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Customer Spotlight
Cutting-Edge Advertising Agency Takes Neighborhood America for a Spin
Initial Campaign for Volkswagen Canada Puts ‘Joy’ Back Into Driving
Many of us have been guilty of it. Maybe you experienced it this morning on your way to work.
You’re driving, following the rules of the road, when another driver cuts you off and slams on their brakes, causing you to narrowly avoid a collision. You should be relieved; instead you’re quickly consumed with anger, most likely yelling some ‘choice words’ at the reckless driver.
The ones that return the ‘favor’ - revving their engine and maneuvering their car like something you’d see at a NASCAR race - are guilty of road rage. It’s rampant, and, oddly enough, it’s the inspiration for a cutting-edge campaign created by Crispin Porter + Bogusky (CP+B).
This eccentric ad shop, known for using viral marketing and creating memorable characters like Burger King’s Subservient Chicken, has chosen Neighborhood America as their technology partner for a variety of clients.
Their first initiative with us involves the support of Volkswagen Canada and the Road Joy project. The idea is to encourage drivers to be courteous and friendly, putting a positive spin on road rage, by asking them to commit ‘a blatant act of road joy’ before they buy a new VW City Jetta or Golf.
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Potential buyers can visit VWRoadJoy.ca to sign up for an act from more than 150 random choices, such as giving up that choice parking spot, or feeding an expired parking meter for someone else.
Neighborhood America's solution will allow drivers to upload videos and pictures of their ‘assignment’ and encourage them to interact with others in a fun environment. This fresh approach to brand building creates a buzz, and a community of VW enthusiasts that promotes the brand and drives sales.
CP+B embraces nontraditional methods of marketing and the idea that brands can outsmart their competition by being ‘thought leaders.’ Their client list has grown to include the likes of BMW's MINI line, IKEA, Bacardi, Coca-Cola, Burger King, Bell Sports and Virgin Atlantic Airways. Although the explosive success of 'Truth', the anti-smoking effort targeted to teens and pre-teens that began in Florida in 1997, is often how most people remember CP+B.
Now you can remember them for spreading Road Joy. Check out some of the fun ideas and witness the power of enterprise social networks at VWRoadJoy.ca.
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Industry Spotlight |
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  Pick up the Phone, it’s your ‘Brother!’
Adidas, Isobar, and Neighborhood America team up once again, this time to connect basketball fans and their favorite players on and off the court.
Adidas’ latest campaign, “Basketball is a Brotherhood,” does something no other brand has done: it allows today’s greatest players to interact and inspire the next generation of athletes.
The brand is promoting their new Team Signature footwear and apparel collections by emphasizing that successful teams go through a process of individuals becoming teammates, teammates becoming brothers, and brothers becoming a brotherhood.
Isobar, an advertising agency that has been a great partner of ours, is the creative force behind the campaign, while Neighborhood America and Varitalk engineered the mobile component to engage consumers.
Consumers who participate can receive text and voice messages from their favorite NBA players. They can also go to www.adidasbasketball.com and experience adidas basketball through a series of web episodes and other creative on-line activities that show the true meaning of brotherhood.
Earlier this year, Neighborhood America partnered with adidas and Isobar to create an award-winning campaign for NBA All-Star Week 2007, as well as a campaign for the 111th Boston Marathon designed to reach consumers with event information and content to help runners achieve their goals.
 The Green Line Extension Keeps Citizens Connected
The oldest line of Boston’s subway is in for a facelift.
The Green Line is a commuter rail system run by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA). The line was given its name because it runs primarily through the area of Boston called the ‘Emerald Necklace.’
The Massachusetts Executive Office of Transportation, in coordination with the MBTA, is working to extend existing services from Lechmere Station through the northwest Boston corridor communities of Cambridge, Somerville, and Medford, as well as Union Square in Somerville.
This is the sixth initiative by the Executive Office of Transportation that utilizes Neighborhood America’s solution to manage the project. The goals are to increase mobility, encourage public transit usage, improve regional air quality, ensure a more equitable distribution of transit services, and support opportunities for sustainable development.
The project website provides background information and materials; updates on the current phase of project development, including meeting summaries, maps, and documents; and opportunities for public participation and comment.
Visit the Green Line Extension public involvement site to see a great example of governments keeping citizens connected.
 A Promising Road Ahead
Have you ever thought about what it would have been like getting around prior to the rise of modern transportation?
We’ve all grown to rely on highways, bridges, airports, transit systems, rail and ports to get us where we need to go, but the quality of that infrastructure is just as important to us.
Neighborhood America is helping the Association of Metropolitan Planning Organizations (AMPO) usher in a new era of public participation via the Web. AMPO members represent more than half of the nation's 385 Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPO), which are responsible for improving metropolitan transportation systems across the United States.
This new partnership with Neighborhood America aims to offer more cost-effective public involvement technology to MPO's that are members of AMPO.
