Wendy's, Fox '#Love' Social Media for Father's Day

Wendy's, Verizon, and Fox Home Entertainment have been leveraging social media to push their Father's Day campaigns.

In a goodwill effort benefitting the David Thomas Foundation For Adoption, Wendy's is donating 50 cents for each retweet on Twitter. To create awareness on the micro-blogging site, the quick-serve brand has purchased Promoted Tweets for the following hash-tags: #love, #fathersday, #father, #dad, and #daddy.

Search results for the queries are seeing one of three copy pitches, such as this message:

Twitter viewers who click through the shortened link are taken to a Facebook landing page, where they can also complete a post to donate 50 cents. The landing page informs viewers who arrive from other online destinations about the retweet donation opportunity, while also plugging the fact that Foursquare check-ins at Wendy's locations equal the same contribution.

In addition, consumers can text 50555 to pitch in 10 cents to the cause. Offline, Wendy's is donating 50 cents for every "Frosty" ice cream purchase from this weekend.

As of mid-morning Friday, Wendy's Facebook Page says the initiative had raised $50,000.

Verizon yesterday appeared for the sixth time since February as Twitter's Promoted Trend advertiser; the micro-blogging site has said that it charges $120,000 per day to appear in that slot. The button copy was simply, "#dadism", while a visitor clicking through was taken to a Twitter page with one of two messages. Here's an example: "Dad leaves you w/ the best advice and life lessons. What’s your favorite #dadism?"

The Verizon landing page pitched a Father's Day sale featuring Android phones from $99 and data plans starting at $29 per month.

And, Fox Home Entertainment launched a pair of fun-oriented videos on Break.com to promote back-catalog DVDs for the "Rocky" franchise and "Taken," the father-temporarily-loses-young-daughter abduction flick starring Liam Neeson. Both videos are under 1-minute, 30-seconds and use a "Performance Night" theme that entails senior citizens comically reenacting scenes from the movies. (See video below.)

The videos have collectively garnered more than 300,000 views on Break.com and YouTube since being uploaded 25 days ago. The "Taken" spoof has seen almost 3,000 Facebook shares. Fox's campaign included banner ads via Los Angeles-based Break Media's network of sites.