Lexus recently announced a social media campaign geared towards African-American consumers, featuring Universal Motown recording artist (and recent Harvard grad) Ryan Leslie. In keeping with its emphasis on social media, Lexus also used pitchengine along with traditional media sources to publicize the initiative:
Western Union recently launched a microsite within Facebook called “World in Motion,” designed to help immigrant workers become acclimated to different cultures and locales around the world. Features include the “Wall”, where members engage in discussions, a “Stories” section where members can submit stories about how the word “Yes!” has impacted their lives, an “Event” area, and a “Support” feature where users can post links to restaurants, places to work out, job opportunities and the like.
The battle is on. And Honda’s a big part of it.
Honda is using social media as part of its ”Battle of the Bands” initiative, a showcase and competition for marching bands from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). The prize? Each of the schools of the participating bands receives $1,000; the eight schools whose bands make the finals receive $20,000. Honda uses a social media site, Hondabattleofthebands.com, to provide information, updates, videos, photos and to allow fans to vote for their favorite bands. It’s a very relevant use of social media in the African-American community:
When you think about State Farm, you don’t necessarily think of Bollywood. Until now.
State Farm, in conjunction with Saavn, a digital distributor of Bollywood content and interTrend, a Asian-American advertising agency, sponsored a competition called “Bollywood Star”, where an online community helped select two singers to be featured in an upcoming Bollywood movie. The social media site, Bollystar2009.com, allowed Bollywood hopefuls to upload videos in hopes of being selected, while others used the blogging and comment/rating systems.
Pepsi recently launched “We Inspire”, a social networking site geared towards African-American women. Edited by Nichelle Stephens, the site invites African-American women to share inspirational thoughts across six categories: beauty, laughter, joy, hope, wisdom, and love. African-American celebrities such as Queen Latifah, Taraji Henson, Keyshia Cole, and Raven Symone offer their inspirations along with the rest of the community. Users can log into the site using Facebook Connect and vote for their favorite stories, or share their own inspirational anecdotes.
In Case You Missed It: Kodak, Yahoo en Español launched social media campaign for Hispanic consumers
As part of the National Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15, 2009 – October 15, 2009), Kodak moved into the multicultural social media space with a campaign geared toward Hispanic consumers. “Muestra Tu Herencia”—which means “show your heritage” in Spanish—was a joint effort between Kodak and Yahoo! en Español that encouraged Hispanic consumers to upload and share photos expressing their heritage.