I have been a Hertz #1 Gold member for nearly 15 years.
But just today I was alerted through an email marketing campaign that I am missing out by not subscribing to email marketing.
This is the first time I have seen a direct solicitation to subscribe to an email marketing program. Usually you just get added to the list, with an option to opt out. Here's Hertz's pitch:
As a valued Hertz #1 Club Gold® member, you have the opportunity to improve your member benefits with e-mail. It's as simple as being able to view personalized program and account information and great deals at the same time. As you are currently not signed up to receive e-mails from Hertz, we want to be certain you were aware of this benefit you were missing.
Apparently, teenage boys are abusing Axe body spray.
Because boys will be boys, and boys always find an easy way to solve a problem, Axe has become preferred over taking showers.
And, the stench of over-using the spray is causing problems.
It has become such a problem that a Minnesota state representative, Karen Clark, has proposed phasing out fragrances from schools to protect kids with asthma from their overly perfumed classmates.
Clark later scaled the idea down to an awareness campaign that was approved by the City of Minneapolis School Board.
The Chicago Sun Times is reporting that ven the makers of Axe are embarking on an education campaign. "We believe most everything is best in moderation, application of grooming products included," said Jay Matthew, U.S. marketing director for Axe deodorants. "One of our newest ad campaigns for Axe focuses on the best application of our deodorant body sprays. The ads focus on the tagline 'Double Pits to Chesty' and refer to the places where guys should apply the deodorant spray."
The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency is now under the direction of Leon
Panetta. He has said he would like to recruit more people with
foreign-language skills as well as more minorities into the Agency.
So, the Agency is doing a little outreach via the airwaves to recruit some new agents.
"Are you a person of curiosity and integrity?" asks one spot. "Are you ready for a world of challenge ... a world of ambiguity and adventure?"
Time is reporting that the Agency won't say how much it's spending on the ad campaign, but CIA spokesman George Littlee did say, "We continue to seek highly qualified candidates to support the mission of America's premier intelligence agency."
Using the media to outreach is nothing new for the CIA. For the past two years, the agency has used a Facebook page as a recruitment medium. It also advertises, selectively, on television, in print and even on airport billboards.
Aquafina is launching the "Eco-Fina Bottle," made with 50 percent less
plastic, eliminating an estimated 75 million pounds of plastic
annually.
Aquafina is also driving additional environmental benefits by producing
the bottle at purification centers where filling occurs and by
eliminating cardboard base pads from 24-packs, which will contribute to
saving 20 million pounds of corrugate by 2010.
Sounds very eco-friendly, yes?
Of course the folks at PepsiCo's Aquafina want to get the word out about its new eco-friendly bottle.
Apparently, part of the promotional campaign included shipping, via FedEx overnight, 5lb boxes of the new water to journalists around the country.
Oops, this is where the promo came off the rails.
Imagine the carbon cost of manufacturing this special "promotional package" and shipping this across the country. The packages were shipped FedEx--overnight, to journalists who had not requested the water in the first place.
The folks at TechCrunch--the well-known technology blogger, received their package (actually they received two by misstake) and ended up feeding the water (and the bottle) to their dog.
I'm not sure this is the type of publicity Pepsi was looking for.
No doubt in an attempt to build good will, someone over at KFC has created a marketing promotion that centers around filling potholes for free.
The catch, The Colonel's gang will be stenciling the patch with a logo that says "Refreshed by KFC"
The finger-licking good fast-food chain has sent off a letter to the nation's mayors, offering to patch their potholes for free.
"In honor of our "Fresh Tastes Best" campaign, we want to come and Re-"Fresh" your roads!" KFC president Roger Eaton says in the letter. "Every patched pothole comes with the Colonel's very own stamp of approval."
Clearly the folks over at the Chicago Department of Transportation immediately saw through this "gift with a catch" and said "We don't allow any type of printing or advertising placed on a city street or sidewalk."
Looking elsewhere, KFC tried out its campaign Louisville, Ky. where KFC is based, with a little more positivity--earning a testimonial from Louisville's Mayor Jerry Abramson who noted that "finding funding for needed road repairs is a continuing challenge."
A purveyor of Italian sportswear is using a sports player to promote his brand--by having him live in his flagship store in Milan.
Dirk Bikkembergs says his flagship store is designed for and inspired by the lifestyle of passionate sportsmen who prefer functional and appealing garments that are both qualitative and exclusive.
To exemplify this, Bikkembergs invited Andrea Vasa. a 30-year-old soccer player with the Milan club Brera to live in the flagship store under the eyes of the store’s clients.
Andrea lives in the apartment at Via Manzoni 47 in total freedom. He can invite family and friends and can count on a housekeeper, who will tidy up his living quarters at set times or upon demand. His role is to be admired alongside the sunglasses, shirts, jackets and football boots. Visitors can come and have a look at his wardrobe. Before going out, Andrea will take a shower in a relax room papered with pages from Gazzetta dello Sport, compose his outfit for the following occasion, preen himself in one of the silver trophies, step into his Porsche and drive it out through a massive window that doubles as a garage door. Destination: next achievement.
Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends
The host of "Top Chef," Padma Lakshmi, is the star of a new Carl's Jr. & Hardees ad for the Western Bacon Thickburger.
The ad is akin to Paris Hilton's raunchy Carl's Jr. car-wash commercial.
"Eating in itself is an act of great sensuality, so all you have to do is point the camera in the right direction," Lakshmi said in a press release for CKE. "I was excited to be able to talk about a food item that I have fond, personal memories of. I grew up wolfing down Western Bacon Cheeseburgers at Carl's Jr., as I said in my book. So, I was happy to be able to share that story with a whole new group of burger lovers."
