Who says chivalry is dead? At least it's not on Twitter ' according to the top tweet on Boston's trending topic 'valentinesday'? on the 14th: What more could a girl ask for on Valentine's Day?! A perfect gentleman and a Big Mac ' check. It is true, social media has even changed Valentine's Day. On February 14 Valentine's Day dominated many news feeds as Twitter erupted with tweets of love as well as tweets of contempt for what many dubbed yesterday on the Twittosphere as the 'Hallmark Holiday.'? Who needs Cupid when there's Twitter? In 2008, Twitter added a new feature especially for the holiday of love ' Valentine tweets. Each time a user sent a message directed at someone (@username), and added a <3 symbol, the person hearted would be asked if they 'heart' back via a giant 'YES' button. Valentine's Day: Not just for Hallmark anymore Of course, you do not have to be Hallmark to benefit from Valentine's Day. Regardless of the diverse reactions to Valentine's Day on Twitter, many companies, such as Hershey's, Macy's and AT&T to name just a few, took advantage of the Holiday to promote their products through Twitter this year. Even Coca Cola didn't miss the chance to send out some V-day love with a sponsored top tweet. Here are just a few highlights of this year's V-day Twitter promotions: AT&T: 'Shout your love from the mountaintop.'? The campaign began Thursday and encouraged users to post declarations of love to AT&T's Facebook page. In turn, on Valentine's Day AT&T's mountain men would pick some posts to 'shout'? from the top of Mount Baldy in Southern California using HTC Inspire 4G phones. The hashtag #LoveShout was also paid for on Twitter as a promoted trend. My M&M's: Promoted personalized M&M's as a way to get a message across that may be hard to say using the M&M character Red, who has trouble showing his emotional side. Along with a variety of digital and traditional media used in the promotion, M&M used the Twitter handle MyMMscom as a way for users to share gift ideas and get discount codes for the candies. Macy's: The Sweetest Tweets Contest (Macy's first promotional contest through Twitter) prompted users to interact with the brand by tweeting love notes using the #sweetesttweets hashtag. The winner receives a three-stone diamond ring. Pizza Hut: Using the hashtag #iluvPH, users tweeted their best pick-up lines for a chance to win a free order of Pizza Hut's Hershey chocolate dunkers. Hershey's: Hershey's Valentine's Day Twitter Party. Using the #Hersheys tag on Twitter on February 3 users followed hostess @ResourcefulMom who was joined by representatives from The Hershey Company to chat about Hershey's Valentine's Day gifts and give away prizes. The grand prize being a Blu-ray player, two romantic comedies and, of course, a variety of Hershey's Valentine's treats. Hallmark (UK): Repeated last year's Twittermantic competition: By following @HallmarkUK and tweeting a romantic verse to them using the hashtag #TM for a chance to win a romantic weekend break.
Just in time for a jam packed summer event schedule, U.S. Cellular® is on the road in Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska and Wisconsin via the Ur So Connected mobile marketing tour. As U.S. Cellular® looks to further define their brand position, and create a unique point of difference within the highly competitive wireless category, AMP and U.S. Cellular® have collaborated once again to bring to market another one-of-a-kind experiential program targeting the Mass (18-49) demographic. In an effort to heighten brand awareness and consideration among target consumers (while avoiding what other providers are doing in the event space) we decided to leverage U.S. Cellular®'s strong ties to each region to create an ownable event experience for the brand. Developed from previous campaign successes and built to generate word-of-mouth buzz within the regional community, our goal was to create a mobile marketing platform that enhanced the U.S. Cellular® presence at local events (i.e. local festivals, fairs, etc.),community based sponsorships and at retail locations. The outcome is a highly interactive mobile experience that immerses consumers in the brand in a fun and unobtrusive manner. The tour includes two SUVs and a custom-built trailer, and features a Speed Text Tournament and a Photo Station. The Speed Text Tournament is played on customized speed text kiosks using reprogrammed, full QWERTY handsets as game controllers. The kiosk displays a phrase and the visitor must text that phrase as quickly and accurately as possible to earn points. The winner with the highest point total from all of the tour stops will become the ultimate Speed Text Tournament Champion and will receive the $10,000 grand prize. At the Photo Station, visitors are able to take pictures in front of a Green Screen, and then have their picture sent via blue tooth to a touch screen kiosk for customization and onsite printing. Visitors to the U.S .Cellular tour also have the opportunity to test out handsets and have their questions answered US Cellular Ambassadors armed with special offers and premium giveaways. With over 150 Tour Stops and 7 Speed Text Kiosks traveling the regions, there is always something going on. To check out the Tour Schedule please go to www.Ursoconnected.com/events or click on this link to view the recent live broadcast coverage we received from WITI-TV CH 6 (FOX) Milwaukee: http://media.vmsnews.com/MR.pl?id=070109-518634-K001934697
