Vine
In the past few years, GIFs have become a ubiquitous form of social content. Now, with Twitter’s new mobile sharing app, everybody can make a GIF-like video. Experts predict Vine will become the next big social networking sensation.

IntoNow
Yahoo’s under-the-radar social TV app—complete with the ability to share TV screen grabs—has the best shot outside Twitter of becoming the second-screen companion app for the tube.

Prismatic
Mobile apps abound, but Prismatic, a personalized news aggregator, stands out for its intuition. Swipe to read, then hold down any part of the screen to save, share or recommend. As Steve Jobs would say, it just works.

Pocket
Formerly Read It Later, this has become the premier on-the-go bookmarking app. Seamlessly integrated with browsers like Chrome, Pocket’s sleek interface helps consumers catch up on the deluge of Web content as it remains easy on the eyes.

MLB.com At Bat
Used to be if you didn’t live in the same city as your team, you were out of luck. Now, with its MLB.tv integration, MLB At Bat lets you obsessively track every ball, strike, bunt and Eephus pitch during any team’s 162-game campaign.

Uber
Who knew the car service business needed disruption? Uber has become the transportation of choice for the digerati, particularly those who can’t get a cab in Brooklyn.

Google Maps
Our long national is-this-the-right-interstate nightmare is over. Apple and Google fought. Apple Maps happened. Then Google Maps came back better than ever—and we found our way home from wherever Apple Maps took us.

Remember the Milk
This app manages personal to-do lists and work-related tasks, sending reminders via email, text message and instant message on one’s mobile phone. So no more excuses about forgetting to stop by the market. (Husbands, rejoice!)

Spotify
Vast iTunes collections and playlists are fantastic, but for many, all-you-can-eat music with no commitment is just about perfect. Plus, Spotify’s social effect helps bring back radio-like discovery.

Seamless
Those who fondly remember Kozmo.com have been waiting for Seamless. Order from thousands of restaurants anytime of day. So now, if you want Korean barbecue at midnight, there’s an app for that.

Mint
Want to know whether you can afford that two-bathroom apartment the broker is showing you? A quick look at Mint.com’s app, which makes personal finance easy to track and visually appealing, tells you all you need to know.

Square Wallet
A cashless, credit card-free society is a long way off. But an app that lets you buy coffee at Starbucks with your phone is a major step forward.

Twitter and Facebook save lives. At least that's what The Weather Company believes.

Earlier this month, Weather came under fairly harsh criticism for its storm-naming practice when February's blizzard "Nemo" blanketed the east coast in snow. Gawker called the tactic "a marketing scheme: an irritating, inane attempt by the Weather Channel to hijack weather reporting and the communication of emergency information. It's stupid, flawed, and possibly even dangerous" and many saw the move as a presumptuous play to beat the government at its own game. 

Today at the IAB annual leadership meeting, Weather Company chairman/CEO David Kenny acknowledged that the company's decision to brand winter storms remains controversial. But his take is that it ultimately helps Weather's audience. Kenny notes that Weather actually began naming storms last year privately, to help track storm patterns. 

Kenny's romantic take on storm naming will surely irk some critics. "We did it because we understood social media saves lives," he told the IAB crowd. "When you name something people are more likely to tweet about it." Kenny cited the nearly 800 million photos and tweets that "Nemo" generated over 5 day period as proof positive that the naming system worked to raise awareness and served to consolidate the torrent of storm-related social media data.

It's all part of an ongoing initiative by The Weather Company to leverage its wealth of internal data and to make weather more social and engaging. Kenny notes that beyond understanding behavioral trends, the company is looking further to harness and understand what he calls "the emotional side of data."

As far as naming storms, it appears the critics won't deter The Weather Company in its efforts. "We're absolutely going to continue," Kenny told the audience. "It helped people understand the story. We think it helped the government organize and in this area we can move faster than the government. Now, I don't think we need to name everything. This is not a sponsorship, it is a device to aggregate the data."

While critics will dismiss this as spin for what is surely a marketing ploy, the results are hard to ignore and have inspired the weather giant to look toward other emerging social platforms to continue its multi-platform charge. "We're watching things like Vine, Poke and Snapchat. There's all this sharing happening around weather events and we're going to find ways to collect these visuals and tell a story," Kenny said.

Who Gillian Jacobs
Age 30
Accomplishments Stars as Britta Perry on NBC's Community; appears in The Incredible Burt Wonderstone (in theaters March 15); Juilliard graduate
Base Los Angeles

What’s the first information you consume in the morning?
I go to New York magazine’s Daily Intel blog. Then The New York Times, obviously; Gawker, Jezebel and Twitter. And sometimes I look at really weird Tumblr pages.

What do you read or watch or listen to at the breakfast table?
I am a public radio addict, so KPCC or KCRW.

