SOCIAL MEDIA CASE STUDIES [GB_V55.0]

Consumer-goods companies Mars, Kraft Foods, Anheuser-Busch, Unilever, and Procter and Gamble are using online ads to drive traffic to their Facebook fan pages - Ad Age

Tesco's latest uses Blippar's Image Recognition + Augmented Reality (AR) technology to focus greater attention on their print ads. Whether the execution itself is a real 'wow' or not - we applaud the attempt to enhance the print experience – Video

TV Networks Showtime, ABC, Syfy, and CBS are promoting their fall shows using online games on Facebook, Twitter, and iTunes - ClickZ

RNZAF 'Step Up' Challenge let you Navigate a NH90 helicopter over rural New Zealand. Airlift comms’ supplies to mobile outposts before a storm cell moves in. It's part advergame, part digital installation and part scale model controlled through the YouTube game – YouTube

And you thought the only way to have sex was in person. That's so 2010. Now with Durex's "Digital Love" website (www.digital-love.org) you can have as much sex as you’d like using you computer. That’s the premise behind this clever website (by BUZZMAN TV) with a number of personalization options (including the ability to prank your friends) – Website

Looking for a (free) real-time social media search and analysis tool? Check out http://www.socialmention.com/

This year's PR News Digital PR Awards winners included General Mills, Discovery Communications, AT&T, American Heart Association, and more for their fantastic work - PR News

IBM’s 2011 CMO Survey is out with some interesting results.  Everyone seems to agree that the worlds changed - Survey

Wells Fargo, IBM, and other banks are using social media to elevate their brand, build communities, conduct product research, and connect better with their customers - UBM TechWeb

Vodafone's "Buffer Busters" AR Mobile App is equal parts technology, brand, and engagement. There are creatures called Buffer-Monsters. They are known to cause traffic congestions, slow Internet connections, train delays… Buffer-Monsters hide in plain sight, but we haven’t been able to see them before – until now – Case Study

Clorox discuss how they are empowering their community of consumers to develop ideas and build buzz around upcoming launches - Vimeo

USA TODAY and Facebook are teaming up to give fans the ability to choose, rate, and share their favorite commercials during the Super Bowl - Lost Remote

MGM Resorts is releasing a social media game similar to Farmville, but with the players acting as casino moguls, in an effort to attract more online gamblers to their Vegas casinos - The Wall Street Journal

Oscar Mayer's ‘Delifresh’ brand has launched a new Hispanic Facebook app that lets fans build their own sandwich with a personality and share with friends online - Hispanic PR Blog

With the Olympics less than a year away, partners such as Samsung, 24 Hour Fitness, and British Airways are using location-based check-ins, Facebook apps, and blogs to get fans excited for the 2012 games - The Big Lead

Coca-Cola shares how they are counting on their fans to spread the love through "dynamic storytelling" and online sharing - ClickZ

NOTE:  For more articles and posts from the last week please visit us on Twitter @goodbuzz.  If you have info, articles, case studies, or other examples of (TTL) participatory marketing bliss - please feel free to either post via Facebook or send via e-mail and we’ll take care of it for you. ;)  Please identify if you find a dead link (as they were all live at the time of this posting).

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SOCIAL MEDIA CASE STUDIES [GB_V54.0]

Shoppers and owners of the Ford Sync system are doing all the talking on the revamped website that features user-generated content and video testimonials -MediaPost

Beck's ‘Sobriety Test’ Mobile App lets you prove you are sober by inserting a key into a moving keyhole (you need to keep the key in for 25 seconds). If you cannot make it, then the application will automatically call a taxi that will come to pick you up and drive you home - Overview

In lieu of recent announcements, Blockbuster discusses how they are using Twitter to woo Netflix's unhappy customers -The Wall Street Journal

Charity 'Swearbox' Twitter App is a donation-based site that provides Twitter users with a way to rectify their bad language online. You can login with your Twitter details where the app will detect all of your recently tweeted swear words and suggest a donation related to your profanities – Overview

Stumped on what to be for Halloween this year? Target has a new Facebook application that lets your friends help you decide -Facebook

Heinz is building their brand's social loyalty by rewarding their fans on Facebook with coupons and bonus discounts for sharing with friends -Jamie B

