But in Las Vegas, Nevada, another primary of sorts will be taking place on January 10. That’s the start of the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), when more than 2,700 exhibitors from 140 countries will attract nearly 150,000 attendees to experience more than 20,000 product launches. For the tech companies that participate, CES is the key time to make stump speeches, roll out their 9-9-9 plans and dazzle media, retailers and the public with their amazingly innovative solutions.

Like Vegas itself, CES is a gaudy, inflated, all-you-can eat buffet of delights. Anyone who has attended the tradeshow can attest: it’s exhausting. Not just because walking the enormous space wears out your soles, but because the information overloads your system.

That’s why Mullen banded together with JetBlue Airways and leading social media analytics provider Pointslocal to develop CE Pulse. It’s a real-time, interactive gauge of online public opinion that helps consumers and marketers filter through the overwhelming hype to understand how consumers actually feel about brands and products. CE Pulse tracks and ranks social sentiment so you can see what’s important to the masses. Which brands and products are leading the pack? What gear do I want to blow my paycheck on in 2012?

CE Pulse is the latest in a series of social media monitoring and analysis projects from Mullen. For the past three years, we’ve held BrandBowl to gauge consumer sentiment surrounding Super Bowl TV commercials. Working with Pointslocal, we’ve also measured consumer sentiment related to major sports teams with The Pulse/Boston Red Sox and The Pulse/New England Patriots.

We think that brands that listen to how consumers talk about them are in a better position to engage in a dialogue with those consumers. Social media monitoring tools like CE Pulse enable consumers and brands to truly understand how the public perceives new products and to filter through the noise to uncover valuable information. As the candidates would say, and brands should learn to say, “It’s not about me—it’s about you!”

For a play-by-play report from our own Wolf in the field, follow @CE_Pulse on Twitter and visit the site.

1.  Storytelling still rules

Finding, creating and leveraging the relevant things that make a story interesting is still part of the process. It used to be about finding the news hook that would attract an editor. Today, you need to break through an even greater amount of clutter to attract attention. So, you’ve got to know what’s interesting and what should hit the cutting room floor.

2.  Forging relationships with key stakeholders still matters

The platforms have changed, but the relationships matter more than ever. The conversations used to be one-way. Today, it’s much more about two-way communication with the same set of stakeholders than anything wildly different from ten years ago.

3.  Connecting assets with opportunities is still vital to success

We’re still fueling campaigns with creative resources – this is one of the key reasons I’ve enjoyed working at Mullen for more than 12 years. Things are better with creative resources. PR and Social efforts have a greater chance of generating interest if they have an element of magic involved.

4. Setting and reaching goals won’t ever go away

A campaign launch used to include setting goals for what we wanted to get out of it from a publicity standpoint. That part remains, but now we talk about more interesting goals such as readers, fans, followers, engagement and sharing metrics. These quantitative and qualitative factors intrigue me and provide something for which to strive.

5.  Surprising ourselves is still why we keep working

This is a job that should be about pushing ourselves and our clients to innovate and break through the clutter. I don’t see that ever changing.

When you step back from the rush of new people, platforms, places and how they continue to all grow more connected, what can you point to in your line of work that hasn’t changed?

Let’s continue the conversation @ericmontague

According to a recent PopCap study, 83 percent of smartphone respondents said they had played at least one mobile game in the past week. Not only is gaming prevalent on smartphones, but also an AdMob study showed that gaming is the most popular activity on iPads (84 percent of consumers gaming from their devices), topping email and search. Farmville has surpassed 60 million users and Angry Birds is at 30 million free downloads, 12 million paid downloads and Angry Birds stuffed animals are getting four stars on Amazon.com.

What is surprising is that these numbers are not at the top of every marketers’ conversation as there are five simple data points to discuss:

• Gaming is ubiquitous. It has invaded the living room, the basement, the car, and the computer. Xbox has 25 million subscribers, more than Comcast cable. Windows is banking a piece of their mobile strategy on integration with Xbox Live via Windows 7 phones. The next logical screen would be the phone, and smartphone in particular.
• Mobile gives gamers the opportunity to play in their down time and when they are on the go. Because smartphones are portable and always on, consumers use games for entertainment throughout their daily routines – waiting for a bus, sitting on a train, waiting for an appointment, etc.
• Location enhances the gaming experience. Through mobile, gaming has a new dimension. In thinking about TRON or MINI, these games incorporated user locations and their distance from other consumers.
• Touch makes the game more immersive and personal. The smartphone screen is something that a consumer actually touches and influences. For instance, one of the first successful mobile games, Paper Toss, required users to swipe their fingers to shoot a wad of paper into a garbage can.
• Mobile is an inherently social activity. Phones originated as a social tool, used primarily to communicate with friends and family. Many games are also inherently social in that you play against other people. The smartphone is a natural canvas for social, mobile games.