What occupies your mind in the car, on the subway, train or bus?
KPCC. I very rarely listen to music in my car—a lot of people make fun of me for it. But sometimes I listen to music on YouTube. I’m like a teenager.

Are you a TV junkie or on an airtime-restricted diet?
I go through spurts. I find that when I’m working a lot, I mostly DVR stuff. RuPaul’s Drag Race is a can’t-miss. Then I watch Top Chef—I was very happy about the return of Kristen—The Office, Parks and Recreation, and Portlandia. And I’ve been watching House of Cards on Netflix—my friend Beau Willimon adapted it for the U.S. I didn’t own a TV until a couple of years ago, so I used to have to watch my own show on Hulu.

Before bed, do you bite into a novel, graze on Twitter or fast until morning?
I just got a book called The Tell-Tale Brain by this neurologist named V. S. Ramachandran. It’s basically about how, in the last 15 years, they’ve made these huge leaps and bounds in learning about neurology.

Which is more nutritious: print or Web?
I love print, but when I lived in New York, it was so much more readily available because there was inevitably a newsstand or a bodega where I could buy a newspaper or magazine. In Los Angeles, sometimes it’s hard to find a magazine stand, let alone one that has the magazine that you want. So I find that the longer I live in L.A., the more digitally I consume.

Give us the skinny on your favorite app.
Right now, it’s Vine. I have taken to it like a fish to water. I don’t really know how to use iMovie or do any kind of real editing, so it’s great to have something that allows you to do it in a really easy, idiot-proof way. It’s really fun.

What’s your biggest digital indulgence?
I’m spending way too much time test running my Vine videos. I’ll go into a room and close the door and be in there for an hour workshopping a Vine video that I never even post. So that’s probably a huge time suck.

It seems like every actor on Community has side projects going on, from rap careers to other TV series. What are you up to when you’re not shooting the show?
I do a voice on the Nickelodeon cartoon version of Monsters vs. Aliens, and I’m doing a Web series for Yahoo called Tiny Commando with Ed Helms and Zach Levi. And I’m making good progress in my way around the podcast-sphere.

Nothing gets people familiar with a new social tool quite like making a competition out of it. And so, Dave Rolfe, head of integrated production at BBDO in New York, got almost everyone in his department to learn Vine, Twitter's six-second video app, by challenging them to create the best videos they could with it—for its first Vine Film Festival.

For Rolfe, it was a contest born from a certain amount of shame. "I joined Vine through Kate Upton," he tells AdFreak. "We were doing a shoot for Gillette with Kate Upton. And we were sitting there talking, and she was like, 'Are you on Vine?' And I was embarrassed because I was like, 'I've heard of Vine, but I don't really know what it is.' I had definitely heard of it, but I didn't use it. And here's Kate Upton telling me about a social-media platform."

Once he did get up to speed, Rolfe saw value in having the producers in his department learn it collaboratively in a fun way. So, he set up four categories: Sweet, Funny, Cool and Series. He got more than 200 submissions in all. "This is the epitome of conversational media," said Rolfe. "It's instructive in terms of how people share stuff, and how they'll do it on video, and it's also interesting to see how people create narrative around an intensely short-form format."

Check out the winners below. Now that the production guys have thrown down the gauntlet, BBDO's creative department will surely be next to give this a try.

 
#Sweet
Elise Pavone, "Baby"

 
#Funny
Daniel Blaney, "Single White Producer"

 
#Cool
Lawrence Chen, "Took a Fall in the Hall"

 
#Series
RaniV, "Concert Series"

 
Grand Audience Gold
Mike Gentile, "Park"

 
Honorable Mentions
Anthony Curti, "Get Back in There"

 Julian Katz, "Being Followed"

We know this much about The Wolverine director James Mangold: He has an iPhone. The filmmaker tweeted six seconds of footage from his film about the Marvel Comics character in the form of a Vine post on Twitter, embedded below. The post—like a .gif but with optional sound—doesn't exactly contain a bunch of spoilers, but it's a unique way to grab attention and hundreds of immediate retweets without actually shooting anything new or buying airtime.

The Vine post is also the teaser for the teaser, which will show up on Wednesday on MTV and, of course, iTunes. The film is a big swing for Twentieth Century Fox. It has a July 27 opening date, a budget of more than $100 million and principal photography in 3-D, so the studio obviously expects big things from it. While other genres have scaled back marketing budgets, superhero movies have grown famous (or perhaps infamous) in recent years for expensive and elaborate marketing campaigns, notably the alternate-reality game for The Dark Knight (and, to a lesser extent, The Dark Knight Rises) and the extensive cross-promotion between films for all the non-Fox Marvel movies.

