BuddyBlog

Given today's economy and environment, most of us can agree on two things – we want to spend as little as we can on gas, and we want to use as little gas as possible.

Well, today Buddy Media today launched a new eco-friendly application for Chevy Fuel Solutions that people can use to learn how they can do both.

Part of the application is a simple social utility that allows users to search for the cheapest gas prices in any geographic locale. A dynamic interface plots each gas station on a local map and displays the most recent price per gallon.

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The noise in the social media marketing space has been deafening of late. Advertising Age declared branded applications the holy grail. Adweek concluded they were a colossal waste of time. And the New York Times reported that social advertising was ineffective, at best.

The truth is the industry is nascent. And there's no way to ignore social networks, which today boast a population of 500 million people worldwide and many billions more over the next decade.

In an effort to cut through this noise, Publicis Groupe's VivaKi announced today the launch of its REAL Social Suite. REAL is an acronym for Reach, Engage, Amplify and Listen—requirements for clients who want to engage consumers on the social Web. The effort is the first of its kind from any large global agency group to create a scalable, accountable and results-drive social marketing platform for the world's brands.

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In today's Ad Week, Brian Morrissey takes a look at branded social applications. He concludes that "Facebook apps from brands like Coca-Cola, Champion, Ford and Microsoft are as popular as desolate Second Life islands."

This story comes just a week after Bob Garfield wrote on the front page of Ad Age that the app "may not be the holy grail, but it's arguably pretty damn grail-ish -- maybe the highest expression so far of online marketing in the Post-Advertising Age."

Are you confused yet? Don't worry. There's plenty of data to support both sides. When done right, branded apps are one of the more effective ways to market in the social networks. When done wrong, they fail miserably.

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The bell has rung and your favorite print ads and television commercials have entered the ring to stand toe-to-toe in a fight for ad supremacy on Ad Battle.

We recently partnered with Jason Cuthbertson, Senior Art Director at Atmosphere BBDO, to launch a new  application which allows people to vote for their favorite print or television ads submitted by fellow Facebook users. Two opposing ads are pitted against one another in a randomly sequenced order that ensures that no single ad is seen more or less often than the next.  The addition of a benchmarking feature lets users build their Ad Battle ranking from Featherweight to Heavyweight - depending upon the performance of their uploaded ads.  An additional social functionality allows users to compare their Ad Battle rankings with others within their network of social contacts.

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Silicon Alley has just released their annual list of Up-and-Comers in the world of digital business for 2008, and Buddy Media CEO Michael Lazerow has made the cut. The list is a 'Who's Who' of New York entrepreneurs, investors, executives, and technologists who are shaping the future of the digital business community.

Michael had the foresight to see the need for a company full of deal-makers who could plan, build, promote, and monitor app-vertisements within the social media space. Through a combination of tech-savvy and business know-how, Michael has shepherded Buddy Media from a tiny start-up to a powerhouse media company in a single year. In just 12 months, we've implemented social media advertising strategies for a diverse list of clients, including such mega-brands as Anheuser Busch, New Balance, Reebok, Priceline.com, and HBO.

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