or ideally, a combination of the three, then the press will want to talk to you. If not, then you need to use marketing to create the news. And if what you are planning to do isn’t newsworthy, I would reconsider. If its not newsworthy, don’t’ bother. To make sure the press noticed the HSBC BankCab, we launched with a “search for the most knowledgeable cab driver in NY” that generated over 20 million PR impressions.

Low-Cost PR Tactics

Facebook can be very low cost and very effective for the right brands. Renegade recently created a social media program for Toasted Head Wine. Since no wine brand had gained more than 1000 friends there was a lot of question about this being the right place. But our research suggested that TH had a passionate yet down to earth following that just might enjoy engaging with the brand and other fans. Positioned as brand that can “fire things up,” our goal was to fire up Facebook providing provocative conversation starters like “its 60 minutes before the bachelor party and the stripper just canceled, now what?” The answers were hilarious and a real stripper chimed in defending the professionalism of her peers. We also used applications like Social Calendar to encourage Toasted Head fans to share their love which they did. In the first four weeks of the program, Toasted Head has picked up 3300 fans. Better yet, these fan are highly engaged, joining the conversation with “Barry the Wine guy” and leaving a steady stream of comments about their favorite variety of Toasted Head.

Twitter is another low cost option. Despite all the hype about Twitter, there is one really profound reason to use this channel and that is the role role Twitter can play in crisis management. Domino’s used Twitter and other social media to fight back when a couple of employees filmed themselves sticking cheese up there nose and then putting it on a pizza.

Real-World Tips for Incorporating Guerrilla Tactics and Techniques into Traditional Programs

As I mentioned earlier, it really helps to have a deep understanding of your target. When we developed the “Hell Cuts” program (see video) for Ubisoft’s Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway game, we were fairly confident that our hard core gamer target would do just about anything to get a free copy of this game. Sure enough, it took no persuading at all to get 157 “recruits” to have the head’s shaved and the word Hell spray painted on top. Seven of the recruits were reporters and the resulting PR coverage was extraordinary. And while this was a stunt, it related directly back to the product, a highly realistic WWII action game which required players to recruit a squadron to take on the Germans. And of course, no soldier entered the service without getting a buzz cut first.

Common Traps When Venturing into Non-Traditional Outreach
• Don’t bother with the Protest thing. Its been done a zillion times and its fake.
• Don’t bother with stunts that have nothing to do with the brand or the story your trying to tell. You can always get attention by putting a gorilla in a jock strap but unless your selling jock straps, monkey suits or bananas, find another idea to get attention you so crave.

Measurement and ROI Tips: How to Track and Show Value for Non-Traditional PR Efforts
Net Promoter Score—one simple yet instructive measure to consider is Net Promoter Score or NPS. Developed by Bain consultant Fred Reicheld who determined that customer likelihood to recommend a product/service to a friend is the single biggest factor in determining a brands success. To measure your NPS, ask your customers “on a scale of 0 to 10, how likely they would be to recommend your product to a friend.” You then add up the 9-10s and subtract them from the 0-6’s and you have a net promoter score. We use this on pre/post basis for all our programs.

Pre/Post Surveys are Mandatory

Because event marketing is “live theater,” you need to monitor impact from get the go and adjust accordingly. For 95% of the events we execute, we run pre/post experience surveys with typically under 10 questions and always including Net Promoter Score. We use Net Promoter Score to provide benchmarks from event to event and also because it is the simplest measure of potential word-of-mouth. For Panasonic which was a four-year sponsor of the AST Dew Tour, our pre/post surveys were particularly helpful. We were able to make subtle adjustments to the experience after each stop (it ran in 5 markets each year) based on the input we received from the consumer. We also made adjustments from year-to-year based on the feedback and reactions to various program elements.

For example, 2 years ago, we signed skateboarding phenom Ryan Sheckler to do appearances for Panasonic headphones at their booth and retailers. Unfortunately, the number of fans that wanted Ryan’s autograph were far greater than we could accommodate and some expressed their disappointment. We made a couple of adjustments at the next event that helped. First, we began to offer 50 VIP guarantees to anyone who purchased Panasonic headphones. Second, we added a brand ambassador to take photos for the fans to speed up the process allowing us to accommodate another 25-50 people per signing. Third, we created a couple of life-size cut-outs of Ryan that everyone could stand next too and thus get a photo with Ryan! Since we had digital cameras and printers handy, we were also able to give the consumer a positive experience even if they didn’t mean the phenom himself.

We have found that the most important thing when surveying is the speed from start to finish. As such, we have found that asking no more than 10 questions and filling out the forms with the consumers, increases both the accuracy and the timeliness of the responses. Ironically, after trying self-administered computer surveys, we went back to old fashioned clipboards. The consumer experience is better and faster and arguably the results are more accurate since the consumer tends to blow through the PC tests like they’re a joke. We are typically looking to gather 100 pre-event surveys and 100 post-event surveys per location which is sufficient to be statistically significant but not so many to make hand tabulation overwhelming.

