ibranz Branding Resource Blog

By David Rose

The bitter winter afflicting much of the Northern Hemisphere is only the start of a global trend towards cooler weather that is likely to last for 20 or 30 years, say some of the world’s most eminent climate scientists.

Their predictions – based on an analysis of natural cycles in water temperatures in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans – challenge some of the global warming orthodoxy’s most deeply cherished beliefs, such as the claim that the North Pole will be free of ice in
summer by 2013.

According to the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre in Colorado, Arctic summer sea ice has increased by 409,000 square miles, or 26 per cent, since 2007 – and even the most committed global warming activists do not dispute this.

The scientists’ predictions also undermine the standard climate computer models, which assert that the warming of the Earth since 1900 has been driven solely by man-made greenhouse gas emissions and will continue as long as carbon dioxide levels rise.

They say that their research shows that much of the warming was caused by oceanic cycles when they were in a ‘warm mode’ as opposed to the present ‘cold mode’.
This challenge to the widespread view that the planet is on the brink of an irreversible catastrophe is all the greater because the scientists could never be described as global warming ‘deniers’ or sceptics.
However, both main British political parties continue to insist that the world is facing imminent disaster without drastic cuts in CO2.

This image of the UK taken from NASA’s multi-national Terra satellite on Thursday shows the extent of the freezing weather
Last week, as Britain froze, Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband maintained in a parliamentary answer that the science of global warming was ‘settled’.
Among the most prominent of the scientists is Professor Mojib Latif, a leading member of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which has been pushing the issue of man-made global warming on to the international political agenda since it was formed 22 years ago.
Prof Latif, who leads a research team at the renowned Leibniz Institute at Germany’s Kiel University, has developed new methods for measuring ocean temperatures 3,000ft beneath the surface, where the cooling and warming cycles start.

He and his colleagues predicted the new cooling trend in a paper published in 2008 and warned of it again at an IPCC conference in Geneva last September.

Last night he told The Mail on Sunday: ‘A significant share of the warming we saw from 1980 to 2000 an

By Martin Evans

A snow warning sign states the obvious to drivers in
As the country was plunged into one of its worst winters for decades, the Met Office issued an emergency weather warning for all counties of the UK.

The South, including London and the Home Counties, were expected to bear the brunt of the snowfall with emergency services warning they are already struggling to cope with the increasingly bitter conditions.

Britain’s big freeze from the air Forecasters predicted that more than one foot of snow could fall in less than 24 hours in most southern areas leading to widespread chaos and disruption for millions.

The residents of Hampshire and Wiltshire were expected to be the worst hit, with as much as 16 inches likely to be dumped by the end of tomorrow.

Residents and commuters in London, which ground to a halt last February following heavy falls, were warned to expect a covering of several inches by the morning rush hour.

On the roads drivers were advised not to venture out unless their journey was absolutely essential, as councils warned they could run out of grit if the conditions failed to improve.

The Met Office claimed the amount of snow forecast could be the biggest single fall since the notorious winter of 1962-63, when some areas of the country were blighted by snow and ice for more than three months.

During that winter the south saw more than a foot of snow, while blizzards in some parts of Wales led to drifts of over 18 feet.

A Met Office spokesman said they had issued a so-called “flash warning” because of the substantial quantity of snow which was expected to fall across the south in a short period of time.

The spokesman said: “This kind of warning is very rare. It’s the level of alert we put out for the floods in the Summer of 2007.”

Forecasters have warned of little respite over the next week as freezing temperatures will continue to grip Britain.

On Tuesday, up to eight inches of snow fell in parts of the country. It brought chaos to schools, businesses and the transport networks.

Scores of rail services and flights were cancelled as temperatures struggled to get above freezing. The overnight temperature on Dartmoor in Devon fell to minus 9 on Monday night.

More than 1,000 schools were closed across Scotland, the north of England and Wales.

Police, fire and ambulance services were preparing to put into place contingency plans in order to maintain their operations through the worst of the weather.

In some hard-hit areas however emergency services admitted they were losing the battle against the bad weather.

The Manchester Constabulary issued a plea to the public to only dial 999 where there was a life threatening emergency or a crime was taking place.

