Denny’s, the popular chain restaurant, managed to misprint their Twitter address on their menu at the end of 2009 and have done nothing to correct it.  If you were to go to Twitter.com/dennys you’d find Denny Hsieh’s Taiwanese page.  Whoops!

There are a few things at play here.  Not only was it a mistake by the marketing department / ad agency, but also a failure of the PR department.  Once the misprint was noticed, Denny’s and their advertising and marketing divisions should have taken steps to address it.  Additionally, the PR team should have generated a few statements for online media addressing the misprint and how they were going to get things back on track, etc etc.

Here are 5 things you can learn from this Denny’s branding, marketing and PR fail:

1. Mistakes aren’t “the end of the world” if you address them swiftly and across the appropriate channels
2. Due diligence is a must prior to any major proclamation, print run or press release
3. Implement processes that are followed without fail with vendors and outsource partners
4. Ensure that the lines of communication between the PR, marketing and advertising departments are clear
5. Own mistakes in the Internet world.  Otherwise, online communities will ensure that nobody forgets your mistake(s)

 Sergio and the guys at Marketing Sherpa recently released findings from a social media survey they conducted.  Though there are no major revelations, it’s still great to keep one’s finger on the pulse of social media expenditures and how executives perceive this constantly evolving marketing channel.  

Here’s what they found:

1. 49% feel that social media has a future for generating ROI.  Additionally, they feel that conservative budget increases are warranted to achieve desired ROI
2. 27% feel that the value of social media is unknown; therefore, only done if time permits.
3. 17% feel that “why pay for the milk if I can get the cow for free”
4. 7% feel that social media is delivering measurable ROI and have desire to increase budgets liberally for a more refined execution [read: increased ROI and brand positioning]

They seem straight forward, but the two that truly jump out are numbers 3 and 4.  They represent the opposite sides of the spectrum. 

“Why pay for the milk if I can get the cow for free?”

There are two ways to look at this group.  On one hand, this mindset limits their ability to think creatively on ways to generate more top-of-mind-awareness and ROI.  This puts them “behind the eight ball”.  While their competitors are actively testing and generating positive results through their social media strategy, this group is too busy conducting their marketing through traditional- sometimes stale- methods.  

On the other hand, they may be like my parents were in the early 80s when the VCR was introduced to consumers.  Why pay full price for a product/service that will drop in price, solidify its best practices and be easier to leverage?  They may be lying in wait for the social media frenzy dust to settle.  This could ultimately position this group to hit the ground running without being limited by early stage social media limiting beliefs.

Early adopters writing the rules

The 7% of responders that feel that social media does nothing but add brand and bottom line value have a lot going for them.  They affect more change in the evolution that can ultimately, directly benefit how their business and/or vertical benefit from taking these new strategies seriously.  Somebody has to do it.  These early adopters are the trailblazers in marketing, corporate strategy and brand management.  

Social media early adopters take the calculated risk and reap all of the rewards.  Not only do they realize increased ROI and elevated top-of-mind-awareness, they can easily find themselves included in case studies that document the A players in specific verticals that are shaping how social media is successfully leveraged.  The Kogi Truck is a great illustration of this.

I’ll be keeping my ear to the ground on the evolution of these sorts of numbers.  In what category do you fall?

The branding and marketing department at American Airlines is cringing right now.  They relied on their vendor to ensure that the American Airlines brand was protected.  Whoops!

You may remember my friend that had the great experience with the Cathay Pacific brand on his way to Asia from Los Angeles.  He delivered once again this week!  He was on a flight to Katmandu or Timbuktu or some other place that ends in “u” and opted to watch an episode of 30 Rock.  The opening credits for the episode listed the United Airlines logo paired with NBC.  He was on an American Airlines flight.  Gulp.

People make mistakes, but this one is the kind that stands out.  If you are a brand manager and miss the fact that your competitor’s brand is on your content then you’ve got a problem, hombre; vendor provided content not withstanding.  At the end of the day, brand management is a soft and fuzzy form of quality assurance (QA) and quality control (QC).