LYNX's 'Auto-Romeo' App lets users answer a few questions about the ladies in your life (i.e. eye colour, hair colour, when you met, etc.) and the app will automatically send personalized messages that tend to your flock on your behalf - Overview

Baseball fans can still stay connected during the post-season through the MLB's Fan Cave. It's a central social media hub in New York City complete with live Twitter feeds, video content creation of existing players, interactive technology, and art to keep the spirit of the game alive -Forbes

Zurich Bank is connecting financial institution professionals online with the launch of their new social networking community, "Financial Risk Talk." - Zurich

NASA is hosting a series of Tweetups to give their hardcore social media fans the opportunity to meet with scientists, engineers, and astronauts at their facilities and public space launches -NASA

Boeing's photostream on Flickr is keeping fans from around the world up-to-date during the release of their new 787 airplane -Flickr

Warner Bros. is giving fans the chance to star in their new web series, "Aim High," using a personalized Facebook viewing application -Lost Remote

Microsoft shares how they leveraged both internal and external social media sites to better manage their vast customer network -Vimeo


NOTE:  For more articles and posts from the last week please visit us on Twitter @goodbuzz.  If you have info, articles, case studies, or other examples of participatory marketing bliss - please feel free to either post via Facebook or send via e-mail and we’ll take care of it for you.  ;) Please identify if you find a dead link (as they were all live at the time of this posting).

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SOCIAL MEDIA CASE STUDIES [GB_V53.0]

Estee Lauder has turned their YouTube channel into a social beauty school with video clips of cosmetic how-to’s, behind-the-scene’s looks, skin demos, and more - YouTube


HP Labs, shares how they are using social media research to predict sales weeks before a product is released - Social Media Examiner


Think you've got what it takes to be the Ultimate Displaced Fan? DIRECTV is calling all football fans to submit videos, photos, and essays on Twitter and Facebook to prove their worthiness - Business Wire


Trident® Chewing Gum (Brazil) ‘wired’ up a phone booth that records users antics (at a Rock festival) and uploads them to the brands YouTube Channel.

The CMO Club™ (Toronto) Event - Thursday, 13 October 2011 at 18:00 - Level5 Office, 18 King Street East, Toronto, ON M5C1C4 - more Info.

SAP discusses how eight years of experience has matured their social media program - Vimeo


Innocent's 'Tweet and eat' Twitter Promotion - Aiming to generate some #goodbuzz - for a four week period, the more tweets Innocent gets with the hashtag #tweetandeat, the bigger the discount it will offer – Website

If approximately 86% of people (who use mobile Internet) use their phones while watching TV - it stems to reason that savvy brands would capitalize upon this trend. The best example we've seen to date? AKQA's Heineken 'Star Player' App – Video

Nokia's Serendipitous FourSquare-powered 'Gift Machine' - Here is a nice interactive installation from Nokia, playing on their ever increasing “Random Acts of Kindness” vision that allows anyone to simply check-in to one of the vending machines via Foursquare to release some sort of surprise – Video


How does your target audience engage your brand technologically? Find out using Forrester’s profiling tool.

Budweiser created a weather-driven app (Tribal DDB London) that gave Irish users a free pint when the outdoor temperature reached 20°C. There’s also a €2 discount when the outdoor temperature exceeds 18°C, and €1-off when it hits 16°C –Video

Unilever's Dove brand is showcasing young female DJs in their new campaign that gets fans involved through Twitter photo contests and real-time chat parties, interactive music games, and sharable music mixes on Facebook - The New York Times

Skoda left clues in its TV idents on Channel 5 every week and participants had to solve each week’s puzzle and enter the answer on Skoda’s YouTube channel to progress to the next stage of the mystery trail – YouTube Channel.

Orange's Glastonbury 2011 App- Providing a textbook lesson in how to create branded utility, Orange - France Télécom produced the official mobile app for this year’s Glastonbury (UK) Festival. A GPS-enabled map also included toilets, bars, and on-site ‘chill ‘n’ charge’ areas - Website

The Facebook Friend Audit - Of all your 'friends' on Facebook, how many of them actually engage your content? The Facebook Friend Audit (from BBH) signs on to your account and uses the Facebook API to go through your last 300 wall posts to compare the friends who have "liked" them with the total number of friends you have – website.