The tweaser. vine.co/v/bDExaiMjJ1F

— James Mangold (@mang0ld) March 25, 2013

Some 75 days since Vine hit the scene, marketers large and small have tested the Twitter app that lets them publish six-second videos on the social site. But are the gif-like videos effective or just another social media fad that will be gone in the blink of an eye?

Well, per marketers for a pair of radically different brands—Volkswagen and Peanut Butter & Co.—Vines do indeed bear fruit. During the New York International Auto Show, which wrapped yesterday, VW drew thousands of impressions for the 10-day event. The brand's agency, SS+K, created a "VineViewer" site, and then show attendees uploaded VW car videos. All told, the effort showcases the marketing possibilities for the tool when it comes to events.

"After the first few days, we saw the auto show [attendees] putting up 360-degree views of the cars," said Kevin Skobac, vp of digital strategy at SS+K. "The content continued to flow in."

Skobac added, "We have more projects in the works for a few different clients. Vines is another element we can use to tell stories."

Peanut Butter & Co. seemed to have even better luck on April 2, looking to create social buzz and sales around National Peanut Butter & Jelly Day. The New York-based CPG firm was pushing a buy-one-get-one-free coupon via digital coupon provider Qples on Peanut Butter & Co.'s Twitter and Facebook pages. It utilized a Vine that shows how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with the brand's products. During the course of the day, according to the company, it garnered 300,000 impressions and, more importantly, 6,000-plus coupon downloads.

While it's too early for redemption rates, Lee Zalben, president of Peanut Butter & Co., was optimistic the campaign would prove effective in grocery stores nationwide. "Finding ways to use social media that drive sales is a challenge," he said. "You want to build consumer relationships, but at the same time, you want to make the register ring. Vine is a really interesting tool, and 'National PB&J Day' seemed like a good opportunity to excite consumers."

Zalben's 12-person company plans to do more with the six-second videos. "Sometimes it takes the little guy to figure out how to make something like Vine pay," he said. "Because we cannot afford huge ad spends to get the word out."

Meanwhile, budding creatives who are seeking employment have been challenged to create Vines by DDB Brussels. The agency is allowing job applicants until May 31 to upload their Vines with the #ddbexpress hash-tag on Twitter. 

Every #ddbexpress video will be reviewed before DDB selects 10 finalists in early June. Eventually, the top two finalists will join the agency's creative department and will get to attend the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity.

Now there's a Vine idea that could probably grow on recent college grads.

Andrew Zimmern, star of Travel Channel’s Bizarre Foods America, devoured a plate of insects for a Snapple multimedia series that debuts May 1.

“I’m a bigger fan of crickets than caterpillars,” he told Adweek. “Deep-fried caterpillars taste like corn chips.”

Snapple clearly wants to get folks’ attention, as evidenced by a big helping of unusual online spots in an eight-month-long video campaign dubbed “Re-enfactment,” which plays on the factoids seen underneath Snapple bottle caps since 2002. For instance, Zimmern feasting on bugs points to the fact that the number of times a cricket chirps in 15 seconds plus 37 roughly equals the temperature.

“We absolutely think the [Zimmern] video will go viral,” said Dave Fleming, brand marketing director at Dr Pepper Snapple Group, “though we think all of the campaign’s personalities bring something to the table.”

Indeed, Snapple’s larger initiative involves videos from other quirky celebs. It also entails social media posts with animated gifs, memes and Twitter Vines, as digital paid ads propel the content. Steve Baer, an exec at Code and Theory, which created Snapple’s campaign, added, “To bring these stories to life, you need the right people to tell them.”

Enter the colorful Zimmern: “I jumped at the chance to work with Snapple because—while I don’t expect people to start eating insects tomorrow—we can expand the idea of what food can be in America.”

Well, some people may still just want to watch.

Marketers pushing summer blockbusters are aggressively seeding Vine, Twitter’s nascent mobile app for six-second videos, into their social media fieldwork.

For instance, Regal Entertainment Group this week plans to promote Monsters University and World War Z (each opening Friday) with Vine, which, according to Twitter, has been downloaded by 13 million iPhone owners (it became available to Android users only a few weeks ago). The 572-location cinema chain will launch a similar initiative to support next week’s White House Down premiere.

It’s all about putting butts in seats using Vine’s pithy videos, then selling soda and candy (theater owners’ bread and butter) during the flicks.

“The limitations of six seconds can actually lift the storytelling,” explained Gabrielle Kessler, accounts manager for Something Massive, which manages social media for Regal. “You get to home in on those emotionally engaging moments that both marketers and filmmakers are after,” she said. “We are really encouraged with the engagement the app is producing so far.”

Regal is working with partners Coca-Cola and Red Vines licorice to reach consumers via Vine, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and other social nets. Kessler said the partners will amplify their “shared marketing goals through each others’ networks.”

Red Vines, part of American Licorice Co., has run roughly 20 Vine ads since Twitter debuted the app in late January, seeing click-through rates of as much as 3 percent. “It’s an interesting way to get people thinking about buying our licorice before they go to the movie,” said John Dempsey, a rep for the company.

The brand will also use Vine to foster awareness around the Independence Day holiday.

Noting the brief videos require more of a consumer’s attention than mere tweets or Instagram snaps, Dempsey said Vine “has brought our brand top of mind with people who hadn’t thought of us in years.” The company also believes Vine boosts sales.

Peanut Butter & Co. shares a Vine-based strategy for Fourth of July. The brand promises an “edible fireworks show” via the app with a buy-one-get-one-free coupon offer for jars of peanut butter. A similar effort in April produced 300,000 impressions and 6,000 coupon downloads, according to the company.

“With Fourth of July fireworks, there are opportunities to do fun things with peanut butter,” said Lee Zalben, president.

And with Vine, the summer fun could very well spread.

The possibilities surrounding Instagram implementing a Vine-like video feature has the tech world abuzz today, after TechCrunch reported the popular mobile app's parent, Facebook, would unveil the move on Thursday. For the marketing-minded, the development creates at least a couple of huge questions.

As digital video continues to gain momentum, will a steady stream of user-generated video become the impetus for Facebook implementing ads on Instagram? The online model is certainly proven with YouTube. And will Instagram videos kill Vine—just as it's gaining traction with brands?

If ads are in the offing for Instagram, said Dave Otten, CEO of LongTail Video, the video formats will be unique to the social marketplace while going "well beyond the typical pre-roll that you see today."

Instagram has more than 90 million users compared to 13 million for Vine, which is property of Facebook's chief social rival, Twitter. While the Facebook-versus-Twitter battle lines are being drawn, marketers don't believe Instagram videos will suck the life out of Vine.

"Both have their place within the social ecosystem," Otten said. In fact, it may depend on what a users preferred network is for video.

"In the short-term, there is a place for both video platforms and usage will be determined by the user's preferred network," said Amanda Peters, iCrossing social lead. "Those who favor Twitter may continue to use Vine because Vine videos show up in-stream in a user's Twitter feed. While people who spend more time on Facebook may be more likely to use Instagram video.

"Long-term, Instagram should be able to leverage its significantly larger install base for quick adoption of Instagram video and could ultimately surpass Vine," Peters added. "But a lot will depend on whether Instagram's video offering is unique and differentiating enough for users to care."

While Vine is hot at the moment, social video platforms like Viddy and Vyclone are also surely watching Instagram's moves closely.

"I think its main competitors will ultimately be Vine and Viddy," explained Liz Eswein, co-founder of social marketing startup The Mobile Media Lab.

Brands will rapidly build an Instagram video presence, predicted Ali Rana, Millward Brown's svp and head of its Emerging Media Lab, but Facebook will likely continue taking its time before introducing ads on the app. "Until Instagram video achieves mass consumer acceptance, explicit video advertising would be too disruptive to the consumer experience, especially given that there is currently no other paid advertising on the platform," he said.

Marketers confirm Rana's notion that brands are stoked about Instagram video possibilities.

"There is huge opportunity for monetization by enabling brands to reach consumers with video on Instagram," said Michael Kelly, social media marketing lead for licorice maker Red Vines, which has experimented with Vine campaigns. "The success of Vine in getting brands using the app and number of consumers sharing those Vines suggests that there is definitely value in incorporating this type of short form, snackable video content in the marketing mix."

Christine Whitemarsh, social media lead for automotive brand Turtle Wax, looks forward to the feature, stating she wants to implement it into her brand's summer-long #WaxOnShirtOff effort. And count Whitemarsh in as a media buyer who would gladly test Instagram paid ads if they became available.

"We would be interested in exploring the advertising capabilities, their analytics platform/offering and how granular they can go from a targeting perspective," she said. "We are intrigued to see real-time capabilities with respect to serving up an ad unit based on a specific hashtag, user or mention."

Paul Alfieri, marketing vp at Turn, added that "advertisers will surely be interested in Facebook's ability to bring Instagram video to its one-billion-plus global users."

And they'll surely look closely at what comes out of Facebook's press conference this Thursday. The Menlo Park, Calif.-based digital giant declined comment.

If the video-on-Instagram presentation today at Facebook's headquarters accurately depicted how the new feature would work, it's likely time for quick product upgrades from the Twitter folks running Vine.

Here are the key details. Instagram videos are 15 seconds long, play instantly, offer a selection of dedicated filters so users can vary how their clips look, involve a crucially important "cinema" element that fixes shaky motion, entail thumbnails and will not loop.

Instagram's 130 million monthly users can update the mobile app right away on both iPhone and Android devices. The videos will be available on the web as well mobile.