While most of the marketing world has been pontificating, Angela Giovanello, Eric Montague and the Century 21 team has been doing. Working through appssavvy, our team embedded the Century21 brand into ngmoco’s WeCity application for iphone and ipads. We’re excited about the integration because:

• It is providing value. Gamers will now be able to add Century 21 branded structures, including a real estate office, a modern home and a skyscraper to their cities.  Users can also earn virtual profits that empower them to expand their cities and thereby advance within the game.
• In-game branding makes for a more realistic gaming environment. For many gamers, corporate branding within games only serves to make the game feel more realistic and exciting.
• We can connect with a new generation of buyers on their own turf. Instead of trying to reach a younger generation of consumers via just “ads,” we will be able to connect with them through providing game enhancements on a platform they already love.

We’ll judge the campaign through a branding study, interaction rates, and app downloads.  The verdict is still out on how this type of brand campaign will perform, but at the very least, we’ll know we had solid rationale and leveraged an important dynamic to provide real value for consumers.  We also don’t see our marketing efforts as isolated.  Everything we do is an iterative process.  Play.  Learn. Get better.  More marketers need to stop talking and start playing if they want to stay relevant to today’s consumer.

Check out additional campaign information on the Century 21 site: http://blog.century21.com/2011/04/bolder-faster-stronger-and-now-first/.

When the blogger universe exploded, marketers beheld a population of influencers somewhere between everyday folks and professional journalists, but with serious word-of-mouth marketing power. So they met the blogger ego.

As someone who’s been a journalist and a blogger receiving hundreds of public-relations e-mails per week, I’ve seen the good, bad and ugly ways marketers solicit coverage. And no one is more jaded these days than bloggers.

Bloggers, who now compete (or join forces) with journalists in news gathering and reporting, require a different communications strategy in order to effectively reach them and, hopefully, develop a rapport.

Step 1: Know your audience

The biggest misconception about a blogger-outreach strategy is that it is simple and easy. Blogger lists take serious resources and hours of labor to create. At Mullen, we have spent years cultivating good blogger lists, which we are constantly adding to or updating.

To begin building your list, think about who may already be talking about your product. Find them. Next, think about who isn’t, but should be, talking about your product. Find them, too.

Once you have a name, you must read the blog. Read at least the past three posts, but look for regular features or other specialties they write about. This will make sure you are pitching relevant information to the blogger, and you can flatter them by showing that you know what they write about and can speak to why it’s a fit for your product.

Pay attention to how bloggers suggest you contact them. Contact forms may seem like a hindrance, but I’ve had great blogger response when I take the time to fill these out. Additionally, start following them on Twitter and Facebook, so that you are engaging with them across mediums. This could also lead you to further bloggers to target for your outreach.

Step 2: Seduction

Once you’ve built your blogger list, you are ready to begin dialing (or typing) and smiling.

And, above all, do not act like a spammer.

Your first introductory sentence elicits a dance with the blogger ego:

1. Salutation: Always include the blogger’s name, some reference to the title of the blog and proof that you actually read it (comment on a recent article, let them know some common ground they share with the company you represent, or add your thoughts to something they mention in the “About Me” section).
2. Body: Write something personalized that explains why this blogger is being pitched. It doesn’t have to be lengthy, but it does have to be authentic. Then include the approved release or pitch materials.
3. Following up: The absolute worst thing you can do is not write back if the blogger comments on your pitch. Always be prompt with responses – part of showing them that you care.

Step 3: The Gift That Keeps On Giving

Remember: bloggers like to feel special. Whenever we do any sort of blogger-outreach strategy for clients, we emphasize that exclusive offers and giveaways are a key ingredient to getting their attention. Before you do this, make sure you are well-versed in the FTC regulations about sending gifts to bloggers.

You also need to give them something they can offer their readers. Most bloggers will tell you that, for the most part, they are in it for altruistic reasons – sharing the untold, impressing knowledge on the populace or spreading their wisdom or information. Don’t just send them something to try; send them something their readers can try, too.

Step 4: Listen

If you are doing something wrong in your outreach efforts, the bloggers will tell you.

Christine Hohlbaum is an author, “mommy blogger,” and ex-patriot now living in Germany (an important fact she says is overlooked by many PR pros who pitch to her). Her blogs, The Power of Slow and Mama’s Musings, get 2,000 to 3,000 unique site visitors per month, primarily at Mama’s Musings. She receives dozens of pitches from PR professionals each day, even more during the holidays.

