More fab campaigns including Mccain’s aromatic bus stop and a billboard war between Audi and BMW here.

Forever21 Times Square Billboard from space150 on Vimeo.

More at: http://www.smartinsights.com/digital-marketing-strategy/digital-strategy-development/marketing-growth-wheel-infographic/

While shopping on Facebook is still uncommon, with only 1.5 million of the social network’s total 850 million members buying something via the site each month, the “overwhelming majority” of those who do are women.

Christian Taylor, the co-founder and chief executive of Silicon Valley start-up Payvment, the most popular commerce platform on Facebook – which powers 80 per cent of all shopping on the site, told The Telegraph that most shoppers tend to be stay-at-home mothers shopping for “cute things” for their children.

“The majority of people shopping on Facebook are women and most of them are stay-at-home mums. The most popular items bought on Facebook are by far baby clothes and little things like bows for children’s hair.

“I think Facebook has created an outlet for mothers to talk to other mums about what to buy for their children and share parenting tips. I imagine being a stay-at-home parent was an incredibly lonely job before social networks. The people shopping on Facebook are an incredibly similar crowd to those who play social games, such as Farmville.”

Taylor said that of the men who have shopped on the site, they tended to buy t-shirts and the most popular t-shirts were often cause-based shirts, such as tops raising money for cancer charities.

He also told The Telegraph that the number of people shopping on Facebook was growing by 20 per cent every month and there are currently more than three million items for sale on the world’s most popular social network.

Commerce on Facebook is still small, with most vendors tending to be small to medium-sized businesses – rather than the major brands – who usually have a fan page on the site instead.

CHIPOTLE REPURPOSES THEIR BILLBOARD ADS INTO REUSABLE LUNCH BAGS

This Earth Day, April 22, Chipotle Mexican Grill will reward eco-friendly customers with a free menu item when they purchase a limited edition Chipotle branded repurposed billboard bag between now and April 14.

In keeping with Chipotle’s commitment to finding more sustainable solutions, the lunch bags are made from recycled billboards sourced directly from Chipotle’s outdoor advertisements to create a ultra-durable, one-of-a-kind product. Each lunch bag purchased through April 14 will include an eco-friendly card with a unique barcode that a customer can redeem for a free menu item on Earth Day. The cards are printed on tree-free stone paper that is made from limestone salvaged from construction sites and quarry waste.

Sales from the lunch bags will go to the Chipotle Cultivate Foundation, which funds initiatives that support sustainable agriculture, family farming, and culinary education.

via PSFK: http://www.psfk.com/2012/03/chipotle-billboard-lunch-bags.html#ixzz1qVsUGrfL

Brands are being increasingly successful in social media by using humorous mascots, according to the WSJ. We’ve seen plenty of evidence of that in the UK with Dulux recently reinstating its dog and how brands as diverse as Burger King’s “The King”, Compare the Market (Meerkat) and Go Compare with its opera-singing mascot, Gio Compario, have used them.

The report says that ad executives believe consumers on Facebook are more likely to bond with a character than the traditional company page on the social-media website pumping out company and product news.

The piece cites US brands such as eBay-owned ticket-resale website StubHub, which uses a 25-foot-high animatroni tree, insurance firm Progressive with a sales agent called Flo (played by comedienne Stephanie Courtney, Spam with Sir Can A-Lot,  Diageo with its live action Captain Morgan rum pirate not to mention the Old Spice guy and Geico’s popular talking gecko.

“Consumers are less likely to have a conversation with a logo or a PR guy on social media,” said Jeff Charney, chief marketing officer for auto insurer Progressive Corp. Since 2008, Progressive’s TV ads have centered on a perky sales clerk named Flo, who touts the insurer’s rates. She now has 3.5 million fans on Facebook, where she posts comments about new Progressive products.

Characters also offer a softer way to sell a product, which is important on social media where executives fear that blatant selling or promotion can turn people off.

“You can put fairly bald product benefits into the mouth of a mascot and it doesn’t come off as hard sell,” said Parker Channon, partner at Duncan/Channon, a San Francisco ad firm that crafted the StubHub pitch, from the WSJ.

More at: http://wallblog.co.uk/2012/03/26/does-your-brand-need-a-mascot-to-be-successful-in-social-media/

Whether on a smartphone, tablet or laptop, using a second screen to tweet about TV is becoming a common occurrence - and it is called “chatterboxing”.

According to a survey conducted byTV Licensing, those aged 18-24 are the biggest uptakers of chatterboxing, with 46% of people who use social media taking part.

