5 reasons why brands should Twitter.

In the spirit of my last two posts, here is a quick overview of the liquor brands that use Twitter. For the most part, the well established brands are sitting on the sidelines while the younger upstarts figure out how to gain traction via this nascent channel.

• @BaconVodka: Living up to its porcine name, Bakon Vodka provides tasty drink recipes while keeping their 2,055 followers informed on where and when they can buy this product.
• @MR1X supports a relatively new line extension from Belvedere Vodka that is imbued with the lifestyle of Parisian graffiti artist Andre. With over 880 followers, the tweets track Andre’s world travels and endless nightlife. MR1X aggressive use of Twitter, Flickr and YouTube may make it the first generation of truly social media-driven spirits.
• @Belvedere_Vodka keeps their 539 followers buzzed with a steady stream of summer drink recipes and other self-promotions.
• @Blackbottle: This whisky brand enthusiastically covered their appearance at the Taste of London for its 353 followers which may be just enough for them.
• @CieloTequila: This Mexican based tequila has 300+followers and claims to be “the smoothest tequila on the market” but with no events listed it would be hard for anyone to know since it hasn’t updated its page in over a month.
• @NudeVodka09: This scantily veiled brand keeps its 300+ followers updated on events and new concoctions. They seemed to be more engaged than most as many of their posts are fan offered thank you’s.
• @RepublicTequila: By Texans for Texans, this brand seem to focus solely on The Lone Star state reporting on local promotions for its 230+ long horned followers.
• @SoloranzoTkila: …..Tkila…..get it? The text-friendly name is about all this tequila twitter page has to offer its 178 followers unless they’re into historical facts about tequila, such as one of its most recent posts “For many years it was known as “mezcal wine” or “mezcal tequila,” since mezcal or mexcal is another Nahuatl term for agave.”
• @PinkyVodka: Despite this vodka’s small following (only 91), their enthusiastic self-promotion of the “world’s most beautiful vodka” and constant reminders of Pinky-drink ideas lets one know how to get and what to do with this product.
• @Mragave: After reading this site’s post you will know how strong this tequila is- but not much else. With a mere 37 followers, this brand claims to be more popular in “Agave Friendliest States” like CA, TX,NY, IL,FL,AZ, and CO.

Noticeably absent from this list are any Diageo mega-brands like Smirnoff, J&B, Captain Morgan and Johnnie Walker. Since there is no way currently to “age gate” your Twitter followers, perhaps they are simply electing to “keep on walking” rather than risk the potential wrath of watchdog groups. Given the relatively small size of the followings of other spirit brands, at the moment being “ready to Tangueray” need not include tweets.

In the spirit of my most recent post on Beers that Twitter, here’s a quick look at some more active wine brands that Twitter. What’s interesting to me is that twinos (Top 12 wine twitterers) seem to get a lot more traction than the wine brands themselves.

Top Wine Brands that Twitter

• @EaglesNestWine: With over 2800 followers, the owners of this Ramona, CA winery provide a steady stream of wine-related news without too much self-promotion.
• @LynFredWinery: The largest winery in Illinois (who knew?) has about 1700 followers whom they update almost too frequently with drops of relevance.
• @SokolBlosser: This Oregon winery actually engages its 1500 or so fans with an occasional provocation like “if Pinor Noir were a celebrity, who would it be?”
• @Veuve_Clicquot: True to its upscale nature, this classic bubbly indulges its 1200 or so followers with tales from VIP parties and polo matches.
• @ChalkHillEstate: This Sonoma winery offers a clear window into their wine making world complete with updates to their 900+ followers on currently blooming vegetation.
• @KimCrawford: This New Zealand-based winery, now owned by Constellation, is famous for its crisp Sauvignon Blanc, has close to 800 followers that it updates constantly with fun facts from festivals like SXSW.
• @ManoSinistra: This French wine is aggressively tracking the wine world, following about 2000 yet only gaining about a 1/3 as many followers. Since most of the posts are in French, I can’t offer much insight as to why its tweets aren’t gaining traction.

Please note that this list is by no means comprehensive and is based on the wine brands that show up in the top 250 when searching “wine” on WeFollow.com. With few exceptions, most of these wines have built up their followers by aggressively following wine people who Twitter. While there is nothing wrong with this approach, it certainly suggests that none of the wine brands themselves have cultivated an “organic” following. Clearly, the seeds of successful Twittering have just been planted and a bountiful harvest awaits the wine brands that find the recipe for enlightened engagement.

Woke up this morning to discover that Corona Summerbration was now following me on Twitter. Since I don’t recall tweeting about beer or Corona or summer, I can’t figure out what I did to deserve this honor. Sure I love an icy cold one as much as the next guy, but I’m hardly in Corona’s prime demo which incidentally is the slowest to embrace Twitter. Perhaps Corona is hoping I’m an “influencer” and simply by blogging about the brand here I’ve rewarded their faith in me. Regardless, this made curious about other beer brands that Twitter so I put together the following round up:

Beers that Twitter:

• @EpicBeer: this chatty New Zealand brewery has over 2200 followers and provides a steady stream of information-rich updates from the brewery (over 2200 tweets to-date)
• @GooseIsland: with over 1200 followers, this Chicago microbrewery pushes out offers on a regular basis to its fans
• @EdisonBeer: a Boston brewery with 1150+ fans that it mainly ignores tweeting only 11 times in the last 6 months
• @CrispinCider: a Minnesota beer alternative with 1100+ followers that it updates frequently with news about events and product development
• @Michelob: trying to remake itself into a craft beer, Michelob is the only national brand with over 1000 followers to whom it pushes rapid fire reminder tweets to buy, buy, buy
• @BreckBrew supports Breckenridge Brewery, a Colorado maker of craft ale with about 680 followers that are treated to tweets by a real person with whom you’d actually want to share a beer!
• @Corona_Beer has 586 followers that it hasn’t updated once
• @heinekenBeers has about 350 followers and appears just to aggregate other tweets that mention Heineken or Heiny.
• @heineken_beer calls itself a “global forum for beer” and provides a steady diet of updates from Heineken related activities around the globe to its 250 or so followers.
• @budweiser: the king of beers snubs its 214 followers with nary an update. Whassup with this?
• @summerbration: Corona’s promotional site has attracted nearly 200 followers in under a month as it offers a daily tip on how to celebrate the summer with Corona of course!

