Monthly Archives: July 2012

A High Priest Concludes: Snoop Dogg is Instead a Lion

snoop dogg

Is Snoop Dogg pulling a P. Diddy on us?  The biggest “brand” in West Coast hip hop has changed his name after an enlightening spiritual journey to Jamaica and will now be known as Snoop Lion, according to an article on Mashable.com.

The 13 time Grammy nominated rapper decided to change the second part of his artist name after a Rastafarian high priest told him, “you are the light, you are the lion,” said Lion, 40, also known by his given name of Calvin Broadus, Jr.  Lion reportedly will stop making rap albums and instead focus on reggae for his forthcoming fifth album Reincarnated.  A documentary chronicling Lion’s spiritual enlightenment, decision to change his name and trip to Jamaica will be previewed at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2012.

Check out the trailer to Snoop’s documentary, Reincarnated, here:

Ready, Aim, Ambush – London 2012

For advertisers, one of the most challenging Olympic events is the ambush ad. Contestants vie to attract vast numbers of Olympics viewers and buzz while not paying the multi-million dollar sponsorship fees demanded by, in this case, the London Olympic Organizing Committee. Jess Collen writes about trademarks and ambush ads this week in his Forbes.com column.

Nike is a perennial winner of the ambush Olympics and doesn’t disappoint this year. This year’s ad features athletes in London’s around the world – just not the London which is being featured on wall to wall coverage on NBC.

This year’s silver medal goes to Irish bookmaker Paddy Power has put up billboards near the Olympics venue claiming Paddy Power’s is the “Official sponsor of the largest athletics event in London this year! There you go, we said it”. The London in question is London, France. The event is an egg and spoon relay.

A YouTube Ad About A Cookie You Won’t Forget Anytime Soon

 

It’s kind of hard to make an advertisement about sweets funny, but 150 year-old French company LU has done it quite well with a YouTube video featuring its Mikado cookie.  LU, also known by its proper name Lefevre-Utile, is a brand of various French biscuits purchased by Kraft Foods in 2007.  LU’s goodies include this blogger’s personal favorite, Le Petit Ecolier, and the company is considered to be the most popular biscuit line in France, in Kraft’s somewhat biased opinion.  LU has 18 types of savory and sweet biscuits under its (y)umbrella of products.

Jay-Z Appears in Duracell Powermat Online Video

Brooklyn Nets co-owner and prolific rapper Jay-Z is now starring in an online video advertisement for Duracell Powermat’s series of wireless chargers, according to an article on today’s Mashable.com.  Set to the tune of his hit “Run This Town,” the one minute video clip highlights how a 24-hour city like the Big Apple requires smartphone users to have round-the-clock power.

Duracell Powermat is now focusing solely on the New York market and the video can be seen online or in yellow cabs in New York City.  A nationwide advertising campaign this will be launched this fall.

WWE Celebrates 1,000 Episodes of Raw and 100 Millionth Social Media Follower

It’s been a big, hulking week for World Wrestling Entertainment.  The Connecticut-based behemoth brand celebrated its 1,000 episode of Raw last night with a new #RAWactive social initiative and digital platforms for fans to converse with each other and actual wrestlers during the show, according to an article on Mashable.  In addition, the social media powerhouse announced its 100 millionth social media follower across all platforms last week.  Just to put the popularity of the House that Hulk Hogan built in perspective, the WWE’s individual league and wrestler pages has more fans on Facebook than the NFL and its 32 team pages.  The company looked at the 1,000th Raw episode as an opportunity to not sit on its laurels and instead increase focus on social engagement, although one can argue they are doing a pretty amazing job at digital interaction already.

Who would have thunk it that a sport that is called by many a “non-sport” would be more popular than the NFL?

A Major Social Media Blunder Concerning Mass Movie Theater Shooting in Colorado

We usually focus on the stories of brands effectively utilizing social media.  We would be remiss, however, if  we didn’t highlight what happens when a brand flubs at the social media game.  In this case, UK-based company CelebBoutique didn’t check into why the word #Aurora was trending in the last several days and foolishly wrote the following tweet:

“#Aurora is trending, clearly about our Kim K inspired #Aurora dress ;) Shop: CelebBoutique.com/aurora-white”

