Archive for the ‘News’ Category

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Estee Lauder offering free makeover and headshot for social media profile

Wednesday, October 7th, 2009

imagesYou’re not really going to use that old vacation photo for your Facebook profile, are you? Estee Lauder has a better proposition.  Beginning October 16, the cosmetics company will offer free makeovers and photo shoots at select department store cosmetics counters to produce head shots women can use for their online profiles. The promotion will also include a giveaway of a 10-day supply of foundation.

This event runs counter to the cosmetic industry’s “gift with purchase” promotions, but the executives at Estee Lauder are viewing this as a way to bring a more contemporary image to the brand and perhaps attract a younger buyer as well. And, since the photos will have an Estee Lauder logo in the background, the company can likely expect to increase its brand presence on Facebook and other social sites.

Read more

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Posted in Business, Marketing/Advertising, News, Promotions, Social Media, red rocket LA | No Comments »

FTC wants more transparency from advertisers and bloggers

Monday, October 5th, 2009

federal-trade-commission-ftc-logo_jpgThe Federal Trade Commission (FTC)  has recently announced two new requirments that will impact both advertisers and bloggers.

Testimonials

According to Mary Engle, associate director of ad practices at the commission, the FTC is changing its guidelines on endorsement so that advertisers will no longer be able  to use statements like “Results may vary” as a way to justify claims that are counter to the norm of a product or services’ expected performance.

David Vladeck,  head of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said, “Disclaimers of guidelines are not working. Misuse has been especially prevalent in weight-loss products.

“In the FTC’s review of 300 ads, two-thirds used consumer testimonials. Few showed realistic claims, and disclosures of atypical results were flashed too quickly to read. ‘Results may vary’ does not adequately inform consumers that claims are outliers or extreme cases. They do not disclose results consumers should realistically expect. That is the main problem.”

The changes to the guidelines will take affect this year.

Bloggers

The Associate Press reports that under new guidelines approved the by the FTC,  bloggers will now be required to disclose any gifts or payments they receive for reviewing a company’s product. The penaly for noncompliance is a fine of up to $11,000 per violation.

Posted in Blogging, Business, Marketing/Advertising, News, Social Media, red rocket LA | No Comments »

Don’t argue with your database

Monday, August 17th, 2009
Image courtesy of Instructables.com

Image courtesy of Intructables.com

Common sense, right? If one of your email subscribers requests to be removed from your list, and even mentions that they never signed up in the first place, you remove them promptly with no questions asked. Perhaps you even add an apology for any misunderstanding.

You and I know this, but apparently, not all companies do. Read on.

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Posted in Business, Email Marketing, Marketing/Advertising, News | 2 Comments »

You’re a home builder, do you use Social Media?

Monday, July 13th, 2009

Most likely, the answer is no.  The home building industry has been one of the slowest to adopt using this now emerged media.  But when 84 percent of homebuyers begin their property search online, builders need to be online as well.  They can’t afford not to, it’s where their audience is now.

The home building industry is starting to catch on to Social Media but many do not know where to start.  Carol Ruiz, principal, public relations for red rocket LA, participated in a Webinar put on by Big Builder magazine on how to best use Social Media in the home building space. Carol Flammer of mRelevance in Atlanta also participated, while Sarah Yaussi, editor of Big Builder Magazine, hosted.

Even if you aren’t in the home building industry, this Webinar is chock full of valuable advice for anyone to apply.

Social Media Meets Real Estate

View more presentations from bigbuilder.

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Posted in Business, News, Public Relations, Social Media, Technology, Trends | No Comments »

Streaming video in your email

Monday, June 29th, 2009

It’s perhaps the last frontier on the email front; messages with streaming video directly embedded. And with developers already testing systems, it isn’t far off. Below are excerpts from recent MediaPost article by Elie Ashery highlighting the advances of two developers:

Gmail recently announced a new “Labs” feature allowing users to preview YouTube videos in emails. This technology is currently only for Gmail users, and is limited to YouTube videos, but it stands as significant progress in the move towards true video embedding.  Many marketers are experimenting with Gmail-only campaigns, segmenting their lists for gmail.com subscribers and embedding short video clips as part of the campaign.

GoodMail Systems has also found a way to insert and play videos from email messages. The CertifiedVideo platform enables qualified senders to incorporate rich video and audio content directly in email messaging, without additional mouse clicks and pop-ups.  CertifiedVideo is based on GoodMail’s core CertifiedEmail technology with the addition of a new CertifiedVideo tokenclass. Senders’ messages are delivered directly to the inbox and ISP restrictions are lifted, enabling video to be instantly viewed by recipients. CertifiedVideo supports streaming and progressive download of .SWF and .FLV files, playable in Adobe Flash Player. If you qualify for GoodMail services, you should definitely take a look at CertifiedVideo.

Read the full text of the article here.

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Posted in Email Marketing, Marketing/Advertising, News, Technology | No Comments »

Another launch

Monday, June 29th, 2009

jackass24We’ve relaunched. The red rocket LA blog is a go. We’ll be posting the latest on marketing news, social media, PR, cultural trends and more, so be sure to visit often.

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Posted in Business, News | No Comments »

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