And the North West Ambulance Service also declared a major incident due to the weather.

A spokesman for the service said: “We are unlikely to be able to reach patients with minor injuries or symptoms. We are having to stringently prioritise all of our 999 calls and dispatch our resources to life-threatening cases only. We would like to stress the urgency for people to stay indoors unless it is absolutely necessary.

“The driving conditions are extremely hazardous and we would like to ensure that the risk of injury on the roads is reduced as much as possible.”

Ambulance services across the south were monitoring the worsening weather situation with some turning to 4×4 all terrain vehicles in order to reach patients.

South Central Ambulance Service which covers Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hampshire and Oxfordshire was last night contacting staff to ask them if they can stay overnight near their ambulance stations.

In London many ambulances were also fitted with special equipment which provide extra grip for tyres in slippery conditions.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the Government and all the services were doing everything possible to keep the country moving throughout the worsening weather.

He said: “The weather is taking a turn for the worse. We are doing everything possible to keep disruption to a minimum. The Highways Agency has kept the vast majority of major road networks running. We are in close contact with local authorities and it is a situation we will keep a very close eye on.”

There were also fears that gas supplies could begin to run low if the icy conditions continue for sometime as forecasters have predicted.

Figures obtained by the Conservatives suggested under the current levels of usage, supplies would only last for another week.

Major sporting fixtures also fell victim to the weather with both Carling Cup semi final football matches between Blackburn Rovers and Aston Villa and Manchester City and Manchester United, postponed.

Elsewhere supermarkets reported a surge in panic-buying as shoppers tied to stockpile food supplies

Nearly the entire eastern half of the United States is enduring bitterly cold temperatures not experienced since 1985. Even Florida, which has been hovering around freezing le

By Jon Auciello
AccuWeather.com
Nearly the entire eastern half of the United States is enduring bitterly cold temperatures not experienced since 1985. Even Florida, which has been hovering around freezing levels overnight recently, is also feeling the almost-nationwide chill.

“It’ll be like the great winters of the ’60s and ’70s,” said AccuWeather.com Chief Meteorologist and Expert Long Range Forecaster Joe Bastardi.

The last time a large swath of severely low temperatures struck the nation was in January 1985. That historic arctic outbreak had below-zero temperatures Fahrenheit stretching from Chicago eastward to New York City, and all the way south to Macon, Ga.

While Bastardi says the upcoming days will bring cold not seen since 1985 or 1982, he believes this winter is shaping up much that of like 1977-78. That winter, nearly all of the United States east of the Rockies had a cold October followed by a warm November, with the cold returning in December.

What is most interesting in this case is what followed, where the months from January through March can all be classified as very cold, relative to normal.

“If it stays this cold for this long, will the groundhog even want to come out on Feb. 2?” wonders Senior Vice President and Chief Meteorologist Elliot Abrams.

This winter has already been rough for many areas of the country, with several blizzards dumping high accumulations of snow upon the Plains, mid-Atlantic and New England.

The cold air currently streaming across the Upper Midwest into the East and South will only compound the winter problems of the nation, especially since these depths have not been experienced across such a wide area simultaneously in decades.

Orr, Minn., had the coldest temperature in the United States on Monday, hitting 40 degrees below zero. Other places recorded new record low maximums, such as Bluefield, W.Va., where the temperature never exceeded 17 degrees.

Over the past 20-plus years, when below-normal cold periods have arrived in the winter they tend to have been limited to one region, according to Bastardi.

Temperatures have not been this low since the winter of 2002-03, which is known as the benchmark for frigid conditions in the last decade. However, that year the cold was not as widespread as what is happening now.

With the entire eastern half of the country in the throes of this arctic snap, this is shaping up to be the coldest winter in many people’s memories.

Global Research Editor’s note

The following article represents an alternative view and analysis of global climate change, which challenges the dominant Global Warming Consensus.

Global Research does not necessarily endorse the proposition of “Global Cooling”, nor does it accept at face value the Consensus on Global Warming. Our purpose is to encourage a more balanced debate on the topic of global climate change.