For all the fun that Vine has given consumers and brands in the last five months, there are a handful of reasons why it could be in trouble if it cannot match Instagram's new ability to seemingly make amateur videographers feel good about their work.

Five potentially big problems for Vine/advantages for Instagram:

1) Longer videos

15 seconds could turn out to be a far more engaging length than Vine's six-second clips. Not to mention, in terms of advertising, that's the length of TV spots constantly employed by brands.

2) Cool filters

Anyone who has made a Vine knows that they are fun but kind of rough-looking. Instagram's filters and cinema elements really seem to give it the upper hand here.

3) Brand Engagement

On the pure marketing level again, social media teams are getting stretched like crazy these days, as they have for a few years been trying to market items with Facebook, Instagram photos, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, MySpace, Foursquare, Pinterest, etc. If brands can incorporate good-looking Instagram videos into their messaging via those channels, will they bother with Vine? It undoubtedly will be interesting to watch.

4) Built in scale and community

Instagram—as a photo-sharing app—has 10 times more users than Vine. Those folks are used to constantly updating the app, so consumers are going to start using Instagram videos in the next few days if not hours. It should not take long for it too overtake Vine in terms of sheer audience.

5) Oh yeah, and Facebook is also big

FB has a billion users who are likely going to start regularly seeing Instagram videos of children, puppies and random footage of things like street mimes. CEO Mark Zuckerberg's huge platform should be an unusally strong advantage to the forthcoming Instagram video vs. Twitter Vine battle.

The good news for Vine fans? Twitter, according to this report, is already on the case while trying to improve its mobile app in reaction to the Instagram development.

Now that Facebook has officially trotted out a video feature for the increasingly popular Instagram—which was formerly limited to helping smartphone users act like stylistic photographers—social media creatives are licking their chops at the marketing possibities.

"It was wise to make them 15 seconds, because it allows for more engagement than the six seconds you get with Twitter Vine," said Michael Kelly, Red Vines' social media lead. "It allows you to tell stories that are at least a little more complicated."

Here is a handful of brands that have already produced Instagram vids, including one from Kelly's team:

Maybelline

Burberry

Red Vines

Lululemon

Charity Water

Jenis Ice Creams

But as agencies and other marketing players told Adweek today, the above stabs at the 15-second spots represent just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

"With Instagram video we're going see a boom in short, artsy video clips," said Jen Stocksmith, creative director for Tribal Worldwide. "Brands will use it to show a more human side and give fans a glimpse of behind-the-scenes action."

Erich Joachimsthaler, CEO of branding consultancy Vivaldi Partners Group, which has dozens of clients including Unilever, Ford and Coors, said Instagram video is ripe with marketing opportunities around exercise/training and national sports events.

"For example, Nike could focus on winning or athletic persistence—there could be a leaderboard and other tools for gamification to make this a fun experience for consumers," he explained. "Groups of fans could compete for the most perfect video at the end of a game, and there could be voting. For example, during Game 7 of the San Antonio Spurs versus Miami Heat NBA finals tonight, there could be a winner of the most highly voted video, [pitting] Spurs fans versus Heat fans."

Ming Linsley, social media director at MEC, was on a similar wavelength. "Since a number of brands like Urban Outfitters and the New York Yankees currently utilize the Instagram platform to provide a behind-the-scenes look at festivals or the club house, it feels as though video will offer a natural extension of this," she said. "The added element video can provide is for stylists/editors or athletes to speak directly to fans and further personalize the conversation."

It's too bad that Instragram video couldn't have come in time for the onset of Cannes and its hyper-creative audience. But expect to see the feature in play at future big shows like Advertising Week and South by Southwest (SXSW), suggested Betsy Smith, social media strategist at digital marketing agency Flightpath.

"If Coke wanted to set SXSW abuzz, they could place digital billboards throughout the festival and stream videos and images from Instagram of users #SharingACoke," she said. "Street teams encouraging people to share a Coke with a stranger and handing out not one but two Cokes to each passerby would seed the crowd. People respond to emotional, inspiring videos. And everyone wants to be a star."

Product videos that have long lived on YouTube and hundreds of specialty blogs may now make Instagram their home, said Craig Elimeliah, Rapp's vp, director of creative technology.

"CPG brands can have a field day with short-form video and filters in which they can present anything from easy-to-follow recipes that illustrate how quickly you can prepare a meal using their ingredient to a cross-promotion of complimentary products that you wouldn't normally see together to not-so-obvious uses of a product, such as using toothpaste to clean grass stains," he said. "In other words, Instagram videos could be a powerful storytelling platform that has high entertainment value at little cost to create."

And if the last few hours are any indication, folks should expect to see plenty of 15-second Instagram spots from brands in their social media feeds soon.

"No matter what type or size of brand, this launch, like [Twitter] Vine, democratizes content creation for brands and their team—especially good for small-to-mid brands," added Bill Litfin, director of social engagement at Engauge.

