Air New Zealand testing ad ideas on Twitter

So, you've made some travel ads that blatantly mock the destinations you're promoting, and possibly Christianity as well. How do you know if you've crossed the line? Why, just ask Twitter! Air New Zealand has posted six potential ads on Twitpic, the service that lets you share images on Twitter. The 9,000 followers of @grabaseat were asked to "tell us what you think of these new ads." (You can read more about the campaign in the New Zealand Herald.) The responses have been mixed, with vague criticisms mixed in alongside actual constructive feedback. It's a commendable way to get easy input on ads before they launch more broadly, but I'm a bit surprised Air New Zealand would be ones for caution, seeing as how their flight crews are frequently naked and slathered in paint.

—Posted by David Griner

See also:
Air New Zealand employees strip for new ad
Air New Zealand also does long-form nudity

Filed under Air New Zealand, Airlines, Griner, Twitter
Permalink | Comments (1)

Moan even more about your sad agency life

Want to blow off some steam about life in advertising? There's an app for that. Bitch, Co. lets you Tweet out your frustrations of agency life, which are then Tweeted out to the world, or at least to the 74 people currently following @BITCHCO. This should be an interesting experiment that lays bare the ugly side of the industry. The initial posts are typical fare: complaints about vendors, confessions of laziness, insults for project managers, etc. Sadly, Bitch, Co. is unlikely to raise the esteem of agencies in clients' eyes. Via @andjelicaaa.

—Posted by Brian Morrissey

Filed under Bitch, Co., Morrissey, Twitter
Permalink | Comments (4)

London biz world not so tough to impress

A 15-year-old Morgan Stanley intern is the talk of the London business scene after publishing a report detailing the media consumption behavior of his teenage circle of friends. Among the "astonishing" observations: Teenagers aren't regular listeners of radio, preferring sites streaming music; they're watching less TV; they don't read newspapers. Edward Hill-Wood, the 35-year-old head of Morgan Stanley's European media team, told the Financial Times that the report by Matthew Robson was "one of the clearest and most thought-provoking insights we have seen. . . . We've had dozens and dozens of fund managers, and several CEOs, e-mailing and calling all day." Aside from generally understood behavior of teenagers today, don't any of these people have first-hand knowledge from sons or daughters or grandchildren? Robson writes that while most teens he knows have signed up for Twitter, "they realize that no one is viewing their profiles, so their tweets are pointless." As for advertising, Robson argues: "Teenagers see adverts on Web sites (pop-ups, banner ads) as extremely annoying and pointless, as they have never paid any attention to them." He does say his friends enjoy viral marketing because it often creates fun content. Frankly, I found the fact a 15-year-old could land an internship at Morgan Stanley more impressive than any of his obvious assessments of teenage media behavior.

—Posted by Noreen O'Leary

Filed under Morgan Stanley, O'Leary, Twitter
Permalink | Comments (2)

Q&A: Alex Bogusky on his return to Twitter

Alex Bogusky began using Twitter again last night after almost two months away. He spoke with Adweek's Brian Morrissey about his return.
  Q. When you stopped using Twitter in March, you said it just wasn't for you. What changed?
  A. Well, the thing that made it very difficult for me was that I'm a communicator at heart but Twitter opened up too much surface area for me to communicate on. I couldn't keep up, and it pulled time from other pursuits. So, it just made me feel bad. After I stopped, a fellow named Steven Verbruggen contacted me through my e-mail, which I had posted in case anybody wanted to keep a dialog. He had a blog, and he began a follower drive to convince me to start again. At the time I had about 1,500 followers, so he asked how many would it take to convince me, and I threw out 3,000 because it seemed unlikely. [Read the full interview at TweetFreak.]

—Posted by Brian Morrissey

Filed under Alex Bogusky, Crispin Porter, Morrissey, Twitter
Permalink | Comments (0)

Twinterns are this season's hot new vassals

I'm already sick of "Twinterns" and "Twinternships," and the obnoxious nomenclature didn't even exist two weeks ago. The phrase has nothing to do with twins, and everything to do with Twitter—it refers to an intern whose job consists mainly of Tweeting and enhancing or following a company's profile in social media. If these posts are unpaid, well, then they're copying Twitter's monetization model, too. Pizza Hut has one such opening at present. There are a couple of former Domino's employees in North Carolina who are in need of work and who have plenty of social-media exposure. But their particular experience is not preferred, as a modicum of decency and common sense is clearly required.