——————————————————————————–

INTRODUCTION

Despite no global warming in 10 years and recording setting cold in 2007-2008, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climatic Change (IPCC) and computer modelers who believe that CO2 is the cause of global warming still predict the Earth is in store for catastrophic warming in this century. IPCC computer models have predicted global warming of 1° F per decade and 5-6° C (10-11° F) by 2100 (Fig. 1), which would cause global catastrophe with ramifications for human life, natural habitat, energy and water resources, and food production. All of this is predicated on the assumption that global warming is caused by increasing atmospheric CO2 and that CO2 will continue to rise rapidly.

Figure 1. A. IPCC prediction of global warming early in the 21st century. B. IPCC prediction of global warming to 2100. (Sources: IPCC website)

However, records of past climate changes suggest an altogether different scenario for the 21st century. Rather than drastic global warming at a rate of 0.5 ° C (1° F) per decade, historic records of past natural cycles suggest global cooling for the first several decades of the 21st century to about 2030, followed by global warming from about 2030 to about 2060, and renewed global cooling from 2060 to 2090 (Easterbrook, D.J., 2005, 2006a, b, 2007, 2008a, b); Easterbrook and Kovanen, 2000, 2001). Climatic fluctuations over the past several hundred years suggest ~30 year climatic cycles of global warming and cooling, on a general rising trend from the Little Ice Age.

PREDICTIONS BASED ON PAST CLIMATE PATTERNS

Global climate changes have been far more intense (12 to 20 times as intense in some cases) than the global warming of the past century, and they took place in as little as 20–100 years. Global warming of the past century (0.8° C) is virtually insignificant when compared to the magnitude of at least 10 global climate changes in the past 15,000 years. None of these sudden global climate changes could possibly have been caused by human CO2 input to the atmosphere because they all took place long before anthropogenic CO2 emissions began. The cause of the ten earlier ‘natural’ climate changes was most likely the same as the cause of global warming from 1977 to 1998.

Figure 2. Climate changes in the past 17,000 years from the GISP2 Greenland ice core. Red = warming, blue = cooling. (Modified from Cuffy and Clow, 1997)

Climatic fluctuations over the past several hundred years suggest ~30 year climatic cycles of global warming and cooling (Figure 3) on a generally rising trend from the Little Ice Age about 500 years ago.

Figure 3. Alternating warm and cool cycles since 1470 AD. Blue = cool, red = warm. Based on oxygen isotope ratios from the GISP2 Greenland ice core.

Relationships between glacial fluctuations, the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, and global climate change.

After several decades of studying alpine glacier fluctuations in the North Cascade Range, my research showed a distinct pattern of glacial advances and retreats (the Glacial Decadal Oscillation, GDO) that correlated well with climate records. In 1992, Mantua published the Pacific Decadal Oscillation curve showing warming and cooling of the Pacific Ocean that correlated remarkably well with glacial fluctuations. Both the GDA and the PDO matched global temperature records and were obviously related (Fig. 4). All but the latest 30 years of changes occurred prior to significant CO2 emissions so they were clearly unrelated to atmospheric CO2.

Figure 4. Correspondence of the GDO, PDO, and global temperature variations.

The significance of the correlation between the GDO, PDO, and global temperature is that once this connection has been made, climatic changes during the past century can be understood, and the pattern of glacial and climatic fluctuations over the past millennia can be reconstructed. These patterns can then be used to project climatic changes in the future. Using the pattern established for the past several hundred years, in 1998 I projected the temperature curve for the past century into the next century and came up with curve ‘A’ in Figure 5 as an approximation of what might be in store for the world if the pattern of past climate changes continued. Ironically, that prediction was made in the warmest year of the past three decades and at the acme of the 1977-1998 warm period. At that time, the projected curved indicated global cooling beginning about 2005 ± 3-5 years until about 2030, then renewed warming from about 2030 to about 2060 (unrelated to CO2—just continuation of the natural cycle), then another cool period from about 2060 to about 2090. This was admittedly an approximation, but it was radically different from the 1° F per decade warming called for by the IPCC. Because the prediction was so different from the IPCC prediction, time would obviously show which projection was ultimately correct.

