Be real. Be fun. Be wrong.

…Glass more after watching this video. Didn’t think it was possible but there it is, more love.

This is such a clever campaign. Kudos to Bell & Partners.

It occurred to me as I was walking out of Gymboree with my free sample of Tide stain remover that I haven’t seen Tide on the shelf of my grocery store for a long time. No doubt that is due to the fact that I primarily shop at my neighborhood grocer who only offer Seventh Generation and Meyer’s brand cleaning products, or at Whole Foods who offer a broader range of eco-friendly brands but don’t expand into the “get this shit clean at any cost” brand categories (think: Tide).

So how did a Tide product make it into my nursery? Partnership.

I didn’t have to shop where they actually sell Tide; Tide found me where I (and many other SF moms) shop through a partnership with Gymboree and a marketing tool called “free sample”.

I did a quick search for more info on the partnership when I got home and was not surprised that Tide had also solicited one of the the Walmart Elevenmom bloggers, had a youtube video of a promo fashion show, and  lot’s of print-and-redeem coupons for the stain release product.

The PR release defines the partnership as follows:

to help parents across North America get more wear out of their kids’ clothing by choosing quality items that last and last, and giving parents easy and effective solutions for caring for those clothes. The holistic, multi-touch point partnership between Gymboree and Tide Stain Release includes web site integration, co-branded interactive components, and a robust in-store marketing program with over 30 Gymboree stores

Strategic partnerships are a great way reach folks outside of your existing customer base and leverage the customer loyalty your partner has established.

A few partnerships that I think would rule:

Delfina Pizzeria + Godspeed Courier

Peet’s Coffee + Caltrain

Starbucks + Curiosity Shop

Most of you have already seen this video by now. This much ingenuity makes it’s rounds pretty quickly.

Rob Walker recently posted an interesting insight on the video and how it might represent an “amateur aesthetic” and the “idea of collaboration” vs. actual collaboration. I would have liked to think it was true-blue crowdsourcing but it seems that it was a bit more reality TV.

Here are the posts that I’ve found most interesting thusfar:

Rob Walker “The amateur aesthetic and idea of collaboration” on his Murketing blog

Creat Ivity “Behind Sour’s Webcam Wonder”

RT @AdaptivePath: Just launched a new case study about our work with Mission Bicycle.

Mission Bicycle Retail Experience from Adaptive Path on Vimeo.

Thanks to @missroque for sharing. Very funny post but I’m a sucker for the snark.

See the full offer here.

Marketing Directors who are looking to cash-in on twitter should spend sometime REALLY thinking about what is compelling to the twitter community. This may mean delaying your “campaign” until you actually have a great idea but it’s well worth it because 1.) the backlash could be brutal and, 2.) isn’t there enough mediocre crap in the world already?

Thank you Gary Vaynerchuk.

Jeffrey Kalmikoff references this video and has some insightful commentary that expands on the notion of traditional strategies that is worth checking out too.

I grabbed this slide from Tara Hunt‘s presentation Design Wuffie at An Event Apart on May 4, 2009.

As opposed to…

In true ++wuffie fashion, the entire presentation is available on SlideShare.

I took some layout liberty and mashed up the above slides with the points that mean the most to me.

I wasn’t able to attend the Creating Infectious Action Mini Conference at Stanford yesterday- a big bummer because my friend Pedraum from Apple was speaking not to mention that this free conference represents one of the great perks of living in/near the center of the web.

I’m hoping to catch the entirety of the presentation soon- they are currently working to get the archive video up either on ustream or on stanford video podcasts. For now, here’s a nice slice of the final panel discussion section of the mini conference. The question each panelist is “How do you find the party starters and evangilists?” and is followed by some brief but useful insights on best-practice use of user analytics.

Leslie Kilgore – CMO @ Netflix
DJ Patil – Chief Scientist @ LinkedIn
Jason Goldman – VP of Product @ Twitter

The questions seem a bit pedestrian but the insights concerning product development, marketing, and growth strategies are great.

Here are a few excerpts that struck a chord with me.

On catering to a niche market:

Our product was our biggest marketing. As a small company with a limited budget, the [best] way to message to your consumer is actually your product. Our product had to be great to wear and actually say something to the consumer [so that] he could represent himself as a basketball player.

On brand differentiation:

The most important thing was that AND 1 was a basketball-only brand. We felt that we couldn’t occupy the consumer’s mind for all of footwear and apparel in athletics. We wanted to make sure that when you thought of basketball, you thought of AND 1 first.

On expanding your product categories:

When you start to grow as a business, [you want to] keep growing and be as big as you possibly can be. That conflicts with continuing to be true to who you are as a company and servicing the same consumer.

Thanks to Nivi for tweeting about the interview.