KLM's 'Live Twitter Reply' Promotion - KLM Royal Dutch Airlines has just launched their latest social media campaign. If you send a tweet to KLM anytime during the next ten-or-so hours you may be the lucky recipient of a ‘KLM Live Reply’ – Video

Olympus Partners with JetBlue to Kick off 'The PEN Ready' Project - Olympus (via Mullen) also engaged in social influence marketing by giving 100 influential bloggers a PEN E-PM1 to use on their own blog – Video

Ben & Jerry's is supporting Fair Trade initiatives in a big way by putting fans' unused tweet characters to good use - Promo Magazine

Virgin Mobile FreeFest's 'Echo Temple' - Equal parts Kinect hack and experiential bliss - Virgin's 'Echo Temple' installation (by Mother NY) promotes innovation by allowing users to play virtual musical instruments by moving their body in front of motion-tracking cameras – Video

Imagine if you could wreak havoc on your office building or home with a giant robot?  State Farm’s ‘Chaos in Your Town’ cleverly uses Google Street View for the background scenes to create a customized blockbuster film featuring the address of your choice being blown to smithereens – Website


The Swedish Post's 'Safest Hands' Competition - Åkestam Holst's incredible body of work for the Swedish Post (http://bit.ly/oAMaTa) never ceases to amaze. Here's their latest magic - an app (http://bit.ly/qZL9ba) that asks players to virtually "deliver" parcels – Video

Twelve Great MS Kinect Hacks


Traffic is never fun, but Audi's new "Road Frustration Index" helps lessen the pain with a real-time report on road conditions using Twitter sentiment - Simply Zesty

Nike's video play on "Back to the Future" landed them at the top of viral video charts last week with five million + views - Ad Age


NOTE: For more articles and posts from the last week please visit us on Twitter at both @goodbuzz.  If you have info, articles, case studies, or other examples of participatory marketing bliss - please feel free to either post via Facebook or send via e-mail and we’ll take care of it for you.  Please identify if you find a dead link (as they were all live at the time of this posting).

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SOCIAL MEDIA CASE STUDIES [GB_V52.0]

CBS is hosting a series of "Tweet Weeks" involving exclusive chats with the stars of their shows from upcoming launches - Lost Remote

MasterCard unveiled a new sensory payment 'QkR' platform that is capable of processing payments triggered by a number of sources including NFC (Near-Field Communication), frequency codes (sound) and even physical gestures – Article

Tesco's Virtual Stores (S. Korea) Case Study - Here's an overview of the TESCO Virtual Shopping Experience. Must say, very impressive out of the box thinking – Video

Pink Ponies: A Case Study (John Street) – Video

Malibu Rum is attempting to build customer loyalty after their summer selling season with the launch of a new Facebook game called the "Beach Club." >> Ad Age

Discovery Communications' share how they use social media to connect with their brands' biggest fans - Mashable

GoldRun Hits an Augmented Reality (AR) Home Run with Bloomingdale's, NBC and the Playboy Bunnies. GoldRun engages users in real-time with an interactive experience that yields real world rewards – Article

Samsung is teaming up with YouTube star FreddieW to promote their latest mobile device with his new viral video shot with a Galaxy phone - YouTube

DUREX - Promoting Safe Sex in Taipei - Product sampling with a Twist. "Xerud" handed out predictions related to one's sexual life and relationships together with the most relevant sample condom based on the forecast and the product benefit. The sample pack also contained educational tips about safe sex – Overview

Kaiser Permanente shares how they built a social media network to drive fantastic customer service - Vimeo

Cisco is using their social media newsroom dubbed "The Network" to create and organize content to better connect with their customers and prospects - Social Media B2B

Behind the Social Marketing of ‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes’.  Agency Mekanism targeted a group of 50 social media influencers and also released a series of short “real ape” videos on YouTube (one of which was watched nearly 13 million times) – Article

General Mills, Unilever, and other consumer packaged goods brands are experimenting with new digital initiatives ranging from social couponing to stronger e-commerce options and enhanced labeling - DMNews

