Category: Uncategorized

This week’s social media win or fail is brought to us courtesy of Cricket Wireless. Cricket Wireless is a prepaid cell phone company owned by AT&T. But by looking at the branding and marketing, you might never known that it was owned by AT&T becuase it has a very different vibe.

Prepaid wireless customers tend to be young and of a lower income (not always the case) than the typical contract customers of the major carriers. This means that their branding and marketing gets to be different and by different I mean lots of fun. Cricket can get away with a lot of different types of marketing because of this, like this weeks campaign: Surprise John Cena.

First a little background. John Cena is a WWE wrestler and recently a reality TV show host (American Grit). John Cena has become, as he describes it, “A sometimes annoying internet meme”. Here is a sampler of some of these “Unexpected John Cena” memes, some of which are pretty hilarious:

The general description: take something from popular culture and interject Cena’s wrestling intro before someone introduces something else. That Batman one though! There are hundreds of the Unexpected John Cena Memes across social media platforms and a quick look on youtube, you easily count 45 million views!

Here is where we bring  Cricket back in. Cricket saw an opportunity for marketing in that meme. Cricket wireless has the budget and branding to do something crazy like, bring John Cena is do to a real life ‘Unexpected John Cena”! Cricket Wireless brought in real John Cena fans to pretend to be auditioning to be Cena’s introduction for their new campaign. Here is the video:

The series of 5 videos has 15 million views on Youtube alone. 11 million on Facebook with  138k shares! This campaign was created by Shareability. This is an agency to keep an eye one for viral campaigns.

Cricket continues to expand  this campaign by placing preroll ads for their phone plans Youtube videos different “unexpected John Cena” videos. Brilliant extension of the campaign. These ads seem to be pretty straight forward call to action. One small improvement would be to customize those ads for that audience possibly do a contest for a meet and greet with Cena.

This is without a doubt a social media win! Way to go Cricket, Shareability, and JOHN CENA!

After spending the early part of my career in nonprofits, I can say that I have a soft spot for them. When West Tennessee Hearing and Speech Center called, I knew I wanted to work with them. WTHSC works because everyone’s voice should be heard. This means helping people with hearing and communication. They work with a wide range of clients,from seniors to young children, and this is something we tried to capture in the video. Hearing aids, speech pathologists and communication devices are all around the center.

Sometimes getting ‘b’ roll for videos is easy, but because of the clinical nature of their work, it proved a little tricky. But the amazing staff and clients help make the process easier. The staff organized it so we were able to shoot the entire video in an afternoon! We also shot the video on site at WTHSC to help make the process easier and more comfortable for the clients and their families.

This video was created to help raise funds at their annual, Speaking of Art Fundraiser. That being said, if you want to support West Tennessee Hearing and Speech Center, you can do so here. Here is the video:

West Tennessee Hearing and Speech Fundraising Video from Kevin Adelsberger on Vimeo.

This month’s social media win or fail is a total win for the Toronto Silent Film Festival. Though this is somewhat like a previous win (see a previous win here) it really takes it in a new direction.

The promoters of the Toronto Silent Film Festival, created this escape room for you to explore digitally. Each square is a video that shows your character interacting with elements in the room. Excellently executed and such a great tool to bring awareness to your brand. Can you find your way out?

http://theawesomer.com/instagram-escape-room/365474/

I know they were really just poking fun at vegetarians but I am disappointed in Arby’s. Arby’s positioned it self to do one of the more daring marketing moves I have seen: They were set to offer all their normal menu, without meat, for the same cost as a regular sandwich for Leap Day.

What a gutsy move! Well it would have been had they followed through with it. The two Arby’s locations I visited both had the meat on the menu. Here is video of my visit:

Arby’s I hope this was an error but if not I am disappointed in your false advertising. Lots of free press for nothing.

Authenticity is something that seems to be in short supply these days in our culture. People love to lie and marketers have a lot to do with why lying is so prevalent. Seth Godin, one of my marketing heroes, even has a book called “All Marketers are Liars”.

Authenticity is something that is growing in value in our society because no one seems to have it, especially companies! Frequently when speaking with a potential client about marketing, I start by saying, “if you are not delivering consistently great products, I cant help you.” Marketing for an organization where clients are frequently disappointed in the product is like a dog chasing its tail!

Brand authenticity comes from, “meaning what you say and saying what you mean”. If your brand comes through on its promises over time, you will become to be viewed as authentic. Authenticity is a powerful currency in our day and age and especially with millennials.

However a lack of brand authenticity does not mean you will not succeed, but you may end up being the lowest common denominator. Examples like McDonalds and Walmart show brands that no one really likes but that are successful because of price alone! They excel and being the lowest common denominator.

We should be striving to build brand authenticity everyday through each interaction we have with clients. That authenticity will build over time and help create stark raving fans. And we could all use more stark raving fans.