Hasta La Creative!

This, quite possibly, might be a first. We’re all used to brand after brand after brand mucking up our Twitter feed with promoted tweets. But have you ever seen an individual purchase a promoted tweet to better guarantee his complaint won’t go unnoticed?

After British Airways lost his father’s luggage, Husan Syed took to Twitter to complain. But rather than simply tweet a rant as most do, Syed bought a promoted tweet in New York and UK markets Monday night which aviation marketing consultancy SimplyFlying said garnered 25,000 tweets in the first six hours.

The tweet read, “Don’t fly @BritishAirways. Their customer service is horrendous.”

JetBlue Airways Senior VP of Marketing who saw the tweet responded, “Interesting; a disgruntled customer is buying a promoted tweet slamming a brand where they had a bad experience. That’s a new trend itself!”

British Airways, which incredibly “closes” its Twitter feed during non-business hours, responded to Syed’s tweet early this morning apologizing for the luggage loss and the delayed response and asked Syed to DM the airline to discuss the matter further.

While Syed has not yet revealed what he spent on the promoted tweet, he promises to share his final spend and engagement metrics soon.

Plenty of ad agencies have skeletons in their closet, but Keiler apparently has a ghost haunting the attic of its early 18th century Connecticut farmhouse offices. Naturally, they've put the snarky specter in charge of the Farmington shop's first official Twitter account. (That's scary and difficult to believe—not the ghost part, but the fact that they waited until now to try Twitter!) The ghost could be a sea captain, tavern owner or wheelwright—no one's really sure—but staffers have heard mysterious footsteps and slamming doors around the place for years, especially after hours, so they decided to incorporate the lore into @KeilerGhost. (Besides, social media's largely about transparency, so having an actual ghost writer makes sense. And lots of agency feeds read like they're written by dead people, so this one should fit right in.) Some examples of the phantom's wit: "I've seen a lot of advertising trends come and go in 200 years. But this stock photography thing has got to stop." "Like bad media placements, ghosts generally appear when nobody's looking." "I'm a friendly ghost until I have to sit through an ad just to watch a YouTube video." Hmmm, might be time to give up the ghost. Sorry, that was mean-spirited. Boo! Via MediaPost.

Before my untimely passing, I was not an adman. But I have learned this much from living with one: Your logo is already plenty big.

— Keiler Ghost (@KeilerGhost) July 11, 2013

While some camps can’t tout the benefits of social media enough, others question the extent to which they should actively guide, promote and shape online conversations about their organizations. A new research study by MIT Sloan School of Management Prof. Catherine Tucker and Prof. Amalia Miller of the University of Virginia suggests that when organizations actively manage their social media presence, the main result is an increase in user-generated content from employees, not increased engagement from customers or clients. So companies that invest marketing dollars in social media hoping to engage customers may be missing their mark.

Oh that’s rich. So all this time, all we’ve been doing is getting brands to talk more about themselves by themselves without their customers giving a crap?

Of the findings, Tucker says, “Firms have a choice between trying to actively direct the flow of social media conversations, which costs money, or letting those conversations flow organically. In our national study, hospitals that managed their Facebook profiles actively began receiving a lot more likes, visits and comments. That sounds good on the surface, but we also found evidence that this activity came from employees of the firm, not from customers.”

OK. Phew. So it’s only hospitals that talk to themselves in a bubble when using social media.

“Maybe employees are already more closely tied to the organization than clients are, so employees don’t need content focused exclusively on their needs,” says Tucker.

In the rare instances the study found when a hospital did devote its postings toward client-specific communications, clients (seriously? they’re called patients) did become more engaged.

Tucker says that content posted should be specifically focused on clients’ needs and interests. “There is nothing wrong with having a social media presence that mainly encourages internal dialogue with employees. It may motivate employees or improve communication flows. However, if that is the case, human resources – rather than marketing – should be specifically incorporated into the management and funding of social media activity.”

No there’s piece of advice social business proponents can get behind.

She notes that this is “especially true” when dealing with products that are not naturally social. “Those conversations tend to be very fragile and consequently easy to suppress, so organizations need to consider carefully whether it’s worthwhile to actively manage social media and, if so, which function should fund and manage it.”

TIf you want to read the whole study, you can do so here.

As part of its Not Normal campaign, MINI has launched MINI Art Beat, a “synthesized digital design, music and interactive social media” effort that has resulted in a MINI Countryman custom-fitted with high-resolution LEDs. MINI Art Beat gives fans a chance to stream a live animation directly onto the MINI as it takes its night cruises – so both urban passers-by and online viewers can watch.

How does it work? People can stream their own video on the MINI Art Beat car directly through Facebook app, on MINI Space, or by tweeting Vine videos hashtagged #MINIartbeat. They can then add their customized design and beat. The car will cruise down London streets, emblazoned with the video…which will be recorded by a car-mounted camera and shared back to the person who submitted the video.

We must admit, the car, which will roam the street of London August 5th through 19th, does look pretty cool; certain to catch attention as it makes it’s way through the streets at night.

