How Will You #makeitcount in 2012?

Whether you’re walking, running, jumping, skipping, skating, drumming, or slam dunking, according to Nike+, “it counts”. Nike+ is giving everyone the chance to “Make It Count” in 2012. How many of us, year after year, make a New Year’s resolution of getting fit, and then find ourselves unmotivated and unsuccessful? I’m assuming a large percentage…Well, in an effort to spread inspiration and motivation for a healthier more physical life; Nike has found a way to combine the physical with the digital once again.

Over the years, Nike has proved itself an innovative company with its fun, customizable running shoes, gear, and more. One of their current popular products is the Nike+. The Nike+ software includes a chip that is inserted into the inside of a Nike running shoe, designed for this purpose, which then sync’s with your iPod. The chip is able to track your movement such as running distance, calories burned, pace, etc. Also, when you plug in your iPod to your computer, it gives you the option to share your results online. Nike+ further features options such as setting goals and “coaching” for your specific workout. Nike realized the success and popularity of Nike+ and decided to expand upon this idea.

Today, Nike launched the Nike+ FuelBand. This high tech wristband is meant to be worn throughout the day and tracks people’s daily movements. With this band, there is a strip of LED lights that go from red to green as you reach your goal. Your goal is measured in “points” or “fuel”. You can set how many fuel points you want to achieve that day, and you can see your progress right on your wrist. This product’s purpose is to motivate and inspire a healthy lifestyle, and make it a fun technology gadget at the same time. The FuelBand is truly for anyone with a goal of being more active. Check out the video below to learn more. You can also follow Nike on Twitter and provide workout inspiration for others at #makeitcount. The FuelBand is available for pre-order on Nikestore.com.

CES: Connect Everyone Socially

Made it to CES, the Consumer Electronics Show. Lots of discussion and products centered around "connectivity." Headphones that connect you to your music, Ultrabooks that have the productivity of a laptop and the portability of a tablet connected to your phone, your car, your television, Ultrathin and Ultra high definition TV's that connect you to content that is so life like it's hard to believe it's not real, computers in cars that connect you to every digital asset you can imagine.

I was able to sit in on a couple of sessions that were extremely interesting to me. The first one was with the president of Best Buy. Here are a few of the highlights (in my opinion):
- Best Buy has a ridiculous amount of data, but they aren't doing enough with it. They are underutilizing technology that could help them parse through the data and give them good information that they can act on.
- Best Buy is betting on health care moving into the home with digital equipment that can help monitor critical vitals and be electronically shared with a nurse/doctor in real time.
- They are concerned about the environment. Recycling electronics is a big initative for them as well as energy efficient products.
- They plan to do a better job listening to employees for feedback.
- Digital marketing is a playing a bigger and bigger part of what they do.
- They plan to have more, but smaller stores (e.g. Best Buy Mobile)
- They are working with maufacturers to make packaging easier to open.
- They feel that their "accessory" sales are largely unplanned, impulse purchases.

More to come from CES...

Pique Your "Pinterest"

Have you heard of Pinterest yet? Well if you haven’t, then you had better educate yourself on the latest craze that is taking the social media world by storm and was recently named one of TIME Magazine’s “50 Best Websites of 2011.” Though the site is still extremely young and is currently "invite-only", it has seen its membership base grow almost 300% during the last quarter of 2011, and it now boasts a total of over 4 million active users. The company also received $27 million in venture funds this past October, only furthering the notion that Pinterest is truly taking off.

So what is Pinterest? To put it quite simply, it is a social media website that allows users to post and share online images in an organized manner in an effort to find others who share the same interests. Users are able to upload images found online to their “Board” by using the “PinIt” button or they can simply upload an image from their PC. Images can also be organized into separate Boards that focus on specific subjects and categories, making it simple to find others who have created similar visuals.

Users can also interact with others by liking a certain Pin, commenting on it, or even by “Repinning” the image to their own respective Board. Furthermore, if a user finds a certain Board that they are particularly interested in then they have the option of following that Board (and/or the profile of the user that created it) for future updates and enjoyment.

The images found within the site cover virtually any subject one could possibly think of, and the site can be used for a multitude of purposes. Though Pinterest can be used solely for entertainment, it also has some very useful and beneficial applications depending on the type of user engaging with it. People can use the Boards that they create as a way to organize ideas and important visual aids all in one simple online format. For example, artists can use their Boards as inspiration for future work, designers can pin all of the latest fashions to a certain Board in order to use it as a basis for their own creations, and those interested in culinary arts can create vivid online cook books. Boards can even be used as simple reminder lists of things one may need when engaging with a certain project or when trying to achieve an important life goal. The possibilities are truly endless.

Basically, if you haven’t checked out Pinterest yet, I suggest that you do so. Also be sure to think of ways that you could use the site to market your own brand. The site does not have any features tailored specifically toward the business world, such as Facebook or Google+ brand pages, but the site could prove quite beneficial to marketers everywhere with a little creativity and ingenuity. That is because with the incredible upsurge in membership and usage rates that the site has seen recently, it certainly has the potential to be a big player in the digital marketing landscape as the site continues to grow and expand.

