Brands' fan trends: Xbox Kinect and Playstation gifts boost brands' Facebook fans

The launch of Xbox's latest product and promises of Christmas presents from Playstation have helped both brands register a large increase of Facebook fans over the last week.

This week's top Facebook brand rankings include two new entries - games console Xbox and apparel brand Adidas Originals. The inclusion of Xbox in this week's list can most likely be attributed to the release of the Xbox Kinect motion sensing controller and the associated marketing campaign.

The Kinect uses a 3D camera and motion sensing software to allow users to play video games using just their body movements and voice commands, rather than the traditional handheld controllers. Over one million Kinects were sold in the ten days following its release on November 4.  

Also related to the world of video games, Playstation moved up one position in this week's list, recording nearly 2,000 new fans on December 9 and a whopping 38,390 new fans on December 8. This phenomenal increase in followers can be attributed to recent Facebook posts linked to Playstation's blog promising "early holiday gifts" such as free downloads, bonuses for customers who pre-order the game Killzone 3 and links to exclusive screenshots of the highly anticipated game Resistance 3.   

New entry Adidas Originals' increase in Facebook fans can most likely be attributed to its current Facebook campaign Adidas Originals Holiday Countdown. Each day the brand's Facebook fans are presented with a picture of an Adidas garment concealed under snow; fans "scratch off" the snow to reveal the garment. If users then "like" the item they can drop subtle Christmas hints by sharing the link with friends and family via Facebook.

As of Thursday, December 9, the ten biggest product brands on Facebook in terms of "fans today" (with (+ /-) indicating a change from last week's position), according to fanpagelist.com* were:

1.      Coca-Cola (+2,542 fans today)  +1
2.      Playstation (+1,951 fans today) +1
3.      Disneyland (+1,510 fans today) +1
4.      Ferrero Rocher (+1,488 fans today) +2
5.      Converse All Star (+1,244 fans today) re-entry
6.      iTunes (+1,115 fans today) +1
7.      Skittles (+1,113 fans today) +1
8.      Red Bull (+1,073 fans today) -8
9.      Adidas Originals (+1,066 fans today) new entry
10.    Xbox (+1,002 fans today) new entry

* Fanpage list provides daily rankings of brand's Facebook fans and twitter followers.