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The center usually gets some 65,000 people walking through its property via the city’s PATH underground system, but stopping these busy financial district office workers and business students has proven challenging. So the center decided to really catch their attention by posing a question they probably had never been asked: What’s your food-ology sign?

Center fortune-tellers dressed up in T-shirts that read “I see free food in your future!” and colorful signage encouraged passersby to stop at one of the designated kiosks to take a food-ology quiz, discover their food sign and instantly win a voucher whose value ranged from $1 to $10, and which they could redeem at the food court eatery that fit their sign. Those who completed the quiz were automatically entered in a contest to win a $500 summer prize package from Toss & Serve Quality Kitchenware or free lunch for a week, to be delivered to their office.

According to the Exchange Tower, 629 shoppers participated over the one-week promotion, completing the quiz at an on-site kiosk, and 59 percent of them redeemed their vouchers. The Food-o-logy online contest drew 1,136 ballots of which 507 were entered on the related micro-site—that facet of the contest saw 22 percent of entrants opt into the center’s e-database.

The award-winning Food-ology promotion’s originality and high profile produced some lingering buzz and helped the Exchange Tower generate $632,932 in sales in one month, with a program ROI of 427 percent.

This project came out of a joint Mattel/Chevrolet campaign to promote the Chevrolet Camaro Hot Wheels Special Edition at the Canadian International Auto Show held recently in Toronto. TrojanOne’s techies converted a traditional coil dispensing vending machine into the Hot Wheels Camaro-matic Trending Machine using custom computer components that connected the unit to the Internet and enabled it to complete searches on Twitter.

To obtain one of the Hot Wheels cars, Auto Show visitors could go to the vending machine and send a tweet using the #ChevyCIAS hashtag and @HotWheelsCanada handle, with their smartphone’s geo-location service option turned on. The Camaro-Matic’s system would identify the users’ tweets as coming from the Auto Show venue and then receive the right signal to dispense a car, no loose change needed.

“We tallied the total number of 2013 Hot Wheels Camaro diecasts given away to be just over 4,500,” said Lindsey Evanoff, TorjanOne’s communications specialist.
“@HotWheelsCanada also tripled [its] Twitter following,” Evanoff added.

This type of social media-based system could potentially power the next generation of mall loyalty program kiosks. Shoppers would use a Facebook post, Twitter tweet or FourSquare check-in, as well as their loyalty cards, to redeem premiums straight from a dispensing kiosk. Such a set-up might also work well for gifts with purchase.

With the help of agency Cake Paris and partner Direct Star TV, ten influencers became cast members on a Web-based reality show in which they had to complete online challenges using their smart phones and social networks.

The first task was for participants to earn enough online votes via a dedicated micro-site and Facebook app to make the cut from ten to five competitors. Then the true work began, with finalists rushing to get through their challenges in a race against the clock while their supporters ranked their performances.

The action was captured in real time and shared on bit.ly/TheSocialRush, while voting took place on DirectStarTV.fr/thesocialrush. This gave viewers a chance to get to know and get attached to the candidates through chats, twitcams, photos and videos, ahead of the September 24 debut of The Social Rush five-episode series.

Then, while the show ran, hosts Gérard Baste and Johan Lefebvre of the Morning Star show recapped the previous night’s episode and offered their viewers a sneak preview of the next one. The episodes themselves lasted 26 minutes, which was enough to attract more than 1.4 million viewers and boost Direct Star TV’s website traffic by 913 percent.

As Orange had hoped, The Social Rush not only demonstrated the company’s online capabilities, but it also propelled its Sosh brand, which acquired 65,000 new Facebook fans— 483,573 people officially liked it.

As for Rémy, the winning community leader, well he hopped on a plane with 14 of his friends and flew to Pula, Croatia to attend Dimensions, a four-day international underground electronic music festival.

Sosh – The Social Rush – Case Study from Cake Paris on Vimeo.

Marketing director Peggy Lim and the rest of the management team secured the ICSC gold award-winning partnership in 2011 by giving Sport Chek owner Forzani Group the one thing it was seeking: space to accommodate a growing community event whose purpose was to both celebrate local moms and help raise funds for neonatal intensive care units at local hospitals. The deal gave the mall the opportunity to come on board as one of the title sponsors and see the race start and finish on its premises.

Luckily for Chinook Centre, the event was a mature one, having been on the community roster for more than 30 years. It already had built-in support, particularly from media outlets such as the Calgary Herald and City TV. Lim took the opportunity to turn that race popularity into shopper traffic, enticing participants to stick around after their event and treat their moms to a meal or shopping jaunt.

This year’s edition of the race will be no different. There are not only several media outlets and major consumer brands among the 40 registered sponsors, but the mall is also providing some of the fundraising incentives.

Race participants who raise $1,000 will receive a $100 Chinook Centre gift card, while those who raise over $2,500 will have a chance to win a joint Chinook Centre/Sport Chek shopping spree, ensure some future traffic for the mall and extra business for its retailers.

According to the Forzani Foundation, proceeds from the Calgary race and its sister event in Edmonton will benefit the Calgary Health Trust neonatal intensive care units and the Stollery Children’s Hospital Foundation.

