Tag Archives: marketing

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Sunday Funday

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Sunday Funday is a weekly round-up of the week’s news in the marketing, advertising, or PR industries. Or anything else I find amusing.

I’ve always been a huge fan of Dove’s True Beauty campaign. But Ad Age makes a good point, asking if all of their viral videos actually help them sell their product. That is the goal of advertising, after all.

You know a video truly went viral when the parodies start showing up. In a video parodying Dove’s new Sketches video, men learn that they’ve been… overestimating their looks.

Having spent my childhood only 45 minutes from Boston, the Boston Marathon Bombings hit particularly close to home for me. It’s been so heartwarming to see how people across the world have rallied together in support of the victims. Even different cities across the US showed their love for Boston in an act of solidarity and pride.

There’s been a lot of news surrounding the release of Facebook Home. Personally, I don’t know how I’d feel about having access to Facebook 24/7. You can only “Facebook stalk” so much before getting bored. But now that it’s out, many people wonder what’s next for Facebook Home.

Sometimes it feels like Facebook records every single moment of our lives. But aparrently there’s still one stone unturned. Budweiser is developing a glass that, when clinked in a “Cheers”, will connect the two drinkers on Facebook through a microchip in the cup. Because who wouldn’t want to wake up after their 21st birthday with 53 new Facebook friends?

Being a 90′s kid, there was no cartoon more peculiar than the Kool-Aid Man. Part terrifying, part party animal, the Kool-Aid Man burst his way through the walls in our hearts and the cavities in our teeth. Kraft Foods revealed this week that the Kool-Aid Man is being resurrected and getting a makeover. 90′s kids around the world, rejoice!

KMart recently released their “Ship My Pants” commercial. In an effort to create relevance and brand equity through tongue-in-cheek dialogue, KMart might have actually succeeded with this one. Fast Company looks at how KMart used social listening to create this cheeky commercial.

Many conversations in my college marketing classes focused on creativity, how to develop it, and how to utilize it. Unfortunately, many people worry that the way our education system is set up (with standardized tests, a focus on math and science, and the demise of more arts-focused classes) is diminishing future generations’ abilities to discover their creativity.

Another thing we often discussed in my marketing classes was how to be the next Apple. Every time we developed a marketing or advertising plan someone would always bring up wanting the product to “become the Apple of [insert industry here]“. Personally, I find Apple to be slightly overrated (I know, I know. Blasphemy!), so you can imagine my joy when I saw this: 5 reasons why you shouldn’t try to be the next Apple.

This is interesting. Ad Week noticed that the act of shaving is used in an insane amount of ads, even when promoting brands that have nothing to do with shaving. According to the article, “By associating a product with a culturally sanctioned act… these ads are trying to elevate their brands.” Makes sense, but why shaving? Why not, say, getting into the car?

And finally, enjoy this Coca Cola ad about the joys of first love… at an amusement park.

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Snaps to: Kings County Distillery

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I recently saw this article on Fast Company highlighting the simplistic packaging of Kings County Distillery’s Moonshine. It reminded me of my Intro to Marketing class where we bright-eyed, bushy-tailed college sophomores learned the Marketing Mix (product, price, promotion, place), and STP (segment, target, position). As many of us get further into our careers, constantly chasing after the next bright and shiny marketing tool, it’s easy for us to forget the principles at the core of our marketing efforts.

According to the article, “In 2010, Kings County Distillery–the first whiskey distillery in New York City since the prohibition era–started churning out moonshine and bourbon…. Today, they run a commercial distillery whose small-batch products have garnered boldly positive reviews. The New York Times says Kings County’s barrel-aged whiskey has an ‘almost piney tang of new American oak embracing the grain’; GQ said of its moonshine that there’s ‘no grimace when you take a sip–just a mild burn that makes you want another.’”

However, the founders hit a snag when deciding how to label their bottles. It would have been easy to go for the flashy colors, giant logo, and fancy words typical to alcohol labels. Instead, Colin Spoelman, co-founder of Kings County Distillery, took a different approach. He decided to go for a much simpler look by just typing out the labels on a typewriter. According to Spoelman, ”It just became about the words and that simple sort of approach. And I think, weirdly, that makes sense from a branding point of view.”

