Apparently there was an Audi outdoor board that showed their new answer to luxury cars and had the words "Your Move, BMW." Well, the local BMW dealer made their move and it was a good one. They bought a bigger board right across the street and put their answer on it. And their message was "Checkmate" - game over. I don't know if it was actually the local dealership or the brand made the move and tagged it with the local dealer. Either way, nicely played, BMW, nicely played.

Santa Monica BMW - "Checkmate"

Reminds us all to be careful when poking the giant with a stick. Sometimes they wake up and poke back. What good rebuttle ads have you seen?

Mike McClure, Exec Creative Director

Each weekend, they give a car from one of their dealerships to a local blogger and social media influencer as part of their social test drive program. In return, they ask that when you tweet, facebook, foursquare or whatever, you use the hashtag they created for the program: #SocialTestDrive. They don't put any restrictions on what you write or blog about, which is the only way to do it right. They let their product and service speak for itself and trust that it will result in a good experience for the recipient of the vehicle.

The Suburban Collection has only been doing this for about four weeks now, but they are already seeing good results. After their first week, they sold a couple vehicles as a direct result of the program. One of the guys who bought after following the first week's social test drive online said he came in because the experience he witnessed through the social channels seemed to be a good one. He had had a bad experience at Suburban in the past, but after reading the posts, he decided to give them another try. This time, he had a real good experience. The vehicle he bought wasn't even the one that was being test driven that weekend. But, the experience he'd followed through social media seemed good enough to give Suburban another shot.

"Our goal is to just be a part of the conversation," says Zac Holmes, Online Marketing Coordinator at Suburban. "People hang out online, live there, interact there - that's where you'll find them. We wanted to reach out to them in the space they're already occupying and connect them to our brand."

One of the smart things Suburban is doing is the way they recruit the people to participate in their program. They do it by having the person who just finished the program choose the next one, giving them the additional perk of sharing the experience with their friends. Plus, they get a list of influencers already vetted for them. Who else would know the local blogger/social media influencer landscape better than those who are a part of it.

"People are a lot more likely to believe a review if you hear it from someone you know or follow, rather than from the brand itself," said Holmes. "It's more realistic when it's coming from them. We also wanted to put people in vehicles they might not try otherwise. This makes driving part of the buying experience - whether it's actually driving the vehicle or driving it vicariously through following along with the driver online."

I have first hand experience in how the process works, since I participated in their social test drive program last weekend, driving a hybrid Honda Insight from Suburban Honda. I had followed the previous weekend's driver, fellow social media and ad guy, Bryan Willmert, on his social test drive (mostly through Instagram) and had enjoyed his story. Then, to my surprise the following week I got a tweet from both Zac and the Suburban Collection asking if I'd like to participate. Obviously, I said yes. And it was a pretty good experience.

They gave me a choice of several different brands. Once I chose Honda, they asked what I was driving and suggested four different models that I might like to test drive. I was interested in checking out their hybrid, the Honda Insight. When I showed up, they walked me through the vehicle and how to work all the options. They shot a video of me with the car and sent me on my way.

It was interesting to see the interaction I got. On my first day (last Friday), I had to go downtown Detroit for a lunch meeting. I tweeted out where I was going and the car I was in. I immediately got feedback via twitter. One person I know tweeted me that they were a half mile away from my meeting, could I stop by while there. I swung by and let him take the Insight for a tool around the city. Once that was done another tweeted for "nexties" and another wanted to see it and we hooked up the following day at the auto show. So, the most immediate feedback came via twitter - including from people outside of my own followers, people who were following the hashtag, either promoted by Suburban or via previous test drivers.

Longer discussions, with more in depth questions, came on the Facebook messages/pictures I posted. And for shear volume, my Instagram posts seemed to get the most reactions - including again, from people I had no idea who they were. They were just fans of the car or the brand.

Talking with Holmes, who works with four of the Suburban Collection dealerships in the Detroit area (Honda, Acura, Ford and Chrysler/Jeep/Dodge/Ram), his group has enthusiastically embraced the program and plans to continue it with one or two social test drivers each week. Judging from my experience and the reaction to it, I'd say they're on to something. It's a good way to connect with your local community in a very real way and really boost your share of conversation online. So, think about it. How can you accomplish the same for your local brand/client?

