Happy Halloween! It’s already the end of October, which means we are really gearing up for the holiday shopping season.  We have Thanksgiving, then we have Black Friday.  In a world where 96% of the top 100 global marketing brands use Facebook as part of their strategy, it is no surprise that social media will be a huge part of this holiday shopping season.

There are both opportunities and dilemmas where social media is involved.  Friends are able to FB and Tweet about a store running out of the ridiculously low-priced large LED TV, which will then tip off their networks, saving people a lot of time as well as not having to deal with the crazy shopper crowds.  The stores also have a great opportunity here.  They can choose to monitor their social networking pages and mentions and either ship more items to the stores or they can respond directly to consumers and see if they can provide them with another option.  Walmart, for example, just launched a Christmas layaway program because it’s FB fans requested it so often.  They also added a social feature on their website that allows customers to vote on the most wanted Christmas toys.  When customers “like” the toy it is added to their FB newsfeed requesting their friends to vote.  If there are enough votes for that toy, Walmart is able to put the item up for pre-order and stock their stores accordingly.

As we all know technology is a double-edged sword.  For all the great planning and awareness that it can bring to us, it can also work against companies.  One misstep and companies can be blasted on YouTube, FB and Twitter, creating a PR nightmare.

The lesson is to be prepared.  If you are planning on using social media to bolster your holiday sales, make sure you are monitoring the conversation and have a plan for possible consumer dilemmas.

For more information, go to: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/story/2011-10-29/social-media-retailers/50981430/1

Starbucks has created a new QR code campaign to teach consumers about their coffee.  These QR code ads are featured in Starbucks stores, ads in magazines like People and on billboard advertisements.  Although these QR codes will be used across several mediums, all of the videos will not be the same.  These ads will include content that provide consumers with videos about the current in-store featured coffee, music examples from the region where the coffee was picked, expert testimonials about the uniqueness of the coffee, as well as some ads that promote their mobile payment app.  Starbucks really wants to “interact” with the customer and provide them with information about their products and brand that increase loyalty.

This QR code program is not a first for Starbucks, who utilized them back in May for a scavenger hunt promo with Lady Gaga.  For more information on this QR code promo, go to: http://mashable.com/2011/10/26/starbucks-qr-codes/

A new product is hitting the market, iStroll Kid.  This new iPad case is built to attach to strollers (and cars), so your child can interact with the tablet, while you run your errands.  While it is definitely an innovative product, it does beg the question about whether or not kids who are stroller-aged should be so “dependent” on a technological device, such as an iPad.

The actual case is really cool and absolutely inevitable in the tech-driven world we live in today, but the idea that we have to entertain our kids with outside resources as a way to get them to participate in parents daily lives and routine activities could rub some people the wrong way.

We would love to hear from our Rox-readers.  What do you think, innovative or unnecessary?

For more product information, go to: http://istrollkid.com/

Lemon is a new tool that aims to help consumers keep track of their spending in a streamlined, easy to use website.  Lemon provides you with an @lemon.com email address so that you can start to send your mobile receipts or scan in your paper receipts and keep them in one place.  Lemon will then take the relevant purchase data (date, amount, merchant, tracking number) and create monthly summaries.  Users can then find their receipts and further label them if they choose.

This tool is great for consumers who are looking for an easier way to send all of their information to their accountants, or for those that do their own taxes.  With more and more retailers utilizing email receipts over paper ones, your @lemon.com address makes it convenient to keep track of certain purchases, especially those that you need to revisit later.  The co-CEO of this product doesn’t want people to think it’s only for the tax crowd though, it’s simple enough to be used by people for everyday tracking, for college students who need to stay on a strict budget or head of households who want to know how much they are spending monthly/yearly on certain utilities.  The ability to access all this information online and the ability to move away from the shoe box full of receipts makes this a really attractive idea.

Lemon officially launched last week and has already managed to attract more than 100,000 registered users.  For more information, go to: http://mashable.com/2011/10/18/lemon/

There is a new, extremely powerful and intelligent consumer group making themselves known to marketers, the iGeneration.  In addition to their tech knowledge and market awareness, they have a lot of discretionary income and they have a high power of influence with their family and friends.