So what are you "Pinterested" in?

Get Your Own Word Cloud

The visualization of data is a great way to quickly see information in a much more palatable way than typical charts. Word Clouds are all over the place and show how prominent specific words are in a web page or other outlet with text. You can create your own word cloud through Wordle. Just enter your web page URL or copy and paste any text and Wordle will instantly generate a word cloud for you. Then you can customize the colors, fonts, layout and more. Above is our word cloud from this blog.

Getting Your Brand Out Of The Slammer

Small business owners take notes at expo: wtnh.com

A couple weeks ago, Response brought branding to a personal level. At the Greater New Haven Chamber business expo, we had the opportunity to show off our skills and abilities to other local businesses. Considering we are a creative bunch, we wanted to create an exhibitor booth that people would remember! No detail was spared in the creation of our booth. The prison theme we created included everything from fake plastic handcuffs, orange jumpsuits, and an opportunity to get your mug shot taken. Our goal was to “un-cuff your creative”. We wanted to remind people that branding is a key element in marketing your company and it offers the ability to be creative and fun.

We decided to create a mini sweepstakes campaign to engage the expo attendees. The plan was to have people to “brand” themselves and decide who they think they are, or who they represent. From here, we had a mug-shot backdrop, with magnetic letter boards. People would write their “brand” with the magnetic letters on the board and get their “mug-shot” taken. We then wanted to capture their e-mail information, so we can e-mail the picture to them. Furthermore, to integrate social media, if people had Facebook accounts, they could “like” Response on Facebook and afterwards if they made their photo their profile picture, we entered them in a raffle to win a webcam.

As a creative advertising agency, we wanted to create a buzz about our company amongst all of the other exhibitors. We wanted people to leave the expo remembering who we are, even if they did not participate in our campaign. We made sure that everyone who came to our booth received information about our company such as a link to our website and Facebook page, as well as contact information. I think we did an exceptional job of getting noticed, and beyond this, when people receive their pictures via e-mail and Facebook, our brand hopefully resonated with them even more.

To see all of the mug-shot photos, “Like” Response Marketing on Facebook.

Google+ Launches Much Anticipated Brand Pages

Whether or not you’re ready to jump on the Google+ bandwagon, perhaps there is no greater time than now for your business to think about doing so. On Monday, Google announced that users can now finally create brand pages on the site after four months of public pressure.

While the site is still light years behind Facebook in terms of membership totals and engagement rates, Google has taken great strides recently in an effort to compete with the Zuckerberg Empire. The implementation of brand pages is perhaps the biggest move the company has made since the site’s launch in late June.

At first glance, the Google+ brand page layout looks very similar to that of Facebook. There are tabs for wall posts, information on the company/product, photos, and videos. The name and company picture are displayed in a very similar fashion as well, and there is a “+1” button that users can click on in order to follow the page — very much in the same manner the “Like” button operates on Facebook.

Although both of the respective platforms do not seem all that different, Google+ brand pages actually offer some unique features for its new business partners that Facebook does not currently offer, and these tools could help Google become a major player in the ever-expanding digital marketing landscape.

• The site’s “Circles” feature allows for companies to segment their brand page followers into different categories which will allow them to target certain posts and informational material toward specific group members. Facebook also allows page administrators to target a certain portion of their audience, but it is much easier to do so on Google+.


• The “Hangouts” feature will allow businesses to interact with their followers face-to-face via video chat. This is a revolutionary tool in the digital marketing world because it allows for companies to build more personal relationships with their customers and provides them with a brand new outlet for engagement.


• The “Direct Connect” feature incorporates Google’s social network with its search engine by allowing users to find brand pages in an instant. When a user types in “+” followed by a company, product, or celebrity name, the user is then automatically directed to the subject’s Google+ brand page. It is the only operator that instantly reroutes users to a specific brand page after text is entered into a search box. Furthermore, for brands that sell directly, Google+ may become more important than Facebook because of the SEO implications. With Google’s domination of the search landscape, it’s only natural that “Plus” will help feed that machine.

The only advantage that Facebook pages provide over the new Google+ format is that Facebook allows companies to run promotions and special events directly from the page itself. Google+’s promotion policy prohibits brands from running any promotions or competitions directly on their Google+ page. While brands will be able to link to promotions hosted elsewhere, the competition itself cannot be hosted on Google+.

Of course the company still needs to add more features and continue to enhance brand pages before it can be considered a strong competitor to Facebook. But the simple fact that Google+ now allows for businesses to promote themselves on the site, along with the unique promotional tools it provides, is a huge first step.

The site is still very young, and there is much work that needs to be done. But it would behoove any digital marketer to check into the new brand pages introduced by Google+ and determine how this new tool can work for your company.

Office Supplies Don't Have to Suck

Our friends over at Poppin sent us some office supplies. Office supplies don't sound like much fun. But we don't think of Poppin as an office supply company, but rather as a provider of happy working spaces. Check out the unboxing video of the delivery from Poppin. Then think about what other industries need a good kick in the ass, just like Poppin is doing for office supplies. You can get your own Poppin happy work accessories on their website.