The tweet remained published for one hour and was retweeted many times before the company tweeted apologies four separate times.  Although the company did not know about the mass shooting at the The Dark Knight Rises film premiere the night earlier in Aurora, Colo., people via social media outlets are calling for a boycott of the company, which guides customers in ways to dress like their favorite celebrities.  We wonder if the tweeter is revamping his or her resume this morning, as a mistake like this can cause a social media nightmare for any company.

http://mashable.com/2012/07/20/celebboutique-misguided-aurora-tweet-sparks-twitter-outrage/

 

Porn Stars Strive For Mainstream Acceptance in 140 Characters or Less

It has been historically difficult for adult film stars to make the leap from the porn industry into mainstream Hollywood productions.  All of that, however, is changing with the use of Twitter to promote one’s brand:  oneself.  Approximately 90 percent of people in flesh films use Twitter, said Dan Miller, a managing editor of XBiz, an adult industry trade publication, in an article on yesterday’s CNN.com.

“Since most mainstream pop culture publications don’t cover the porn industry (and) porn movie reviews don’t generally appear alongside reviews of big Hollywood movies … the adult industry has embraced Twitter as a way to reach out directly to fans beyond the typical porn consumer,” said Miller.

Some tweets tend to be chaste, not titillating.  Adult film star and aspiring writer Kayden Kross (@Kayden_Kross) tweets about her love of horses and books.   She credits the social media platform for making her more confident as professionally and personally.

“I was largely unsuccessful up until Twitter came along because I’m very shy … and it came through in my movies,” said Kross. “But with Twitter, people see a different side of me and they see it in my movies.”

James Deen, 26, is one of the industry’s most popular porn stars with 1,200 movies to his credit.  He is “himself” on Twitter and is shooting a mainstream movie with Lindsey Lohan scheduled for release in 2013.  He sees Twitter as one of the main reasons for his ability to shift into Hollywood films.

“I think a lot of the mainstream thing has to do with Twitter,” Deen told CNN. “People look at me and they say, ‘He’s not a porn star, he’s just a nice guy.”

But we did chuckle when we saw one of his Tweets from @JamesDeen:  ”I’m a simple guy who likes to eat sleep and watch tv… oh ya i also bang chicks for a living :-)

Lady Gaga’s Ad for “Fame” Fragrance Causing a Social Media Scentsation

Lady Gaga’s fragrance “Fame” is set to hit shelves this September and the social media queen tweeted a risque ad campaign for the scent via Twitter earlier this week featuring at least one dozen army men “shielding” her private areas on an otherwise naked body, according to an article on Mashable.

The social media maven told her 27 million Twitter followers that she was a bit uneasy in making the ad.  ”i won’t lie I’m a bit nervous,” tweeted Gaga. “Its been a while since i’ve shared some work with you. But i’m so proud of Steven+I, we really did not sleep!”

“Fame” is dubbed the first black perfume.  It turns clear upon spritzing.  Gaga hinted there may be a commercial to follow the print advertisement shot by Steven Klein, who worked with the artist on her Alejandro video back in 2010.

IKEA’s Web Video Where “Everything is a Little Harder”

Swedish furniture design company IKEA has launched a great web video about what a world would be without textiles, according to an article on Ad Age.com.  The two-minute short shows life where pillows are made from tree trunks, chairs constructed from cacti and underwear fashioned from tin foil.  Set to the Bread classic song “Everything I Own,” one literally becomes thankful for cotton undergarments.  The video is part of the introduction to IKEA’s yearly catalog where textiles is one of the highlighted themes.

Audi vs. Mercedes: Who is the Victor in Social Media Engagement?

 

Although Mercedes Benz has 2.3 million more Facebook followers, it is German luxury car competer Audi that has a 15 percent higher rate of social media engagement, according to an article on Venture Beat.

Social marketing company Socialbakers believes the best indicator of social media success comes from actual engagement rather than simple fan count.  ”Engagement means your post, tweet, or status update did something,” according to the piece.  ”Someone changed their behavior or actions as a result of it. And others will see your message because they did.”

The calculation is relatively easy:  you count the number of reactions on a particular social media platform (tweets, likes, shares, comments, replies, etc.) you get per day, divide by the number of actions you took (wall posts, tweets, etc), then divide by the total number of followers or fans on that day, and multiply by 100.

Out of the top 10 brands with the highest engagement rate, it is Audi USA that reigned supreme over Mercedes Benz with an 0.652 percent rate per single post and 700,000 social shares in the month of June alone.  Mercedes came in second place with 0.306 percent.  The only other car company in this top 10 list was BMW in fourth place.