1. Pinterest Introduces Analytics
2. First to Know Series: LinkedIn Acquires Pulse, Netflix Announced New Feature, and Apple’s New Ads
3. Sheryl Sandberg Graces the Cover of ‘Time’
4. How Startups Are Using Vine
5. Why You Should Actually Care About Facebook’s News Feed Changes
6. Mother Tried to Sell Her Kids on Facebook for $4,000
7. Viral Content:
Man Dressed as Plant Pranks Passersby
Game of Thrones in High School
Mark DiMassimo was interviewed as a brand expert by FoxNews on the Matt Lauer/Ann Curry/NBC fiasco. Story below:
Hollie McKay, FoxNews.com
It is the story that never ends.
The image of a sobbing, pained Ann Curry on her last morning co-anchoring ‘Today’ alongside a seemingly insincere Matt Lauer – who awkwardly offers a shoulder rub – remains firmly planted in the minds of American audiences.
But according to Lauer, that June morning wasn’t a reflection of the whole truth.
Since Curry’s messy departure and Savannah Guthrie’s ascension into her position on the ‘Today’ couch, NBC’s $20-million-a-year man Matt Lauer has born much of the blame for the messy situation, with multiple news articles citing him as the instigator behind Curry’s ouster.
And as ‘Today’ ratings continue to slip, and the nation’s once highest-rated morning news program (for over 16 years) falls further and further behind now first-place ‘Good Morning America,’ NBC’s unsuccessful attempts to reboot Lauer’s public persona with such strategies as hosting the Golden Globes red carpet for the first time in 17 years, and a new ad campaign featuring Lauer and ‘Tdoay’ weatherman Al Roker reminiscing about the past, has now called for the ultimate crisis management move.
Read more here.
Gene Ostrovsky, Medagadget
AliveCor has announced at the American College of Cardiology annual meeting in San Francisco that its iPhone based ECG heart monitor is now available by prescription. Essentially the same device has been given approval for veterinary use on dogs, cats, and horses, and finally now humans can place their front paws on the electrodes for immediate ECG readouts. These can be sent to a physician, printed out and stored for further reference.
The AliveCor costs a reasonable $199 and is compatible with 4 and 4S iPhones. The company is expecting to have an iPhone 5 compatible version of the device ready by the second quarter of this year, which requires a separate approval from the FDA.
Read the full release here.
For the second time, Dr. Eric Topol used the AliveCor heart monitor on an airplane to assist a passenger in distress. This time, the passenger was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation, and was able to be stabilized until the flight landed as scheduled. The first time, Dr. Topol advised the pilot to make an emergency landing for a passenger who was diagnosed with an imminent heart attack.
This is yet another example of the importance of the mobile device. Said Dr. Topol, “We could detect a heart attack before it happens.”.
Read the full MobiHealthNews Article here.
Here is your social update for this week:
1. 66.5 Million Facebook Interactions Occurred During the Oscars
2. Twitter Launches Ads API, So Marketers Can Run Campaigns Through Adobe, Salesforce, Others
3. LivesOn Will Let You Tweet From Beyond the Grave
4. Twitter Is Testing A New Advertising Card For Lead Generation
5. Why No One Wants to Pay for YouTube Channels
6. Viral Content:
Argo/Home Alone Mashup
Evolution of Mom Dancing with Jimmy Fallon and Michelle Obama
Game of Thrones Season 3 Trailer
Audrey Hepburn Digitally Resurrected for Chocolate Bar Ad
ExpoNation asked us to boost the number of registrations for this year’s Digital Signage Expo in Las Vegas. So far, we’ve increased registrations and revenue to a record high, and the registrations are still coming in – so this will be the most successful event in DSE’s ten-year history. The campaign went beyond the immediate benefit of seeing new technology firsthand, although we certainly touted that, too. But the real insight of the campaign was that being immersed in an experience like DSE does more than inform – it inspires. It changes your perspective. So you go back to your corner of the world with some new knowledge, but more importantly, some new ideas and new perspectives.
1. Campaign Highlight: Leading up to The Walking Dead premiere, Toronto agency Leo Burnett set up eight foot tall “walker hands” in the middle of Union Station. Each day a decaying finger was knocked off counting down to the season premiere. Commuters could take pictures with the hands, tweet #TWDFeb10, and be entered to win one of the gross zombie fingers. They also had chained “walkers” attached to the countdown clock with giveaway tshirts ALMOST within arms reach. Read the full story here: Walking Dead’s Gruesome Countdown
2. Burger King’s Twitter account was hacked on Monday with the name and avatar replaced with McDonald’s. While the situation seems terrifying for any brand team/agency, the account also gained 5,000 new followers in 30 minutes and generated a ton of buzz: reactions to Burger King Twitter Hack. While not all mentions were positive about BK, there are some speculating that this could wind up helping Burger King more in the end. What do you think?
3. Now You Can Haz Twitter in LOLCat Language
4. No Two Web Pages Seperated by More Than 19 Clicks (Study Says)
5. Viral Content:
–The Harlem Shake Has Exploded and 60 Ad Agencies Harlem Shake
-Ultimate Supercut of Goats Yelling Like Humans
-Skier Cheats Trailing Avalanche With Epic Backflip
Matt Brownell, AOL Daily Finance
This year’s Super Bowl commercials featured rambunctious geriatrics, cross-dressing husbands and Jamaicans from Minnesota. But mascots, once a staple of the advertising world, were almost completely absent from the night’s proceedings.
This year’s Bud Light commercials largely relied on Stevie Wonder and actress Zoe Saldana, but back in the late 1980s the brand was all about Spuds Mackenzie, a sunglasses-wearing bull terrier. Meanwhile, Taco Bell made its pitch with the aforementioned hard-partying elderly, but back in the ’90s it was all about a Chihuahua who professed his desire for Taco Bell in Spanish.
Spuds Mackenzie was retired by Bud Light in 1989, and Taco Bell ditched its dog around the turn of the millennium.
Read the full article here.
