CASACOM’s Top Three Communications Stories of the Week

It’s that time of the week again. Our top three favourite communications and PR stories are here. Are Apple and IBM working together? Was there a marketing campaign that involved a macaroni-shaped pop-up? Find out the answers below.

Social Media:

The Institute for Public Relations assembled a list of social media studies and put together an infographic with some interesting findings from each of them. Here are a few of the discoveries:

• Three in four companies have a dedicated social media team.
• Executives are more likely to consider CEOs who use social media to be good listeners.
• Forty-two percent of online adults use more than one social network. (Facebook is the most popular).

You can see the full infographic with more findings in the link below:

“Findings from the social media industry’s top studies” (PR Daily)

Apple & IBM:

Are Apple and IBM working together? It’s true. Both companies are teaming up in an attempt to sell more iPhones and iPads to corporate customers and government agencies. The two companies will work together on different mobile applications designed for a variety of industries. Twenty, thirty years ago these two companies were bitter rivals, but technology has since evolved and both companies are now focusing on different things. This partnership will bring together the best of Apple and the best of IBM.

For further details and commentaries from both companies’ CEOs, please see link below:

“Apple turns to IBM for help in selling to corporate customers” (Marketing Magazine)

Advertising:

This week in Toronto’s financial district, Kraft Canada introduced a new marketing campaign for one of its signature brands, Kraft Dinner. People who visited the macaroni-shaped pop-up were able to shop for Kraft Dinner merchandise and instead of paying at the checkout, they were asked to do a “fun” activity, such as juggling or jumping.

The company has not been as successful encouraging consumption among adults as it has to children. Therefore, the marketing strategy is to make consumers think about their childhood when they ate Kraft Dinner and associate it with the childlike feeling of carefree fun.

To learn more about the campaign and what Kraft Canada has in store for the country, please read the article below:

“Kraft Dinner makes ‘fun’ its advertising catchword in new campaign” (Globe and Mail)

Thought of the week:

“Social media is about people connecting with people—make your brand voice personable.” – PR News’ Best PR Advice Book