As a prolific status-updater I am in no way claiming innocence on this (my last status update was VIP at DMB with Carrot Creative, jealous yet?) But seriously, the reason I bring this to our attention is because as a creative agency, working with brands that consumers want to associate themselves with makes our jobs at Carrot a whole lot easier. We encourage “cool” brands to offer viral content users can share, blog, post, whatever you want to call it, giving the consumer more opportunity to “tag their brag.”

Here are a couple of status updates as good examples

• Just had an amazing 8 mile run with my new Asics“
• “Won free tickets to see Bruno tonight!”

(disclaimer we have no relationship with Asics or Bruno)
By using these brands to vindicate their bragging, these people unknowingly promoted the brand in perfect context… textbook marketing. Technology platforms that monitor this kind of “name-dropping” across the web give brands and marketers a direct link to how consumers incorporate the product with their lifestyle. Understanding a brands “social reputation” is an integral part of a marketers job.

So with that, take a minute to think about what brands YOU want to associate yourself with and do them a favor and find them on Twitter, join their Facebook Fan Page, or hey, tattoo their logo on your forearm. A good one to get started with? The Carrot Twitter page and Facebook Fan Page.

What do you think, do you have any examples of shameful bragging that put brands in a good (or bad) light?

This article is copyright © 2012 

I really want to read these. I do. (I’m halfway through the Razorfish one and it’s awesome.) These companies know what they’re talking about and have teams of extremely smart people pulling together ideas to share and make the industry a better place. But, in a world where I get much of my news in 140 character increments, it’s hard to find the time to read a 50+ page e-book in one sitting about social media, why people should engage, use Twitter, blog, etc… Sure, I can download it to my iPhone (or Kindle if I had one)and read it on my commute on the A train. I can also kill a few dozen trees and print it out to read. But in the end, I had to think: “0will I really put that time into reading this, and will I actually learn something from it?”

When will we not need the full books and just rely on hard hitting statements in short microblogging formats. For example, a 3 page description and research finding on why brands should be in social media can probably be represented in less than 140 characters: “It’s where your audience is” While this doesn’t provide additional evidence and supporting statements, it gets to the point. Maybe we can have both. A combination of defining these reports into a much shorter form version that we’re all used to. The short version would include bold statements about what the overall summary really includes. If you need more, you can get it. If not, then move on.

I think this could work. And, more people would read them. 50+ pages is still intimidating to some.

What do you think? Would you move to keep the more in depth reports or simple statement summaries to be released by these big agencies??

This article is copyright © 2012 

I’ve been a theater buff since my first performance in 6th grade as Lucy in “You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown.” My parents then began taking me into the city to see the shows on (and off) Broadway. Cats. Les Miserables. Miss Saigon. Rent (about 5 times) Mamma Mia! Speed the Plow. The list goes on. While I always felt a connection to the music and performance, the connection usually stayed on my Discman where I could immediately put myself back into the seats and relive the show from anywhere.

Now, with the help of social media—the connection to Broadway and its shows and actors has become much more apparent online. Ken Davenport, a Broadway and Off-Broadway producer and the founder of the social networking website, BroadwaySpace.com recently contributed to a Mashable guest post about Broadway communicating with its fans.

While this is one of the first posts I’ve seen really address this industry and social media, I’m not surprised as even Ken points out, “The majority of today’s Broadway audience were born well before the PC era. Marketing 101 will tell you to speak to your audience in the language that they understand, and one of Broadway’s prime demos is the “55 Year Old Woman.” This era is still new to Twitter and Facebook.

But, it’s changing. Ken posted some great examples of Broadway shows using social media including Altar Boys, Rock of Ages and Next to Normal. The Broadway musical revival HAIR also caught my eye with a huge interactive presence in social media including a Twitter account with live updates from the cast and crew, behind the scenes photos on the Facebook page and a YouTube and MySpace presence.

The industry is perfect for social media and a great place to connect with the thousands of fans that cross through Broadway every day. From individual performers to the full cast and crew, the shows can connect with the many fans eager to continue the experience they had in the theater once they get back home and open up their laptops. They want to know what goes on behind the curtain and see videos of the cast and crew singing impromptu versions of the hit songs. The content is there and eager to be seen by so many.

This is definitely a space Carrot Creative is looking into more as recent conversations have brought up this space and the need to provide some unique ideas to make all of this happen.

