Burger chain McDonald’s found itself thrust into the midst of the dramatic rescue of three kidnapped women in Cleveland, Ohio, yesterday.

The hero of the hour, Charles Ramsey, came to the rescue of Amanda Berry who was kidnapped more than 10 years ago. Read More »

More often than not, silence is never the best option when it comes to company gaffes.

A holding statement acknowledging an issue is good, it shows empathy and action. The next step is to establish the facts of the scenario and to make a further, timely response when these are established. Read More »

When it comes to recent social media disasters, there are no shortage of examples.

Back in November, I did a fairly comprehensive run through of the social media fails in 2012, which included a prestigious roll call of brands such as Waitrose, McDonalds, Gap and Qantas – these household names, and many more, had all suffered from a social media fail.

So far in 2013, we’ve seen less ill advised campaigns, but more high profile disasters of a different kind. This week, the Burger King Twitter account was hacked by an unknown internet vigilante who posted a series of controversial (and clearly inaccurate) tweets, including one that stated the fast food giant had been bought by its main rival, McDonalds. The hackers, obviously pleased with the furore they had caused, then moved swiftly on to Jeep’s Twitter account, which last night was displaying a Cadillac logo. Read More »

Burger King has returned to Twitter with almost 30,000 more followers after its account was hacked last night and rebranded as McDonald’s. The burger chain lost control of its account and began sending out a string of McDonald’s related tweets.

The @BurgerKing Twitter account had little more than 80,000 followers when it was hacked, however, in the wake of the account takeover this has leapt to 111,314 giving it a gain of 30,000 followers and a wave of free publicity. Read More »

I foresee two key opportunities for the industry creative this year. One is that ambient will become a key battleground for brands trying to disrupt audiences’ daily routines. The other is the move towards the big, the bold and the simple. Both these trends may well converge of course and I look forward to exploring their possibilities.

While Minority Report’s retina-scanning six sheets may not arrive in 2013, I think the drive towards mobile-first advertising and the arrival of 4G will have brands clamoring to become even more visible in our everyday lives. Using insight to identify where ambient opportunities exist will be imperative … so we may see sports drinks advertised on treadmill screens (available in a vending machine near your locker) or footwear retailers offering discounts on sturdy boots with graffiti on snow-covered pavements. Read More »

I’ve long been a fan of Foursquare. It is easily integrated into more mainstream social networks like Facebook and Twitter, and the location data that the app generates should make it an essential digital tool for marketers and campaigners.

American Express UK have recognised its power, and are running a new campaign in conjunction with the geo location company and Harvey Nichols. Card holders can sync their card with Foursquare , and if they check in at the department store they will receive £25 when they spend £25. Read More »

Earlier this year McDonald’s got something of a social media trashing with its US #McDStories campaign. You could have seen that one coming.

The fast food giant is an easy target and Twitter was given free rein to use the burger chain as a punch bag, bug it wasn’t scared away.

Lessons have obviously been learnt and a current social media effort by the fast food giant, originated by McDonald’s in Canada, is proving to be some thing of a hit. Read More »

Among the official Olympics sponsors Samsung has been named as the brand that did best out of the London 2012 games in terms of online visits, followed by Adidas, according to data from Hitwise.

Among the broadcasters there was no competition. The BBC trounced Sky News in that battle.

There was good news for non-sponsors too. While Adidas did well in terms of a receiving a good uplift in terms of online visits data from Socialbakers points to rival Nike, which was not an official sponsor, winning the battle for sporting social media engagement on Facebook and Twitter.  Read More »

With Team GB hitting gold on Day five, the Men’s Time Trial lit up Twitter in celebration of Bradley Wiggins’ win.

The Men’s Time Trial generated a total of 240,000 tweets, peaking at 12,000 per minute as Wiggins won – more than at the start of the Euro 2012 penalty shootout when Italy knocked out England. Read More »

Like any marriage, the union between brands and social media has its Barack Obama success stories, and its less than stellar moments with real consequences like McDonald’s recent Happy Meal twitter hashtag idea. Moments like this inevitably raise the perennial concerns over social media control for marketers.

Media Strategies’ Social Media Brand Index places Starbucks as the most successful social brand. A company whose above-the-line activity is practically non-existent compared to their social initiatives. By contrast, Nescafe is a company with a strong heritage in traditional TV-centric broadcast campaigns, particularly for its flagship Gold Blend product, yet fails to make an impact socially at 108^th. Read More »