With kids and parents alike staring at their smartphones like never before, Alamo Rent A Car wants to keep the gang connected with mobile games aimed at family roadtrips. While the games are designed to be engaging, the marketing plan is also worthy of attention.

In a campaign aided by Alamo's digital agency 360i, the Clayton, Mo.-based brand has partnered with eight mom bloggers who will leverage their websites and Twitter followings to push AlamoGames2Go. Writers for sites like A Nut in a Nutshell, Mommy Musings and 2 Wired 2 Tired will  tweet about the games through Sept. 16. Alamo will push some messages via Twitter's Promoted Tweets, in addition to Facebook ads and national radio spots.

"It's about reaching our target audience, which is head-of-household moms," said Meghan Maguire, Alamo's brand publicity manager. "They are already playing in those [social] spaces, posting pictures of their family. This is a program to reach them while building brand awareness."

Via the AlamoGames2Go web app, as well as on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Vine, consumers can enter a sweepstakes and play the following hashtag-based games:

• Alamoding (featuring photos of family members in their best driving poses)
• PixPursuit (pics from a scavenger hunt)
• SnapFamily (scenic family photos)
• Alamovie (video of family vacation moments)

Participants can submit content using #AlamoGames2Go for the chance to win items every week as well as a $5,000 grand prize. Participating bloggers will host individual contests as well.

"We will measure success based on how much participation we get," Maguire said. "It will be about how many people are actually tagging their photos with the hashtag, and how many people are posting content across social channels. How many people registering for the sweepstakes will also be important."

Holiday Inn Express today launched a social media-heavy campaign that's anchored by the witticisms of comedic actor and Daily Show correspondent Jason Jones. While the 40-year-old has appeared in commercials for Budweiser and Molson in the past, he told Adweek, "This is the first time I've partnered with a company to help them across digital lines and engage with their consumers."

The Canada native is starring in pithy, humorous Holiday Inn Express videos that will be pushed across YouTube, Facebook, etc., while he offers photos and tweets in the name of the brand during the coming weeks as well. His efforts will coincide with a larger "Smart Thinking" campaign, which includes a user-generated-content piece where folks are encouraged to create and post a Vine, a 15-seconds-or-less YouTube video, an Instagram photo or a tweet. They have to tag their item with the #staysmart hashtag, and then their contribution will appear at the initiative's online hub, StaySmart.com. The InterContinental Hotel Group brand is also running contextual promos via BuzzFeed and CollegeHumor, while partnering with Second City Communications to produce several Vine videos by the improv company's comedy troupe.

At the same time, Jones is clearly the leading funnyman here. Below are excerpts from our chat with him earlier today.

How would you describe the video work you've put together for the brand?
H-i-l-l-a-r-r-rious.

Well, of course!
Actually, they are very short because people have attention spans of gnats these days. (Laughs.) They are little, humorous videos that are between six and 15 seconds.

Did you bring in comedian friends to work on this project or is this a solo effort?
It's just me. We have so much of me that you don't need anyone else. It's the power of this person. 

Nearly all comedians are on Twitter these days. Are you guys competitive at all in terms of who is the funniest or who has the most followers?
I think there is some sort of competition, but I am not a part of it because I have a ... what do you call it ... a life. But I think there's a bit of competition in terms of who has the most followers, who is the most influential on Twitter.

What is your personal go-to social media channel?
I'm mostly on the Twitter. Do they still call it the Twitter? Or has Justin Timberlake decided to get rid of the "the?" That's classic, Jones, classic. (Laughs.) I am on Twitter and tweeting, which doesn't sound right for a 40-year-old man to do. But that's how our world is changing. My grandmother is on Foursquare now, which is weird. She checks in.

Do you follow her on Foursquare?
No, God, no. I don't want to see where she's checking in. (Laughs.) 

Brands and marketers are starting to recognize Vine as an appealing advertising platform, and video analytics company Unruly wants a piece of the action.

The company announced on Tuesday that it is offering a comprehensive range of services for clients looking to increase their presence on Vine, including creating content for the platform, optimizing and distributing the content and ultimately evaluating campaigns.

"It's an end-to-end technology offering for Vine," said Sarah Wood, COO and co-founder of Unruly.

Wood pointed out that because the social media landscape changes very quickly, it can be difficult for brands to navigate new platforms. "We want to be there to help," she said.

For evidence of just how quickly the evolution is taking place, look no further than Instagram's new video feature. Wood insisted that Instagram video and Vine offer different opportunities, but she nonetheless predicted that mobile video consumption will continue to grow. Unruly also plans to take a look at how brands can use Instagram video (some have wasted no time getting started).

"In terms of the type of branded content that's gaining traction on Vine—it's still early days but sneak product peeks, teasers, trailers and intimate behind-the-scenes moments can all be used to complement long-form video content," Wood said later in an email.

