360PR Blog

Some of the smartest minds in social media gathered recently at the Society of New Communications Research (SNCR) Symposium at Harvard for a discussion of the group’s latest research findings. This is my third year attending the event and it has been hugely interesting to see the progression of each of SNCR’s studies. A couple of trends really POPPED for me this year…

Surprisingly, corporations are still behind the curve with social media adoption. Nora Ganim Barnes (University of Massachusetts Dartmouth) found this in the Social Media Adoption Trends Among Inc. 500, Fortune 500, Higher Education and Charities study. While many of the world’s biggest brands have a presence on social media platforms, Fortune 500 and Inc. 500 companies are still behind Charities and Higher Education in their use of social media to communicate with stakeholders. The proof is in the pudding. Check this out:

What does this tell me? While many companies “get it”, there is still more work to do in educating consumer brands (our clients) on the value of social media in helping them to connect with their customers. With changing media consumption habits, the methods in which we communicate must also continue to evolve!

While corporations still have some catching up to do, media and journalists are using social media for their story-telling and reporting in a BIG way. In a separate session, Jen McClure and Don Middleberg presented the “3^rd Annual SNCR/Middleberg Survey of Media in the Wired World”. In this study, it was found that 90% of journalists say that their reliance on social media has increased significantly in the past year. 75% of journalists are using Facebook in generating content. 70% are using blogs. 69% are using Twitter. 54% are using online video. 53% are using Wikipedia. 31% use LinkedIn and 28% use citizen photos.

So, to those Fortune 500 / Inc. 500 corporations that have not yet adopted social media as a significant portion of their communications strategy, you might want to take another look at what the cool kids (i.e. influencers and journalists) are doing!

Thanks to SNCR for organizing yet another great Symposium, as well as for honoring 360PR’s work with the Ball brand National Can-It Forward Day campaign in the Excellence in New Communications Awards.

Filed under: 360 Public Relations, Boston, Digital PR, Events and Conferences, Industry Organizations, Social Marketing, Social Media by EliciaBasoli - 2 Comments →

By Rob Bratskeir

At last week’s Critical Issues Forum, Former White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs boldly declared, “2012 will be the Twitter election,” adding that in today’s Washington, rapid response comes by the tweet, not the press release. 

Gibbs’s thought-provoking keynote address at the Council of Public Relations Firms’ annual meeting illustrated and interpreted social media’s immense power to mobilize communities.   While the Arab Spring may have been the world’s wake-up call to the medium’s massive reach and influence, Gibbs said the 2008 Obama campaign already understood that a shift in communication was underway, and that social media was the “connective tissue [that could] make the election of a man named Barack Hussein Obama possible.”  

The approach Gibbs’s team took starting in 2006 (decades ago in social media time) still serves as a social media strategy and deployment blueprint for not only political campaigns, but for consumer marketers today.  First, make people feel like they have a stake in the outcome, Gibbs explained, rewarding those who have declared interest with access to information first.  Next, be prepared to listen closely to the stories you get back – and not just the ones you want to hear.  Gibbs said that in aggregate, those stories tell a bigger tale – one that either validates your approach, or tells you how to adapt. Finally (and perhaps foremost) be transparent at every step.

Gibbs said that meeting these mandates requires tremendous time, energy and resources.   Looking around and seeing heads nod, I could see that point wasn’t lost on anyone representing the dozens of agencies represented in the room — many tweeting away as Gibbs spoke. 

As in any industry rapidly transformed by technology, Gibbs identified legacy issues as the biggest barriers to effectiveness, and urged communications professionals to abandon the control freak mentality that served us so well until only very recently.   “You have to acknowledge the reality that voters and consumers are now in control,” he said, stressing that engaging in a two-way dialogue, listening and responding are the new rules of the road. 

