Mike O'Brien

A former ClickZ editor, Mike O'Brien couldn't stay away and now contributes to the site in addition to working as a content marketer at Sailthru, the world's largest sender of personalized email. He primarily writes about the innovative ways brands use technology now and the ways they might in the future.

Pinterest Is Now Shoppable, But Will Google Be?
Social

Pinterest Is Now Shoppable, But Will Google Be?

11y Mike O'Brien

Pinterest Is Now Shoppable, But Will Google Be?

Google may be speaking to retailers about a Buy button, shortly after its chief rival pushed harder into search with Amazon Travel. Meanwhile, Pintere...

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Lowe's Uses Vine and Instagram to Showcase DIY
Ecommerce

Lowe's Uses Vine and Instagram to Showcase DIY

11y Mike O'Brien

Lowe's Uses Vine and Instagram to Showcase DIY

In addition to a new set of Vine videos, the home improvement chain is using Instagram videos as trailers for its DIY projects that are popular posts ...

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#SparkMyParty Gets Users Party Favors From Heineken
Marketing

#SparkMyParty Gets Users Party Favors From Heineken

11y Mike O'Brien

#SparkMyParty Gets Users Party Favors From Heineke...

Following a successful real-time campaign in New York, where Heineken brought favors to tweeters' parties, the beer brand is doing the same in eight o...

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Brands Will Lose Billions to Bots in 2015 [Study]
Display Advertising

Brands Will Lose Billions to Bots in 2015 [Study]

11y Mike O'Brien

Brands Will Lose Billions to Bots in 2015 [Study]

According to research by White Ops and the Association of National Advertisers, 11 percent of display ad impressions, 23 percent of video ad impressio...

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Starbucks UK Debuts Location-Based Mobile Ads; Beacons Meet Shoppers on Regent St.
Media

Starbucks UK Debuts Location-Based Mobile Ads; Beacons Meet Shoppers on Reg...

11y Mike O'Brien

Starbucks UK Debuts Location-Based Mobile Ads; Bea...

Starbucks has seen an increase in foot traffic since the company started geo-marketing, a growing trend in the U.K. highlighted by the beaconed app of...

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Ted Baker Increases Holiday Engagement With Instagram Game
Ecommerce

Ted Baker Increases Holiday Engagement With Instagram Game

11y Mike O'Brien

Ted Baker Increases Holiday Engagement With Instag...

For its new holiday campaign, the British fashion label invites consumers to follow a series of clues to find hidden elves in a "choose your own adven...

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Shazam Brings Targeted Ads In-Store
Marketing

Shazam Brings Targeted Ads In-Store

11y Mike O'Brien

Shazam Brings Targeted Ads In-Store

Partnering with Mood Media, a company that sends digital watermarks to mobile devices from retailers' sound systems, Shazam allows brands to use the p...

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Online Holiday Shopping Sales Crush Last Year's
Data insights

Online Holiday Shopping Sales Crush Last Year's

11y Mike O'Brien

Online Holiday Shopping Sales Crush Last Year's

Looking at online shopping trends from Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday, Adobe and IBM found a significant jump from last year, particular...

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What Can DDoS Attacks Mean for Black Friday and Cyber Monday?
Ecommerce

What Can DDoS Attacks Mean for Black Friday and Cyber Monday?

11y Mike O'Brien

What Can DDoS Attacks Mean for Black Friday and Cy...

This weekend's huge number of online shoppers could result in an influx of cyber crime. Two experts discuss how DDoS attacks can affect retailers and ...

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Nikon Gives Cameras to Consumers With #IAmGenerationImage
Marketing

Nikon Gives Cameras to Consumers With #IAmGenerationImage

11y Mike O'Brien

Nikon Gives Cameras to Consumers With #IAmGenerati...

Nikon gave several people one of its cameras to document their passions. Executed by McCann Erickson, the campaign also allows consumers to contribute...

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Holiday Deals Start Early for Amazon
Ecommerce

Holiday Deals Start Early for Amazon

11y Mike O'Brien

Holiday Deals Start Early for Amazon

To get a running start on dominating holiday shopping dollars, Amazon will be counting down to Thanksgiving and Black Friday next week with steep dis...

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HarperCollins Campaign Streams New Book One Word at a Time
Marketing

HarperCollins Campaign Streams New Book One Word at a Time

11y Mike O'Brien

HarperCollins Campaign Streams New Book One Word a...

To increase engagement around a new thriller, HarperCollins "spritzed" it one word at a time on a digital billboard at one of London's busiest train s...

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Snapchat Partners With Square for Peer-to-Peer Payments
Social

Snapchat Partners With Square for Peer-to-Peer Payments

11y Mike O'Brien

Snapchat Partners With Square for Peer-to-Peer Pay...

To allow users to snap money to each other, Snapchat has partnered with another company to create a feature for the first time, though some experts qu...

