What’s ON Your Cup?

Lisa Jeffries Nobling on October 19, 2010

What’s in your cup may not matter as much as what’s written on your cup, with this great idea from Caribou Coffee. To be fair, I don’t believe they pioneered the idea, but I do love the customer engagement! Way better to use your customers words (with permission, of course) than a small array of old quotes, no?

Engage guests with memorable digital interactions.
When the company asked guests to submit comments about what they stay awake for, more than 15,000 people responded. Next year, Caribou plans to reissue its coffee cups with statements from those guests.

via: Marketing executive shares lessons from Caribou Coffee’s growth, growing pains – http://www.restaurant.org/nra_news_blog/2010/10/marketing-executive-shares-lessons-from-caribou-coffees-growth-growing-pains.cfm

image: http://www.diytrade.com/china/4/products/3075181/double_wall_paper_cup.html (PS – I’m not advocating importing your cups from China, I just like the picture.)

“This Better Not End Up on Facebook”

Lisa Jeffries Nobling on June 18, 2010

Clearly, a dog-owner wrote and/or directed this commercial!

PS – I half expected Pup-Peroni to have an official YouTube channel to share their clever videos. It’s a shame it took me as along as it did to find this video, not from an official source. When creating content that you hope viewers are enjoying, make it easy for them to watch, share, and engage!

FYI for Bloggers and Brands

Lisa Jeffries Nobling on December 11, 2009

Unless you’ve been hiding from media headlines since October, there’s a good chance to heard something about how the FTC (Federal Trade Commission – whose job is to “(work) for consumers to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices and to provide information to help spot, stop, and avoid them”) is changing how bloggers and brands can represent each other online.

To read the full news release from the FTC, visit http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2009/10/endortest.shtm.

The changes actually affect all testimonial advertising, bloggers, AND celebrity endorsements. But let’s just assume you’re not a celebrity, or hiring a celebrity, for a moment 😉

So how does this affect you?

The short and sweet is that when a review is given with non-typical results, typical results must be clearly outlined. The other point is that the connection between the consumer and brand must be disclosed. ie: The posting blogger must disclose that he/she was contacted by the brand and what the terms were, if it’s a brand they’re personally representing, doing it for a family member, etc., etc.

And for Heaven’s sake, never create misleading content. It’s a big no-no in advertising and blogging crosses into that territory.

Of course, this blog post in no means constitute any sort of legal advice and you should always, ALWAYS read the rules for yourself and consult your own legal counsel if you have any questions about how to interpret any guidelines.

Visit http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2009/10/endortest.shtm and look under “related items” to download the latest guidelines for endorsements. (These are always subject to updating and revisions, so I’m not posting a link to the current document – instead, I’m telling you where you can find the most recent version.)

Oh Twitter

Lisa Jeffries Nobling on March 31, 2009

Thoughts for Tuesday:

“Curious and cantankerous, Steve dived into social media and started making delightful observations about his experience on Twitter. He recently sent me this comment about a power user he had started to follow: ‘His constant, not-so-subtle harangue to get word of mouth going about his new start-up have made me very skeptical of Twitter … so easy to be maudlin, so easy to pollute.’

I had a simple answer for Steve: Quit following the annoying bastard. Let’s not forget that technology gives us both the power to connect and the power to pull the plug.” – Death by a Thousand Tweets, Phil Johnson

SUCH a good perspective on Twitter. I mentioned in the article’s comments that I rarely echo sentiments on social media word for word with others, but Phil hit the nail on the head for me.

Take five minutes to read his post. Not only is it a quick read, but also a must read.

Chubbly Bubbly

Lisa Jeffries Nobling on January 31, 2009

The (fairly new) Miller High Life campaigns are right up there when it comes to my favorite advertising campaigns.

Warning: This could be a spoiler… has anyone else seen this one running pre-Bowl as a intro?
(via Trendhunter)

At “$100,000 a second”, I think they’re going be a crowd-favorite this year.

Could this be the Miller’s answer to Bud’s 2006 “Magic Fridge“?

PS – Apparently, 11 Super Bowl ads have been leaked ahead of game time. I refuse to watch them… that’s the whole reason I watch the game if the Panthers (or Texans, or Titans) aren’t playing!

PS#2 – I definitely just became a fan on facebook:


Kudos to whoever created this entire campaign… the only thing I could quickly find was that the Bowl ad was done by Saatchi & Saatchi, NY.

"Driving" Your Brand Home

Lisa Jeffries Nobling on January 26, 2009

I received a flyer in the mail today for a new local advertising program: Tee Time North Carolina.

There aren’t any locations close enough to the shop that I was interested in advertising with at the moment (and I also didn’t think the rates were very competitive for small businesses), but nonetheless, I still think it’s a pretty cool idea.

The only thing I could see being an issue for me is weathering. I’m very particular about brand management, so if maintenance wasn’t a key factor for this provider, I could get disappointed very quickly. Lots of our clients enjoy golf and golfers could be a good demographic for us is why I was particularly interested and bothered to check out the website provided on the flyer.

PS: This is not a sponsored post – so if the folks behind TeeTimeNC.com happen to find this blog by way of Google Analytics – how about a free month of advertising?

Anyone else have any fun, creative advertising outlets to share?