Kleenex and Charlie Sheen - A Wild Week in Marketing

Lots of really interesting marketing news this week and I couldn't pick just one story to share with you, so I picked two!

Kleenex had a BRILLIANT social media campaign that utilized social sharing.
It's called the "Softness Worth Sharing" campaign and it got over 1 million samples to consumers nationwide in less then 6 months. The campaign let people send samples of Kleenex to their friends and family from October -February through Kleenex.com and also let people send virtual Kleenex through Facebook. This campaign increased market share by over 1.7 points in less then 6 months! Sounds pretty successful to me ( :


Charlie Sheen Merchandise
Charlie Sheen is like a really bad train wreck - its horrible but you just can't look away. His barrage of insane interviews in the last week has created tons of social media buzz and some hilariously bizarre quotes. He is cashing in on his infamous interviews by signing merchandise deals with companies like Live Nation that hopes to put Sheen merchandise in stores like Wal-Mart, Target, and Hot Topic. Some of my favorites? Winning T-shirts, tiger blood coffee mugs, and Charlie Sheen warlock wands. He is unemployed now (he got fired yesterday from Two and a Half Men), so he has got to make money somehow ( :
















Any other awesome marketing stories this week? I'd love to hear about them!

From the Classroom to the Boardroom...

Right now I am studying for my last marketing exam of my college career. Practicing for my final marketing presentation. Writing my final paper. Next week I will be a college graduate and I will be taking 4 years of knowledge from the classroom into the boardroom.

It's terrifying! Everyone says that I should be excited because I have already found a job at Intrepid, a market research company in Seattle. Its my dream job - delving into consumers minds, doing primarily qualitative research, and working with exciting brands like Microsoft. But I can't help but be scared.






Will I remember all that marketing information I have learned in the last 4 years?
Will my skills easily transfer over to the real world?
Will I impress my bosses, coworkers, and clients?
Will I be good enough?

I know these are questions that we ask ourselves when we make a major profession change - whether you are in marketing or in medicine or any field. So I was wondering - what was everyone's experience moving from the classroom to the real world? How did you deal with the uncertainties?

I appreciate all advice ( :