The average American adult is exposed to 8.5 hours of "screen time" a day--computer screens, TV screens, cell phones, video games, GPS units, etc.
This, according to a new $3.5 million study from the Council for Research Excellence, a group of top media researchers, funded by Nielsen.
The study showed adults ages 45 to 54 were the heaviest users of all electronic media, spending an average of 9.5 hours a day.
The study followed 350 test subjects and tracked their viewing instead of using the traditional method of allowing subjects to report on their media consumption.
Overall, Americans are exposed to just more than five hours of live TV per day compared with 15 minutes of DVR playback and 2.4 minutes of computer video.
The study confirms similar findings in earlier reports but uses a more statistically reliable method of observation in which researchers followed 476 people for two 14-hour days and recorded all of their media usage and daily activities.
This is perhaps the first time a toilet-paper brand has partnered with a
downloadable mobile application.
Procter & Gamble Co.'s Charmin wants consumers has developed a free mobile social-networking utility called SitOrSquat that allows users to locate public restrooms via their iPhone or Blackberry device. Because, let's face it, It's not always easy to find a public restroom.
Charmin doesn't have a commercial toilet paper business, so it is not directing folks to public restrooms that use Charmin. And, it is being fairly discreet in its use of branding on the SitOrSquat site--although a bottom-wagging Charmin cartoon bear graces the home page of
SitOrSquat.com.
The social aspect of the app comes in goal is to turn consumers army of restroom reviewers. It both helps locate public restrooms and provides star ratings based on their cleanliness and other amenities.
Advertising Age reports that as of last month, SitOrSquat had logged more than 52,000 toilets in 10 countries, more than half a million unique visitors and more than 1,600 downloads of its mobile apps. All those numbers are growing rapidly, and Charmin hopes publicity regarding its sponsorship helps them grow faster.
"We've been doing this idea of trying to give consumers the same experience away from home as they get at home for years," P&G spokesman Dewayne Guy said. "This fits into that whole concept that you're on the go, there's some tension there; Charmin is playing hero."
Outdoor advertising has always been a controversial issue. Cities have legislated size, quantity, and type of media for years.
And, Los Angeles has been in heated battle more than most.
Now, Los Angeles Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne takes on the issue of outdoor billboards, casting
a skeptical eye on whether the recent increase in electronic billboards
constitutes a civic crisis or is a symbol of some residents'
frustration with the city government.
"If
properly conceived and regulated, after all, sign districts like the
ones that already exist downtown and in Hollywood can add life and
spirit to the streetscape, not signal a kind of urban-planning
Armageddon,"
The controversy in Los Angeles stems from a 2006 legal settlement allowing more
than 800 billboards to be turned into digital signs. The City has also seem a persistent growth of supergraphics, that in Hawthorne's words are "those
gigantic wraparound advertisements that are capable of mummifying
entire pieces of architecture."
As parts of the battle play out in
court, complicated by free-speech questions, opportunistic billboard companies have
rushed to put up as many new signs as they can.
In the 1970's Grape Nuts featured naturalist Euell Gibbons in its ads. The spots focused on the natural components of Grape Nuts, and were decidedly masculine in their presentation.
Now, Grape Nuts is going back to targeting men with a new campaign feature men fishing and golfing, with a new tagline: "That Takes Grape Nuts."
The cheeky campaign includes a special Web site on MSN with dozens of two-minute videos. "When you tackle something tough at work or at home, that doesn't just take know-how -- that takes Grape Nuts," says a voice-over in the Webisodes, which tout the cereal's quality and offer advice, such as how to ask for a raise in a recession. Post enlisted ESPN personality Kenny Mayne to narrate the videos.
The site also offers "The Guy's Manual," with tips on topics like restoring vintage cars.
Typically, cereal advertising is dominated by images of mom and the family at the breakfast table. The assumption was that mom was doing the shopping, and ads needed to be targeting the core shopper.
Of course, times have changed, and men are increasingly sharing grocery shopping duties. So, for a brand like Grape Nuts, which is mostly consumed by men, it only makes sense to target them in advertising.
Twitter is making plans to turn popularity into revenue--e.g. turning technology into a business. The company is preparing to offer paid accounts to businesses pay a fee to receive an enhanced version of Twitter.
"We think there will be opportunities to provide services to commercial entities that help them get even more value out of Twitter. If these services are valuable to companies, we think they may want to pay for them," Biz Stone, co-founder of Twitter, said in an e-mail sent to Reuters.
Stone said Twitter has just hired someone to work on creating commercial products. He would not say when Twitter's commercial accounts product is set to be introduced, but said it would be sometime in 2009.
Given the surging popularity of the micro-blogging site (over 7 million
people used the site in February according to Nielsen), these plans are
stirring up a lot of press and public comment,
Others are already taking advantage of the Twitter platform and success. Microsoft and Federated Media recently launched ExecTweets, a website allowing users to keep an eye on Twitter messages from business executives. And CRM provider Salesforce.com launched a Twitter application costing $995 per month.
Britain has the highest teenage pregnancy rate in Europe.
In response, clear-headed British Government has agreed to allow condom ads to air before the 9pm "watershed" (their "prime time") with the goal of helping to combat the alarming trend.
Information rather than ignorance--a wonderfully rational approach.
Testing the battle of the British rule, an ad for Skyn condoms which is described as possibly the "raciest commercial ever made" is scheduled to make its debut.
Skyn condoms are part of the Lifestyle brand family, manufactured by Australia's Ansell Limited.
The ad will push the time-limit only marginally (it will not air before 8pm) and is scheduled to run on MTV.
