Outcrop Blog Post

This week we learned: How to reach people on Facebook, cheeky holiday campaigns and cool photos of vending machines

As Christmas approaches, we enter a period known as The Holidays and look forward to spending time with family and friends, rejoicing over eggnog, eating delicious turkey and enjoying time off for ourselves. But things are a little different now.

We carry the world – all its demands, responsibilities and drama – in our pockets, and somehow when we’re supposed to be unplugging, our smart devices find a way to intrude.

Cyber Monday is coming up and with more consumers buying gifts for the holidays on mobile, expect to see more hunchbacks walking around with their eyeballs glued to the screen hunting for deals.

KFC knows we’re annoyed at how our mobile devices suck us in, but we can’t help it. So they created a signal-proof Internet Escape Pod to shield you from harmful internet signals this holiday season.

Priced originally at $96,485.34, it can be yours for just $10,000, in the spirit of Cyber Monday.

The product description is smart and funny. It’s a tongue-in-cheek stunt and they’re fully aware. They mention as a caveat to the effectiveness of the escape pod, “In case you haven't noticed, our specialty is fried chicken, not internet-blocking cages.”

They’re not shoving coupons in your face or telling you to buy, they’re just giving you a bit of entertainment, something to chuckle at in hopes you’ll remember to give them a call next time you don’t feel like cooking for everyone.

Genius moves by the Cards Against Humanity marketing team is par for the course. Remember the hole they dug for no reason that people collectively paid $100,000 for? Cards Against Humanity is known as the “party game for horrible people.”

This year, they’re going to make it as painstakingly expensive and difficult for Trump’s border wall to be built. Here’s what the website had to say about it,

"Donald Trump is a preposterous golem who is afraid of Mexicans. He is so afraid that he wants to build a $20 billion wall that everyone knows will accomplish nothing," the website reads. "So we’ve purchased a plot of vacant land on the border and retained a law firm specializing in eminent domain to make it as time-consuming and expensive as possible for the wall to get built."

You go, Glen Coco.

For some inspiration, check out photographer Eiji Ohashi’s roadside lights project. Photos of colourful and lit-up vending machines placed in snowy scenes.

Mashable to be purchased for $50 million by Trade Publisher Ziff Davis, a fifth of the media company’s valuation in March 2016. Digital media companies continue to struggle, reporting substantial losses even as revenues grow. We hope they’ll be back on their feet soon, for independent media’s sake.

Facebook’s advertising platform allows you to create specific audiences, perhaps too specific, and serve them ads. Most of the time, you won’t convert a prospect on the first contact. Remarketing is a powerful way to get your message back in front of a prospect – you can even tailor ad sequences to trigger based on engagement.

You can make audiences of people on your email list, who visited your site recently, like your page, have liked your posts on Facebook or Instagram – there are plenty of options. This article/podcast by Social Media Examiner will teach you all about how to use it for your business.

Enjoy your weekend and we’ll see you next week. Found something cool you want to share? Reach out to Outcrop on Facebook and Twitter.