—Posted by David Gianatasio

Filed under Gianatasio, Interns, Pizza Hut, Twitter
Permalink | Comments (5)

Indulge your Twitter addiction at TweetFreak

A quick PSA here to alert you to our new Twitter-focused site, TweetFreak. Just launched this week, it's intended to be a hub where marketing and advertising people can learn more about Twitter and get more out of their involvement with it. We'll be introducing various recurring elements over the next few weeks—advice on whom to follow; Q&As with the Twitterati; embedded Twitter feeds that track agencies, brands, people and topics in the news; week-in-review posts; and more. We're also developing a list of ad-agency Twitter accounts. If you have a moment, check it out, and let us know how we can make it better.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Filed under Nudd, TweetFreak, Twitter
Permalink | Comments (1)

Twitter alerts you to freshest hot cross buns

Twitter is poised to remake our world. A new area of focus: local bakeries. These bakeries have a problem. They have fresh stuff coming out of the oven all day long, yet people don't know exactly when. Enter Twitter. Courtesy of digital agency Poke, BakerTweet sends out a message whenever fresh goods pop out of the oven. Poke set up a handful of London-area bakeries with receivers to partially automate the process. The idea is, it's a cheap way for them to promote their products, although I wonder just how many Tweets about scones and buns people want to read. Check it out in action at the Twitter feed of Albion's Oven.

—Posted by Brian Morrissey

Filed under Food and Drink, Morrissey, Twitter
Permalink | Comments (1)

Did Mullen pioneer Twitter business model?

Tech and marketing blogs are having a feeding frenzy over how Twitter will make money. The fate of the economy—nay, the world—hangs in the balance. (On the flip side, Twitter is also being blamed for the economic meltdown, so maybe things will look up if it disappears.) What's interesting is the new front-runner moneymaking scheme involves constructing sponsored Twitter areas around themes and events. Federated Media has rolled out a pair of initiatives with Twitter's blessing. The latest is a site that scoops up Tweets related to the NCAA men's basketball tournament. It's an approach that's similar to one that ad agency Mullen has taken for a couple of side projects. It built sites, without corporate sponsors, that acted at Twitter hubs for the Super Bowl and the Academy Awards. The functionality of FM's March Tweetness is better, but the concept isn't that far off. Twitter investor Fred Wilson says the company is keeping an eye on things like the FM initiatives for ideas on how to make money. Sadly, there's no word of a finder's fee for Mullen.

—Posted by Brian Morrissey

Filed under Morrissey, Mullen, Twitter
Permalink | Comments (0)

Are the Super Bowl brands still on Twitter?

Last month, we wondered how long all those Super Bowl ad characters would last on Twitter. The answer was a bit surprising, if only because the personality with the highest potential—the mulleted and inventive PepSuber—was one of the first to drop off. The Pepsi-SNL crossover character quickly racked up over 1,000 followers but abruptly stopped posting on Feb. 24. H&R Block's Tax Guy Murray, the man threatened with death for boning up the Grim Reaper's taxes, deserves credit for playing out his ad's story line. On the day of his supposed passing, March 11, Murray posted a flurry of updates about when Death came calling. (Don't worry, Murray escaped unharmed.) The spammy but prolific E*Trade Baby has kept up his shtick pretty consistently. But strangely, it's SoBe Lifewater that takes top honors with its Sobeworld account, which has the most followers (1,196) and has been impressively interactive with other users. Sadly, this probably means we're in for another 10 years of dancing lizards.

—Posted by David Griner

Filed under E*Trade, Griner, H&R Block, Pepsi, SoBe, Super Bowl, Twitter
Permalink | Comments (0)

Bogusky leaves door open for Twitter return

There is hope in Twitterland. Less than a week after saying Twitter wasn't for him, Alex Bogusky is showing signs of having second thoughts. First, he gave an interview saying his Twitter exit was really just a matter of not having the time rather than any irreconcilable differences. (He also objected to AdFreak writing that he "broke up" with the service, saying that's an "emotionally charged" phrase.) Bogusky left his e-mail address on his Twitter page, which he's going to regret once it gets scraped by the spam bots. In an exchange with one admirer, the Crispin Porter + Bogusky creative chief said all hope is not lost for a return. Like all attention-seeking Twitterers, he just wants more followers. "If I had a following of 3,000 or something I would figure out a way to manage some sort of version where I don't feel so compelled to interact," he writes. At this moment, @bogusky is hovering at 1,757. Only another 1,243 to go before the second coming.

—Posted by Brian Morrissey

Filed under Crispin Porter, Morrissey, Twitter
Permalink | Comments (10)

Twitter's fail whale helps promote Baltimore

Here's the most Twitter-nerdy tourism effort of the year so far. To attract more followers to Baltimore tourism's Twitter account (@BaltimoreMD), the guy who runs it, Tom Rowe, pledged that a friend of his would get a tattoo of Twitter's iconic fail whale, and broadcast the tattooing on live webcam, if they could get past the 3,000 followers mark. Within hours of the challenge, they reached that milestone, and the friend, Ryan Goff (@tweetbomb), had his leg etched with the whale's image. Between this and Ace of Cakes, people might start to associate my city with things other than The Wire. So, good job, guys. I've certainly seen worse logo tattoos.

