Twitter Users Grab $1.3 Million in AmEx Coupons For Burgers, Gear

South by Southwest Interactive came and went with not any one startup stealing the geek show, but one marketer got some people tweeting for dollars: American Express.

AmEx pulled out all the stops to launch a new tweet-and-save program, including a free Jay-Z Amex Sync Show, to get card members connecting their accounts to Twitter. The concert got AmEx plenty of buzz, but has there been a payoff beyond press and social media chatter?

It turns out quite a few are grabbing coupons for discount burgers and iPads. Just nine days after launch, AmEx and merchant partners including McDonald’s and Best Buy have garnered more than 150,000 tweet-coupons worth more than $1.3 million in savings, according to social analytics startup Visibli, which is tracking the program. (www.adage.com)

Southwest Mulls New Strategy in Creative Search

Don’t be fooled by its name. Southwest Airlines is a big national player and, with its $1 billion acquisition of AirTran, will begin to start flying to Mexico and the Caribbean.

Southwest claims to carry more domestic passengers than any other airline. In short, the carrier, in its 31 years with lead creative shop GSD&M, has vaulted from being an underdog to a big cheese. All that growth has given Southwest marketing executives pause. Is the brand’s long-running, anti-establishment positioning in the marketplace still relevant?

Such is the core question behind Southwest’s proposals that the company sent to interested agencies. The RFP—a copy of which Adweek has obtained—lays out the rationale for the search, the nature of the assignment and Southwest’s timetable for completing the process.

Beyond business growth, other factors that triggered the review included a “proliferation of ‘me too’ low-fare players,” industry consolidation and increased differentiation by rivals, the RFP notes.

The assignment up for grabs is to provide “thought leadership in refining its brand positioning and to develop an associated campaign for a national fall 2012 campaign,” the document explains. “The winning agency will become an additional agency resource for Southwest Airlines and its assistance may also be requested for other select local and national campaigns.” (www.adweek.com)

Yokohama Tire Corporation Signs 3-Year Sponsorship Renewal With IMSA

Orange continues to be the new green for Porsche 911 GT3 Cup racers, thanks to a new three-year sponsorship renewal between Yokohama Tire Corporation and the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The agreement retains Yokohama’s eco-friendly, orange oil-infused ADVAN ENV-R2 race slicks as the official tire of the IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge by Yokohama through the 2015 season.

The announcement was made today in Sebring, Florida, at the season opener for the IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge by Yokohama series. All Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars in the popular 15-race series will be competing on the revolutionary racing slick that combines orange oil and natural rubber to improve performance characteristics in the tire while using renewable materials. Yokohama’s ENV-R2 is the first – and only – environmentally-friendly tire used in a racing series.

“The IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge by Yokohama is an excellent platform to showcase our product, especially when it comes to green racing,” said Andrew Briggs, Yokohama’s director of product planning and motorsports. “IMSA, like Yokohama, has been a champion of eco-friendly initiatives for years and have embraced creative ways to bring that consciousness to motorsports. We’ve been a partner with GT3 Cup Challenge for four consecutive seasons, and couldn’t be happier with this renewal.”

“IMSA has recognized Yokohama as an innovative company for many years, and they have a rich history in sports car racing in the United States,” said Scot Elkins, COO of IMSA and the American Le Mans Series. “They have fully embraced our initiative to be the global leader in green racing and the ENV-R2 race slick is a testament to Yokohama’s commitment to that mission.” (www.sponsorship.com)

Bad Dog American Pub Joins The Charlotte Hounds pack

Charlotte Lacrosse LLC announced today that Double Zero Restaurant Group (“Bad Dog American Pub”) has signed on as a new team sponsor.

With a great waterfront atmosphere, excellent waitstaff, daily specials, music, sports and plenty of late-night fun, Bad Dog American Pub has become one of the most popular places to be in the University area. Elements of the sponsorship include game day signage, print and website/social media, as well as a strong presence in THE KENNEL, a seating area carved out for vocal and passionate sports fans. Bad Dog will be offering pre-game food & drink specials, as well as transportation and tickets, for all seven (7) home games.

“We are excited to partner with one of the University area’s premiere hangouts. We love that they are constantly hosting events and the atmosphere and daily specials are amazing. Having Bad Dog in The Kennel on gameday definitely adds some excitement” said Wade Leaphart, Hounds Director of Sales and Marketing.”

“The Hounds have proven themselves as fan favorites and will be a great parter. We want to help build the fan base and are excited to welcome another professional sports team to the Charlotte area, in addition to creating awareness and encouraging fans to visit us at Bad Dog American Pub and Eastfield Bar & Grill,” added Jamey Cabell, Owner – Double Zero Restaurant Group.(www.sponsorship.com)

Athleta Announces 2012 Sponsorship Of USA Women’s Water Polo Team

Today Athleta, the women’s sports and active lifestyle apparel brand owned by Gap Inc., announced its official 2012 sponsorship of the USA Women’s Water Polo Team. Starting now through the rest of the year, the brand will provide the team with dry-land workout and active lifestyle apparel to help ensure the team is well equipped with high quality, technical athletic wear as they prepare for the London 2012 Olympic Games and beyond.

