Whether you’re a fan of football or not, you were probably one of the estimated 100 million strong who tuned into watch last night’s Super Bowl. Parties pop up all over the world to watch this event.

Some even tune in to watch a football game.

Obviously Saints and Colts fans were watching to cheer for their respective teams. Old rockers like myself wanted to see if “The Who” could still make it through a set without suffering cardiac arrest. (The Super Bowl has come a long way since “Up With People” huh?) But the vast majority of the water cooler talk this morning I would imagine are the Super Bowl commercials that advertisers invested millions per spot to create brand recognition and buzz.

One of those advertisers the last 23 years had been Pepsi. But Pepsi decided to opt out this year not because they couldn’t afford the $12 million it would cost to air two spots during last night’s game. They opted out because they’re betting that “the days of mass-market media as the sole vehicle to reach an audience are officially over”.

Yep, you read that right, and an article forwarded to me last week lays out a whole new strategy for Pepsi that will focus on Social Media instead of Mass Media. For Pepsi, the Social Media platform is a much stronger and longer lasting medium for a yearlong initiative and their “Pepsi Refresh” campaign.

Granted, people still talk about Cindy Crawford’s appearance a couple years ago during the Super Bowl. (My personal favorites happen to be the E-Trade Babies that are absolutely hilarious!) The new Pepsi initiative however, in order for it to work, requires far more than a laugh, brand buzz or Monday morning water cooler talk.

“This is such a fundamental change from anything we’ve done in the past,” says Lauren Hobart, chief marketing officer for Pepsi-Cola North America Beverages. “It’s a big shift. We explored different launch plans, and the Super Bowl just wasn’t the right venue, because we’re really trying to spark a full-year movement from the ground up. The plan is to have much more two-way dialogue with our customers.”

The plan for Pepsi is to create a “charitable initiative that can build goodwill”. Pepsi wants to give away $20 million in grant money to fund projects in six categories: health, arts and culture, food and shelter, the planet, neighborhoods and education. You don’t start an initiative like that by spending $12 million in advertising dollars during the Super Bowl. It defeats the purpose, especially when there’s a better – more powerful medium that enables interaction between the company and the consumer who will guide this money to worthy projects.

Will this goodwill initiative spawn new customers and help Pepsi’s bottom line? It may not be enough for a Coke fan like myself to switch, but I do find Pepsi’s initiative refreshing enough to write about it – which could lead others to switch. (For the record, it does shed a whole new light on Dr. Pepper, which is a Pepsi brand I do drink.) For some it could tap into brand loyalty in a way that Mass Media could never do – especially during an event like the Super Bowl that’s designed for entertainment and not social change. That’s why I think Pepsi hits the mark with their choice to opt out of the Super Bowl this year and move to Social Media instead.

In my opinion, it’s a perfect marriage for goodwill and social change.

Social Media is just that – “social”. We’re social beings and the platforms available such as Twitter and Facebook enable big name companies to interact and promote not only their brand, but their cause. You’d be hard pressed not to find a company in this day and age who doesn’t have either a Facebook fan page or Twitter account, or both. Not to say some still don’t have one, but if you’re looking to build your company both mediums appear to be a top priority because they enable the company to interact with their customers in ways never thought possible before.

Like this story – Re-Tweet it. Something you find interesting or strikes a chord with you – write about it and link to it on your Facebook wall. Both platforms can do far more than announcing to the world you’re getting ready to get ready to go out next Friday night. And the thing is – people and companies are beginning to see the power these social platforms have. They’ve quickly turned into tools that promote meaningful change and perhaps, for companies like Pepsi – a better bottom line.

Aside from talking about all those over the top and extremely entertaining Super Bowl commercials there’s really very little value for me or you after that. Not that I have anything against brand buzz or hype. I buy into it just as much as the next guy – especially if it technology or travel related. But this shift Pepsi is taking this year takes a strike directly at this long standing medium and makes a very bold statement that there is another way – a better way to get your message and brand out to the masses.

I think about the ZamZuu video that’s on our Rep Accounts, and I see those quotes about the internet, Facebook, old ways of doing business, and traditional advertising being dead.

Couple that with what Pepsi is doing?

Do you think both could be dead wrong?

