3foldComm

Nothing makes my heart skip more than learning about uber-creative users integrating marketing initiatives brilliantly. Which is why I’ve decided that my new hero for the month is Nate Berkus.

For those of you who haven’t watched an episode of Oprah lately, Nate is Oprah’s go-to designer for her amazing home makeover and home decorating tip shows. He’s also a host on Oprah’s radio network, and has his own line of products to hock on HSN. So, Nate has earned some legitimate street cred, and knows what he’s talking about.

The reason he’s captured my particular notice, though, is by uniquely integrating (already one of my favorite things as a marketing strategist) his offline and online product promotion.

Nate recently jumped on the Twitter bandwagon, and saw an opportunity to provide custom designed Twitter backgrounds for us less gifted designers. The custom designed backgrounds are directly inspired by his new line of sheet patterns that he’s releasing next month. In his own words (from his website www.nateberkus.com), “ I caught on that everyone was personalizing their pages. Me being me, I thought I’d make mine match what’s going on in my line. So my team and I took the bright, pop color sheet patterns that debut in February on HSN and turned them into wallpaper for you to use in personalizing your own page.”

So, thanks to Nate, you can literally have a Twitter background on your computer during the day, and matching pattern on your sheets in bed at night. Too much, you say? Yeah, perhaps – but I love how he’s using his existing product line to create a free and value-added service for his fans. It’s a great real-world example of integrated marketing done strategically, something our team strives to create for our clients every day. So, hats off to Nate.

You can download your custom designed twitter background page from Nate’s Facebook fan page — or read his full interview with Mashable’s Christina Warren.