The organizers hope to raise over $720,000 at an estimated cost of $245,000.

Promote Brand Names

Investments in brand names have strategic and tactical implications. Recognizable, well defined and promoted brand names that have a consistent and conspicuous presence enjoy almost unassailable competitive advantage. Meanwhile, traditional mass media channels are fracturing and forced choices between channels and brands are redundant options. Integrated multi-channel (or omni-channel) communication is imperative because it is trickier than ever to select a single medium and to analyze its effectiveness among targeted audiences.

Interestingly, the most effective, most profiled and most heavily used social media are brand names, which have entered the general public lexicons and been transformed from nouns into verbs. Think of Google, Twitter and Facebook, each of which now implies actions that followers and users of the respective social media brands routinely take. Moreover, these social media icons have been their own promotional product platforms.

Battle for the Mind

Since advertising and marketing leaders Jack Trout and Al Ries coined it in 1969, the concept of “product and marketing positioning” has been the foundation of all great advertising, marketing, merchandising, promotional and selling strategies and campaigns. Astute business leaders and product managers were quick to learn that the battles for market share, revenue, profits and competitive advantage were not being fought in the streets, the marketplace or economy, but rather in the minds of consumers and clients.

The mind is a dark void, free of the external visual, aroma, touch and spatial stimuli. Visual merchandising professionals often refer to “retail scotomas” or “store blindness.” Consumers simply do not see, perceive or respond to product displays, signage and attractive visual presentations, unless they are given a compelling reason to do so.

The innate nature of online and social media is brand blindness. For those who overcome these barriers, filters or distortions, better times and competitive advantages await. Positioning and reinforcing brand names in the mind of the customers and clients through effective use of promotional products is fundamental. Just as important to consider is that, in many instances, the mind is one-dimensional. That is, it brings to attention one brand… the first brand… the brand that wins the battle for the mind.

Online Enhancement

The widespread disillusionment among business leaders about the lack or spasmodic return from investments in online and social media is best addressed and redressed by effective cross-media promotions that heavily accent brand name promotion. At the forefront are, or should be, promotional products in their many guises and applications.

Online, and in business life, it is better to be first than it is to be better. Those who are first (in the minds of existing, prospective and past customers and clients) do not have to contemplate being better. In marketing, first is an absolute. The first company, product, service or person is recognized and often accepted as the universe. There are no comparative measures.

Share of Mind

The long-held adage in advertising of “share of mind equals share of market” is a truism that should be a pillar for promotional products. In short, all business people need to recognize, respect and adhere to the principle of getting there first and staying there. One effective means to that ideal is promotional products.
To achieve “cut-through” in marketing and advertising it is important to avoid clutter and distractions. Promotional products, by their very nature, are focused, specific and brand oriented. Accordingly, they are an important, pre-emptive and complementary component to an effective integrated and disciplined multi-channel mass media campaign.
So go on, do your job. Go out and promote that which works well in the contemporary market place: brand names and promotional products.

Australian-based Barry Urquhart, managing director of Marketing Focus, is a consultant, researcher, author and conference keynote speaker on customer service excellence. For more information, e-mail him at Urquhart@marketingfocus.net.au or visit www.MarketingFocus.net.au.

“But in the end, the bloggers and their readers always win over the skeptics and persuade them to buy the product from a convenient nearby link,” wrote Bob Sullivan in his blog on MSNBC.com.

He cited Internet marketing analyst Jay Weintraub, who believes the fakeosphere has become a $500 million-a-year industry. These fake sites and phony conversations are often more than simply misleading—okay, fraudulent—marketing. For consumers, they can be downright dangerous.

“The end game for most of these sites, no matter what they sell, is to persuade a consumer to sign up for a ‘free’ trial of a product, then make it incredibly difficult to cancel before the trial period ends,” Sullivan writes.

“A similar technique…is to offer a free product and charge a Web user a token shipping and handling fee, just to get the consumers’ bank account information. Larger charges soon follow.”

Consumers are, and should be, increasingly wary. They’re scrutinizing websites more closely, especially if they’re considering making a purchase there. They’re avoiding social media interactions with anything that smells less than genuine, and they’re more careful about who they share information with online. What would they say about your online presence? Do you look like the real deal, or a potential cyber threat? Here are some ways to ensure you pass the reality test, and some missteps that will ensure you don’t.

On Social Media

• Real people have real friends and family among their connections. They can’t resist sharing photos of their vacation, the newest baby in the family and their genius dog. They have interests that may have nothing to do with what they’re trying to market, and they comment about them (“I shot a hole in one today!”) or share a photo (“Here I am buying everyone drinks after my hole in one today. That was the most expensive golf shot ever!”). They also respond to all comments, even if it’s just to say, “Thank you.”

• Fake people generate mostly sales copy, e.g. “Buy my product! It’s great!” They don’t engage in conversation. They don’t appear to have a personality, friends, loved ones or hobbies, for that matter.