Track Online Comments From the Beginning

It is also imperative to track blog comments. This was very much the case for the Ubisoft Brothers in Arms: Hells Highway “Hell Cuts” promotion which received comments on over 30 gaming blogs. Since all the feedback was extraordinarily positive from the opening minutes of the show, we didn’t have to make any program adjustments.

Make Adjustments to Your Experience Based on Experience

Another important aspect of measurement is less quantitative but no less important and that is having a feel for the pulse of the crowd at live events. If your experience is fun but the consumer is not getting into it, then adjustments need to be made then and there. Sometimes this means upping the volume on the music, getting your MC to spice things up with competitive giveaways or changing the way the crowd winds around the exhibit. In some cases, it can even mean replacing brand ambassadors who simply don’t have the spunk needed to create a memorable experience. It is amazing what consumers will do just for a free t-shirt so there is always something you can do to crank up the crowd.

We always budget for a senior partner at Renegade to attend the first stop on a mobile tour or a traveling trade show experience. If you have been doing this a while, then you know how to get valuable qualitative feedback from the consumer right away and make any needed adjustments within the first 24 hours. Sometimes this means working with the sales force to help them sort out the tire kickers from the real prospects. Sometimes this mean increasing the frequency of the “live show.” Sometimes this means removing a component that is bogging things down. The key thing is to make sure that everyone on the team knows that continuous improvement is not only possible but also mandatory for a successful tour.

One could argue that it is more important than ever for companies and brands to show their good side. With Wall St. crumbling, Main Street welcomes every act of kindness regardless of the source. That said, like everything in marketing, some acts work better than others. In 2007, there was spurt of Random Acts including random visits from 76ers in Philly to “Pass the Cheer” ecards from Starbucks to “Be Hospitable” acts from Hilton. Arguably, none of these provided any lasting value for the brands. And there’s the rub. If they are truly random and just a brief moment in time, the consumer quickly forgets. For random acts to work, they need to be consistently delivered and of course, quickly become the opposite of random.

Marketers who embrace “random acts” do so at their own risk. The fundamental premise of “random acts of kindness” is to do something to make another feel good while expecting absolutely nothing in return, not even gratitude. Marketing by definition is about ROI, building brand preference, sales and repeat purchase. Thus random acts that are truly random and unbranded have limited impact on the brand and those acts of kindness that are well branded are simply not considered random. So the key here is not to worry about the random and focus on the kindness. That is the very notion behind Marketing as Service. I would argue that Samsung’s charging stations in airports are as a welcome act of kindness as any offered by any marketer.

The bottom line is that consistency carries the day. Random acts might generate a quick PR hit but everyday acts of service in one form or another will actually attract and maintain paying customers.

Thank you for visiting the Miller Lite Free Rides™ web site. The Miller Lite Free Rides program is a collaborative effort between transit systems, community organizations, law enforcement agencies, civic organizations and others to help keep our streets safe and prevent drunk driving on major holidays and throughout the year.

Take advantage of a safe transportation alternative during your Derby Eve celebration on May 1st. Miller Lite Free Rides will provide evening service to many popular destinations, including the Derby Eve Jam concert on the waterfront, restaurants, bars, local family events and neighborhood celebrations.

So why then am I writing about it? Well, simply as a reminder that Marketing as Service requires just as much consistency, commitment and creativity as other marketing approaches in order to cut through.  A one-day free ride program is hardly a sincere commitment to public safety.  Because free rides have been done so often they can’t really expect much PR or points for creativity.  I’m not saying Miller is wrong for doing this just that they should be careful not to offer it up as a meaningful pro-social activity.  Now if this is the beginning of year-long program to offer free rides at major sporting events then let me know and I’ll buy a couple of six packs and toast to their health (at home, safe, far from a car!)

Thinking of going to NYC auto show just to observe scaled back mktg. If u have been let me know must sees.

Within five minutes, I had a strange new follower which I revealed in this tweet:

Feeling a bit like Cat Stevens… I’m being followed by @VolvoXC60 . How weird is that?

A couple of minutes later, this direct tweet arrived:

@dneisser We think the Volvo XC60 is worth seeing. We’re running demos of its City Safety feature outside the Javits @ 11th & 37th for free!

So, of course, I did end up checking out the Volvo XC60 (see photo ) and followed with interest how Volvo was using Twitter to engage prospective customers. Turns out there was a lot more to their twittering efforts as report by Adweek:

Volvo is promoting the Twitter feed for the 2010 Volvo XC60 crossover vehicle through the biggest ad placement YouTube has run to date.

Volvo shop Euro RSCG created the rich media ad, which stretches across the YouTube home page today. It shows the XC60 auto-brake “city safety” capability, then gives users the option of seeing videos, photos or playing a game from within the unit. The banner also includes a live feed of Volvo XC60 Twitter updates from the New York auto show.

All in all, this seems like a smart use of social media to cut through the general malaise surrounding the Auto Show. Though I’m not really interested in talking to a car on Twitter any more than I want to watch reruns of “My Mother the Car,” Volvo was actually trying to provide me a service on a several levels. First, they had some news about a new car model. Then they wanted to engage me via a physical demonstration. Then they were prepared to educate me via videos and finally, they were prepared to entertain me with an online game. All this just for little old me, perhaps the bulls eye of their target audience, a middle aged married white guy with two kids, a dog and a cat all worth protecting via a safer ride. If only I didn’t have another 18 months on my Civic lease!

