GetGlue is a social recommendation service that does most of your web research for you.  GetGlue’s service provides movie, music and book reviews on one easy-to-use web interface (via it’s partner sites) and also allows users to see what items their friends have liked or recommended.  This service removes the tediousness and exhaustion of searching the web for hours on end to see if that new release in the theatres is really worth your two hours and $12.

Though GetGlue is not new to the market, their recent upgrade in interface and features, including real time stream and personalized new releases, is making it much easier for consumers to use.  GetGlue’s browser plug-in scans the pages you browse on the web, looks for media titles you mention and then populates the toolbar with suggestions about similar movies and companion resources.  Mashable.com describes the upgrades as “Netflix’s recommendation engine meets Tivo Suggestions, but it’s all based on media content.”  With the addition of real-time, the program will be able to adapt to your developing tastes and let you know if the item that you are currently scoping will be enjoyable to you, based on previous reviews.

For more information about this website and their new plug-in, go to: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2010/04/getglue.html#more

Mobile marketing is quickly becoming the must-do in the advertising world.  Here are three ways that mobile is being used across different mediums and industries.

1. Oprah’s Mobile Network – Although the beloved television host will be leaving our televisions screens soon, she will always be available to her fans via the launch of Oprah Mobile.  Oprah’s application features a weekly calendar of the show’s topics, alerts and notifications about reservations for the show, access to O Magazine and Oprah Radio.  Other highlights include exclusive video of backstage interviews with movie stars and guests, access to audio clips from Oprah’s radio show and users can participate in Oprah’s latest polls and view her tweets.  For a more in-depth look at the app, go to: http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/media/6075.html
2. Building Buzz for Karate Kid film – Sony Pictures has released a branded iPhone app and mobile campaign to support the release of the Karate Kid remake.  The app is free and features a game that specifically targets Sony’s movie-going demographic.  It also has a built in social networking feature, allowing users to spread the word about the film virally.  In addition to being able to download the app, users are presented with an instant-loading HD-quality mobile video ad, designed to give users insight into what the movie and game are all about.  At the end of the ad, users are shown a screen with four options: to the advertiser’s mobile Web site for more information, download the game or application, replay the ad or return to the game or application experience.  For more wax-on and wax-off information, go to: http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/gaming/6073.html
3. Jimmy Choo – One of the most famous names in footwear, Jimmy Choo, is also jumping on the mobile marketing bandwagon, by mobilizing the company’s latest print ad from the April issue of W magazine.  The mobile ad allows users to get information and deals from the brand, while also allowing them to enter to win $1,000.  Readers are prompted to take a picture of the ad with their smartphone and send it to w@pongr.com. They will then receive an email letting them know that they are entered for a chance to win $1,000 from W Magazine as well as three site links from Jimmy Choo, one where they can view a mobile video, featuring Tamara Mellon, cofounder/president of the company talking about the brand, the second link directs the user to Jimmy Choo’s Facebook page and the third link takes the user to its Twitter page.  For more information about the amazing technology used in this mobile campaign, go to: http://www.mobilecommercedaily.com/jimmy-choo-taps-mobile-to-make-print-ad-more-interactive/

While marketers continually spend their time learning about the newest trends in multicultural marketing and figuring out the best and most effective way to target moms, one group (with incredible spending power) is being overlooked: SINGLES.   As we get further into the 2000′s more and more people are waiting to get married and are fully taking advantage of their single status; 57% are under 45 and 40% are younger than 35.

As these late Gen X and early Gen Y singles continue to grow into more senior positions in their jobs,  increasing their earnings, they are the ones that are actually going out and buying big ticket items.  The Bureau of Labor Statistics has published that singles spend $2.2 trillion in 2008, totaling 35% of all consumer spending.  And yet, no one is marketing to them.

One industry that is finally embracing the singles world is travel, specifically cruise and tour operators.  For the first time ever, Norwegian cruise lines is actually targeting singles, specifically for the maiden voyage of their Epic ship.  The cruise line has decided to have single-occupancy rooms (eliminating the excessive cost for traveling as a single) without the supplement fees.  No Norwegian ships have ever had single rooms before, but they are confident this shift will pay off.  Tour operators are also embracing singles.  Knowing that solo travelers make up anywhere from 20 to 40% of tours, companies have gotten smart and are no longer charging the single supplemental fees.

Finally, the National Association of Realtors have noticed this single trend as well.  Homes purchased by married couples dropped from 79% in 1987 to 60% in 2009, 21% being single women.  In what is being called the “new wave of homebuyers,”  Coldwell Banker and Century 21 are now targeting singles, specifically women.

For more information about the Single as a consumer, go to: http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/special-reports/other-reports/e3i8ca14b8f869f03f0438c63b50b8bf210?pn=1

McDonald’s, Staples and Macy’s are tapping a new ad medium, created by Cardlytics, which allows the companies to advertise in conjunction with your online banking account.  Now these ads aren’t off to the side in a top, bottom or side banner, but they are actually underneath transactions inside your online bank statement.  For example, if you have a transaction for a restaurant, restaurant companies have the ability to create an offer (i.e. cash back or percentages off rival restaurants) that sits underneath that transaction.

