In today’s day and age of information overload, marketers are forced to be more creative than ever to reach consumers with their messages. But smell marketing? Is there such a thing? According to Charlotte advertising agency Birdsong Gregory and in-store-scent-delivery-solution enterprise ScentAir, there absolutely is.

The companies recently collaborated on a project for the Bloom grocery chain, part of North Carolina-based Food Lion, that resulted in the nation’s first scented highway billboard. How, you ask? By using a high-powered fan to waft the scents of black pepper and charcoal from the base of a sign along River Highway (N.C. 150). For six hours a day, every day for three weeks, the sign’s giant piece of meat exuded its steak-like scent in the hopes of attracting the bellies and business of hungry passersby.

Though undeniably original, the billboard and the concept behind it have been received with varying degrees of acceptance. The scent campaigns of its predecessors—like the California Milk Board’s effort to make public transportation hubs smell of chocolate chip cookies—were met with complaints from people with asthma, environmental concerns, and those who just didn’t want to smell baked goods in a bus station. Bloom’s billboard, on the other hand, just tended to go unnoticed.

“It’s another way that out-of-home advertising is adapting to new technologies,” Jeff Golimowski, spokesman for the Outdoor Advertising Association of America has said. “You see digital billboards, Bluetooth-enabled bus shelters, mobile phone apps. Something like this that engages all of the consumer’s senses, and really evokes a sensation and memory, is another very interesting step.”

The South Carolina chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (SCPRSA) hosted another successful event this month as over 30 individuals gathered to learn about emerging trends in social media and the programs that drive them. Touchpoint’s own Grace LeSueur organized the luncheon, selecting the topic, booking speakers, and serving as the moderator throughout the 90-minute panel discussion.

Ms. Ashley Thiesen Caldwell, Founder of The Modern Connection, LLC; Mr. Jeff Webster, Public Relations and Digital Media Manager for Orient-Express North America; Ms. Lyn Mettler, Founder and co-owner of Step Ahead, Inc.; and Mr. Adam Nicholas Burke, Social Media Manager at Rawle Murdy Associates, spoke on newer social media applications like Google Buzz, Foursquare, and Gowalla, as well as what we’ve come to call “The Classics”: Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Did you know that Facebook is in the process of creating its own location-based service? Or that you don’t need a smart phone to participate in Foursquare? Or that there are a whole slew of analytical measurement tools that are absolutely free?

Keep an eye out for news on the SCPRSA’s next event. Luncheons like these are a great way to educate yourself, to network, and to grow your business or the business of your client! For more information on the Society, click here.

Ever wondered just how valuable you are to a company? Why a company would bother to encourage you to be their Facebook “fan”? How effective social media is as a marketing tool? Well, Syncapse has. In a report released last week, the social media measurement firm declared that the average person is apparently worth about $136.38 to the companies of which he or she is a Facebook fan.

The firm asked 4,000 fans of Facebook’s top 20 brands—Nike, Starbucks, and McDonald’s all made the cut—a series of questions about past purchasing behavior, brand loyalty, and future expectations regarding each. From that, a figure was born: $136. The survey also determined that:

• Fans spend an extra $71.84 they would not otherwise spend on products they describe themselves as fans of, compared to those who are not fans;
• Fans are 28 percent more likely than non-fans to continue using a specific brand; and
• Fans are 41 percent more likely than non-fans to recommend a product they are a fan of to their friends.

Pretty interesting finds for an environment in which marketing effectiveness is nearly impossible to discern.

For a PDF of the full report, click here.

New and social media guru Brian Solis knows that a company’s success is all about branding. Last month, he partnered with PeopleBrowsr, a data mining, analytics, and brand engagement company, to determine the most commonly discussed brands on Twitter, and therefore, the internet’s most well-branded entities. In April alone (the sole month for which statistics were gathered), the twenty most-discussed brands were the product of an incredible 24.3 million references.

At fifth on this list of twenty was Google, with 5% of all dialog and 1.32 million references, just a few hundred thousand hits behind Apple’s 1.5 million mentions. Facebook took third place with 9% of the dialog (2.25 million mentions) and YouTube secured the runner-up position with its 5.2 million. Coming in at No.1 was none other than Twitter itself, racking up 8.76 million appearances that totaled 36% of all brand-related dialog.

Solis and PeopleBrowsr also performed an analysis of sentiment with respect to each of the top 20 entities, finding that MTV and BlackBerry were among the five most positively perceived brands, and Microsoft and MySpace among those most negatively perceived. HP and Google ranked highly in the category of neutral sentiment.

For a more detailed breakdown of the brands’ share of voice and sentiment scores, click here.

Every year, TripAdvisor polls a smattering of its American users on a number of issues, beliefs, and attractions regarding European travel. This year’s 1,200 respondents produced some interesting results. Below are the highlights:

• 58 percent believe Europe’s cuisine to be superior to that of the United States
• 54 percent of those planning a leisure trip to Europe this year will travel in September or October
• 58 percent alter their dress to appear less American while abroad
• 57 percent think the sites and attractions are better in Europe, while 41 percent consider them equal to America’s sites
• 59 percent are more adventurous while abroad than they would be at home

Respondents also voted on the “Travelers’ Choice Destination Awards,” choosing Monte Carlo, Monaco; Heidelberg, Germany; and Salzburg, Austria as their top three destinations. For the full report and the winners in categories such as “Best Destination in Europe for Beach & Sun” and “Best Destination in Europe for Romance,” click here.

Courtesy of Telegraph.co.uk

Just a little something to make you feel old. “TheFacebook”?

According to a recent Edmunds.com study, South Carolina is the third-most-affordable state in which to own a car. It costs an average of $40,763 over a five-year period to own a car here, just a bit more than New Hampshire’s $39,136 and South Dakota’s $40,524.

The study considered seven factors to determine the rankings: taxes and fees, depreciation, financing and interest, insurance, fuel, maintenance, and repairs. It also assumed a number of conditions, including buyers’ gold credit tiers for the sake of financing, ownership over a five-year period, and a 60-month length of a loan term.

The most expensive states in which to own a car? Hawaii, followed by California and Alaska. For a more detailed look at the study, check out the Charleston Regional Business Journal‘s write-up here.