Quaker Oats' Chewy Granola Bars are engaging fans using Facebook, customized e-cards from Nick Jonas, and online videos during their "Search for a Superstar" campaign - Quaker Chewy Superstar Search

Proving yet again that a good idea sells itself, this campaign increased interest, awareness and attendance. SL Pride 2011 campaign ”Our proudest bus ever” The idea is to enable Facebook users to upload their profile pictures on SL’s new double-decker buses – which are then color coded to a rainbow – Overview

Dr. Pepper generated nearly 16 million impressions across the web from their most recent campaign that encouraged fans on the artist site deviantART to submit designs for an outdoor mural - ClickZ

Men's Health and Women's Health magazines used Facebook's pre-existing competitive features (i.e. number of friends, pages likes, and news feed updates, etc.) to fuel a buzz-worthy contest between men and women online - Social Media Today

Ariel 'Fashion Shoot' - Facebook-Controlled Robot Shooter. The robot arm was controlled by Facebook users in Scandinavia. Once a piece of clothing was successfully shot—and stained—an Ariel representative would take the garment down, wash it and send it to the Facebook user as proof of the detergent – Video Overview

Deciding if someone is worthy of your following them on Twitter is easier with this social analytics tool. It measures behavior patterns, famous words, top followers, links, replies, RT's, songs, pictures and check-ins – Website

The Volkswagen up! Challenge - Stories become games and games become stories. It seems to be all about “game mechanics” of late - and brands the world over are attempting to get users to “play” with their products. In this case VW has extended an app (by AKQA) that lets you race against four friends simultaneously – App

Wondering what digital experiences in the future will look like? Pranav Mistry - The Genius behind the paper laptop demonstrates his remarkable vision – TED Talk

Prigat's (Israel) User Generated Billboard - Facebook fans sent real time messages to interactive digital billboards at train stations in the hope of getting passers by to smile and "like" their message. People walking past could press a “Like” button that would broadcast video (of the moment they read the message) back to the individual user who sent it on Facebook – Overview

PayPal: Future of Shopping - PayPal's latest extends everything from person to person “bump” payments and transfers, location based offers that instantly transfer real dollars to your PayPal account for use in a certain store, barcode scanning with price referencing, QR code check-out, instant scan to pay from barcodes and a full post-checkout money management platform that let’s you choose how to pay, after you’ve actually paid for it – Overview

Social Media Return On Investment (ROI) Statistics (by MDG Advertising) – Infographic

NOTE: For more articles and posts from the last week please visit us on Twitter at both @goodbuzz.  If you have info, articles, case studies, or other examples of participatory marketing bliss - please feel free to either post via Facebook or send via e-mail and we’ll take care of it for you.

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About Goodbuzz and Andrew Giles

ABOUT the author

The primary author is Andrew Giles, Social Anthropologist, Polymath, Technologist, Creative Insurgent, Author and Founder of Goodbuzz Inc. Andrew works across all client teams at the agency, helping both brands and employees alike navigate the world of digital, social and emerging media. He holds multiple degrees and certificates, is frequently published in industry and trade publications, and also speaks at conferences and events. 

For almost twenty years Andrew has worked with iconic people and brands such as the PGA’s 2010 Rookie of the Year – Rickie Fowler, author Martin Lindstrom - Time Magazine’s 2009 Top 100 Most Influential people, Canada's Swiss Chalet brand, Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC), the Screen Actor’s Guild, Artists for Peace and Justice (APJ), Hillary Clinton, Move-on.org, Molson, Coors Light, Heineken, Creemore, Rickards, Awkward Family Photos, Edelman/ Zeno Group, and a number of notable others (see image below). Don't tell anyone but he even wrote the original content strategy for Ferrari.com (while at Razorfish) and Wendys.com.  

Prior to Goodbuzz, Andrew was Sr. Content Strategist at Razorfish (NYC), the Dir. of Interactive at Cossette (Vancouver), Dir. of Digital Strategy at Publicis (Toronto) and notably the youngest Management Supervisor in the history of Grey Worldwide (NY+ SF). 

Andrew fundamentally believes that brands can create and curate culture, and connect to people in ways that create value for both.  