It probably shouldn’t be a surprise that the craft beers tend to lead the way having the most loyal and engaged fan base. These seem to be manned by real people who like talking about beer and the craft of beer making. The big brands either don’t bother to have a voice or it’s so forced like Michelob’s that it is actually off-putting. Given that Twitter hasn’t taken off among 21-29 year old males yet, these bigger brands aren’t necessarily missing out…yet. Also, many of these brands like Bud and Coors have done an admirable job building up and engaging their fan bases on other social media like Facebook and MySpace.

Before I wrap up, I wanted to raise the issue of brands following people. Personally, I’m still a little startled when a brand and not a person elects to follow me on Twitter. Some of the beer brands listed above have been aggressive in this area. For example, Epic follows 2109, Edison follows 1997 and Michelob follows 1097. This activity has driven up their follower numbers but in doing so also diminishes the power of their fan base. More impressive are the brands like Goose Island and Breckenridge Brewery who only follow 5 and 53 respectively yet have hundreds of followers.

Bottom line: Twitter is an opportunity for brands to engage with people as if they were people. To do this well requires the brands to behave like real friends not aggressive pitch men. If a brand elects to follow someone, it should have a good reason, a basis for introduction and not drop in out of nowhere like an uninvited guest. Just like people who tweet, brands should avoid becoming a Twitcher or Twitter Whore by maintaining a healthy following to followers ratio. Cheers.

UPDATE 6/15: @coors_light is not run by the folks at Coors so I took it off the list. See comment from the company below. Also, Molson is taking a multi-tweet approach with the following major brand tweeters:

• @MolsonFerg: Molson’s VP of Public Affairs has 2100+ follower.
• @toniahammer: Community relations, PR and social media girl for Molson has 1700+ followers.
• @MolsonMoffat: Manager of Brand & Marketing PR at Molson and member of Molson’s social media team has 800+ followers.

At The CMO Club Summit this week there were lots of offline conversations around monitoring the online conversations about brands. CMO’s were particularly interested in the tools available to track these conversations. To help me participate in this particularly conversation, our digital director put together this mini-directory of online resources that I figured some of you might find helpful as well:

GENERAL SOCIAL MEDIA MONITORING TOOLS

Social Mention aggregates user generated content from the web into a single stream of information. It drills down into these individual category levels: blogs, microblogs, bookmarks, comments, events, images, news, videos, audio, Q&A, and all.

Addict-o-matic instantly creates a custom page with the latest buzz on any social media topic on channels such as Twitter, Friendfeed, YouTube, Google Blog, Wordpress, Digg, and Flickr.

BackType is a conversational search engine. It indexes and connects conversations from blogs, social networks, and other social media so people can find, follow, and share comments.

IceRocket provides real-time blog, Twitter, MySpace, news, and images search engine with trends tracking.

BLOG MONITORING TOOLS

Google Blog Search is Google’s index of blog posts. The advanced search tab allows you to search based on additional criteria.

Trendpedia searches blogs to find out who’s discussing what, where, when and how and displays it via a blog trend chart.

BlogPulse.com is a blog search engine that also analyzes and reports on daily activity in the blogosphere. BlogPulse.com is owned by Nielsen BuzzMetrics.

TWITTER MONITORING TOOLS

Twist shows aggregated data about what people are saying about your brand on Twitter.

TweetGrid creates a Twitter search dashboard that updates in real time.

Summize, a very popular Twitter search tool, was purchased by Twitter last summer so now it’s Twitter’s official search engine.

Twithority lists Twitter search term results by rank and time.

Twitrratr categorizes searched terms into positive, neutral, and negative buckets and assigns percentages to each bucket.

Tweetbeep is like Google Alerts for Twitter. It also has an email service.

Feel free to let me know what we missed or if you think any of these don’t merit further investigation.

ADDENDUM 5/22/09

Eric von Coelln (@evcinnyc) recommends Vitrue Social Media Index and Facebook Lexicon .

Had an interesting conversation today with fellow guerrilla practitioners in a “teleseminar” hosted by Bulldog Reporter. Other participants included Julian Aldridge of Ammo Marketing, Christian Jurinka of Attack! Marketing and Drew Livingston of FreeCar Media. The moderator did a great job keeping the conversation moving and hopefully the folks listening found it as interesting as I did. Before the call, I prepared some notes that I thought were worth sharing here since most of these didn’t make into the call. Please note that these are pieces of the puzzle and not whole answers since the other members of the panel brought lots of insights to the table.

Define Guerrilla PR
For Renegade, Guerrilla pr is an attitude not a tactic. It is the belief that you can make up for a lack of resources with ingenuity. As such, the possibilities are limitless even if your budgets aren’t. Like all marketing, guerrilla PR needs to be grounded in strategy with a keen understanding of your target. Once you know thy target, then ask yourself, what can you DO for them NOT what can you say to them. We call this approach Marketing as Service. Samsung figured out they could help road warriors by putting charging stations into airports. This service spoke volumes about Samsung and offered proof positive of their commitment to helping the mobile professional. KFC recently started filling potholes as a service to its customers who had to drive to their stores over bumpy roads. A Colonel Sanders look-alike did the repair work and spray painted KFC logos on the fixed potholes ensuring that the brand got lots of exposure for their efforts. Every company big or small can do something for its customers—the trick is to find something to do that is also newsworthy.

Some Emerging Categories to Consider in Non-Traditional PR Programs
There is definitely a rush by marketers to capitalize on the iPhone app craze. Zippo has enjoyed tremendous success with its virtual lighter (that you can blow on to affect the flame) and is currently the #1 downloaded app in the lifestyle segment. Kraft created the iFood Assistant which for $.99 puts 7,000 recipes at your fingertips. Consumers don’t mind paying the cost of one song if the app delivers real value. But this is definitely a category in which the early bird catches the worm. With over 25,000 apps already out for iPhones, you better make sure you have a fresh, fun and simple idea for another one.

Guidelines When Planning Guerrilla PR
Obviously knowing your target is critical to any successful marketing effort, guerrilla or otherwise. For guerrilla, it is particular helpful to understand the pain points of the target on both a general (lifestyle) and a specific (product category) basis. Knowing this will help identify things you can do for the target rather than just what to say to them. For example, we knew that New Yorkers have a love hate relationship with taxis, they love the convenience but hate to pay for them. So for HSBC customers, we created the HSBC BankCab which gives free rides all over Manhattan. HSBC customers simply can’t believe its free and feel like they’ve won the lottery and end up telling at least five friends about it after every ride.