On Your Website

• Real people have text that informs and entertains users while offering them helpful information. The copy is professionally written—no typos or other mistakes, hopefully—and provides answers to anticipated questions. It’s easy to learn more about you or your business and to find your contact information. Testimonials are from real people whose existence can be verified through a simple Internet search. They write blogs that are updated regularly and/or post articles with helpful information.

• Fake people have websites with lots of pop-up advertising banners and text urging users to buy something, anything. Testimonials are from untraceable people with vague titles or credentials. The site may be hard to navigate, contact information may be missing or difficult to find, and there’s no link to media about the person or company.

In Your Newsletter

• Real people share valuable information in their newsletters (which can be as minimal as a “tip of the week” e-mail). Their newsletter (or tip) includes no overpowering sales pitch or self-promotion, or at least includes that only occasionally. It conveys a personality, whether warm and friendly, authoritative or even humorous.

• Fake people blast newsletters and promotional e-mails that might identify a problem, but they offer as the only solution hiring them or buying their products. They may seem unprofessionally written (errors, etc.) and lack personality. They offer nothing of value to the reader.

• All of these things will help you create an online personality that conveys your authenticity. But the number one thing you can do, what I value above everything else, is to be actually genuine.
[Think about] identifying the passion that led you to start your business, create your product or write your book. Maybe you became a financial adviser because you found it gratifying to solve people’s money problems. Or you developed a product that you know will benefit others. Or you have expertise that can help people live longer, happier or more productive lives. Whatever it is that got you going, that’s what makes you genuine. Identify it and make it a part of your message, and no one will ever call you a fake.

The Tactics Tip

Shopping centers, like any other businesses, can easily be tempted to resort to a number of stratagems to provoke interactions with consumers. It often seems as though the best way to manage and control these online conversations, especially on social media, is to create fake personas, multiple identities used in the same digital environments as those in which target consumers shop, play and socialize with each other. A better approach is to recruit loyal customers as online ambassadors and let them engage in guided yet real conversations with other shoppers. This will ensure that your interactions are genuine, while still giving you opportunities to monitor the conversations and identify potential PR problems, as well as gain valuable and direct customer feedback.

Marsha Friedman is a 22-year veteran of the public relations industry. She is the CEO of EMSI Public Relations, a national firm that provides PR strategy and publicity services to corporations, entertainers, authors and professional firms. Friedman is the author of Celebritize Yourself: The 3-Step Method to Increase Your Visibility and Explode Your Business. She can be heard weekly on her Blog Talk Radio show, EMSI’s PR Insider, every Thursday at 3 p.m. (EST).

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Mall followers could, for example, mention #TFFE11 in their tweets about the Fall Fashion Event and see their messageslive and center stage on the mall’s giant BUZZscreen. One promotion allowed shoppers to send their photo to #TFFE11 and pick up a Buzzprint at the mall, while another encouraged them to watch out for the mall’s tweets and mention them in-store to receive perks such as a $50 custom makeup application at Sephora. Ala Moana further strengthened the on-site/online link by handing out VIT (Very Important Tweeter) passes for the Fall Fashion Event in its “Tweetstakes.”

Buzz Control, whose media mix also included flyers, an event guide, store window decals and website promotion (including AlaMoanaCenter.com), put the mall at the forefront of the style scene. The Fall Fashion Event ended up being the most tweeted topic in Hawaii that season, engaging more than 200,000 shoppers and producing three million-plus mentions. It also won the mall an ICSC U.S. MAXI Gold award in the Emerging Technology category.

KITV 4 (ABC) newscast:

“Almost everyone has a collection of used portable electronics stored somewhere. At EcoATM, we believe strongly in re-purposing good electronics that can be refurbished and used by consumers in other markets,” noted chair and CEO Tom Tullie in a release, just ahead of the 2012 International CES convention.

“We find a second life for about 75 percent of the used devices we collect at the kiosks. For the other 25 percent of devices that are truly at their end of life, we work with either R2-certified or BAN-certified recyclers who reclaim the raw materials and precious metals in an environmentally responsible way.”

Shoppers use EcoATM kiosks as they would bank machines, by responding to a series of prompts that guide them through the process. They can simply bring their unwanted electronic devices and place them in the kiosk chamber to be scanned. The unit’s artificial intelligence and vision software then tries to find a match in its own database of approximately 4,000 devices to determine its type, make and model. It then proceeds to analyze the device to determine its state before looking for a buying offer in the secondary market, anything from $1 up to $250 for some phones. After that, the users get a quote and decide whether or not to trade in the device for cash that will be dispensed instantly. To complete the transaction, users need to have their driver’s license and fingerprint scanned so that EcoATM can be sure that they aren’t trying to dispose of stolen goods.

What happens to the devices next all depends on market demand. Some of them are kept whole while others are dismantled for parts to be sold separately or melted down for reuse as raw materials. As for users, well they can either a) grab their cash and feel good about having done something good for the environment, or b) they can take a benevolent step and donate a portion or all of the money to one of several partner charities.

EcoATM expects to cap off 2012 with some 300 kiosks installed America-wide.

San Diego Living show, “Living with Ruben” segment at Plaza Bonita in National City, CA

ABC 7, Victorville Eyewitness News, News at 6pm, The Mall of Victor Valley in Victorville, CA: