Twitter has relaunched its specialist business and marketing platform; Twitter for Business.

The relaunch includes best practice guides and case studies from companies such as Porsche and Hubspot. The site has been redesigned to make it easier for anyone to use; either a seasoned marketer or a small business owner.

Encouraging businesses to utilise Twitter is pretty simple, getting them to advertise and spend is more difficult and the relaunch of this platform lends itself to the idea that Twitter wants to be a bigger advertising medium than before.

Twitter has also released the video below outlining some quick tips to enhance your Twitter usage.

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In a world of DVR recorders, Sky+ and TiVo it's becoming harder for advertisers to reach their audience as many record their shows just so that they can skip the adverts.

In an attempt to tackle this issue head-on, DDB Brussels has produced a special TV ad for Volkswagen that when fast forwarded still works as an advert.

Given the moniker 'slowmercial', this new format features the VW beetle convertible in action, mainly closing the roof. At normal speed this could almost be painful to watch were it not for the relaxing birdsong in the background, but at a fast forward speed the ad works well.

The advert is only presently only being shown in Belgium but you can see it below.

It is a clever concept but does it impact upon the effectiveness of the normal speed ad, after all you cannot bore people into buying a product1

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It appears that in Brazil using a woman's shampoo can have strange side-effects, at least that's what we gather from this ad for Dove Men+ Care made by Ogilvy & Mather Brazil.

In this humorous commercial see what happens when a work colleague uses the wrong shampoo.

Definitely an odd one but worth a watch below.

Enjoy!

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In a clever add by French toilet paper company Le Trèfle, the fight between paper and digital reaches a pivotal point.

In the spot a married couple are depicted with the husband constantly trying to prove that his tablet is better than traditional paper, for drawing, doing sudoku and reading books. However his wife takes it to another level!

Clever and funny from Leo Burnett Paris, have a watch below.

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Fanta has produced the world's first tastable advert. The concept developed for the drinks market in the United Arab Emirates, features a printed ad promoting their new recipe for Orange Fanta, which people pop into their mouth and experience firsthand.

The campaign featured a full page ad, which is kept in a plastic sleeve within a publication, and encouraged the consumer to tear off a piece to try the flavour and share the experience with their friends as 100% of the ad is coated in the flavouring.

A clever concept but we expect many would be reluctant to start eating paper supplied in a magazine?

Watch the campaign video below and let us know if you would be willing to taste a printed ad.

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There are two things that seem to work well in advertising; zombies and reverse psychology.

With this in mind the Darewin Agency created a social media campaign for 'The Walking Dead' in France for the TV channel NT1. They urged viewers not to use the hashtag #walkingdeadNT1 as it was 'contaminated with a virus'. Those that did were then stalked by online zombies.

This clever ploy started with ads on the website that led to people trying it out to see what happened, obviously this then led to them telling others to use the hashtag to gain their own zombie followers. They also introduced this to Facebook, with zombies commenting on posts where the hashtag was used.

The final result was 30,000 users being "attacked" by zombies in less than two weeks, with 550,000 impressions tallied, and most importantly for the TV channel, viewers ratings were up.

Another clever marketing campaign for the TV series, that some may feel doesn't need marketing. Watch the campaign video below.

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In a recent survey by Pitney Bowes it was discovered that the majority of small businesses, from a sample of 500, did not have a marketing plan in place, with only 20% saying they did, whilst 35% admitted to dealing with marketing on an ad-hoc basis.

The study went on to find that SME's lose focus and prioritise low level tasks over marketing, including buying the stationary, cleaning and office repairs coming before marketing.

Whilst multitasking is important, it would appear that many are concentrating too much on the day-to-day running and not looking at the bigger picture. Always difficult when you are running a small business.


Read their full report here.

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San Francisco based start-up company Mobeam has patented technology that will allow barcodes to be scanned from Smartphone screens at checkouts.