Guerrilla PR Makes News When You Don’t Have It
Ideally, if you have some real news about your product or service, then it will be a lot easier to spread the word. If you product is better, faster, cheaper or ideally, a combination of the three, then the press will want to talk to you. If not, then you need to use marketing to create the news. And if what you are planning to do isn’t newsworthy, I would reconsider. If its not newsworthy, don’t’ bother. To make sure the press noticed the HSBC BankCab, we launched with a “search for the most knowledgeable cab driver in NY” that generated over 20 million PR impressions.

Low-Cost PR Tactics

Facebook can be very low cost and very effective for the right brands. Renegade recently created a social media program for Toasted Head Wine. Since no wine brand had gained more than 1000 friends there was a lot of question about this being the right place. But our research suggested that TH had a passionate yet down to earth following that just might enjoy engaging with the brand and other fans. Positioned as brand that can “fire things up,” our goal was to fire up Facebook providing provocative conversation starters like “its 60 minutes before the bachelor party and the stripper just canceled, now what?” The answers were hilarious and a real stripper chimed in defending the professionalism of her peers. We also used applications like Social Calendar to encourage Toasted Head fans to share their love which they did. In the first four weeks of the program, Toasted Head has picked up 3300 fans. Better yet, these fan are highly engaged, joining the conversation with “Barry the Wine guy” and leaving a steady stream of comments about their favorite variety of Toasted Head.

Twitter is another low cost option. Despite all the hype about Twitter, there is one really profound reason to use this channel and that is the role role Twitter can play in crisis management. Domino’s used Twitter and other social media to fight back when a couple of employees filmed themselves sticking cheese up there nose and then putting it on a pizza.

Real-World Tips for Incorporating Guerrilla Tactics and Techniques into Traditional Programs

As I mentioned earlier, it really helps to have a deep understanding of your target. When we developed the “Hell Cuts” program (see video) for Ubisoft’s Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway game, we were fairly confident that our hard core gamer target would do just about anything to get a free copy of this game. Sure enough, it took no persuading at all to get 157 “recruits” to have the head’s shaved and the word Hell spray painted on top. Seven of the recruits were reporters and the resulting PR coverage was extraordinary. And while this was a stunt, it related directly back to the product, a highly realistic WWII action game which required players to recruit a squadron to take on the Germans. And of course, no soldier entered the service without getting a buzz cut first.

Common Traps When Venturing into Non-Traditional Outreach
• Don’t bother with the Protest thing. Its been done a zillion times and its fake.
• Don’t bother with stunts that have nothing to do with the brand or the story your trying to tell. You can always get attention by putting a gorilla in a jock strap but unless your selling jock straps, monkey suits or bananas, find another idea to get attention you so crave.

Measurement and ROI Tips: How to Track and Show Value for Non-Traditional PR Efforts
Net Promoter Score—one simple yet instructive measure to consider is Net Promoter Score or NPS. Developed by Bain consultant Fred Reicheld who determined that customer likelihood to recommend a product/service to a friend is the single biggest factor in determining a brands success. To measure your NPS, ask your customers “on a scale of 0 to 10, how likely they would be to recommend your product to a friend.” You then add up the 9-10s and subtract them from the 0-6’s and you have a net promoter score. We use this on pre/post basis for all our programs.

Event Marketer ran an interesting article on the importance of using research to increase the effectiveness of experiential marketing programs. The article includes some great quotes from Renegade client, Tom Hantson who talked about some research we conducted while activating Panasonic’s sponsorship of the AST Dew Tour. The following provides some additional thoughts on the subject of research at events.

Pre/Post Surveys are Mandatory

Because event marketing is “live theater,” you need to monitor impact from get the go and adjust accordingly. For 95% of the events we execute, we run pre/post experience surveys with typically under 10 questions and always including Net Promoter Score. We use Net Promoter Score to provide benchmarks from event to event and also because it is the simplest measure of potential word-of-mouth. For Panasonic which was a four-year sponsor of the AST Dew Tour, our pre/post surveys were particularly helpful. We were able to make subtle adjustments to the experience after each stop (it ran in 5 markets each year) based on the input we received from the consumer. We also made adjustments from year-to-year based on the feedback and reactions to various program elements.

For example, 2 years ago, we signed skateboarding phenom Ryan Sheckler to do appearances for Panasonic headphones at their booth and retailers. Unfortunately, the number of fans that wanted Ryan’s autograph were far greater than we could accommodate and some expressed their disappointment. We made a couple of adjustments at the next event that helped. First, we began to offer 50 VIP guarantees to anyone who purchased Panasonic headphones. Second, we added a brand ambassador to take photos for the fans to speed up the process allowing us to accommodate another 25-50 people per signing. Third, we created a couple of life-size cut-outs of Ryan that everyone could stand next too and thus get a photo with Ryan! Since we had digital cameras and printers handy, we were also able to give the consumer a positive experience even if they didn’t mean the phenom himself.

We have found that the most important thing when surveying is the speed from start to finish. As such, we have found that asking no more than 10 questions and filling out the forms with the consumers, increases both the accuracy and the timeliness of the responses. Ironically, after trying self-administered computer surveys, we went back to old fashioned clipboards. The consumer experience is better and faster and arguably the results are more accurate since the consumer tends to blow through the PC tests like they’re a joke. We are typically looking to gather 100 pre-event surveys and 100 post-event surveys per location which is sufficient to be statistically significant but not so many to make hand tabulation overwhelming.

Track Online Comments From the Beginning

It is also imperative to track blog comments. This was very much the case for the Ubisoft Brothers in Arms: Hells Highway “Hell Cuts” promotion which received comments on over 30 gaming blogs. Since all the feedback was extraordinarily positive from the opening minutes of the show, we didn’t have to make any program adjustments.

Make Adjustments to Your Experience Based on Experience

Another important aspect of measurement is less quantitative but no less important and that is having a feel for the pulse of the crowd at live events. If your experience is fun but the consumer is not getting into it, then adjustments need to be made then and there. Sometimes this means upping the volume on the music, getting your MC to spice things up with competitive giveaways or changing the way the crowd winds around the exhibit. In some cases, it can even mean replacing brand ambassadors who simply don’t have the spunk needed to create a memorable experience. It is amazing what consumers will do just for a free t-shirt so there is always something you can do to crank up the crowd.