NOTE: The auto show itself was modest in all respects. The Detroit automakers were falling all over each other trying to out “un-extravagant” the other, canceling press conferences, eliminating glitzy displays and talking up value. Booth babes were in slim supply as if one more might have been considered a misappropriation of government funds. So what you had left was just the sheet metal and the throngs of tire kickers. No wonder a tweet from a Volvo was big news!

ADDENDUM: Got another Tweet from VOLVO this week:

That was a nice blog post you wrote. If you want to include it, we’ve archived the YouTube banner here: http://bit.ly/sPao9

Earlier this year, Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes used the Super Bowl to tell their cause marketing story, which is about as big a stage as one can find, featuring a TV spot for its “Earn Your Stripes” campaign.

The Earn Your Stripes campaign, first launched in 2004, according the website, “Aims to inspire kids to work hard, eat right and believe in themselves in order to achieve their goals and “be their very best” on and off the playing field.” The “Plant a Seed” spot which aired on the Superbowl, provides a warm-hearted look at how athletics help kids grow both physically and emotionally, thus rationalizing its effort to renovate playing fields. At the end of the spot, Kellogg’s invites viewers to nominate local playing fields for renovation at FrostedFlakes.com.

On this site, visitors are encouraged to “earn your stripes” by taking these four steps:
• PLANT A SEED. Nominate a field in your community.
• NURTURE IT. Show support for fields across the country.
• HELP IT GROW. Create your own seed packs and spread the word.
• STAY INVOLVED. BECOME A “plant a seed” SUPPORTER.

According to a spokesperson for Kellogg, “[they] are fully committed to supporting programs that encourage kids to be active and that have a positive impact in [their] communities.”

Kelloggs.com & Frosted Flakes enjoyed a substantial boost in traffic to its websites immediately after the Super Bowl. As you can see from this chart courtesy of Alexa.com, traffic tripled and continued to be strong long after the Super Bowl. In the three months since, an amazing 3,184 fields have been nominated.

Visitors are encouraged to email their friends about the contest, and since Frosted Flakes allows the consumer to vote on the nominees to select the 100 semi-finalists, there is a strong viral effect to this campaign. Kellogg’s also supported this effort with a major search buy to help steer interested parties to the Frosted Flakes site.

Because Kelloggs shared their story offline and online, they have ensured that a broad swath of consumers were made aware of the Frosted Flakes “Plant a Seed” program and had an opportunity to participate. Now that’s grrrreat.

Brita has found a highly relevant cause with its Filter for Good program. While transparently self-serving, this program promotes the environmentally friendly case against drinking bottled water. The Filter For Good.com website encourages consumers to “pledge” to drink less bottled water, noting that one Brita pitcher filter can effectively replace as many as 300 standard 16.9-ounce bottles.  (Feel free to take “the pledge” like I did–it’s a quick and does make you think about buying less bottled water.)

On the site you can find out about all the layers of the program, including the recent Brita Climate Ride and The College FilterForGood Eco-Challenge, that solicited eco-friendly ideas from universities and from which Brita was so overwhelmed by good proposals that they elected to fund 5 of them.   The relevance of this effort is irrefutable, providing Brita a pure and simple way to do well by doing good

This example shows how Marketing for Good and Marketing as Service can overlap, as the cause is the service. From where I sit, its all good.

No more living in denial about the size of your waist line, thanks to this fantastic albeit terrifying guerrilla marketing initiative from the health club chain, Fitness First. Unsuspecting commuters in the Netherlands are faced with viewing their body weight in bright lights - quite literally - when they take a seat at this Rotterdam bus stop. Scary to say the very least, but extraordinarily clever and likely to increase membership numbers at the local Fitness First. The brainchild of Netherlands’ agency N=5, the initiative takes the concept of guerrilla marketing to a whole new level.

Assuming the news about one’s weight is not always welcome, it will be interesting to see how the Dutch weigh in on this one. Guess we’ll have to weight and see.

In an effort to curtail people from getting in their cars after celebrating in the host city of the Final Four this weekend, Captain Morgan will be offering The Captain’s Caravan as March Madness takes over the city of Detroit. The Caravan will be there to make sure that those in the area for the big event are staying safe while having a good time. While in Motor City The Captain’s Morganettes will offer free shuttle service dropping off adult consumers at hotels in the downtown area. The Captain’s Caravan includes two 20-passenger shuttles and one 56-passenger bus that will be available from 2:00PM to Midnight, April 3rd, 4th and 5th. Marketing As Service disguised as an escort service, or vice versa?!

This is certainly not the first time The Captain has mixed in a “drink responsibly” service into its overall campaign. Last year, they ran a “Don’t Go Overboard” sweepstakes in Canada (grand prize was pizza and taxi service for a year) and offered a late night shuttle service in a few markets in the US. They also aired the commercial below which features two “happy” gents finagling a ride home with a pizza delivery guy.

With all these efforts, The Captain is certainly driving home their commitment to responsible partying and performing a genuine service to those who might otherwise forget to do so.

