FAIL: ‘Hack is Wack’ Video Contest — Learn Social Media by Example

M. Bamieh
Posted by M. Bamieh on September 28, 2010
Filed under Social Media By Example
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Symantec is certainly a power house when it comes to anti-virus and security solutions and it is one of the top brands in the business but when it comes to its marketing initiatives let us just say that they are lackluster to say the least. Their latest surely has been born after an extended “brain storming session” between their marketing managers and hip-hop superstar, Snoop Dogg!

What is it about?

In this a very odd marriage, the contest aims at encouraging people to upload videos of them rapping and rhyming about hacking, identity theft and computer viruses to raise awareness about cybercrime.

The contest is centered around the www.hackiswack.com website asking participants to upload their 2 minute anti-cybercrime raps for a chance to win a couple of tickets to his show, a chance to meet his management, and fully decked out Toshiba laptop.

What is Wack?

Now pinch yourself for you are not dreaming. The entire websites is decked to teeth with a faux gangster aura that really makes you questions the sanity of the people who green-lighted the project. The horrendous gangster-rap-album-of-the-90’s font featuring the wild-wild-west-wanted fonts used against a yellow background so bright that I wouldn’t advise you to view the website without your sunglasses is, simply put, a big middle finger to any self respecting designer.

Success: 1/5
Virality: 4/5
Innovation: 1/5
Feels like an ad: No
Brand visibility: 4/5
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Dell vs. Toshiba – Death Match via Youtube, Facebook & Twitter…

Beirut
Posted by Beirut on August 26, 2009
Filed under Deductions and Realizations
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Is social media turning into one of the main reasons for purchasing trendy, fashionable and tech products these days? Could a brand’s wrong utilization of social media affect its image negatively? Is it fair to solely depend on web marketing and social media channels (such as Youtube, Twitter and Facebook) in order to decide whether to purchase a certain brand or its competitor?

A month or more ago, I published an article about Blackberry Storm vs. iPhone 3G. I noticed that our readers really enjoyed this type of topics. Therefore, the ThoughtPick team, and after an idea-loaded brainstorming session, decided to turn this type of posts into a series: Social Media & Web Marketing Wars!

A Little Bit of History…

Before moving on to evaluating the effectiveness of their social media utilization, it is only fair to talk a little about Dell and Toshiba’s histories.

Let’s begin with Dell. Dell was established in 1984 by Michael Dell and it employs more than 76,500 people worldwide as of 2009. “Dell grew during the 1980s and 1990s to become (for a time) the largest seller of PCs and servers. As of 2008 it held the second spot in computer-sales within the industry behind Hewlett-Packard. The company currently sells personal computers, servers, data storage devices, network switches, software, and computer peripherals”.

As for Toshiba, it was founded by the merging of two companies in 1939. Toshiba America Information Systems was created in 1989. “Toshiba is the world’s fifth largest personal computer manufacturer, after Hewlett-Packard and Dell of the U.S., Acer of Taiwan and Lenovo of China.”

Dell & Toshiba… “Social Medially”!

As a crucial part of my research, I made an effort to cover 4 important aspects of Dell and Toshiba’s online presence, especially when it comes to social media platforms: Twitter, Youtube, Facebook and Blogs.

1. Twitter:

What does Dell conduct itself on Twitter?

Dell seems to very well understand the power that Twitter is able to equip it with and appears to be doing the most it can to reap the benefits of having a strong presence as a Twitter user:

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