Activ8Social

Last Wednesday, YouTube announced its release of YouTube Analytics to help users better understand its audience. The new analytics tool replaces YouTube Insight, which rolled out in March of 2008 to the excitement of millions of eager digital video marketers, offers more information in an easier-to-read, clean format.

Happy Halloween! We hope you enjoyed your weekend and find yourself sharing trick or treat goodies around the office. This week’s mashup features YouTube’s new content channels, Klout’s upgraded scores, ASICS’ RFID activation at the ING NYC Marathon, and Facebook Credits testing on outside websites.

Music and social media form the perfect union. In fact, music has overtaken social media. This isn’t really a bold statement like Nas claiming, “Hip hop is dead,” it’s just a statement of fact. Music has moved its residence, and it now lives on the internet, visiting Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube millions of times every second. CDs and record stores have been pushed aside to make room for their digital counterparts, iPods and iTunes.

This year Chris DiMarco is not competing at the 75th Masters but that does not mean his presence will go unfelt in Augusta.  DiMarco’s radio show, oPINionated w/ Chris DiMarco, has been transformed into a YouTube show from April 6 through April 10th (Masters Week) on his brand new ChrisDiMarcoTV YouTube Channel which Activ8Social designed and helped launch in addition to the Augusta Challenge on Facebook.

Building on 32 years of futbol history as an official sponsor of the FIFA World Cup (although a formal relationship began in 1974), the Coca-Cola Company recently launched a global ad campaign centered around its current theme of “Open Happiness” and backed by an aggressive digital strategy.

This campaign comes off the heels of the soon-to-conclude FIFA World Cup Trophy Tour which to date has seen the famed 18-carat gold trophy travel 93,958 miles (151,217 km) in over 225 days, crossing five continents and touching the lives of more than 500,000 futbol fans. The tour, which began on September 19, 2009 will do one final circuit in South Africa.

In the last couple of years, the world’s marque sports shoe and apparel company has faced increased competition from a reinvented brand in adidas and the innovative newcomer Under Armour.  Between the two competitors, adidas has a particularly strong social media presence. Their adidas Originals Facebook Page boasts nearly 3 million people that “Like” the brand while the Official Under Armour Facebook Page has over 220,000 “Likes”.

Nike elects to take a slightly different approach by leveraging fan created Pages on Facebook in addition to their official Pages like Nike Football and Nike Sportswear, but beyond Facebook and Twitter, one of the most critical keys to the Beaverton, Oregon-based company’s success is their viral video marketing strategy.  Nike protects its house by consistently reaching millions of global fans on YouTube.

Activ8Social wants to give a special shout out to Rajon Rondo, starting PG of the Boston Celtics, for taking the time to make a trip overseas and meet with injured US troops from Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan. Rondo and his family visited Ramstein Air Base in Germany before training camp.

On his popular Facebook page, Rondo told fans “It was a humbling experience and i was just glad to be there for support and see the smiles on everyones face. Truly thankful.”