—Posted by David Kiefaber

Filed under Kiefaber, Tourism, Twitter
Permalink | Comments (1)

Oh no, Alex Bogusky broke up with Twitter

Twitter is losing Alex Bogusky. I repeat, Twitter is losing Alex Bogusky. This morning, after posting for three months, the Crispin Porter + Bogusky creative leader said he's packing it in. "Signing off twitter. Just not for me. I really enjoyed the time and it was fun to follow and be followed by such a lively group. Love, Alex." No, sir, we will not let you go. Steve Wax, a partner at digital shop Campfire, has suggested a boycott of all CP+B brands until Alex agrees to share his every thought with the world. On a more serious note, it's too bad. Bogusky was interesting, often funny and frequently interacted with other users. (CP+B confirmed it was actually Bogusky, not a doppelganger.) He even took a shot at Bob Greenberg after the R/GA CEO dismissed Crispin's work as "viral stunts." Is his losing interest a sign that Twitter has jumped the shark?

—Posted by Brian Morrissey

Filed under Alex Bogusky, Crispin Porter, Morrissey, Twitter
Permalink | Comments (20)

Oscar chatter (like all else) takes to Twitter

Yes, we know, you've heard enough about Twitter. Still, it's the bandwagon everyone wants to climb on nowadays. One of the best uses of the short message service is for running banter during events. Sunday's Academy Awards ceremony promises to be no different. One central place to follow the chatter will be Red Carpet Unfiltered, a site launched by Boston-based Mullen and its spinoff consulting shop, Frank About Women. The site will display all the Tweets using the hashtag #redcarpet09. It's the second go-around on a Twitter commentary site for Mullen, which built one for Super Bowl ads. The trick, of course, is that Twittering Oscar watchers will need to use the designated hashtag. As the Super Bowl showed, major events lead to dueling hashtags. But Red Carpet Unfiltered has some interesting features that might help popularize #redcarpet09. It's using the Twitter API to let visitors sign in and Tweet directly from the site, and a "spotlight" function lets you focus on specific people you want to follow.

—Posted by Brian Morrissey

Filed under Morrissey, Mullen, Oscars, Twitter
Permalink | Comments (1)

Twitter has gotten under Bob Jeffrey's skin

I figured after JWT worldwide CEO Bob Jeffrey got through oversharing his experiences at Davos that he'd cast his Twitter account aside for not being worth his time. Not so, at least according to a Twitter love letter Jeffrey wrote for The Huffington Post. Turns out he's positively smitten with the short-message service. "I've never felt this connected to the rest of the world," he writes. "It was a game-changing, moving experience, one that left an indelible mark on how I will lead now." Yikes, is it getting hot in here? Anyway, despite his ardor, Jeffrey isn't keeping up the pace of updates post-Davos. He hasn't updated in a week.

—Posted by Brian Morrissey

Filed under JWT, Morrissey, Twitter
Permalink | Comments (2)

Geico's Kash joins Twitter, says very little

In a move that ranks among the gravest misuses of social media of all time, Kash, the unspeaking, inanimate, googly-eyed wad of bank notes who stumps for Geico, has opened a Twitter account. He's being typically tight-lipped, as there's just one Tweet so far, from Feb. 13: "Who likes saving money?" Well, it figures he'd tow the company line. God, is Twitter about nothing more than marketing and self-promotion? It used to be ever so slightly less about those things, and those are the days I long for! The roll of bills has 128 followers, all of whom need to get lives. Except @AdFreak, of course. We're keeping an eye on Kash for purely professional reasons.

—Posted by David Gianatasio

Filed under Geico, Gianatasio, Social networks, Twitter
Permalink | Comments (3)

Will the Super Bowl brands stay on Twitter?

Laptop keyboards nationwide are stained with wing sauce and nacho cheese following the intensive Twittering of Sunday's Super Bowl. But it wasn't just football and advertising fans doing the talking. Brands themselves used the popular social site to get characters from their commercials chatting with viewers in real time. Results were mixed at best. I actually found that PepSuber's Twitter banter somewhat redeemed Pepsi's strange Saturday Night Live crossover ad, especially when he corrected my misspelling in a post by offering to make the missing letter out of a paperclip. H&R Block, a veteran brand on Twitter, gets a passing score for its TaxGuyMurray account, which chronicles Murray's brush with death in the ad itself. Then there's the E*Trade Baby, who basically just spammed everyone. But here's my real question: What's going to happen to these accounts? The three I just mentioned were still active on Monday, but how long will their corporate overlords keep it up? Will these little-loved characters be quietly abandoned one day when they've lost all their cultural novelty? Not that I doubt the lasting power of PepSuber, but come on, he didn't even survive his own Super Bowl commercial.

