Report: Most College Males Admit to Regularly Getting Stoked

We are loving this video from the Onion News Network. Enjoy…and go get stoked about something.

Marketing With Geotagging Is Where It’s At

For the past few weeks, this guy has been standing at a busy intersection I pass on my way home from work holding a picket sign announcing the closing of the K-Mart store just down the road. “Discounts of 70%-80%!” “Final Days!”  Each year around tax time, without fail, there is a different man dressed up in a Statue of Liberty costume that waves like a maniac to passing cars while pointing to the small Liberty Tax office nestled in the strip mall behind him.  These are examples of proximity marketing in its most rudimentary form. And believe it or not, it works.

New geotagging capabilities with Twitter essentially allow marketers to put a person on the corner wearing a sandwich board all day. When Twitter announced that its geotagging API was available, my head started spinning with the possibilities this would have for marketing. This technology is also hitting at a perfect time. More retailers are testing deals and coupon codes through social media, holiday shopping is in full swing, and more people are using smart phones than ever before.

Recent statistics published by Deloitte Services and the National Retail Federation show that 60 percent of consumers will use social media to locate coupons and discounts, and 59 percent of retailers will boost Twitter use.

Small businesses and franchisees will capitalize on geotagging first. By following local Twitter conversations, neighborhood shops will likely get people following them as well. As “tweepstakes” and offers are shared, a crop of local followers is cultivated through real-time discussions and custom offers built on the fly from trending topics.

Youth marketers should also be taking notice of the recent research from Pew Internet & American Life Project showing that the 18- to 24 year-old-demographic now accounts for 37% of Twitter users. That figure is up considerably from 2008. Instead of analyzing if this is an anomaly, wouldn’t you rather spend time cutting your teeth now on strategies for connecting with this demographic using Tweets?

Geolocation of tweets are just the beginning. Soon, I expect everything to have geotagging capabilities and tie back into social media. That means the GPS unit on your dash will tweet where you are driving, and fast-food chains or gas stations will tweet deals to lure you in. Facebook will follow suit, opening the door for marketers to deliver coupons and real-time offers while you update your status from your phone. Smartphone usage with youth will become ubiquitous in short order as data plans get cheaper and cell phone carriers start playing nice with each other. This has already led to more app development with a prerequisite that they include social media and geolocation utility. Target has an iPhone app that allows shoppers to check store inventory based on their location, get a store map, and even pinpoint the aisle in which the item is located.

How will you use geotagging in your marketing? Will youth notice and respond to offers from brands using this technology?

Now Hiring for Experienced OOH Sales

Do you have experience in out-of-home (OOH) advertising sales and the college market?

For this position we are looking for experienced OOH sales people who can bring their experience and current contacts to the table to help grow our network of on-campus OOH opportunities.

What we are looking for:

• 5+ years of OOH sales experience
• Working knowledge of the 18-24 year old demographic and experience working with “youth” related brands a plus
• Strong sales experience (cold calling, networking, prospecting, contract negotiations, strategy/planning).
• Ability to connect with agencies and brands to explore and contact for the advertising space
• Strategic thinking skills
• Excellent communication and presentation skills (verbal and written)
• Independent self-starter with strong work ethic
• Team attitude – work together with our existing team in positive and forward looking attitude
• MS Office skills including Excel, Word, and PowerPoint. Experience with Google Docs, Gmail, Google Sites, and SalesForce a plus.
• 4-year college degree in advertising, marketing, business, or other related field.
• Will include some travel
• Telecommute work option available
• Locations Desired: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Minneapolis

What we have:

• Exclusive advertising relationships
• Entrepreneurial company environment that celebrates successes
• Open organizational structure with open communications
• Aggressive commission plan
• Health and dental plan
• Paid time off
• Retirement plan with company match

To apply, e-mail your cover letter, references, and resume to hr[at]campusmediagroup.com by 12/30/2009. Please reference job title in subject line. To submit your information by mail, click here.

Marketers should test the waters with Wave

Remember the nightmare of “group projects” in college? You would all get together after class and talk about the assignment, divide up tasks and go work in a silo until the next meeting? Remember that load who usually did nothing and came up with lame excuses for not contributing or showing up to your group meetings? Well, those days should be over on college campuses. Google Wave was launched in September and has positioned itself to change the way we all collaborate. Some say it will redefine email as we know it; others call it the next generation of live web. It’s too early to tell what it will do, but it’s threaded, real-time conversation is creating endless possibilities for higher education and youth marketers.

When I think about “the wave,” I picture a packed baseball stadium of people standing and cheering one section at a time until it makes a full circle. It’s a group effort triggered in one area that spreads from person to person. Google Wave does that with conversations and ideas and supports it all with links, photos, videos and more being shared at once through group chat, email and search. It essentially replaces the clunky aspects of managing a project through email and provides more user tools through their education apps. No lost notes, no color-coded email threads and no meeting after class! Nothing gets lost in translation. Professors and students could use it for project management, quiz and survey tools and classroom collaboration. Wave is still in its infancy and will take some time to gain traction, but its timing couldn’t be better as more colleges start migrating to Google for campus email and other applications.

As a youth marketer, it’s my job to ask if there is a place for brands within Wave. The jury is still out on this, and not a whole lot of “ad” opportunities seem to exist aside from a much more granular inventory for AdWords. I believe Wave will change the future of social marketing and just might put a marketing hat on every department in a company.  R&D departments will be able to work directly with passionate brand evangelists globally to create or refine goods and services. Sales promotions teams will finally be able to get real feedback on their new student discount programs. Businesses big and small might be able to improve customer service and the shopping experience without first being decimated on The Consumerist. Essentially, Wave presents yet another opportunity to do what so many of us choose not to do…rub off the corporate polish and actually talk to our customers to get a sense of what they want.

Click here for a closer look at Wave.