With social media and social networking instantaneously broadcasting the successes and failures for brands, individuals that manage brands have got a much more intense job than they ever have in the history of marketing.  With so many modern exposure points and amplification tools, top brand managers must create robust systems that catch mistakes like the one pictured above.  Otherwise, people like me blog about them.

The one constant that all social media platforms share is their competition for more loyal, long term and active users.  How do these communities keep their existing users engaged, while simultaneously recruiting new users?  Yelp.com has an advantage over the other platforms and communities with which they compete.  Simply put, they have found the missing link.  Not only have they found it, they are working it like James Brown.

Experiential marketing is their secret.  Experiential marketing creates an emotional attachment with the brand via an in-person interaction or a contest of some sort.  Brands like Sprite and Scion have been doing this very well in the last 5-6 years, but social media companies have not fully embraced it at organization-wide levels; That is, except for Yelp.

Like any other area in marketing (yes, including social media), there has to be 100% buy-in at the top of the organization and an unwavering follow through by the staff when it comes to integrating an experiential strategy.  Yelp does this with aplomb via their official parties.  They have managed to fully bridge the gap between the digital and real worlds through their frequent and consistent parties and events.

It’s simple.  Yelpers (what Yelp calls their community members) feel important.  Taking it a step further, Yelpers truly feel like Yelp gives a damn about them.  They make it even more memorable by granting “Elite” users early and exclusive access to said parties and events.

I’ll give you one example of many that I have experienced with Yelp.  Last week they threw a party at the Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA) in Long Beach, California to “celebrate” Dia de Los Muertes.  The event was replete with fire dancers, DJ, face painting, free all-night tequila tasting, gratis draft beer, complimentary food from local restaurants, an ice cream truck giving away ice cream bars and an endless supply of Jarritos.  They let the Elite members privately enjoy the party before the rest of the Yelp community was allowed to enter.  In total there were easily 450 people there.

Think about that.  A social media company was able to bring together nearly 500 people at their party on the night before Halloween (one of the biggest party nights of the year).

The interesting part of all of this, is that this Dia de Los Yelpos party was not a 1-off event for them.  They do events like this all of the time all over the USA and London.  Yelpers have come to expect it and Yelp consistently delivers.  Too see how powerful and compelling these events are, this party has a full 5-star rating and has been reviewed more than 80 times in less than a week.  Put in context, local restaurants are thrilled to have 30 4-star reviews of their establishment over the course of a year.

Other social media brands are not delivering these types of experiences and cultivating legions of brand advocates and evangelists like Yelp.  You be the judge.  What’s more compelling to you as a human?

Free homemade Mexican food, organic tequila, meeting new people, tamarind Jarritos and fire dancing?

OR

An updated homepage featuring a newly shaped button?

Crappy service from service oriented brands or businesses makes my mind melt.  It’s one of my  pet peeves.  In light of that, I’m always excited to hear about great experiences with brands.  Today, said excitement reignited after a friend (that happens to do marketing for a large global brand) told me about his flight to Asia on Cathay Pacific.    Do you hear that, other brands?  Go get your notepads.  It is as simple as our good friends at Gigom said in one of their articles:

…in branding, it turns out that what matters most in the message are simplicity and consistency.

It is that simple and something that Cathay Pacific has continuously delivered year after year.

I should preface this story by telling you that my friend is a big business and leisure  traveler.  It’s also important to note that he appreciates 5 star service more than any other person I know.  You should also know that I really enjoy guacamole.

When my friend finally got comfy in his seat, he received a birthday card signed by the entire Cathay Pacific flight crew in their native languages.  He was so excited by this nice touch, that he immediately posted it to his Facebook profile.  Since then, numerous people commented and some have definitely shared that story at their respective water coolers and watering holes.

That, my friends, is a scenario that is about as basic as it gets for any brand.  Part of the game for brand managers is just showing up.  The remaining portion is simply giving a damn about customers and engaging them in ways that THEY want.  The sad truth is that many brands know this, but seldom deliver.  The truth is that most take that same half-assed approach to their social media strategy and expect magic to happen.