Gibbs exposed an essential paradox of splintered media, a revolution rooted in cable TV’s rise in the 1980s that is today fueled by social media’s ascent.  “There is more media, but it is harder to communicate,” Gibbs said, illustrating his point with a stunning metric. In 1980, 50 million Americans watched a national network newscast every night – essentially meaning that 50 million people got the same message, day in and day out.  Today that number stands at 21 million, while the U.S. population has grown by nearly 80 million.  In other words, it’s easier to get the word out, but infinitely tougher to get your point across.  

While Gibbs generally stuck to his native politics for narrative, he landed a point about corporate behavior and image management in the social media age that we as consumer marketers and communicators can ignore at our own peril.  “Products today are judged less on their products’ performance than on their parent companies’ reputations,” he said.  One needn’t look further than BP last year, or Netflix today, to understand.

Filed under: Digital PR, Events and Conferences, Interactive Marketing, Politics, Social Marketing, Social Media by Admin - No Comments →

By John LeRoy

Twitter has announced some changes to its feature-set in recent weeks, some of which will impact the ways that PR professionals and their clients use the platform.  You can read a previous Ragan post about the changes here, but here is a quick overview of some of the changes and what they mean for us:

-       Changing Twitter app landscape:  Since Twitter has purchased Tweetdeck, there is speculation that third-party apps will become more obsolete as Twitter controls more of the action on their own service.  Translation:  Marketers may need to re-acclimate themselves with “Twitter-approved” services for monitoring, managing multiple accounts, etc.

-       Simpler picture-sharing:  This new feature allows individuals and marketers to take and add pictures to Tweets without using third-party services, like TwitPic, making it more turn-key to upload photos.  The photos will also begin appearing directly in Twitter streams as opposed to via a link.  Translation:  Easier real-time photo sharing from events.

-       Ad Platforms: While it is still uncertain of how it will look, there is speculation that ads will begin appearing more prominently in Twitter streams.  Translation:  A potential shift in the trust that consumers have in Twitter as a news source, and also an opportunity for PR to lead news sharing on Twitter.

Time will tell what these changes will really mean for the growing micro-blogging service, but we’d love to hear your thoughts in the comment section.

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It is concept that has been a staple of Marketing for decades – people rely on the opinions of others to make purchase decisions. Good old fashioned word-of-mouth information sharing used to occur mostly offline, but social channels now let consumers communicate more easily and more often. To companies and communications professionals, social media allows us to become a part of that dialogue. In fact, in a recent study from ROI Research and Performics, they found that over 30% of people are more likely to purchase from companies/brands that they “like” or “follow” on social networks, than from brands or companies that they do not.

We are also able to draw valuable insights about the needs and wants of consumers through social media. The study also found that over 50% of survey respondents strongly or somewhat agree that voicing their opinions on social networking sites can influence the business decisions of companies/brands. I can tell you first hand, this is true.

While neither of these percentages are huge, it is enough for a brand that is not using social media right now to stop and consider integrating a social strategy into their marketing mix. Other highlights from the study can be found on Performics.com.

Filed under: Consumer Marketing, Digital PR, Interactive Marketing, Internet, Social Marketing, Social Media by EliciaBasoli - No Comments →

Time flies when you’re having fun!  It’s been 10 years since 360 launched.  So, in the spirit of celebrating the past 10 years – and with an eye to the next 10 – we’ll be sharing some of the things we’ve learned along the way.  Be sure to check our 10^th site for a look at some of our favorite campaigns, 10 trends to watch, and a “Faces of 360” employee spotlight.  Here on our blog, we’re launching our “10 Minutes with…” series, which will feature interviews with our practice leaders.  First up is 360PR Founder Laura Tomasetti!

If you had to choose one trait that a successful PR practitioner  absolutely has to employ, what would it be?

It’s hard to choose just one, because PR requires so many skills and qualities. The best PR people can do a lot of things well – create, communicate, listen, analyze.  One trait I’ve seen in the youngest and the most seasoned PR professionals is that ‘fire in the belly.’  PR is hard.  It takes a real commitment, focus, authenticity and energy every day to produce the desired results.