The spot is American-produced by AMP, Boston and directed by Eileen Doherty and Laura Murphy of the El Segundo-based creative production company Best Company Ever.
The ad airs as proposals by the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice will allow condoms to be advertised on all channels at any time. At present they are banned from advertising before the 9pm watershed except on Channel 4, where the cut-off is 7.30pm.
The Government also plans to allow abortion clinics to advertise on TV and radio for the first time.
Designer Cobbler, Brian Atwood has a sexy new shoe model--55 year-old Rene Russo.
Russo is promoting Atwood's spring collection in a campaign that can indisputably be called "sultry."
Former model Russo romps with with model Jon Kortajarena in the photos, which have been published in a limited edition glossy book entitled "Role Play Rene."
I always encourage companies to understand and articulate their core brand essence (i.e. a company's belief system).
There are some companies whose belief system is based on religious faith. There are certain brands who overtly present this, and others whose religious beliefs bubble low and deep.
You may be surprised by the number of large brand names where religion is at their core. Some infuse their beliefs into work practices, others use their public face to promote religion by imprinting scripture on everything from shopping bags to drink cups.
Here are five examples:
FOREVER 21 The founders of Forever 21 demonstrate their Christian faith by imprinting the bottoms of their shopping bags with John 3:16: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
ALASKA AIRLINES For 30 years, Alaska Airlines has handed out a small card with every meal or beverage served on the airline with scripture from the Christian Bible.
CHICK-FIL-A Chick-fil-A founder S. Truett Cathy requires that every store (whether franchised or company-owned) close on Sundays in homage to his Christian faith..
IN-N-OUT BURGER In-N-Out Burger prints bible verses on the food wrappers and drink cups. The practice was started In the 1980s, by the founder's son Rich Snyder.
E HARMONY The founder of eHarmony, Neil Clark Warren, is an evangelical Christian. As such, he has outlawed gays and lesbians from participating on his online dating site. But in this case, the outlaw did not win. U.S. courts have forced eHarmony to accept gays and lesbians on the site, despite Warren's views.
Robert J. Coen, aged 86, has spent the last six decades forecasting marketing trends at units of Interpublic. His work is used by those in advertising, media and finance to gauge their own expectations for the advertising economy,
He began his career in 1948 (Harry Truman was president then) at McCann-Erickson.
He ends his advertising career this year, as chief forecaster at Magna, a unit of Interpublic Group's Mediabrands.
Coen has tracked spending trends in local and national media, compared ad spending with gross domestic product and examined plans by marketers in categories from airlines to toiletries. Although he has concentrated on the United States, his forecasts have also covered international markets.
Coen's data has been presented twice a year. The first Coen forecast each year, in June or July, has typically been
sponsored by Magna or one of the other Interpublic agencies for which
he has worked. The second Coen forecast each year, in December, has usually been part
of media conferences sponsored by brokerage firms like Paine Webber or
UBS.
The British government is considering monitoring social networking sites such as Facebook, Bebo and MySpace to collect data in an attempt to combat online crime and terrorism. The plan is to store information about every phone call, email and internet visit made by everyone in the UK.
Sounds king of like a social networking "Patriot Act."
Under the proposal, social networking sites would be forced to retain information about users' web-browsing habits.The data would be kept in a central database as part of the "Intercept Modernisation Programme."
Gap, Inc. is said to be test marketing a spin-off of its Banana Republic brand. "Edition" will sell limited-editions of handbags and jewelry as well as accessories sold at Banana Republic. . The first store is said to be scheduled for the Westfield Mall in Gap's corporate headquarters town of San Francisco.
I've been speaking to many corporate marketers lately who are working on post-recession projects--planning ahead to be ahead of the curve once the economy turns around.
The Harley-Davidson brand was made famous in movies like “Easy Rider,” and by appealing to boomers’ desire to recapture their youth. Now, their customers are getting a little long in the tooth. Harley’s core customers are graying baby boomers, whose savings, in many cases, have gone up in smoke in the market downturn.
Uh-oh.
The cost of a Harley can easily be $20,000+ The average household income of today’s rider is about $87,000. The average age of a Harley rider is 49, up from 42 five years ago.
This means that their customers have grayed, and they are buying new bikes less often. Harley’s longtime strategy of marketing to the boomers, which was a blazing success, is now backfiring
The target was generational--Baby Boomers, not life staged-focused. The New York Times reports that company executives don’t seem outwardly worried by the lackluster
growth among those 35 and younger, even as it takes steps to turn them
into Harley owners.
They say they’re confident that the baby-boom generation has 15 more years of riding life. “They’re not about to stop riding because they’re getting older,” Mr. Richer says. “It would be dumb to walk away from our core customer, the most lucrative customer.”
Harley needs to reinvent its brand, and make it relevant to a different generation.
They've done it before. The 106 year old company withstood the Great Depression, a near bankruptcy in 1985 and major competition from Japanese brands like Honda an Kawasaki in the 1970's.
Now it faces the challenge of identifying the brand connection between Harley an Gen X and Y (and all the variations around them).
Digital versions of Playboy magazine, from 1954 to 2007 have been put online through a partnership between Microsoft and Bondi Digital Publishing.
Bondi Digital Publishing scanned and re-typed each issue of Playboy, appear as they did in the print version, with all advertisements left in-tact. The ads use Microsoft's Silverlight viewer (a free download).
"Playboy has an incredibly rich history and an intensely loyal readership," said Hugh M. Hefner, Playboy founder, editor-in-chief and chief creative officer, in a statement. "This is the perfect opportunity to offer them something they have always wanted and also a great way to allow a whole new generation to easily explore the magazine."