We always budget for a senior partner at Renegade to attend the first stop on a mobile tour or a traveling trade show experience. If you have been doing this a while, then you know how to get valuable qualitative feedback from the consumer right away and make any needed adjustments within the first 24 hours. Sometimes this means working with the sales force to help them sort out the tire kickers from the real prospects. Sometimes this mean increasing the frequency of the “live show.” Sometimes this means removing a component that is bogging things down. The key thing is to make sure that everyone on the team knows that continuous improvement is not only possible but also mandatory for a successful tour.

Last week, I sent out the following tweet:

Thinking of going to NYC auto show just to observe scaled back mktg. If u have been let me know must sees.

Within five minutes, I had a strange new follower which I revealed in this tweet:

Feeling a bit like Cat Stevens… I’m being followed by @VolvoXC60 . How weird is that?

A couple of minutes later, this direct tweet arrived:

@dneisser We think the Volvo XC60 is worth seeing. We’re running demos of its City Safety feature outside the Javits @ 11th & 37th for free!

So, of course, I did end up checking out the Volvo XC60 (see photo ) and followed with interest how Volvo was using Twitter to engage prospective customers. Turns out there was a lot more to their twittering efforts as report by Adweek:

Volvo is promoting the Twitter feed for the 2010 Volvo XC60 crossover vehicle through the biggest ad placement YouTube has run to date.

Volvo shop Euro RSCG created the rich media ad, which stretches across the YouTube home page today. It shows the XC60 auto-brake “city safety” capability, then gives users the option of seeing videos, photos or playing a game from within the unit. The banner also includes a live feed of Volvo XC60 Twitter updates from the New York auto show.

All in all, this seems like a smart use of social media to cut through the general malaise surrounding the Auto Show. Though I’m not really interested in talking to a car on Twitter any more than I want to watch reruns of “My Mother the Car,” Volvo was actually trying to provide me a service on a several levels. First, they had some news about a new car model. Then they wanted to engage me via a physical demonstration. Then they were prepared to educate me via videos and finally, they were prepared to entertain me with an online game. All this just for little old me, perhaps the bulls eye of their target audience, a middle aged married white guy with two kids, a dog and a cat all worth protecting via a safer ride. If only I didn’t have another 18 months on my Civic lease!

NOTE: The auto show itself was modest in all respects. The Detroit automakers were falling all over each other trying to out “un-extravagant” the other, canceling press conferences, eliminating glitzy displays and talking up value. Booth babes were in slim supply as if one more might have been considered a misappropriation of government funds. So what you had left was just the sheet metal and the throngs of tire kickers. No wonder a tweet from a Volvo was big news!

ADDENDUM: Got another Tweet from VOLVO this week:

That was a nice blog post you wrote. If you want to include it, we’ve archived the YouTube banner here: http://bit.ly/sPao9

I recently completed a brilliant (says me) speech on Cause Marketing that was recorded for release later this year. In the course of my research, I found a number examples of cause marketing that are worth sharing in bite sized blog chunks.

Brita has found a highly relevant cause with its Filter for Good program. While transparently self-serving, this program promotes the environmentally friendly case against drinking bottled water. The Filter For Good.com website encourages consumers to “pledge” to drink less bottled water, noting that one Brita pitcher filter can effectively replace as many as 300 standard 16.9-ounce bottles.  (Feel free to take “the pledge” like I did–it’s a quick and does make you think about buying less bottled water.)

On the site you can find out about all the layers of the program, including the recent Brita Climate Ride and The College FilterForGood Eco-Challenge, that solicited eco-friendly ideas from universities and from which Brita was so overwhelmed by good proposals that they elected to fund 5 of them.   The relevance of this effort is irrefutable, providing Brita a pure and simple way to do well by doing good

This example shows how Marketing for Good and Marketing as Service can overlap, as the cause is the service. From where I sit, its all good.

I’m not sure how America at large will feel about being weighed at bus stops, but I think it definitely tips the scales as a not so heavy example of Marketing as Service. Here’s what the folks at Cool Hunter had to say about it:

No more living in denial about the size of your waist line, thanks to this fantastic albeit terrifying guerrilla marketing initiative from the health club chain, Fitness First. Unsuspecting commuters in the Netherlands are faced with viewing their body weight in bright lights - quite literally - when they take a seat at this Rotterdam bus stop. Scary to say the very least, but extraordinarily clever and likely to increase membership numbers at the local Fitness First. The brainchild of Netherlands’ agency N=5, the initiative takes the concept of guerrilla marketing to a whole new level.

Assuming the news about one’s weight is not always welcome, it will be interesting to see how the Dutch weigh in on this one. Guess we’ll have to weight and see.

Another example of Marketing as Service is rolling out in Motown this weekend as Captain Morgan does his best to make sure Final Four revelers don’t end up falling off the plank. Gawker described the annoucement as the “best press release ever.” Here’s what fellow Renegade Steph Isaacs reported about the program:

In an effort to curtail people from getting in their cars after celebrating in the host city of the Final Four this weekend, Captain Morgan will be offering The Captain’s Caravan as March Madness takes over the city of Detroit. The Caravan will be there to make sure that those in the area for the big event are staying safe while having a good time. While in Motor City The Captain’s Morganettes will offer free shuttle service dropping off adult consumers at hotels in the downtown area. The Captain’s Caravan includes two 20-passenger shuttles and one 56-passenger bus that will be available from 2:00PM to Midnight, April 3rd, 4th and 5th. Marketing As Service disguised as an escort service, or vice versa?!

This is certainly not the first time The Captain has mixed in a “drink responsibly” service into its overall campaign. Last year, they ran a “Don’t Go Overboard” sweepstakes in Canada (grand prize was pizza and taxi service for a year) and offered a late night shuttle service in a few markets in the US. They also aired the commercial below which features two “happy” gents finagling a ride home with a pizza delivery guy.

With all these efforts, The Captain is certainly driving home their commitment to responsible partying and performing a genuine service to those who might otherwise forget to do so.

Last year, Starwood orchestrated a search for a Chief Beer Officer, providing a wonderful example of PR-generating Marketing as Service. Here’s a drop about this story as report by NPR:

Scott Kerkmans recently bested nearly 8,000 applicants hoping to be chief beer officer for a national hotel chain.