At what point in your career did you know you wanted to start your own business?  What were your motivations and goals?

I had always worked in larger organizations and thought of myself as a “big company” person.  But when it got down to it, what I really enjoyed was the work – the size of the organization didn’t matter, it was more about the quality of the client, the brand, the campaign.  Our very first client was Wizards of the Coast, a division of Hasbro, and the agency grew from there.  The goal from the start was pretty simple – do great work for great brands.  Everything else came out of that singular goal – attracting and getting to work with great people, for example.  And it still does.

Do you think it’s feasible for a PR firm to exist solely virtually in 2011?  If not,  do you think “the office” will ever be obsolete?

There are several virtual agencies that have been quite successful.  However, from my perspective at 360, our most valuable thinking and best results come from the dynamic and often unpredictable interchange you get in-person.  Technology has yet to replace that, though tools like IM and Skype are pretty cool and should be part of the day-to-day.  The creative process will always be #1 in our business and we’re most creative when we’re together, collaborating and building on each other’s ideas.  Plus that’s more fun.

Is there any particular trend or innovation from the past 10 years that has fundamentally changed the field of public relations?

That’s an easy but important one – social media and, as part of that, brands’ and organizations’ ability to talk directly with their audience and receive instant feedback – and to be able to adjust and amplify just as quickly.  It’s really an amazing time to be in PR.  There are so many more places to go with your story in so many different ways – to be able to really target specific communities and, at the same time, to be able to go mass.  The audience, and what they will do with a story or a thread of a story, is paramount.  How do we tap into that?  We must constantly ask and challenge ourselves with that question.

In what ways do you think that PR has really set itself apart from other marketing functions in recent years?  What do we “get” that others may not?

It’s not so much what we get as what we do – fuel the conversation in ways that are authentic and credible.  That’s worth so much more than paid media.  Another thing we do well is to see and set the broader communications strategy.  The idea of connecting the dots between all media and all stakeholders is really what we at 360 set out to do 10 years ago and that full circle, integrated approach is even more relevant today.

What do you think will be the driving trend in PR for the next 10 years?

That’s a hard one to call.  In the past few years, authenticity and transparency have been pervasive communications themes and I believe they’ll continue to be the guiding principles of everything we do in PR.  Functionally, I think you’re going to see audiences become more channel agnostic.  They may not know if they saw something on Twitter or YouTube or Facebook, but they’ll most likely have seen and shared the news, the recommendation, the video via their mobile device – at least for the next few years.  In terms of the content that compels the audience, I think it will be less about celebrity and more about the user – hyper-local, hyper-personal, truly relevant and useful to the consumer’s day to day routine and world.  And all of that will be highly measureable.  We’re already making great strides in understanding and proving PR’s value.  Certainly the ability to benchmark and track social media campaigns – with volume, engagement and sentiment metrics – has helped, and the PR industry is focused on developing standards that will extend across media and campaigns.

Filed under: 10 Minutes With Our Practice Leaders, 360 Public Relations, Digital PR, PR Industry by EliciaBasoli - 8 Comments →

By John LeRoy

Many of the “who’s who” of social media converged upon 92^nd Street in New York City for the 140 Characters Conference this week for a two-day session comprised of rapid-fire presentations from more than 140 speakers and presenters.  Among them were TODAY Show’s Ann Curry, Mashable’s Adam Ostrow, Marc Ecko, Cory Booker and Jeff Jarvis, just to name a few.

If you missed it, here is a brief breakdown of some of the topics discussed at the conference:

-       Real-time News Reporting:  One panel examined journalistic issues that must now be considered by news organizations as they vie to be the first to “break” news stories. Recent examples include top-tier news orgs like NPR prematurely Tweeting that Arizona Rep. Giffords had been killed during a shooting five months ago.  Here’s an article about the damages caused by this gaffe.

