Welcome to March everyone and our second month of the Friday 5.  I hope you are enjoying our new blog series.  What type of Friday 5 items are you most interested in?

Here are some of the highlights and tidbits from this week.

1. Casinos have been in the St. Louis news lately, and this week the region welcomed another casino to the neighborhood.  River City Casino (run by Pinnacle Entertainment, the same company that opened Lumière Place downtown in 2008) opened on Thursday in Lemay, MO.
2. The University of Maryland released “The State of Small Business Report” and it states social media usage has increased from 12% to 24% in the last year among small businesses.  I’m surprised a higher percentage of small businesses aren’t taking advantage of social media, what do you think?
3. Are Toyota owners staying loyal?  That is a question Ad Week is asking this week.  Following the recent push of messages the company has sent out through TV and radio commercials, how do you think the company is handling its communications crisis and brand reputation?
4. The second annual Shorty Awards were presented this week.  What are the Shorty Awards you ask? Well it’s an award dedicated solely to Twitter users!  Check out the winners.
5. A topic of discussion this week at TVG included the best options for social media monitoring and reporting.  You can use free services like Google Alerts or Social Mention and then there are paid programs through Radian6, Vocus, Cision and many others.  We’ve used different methods for different clients. What is your favorite monitoring and reporting social media tool?

I’ve posed a lot of questions in this week’s Friday 5, so let us know what you think.  Have a great weekend.

The shift in corporate management and spending over the last 18 months has created a domino effect that has impacted advertising and marketing departments, shrinking their budgets and shifting the way they approach projects.

Last month companies dropped millions of dollars on Super Bowl ads with fingers crossed their creation would be one buzzed about positively on Twitter, Facebook and Monday’s blogger news. The money spent on Super Bowl Sunday, however, is a unique splurge for the industry.

Due to the economy, agencies have been forced to break the traditional models set before them. In the traditional model, companies had large marketing budgets that allowed them to focus on design and cross their fingers for success and alignment with business objectives. This sometimes led to highly creative and winning campaigns, but often resulted in failed campaigns that left companies needing to start from scratch and develop a brand new campaign. This wasn’t a problem then, because marketing and advertising budgets were so large they could support failed campaigns and they had the money to spend on second or even third attempts.

It was inevitable that this frivolous approach to spending would collapse. With the current economic climate and the shift from traditional to new media, this collapse of traditional ways of doing things will continue.

In its place, we have seen a more strategic approach to advertising and marketing that has the potential to generate a much greater impact with audiences. The new face of advertising must lead with a strong business strategy, one that aligns with business objectives, long-term goals and a solid market position. Then, design teams need to execute winning creative content.

As more and more companies choose to move away from traditional media campaigns and cross over into new media campaigns, we will see (and are seeing) a major shift in how advertisers reach audiences, whether it’s through word-of-mouth, Facebook, Twitter or other social networking sites. The future of advertising is here… are you ready?

Friday is here again and so is the Friday 5.

1. If you liked the Social Media Revolution video from last year, check out the State of the Internet video.  The clip shares astounding numbers and stats on the Internet, emailing and social media.
2. TVG’s Kelly Ferrara and Nurses for Newborns Foundation is gearing up for their annual auction on April 18, 2010 at the St. Louis Frontenac Hilton!  Sign up now or donate something for the silent or live auctions!  Click here to learn more, donate or buy a ticket.
3. Conan O’Brien, Ozzie Guillen and the Dalai Lama all joined Twitter this week.  With just 3 tweets Conan already has more than 380,000 followers and a great profile description.
4. Shelley has been working away on 2010 Bronze Quill nominations for the St. Louis IABC.  Entry deadlines are a week away on March 5^th for all those interested.
5. TVG’s Sanford-Brown team helped announce an innovative new learning tool, the Simpro Virtual Trainer.  Learn more from the story on Fox2now.com.

What news and events would you add to the Friday 5 this week?

Thank you for reading and enjoy your weekend.

TVG recommends that our clients protect themselves from FTC violations by developing a formal social media policy for endorsers. It’s important to conduct periodic audits to ensure that your company’s policy is being implemented. Often, the marketing and legal departments must work together to create a comprehensive policy and a culture of compliance within the organization. For assistance on developing a social media policy you can attend a TVG seminar on social media policy. Also check out the Word of Mouth Marketing Association’s recently released Social Media Disclosure Guide.