You read that right. It’s an actual job. The Four Points by Sheraton hotels chain created the position because it wants to market so-called craft beers as one of its specialties

Recently, Starwood renewed Scott’s contract which calls for him to blog weekly about beer, help various Four Points hotels with their craft beer selections and to educate Four Points’ guests about beer. Scott is an affable guy and especially good at matching beer with food. One of the ideas he brought to the table was a “flight of beers” which allows guests to try four craft beers at a time. Now that’s what I call pouring it on.

Kudos to Starwood for finding Scott and adding this service to their marketing mix.  I suspect beer fans, and there are a lot of us out there, will drink this one up.

Love this example of Marketing as Service by KFC as reported by Louisville Business Journal:

Yum Brands Inc. subsidiary KFC has offered its services to Louisville-Jefferson County Metro Government to fill the city’s potholes.

Hiring a road crew for its “pilot infrastructure renewal program,” the restaurant chain has pledged to conduct street repairs, which would include the message “Re-Freshed by KFC” stenciled in temporary street chalk.

As part of the marketing effort, KFC randomly will choose four other U.S. cities whose mayors describe to the company their cities’ needs for street repairs, according to a news release.

“Budgets are tight for cities across the country, and finding funding for needed road repairs is a continuing challenge,” Louisville Metro Mayor Jerry Abramson said in the release. “It’s great to have a concerned corporation like KFC create innovative private/public partnerships like this pothole refresh program.”

So, KFC fixes the pothole and then spray paints a logo on the fresh asphalt. And to increase the news value, they hire an actor who looks like Colonel Sanders to do the spray painting. Talk about leaving your mark on the road less traveled! While this has little to do with “finger lickin’ good chicken,” KFC certainly drives away from this with lots of good press and good will.

A number of my friends have been asking for help as they get started on Twitter. Having written a bunch of emails to them, I figured I consolidate my advice onto one page. For you veterans in Tweetland, never mind. If you are still wondering why to Twitter, read Chris Brogan’s guide for newbies.

1. Where to start

• Register on Twitter.com and provide a complete profile since this will make it easier for people to decide if they want to follow you.
• I recommend you use your full name since this is not about cuteness or anonymity but rather connecting with people you might actually want to meet or at least have a conversation with at some point.
• The next thing I’d recommend is that you download TweetDeck and use this to tool as home base for all your twittering instead of Twitter.com. TweetDeck makes it easy to track the folks you follow, have direct conversations and to “retweet” which I’ll explain more about later.
• When you start visiting other Twitter home pages, you will notice many of have interesting backgrounds or more information. Zugara has created an easy tool to customize your background if you are so inclined.

2. Finding twitterers to follow

• The great thing about Twitter is that you can follow people from all walks of life and it is completely up to you the mix of people you choose to follow.
• To get started, pick a personal passion and a professional passion and look for lists of Twitterers in those areas. You can search for names or topics on Twitter Search.
• Send an email to your peers/friends and ask them if they Twitter. If they do, then go to their Twitter home pages and see who they follow (look for the tiny head shots on the lower right). Then click on some of these head shots and look at those people’s Twitter home page to see if their Tweets interest you. If they do, hit the follow button on the upper left.
• Then look at who these people follow. Ultimately, you start to find the superstars of Twitter who have thousands of followers but only follow a select few. Here’s a list of the Twitter elite according to Twitter Grader. Also, Paul Dunay has compiled lists of C Level Twitterers that is worth reviewing.
• Word of caution–be selective initially about who you follow. It takes a lot of time to follow a lot of people and it may overwhelm you to try to follow too many at first.  One quick means of evaluating a potential tweeter is the ratio of followers to following–beware of the ones who follow thousands but only have a few followers.

3. Read, retweet, share links then share thoughts

• My recommendation is that you spend you first couple of days just reading Tweets to get the hang of it. If you are following people that say interesting things and post interesting links, you will find it endlessly fascinating.
• Then start retweeting or RT. This is the equivalent to forwarding an email and this is very easy on TweetDeck. Just hit the retweet button and then post. Retweeting is a way of paying respect to the author and sharing goodness at the same time..
• I spend much of my time on Twitter reading the articles that others share via links. Because tweets are so short, a whole industry (like TinyURL.com which allows you to create aliases for your shortened URLs) has popped up to reduce the length of these links. Tweetdeck has a built in tool for shortening URLs but sometimes I find it easier to use Twurl which sits right on my Firefox browser. You can download Twurl from TweetBurner which has a bunch of other useful tools.
• Now start tweeting away. My suggestion is that you only tweet about what you’d want to read about. Keep the “I’m eating bagels for breakfast” tweets to a minimum. Honestly, no one really cares unless you’re Barack Obama or Britney Spears (for more celebs who Twitter click here.)
• Once you build a following, you will find all sorts of ways to make Twitter work for you (see my blog post for a few suggestions).

4. Playing catch up

• Twitip.com, Mashable and Twitfacts have tons of useful information about Twitter and will get you connected with all the latest uses, add-ons, variations and extensions.
• Both Blackberry and iPhone have Twitter applications that make mobile tracking and tweeting a breeze.
• Among the essentials add-ons is Twitpic for photo sharing.
• If you are so inclined, you can update your Facebook, Plaxo status and your Wordpress blog with your Twitter posts. I have found this to be useful since it simply extends the reach of my tweets and keeps those other pages fresher.
• Once you get the hang of it and start to attract followers, I have found it useful to create an auto response to welcome followers. Some consider this bad form but for busy people it is far better than doing nothing. Tweetburner makes setting up an auto response fairly easy.
• Since you will quickly notice a number of Twitter words like hashtag, tweme, tweetup, and twirt that may not make sense to you, you’ll find this twictionary worth bookmarking.

That should get you started. Have fun tweeps.

A couple of months ago, I had a conversation with Joan Voight for an OMMA article about a PR stunt by Dr. Pepper. The article just appeared in OMMA’s March 09 issue and is well worth reading. The basics gist is that Dr. Pepper promised a free soda to everyone in the U.S. if Guns N Roses ever finished their long awaited Chinese Democracy album (see AdAge). Well to make a long story short, GNR did release the album and Dr. Pepper did give away the soda  but all did not go according to plan.

