I decided to do this video after reading this Mashable article where CNN dubbed Facebook as a major competitor. Instead of worrying about beating Facebook, CNN should look to partner with the social giant to crush their traditional competitors.  What do you think?

While the recipe mentioned in the title might imply that I am looking to cook up a mean batch of Thai chicken, it’s actually two companies adding value to their coupons in the circular from my Sunday Globe.

So how does that start a conversation?

Last week, I blogged on how offline advertisements were being wasted by neglecting to add call outs to the company’s social media assets. While the wife was planning out our strategy to look at some condos and houses on the market, I decided test my rant’s viability in the coupons section. After pouring through the two-inch thick glossy pile of ads, I was left looking at only two that acknowledged their social media presence – Boston Market and Planters – kind of sad knowing that I looked at roughly 200 coupons and was hoping for a better showing than a pair of social media call-outs, but hey Rome wasn’t built in a day.

Now prior to seeing these ads, I had no clue as to the social presence of either of these mega-brands, so let’s give ‘em a look.

Boston Market

Now for starters the offers looked tasty, but the mere buttons noting Twitter and Facebook were kind of frustrating as they made me do some work to get to the chicken joint’s pages. Following the principle of vanity URLs in Facebook, it was pretty easy getting to the company’s page there. The landing page offered some more deals, which is good because it fits the consistency of the callout but also offers information on job openings, a VIP club and store locator. The added benefit is that they call out their catering menu, which could be worthwhile for those office managers looking at a health alternative to Chinese and pizza deliveries.

Since the Facebook search went so well, I figured I would type in http://twitter.com/bostonmarket. Instead of a scrumptious image of chicken staring at me, I saw the blue Twitter bird saying the account has been suspended. Now if I were an average consumer I would end my quest for the page. No worries, Google helped me and the account is http://twitter.com/BostMarket. The account looks fairly active but has only a limited amount to offer. For a brand as large as they are, I expect them to have more to offer. I will give them the benefit of the doubt for a slow embrace by the corporate home office of social media, but the URL is a complete fail. So while the company is heading in the right direction of maximizing their offline real estate, a URL is a must. If it’s too cluttered, simply alternate pages.

Planters

While the guys over at Boston Market wet my appetite, the guys at Planters took it to the house with this ad. Not only does it promote the company’s presence at the Final Four and offer the Facebook logo, but it also gives the URL and lets you know what to expect with Follow Mr. Peanut to the Final Four. How could you not want to check out the fan page of a giant nut with a monocle and top hat? Well those allergic to peanuts have an excuse, but other than that, there is no excuse.

The page offers some pics and thoughts from the mascot, but is lacking the pizzazz of a page with static FBML. It would also be nice to have some kind of coupons or list of fun peanut facts, but that’s just nitpicking. The company is still driving traffic to the page so their fan total of 2,142 should grow rather quickly.

While the Sunday paper didn’t offer more companies that were driving more visitors to their pages, at least it is a start. Hopefully this trend continues to grow because two out of 200 is far from good. What do you think of the ads? Where could Boston Market and Planters have improved?

Last night I was watching this video from Vayner Media front man Gary Vaynerchuck and it really hit home with me and seemed like a no brainer for brands to be looking to expand their reach.

The thought of adding a call to action after a commercial – to a micro-site, Facebook page, Twitter page, YouTube channel, etc. seems too easy. Sharing the commercials on video sharing sites would seem to make sense too, but oftentimes is not the case. Folks seem reluctant to change because they have a system that works.  For every auto company that is embracing this, there are two McDonalds or Stop & Shop’s that are ignoring the free call out. Chances are, unless you are on the Home Shopping Network or hawking a ShamWOW, your product isn’t being sold on the boob tube.

While Gary focuses on commercials in his videos, I would also suggest that companies are missing the boat with their offline and radio ads as well. Radio has the same limitations as TV in selling products, but you could gauge the reach on top of the metrics the stations offer by offering a specific Facebook page with a survey that asks where they heard the commercial along with some interesting content. You could also add the URL to magazine and other print ads because it puts something tangible and actionable on an ad that won’t immediately garner a sale on the john. By adding a link you could also get someone heading to the site if they happen to have a BlackBerry or iPhone handy in their *ahem* office. What could it hurt? A tiny URL or Facebook call out in the corner of the ad won’t hurt anyone, but will add some more bang to your buck and some additional metrics to track.

Before tossing this to ya’ll to see what you think about the proposition, I wanted to share an oddity that I got from a few of the folks I spoke with during the #soxup for the book release party of Steve Garfield’s Get Seen (my review). Now the event was about using video to get seen, so it took me by surprise talking to some folks only to find out that they were terrified of getting in front of the camera or opening their company up to user generated video. I wonder if that has anything to do with the hesitancy of adding new media to traditional media pieces. What do you think?

