Struggling to get the attention from mainstream media for your brand? Launching a new product, but no blogger will pick up your story? What if you could get millions of free publicity for your brand? BetaBrand got massive attention for their Executive Pinstripe Hoodie.

Hoodie Gate

On the first day of the Facebook IPO roadshow, a video appeared on the Bloomberg website, in which Michael Pachter, an analyst for Wedbush Securities called it a sign of immaturity and a lack of respect for the future investors. Here is the video from this article:

“Mark and his signature hoodie: He’s actually showing investors he doesn’t care that much; he’s going to be him,” Pachter said in an interview on Bloomberg TV. “I think that’s a mark of immaturity. I think that he has to realize he’s bringing investors in as a new constituency right now, and I think he’s got to show them the respect that they deserve because he’s asking them for their money.”

These comments resulted in the starting sign of Hoodie Gate, in which major media TV-stations, newspapers and websites all jumped on the new angle on the Facebook IPO news. Finally something else to talk about than what has been discussed for months, Facebook revenue potential, user growth, and off course the Instagram acquisition. Hoodie Gate was born.

Major news sites, like TheNextWeb, The New York Times, The Atlantic, MSNBC, CNet, Forbes, PC Magazine, Portfolio and many more. If you search for Hoodie Gate on Google News, more than 750 articles can be found from websites which jumped on the news to milk it for more pageviews!

Hoodie Gate Google News more than 750 hits

NewsJacking for Free Publicity

A couple of months ago, I listened to an interview of David Meerman Scott, the writer of the book NewsJacking
(Amazon link) on Copyblogger. (listen to the interview yourself here). What is NewsJacking? I would encourage you to read the book, written by DMS.

But think about this:

What if you could “inject” your name or brand into a national or international story of your choosing, becoming part of the story yourself?

This is exactly what happened with one of the products from BetaBrand; the Executive Pinstripe Hoodie was quickly making its round on social media websites like Twitter and off course Facebook, how meta!

How Meta: Executive Pinstripe Hoodie Ads on Facebook

It came to my attention through a quick post on Business Insider. The New York Times is reporting the company launched the hoodie just 2 days after Hoodie Gate started:

On Thursday, Mr. Zuckerberg’s sister, Randi, posted on Twitter a link to a pinstripe hoodie that a clothing label had unveiled immediately after hoodiegate began.

However, BetaBrand confirmed in a tweet to me the company started working on the hoodie before Hoodiegate started, and based on the comments on teh product page, you can see comments back to February.

@mattmcgee @TheNextCorner Actually, it's been in development since February. This is just an extremely happy coincidence. #hoodiegate

— Betabrand (@Betabrand) May 10, 2012

Although Betabrand calls  it a happy coincidence, the way their Executive Pinstripe is taking over the second paragraph in any story about the Facebook IPO is an amazing example of how NewsJacking could work and when successful can get a company or brand major free publicity worth of thousands maybe even millions of dollars.

For Betabrand it was possibly a very successful week, with great sales growth for at least one of their products, the Executive Pinstripe Hoodie. Hopefully for this company, they will see spil over effects into their other categories. And with Facebook's IPO still a week away, Betabrand can ride Hoodiegate for more sales, free publicity and brand building to the max!

And with customer service like the one displayed, I'm confident the company is looking at a successful future. I'm rooting for them, and have ordered my Executive Pinstripe Hoodie, with local pick up in San Francisco...

@TheNextCorner Dennis: Good news! You ordered yours early enough to be delivered within a week.

— Betabrand (@Betabrand) May 11, 2012

Postscript

I would like to think the whole Hoodie Gate scandal was pushed in this world by an attention seeking stock analyst who saw an opportunity to make a larger name for himself not focussing on the actual news and potential of Facebook's IPO and it's roadshow, but focus on the unrelated news of the Hoodie. However, as described by the New York Times, it has become a fashion statement of East Coast vs West Coast.

The hoodie in Manhattan prompted, as Mr. Zuckerberg may have expected, a gush of approval and disdain. Hoodiegate, it came to be called, and it began to show signs of a culture war between the two coasts – Wall Street versus Silicon Valley.

Hopefully this West Coast - East Coast; Wall Street vs Silicon Valley has a better ending than Tupac vs Biggie!

Post from How @BetaBrand Jacked #HoodieGate and got Millions in Free Publicity - read more about The Next Corner

Happy Easter! Inspired by a funny email, the egg painting has taken a different turn this year with Easter. Some of the eggs look scared, almost like if they know what's coming... A pan of boiling water!

