Cross-posted at the GSPM's Institute for Politics, Democracy & the Internet
I can't think of a better time to examine marketing trends than the holiday season where consumers are bombarded by endless ads and marketing ploys. "You've already stuffed your turkey - now stuff your stockings with savings" - I mean, it's nothing overtly creative. But I'm sure after viewing this commercial's pitch, people will put away the leftover turkey, hop in their car en route to the nearest mall and start what will surely be excessive holiday shopping.
What makes these marketing efforts successful?
I recently stumbled across an article describing the marketing efforts of Coca-Cola. Are you aware that the Santa Clause that you perceive today as jolly, overweight, and clad in a red suit, hat, and black belt was created in 1931 by Coca-Cola? Prior to this institutionalization of Santa Clause, his image varied between every shape, size, and color - a figment of the imagination subject to the influence of each individual's creative spin on the fictional character.
Marketing trends not so different from Coca-Cola's Santa Clause are dancing on webpages across the nation; viral marketing trends are the new Santa Clauses and Stocking Stuffer Savings. An organized chaos of marketing ploys and efforts plague us on the daily through social media networks.
Much like Coca-Cola realized they could have an overwhelming influence over the human mind, company after company is continuing to capitalize on viral marketing through social media. Their ability to instill an iconic brand using the image of Santa Clause is genius - but does it work now?
Cross-posted at the GSPM's Institute for Politics, Democracy & the Internet
Supporters. Money. Money. Supporters. Every effort made by a campaign is worthless without these two winning ingredients. Capturing voter information can effectively translate into supporters throughout the campaign, and most importantly, on election day. Collecting donations is also the lifeline of the campaign leading up to election day. Without money, supporters, sadly, would know very little about the candidate.
Emotive, LLC has managed to encapsulate both of these items into one widget on candidate's websites. Check out the campaign pages of
Pat Toomey or
John Kasich to see the widget that allows for an easy collection of voter information and leads voters directly to a donation page.
It's nothing particularly unique - it's truly the simplicity of the widget that makes it so effective. Not only does the widget allow a campaign to build lists and capitalize on donor's contributions, but it also helps promote strong relationships with bloggers by utilizing a sharing mechanism that increases the reach of the campaign by allowing it to go viral.
While many factors contribute to a successful campaign, a strong message and theme will not go very far without the money to spread the message or the support of voters to carry the message to the polls on election day. This little technological gem congregates the most important data for a campaign into one widget making it an easy and efficient tool for campaigns.
I appreciate a combination of wit and geeked-out science. Especially in a blog post.
Nova: a star showing a sudden large increase in brightness and then slowly returning to its original state
Supernova: a star that suddenly increases greatly in brightness because of a catastrophic explosion that ejects most of its mass
Science! It's fun! And cute!
But the article has a point: traffic on Twitter sunk 27.8% between September and October of this year -- despite the fact that we send around 27.3 million tweets a day and that Twitter receives so much free media coverage (around $48 million of free media coverage in June 2009 according to a VMS estimate cited in the post).
One of Twitter's problems is retaining users. We see it all the time in higher education (and also politics). Faculty and staff hear about Twitter somewhere, create a profile, maybe post two twice, and then walk away. They forget to do one of the most important things. One of the things that makes tools like Twitter useful: finding people you know who are active members of the community and following them. Because if your tribe isn't using a social media tool, then you're probably not going to use it. Why would you? You're tribe isn't there (maybe they are, but you just haven't found them). Most of them don't.
And yet, there is another good point buried in the subtext: the tool, Twitter, is the fad. Even if Twitter continues to evolve, the tribe most likely will move on in a period of time. It's the lessons that tools like Twitter bring us (for most of us in higher education or politics, a sometimes-neglected lesson is the importance of connecting to students, faculty, donors, activists, etc. as individuals) that should leave a more permanent impression.
Every three years, Carmen Beatriz Fernandez puts her Ciberpolitica survey out into the field. The Spanish-language study looks at online politics. The study is hosted on the Latin American portal e-lecciones.net, and is financed by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation.
Durante el año 2009 vienen disputandose en Iberoamérica siete importantes elecciones presidenciales: en Ecuador, Panama, El Salvador, Honduras, Bolivia, Uruguay y Chile. ¿Cómo y en qué medida influyeron los nuevos medios en la comunicación política de estas campañas electorales? es la pregunta a la que queremos dar respuesta en esta encuesta.
Por favor ayudenos a conocer más sobre la Ciberpolitica de su país brindándonos sus respuestas a estas preguntas.
Cross-posted at the GSPM's Institute for Politics, Democracy & the Internet.
Last week, a few members of IPDI trekked northwest to Georgetown's Institute for the Study of Diplomacy for an event on The Internet, Free Expression, and Authoritarianism.
