We all remember that famous “I’ll have what she’s having” scene in “When Harry Met Sally.” It spawned copycat marketing and mainstream conversation and humor for years since.
So, it’s no surprise that we were recently told, “We want some of that Old Spice Guy stuff,” no less than four times, in a recent meeting with a company looking for a b2b social media strategy to capture some OSG-type magic.
We have a Firestone Complete Auto Care Store across the street from our office here at Media Logic. They mainly sell tires and do some other car care maintenance. I hadn’t been in the store in a year or so, but this week I had to stop in to get my wiper blades replaced (I know, I should’ve gone to Pep Boys and saved $20, but I didn’t).
Upon entering the store it was clear that the interior had been completely overhauled since my last visit. They did a really nice job. It was as if Firestone decided to tap the modern marketing ethos – facilitate conversation and establish authenticity – as their design inspiration.
Back in January, I wrote my first App Spotlight blog post here on Logical Juice, about Foursquare. Since then it has become one of the most popular apps available across all mobile platforms, and is now only days away from hitting the 1 million registered users mark.
The popularity of the app gave rise to last week’s first annual Foursquare Day, the first globally recognized grass-roots celebration of the power of social media…
And I was lucky enough to have received an invitation to join in the festivities.
Who owns social, anyway? It’s the question Pete Blackshaw asks in his insightful 4/12/2010 Ad Age article.
Blackshaw does a wonderful job highlighting the dualities and absurdities (not to mention clichés) that emerge in any discussion of social ownership. I think these dualities emerge because what we have in social is one of those “duck/rabbit” or “vase/face” optical illusions which delight and frustrate us because, although we can see both things easily, our brains won’t allow us to see both at the same time. “It’s a duck! It’s a rabbit! It’s a duck!”
It’s the same with social.
We are conversation-centric in theory… and in practice. We’re using social media to put collaboration and conversation at the core of our business. Are you?
If you feel that you may have been dismissive about the marketing power of social media, “Cheer” up. Stem the “Tide” of negativity. I’m going to let you in on a little “Secret.” Because, the reality is, many marketers shared this point of view. But perhaps none so famously as Procter & Gamble’s Ted McConnell.
Who’s Ted McConnell?
