Cocktail Hour: February 10, 2012

Is it just me, or did someone flip the Pinterest switch this week? “It’s amazing!” “It’s a waste of time!” “Oooo, pretty pictures!” For me, reading articles about Pinterest only makes me want to play on Pinterest, and seeing who’s connected via Facebook OpenGraph makes me judge how much time you spend on it. A vicious cycle, really.

So here’s our mention this week: PINTEREST. Here’s the best of the rest of the Internet from this week:

Old Milwaukee Airs Will Ferrell Super Bowl Ad in North Platter, Nebraska (AdWeek): The award for “Most Talked About Super Bowl Commercial You Didn’t See” is clearly the Will Ferrell spot for Old Milwaukee. The spot was aired in the second-smallest television market in the country, and has received buzz simply from its scarcity and the fact that it’s Will Ferrell in a field drinking a cold one. Talk about word of mouth marketing at its finest. I’m a Pabst girl myself, but this commercial could make me have an Old Milwaukee for America.

How to Keep a Brand Alive for the Creators and Cast of The Walking Dead (Fast Company Create): The Walking Dead has it all: A dedicated following, creative storylines and, of course, zombies. The show has gone through several internal changes, but still remains as popular as ever. And, as anyone who has worked on a motion media project can attest, it’s a lot of work. Staying fresh and creative on a continuous series provides us all with some great lessons.

[STUDY] 61% of Social Media Users Feel So Close to You (ReadWriteWeb): With all the stories about cyberbullying, it’s nice to know that some people do see the Internet as a place of mutual respect, acceptance and just friendly sharing. While there are always privacy concerns and, of course, the negative flip side, some nice positive reinforcement never hurts.

Win on Service in a Tough Economy (Harvard Business Review): As the great Bill and Ted say, “Be excellent to each other.” Be excellent in your customer service to help create loyal and satisfied fans who will share your excellence with all of their excellent network connections. See? Excellence is contagious. And San Dimas High School football rules!

Groupon Green? How Sustainable Businesses are Using Daily Deals (GOOD): Chances are, you subscribe to a daily deal site. Even if you don’t buy the deal on a particular day, you’re still getting exposed to the brand in question. This exposure is turning out to be great marketing for smaller, “green” businesses, even if it’s not on the major deal sites. Smaller niche programs, like GreenDeals, are helping to boost the presence of green businesses that are just trying to make a difference.

And in case you were wondering, this was my favorite Super Bowl commercial.

What great things did you read this week?