-       College In Real-Time:  Syracuse University professor, Anthony Rotolo, gave an overview of how he has implemented social media into his courses to conduct conversation during classes via Twitter, perhaps making him one of the few teachers who encourage the use of technology (and social media) as a tool rather than rejecting it as a learning distraction.

-       Happiness (Via Skype):  Author Deepak Chopra addressed an enthusiast from Toronto via Skype to talk about happiness and the “entanglement of minds,” referring to the fact that social media has the ability to affect nearly all aspects of life, including happiness and health, simply by interacting with others.  He went as far as to say that social networks like Twitter and Facebook have become extensions of our neurological make-up.  Talk about mind-blowing!

Here’s the entire list of sessions that took place over the course of the two day conference. If you were there, what sessions stood out for you?

Filed under: Digital PR, Events and Conferences, FaceBook, Internet, Social Marketing, Social Media, Social Networking by Admin - No Comments →

To call all PR people social butterflies would be a generalization. If you don’t consider yourself an extrovert, however, you’re probably in the wrong profession. It’s our job to gain awareness for our clients, and in doing so, we do a LOT of talking. The panel I attended yesterday, Successful Social Marketing: Cultivating Advocates and Driving Sales, served as a reminder that listening is equally, if not more, important. And, as we all can attest here at 360PR, listening to a brand’s chatter online across forums, blogs, Twitter, Facebook and beyond takes time, patience, and an analytical eye.

The discussion was part of a series of events hosted by Mitx, a group of industry thought leaders dedicated to, in part, keeping on top of trends. Speakers from BzzAgent, New Balance and EMC offered their experience and expertise on utilizing outlets including Facebook, YouTube and Twitter to assist in a successful campaign – from planning stages, through launch, and beyond.  Among their suggestions: leverage employees to be brand ambassadors, engage influencers in the early stages, map your content to what people are already searching for, and strike a balance between knowing your brand and listening to your customers.

As speaker Polly Pearson wisely said, social media is a relationship accelerator. So save your breath, because tapping in and listening to the conversation regarding your company/brand/product could prove more valuable than all of your planned email and phone pitches combined.

Filed under: Consumer Marketing, Digital PR, Events and Conferences, Industry Organizations, Interactive Marketing, PR Industry, Social Marketing, Social Media by SkyeMcIntyre - 1 Comment →

Earlier this week Facebook launched a new website for ad and PR agencies. Facebook Studio showcases examples of organizations that are using the platform to reach & engage with consumers and the site includes a Gallery of work, a Spotlight section, and an Awards section. The Studio also provides a venue for discussion around the use of Facebook for brand marketing and features a Learning Lab with general information about Facebook marketing.

According to this Ad Age article, this is Facebook’s way of  establishing more of a “give-and-take relationship” with agencies. Not only does it make sense…it is about time! If you think about it, you might say that agencies / brands have partially helped Facebook grow into what it is today. For years, brands have experimented with and used the platform for promotions, which has ultimately led to more revenue for Facebook via it’s advertising service. With so many brands and agencies using the platform for marketing in recent years, it is surprising that Facebook hasn’t reached out to agencies in this way sooner. This is a step in the right direction and I look forward to seeing if Studio flourishes into an active community!

Filed under: Digital PR, FaceBook, Social Marketing, Social Media, Social Networking by EliciaBasoli - 1 Comment →

…they were all topics discussed in yesterday’s 360PR Tweets & Sweets meeting! The 360PR crew gathered around bowls of delectable spring-themed candy and salty snacks to chat about interesting social media and digital case studies from recent weeks. I took note of three trends based on the discussion:

- Late Night Social: PR people and brands aren’t the only ones integrating social media into communications efforts. TV producer’s have been getting creative with ways to keep audiences engaged via Facebook and Twitter. For example, Conan O’Brien recently live-posted on Facebook during an episode of his show, conducting hilarious video Q&As with fans during the program. The videos led to tons of engagement on the Facebook page. In addition, Jimmy Fallon has integrated social media within his show with the popular “Late Night Hastag” segment, which garners thousands of tweets surrounding each segment.