To promote its annual summer clearance sale, Honda, today, will do another Live Vine Day in which the brand will respond directly to consumers who use the #HondaLove hashtag on Twitter with live Vine videos encouraging them to share their personal stories of #HondaLove.

The brand’s initial effort on July 15 responded to tweets with the #wantnewcar hashtag with live Vine videos encouraging users to ditch their old cars and purchase a new Honda through the Summer Clearance Sales Event. On Twitter, the hashtag #wantnewcar received more than 100 million impressions and nearly 10,000 #wantnewcar mentions.

In addition to the social media component, the Summer Clearance event is supported by television, print, digital and radio advertising leveraging the #wantnewcar conversation and user-generated tweets.

To support the hashtag, #HondaLove will be a promoted trend on Twitter on Aug. 6 and a USA Today home-page takeover will feature a live Twitter feed of the @Honda responses to #HondaLove. In addition, the effort will be promoted with Facebook ads and digital media on auto-shopping sites.

Check out the campaign promo video below as well as one response video from the initial campaign featuring Rebecca Black.

Hey @nickminers, we don't have those at the Honda Summer Clearance Event. But we have @MsRebeccaBlack! http://t.co/SYKywDClZ5 #wantnewcar

— Honda (@Honda) July 15, 2013

Not many brands have embraced the Anthony Weiner debacle as inspiration for ads. Spirit Airlines did it in its own traditional sleazy fashion. And now Mini has come out with a little auto erotica of its own—creating (as Weiner did) a fake Twitter identity, @CarlosDMotor, and tweeting out an image of a Mini in a bathroom, showing off a little grille. "Wanna get your hands on my stick?" says the tweet. Agency: Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners.

Wanna get your hands on my stick? pic.twitter.com/ZpDQbUnWB8

— Carlos D. Motor (@CarlosDMotor) July 26, 2013

Going in a completely different direction than they did with Intel + Toshiba’s The Beauty Inside, Pereira & O’Dell is out with The Power Inside, a hilarious new content marketing film directed by Will Speck and Josh Gordon and starring Harvey Keitel.

Like a seventies porn film crossed with an alien invasion horror flick, the film’s plot follows the alien invasion by a race of extraterrestrial moustaches and unibrows who take over the upper lips and eyes of people around the world. The main character is Neil, who together with his friends and the help of technology “discovers his inner strength” to defeat the moustache and unibrow invaders called Uricks. Intel-powered Toshiba Ultrabooks, of course, play an important role in Neil’s mission.

The film, debuting August 15, will be interactive in a way allowing viewers to take a side; join the Uricks and participate in the invasion or join the Guardians and help save the world.

Of the films participatory approach, Speck said, “The way that we make films and how viewers interact with entertainment content is evolving. Social films give us the opportunity to tell stories in a new way by creating an immersive, participatory experience for the audience.”

At the films website, people can audition for roles in the movie. To join the Urick team, people are invited to upload a photo from their computer webcam to the film’s Facebook Page, and facial recognition software will add a moustache or unibrow. Viewers can also upload videos of themselves removing a moustache to join the Guardian team. Those who upload photos and videos will have a chance to appear in one of the film’s episodes.

This work won’t make you cry like The Beauty inside may have but it will most certainly make you laugh.

It might have gone down as one of the least interesting Twitter hacks of all time, except it was fake. Which makes it … interesting?

Chipotle has admitted to Mashable that the brand was behind a series of what looked like rogue tweets last weekend. On Sunday, @ChipotleTweets began posting odd messages like "Find avocado store in Arvada, Colorado" and, "Hi sweetie, can you please pick up some lime, salt, and onions? twitter." Shortly after, "Joe" from the Chipotle team posted a message that seemed to confirm a hack: "Sorry all. We had a little problem with our account. But everything is back on track now!"

While brand hacks seem to be a dime a dozen these days, this one was apparently invented for publicity. The tweets were meant to obliquely tie into Chipotle's "Adventurito" promotion, a series of 20 puzzles in 20 days celebrating its 20th anniversary. Sunday's puzzle was about the ingredients that go into guacamole. "We thought that people would pay attention, that it would cut through people's attention and make them talk, and it did that," company spokesman Chris Arnold told Mashable on Wednesday.

Earlier this year, MTV and BET (both owned by Viacom) did something similar when they pretended to be victims of hacks similar to those befalling brands like Burger King and Jeep. Some social media and PR pundits are already bemoaning the loss of reliability that a brand can suffer by lying to its fans. But come on. If you're disappointed by the ethical integrity of a burrito-hustling Twitter feed, you have no one but yourself to blame.

twitter

— Chipotle (@ChipotleTweets) July 21, 2013

Twitter.

— Chipotle (@ChipotleTweets) July 21, 2013

twitter friends search bar

— Chipotle (@ChipotleTweets) July 21, 2013

Do I have a tweet?

