Social media has become an expectation for businesses, non-profits and government entities, rather than a choice. Conversations are taking place online, whether organizations are participating or not. Even though utilities are considered a low-interest category in the social media world, they are embracing this medium at an accelerated pace.
Omaha Public Power District (OPPD) realized the potential to communicate with customers and pundits alike. Social media can become a permanent record of their care and concern for the everyday users who do not regularly think about their source of electricity – until their power goes out. Read More

Most kids looking for summer employment reduce themselves to getting coffee, flipping burgers or shoveling poo, but Bozell offers another option. Bozell has been recognized for an outstanding summer internship program. The application is rigorous: seeking only the most talented students to fulfill roles in various agency departments. Our objective this year was to create a fun and easy-to-use online application site for the intern program. We wanted to draw many quality applicants and a bit of traffic recognition for Bozell. Read More

Send your cover letter and resume with clear direction as to which department you are interested in joining. When letters come in saying the writer wants a job “anywhere” in an ad agency it is clear that they don’t know the business well enough to know where they fit in. Read More

A couple of months ago, Dunkin Donuts launched a social campaign to engage with their core fans. They asked for customers to submit their own concepts for the company’s newest donut. Over the past two months they have received a staggering 90,000 entries.
This week the company announced exclusively through Mashable, the 12 finalists for the competition. They are now asking customers to vote on the new creations in order to determine the champion and therefore the latest delicious product in the Dunkin arsenal. Read More

With the advent of the Internet and social networking sites, we have all become more comfortable and complacent in communicating with clients and colleagues online. What we forget is that for thousands of years before the digital revolution, our primary form of communication has always been face-to-face conversation. It is important for us to step away from our keyboards from time to time and have a real conversation with someone. Read More

I wasn’t the only one unimpressed by Tiger Woods’ public apology. Today (Friday) Gatorade officially dropped Tiger Woods after “unofficially” dropping him in December.  “We no longer see a role for Tiger in our marketing efforts and have ended our relationship,” said a Gatorade spokeswoman in an announcement Friday.
AT&T and technology outsourcing and consulting company Accenture have already ended their sponsorships, while others, such as Procter & Gamble Co.’s Gillette and Swiss watch maker Tag Heuer, Read More

“To err is human; to forgive divine.” —  Alexander Pope
The fact is, we all make mistakes. So do brands. And we all learn the hard way that people never listen more closely than when you admit failure. While there are lots of examples, recently we’ve seen two big brands own up to problems and mistakes and publicly apologize. In very different ways.
Friday Tiger Woods’ abject, and very rehearsed, press conference/public apology came off as as a bit insincere to me. Read More

Unless you’ve been pretty sheltered this week, you’ve probably heard about the Kevin Smith/Southwest Air run in that rang out around the world in media stories and people buzzing with phrases like TTTF (too fat to fly). The director and actor said a pilot ejected him from a Southwest Airlines flight from Oakland to Burbank, saying he didn’t fit properly in a single seat. Smith turned to Twitter, then his SModcast and his blog.  Read More

If you doubt the importance of measurement and metrics, consider the results of a recent Gallup Poll, which showed that executives spend 24% of their time on “plan measurement and monitoring,” second only to “strategic thinking/planning.” Read More

Perhaps the folks at Verizon should have done some homework before promoting the launch of its spend-smart digital coupons as “a free digital coupon service for its wireless and FiOS TV customers that can help them save money on their next trip to the grocery store” to avoid stepping in it.
When I read the announcement here and here, my first thought was, big deal, how is this different from what anyone (not just Verizon customers) can do with Cellfire?  Read More