Response to Eriks's Stumble Upon Post

Mastering the ability to use Stumble Upon is a very valuable tool for Marketers. Check it out. Do you agree?

I definitely agree that being able to use Stumble Upon is a good tool for marketers because it seems to be a ultimate search engine that still has not came close to reach its peak yet. I actually just signed up for my Stumble Upon account a few weeks ago and i'm not going to lie its addicting. Its very easy and interesting the random sites they bring you on based on your interests. I interests i chose were sports, music, nature along with others. Most of the time the sites they bring you to are something that would be pretty difficult to just find on the web or wouldn't think of searching for it which makes it unique.It is very fast and if you don't like what they brought you to then you simply just push the stumble button and it instantly brings you somewhere else. I feel that once stumble upon starts getting bigger and more recognized as it is starting to anyways we will see more advertisements because marketers will see it as a great opportunity for promotion. Stumble Upon if used correctly will be very valuable for marketers.

Taco Bell Uses Humor to dig itself

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/01/25/wheres-beef-taco-bell-sued-ingredients/Last week, an Alabama law firm filed a class action lawsuit against Taco Bell, claiming the restaurant chain misleads its customers about what's actually in its tacos. The lawsuit stems from a former employee who stated that Taco Bell has been advertising its meat as "seasoned beef," but claims evidence in the form of lab results shows that Taco Bell is including oat products as a seasoning. The problem is that  is that oats is not a seasoning and cannot be used as seasoning in "seasoned beef," and further that Taco Bell has been purposefully mislabeling its product, and ultimately tricking their customers. Since the story broke, Taco Bell has been active in dispelling consumer concern over one of its main ingredients, almost instantly going on both the defensive as well as the offensive. For example, Taco Bell's corporate home page is 100% dedicated to addressing the controversy sharing its beef ingredients, print ads and direct links to media relations. Furthermore it has been actively using the hashtags beef in addition to TacoBell in all tweets related to the suit. One look at Taco Bell's tweets and you'll find both a serious tone addressing the suit in the form of embedded video starring the president of Taco Bell, as well as links to humorous musings on the Colbert Report's take on "tacogate."

Since the allegations Taco Bell has put on a paid media effort with a full page ad that is titled "Thank you for suing us," which attempts to disprove the acusations of the seasoned beef in proactive fashion that is guarenteed  to get consumers attention and possible draw more people in their restaurant. So from a media perspective Taco Bell is doing the right thing and is being proactive with their marketing to try and turn around the publics opinion and is total focusing there business on their marketing efforts.They are going out of their way to show the recipe of its product to anyone who will listen and rationally explaining that oats in their beef recipe is the equivalent to beans in chili. In any other industry we'd consider this a successful attempt at utilizing social media with paid and owned media to position the brand against its detractors and share its brand story with its consumers. In my opinion it is clear that Taco Bell is not being honest about their product. It shouldn't take something like this to start posting what is in your food they should have done it from the start. By the owners saying that there are no fillers clearly is not true and is not promoting customer loyalty. This is not the first time this has happened either I remember a few years ago Ecoli was in Taco Bells meat so there is something going on in that business that the public doesn't know about. Even with all the marketing Taco Bell is doing to try to prove there meat is up to the regulations of the USDA would you still eat their products?