MasterCard and ABC Family quickly reacted to the Supreme Court's decision this morning to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act by purchasing Promoted Tweets around the #gaymarriage hashtag.

Their efforts were not only well-timed but also made contextual marketing sense. For example, the credit card giant is currently promoting an LGBT-focused and Twitter-based NYC Pride sweepstakes initiative. Meanwhile, the cable network is creating awareness around its summer pilot, The Fosters, a Jennifer Lopez-produced drama which centers on an interracial lesbian couple's family.

Google also showed support for the Supreme's 5-4 decision to strike down the federal DOMA statute. Viewers who search "gay" on the site today will see an LGBT-associated rainbow image surrounding the search bar.

Other brands may jump on the real-time marketing opportunity in the next few hours, playing on a trend that grew after Oreo's famous Super Bowl #blackout tweet. In fact, that brand is likely a prime candidate to do something today in light of its memorable rainbow-colored cookie depiction on Facebook one year ago.

Meanwhile, gay advocacy org Human Rights Campaign has also run Promoted Tweets around the #gaymarriage hashtag. In addition, give BuzzFeed reporter Hunter Schwarz props for the creative usage of Twitter Vine to help tell the story of the scene in the nation's capital this morning.

Check out all of such examples below:

To win our #AcceptanceMatters giveaway, you need to be 21+ & located near NY area. Sweepstakes ends 6/25. See Rules: http://t.co/Zw8n7i2aLW

— MasterCard (@MasterCard) June 25, 2013

Watch ALL NEW episodes of @ABCFamily’s groundbreaking new series #TheFosters Mondays at 9/8c! http://t.co/FwEufSmf7j

— The Fosters (@TheFostersABCF) June 26, 2013

We believe every American has the right to marry the person they love. Sign up & RT: https://t.co/HTxFv1D9jX

— HumanRightsCampaign (@HRC) June 24, 2013

An intern races to get a Supreme Court decision to his network. https://t.co/JWasstaoi9

— Hunter Schwarz (@hunterschwarz) June 26, 2013

Instagram today made its three-weeks-old videos feature embeddable, giving publishers and marketers another option to Twitter Vine, YouTube and Vimeo when it comes to making content more multimedia. In other words, anybody can now grab an Instagram video or photo and post it on their own website, app or other digital platform.

A blog post by the Facebook-owned platform provides the following instructions: "Now, when you visit an Instagram photo or video page on your desktop Web browser, you’ll see a new share button on the right side of your photo (just under the comments button). Click the button to see the embed code. Copy the block of text it gives you and paste it into your blog, website or article. When you hit publish, the photo or video will appear."

An email from an Instagram rep described potential marketing applications: "A sports publication can take you behind the scenes at a game with videos or photos from the athletes. ... A news organization can provide a real-time view into a breaking news event. ... A magazine can bring their readers behind the scenes at a fashion show or Hollywood event."

Additionally, the development will likely only increase the ton of interest already shown by brands in Instagram videos.

Meanwhile, those 15-second spots seem to have seriously hurt Twitter Vine, which entails 6-second videos, in a matter of weeks. Per data from Topsy, Instagram video has been more popular than Vine since around June 20—the day Instagram video became available.

It looks like Rebecca Black finally decided which seat to take—a seat in a Honda. The "Friday" singer just popped up in a Vine video from the automaker—part of a campaign by RPA that sends personalized Vines to Honda fans on Twitter who use the hashtag #wantnewcar.

"We were promised flying cars. I don’t see any… #wantnewcar," wrote Nick Miners. To which @Honda replied: "Hey @nickminers, we don't have those at the Honda Summer Clearance Event. But we have @MsRebeccaBlack!" In the Vine, Black suggests visiting a Honda dealer on Friday—"or whenever."

Check out more of the Honda Vines here.

Hey @nickminers, we don't have those at the Honda Summer Clearance Event. But we have @MsRebeccaBlack! http://t.co/SYKywDClZ5#wantnewcar

— Honda (@Honda) July 15, 2013

In addition to the Vine promotion, the campaign features TV spots in which Honda dealers humorously respond to real tweets. The "Super Fan" spot replies an actual tweet from actor Neil Patrick Harris, who asked for advice on selecting a minivan. Check out those ads, and some print work, below.

