Organization Name: HighRise Studio Industry: Entertainment, Food, Retail Name of contact: Matt Ninaber Web references: WIRED, Fundable, HighRise Studio, Canadian Media Fund, Frio-Lay, LEGO, Crowdsourcing.org, Indiegogo, US Securities and Exchange Commission Fire your Product Managers and Stop Looking for Investors – Replace Them with Your Facebook Followers! Okay, maybe don’t fire them just yet but if you aren’t using your social… Read more »
Organization Name: La Crema Winery Industry: Wine Name of contact if available: Mark Gordon, Senior Digital Communications Manager, Jackson Family Wines Web references: La Crema, Amarillo Globe News, The Press Democrat , La Crema Virtual Vintner Sweepstakes Description of how social media is used for business performance: Do you dream of becoming a winemaker? If you have always wanted to make your… Read more »
Organisation Name: Royal Dutch Shell plc, commonly know as Shell Industry: Oil and Gas Name of Contact if Available: Cameron Yost, Media Relations Department Web References: Shell Oil Royal Dutch Shell plc, commonly known as Shell is a multinational oil and gas company operating in over seventy countries with approximately 92,000 employees. It placed second on Fortune Magazines’ Global Fortune 500… Read more »
Posted on February 13, 2015 By Christian Ismodes & Dolores Montavez Organization Name: McDonald’s Industry: Fast food restaurant company Name of Contact: Don Thompson Web References: www.mcdonalds.ca Techniques, such as crowdsourcing, have gained momentum as companies look outside their corporate walls in search for new innovative product ideas. Social media tools are being used by product managers and designers not… Read more »
Organization Name: Starbucks Corporation (Starbucks Coffee) Industry: Coffeehouse Name of contact if available: Matthew Guiste, Director of Global Social Media at Starbucks Web references: My Starbucks Idea Share. Vote. Discuss. See. The Starbucks social media strategy is built around their company web site and six additional social platforms, including Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, G+, Youtube, and My Starbucks Idea – the… Read more »
Organization Name: Estonian Air Industry: Airline Name of contact if available: Tero Taskila, Former CEO Web references: Estonian Air Can you determine what X and Y are? X is a democratic country located in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It has a population of 1.3 million and is one of the least populated member states of the European Union. Final… Read more »
Organization name: New York Times Industry: News Web references: New York Times January 26, 2015; New York City and area prepare for heavy snowstorm to hit within hours. The storm is expected to shut down the city, and people are getting ready for a “snow day”. At this time, a great idea was developed by Matt Flegenheimer , a New… Read more »
Organization Name: McDonalds Industry: Fast food Web References: McDonalds Description of how social media is used for business performance: Back in 2012, McDonalds has launched a social media based campaign, named “Our food. Your questions”. The “Financial Post” cited McDonalds site saying “We’ll answer any questions about our food — even the tough ones — then post a personal reply… Read more »
Organization name: Sony Industry: Electronics Company Contact: Phil Molyneux, President Web references: Sony Description of how social media is used for business performance: In 2013, Sony U.S. president Phil Molyneux turned to the general public to help develop a name for the company’s new wireless mobile speakers – in the shape of pink, black, and white balls. In an official… Read more »
Organization Name: Kickstarter Industry: Investment/Crowdsourcing Web References: kickstarter.com Description of how social media is used for business performance: In the business world, where many aspiring entrepreneurs and early startup companies to start a business in hope that he or she would have something that is groundbreaking, a revolutionary new business idea or product that can change the way to we… Read more »
Organization Name: Nissan Motor Company Industry: Automotive Name of contact: Erich Marx, Director of Interactive Marketing and Social Media Web references: Nissan Description Image courtesy of KROMKRATHOG at FreeDigitalPhotos.net The widespread use of social media in our everyday lives has changed the way we act as consumers. More and more, consumers are willing to share their impressions of a product… Read more »
Image courtesy the LEGO Ideas website. Company: The LEGO Group Industry: Toys Description: The LEGO Group is a Toy manufacturer based in Denmark. Founded in 1932, the company is best known for its manufacturing of plastic brick Lego toy brand. The Lego Group currently holds the title of Worlds Largest Toy Manufacturer in 2014 with sales up 11% to $2… Read more »
Organization Name: Hyundai Industry: Automotive Name of Contact: Ted Troughton, National Manager for Market Representation for Hyundai Canada In 1988 I bought a two year old Hyundai Pony. At that time they were referred to as “throw away cars”, you know, you drive it for 3-4 years and, well, you throw it away. Oh my, how things have changed! You ask the… Read more »