This article is copyright © 2012 

According to MediaPost, “two months ago, Dos Equis introduced its “Most Interesting Man in the World” to the entire U.S. via an expanded national advertising campaign. Now, it is giving consumers the chance to become — if not as interesting — at least more interesting.”

The site now offers a chance to “Sign up for the Academy” (so you can learn how to be interesting) via an expanded national advertising campaign. You can learn from interesting people like Bear Grylls (Man vs. Wild fame—or “I slept in a gutted camel” fame) or globe-trotting explorer Chris Fischer. Both of these men (and others to be named later.)

MediaPost quotes Paul Smailes, Dos Equis brand director saying “The brand is all about helping those who want to live a more interesting life. The Academy is an extension of that proposition.”

I think the campaign is good. They’ve done a good job kicking off the start of it two months ago, and to continue it they’ve rolled out the second phase. This is important. You want to continue the hard work of brainstorming the theme and make sure it’s not a short lived two month trip.They saw success and used it to build up the momentum for round 2. Bravo.

While I don’t necessarily associate Dos Equis with “interesting” (I associate it with Spring Break)—the brand going out and claiming that interesting is the word to go with the brand raises some questions in my head. People don’t usually describe themselves as interesting. Ask your co-worker to describe themselves in 3 words. You’ll probably get things like: Funny. Smart. Friendly. Good-looking. (OK, maybe that’s just what I get here at >carrot but you get my point.) Interesting isn’t necessarily an attribute that people immediately classify themselves as. People want to be seen as Smart or Ambitious. Athletic. Fun. Youthful. Well-read. Brands can capitalize on those words and associate themselves with them. Good examples: Disney. Pepsi. American Express. Apple. You can probably associate one word to each of those brands easily. We just did it. Try it out.

What do you think? How do you associate INTERESTING? Do you strive to be it and do you hope to be classified under that term? Are there other brands out there that you would purchase/associate yourself with to become more interesting? Let us know in the comments.

This article is copyright © 2012 

Twitter is an interesting space. A space where you can connect with new people,post random thoughts, blah blah…we know we know. But, I’m really interested and grateful for this community and the constant feedback they provide.

For example. Yesterday, I was in the mood to hear some music that gets me pumped up for a big negotiation we have. We have a LOT going on here and YES I am an excited person, but I wanted to add my own personal soundtrack. So, where do I find my songs? Cue to Twitter. I posted this tweet. A simple one. Just asking for some songs to keep me going. Within 10 minutes I received over 30 responses to songs. From “Chariots of Fire” to Britney Spears, Rammstein to Queen—I had them all. And you know what? I listened to them ALL.

We’ve blogged before about the unique ways Twitter works when a community is passionate about something and willing to offer content. People like adding their two cents about things they like, things they’re interested in and things they don’t mind sharing. But people also provide insightful suggestions and commentary. Feedback that helps take a conversation or thought to the next level.

This holds true when thinking about brands and presence on social media as well. Suggestion is a powerful tool. It allows people to get the satisfaction of helping someone while at the same time allowing a glimpse into a person’s style. This is only exaggerated on something open like Twitter because it allowed everyone to show that they are willing to provide help to the community and the type of style that person has. Many brands are doing it. Engaging with the community and asking for feedback. This past weekend brand reps were involved in the Twitter conversation to hear what everyone was saying about their ads, responding to questions and discussing what worked and what didn’t.

It’s a great thing to see and we can’t wait to get more involved in these types of conversations.

Special shout out thanks to those who responded:

@akeats @katherine925 @alexandergordon @bicoastalite @thoughtfarmer @MaryMassey @bellanyc1 @fbihop @davidaimi @LenKendall @littlemavs @claynewton @ceonyc @borismsilver @steketee & @Tucson_Cowgirl

Oh, and my favorite song that was suggested? “Swagger Like Us” by TI from @steketee. Thanks!

This article is copyright © 2012 

What was really interesting was the amount of times I wondered if people were clicking on the site of the brand right after they ad appeared. I watched the Super Bowl with my MacBook on my lap. A lot of my friends (and many of you) were live tweeting the game from your iPhone or Blackberry. When GoDaddy said go to their site, I did-did you? When Denny’s offered free breakfast, I went-did you? (It crashed—but hey. Good thinking)

The awesome team over at Reprise Media released their 5th annual Search Marketing Scorecard ranking Super Bowl advertisers based on the level of integration between their television commercials and presence in search and social media –measuring how prepared each brand was to capture the demand created by their Super Bowl advertising investment. They were also tweeting during the game providing live commentary on the data being pulled into the report.

