Instagram Hangs Itself

Instagram's fame as THE
photo-sharing app is in jeopardy.

Instagram released its new terms of service overnight, and the backlash has been swift and sharp.  No one knows yet how this will play out, but many Instagram users are threatening to leave the service.

So what happened?  Their updated terms of service state that "you agree that a business or other entity may pay us to display your username, likeness, photos (along with any associated metadata), and/or actions you take, in connection with paid or sponsored content or promotions, without any compensation to you."  Ouch!

If the debate gets any hotter, there could be government intervention or a law suit, which would hurt the company even more that user abandonment!

Instagram's response, so far, has been to say that this was a move taken to better integrate with its parent company, Facebook, which already does this a little.  I've seen ads that list profile photos and names of my friends as "Likers" of other pages that I should also, apparently, like.

The Marketing Take-away
This is a two-edged sword for marketers, because we LOVE to use customer data for our own purposes, and photos are part of that.  But with the severe infringement on people's personal information and images could cause consumers to lose confidence in companies that use this type of information to sell products or services.

My advice to marketers and companies?  Wait it out and see what happens before making the move to use people's Instagram photos and metadata to marketing anything?

Now tell me: what do YOU think about Instagram's new terms of service?

-MJP

Banana Marketing

I never would have thought...

It's a pretty funny way to do it, and it's one of the last places I would think to look for an ad...which makes it the best place for it.  Plus, putting the ad on bananas fits the "Chipwrecked" movie's theme of tropical islands.  I didn't think of it, but I'm wondering now if they had these same stickers on OTHER types of fruit, too!

Small pet...or huge rat?

This 3-foot rat looks more like a pet dog than a monster rodent!

I've always heard jokes about giant-rat sightings in New York City, but this is no joke!  It was found in the back room of a Foot Locker in the Bronx.  My question is: how can Foot Locker turn this around and keep it from turning into a big problem?

Sorry about the J.K. Rowling video!

I'm sorry to everyone for the J.K. Rowling video post that seems to be covering up the widgets to the right of the video. I can't seen to get it any smaller!

-MJP

A unique brand move for J.K. Rowling

Whether or not you like Harry Potter, you have to admit that this is an interesting move for the story's creator, J.K. Rowling.  She's created a new site for the world of Harry Potter, unveiled the week of June 19th, 2011.



The video reveals that it will be an interactive experience, but it's still REALLY vague as to what exactly will be going on there.  Leading up to the announcement, there were speculations as to what would be on www.pottermore.com.  It remains to be seen whether or not this brand strategy will pay off for Rowling.  In terms of e-book sales, it should be great, at least!


-MJP

Gun Lovin' Fun!

Which one of these is not like the others?

If you guessed that only one of them has a big, white tag, you're RIGHT...but it's not what I was thinking of when I snapped this shot at Walmart. I, of course, was looking at the PINK gun on the left.

Disney as a Key to a Happy Brand

I was recently at Disneyland, and I was amazed at the number of products they sold that weren't made by Disney. For instance, a giant Mr. Potato Head interacts with the guests standing in line to ride Toy Story Midway Mania; not only is it my favorite ride at ANY Disney park, it's also a great cross-promotional opportunity for Hasbro. There's no way to know how much Disney pays each year to use Mr. Potato, but it has to be a lot since he's featured so prominently in the ride's "pre-show" line cue.

Pester Power and Children's TV Programming

Some marketing entities, who will remain nameless, don't just present products and services to potential consumers; they ram it down customers' throats with annoying frequency. Often, the adds appear to have been placed in the wrong time slots.

It's called "pester power," and it's becoming fairly common, especially during children's TV programming. Here are some reasons it bugs me, specifically when it comes to my kids!

First of all, I have very young children (three kids under the age of 5), and everything they see on commercials, they want. They have no way to discriminate between products; it all looks fun, so they want it.

I think there should be NO commercials during programming for children. PBS does this, for the most part, but they still have sponsored shows by McDonald's and other brands, so kids still see it. At least they're on the right track, though.

Secondly, I find it annoying that advertisers use children's programming time to advertise products to parents. The other day, I saw a soap commercial during Nick Jr. I understand that parents should be watching TV with their kids; we try to at our house as much as possible, but I know that a lot of people don't have the time to do it, and it's impossible to do it 100% of the time, so then kids are left watching ads for things they don't even understand. It becomes a drain on their delicate brains as well as advertisers' dollars.

I am, by writing this, making myself into a hypocrite, though. It’s my business to market products; I AM THE ENEMY. Fortunately, my current employer sells computer networking equipment, so I don’t think we’ll be appearing during Dora the Explorer any time soon!