—Posted by David Griner

Filed under E*Trade, Griner, H&R Block, Pepsi, Super Bowl, Twitter
Permalink | Comments (5)

Barbarian fighting the good fight on Twitter

It's not hard to find bad news about the media industry, whether it's the plummeting ad revenues for newspapers, the layoffs at magazines or the full-blown ad recession. It can be a real bummer. But what bleeds leads, as they say. A self-described bunch of "concerned PR professionals" have set up a Twitter account called TheMediaIsDying to chronicle media-industry layoffs so that fellow flacks know who to take off their spam—I mean contact—lists. It has attracted more than 10,000 followers. The Barbarian Group's Rick Webb, a firm believer in awesomeness of the Internet, has had enough and, with colleague Noah Brier, begun a rival feed: MediaIsThriving. The feed aggregates evidence of media doing quite well, thank you very much, such as the growth in cable-TV jobs, French movies doing nicely and the Financial Times growing readership after hiking subscription rates. UPDATE: Add another optimistic media-focused Twitter feed to the mix: TheMediaIsHirin.

—Posted by Brian Morrissey

Filed under Barbarian Group, Morrissey, Social networks, Twitter
Permalink | Comments (4)

Late to Twitter? Brands may be out of luck

A few months back, I made a pleasant discovery: The popular social site Twitter would release inactive user names if you asked them to. This was great news for brands (and anyone else) who showed up late to the microblogging party and found their preferred name already taken. Sure enough, I made a request for a name that hadn't been used in two years and got it without a hitch. But now Twitter has decided to stop granting almost all similar requests. "Due to high ticket volume, Twitter Support is no longer releasing inactive user names unless in cases of trademark or copyright violation," an automated e-mail response told me when I requested another long-unused name this week. "We are working on releasing all inactive user names in the future, however, we will no longer manually release them on an individual basis." While I understand the reasoning, it's a shame that Twitter has left users (and potential users) in an awkward purgatory by refusing to release individual names or delete all inactive accounts. Brand-name stewards might still have a chance if they can argue "trademark or copyright violation." So, if you're lucky, you could get maliciously brandjacked, and then Twitter might listen to you.

—Posted by David Griner

Filed under Griner, Social networks, Twitter
Permalink | Comments (7)

AdFreak's live Super Bowl party on Twitter

Feel like totally nerding it up during the Super Bowl this Sunday? Then join us here on AdFreak, where we'll be streaming a live, condensed feed, featuring loads of special guests, culled from the larger Twitter discussion about the Super Bowl ads. Click here for more info. And of course, you can join that larger discussion simply by logging into your Twitter account and adding the #superads09 hashtag to your Tweets.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Filed under Nudd, Super Bowl, Twitter
Permalink | Comments (1)

CEOs discover this cool thing called Twitter

More evidence that Twitter has jumped the shark: Agency CEOs are getting into the act. Perhaps inspired by the Twitter tutorial arranged by WPP CEO Martin Sorrell, JWT head honcho Bob Jeffrey yesterday began Twittering his every thought. So far, his mind is clearly on Davos, the subject of each of his four updates, including: "Prepping for Davos. Anxious to listen to experts talk about what's next for the world's economies and implications for our biz." So far, no details on his legendary fitness regimen. Jeffrey isn't the only agency honcho oversharing. AKQA's Tom Bedecarré, Deep Focus's Ian Schafer and Real Branding's Mark Silva are all Twitterers. And of course, there are the imposters, like Dan Wieden and a pretty funny one for Lester Wunderman.

—Posted by Brian Morrissey

Filed under JWT, Morrissey, Twitter
Permalink | Comments (8)

If Twitter were to fall into the wrong hands

The U.S. Army has its bandoliers in a twist over Twitter, issuing a report citing the "potential for terrorist use of Twitter." I guess the military has been getting pretty high-tech and youth-savvy of late, what with its mall-based ("We're not recruiting!") video-arcade push. The Army's apparently concerned that Twitter is "already used by some members to post and support extremist ideologies and perspectives," so terrorists could possibly use it "as an operational tool." ("What are U doing right now?" "Overthrowing the gov't. U?") The sheer number of outages would make Twitter somewhat impractical for command and control purposes, but there is one account I'd urge the Pentagon to follow: twitter.com/bmorrissey. He's already got more than 2,700 rabid "followers," and he's always "training" for something. And this guy, twitter.com/nudd, wasn't even born in this country! As for twitter.com/griner, well, he's from Alabama—nuff said there. Ah well, the army's probably just pissed that twitter.com/usmarines got there first.

—Posted by David Gianatasio

Filed under Gianatasio, Twitter, U.S. Army
Permalink | Comments (1)