Archive for the ‘seattle’ Category
Starbucks Hearts Seattle
Thursday, May 20th, 2010Talk about giving back to the place from which you came. Starbucks is kicking off a little Seattle love with their Friday deals dedicated to showing the people on the Puget Sound just how much they appreciate their patronage with a little something they’re calling “We-Love -You Fridays”
Here’s the skinny from their site:
This week’s perk for Seattleites is the chance at a free ticket to see the Seattle Mariners (maybe) win.
Here’s the paid promotion I saw on Facebook that drove me to the site:
Looks like I need to build some time into my Friday morning routine to account for a Starbucks run.
Location Based Marketing Gets Textually Active
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010
While the talk of the town is still social media (even if it’s a day late and more than a dollar short for some), creating a seamless experience with brands is quickly becoming the focus of many an internal marketing team. In Andy Boyer’s last post he took a look at the tide of users logging into the Facebook environment on their mobile devices (HINT: It’s a big, big number). Here, I’m looking at the recent launch of location-based mobile marketing campaigns and seeing how they tie in to larger campaigns.
If you’re keeping up with the news, you’ve probably seen the story from location-based marketer Placecast (owned and developed by 1020 Inc.) which is working with the likes of Sonic, American Eagle Outfitters, and REI to integrate their ShopAlerts application into their wider marketing campaigns. The North Face Inc. also just launched a campaign to drive foot traffic to their brick and mortar stores in New York, Boston, San Francisco and here in Seattle.
As more and more companies are looking at social media and other new tech-propelled forms of reaching targets many are making the OR mistake and only putting one horse in the race. Where companies small and large are making a splash is in creating a seamless brand experience by using traditional, social, and mobile media to reach their brand loyalists where they are and in a way that resonates with them. Here’s a look at a couple brands doing this well:
American Eagle Outfitters
AE, a lifestyle clothing brand is aimed at college-age men and women, is always working to keep up with current marketing trends. Their presence in the social media world is anchored by a strong presence in Facebook and Twitter, but by adding a text-based element they are able to bring customers through the doors.
The North Face
As one of the leaders in advanced outdoor gear, The North Face operates at the higher-end of the retail spectrum and has a varying array of customers from advanced mountaineers to sporty urbanites. Their presence in social media plays well with their changing Web presence and reflects the current campaign pushes of the time. However, The North Face, along with Placecast, just launched a mobile location-based text campaign meant to draw already interested brand loyalists into their stores for even more gear.
In addition to their text campaign with Placecast, The North Face recently launched an iPhone application aimed at providing snow conditions for those headed to the mountains called The North Face Snow Report.
But, Where are the Numbers?
Oh, we’ve got numbers for you. Participants who opted into receiving updates from several major retailers including Sonic, American Eagle Outfitters and REI had this to say:
- 60% said that they found the lociation-triggered messages to be cool and innovative
- 79% said it increased their likelihood to visit a store
- 65% made a purchase as a result of a ShopAlerts message
- 73% said they would definitely or probably use the service in the future
From those numbers you can see the power of opt-in services that are delivering right-sized messaging at the correct targets. The users are already connected with the brands and are receiving information that they’ve already deemed “worthy.” It’s not like having a person stand on the corner handing out fliers for your store to every passersby – it’s targeted.
So, as we continue to move further into the world where marketing truly can reach anyone, anywhere (given, of course that the technological infrastructure is there), I think it’s important to realize that no new technology or tactic is the silver bullet. It’s not traditional advertising or social media. It’s not in-store or mobile – the list goes on. Speaking of that list of location-based services, looks like it’s about to get one name longer very soon. It’s about creating the seamless experience for users from store to online store to community to mobile that builds brand loyalty and gives back in the end.
