Fuse Me

In this insane world of PR, we’re constantly juggling multiple conversations with colleagues, reporters, clients and even our clients’ customers. In this age of instant connectivity, that usually means an inordinate amount of e-mails, Facebook wall posts and tweets. Maintaining these online conversations can be challenging, even overwhelming at times. I’ve tried adhering to the principles of Inbox Zero or GTD, but truth be told, the only time I clear out my inboxes is when I’m on a transatlantic flight. And usually, I just want to sleep or watch a few really bad movies with subtitles.

Enter Fuser.com. Fuser.com is an online tool that lets you to check your e-mail and social networking accounts (Facebook, Myspace and Twitter) in one secure place, so you don’t have to log into tons of different Web sites each day. Once you’ve registered your accounts you’ll get your messages delivered to one online inbox that you can access from any Internet connection. You can reply, send, forward – basically do all the things you’re used to doing already – from within Fuser.com. It’s free and you don’t have to download or install a program to use it, so you can access it easily from work or home.

Now, for the disclaimer… we began working with Fuser last year when they unveiled the initial version of Fuser.com. As one of the first companies to offer Internet users a way to avoid “inbox overload” while also helping them increase their connectivity, it was easy to understand why people instantly starting using it. Earlier this month, Fuser unveiled a new version of Fuser.com that is 40% faster, offers a completely new user interface and a slew of more message management features. Once again, the response has been great and we’re excited to be part of the Fuser.com fan club.

Fuser also has a cool viral marketing campaign going on that includes a microsite with some pretty hilarious videos and emails. You can see it at http://www.nevermissamessage.com/ (as in, “with Fuser.com, you’ll never miss an important message again). Here’s an example of what may happen to you if you miss a message:

Creative Campaigns That Actually Work

I think its safe to say that the majority of GFMers are suckers for super creative, out-of-the-box, thank-god-I'm-not-one-of-the-models marketing and PR campaigns. We love reading about them, we love brainstorming for them, we love executing them and we love pushing our clients out of their comfort zones. Of course, we do have one big caveat... the campaigns have to actually work. Unleashing street teams in clown costumes might sound creative (This is just an example. We never did a campaign involving clowns. Ever.), but it doesn't mean squat if it doesn't meet your overall program objectives.

Through the years, I've had the opportunity to witness and participate in many such campaigns. (You can read about one of my personal favorites during the launch of Coors Light's Cold Activated Bottle here.) Yesterday I stumbled across another one by Chik-Fil-A. If you missed it on your calendar, last Friday was Cow Appreciation Day at Chik-Fil-A restaurants across the country. The one-day promotion, an extension of its popular "Eat Mor Chikin" campaign, promised free meals to anyone who showed up a Chik-Fil-A restaurant wearing a cow costume. Apparently, the results were great and allowed Chik-Fil-A to capture many great snapshots of their customers in full moo regalia. MediaPost has a great write-up on the campaign here.

What about you? Do you have any favorite creative campaigns that actually delivered results? I'd love to hear about them!