Possibly. But I don’t think the odds are that overwhelming when you have big names like Pepsi jumping from Mass Media to the Social Media bandwagon. You don’t just stop doing things after 23 years without some very close and careful analysis.

It’s certainly a very bold move. But those of us in YTB, know all about being bold don’t we?

Can’t wait to see how both shake out. ;-P

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I don’t know if you saw one of the headlines on the front cover of Travel Weekly’s Power List issue on Monday or not. If you didn’t because you were too caught up in the Power List rankings, I certainly can’t blame you. Regardless of whether you saw the headline or took the time to read the story, it’s another example of why we need to conduct our own due diligence when making any decision.

I’ve told people for years “don’t believe a word I say, unless you can verify it on your own to be true”. I wish I could take credit for such an insightful quote, but I have to give credit where credit is due from individuals who are far more successful than I. I first read this quote at the beginning of “Secret’s of The Millionaire Mind” by T. Harv Ecker, and while I have not listened to Neal Boortz and his syndicated radio show in quite a while, he also quotes this same phrase continually.

With the advent of internet information and the ability to find reviews and opinions on just about any subject you can imagine, it’s not all that difficult finding something you can trust as truth these days. Long before I got involved in YTB I would frequent and post on Cruise Critic. I found it a great resource to ask questions and obtain information about a particular ship, a port of call, or things to do and see while enjoying my favorite form of vacation. Back in March, Cruise Critic and Royal Caribbean came under fire for what Tripso called “paid cheerleaders” who manipulated the board for personal and financial gain. The entire ordeal caused such an uproar that one blogger went as far as calling the Royal Champions “shills” and Royal Caribbean “puppet masters” in his blog.

Now TripAdvisor is facing some of the same issues about the integrity of some of its consumer hotel reviews. It may or may not be of interest that Cruise Critic is a subsidiary of TripAdvisor, but to find this type of manipulation out in the open once again should be noted. News broke about TripAdvisor in early June when another blogger found the following notices, posted in red type above the flagged property’s TripAdvisor rating.

“Message from TripAdvisor: TripAdvisor has reasonable cause to believe that either this property or individuals associated with the property may have attempted to manipulate our popularity index by interfering with the unbiased nature of our reviews. Please take this into consideration when researching your travel plans.”

In all, 92 such notices where found on TripAdvisor, and it has stirred questions concerning how many more reviews have been compromised on the site. When TripAdvisor uncovers hotel employees writing glowing reviews, trashing competitors, persuading guests to remove negative reviews or providing incentives for customers to write positive reviews, it posts the notices. In addition, Travel Weekly reports that TripAdvisor posts this notice regardless of whether TripAdvisor and the property have an advertising relationship.

Both Cruise Critic and TripAdvisor have gained considerable notoriety and respect over the years for its unbiased reviews and opinions when traveling. (Even from me.) Regardless of all the fuss and attention over YTB and claims about being uneducated, untrained, and unqualified to promote destinations, sites like Cruise Critic and TripAdvisor have been regarded as viable sources to collect information to form opinions. Truth of the matter is, people value other peoples experience and the relationships they form either with a site or a person. I’ve participated on a number of forums and sites like Cruise Critic and have used sites like TripAdvisor when researching any subject.

What this all boils down to is integrity. I’ve sat here for several minutes in an attempt to communicate just how we as readers can pinpoint and sense integrity or the lack thereof. It’s a gut instinct that most anyone should be able to ‘out’ when reading. (At least I know I do.) While participating in any forum or blog, I can quickly form opinions on who I can trust and who is blowing smoke simply to manipulate my own beliefs and opinions. If you truly need to understand how all this works, head over to Scam.com or over the NoTravelMLMs and in about two seconds you’ll know what I mean.

Both sites are full of doting parents who need to save you because they don’t believe you have the capability of finding or forming your own opinions. Unlike Cruise Critic or TripAdvisor, if you do form an opinion that differs from theirs…about all I can tell you is good luck with defending it. (Been there, done that, and have a T-shirt they gave me that says so.)

There are many oddities in the Travel Industry and being a doting parent appears to be one of them. While I can appreciate the concern, the way this industry gets all wrapped up in saving everyone goes beyond anything I’ve ever seen. Far too much focus and attention is geared on what’s wrong here, instead of what TripAdvisor has done in attempts to correct the issue.

