Wimpy reaches 800,000 blind people with 'Braille burger' campaign
Fast food chain Wimpy has made created 15 special ‘Braille' hamburgers as part of an influencer relations campaign to promote its new Braille menus in South Africa.
Wimpy chefs used sesame seeds on the top of buns to spell out ‘100% pure beef burger, made for you'.
Do location-based services really matter yet?
Location-based services like Foursquare saw their popularity increase
dramatically in 2010, and along with that popularity came plenty of
press attention. To some, location-based services may represent the holy
grail of mobile marketing for brick-and-mortar businesses.
But are brick-and-mortar marketers overestimating how much these services can help them?
Five lessons from the Gawker, McDonald's data breaches
What does online gossip rag Gawker have in common with fast food restaurant chain McDonald's? In the past several days, both have fallen victim to hackers who gained access to user databases.
The Gawker hack, in particular, has garnered a lot of attention because the hackers seem most interested in humiliating the popular blog. They have released the emails and passwords of more than 1m of Gakwer's registered users.
Specialty chains rank in fast-food online top 10 thanks to social media
Specialty fast-food chains like Chipotle and Chick-fil-a are extremely
good at engaging consumers online. These smaller brands have become so
adept, they’re emerging as real competitors to mega-brands like
McDonald’s and Starbucks in terms of digital exposure.
Stats from media measurement firm General Sentiment show just how valuable that digital exposure actually is.
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.
McDonald's social media chief: Foot traffic and check-ins are not the same
Last week I wrote about a case study that McDonald's presented at the Mobile Social Communications conference in New York. Rick Wion, head of social media at McDonald's, boasted that a special McDonald's ran on Foursquare Day in April increased foot traffic at McDonald's 33%.
That's no small number, and since not all 26 million McDonald's customers are on Foursquare, it was a bit unclear what, exactly, had increased 33%.
With commenters and bloggers questioning the results, I followed up with Wion. As it turns out that McDonald's results were not measured in actual foot traffic. According to Wion:
"We measured check-ins, not foot traffic, transactions, or sales, on Foursquare Day."
That's an over 20 million customer difference. However, Wion still stands behind his results. And he's using this case study to justify more social media offers at McDonald's.
Case Study: McDonald's ups foot traffic 33% on Foursquare Day
McDonald's may be a large brand, but it doesn't always want to invest large budgets in marketing. With a little help from Foursquare this Spring, the fast food chain increased foot traffic 33% in one day with an investment of less than $1,000.
Rick Wion, head of social media at McDonald's, is a big fan of such pilot programs. As he says, "the bigger your budget is, the harder it is to scale."
Facebook prepares to launch its location feature — with ads from McDonald's
With all of the interest in local and mobile advertising going on right now, Facebook has been quickly preparing its own location-based check-in feature. And now it looks like the social network could be close to launching.
And Facebook is seeking the help of McDonald's as an initial launch partner. When check-in to McDonald's from their status updates — which could happen as soon as this month — they'll also be able to feature a McDonald's product in their post. Doesn't that sound like fun?
Did CoTweet just take Twitter's business model, and future customers?
When it comes to launching a business model, Twitter has been as slow as molasses. Co-founders Ev Williams and Biz Stone are always quick to point out that their focus right now is on the product, not on making money.
One of the potential business models that has been discussed: brand management tools and data access for brands. But what happens if Twitter takes too long and third parties take over the market?
Starbucks introduces barcode payments with its new iPhone app
Starbucks may have foisted the fabricated need for half caf soy no foam lattes on the American populace, but now that the country is accustomed to making finnicky caffeine orders, the company is trying to reassert its dominance on the caffeine market. And today the company announced an iPhone app that may help it get ahead of the curve when it comes to technology.
While Starbucks may be late to the iPhone app party, the company is making up for its tardiness with some caffinated leaps forward in the field of mobile payments.