We’re Getting in Shape Tomorrow at PR+Mktg Boot Camp
Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010You don’t often hear the terms “Boot Camp” and “Library” in the same sentence. For that reason alone, we would have decided to take part and be a panel moderator at tomorrow’s big PR and Marketing Event. But when we found out some of our favorite people, including Betsy Aoki (@bing), Elliot Pesut (@alaskaair), Shauna Causey (@ShaunaCausey), Rod Brooks (@NW_Mktg_Guy), Ben Straley (@meteorsolutions), Scott Porad (@scottporad), not to mention too many others to list (about 40 overall) will be there as well, we had to sign up.
So come see Clay talk about Measurement and Analytics tools, and come say hi to Grant and I as we walk around soaking up knowledge. Hope to see you all there tomorrow.
Twitter Gives Seattle-area Tool CrowdEye the Firehose
Monday, March 1st, 2010
When Twitter announced they’d be giving basically unfettered access to their data stream to a select number of companies, you can bet that local player CrowdEye got a bit giddy.
When we first checked in on CrowdEye back in June, they were just getting started, but already were showing value in the realm of real-time Twitter search. Now, over half a year later, CrowdEye is about to get more data thrown at them than they probably could have imagined – and they join an elite group in doing so.
To clarify, Twitter puts the number of applications accessing their rate-limited, freely available offerings at more than 50,000. Today, CrowdEye joins Ellerdale, Collecta, Kosmix, Scoopler, twazzup and Chainn Search (not launched) as the newest batch of partners to gain access to the holy grail of Twitterdom – the Firehose.
We’ll be watching these inventive partners in the near future and can’t wait to see what they do with the data.
Learn more about the image used in this story here.PRSA Luncheon – Following Up
Wednesday, February 17th, 2010Thanks to all who attended the PRSA Luncheon today. It was a great panel and we’d like to extend our appreciation to our fellow panel members, Melissa Tizon from Swedish and Ricardo Rabago from PCC.
Also, as with most of these events, the great content comes out when the audience starts firing questions, so for that we thank you.
Below is the deck Clay presented during the luncheon for your reference.
We look forward to interacting with and collaborating with you all in the future.
An SCG History Lesson
Monday, January 25th, 2010
If you subscribe to George Santayana’s thought that those who forget history are doomed to repeat it, then rest assured that if any SCG employees go on to become city planners they won’t be building a city in tidal flats or leaving a 15 foot difference in elevation between sidewalks and streets. No, we didn’t take a field trip to city hall (as evidenced by the fact that we still have our work ethic), but we did take the semi-famous Seattle Underground Tour under our new Pioneer Square home.
While most of us knew about the almost-forgotten Seattle that resides about two stories below our 311 ½ Occidental Ave. S. offices, surprisingly not many in the group had been on the actual tour (Someone must have also given the tour guide a heads-up in regarding our senses of humor, because the tour read more like a standup show than a stuffy tour through history).
We learned about Seattle’s litigious side—a side that was present from the very start— with Henry Yesler suing the city using a loophole in the tax law. Oh yeah, and he got away with it three times while he was . . . wait for it . . . mayor.
We also learned that the second-largest donor to the Seattle Public School system was a madam by the name of Lou Graham, who owned and operated a brothel on the site of what is now the Union Gospel Mission. Back in the day, a large number of Seattle women were involved in the “oldest profession” (although they listed their professions as “seamstress” when asked by authorities) as Seattle was a lively port filled with freshly-rich travelers returning from the Yukon and wide-eyed prospectors about to make the journey north.
Proving just exactly how truly geeky I am, I downloaded a Ghost Radar application for my iPhone as we entered what was supposedly a “haunted” vault. The app costs $0.99, and while I’m fairly sure all I did was give nearly a dollar to some college kid sitting in his mom’s basement, I had to try it out – it’s technology. It basically told me exactly what the guys from Ghost Hunters found out – there’s nothing.
All in all, the tour was great. We learned a bit about the area we work and live in every day and got to spend some time outside the walls of SCG together. If you’re looking for a bit of history and don’t mind doing something that might be a tad bit cliché, definitely check out the Underground Tour for yourself.