— Chipotle (@ChipotleTweets) July 21, 2013

twitter Find avocado store in Arv

— Chipotle (@ChipotleTweets) July 21, 2013

Hit send too soon!

— Chipotle (@ChipotleTweets) July 21, 2013

Find avocado store in Arvada, Colorado.

— Chipotle (@ChipotleTweets) July 21, 2013

Found it!

— Chipotle (@ChipotleTweets) July 21, 2013

Hi sweetie, can you please pick up some lime, salt, and onions? twitter

— Chipotle (@ChipotleTweets) July 21, 2013

end twitter

— Chipotle (@ChipotleTweets) July 21, 2013

Mittens13 password leave

— Chipotle (@ChipotleTweets) July 21, 2013

please twitter

— Chipotle (@ChipotleTweets) July 21, 2013

Sorry all. We had a little problem with our account. But everything is back on track now! – Joe

— Chipotle (@ChipotleTweets) July 21, 2013

Considered by many…and by no one…a genius, a madman, a poet, a puppeteer and, yes, an internet douchebag, Loren Feldman has just debuted #SoMe, a biting satire which skewers the rampant, over blown, buzzword bingo-laden idiocy of social media, its personalities and, as well, how it has brought out the pettiest of behaviors in people and caused journalism to sink to a new low.

At the same time, the hour and 15-minute documentary-style video also examines some of the things social media has forever affected (both positively and negatively) such as the way we communicate with each other, authenticity, privacy, anonymity, friendship and purpose.

Those last two changes, friendship and purpose, are, perhaps, the most important things social media has changed and you will understand why when you learn the plot of the movie. Real friends in real life are what’s important, what’s lasting and what matters.

While social media has enabled people to “get closer” to one another and, yes, with brands, it has also fostered an incredible degree of loneliness. After all, to deeply engage in social media, one has to be staring at a screen and when one is staring at a screen, one is not interacting with the world around them.

The next time you leave your house for any reason, force yourself to avert your eyes from your phone and notice how many people are ignoring the world around them to “socialize” with “friends” online. It’s like we’ve turned into a bunch of robots who are slave to our devices and have lost all ability to interact with actual, flesh and blood humans.

Think about that the next time you try to “create a relationship” between your brand and your customers. Are you just counting Likes or are you actually offering up something meaningful that does, indeed, truly create a lasting relationship.

It looks like Rebecca Black finally decided which seat to take—a seat in a Honda. The "Friday" singer just popped up in a Vine video from the automaker—part of a campaign by RPA that sends personalized Vines to Honda fans on Twitter who use the hashtag #wantnewcar.

"We were promised flying cars. I don’t see any … #wantnewcar," wrote Nick Miners. To which @Honda replied: "Hey @nickminers, we don't have those at the Honda Summer Clearance Event. But we have @MsRebeccaBlack!" In the Vine, Black suggests visiting a Honda dealer on Friday—"or whenever."

Check out more of the Honda Vines here.

Hey @nickminers, we don't have those at the Honda Summer Clearance Event. But we have @MsRebeccaBlack! http://t.co/SYKywDClZ5 #wantnewcar

— Honda (@Honda) July 15, 2013

In addition to the Vine promotion, the campaign features TV spots in which Honda dealers humorously respond to real tweets. The "Super Fan" spot replies to an actual tweet from actor Neil Patrick Harris, who asked for advice on selecting a minivan. Check out those ads, and some print work, below.

CREDITS
Client: Honda
Agency: RPA

Executive Vice President, Chief Creative Officer: Joe Baratelli
Senior Vice President, Executive Creative Director: Jason Sperling
Senior Vice President, Executive Producer, Content: Gary Paticoff
Vice President, Creative Director: Chuck Blackwell
Creative Director, Copy: Ken Pappanduros
Art Director: Ariel Shukert
Copywriter: Jen Winston
Senior Producer: Fran Wall
Production Coordinator: Grace Wang

Production Company: Recommended Media
Director: Chris Woods
Founder, CEO: Stephen Dickstein
Partners, Executive Producers: Phillip Detchmendy, Jeff Rohrer
Producer: Darrin Ball

Editing Company: The Reel Thing
Editors: Lance Pereira, Val Thrasher
Flame Artist: Moody Glasgow
Executive Producer: Doug Kleckner

Telecine: The Mill
Colorist: Adam Scott

Audio Post: Lime Studios
Mixer: Dave Wagg
Music: Wojahn Brothers

PRINT CREDITS
First insertion date: July 15, 2013

Agency: RPA
Executive Vice President, Chief Creative Officer: Joe Baratelli
Senior Vice President, Executive Creative Director: Jason Sperling
Creative Directors: Ken Pappanduros, Chuck Blackwell
Art Director: Suzie Yeranosyan
Copywriter: Jen Winston
Photographers: Civic: Joe Carlson; CR-V: Tony LaBruno; Accord: Springbox; Pilot: RPA CGi; Odyssey: Fulvio Bonavia
Art Buyer: Ginnie Assenza
Production Manager: Stephanie Speights