For Second Screen Engagement, Twitter Leads the Pack

Posted by Dan Trimarchi, 10 Jul 2013

Last fall my favorite TV show was American Horror Story. I enjoyed all the twists and turns, but more than that, I loved getting together online with friends and perfect strangers every Wednesday night to see how each episode would unfold and talk about predictions for the rest of the series. 

More and more, people are turning to their laptops and mobile devices as a way to virtually gather ’round the TV set and share an entertainment experience. But for brands deciding where to invest their engagement efforts, there are a multitude of options to consider.

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3 Television Shows that “Get” Social

Posted by Jon Thomas, 06 Mar 2013

Television has been “social” for years now, but the rapid embrace of real-time marketing in 2013 (and we’re only two months into it) has shifted social TV into a higher gear. 

But the topic of brands reacting to television programming via social channels has been discussed ad nauseam. I’m not sure anyone can write an article lately about social media without mentioning Oreo, and this year’s Oscars apparently invited every brand to the social media party, whether it was relevant or not.

What is largely forgotten in all this is the shows themselves. Social media is fertile ground for television programs to engage audiences not only before, during and after an episode airs, but also during the off-season, making social a year-round commitment. Now that countless brands utilize real-time second-screen tactics, it’s time to investigate which shows and channels are innovating in the social space. 

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10 Brands Doing Post-Advertising Right: Fall Edition

Posted by Jon Thomas, 31 Oct 2012

Each week, our social media team at Story hops on a conference call discuss the latest and greatest in the world of social media, content marketing, brand storytelling and the like. While most everyone would admit that meetings are rarely fun, I look forward to this call because I love to talk social-media shop. 

Considering how quickly marketing happens in the post-advertising age, we aren’t able to cover everything on the blog and a lot of great work that we discuss on our weekly call falls through the cracks. In the last year, we’ve made it a point to highlight the brands each season that have embraced Post-Advertising and have focused their efforts on creating engaging content and igniting movements that spread.

It’s been six long months since our last edition, so let’s get on with it! Here are Ten Brands Doing Post-Advertising Right: Fall Edition.

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Mad Men’s Renewal Saga

Posted by Luke Dringoli, 06 Apr 2011
Oh gentle, ad-obsessed readers, it seems like only yesterday Mad Men was on the air and we at Post Advertising were serving up weekly slabs of inspired ad industry analysis to go with it. Where do the days go? It’s been nearly 6 months! The show isn't back, but there is a bit of news: following belabored negotiations with AMC, it was announced that Don Draper & Co. won’t be back in action until 2012. Who’s responsible for the hold up and what made the protracted, closed-door contract talks so ironic? Read on!
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Will the New York Times Paywall Succeed?

Posted by Steve Solomon, 31 Mar 2011
As just about anyone with internet access is now painfully aware, this week the New York Times imposed a “paywall” on visitors who want to read more than 20 articles per month. In other words, the newspaper is trying to leap from “basic cable” to “premium cable,” apparently without making any changes to its content or even going commercial-free. The big question is: Will it work?
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Mad Men’s Disastrous, Awful, No Good Season 4 Finale

Posted by Luke Dringoli, 19 Oct 2010
(Warning: spoilers from the season finale of Mad Men, as well as excessive vitriolic ranting below.) And, like that, it's over. Was this really what we were waiting all season for? There's a unanimous feeling around our office: Sunday night's season finale of Mad Men was, without a doubt, the worst episode ever produced. But, like an accident on the side of the road, we couldn't look away. What the heck happened?
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“Go Shit in the Ocean!” (Mad Men Season 4, Episode 8)

Posted by Luke Dringoli, 14 Sep 2010
It took half a season to pick up, but Mad Men is certainly on to something in these last few episodes. Sure, Sunday night was light on the actual advertising process, but all the HR/office dramatics more than made up for it (and touched on an altogether different side of agency life). Also, there was a voice over! A voice over is a sure-fire narrative technique! Or, wait, maybe a voice over is just a slapdash emergency, the equivalent of Vodka and Mountain Dew?
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Luggage + Booze + Your Boss = Best Birthday Ever! (Mad Men: Season 4, Episode 7)

Posted by Luke Dringoli, 08 Sep 2010
Okay, great Mad Men episode, or greatest Mad Men episode? In either case, "The Suitecase," was all about the advertising. More specifically, it was about idea generation, and all the blood, sweat, tears, and in this case, vomit, that this torturous process involves. So who wants to spend their 27th birthday with their boss, cranking away at concepts about luggage? Oh! Me! Me!
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Working for the Weekend: Peggy Gets Naked in a Hotel Room (Season 4, Episode 6 of Mad Men)

Posted by Luke Dringoli, 31 Aug 2010
As Matthew Weiner and co. hauled home more Emmys on Sunday night (Mad Men scored its 3rd straight win for Best Drama), AMC forged ahead with another new episode of their mega-hit show in which, ironically, Don won his own award (a pretty ballsy move on Weiner's part to air this episode on Emmy night, but that's just how he rolls!). This week was all about past and present ambitions and power grabs at SCDP and the episode continued the trend of the company's creatively-minded folk cutting through the clutter of formalities and inner-office practices. And yes: Peggy got naked.
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Mad Men Season 4 Episode 5

Rival Agencies, Psychotic Ex-wives and Repetitive Placements (Or, Mad Men: Season 4, Episode 5)

Posted by Luke Dringoli, 23 Aug 2010
It's that time of the week — a new episode of your favorite primetime drama about the most despicable industry of all: advertising! This week's entry in the Mad Men canon featured a plethora of both family and ad-related dramatics, and continued the insertion of an increasingly high-profile array of real-life brands opting (we'd assume) into the show's historically hyper-accurate format. Read on for our behind-the-copy take on the hour's events — especially the breaks that littered it.
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