Spoelman was able to accomplish what so many marketers struggle with: understanding the core of the product and the true personality of the brand. He let the product’s quality speak for itself instead of covering it up with distracting labels. While this approach may not work for every product, Spoelman’s simple labeling proves the value of the long forgotten lessons taught in Marketing 101. Taking a step back and and going back to basics is something all Marketers need to remember. So snaps to you, Kings County Distillery, for reminding us of the true value of Marketing.

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Facebook to adopt Hashtag. All is right with the world.

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Praise to all that is holy in the social media world! Big news last week as rumors surfaced that Facebook is considering adopting the hashtag. I wrote a blog post a little while back about the power of the hashtag, made popular by Twitter and later adopted by Instagram, Pinterest, and Google+. Currently, Facebook is the only major social media platform that does not use hashtags (much to its users’ chagrin). But that’s all about to change.

According to an article by the Wall Street Journal, “Facebook is working on incorporating the hashtag, one of Twitter’s most iconic markers, into its service by using the symbol as a way to group conversations, said people familiar with the matter. It is unclear how far along Facebook’s work on the hashtag is and the feature isn’t likely to be introduced imminently, these people said…. Facebook is testing whether to follow Twitter’s lead and allow users to click on a hashtag to pull up all posts about similar topics or events so it can quickly index conversations around trending topics and build those conversations up, giving users more reason to stay logged in and see more ads. Instagram, which Facebook acquired last year, already uses hashtags, allowing users to sort photos by the symbol.”

While many industry experts speculate over how this development will affect the ongoing battle between the two social media titans, I’m more interested in the impact this will have for marketers.

THIS WILL CHANGE EVERYTHING! Ok, this probably won’t change everything. But it will make campaign integration in social media much easier for marketers. In my marketing classes at DU, whenever we wanted to use social media to engage with consumers through our campaigns we would develop a hashtag for Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest while having to develop a separate way to promote on Facebook. And that was annoying enough as a student. I can’t imagine how frustrating it’s been for experienced marketers to deal with Facebook’s “uniqueness”.

Adweek speculated on how this change will imact marketing, saying, “If Facebook does adopt the hashtag, it will bring the feature to its biggest platform yet and conceivably bring more marketers than are currently on Twitter (definitely more than are on Google+ or Instagram). That “allows the hashtag to play out on all channels and become a bigger part of all advertising—OOH, print, TV, etc.—which will encourage more consumer conversation around brands,” Tuff said, adding that hashtags could boost brands’ use of Facebook’s People Talk About This metrics by easing the reliance on post-tagging.”

Marketers of the world, rejoice!

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Snaps to: National Geographic’s #Framewhatmatters Campaign

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Writer’s note: This is the first post of a new weekly post, Snaps To:. I will highlight a marketing, advertising, social media, or PR campaign that I find particularly intriguing and stand-out.

For years National Geographic has developed a reputation for being a magazine featuring breathtaking photos and insights into the natural and cultural world. In trying to educate the public about the beauty of the world around them, National Geographic has been trying to inspire people to engage with the world around them.

Recently, National Geographic launched a new campaign called Frame What Matters. Similar to other photo sharing campaigns done by Kodak and Nikon, Frame What Matters relies on consumer participation in order to thrive. According to the website, “For 125 years, National Geographic has been framing what matters, opening a window onto an amazing world with a simple yellow border. Now we invite you to frame what matters. Together we’ll create an evolving snapshot of what matters to the world, and perhaps a renewed appreciation for the planet that supports so many of the things we love.”

In order to participate, consumers must print out a page with a yellow frame on it, cut the frame out, and “frame what matters” to them. They can then upload the picture to Instagram and Twitter using the hashtag #framewhatmatters and any description they want. The picture is then featured on the campaign website.

I want to give snaps to National Geographic. I am all about content creation and consumer engagement (in case you haven’t gotten that from my posts yet). This is a great way to get loyal customers and potential readers involved in an easy, fun way that utilizes social media and individualizes the consumer and what’s important to them. To me, successful marketing is all about how it makes the consumer feel and the resulting response to that feeling. National Geographic has found a way to take advantage of that in a campaign that’s relevant to their brand. I’m excited to see where this campaign goes. What will you frame that matters to you?