Terrible accident in this years Easter bunny race

The easter bunny race was stopped after a terrible accident. The pink bunny fell from 2 stories high, which can be seen in the short clip below. Right before the end of the clip, the pink bunny is going towards the edge, but was it an accident, or did the blue bunny push the pink bunny, to make sure he would win this years easter bunny race!

Post from Happy Easter 2012 - read more about The Next Corner

The day before Thanksgiving is probably your last chance to get yourself that Ugly Christmas Sweater for the Ugly Christmas Sweater office party next week! And believe me, this year there are going to be even more Christmas Sweater Parties than last year. The Craze is complete! It's the season...Now also in the UK!

Are you ready for The Ugly Christmas Sweater Party?

According to my monthly traffic displayed below on the articles about the Ugly Christmas Sweaters, traffic is several multiples vs last year.

Top Christmas Sweater Keywords

It's interesting to see the keywords people use when they search for an ugly sweater to wear to the office Christmas party. And although the top keywords driving traffic have not changed that much, only in the amount of visitors these were bringing going up, the long tail has grown significantly. Where in 2010 Q4 only 423 keywords containing the word Christmas were driving traffic, in 2011 that number has grown to 706 keywords, where the quarter is not even finished yet!

Top keywords for 2010 Christmas Sweater season were:

1. Sexy Christmas Sweaters
2. Outrageous Christmas Sweaters
3. Ugly Christmas Sweaters
4. Ugly Christmas Sweater Party
5. Sexy Christmas Sweater

Top keywords for 2011 Christmas Sweater season are:

1. Sexy Christmas Sweaters
2. Outrageous Christmas Sweaters
3. Funny Ugly Christmas Sweaters
4. Sexy Ugly Christmas Sweater
5. Sexy Ugly Christmas Sweaters

Long tail keywords being used this year are:

• Naughty Christmas Sweaters
• Funny Christmas Jumpers
• Hideous Christmas Jumpers
• Tacky Christmas Sweater

Christmas Sweater Parties now also in the UK

Where last year the search referral traffic to my site was primarily concentrated in the US and a little in Canada, this year the Ugly Christmas Sweater Party seems to be breaking though in the UK and Ireland too. We see that also in the keywords being used in the search referrals, as Tacky and Jumper are more used in the UK than in the US!

So get ready and buy your But Ugly Christmas Sweater before Thanksgiving to have it shipped to you in time for that crazy Chistmas Sweater party next week!

Blue Snowman Christmas Beaded Cardigan Sweater sz L 12 14 Snowflakes Ugly Party    US $16.99

B.P. Designs Christmas Sweater sz M Brown Zip Front Ugly Contest Cardigan    US $15.99

Tiara UGLY CHRISTMAS SWEATER Black Cardigan L Large Tree Wreathe Bells Party    US $19.99

UGLY CHRISTMAS SWEATER CARDIGAN SANTA GIFTS POM POM L    US $13.00

VTG BILL COSBY Ugly SWEATER Multi Colored Large Christmas Sweater 80s Party    US $14.99

VTG BILL COSBY Ugly SWEATER Multi Colored X-Large Christmas Sweater XL    US $14.99

Post from Tacky Christmas Sweater – Ugly ones on Sale - read more about The Next Corner

To promote their website which sends out Star Wars themed holiday greeting cards, Lego and Lucasfilms are building a giant Yoda dressed up as Santa made out of Lego on Union Square in San Francisco. The website can be found on Legosantayoda.com.

Building Yoda dressed as Santa from Lego

Giant Yoda as Santa from Lego on Union Square in San Francisco

Smaller Yoda as Santa looking over the Geek activities

LEGO Star Wars Yoda Fig Set # 7103 RARE    US $6.01

LEGO STAR WARS MINIFIGURE PEN LOT YODA + CHEWBACCA    US $8.99

LEGO Star Wars Yoda Fig Set # 7103 RARE    US $5.04

Large version of these pictures of Santa Yoda Lego can be found on my flickr stream under creative commons.

NEW LEGO Star Wars Lot 3 MINIFIG BALLPOINT PENS Darth Vader Stormtrooper R2D2    US $21.99

