Starbucks Holiday Wish: Love Heard around the World
click to view video
On December 7, 2009, Starbucks will be hosting a global “sing-along” of the Beatles classic “All We Need is Love” to raise support for The Global Fund.
Starbucks will be premiering the commercial for their new campaign, called the Starbucks Love Project during the morning talk shows Friday morning. If you can’t wait (or missed it) you can view the video on Facebook or at the Love Project site (currently no embeddable version is available to share here). The site also features a link where visitors can upload and share their own “love pictures”.
Following are the details from the Starbucks press release:
WHAT
The countdown is on.
An unprecedented event that will unite individuals, communities, nations and cultures through the universal language of music as a celebration of Starbucks one year anniversary in partnership with (RED)TM.
On December 7th, at 1:30pm GMT (8:30am EST), Starbucks Coffee Company will unite artists from around the world for a simultaneous, live performance of the legendary hit “All You Need Is Love” as a single global concert. Inspired by the vision of the Playing for Change Band, this project spans languages, cultures and time zones through the universal language of music, with musicians contributing in individual ways that are customary and unique to their homeland to create a one of a kind rendition of the song.
A first for Starbucks, the event will use state of the art technology to stream the live feed of this performance on www.StarbucksLoveProject.com. Following the sing-along, everyone with access to the site and a video camera will have the opportunity to submit their own version of “All You Need Is Love” for the world to see and hear.
To invite the world to the event, Starbucks is collaborating with Facebook to create the largest globally-reaching campaign on the Facebook platform to date.
WHY
Delivering on the Starbucks commitment to inspiring and nurturing the human spirit, the project is also about sharing that love with customers who have helped Starbucks contribute to the Global Fund through its partnership with (RED) TM. In just one year in partnership with (RED), Starbucks has generated enough money to buy more than 7 million days of medicine to help those living with HIV in Africa.
WHEN
Monday, December 7th – 5:30 a.m. PT / 8:30 a.m. EST
FREEBIE ALERT! Send Swine Flu Wishes to That Special Someone with CDC E-Cards!
Today I discovered what just may be my favorite e-cards ever!
As I was nosing around the CDC website, perusing the latest H1N1 information (isn’t that how everyone spends their evening downtime?) I noticed they’ve included an H1N1 social media page.
Awesome sauce! Not sure if you know this about me but:
PANDEMIC + CDC INFO + SOCIAL MEDIA(!) =
IRRESISTIBLE TO FARYL
I happily clicked away.
That’s when I noticed this section:
Send Friends & Loved Ones Swine Flu Wishes!
No Way! Excellent!
I’m not sure what I was expecting to see, but the CDC didn’t let me down. Caring friends and family can select from a variety of “occasions” ranging from Autumn to College Health to Disabilities to Halloween to Salmonella to STDs and more. They even have “Congratulations on Your New Pet” and Valentine’s Day cards!
This is a small sample of the selection the Flu category has to offer:
Just a Sampling of Occasions You Can Choose From
My particular favorite is the Father’s Day card:
You can't make this stuff up.
Not impressed? Just wait – there are animated cards as well.
How many times has this happened to you? Your best friend is getting married tomorrow. Here you are, a bridesmaid, and what with sharing all the joy and festivities and excitement – you forgot to buy a card.
I’ve totally been there.
Well, fear not, my friend – the CDC to the rescue!!
This Wedding Card even features a soundtrack (one that bears a bit of a resemblance to the Tonight Show theme)!
What Bride Wouldn't be Overjoyed to Receive This?
There are too many options to post screen shots of them all here.
Some of my other favorites:
- Wishing You a Seizure-Free Day
- I Got Tested – Did You?
- Here’s to an Alcohol-Free Pregnancy!
The list goes on and on . . . You’ll just have to visit the site yourself so you can choose the one that’s the perfect fit for your special day.
Feeling down because no one’s ever sent a CDC card to you?
Well turn that frown upside down! Because I care!
That’s right! I created a card just for you!
View it here!
Will Tweet for Food
As an under-employed, aspiring blogger, it’s occurred to me more than once that I’d gladly help spread the word about local eateries in exchange for an occasional free meal.
It’s also occurred to me that businesses might do well to attract people to their establishments by connecting with active tweeters, bloggers, social-media addicts, etc. to help fill their tables on slow nights – and get some publicity in the process.
Seems that the good folks at TasteCasting agree:
TasteCasting combines socially networked people and the social media platforms and applications they use to help establishments build awareness, announce grand openings, introduce new menu items, distribute special offers and encourage people to visit the establishment.
Is it Time to Break the Rules?
A journalist that wore two hats
In her blog Save the Media , Gina Chen shares 10 ‘Journalism rules’ you can break on your blog.
As an intro to these rules, Gina writes:
there’s a part of me that loves blogging because you’re allowed to break the journalism rules. In fact, I’d argue the best bloggers break them regularly because blogging isn’t a news story; it shouldn’t read like one; it shouldn’t look like one.
At a high level, Gina encourages taking advantage of the dynamic, interactive and community qualities of the web when writing for a blog. I encourage you to view the post to read the list in full – below is a summary of her 10 rules:
- Use partial or fake names
- Tell part of the story
- Insert opinion
- Link to a report or news release rather than rewrite it
- Link to background rather than repeat it
- Link to the enemy
- Use second person; heck, use first person
- Get personal
- Answer your critics or supporters
- Fix your mistakes rather than just publish a correction
As newspapers are shutting their doors and mainstream media is hopping onto the social media bandwagon, this will become an increasing relevant issue in the near future. It seems natural that a new set of rules begin to emerge. read more
A Plea to Ford: Please take my human. By Kaya Cher
I mentioned in my last post that I’ve had a couple of things I’ve been working on that I’d share with you soon. This is the first.
Background
Ford recently posted this contest at fiestamovement.com
One of Motor Trend’s Gotta Have Cars for 2010, the Ford Fiesta will make a bold statement on the American road. This is your chance to drive the international model here before its official US debut. We’re looking for an elite crop of drivers to take the wheel: people with a strong presence on the web, an ability to craft a compelling story through video, and a hunger for adventure. As a driver, you’ll receive monthly secret assignments from Ford Mission Control that will take you to places you’ve never been, to meet people you’ve never met, and to experiences you’ll never forget. And you’ll bring your friends and followers along for the ride.
We’ll hand you the keys to your own Fiesta for a six month period, and we’ll even handle the gas and insurance for you, too.
Many will apply. Only 100 will be chosen. Show us you’ve got what it takes to join the Fiesta Movement
As part of this excellent example of using social media in a marketing campaign, interested applicants were to submit a video explaining why they should become a driver, upload it to YouTube with the tag fiestamovement and submit the link with their application. As the video shows, my cat decided to toss my hat into the ring!