Here are my rather extensive notes from my call with Joan which will make a lot more sense if you are familiar with the promotion already or read Joan’s article…

As far as I’m concerned, this is one of the best PR stunts of the decade. Most PR stunts have little connection to the brand essence and generate but one blip. This program, in contrast, has already generated 8 months worth of substantial press coverage that is consistent with the brand persona. DP at its best is a quirky individual with slightly offbeat tastes in soda and music. DP’s connection to offbeat music goes way back. DP’s connection to GNR is not forced. The brand people were true GNR fans. DP could act like a true GNR fan because they were GNR fans. The stunt reflected a true fans understanding of the bands 14-year struggle to get out a new album. The fact that the offer of free DP was not available to former GNR members, Slash and Buckethead, further demonstrated a true fans understanding and the quirky sense of humor that informed the whole effort.

The fact that their servers crashed and their toll-free number was swamped is further testament to the success of this PR grand slam. It seems that just about every media outlet covered the free DP offer back in March and then again in November when the album did come out. DP made the arrival of the long-awaited album more of an event that it might have been. DP cleverly inserted themselves into a bit of pop culture history. How amazing is that after making the announcement back in March, Axl Rose actually responded to a 2nd tier soda brand? When was the last time a pop culture icon engaged in a conversation with any brand for free? GNR had no problem with this stunt back in March. It seems clear they welcomed the support and appreciated the sense of humor behind the free soda offer. Only when DP couldn’t keep up with the demand for the free sodas did GNR express concern. GNR’s request for an apology from DP is yet another fortunate wrinkle in this stunt for DP. It simply extends the news value and gives DP another chance to engage in a public conversation with GNR. Now it is up to DP to capitalize on the situation with a tongue in cheek apology and perhaps another consumer offer that again would be carried by the media for free. I would think that another 24 hour window of free sodas should absolve them of any charges of over-promising.

From the beginning, this was a “win/win” situation for the brand. If the album didn’t launch, then DP got extraordinary press coverage that connected the brand with the plight of GNR fans all over the world. If the album did launch, then DP would have one of the most cost-effective sampling programs ever. As it turned out, DP delivered thousands and thousands of coupons at nominal cost. Ironically, the awareness and interest in the brand generated by this stunt is greater than any of DP’s recent advertising campaigns at a fraction of the cost. DP couldn’t have dreamed up a more cost effective sampling program.

This stunt is further support for the old credo the “all PR is good PR.” Ultimately people will remember that somehow DP was connected with a pop music happening. They will remember that DP is a true fan of GNR and has a quirky sense of humor. DP has tapped into something deep and would be smart to mine it for all its worth. Perhaps they can demonstrate this kind of insider music fan knowledge with another rock icon.

Sure some folks were peeved that they couldn’t get their free coupon and perhaps DP should have anticipated greater demand. DP responded by adding another 24-hour window which is probably more than most companies would have done. DP fans will not hold this against them. Non-DP fans might remain angry for awhile but that it is a small price to pay for such a salient PR bonanza.

Capturing email and addresses was another savvy move by DP. The recent Catalina Marketing study suggests that a very small percentage of users account for an inordinate share of consumption of any one brand. Having the email addresses of your heavy users is essential to efficient marketing. With all these names in a their database, DP now has the opportunity to isolate their heavy users from the riffraff who just wanted a free soda. Once they do that, they can have an on-going dialogue with their fans, pushing out content and offers that are both relevant and rewarding. DP generated this invaluable data base at a remarkably low cost thanks to all the free publicity which must be making the folks at Pepsi and Coke wishing they could “be a pepper too.”

MediaPost did a great little round up of free offers from various restaurant chains in the last few weeks. What they noticed was that several of these brands were able to achieve similar results to Denny’s without having to buy a SuperBowl ad:

Quiznos gave away a million subs in three days after using only banner ads, Facebook and Twitter presence and some free local radio exposure.

International House of Pancakes just completed its third annual National Pancake Day on Tuesday, in which it gives away a small stack of pancakes and in return asks customers to consider donating to the Children’s Miracle Network or a local charity.

Since neither of these programs received much traditional advertising support, they exemplify the power of well managed social media programs:

Social networking and restaurants are a logical match, says Reggie Bradford, CEO of social media marketing consultancy Vitrue. “Food is naturally social,” he points out. “Where do you want to eat? Do you want to grab something here? This is translating to online conversations around restaurant brands. We’ve seen tremendous adoption of social media strategies among QSRs and fast-casual restaurants.”

Combine social media with freebies, and you’ve got marketing dynamite. “Giving away food in these uncertain economic times obviously resonates strongly with consumers,” Bradford says. “Huge gains are being made by brands who are reaching out to consumers with something tangible.”

Given the economic “nuclear winter” that we find ourselves in, free is one of the few words that will truly turn heads. Sure, any moron can give stuff away free. The question becomes, can you give stuff away in such a way that you attract and then maintain new customers as well as reward existing customers for their continued loyalty? Denny’s certainly tried by doubling up their wait staff and making sure that the chefs were up to the task. I can’t speak for IHOP and Quiznos but certainly with all the store traffic their freebies generated, they had the huge opportunity, an opportunity made all the easier via social media.

So what do you do when you have been around forever and newer brands seem to have passed you by? And yes, bitching and moaning won’t help. First, of course, you’ve got to talk to your lapsed customers and find out what’s wrong. Then you’ve got to fix the problem, typically by upgrading your product or service. And then you need to do something dramatic, something newsworthy, something disruptive that causes your lapsed customers to become reacquainted.

“Nice theory Drew but does it work?” You bet your sweet hotcakes it does. Just ask Denny’s. Denny’s? Yes, the very same brand that you have been driving by everyday and probably haven’t eaten at for 10 or more years. Denny’s who very familiarity caused it to blend into the landscape. Eight years ago, CEO Nelson Marchioli described his company as “in a ditch.” It took him most of that time to fix the food quality, add new products and get the service up to par. And once it was fixed, he knew they needed to do something dramatic to get folks reacquainted with his restaurants.

Marchioli is quoted in USA Today as saying “I’d rather give something away than discount it.” He added, “if I’ve got something that I think is wonderful, I want to get it into the mouths of customers.” Thus was born their “free Grand Slam breakfast” campaign that was kicked off with a three million dollar ad on the SuperBowl. The results of their $5 million marketing investment are nothing short of astounding:

• Denny’s served roughly 2 million free meals on Tuesday (2/3/09)
• The campaign generated over $50 million in PR coverage
• Denny’s and related promotional terms like “free Grand Slam breakfast” were 5 of the top 40 search terms on Google Tuesday
• Denny’s sold enough high-margin beverages to pay for the cost of the food
• Denny’s generated tremendous good will among many of the customers that visited

“Free is an emotional hot button. When free is concerned, there is not downside” says Duke professor Dan Ariely. So Denny’s used the promise of free food to get back on consumer’s radar. Smartly, Denny’s was ready for the burst of attention both online and in their stores. Denny’s purchased several keywords to make sure consumers could find their local restaurant as they searched online. In-store, Denny’s doubled their staff to make sure their new customers had a positive experience.