We are after all adults, and adults should be able to make thier own choices and decisions be it an occupation or a vacation. If the wrong choice is made, we should take responsibility for that choice instead of playing the role of victim. It’s sad to see, especially in a country such as ours that was founded on freedom of expression. Yet there are those who spend all thier time and energy being a watchdog for everyone else and manipulating how you should think and act.

You as an individual have every resource and ability to form your own opinions and choices, especially in this day and age. If it differs from others, so be it. Who’s to say that they’re right and you’re are wrong? (Or vice versa) It’s your life and your choice and that’s what matters most.

I’m okay with that.

Are you?

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Do You ZamZuu?

It’s hard to believe my new home here on JustPictureItNow has been live for one month. I have to steel a line from my Director Tim Dominey when he looks at something that surprises him, “Goodnight!” Not because of what’s been written, but because how this new format and home has exceeded every expectation I had about the power of a Blog.

I’ve told you before about the definition of F-E-A-R, which is nothing more than False Evidence Appearing Real, and my fear at the time was that I would loose my initial readership, basically having to start from scratch building all new links and search engine results so people could find me.

Okay…here goes…

I was wro…

I was wwwr…

I was wrrrrrrrr…. BLASTED WORD!

How ‘bout, “I was merely mistaken”.

If you would have told me last month that I would have had this type of traction this early in this move, I would have told you that you were nuts. I’ve been blogging for a long time, and I watch and read other blogs and track their growth and popularity. I track how much traffic they’re able to get, how they rank on search engines, and who’s talking about them.

Many site owners like to use Alexa to see how well their sites are doing. For those that don’t know anything about Alexa, the easiest way to compare them is Nielson ratings. If you take a look at the Alexa report for this site, you’ll see that it climbed to a spot of 1.2 million, up some 7 million spots in the last three months. (Truth be told, thats in the last month.) I realize that there are some that like to claim they are doing as well, or as relevant as this blog, however this same report shows a decline of nearly 1 million spots to around 2 million in the same 3 month period.

Another report I like to look at is traffic value from SEMrush. I was shocked to see how quickly this site ranked after only a months time. If you compare that with No Mix, it clearly shows a vast difference in organic search engine rankings and value.

So why the vast contrast?

I have to send out a HUGE thank you to many of the loyal readers of the previous blog and my newsletter for getting the word out and putting your own links pointing to my new home. Within days I saw referral links from quite a few readers with a post or comment that I had moved. To have so many of you do this without even asking tells me that you believe that what I have has value.

The newsletter subscriptions also helped during this time. I have several Directors now pointing to my newsletter signup page telling their teams to subscribe. I didn’t host the signup page on Blogger, but do now on JustPicutreItNow. That combined with a 200% to 600% open rate from people forwarding my newsletter to other RTA’s in the company creates a considerable amount of traffic. The average number of monthly subscriptions more than doubled in the month of November.

Lastly, WordPress is simply a more powerful blog format. What was totally unexpected for me was how search engines not only found what I transferred over, but indexed the three years of posts within a matter of days. (I thought it was going to take MONTHS!) A big key in all this was how WordPress was able to transfer everything over, including categories with a simple click, making it very easy for the crawlers, spiders and bots to find and then index year’s worth of content.

So how do YOU keep this new home growing with all of the links to third party documentation that helps verify the truth instead of spin and hype about our fine company? Use the “Share / Save” button at the bottom of every post. With Social Bookmarking as the new way to link and share information, it’s a breeze to link important and relevant content you find here for prospects, clients, and other RTA’s to get accurate and relevant information about the travel industry and our company.

Thanks for making this such an easy and quick transition. I’m completely blown away over how quickly this happened, and I’m thrilled over this realization. It’s an honor and pleasure to be considered a relevant source in this vast and expansive format we call the World Wide Web.

PS - If you're involved with YTB, sign up for our FREE Newsletter. As a Website Owner or Website Seller, we'll keep you up to date with all the latest news, acquisitions, and developments with YTB.

PPS - Subscribe to the Just Picture It Now RSS feed, (including e-mail) for all the latest posts and updates found right here!

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Do You ZamZuu?