“Sugar was the old devil, and high-fructose corn syrup is the new devil,” said Marcia Mogelonsky, a senior analyst at Mintel International, a market-research company (according to The New York Times).
For decades, food companies have been replacing sugar with high-fructose corn syrup as an ingredient in packaged foods.. By 2001, consumption of high-fructose corn syrup and sugar were of equal parts in the American diet, according to the Department of Agriculture.
Recently, though, the trend has apparently reversed. Per capita, American adults ate about 44 pounds of sugar in 2007, compared with about 40 pounds of high-fructose corn syrup.
Another way of identifying the trend: The high-fructose corn syrup has started running ads, and sugar industry has stopped spending ad dollars:
With sugar sales up, the Sugar Association last year ended its Sweet by Nature campaign, which pointed out that sugar is found in fruits and vegetables, said Andy Briscoe, president of the association. “Obviously, demand is moving in the right direction so we are taking a break,” Mr. Briscoe said.
Also, Michelle Obama, has said she will not give her children products made with H.F.corn syrup--quite a negative endorsement.
Nutrition and obesity experts say there's not one bad guy in this discussion. Sugar and high-fructose corn syrup may very well be equally bad in excess. But, as is often the case with competing food claims, the battle is as much about marketing as it is about science.
Officially licensed grass is about to be sold, in the form of sod or seeds, to fans who want a patch to call their own. from the company that has supplied turf for Yankee Stadium since the 1960s.
Of course, the turf is nothing special until you put the official stamp of approval from the Yankees and Major League Baseball and call it Yankees Sod and Yankees Grass Seed.
DeLea Sod Farms sells the same three-variety blend of Kentucky bluegrass from this field to other clients. A high school in West Long Branch, N.J., had 16 acres installed last fall, when it was just called sod. Not Yankees Sod.
It is what we call branding, my sons.
The company has visions of Cubs Sod and Red Sox Sod and other licensed sod. They have reached out to the farms that supply the other 27 major league teams with natural-grass fields.
Many consumers are shopping around for true value these days—cost + quality + service = value.
The slowing economy is forcing customers to more keenly aware of whom they do business with—“Is the brand reliable and will be there for me?” “Is the brand providing the best value for my money?” “Do they ‘want’ my business?”
One area that marketers sometimes do not have control of, or sometimes forget about, is customer service & support—the direct consumer touch point that has EVERYTHING to do with acquiring, and keeping of customers—especially ones who are shopping for value.
I encourage every company to consider two things when looking at their customer service and support function:
Do you have an environment that is truly customer-focused? How do you promote customer advocacy within your organization
Is customer service and support part of your marketing plan? It may be the best 1-to-1 marketing program you can have
Follows are three examples of recent, firsthand experience with the customer service departments of three essential customer items: banking, cable + Internet, and telephone service.
If I were to grade my customer experience with AT&T, Charter Communications and Wells Fargo Bank, one would get an “E” for effort, one an “A” for attitude and turn-around and one an “F” for failure to recognize the value of their customers.
I’d like to start with a huge customer service success story.
AT&T
I’ve been an AT&T customer for 25 years—ever since I connected my first phone. Up until a few years ago, they had one of the worst customer service reputations around. They left consumers with the feeling that they were not an advocate for the consumer. But today, based on my first hand experience, AT&T is walking the walk, and talking the talk of a true customer-advocate driven organization. Grade: “A”
Wells Fargo Bank
I’ve been a Wells customer for 15 years. I’ve had my ups-and-downs with this relationship. But here’s one customer service experience I must share.
I recently walked into a local Wells Fargo branch, and was greeted by not one, not two by SIX bank representatives, greeting me with their name, saying how much they “appreciate my business.”
Of course, this was overkill, and proved completely disingenuous due to the obviously scripted language they were using.
While I appreciate the attempt, and the obvious understanding of the need to keep customers happy (and coming back), someone at Wells Fargo better monitor these systems, and train employees a bit better. Grade: “E” for Effort
Charter Communications
Customer Care. That’s what Charter Communications calls their support department. In my recent 3-week adventure to get cable and Internet service up and running at a vacation rental home, I came in contact with over 25 “Customer Care” representatives with Charter Communications. I spent over 20 hours on the phone, and on-site working with employs to get a simple install (no technical problems—only employee screw-ups to deal with).
In nearly every case, I came up against systems that did not work; robotic employees who clearly were not adequately trained to help “solve” problems—or care about making their customer happy; representatives that were only trained to read scripts, rather than solve problems; and supervisors who clearly had directions to enforce policy, rather than provide customer satisfaction.
Here are three of the more laughable situations I found myself in:
Telephone satisfaction questionnaire that hangs up on you if you “press 1 for a customer representative”
After waiting on line for 1 hour, transferred to the Spanish language billing department instead of English language appointment scheduling--then disconnected when they tried to transfer me back.
Service disconnected because “tech” forgot to collect on-site payment (or call to have it charged via credit card).
The “Customer Care” program has clearly de-evolved to a system to streamline and simplify costs, rather than provide good service to their customers.
This is a company that clearly has not felt the pinch of competition, or dealt with the understanding that happy customers are the only way to keep a business running, and profitable. Grade: “F”—is that the lowest I can give?
I should note that Charter is in deep financial trouble. And, I know how difficult it is for companies to improve systems when they’re fighting for survival. But, letting customer service deteriorate to the point it currently is, is no way to maintain a profitable business. Without good customer service, there will be no business.