Winners include E-trade for the hilarious “leaked”outtakes of the E-trade baby leading up to the Super Bowl, Cash4Gold (MC Hammer + Ed McMahon + buying the right search words=success) and Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes “Plant a Seed” call to action campaign. More can be found in the press release including the losers: Denny’s (site fail), Budweiser not taking advantage of Google’s lifted alcohol bans and Pixar’s Up movie.

The thing is, that with the current internet landscape and the constant muttering of brands saying they WANT to be online and engaged with their consumers—you would think that EVERY advertisement had an internet engagement piece and would  be part of the winners list. Unfortunately, there were many mistakes, some “could have beens” and some “what were they thinkings?”  Maybe next year.

Some of the Carrot Crew’s favorite ads from last night include:

CareerBuilder.com: Tips

Hulu: Alec in Huluwood

Pepsi: Refresh Anthem

This article is copyright © 2012 

Photo courtesy of Nick McGlynn

Carrot Creative co-hosted the first Digital DUMBO Drinks event here last night at ReBar where the digital elite of our quaint little neighborhood mixed and mingled under the bridge, talked Java scripting and new media strategies in addition to enjoying some cocktails and Outside.in cupcakes.

I’ve been saying this for awhile that this is the “Digital District” in DUMBO. So many digital companies are here with talent but we never get together. We’ll walk by someone in Peas & Pickles (the local food joint) and they could be the next Flash Developer we need to help with a new project or someone we want to chat tech over coffee. We knew there was a need to change the lack of interaction and bring this community together. Digital DUMBO once a month is perfect for that and we were happy to help kick it off.

Companies in attendance included reps from HUGE, Animation Collective, Gothamist, Objective Subject, drop.io and Special Ops Media in addition to our co-hosts Outside.in and The Jar Group. We even had some of our our friendly DUMBO supporters from Manhattan crash the party as well including Path 101 CEO Charlie O’Donnell, Gillian Reagan from The New York Observer and the New York Yelp office (Brooklyn Community Manager Peter DeNat we look forward to seeing you around here more often!) came to show support for the community. And of course we can’t leave out Nick McGlynn who was present to take some great photos.

For those who missed it, Digital DUMBO will be a monthly event on the last Thursday of every month with some new twists added to keep the community connected. There is already a Facebook page and Twitter account created to keep everyone up to speed on the next happenings. (Come on you had to expect this from this group!)

Some fun “Overheard at Digital DUMBO” chats include:
-”Why haven’t we done one of these before?”
-”Is there really a dog here? COOL.”
-”Awesome companies are here. Who knew they worked in DUMBO?”
-”I just went to the bathroom and people started asking where I worked. So I came in!”

This article is copyright © 2012 

The first week of the new year is always saturated with media predictions for the year ahead and this year is no different. The overall economic gloom has washed over the media in a pallid periwinkle haze of indifference. Most current rhetoric points toward desperate depression-era advertising filled with a myriad of uses for old boots and stale Wheat Thins. The WSJ published their advertising forecast for 2009 and essentially just restates what has been repeated ad-nauseam for the past 6 months: Madison Avenue is cutting back the glitz and glamour in a rush to the bottom.

“Goodbye, A-List spokespeople with unspeakable price tags. Hello, Z-List,”

I agree with most of the contributors in the article: we will see more studio shot advertising, more Billy Mays, higher quality web video, and more emphasis on effective web-metrics. Measurable advertising is here to stay and I only see it increasing in importance; clients love seeing that cutting edge campaigns are reaching the desired demographic and are achieving set objectives.

One positive to come out of the economic downturn is the expected disappearance of one-way Internet communications. Banner ads will decrease in importance unless they offer consumers a compelling reason to interact with them. This interaction between Internet users and brands will be something to watch very closely this year.

I’m excited at the prospect for the prevalence of “Smart Advertising” that can adapt to each customer. We’ve become so tuned out to traditional mass-media that the only way to win back skeptical consumers is with messages targeted to their specific wants/needs. The growth of mobile applications, specifically the location based variety, will forever change the way consumers interact with brands and will hopefully spell the death of the mass-email, dummy billboard, and the Snuggie.

One aspect of the article I vehemently disagree with is the prediction that red will take over for orange as the most featured color in advertising this year. Orange will always be a classic choice for organizations that want to make a bold statement without appearing satanic. Plus, it looks great on business cards and on couches.

This article is copyright © 2012