Newest form of infotainment

GM is revamping their OnStar program in order to compete with the very successful Ford Sync. They are developing a "Live On" campaign. GM has developed new technologies in the infotainment industry, such as Bluetooth. OnStar has always been focused on safety and security. However, because of the success of Ford's Sync, which allows drivers hands-free use of their cell phones and IPods, OnStar wants in on the action too. 





Watch their commercial:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0DnliEVjao


So far OnStar has developed applications for smart phones that are capable of monitoring gas or levels of battery-charge and also control the vehicles electrical functions such as locks, horns, and remote starting. With their new "Live On" campaign which is said to be safely connecting you in ways you never thought possible," they plan to expand their capabilities. 


The Sync is a $395 option on some Ford and Lincoln models. It has voice activated commands which control cell phones and MP3 players. It will also dial  9-1-1 if the vehicle crashes.It offers information on traffic conditions, directions and other information such as weather reports and sports scores as well.





OnStar is taking it one step further and adding facebooking and texting to its list of infotainment. The system allows its users to have facebook messages and texts read to them in the car and they can respond back through voice commands. Sync isn't equipped with facebook access but will be adding a Twitter, Pandora, and Stitcher applications to its repertoire. They will be in the Ford Fusion later this year.


Ford's program has been very successful, so GM's OnStar is smart to take pursuit on this venture. However, is it really safe to be checking twitter and facebook while driving. It's already illegal to text and drive. Listening to weather updates or even texts read to you by your car are still distracting, You have to use part of your brain to concentrate on those, thus distracting the driver from the road. Is this new marketing tactic really as good as it is intended to be?

Pepsi for President!

Hello everyone! You may be a bit curious as to why I am suggesting we elect a beverage to be our next president. Well, I'm not. But they might have won this last election! In January this year, Pepsi launched their Pepsi Refresh Project.  Bonin Bough, global director of digital and social media at PepsiCo announced at the Social Good Summit that their campaign has had overwhelming success and has even received more votes than the last US Presidential election!

   

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Many of you may be familiar with the social campaign called the "Pepsi Refresh Project." The purpose of this campaign is for everyday people, such as us, to submit ideas that will help improve our communities. After submitting our ideas all of those everyday people, whether they submit an idea or not, vote on which projects they think are the best ideas and in return Pepsi awards the top ranking ideas with anywhere from $5,000-$250,000. Currently, the majority of this round's winning finalist's ideas are related to helping those affected by the oil spill in the Gulf. Pepsi even stepped it up and donated an extra $1.3 million to help with projects in the Gulf. Way to go Pepsi!

In order to start this campaign, Pepsi decided for the first time to forego advertising in the Super Bowl. Instead they used $20 million to start funding  the Pepsi Refresh project (which seems to have been a great idea).

Pepsi has been able to establish a great sense of Social Responsibility in it's company by giving back through this project. However, it has also benefited from it substantially through the marketing aspects of it. It even incorporates facebook and other social media tools to promote itself. After voting for an idea, the user can promote the idea they voted for on facebook. I did!

http://www.lexisnexis.com/hottopics/lnacademic/

As you can see from the graph, Pepsi's stock price has increased roughly $10 per share since first launching this project January 13, 2010. They used social media marketing to it's fullest potential by creating, launching, and funding this campaign. It shows its customers that it cares about them and their communities and wants to be involved. Not only are they satisfying their customers with a tasty beverage, they are improving their quality of life. How much more can a company care?!

Other companies should take notice of this new way of marketing through social media. Not only through the traditional facebook and twitter, but through other unique and beneficial social programs such as Pepsi has done. Genius!

The Newest TREAT in Social Media Marketing

The newest and tastiest social marketing tool has just emerged, and it's called 4food! This new, innovative concept allows the customer to create his own burger rather than a waiter handing him a menu. Currently 4food has only one location, which is in Manhattan, but it is receiving word-wide recognition for its very original and intelligent concept.

After being seated, the customer can either tell the waiter how he wants his burger, the old fashioned way, OR he can use the iPad bolted to his table to create his burger. After he orders and is waiting on his food to arrive, he can surf the web absolutely free on the iPad provided by the restaurant. 

And not only do you get to customize your own burger, if you convince your 4food friends to buy your burger you can get a .25 credit towards your next meal. They also show tweets and foursquare check ins on their monitors.

This is a brilliant concept and I wouldn't be surprised if it caught on with other businesses as well. What about an online store where you design your own clothes and have them delivered to you? Having the opportunity to promote them would help both yourself and the company. Maybe even designing your own house? 

Giving people the freedom to create their own food is a great way to satisfy their hunger for both food and control. Not only does this satisfy the customers, it gives the business or organization a great customer database and can be a very helpful and cheap promotional tool!

This blog is based on information from the article "Edible Social Media" by Cynthia Borris

http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2010/09/edible-social-media-marketing.html