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Choosing the right wordssss

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A large part of marketing is communicating a specific message with consumers. Maybe you want to promote a new product feature. Or you’re interested in re-positioning your brand. Or perhaps you want to recognize all your loyal customers. Either way, marketers use the power of written or verbal language to elicit strong emotional or rational reactions from consumers that can benefit the brand.

Creating that message takes more than just stringing together a couple of buzzwords and hoping for the best. Marketers often have to decide how to communicate with their customers. Should they use colloquial language understood by their specific target market? Or is technical, straightforward wording more appropriate? Earlier today I read an article about the end of concise, specific wording in our culture’s dialogue, quickly being replaced by vague, unnecessary wordiness. I admit, I tend to be a little wordy in both my writing and my speech. My mother has always been a stickler about how much I use the word “like” as a filler. For marketers, this article highlights a good point about being able to convey your message using tight, accurate wording. Being able to identify and properly use the exact word necessary for the situation, instead of squishing together a bunch of “kind of right” words, is a powerful tool. One that should continue to be developed and honed as much as possible.

With that being said, there is also value in being able to connect with consumers in their own language. Use of slang words, syntax, sentence structure, etc. in conversation can change from group to group, year to year. Marketers can spark interest and gain the trust of target consumers by proving that they can talk the talk. One example is the recent popularity “word elongation” among women. This is when a woman writes “Thankssss” in an email or text message instead of just “Thanks”. There are a number of reasons women do this, including softening the blow of an otherwise unpleasant message, expressing passive aggression, intensifying the message, and so on. I will admit, I’ve been guilty of this on more than a few occasions (and I’m not ashamed of it). Many young women these days use word elongation, or at the very least know about it.

For brands trying to connect with their consumers in a fun way, identifying their specific speech patterns can create a more intimate, personal connection. Another example of this would be Dish’s Hopper commercials set in Boston. Not only does it feature the Boston accent, it also utilizes well known regional slang (“wicked smart”) and locations (“Kennebunkport”). While I admit this commercial is not all that creative or new, especially since people have been making fun of our Massachusetts slang since the dawn of time, it does draw connections between the product and a specific group of people through the use of language. Also, watching this commercial makes me miss home. Just saying. (And yes, some of us do really talk like that).

But be careful. There is a fine line between being in touch with your consumers and just sounding silly. It’s important to recognize if this strategy fits with your brand’s personality and, if so, how to best implement it seamlessly to strengthen your brand’s position. After all,  no one wants to look like a Try-Hard (look it up).

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It’s not just a bag, it’s a lifelong commitment.

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Value creation is what makes the business world go round. It’s the thumping heartbeat behind the life force of consumerism  It’s the driving force of everything we do in business. Now that I’ve gotten those metaphors out of my system, we can move forward. Value creation is basically the reason every single business produces specific products or services and the reason consumers pay for those products or services. According to Marketing Profs, “Value truly is in the eye of the beholder. If your customer can’t perceive the value you provide, it doesn’t exist. Period. [That value gap is] one of the biggest roadblocks to sustained growth and maximized profitability”. Whether or not the Managers and R&D guys want to admit it, Marketing plays a crucial role in value creation. It gives the business key consumer insights while also communicating the benefits and, you guessed it, value of the product/service to consumers.

It seems like creating value should be pretty straightforward. Step 1: Identify and unfulfilled consumer need/problem. Step 2: Create a quality product or service to fulfill that need. Step 3: Develop a quality customer experience. Step 4: Communicate the existence of your product or service, how it can benefit the consumer, and the quality of the product and company. Makes sense, right? Unfortunately it is much easier said than done. Many companies fall short in being able to provide customers with true value. But that’s what makes companies that can create true value that much more successful and revered.

One company that I think has done a great job at creating value is Coach. I worked there one holiday season during my “minimum wage retail worker” days, And while I was there I learned a lot about their products and customer service policies. Although Coach seems to have recently suffered an ebbing of its reputation in terms of the brand’s exclusivity, I believe Coach has created excellent value for consumers.