The FTC’s guidelines have made it increasingly important for companies to be more careful about the bloggers they partner with, check the blogger’s background and insist on disclosure. If a blogger you’re considering partnering with has not thoroughly disclosed relationships in the past, you may need to think twice about partnering with them.

Your organization may also consider utilizing more public relations initiatives that simply present stories you think the blogger will find interesting and relevant in hopes that the blogger will write about them. If bloggers write about your company, product or service without compensation or free products, the post does not require as extensive of a disclosure.

Online conversations are effective at generating word of mouth, so it can only be expected that companies will continue to build blogger relationships. However, your company must be careful to create a culture of compliance and work with bloggers who recognize the need to follow the FTC’s Guides.

Hello folks, I hope you enjoyed your week that started off with Valentine’s Day and Mardi Gras. Here is your Friday 5.

1. This year brought another successful Mardi Gras celebration to St. Louis.  Following the Soulard celebrations over the weekend, the Lumière Place Light up the Night Fat Tuesday Parade brought some 26 krewes out to parade downtown with the theme “famous couples.”
2. We learned yet again how social media allows one person and one incident to quickly impact the image of a company with @TheKevinSmith and @SouthwestAir.
3. In light of the FTC’s new guides concerning endorsements and testimonials, WOMMA issued its Social Media Marketing Disclosure Guide.  The report offers ethical practices your company can utilize to stay compliant with the FTC and to maintain good social media engagement etiquette.  Still not sure about the FTC guides? Check out Shelley’s blog post from earlier this week.
4. TVG’s own, Cassie McCloud started to prepare this week for her presentation at the St. Louis IABC March seminar. Join us on March 25^th for her discussion on engaging employees in the web 2.0 world.  She’ll be joined by HOK, Hallmark, Webster University and many others!
5. Lastly, St. Louis saw a hint of spring this week with some sunny weather and temps moving into the 40s!  TVG’s Amy Crump took the occasion to start some early spring cleaning around the office.

Let’s hope the nice weather lasts so we can all enjoy our weekend!

In December, the FTC released revised Guidelines Concerning Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising. I think it’s important to address specifically the FTC’s requirement that companies and endorsers disclose material connections. That’s why I will be writing a series of blog posts about best and worst practices and the impact the regulations may have on your company.

First, cases from Kmart and Wal-Mart illustrate how companies and bloggers have chosen to or not to disclose material connections and payments for endorsements in the past.

Kmart generated significant positive word of mouth from its 2008 holiday season blogger campaign. Six bloggers received $500 gift cards to post entries about their experiences at Kmart, positive or negative. Each post was identified as a sponsored post. Each blogger was able to give away an additional gift card to one of their readers. For readers to enter the contest to win a $500 gift card from the bloggers, the reader had to promote the contest and Kmart to their Twitter followers or post a blog comment with the item they wanted most from Kmart. This was done more than 3,000 times on blogs, yielding 600,000 network connections. It was also tweeted more than 3,000 times on Twitter which generated considerable discussion.

In contrast, Wal-Mart created a stir with its sponsorship, through Working Families for Wal-Mart, of a blog where disclosure was not apparent. In 2006, a couple made a cross-country trip across the U.S. in an RV, parking at Wal-Marts for free. The couple started a blog called “Wal-Marting Across America”, which frequently posted stories of Wal-Mart employees they met along the way. All of the featured Wal-Mart employees only had positive things to say about the controversial corporation. Wal-Mart denied hiring the couple, but it turned out that Working Families, which received funding from Wal-Mart, decided to sponsor the couple’s entire trip when it learned about their plan. Working Families paid for the couple’s flight to Las Vegas to pick up the RV, extended the trip’s duration, provided an RV emblazoned with the Working Families logo, paid for the gas, set up the blog and paid the woman to write blog entries. While there is a Working Families banner on the blog, nowhere does it disclose that Wal-Mart sponsored the trip.

The differences in disclosure between these examples (and many others) illustrate why the FTC may have decided to create regulations around endorsements and testimonials.

The Vandiver Group is working with the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) to help the industry understand and apply these new guidelines. Donna Vandiver serves on the Membership Ethics Advisory Panel and you can learn more about the guides at the WOMMA web site.

Check in next week to discuss the impact the regulations may have on your business.

