To follow up on my earlier article about my obsession with The Snuggie, I couldn’t help but notice a new crop of Snuggie Wannabes making their way into the social media universe.

While The Snuggie wasn’t the first blanket with sleeves (check out SkyMall’s Slanket), it was the first blanket with sleeves to embrace social media and make its presence known to millions of people.  There have been several parodies of the Snuggie commercial (see The WTF Blanket), but now we’re seeing more copies of the Snuggie itself.

Dare to compare:

The Nuddle

A hipper, more stylish version of the Snuggie, the Nuddle (nap + cuddle = nuddle) is long enough to cover your body from your neck to your feet, and has open slats for your arms (not to be confused with sleeves), along with- get this- an outer hand pocket to keep hands warm.  What’s better than the hand pocket?  Well, a foot pocket of course!

The Snugglette

It’s the Mini Snuggie for Kids! Now you can keep the whole family warm with the Snugglette, a smaller size Snuggie with smaller arms so kids can stay warm.  And get this — while the Snuggie comes with a free reading light, the Snugglette offers free matching slipper socks.

The Couch Dress

Last, but certainly not least (and our favorite), Pantalaine introduces the all-handmade Couch Dress.  Benefits? Pantalaine will customize this item to fit you and any loveseat or sofa in your home. And bonus gift: Two flower Broaches included with each dress - choose from many popular designs.

So which lounge-wear, blanket with sleeves is your choice? At the end of the day, there may be copies of the Snuggie, but the more interesting story will be if they can compete with it online and generate the same level of interest.  Let the best blanket win!

I wouldn’t call myself a TV Junkie, but there are a few programs on television I don’t miss. True Blood on HBO, The Tudors on Showtime, Mad Men on AMC, and the new advertising focused program Trust Me on TNT.

While I don’t have much in common with vampires, King Arthur, or the 60’s (believe it or not I wasn’t born yet), I connect with Trust Me because it strikes a chord with me on two levels - as a former Chicagoan working long hours in the Loop, and as former advertising agency Account Director.

For anyone who hasn’t been watching, Trust Me stars Eric McCormack and Tom Cavanagh as creative cohorts working at ficticious ad agency Rothman Green & Mohr. While their agency is fictitious, their client roster is anything but.  I couldn’t help but notice that RGM’s client drama - as realistic as I’ve seen in agency land - was building quite a bit of awareness around their “client” brands like Effen Vodka, Bertolli, and most visibly tied to the creative chaos - Dove Hair Care.

What’s interesting about Dove is that it’s not just a brand reference in Trust Me - it has almost become a character in and of itself in the program.  Sarah (played by Monica Potter) is a bitter creative professional who begrudgingly takes on the Dove campaign, only to get immersed in the brand over several episodes.  The viewing audience of Trust Me begins to get more engaged with Dove by watching the program, as well as being exposed to advertising (Unilever is a sponsor of Trust Me).

While Brand Integration isn’t a new phenomenon, Dove and TNT have taken it to the next level by integrating the brand into the program content, creating a storyline around it, surrounding it with program sponsorship and advertising, and creating a social media campaign called “Be The Creative Director”.

In tandem with the program storyline, TNT is promoting bethecreativedirector.com where viewers can be a part of RGM to help produce a new Dove ad. Embedded into the episode was also a “briefing” on Dove by the brand’s very own marketing manager Judy Pomerantz, who emphasized the objectives of the campaign.

So why is all this interesting to me?

As I watched the fictitious RGM brainstorm on “that innovative, online stuff” and chuckled at its reference to social media, I thought about the reality of 360 degree brand awareness… and while the reference seemed a bit off on the program, I do like what I’m seeing with Dove - a great example of weaving the company’s message in content, around content, and in the online communities where their audience lives.

Social Media Marketing = Word of Mouth = Awareness

Social media is as simple as its component parts – social interaction meets media — the sites, events, communities and resources that enable people to share with each other, collaborate, communicate and reinvent.

Social media marketing is harnessing that media to drive conversation, build awareness and spark word of mouth around a brand, individual or particular subject matter.

Your audience is living in the new media space – on Social Networks (Myspace, Facebook, LastFM), Sharing and Bookmarking sites (Digg, Stumbleupon), opinion and voting sites, UGC and video sites (YouTube, DailyMotion), and a variety of communities and blogs targeting niche interests. For successful social media marketing, it is important to:

1. Find those consumers;
2. Listen to them;
3. Amplify their voice; and
4. Engage them with the information and content they’re asking for.

Why Social Marketing is More Effective.

Traditional Media = Monologue
Social Media = Dialogue

Now, more than ever, consumers have the opportunity to involve themselves in the marketing mix, and they will. As new, digital media became the preferred media of the Millennial Generation, information and content became easier to create, share and manipulate. This democratization has led to an unprecedented interconnectedness both to the world and one another. This real-time, interconnectivity creates a two-way communication channel for everything, always, which is one of its primary advantages over traditional media.

Traditional media is characterized as monologue, slow if ever to adapt and respond. Social media is defined by dialogue, evolving constantly and responding instantly. Consumers have gravitated to and adopted social media because it allows them the opportunity to interact with and engage the people, brands and ideas that matter most to them. And this two-way communication channel requires that brands interact and engage in return. After they are done speaking, they are now required to listen and respond. Those that don’t will be left behind.

Once people are engaged it becomes increasingly likely that they will share and this sharing is the ultimate value for brands practicing effective social media marketing. All of the actions we take online are now shared with our friends – we are clicks away from sharing the links we like, from seeing the clothes and music our friends just purchased, from reading the restaurant reviews posted by our neighbors. And we know this sharing is the most important factor when influencing consumers to adopt a specific brand identity or purchase a certain product.