Mike McClure, Social Driver

Last week we dipped our toes into an ever-changing and exciting world of Mobile Marketing.  You enter Part 2 of the Mobile series, armed with knockout customer insights and a vocabulary full of jargon terms you already used to impress everyone at Monday’s department meeting.  The next step is to build a proper Mobile webpage, which will not only convert potential clients into paying customers, but increase positive association with your brand.

Seeing Through Your Customers’ Eyes
Access your website through a Mobile device, and see it through the customer’s eyes. As expected, the design and layout of what looks good on a personal computer doesn’t translate well into mobile experience.  If you’re squinting to see the font, so are your frustrated customers. If you’re having trouble navigating through the pages, your customers are contemplating checking out your competitor. If the page is still loading by the time you finish this paragraph, the customer already left.

Cashing In on the Insights
The insights you gathered are a blueprint for your website. After monitoring and analyzing your traffic through Google, you will know what mobile devices your customers are using. iPhone, Android, Blackberry or tablets have different  strengths and weaknesses, so it’s crucial you understand them. For instance: if your customers are primarily using an iPhone, keep in mind that it cannot run Flash (so don’t use it).  Android and iPhone use touchscreen navigation, while Blackberries might not.

Satisfying a Need
Looking at your Mobile Segmentation analysis, ask what NEED does your website satisfy for your customer? Depending on your insights you may arrive at different conclusions. If your customers frequently get lost while trying to find your location, they access your mobile website for directions or your phone number. If that’s the case, make sure that the first page that loads has your phone number and directions.   If they are looking for prices, make it brain-dead easy for them to find and buy items. If they’re looking for coupons, you can offer a special for signing on Foursquare or “Liking” you on Facebook/ following you on Twitter.  Satisfying their need is your first priority. Users who cannot find what they are looking for or are have trouble navigating through the store check-outs, often leave halfway through the transaction, never to return.

Keep it simple. I mean it.
Everybody knows your cool website has flashy graphics, ready-to-download case studies and well-written bios, but nobody wants to see it on their smartphone.  Slow connection speeds and pay-per-byte data plans will make the experience of going to your website expensive and unbearably slow. Keep the graphics to a minimum and focus on satisfying the customer’s needs.

Small Screens = Large Fonts
Unless your customers are rocking an iPad, they’ll have a hard time seeing anything written in regular font.  Make the font larger, and test it on mobile devices. Your mobile page should fit neatly into the screen of the hand-held device and spitting out easily-digestible content. Buttons, links and navigation tools should also be bigger to make navigation between pages easier (especially with touch-screen devices).

Click to Call
If you’re listing a phone number that the customer might want to contact you with, make sure that it’s “click to call.” Once the customer clicks (or touches) the phone number they will have an option to automatically dial it, eliminating the hassle to write it down(while driving).

Listen to Feedback
The biggest mistake you can make is ignore your customers while building a mobile website specifically designed for them. Involve them in the process by asking about and monitoring their mobile use. When the beta version of your website comes out, bring in a few loyal customers you trust and test it out. Observe and improve.

Deep Thoughts About Ending Paragraphs
If you haven’t found a mobile development expert within your department’—congratulations you are the new mobile web development expert of your department! As the newly-crowned mobile expert it is your responsibility to enlist support of digital advertising veterans to make this thing a reality (what about The Yaffe Group? I hear they’re pretty good). Stay tuned, next week brings the final installment of the Mobile Series. Use the internet-comment-machine below to post your mobile thoughts.

 Dmitri Pivtorak, Socially Mobile

For most of us the 2012 resolutions look like this: lay off Hot Pockets, earn a ton of money and make a diligent effort to smile when your mother-in-law unexpectedly shows up on your doorstep for a visit. When it comes to resolutions for your business Mobile Marketing should be at the top of your list— especially if you’re playing catch up with competition. Last year was huge for mobile marketing and it’s getting even bigger. Technology innovations make it easy to shop, stay social, informed and entertained anywhere and anytime.  Smartphones drive our life on-the-go and with it present constant opportunities to advertise. Why wouldn’t you reach your customer through something they carry and interact with every waking (and sometimes sleeping) moment?

Watch the video below to see some amazing mobile stats

Know your mobile customer
Gen-Y facetweets, youblogs, and mysquares faster than you can log into your email, while Grandma is still figuring out the whole webcam thing. Each customer uses a smartphone to satisfy a NEED while being restricted or empowered by their aptitude for technology.  The game hasn’t changed, customers are still shopping, but they’re using mobile to simplify and enrich their experience.

