M & Ms

Here's a link to the M & M webpage. You will find profiles of each M & M, and you are able to create your own. Somebody got paid go money to come up with this.

Apple's voice

Here's several of the "I'm a Mac" ads on a loop. Watching them in combination illustrate differences in the way Apple constructed their brand voice.

Johnson & Johnson

Your book describes how Johnson & Johnson created a simple idea with their "Having a baby changes everything" campaign.  They follow through with this idea on their Baby.com webpage.

Mr. Peanut

This brand now has a voice.

Dove Evolution

Here is the Dove ad mentioned in the book. Honestly, I hadn't seen it before, but then I'm not a member of the target demographic.

iPod

Here is an example of the first iPod ad.

Here is an example of a later ad.

Nikon Picturetown

You might want to click around Nikon's Picturetown to get a feel of the services it offers.

Domino's Pizza

Here is the video response by the President of Domino's Pizza to the viral video posted by employees.

Steve Slater & JetBlue

Here is a link to the Next Media Animation films of the Steve Slater incident. It is important to note that NMA uses these animations to advertise their own services.  More recently, JetBlue had another problem with deplaning passengers.

HP "The Computer is Personal Again"

Here are some of the videos from this campaign.

Jay-Z

Shaun White

Serena Williams

ComcastMustDie.com

Here is the link to the old ComcastMustDie.com blog. There is a congratulatory message from Bob Garfield, but he also directs traffic to a new blog, Customer Circus. This new blog is maintained by Bart Wilson, and it is not specific to Comcast, but deals with customer service complaints about all different kinds of companies.

Naked Pizza

Here is the link to the Naked Pizza webpage. This company is going through a major franchise expansion, and so you they are in the early stages of building their brand. Notice their use of social media, and notice the brand differentiation and promise.

Viral examples

Here are the links for some of the examples of viral marketing mentioned in lecture.
Subservient Chicken
You suck at photoshop
The Ramp
Cliff Notes
Old Spice/Grover
Your Mom Hates Dead Space 2

The Problem with Print

I know that I have begun to sound like a broken record on this point, but here are some concrete numbers about the loss of ad pages in the Conde' Nast magazine empire. The total loss across all of the Conde' Nast titles is almost 32%, which translates into over 8,300 fewer ad pages for 2009. This is why the magazine chain has been dropping titles on what seems like a weekly basis.

PR and YouTube

Here are a couple of articles about, and examples of, corporations using YouTube.  The first from PC World outlines some basic uses of YouTube.  Here is a YouTube video that has been published by Software AG about Coca-Cola's use of their software; notice how other videos about Coca-Cola are listed in the right hand column.  In addition to these examples, Domino's Pizza has its own YouTube channel.

Corporate entertainment

Here are a couple of examples of companies creating their own online content. The first is L/Studio, which is an online porthole controlled by Lexus. The second is a series called Easy to Assemble, which is a webseries sponsored by Ikea.

Measures

Here are the blog measuring tools mentioned in lecture.

Blog Pulse
Alexa
Technorati
Digital Influence Group

Corporate blogging policies

Here are some blogging policies that have been instituted by corporations. You can see that these polices have informed the grading policy that I have for your blogs. I've posted Charlene Li's Wiki on corporate blogs, but I have also included some specific examples below:

Sun Microsystems

Cisco

And now it's Honda's turn

Yet another example of companies attempting to bribe blogs to post about their products.  This time Honda was trying to get blogs to posted about the new Honda Civic, and once again a blogger exposes the bribe.  In addition, this blogger decides to also expose other bloggers who seem to have taken the bribe.

No Privacy on Facebook

I found this story to be a little shocking.  Apparently some organizations are requiring people to give them complete access to their Facebook, and other social networking accounts.  These organizations include colleges, and as the story points out, this practice could have some negative implications.

The Power of Twitter

There is an interesting post on the blog Frugal Dad.   It contains a graphic that illustrates how customers have used Twitter to quickly mount campaigns against specific corporate practices.  The examples run the gamut from customers complaining about a misleading design for a can of Coke, to protests against GoDaddy's support of SOPA.

The Disney Blog

This is a very interesting blog, because it contains stories I wouldn't have imagined would appeal to fans of Disney. In other words, it has stories about the business end of the media, and while some of these stories might matter to Disney fans, it seems like the blogging equivalent of going "back-stage" at Disneyworld.

Hacking Netflix

This particular blog illustrates a topical blog created by an enthusiast. Pay particular attention to the types of stories it publishes, and the other types of blogs to which it links.

More Twitter Trouble; This Time Blockbuster

Back in April, Dish Network acquired Blockbuster which had declared bankruptcy.  Dish Network has been trying to revive the brand, maintaining a small number of the chain's rental stores, adding Blockbuster Express rental kiosks, and a new online streaming video service.  So far, so good.  In fact, foot traffic at the rental stores has increased since the acquisition.  But now there is some bad publicity on the horizon, and it has to do with the way the company has used Twitter.  It seems Ryan Davis of Giant Bomb was offered a "free 1-year subscription" if he would tweet that he was leaving Netflix for the Blockbuster streaming service.  Davis copied the solicitation, and now it's circulating on the tech blogs.

AOL Customer Service

I googled "AOL customer service" today (9/22/2011), this video no longer is listed first, but it is listed eight. Surprisingly still popular after all these years.  This is now the first listing and it just about as bad from a PR perspective.

Targeting Divorce

Here's another interesting article about tracking consumers' data.  This particular piece discusses how consumer behavior can change when people divorce.  It raises some interesting ethical questions about the use of this information.

Do Not Track

It looks like there may be some claw-back on targeted online advertisements.  The industry is getting behind a Do Not Track policy, in an attempt to get in front of legislation proposed by the White House, and to appease pressures overseas.  Yet, as this article points out, this new policy is rather limited in its scope, and internet companies are still planning on collecting and selling consumer data.

Social Media Misuse

Here is an interesting article on the instances in which companies have either fired or disciplined some an employee for their misuse of social media.

Latest news about data use

Here's an interesting story that goes to the heart of what we have been covering in class.  It discusses how different companies are increasing the ways in which they collect and use data about their users.

Gawker Media

Here is a link to the Gawker Media ad rates. This gives you some idea of how advertising is handled in an internet network.

Apple's statement about suppliers

Like many Safari users, my browser launches with Apple's homepage.  I've noticed they have added a section on "Supplier Responsibility."  If you click through you find that it addresses issues like "Labor and Human Rights" and "Worker Health and Safety."  Clearly they are responding to the recent criticism of the manufactures they use in China; the photos seem to suggest as much.

Image Advertising/Apple

We discussed the original Apple Mac ad in class.  It is a classic example of image advertising.

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Netflix/Qwikster/Twitter

Although Netflix seemed to be one of those companies at the forefront of ecommerce, and one that seemed savvy about social media, it recently made a significant mistake when it rebranded it's DVD service as Qwikster.  As the BBC reports, the Qwikster twitter domain was already occupied by a Jason Castillo, a young man with a "fondness for football, profanity and referencing marijuana."  I doubt that this was the kind of rebranding Netflix had in mind.