- Social Election 2012: The 2012 presidential election is right around the corner, believe it or not. And following President Obama’s heavy social media campaigning in 2008, candidates for the 2012 race are getting out in front with social media communications. For example, Mitt Romney released a video on Monday on YouTube announcing his entrance into the race. It has received over 80K views thus far. And, following Obama’s announcement on Twitter, Romney quickly tweeted back saying “@barackobama I look forward to hearing details on your jobs plan, as are 14m unemployed Americans.” This will be an interesting race to watch!

- Social Coupons: Some brands are taking advantage of the social couponing craze on Facebook, including Healthy Choice and Pretzel Crisps. Healthy Choice launched a “progressive” coupon on Facebook and the value of it increased the more people “liked” the brand’s page. The campaign was supported with a Facebook ad buy and “likes” jumped from about 6,000 to 60,000! In addition, Pretzel Crisps (a snack food favorite here at 360) has also gotten some positive attention lately, for their Facebook coupons. With a couple simple coupons, and Facebook’s viral nature, Pretzel Crisps was able to double their Facebook “likes” in about 36 hours!

Filed under: 360 Public Relations, Digital PR, FaceBook, Interactive Marketing, Social Marketing, Social Media, Social Networking, YouTube by EliciaBasoli - No Comments →

By Caitlin Melnick

SXSW is known to many as the conference of all conferences. And as a first timer, I would have to say, it was pretty amazing. The Interactive portion of SXSW (SXSWi) wrapped up earlier this week, and what I heard from veteran attendees is that this year’s conference was bigger and better than ever. More attendees, more panels sessions, more brands, more parties, more technology, more brain power – all in one Southern city.

You can’t get away from the new technology at SXSW. Group texting services emerged during the event, with GroupMe, Fast Society, and Beluga all vying for the number one spot. The social influence measurement site, Klout, was also all the rage, with people asking “What’s your Klout score?” several times a day. The site has created a system to measure influence in the social media arena. It uses over 35 variables on Facebook and Twitter to provide a score based on True Reach, Amplification Probability, and Network. Klout Founder Joe Fernandez just may be the next Mark Zuckerberg!

SXSW has evolved to be one of the best forums for social media insights for brands, with sessions like The Council of PR Firms’ “Marketing Budgets Have Gone Social – Is It Working?” At a session entitled, “Brand Mascots in the Digital Age,” panelists discussed how to get classic brand mascots, such as Tony the Tiger and Cap’n Crunch, into the digital world without losing their classic persona.

How was your SXSW experience?

Filed under: 360 Public Relations, Digital PR, Events and Conferences, Interactive Marketing, Internet, Social Marketing, Social Media by Admin - No Comments →

If you or your company has a Facebook “Page”, you’ve likely heard about the new changes that will be implemented for brands (the official launch date is March 10th). These changes will require some adaptation in the design of your page, and possibly the administration of it as well. In a nutshell:

• Tabs are now gone and have been replaced with a list of content categories below the profile image. This means content previously viewed in tabs is now less prominent to visitors. Moving forward, brands should prioritize what content they want to appear in this content list and how to leverage other new elements – profile image, etc. to draw attention to certain content.
• A new photo strip appears above the Page wall. Brands should keep a close eye on these photos, to ensure that they display content relevant to the  desired message.  This is going to be challenging to adapt to, as the photo strip is now so prominent. Check out this article on Journalistics.com, which calls this change “Fan Page Photo Roulette”.
• The wall will now feature content from either you only, or from Everyone. And, posts will be organized by the most popular content, as opposed to chronological content.
• Brands can now “Like” more Pages and comment on those Pages, as the brand (instead of the individual).
• Brands can now subscribe to email updates, when new content is added to the Wall. And, more importantly, brands can subscribe to email alerts when any profane language is posted by fans. This is particularly helpful for Brands that frequently have content like this to moderate.