Tracking mobile visitors
First step is to assess the situation. You might not know that people are accessing your website through mobile devices unless you have a way to track it. Meet your new best friend, Google Analytics. Study your traffic under the microscope and establish a baseline. What devices are your customers using? How does your marketing strategy affect traffic? Through analytics you will understand the current situation and pave way for future decisions.

 Identifying Mobile Segments
The wonderful thing about customers is that they can be grouped together into segments.  After you ninja your way through demographic/geo profiles think about the following.  

Psychographic and motivational segmentation will force you to step into the shoes of your customer and focus on their attitudes, goals and emotional features.
-Think about what your users seek through their mobile devices: entertainment, information, social or a bargain. For instance, customers seeking a bargain may not like mobile technology, but will use it anyway if there is a reward (like a coupon or a discount).
-Is the customer skating on the high tech edge or staying away from technology because it invades their privacy? For example: Social oriented high tech users would be more likely to check in on foursquare  at your store location, which presents a valuable opportunity to engage them.
-Is mobile a lifestyle choice or something they are forced to use? Gen Y vs Late adopters.
-In addition to insights you gather from this exercise, create a map to key customer touch points with your brand. Map out customer’s mobile shopping experience from interest about your product to purchasing decision. 
-Do they browse and compare prices on the phone before purchasing? What brought them to your website? Was it to find store locations, order online, get a deal or check in on foursquare? How did they find out about it? Through company’s e-letter, a chat with company rep, QR code or external advertising?

I leave you with many questions to answer and priorities to fulfill.  Moving forward in the Mobile Resolutions series, you’ll learn about mobile websites and implementing mobile advertising strategies.  In the meantime, share some of your mobile experiences in the comment section and give Grandma a call, she  still needs help.

Check back next week for part 2 of this series.

Dmitri Pivtorak, On the move, going mobile

There was no doubt this ad would become one of my ads of the week. When I first saw it at home, I kept backing it up on the DVR and replaying it. Made me smile every time. Of course, there's no way it could lose. First off, if you follow my Ad of the Week posts, you know I love the ads Google has been doing for the last few years. I think they produce some of the most consistently wonderful advertising out there. Every ad tells a story that connects well with it's audience.

But the ad for Google+ with the Muppets doing a hangout while playing along with the Queen/David Bowie classic "Under Pressure" seems like it's targeted specifically at me. For one thing, I'm a HUGE Muppets fan. I love almost everything they do. I'm also a huge David Bowie fan and Under Pressure is one of my favorite songs of all time.

Yet, I don't think Google was talking just to me. Seems a lot of people love this ad. Which is part of my initial point. Google just knows how to connect well with people. Maybe it's because they know so much about us, given all the data they're able to collect. But, in their advertising at least, they seem to be using the info for good, not evil. So, in my completely biased opinion, here's one of the best ads of the last year.

 Google+ - Muppets Rock Out in a Hangout

So, what did you think? Love it as much as I do? Or is there another ad out there you think is better? Let me know, maybe your favorite will end up as a future ad of the week.

Mike McClure - Self-admitted Muppet Maniac

This spot reminded me that though it's our job as advertisers to solve customers' problems, there's a fine line between solving a problem and exacerbating the problem by embellishing it over, and over, and over again.

Sometimes we shop because we have a problem that needs solving. That's generally true everyday of the year. But that's not how any of us really want to think about Christmas. Even though Macy's campaign evokes the magical spirit of Christmas for children, it inspires all of us in the process to WANT to buy. Not have to. And under which circumstance would you prefer to bring people into your store?

The fact that they also built in an in-store magical red box that brings the inspiration (and customers) into the stores AND gives back to charity—win, win, win.

Watch, be inspired, shop, and Happy Holidays, all!

 Jen Wright, Inspired Yaffe Account gal

Having spent the first eight years of my career working on the retail side of automotive advertising, I can appreciate a well-done holiday/end of year clearance event. Every car company does them. You can't watch the local news without at least a couple car ads in every commercial break. That's why I especially appreciate the low-key clever campaign Honda is doing this year with their Happy Honda Days ads. Not only are they well written, they did a lot of them - so you're a lot less likely to get bored watching the same one or two holiday ads over and over again.