Members that take advantage of the opportunity will enable work teams to increase and enhance citizen participation with an easy to use, online solution; no software is needed to load onto their computers, nor is hardware or IT involvement necessary. They can create online public outreach forums around projects, issues, events, legislation and rulemaking initiatives. Additionally, the solution provides members the ability to collect, analyze, and create reports of all public comments captured online, at meetings, or both.
Neighborhood America is privileged to support AMPO and their goal of empowering MPO's through innovative solutions.
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NA Point of View |
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  Pay Per Match (the next ad model)
by Shelli Wright, Creative Director
Thirteen years ago, I attended a company event with over sixty of my fellow marketing department employees for our annual pep rally, disguised as a summer picnic.
The VP of Marketing excitedly handed out t-shirts, with this simple phrase - one:one marketing.
It was his new mission and, undoubtedly, the catchphrase du jour from a conference he had just attended - the next thing in marketing thinking. Only as far as I could see, nothing changed. Not in the company, not in the industry, not in the way marketers interacted in the world.
We could all see the ‘Why’ - a crowded marketplace and an audience of shrinking attention spans. We could also see the ‘What’ - hit only the target audience, at just the right time, with the most relevant message. But the ‘How’ has eluded advertisers for decades.
Case in point:
I shop at a national cosmetics retailer, regularly. I signed up for a vague membership and gave them my address and phone number. But I have yet to see them use this in any way. Among other things, I buy the same staple products every month. And whether I spend $10 or $400 (yes, I have spent $400 on make-up and shampoo in one shot), I get the same flyer with the same $3.50 coupon every month. In fact, the product I purchase most often sponsored a special event in store and they never told me. This retailer, while I will continue to shop there on occasion for convenience, keeps losing my sale to other retailers who happen to hit me at the right time with the right offer.
Imagine if they had asked me what I like and when and where I want to buy it and then… wait for it… wait for it… they sent me offers based on that profile?
Consumers don’t hate ads. Consumers hate disruptive ads that aren’t relevant to them.
When I discovered Neighborhood America six months ago, my first thought was, “That’s cool, a virtual focus group.” But when I finally wrapped my head around the possibilities, I realized, “Whoa. It’s so much more than that. It’s actually making direct relationships with consumers.”
One:one marketing, thirteen years later.
And current and impending technology will only continue to elevate those relationships. We’ll have the ability to match consumers to the products and services that are relevant to them. Which means, we can form an ad model that pays only for each match. That’s Pay Per Match!
Imagine… every ad dollar spent goes directly to a consumer who is pre-disposed to buy what you’re offering. Forget boundary-less communities like MySpace. Purposefully-applied communities are looming. You can feel the groundswell of the ad world like the grumble of a coming subway.
It’s not bigger marketing. It’s smarter marketing.
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Conferences and Events |
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  Neighborhood America and Southwest Airlines Join Forces
Houston-based web design firms, advertisers, marketers, agencies, media companies and e-business professionals got a crash course in social media and online networking from two gurus of the industry.
Neighborhood America’s Senior Director of Sales Jason Breed and Paula Berg of Southwest Airlines shared with the Houston Interactive Marketing Association (HiMA) their best practices, common pitfalls and proven methodologies.
The focus of Breed’s message was that social media should not be a stand-alone strategy, but rather part of an overall marketing mix. As an example, he referred to the recent award-winning adidas campaign that took place during the 2007 NBA All-Star Week. The campaign showcases how adidas’ agency, Isobar, worked with Neighborhood America to execute a mobile marketing initiative across multiple platforms and the powerful results that were had.
Berg, a spokesperson and manager of public relations from Southwest Airlines, also provided valuable insight about her approach to social media. In addition to handling the company’s corporate blog “Nuts about Southwest,” Berg supervised on-location production for three seasons of ‘Airline!,’ Southwest’s reality series for the A&E Television Network, which filmed the airline’s daily operations in four cities.
Breed and Berg got the crowd thinking about different ways to best leverage this phenomenal trend.
 Integrating Mobile into Your Community Mix
Just as the publishing industry has evolved, so too has mobile marketing. Progressive companies understand that when mobile technology is integrated into an overall community-building strategy, it becomes a powerful medium to extend the brand.
Neighborhood America will provide an overview of this emerging opportunity and share customer success stories at an upcoming event hosted by the Magazine Publishers of America (MPA) in New York City.
Jason Breed, senior director of sales, will kick off the presentation by sharing best practices for building high value communities that deliver results. Kent Kirschner, media specialist, and David Rippetoe, director of sales engineering, will highlight two successful case studies from leading brands, adidas and Nexxus, followed by panel discussions.
Established in 1919, the MPA is the industry association for consumer magazines, and represents more than 240 domestic publishing companies with approximately 1,400 titles, more than 80 international companies and more than 100 associate members.
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