Time will tell if this was simply a blip on the radar or a new beginning for old Denny’s. In the meantime, feel free to serve up something free to your lapsed customers and see what kind of sizzling response you can cook up.

American Express has been committed to the notion of Marketing as Service for a long long time and their programs have been featured in this blog (many, many times). This commitment continues even in the current economy as reported by fellow Renegade, Trip Hunter:

Yesterday at the B-B breakfast I saw Marcella Shinder, the VP of Brand Strategy for Open from American Express speak about their marketing efforts during these troubled times. Aside from the fact that she was the only optimist of the group, what appealed to me most was how Open is using Marketing as Service to deepen their relationship with their customers. Marci explained that their mission is to provide tangible ways to help small business manage and grow that are appropriate to the times.

Sounds like a bunch of marketing speak until you visit openforum.com, a social networking/resource site designed to facilitate information sharing among small business owners. Besides the wealth of information that many small business sites have, Open Forum seems to go a step farther by creating a robust social network where members can engage with the best small business bloggers, or join forums concentrated around their topic of choice.

Seems like a good time to me to be charged about Marketing as Service. Assuming small businesses continue to use this service and find ways to survive now, surely they will be that much more loyal to American Express when its time to thrive.

Having figured out that giving away product is not such a bad thing with their controversial Guns N Roses promotion, Dr. Pepper is at it again with a “stimulus package” for their diet soda (as reported by MediaPost):

At www.freedietdrpepper.com, consumers can be one of the first two million to register to receive a coupon for a free 2-liter or 20-ounce bottle of Diet Dr Pepper. Consumers can take advantage of the giveaway through March 31 or until coupons run out. The coupon can be redeemed wherever Diet Dr Pepper is sold through June 30.

Giving away stuff free may scare marketers who hate the notion of “giving it away” but let’s look at the balance sheet of this promotion.

On the cost side:

• Building & hosting the website (under $50k unless it was part of deal with Yahoo)
• Distributing up to 2 million coupons by mail (probably under $4 million)
• Spreading the word (PR, online ads, tagged TV/radio they would have run anyway = <$2mm)
• Cost per trial including product under $4 per
• Cost per name captured assuming 33% opt-in rate of under $12 per

On the gain side:

• Up to 2 million new customers to try your product at very low trial costs
• Store traffic for your grateful retailers who probably sell other products during store visit
• A database of up to 1 million “fans” who opted in and can be activated for future promotions very cheaply

Assuming my math is close, and please let me know if it isn’t, this is the kind of math most marketers will drink up.

When I first started playing with Twitter a few months ago, it seemed like the biggest waste of time since the invention of Chia pets. I simply couldn’t understand why anyone would want to track the inane utterances of the geeky-inclined or could find the time to share their own “every little moment” with a flock of clearly under-worked followers. Boy was I wrong.

Like so many things in life, appreciation for something only arrives after diving in head first. Critics of Twitter are simply modern-day Windys who are “always window shopping but never stopping to buy.” And sure enough, after about a month of sitting on the sidelines, I jumped into the game and have been fascinated, entertained and enlightened by practically every spare minute I have given over to Twitter.

The only downside I can find is that relentless Twittering has just about killed this blog (which may or may not be such a bad thing!) While I might post 2-5 times a day on Twitter in a matter of seconds, posts here require significant time for research, writing and editing. But more importantly, I find myself reading a lot more and writing a lot less. Each good Twitter post one reads (and yes there is a lot of worthless tripe to sift through even if you are as ruthless as I am about who you follow) is like opening a door to a new room of knowledge. That new room requires careful study and inevitably opens up yet another train of thought worth pursuing. Further evidence that Jim Collins’ mentor was right when he said “it is more important to be interested than interesting.”

Just in the last few weeks, consider these outcomes as a result of tweeting:

• Recruiting–I found two qualified candidates for a client by tweeting about a Social Media Director job opening. This effort was aided by the fact that my tweets are also automatically posted as updates on my Facebook, LinkedIn and Plaxo pages.
• Preparing–Discovering that a prospective client was also a Twitterer, it was very easy to get up to speed on the key category influencers based on the folks the client followed. Time will tell if that insight will help close the sale but it sure won’t hurt.
• Connecting–Finishing a good book on Social Media, I started to follow the author via Twitter. From there I was able to open a dialog with the author, which is almost unimaginable via blogging.
• Breaking news–Moments after the US Air flight hit the Hudson, tweets directed me to live video feeds as well as the best news coverage and photos. While following this story as it broke wasn’t necessarily that important, it did open my eyes to the likelihood that there will be stories of extraordinary personal relevance that I’ll learn about and be able to act upon faster because of Twitter.

So yes, suddenly I find myself proselytizing about Twitter and practically ignoring this blog. Of course, I take some comfort in the fact that this blog always has fresh content as a result of adding a Twitter box to upper right corner! And in another post sometime soon (don’t hold your breath), I will be to explain how Twitter is yet another way marketers can deliver Marketing as Service to customers, prospects and influencers.

Kraft’s new iFood Assistant for iPhone is a recipe for marketing success.

There are a number of service companies out there that are loathe to give away free content, content for which their customers pay big money. This concern is understandable but nonetheless surprising given all that has been written on the value of free (see great Wired Mag article). In my discussion with one client facing this dilemma recently, I offered up a quick story:

• Just back from a week of sun and fun in Florida this Sunday, my wife and I had a craving for lox and bagels. Of course, this meant visiting Sable’s (2nd Ave/78th) which we think is the best in the city. One of the reasons that we are so loyal is that while you are waiting in line for your bagel they always offer up a free taste of something and yesterday it was their amazing lobster salad. A generous gesture indeed given that their lobster salad goes for more than $20 a pound but oh the loyalty it buys. And of course, don’t forget the word of mouth this little freebie generates.

