NEXT & Pepsi BRAND CHATTER™

Posted on April 5, 2012 by Sandy Gerber

I found out today that Pepsi loves our company so much it named a product after us! Yes folks, the new 60% less sugar cola Pepsi is about to reveal is called Pepsi NEXT! (I like it already).

Okay, okay, seriously, the marketing Pepsi is doing to promote the new NEXT product is innovative and fun. Leveraging Facebook and Youtube, the cola magnate is the first company in the world to deliver a virtual product taste test. The best part of this innovation is Pepsi’s lure to create BRAND CHATTER™ for the new product.

From Pepsi Press release April 3rd –
“The Internet Taste Test, a unique experience on www.facebook.com/pepsinext, invites cola lovers to opt in for a chance to watch themselves “taste” new Pepsi NEXT through the power and humor of improv. Funny or Die comedians and actors will do their best impressions of selected consumer and notable personalities’ “online personas” trying Pepsi NEXT, using relevant information from their profiles, such as recent “experiences” and “likes.”

“To launch Pepsi NEXT, we’re focused on getting consumers to ‘Drink it to Believe it’ – even online, in a fun and uniquely digital way,” said Shiv Singh, Head of Digital, PepsiCo Beverages. “The Pepsi NEXT Internet Taste Test demonstrates how a brand can utilize social media to create consumer-driven, personalized branded entertainment.”

The Internet Taste Test kicks-off with a video starring actor and comedian Rob Riggle who describes how the test works while watching his online persona “trying” Pepsi NEXT and referencing his “likes,” from skeet shooting to painting with water colors. In addition to Riggle’s “how-to” video, fans can also watch humorous video impressions featuring notable figures in social culture “taking their first sip,” including Internet mogul Gary Vaynerchuk and Internet meme, Scumbag Steve.”

There is no question, this innovative campaign will be trending Twitter, reaching 100,000+ fans and causing all sorts of fun spoofs online – the real excitement will kick in when the Pepsi NEXT BRAND CHATTER™ goes offline and produces product sales! I’ll be keeping a close eye on this one….

Posted in Blog, BRAND CHATTER™ Tagged , , , , , ,
Leave a comment

Small Business BRAND CHATTER™ Trends

Posted on March 31, 2012 by Sandy Gerber

At NEXT we keep a close eye on market trends that involve BRAND CHATTER™ and were thrilled when we saw the work that AT&T had done to get some statistical data on small business marketing. Who knew men and women were so different in their preferences for retrieving or marketing their information?

Inexpensive, modern grassroots marketing techniques — both online and offline — have grown to be among the most popular for small businesses in the past several years likely due to ease of use and general affordability. According to the 2012 AT&T Small Business Technology Poll, nearly 60% of small businesses surveyed plan on spending as much or more in 2012 as they did in 2011 on online marketing efforts.

Creating BRAND CHATTER™ is essential to every business success today. Sandy Gerber, our fearless leader and BRAND CHATTER™ methodology creator has been asked to speak at numerous events in the next few months to share HOW to create BRAND CHATTER™ today that is effective and distinct. Check out all of the NEXT events in your area.

Posted in Blog, BRAND CHATTER™ Tagged , , , ,
Leave a comment

Google experiments with BRAND CHATTER™.

Posted on March 25, 2012 by Sandy Gerber

Can four of the most amazing ads of our time be effective in today’s digital advertising format? Google is doing an experiment to find out with their Project Re:Brief. They are already successful at creating BRAND CHATTER™ for those brands today with this project, we are excited to see where this goes…

Identified by one of my favourite digital marketing agencies, Blueliner in New York….
“Project Re:Brief is Google’s latest initiative to expand the reach and awareness of digital marketing through re-adapting couple of the most epic marketing campaigns in the history of advertising for the new, modern audience that spends enormous amounts of time online and is constantly connected thanks to the latest gadgets and technology.

As Google states on the project’s website, internet advertising turns 18 years-old this year, but even after two decades of existence and constant innovation, digital ads are used simply to inform more than they’re being used to connect, engage and entertain.


Taking Coca Cola’s “Hilltop“, Volvo’s “Drive it like you hate it“, Alka-Seltzer’s “I can’t believe I ate the whole thing” and Avis’ “We try harder” campaigns, Google’s team of experts will try to re-imagine these iconic campaigns for the digital age.”

Posted in Blog, BRAND CHATTER™ Tagged , , , , , ,
Leave a comment

Power of Cross Promotion

Posted on March 21, 2012 by Sandy Gerber

I just returned from a whirlwind adventure in Niagara Falls, Ontario. I expected to have one day of wonder with the kids enjoying the incredible Niagara Falls and two days of pure tourist trap activity. What I did not account for was the astounding cross promotion marketing present everywhere I turned!

Upon check-in at the hotel, I received a stack of coupons, booklets, passes and flyers that surpassed anything I have ever received in my travels before. I am the person who is excited to go through the book in the room that details where the ice machine is located and all the hotel amentities. When I arrived at the Embassy Suites in Niagara Falls and got my “package” of activity options -I needed a drink.

Once I had a moment to digest the materials, I started to notice a pattern in the promotions. Relentless in coupons, most activities and attractions special offers were duplicated in numerous other publications and formats.
The kids and I picked our top three wish list of things to do, I gathered the corresponding promotion incentive material and we headed out to start the adventure.

On the back of every ticket, at every kiosk and ticket counter, there were more promotional materials, coupons, flyers and incentives to adventure to another attraction. It was a complicated matrix of cross promotion that was quite simply remarkable.

I would love the opportunity to track the activity that ensues from the cross pollenation of the marketing materials and enjoy the challenge of making one attraction’s BRAND CHATTER so powerful and unique, cross promotional activity would be secondary to the efforts we achieved. Ripley’s Believe it or Not “WaxZone” is on my Dream 50 list -there is a huge opportunity to enhance and better promote the unique experience and create compelling marketing messaging that would dwarf all other attraction options. Ah, to dream….

Posted in Blog, BRAND CHATTER™ Tagged , , , ,
Leave a comment

Have you got visual BRAND CHATTER?

Posted on March 7, 2012 by Sandy Gerber

March is “madness” with the social media channels evolving the visual options available for brands today. Facebook is about to automatically shift your fan page to Timeline and YouTube is now rolling out the new channel design that forces companies to shift their layout by Wednesday!

See gigaom’s great article on what to do to be prepared for the YouTube changes, especially as a channel publisher! Thanks Gigaom.

YouTube is going to to roll out its new channel design across its entire site Wednesday, completing a major component of a site redesign that started last December. The new layout puts a bigger emphasis on channel subscriptions and content curation in an effort to make people stick around longer. YouTube is expected to switch all channels to the new design by Wednesday morning.

The new channel design, which has so far been available on an opt-in basis, comes with a new featured tab that can be customized to the needs of each publisher with a number of templates. Some of the default templates include a design optimized for bloggers with a lot of output, a network design that can highlight multiple channels on YouTube and even a live template that includes elements specific to a live video broadcast on YouTube.

Read More>>

Posted in Blog, BRAND CHATTER™ Tagged , , , ,
Leave a comment