Scott Kerkmans recently bested nearly 8,000 applicants hoping to be chief beer officer for a national hotel chain.

You read that right. It’s an actual job. The Four Points by Sheraton hotels chain created the position because it wants to market so-called craft beers as one of its specialties

Recently, Starwood renewed Scott’s contract which calls for him to blog weekly about beer, help various Four Points hotels with their craft beer selections and to educate Four Points’ guests about beer. Scott is an affable guy and especially good at matching beer with food. One of the ideas he brought to the table was a “flight of beers” which allows guests to try four craft beers at a time. Now that’s what I call pouring it on.

Kudos to Starwood for finding Scott and adding this service to their marketing mix.  I suspect beer fans, and there are a lot of us out there, will drink this one up.

Yum Brands Inc. subsidiary KFC has offered its services to Louisville-Jefferson County Metro Government to fill the city’s potholes.

Hiring a road crew for its “pilot infrastructure renewal program,” the restaurant chain has pledged to conduct street repairs, which would include the message “Re-Freshed by KFC” stenciled in temporary street chalk.

As part of the marketing effort, KFC randomly will choose four other U.S. cities whose mayors describe to the company their cities’ needs for street repairs, according to a news release.

“Budgets are tight for cities across the country, and finding funding for needed road repairs is a continuing challenge,” Louisville Metro Mayor Jerry Abramson said in the release. “It’s great to have a concerned corporation like KFC create innovative private/public partnerships like this pothole refresh program.”

So, KFC fixes the pothole and then spray paints a logo on the fresh asphalt. And to increase the news value, they hire an actor who looks like Colonel Sanders to do the spray painting. Talk about leaving your mark on the road less traveled! While this has little to do with “finger lickin’ good chicken,” KFC certainly drives away from this with lots of good press and good will.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="339" caption="Colonel Sanders Fills In"][/caption]

Procter & Gamble’s Charmin has partnered with SitOrSquat, a Web site that allows picky pottygoers to identify the cleanest (or dirtiest) toilets around. The application is available for download on most BlackBerrys and iPhones. Users enter their target city and state, and a host of available toilets—(some “sit” or “squat”)—pop up.

Since I’m on an airplane writing this, I can’t actually give this app a trial run but it seems like the Charmin team is definitely on a roll (keep in mind these are the same folks that brought you sparkling clean potties in Times Square.) They are certainly giving Scotts a run for their money. Some might say I’m piling it on just to make a point. Or that I’m trying to squeeze every last pun out of this meager offering. And of course, to them I say, plunge ahead, Marketing as Service in any form, is never number two in my book.

The lessons of the “rags to riches” Obama campaign continue to inspire marketers of all disciplines; even those involved in corporate rebranding and launch events. Having looked at the general lessons that I describe in In-bound from Obama: 10 Ideas for 2009, this article applies the Obama playbook to the launch of a new corporate brand and is based on interviews, conducted by Dick Bondy, with communications leaders at major corporations including Xerox, ArcelorMittal, Grant Thornton and Thomson Reuters among others.

Stand for Something
Obama combined a simple, rational message – Change, with an emotional and empowering call to action – Yes we can. Competing candidates quickly adopted the change mantra but Obama’s status as an outsider and the fact that he was there first, rendered his positioning unassailable. Allen Adamson, Managing Director of Landor Associates, NY, writes, “The most successful brands today are based on ideas that are not just different and relevant, but simple.” Johnson Controls, in their 2007 rebranding, adopted a simple tagline, “Ingenuity Welcome” – a signal to customers, prospects, current and future employees. And they followed this up with an annual “Ingenuity Day” devoted to new product brainstorming by all employees. Smith & Nephew, the British medical products conglomerate, restructured and identified their mission as “helping people regain their lives by repairing and healing the human body.” When AkzoNobel rebranded after the ’08 acquisition of ICI, they identified the simple and clear goal of becoming “one company in one year.”

Capture and Empower Your Fan Base
Obama broke new ground for a political candidate by his use of the web to build a database of supporters and to engage them in a conversation, ultimately using his disciples to spread his message. Deloitte Touche recently encouraged employees worldwide to create short videos on what Deloitte means to them. The Deloitte Film Festival, resulted in 370 videos, created by employees at all levels of the firm, engaging more than 1,200 participants. This initiative substantially strengthened the firm’s global community. Released to YouTube, the films introduce the firm to potential young employees in a uniquely relevant way.

Turn on the Videos
YouTube was a vital medium for Obama’s campaign, and continues after inauguration – the weekly Presidential address, traditionally on radio, is now a video released to YouTube and also available on the White House website. Not many corporations have used the internet to support a rebranding, but when the 2007 ArcelorMittal merger created the world’s largest steel company it was necessary to quickly create a dialogue with 330,000 employees in 60 countries, to allay concerns and maintain focus on the business, during the five months required to build and launch the new brand. The web played a key role, hosting ArcelorMittalTV.com – a series of 12 films featuring employees raising questions/concerns about the merger, the new company’s mission, and business strategies going forward. Management addressed questions in a blog accompanying each video episode. The video series is available on YouTube for the public as well, and has been downloaded at the rate of 15,000 per day.