The partnership kicks off with a celebratory event tonight at the Athleta store at The Grove in Los Angeles. The entire USA Women’s Water Polo Team, captained by the most decorated athlete in the world of women’s water polo, Brenda Villa, will make a public appearance where fans can meet the women and share their personal best wishes for a triumphant Olympics.

“We at Athleta are inspired by the remarkable things women can do when they come together as a team,” said Tess Roering, Vice President of Marketing for Athleta. “Athleta is committed to celebrating women and their amazing capacity, and we are honored to be supporting the USA Women’s Water Polo Team, a group that truly embodies what it means to achieve your personal and athletic goals while always reaching for more.”

The USA Women’s Water Polo Team is made up of 17 women – between them they have 12 Olympic medals, 16 World Championship titles and 85 years of experience. Behind all of these statistics are the stories that have made these women who they are today. In addition to providing workout and active lifestyle apparel to the team, through their sponsorship, Athleta will be telling the players’ inspiring stories through blogs, online profiles, store events as well as hosting team fundraisers.(www.sponsorship.com)

Wal-Mart to Offer Movie-Storage Service

As expected, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. unveiled an in-store service that would allow consumers to convert their previously bought physical DVDs and Blu-ray discs to digital movies stored on the Internet.

The service, available beginning April 16 in more than 3,500 Wal-Marts in the U.S., will charge $2 a copy for equal conversion of standard DVDs and Blu-ray discs and charge $5 for upgrade to high-definition digital copies.

The service will be run through Wal-Mart’s Vudu video-streaming service. All digital copies will be compatible with the movie industry’s UltraViolet initiative, meaning consumers can put their movies into a “cloud”-based digital library  (www.wsj.com)

Choosing to Break Up Monotony With Variety

HE is traveling “from sea to shining sea,” he declares, at a prodigious pace, visiting states with lots of electoral votes like California, New York and Texas as well as states with just a few like Nevada. And what he calls his “journey of epic proportions” is the subject of advertising worth tens of millions of dollars, on television and radio and on social media like Facebook and YouTube.

But no, he is not running for president. For one thing, his accent suggests he is not a natural-born American citizen. For another, he is not even human.

The “he” in question is the Geico gecko brand character, who is appearing in a campaign devised around a trip across the country. The campaign is joining at least five others that are currently promoting the insurance sold by the Geico Corporation, part of Berkshire Hathaway.

Geico likes to run several types of campaigns at the same time, each with a different theme. Its approach has inspired other insurers — among them Allstate, Progressive and State Farm — to pursue a similar strategy. (www.nytimes.com)

Yahoo Part Of Dodge Ram’s Digital Country

Yahoo Music this week launched its latest concert series on its first-ever branded music channel, Ram Country on Yahoo Music. The quarterly series of four concerts backed by Chrysler Group’s Ram truck brand kicked off with an invite-only, eight-song set on Feb. 29 at the Sound Kitchen in Franklin, Tenn. The artist was Kellie Pickler, a charismatic singer/songwriter who toured as a finalist on “American Idol” and has become a marquee name in the genre.

Yahoo, which handled just about every aspect of the production and its filming for the March 14 digital launch on its Ram Country channel, has gotten a lot of miles on the odometer in recent years by putting brand-supported content on its multifarious verticals: Yahoo Music launched Nissan Live Sets in 2006 with a concert by Incubus and Christina Aguilera; the channel also hosted “Pepsi Smash”; and Yahoo News launched a“Weekend Edition” channel for Buick in 2010.

“Nissan Live Sets sort of established our reputation and gave us the experience and relationship with artists to pull this kind of program off,” says Anna Robertson, who heads Yahoo Studios. “Artists love working with us; they build up that trust, and they know we have the background and experience.”

What’s different about Ram Country is that it’s Yahoo First genre vertical “owned” by a brand. Robertson tells Marketing Daily that it serves both the automaker, which needed to reach a core truck constituency in country music fans, and Yahoo because “we realized we weren’t reaching them the way we wanted to.” (www.mediapost.com)

Stella Artois Launches Chalice Factory

Stella Artois has launched a digital experience, Chalice Factory, where visitors can take an online tour and create their own branded chalice.

A virtual tour guide named Alice guides visitors through the process, with the message that the curved shape of the Stella Artois Chalice was designed to enhance the beer’s flavor by releasing aromas when the liquid is poured, and to increase the retention of the head with the star stem encouraging drinkers to keep their warm fingers off of the glass, so that the beer stays colder for longer. (www.mediapost.com)

Ruth’s Chris Debuts $7 Happy Hour

Ruth’s Chris Steak House this week debuted a “Sizzle, Swizzle and Swirl Happy Hour” premium bar menu at select locations, featuring food and drink items for $7.

The“Sizzle” menu items can be ordered at the bar outside the happy hour but at regular pricing, the Winter Park, Fla.-based company said. Helen Mackey, Ruth’s Chris’s director of beverage strategy, said in a statement that the intent was to turn “first-time guests into regulars.” (www.mediapost.com)