As a PR consultant, she is sympathetic to time- and resource- strapped marketers who are trying to get the attention of a robust list of bloggers. But as a blogger, she sees good intentions go completely bad.

“Many people e-mail blast, which is something that you do not want to do with bloggers,” Hohlbaum said. “If you’re going to take the time, actually talk to me.”

That means be personable. Hohlbaum likes it when a pitch begins with “Good Morning” or “Happy Monday!” or comment on a recent post. Anything that shows they did more than look a contact up on Cision. These are things that separate the savvy PR professionals and the spammers, Hohlbaum says.

Susan Kessler is writer of The Frual Diva, a blog about frugal living that also has appeared in the Los Angeles Times. As someone who regularly receives marketing pitches, Kessler offers her own tips:

• Don’t assume the blogger will want this deal or company.
• Don’t hide who you are or the nature of your product – this is an ethics red flag.
• Don’t tell the blogger that everyone else you contacted is interested (in other words, don’t lie).
• Don’t ignore the blogger to push your own agenda when they tell you what their readers are interested in.
• Don’t let the e-mail conversation end negatively – always thank people for their time.
• Do try again politely at a later date if the blogger is uninterested – attitudes change.

And finally, she said, “Do flatter – it still works!” Everybody’s ego likes a little stroking, but that doesn’t guarantee you’ll get a write-up.

As NYU professor and author Adam Penenberg described on one panel, when people engage with each other (tweeting, writing on their walls, checking in, blog commenting, gaming) the body releases the chemical Oxytocin, also known as the hormone of love. The same hormone that bonds mothers to their newborns also increases empathy 13 percent in males. So, you could think of all the networking that takes place at SXSWi as a love fest of sorts. Certainly, for Seth Priebatsch, the founder of next big thing SCVNGR and keynote speaker, the future is all about engaging with others through the “gamification” of social apps and sites. If we only transform all challenges of the modern era – education, the environment – into a game that we all solve together, the world will be a better place. And this is a theme I heard throughout the event — education is broken, work is broken, social media is broken — now lets change the rules and play some games!

I appreciated Jason Brown of Zynga’s sentiment that “games are becoming indistinguishable from real life communication” and as I watched all attendees staring at their screens throughout the show this truth became self evident. But the funny thing about “South By” (as you should call it if you want to demonstrate street cred), is that it’s a cul de sac of future thinking that will eventually hit Main Street once everyone catches up. So, while Location Based Services (LBS) are the rage at the show, the market of smartphone users that actually use them is still immature. And by immature I don’t mean that they wear bright orange tee shirts with matching orange frame sunglasses (love that Priebatsch style). Watch the mobile LBS/gaming market take off as brands aim to increase engagement with consumers through loyalty-creating games that encourage them to “level up.”

But, lest we believe that people will play games without incentives, consider the promotion that Jill Okawa Fletcher of Virgin America did with LBS provider Loopt to drive people to check in at taco stands to win flights to Mexico. On the “Go Here, Do This” panel she shared with LivingSocial, Foursquare and Yelp! everyone agreed that “you need a big carrot” and that Facebook Places will be the check in hub for LBS. In counterpoint, in a panel on the true value of a Facebook fan, everyone concluded that it’s important to not focus on your brand’s most influential fans, and that giving away free ice-cream dilutes the value of a fan base. What’s most important is what you do with the fan (engagement, again). But it was beneficial to hear from Paul Ollinger of Facebook that the average fan spends $77 more than non-fan customers.

So if engagement via gaming, LBS and social media is the key for brands relating to consumers, the bar is even higher to produce content (stories, videos) that will create better engagement. Social isn’t about just creating pass-along viral buzz, it’s about dialogue, and the dialogue should never be just about the brand. This was made even clearer when I met my personal hero Victor Pineiro of Big Spaceship who posts for Skittles and was on a panel with the guys who created Whopper Sacrifice and American Express Open Forum. Their advice: fail and fail often. This is a process of constant reinvention. Conversational posts are 8-10 times more likely to get responses. Stories are not about us (brands). Focus on the topics that brands share with consumers because that’s what forms dialogue. If Oreo’s fan page can out-do Lady Gaga’s fan page in engagement with posts to the community, it’s more than just celebrity fueling engagement.