Lighten Things Up
Obama’s campaign was notable for its sense of humor, in many cases, forcing his opponents on to the late night talk circuit, to their comparative disadvantage. Levity hasn’t played much of a role in recent rebrandings but two companies have staged launch events in a decentralized way that encourages employee creativity and cements their relationship to the new brand. Both Grant Thornton and Johnson Controls faced the need to foster greater collaboration between offices across the world and encourage consistent use of the new corporate identity. Rather than a single, corporate-staged brand launch, these firms had each office create their own event, with HQ providing only identity guidelines and materials. From office to office, there were cakes baked featuring the new logo; people arrived at work dressed in the corporate colors; offices were painted in the corporate palette; flag raisings and tent meetings were held. In both cases, the ceremonies were videoed and edited into a corporate film distributed back to all employees on the websites. No doubt the freedom of each office to incorporate levity, local customs and cultures, helped to build relevance for the corporate brand.

Touch Your Target
Inclusive events and personal conversations were also hallmarks of the Obama campaign. Corporate communicators ignore the power of one-on-one communication at their peril, when projecting a new brand and mission. Several of the companies in my study went to extraordinary lengths to connect to the broad employee base. There’s no better example than CEC Bank – the former Romanian state banking monopoly, rebranded in 2008 to compete with global banks for the first time. In order to introduce employees to the general concept of a brand, let alone CEC’s own brand, there were engagement sessions averaging 15 hours with all 6,700 of the bank’s employees, as well as their union’s officials. After the Thomson Reuters rebranding was broadcast around the world by satellite, CEO, Tom Glocer embarked on a 30-day world tour. The primary objective – speak with employees about the goal of “One Company in one Year”. Likewise, after Rockwell Collins introduced its new brand, Dave Yeoman, Director of Corporate Communications, held informal, brown bag lunches with employees in his travels to company facilities around the world.

Measure Green, Make Green
Clearly the Obama campaign benefited from the support of environmentalists. Every organization is being judged by its sustainability. Outside of companies whose business is the environment (BP, GE, etc.) this is an area that has been largely ignored in corporate rebranding events. A few bright spots: Smith & Nephew, in its rebranding, shipped flat corrugated boxes, printed with the new brand identity elements, to all offices, to be assembled and displayed on site – a cost and energy saving tactic. Of course, Grant Thornton and Johnson Controls’ locally staged events saved the energy that would have been required to send large groups of employees to central locations. The same with CSC, which used a “follow the sun” strategy to launch their brand, country by country, at noon in each time zone. But by in large, environmental concerns have not been at the forefront when launching new corporate brands. No doubt this will change.

Do Well by Doing Good
Obama raised unprecedented sums by convincing millions to “give a little money for the cause of change” making people feel they were part of a “movement.” With this as a backdrop, it has never been clearer that social responsibility will increasingly drive consumer loyalty. The launch of a new identity is an excellent opportunity to communicate the corporate mission and vision by incorporating strategic social responsibility. I haven’t seen this done yet. Perhaps Smith & Nephew, (“Helping people regain their lives by repairing and healing the human body.”) could initiate a program to donate artificial joints to people in need, and involve employees as well. Or Johnson Controls could donate thermostats to Habitat for Humanity. No matter what the corporate mission, there is an opportunity to use charity as a strategic reinforcement of the brand position. This should be baked into every brand launch.

Define your Value
Corporations, just like political candidates, increasingly need to define their value in simple, unambiguous terms. This is job number one for every corporate rebranding. Of the recent examples, Thomson Reuters illustrates this best. Their value proposition is the transformation of an increasing amount of raw information into “intelligent information” for professionals and businesses. As their advertising tagline describes it, “Information to Act”. The nexus of their brand launch was Times Square, arguably the most chaotic place on earth. The identity reveal, on six Jumbotron screens, created the new logo out of a random array of swirling shapes, metaphorically creating order out of chaos – transforming information to “intelligent information.

Spend it if You’ve Got It
The current economy, while producing fear in most marketers, provides ample opportunity to those with relevant, differentiated positions, willing to take advantage of retreating competition. When a company rebrands, it’s a mistake to downplay the launch event in an effort to conserve budget. The launch event is key to the success of a corporate rebranding. It serves as a platform for management to inspire and lead. It can signal the promise of a merger or acquisition. It can help capitalize on a strategic shift, and set the tone to guide relationships between a corporation, its employees and customers. But, no matter how skillfully crafted the strategy and design of the new identity, without a well thought-out and executed launch, the message sent can be quite the opposite of what is intended.

About the Authors…
Dick Bondy and Drew Neisser met “100” years ago when they both worked at Lord, Geller, Federico & Einstein. Since then, Dick has focused on B2B marketing and become a leading expert in corporate rebranding and their accompanying launch events. Drew has focused on more non-traditional marketing approaches, founding Renegade in 1996, the company he now owns and continues to helm. You can reach them at dickbondy@gmail.com and dneisser@rengade.com.

