This week’s Brandsplat Video report episode covers Google Voice Phone Booths, Mafia Wars Guerrilla Graffiti, and Red Vines Covering the World.  Check it out! And pass me some more Red Vines!  Or click here for more Brandsplat vids

This week’s Brandsplat Video report episode covers a Korean Pizza Hut Dance, Blog Headers, “The Social Network” spoofs, and Our Site Being Hacked! We hate it when our site is hacked! Don’t you? Check it out! Or click here for more Brandsplat vids

This week’s Brandsplat Video report episode covers Shop Local Coupons on Facebook, Levi’s Walk Across America, and Cold Stone Creamery Reputation Management (aka – Enzo gets an email from Cold Stone Creamery!!) Check it out! Or click here for more Brandsplat vids

This week’s Brandsplat Video report episode covers Facebook – the movie, Cold Stone Creamery, and Lynda.com. Wait! What?  Facebook, the movie?   Check it out! Or click here for more Brandsplat vids

This week’s Brandsplat Video report episode covers a Dr. Pepper promo gone wrong, business and social media, and  the Giant Double Rainbow guy. Check it out! Or click here for more Brandsplat vids

With all this snore-inducing iAd talk and endless battles for smart phone ad space, it’s easy to get discouraged by the prospect of mobile marketing. After all, it looks expensive, time consuming and not very effective. Many people pooh-pooh the whole notion and move on. Well, Negative Nancy, mobile marketing is something small businesses can do without loads of money, time or stress. And the secret weapon for you, my small-business-owning friend, is plain old SMS text messages.

As it turns out , SMS could be the next big old/new thing in mobile marketing because of its effectiveness and affordability. Primarily used by companies for sweepstakes or one-time deals, SMS marketing is ready for new innovations from small business. Pulling from your already massive client contact resources, text can be used to simply reach out. After all, studies prove that most people are more apt to answer a text than they are an e-mail or call. Personalized SMS messages like “Hey Claudia! We got some new jeans in that you would love,” or “Alex, we haven’t seen you in forever! Mention this text and receive 20% off of your next order” are great ways to use text to invite folks back into your business. I recently listened with a bit of jealousy to friends talking about a chic Santa Monica bakery that sends out text messages to let clients know about special cookie tastings.

Why not take it a step further? A friend of mine in the art supply business recently created a text and photo treasure hunt for loyal customers. Folks on the e-mail and phone list received a list of things to look for and snap pictures of. The winner received a $100 gift certificate while the promotion itself ended up in local papers. SMS also is a great addition to Facebook pages when it comes to promoting special events like store openings or parties. Texting clients with deep pockets or fabulous entourages to remind them of your event is another personalized way to reach out to special audiences. And why should the big guys get to have all the fun with contests? Anybody can run a text-based giveaway using trivia or rapid response. Engage your customers in a battle of the wits or text savvy with a DIY contest that promotes your awesome goods and services.

Right or wrong, we live in times where all of us are constantly checking our phones. As marketers, we’d be foolish to not try a homespun version of mobile marketing that reaches our clients where we know they’ll always pick up.

We at Brandsplat like to applaud brands of all sizes that do nice stuff for people while rocking social media marketing and online branding. So when we learned about the Skittles Mob the Rainbow campaign, we had to do a little investigating. Skittles, a product of M&M/Mars Inc., has undergone the same hip makeover as many of the company’s other products. “Taste the Rainbow” long has been the brand’s tagline; over the years, it has taken on many interpretations, from silly to surreal to strange.

Mob the Rainbow is a twist on the classic tagline featuring a call to action for Skittles fans. Although it is executed with a heavy dose of ha-ha and snark, the real power of the campaign is its underlying sincerity. Skittles launched its Facebook fans into action to help a nice guy named James. James, from Anderson, Ind., needed money to attend a college for bowling industry management. (Yes, such a thing actually exists.) James needed to get his fancy bowling degree to get one step closer to his dream of one day opening his own bowling center. His story is the kind of thing big-city folk could laugh at (and, to be fair, Skittles has fun gently ribbing the guy in the campaign’s web videos). Yet the brand ultimately delivers.

The plan was simple. Skittles asked for 100,000 likes on its Mob the Rainbow Facebook page. After reaching the goal, Skittles delivered a check for $10,000 to James. Using social media to get the word out (Skittles posted campaign videos on Facebook and YouTube) is nothing short of genius. Plus it’s the kind of story that people want to hear. Watch the video here and just try to resist smiling. I dare you. This venture accomplished a little goodwill while staying true to the brand’s tongue-in-cheek marketing tone already established.

Previous Mob the Rainbow campaigns involved sending valentines to a beleaguered parking enforcement attendant and a user-created poll to decide what the mob would do next. And now it’s your turn, readers. How can your company use social media to do good things while creating some good marketing juju? Please enlighten us in the comment section below!

This week’s Brandsplat Video report episode covers the iAd platform, Wonder Woman’s Make-over, Google Alerts, and Taco Bell. Check it out! Or click here for more Brandsplat vids

Venus Williams might retire? Tom Cruise has a big-time flop? Apple’s latest and greatest is a hunk of junk? What the funk is happening?!? This week delivered a triple scoop of public relations travesties that offer valuable lessons for us all — particularly the iPhone incident.

Earlier this week, thanks to phony tweets from a fake Steve Jobs, the world panicked for a brief few hours when the Daily Mail ran a story saying that the iPhone 4 may be recalled. The Mail pulled the story after realizing the whole deal was a sham; Apple rolled its eyes in typical fashion and then moved on. But what the company failed to address is the phone’s very real reception issues. Apparently, the über-snazzy gadget has one tiny, little issue: two antennas built into the band that wraps around the phone, causing poor signal strength depending on where your hand is at any given moment.

Apple’s response? Just don’t hold it that way and you’ll be fine. In other words, thanks for the $400 bucks and we’re sorry that it doesn’t work but you’re the problem, not the phone. Eww. With a million of the phones sold in less than a week, the very least Apple could have done is issued a video on correct usage of the phone or tweeted downloadable instructions for proper phone use.

For a company that rolls out a new item with mucho fanfare several times a year, a little grace and helpfulness doesn’t seem like too much to ask for. This is a public relations foul. The populous won’t put up with a “buy it and shut up” attitude for long before moving on. In the age of micro-blogging and instant PR remedies, we’ve seen a little personalized attention and amends go a long way. After all, it’s not as if Steve Jobs and Co. don’t have the resources to quickly address their customers concerns. Heck, even hip little Hollywood gelato places hop on Twitter to apologize for running out of a flavor.

Bottom line: Marketers and small business owners can’t afford to shrug off customer concerns. We know this, and that’s why we rush to our laptops and get busy trying to fix PR train-wrecks. So this faux pas is a reminder to keep fighting the good fight.

But let’s hear from you kids. Is this whole iPhone drama much ado about nothing? Or does it leave a bad taste in your mouth? Share with the rest of the class below!

This week’s Brandsplat Video report episode covers iPhone 4 problems, The World Cup, Coca Cola, okgo, and My Friends are Cooler than Your Friends. Check it out! Or click here for more Brandsplat vids