Toyota Reaching out to Generation Y In Marketing Plan Focused on Music

Toyota, which last fall signed on as one of three inaugural sponsors of MySpace Music -- the News Corp. property's independent label -- is activating the partnership with "Rock the Space," a competition encouraging unsigned bands or solo artists.




Toyota's MySpace page serves as central casting, a place where musicians and bands can submit an original song for the opportunity to score a recording contract with MySpace Records.


Toyota has made music central to its brand efforts for years. The company has been a big sponsor at the SXSW festival and supports its Tundra pickup truck with sponsorship of the Brooks & Dunn duo's country-music tour. On its MySpace site, Toyota hosts "Toyota Tuesdays," whereby the company gives away free downloads on that day. Toyota also sponsors the Toyota Concert Series on "The Today Show" in New York's Rockefeller Plaza and The Stagecoach Music Festival in Indio, Calif., among other events.

As part of the deal with MySpace, artists who submit an original MP3 demo can also create a "widget," a viral rich-media component shaped like a demo tape that MySpace users can add to their profiles and use to post comments on the Toyota Music profile.


In July, MySpace Records will select five finalists who will be featured on the Toyota Music profile, and the MySpace community will vote to select the winner. The five finalists will receive a media allocation to promote themselves with My Ads targeted advertising throughout MySpace.


The "Rock the Space" winner, announced in September, will get a recording contract as well as a $10,000 musical instrument prize package provided by Fender. The winner's song will also be available for download on the MySpace Music Home Page. The four runners-up win a MySpace 
Records Development Deal friends package.

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Wyndham Integrating Hawthorn Suites: New Three Pronged Marketing Strategy

RIO GRANDE, Puerto Rico |  More than 350 owners, managers and staff attending the Wyndham Hotels and Resorts conference this week heard new brand President Jeff Wagoner announce that the brand’s footprint would be expanded by affiliating it with the midscale extended-stay Hawthorn Suites® brand.

The affiliation, designed to reach a broader consumer base and leverage marketing, sales and training, creates a combined Wyndham® brand that will encompass approximately 325 hotels based on quarterly system statistics disclosed March 31. The company previously affiliated its Wingate® and Wyndham brands in 2007.


To formalize the relationship, the Hawthorn brand, now Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham, will be identified with a refreshed red and orange logo that incorporates key design elements of the Wyndham logo.

“The integration of Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham allows us to offer a complete spectrum of products under the Wyndham umbrella, meeting every type of consumer’s hotel need,” said Jeff Wagoner.


He also outlined a three-pronged brand strategy to clarify each product’s positioning within the Wyndham Hotels and Resorts brand and drive growth for the chain’s managed and franchised hotel portfolio.


Addressing an audience representing the Wyndham, Wingate by Wyndham and Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham brands who assembled for the conference at the Rio Mar Beach Resort & Spa - A Wyndham Grand Resort, Wagoner said his strategy aims to ensure “Wyndham gains recognition as one of the great upscale hotel brands.”


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BMW Mini and Iphone: New Iphone Mini Game Application

BMW Mini's financial arm has launched "Mini Liquid Assets," a mobile game available for download at no charge from the iTunes App store.

"Mini Liquid Assets" is an interactive game modeled after the traditional encased water jet games, infused with the Mini brand and intuitive controls that take advantage of the iPhone and iPod touch user interface. BMW's Mini hopes to increase brand awareness among Apple's coveted demographic using the application.

"We want to make financing fun, and with Mini, it's only natural to capture the brand spirit and bring it alive in a game format," said Tom Stepanchak, general manager of marketing for Mini Financial Services, Woodcliff Lake, NJ. "The iPhone app is actually an extension of a mechanical water game point-of-sale desk exhibit we created for our dealers last year.

"Consumers can play the modern version on their iPhones with realistic water-like movements and authentic sound effects, and the original mechanical version at Mini dealerships," he said. "Our underling goal is to engage consumers in conversation and enlighten them to the many financing choices we offer.

"We want to create awareness for the Mini Financial Services value proposition."

Manipulating the face buttons on either side of the screen, players use streams of water -- accompanied by bubble sound effects and music -- to avoid obstacles and guide their precious coins into the safety and comfort of their beloved Minis.

Whether avoiding sharks in the fish tank-themed level "Don't Feed the MINI" or aliens in the Area 51-themed level "Restricted," "Mini Liquid Assets" offers gaming with three difficulty settings: "Easy," "Medium" and "OMG."

The game features the full model line of Mini vehicles, including the new Mini Convertible -- featured in the London-themed level "Cheerio" with actual Big Ben sound effects -- and the Mini E, appearing in the eco-friendly wind farm level of "Green with Mini."

Also included in the game is "Find a Mini dealer," a built in dealer locator function that uses Google Maps.

"Without a doubt, there is a strong correlation between Apple enthusiasts and Mini drivers," Mr. Stepanchak said. "They are cut from the same mold.

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Nike Says "Whatever": Integrated Marketing Communication Strategy

Online and offline, Nike did Whatever to find perfect synergy.

What makes a good integrated marketing campaign? Analysts like Marissa Gluck of New York-based Jupiter Communications say it's consistency: "The look and feel must be the same offline and online." Nike "Whatever" campaign not only was consistent, it was groundbreaking--so groundbreaking that major TV networks almost refused to run it.