Image Mathieu Belanger - Reuters

Last week, a tragedy struck one of America’s most recognizable family establishments – SeaWorld. Trainer Dawn Brancheau was killed towards the tail end of a lunchtime performance in front of a live audience by Tilikum, an orca. While a workplace death typically drives PR into crisis mode, this instance also puts the brand into crisis and identity management.

From a brand point the company is married to the killer whale, take a look at their online pitch for dinner with Shamu as a prime example as noted by the AP, “Be part of an up-close and unforgettable adventure!”

That statement alone will make handling the crisis more difficult. For starters, the park may wind up having to pony up for therapy or counseling for the kids in the audience who witnessed the event or be prepared for a legal battle with the departed’s family. Those instances are something that the teams should be capable of handling. The wild card for this crisis is Tilikum, making for a whale of a problem.

Now SeaWorld has done some great things to help offset the crisis and seems well suited to handle their issues in the immediate future.

Perhaps the two biggest hurdles in the immediate future are dealing with the public opinion and the fate of the whale.

When the story was making its rounds on the social circuit, I was discussing the situation with Aurora Meyer on Twitter and she offered some insight into a strong feeling among many around the country. To put her comments into perspective, she noted that she grew up in Northeast Ohio when SeaWorld was still there and was never a fan of the whale show, and felt bad for the whales.

“As zoos move toward more “natural” habitats for their inhabitants, I often wonder why marine parks aren’t doing the same things. Isn’t viewing the animal in a more realistic habitat a better education than seeing it perform stupid tricks?

Killer whales are called Killer for a reason. They are huge and deadly in the wild where they have whole oceans to swim. I can only imagine how the bathtub sized aquarium felt. Additionally, this whale had issues before. The question I want answered most is why was this whale still forced to perform? If he was “acting like a small child” as some reports indicate before the show, why wasn’t the show cancelled? Furthermore, why if this animal has been involved in other incidents was he even part of a show? If Sea World truthfully answers these questions and apologizes to their fans, people will come back and won’t likely have lasting resentment. But it does bring up larger issues of animals in captivity.”

Aurora makes some great points and I am sure her views are shared by many, some of which will go to extremes to get their point out there. With that said I hope that PETA doesn’t make a brash statement on this saying something like “we told you so” or “saw this coming”. There will also be those that call for the whale to be put down.

Tilikum’s Value to SeaWorld

• Seen as alpha-male and is the father of 13 of the 20 calves born in SeaWorld
• $10,000-$12,000/month in electric bills to maintain habitat
• $35,000 a year for food
• Mitchel Kalmanson, a marine mammal appraiser notes, “Without killer whales, the rest are ancillary shows.”
  • Source

As anyone can tell you, these groups can put a ton of pressure on an organization. The negative press and protests can possibly hurt the gate more than the whale is worth to SeaWorld. One thing that could be a PR win for the company and help remove some of the heat from protesters on both sides of the fence is to let the whale go – free wily style. Given the whale’s history and the potential long legal battles for SeaWorld, this PR stunt could help draw more positive attention than the looming headache. The stories are already starting check out this video where an expert notes the attack was premeditated.

SeaWorld is pretty social media savvy and doing a documentary-styled YouTube campaign on the release could generate ridiculous buzz. They could even run a contest giving 100 school children or researchers the chance to be part of an up-close and unforgettable adventure to re-introduce this behemoth of the deep blue into a natural habitat. Hell a lion reunion garnered over 5M views on YouTube with 1970’s film, imagine what could be done in hi-def. The DVD sales could potentially offset the money lost in Tilikum’s stud fees. Think it’s crazy, here’s a quick plan on how to make it work:

Operation Shamu goes home

• June – Announce re-introduction to the wild for following year. Include YouTube channel, live feed address of tank, Twitter handle, Facebook fan page, etc.
• July – Announce contest to join team in reintroduction
• December – Announce winners; fly to SeaWorld for face to face with Tilikum
• February – Reintroduce whale to wild. Livecast event

Throughout the process there would be a constant update of information and some scientific stuff surrounding best time but it can happen. Each one of the announcements should garner attention and buzz as well as multi-media assets. What do you think? Could it work? Do you have a better idea for the whale?

In the 90’s Nike ran a campaign where Charles Barkley noted that he wasn’t a role model. Given their slot as Tiger’s biggest endorser, do you think  they would do a similar commercial as Tiger heads back to dominate the PGA Tour? I would love to see it and it would go viral but not sure if they’d risk it.  This whole idea came out of Christina Khoury’s blog post today, but i think that it could work. How about you?

Pros

• Opens up the new look of Tiger. Golfer not a role model
• May appeal to golf’s male audience
• Can help launch new brand based on performance
• Viral sensation

Cons

• Are you serious?
• Opens up Tiger’s credibility as a person to look up to
• Could hurt existing image/brand