The marketing managers for Clorox Disinfecting Wipes have chosen an innovative approach to generating brand awareness. In order to target their core audience, Clorox has partnered with Macy's, using store-window displays and in-store screens as a media vehicle. And no, the product itself is not sold in Macy's stores.
Faded fads: Pet Rocks, Cabbage Patch Dolls, Rubik's Cubes, Chia Pets and now Crocs.
The rubberized clog-like sandal shoes were once (and not so long ago) the hottest thing in retail.
Now the fad has died, sales have tanked, and, sacked by the down economy, the company's auditors have "expressed substantial doubt" about the "company's ability to continue as a going concern."
A social-media campaign dubbed "Hang in there Jack" garnered 4.8 million hits for its video clips and 81,000 get-well messages for the Jack in the Box company mascot.
The campaign focused on the fictional mascot's fictional recovery from "injuries" sustained in a Super Bowl spot, including an advertising-induced coma. The quick-service food chain gave users a voice in the effort -- taking down only those posts and clips it considered in poor taste or profane.
The six-week "Hang in There Jack" campaign (Secret Weapon Marketing, Santa Monica) was a remarkable document: a 360-degree social media event that mocked even as it exploited the power of YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and Flickr. Along the way it leveraged irony to the breaking point with "viral" cellphone and faux-paparazzi videos, ring tones and texting. Among the crowd-sourced content were 27 get-well videos from fans, some quite brilliant. A man in Hawaii bought Jack's size-14 Bruno Magli shoe on EBay for $910. Now that's buy-in.
"We were amazed, really," says Jack in the Box vice president of marketing Terri Funk Graham. The videos have garnered more than 4.8 million views. Graham estimates that to score the same number of impressions solely with traditional media would have cost three times as much (she declined to say how much the total campaign cost). "Given the overwhelming amount of response and engagement, we feel we've hit a home run," Graham says.
In a new survey, Coca-Cola and Johnson & Johnson rank as the top brands among business leaders.
The survey, conducted by Corebrand, a brand marketing consulting, examines how corporate brands influence the attitudes of business leaders to do business with each other, to attract investors, partners, B2B customers, and ultimately the impact they have on market capitalization.
The quantitative research study among business decision makers was begun back in 1990. They look at 1,200 companies across 49 industries. Over 12,000 surveys are completed annually. CoreBrand's Brand Power rankings are based upon the "familiarity" and "favorability" of these business decision makers toward the corporate reputation of these companies.
Harley-Davidson moved up one place to 3rd replacing Hershey Foods, which is now in 4th. Campbell Soup moved up one spot to 5th place replacing Hallmark, which is now 6th. UPS remained unchanged in 7th. Colgate-Palmolive moved up one spot to 8th, replacing FedEx which is now in 9th place.
"The current economic crisis is not a brand crisis. Corporate brands remain strong in the face of the downturn," said James Gregory, CEO, CoreBrand (www.CoreBrand.com). "However, some strong brands are being run over by the economy because brands are not stronger than the underlying financials of a corporation (e.g. GE has a relatively strong brand but has significant financial exposure so the brand is hurting)."
I heard Y&R's John Gerzema speak at The Economist's Marketing Forum on the topic of ‘Calamity: Marketing Your Way Out of a Recession’.
He was nice enough to post his presentation, and allow embedding, so here you go. For more, go to John's site, The Brand Bubble:
This talk has numerous links to cultural trends and consumer insights I see happening from a study I recently conducted in part from our brand database, BrandAsset Valuator, along with best practices of firms that are re-positioning themselves to win in this down economy.
What is striking to me is that we’re in a moment where an aperture is opening in society: Consumers are re-thinking almost everything in their lives from fundamental values shifts to new behaviors. The lesson is there is enormous opportunity and equally, your brand is in peril if it stands still.
I enjoy attending conferences. But, given the cost and time (opportunity cost) it takes to attend, I tend to be pretty demanding, and critical if things don’t go as expected. This week, I had an exceptionally good experience, and I wanted to share it with you.
Conferences and forums have the opportunity to inspire, inform and provide networking opportunities. The Economist managed to achieve all three.
As a marketer, I found it inspiring to hear from top CMO’s from Wells Fargo, Denny’s, Virgin America, Nickelodeon, Del Monte, Frito Lay, OfficeMax, etc. etc. etc. Speakers like Y&R’s John Gerzema and professor Ward Hanson gave context to trends and opportunities. The conference was well-paced, informative and was honest in their understanding that a key component to any conference is networking.
Martin Giles, Senior Business Correspondent for The Economist was the host, and was exceptionally good and guiding the discussions, although when the topic of ROI and optimizing marketing budgets was discussed, he, and the panelists, seemed out of their element and lacking the ability to discuss innovative approaches to ROI in today’s environment. It was, without a doubt, the low-point of the conference.
But, overall, the agenda was clearly grounded in the fundamentals of The Economist’s editorial base—the discussions of how a recession affects pricing, emerging markets, and relationships between CEO and CMO were deftly handled.
Over the next couple of days, I’ll try to share some of the information and insights I gleaned from the conference.
I admit it. I am a huge fan of the recent Hulu ads.
At the risk of contributing to their "evil plot to destroy the world" here's their latest, featuring Seth McFarland, and scheduled to launch on March 19:
Anheuser-Busch is scaling back its agency roster, and will focus on its core brands.
The company, which was recently purchased by InBev, has announced that it is; dropping SF-based advertising agency Goodby, Silverstein & Partners from its roster; will focus on the company's biggest brands; and will stop working with agencies on a retained basis.