Now a decade later, the global climate has not warmed 1° F as forecast by the IPCC but has cooled slightly until 2007-08 when global temperatures turned sharply downward. In 2008, NASA satellite imagery (Figure 6) confirmed that the Pacific Ocean had switched from the warm mode it had been in since 1977 to its cool mode, similar to that of the 1945-1977 global cooling period. The shift strongly suggests that the next several decades will be cooler, not warmer as predicted by the IPCC.

Figure 5. Global temperature projection for the coming century, based on warming/cooling cycles of the past several centuries. ‘A’ projection based on assuming next cool phase will be similar to the 1945-1977 cool phase. ‘B’ projection based on assuming next cool phase will be similar to the 1880-1915 cool phase. The predicted warm cycle from 2030 to 2060 is based on projection of the 1977 to 1998 warm phase and the cooling phase from 2060 to 2090 is based on projection of the 1945 to 1977 cool cycle.

Implications of PDO, NAO, GDO, and sun spot cycles for global climate in coming decades

The IPCC prediction of global temperatures, 1° F warmer by 2011 and 2° F by 2038 (Fig. 1), stand little chance of being correct. NASA’s imagery showing that the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) has shifted to its cool phase is right on schedule as predicted by past climate and PDO changes (Easterbrook, 2001, 2006, 2007). The PDO typically lasts 25-30 years and assures North America of cool, wetter climates during its cool phases and warmer, drier climates during its warm phases. The establishment of the cool PDO, together with similar cooling of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), virtually assures several decades of global cooling and the end of the past 30-year warm phase. It also means that the IPCC predictions of catastrophic global warming this century were highly inaccurate.

The switch of PDO cool mode to warm mode in 1977 initiated several decades of global warming. The PDO has now switched from its warm mode (where it had been since 1977) into its cool mode. As shown on the graph above, each time this had happened in the past century, global temperature has followed. The upper map shows cool ocean temperatures in blue (note the North American west coast). The lower diagram shows how the PDO has switched back and forth from warm to cool modes in the past century, each time causing global temperature to follow. Comparisons of historic global climate warming and cooling over the past century with PDO and NAO oscillations, glacial fluctuations, and sun spot activity show strong correlations and provide a solid data base for future climate change projections.

The Pacific Ocean has a warm temperature mode and a cool temperature mode, and in the past century, has switched back forth between these two modes every 25-30 years (known as the Pacific Decadal Oscillation or PDO). In 1977 the Pacific abruptly shifted from its cool mode (where it had been since about 1945) into its warm mode, and this initiated global warming from 1977 to 1998. The correlation between the PDO and global climate is well established. The announcement by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory that the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) had shifted to its cool phase is right on schedule as predicted by past climate and PDO changes (Easterbrook, 2001, 2006, 2007). The PDO typically lasts 25-30 years and assures North America of cool, wetter climates during its cool phases and warmer, drier climates during its warm phases. The establishment of the cool PDO, together with similar cooling of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), virtually assures several decades of global cooling and the end of the past 30-year warm phase.

Figure 6. Switch of PDO cool mode to warm mode in 1977 initiated several decades of global warming. The PDO has now switched from its warm mode (where it had been since 1977) into its cool mode. As shown on the graph above, each time this has happened in the past century, global temperature has followed. The upper map shows cool ocean temperatures in blue (note the North American west coast). The lower diagram shows how the PDO has switched back and forth from warm to cool modes in the past century, each time causing global temperature to follow. Projection of the past pattern (right end of graph) assures 30 yrs of global cooling

Comparisons of historic global climate warming and cooling over the past century with PDO and NAO oscillations, glacial fluctuations, and sun spot activity show strong correlations and provide a solid data base for future climate change projections. As shown by the historic pattern of GDOs and PDOs over the past century and by corresponding global warming and cooling, the pattern is part of ongoing warm/cool cycles that last 25-30 years. The global cooling phase from 1880 to 1910, characterized by advance of glaciers worldwide, was followed by a shift to the warm-phase PDO for 30 years, global warming and rapid glacier recession. The cool-phase PDO returned in ~1945 accompanied by global cooling and glacial advance for 30 years. Shift to the warm-phase PDO in 1977 initiated global warming and recession of glaciers that persisted until 1998. Recent establishment of the PDO cool phase appeared right on target and assuming that its effect will be similar to past history, global climates can be expected to cool over the next 25-30 years. The global warming of this century is exactly in phase with the normal climatic pattern of cyclic warming and cooling and we have now switched from a warm phase to a cool phase right at the predicted time (Fig. 5)

