360DigitalInfluence

Here are a few funny, entertaining and inspiring things I collected along the way this past week.  The only common thread is that I’ve seen all these things discussed in numerous places, both online and offline.  What did I miss?

GOOOOAAALLLLLL

If you missed the US Women beat Brazil to advance to the World Cup semi-finals, you missed one of the greatest games I’ve ever seen.  In the final seconds of overtime, Megan Rapinoe landed a ball on the head of Abby Wambach, who finished with authority.  This sent the match into penalty kicks, where the US prevailed (since then, the US has advanced to the finals).  The Internet exploded with excitement, and despite FIFA’s best efforts, it can be found here (the break starts about 5 seconds into where I linked the video).

By the way, this is what you get on YouTube when you search for the official video clip of the goal [insert sad trombone here]:

Kenny Powers - MFCEO Of K-Swiss

Not since Old Spice have I seen a brand receive so much Internet love as K-Swiss did this week.  Eastbound and Down is an HBO show about a has-been professional baseball player called Kenny Powers.  Kenny is pretty much the most despicable character on TV, but in a really funny way.  Anyhow, K-Swiss broke a brilliant campaign this week in which Kenny Powers is named CEO of K-Swiss.  There are a series of great video clips on Funny or Die (NOTE: the language is not for the modest) and a cleaner TV version.  Like it or not, this is a brand doing something big, bold and inescapable.

GIFs GIFs Everywhere

Animated GIFs were all the rage this week, apparently because you can post them to Google+.  GIF Shop seems to be the go-to source for creating them yourself, as I’ve done.  Fascinating, I know.  My apologies for not including a cat, which seems to be pretty standard.

How New Yorkers See The Rest Of The US

Thanks to Ogilvy’s Gavin Becker for this gem.  As a former New Yorker I know there’s a lot of truth to it.  The LA-SF note is my favorite.  Click on it to expand.

Who doesn’t love a dramatic finale to a TV series? I’m particularly partial to Top Chef and Top Chef Masters finales where finalists on both shows are often faced with the challenge of preparing a complicated bevy of courses intended to tell stories about who they are as chefs. Such challenges speak to favorite childhood memories and what inspired contestants to become professional chefs. The personal stories are often incredibly moving and include pictures and/or videos of the chefs as children and in their first professional kitchens.

I could not get enough of Chef Hubert Keller as he transformed viewers back in time to his parents’ European bakery, where I could practically smell the baguettes baking in the oven. I even imagined myself harvesting clams with a young Rick Moonen and his father, inhaling the salty air of the New York seashore where they talked about life and their futures. Watching and hearing these esteemed chefs share their heartfelt stories not only made them more accessible (after watching weeks of cutthroat competition), but also prompted me to seek out more information about them and how they were inspired.

In my quest for chefly knowledge, little did I know that Bravo TV had already provided me with biographies of all of the chefs, recipes, blog posts by several of the judges and chefs, photos, recipes, recaps and the ability to live chat (using Cover it Live) with other fans during the show. Like Bravo TV, many brands and organizations are embracing different forms of storytelling to better connect with their potential customers and incorporate more human elements into their outbound communications.
continue reading

As a follow up to our recent webinar, Facebook Bootcamp for PR, you’ll see five blog posts in the coming weeks exploring the five trends set out in our presentation. This installment looks at the quickly evolving role of Facebook Connect and reviews how brands can use this open ID to enhance their Facebook presence and expand other social media programs. continue reading