Social Media Stats

1. “Social media accounts for one out of every six minutes spent online in US.” (Journalism.co.uk)

2. “Seventy-seven percent report that they use social media to share their love of a show; 65% use it as a platform to help save their favorite shows; and 35% use it to try to introduce new shows to their friends.” (TVGuide.com study via TVNewsCheck.com)

3. “Facebook users are overall more trusting than non-internet others. Pew reported, 43% of survey participants were more likely than other internet users to feel that most people can be trusted.” (Pew Internet via Social Media Club)

Google Kicks Off Ad Push for Latest Nexus Smartphone

Google’s next-generation smartphone, the Nexus S, is finally here, and to get the word out to holiday shoppers, the tech titan is unveiling a new online-marketing campaign and in-store push at Best Buy.

Google today posted full specs for the phone on a YouTube channel, dedicated to Nexus S, the successor to the questionably successful Nexus One launched one year ago. That handset was manufactured by HTC, while the Nexus S is a Samsung phone that comes with a new Android operating system, code-named “Gingerbread.” The idea behind the new device is that it’s unadulterated Google, free of the apps and features loaded by third-parties and carriers.

The Top 10 Viral Ads of All Time

A little over five years ago, YouTube ushered in a new genre of video advertising, one that succeeded on its ability to rise above a world of pet tricks and backyard stunts, to entertain and to be passed around. Call them “viral” videos, super-sized TV ads, branded videos or just plain commercials, a few of them have crossed a significant psychic milestone: 100 million views and counting. Last week, the roller-skating babies of Evian’s “Live Young” campaign reached the mark after a little more than a year on the web. This, without any significant TV exposure in the U.S. and very little overseas. It’s advertising that entertains. And it got us thinking: What are the most-watched viral ads of all time?

We put the question to our friends at Visible Measures, and the answer surprised us. It turned out the No. 1 viral campaign of all time is a consistent sleeper hit, not often among the weekly top 10 on Ad Age’s Viral Chart, and not connected to a big, well-heeled brand or fancy creative agency. Rather, it’s a cool gimmick that consistently delivers laughs along with cringe-inducing voyeuristic destruction.

Twitter users aren’t talking to you or about you.

Attention brands: Twitter users aren’t talking to you or about you. In fact, they barely know you exist.

The most mentioned brands on Twitter tend to be there because they are part of constant daily conversation, not because of anything the brand is or isn’t doing on Twitter. That’s one of the conclusions of a six-month analysis of the service’s ubiquitous 140-character messages conducted by digital agency 360i and released today.

Despite marketers’ embrace of the medium, brands are finding themselves on the outside of the conversation. Of the 90% of Twitter messages sent by real people — the other 10% come from businesses — only 12% ever mention a brand, and most of those mentions are of Twitter itself.

Sprint Claims ‘First’

- Title With Launch of 4G Phone

Third-place wireless carrier Sprint is hoping for a comeback with the launch tonight of Evo, the first 4G smartphone, which runs off its high-speed network.

No. 1 carrier Verizon and No. 2 AT&T support 3G data. While those carriers are still developing new high-speed networks, Sprint 4G is already available and could stand to bolster the brand that has suffered from years of technical and customer service problems.

Heineken Sales

Heineken USA Sales Fell Nearly 11% in 2009

Heineken USA’s sales dipped nearly 11% last year, a reflection of a difficult economic climate for pricey imports as well as erratic and ineffective marketing on its flagship lager brand.

The No. 2 importer’s total sales declined 10.7%, worse than the 9.8% drop for the total imported beer segment as well as the 6.8% decline posted by its chief rival, Corona marketer Crown Imports.

The biggest culprit: a 10% decline in Heineken Lager, the No. 2 imported brand. (The importer’s other Dutch brands, Heineken Premium Light and Amstel Light, also saw steep declines.)

Those struggles prompted Heineken to change creative agencies last year, as the marketer dumped Wieden & Kennedy for Euro RSCG, which became its fourth creative shop since 2006.

Do you, uh, Twitter?

Yahoo Pact Gives Twitter Distribution, Revenue

That’s what Yahoo is going to be asking in the coming months as it integrates the micro-blog service into nearly all of its products and pages, including Yahoo Mail, Sports, News, Finance and Search.

It’s the latest step in Yahoo’s latest strategy, which is to integrate the world’s most popular social networks into the Yahoo environment rather than try to compete with them. The pact is similar to a deal with Facebook announced in December, allowing users to import their connections and update their status through Yahoo.

The deal will give Twitter a vast new distribution to 600 million Yahoo users, and something else it has found scarce: revenue.

Agency of the Year

Agency of the Year

Any ad agency will tell you the loss of a lucrative account is like a punch in the gut. Losing your founding client — that’s devastating. But that’s precisely what happened to McGarryBowen in 2007 when Verizon whittled its ad agency roster from 38 agencies to eight. The marketer’s move eliminated shops not linked to the biggest chunk of what was then a $1.2 billion and growing marketing budget: wireless.

So what did John McGarry do? He took his former client to lunch.

“He is a class act and consummate professional,” said Verizon’s exec VP-chief marketing officer, John Stratton, of Mr. McGarry, who is renowned in the business as the epitome of the courtly, old-school account man. “He worked for two and half years to maintain the relationship, despite what were probably hard feelings. … John really understands how to manage relationships well. It’s not overbearing, but he doesn’t fall off the radar screen long enough that you forget about him and his company.”

Best TV Spots

Sure, the future is here and it’s all about integration and digital and social media and yadda yadda yadda. But we still have a soft spot for the traditional spot. Here is Creativity’s best of the decade.

Cadbury “Gorilla”
Agency: Fallon, London
Director: Juan Cabral

No swirling fabrics, no dreamy ladies, no satisfied young snackers, no … chocolate. “Gorilla” didn’t contain the same ingredients as many chocolate ads before it. Instead, it contained a grape purple backdrop, a gorilla, a set of drums and a few key moments from a monster ’80s track. When it debuted in 2007, “Gorilla” engendered a fierce debate amongst industry types about what exactly has become of advertising. To fans — and fans were many: The ad has been viewed more than 4 million times on YouTube, inspired a host of tributes and captured the Film Grand Prix at Cannes — it was an exemplar of the new branded storytelling. Detractors, of course, asked what any of it had to do with chocolate. Fallon’s Juan Cabral (author of Sony “Balls”), who wrote and directed the spot, answers the question “Why?” simply: “It kind of makes sense to be honest. It’s a very powerful drum solo. So a gorilla has to play it.”

Starbucks Rings in the Holidays

… With Big Social-Media Push

Get ready for Starbucks Holiday 2.0. The brand is going big in social media this year, having learned that its consumers want to participate in a variety of ways. So Starbucks is pulling back from its Thanksgiving TV buys of the past two years to focus on where its customers already spend time online and drive them into stores.

Starbucks is spreading the love around, advertising on websites from NYTimes.com to Meebo; partnering with Pandora to offer branded holiday playlists; and encouraging participation in social and owned media to get consumers in the holiday spirit. The chain is continuing its partnership with Red, launched last Thanksgiving, by offering a free “All You Need Is Love” CD, with tracks from U2, John Legend and the Dave Matthews Band, when consumers spend $15. Additionally, Starbucks will give $1 to fight AIDS in Africa. There are also a variety of holiday-themed “Red” products for which Starbucks will also make the $1 donation with a customer purchase. This represents a stepped-up version of last year’s offer, which was a five-cent donation made when consumers bought a holiday beverage such as a peppermint mocha.