1. Where to start

• Register on Twitter.com and provide a complete profile since this will make it easier for people to decide if they want to follow you.
• I recommend you use your full name since this is not about cuteness or anonymity but rather connecting with people you might actually want to meet or at least have a conversation with at some point.
• The next thing I’d recommend is that you download TweetDeck and use this to tool as home base for all your twittering instead of Twitter.com. TweetDeck makes it easy to track the folks you follow, have direct conversations and to “retweet” which I’ll explain more about later.
• When you start visiting other Twitter home pages, you will notice many of have interesting backgrounds or more information. Zugara has created an easy tool to customize your background if you are so inclined.

2. Finding twitterers to follow

• The great thing about Twitter is that you can follow people from all walks of life and it is completely up to you the mix of people you choose to follow.
• To get started, pick a personal passion and a professional passion and look for lists of Twitterers in those areas. You can search for names or topics on Twitter Search.
• Send an email to your peers/friends and ask them if they Twitter. If they do, then go to their Twitter home pages and see who they follow (look for the tiny head shots on the lower right). Then click on some of these head shots and look at those people’s Twitter home page to see if their Tweets interest you. If they do, hit the follow button on the upper left.
• Then look at who these people follow. Ultimately, you start to find the superstars of Twitter who have thousands of followers but only follow a select few. Here’s a list of the Twitter elite according to Twitter Grader. Also, Paul Dunay has compiled lists of C Level Twitterers that is worth reviewing.
• Word of caution–be selective initially about who you follow. It takes a lot of time to follow a lot of people and it may overwhelm you to try to follow too many at first.  One quick means of evaluating a potential tweeter is the ratio of followers to following–beware of the ones who follow thousands but only have a few followers.

3. Read, retweet, share links then share thoughts

• My recommendation is that you spend you first couple of days just reading Tweets to get the hang of it. If you are following people that say interesting things and post interesting links, you will find it endlessly fascinating.
• Then start retweeting or RT. This is the equivalent to forwarding an email and this is very easy on TweetDeck. Just hit the retweet button and then post. Retweeting is a way of paying respect to the author and sharing goodness at the same time..
• I spend much of my time on Twitter reading the articles that others share via links. Because tweets are so short, a whole industry (like TinyURL.com which allows you to create aliases for your shortened URLs) has popped up to reduce the length of these links. Tweetdeck has a built in tool for shortening URLs but sometimes I find it easier to use Twurl which sits right on my Firefox browser. You can download Twurl from TweetBurner which has a bunch of other useful tools.
• Now start tweeting away. My suggestion is that you only tweet about what you’d want to read about. Keep the “I’m eating bagels for breakfast” tweets to a minimum. Honestly, no one really cares unless you’re Barack Obama or Britney Spears (for more celebs who Twitter click here.)
• Once you build a following, you will find all sorts of ways to make Twitter work for you (see my blog post for a few suggestions).

4. Playing catch up

• Twitip.com, Mashable and Twitfacts have tons of useful information about Twitter and will get you connected with all the latest uses, add-ons, variations and extensions.
• Both Blackberry and iPhone have Twitter applications that make mobile tracking and tweeting a breeze.
• Among the essentials add-ons is Twitpic for photo sharing.
• If you are so inclined, you can update your Facebook, Plaxo status and your Wordpress blog with your Twitter posts. I have found this to be useful since it simply extends the reach of my tweets and keeps those other pages fresher.
• Once you get the hang of it and start to attract followers, I have found it useful to create an auto response to welcome followers. Some consider this bad form but for busy people it is far better than doing nothing. Tweetburner makes setting up an auto response fairly easy.
• Since you will quickly notice a number of Twitter words like hashtag, tweme, tweetup, and twirt that may not make sense to you, you’ll find this twictionary worth bookmarking.

That should get you started. Have fun tweeps.

Here are my rather extensive notes from my call with Joan which will make a lot more sense if you are familiar with the promotion already or read Joan’s article…

As far as I’m concerned, this is one of the best PR stunts of the decade. Most PR stunts have little connection to the brand essence and generate but one blip. This program, in contrast, has already generated 8 months worth of substantial press coverage that is consistent with the brand persona. DP at its best is a quirky individual with slightly offbeat tastes in soda and music. DP’s connection to offbeat music goes way back. DP’s connection to GNR is not forced. The brand people were true GNR fans. DP could act like a true GNR fan because they were GNR fans. The stunt reflected a true fans understanding of the bands 14-year struggle to get out a new album. The fact that the offer of free DP was not available to former GNR members, Slash and Buckethead, further demonstrated a true fans understanding and the quirky sense of humor that informed the whole effort.

The fact that their servers crashed and their toll-free number was swamped is further testament to the success of this PR grand slam. It seems that just about every media outlet covered the free DP offer back in March and then again in November when the album did come out. DP made the arrival of the long-awaited album more of an event that it might have been. DP cleverly inserted themselves into a bit of pop culture history. How amazing is that after making the announcement back in March, Axl Rose actually responded to a 2nd tier soda brand? When was the last time a pop culture icon engaged in a conversation with any brand for free? GNR had no problem with this stunt back in March. It seems clear they welcomed the support and appreciated the sense of humor behind the free soda offer. Only when DP couldn’t keep up with the demand for the free sodas did GNR express concern. GNR’s request for an apology from DP is yet another fortunate wrinkle in this stunt for DP. It simply extends the news value and gives DP another chance to engage in a public conversation with GNR. Now it is up to DP to capitalize on the situation with a tongue in cheek apology and perhaps another consumer offer that again would be carried by the media for free. I would think that another 24 hour window of free sodas should absolve them of any charges of over-promising.

