Munchies Go Mobile

July 1, 2010 | Written by Lucie Zhang

Hello, everyone! A big thanks to Dave for kicking us off and to RFI Studios for moving us onto their way-more-official-looking Left Brain blog. See, mom, I told you I had a legit gig in fancy schmancy NYC.

Anyway, here’s what’s been going on in social media:

The Crunch Is Calling

Wheat Thins has started a new campaign, centered around the theme “The crunch is calling.” Hoping to stimulate conversations about Wheat Thins on Twitter, this project will feature a YouTube channel that chronicles the antics of a mobile team as they travel around delivering treats to fans who have tweeted about the snack.

Virgin America Toronto Provocateur

Victors & Spoils has launched a second project for Virgin America to promote the airline’s first international destination, Toronto. ”Virgin America Toronto Provocateur” seeks video submissions from those “riled and ready to rock the world’s loudest and sexiest airline.” Its website features the above video of Sir Richard Branson, who the winner will get to meet. Prizes for being the cheekiest Provocateur also include 12 free roundtrips to any Virgin America destination, a monthly stipend/promotions budget, a one-year Virgin Mobile Canada plan, a new HTC Legend phone, and more.

C-SPAN

C-SPAN is partnering with Foursquare to offer educational tips about U.S. public policy, politics, and government at public locations throughout Washington, D.C. Tips for other locations still have yet to be added, but those in the District will have access to an entirely customizable Foursquare homepage. There will also be a ”C-SPAN Digital Bus,” a virtual vehicle that will travel and check-in across the country while providing tips.

Extra Bits

• In other news, Mozilla has submitted a Firefox Home app to the Apple App Store. The free iPhone app will allow users to access their Firefox bookmarks, browse their history and open tabs. It will also feature an “Awesome Bar” that will list a user’s most-visited sites.
• Meanwhile, Yahoo launched Mail and Messenger apps as well as a Yahoo Search Widget for Android.
• The start of July means that Starbucks now offers free Wi-Fi (registration-less and limitation-free) in the US and Canada. Finally.
• A new study by Knowledge Networks, “Smartphone Apps: General and TV-Related Usage,” was released yesterday. It surveyed 1,004 smartphone users back in April and found that 1/3 of smartphone users were more likely to buy products from companies that use apps. iPhone users were especially receptive to advertising in apps.
• Adam Sherk, search and PR strategist for Define Search Strategies, has come up with a list of “The Most Overused Buzzwords and Marketing Speak in Press Releases,” based on the number of times each word appeared in releases currently archived on PRWeb. The winner? “Leader,” with 161,000 mentions.
• Amazon has acquired Woot, a popular website that gives out one deal per day. To announce the news, Woot made a monkey rap:

And that’s all I got for today. Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday weekend and a happy Fourth of July!

- Lucie

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