When you play in the social media realm, brands loose some of the control that they have with their own websites, for example. It comes with the territory! Facebook is constantly keeping brands on their toes – whether they are revising their contest guidelines or mixing up brand page designs.

How have these changes impacted your Brand Page?

Filed under: Digital PR, FaceBook, Social Marketing, Social Media, Social Networking by EliciaBasoli - 3 Comments →

We’ve told you about our 360 “Tweet and Eat” lunches before. But, this month we put a different spin on it – instead of the middle of the day, we gathered in the conference room at the end of the day, so we could all enjoy a cocktail or two while sharing some interesting case studies around the use of social media. Here are just a few highlights:

Ford Explorer Facebook Reveal – Earlier this year, Ford took a risk by revealing the new Explorer with an online and Facebook-central campaign, something that other auto-makers have never done. They revealed the new Explorer for the first time on Facebook, instead of at a big auto show. In the first day it surpassed its goal of 30K fans and, as a result, gave a free Explorer to one random fan. In addition all of the components of the campaign on Facebook, Ford heavily invested in ad buys as well to drive people to Facebook and to encourage engagement. This is a great example of a fully integrated online campaign. Check out the full case study on Mashable.

Google Zeitgeist Video - Google has compiled a video, with the help of Whirled Creative, showing how the world searched online in 2010. Over 1.5 million views on YouTube thus far! The most brilliant part of this video is that it subtly shows off some new Google features that launched this year, such as Google Instant. We highly suggest checking out the video – well done, Google!

“Rent is Too Damn UP” Spoof Video – By coincidence, another examples highlighted by staff also came from Whirled Creative. If you haven’t heard of Jimmy McMillan he ran for office in NY earlier this fall and named his political party the “Rent is too damn high” party. Really, that was the name of his party. The eccentric McMillan appeared during a televised debate and the video garnered millions of views on YouTube. Whirled Creative created a spoof mash-up, overlaying the voices from the debate onto a scene from the Pixar movie “UP” which has received over 300,000 views. Perfect example of a “viral” video leveraging current events to garner views.

Happy Holidays!

Filed under: 360 Public Relations, Digital PR, FaceBook, Internet, Social Media, Social Networking, YouTube by EliciaBasoli - 1 Comment →

And I don’t mean the chocolate candy (although a Snickers sounds pretty good right about now)! The other SNCR (aka The Society of New Communications Research) held its 5^th Annual Research Symposium & Awards Gala recently in Palo Alto. John and I both were thrilled to attend and honored to accept two  “2010 Excellence in New Communications Awards” for 360PR!

Each year SNCR honors various individuals and organizations who are pioneering the use of social media. 360 was recognized for our work with Dorel Juvenile Group USA and their Safety 1^st brand (Multiple Platforms/Integrated initiatives category), as well as our work on behalf of You CAN Do the Rubik’s Cube (Online Publishing/ Facebook category). We are pumped to be among this group of 2010 winners, which included Old Spice, the 2010 SNCR Brand of the Year.

Actually, in addition to the awards ceremony, the highlight of the symposium was when Old Spice brand manager James Moorhead, presented the “Smell Like a Man, Man” campaign case study. The campaign, which Cindy blogged about this summer, has led to almost 2 billion impressions to date! A truly unbelievable viral success!

Filed under: 360 Public Relations, Digital PR, Events and Conferences, Industry Organizations, Social Marketing, Social Media by EliciaBasoli - 3 Comments →

I just spent a couple of days surrounded by leaders in the PR industry, at the Council of PR Firms annual Critical Issues Forum.  One clear take-away for me is that this is an industry that’s more than bouncing back.  It’s invigorated – with ideas, new technologies and new ways to help brands fuel conversation, particularly in social media.