There is a sentiment that my peers, associates and friends often hear me belabor in one form or another:

If your brand is not clearly defined in your daily company life and isn’t consistently reinforced [read:  brand sucks ass], what makes you think that diving into social and community media will help you find the marketing Holy Grail?

Here’s a tip.  You won’t find the magic sauce just by creating a Facebook fan page.  Rather, your attempt will most likely more closely resemble a Holy FAIL.  After all, brands are like individual people.  If one is inconsistent and “fake” then the likelihood of people actually wanting to hang out and say good things is quite slim.  The same goes for brands.  I’m so glad Cathay “gets it”.

What are some pet peaves or noteworthy scenarios you’ve experienced with brands?

Your good pals in law enforcement want to be your BFF on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.  You can now slap mustached high fives with your buddies.  The FBI is now making themselves seen and heard on the Internet via social media. Heck, maybe they’ll want to make some comments on your latest photos.  Sounds like the boys at the FBI are embracing social networking and SEM.  But wait…what about MySpace?

*crickets*

It seems as though MySpace draws too much attention from “the fuzz” and media for the brethren of J. Edgar Hoover.  I can’t blame them.  With all of the people being accused of bad stuff on MySpace, there’s no telling who else will be implicated in anything fishy that pops up on that site.  *wink wink*

With all of that said, the FBI is no stranger to widgets.  Apparently they are still employing them and still analyzing the data they’ve collected.  Not sure what that means.  Sounds kinda creepy if you ask me.  Should anything else come up in the social networking and law enforcement worlds, we’ll be the first to let you know.  But hurry, they’re already have over 1,000 members on Facebook!

Everybody has a Twitter these days: CNN, politicians and Justin’s dad.  Sadly few people are achieving their goals with their account.  Like anything else in social media, one has to deliver content that is relevant to people.  Justin is doing that at an alarming rate with the amazing statistics he’s throwing up with his shitmydadsays Twitter account.  Yesterday he saw a jump of 4,000 followers in less than one hour.  This morning, less than 24 hours later, he’s seen a 10,000 follower jump.  He’s now sitting at 165,731 followers in less than 1 month.  Look at the image at the top of the screen and notice how many people he’s following.  One.  That’s it.

Those are the kind of Twitter statistics that are downright alarming!  He’s not running a contest, selling product, giving away bags of money or giving relationship advice.  He’s simply posting the outrageous things his 73 year old father says.  That’s all.   Apparently, people love it and are sharing the account with their friends and coworkers.

What is it about this Twitter account that has people buzzing?  I’ve been giving this a lot of thought as I’ve been watching his following skyrocket.  What I’ve come up with is that he’s got relevancy.  All of his followers know somebody or have met somebody like his cantankerous old dad.  The one-liners Justin posts are so natural sounding that we can’t imagine them NOT coming from the lips of a cranky, old man that is done trying to sugar coat things.

Having said all of that, this thing could very well be a hoax.  It could be the equivalent of a viral video:  Viral Tweets.  Even if  these are viral tweets, I think it’s genius.  It’s the equivalent of writing good stand-up material; which is no easy task.  Regardless of what happens, I’ll be keeping an eye on ” shitmydadsays ” over the next few months.  In the meantime, I’ll leave you some quotes that Justin has posted on behalf of his dad.

“Your brother brought his baby over this morning. He told me it could stand. It couldn’t stand for shit. Just sat there. Big let down.”9:35 AM Aug 20th from web

“The dog is not bored, it’s a fucking dog. It’s not like he’s waiting for me to give him a fucking rubix cube. He’s a god damned dog.”10:43 AM Aug 18th from web

“The dog don’t like you planting stuff there. It’s his backyard. If you’re the only one who shits in something, you own it. Remember that.”9:33 AM Aug 26th from web

(left on answering machine) “Hello? Hello? It’s Sam. Anyone there? Nobody checks this god damned thing. HELLO?! HELLO?! Screw it.”8:46 AM Aug 12th from web