Harley Davidson Salutes the Military. Rewards Them With Marisa Miller.

I can't argue with that. Check out the promo for Military Appreciation Month brought to you by Harley.

The Puma Index: Innovation and Art: A New Way To Showcase a Clothing Line.

I'm so glad I finally found this video. I downloaded this app about 2 weeks ago, and while I don't really utilize it much, it's always had me curious. Puma, in an attempt to show off their clothing line, specifically their new line of underwear, has created an stock market platform that allows users to see real-time results of the market through a group of models. Ya, makes so sense, but the video puts it all together. As the stock market goes up, Puma clothes are put on. As the stocks go down, Puma clothes come off revealing the Puma underwear. It's truly a strange application. Anyone else try this out? I'd recommend it just for the shock and wow factor. There's nothing more boring that watching a stock ticker. At least this help a little.

Milk Goes Interactive To Save the Music: The Results Are Extremely Healthy.

This is what I'm talking about. There are very few interactive campaigns out right now that I truly believe in, but the new Milk campaign, "Body by Milk," is really innovative and unique. It allows users to go to the site, upload their picture onto a animated body, and then produces a high quality "Got Milk" complete with mustache and copy. It then allows users to share their ads through social networks.

Oh yea, the best part. For every ad created, $1 will be donated to the VH1 Save the Music campaign. It's a win-win situation.

Here's my two ads. Create your own at www.bodybymilk.com

Mobile Marketing: Cheaper, More Effective, and More Accessible Than We'd Ever Imagine

I have always been interested in mobile marketing. It brings the product (and usually samples) directly to consumers. It is a way to reach the exact target market you wish to reach. Concerts, bars, athletic events, the opportunities are endless. The video below opens the door for even more options.

The video itself isn't what interests me. It's the idea inside the video. It looks like these guys (Creature Agency) rented a moving pod, decorated it with some fancy art and technology, then dropped it into the streets to sample. Gone are the days of buying a bus a van, a car, a monster truck, a place, whatever the medium of choice. Now, you can rent a pod, dump it in the city, and immediately get attention.

The Sunwash Corridor from Eric Larkin on Vimeo.

For an even more exciting mobile marketing story, I encourage you to go here. It is called "Thinking Inside the Box." An agency sets up shop in a box in the middle of New York. They get people to enter the box and ask them "What problem do you want us to solve?" The agency, equipped with a small team of artists, designers, developers, and planners would then find creative ways to solve the problems. They then used a giant city screen to advertise what the question was and how they were solving it. It's really hard to explain, but it's really awesome. What did it cost them? Probably about a grand for the box. What are they getting? National recognition as one of the most creative marketing techniques in the business.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on these two campaigns and what you think will be most effective in the future. On-the-go greatness or get off the street garbage? Just let me know.

Little Debbie Wants to Share a Smile...and a Smart Car

Little Debbie just announced a new campaign that's gonna be starting up on October 18. They're calling it the Little Debbie Share-a-thon and they're giving away 1,000,000 cupcakes nationwide. Point of purchase displays, mobile marketing through an armada of cupcake styled smart cars, and contests/sweepstakes make up the bulk of the campaign, but social media is going to play a huge role too. They're going to post event photos on Flickr, share stories on Facebook, and post videos and promotional media on youtube. Oh yea, you can follow on Twitter too.

Here's one the TV spots. Does this make you crave a cupcake or has Little Debbie lost its touch?I for one think they've already got brand followers, and with all this talk about health care, people are either going to give in to the guilty pleasure or try and stay as far away as possible. But hey, then again, who am I to say that I could resist a free cupcake from a smart car.

Wheaties Rebrands Itself With Fuel. Win. Evolve. Will You Step Up To the Plate (or the Bowl)??

Wheaties has always been active in sports marketing. If you google "Wheaties Box" you'll find a variety of boxes with different athletes ranging from Michael Jordan, to Wayne Gretzky, to the newest, most controversial athlete, Michael Phelps. But now they've taken sports marketing to the next level by rebranding themselves as a sort of "sports fuel" for athletes.