The same thoughts were expressed by Robert Brunner of Ammunition Group in his solo session “Ideas not Objects.” Product designer Robert Brunner has played a role in designing some of the seminal devices of our time: the Kindle and Beats by Dre headphones to name two. His philosophy of design is that every product must tell a story. “It doesn’t help to wrap a story around a bad idea. We get our stories from the community. The creation myth can no longer be a myth. Designer and storyteller need to work together. You cannot control your brand, you can only influence what people feel. Today, not taking risks is risky.”

“Content is still king” was heard from several during the show, but one risk-taker in particular hit it home: artist and designer Marc Ecko. He outlined his mathematical formula for authenticity. Inspired by Alice in Wonderland, he took a dizzying Prezi.com-powered presentation trip inside his own mind to uncover what defined his personal brand, on a personal road of discovery that has lead him to promoting UnlimitedJustice.com a cause to stop the use of paddling in corporal punishment in the 20 states that still permit it. He’s using the tools of outsider art and protest tactics to use social media for good and benefit education. Check out the site to stop the dropout rate from climbing.

The SXSWi show ended with the news that Owsley Stanley, the “Acid King” who ushered in the psychedelic movement of the ’60s, had died. In many ways, his passing was a passing of the torch to a new generation of adventurers gathering in Austin to tune in, log on, and check out (the modern era’s version of “tune in, turn on and drop out”). Comedian Marc Maron closed the festival with a live podcast of his WTF Show and he called Austin “Hipster Alamo” as the last bastion of cool in Texas. I prefer to think that the “Love In” lives on at SXSWi.

Chevy Volt plug input door open

The journey really started a month earlier when Chevrolet kicked off the 3,400-mile, cross-country 12-city Volt Unplugged Tour. And my white-knuckle ride was the conclusion of Mullen’s support for the tour’s largest stop in New York City, November 4-7. Our boots-on-the-ground goal was to get influential, New York-based, consumer media like Pogue and everyday consumer drivers behind the wheel and interacting with the automobiles, ultimately becoming more enlightened about the Volt, the Chevrolet brand, and electric cars in general.

Before arriving in the Big Apple, we arranged for Crunch Gear, Engadget, National Geographic, and CNN to drive Volts from Washington D.C. to demonstrate that the car is designed to make long journeys. And because New York City is not very driver-friendly, we created a variety of Volt experiences, like “over-night parties,” during which journalists had the chance to experience life with the Volt at their homes and charge it – using a standard 120 volt or 240 volt outlet.

Over the weekend, Volt “shuttles,” driven by those brave enough to drive in Manhattan, departed regularly from the Marriott Marquis in Times Square, giving drivers the opportunity to take a new car for a spin. Over the course of four days, nearly 200 test drives were facilitated with the curious man and woman on the street, as well as key media outlets like Bloomberg BusinessWeek, CBS, Discovery and Rolling Stone.

To underscore how this extraordinary car could do ordinary things, we took the Volts to key locations throughout the area – innovators like LG, energy companies like PSE&G, and major shopping malls – to extend our reach and impact and to highlight the importance of infrastructure to the future of electric vehicles.

Over the course of four days, more than 500 media and consumers got to put their hands at 10 and 2 o’clock on the Volt steering wheel. Media sang the praises of the Volt to their curious readers and audiences. Our efforts with GM generated hundreds of blog posts, online articles and TV spots, and millions of impressions. But the impression that stuck with me the most was what Pogue himself had to say about his drive on his blog: “I love the concept, I love that it’s stodgy old General Motors that’s zigging in this direction and I love that it finally brought this thing to market. I guess you could say that the Volt electric car has me energized.”

When I was assigned to go to Kennedy Space Center to participate in NASA’s social media program on behalf of General Motors, I was amped to see a shuttle launch, but didn’t know what that would entail.

Furthermore, how would I use GM’s social media platforms to link NASA and the automotive industry?

First, some background: Robonaut 2, a.k.a. R2, was designed to launch into outer space aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery for his first real work assignment at the International Space Station (ISS). R2 is the product of an advanced robotics partnership between NASA and GM that began in 2007. The learnings and intellectual property is then shared to help create safer cars and safer manufacturing facilities.

Check out a video of R2 showing off his moves during one of his demos:

Though aeronautics and automobiles may not be as exciting to today’s generations whose ears perk at the newest iPhone update or Lil’ Wayne’s latest beat, NASA pulled together its loudest, most passionate “influencers” to spread the good word across various social media platforms. In fact, 150 influencers were chosen out of the thousands that applied to share their experiences at the #NASATweetUp on Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Foursquare, etc.

It was a three-day program with technology demonstrations, speakers (including astronaut Ron Garan and Twitter VP Josh Goldman) and behind-the-scenes tours. And, the passion of the enthusiasts was infectious. The tweeps posted live updates across their various networks – one tweeter even rigged his iPhone 4 onto the brim of his hat to live stream his experiences to his blog.