Industry: Contract Food and Support Services Name of contact: Leslie Wilson, VP Marketing More than ever before, people care passionately about their food: its origin, ingredients, preparation and serving. Tomorrow’s leaders in the culinary industry need to be more than gifted chefs. They need to be ready to lead their teams, organizations and companies in advancements in culinary direction, new… Read more »
Organisation Name: Samuel Adams Industry: Beer Industry Name of contact: Jim Koch, Founder and Brewer Web references: SamuelAdams.com facebook.com/SamuelAdams twitter.com/SamuelAdamsBeer Description of how social media is used for business performance: Samuel Adams was founded on six generations of brewing experience. During the 1980s there were virtually no widely distributed microbrews. Jim Koch talks about the difference a microbrew makes in an… Read more »
Organization Name: Big Blue Bubble Inc. Industry: Game Developers Name of contact if available: Claudette Critchley, COO Web references: Big Blue Bubble Description of how social media is used for business performance In June 2014 the Profit 500 ranked a small London based firm, Big Blue Bubble Inc. (BBB), as one of the fastest growing companies in Canada. BBB,… Read more »
Organization Name: Glaceau’s VitaminWater Industry: Beverage Retail Energy Brands/Glaceau’s Founder: J. Darius Bikoff Energy Brands/Glaceau’s CEO: Mike Repole It makes me happy to write about this week’s company, as it is one of my all-time favourite beverages…VitaminWater! In my personal opinion, there is something about drinking a bottle of VitaminWater that gives me instant satisfaction upon the first sip. If… Read more »
With so much money spent in communication, organizations are looking for ways to make their investment pay off. Lean advertising is an appealing concept but achieving it is easier said than done. Do-it-yourself online videos could cost less to produce but only 3% of YouTube videos are watched more than 25,000 times. Hence, how could a company replicate a success story… Read more »
In a world where social media has become commonplace, marketing campaigns need to do more than just grab your attention – they need to connect with the consumer. Social media allows companies to encourage dialogue with their consumers, engaging them and helping build a strong brand. In his article Brand Building: Connecting with Consumers Through Social Media, Jose Costa argues… Read more »
“93% of digital marketing and advertising professionals believe that utilising social media as a mechanism for customer feed back provides an exceptional opportunity for product development.“ ~ Crimson Hexagon With consumer opinion and feedback so easily accessible to corporations through a multitude of social media channels, organizations have started to realize that these tools may serve a larger purpose… Read more »
“Product failure rate for established big companies is more than 65 per cent, but for the start-up companies’ failure rate is even higher at 90 per cent.” And this scenario has not improved in the last 30 years, according to Robert Adams, Jr. What is needed for Social Media to be meaningfully helpful in this product innovation and launch scenario? … Read more »
Crowdsourcing has become a popular way to develop new products but many companies such as Frito-Lay use widespread campaigns to develop one new product. However, Minted uses crowdsourcing on a regular basis to keep their product line fresh and up-to-date. Minted was founded in 2008 by co-founders Mariam Naficy and Melissa Kim. To date, Minted generates more than $10 million in… Read more »
“Social Product Innovation is the practice of leveraging Social Computing principles and technologies to support the product development process, innovation and business goals, programs and resources.” Social media provides companies with the ability to share product information with a very large audience, but it also provides an opportunity to communicate with an audience to understand market demands and needs before… Read more »
Internet-savvy consumers have come to expect the opportunity to share their opinions, and companies are using this to their advantage. With the growing use of social media, product development is no longer reliant on traditional focus groups and customer surveys. Stephanie Gehman points out that companies “can use social media-based conversations, feedback, comments, complaints and more as a source of… Read more »
Mary Knight, in her article Three Strategies for Making Employee Engagement Stick, states “managers who define what their engagement goals look like, integrate engagement activities into one-on-one discussions, and empower team members to lead engagement sessions often have higher levels of engagement among their team members.” Then she asserts that managers perceive major improvements when using these strategies to implement… Read more »
