Orli Sharaby

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So much of digital and mobile media is about performance: How many clicks did it result in? How can we optimize site traffic? What’s the average time spent or completion rate? How many virtual gifts were shared? All important information, but too often some of the most crucial components of advertising are left untapped: Creativity and building brand equity.

One way marketers are recapturing creativity and whimsy in advertising is through the artistic mutation of QR codes. In essence, QR codes are quite a functional marketing tactic – a simple conduit from offline experiences to mobile/online content. As a quick refresher, a QR (quick response) code is a two-dimensional barcode that looks something like a computerized Rorschach test and holds much more data than a conventional barcode. When scanned by a QR reader on a mobile phone, QR codes can deliver robust content to the user such as a mobile website, a video, or really anything you can imagine.

So, very functional, designed to get you from point A to point B. But because the decryption algorithm used to generate QR codes allows for about 7-30% error margin, some brands have started to add a little whimsy into their QR designs.

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Bravo is one of the first brands to test out Twitter’s new Business Center offerings.

Yesterday, Mashable confirmed that Twitter has launched a beta test of the Twitter Business Center, a set of tools which provides more legitimacy and greater flexibility to businesses operating on the platform. Official businesses, both large and small, will soon have a prominent “verified” badge on their profile pages, along with a suite of new features which we’ll describe below.

While it’s surprising that it took so long to release this functionality (Twitter has had badges for “verified” individuals, such as celebrities and political figures, for a long time), at 360i we see this as an important step in Twitter becoming an even more powerful marketing and CRM tool.

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Paint it Blue: You can now give the gift of the Stones on Facebook. Did anyone see this coming in 1964? (via Flickr)

While record labels are continuing to suffer as a result of the changing nature of music consumption, new media companies are finding ways to profit. Last week, news broke that both Google and Facebook will soon be putting a greater emphasis on music. With these uncannily timed announcements, it’s safe to say the music industry will be turned on its head yet again – possibly even edging out newly minted powerhouses MySpace and iTunes.

Facebook, which has famously overtaken MySpace as the world’s largest social network, has continued to lag behind its competitor when it comes to incorporating music. So this latest move is a long time coming and something that has been rumored for years.

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MomDot, a popular community for moms who blog, has proposed a PR Blackout to mitigate “bloggy burnout.” What does the moratorium say about mommy-marketer relationships?

Mom bloggers are widely believed to be one of the most influential groups online; they are active bloggers with a broad, collective reach and maintain an audience eager for their advice and recommendations. A Nielsen report from May notes that a full 20 percent of the active online population are moms aged 25-54, and brands like Walmart, Kraft, and even Motrin (through a widely publicized marketing disaster) have recognized how important it is to win their favor. One way brands and marketing agencies (including 360i) work with mom bloggers is by offering them products to review or give away to their readers.

But suddenly, mom bloggers are changing the game and looking towards a collaborative self regulation.

Just in time for the ever-important Back to School season, popular mom blog network MomDot has called for a PR Blackout – challenging bloggers to “not blog ANY giveaways, ANY reviews and Zero press releases. In fact, we don’t want you to talk to PR at ALL that whole week.”

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In the social and mobile space, utility is a magic word. Figuring out how to make your customers’ lives easier – and still remain on brand – is like the holy grail. Zipcar, it seems, may have done just that with their new iPhone application, planned for release later this summer.

The app, developed in conjunction with Apple, lets users choose and reserve a car, then uses GPS and Google Maps to locate it. According to Wired blog Autopia, the app will also sound the car’s alarm if you find yourself stranded in a parking lot full of lookalikes. If, as Wired reports, fully one quarter of Zipcar’s customers are iPhone owners, this application is certainly a tool that will add value to their zipping experience.

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By Orli Sharaby, Senior Social Media Strategist

From the hokey Juan Valdez to Burger King’s masked mascot The King, from the Budweiser iguanas to the Geico gecko, marketers have long used fictional characters to humanize their brands. Now some companies are taking advantage of social media tools to bring those characters to life in ways never before possible – connecting with consumers in fun, sometimes kitschy, and ultimately more meaningful ways.

Here are some success stories of brand mascots in social media:

• Wakamaru Nyt, Uniqlo’s blogging robot staffer
  In early September 2008, a new face appeared at Uniqlo’s Soho flagship – the face of Wakamaru Nyt, reportedly the world’s first retail robot. While much of Wakamaru’s charm lies in his real-life presence at the store, the robot also has a blog and a Facebook page, often links to photos that people have tagged of him on Flickr, and also has plans for a Twitter feed and MySpace profile in the near future. In effect, Wakamaru Nyt has become like any other internet-savvy person living in New York in 2008, utilizing multiple online social platforms to make plans (such as the game of tag he organized in NYC’s Battery Park) and connect with his friends and fans.

Wakamaru, Uniqlo’s newest intern

• Truman Greene, H&R Block’s biggest fan
  In late 2007 and early 2008 leading up to Tax Day, 360i helped H&R Block roll out a multi-platform social media campaign that relied heavily on a character named Truman Greene. Billed as H&R Block’s biggest fan, Truman served as comic relief about a subject that, let’s face it, is hard to find humor in. His YouTube videos, which have racked up nearly 600,000 views, comprise mainly of improvised songs, skits, and guitar performances about doing your taxes, and his MySpace page serves as a place to get useful info on tax policy and test your tax knowledge – with a little humor thrown in as well.
• Gil the Crab, Honda’s mascot on MySpace and beyond
  A character that Honda developed in 2006 for web videos to promote the Element, Gil the Crab proved so popular that it made its way into TV ads and was given its very own MySpace profile and YouTube channel. An unlikely mascot for Honda, Gil is an absurd character – but sometimes, when it comes to online social media, absurd works best. Besides being the repository for his videos, commercials, and online games, Gil’s MySpace page chronicles the crab’s persistent troubles with the law. The page has nearly 70,000 friends, a petition to “Save the Crab” was signed by over 26,000 people, and Gil’s videos on YouTube have collectively received hundreds of thousands of views.
• S.A.R.A.H., the Tweeting house from Sci Fi’s Eureka
  In the Sci Fi Channel’s critically acclaimed show Eureka, there is an artificially intelligent house named S.A.R.A.H. (Self Actuated Residential Automated Habitat). With an audience of gadget buffs and technology early adopters, the Sci Fi Channel astutely recognized that Twitter was the perfect platform on which to engage the show’s core fans. S.A.R.A.H.’s Twitter feed now has nearly 3,500 followers, and has received exponentially more exposure through good press. The tweeting house has even been the subject of the world’s first “Twitterview” – a live interview via Twitter – with the popular design site NOTCOT. While the initiative did not involve creating a new and unique “mascot” per se, the existing character of S.A.R.A.H. was given new life and greater depth in social media, allowing a broader connection with true fans of the show.

In the right context, fictional characters can have a powerful impact on the way consumers perceive your brand; this has been the case throughout the history of marketing. But now, with myriad social media platforms available, brands are able to use these characters to open a meaningful dialogue with consumers at the individual level. With the right mascot, the right platform, and the right timing, character-based social marketing can be hugely successful.