The original and continued intent of this blog is to showcase the ideas, trends, and technologies behind the world's most innovative social, emerging, and participatory marketing.   

About Goodbuzz Inc.

Goodbuzz is a digital collective - pioneers of the modern advertising paradigm - part advertising, part PR, and part emerging technology.  We are a group of entities that share and are motivated by a common interest, paradigm and belief.  Our focus has always been the work, the people who create it, and the people we create it for.

We are a community of artists, strategists and technologists, bound together in a quest to engage and inspire consumers.  Our collective goal is to prototype the future - linking the digital and physical worlds by developing 'branded utility' and moving away from interruptive 'push' models towards more meaningful ways of connecting. Ultimately, we're less about crafting moments and more about crafting movements.  As we’ve repeatedly proven, Goodbuzz inject new life into any brand by creating participatory trans-media (i.e. media agnostic) brand experiences that entice consumers to play, create, and share. 

SOCIAL MEDIA CASE STUDIES [GB_V51.0]

Urban Outfitters has made their catalog social by creating interactive apparel photos and adding them to fans' news feeds on Facebook - Internet Retailer

Magazine publishers like Hearst and Conde Nast are teaming up with their advertisers on social media to engage with their readers online - Ad Week

Instead of focusing strictly on financial-based ROI, KFC discuss how the brand is connecting with fans and expanding customer service via social media - SmartBrief

Blurring the lines between alcohol-fueled fantasy and harsh reality has never looked less appealing. Bus company Movia’s website (www.byturen.com) lets you roll your mouse over any scene in the interactive video to see what you really look like when intoxicated – Website

Walgreens' back-to-school campaign is encouraging students to visit and like their Facebook page for a chance to win song downloads and backstage passes to OK Go's upcoming concerts - Facebook

Ubisoft's “Driver” Augmented Reality (AR) Game lets you race cars from the new release around just about anywhere you can place a marker – Video

Kellogg's is building a global CRM web portal that will include a preference engine that allows fans to customize their own experience with their brands online - ClickZ

Washing detergent brand Ariel has created a live game that allows fans to stain actual designer clothes using a robot arm controlled by Facebook in real time The winning players are then mailed their masterpiece to wash and wear as new - PSFK

Mercedes-Benz 125! Race App lets users search Singapore for 5 Mercedes-Benz cars with QR codes. The fastest to find all 5 win a pair of Grandstand tickets to the Singapore Night Race and a weekend test drive with Mercedes-Benz -  App and Video.

Brands like CVS, Rite Aid, and Dunkin' Donuts are tracking their customer loyalty programs online to better understand their customers' needs - DMNews

HSBC discuss the launch of their new social media newsroom for journalists, bloggers, and online commentators - HSBC Newsroom

‘Tagstand’ is the evolution of Near Field Communication (NFC) technology. The platform allows a consumer with an NFC-enabled device to touch his phone to a sticker to check in on Foursquare one day and view a promotional video or product page the next – Website

The New York Times share key learning’s and insights about their new Twitter handle (@NYTLive) that gained over 22,000 followers in its debut last week - Poynter

Mattel shares their approach on how to engage boys of all ages via social media - Vimeo

Dunhill Augmented Reality (AR) Demo brings print to life weaving the physical and virtual worlds together – Video

Levi’s New ‘Friends Store’ Social Shopping Site integrated the Facebook “like” feature with every product on the site so at a quick view, you can see the number of Facebooker’s who like the item and also cast your own vote – Video  

Carlsberg’s ‘Unbottle Yourself’ App/game contains over 500 missions, each of which present a social challenge. Missions that may scare you senseless but are intended to give you an incredible rush when accomplished (and ideally associate said 'rush' with the brand) – Video 

"Foursquaropoly" leverages Foursquare’s API and lets users "buy" real-world properties in order to create a Monopoly-style portfolio wherever you live – Video

NOTE: For more articles and posts from the last week please visit us on Twitter at both @goodbuzz.  If you have info, articles, case studies, or other examples of participatory marketing bliss - please feel free to either post via Facebook or send via e-mail and we’ll take care of it for you.

Email us  |  Follow us on Twitter  |  Become a fan on Facebook