The iGeneration, also known as Generation Z; is already 50 million strong and they will start turning 16 in approximately 10 weeks.  These kids have a much higher allowance than generations before them, $10 – $39 a week. In addition to their large spending accounts, they are very influential.  By the time they are in college they will have over 300 Facebook friends and will have a vote in how their parents spend their money, especially with big ticket items like cars.  There have already been companies, like Toyota, who have been targeting this generation.  Toyota’s 2010-2011 Highlander campaign focused on the kid making sure his parents were cool by getting the right car.

Another key piece of the iGeneration is their affinity for technology.  Not only are they comfortable with it, they are uncomfortable without it.  A Pew Internet research study claims that more than 75% of teens own cellphones, with about 69% of those plans being paid for by the parents.  And it’s not like these phones are for “safety” reasons only, according to Neilsen Co. data, “teens ages 13 to 17 sent an average of 3,364 messages per month in the first quarter of 2011.”  In addition to that, they also spend 7 hours and 13 minutes on mobile video content, which is almost 3 more hours than the average person.  Surprisingly, they watch less television than the average American, which is why marketers need to focus on reaching out to them in less traditional ways.

For more information about this generation, go to: http://adage.com/article/news/igen-influential-peers-household-buying-decisions/230427/

Walmart has teamed up with Facebook to launch a local app that customizes marketing for all of its 3,600 stores.  The app will feature local deals, communications, events and/or limited-distribution products..  The app, call My Local Walmart, hopes that it drives people into their local brick-and-mortar stores (instead of promoting their e-commerce site).

Walmart does not see the app replacing their traditional marketing strategies, including circulars, newspaper ads, direct mail or radio advertising, it will simply support it.  With that being said, it was extremely important to launch this app before the holiday season, which includes Halloween.  This way not only can the app promote any Halloween specials its running, but they can test it out and perfect it before the Black Friday madness begins.  Additionally, the app will provide consumers with maps to the local stores, and it will also provide information on local weather events, Nascar races and fishing tournaments.  But customers should not worry that they will be bombarded with information, initially Walmart wants to communicate with consumers approximately twice a week.

For more information on this app and if it is something you are interested in, go to: http://adage.com/article/digital/walmart-local-facebook-store-level-messaging/230327/

Here at Rox we love wine.  So when we found out about this Australian wine company, Between Five Bells, debuting  new labels, we were intrigued.  The new labels feature an infograph about the wine-making process, including all of  ”all the data of the various grape varieties as they entered the winery and went through primary fermentation. There are eight axis at play, including the heat of the ferments, the time on skins and the ripeness of the grapes.”  The labels are meant to inspire the casual wine drinker by providing some background information about the flavors you can expect from the wine and the wine makers hope is that drinkers will want to do more research.

For more information, go to: http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/australian-wine-uses-infographics-its-bottle-labels-135674

Here are a few examples of the labels below.

Reaching the head-of-household is a $5 trillion business.  Although many women are full-time caregivers, they are still running the show when it comes to the majority of household purposes.  Whether its clothing, groceries, appliances or a large list of consumer packaged goods, she has the credit limit and is wanting to spend.  So, how do you reach this working mom/wife with the disposable income and purchasing power?

1) Get Social – Marketers need to embrace the social web outside of just email marketing and search ads (which are still relevant).  The big takeaway: PROVIDE A CALL TO ACTION and evoke an emotional response when possible.

• Of the 65% of online adults who use social networking sites, 69% are female.
• Women not only spend 30% more timeon these sites than men, but they also have larger networks.
• Comparatively speaking, women have 8% moreFacebook friends on average than men, and spend more time on the site.

2) Gaming is Effective – Online games are not just for teenage boys anymore.  Gaming has exploded among this demo.  Forrester research is claiming that 59% of social gamers are women and PopCap says the average age of this woman gamer is 43. The big takeaway: BRANDED VIRTUAL GOODS, IN-GAME ADVERTISING and GAMING FOR CHARITY.

3) Daily Deals – Women make up nearly 2/3’s of Groupon users.  The big takeaway: CREATE TARGETED PROMOTIONS TOWARDS THIS GROUP.

For more information, including great examples of companies already marketing to the head-of-household, go to: http://mashable.com/2011/10/04/social-marketing-head-household/