Oklahoma City Thunder's Kevin Durant signs pairs of the new Nike KD IV Coppers for select fans in Oklahoma City, Friday, Dec., 23, 2011. (Photo by Alonzo J. Adams)

This past December, NBA superstar Kevin Durant (KD), with the help of MKTG INC and Nike Basketball, set out in his conversion van to give away pairs of his Nike Zoom kicks, known as the “KD IV Copper.”  The shoe’s unique copper colorway was developed for his Christmas Day matchup with the Orlando Magic.

KD gave away the highly anticipated shoes to fans at three different locations. The twist? No one knew where those locations were ahead of time.

To match KD’s humble demeanor, MKTG INC avoided in-store chaos with a grassroots approach that built a groundswell online. KD posted teasers about the activation via Twitter, giving fans a heads up that they’d need to keep their eyes open to score a free pair.

By featuring destinations from KD’s ‘Basketball Never Stops’ commercial, MKTG INC tied the programming to the brand, while giving fans an intimate experience with their local star.  KD tweeted the destinations in real-time, as fans flocked from all over Oklahoma City for a chance to win a pair of the KD IV Copper and meet the NBA’s quiet superstar.

The response on Twitter was overwhelmingly positive. Over 6000 related tweets were posted over the course of three days, all with one recurring theme: Kevin Durant is awesome (and generous). In fact, a Santa hat-wearing KD made ESPN’s Top 10 Plays on the night before Christmas, spreading Christmas cheer and wishing all a good night.

Oklahoma City Thunder's Kevin Durant poses for a group photo with fans and winners of the new Nike KD IV Coppers in Oklahoma City, Friday, Dec., 23, 2011. (Photo by Alonzo J. Adams)

From Bad Boy to mad man

Ad-industry rag The NY Egotist got a real earful this week when they came by the MKTG Creative Studio for a chat with our own Louis Marino. After 20 years in the music and fashion industries, including 2 as creative director at Bad Boy Entertainment, our man Marino knows a thing or two about keeping beat with the big boys. In the Egotist profile posted here, he talks about how music informs his craft, how celebrities can best avoid Twitter troubles but still engage their audience, and what MKTG’s own future business objectives are (clue: rhymes with Pick Grass).

Image credit: The NY Egotist

Good news: you CAN take it with you. With E-Tomb, you can keep in touch with
your social networks even from the great beyond. The solar-powered headstone
contains a Bluetooth-enabled device that stores the deceased’s
social-networking data, so all those ranting blog posts, drunken party pics
and hilarious kitty videos can enjoy everlasting life.

Baratunde Thurston: he’s part Cambridge, MA and part Brooklyn, NY.  He’s part comedian, part writer (The Onion among others), part activist – but he’s always wholly entertaining.  Seriously, whether live tweeting a screening of  Eclipse, giving concession speeches for losing his mayorship of a Deli on foursquare, or talking technology or politics, he is one of the best things we’ve come to know about because of Twitter. So, follow him or read his amazing blog for sheer pleasure (and a little bit of education).  As always, you can thank us later.

Ian Schafer

Whoa – it’s been more than a few days since Ian Schafer, CEO of Deep Focus (Mad Men Yourself), disappeared off my TweetDeck and Foursquare radar.  I barely know him (met him once at a conference) but he’s a Twitter buddy and I have grown to miss him – a lot.  Although Ian’s a great social media thinker and damn good prognosticator and marketer in general (I read everything he writes for his blog here: Ian Schafer’s Blog and various other publications), I particularly miss the less business-y stuff.  I don’t hear about where he’s getting his Starbucks, what fashion show he’s attending, and who he’s sitting next to at said fashion show…

That’s the thing about the new social media world.  You get to feeling better just because there are thinkers, leaders or just plain interesting people in it and you get a nice feeling when you know they are safe having breakfast at a diner in Jersey.  I am sure he’s just off vacationing with the family but I feel like there should have been some kind of notification that he was going off the Blackberry, like Chris Brogan does.