The ramifications of the global cooling cycle for the next 30 years are far reaching―e.g., failure of crops in critical agricultural areas (it’s already happening this year), increasing energy demands, transportation difficulties, and habitat change. All this during which global population will increase from six billion to about nine billion. The real danger in spending trillions of dollars trying to reduce atmospheric CO2 is that little will be left to deal with the very real problems engendered by global cooling.

CONCLUSIONS

Global warming (i.e, the warming since 1977) is over. The minute increase of anthropogenic CO2 in the atmosphere (0.008%) was not the cause of the warming—it was a continuation of natural cycles that occurred over the past 500 years.

The PDO cool mode has replaced the warm mode in the Pacific Ocean, virtually assuring us of about 30 years of global cooling, perhaps much deeper than the global cooling from about 1945 to 1977. Just how much cooler the global climate will be during this cool cycle is uncertain. Recent solar changes suggest that it could be fairly severe, perhaps more like the 1880 to 1915 cool cycle than the more moderate 1945-1977 cool cycle. A more drastic cooling, similar to that during the Dalton and Maunder minimums, could plunge the Earth into another Little Ice Age, but only time will tell if that is likely.

Don J. Easterbrook is Professor Emeritus of Geology at Western Washington University. Bellingham, WA. He has published extensively on issues pertaining to global climate change. For further details see his list of publications

Global Research Articles by Don J. Easterbrook

By Rich Thomaselli

Ensuing Media Storm Could Hurt Deals With Brands Like Gillette, Nike and AT&T

The squeaky clean image of golf’s greatest player and the sports world’s most lucrative endorser took a hit over Thanksgiving weekend — no pun intended. Mr. Woods was involved in a single-car accident, but the timing, the circumstances, the aftermath and the ever-churning rumor mill quite possibly have endangered his own brand and his estimated nine-figure annual endorsement deals with several blue-chip companies.

“I think this incident ultimately will have a negative effect on the Tiger Woods brand,” said sports marketing expert Robert Tuchman, exec VP of New York-based sports and entertainment marketing company Premiere Global Sports. “Regardless of the facts, there are brand marketers who might pass at looking at him now. I think as this situation unfolds and how he handles himself will determine the long-term effects to his image. The best thing he can do is be completely honest and open about the situation and what took place

- Elaine Wong

In a year when consumers were looking to cut back anywhere they could, private label made inroads in a lot of categories, but took the biggest slices from segments like baby food and frozen pizza.

According to a report compiled by the Nielsen Co., unit sales of private label baby foods grew 22.3 percent for the 52 weeks ended Oct. 3. (Data cited is culled from the food, drug and mass merchandiser channels, including Walmart. Nielsen execs said that since prices have dropped from their year-ago highs, units are a better measure of private label’s growth than dollar sales. Brandweek is owned by Nielsen.)

Other categories that were hard hit by private label include salad dressings and mayonnaise, snacks, and candles and incense

Overall, unit sales of private label goods rose 5.3 percent for the same period. That compares to a 2.3 percent drop for branded packaged goods over that time frame.

Clearly, consumers are buying private label now more than ever, and retailers like Walmart, Target, 7-Eleven and even regional chains like the New York drugstore Duane Reade are stepping up marketing of their private label products.

This year’s rise comes after private label grew at a calculated annual growth rate of 4.5 percent over the last eight years, per Euromonitor, but the recession set off the sudden spark, said Lynn Dornblaser, director of CPG trend insight at market research firm Mintel. Much of that growth spurt, too, is coming from existing-not new-private label launches.

What that indicates is that consumers are “rediscovering or discovering private label that has been on the market that they’ve never noticed before,” she said.

Michelle Barry, senior vp at research and consulting firm the Hartman Group, said the food category has been hit especially hard because consumers are staying at home more and are more experimental when it comes to trying different food brands.

