Many promotional and branding email campaigns fail to take into account the ultimate goal of such initiatives: for recipients to read the content presented to them and perform specific calls to action.

Campaign landing pages can help recipients become engaged with campaigns and act on calls to action if they meet the following requirements:

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This was one of the more entertaining Superbowl commercials with a good tease and all the right corresponding components: hangintherejack.com, Facebook fan page, Twitter page, Email & SMS campaign, but I am very disappointed in the long-term execution.  This shouldn’t even be a long-term execution by the way – people have short attention spans… what the hell is going to happen to Jack?

I think it’s time to pull the plug – either on Jack or on this campaign. 

I didn’t visit the site right away, then a couple weeks after the launch I saw a commercial at home and visited hangintherejack.com via Mobile.  I enthusiastically entered my email address and phone number to receive updates.  The info appeared to go through, however I did not receive any confirmation or immediate texts.

Not to give up, I visited the site on 2/13 and signed up again.  I did receive a confirmation email.  (Note: the confirmation email had no click thru back to the hangintherejack.com site or a Facebook/Twitter call out.  I see this as a missed opportunity.) 

SMS: I tried to sign up for SMS updates as well but it wouldn’t go through on my phone.  Someone else please try: text UPDATE to 52255.  As I write this today, it is still giving me a “Service is not available” error message.  My tweet to Jack (rather to Barbara, Jack’s assistant)

@jackbox the SMS code does not seem to be working – i tried texting UPDATE to 52255. is it me or you? 1:47 PM Feb 13th from web

No response.

Twitter: Businesses using Twitter should be using it to INTERACT with their customers.  I realize that the current Twitter page is supposed to be for Jack updates, but they need to take the opportunity to engage with customers and fans.  Twitter is not a one-way update machine; it is supposed to be conversational.  Just at a glance I see that almost all updates start with “Jack…”  I see zero @replies in response to Twitter users.  On the other hand, if I go to Twitter search and look for @jackbox, I see hundreds of people reaching out.  Barbara (Jack’s assistant) doesn’t seem to have nice things to say about Phil, but I think Barbara needs to step up her game as well!

The buzz right now is for the 2 Free Tacos on 2/24.  I did receive the standard updates by Twitter, email, and Facebook but somehow it still seems so impersonal.

I have seen a lot of coverage and RT’s (re-tweets), and I am sure there will be thousands of free tacos given away tomorrow and Jack In the Box will be touted as having a genius marketing plan, but I am still disappointed. 

Email:  Since signing up on 2/13, I have only received 3 additional emails  - one was a bland update on Jack’s condition and the other two were about the 2 free tacos on 2/24.  As the Email Strategist here at Red Door, my mind is racing with other fun ideas about Jack’s condition, Lifecycle opportunities, forward to friend/refer a friend options, and much more. 

Site visit: 2/20 – I almost got excited today!  There was a video post on the site saying “Jack’s doctor has news.”   Disappointment: some crap about the doctor’s son’s lacrosse team and Jack is still in a coma. 

TV: One nice touch – the Mini sirloin burger commercial with the cute song about cattle the size of schnauzers added a disclaimer “this was filmed before Jack’s accident”

But does anyone want to walk with me to the College station Jack in the Box tomorrow to get my 2 free tacos?  You can download coupon here:

http://coupon.hangintherejack.com/two-tacos.php

It’s hard not to get inundated, especially in our industry, with social media. Clients ask: how do you rate social media and viral marketing as successful? If it gets people talking about your brand, engages them in an interesting and relevant “with the times” manner, instigates action among a network of people, and in this case – got me to venture back into the land of unnaturally yellow drinks.

Yes, Mountain Dew. I used to love them; I am actually not sure why I haven’t had one in years. This time, they aren’t yellow, and I was persuaded by compelling TV commercials during election coverage. You know what? I DO want to take the Road to the New Dew.

While this site seems to have been around for a while already, no matter – it’s acceptable to stay undecided up to a point. Apparently Mountain Dew had its own Primary season, with interactive games for users to create the 3 final flavors (Flavor, Color, Name, Logo, Label) which somehow all ended up with gingseng in them. Now is decision making time… I am sure we are all a little OD’ed on politics, so why not take a break and campaign for a new energy drink (we all need them and love them). And rest assured, a 3rd party isn’t going to screw things up for the rest of us.

Things I like:
Witty campaign news ticker, state-by-state results, campaign count-down clock.
You can create an video without too much effort – just pick & arrange the elements.

Things I don’t like:
You have to have the MyHtml app on facebook to post campaign posters.

All three flavors are available this summer in case you want to become familiar with the issues before committing. I guess the worst outcome would be that the winner just tastes bad, no matter how cool the campaign was. I am supporting Voltage on flavor alone until I can make it downstairs to the 7-11 (Plus, the logo looks like the Las Vegas sign).

Last but not least, please click on my campaign poster to check out the dewmocracy.com site (and help me become a Recruiter of the Week)!

Note from IAB:
Grading the interactive shops The nutty professors at Adweek are at it again: Their “Interactive Report Cards” offer grades for 10 leading interactive agencies for their work in 2006, taking into account company financials, management, creative and work in emerging media. The grading curve was steep: No rated agency earned better than a B+ overall.

And if you want to visit this very cool site, especially for our Red Door runners:
http://www.nike.com/nikeplus/