They've got some big names on board, most notably, Albert Pujols of the St. Louis Cardinals. Other big name athletes include Peyton Manning and Kevin Garnett. They've gone social with a Facebook page, Twitter , and a Youtube site with six videos documenting the research behind the cereal. All in all, I think it's a pretty effective campaign and I'm actually excited to try it out (if I can find a box. It's only sold online as of now).

The only negative aspect of this rebrand is the fact that it leaves out a huge potential customer base - girls and moms. They are the ones that usually pick out and buy the cereal, and I have a feeling they'll skip right over a black box with five male athletes on the front. We'll see what happens.

Regardless, I've posted one of the brand's youtube videos below. It interviews the athletes and goes over their training routines. Apparently, they designed the cereal around each of the athletes training and what they needed to refuel, evolve, and win.

Do you guys like this campaign? Will you buy the cereal? I'm interested to hear what you think.



Check out the Wheaties website here.

Also, check out my website for a new article on "Turning the Target Market Upside Down." It's about the possibility of effectively advertising male targeted products (like Wheaties) to women.

A Different Slide of Me: Integrate/Advertising - A Visual Introduction to Social Media

Hey guys,

So the other day I found this really cool site called Slideshare. Basically, it lets professionals post their powerpoint slideshows and allows users to read and rate them as they please. They also host contests each year for the best slideshow. It's a pretty cool site where I actually found some of the most interesting documents on the internet.

Below is my first attempt at a slideshow. I modeled it after some of the best ones that I saw on the wesbite. I'm basically calling it an attempt at a Visual Introduction to Social Media. It talks a little bit about Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin and gives a few basics on what it takes to be a social media success. Get personal, get honest, and get out there.

I'll be adding more to this in the next few weeks, but here is a peep at the rough draft coming in at about 20 slides.

Integrate

View more presentations from Michael Buffa.

The Woody Effect: TGIF Says TYSM (Thank You Social Media) as the Woody Campaign Tops 500,000 Fans.

It’s official; TGI Friday’s “Woody” campaign is a hit. Less than a month ago, the popular restaurant chain put out a social media campaign focused around an average guy with a serious soft-spot for the chain’s burgers. What was the goal? Gaining 500,000 fans through Facebook. What was the incentive? The first 500,000 would get a free Jack Daniels Burger for signing up. Well, it’s been less than a month and Woody is rocking 565,739 fans. How long did it take him? 12 days.

Now for some of you, this might have you wondering. Alright, they got the fans, but now they gotta give away the burgers. In fact, that was my first reaction too. The key to success is digging a little deeper. Sure, they’re going to be giving out 500,000 burgers, but people will bring friends, buy drinks, buy appetizers, deserts, gift cards, and, if they like what they eat, will return back and become brand loyal customers. The return on investment for this campaign, whose budget must have been rather low, has the potential to be extremely high.

Only time will tell how well this promotion will carry on into the future, but if they keep the strategy interesting and the Woody character appealing, I think they might have a long-term social media strategy that’ll put them one step ahead of competitors.

Check out Woody’s Facebook page here:

Follow Woody on Twitter here:

One of the videos promoting Woody:

Switch: The Creative Concept Behind the 2009 All-Star Gala

Switch: Liberate Your Brand is one of the coolest creative agencies in St. Louis. They've got big name clients such as Vitamin Water, Anheuser Busch and this year - led the St. Louis All-Star Game Account. Just what did they do? Here's one of the Account Supervisors giving the creative concept behind the All-Star Gala they put together.

Did anyone go to this? I'm anxious to hear some comments on the event.

True Blood Turns to Guerilla Marketing: Prepares Viewers for the Worst

These signs were put up in certain cities as guerilla marketing for True Blood. The signs featured wooden (cardboard) stakes that could be snapped off in the case of a Vampire Attack. Pretty clever idea. If you havn't watched the show, I suggest you catch up before the Season 2 finale on Sept 13.

Interested in more True Blood marketing strategies? Check out my post entitled "Buff's Buzz: True Blood Season 2 here.