Tameka Kee

Tameka Kee has been covering the digital media industry with a focus on advertising, social media and video games for nearly four years.

Before launching Kee Consulting (clients include Econsultancy and SocialTimes Pro), she served as editorial director of DM2 Media, where she oversaw content development for DIGIDAY:DAILY, as well as the company’s roster of digital media and marketing conferences, including DPAC and DIGIDAY:APPS.

Before joining DM2, she served as a full time reporter for paidContent, covering the business of digital entertainment and gaming, and breaking news on companies like Electronic Arts, Playfish, Netflix and Facebook. Before paidContent, she covered search marketing for Mediapost.

Will American Express, Zynga deal be a virtual rewards game-changer?

Got points? Starting today, you can redeem them for virtual items like cows in FarmVille or guns in Mafia Wars. In a first-of-its kind deal, American Express has teamed with game-maker Zynga to make its credit card rewards redeemable for virtual goods.

It’s the latest example of gamification – or the introduction of game elements into non-game activities. There are reasons this commerce and gaming partnership works for AmEx and Zynga, but the deal could have implications for other companies’ reward programs as well.

by Tameka Kee 30 November 2010 19:19pm 2 comments

Q&A: Weber Shandwick's David Krejci on crisis and social media

David Krejci, Weber Shandwick Digital media has intensified the importance of fast, smart crisis communications strategies. Brands know they can’t control the public reaction to snafus, nor can they ignore them or hope they'll just fade away.

PR professionals routinely run drills to suss out what will happen in a crisis. In this age of real-time social media, tools are emerging such as FireBell - a "social crisis simulator" from PR agency Weber Shandwick - to help make the reaction equally instantaneous.

by Tameka Kee 30 November 2010 01:59am 0 comments

Leader, participant or observer: How “social” is your company?

It’s clear “everyone’s doing it” when it comes to marketers and social media – but that doesn’t mean everyone understands why. Examples of social media successes and failures abound, but with minimal standardization, it's not easy to benchmark one company's strategy against a competitor's, or the industry at large.

FedEx and PR and marketing agency Ketchum have a new study on the matter. Surveying more than 60 brands such as AT&T, Cisco, Southwest Airlines, Chevron and GM, their research found marketers fall into three distinct buckets in terms of their social media efforts.

by Tameka Kee 29 November 2010 20:21pm 2 comments

Can etailers steal holiday marketshare from brick and mortar stores?

While comScore predicts holiday shoppers will spend more than $32 billion online this year, that's just a fraction of the $852 billion Deloitte expects in overall holiday spending. So what's keeping more of that money from being spent online?

Stats from Millward Brown reveal factors keeping shoppers tied to the retail store experience. They also shed light on three ways etailers can make the online shopping experience more attractive.

by Tameka Kee 26 November 2010 13:49pm 2 comments

Are you ignoring affluent shoppers with your holiday campaigns?

Though the US economy is showing signs of a slow recovery, most holiday messaging will still focus on discounts and lower pricing to attract shoppers. It makes sense to target price-conscious consumers, but etailers that just promote discounts could be missing another important holiday shopper segment: affluents.

by Tameka Kee 24 November 2010 17:28pm 2 comments

Will viewers really deal with seeing more ads in online video shows?

The more ads, the better. That seems to be the strategy for boosting online ad revenue for publishers of all kinds. First, the Online Publishers Association (OPA) decided that making ads bigger and bolder was one way to help boost publishers’ dwindling CPMs. Now, the TV networks are concluding that loading their online video shows with more ads is the best way to increase digital revenue.

It seems to fly in the face of common sense – after all, consumers have flocked to DVR because they can skip all of the ads hurled at them on broadcast TV or cable. Meanwhile, with shorter attention spans on the web, won’t more ads just make online viewers tune out? Research from the networks says no.

Hulu screengrab

by Tameka Kee 23 November 2010 19:59pm 1 comment

Q&A: Martin Keane, SVP of ecommerce at Bluefly

Bluefly has been in the business of selling limited edition and high-end apparel online for well over a decade. Now, facing competition from newer, more “social” brands like LivingSocial and Gilt Groupe, the company is integrating elements of social commerce into its shopping experience.

A big component of Bluefly's strategy has been an integration of tools from social commerce provider Bazaarvoice. We chatted with Martin Keane, Bluefly's SVP of ecommerce, to get a read on the company's experience with Bazaarvoice, as well as some insight into the shopping experience on Facebook, and Google's Boutiques.com.

by Tameka Kee 23 November 2010 12:00pm 1 comment

Skinned smartly: How smart USA leveraged deviantART for a successful UGC campaign

Winning Smart Car skin Car companies have had mixed results with using user-generated content (UGC) campaigns to promote new vehicles. Ford’s Fiesta Movement generated tons of positive buzz by seeding 100 social media “stars” with cameras and free compact cars. But who can forget the disaster that was Chevy's "Make your own Tahoe commercial"?

When smart, the ultra-compact brand of Diamler AG, wanted to boost the presence of its smart fourtwo vehicle in the US, the company turned to UGC. And in the safe confines of online artist community deviantART, the campaign was able to flourish.

by Tameka Kee 18 November 2010 16:46pm 3 comments

Q&A: Josh Resnik, VP & GM of Gannett Digital Network

Josh Resnik, Gannett Digital Like many newspaper conglomerates, Gannett has struggled with "going digital" in the midst of dwindling print revenues. As VP and GM of the Gannett Digital Media Network (GDN) Josh Resnik's job is to help ensure that the company's transition to digital is a lucrative one.

GDN encompasses the flagship USAToday.com and all of Gannett’s local newspaper and TV station websites. We caught up with Resnik to get a read on how GDN is handling increased competition on the local ad front, what the company thinks about iAds, and even a glimpse into the crystal ball for 2011.

by Tameka Kee 18 November 2010 16:43pm 0 comments

McDonald’s goes local to launch new coffee flavor – using free content, not ads

Leave the Facebook Deals and sponsored Twitter trends to the other brands. McDonald’s is using a location-based, social media scavenger hunt to promote its new coffee drink, but the company is using free content - not buying any of the new ad units - as part of the campaign.