This weekend in Orlando FL, the Young Democrats of America (YDA) held their fall conference. While I was there I had the opportunity to sit in on a few caucus meetings. The focus entailed intense discussion and examination of the Republican victories in Virginia and New Jersey, and how to remedy these mistakes for the 2010 mid-term elections. They even took a moment out of their schedule to encourage everyone to call Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) and encourage her to vote for cloture to debate the Senate Health Care bill. It was great to see the youth energized, bringing to the table a lot of innovative and fresh ideas. At the moment, the Democrats have quite a resource in the youth of the party. Something I am sure they will take advantage of in the up-coming mid-term elections.
GSPM alumni Ian Koski and Alex Kellner's work at Blue State Digital is covered in a Boston Business Review segment on Blue State Digital's growth with non-profit and for-profit clients outside the political sphere.
"I see Democrats at bookstores buying her books by the dozens and trying to keep the book tour going. She's a magnet for controversy - and that's not what the Republicans need right now," said Garry South in a San Francisco Chronicle article titled Dems hope Palin disrupts GOP's game plan. South is a Democratic strategist in California and a member of the GSPM's Council on American Politics.
"War crimes are uniquely brutal. They require a unique form of justice. Obama and Holder have confidence in war commissions for some terrorists, but not for others. Why? Is Obama preparing to exploit the deaths of 3,000 Americans killed by an act of war in order to score politically with yet more 'anti-Bush' campaign camouflage? For a juror, will a guilty vote on an al Qaeda terrorist who was waterboarded seem like support for George W. Bush and Dick Cheney — and a vote against Obama?" Said GSPM adjunct faculty member Cheri Jacobus in her regular column in The Hill. Jacobus is President of Capitol Strategies PR.
"Given that number of women working 'non-traditional' hours, it should come as no surprise that women today are less likely to be at home to talk to canvassers. They are more likely to have caller ID and not answer calls from campaigns. Women under 40 and unmarried women are more likely to rent their home, and studies show this makes them less likely to read their mail," said Celinda Lake in a piece she co-authored with Amy Gershkoff in the Huffington Post piece titled Communicating with 'A Woman's Nation.' Lake is the president of Lake Research Partners and a member of the GSPM's Council on American Politics.
"One of the most absurd political "doctrines" is that of permanent realignment of the parties. It was just one year ago that some believed Obama had put together a permanent coalition that would last decades for the Democrats. I remember five years earlier the same being said about George W. Bush and Karl Rove. Let me be clear about this: There is no such thing as permanent electoral realignment in modern American politics," said Democratic strategist Bob Beckel in USA Today's Common Ground. Beckel is a member of the GSPM's adjunct faculty.
"For all the hype, [2008] was not a transitional campaign, it was not a transitional year. After $700 million being spent by the Obama campaign, it was not a new electorate," said Repulican pollster Ed Goeas in a Salon.com article titled How the GOP Got Its Groove Back. Goeas is the president at CEO of the Tarrance Group and a member of the GSPM's Council on American Politics.
Interest in a fundraiser for Democratic California Gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown among Hollywood and entertainment elite “is an indication of the breadth and depth of Jerry Brown’s support here early in the race," said Andy Spahn in The New York Times' The Caucus blog. Spahn is President and Founder of Andy Spahn & Associates, Inc and a member of the GSPM's Council on American Politics.
"Once you’re painted into the picture fairly or, mostly unfairly, changing that perception is the hardest thing to do,” said Ron Kaufman in a Bloomberg piece about Sarah Palin. Kaufman is senior managing partner at The Dutko Group and a member of the GSPM's Council on American Politics.
"There are inherent conflicts in running a grass-roots organization and representing clients professionally. Presumably your grass-roots organization is motivated by principles, ideology and the people who give $25 and $50 or larger sums and believe the decisions are being made based on a commitment to an ideological agenda. When you lobby professionally for a client, that is not necessarily the case. You are motivated by the clients' interests," said Republican lobbyist Vin Weber in a Morning Call article about Dick Armey's group, Freedom Works. Weber served with Armey in Congress. Weber is a member of the GSPM's Council on American Politics.
Cross-posted at Association for Social Media and Higher Education and at the GSPM's Institute for Politics, Democracy & the Internet.
Last week, our Association for Social Media in Higher Education hosted its inaugural event, Trust and Authenticity in Social Media: The Case of the U.S. Military (check out the video). Instead of writing a “normal” recap of the event, I decided to do something different. I spent the entire event live-tweeting under my Twitter handle @JulieG, so I thought it would be interesting to look back on the event through the frame of Twitter, following the tweets — and retweets (with a few grammatical and syntactical changes, and a few explanatory notes).
Posted by: Bryce Cullinane in Untagged on
Nov 19, 2009
Check it out!
Posted by: Bryce Cullinane in Untagged on
Nov 17, 2009
Communications in the Association and Nonprofit Sector:
How to Demonstrate PR Value
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
8:00 A.M. - 10:00 A.M.
8:00-8:30 a.m.: Networking, registration and continental breakfast
8:30-10:00 a.m.: Program
U.S. Navy Memorial & Heritage Center
701 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20005
Metro: Navy Memorial/Archives (green/yellow lines)
Cost: $35 PRSA members and WWPR members/$55 non-members/$10 students/retirees
$10 surcharge at the door
Register here
EVENT SPONSORS