First let’s look at the product. Coach makes high quality leather goods such as purses, wallets, briefcases, gloves, belts, etc. They also sell other non-leather accessories such as jewelry, watches, scarves, money clips, ties, and so on. The price point of their bags range from $150 to $800 depending on the size and collection. They offer collections at lower price points for price-sensitive consumers and other more luxurious, high priced collections for more quality-conscious consumers. The Poppy line is specifically designed for adolescents and young adults who do not have as much discretionary income as a successful, independent adult who would be more interested in the Madison line, for example. Their leather products last forever, and they have developed a strong following of brand-loyal customers. Sidenote: I remember at one point we had a $300 bright pink mink fur ball keychain. I don’t remember if we actually sold it.

Coach’s customer service policies are extraordinary compared to many retail stores. Sales Associates are heavily trained in how to engage customers as soon as they walk in the door. If someone comes in with a broken Coach purse, regardless of how long ago it was purchased, employees will send the purse back to be repaired, free of charge. If it can’t be repaired, Coach will send the customer a gift card worth the same amount as the broken purse. Items can be returned at any time with a receipt no matter how long ago it was purchased. If a customer wants a particular item but it’s not available at the store, employees will contact other stores in the area to see if they have that item available. If it’s not available or the customer doesn’t want to go to the other store, employees will order it online from Coach and have it delivered to the customer, free of charge. These are just some of the many policies Coach has in place to ensure a superior customer experience starting from the minute they step into the store, lasting the entire time they own a Coach product or even express interest in owning one.

In the month that I worked there, I saw Sales Associates consistently going above and beyond to make their customers happy. I also met a number of die-hard loyal customers who would visit the store regularly just to see what’s new. They also knew every Sales Associate by name. Coach understands that being a retailer is about more than just selling products to the masses, it’s about creating and strengthening a lifelong relationship with the customer. The customers trust the quality of the products, and Coach knows better than to do anything that could jeopardize that. I was so amazed by the extent to which Coach values its customers and works diligently to create value.

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Jumping head first, trying to land with a bang.

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MAGAZINES

While the title of this post may sound painful, that pretty accurately describes how I feel right now. As I approach the looming end of my educational career, I am being asked to offer my Marketing expertise (courtesy of the fabulous Daniels College of Business) to a company somewhere in Denver. Our capstone class was divided based on 3 interests: Sports, Entertainment, and Social Media. Since I know close to nothing about sports (go Red Sox!) and am already well on my way to a social media addiction, entertainment looked like the best bet.

Unfortunately, during class my group was so enraptured in our discussion of the future of marketing we were not able to discuss possible companies to approach. One member suggested Starz Media, but we didn’t talk much beyond that.

I did a quick search on my own for possible Entertainment-related companies to approach, and here’s what I found:

  • Comedy Works
  • Voodoo Comedy Playhouse
  • Paramount Theater
  • Lumonics Light and Sound Gallery
  • The Westword
  • 303 Magazine
  • 5280 Magazine
  • Denver Life Magazine

Those were just a couple of options I found. Ultimately I want to work with Marketing in the Publishing industry, specifically with Magazines. Hence all the Denver magazines at the end of the list. My favorite non-magazine option was the Lumonics Lights and Sound Gallery. It’s an art gallery in Denver that focuses on light, shadow, and sound to create art. It’s already received some recognition, winning the honor of 2012 Best Art Gallery/Party Space from the Westword. But it’s up to what the group decides, so we shall see what happens!

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Infiltrating the Mental Bubble

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angry-birds-ad-screenshot

The relationship between Marketers and consumers has reached an impasse. Consumers are trying to push away the intrusive messages assaulting them from every angle by finding new, untouched outlets to explore. Marketers are trying to create unique and exciting messages, shared through a variety of relevant outlets, that will stand out in the eyes of an overwhelmed public. With the unstoppable advancement of technology, it’s become easier for marketers to discover and utilize new ways of delivering their messages. But is that always a good thing? Are the quality and thoughtfulness of messages being sacrificed for the sake of mass deliverance and speed?