From the beginning, this was a “win/win” situation for the brand. If the album didn’t launch, then DP got extraordinary press coverage that connected the brand with the plight of GNR fans all over the world. If the album did launch, then DP would have one of the most cost-effective sampling programs ever. As it turned out, DP delivered thousands and thousands of coupons at nominal cost. Ironically, the awareness and interest in the brand generated by this stunt is greater than any of DP’s recent advertising campaigns at a fraction of the cost. DP couldn’t have dreamed up a more cost effective sampling program.

This stunt is further support for the old credo the “all PR is good PR.” Ultimately people will remember that somehow DP was connected with a pop music happening. They will remember that DP is a true fan of GNR and has a quirky sense of humor. DP has tapped into something deep and would be smart to mine it for all its worth. Perhaps they can demonstrate this kind of insider music fan knowledge with another rock icon.

Sure some folks were peeved that they couldn’t get their free coupon and perhaps DP should have anticipated greater demand. DP responded by adding another 24-hour window which is probably more than most companies would have done. DP fans will not hold this against them. Non-DP fans might remain angry for awhile but that it is a small price to pay for such a salient PR bonanza.

Capturing email and addresses was another savvy move by DP. The recent Catalina Marketing study suggests that a very small percentage of users account for an inordinate share of consumption of any one brand. Having the email addresses of your heavy users is essential to efficient marketing. With all these names in a their database, DP now has the opportunity to isolate their heavy users from the riffraff who just wanted a free soda. Once they do that, they can have an on-going dialogue with their fans, pushing out content and offers that are both relevant and rewarding. DP generated this invaluable data base at a remarkably low cost thanks to all the free publicity which must be making the folks at Pepsi and Coke wishing they could “be a pepper too.”

Quiznos gave away a million subs in three days after using only banner ads, Facebook and Twitter presence and some free local radio exposure.

International House of Pancakes just completed its third annual National Pancake Day on Tuesday, in which it gives away a small stack of pancakes and in return asks customers to consider donating to the Children’s Miracle Network or a local charity.

Since neither of these programs received much traditional advertising support, they exemplify the power of well managed social media programs:

Social networking and restaurants are a logical match, says Reggie Bradford, CEO of social media marketing consultancy Vitrue. “Food is naturally social,” he points out. “Where do you want to eat? Do you want to grab something here? This is translating to online conversations around restaurant brands. We’ve seen tremendous adoption of social media strategies among QSRs and fast-casual restaurants.”

Combine social media with freebies, and you’ve got marketing dynamite. “Giving away food in these uncertain economic times obviously resonates strongly with consumers,” Bradford says. “Huge gains are being made by brands who are reaching out to consumers with something tangible.”

Given the economic “nuclear winter” that we find ourselves in, free is one of the few words that will truly turn heads. Sure, any moron can give stuff away free. The question becomes, can you give stuff away in such a way that you attract and then maintain new customers as well as reward existing customers for their continued loyalty? Denny’s certainly tried by doubling up their wait staff and making sure that the chefs were up to the task. I can’t speak for IHOP and Quiznos but certainly with all the store traffic their freebies generated, they had the huge opportunity, an opportunity made all the easier via social media.

“Nice theory Drew but does it work?” You bet your sweet hotcakes it does. Just ask Denny’s. Denny’s? Yes, the very same brand that you have been driving by everyday and probably haven’t eaten at for 10 or more years. Denny’s who very familiarity caused it to blend into the landscape. Eight years ago, CEO Nelson Marchioli described his company as “in a ditch.” It took him most of that time to fix the food quality, add new products and get the service up to par. And once it was fixed, he knew they needed to do something dramatic to get folks reacquainted with his restaurants.

Marchioli is quoted in USA Today as saying “I’d rather give something away than discount it.” He added, “if I’ve got something that I think is wonderful, I want to get it into the mouths of customers.” Thus was born their “free Grand Slam breakfast” campaign that was kicked off with a three million dollar ad on the SuperBowl. The results of their $5 million marketing investment are nothing short of astounding:

• Denny’s served roughly 2 million free meals on Tuesday (2/3/09)
• The campaign generated over $50 million in PR coverage
• Denny’s and related promotional terms like “free Grand Slam breakfast” were 5 of the top 40 search terms on Google Tuesday
• Denny’s sold enough high-margin beverages to pay for the cost of the food
• Denny’s generated tremendous good will among many of the customers that visited

“Free is an emotional hot button. When free is concerned, there is not downside” says Duke professor Dan Ariely. So Denny’s used the promise of free food to get back on consumer’s radar. Smartly, Denny’s was ready for the burst of attention both online and in their stores. Denny’s purchased several keywords to make sure consumers could find their local restaurant as they searched online. In-store, Denny’s doubled their staff to make sure their new customers had a positive experience.