"We are trying to narrow down
the field of agencies," Keith Levy, vp of marketing at A-B, said of the demise of the A-B/GBP relationship, "Goodby is a great shop, [but] over
the last few years we've been doing less and less work together. It's
not to say we won't work together over time. For now we're looking at
limited scope of work, a tighter agency roster and strategic alignment
of agencies against brands."
DDB Chicago is the lead agency on Budweiser and Bud Light--A-B's best sellers. Other brands expected to continue to get advertising support are Michelob Ultra, handled by Euro RSCG, Chicago, and Stella Artois with Mother, London.
"We're trying to figure out which brands are really going to move the business," Levy added. "[Consumers] are returning to much bigger brands, so it makes sense for us to focus our dollars and efforts against those brands that contribute to the growth of the company in a meaningful way."
Burger King has opened its first "Whopper Bar" at Florida's Universal CityWalk,
The Whopper Bar allows customers to "personalize" their burger--think sushi bars, salad bars, or juice bars.
While the new restaurant represents a major change in both the style
and service structure of the 51-year old brand, it does hearken back to
the company's roots. Remember the company's jingle:
Hold the pickle, hold the lettuce, special orders don't upset us all we ask is that you let us serve it your way have it your way have it your way have it your way at Burger King
Daily Finance reports that the outlets will offer a "Bar Favorites" menu, with items like
the Bourbon Whopper and Pepper Bacon Steakhouse XT. Customers will be able to watch their sandwiches being prepared and
direct employees on which of the 22 topping choices to place on their
burgers.
Burger King plans to open six more of the bars by the end of the year, with a long-term plan of 300-500 units of the bars operating
nationwide.
Pepsi is leveraging social media as part of its sponsorship of this year's music, film and interactive conference, South By Southwest (SXSW).
Pepsi has created a "Twitter Visualization" tool that's designed to showcase all the chatter around the event.
Brandweek reports that Tweets from people at the show are running on Pepsicozeitgeist.com, which also includes features like "Party Watch" and "Swarm"—a map of the area showing where the tweets are emanating from. The site will also be displayed on screens throughout SXSW.
It seemed oddly innocent--a treasure hunt for fake body parts, hideen across central London to promote the launch of a video game called "Resident Evil."
Then, the body parts, and chicken livers went missing.
The PR stunt was designed to promote the Friday the 13th launch of a zombie and gore-focused console game called "Resident Evil." The stunt involved a treasure hunt in which around 50 members of the
public had to retrieve various legs, arms, heads and torsos from a
number of secret locations.
The parts were hidden in locations across a square mile of London, in
places such as garbage bins and on window ledges. More than 100 people
signed up to participate in the event. The winners were to return two
of the heads, one torso and six limbs at a finishing line on
Westminster Bridge.
However, one head, two torsos, and six limbs remain unaccounted for. A
number of chicken livers, which were used for added gore, are also
missing.
According to Brand Republic, a spokesperson for the organizing PR agency (Monument PR) insisted that "the loss of the body parts was not a publicity-seeking appendage to the campaign's main body."
Worse yet, horrified passers-by, seeing bloody body parts across the city, complained to police.
Procter & Gamble conducted an exercise at its Cincinnati headquarters modeled after reality shows, with teams of marketers competing against one another to sell a P&G product via social media.
The exercise paired P&G execs with about 40 representatives from social-media companies. The group used their professional and personal Facebook accounts and also their Twitter accounts among many social media tools.
Friend of 5 Blog's Federated Media participated in the effort. Two hours into the exercise, the teams had sold about 600 T-shirts at $20 a pop (admittedly 5 Blogs Before Lunch only bought one shirt--but hey, at least we participated).
The notoriously cheap Walmart has plans to take advantage of the down market by pitting their PR agencies against one another. Apparently they're taking their tagline, "Save Money, Live Better," seriously.
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the discount retailer plans to hire five agencies, put them on retainer, then have them bid on individual projects.
The lion's share of Walmart's PR has been handled by Edelman, is looking for agencies to promote Wal-Mart's Web site, as well as food, financial services, electronics and clothing.
Apparently this strategy is becoming more common in the advertising industry as businesses attempt to rein in marketing budgets and spur creativity with a competitive "jump ball."
As a marketer, I instinctively understand that deep, consistent discounting of a product can significantly damage a brand reputation, and will train customers to ONLY accept discounted pricing. Two new polls prove my point.
Seventy percent of respondents to Yankelovich's Dollars & Consumer Sense 2009 Study say price cuts probably mean the brand was overpriced in the first
place. And, 62 percent said they assumed that the product was old and
they were just trying to get rid of it.
Also, Brand Keys announced similar findings as part of its Customer Loyalty Engagement Index. Consumer expectations regarding brand value went up 20 percent. In
other words, many aren’t looking for lower-priced brands rather they
are looking buy products that they consider a good value.
From Brandweek: "People are suspicious if you significantly discount your brand,” said J. Walker Smith, president of Yankelovich Monitor and executive vice chairman of The Futures Company. “If you make significant changes in your value proposition it can confuse them. You have to give them reasons to buy stuff as opposed to just lowering prices as a knee jerk reaction to the economy.”
While I'm not usually one to second-guess company branding, unless it is obviously off-brand, I would like to chime in on the burger chain's new graphics.
JACK!!! WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?
From a design perspective, it is interesting, but I don't get how this new logo represents the irreverent, frenetic, joyful brand known for its clown spokesperson. It looks more like a logo for a clothing brand, or new stop-and-shop retail store.
And, what's more, why put the phrase "in the box," outside the...box?
The old logo, with its simple red box with a blobby, 1970s-style typeface was a little tired, it at least easily read at a distance --which the new one is not. The new logo's two-toned red, and small type outside of the box will not easily be reproduced in marketing materials.
