@Orbitz Grows Twitter Followers 494% in 24 Hours to Rocket Past @Expedia

        

Twenty four hours can change everything in the world of Twitter and enable David to overtake Goliath.  Case and point:  On June 24, 2009 @Orbitz had 2,809 Twitter followers, while its competitor @Expedia had 12,612 Twitter followers and a seemingly significant 449% lead.  But in the next 24 hours @Orbitz attracted 11,044 new Twitter followers to rocket past @Expedia with a total of 13,853 Twitter followers.  Amazingly, almost a month later on July 22, 2009, @Orbitz had 14,364 Twitter followers and maintained its lead over @Expedia’s 14,080 followers.

TwitterCounter.com (below) illustrates the impact innovation and complacency can have on a brand’s social media presence.

Question:  How Did @Orbitz Increase Its Twitter Followers by 494% in 24 Hours to Leapfrog Ahead of @Expedia?

Answer: Three Key @Orbitz Tweets of Less Than 140 Characters Each

•  June 24, 2009 at 8:27 a.m. @Orbitz tweeted: “We’re giving away a free airline ticket today! FOLLOW @Orbitz & RT this msg to be eligible to win http://bit.ly/bVSuU” [Note: The bit.ly URL in this tweet, which is now broken, linked clickers to this Orbitz official rules page.]

Everybody can use a free airline ticket. Good idea.  Great inspiration to follow @Orbitz and Re-Tweet the message to your network of followers.

•  June 25, 2009 at 9:15 a.m. @Orbitz tweeted: “Congratulations @tforch!! You’ve won a round trip airline ticket! Pls DM us your email address and we’ll be in touch!”

Tweeting the winner on the @Orbitz Twitter page was a great way to bring followers back to engage with Orbitz’s brand.

•  June 25, 2009 at 10:08 a.m. @Orbitz tweeted: “THX to all who took part in the giveaway! And just for our followers -15% OFF HOTELS, use THXTWITTER, book by 6/27/09 http://bit.ly/1ayoAw”

Giving all Twitter followers a travel discount on hotels was a great way to build follower loyalty and drive additional sales.

Smart. Very smart.  It will be interesting to see who makes the next significant move to grow and engage their Twitter following.  Please post your thoughts and comments below.  Follow me on Twitter @Uppendahl (http://www.Twitter.com/Uppendahl).

Madonna Proves She’s Timeless & Tops Blog Stats

Madonna Fans Please Post & Share Your Favorite Madonna Experiences, Concerts and Memories…  See Photo and Details Below

Madonna live on 4.15.1985 at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in in Portland, OR on her Like a Virgin Tour.  Impressively, Madonna is still performing strong 24 years later in 2009.  Like her or not , Madonna has enjoyed an amazing career. Photography flashback fact: I took this photo shooting a Canon A-1 35mm SLR, no flash, with Tri-X 400 b&w film. Photo (c) 2009 John@Uppendahl.com.

Madonna Fans, Who Knew?!

 

I confess that lately I have been neglecting my blog.  It’s sunny and summer, and so vacation and real life have been a healthy distraction for a change.  Returning to my blog has revealed a statistical surprise:  an older post of a photo I took of Madonna on her Virgin Tour has almost consistently been my most visited blog page for months. 

Madonna fans, we need to talk – to each other.  What is it about Madonna that captivates your interest?  What was your favorite Madonna experience, concert, album, memory, encounter, etc.?  Please post and share your point of view with me and your fellow fans.  We’re listening :-).

E.T. Phone Home, But You’d Better Have Their Cell Number

E.T. Phone home. Remember? Well, if you phone home to any household in America you’d better have one of their cell phone numbers. Amazingly, but not surprisingly, more than half of the households in America are cell-phone-only homes without land lines.

Spinal Tap’s “Back from the Dead” New Album to be Unleashed June 16th

This goes to 11!  Spinal Tap (Michael McKean aka David St. Hubbins, Christopher Guest aka Nigel Tufnel and Harry Shearer aka Derek Smalls) is releasing a new album, “Back from the Dead,” on June 16, 2009 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Rob Reiner’s legendary rocumentary “This is Spinal Tap.”  The new release, pictured above, even includes action figures.  “Back from the Dead” can be pre-orderd on Amazon.com for only $11.99 U.S.  How could you leave this behind?!

Attending Spinal Tap’s “One Night Only World Tour” at Wembley Arena on June 30th would certainly go to 11.  A second performance was added on June 27 at the Glastonbury Festival, which will also feature Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band plus Crosby, Stills & Nash among many others.  Hopefully Spinal Tap will also add tour dates that “Tap into America” and resolve the question, “Where’s the stage?”

“If we’re going to do a World tour on only one night, at least it’s this world,” said Nigel Tufnel.

“This show will be dedicated to all of our drummers who have passed on, either to their reward or to middle management at Sainbury’s,” added David St. Hubbins.

Below, Rob Reiner interviews Nigel about one of the many things that sets Spinal Tap apart from other bands.

The Beatles Reunite in Rock Band Sept. 9th

The Fab Four will reunite on Sept. 9, 2009 to start giving unlimited performances in homes worldwide with a little help from their friends and The Beatles: Rock Band.  Watch this cool video trailer to feel the excitment of the next wave of Beatles mania that’s about to be unleashed. 

