Garlic Fest in Target’s marketing bullseye

A recent TV advertisement for Target featuring two people eating a generic “garlic ice cream” at an equivocal “garlic festival” has Gilroyans singing praises for their hometown; leaving comments on YouTube such as “born and raised in Gilroy and the timing couldn’t be better for this commercial! July 29th, 30th 31st — See you there!”

However, the word “Gilroy” doesn’t actually appear anywhere in the clip — a minor detail indicative of Target’s cautious tiptoeing around branding legalities.

Nevertheless, Brian Bowe, executive director of the Gilroy Garlic Festival, thinks the ad is “pretty darn funny.”

As for whether the commercial was actually filmed during a past Gilroy Garlic Festival, “the popular consensus among those of us who critically analyzed it say it wasn’t ours,” said Bowe, who added jokingly, “but we’ll take full credit for it anyway.”

The Garlic Festival Association is pretty familiar with its own signs and backgrounds, he pointed out, and experts say Target’s take isn’t the real thing.

Still, Bowe said the association has received cheerful feedback and Facebook postings from all over the country. People seem to be getting a kick out the unofficial hail to the Garlic Capital, he said.

In response to whether or not the association would have sought royalties, had Target shot a commercial on location during the legitimate Gilroy Garlic Festival, “publicity is a good thing,” Bowe reminded.

Copyright (c) 2011, The Gilroy Dispatch

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Social Media Burning Up Over Heat Wave

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The nation’s worst heat wave in years has people virtually sweating it out and trying to cope on social media.

Facebook, Twitter, blogs and other online forums have already racked up more than 4 million references to hot weather this month and that number is increasing rapidly, says Joe Schab, president of Mastermind Marketing, which tracks social media chatter.

Even Justin Bieber can’t compete: On Twitter, usually a stronghold for “Bieber Fever,” the heat is nearly four times as popular a topic as the 17-year-old pop singer, Schab says. Sorry President Obama, but heat updates are outpacing conversations about the debt ceiling 24-to-1, he says.

The heat wave has been linked to 22 deaths and made life miserable for millions of Americans as far north as Minnesota, south as Texas and east as Maine.

While Schab says most posts are complaints, they’re not all hot air. From offering safety tips to broadcasting hot deals, folks are using social media to :

•Warn: Hundreds of American Red Cross local chapters are transforming into online heat wave “cheerleaders” encouraging people to visit cooling centers and stay hydrated, says Wendy Harman, director of social strategy at Red Cross headquarters.

•Experiment: The National Weather Service in Sioux Falls, S.D., set out to test whether it was hot enough to fry an egg on a sidewalk , posting the findings on Facebook. Though the egg wasn’t ready for the breakfast table, meteorologist Jenni Laflin says video experiments like this are attention-grabbing while still underscoring hot weather hazards.

bulletConnect: Maine resident Coleen Daskoski never saw her dream of becoming a weather girl come true. But the Weather Channel’s Facebook page helps her feed her appetite for the latest heat wave news.. “If I can’t be in the weather department, at least I can do something on their websites,” Daskoski says.

•Sell: One New York City food truck, the Cupcake Crew, sold out of several $5 cupcake and iced coffee “heat wave specials” marketed on Twitter and Facebook. “We have to do something to jazz up sales,” says owner Frankie “Cupcakes” Mancini.

•Create: On the heels of “Snowpocalypse,” the Washington Post’s online Capital Weather Gang is holding a contest to nickname this summer’s scorcher. With candidates like “TemperRapture,” “Saunathon” and “Sweat Ceiling” in the running, it’s a heated race, to say the least.

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