The move comes during a comic campaign in which chain icon Jack has been in an advertising-induced coma after being hit by a bus on Super Bowl Sunday.
Perhaps Jack was in the coma when the new logo was approved. Now that's he's up and fighting again, perhaps he'll bring back the old logo, or at least blow up the new one.
Premium laundry detergent brands are stepping up their game, targeting fashion enthusiasts, trying to convince them that higher-priced products are worth it.
Laundry detergent marketing ususally focuses on how a
detergent could "make whites whiter and keep colors brighter." But the
makers of premium laundry products are looking for new ways to stand
out.
They're pushing their buttons by suggested that the choice of laundry detergent reflects their personal style, and the ability to make clothes last
longer. And their using style gurus to prove their point.
Woolite is launching "Find the Look, Keep the Look," an online manual for "finding fashion and keeping it looking fabulous without breaking the bank." They've signed up TV style adviser Stacy London who is co-host of the fashion makeover program "What Not to Wear."
Procter & Gamble's Tide Total Care detergent promises to preserve clothing, borrowing anti-aging marketing themes from P&G's Olay skin-care brand. Just as Olay's Total Effects cream claims to fight seven signs of aging, Tide Total Care promises to help "reveal the 7 signs of beautiful clothes," including shape, softness and finish.
And who's hawking Tide Total Care on TV and online? "Project Runway" host Tim Gunn of course. Tide's online videos feature Gunn talking about the necessity of being "dressed to the sevens," which involves careful laundering. "If your clothes don't look their best, you don't either," he says.
"I feel like there's going to be laundry wars," says London.
An ad in Britain claims that an electronic device called the N-Virosphere can "wash the air," removing second-hand smoke by washing the air around the device and deliver clean air.
Too good to be true? Well, yes.
The UK's Advertising Standards Authority has banned the ad, calling it misleading to consumers.
From Brand Republic: One shot shows a cigarette next to the N-Virosphere and the presenter states: "Now it's not working at the moment, we turn it on now and watch the smoke, there it goes ... it showed you there literally how effective it is at directing the smoke away from the room and into the water."
Another luxury goods manufacturer is taking aim at eBay.
Last year, Hermes and LVMH sued eBay for allowing knock-offs to be sold on the site. They won their case, and were awarded a fine of around US$60 million.
There seems to be no question that knock-offs (i.e. counterfeit) goods are sold on eBay. What L'Oreal, and other luxury brands in Europe are questioning is whether eBay is aiding and abetting the counterfeiters by not policing items sold on the site.
L'Oreal has launched a trademark infringement case in London's High Court claiming the site was selling goods that were either fake or sourced from outside the European Union.
At stake is the brand's ability to control pricing, brand quality and reputation. For eBay, it is a matter of controlling millions upon millions of listings and a free market system.
The issue has been spreading across Europe. French courts are due to make on a decision on a similar case while challenges are also being made in Germany and Spain. Recently in Belgium, the courts said the site was not obliged to take action against counterfeiting despite "doing enough" to halt it.
Last night, MSNBC's Rachel Maddow tore into Mark Penn and his PR agency Burson-Marsteller for their client choices including AIG and Blackwater: "When evil needs public relations, evil has Burson Marsteller on speed dial." Ouch.
Today, Penn sent out an internal memo which said (in part), "Just like lawyers and management consultants, PR firms are often called in to help when companies face difficult problems. Our role is crucial to companies operating in open and transparent business and media environments. We are and should be proud of the work we do." The memo also said that Burson is "proud to work for AIG - work that has nothing to do with 'burnishing their image' but is all about helping this company handle the massive volume of media, government and employee interest in their situation."
PAM Cooking Spray's new ad campaign may be taking itself too seriously.
The campaign's tagline "Relax. PAM helps you pull it off, has the double entendre affect of suggesting that by using PAM, not only will your baked goods slide off the pan, but that somehow without it, cooks could be in crisis.
CRISIS? This may be taking cooking spray a step too far, especially given the shared anxiety the country is feeling over the economy, foreign wars and unemployment rates.
The ads depict worst-case scenario cooking and baking situations. But are worst-case kitchen scenarios what's on the minds of consumers right now?
In one spot, a mother hosting a birthday party is furiously trying to remove cupcakes from a pan as children in the other room chant for their treats. Hopeless, she finally serves the cupcakes in a messy mound to the stunned children, who immediately begin chanting "Redo! Redo!"
However, the scene is only a daydream, as it's revealed that she used PAM Baking spray to make sure the cupcakes didn't stick. (She's greeted with cheers in the real world when she serves perfect cupcakes.) Another commercial shows a newlywed trying to pry a salmon fillet out of a pan for her in-laws, only to ruin the meal when the pan breaks and flies out the window. Again, the nightmare is only a dream.
"We use the reveal aspect to show that as they're thinking about the worst thing that can happen, they will get that successful outcome if they use PAM," Joe O'Malley, senior brand manager for PAM at ConAgra Foods is quoted as saying.
"Being successful in the kitchen is one aspect of that," O'Malley says. "It's aimed at people who want to use cooking as a way to show success to whoever they're cooking for--that their dish turns out the way they want it."
Pfizer, the pharmaceutical company and maker of Viagra, is running an ad in the UK designed to spread the message that buying drugs online without a
prescription can be dangerous--even fatal as many contain dangerous ingredients
including rat poison.
The ad features a man pulling a dead rat out of his mouth.
Pfizer's ad shows a man coughing up a dead rat after taking a pill bought from an illegal website. The ad ends with the tagline "Get real, get a prescription."
