Using a social media fail to rejuvenate customer relations can turn the misstep into a blessing in disguise.

The American Red Cross posted about #gettngslizzerd with Dogfish Head Beer on Twitter. They quickly rectified the situation by stating that “the Red Cross is sober and we’ve confiscated the keys.” Dogfish Head also jumped on the PR showcasing by asking its fans to donate to the Red Cross.

This is a great example of Public Relations in social media. People often do not care what went wrong or how, they just want it fixed. Responding to indignation with tasteful humility is best.

[ Via Mashable]

Yahoo!'s Purple People Greeter

Yahoo!'s latest brand ambassador has taken the form of a high-spirited, witty and over-sized purple mailbox—The Purple People Greeter. He’s made quite the impression on New York and Chicago with the first video of the promotion reaching 15,000 hits on its first weekend online.

Yahoo! tapped into audiences’ curiosity, humor and personal interests by leveraging experiential tactics.With the comedic talent behind the voice and personality in a discreet location and inconspicuous crewmembers carrying out logistics, the Purple People Greeter was able to give intrigued onlookers gifts that held some form of personal relevance.

[Via Creative Guerrilla]

Newcastle Brown Ale's Lighter Side of Dark

Newcastle Brown Ale recently layered some attention grabbing marketing moves onto its "Taste the Lighter Side of Dark" campaign.

The brewer cleverly brandished the city of San Diego with striking instillations and interactive art that conveys the wit and subdued dark humor encompassing the brand's renewed personality. Blank canvas by day, and shadow art by night intrigued audiences in the city's nightlife district. The 256 square foot shadow sculpture was constructed out of just one sinlgle light source and 3,000 Brown Ale bottle caps.

[Via VitroPress]

Social Media Gamification: You LOL You lose.

Combining social networks, facial recognition, and video sharing, Iris and Frijj have teamed to create a virtual staring contest. Frijj feels that people need to practice experiencing the unexpected to strengthen their reflexes. In a world of epic fail and funny cat montage YouTube clips... why not!

Friends challenge each other with the weirdest YouTube videos to see who can hold a straight face for longer. The advergame features facial recognition technology to detect the loser.

[Via Digital Buzz ]

Landing Your Dream Job

With enough new apps and online platforms out there to give you a technology coma, how do you utilize these tools to land yourself the job you've always wanted? The beauty of the social media revolution is the ability to bring the hiring manager directly to you as opposed to submitting blindly to them.

Above is an example of Brownstein's genius way to play on the vanity of some of New York City's top advertising creative directors. Brownstein bought Google adwords for the names of industry VIP's like David Droga and Tony Grangerl.When each creative director did a "Vanity Google" of their own name, an ad appeared in which Brownstein asked each exec for a job.

After investing a total of $6, he is now working for Y&R .

Goodluck!

[Via Huffington Post]

QR Codes Activating Virtual Stores

The QR code in all it's simplicity, how could it could possibly streamline into the real world without it being just a novelty and a complete waste of time?

Alright all you haters out there, check this clever campaign from Tesco's grocery stores in South Korea. Creating a life like shopping experience in local subways, passersby were able to scan the items they wanted and add them to their "virtual" shopping basket. The items were then delivered straight to their doorstep in the comfort of their homes, on the same day!
The campaign had tremendous results with 10,287 consumers visiting the store, membership increased by 76% and online sales by 130%.

Scan me a loaf of bread on your way home would you?

HTC Invades Belgian Train Stations

HTC are known for their quirky marketing campaigns, yet again delivering a successful and cost-effective publicity stunt in Belgium. An army of the highly recognizable, fluorescent green Android's in various configurations, meticulously filled railway stations in Antwerp, Brussels, and Namur. The 'Android Invasion' marked the launch for the new HTC line of Android products and came as a pleasant surprise for the morning commuters.

[Via Engadget]

3D Projection Mapping: Hot wheels™

3D Projection Mapping has brought an extra dimension to the experiential marketing world allowing agencies to create campaigns that project jaw-dropping visual experiences on buildings around the world. By mapping three dimensional points to a two-dimensional plane, video artists are able to match video to the exterior of buildings.

In a spine tingling show lasting just over 3 minutes, the notorious Hot Wheels™ Skull Racers shattered the facade of Customs House in Sydney, Australia as they competed in the ultimate speed racing battle.

[Via DigitalBuzzBlog]

Social Media Gamification: Online Meets the Real World

Russian mobile company, Red Energy, was looking for a unique way to spread awareness around their "hassle-free communication" services and connect with a younger target audience. To do so, the mobile company developed a social game to promote their service, The Red Quest.

The scene was set: summer in Moscow, in the middle of an environmental catastrophe. The audience was faced with saving the planet by using an online platform to complete tasks in the real world. There were two kinds of puzzles they would need to complete to stay in the lead, including purely intellectual tasks which could be solved using web resources, as well as physical tasks which were to be performed "in the real world" with assistance of their mobile phones.

As a result, over 1 million people registered to participate in the game and the video received over 250,000 hits. Sales also went up 20% during the campaign. Watch the video for more details!

[via Grape ]

Publicity Stunt: Run for Your Lives

If zombies took over the world, would you survive? Run for Your Lives, a 5k race where runners are expected to navigate through a series of zombie themed obstacle courses, was looking for an innovative approach to market their unique competition. To promote the event, local advertising agency, MGH, organized a publicity stunt at the University of Maryland. The agency hired a "preacher" to warn students of the impending zombie apocalypse – urging students to start preparing, now! After the stunt was completed, the Run for your Lives website doubled in direct traffic and saw a 12% increase in race sign-ups.

The race, which is scheduled to be held in Darlington, MD during October, requires participants to think on their feet. Those who can figure out the shortest route without becoming a zombie's meal, wins! Watch the video to learn more.

[via MGH & Run for Your Lives]