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Swarovski Seeks "Blonde Bartender" on Craigslist in Fun Marketing Ploy
Marketing

Swarovski Seeks "Blonde Bartender" on Craigslist in Fun Marketing Ploy

11y Mike O'Brien

Swarovski Seeks "Blonde Bartender" on Craigslist i...

To remind consumers that Swarovski makes jewelry for everyday wear, the crystal company's creative agency posted clever bracelet ads in the form of Cr...

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Uber and Spotify Partnership Lets Consumers Play DJ
Marketing

Uber and Spotify Partnership Lets Consumers Play DJ

11y Mike O'Brien

Uber and Spotify Partnership Lets Consumers Play D...

Starting Friday, Uber users in 10 cities across the world will be able to sync the app with their Spotify accounts, controlling the music during their...

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Burberry and Printemps Team Up for Digital Holiday Display
Ecommerce

Burberry and Printemps Team Up for Digital Holiday Display

11y Mike O'Brien

Burberry and Printemps Team Up for Digital Holiday...

Burberry is going digital this holiday season with an interactive window display at the iconic Paris department store. Read More...

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Taylor Swift "Coincidentally" Launches App After Pulling Music Off Spotify
Marketing

Taylor Swift "Coincidentally" Launches App After Pulling Music Off Spotify

11y Mike O'Brien

Taylor Swift "Coincidentally" Launches App After P...

Just one week after pulling her music off Spotify, Taylor Swift partnered with American Express to launch a new app that promotes the album, while all...

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JBL Cross-Social Campaign Centers on #CordFail
Ecommerce

JBL Cross-Social Campaign Centers on #CordFail

11y Mike O'Brien

JBL Cross-Social Campaign Centers on #CordFail

Audio electronics brand JBL is promoting its wireless headphones by having consumers share their corded headphones mishaps, also known as #CordFail, o...

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Online Shoppers Will Find Best Deals on Thanksgiving Day
Ecommerce

Online Shoppers Will Find Best Deals on Thanksgiving Day

11y Mike O'Brien

Online Shoppers Will Find Best Deals on Thanksgivi...

According to Adobe's annual holiday shopping predictions, Thanksgiving will have lowest prices and most mobile commerce, while Cyber Monday will still...

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Facebook Puts Ban on "Like-Gating"
Social

Facebook Puts Ban on "Like-Gating"

11y Mike O'Brien

Facebook Puts Ban on "Like-Gating"

With brands no longer able to instruct users to like pages as a way to unlock content or enter contests, industry experts say they will have to engage...

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Is the Comments Section the Newest Hot Spot in Advertising?
Analytics

Is the Comments Section the Newest Hot Spot in Advertising?

11y Mike O'Brien

Is the Comments Section the Newest Hot Spot in Adv...

A new product by Disqus, the blog comment-hosting service used by 3 million websites, focuses on "interest-based marketing," placing targeted native a...

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U.K. Tourism Agency Partners With Yahoo for Content Marketing Campaign
Marketing

U.K. Tourism Agency Partners With Yahoo for Content Marketing Campaign

11y Mike O'Brien

U.K. Tourism Agency Partners With Yahoo for Conten...

The Discover Great Britain campaign shows off the U.K.'s sights, culture, food, and fashion with sponsored content on Yahoo and a user-curated Tumblr....

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Whole Foods' Experiential Campaign Educates and Engages Consumers
Marketing

Whole Foods' Experiential Campaign Educates and Engages Consumers

11y Mike O'Brien

Whole Foods' Experiential Campaign Educates and En...

SapientNitro's Second Story installed four interactive displays at the newest Whole Foods Market to teach consumers about the food they buy, and about...

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Fake Twitter Profile Reveals Consumer Engagement Levels [Study]
Social

Fake Twitter Profile Reveals Consumer Engagement Levels [Study]

11y Mike O'Brien

Fake Twitter Profile Reveals Consumer Engagement L...

Using a fictional fashion brand's Twitter profile as a case study, Isobar found consumers' perceptions of the brand were altered by number of follower...

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How Would a Subscription-Based Model Affect YouTube?
Media

How Would a Subscription-Based Model Affect YouTube?

11y Mike O'Brien

How Would a Subscription-Based Model Affect YouTub...

YouTube may adopt a subscription-based model in the future, but industry experts don't expect it to change the platform in a significant way. Read Mor...

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Taco Bell's New App Lets You Order From Your Phone
Media

Taco Bell's New App Lets You Order From Your Phone

11y Mike O'Brien

Taco Bell's New App Lets You Order From Your Phone

To draw attention to its app, which was just released nationwide after a beta-test in five California locations earlier this year, Taco Bell blacked o...

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Are Paid Platforms the Future of Social?
Social

Are Paid Platforms the Future of Social?

11y Mike O'Brien

Are Paid Platforms the Future of Social?

Believing that content published on social belongs to the creators, tsū and Bubblews share ad revenue with their users, though some believe the paymen...

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