The spots feature celebrity spokesperson, Patrick Warburton, who delivers the lines in a tongue-in-cheek, low-key tone that draws you in. The ads have fairly simple premises, with most featuring a car on a simple blue set with maybe a Christmas tree and a few patches of "snow." Warburton looks almost Christmas Story-esque in his old-style hair cut, red striped tie and vee-neck sweaters.

Each ad kind of lampoons the traditional holiday car sale format. My favorite makes fun of the Lexus, giving a car with a big red bow on it ads. It starts with Warburton asking, "Are you a millionaire? If you're not, you probably don't give cars for Christmas." He pulls the bow off the car as he says this and goes on to talk about how you might, however, need a car for yourself and now's a good time to get one. But, never one to take themselves seriously, at the end he says you can't have the one he's standing by, because it's for his niece. While telling us this, he tries to put the bow back on it - because, after all, he IS a millionaire who can give cars as gifts.

 Happy Honda Days - "Car Gift"

Another one I really like is where they make fun of the fact that all of these nationally produced ads (their's included) usually leave room at the end for a 5-second tag with an offer. So they open with the offer and then he makes fun of the convention of the normal ad format they've been using. It ends playing with the "dramatic" cuts in closer each sentence until it's just his lips on camera saying "too close." Good stuff.

 Happy Honda Days - Giant Offer

And let's wrap it up with the ad where they say they're not going to use the holiday angle to sell you, then use a different (and still holiday) angle blatantly at the end.

 Happy Honda Days - The Holiday Angle

There are a lot more of them, if you want to watch them all. Most of them are suggested after you watch one of the ones above. It's my favorite holiday campaign. How about you? What holiday ad campaign has made you feel jolly all over? Or if you have a suggestion for another ad of the week, let me know that too.

Mike McClure - Looking more like Santa every year.

Bloggers link directly to the hearts and minds of your customers. Equipped with intimate industry knowledge and engaging content, successful bloggers skyrocket to front pages of the search engines with the help from their dedicated army of readers. According to 2009 survey, 77% of active Internet users read blogs, which makes blogger outreachan effective tool for any organization interested in marketing a product or a service online.

People like people. Bloggers are not brands, but real individuals who cover topics they are passionate about. Readers who follow a specific blog develop a trust-based relationship and become part of an interactive community surrounding it. Trust allows bloggers to effectively communicate your message better than any form of ads because it is viewed as word of mouth.

Targeted exposure. The biggest benefit of blogger outreach is talking directly into the ears of your customers. Successful blogs are niche-centered, and attract readers who are interested in that specific topic. This is segmentation at its best; you are conveying your business messages to the right people, at the right time. By writing about your product or brand in their post, bloggers can introduce a new product, increase brand awareness and even make your content go viral.

SEO. In addition to speaking directly to your audience in an environment where they are more engaged, you will reap the benefits of moving up in the SEO world. Links provided by the blogger in the post will boost your rating on search engines.

Creating a target list

The first step in blogger outreach is creating a list of bloggers in your niche. Each blogger has their own voice and viewpoint; keep an eye on the ones that fit your brand. Before you can start reaching out to bloggers, you need to crank out your excel file list. Aim for at least 100 blogs. New tools come out every day, but I have found these to be a good starter kit.

1. Technorati.comis a database which ranks blogs based on authority and groups they belong to. The authority score and blog rank will help you sort through influencers and their runner-ups.

2. Alltop.com is a good place to start if you don’t know what niche categories you are looking for. Alltop’s categories are numerous and clearly defined. Trending industry stories and top bloggers are listed on the top of each category page.

3 Google.com/blogsearch is an advanced Google search function targeting only blogs. This function will cover everything Alltop and Technorati missed.

4. Blogroll. Once you found a blog you like, it would be a good idea to check what other blogs the author links to. This list can be found on a right hand side of the page or in one of the headings and contains similar blogs to the one you are on. Additionally, check out if the blog belongs to any community or organization which would be indicated by a button or a link.

5. Alexa.com will help you measure the numerous lists of blogs you have acquired by providing statistics on ranking, reach and page views.

Filled with unshaken confidence, gallons of coffee, and a room packed with interns you are sure to come out victorious. What are your thoughts on blogger outreach? What tool was your favorite? Comment below to feed your local bloggers.

Dmitri Pivtorak, newest member of the Yaffe social media team.