Sir Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono Lennon and Olivia Harrison collaborated on The Beatles Rock Band game which will be released on the Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii and Playstation 3. 

Forty-five (45) of songs from The Beatles’ catalog will be available on-disc.  Giles Martin, co-producer of The Beatles innovative LOVE album project and Music Supervisor / Creative Producer for The Beatles: Rock Band, today unveiled the first ten songs that will be available on the game-disc: “I Saw Her Standing There,” “I Want To Hold Your Hand,” “I Feel Fine,” “Taxman,” “Day Tripper,” “Back In The USSR,” “I Am The Walrus,” “Octopus’s Garden,” “Here Comes The Sun,” and “Get Back.”  Additional songs will be announced at a later date.  Along with these 45 songs, the entire Abbey Road album will be available for future download purchase, as will additional music from The Beatles’ catalog.  Click here to pre-order The Beatles: Rock Band.

The Beatles: Rock Band will offer a new set of hardware replicas representing the instruments made famous by John, Paul, George and Ringo. Featured in the set are the Rickenbacker 325 and Gretsch Duo Jet guitars -hailed as two of the celebrated, signature instruments played by John Lennon and George Harrison throughout their careers. Also included is a Hofner bass controller – a large-scale replica of the bass famously used by Sir Paul McCartney. Rounding out the set is a Ringo Starr inspired, Ludwig – branded Rock Band 2 drum set with a classic pearl finish and vintage replica Beatles kick drum head.

It was also announced today that “All You Need Is Love” will be released exclusively on Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft as a downloadable song for The Beatles: Rock Band through Xbox LIVE on September 9, 2009 with all Apple Corps Ltd, MTV Games and Microsoft proceeds benefitting Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF).

The Tonight Show: Jay Leno’s First and Last as Host

Tonight is the end of  The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on NBC.  Leno’s final show will air in about one hour on the west coast.  This reminded me of being there for the debut of The Tonght Show with Jay Leno on May 25, 1992.  Shanice Wilson, my client, was Leno’s first musical guest.  Photos and memories of Leno’s debut at the helm of The Tonight Show follow.

Jay Leno (r) and his first musical guest Shanice Wilson (l) after the debut of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on May 25, 1992. Photo by John Uppendahl.

During the show, Leno said, “The success of my next guest’s new album, ‘Inner Child,’ has made her an international sensation.  The first single, ‘I Love Your Smile,’ hit the Top 10 in a dozen countries and went all the way to No. 1 in the U.S.”  Shanice performed two songs from her album:  ‘I Love Your Smile’ and Minne Riperton’s ‘Loving You’.” 

Kelsey Grammer (r) and John Uppendahl (l) backstage at the debut of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on May 25, 1992.

Kelsey Grammer was a guest on the debut of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.  Grammer had just wrapped the award winning series “Cheers” and was guesting to talk with Leno about his upcoming series “Frasier.”  I thought it was cool that Grammer guested wearing a long sleeve T-shirt with a subtle “Brand F” logo, which I assume was a reference to “Fraiser.”

More than a year later, on Oct. 13, 1993, I encounterd the Jay and Mavis Leno at a White House dinner.  I was impressed by the humorous story they shared about living in Beverly Hills.  Somebody moved into a neighborhood home, so they baked a cake and walked over to welcome the new neighbors.  They were greeted by a man in a bathrobe with bright lights behind him flooding the house and realized that the neighbors were renters producing an adult film.  While it was a funny story, how many people in any neighborhood go to the trouble of baking a cake to personally welcome new neighbors?

I look foward to seeing what America’s favorite comfort food comedian brings to NBC prime time in Fall 2010 after 17 years helming The Tonight Show.  In the meantime, here’s Billy Crystal’s send-off serenade for Leno.

Terabyte Conscious Consumers are Here!

I heard consumers say “terabyte” at Fry’s today as I bought a 1.5 TB external hard drive for $129.  I swear I paid that much for a 4GB thumb drive not long ago.  It’s cool that “terabyte” is going mainstream at retail and in vocabulary.  I also heard a father explain to his family that they would be getting a terabyte plus external hard drive when they network their home computers, adding that the storage is only going to get cheaper and bigger.   

Terabytes, networked homes, broadband, wi-fi, wireless, cloud computing, etc.  The toys we’ve been thinking and talking about for years are finally here and getting beter.  This is going to be fun!

FREE new Coldplay live album download link!

FREE download of Coldplay’s new live album, Left Right Left Right Left here http://ping.fm/cCB68. 

Live album tracks include: Glass of Water; 42; Clocks; Strawberry Swing; Hardest Part/Postcards from Far Away; Viva La Vida; Death Will Never Conquer; Fix You; Death and All His Friends.

Ping.fm Automatically Shortens URLs in Social Media Posts

Love that http://www.ping.fm shortens URLs in posts like tinyurl.com but automatically before posting to my social media sites – time saver!

Angels and Demons

Watching Da Vinci Code again… Can’t wait to see Angels and Demons http://ping.fm/snd6d on Friday.