Another key take-away: PR’s value has grown tremendously in the new communications economy.  This was articulated by CMOs and senior communications officers from P&G, Heineken, IKEA, AT&T, American Express and Monster Worldwide.

The “huge shift” in how marketers advance their brands is peer-to-peer recommendations, said Heineken USA CMO Christian McMahan, who cited Trip Advisor as a shining example of a brand benefiting from peer-to-peer communications.

“The only way we’re going to get there is not paid media – it’s by earning the trust of consumers through peer recommendations,” added Leontyne Green, CMO for IKEA USA.

Building trust by listening to customers and through transparent, authentic conversation have always been core PR competencies.  That’s one of the reasons PR is driving the hottest area of brand communications – social media.

“PR is the most authentic form of marketing,” said P&G CMO Marc Pritchard, fresh off successful campaigns for P&G’s Old Spice, Head & Shoulders and Olympic Games campaigns.  “PR is the megaphone that amplifies the campaign,” Pritchard explained.

PR can also spark the conversation.  A successful campaign today can start with just 10 of the right influencers if the platform and the delivery are compelling, with social media as the thread that keeps the conversation going.

A third and final take-away: Big ideas can come from anywhere – advertising, PR, research, customer service – and what makes the big idea bigger is integration.  The fact is there are a lot of big ideas and your brand and your idea are in the most competitive communications environment marketers have known.  “From a PR perspective, you need to bring in people who understand [broader] marketing.  There’s no way you cannot be integrated,” said Monster Worldwide CMO Ted Gilvar.

For more, read Advertising Age’s coverage of Marc Pritchard’s remarks to the Council of PR Firms, and check out the Council’s Twitter stream.

Filed under: Digital PR, Events and Conferences, Industry Organizations, PR Industry, Social Marketing, Social Media by LauraTomasetti - 2 Comments →

Don’t you think the New Gap, Old Gap logo drama was a lot like the New Coke, Old Coke marketing stunt hopped up on modern day social media steroids? Or maybe it’s that my brain is trained to think this way because so often the job of the PR pros is to help marketers create buzz, and that’s exactly what the new Gap logo accomplished. I just can’t fathom that the thoughtful marketing folks at the Gap didn’t do their scenario planning homework and examine their new logo launch through every possible lens to determine the outcomes (you know, if A then B.) Surely they would have preferred some outcomes more than others, but none were troubling, and they all helped create “conversation” around a brand that isn’t much talked about these days.

I also believe the Gap counted on an energetic fan base to help them light up social networks and fuel viral buzz around the new logo – it didn’t really matter if anyone loved or hated the logo. Any outcome was good because it created buzz, and just in time for the Holiday season.

For those who may have missed this news, Gap marketers quietly unveiled a new logo, which ignited all the people who would care about a new logo – marketers and logo designers. The vocalists thought the Gap should keep the original logo, or possibly even return to the 1970′s logo as a retro nod to their great jeans and white T-shirt roots. It is ironic that the people online who are dubbing the logo change a “non event,” are the very same people who are fueling the viral buzz; they can’t seem to stop talking about it and have actually propelled the conversation into a mainstream spotlight. Have a look:

• Front page AdAge article, with over 30 comments
• Close to 4000 comments on The Gap’s Facebook page
• Google returns 17,700,000 results for the search term “new Gap logo”

A blog post form Ohheykyle (Rochester, NY) addressed Marka Hansen, President of Gap North America, on AdAge, “HA! Very clever Marka!! I’m impressed with the way you turned our collective attention to GAP just in time for the holidays.”

Oh Hey Kyle, I’m with you. Isn’t it also neat that while the Gap had the spotlight on them, they were able to make news out of the fact that they are going to turn their big box “red” for their seasonal campaign? I mean, seriously, who would care if not for the buzz about their logo?

Please weigh in. Was the new GAP, back to the original GAP logo a well-planned social media strategy or just a failed design in your opinion?

Filed under: Digital PR, Food & Beverage PR, advertising by Admin - 3 Comments →