CREDITS
Client: Honda
Agency: RPA

EVP, Chief Creative Officer: Joe Baratelli
SVP, Executive Creative Director: Jason Sperling
SVP, Executive Producer, Content: Gary Paticoff
VP, Creative Director: Chuck Blackwell
Creative Director/Copy: Ken Pappanduros
Art Director: Ariel Shukert
Copywriter: Jen Winston
Senior Producer: Fran Wall
Production Coordinator: Grace Wang

Production Company: Recommended Media
Director: Chris Woods
Founder/CEO: Stephen Dickstein
Partner/Executive Producer: Phillip Detchmendy
Partner/Executive Producer: Jeff Rohrer
Producer: Darrin Ball

Editing Company: The Reel Thing
Editor: Lance Pereira
Editor: Val Thrasher
Flame Artist: Moody Glasgow
Executive Producer: Doug Kleckner

Telecine: The Mill
Colorist: Adam Scott

Audio Post: Lime Studios
Mixer: Dave Wagg
Music: Wojahn Brothers

PRINT CREDITS
First insertion date: July 15, 2013

Agency: RPA
EVP, CCO: Joe Baratelli
SVP, ECD: Jason Sperling
CDs: Ken Pappanduros & Chuck Blackwell
Art Director: Suzie Yeranosyan
Copywriter: Jen Winston
Photographers: Civic: Joe Carlson, CR-V: Tony LaBruno, Accord: Springbox, Pilot: RPA CGi, Odyssey: Fulvio Bonavia
Art Buyer: Ginnie Assenza
Production Manager: Stephanie Speights

Specs
Age 39
New gig CMO, Salesforce Marketing Cloud
Old gig Founder, CEO, Buddy Media 

How has your role evolved after Salesforce acquired Buddy Media?

What’s changed for me personally is I’ve gone from a very focused view of the world, which is social media, to a much broader customer view. The viewpoint that we have is that every company needs to connect with its customers in a whole new way, and some of the best marketing starts with selling and customer service. It’s really a journey about how do you build a next-generation customer platform that lets you connect with customers in very meaningful, deeper and new ways.

How have the two companies come together?

It really feels like a startup, especially in this world where marketing is something newer to Salesforce. But there is a commitment and excitement to really help our customers succeed by being better customer companies, and that all starts with marketing.

How is mobile changing your business orientation?

Everything has to be mobilized. I don’t have a computer on my desk, but rather mobile devices. It’s how we work now, from the device that’s in our pocket. Being able to have all your customer and marketing information there and on the cloud was something that we weren’t necessarily focused on at Buddy Media, but it’s absolutely apparent that’s the way the world is going.

Are you seeing any interesting shifts in how consumers are using social?

I think we’re in a post-social world where everything is social and that it’s just the way we live. We don’t like being disconnected from our mobile devices, we don’t like being disconnected from our data and our social contacts, and we certainly don’t like being disconnected from our friends—and when we are, it doesn’t feel like we are whole.

How does video fit into your post-social world?

Video is the enduring, long-lasting form factor of content. If you give people the option of reading or viewing, they’re going to view. Pictures are worth a thousand words, and video is worth a million words. You can say more in six seconds on Vine than you could say in 140 characters or a blog post many times. It’s the purest form of content, and now because of broadband Internet and the mobile devices in our pocket and the cost of storage going down, video is no longer just the property of very large media conglomerates.

What trend has you most intrigued right now?

The most interesting thing to me, as I talk to customers, is that we’re moving away from a page-centric world, where it’s all about what happens to our Web pages, to a people-centric world. It changes what you do when you can treat people as people and not anonymized cookies.

You started Buddy with your wife in 2007. How has the definition of entrepreneur changed since then?

In our world, which is mainly venture-backed tech companies, the main change that I’ve seen has revolved around how inexpensive it is to grow companies. The costs have gone down in terms of what you need, while the opportunities have broadened. You could have never had a 12-person company create a billion dollars worth of value like Instagram without consumers changing their lives to become digital citizens and business realizing that this is how they have to work, how they have to market, how they have to sell, how they have to service. When we started doing this in 1998, half our friends didn’t have cellphones. Pretty amazing that now, 15 years later, they’re ubiquitous. 

General Electric is executing a Twitter Vine-based "science fair" promotion through Aug. 15 that includes ads via several social platforms as well as an influencer push. The Fairfield, Conn.-based corporation is encouraging consumers to submit Vine videos with the hashtag #6SecondScience. The marketer will then tweet, Vine and blog the best examples.

The six-second social spots will likely feature consumers mixing together disparate items like soap and soda pop—whatever combination ends up with a cool scientific result.

GE is buying Promoted Tweets, Facebook ads, Tumblr mobile promos, and BuzzFeed and Mashable integrations. Popular Vine users—names like Rudy Mancuso, Jordan Burt, Meagan Cignoli, Pinot and Jethro Ames—are being employed on the effort.

Social shop Vayner Media is assisting on the week-long play.

Even with the very recent debut of Instagram video, seven-month-old Vine seems to be continuing to gain steam among brands like GE.

In recent days, brands such as Tide, Volkswagen, McDonald's and The Weather Channel have utilized the short videos to capitalize on Discovery's popular Shark Week series.