Lego Star Wars Darth Vader w/lightsaber Rare    US $6.75

LEGO LEGOLAND STAR WARS DAYS DARTH VADER DUPLO BRICK 2009 STORE PROMO DISPLAY CV    US $2.75

LEGO STAR WARS DEATH STAR TROOPER MINIFIG MINIFIGURE 9492 RARE    US $13.99

SW760 Lego Star Wars Custom Death Darth Maul - NEW    US $6.98

SW761 Lego Star Wars Custom Death Alien Minifig - Black    US $4.98

Post from Santa Yoda made out of Lego - read more about The Next Corner

It's that time of the year again. With the Christmas time in December, now it is time to start searching for that Ugly Christmas Sweater for the company Ugly Christmas Sweater party. And where else can you find these Outrageous tacky Christmas sweaters than on eBay! Because who would buy a sexy ugly christmas sweater for full price...? Two years ago I wrote a post on how you would look sexy in that Ugly Christmas Sweater, as I had access to the internal eBay search data and spotted the trend of the Ugly Christmas Sweater parties. For a year long, I worked on seeding the story with our PR team, to prepare for the 2010 Ugly Christmas parties. I used the example in my presentation at the Blueglass Conference in Ford Lauderdale, and wrote another story on why you should be early in the game for the most hideous Christmas Sweater on eBay.

Feel free to use the image above here as you Ugly Christmas Sweater party invitation

Ugly Christmas Sweater Season is here

From my internal Statistics I can see the season for the Ugly Christmas Sweaters is here again.

Last year, up to $1.5 million in Ugly Christmas Sweaters were sold on eBay, where there was no merchandising on the homepage nor other places were done.
So get you Ugly Christmas Sweater as soon as possible before they are selling out.

Blue Snowman Christmas Beaded Cardigan Sweater sz L 12 14 Snowflakes Ugly Party    US $16.99

B.P. Designs Christmas Sweater sz M Brown Zip Front Ugly Contest Cardigan    US $15.99

Tiara UGLY CHRISTMAS SWEATER Black Cardigan L Large Tree Wreathe Bells Party    US $19.99

Post from Ugly Christmas Sweater Season is here - read more about The Next Corner

Obviously this is a parody, and the below Google Apple Doodle is not affiliate nor endorsed by Apple or Google

With Steve Jobs resigning as CEO from Apple, Google is about to honor Steve with a truly Apple Google Doodle...

Update: Oct 6, This Google Doodle parody was published after Steve Jobs resigned as CEO of Apple. Today, the parody is less funny with Steve passing. Still, Google did pay tribute to Steve with the link on their homepage. Very classy!

Post from Apple Google Doodle - read more about The Next Corner

Did you ever wanted to get a black shirt with your quote on it just before a conference for you to wear? Just make sure you get on the good side of Thomas, aka Thos003. First time you meet, he will tell you he is killing bugs. No, not the bugs in software, but rather the real deal. Thomas is the SEO for a pest control company, Bulwark Extermination.

A couple of weeks ago, I was in Florida for the BlueGlass conference in Fort Lauderdale. Thomas made me a shirt with a quote I used in a panel on SMX advanced in-house session. A few weeks after the SMX advanced in Seattle, Thomas asked me what the acronym was I used on the board. I figured he wanted to use it in some internal presentation, so I shared it on Twitter:

Thomas: @TheNextCorner What was that acronym you used for #SEO priorities?

Me: @Thos003 LUMPS > Links, URL's, Meta Tags, Page Content & Elements, Sitemaps

Little did I know he would had something else in mind; Thomas brought to Florida my own quote printed on a t-shirt! Check this out:

To show off in the office, I put on the t-shirt the  first day I got back from Florida. Posing in front of the eBay logo:

Black Shirt SEO via Thomas, aka Thos003

Post from Great SEO people, Thomas aka Thos003 - read more about The Next Corner

And before you knew it, the summer is over. The 2010 September Equinox falls on 23 September 03.09. The Fall Equinox is the moment when the night and day span exactly the same amount of hours.

An equinox occurs twice a year, when the tilt of the Earth's axis is inclined neither away from nor towards the Sun, the center of the Sun being in the same plane as the Earth's equator. The term equinox can also be used in a broader sense, meaning the date when such a passage happens….An equinox happens each year at two specific moments in time (rather than two whole days), when there is a location on the Earth's equator where the center of the Sun can be observed to be vertically overhead (in astronomical terms, the subsolar point), occurring around March 20/21 and September 22/23 each year….On a day of the equinox, the center of the Sun spends a roughly equal amount of time above and below the horizon at every location on the Earth, night and day being of roughly the same length.

If you ever have the chance, go check out the Equinox in Chichen Itza.

Post from 2010 Equinox, Summer turns into Fall - read more about The Next Corner

Did you check in with the First Foursquare Church? I wonder who the mayor is?

Post from Foursquare Church, Did You Check In? - read more about The Next Corner

For two weeks my daughter Jools, 3.5 years old, has kept a special fathers day secret. She made the card she gave to me this morning herself at pre-school. Summer break at school started 2 weeks ago, so the card has been made before the break started.

Happy fathers day to all daddies!

Post from Happy Fathers Day 2010 - read more about The Next Corner