The campaign is being shown in movie theaters across England, and online. There have been numerous public complaints about the campaign, which can be expected by any ad designed for shock value.
For its new campaign focused on its check card, Visa is ditching its "Life takes Visa" tagline in favor of a new slogan, "More People Go With Visa," which to me seems like a weaker, less consumer-focused tagline.
While "Life takes Visa" acknowledged the value of being a cardholder, "More People Go With Visa" is simply chest-pounding that they're number one. It seems akin to "more people use us, therefore we must be good."
But, no one at Visa asked me, did they?
The company's new $140 million global ad campaign launches tomorrow in the U.S. and will eventually appear in 43 other countries.
After a yearlong renovation, Disneyland's "It's A Small World" has reopened with 29 Disney and Pixar characters inserted in the countries where their stories take place. Peter Pan, Pinicchio, Donald Duck, and even Lilo & Stich have joined the boat ride in Fantasyland.
Originally created for the 1964 World's Fair--It's A Small World was meant to be a promotion for
UNICEF. Now the ride has been retrofitted to be a showplace for the most popular
characters from Disney's animated library.
I am a huge Disneyland fan. Growing up in Southern California my family frequented the place several times a year, and as a college student, I spent 4 years as a Disney employee (cast member) working the rides of Tomorrowland. So I may be biased in believing that Disney has ripped the soul out of the ride by optimizing it for promotion.
When I was a kid, the wonderment of the ride was in guessing which part of the world we would discover next--Asia, Africa, Europe. Now kids will be trying to be the first to spot a Disney character.
Peter Pan and Tinker Bell fly above Alice in Wonderland in the United
Kingdom section. Pinocchio and Jiminy Cricket appear in Italy. Mulan's in China, Aladdin is in the pan-Asian area. There are also some characters that don't quite seem to fit in the geographies they were placed. Lilo and Stitch, from Hawaii, preside on a
surfboard in Polynesia, and Donald Duck surfaces in Mexico.
Sounds to me like a 10-minute game of Where's Waldo.
While I understand that times have changed-- "Small World" was originally built as a charity-minded effort in the years following the Cuban Missle Crisis, does everything at Disney have to be a commercial?
There are now very few classic Disney rides that haven't been retrofitted to carry some kind of cross-promotion burden at Disneyland--Johnny Depp has been injected into Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion shills "The Nightmare Before Christmas" during the end of every year, making them a kind of ad-within-an-ad.
I'm not sure if this is change I can believe in.
There is no doubt that kids will continue to enjoy the ride--6.7 million ride it every year. And Disney will reap the benefit of the product placements reminding guests of the Disney characters. But I, like some Disney purists, who have howled at the notion of Disney characters intruding on It's a Small World, say that their presence would not only destroy a historic work of art, but will take away an opportunity to teach our children about diversity, and global unity, without a commercialized sales pitch.
Customer Service & Support: The forgotten marketing tool
Many consumers are shopping around for true value these days—cost + quality + service = value.
The slowing economy is forcing customers to more keenly aware of whom they do business with—“Is the brand reliable and will be there for me?” “Is the brand providing the best value for my money?” “Do they ‘want’ my business?”
One area that marketers sometimes do not have control of, or sometimes forget about, is customer service & support—the direct consumer touch point that has EVERYTHING to do with acquiring, and keeping of customers—especially ones who are shopping for value.
I encourage every company to consider two things when looking at their customer service and support function:
Follows are three examples of recent, firsthand experience with the customer service departments of three essential customer items: banking, cable + Internet, and telephone service.
If I were to grade my customer experience with AT&T, Charter Communications and Wells Fargo Bank, one would get an “E” for effort, one an “A” for attitude and turn-around and one an “F” for failure to recognize the value of their customers.
I’d like to start with a huge customer service success story.
AT&T
I’ve been an AT&T customer for 25 years—ever since I connected my first phone. Up until a few years ago, they had one of the worst customer service reputations around. They left consumers with the feeling that they were not an advocate for the consumer. But today, based on my first hand experience, AT&T is walking the walk, and talking the talk of a true customer-advocate driven organization. Grade: “A”
Wells Fargo Bank
I’ve been a Wells customer for 15 years. I’ve had my ups-and-downs with this relationship. But here’s one customer service experience I must share.
I recently walked into a local Wells Fargo branch, and was greeted by not one, not two by SIX bank representatives, greeting me with their name, saying how much they “appreciate my business.”
Of course, this was overkill, and proved completely disingenuous due to the obviously scripted language they were using.
While I appreciate the attempt, and the obvious understanding of the need to keep customers happy (and coming back), someone at Wells Fargo better monitor these systems, and train employees a bit better. Grade: “E” for Effort
Charter Communications
In nearly every case, I came up against systems that did not work; robotic employees who clearly were not adequately trained to help “solve” problems—or care about making their customer happy; representatives that were only trained to read scripts, rather than solve problems; and supervisors who clearly had directions to enforce policy, rather than provide customer satisfaction.
Here are three of the more laughable situations I found myself in:
The “Customer Care” program has clearly de-evolved to a system to streamline and simplify costs, rather than provide good service to their customers.
This is a company that clearly has not felt the pinch of competition, or dealt with the understanding that happy customers are the only way to keep a business running, and profitable. Grade: “F”—is that the lowest I can give?
I should note that Charter is in deep financial trouble. And, I know how difficult it is for companies to improve systems when they’re fighting for survival. But, letting customer service deteriorate to the point it currently is, is no way to maintain a profitable business. Without good customer service, there will be no business.
daveibsen on Saturday, March 21, 2009 at 10:36 AM in Long-form Commentary | Permalink | Comments (1)
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