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This is actually “old news” by now (it was hot in spring 2009) — but I missed it the first time around and maybe you did as well.  It shows how the web can amplify the voice of a single complaining customer.  The video has more than 6 million views!  The story is best told by the protagonist, musician Dave Carroll, in his own words, copied from his website and quoted below.  I have placed the first video “United Breaks Guitars” below that.

“In the spring of 2008, Sons of Maxwell were traveling to Nebraska for a one-week tour and my Taylor guitar was witnessed being thrown by United Airlines baggage handlers in Chicago. I discovered later that the $3500 guitar was severely damaged. They didn’t deny the experience occurred but for nine months the various people I communicated with put the responsibility for dealing with the damage on everyone other than themselves and finally said they would do nothing to compensate me for my loss. So I promised the last person to finally say “no” to compensation (Ms. Irlweg) that I would write and produce three songs about my experience with United Airlines and make videos for each to be viewed online by anyone in the world.”

The dangers of viral media.  Method thought it had a clever video which got plaudits from marketers and a 4 star rating from YouTube.  But when a vocal minority were offended, Method was forced to pull the ad.  An unauthorized copy is still available on YouTube here.  The full article “Method Pulls ‘Shiny Suds’ Ad After Sexism Complaints” is at AdAge.com, December 2, 2009 (subscription only).

Household cleaner marketer Method has pulled down a viral video roundly applauded by marketers at the Association of National Advertisers annual conference last month and by most viewers who’ve seen it because of heated complaints from some women who view it as sexist and even condoning rape.

Redbox continues to stay one step ahead of Blockbuster.  Just a few days after Blockbuster announced it would kiosks would debut at Duane Reade stores (copying Redbox’s successful vending strategy), Redbox appears to be ready to start renting video games as well.

This article and video combination describe how companies can monitor “tweets” on the social media service Twitter to help them forecast sales.  “Follow the Tweets,” Wall Street Journal, November 30, 2009 (subscription required – no subscription click here).   The video below is an interview with one of the authors.

We believe executives can make accurate predictions about sales trends by analyzing tweets that mention their products or services, and we have created a model based on Twitter’s keyword-search function to help them do that.

This article in the Wall Street Journal “The Path to Developing Successful New Products” (subscription required – or do an online search on the title to get back-door access to the article) reports on recent research on success factors in new product development. Also includes links to some articles in the Sloan Management Review.  Some highlights…

We found—after surveying more than 300 employees at 28 companies across North America and Europe—that the businesses with the best product-development track records do three things better than their less-successful peers: They create a clear sense of project goals early on, they nurture a strong project culture in their workplace, and they maintain close contact with customers throughout a project’s duration.

This instructional video shows you how to embed a YouTube video directly into a PowerPoint 2007 presentation. Note that you have to have an internet connection, sound connected, and it might take 5-10 seconds or more for the video to start up. If you need to do this in PowerPoint 2003, check out How to Embed a YouTube Video in PowerPoint (2003).

BtoB Magazine’s “Best of 2009” issue has come out.  If you click on that link you will be connected to a page that shows all the categories — with subsequent links to the top three in each category.  Lots of great B2B examples for you there.

My favorite campaign is Cisco Systems “The Human Network Effect” which won for best Intergrated Campaign (over $200,000).  The campaign focuses on the Cisco’s video conferencing product and I think really demonstrates the value it can provide.  The original “Welcome to the Human Network” cannot be embedded because of copyright issues (but my link takes you to it on YouTube).   At YouTube you can find the Chinese (and several other language) versions of this ad — as well as many more from the campaign.  I have embedded the “I Will Survive” ad from the campaign below.

This short article from the Investor’s Business Daily “Lift Employee Customer-Service Skills To Raise Revenue,” November 27, 2009 fits nicely with our discussion of customer service (in the personal selling chapter) or if you use Basic Marketing in the cross-functional chapter.  A few simple ideas and good examples.

Consumer behavior continues to evolve with technology.  This article proviedes nice examples of technology (see chapter 3) and information search in the consumer behavior chapter.  I was surprised by some of the findings reported in this article “More shoppers use smartphones to study, find, buy” USA Today, November 27, 2009.  Another reason we look at the data instead of our own behavior.

Some 19% of Americans will use their mobile devices for shopping this holiday season, according to a Deloitte survey. The number is twice as high for young consumers: 39% of those 18 to 29 say they’ll use their phones to find store locations, obtain coupons and sales information and research products and prices. One-quarter of all who plan to use their phones to shop say they will make purchases on the devices.

A couple years ago Kodak (my former employer — too many years ago) decided to get into the printer business.  To compete with established players like HP, Canon and Espson, Kodak decided to come out with lower priced ink.  The company has had a slow start — although 2009 saw them double market share, they are still only at 2% share.  The article and video describe the company’s latest efforts.   “Kodak printer ads remind consumers of lower ink costs,” USA Today, November 30, 2009.