Think about this: you can ask pretty much anyone what their favorite commercial is and it won’t take them long to describe two or three ads for you. But how many people can describe their favorite pop-up ad on Angry Birds? I’m not suggesting that the traditional way is the best and only way. Far from it; I agree that Marketing needs to progress forward along with technological and social trends. But it can’t happen blindly. Marketers can’t just say “Hey! Apple just released a new iWhatever! Let’s see how many ways we can stick our product on it!” The only way to successfully grow is to understand consumers’ perceptions and trends as they relate to new technologies, how exactly consumers are using various outlets (i.e. Twitter, Reddit, etc.), and figure out how to translate the thoughtfulness and emotion of traditional marketing for these new mediums. The tough part is that even when we do figure that out, we have to keep moving. People know they shouldn’t click on the first few links of a Google search because they’ve learned that those are always sponsored links. Consumers catch on to our tricks. And they don’t like when we infiltrate their mental space.

People love stories. They want something organic and natural that fits seamlessly into the landscape of their lives but still catches their eye and peaks their interest. Not some irrelevant image haphazardly thrown in there. I read an article from Fast Company’s Co.Create earlier about what top Marketing executives expect for the industry during 2013. Here are some of my favorite tidbits:

“The continued growth of mobile, the explosion of data, the evolution of content marketing–all factors that will shape the marketing landscape in 2013 and beyond.”

“Yes, we can all be reached 24/7 but it has to be good or we will switch off.”

“figuring out how to create and deliver messages now is liquid, constantly evolving as new technologies are introduced. It’s incredibly exciting. Interestingly, in this new world, powerful storytelling–a form as old as humanity itself–is more important than ever”

“Globalization means that once again we will rely on great storytelling. There will be less advertising about features and downloads. The winners in 2013 will be the brands who can tell the best brand story to the greatest number of people across the most media.”

“The past decade plus was about learning new technologies, new platforms, new threads of connectivity about brands. This next decade will be a return to storytelling and craft.”. You can read the full article here.

The article brings up a lot of great points about what to keep in mind when navigating the ever-expanding cyber world. It’s great that we can reach our consumers in hundreds of different ways, but if they block out the message then all of those mediums are completely useless. The message has to be delivered in a meaningful way, translating the emotional and rational appeals of traditional media into this new technological age.

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Why does Marketing matter?

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marketing

There are professionals in many industries who hold the belief that Marketing is a bunch of nonsense, making pretty advertisements and selling useless products in just enough time to make it to happy hour. It’s a stereotype that often perpetuates throughout higher education and in many areas of the working world. It is even used to justify downsizing marketing departments during economic hardships. They think Marketing just isn’t that important. I beg to differ. That representation is grossly simplified and inaccurate. The American Marketing Association defines Marketing as ” the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.” Essentially, Marketers see a consumer’s problem, find a way to solve that problem, and then communicate that solution to the right consumers. But that is an extremely simple understanding of all the activities involved in Marketing. There are so many different roles that Marketers play between the consumer and the producer. That role can be as small as creating a brochure for a company to hand out at trade shows, or as big as creating a billion dollar advertising campaign consisting of months of research, development, and distribution over various media channels. Your company can have an amazing, earth-shattering product or service. But if no one knows about it, it is not going to sell. Every other job is business is based on the simple idea that the company has to sell something (a product, an idea, a service) in order to make money. If there’s no money, accountants have nothing to put on their balance sheets, financial analysts have nothing to plan for, managers won’t have any employees to manage… it all falls apart.

At my internship we had a client who developed this great product and hired us to get the word out. People were talking about the product and we did what we could to generate a good amount of buzz. But there was one problem. The product was too expensive compared to the value it had for customers. The company owner had not done any research when determining the price. He just set it based on costs and whatever profit he was trying to make. Because of that, the product just didn’t sell and is now stuck in limbo. Everyone that takes (and pays attention in) Intro to Marketing knows that the Marketing Mix consists of the 4 P’s: Product, Placement, Promotion,… and Price! It was a great product, but by ignoring one of the fundamental elements of Marketing, the business suffered.

Bottom line: Marketing is crucial if any business, be it a tiny start-up in someone’s basement or a mega-million dollar corporation, wants to successfully understand and communicate with its consumers to drive sales and profit. And really, who doesn’t want that?