The Strategy Behind the Viral Red Marriage Equality Campaign

Zoe Fox2013-03-29 16:44:27 UTC

The Human Rights Campaign's Director of Marketing Anastasia Khoo didn't decide to change the organization's equality sign logo from blue to red on a whim.

The team at the HRC, the largest lobby organization dedicated to fighting for LGBT rights, knew that the two cases the Supreme Court heard this week on marriage equality were major, that Monday and Tuesday were moments of historic significance. The organization also foresaw that people would want to show their support for marriage equality. During the planning process, Khoo had the idea to turn the iconic blue and yellow equality sign logo red.

"The color is synonymous with love, and for us, that's what these cases are about," she told Mashable.

On Monday afternoon at 1 p.m. EDT, HRC posted the red version of its logo to Facebook and asked supporters to change their profile pictures and share the campaign with their family and friends.

Prior to changing its logo, the HRC focused on visual outreach, sharing infographics on Facebook and emailing its supporters to ensure they understood the significance of the two cases. Khoo notes early outreach with celebrities helped kickstart the red profile photo movement, as well. George Takei was one of the earliest to change his picture on Tuesday morning. Martha Stewart, Beyonce and corporations like Bud Light and Bonobos followed suit.

"It was everyone from senators and public figures to your everyday individual," Khoo said. "I think what that says to the young person who's feeling isolated and alone is that there are people out there that love you. When the Internet is washed with red, it has some significance."

Beyond the viral swapping of Facebook photos, Khoo says she's excited by how widespread this issue has become. Eight out of 10 Americans, she said, now know someone who is openly gay.

"That only happens from the act of courage of people saying, 'This is who I am,'" she said. "This is a really great first step for many people who hadn't come out or for straight people who had never shown their support before."

BONUS: 18 Creative Red Facebook Pics

Image composite by Mashable

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Marriage Equality Campaign Causes 120% Increase in Facebook Pic Swaps

Zoe Fox2013-03-29 20:46:38 UTC

If you thought you were seeing all your Facebook friends swap their photos to red equality signs Tuesday, you were right. Facebook reported a 120% increase in profile picture swaps, as compared to an average day.

According to a post from Facebook data scientist Eytan Bakshy, 2.7 million more users swapped their photos Tuesday, March 26, than on the previous Tuesday, due to the viral marriage equality Facebook campaign started by the Human Rights Campaign.

The HRC kicked off its call to action Monday afternoon at 1 p.m. EDT, in anticipation of the two gay marriage cases argued before the Supreme Court Tuesday and Wednesday.

Facebook dug into the trend to evaluate just how many U.S. users changed their photos. The following charts show the usual profile picture changing habits of users (above) and the increase in the average number of changes (below). Facebook confirmed that the increase began when the HRC shared its call to action, which is noted on the graph with a dotted line.

Facebook also looked into who were the power profile picture-swappers. Comparing changes March 26 (in red) with the previous Tuesday (in black) by user ages, Facebook found the most significant increase among its users closest to age 30, 3.5% of whom changed their profile pictures. Females were slightly more likely than males to change their pictures, with 2.3% of self-reported females making the swap, compared to 2.1% of self-reported males.

Facebook also investigated which counties' users were most likely to change their pictures. In the below map, the darkest red counties showed the most significant changes.

Roughly 6.2% of users in Washtenaw County, Mich., home of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, swapped their photos in response to the HRC's campaign. The top 25 counties were loaded with universities, including the University of North Carolina, Duke University, Indiana University, the University of Iowa, Ohio University, the University of Wisconsin, the University of Colorado and the University of Texas.

Urban areas, including San Francisco County, San Mateo County (Silicon Valley) and Washington, D.C., ranked highly, while Los Angeles, New York City and Chicago showed more modest increases.

BONUS: 18 Creative Red Facebook Pics

Image courtesy of Facebook; composite by Mashable

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China's Anti-Apple Smear Campaign Backfires

NowThis News 2013-03-29 17:11:59 UTC

The government of China launched a smear campaign against Apple in order to curb its popularity in favor of state-run companies. However, the Chinese people aren't biting, mocking these strategies on the Internet. In the last few years, Apple has doubled its Chinese sales.

Homepage image courtesy of NowThisNews

This article originally published at NowThis News here

Topics: apple, Business, china, Gadgets, iPad, iPhone, Marketing, smear campaign, World NowThis News is video news for the mobile and social generation. It’s news, but fun. Download the free app: nowth.is/downloadforiOS

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Spotify Unveils First Ad Campaign

Seth Fiegerman2013-03-25 16:32:30 UTC

Spotify is launching its first-ever advertising campaign in an effort to broaden its reach in the U.S.

The first spot, which you can watch below, will debut Monday night during NBC's "The Voice" and shows one music listener crowd surfing in slow motion while a narrator touts the emotional power of music.

"Because we were all conceived to a 4x4 beat. Because music can't be stopped, can't be contained," the narrator says. "Because music is worth fighting for. Why? Because it's music."

Spotify will air two other videos as part of the campaign — all of which were developed by Droga5 — including one called Her Song, which shows a man listening to music on his headphones and being reminded of someone, and another called "Getting Weird," which shows a man letting loose while dancing at an apartment party on a Tuesday night.

A rep for Spotify told Mashable that the ad campaign is intended to "introduce Spotify to a mass audience in the US" and highlight the "wide-reaching, emotional power of music."

The ad campaign comes at a time when Spotify may face increased competition from big companies like Apple, Google and Amazon, all of whom are rumored to be launching music streaming services of their own in the coming months.

Image courtesy of YouTube, Spotify

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