Meanwhile, I also expect the Droid marketing blitz to to ramp aggressively. Below are a few screenshots of large, flash-based ad units across VentureBeat, Alley Insider and Verizon.com (a text ad even exists on Google’s homepage).

The messaging across the campaign and its various states are:
- Droid is Dropping
- Droid has Arrived
- And my favorite, Compromise Officially Deactivated

According to AdMob’s September 2009 Mobile Report:

Devices running on Android accounted for 17% of smartphone traffic in the US in September 2009, up from 13% in August 2009. The HTC Dream (G1) was the number three device and the HTC Magic was the number 10 device in September 2009 in the US. As with the iPhone OS, much of the Android traffic in AdMob’s network came from applications.

The iPhone still represents 48% of smartphone activity, but Android has moved ahead of RIM (14%). And the future for Android is bright considering:

- Droid’s rave reviews
- Droid’s multi-handset product line and low prices
- Android’s carrier agnostic approach (while Apple is currently tied exclusively to AT&T)

Also noteworthy, the iPhone now represents a staggering 60+% of AT&T’s smartphone activity. If Droid, for instance, reached even a fraction of that dominance on Verizon (which is dominated by RIM AT ~35%), Android will realize serious growth.

Like traditional traffic acquisition, there are various methods – some organic and viral; other through paid programs. A powerful trend on Facebook is, obviously, the movement of Facebook Advertisements from destination sites to Facebook Pages. Facebook clearly has recognized this with the addition of the “Become a Fan” button.

And brands recognize that acquiring fans is both difficult – but valuable considering the ability to engage with consumers on an ongoing basis…. leading to incentivized Facebook Fan Ads. Below is a great example from Papa Johns who offers a free medium cheese pizza in exchange for becoming a fan.

In reality, this is a unique coupon code for Facebook Fans… which, assuming that the economics work out for Papa Johns, is very smart because it allows them to directly track the ‘redemption rates’ of the Facebook offer – effectively understanding the direct commercial value of their advertising campaign. Meanwhile, there is downstream value in the growth of Facebook fans, the ability to interact with them, future coupons / promotions, and so forth.

The campaign worked. Papa Johns is the third biggest gainer in Facebook Pages – nearly doubling their fan base and driving 250,000 new fans in a 48 hour period.

So unless you love bacon, why is this interesting? Because Wendy’s has been promoting the burger heavily in an interactive campaign that runs on prominent websites like ESPN and Gizmodo – and concurrent to a large television campaign… and that the campaign is billed as “Wendy’s Real Time” – a play on the real time web and their focus on “real burger” taste.

The takeaway (which I moved up from the bottom of the post) is that this is a unique and interesting swing at real time advertising / branding… but it is too dynamic and too big. The interactions and user experience would be greatly simplified if they integrated with Twitter’s OAuth and also with Facebook Connect. Why ask people to leave Wendys.com to post, interact, etc. Make it simple up front and then push the data both directions: on Wendys.com and on Twitter / Facebook (both of which have clear benefits).

Below is a screenshot of an expansion leaderboard ad that features the burger and invites you to “view Wendy’s real time”:

The leaderboard retracts into a traditional size, but it is also matched by a skyscraper with similar messaging:

The ad takes you to the “real time” experience – which is a mix of Twitter updates, user photos and videos, Wendy’s messaging, etc. It is cooler than it is effective (or even decipherable) – content is dynamic and constantly moving, but much of it is neither about Wendy’s nor bacon.

When you click on a post, it expands the Twitter message and displays the user’s Twitter information (allowing you to follow him / her).

The video experience is easier to digest and the incentives for posting are more clear: hamburgers for a year. By posting videos of your Wendy’s experience, you are eligible for the contest. The UI is slick and this content clearly be reusable for other campaigns (such as on Facebook).

Finally, Wendy’s encourages you to Talk Bacon with their Twitter account (@urBaconMeCrazy).

Tonight, everyone has the opportunity to spend Halloween with Heidi Klum thanks to Modelinia’s live stream of the party on their Facebook fan page.

TechCrunch covered the live stream and provided a great overview of the event and how to join:

You can find the live stream on Modelinia’s Facebook page starting at 9 PM PT tonight. The streaming itself is being handled by Livestream, who will run it through 11:30 PM, we’re told. Klum’s Facebook fan page along with Modelinia’s page have nearly 700,000 fans, so if you do watch this, you definitely won’t be alone. And there’s a chat widget running next to the stream to talk with others watching it.

To participate, become a fan of Modelinia on Facebook and watch the live stream there – or below:

Facebook’s Platform Changes
- D-Day For Facebook App Developers (TechCrunch)
- First Screenshots of Facebook Platform Changes (InsideFacebook)
- Our Complete Rundown of Facebook’s Massive Platform Changes (InsideFacebook)

Google’s Musical Announcement
- Making search more musical (The Official Google Blog)

Droid is a Week Away
- Hello Humans: Droid By Motorola Arrives Next Week (Verizon)
- Motorola DROID official on Verizon: $199 on contract, coming November 6th (video) (Engadget)

iPhone Moving Beyond AT&T?
- Apple predicted to sacrifice ‘sweetheart’ AT&T deal for Verizon (AppleInsider)

Google Announces Turn by Turn Navigation
- Announcing Google Maps Navigation for Android 2.0 (The Official Google Blog)
- Google’s New Mobile App Cuts GPS Nav Companies At The Knees (TechCrunch)

Brizzly Adds Facebook Integration
- Brizzly Gets A New Coat: Facebook (TechCrunch)

Pandora Also Adds Facebook Integration
- Share Pandora with Your Friends on Facebook, Twitter, and Beyond (Pandora)

Facebook has a note below the poll that this data can be shared anonymously – but because there is no brand associated with the unit and because the header says “Sponsored”, it is still a strange interaction (I took the poll specifically to see what brand would pop up upon completion). Once the poll is answered, it collapses and thanks you for “participating in [the] research poll”. In contrast, after voting in a branded poll unit, it displays the popular vote and which friends participated.

The Research Poll – which appears in the same ‘premium’ location as other units

Upon completion of the poll, you are thanked for participating… a different experience than with branded units