Now my client wasn’t exactly bowled over by this story so I started to think of a few other examples of when a mere taste became a tasty marketing dish:

• Hale & Hearty Soup offers petite samples every day of every one of their soups. And of course, I always take a sample even if I know in advance which soup I’m going to order just because I can. By the way, I probably average two of their soups a week!
• Crest gave out free samples of one of their new line extensions on a recent JetBlue flight. Trying the new version was a no brainer and reminded me that Crest is my favorite brand for good reason. They also made a potential convert out of my teenage son who simply loved the idea of getting something free.

In each of these examples, marketers gave me something of value for free in exchange for my time, my attention, my loyalty and or my word of mouth. This is the very essence of Marketing as Service. Doing something for your customers and prospects is simply more persuasive than saying something about what you’re going to do for them. I’m not saying to give away the store but surely a small taste will open up their mouths and their wallets in a big way.

Buried in holiday e-greetings, I’m finding myself deleting all but a random few. Why? Because the few that I do bother to click on are either self-serving drivel or simply banal. Like yours, my time is precious. If you are going to send a holiday ecard, make sure it is worthwhile. Better yet, send it in November or January when yours won’t be lost in a sea of sameness.

Of course, the same holds true for any kind of marketing. Zig when others zag. And ideally make sure your zig is a service of some kind. If it is, undoubtedly your target will be so grateful they’ll share it with all the friends and look forward to your communications in the months and year’s ahead. Elf Yourself zigged big time and in its third year was sent around a whopping 57 million times. On the odd chance that you didn’t get one, click here to see the one I created starring Pinky.

Finally, I did want to share an email I got from NYS Governor Patterson. It just seemed spot on. Happy Holidays to all. D

My Fellow New Yorkers,

As you read this, I am now returning from visiting our troops in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Germany.

It is a tremendous honor to spend time with our servicemen and women, especially the many that I have met from New York. Each and every solider who I have had the pleasure of meeting embodies the very best traditions of America: a commitment to one another, a commitment to service, and an understanding about the necessity of shared sacrifice.

I am also asking New Yorkers back home to do much of the same. If there was ever a time to work together to make the best of a difficult situation, it is now.

During this holiday season we are reminded that it is the people we spend our important moments with that count the most, not the gifts that we receive. And it is not necessarily how we, as a people, react to the good times, but how we take on our challenges during the tough times, that defines us as a state, and as a nation.

That spirit of commitment is what binds us together, it is why we join with friends and family to celebrate the holiday season, and it is why we optimistically look forward to each New Year. The holiday season is, first and foremost, a time to renew our commitment to one another.

The choices that we make together right now are not easy, but they are necessary. The challenging times that we are facing make it even more important that we come together this holiday season and that we recommit ourselves to our shared values and our shared bond as New Yorkers.

I hope that you are able to spend some time this holiday season with those closest to you, and if you are able, please find some time to support a charitable organization in your community.

I wish every one of you a happy and safe holiday season.

Governor David A. Paterson

I visited a client last week who had six copies of David Meerman Scott’s The New Rules of Marketing & PR on his desk. He has made it required reading for his staff so of course, I ordered two copies on Amazon, one for me and one for my staff (okay, so I’m cheap!). When the books arrived, I added it to my growing stack of B2B books I “planned” to read. The truth is that I loath biz books especially ones on marketing. Of the 100 or more I felt compelled to buy, I’ve started half and finished two. Frankly, I get more out of historical fiction and it doesn’t put me to sleep as fast (currently reading The Physician, an epic circa 1000 AD.)

But then I got sick and used some of my down time to start Scott’s New Rules. Before I knew it, I was half way through and determined to finish it. While much of it was familiar (after all, we do a lot with social media at Renegade) the book was crammed with fresh case histories and useful links. It was also an ode to the concept of Marketing as Service. Whether reaching out to the press or Twittering, creating podcasts or blog posts, Scott prescribes creating “thoughtful content.” Says Scott:

Do not write about your company and your products. Thought leadership content is designed to solve buyer problems or answer questions and to show that you and your organization are smart and worth doing business with.

Or in other words, create something of value by providing genuine utility instead of mere messaging. Scott’s book aggregates a number of cost-effective ways to deliver Marketing as Service with enthusiastic zeal encouraging marketers “to jump in and see what you can do.” Here. Here.

Really timely article in Adweek this week on how few brands have done well by developing their own Facebook applications from scratch. Many marketers seem to make the same mistakes so here’s a quick do’s and don’t list:

Don’t

• Use isolated tactics. Standalone banner ads or applications don’t seem to work all that well. Relying on “viral effect” alone is foolhardy.
• Make complicated applications. Nike’s Ballers program was simply overwhelming for flitting Facebookers.
• Go it alone. Its hard to build a large audience for a new application given the hundreds out there.
• Stress your message. Overt marketing messages seem to be a major turn off

Do

• Create multi-tiered campaigns. Use advertising to create awareness of the application or whatever utility you plan on bringing to the party.
• Keep it simple. Just try to do one thing well that is fun/useful for your community.
• Look for partners. Microsoft found success on Facebook by working with Slide’s FunSpace app.
• Deliver value first. Once you’ve made friends by being entertaining or useful, then you’ll have a chance to tell your story.

Bottom line—Marketers need to thread the needle between what the community wants (fun, utility) and the brand’s goals (sell their wares).

If Joan Rivers were to ask, “Can we talk?” My response might be, “Later Joan, I’m trying to keep up.” The truth is that those of us in “new media” are faced with a Sisyphean challenge, the harder we try to stay informed, the less we can actually get done. Recognizing this challenge, HP has served up Tabbloid that Ed Reilly spotted as a great example of Marketing as Service:

 

HP has created a wonderful service called Tabbloid that aggregates all your rss feeds into a daily newspaper of sorts that is e-mailed to you as a pdf. It’s a simple service, but something I have been looking for for a while. I think it is a good first step in the right direction. I’d like to see a .pdf version I can view on-line where the links work, and I can still click and browse to get more info. An opportunity to customize the design a bit would be totally rad too.

On this strong recommendation, I created my own Tabbloid (see for yourself) from 5 RSS feeds and the first edition was a whopping 25 pages! Hopefully, subsequent issues won’t be so voluminous BUT I can’t help wondering if HP is hoping I’ll print them out on my Officejet Pro K550 which would be good for them but not so good for the trees I consumed. While this is no threat to Google Reader (or other RSS aggregators) especially without the live link functionality Ed suggests, for those who prefer to read their news on paper, Tabbloid may just ink the deal for you.

When advertising no longer talks at you but actually