Recently, a couple of product launches have caught my attention and I noticed them (100%) because of social media. I saw them on blogs, through my feeds, in Twitter messages and on Facebook. I did NOT see them on TV, in a newspaper/magazine/billboard or even on a traditional website. A year ago, that may not have been the case.

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Product: Tiger Woods '09
Two videos have caught my eye. The first, Tiger walks on water, is a very cool example of a brand listening and responding using their assets. This could have passed Tiger by, but it turned out brilliantly. The second video is just odd enough to be passed along.

Interestingly, if you search "Tiger Woods 09" on Google, the walking on water video is the number 2 result.

Tiger walks on water

Tiger square peg, round hole

*Note EA Sports is a Fleishman-Hillard client

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Product: Nikon D90
I am an avid Nikon user and I am a huge brand advocate (you're generally either a Canon or Nikon person in photography). I had not heard about their newest digital SLR, the D90, until I came across a video by commercial photographer Chase Jarvis. Chase caught my attention last year with a very cool presentation to NYC's Photoshelter. He creates awesome videos that apply at all levels of skill level.

For the D90, Nikon asked Chase's team to evaluate the camera in a professional environment and they documented their experience. This, to me, gives the product instant credibility (I trust he would not BS me) and makes me interested. (Though I am really looking at their D300.) Nonetheless, I saw it on a blog which drove me to the product site which prompted me to write this post. Here is the clip. I love the espionage aspect and the fact that they turned this into content. Nikon uses the video on their D90 microsite as well as a dedicated site at www.chasejarvisandfriends.com

Marketing Takeaways:
Are you listening to what your top customers are saying online? Are you agile enough to respond without weeks of legal review? Are you engaging your evangelists to create real, pure branded content?

If you are I think you're in the minority of companies out there who get it. If you are not, what can you do today to make steps toward this? Maybe its listening, maybe its having lunch with an advocate. Doing nothing is the worst thing anyone can do.

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branding, Matt Dickman, micromedia, social media, strategy, Techno//Marketer