So, here are some of my favorites of the night. They are not necessarily the best in category winners, just winners that I found outstanding. One of my favorites also won last year and I kind of forgot about it until it won again this year. It's the Del Taco Super Special show. A series of weird and wacky skit webisodes designed to appeal to the off kilter, all night taco crowd. Here's a couple webisodes.

 Del Taco Super Special Show, When Tacos Ruled The Earth

 Del Taco Super Special Show, Bean There, Done That

The next D Show winner that I'd like to share is a spot for Carhartt. It's a bunch of guys camping, when one of them gets attacked by a pack of wolves. But once the attack ends, the guy is left unharmed and one of the wolves is left without a tooth.

 Carhartt - Wolves

I saw a lot of great work, interestingly one of the best storytelling videos is one that one in the music category. It's a non-broadcast video for the US Navy about how an Indian born Muslim who was a Kuwaiti refugee from Operation Desert Storm became a Navy Chaplin. It's a compelling human story told well.

 US Navy - Chaplain Balbale

And finally, I'd like to share another winner in the non-broadcast video, it's part of the Ford Explorer Live series, featuring Nelly talking about the awesome sound system. It's a funny video with a douche bag director who keeps trying to add a lot of bells and whistles to the video and Nelly, who is trying to just have the video be a simple one with him showing you what great sound you can get in the Explorer. It's a fun bit that pokes fun at our side of the business. Enjoy

 Ford Explorer - Nelly 2011 Video

Well, that's just a taste of the great work here in the D that was honored last night at The D Show. What do you think? And if you went to the show, what were your favorites that I left out? And as always, if you have a suggestion for ad of the week, just leave it here in the comment section, email it to info@yaffe.com, send us a tweet @TheYaffeGroup or drop us a note on Facebook.

Mike McClure, Exec Creative Director - feeling a little D envy today.

Have you ever wondered what to do first while developing digital strategies for your business? Should you redesign your corporate websites and rewrite all the content for search engine purposes? Or should you start display advertising programs on Adwords and AdCenter? 

It’s amazing how the usage of the Internet has evolved over the past few years. Two or three years ago, search engine optimization could be examined separately. And people would argue that improving website meta tags or adding detailed title tags could be a long term win compared to bidding competitive keywords on Google, Yahoo (when its online advertising program still existed) and Bing. Nowadays, no matter whether you are an individual business owner or a corporate employee, knowing the relationship between organic search (often related to search engine optimization), search advertising (related to search engine marketing or paid search) and social media is just as important as identifying business opportunities.

Search engine optimization (SEO), in my opinion, is mostly considered as “the meat.” It includes any bits and pieces of information you place on your website or blog to help visitors (or Google algorithms) find what they are looking for easier and faster. You can identify different keywords for each page, add alt tags for images, and use different codes such as H1 H2 to emphasize certain content. Whereas search engine marketing (SEM), is more like “the bait.” Whether the format is text, images, or multimedia, the purpose of search engine marketing is to boost awareness or to increase sales. However, as consumers become more and more complicated and picky, given the amount of information they can easily find online, the companies who want to utilize SEO, SEM and social media have to make all three work as a seamless process to acquire and nurture relationships with their customers.

For example, business-to-business companies who have low brand awareness can use SEM to promote their products and services, getting new customers to take some sort of action (fill out a form, request a demo, or call a number…etc). After new customers become prospects (or leads), the company has to keep informative content on its website (SEO) to develop a long-term relationship with their customers rather than a one-time interaction initiated from paid advertising.

For business-to-consumer companies, social media usually plays a role during the customer relationship management process (and beyond), serving as another channel for information and interaction. Companies can easily outsource all their SEO, SEM and even social media projects, but they have to understand the synergy between all these concepts in order to have effective campaigns.

If you live near the Detroit area and would like to dive deeper into how different businesses can utilize SEO, SEM and social media, the Social Media Club Detroit is presenting a panel discussion on the subject on Nov 30, 2011. Four industry evangelists of SEO, SEM and inbound marketing will be sharing their experience how to look beyond tools and algorithms to tailor best practices to business needs.

Last but not least, no matter what campaigns you are planning, have a goal first. Too often companies get sidetracked by all sorts of tools and metrics and forget about the funneling process of business acquisition, retention and management. I recently attended search engine strategy summit and listened to an amazing talk about marketing strategies versus different attribution models. To learn more about what I learned there, please read my blog post at evyfindstheway.com.

Guest blog post by Evelyn Chou, Social Media & Digital Marketing Specialist