Time will tell if this was simply a blip on the radar or a new beginning for old Denny’s. In the meantime, feel free to serve up something free to your lapsed customers and see what kind of sizzling response you can cook up.

Yesterday at the B-B breakfast I saw Marcella Shinder, the VP of Brand Strategy for Open from American Express speak about their marketing efforts during these troubled times. Aside from the fact that she was the only optimist of the group, what appealed to me most was how Open is using Marketing as Service to deepen their relationship with their customers. Marci explained that their mission is to provide tangible ways to help small business manage and grow that are appropriate to the times.

Sounds like a bunch of marketing speak until you visit openforum.com, a social networking/resource site designed to facilitate information sharing among small business owners. Besides the wealth of information that many small business sites have, Open Forum seems to go a step farther by creating a robust social network where members can engage with the best small business bloggers, or join forums concentrated around their topic of choice.

Seems like a good time to me to be charged about Marketing as Service. Assuming small businesses continue to use this service and find ways to survive now, surely they will be that much more loyal to American Express when its time to thrive.

At www.freedietdrpepper.com, consumers can be one of the first two million to register to receive a coupon for a free 2-liter or 20-ounce bottle of Diet Dr Pepper. Consumers can take advantage of the giveaway through March 31 or until coupons run out. The coupon can be redeemed wherever Diet Dr Pepper is sold through June 30.

Giving away stuff free may scare marketers who hate the notion of “giving it away” but let’s look at the balance sheet of this promotion.

On the cost side:

• Building & hosting the website (under $50k unless it was part of deal with Yahoo)
• Distributing up to 2 million coupons by mail (probably under $4 million)
• Spreading the word (PR, online ads, tagged TV/radio they would have run anyway = <$2mm)
• Cost per trial including product under $4 per
• Cost per name captured assuming 33% opt-in rate of under $12 per

On the gain side:

• Up to 2 million new customers to try your product at very low trial costs
• Store traffic for your grateful retailers who probably sell other products during store visit
• A database of up to 1 million “fans” who opted in and can be activated for future promotions very cheaply

Assuming my math is close, and please let me know if it isn’t, this is the kind of math most marketers will drink up.

Like so many things in life, appreciation for something only arrives after diving in head first. Critics of Twitter are simply modern-day Windys who are “always window shopping but never stopping to buy.” And sure enough, after about a month of sitting on the sidelines, I jumped into the game and have been fascinated, entertained and enlightened by practically every spare minute I have given over to Twitter.

The only downside I can find is that relentless Twittering has just about killed this blog (which may or may not be such a bad thing!) While I might post 2-5 times a day on Twitter in a matter of seconds, posts here require significant time for research, writing and editing. But more importantly, I find myself reading a lot more and writing a lot less. Each good Twitter post one reads (and yes there is a lot of worthless tripe to sift through even if you are as ruthless as I am about who you follow) is like opening a door to a new room of knowledge. That new room requires careful study and inevitably opens up yet another train of thought worth pursuing. Further evidence that Jim Collins’ mentor was right when he said “it is more important to be interested than interesting.”

Just in the last few weeks, consider these outcomes as a result of tweeting:

• Recruiting–I found two qualified candidates for a client by tweeting about a Social Media Director job opening. This effort was aided by the fact that my tweets are also automatically posted as updates on my Facebook, LinkedIn and Plaxo pages.
• Preparing–Discovering that a prospective client was also a Twitterer, it was very easy to get up to speed on the key category influencers based on the folks the client followed. Time will tell if that insight will help close the sale but it sure won’t hurt.
• Connecting–Finishing a good book on Social Media, I started to follow the author via Twitter. From there I was able to open a dialog with the author, which is almost unimaginable via blogging.
• Breaking news–Moments after the US Air flight hit the Hudson, tweets directed me to live video feeds as well as the best news coverage and photos. While following this story as it broke wasn’t necessarily that important, it did open my eyes to the likelihood that there will be stories of extraordinary personal relevance that I’ll learn about and be able to act upon faster because of Twitter.

So yes, suddenly I find myself proselytizing about Twitter and practically ignoring this blog. Of course, I take some comfort in the fact that this blog always has fresh content as a result of adding a Twitter box to upper right corner! And in another post sometime soon (don’t hold your breath), I will be to explain how Twitter is yet another way marketers can deliver Marketing as Service to customers, prospects and influencers.

As reported by AdAge, Kraft’s iFood Assistant for iPhones has become a sizzling star:

Kraft Food devotees are actually paying to be marketed to on their beloved iPhones that the company’s iFood Assistant is now one of the device’s 100 most popular paid apps, and No. 2 in the lifestyle category. With its endeavor, Kraft is pulling off a rare trick: getting consumers to pay a one-time 99-cent fee for the app and also sit through ads on it. And in the process, it’s collecting useful data for targeting them more closely.

The lesson: When a marketer creates something that’s actually useful, consumers don’t really see it as straight marketing, or they’re at least willing to accept advertising as the payoff.

Thanks AdAge. I couldn’t have said it better myself.