Coca-Cola Zero has teamed with Twentieth Century Fox on a major worldwide promotional campaign for Titanic director James Cameron’s upcoming epic, Avatar.

Slated to launch in over 30 countries, the partnership will allow consumers unique access to exclusive and authentic content from the groundbreaking film in several innovative ways. The movie is set to hit theaters around the globe Dec. 18.

“Avatar shares the same aspirational, edgy and unconventional brand values as Coca-Cola Zero,” noted Chip York, worldwide entertainment marketing director at Atlanta-based Coca-Cola. “Working so closely with the studio and filmmakers has allowed us to create authentic and exclusive content that provides fans unique access into the world, deepening their ‘Avatar’ experience.”

To provide consumers with inside dish on the movie, the Coca-Cola Zero’s digital team worked with the studio and filmmakers to develop www.AVTR.com, which will feature regular “live” journalist reports from the fictional moon of Pandora, offering a sneak peek into the spectacular world of Avatar. Additionally, site visitors will be able to access exclusive film-related imagery, wallpapers, games and applications, along with regularly updated, real-time Avatar news.

“Avatar will provide a unique immersive experience for moviegoers, and this promotion with Coca-Cola Zero will bring fans even deeper into the amazing world of Pandora and James Cameron’s vision,” said Jon Landau, the producer of the movie, along with Cameron.

Further, through augmented reality (AR) technology — a Web-based application enabling users to interact with 3D motion graphics — Coke Zero drinkers can engage with the movie on a uniquely visceral level.

By holding a promotional pack of Avatar-branded Coke Zero cans before a Webcam, visiting AVTR.com or taking a picture of the activating AVTR mark or Coke Zero logo with certain camera phones, consumers will be able to access the technology, which will allow them to use a computer keyboard to trigger actions such as shooting missiles or flying helicopters and firing their guns. AVTR.com will direct visitors to activate one of the above-mentioned symbols with their Webcams to start the experience.

In another exclusive, Coca-Cola Zero and Twentieth Century Fox have created a TV commercial and cinema spot, both featuring film footage and promoting the partnership. The ad shows a young man at his computer, who drinks from a can of Coke Zero out of a special Avatar-branded pack, and then is transported to Pandora via AR technology. The commercial debuted in movie theaters last month and on TV Nov. 14.

Other elements of the comprehensive campaign include exclusive, limited-edition Real D 3D glasses and movie theater concession programs and promotions featuring branded cups and popcorn bags with the AVTR mark that can be used to activate the AR experience.

Alex Palmer

New Moon-themed ringtones, wallpapers, mobile games and sweepstakes will bite into teen handsets everywhere.

AT&T’s youth marketing group partnered with mobile product and service company 2ergo to create a The Twilight Saga: New Moon mobile site.

Here, fans can download ringtones and answer tones from the movie’s soundtrack, as well as full music tracks including Death Cab for Cutie’s “Meet Me at the Equinox” and Anya Marina’s “Satellite Heart.”

Participants can also play a Twilight game and download dozens of wallpaper images of characters including Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) and Bella (Kristen Stewart).

AT&T is partnering with Hot Topic for a sweepstakes in which participants find clues and collect passport stamps for a chance to win a trip to Italy. Leading up to the movie’s release, at least one of the daily clues will instruct participants to text a keyword to an AT&T number. A special URL will be sent back that will lead fans to a New Moon mobile site that only AT&T subscribers can visit.

In 2008, AT&T spent $1.65 billion on advertising and has spent $876 million for the first eight months of 2009 (not including online ad spend), per Nielsen.

The company’s youth marketing team has devoted its Facebook page to the film and promotion, including a “Create Your Coven” Facebook quiz tied to the company’s latest product offering, A-List with Rollover. During this week, the Facebook page will feature footage of one of AT&T’s “youth brand ambassadors,” who won a chance to interview the film’s cast members at a Los Angeles press junket, and another who acted as journalist at the film’s red carpet premiere in Hollywood.

“One of the great things about The Twilight Saga is that it appeals to a variety of target demographics for AT&T–tweens and teens, college students, young adults and beyond,” said Chris Schembri, vp of media services for AT&T. “We are excited to be able to reach moviegoers and fans of The Twilight Saga of all ages across our three screens wireless, PC, and TV and deliver unique opportunities like the chance to see an advanced screening of the film with a personal introduction from a cast member.”

