Winner: Weber Shandwick – Firebell: A New Social Crisis Simulator
Responding to the need to instantly address the spread of crises via social media, Weber Shandwick created a new crisis preparation drill that replicates today’s social media channels and their two-way conversations. The FireBell crisis simulator enables users to mock tweet, post status updates and view and respond to conversations using functional replicas of a company’s—and its critics’—social media properties. Throughout the drill, the client evaluates the conversation in these replicated social media properties and decides how to engage—including what to write and when. While still fresh out of the tool lab, Weber Shandwick has received positive—though occasionally alarmed—feedback. “Are you sure this isn’t really on our Facebook page?” one anxious client queried. Weber Shandwick is currently preparing to roll out Firebell to clients internationally.
Honorable Mentions:
Edge Communications - PostRelease:
Talk about a winning formula. Cie Studios’ vision to connect the PR community with some of the most influential and engaged brand advocates—people who engage in online forums—shifted to high gear when it launched, with the help of Edge Communications, PostRelease, an automated system/site that IDs pertinent forum discussions and inserts messages as posts that contain useful information. Click-through rates thus far average 33%.
Synaptic Digital - adidas NEWS STREAM: Media Center for a World of Publishers:
In order to kick up its presence on the Web, Adidas and Synaptic came up with an idea they could really, ahem, run with: Turning its press room into a media-rich, socially powered powerhouse where brand stewards could continuously promote the brand. The newly named News Stream already has 500-plus minutes of content, 211,429 page views and 6,600 downloads of multimedia assets.
Weber Shandwick – Degree Women “Friends You ‘Mist’” Facebook Application:
How do you cut through Facebook clutter and get an impressive 100 people downloading your application every three seconds? For client Degree Women, Weber Shandwick Chicago created an app that lets FB users view updates from their top 10 friends, which of course included Degree Women. The campaign also resulted in 176% increase in “likes” for the fan page and the company’s 10,000 samples were depleted within three days of going live.