Cardlytics officially launched the program last November and claim to have run more than 100 marketing campaigns, reaching almost 500,000 customers.  The company is currently targeting financial institutions and believe they will have at least 50 to 70 signed up by the end of summer.

The process works as follows: A customer signs into view their online statement where they can see their various reward offers in 3 places, alongside transactions, in a column on the transaction page and on the rewards-summary page.  If you want to activate the reward, consumers click on the offer and the coupon is automatically converted when the consumer uses their credit or debit card at the merchant. Customers will have the option to opt out of the program, but Cardlytics states that the program has only had a less than 5% opt-out so far.

To find out more about this new ad medium, go to: http://adage.com/article?article_id=143361

Procter and Gamble are realizing that in-store on-the-shelf marketing is growing in importance.  Therefore, they need to put more focus on winning consumers over at the shelf via design. The company has built design into its overall brand-building strategy.

Winning consumers over at the shelf is going to be key in continuing to grow Proctor and Gamble’s brands.  A Nielsen study, conducted last year, found that “in-store marketing clearly beats TV as the leading medium creating awareness of new package goods in the U.S. and five other key developed markets.”  In fact, the study also found that half of consumers who became aware of products for the first time, by seeing them in the store.

Proctor and Gamble began the design initiatives last year, so the new product designs haven’t hit the shelves yet.  But what the company does know is that big retailers are starting to cut down and put more restrictions on the use of displays and POP advertising, making the role of design of the utmost importance.  The retailers are also asking companies to make their packaging more green, by cutting the size of product’s packaging.  So now companies have to deal with creating a creative, eye-catching design with less space.

To find out how Proctor and Gamble’s package design theory worked for Herbal Essences, as well as details on what they are currently working on and what they  call design’s “the first moment of truth,” go to: http://adage.com/article?article_id=143211

Febreze redesign

Pantene redesign

AdAge has put out a new white paper, focusing on the On-Demand Generation and their media consumption expectations and preferences. Although it has been highly publicized that this generation is vehemently against paying for content, that belief is not entirely accurate.

This group spends 7 hours and 38 minutes per day with some sort of media.  Research shows that this group values their online content enough that it would be worth the price of cable and or TV network shows, should the media require payment.  This group is also not averse to advertising!  The caveat is that the advertising has to be creative and it can’t take more than a nanosecond to load.

The White Paper also discusses the potential for a digital disconnect.  AdAge provides a sample of the findings, including:

• INSTANT GRATIFICATION – It is no shock that this generation is used to getting what it wants, when they want it.  If they need immediate answers they will text in lieu of talking, they download songs & albums instead of schlepping to the store and they line up their DVR with numerous shows so they can fast forward through the commercials and breaks.
• FREE IS GOOD, BUT WE’LL PAY IF NECESSARY – This generation is used to free, i.e. YouTube and Hulu, but they will pay for premium content if necessary, i.e. iTunes.
• BEST QUALITY, NO COMPRIMISES – This generation has grown up during a tech-design evolution.  High-Def TVs, digital sounds and touch screen monitors only scratch the surface of what this generation has been exposed to and grown up with.  Therefore, their standards for digital content are extremely high.

Click the link for a more in-depth synopsis of the white paper, as well as directions on where to purchase the whole report if you desire.

MillerCoors is launching a new “craft” beer, Colorado Native Lager,  and using social and mobile media as it’s marketing starting point.  The lager is made of 99.9% Colorado-grown ingredients and also includes locally made glass bottles.  Since the beer is only launching in Colorado (to start), MillerCoors believes that mobile marketing and social networking will allow the company to talk to the consumers directly as well as individually.

Every bottle of the lager is affixed with a “SnapTag.”  If the SnapTag is photographed on a mobile device and emailed to a specific phone number, the brand will be able to begin a conversation with that consumer.  Once the initial email of the logo is sent, the brand will reply requesting for the drinkers birthday, if over 21, MillerCoors will then sent Colorado-centric trivia regarding the consumers hobbies and interests.  The database will log the answers and will use them in future communications and offers to each individual drinker.

“Colorado Native is the first brand to use the SnapTag technology on its packaging, although companies such as Unilever, Ford and Crayola have used it on ads and displays.”  The company believes that focusing on the Colorado consumers as individuals will help them evolve the brand to rival the Anheuser-Busch InBev giant.

For more information on the technology, as well as MillerCoors’ campaign model, Blue Moon, go to: http://adage.com/article?article_id=143125

Although many of us have  begun to get used to a paperless world, there is still a need for us to physically print a thing or two. The  new and free app, Cortado Workplace, allows both Blackberrys and iPhones to print any attachment, email or photo directly from your smartphone,  the caveat is that you have to be wirelessly attached to a printer.  But for those of us who are running low on time and don’t have the luxury of logging onto a computer and then pulling up our email to then print the attachment, this app is just the thing we need.

Other great features the Cortado Workplace provides (for free) include:

• 1GB of free online storage
• Workplace file manager for your smartphone
• Web Explorer for managing files from a PC or notebook

There will eventually be a fee-based service that will provide 3GBs of storage, should you need it.

For more information on this app, go to: http://www.switched.com/2010/04/05/use-cortado-workplace-to-print-from-your-blackberry-iphone/