But the 25-34s are catching up - with 43% now chatterboxing, and in the 35-44 age range, 31% are already using second screens.

Communications manager Dan McLoughlin has been chatterboxing for months.

He said: “It makes TV such a social experience. We don’t often sit with family or friends to watch TV any more, so it makes it social.

The way that people choose to entertain themselves now, is not just listening to the radio during the day and watching the television in the evening. It’s far more about getting their news online, some on television, talking about it, recording it.

Emma Mulqueeny, from developer network Rewired State

“On these panel shows like X Factor or Strictly (Come Dancing), I value the comments of my friends and other people tweeting - and celebrities - more than the actual people on the panels themselves.

“I’m more excited by what happens on Twitter than what’s on the programme itself.”

Broadcasters are getting wise to this. They have realised if many people are tweeting about a programme while it is on air, more people will read about it, then tune in.

Social TV applications have been developed specifically for second screens.

On apps like Zeebox, Miso or Getglue you can tweet next to a live TV feed.

This is where money can be made because some of these apps have “click to buy” options, so users can directly purchase products advertised on TV.

Emma Mulqueeny, from developer networkRewired State,said: “With adverts, people can now pause and fast-forward.

“So advertising through television needs to become more clever and more directive marketing, bearing in mind what people are talking about.

“It’s difficult to guess what this is going to be like in two or even three years’ time.

More at: http://news.sky.com/home/technology/article/16189017

More at: http://econsultancy.com/uk/blog/9342-peugeot-uses-pinterest-to-launch-puzzle-competition

Peugeot Panama has launched a Pinterest-based competition that asks people to complete puzzles by repinning images of its cars.

Last week the brand created several boards depicting different models with pieces missing.

People can search for and find these pieces, pin them on their own boards and share it with Peugeot. The first five people to complete their boards win prizes.

Though a visit to the brand’sPinterest pageleaves you somewhat confused at first, since several boards have been used as placeholders – separating the cars into different price brackets.

One such board is titled ‘Starting at 35,000us’ and is toally blank, with no content pinned. It’s an interesting way to use the space, but isn’t immediately obvious.

On the bottom row (on our screens at least, see below) – the first four board titles are used to explain the contest, with another placeholder then showing the ‘contest boards’.

People are asked to click any board to find out where to look, which is explained as follows:

This is a 5 piece puzzle of a Peugeot 3008, as you can see there are 4 pieces missing. Look for them in our website (peugeot.com.pa) or in our Facebook fan page (www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1797346790), pin them in your own board and share it with us. The first 5 people to complete their boards win!”

Using boards as placeholders is certainly one of the most creative uses of Pinterest we’ve seen so far, but sadly it’s overshadowed by the fact that the puzzle itself isn’t very clear.

It’s difficult to work out how you’re supposed to get involved, and even the brand itself has had to step in to inform a participant that the goalposts had been changed:

Hi Julia!, thank you for participating in the Peugeot Puzzle Contest, sadly as you may know, Pinterest changed our layout so we were forced to adapt the contest again. Please feel free to leave your board and start pinning again. Best Luck!”

That said, Peugeot Panama uses a conversational tone in its outreach above and is trying something new - so should be applauded for doing so.

However, it might transpire that a simpler competition, with mechanics that are easier to understand, might be more successful in driving participation in the long run.

Pinterest is planning to release redesigned profiles this week, according to CEO and co-founder Ben Silbermann.

“I’m so excited about it,” said Silbermann (pictured, left), who spoke at the South By Southwest conference in Austin, Texas, on Tuesday. “We wanted to make it more beautiful … to make your profile different in kind than the profile you have on Facebook.”

Silbermann emphasized new discoverability features in the redesign, saying he and his team wanted to make it easier for users to stumble upon other like-minded users, and highlight the people their connections are repinning images from.

He also said the team is working on expanding the number of things users can pin, including video. Soon, people will be able to pin from Vimeo, Hulu and Netflix, among others. And, as was revealed earlier this week,an iPad app — as well as a public API — are also in the works.

At the beginning of the interview, Silbermann spoke of his inspiration for Pinterest, saying it was a project he always wanted to build. “I collected insects, I collected stamps,” he recalled. “I was obsessed with this idea that what you collect says something about who you are.”

He also talked about the site’s original design. “We labored over that grid,” he said. “There were literally dozens of that which were fully coded. We felt like, if your collectios didn’t look awesome, if they weren’t beautiful, why would anyone spend the time to build them?”

More at: http://mashable.com/2012/03/13/pinterest-redesign-api/