During the program, I (on behalf of GM) posted hyperlinks to NASA’s UStream live feed, shared videos of R2 doing his thing, retweeted the #NASATweetUp tweets and created a Facebook album of images.

This 26-year-old millennial had no idea how inspiring this “work trip” would be. Prior to this, space travel and robotics didn’t engage me; it’s just what the U.S. did. However, using social media tools and programs, NASA is effectively reaching out to its core constituencies to allow them to sing from the mountain tops about the cool things that are happening – and people are listening.

It turns out, it just takes a creative mind and social media, and perhaps some unbound thinking, to make rocket science and robots edge their way back into our social conscience.

Street teams promote the Men's Wearhouse National Suit Drive in Times Square Aug. 31

Only in New York City would a group of shirtless, pantless men walking the streets be considered commonplace.

Men's Wearhouse street teams promoting the National Suit Drive outside the CBS Early Show

Still, the street teams you see here garnered a great deal of attention in the Big Apple (including a spot on the CBS Early Show), and in the other four cities where Mullen coordinated a guerilla marketing and public relations campaign for the Men’s Wearhouse National Suit Drive.

In New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., teams of men – wearing only dress shoes, socks and ties – held signs encouraging any passerby to “Give the Suit Off Your Back.” The promotion kicked off the third annual National Suit Drive Aug. 31, which Men’s Wearhouse boasts is the largest suit collection in the country.

Throughout September, the more than 1,000 Men’s Wearhouse locations will accept men’s and women’s gently used professional attire that they will donate to more than 200 regional charities throughout the United States.

The drive aims to help those struggling to reenter the workforce by suiting them up with a great suit for his or her next interview. Men’s Wearhouse hopes to collect more than 100,000 items in the month-long effort and there are just nine days left to donate.

To give the suit off your back, visit the nearest Men’s Wearhouse location. For your generosity, Men’s Wearhouse will give you a tax receipt and a 25 percent off coupon for your next purchase (restrictions apply). And for every suit that’s collected, the company will donate a dress shirt to the cause.

At Mullen’s Winston-Salem office, employees are holding their own collection of business attire – but luckily for all of us, nobody has taken the “Give the Suit Off Your Back” call-to-action literally … yet.

The integrated campaign has TV, social media and print that links to an augmented reality 3D experience.

Stephen Mietelski, svp, group creative director at Mullen, said “While using the camera, we came upon a simple and powerful idea: Rather than telling people “Look What You Can Do,” let’s show them what they can do with the PEN by using the camera to produce all of the campaign advertising visuals.”

Readers of the June print issue of Wired and the July print issue of Popular Photography will find an augmented reality tip-in card shaped like the Olympus PEN (actual size). The camera card peels off the insert and serves as a marker for use in front of a webcam. Simple instructions for the demo are included and direct users to the Olympus augmented reality site.

“Augmented reality has been used by companies before, but more as a gimmick than as an actual, working, in-depth product demo,” said Mietelski. “This is as close to having the camera in your hands as you can get without actually having it in your hands.”

The end result is a campaign that uses the medium as the message.

The rankings below were captured during the period of 6:00 – 11:00 PM eastern time on Super Sunday (that was game time). The methodology we used to calculate the rankings is explained on the BrandBowl site. The rankings reflect both volume of chatter and relative sentiment (positive/negative) and are based on nearly 100,000 tweets captured from 66,000 Twitter accounts. We have analytical dashboard data for all the Super Bowl brands if any of you brand managers would like to see?

Here are the final BrandBowl standings 1-42 and above is a Hulu widget if you’d like to view the Super Bowl spots :

1. Doritos
2. Google
3. Focus on the Family
4. Snickers
5. Budweiser
6. Bud Light
7. Hyundai
8. Kia
9. GoDaddy
10. Coca-Cola
11. U.S. Census Bureau
12. E-Trade
13. Dockers
14. Audi
15. Vizio
16. Dodge
17. Dove
18. VW
19. Monster
20. McDonald’s
21. Intel
22. Denny’s
23. Boost
24. CareerBuilder
25. Bridgestone
26. TacoBell
27. TruTV
28. HomeAway
29. EA
30. Walt Disney
31. Dr. Pepper
32. KGB
33. Universal
34. Paramount
35. FloTV
36. Cars.com
37. Motorola
38. Diamond Foods – Pop Secret
39. Honda
40. Teleflora
41. Michelob Ultra
42. Budweiser Select55