BY BRENT SNAVELY

Ford Motor Co.’s social media-driven Fiesta Movement campaign has exceeded the company’s expectations, the Dearborn automaker’s top marketing executive said today.
In April, Ford brought 100 Ford Fiesta subcompact cars to the United States from Europe and put them into the hands of mostly young, hip drivers who had shown savvy with social media networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter.

Ford allowed its so-called agents to use the cars for free for six months and encouraged them to write about their experiences online. By October, the agents had generated content that had drawn more than 4.3 million video views on YouTube, more than 540,000 photo views on Flckr and more than 3 million Twitter impressions.

Jim Farley, Ford’s group vice president of global marketing, said 60% of the public is now aware of the brand even though the vehicle doesn’t go on sale until early next summer.

“If you would have told me that we would have 100 vehicles in the U.S. … and we would have 60% brand awareness in the segment, I would have said there is no possible way,” Farley told journalists today. “To get 60% awareness in traditional media, it costs somewhere north of $50 million.”

While Farley declined to say how much Ford spent on the Fiesta Movement campaign, he said it is a fraction of $50 million.

With the campaign winding down, Ford said today it plans to hold an event called the Fiesta Movement Awards Celebration for the agents in West Hollywood , Calif., on Dec. 1 to recognize the efforts and creativity of its agents. The next day, Ford plans to reveal the U.S. version of the Ford Fiesta at the Los Angeles Auto Show.

Farley, a former Toyota executive, said he learned a lot about the effectiveness of social media and grass-roots marketing through his involvement with the launch of Toyota’s Scion brand several years ago.

The marketing world has changed dramatically both for Ford and for all major corporations in the past year, Farley said.

“Online has become mass media,” Farley said. “A Yahoo or Google page takeover actually gets more eyeballs than a network TV commercial now. That hasn’t happened before.”

Now, Farley said the importance of communicating through online social media platforms as well as through public relations, has become far more important due to the evolution of technology.

While Ford is having success with marketing through social media, other factors are also helping to improve the company’s image.

Ford’s ability to survive the recession without accepting emergency federal loans, or file for bankruptcy, like rivals General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group LLC has been a big boost.

“The goodwill for the company grew when we decided we didn’t need help,” Farley said.

Contact BRENT SNAVELY: 313-222-6512 or bsnavely@freepress.com

by Abe Sauer

Woe is publishing as the almighty ad dollar has dried up. Or has it?

Have brands given up on advertising, or are they just looking for something different?

“Building Brands Online,” a new report from Bain & Company and the Interactive Advertising Bureau, reveals that brand owners and marketers are searching for something more, something that transcends ad blindness, from publishers. More than the old model.
“Brand advertisers reported that they would like to see online publishers create separate offerings for brand-building and direct response, and to develop more engaging ad options and formats, including social networks, video, and other rich media. Ideally, they’d rather have media companies help them create integrated campaigns instead of offering platform-specific media programs…”

Nikon’s recent campaign with Ashton Kutcher is just such an “integrated campaign.”

In a way, the paradigm shift in the ad-driven publishing model is experiencing a retribution moment as brands – long ingnored by powerful publishers who exhibited little care for how those brands’ ads might perform – are now finding themselves with a multitude of options, all with very specific measures.

Of course a focus on numbers alone might be unhealthy for brand building. CEO of digital media agency Mediasmith, David Smith, notes that “The problem results from advertisers getting distracted by traffic-related metrics, which happens when their Web site teams reside in IT departments instead of in marketing. Maybe these brand advertisers have the wrong agency. I can cite lots of examples where advertisers are using online to move the needle on brand awareness, and meet brand goals.” No examples were given, let alone “lots.”

Smith continued in a pitch that sounds awfully familiar to any brand owner or marketer frustrated with ad campaigns under the old system: “They get caught up in click-through rates, and traffic to the site, rather than thinking about whether the advertising raises awareness, or drives people to the store to buy something.”

“Awareness.” Unfortunately, or conveniently, not a Google Analytics report term