The point-of-sale possibilities are endless for coupons and other far more fun advertising promotions. Plus, it is better than replacing every checkout scanner in the world.  

To promote the technology, Portal A created this heavily Auto-Tuned supermarket musical, in which a frustrated cashier bursts into song over the wonders of Mobeam. It includes an obligatory rap, a talking fish and a dancing janitor. The video is silly in the extreme.  

This, however, is not an app you can download, it is a technology targeted at businesses to add to their apps. And the reason for this? Modern phone screens are too high definition for normal barcode scanners to read, so the technology sends signals via an LED to the scanner to ‘trick’ it into thinking it is reading a normal barcode.

Whilst the technology will only appeal to developers and advertisers, the video will appeal to everyone. Watch it below.

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Buzzfeed has produced an amazing collection of creative promotional items from the past 5 years.

The list includes;
Dumbbell Frisbees by Iams in Australia (2009), a comical and clever way to spread the message "Iams makes your dog strong"

A giant marijuana cigarette to promote the TV series "Weeds" in Sweden (2008). Inside the 'spliff' was a bouquet of hemp plants and a message about the show.

A rubber eraser USB by Alzheimer's New Zealand (2010), building on the association of memory loss with Alzheimer's, the functional eraser was hollowed out for a USB stick and distributed to politicians and organisations to raise awareness.

A special sofa by Nivea in USA (2008), promoting a new product during Miami fashion week. Several of these were installed in various locations 

A car with googly eyes by the Federal Ministry of Transport in Germany (2009). A clever campaign to raise awareness of drink-driving, these blood-shot googly eye beetles were driven around alcohol fueled public events.

They are all great examples of creative marketing at its best, taking the basic message of each product and developing a memorable way to promote it.

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With the growing number of people using Twitter  it's no wonder that Gerry Morgan, of US-based blog Marketing Think, produced this great little infographic on how to write the perfect tweet.

The blueprint covers all the basic content - links, hashtags and mentions, in terms of both the ideal placement within a tweet and their uses. Some of the more relevant tips to take away from this could be leaving 20 characters at the end of your tweet for people to comment when they retweet, the importance of formatting, like using headlines or calls to action, and finally passing the "perfect tweet filter".

This a great piece for anyone who uses twitter but the post was targeted at marketers, advertisers and PR professionals, talking about engaging and informing audiences.

So regardless of what you use twitter for, have a read, take some notes and let us know if there is anything you feel he missed.

Read more about the perfect tweet here.

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The Oscars are normally remembered for the winners, those who should have won and the red carpet fashoin. Grey Poupon has added commercials to that list.

The mustard company released a trailer for a special 'mini movie' that follows on from its 1981 commercial titled "Pardon me".

In the original and well known ad that ran through the 80s and 90s, two cars pull up next to each other, and the occupant of one car asks the occupant of the other car for some mustard, to be handed a jar of Grey Poupon.

The follow on called "the Lost Footage" involves a 007-esqe car chase as a result of the mustard not being returned. The 30 second 'trailer' ran during the Oscars whilst the full length short was up on their website at the same time.

Clever and funny. Take a look at both adverts and the short movie below.

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Budweiser Canada is helping ice hockey fans keep track of when their team scores by selling goal lights similar to those used at the games.

It is set up to their favourite team using an app on a Smartphone, after that it will connect to their Wi-Fi network and follow live scores. When a selected team scores it lights up and makes a sound, regardless of where the team is playing or if the game is televised.

The first batch made has sold out, but the website is taking pre-orders for the next batch which should be with fans in time for the play-offs. The lights will set back fans $149 + taxes & shipping, but those living in the greater Toronto area will be able to get theirs installed by Budweiser.

As part of this campaign they have created an advert that introduces a new character, who is portrayed as the inventor of the light and builds upon their 'Great times are waiting' campaign.

A great marketing ploy by the American beer brand, although we think it may disturb a few mealtimes. Watch the video below.

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