This week’s Friday 5:

1. Donna Vandiver returned from London after a meeting with the Pinnacle Worldwide network, where she serves as president.  The group of more than 50 privately-owned public relations agencies met to share best practices and initiatives for 2010.
2. The Olympics start tonight in Vancouver, Canada. Sponsors are using it as a way to continue growth in social media, while Procter and Gamble are thanking Olympians’ moms. What sports are you excited to watch this year?
3. Google launched a new social sharing tool, Google Buzz, as a part of their Gmail service.  Have you received and started to try out Google Buzz?  Do you think it is a valuable addition to the social media world, or just a repetitive program to manage?
4. TVG is participating in the St. Louis Green Business Challenge.  The Green Business Challenge is designed to help companies improve the sustainability of their business operations, share best practices and work together to help St. Louis become a greener region.
5. Some final food for thought before you head out on your weekend.  An in depth article by Brian Solis on Mashable, “Why Brands are Becoming Media.” Brian discusses the way brands engage in social media and the challenges around creating content.

Until next week folks…

Week two of our new series that recaps the interesting and exciting news of the week according to The Vandiver Group.  So, here we go…can you believe it is already the first week of February?

1. The TVG team welcomes Bud Gregson who joined TVG as a web designer and programmer. His first order of business will be working with our great client ulrich Medical USA.
2. Sorry folks, Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow on Groundhog’s Day which means six more weeks of winter. The famous rodent wasn’t replaced by a robot as PETA requested, but he did Tweet his forecast.  (Also an important day in my week personally, as I share my birthday with the groundhog. A fact that has earned me the nickname Phil throughout the office.)
3. Hot topics on Twitter this week included the Grammys, Toyota, the Super Bowl, Oscar nominations and Lost.
4. Facebook turns six this week, I joined the site back in 2004 and boy how it’s changed.  Dopplegangers and UrbanDictionary.com name definitions are the craze this week.
5. Congrats to the TVG team for being named to the Top 50 Women Owned Businesses in Missouri by www.diversitybusiness.com.

That’s all for this week. Enjoy your Super Bowl weekend.  Who are you rooting for? Will you even be watching?  I’ll be cheering on the Saints and critiquing all those ads.

Here at TVG, at the end of each week we receive an email from @KellyFerrara called the “Friday 5.”  The Friday 5 emails recap the big news of the week, our successes and what’s coming up in the week ahead for our team.

So why am I telling you this? Well to kick off 2010, the TVG blog team wants to launch a Friday 5 right here on the blog.  Many bloggers like to recap the week or month with some of their favorite finds or links, and this won’t be much different.

We will share the news and developments in our industry and St. Louis that we found interesting each week, along with any news from your TVG team.

I encourage you all to add your own items to the Friday 5 list.  We don’t have to limit our list to five!

Ok, so here we go… this week’s Friday 5.

1. TVG welcomes Justin Donnell (@Jdonnell84) to the team! He joins TVG as a web developer.
2. The king of technology, Apple, launches their next big thing the iPad – sending Twitter and Facebook abuzz.  Will you be getting an iPad in 2010?
3. The Super Bowl is fast approaching, which means new big ads from our St. Louis neighbors at Budweiser.  This week, through their Facebook page they released a Bud Light commercial that won’t be airing on Super Bowl Sunday. (A lot cheaper than running the ad during the big game.) Check it out (@KellyFerrara and @CassieMcCloud are already disrupting the office by laughing)
4. During his first State of the Union address, President Obama focused on job creation in 2010. In the St. Louis region that includes a $1.1 billion, government-funded project to build a high-speed rail between Chicago and St. Louis.
5. The TVG team met this week to discuss our goals and strategic plans for 2010. One of the items at the top of our list: Innovation.  What are your goals for 2010?

The unexpected happens most every day in our lives. It could be a nice surprise, like your significant other cooking dinner after a long day at the office. It could be trying something “old,” that is “new” again, like Pepsi Throwback and having that taste bring back memories of when you were younger. Perhaps the unexpected is a tragedy like the workplace shooting at ABB in St. Louis that left families without loved ones and a community shaken. Or maybe, that something unexpected is a sports hero’s disclosure, admitting his poor choices from his playing days.

The unexpected happens most every day and can easily turn into a crisis. Mark McGwire’s interview with Bob Costas certainly qualifies and can absolutely be used as a case study; one that is certainly going to unfold for months to come. In one painful, hour-long interview with the MLB Network, which has since been played by every media outlet in the western hemisphere, McGwire took a giant leap and admitted he used steroids and “health-enhancing drugs” over a ten-year period. Many in the sports and business world had suspected McGwire’s indiscretion, especially given his lack of testimony during the 2005 congressional hearings. This was the first proof.

What can we all learn from this crisis?

Check out my complete TVG Vision article to find out.