The ads, which ran both online and on TV this winter, dropped the viewer into an immediate situation: "You're racing Marion Jones. The fastest woman in the world. Look out for the glass door. (CRASH!) What do you do? Continued at whatever.nike.com." When viewers visited the site, prompted by the tagline, they could choose the ad's ending, delivered using San Francisco-based Unicast's Superstitial technology.

"When the networks saw 'Continued at whatever.nike.com,' they panicked. They were afraid people would abandon their TV sets and go to the Web site," says Ian Yolles, director of marketing for Portland, Ore.-based Nike. Initially, the networks refused to use the "Continued" tagline, and the ads ran without it. "Midstream, one of the networks changed its mind and we were able to [use it]," says Yolles. The flap, he notes, only added to the media attention already garnered by the ad.

The ads not only got a lot of attention, they also worked. Sales went up: Mike Wilsky, Nike's vp of U.S. marketing, was quoted in Sports Illustrated as saying that the shoe, the Air Cross Trainer II, "immediately shot to No. 1 in Nike sales" after the ads debuted, outselling the second most-popular shoe by a 10-to-1 margin. In the words of Internet marketing publication ChannelSeven.com's Seth Fineberg, the campaign "did what it set out to do [ldots] Nike increased sales and created yet another branding experience people would not soon forget--at least, in the advertising world."

The campaign was also effective in driving traffic both to Nike's original site and to the whatever.nike.com site created specifically for the campaign. According to New York-based Media Metrix, unique visitors to Nike.com went from 589,000 in January to 852,000 in February, when the campaign reached its height. Whatever.nike.com garnered 524,000 unique visitors in February (Media Metrix's figures for January and March were too small for an accurate sample).

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Time to Down Play Chip Speed: No Need for "Techie" Terms

There was a time when people cared a lot about the microprocessors in their PCs–a bit like teenagers once bragged that their Impala had a 450-horsepower V8 engine under the hood. Advanced Micro Devices seems to be betting those days are over.


The Silicon Valley company–perennial underdog to Intel in the microprocessor wars–has been sending out signals that it wants to move away from marketing such chips based on how fast they are. Leslie Sobon, vice president of world-wide marketing, argues in an interview this week in TG Daily that customers don’t need to know that kind of techie stuff–what’s more important is what a PC with one of its chips does, what chores it’s best suited for. A new marketing campaign based on that concept, dubbed Vision, is expected to be announced Thursday.

To some extent, the strategy smacks of capitulation. AMD, which from 2003 to 2006 boasted a performance edge over Intel, subsequently fell behind because of its own execution issues and Intel picking up its game. The problem was exacerbated by a line of Intel chips, code-named Nehalem, that matched one of AMD’s key technical advantages and added other design benefits.


That technology has been available since November to buyers of high-end desktop PCs, willing to pay for a chip called Core i7 that lists for $999. But Intel on Monday introduced versions of that speedy chip line that list at the more mainstream price points of $284 to $562, and a model called iV that starts at $196. Those chips add to the pressures on AMD in desktop PCs.


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Verizon Wireless to Partner with National Hockey League for Coverage of the 2009 Winter Classic Game

NHL fans will be able to tune into the Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic 2009 on New Year's Day on their wireless phones with V CAST Video from Verizon Wireless.

At 1 p.m. ET on Jan. 1, the Chicago Blackhawks will host the Detroit Red Wings in the league's annual outdoor game to be played this season at Wrigley Field, home of MLB's Chicago Cubs. The game will be streamed in its entirety and can be found under the "What's Hot" channel on V CAST Video.

"We know people like to watch sports and get the latest scores when mobile, so it's a great match," said Debra Lewis, spokeswoman for Verizon, Basking Ridge, NJ. "V CAST Video has also started offering more long-form programming, including full episodes of highly-rated shows, so we think this game is another great example of giving customers programming they want in the form they want it.

"And, this is just part of our overall relationship with the NHL -- no news on what might be coming in the future," she said. "This is the first game to be shown on V CAST Video, although some games may have appeared on V CAST Mobile TV, which is a different service."

Verizon Wireless is teaming with the National Hockey League to bring both avid hockey fans and casual sports enthusiasts the opportunity to watch the game on New Year's Day.

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Cliff Bar Partners with US Lacrosse to Promote Healthy Eating

US Lacrosse announced today that it has agreed to a joint marketing agreement with Clif Bar & Co., one of the leading manufacturers of energy foods in the country. The partnership was established by 361° Sports + Event Marketing, New York.

The agreement creates a youth fundraising program featuring CLIF ZBaR, the first kids' snack created to comply with SB-19, California's Senate Bill limiting fat and sugar in foods offered within the state's school system. The program will allow US Lacrosse league administrators to order and sell ZBaRs at a discount, retaining 50 percent of the profits to fund league activities. Click here for program details.

“We are thrilled to work with Clif Bar,” said Glen Schorr, US Lacrosse managing director of marketing and branding. “They make quality products that fuel athletes, and are working with us to establish programs that will benefit our members.”

Food-based fundraisers are a time honored, effective means for youth sporting groups to raise the dollars they need for equipment, outings and other team expenses. Often, however, the products sold are less than optimal for growing athletes, including candy, cookies, and other items that pack lots of fat and calories, and little in the way of fiber and nutrients. CLIF ZBaR is an organic baked whole grain energy bar filled with the nutrients that growing bodies need, without unnecessary fat and sugar.

“We are excited to be working with US Lacrosse on this innovative partnership,” said Jeff Johnson, Clif Bar director of marketing.  “With the growing popularity of the sport, this program just seems like a natural fit.”

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