In 2009, Conde Nast brought in McKinsey & Company to analyze their business.
The result was the shuttering of Cookie, Modern Bride, Elegant Bride and the venerable Gourmet (whose resurgent brand is seeing green shoots); plus staff layoffs and budget cuts across all sectors of the company.
Now, the grim reaper is back at Conde Nast headquarters.
Adweek reports that McKinsey has been meeting with publishers, asking questions about how they run their businesses and where they see growth opportunities, and assessing the profitability of various brand extensions. They're also examining how to price digital products such as tablet magazines.
Carl's Jr. and Hardee's have been known to target "young hungry guys."
Campaign themes such as "If it doesn't get all over the place, it doesn't belong in your face" were used to promote big, beefy burgers slathered with all sorts of toppings--calorie counts not included.
But now that indulgent experience is being reined in a bit as the burger chains start to promote their new Charbroiled Turkey Burgers--created and promoted with the help of Men's Health editors and "Eat This Not That" authors,
There are five varieties of turkey burgers--all under 500 calories earch.
Carl's Jr. and Hardee's are still targeting young, hungry guys with their turkey burger--just one's that are becoming increasingly conscious of healthier choices. Whether they come in to the fast food chain to be a sinner, or a saint, Carl's Jr. and Hardee's wants to grab their attention, and pocketbook.
And, Carl's and Hardee's also aren't straying too far away from their marketing tactics to use beautiful women to tempt those young, hungry men with the connection between food and sex.
The new Charbroiled Turkey Burger marketing campaign kicks off featuring the reigning "Miss Turkey" from the Miss Universe pageant.
Miss Turkey is shown causing a raucous at a resort pool as she strips out of her official robe to reveal her bikini-clad figure (and bikini covered in images of the charbroiled turkey burger) while eating a turkey burger.
Tommy Hilfiger is loving the resurgence in popularity of the preppy-look. And the brand is going on the road (in a very 21st Century way) to show off their excitement.
The company will open traveling pop-up shops in Manhattan/NYC, Paris, Milan, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Tokyo, Madrid and Belgium. Hilfiger will build a replica of a East Hampton beach house in each city, stocked full of the brand's Prep World collection.
It is unclear what will come of the pop-up structures once Hilfiger has moved on to the next city, but we're hoping all of the merchandise will be snapped up by Skip, Biff and Trey before they pack up and move.
Tommy's traveling pop-up adventure begins May 19 in Manhattan.
The Amazon Appstore launches today, and the folks overseeing the Apple App Store are none too happy.
You see, Apple believes that consumers will be confused by the similar names: "App Store" and "Appstore." The folks at Amazon like the comparisons, and of course, chose their name so as to draft-off consumer's understanding of the type of marketplace where mobile applications are sold--a consumer perception pioneered by Apple.
So, this week, Apple filed a lawsuit in California federal court, seeking to prevent Amazon from using the Appstore name. "We've asked Amazon not to copy the App Store name because it will confuse and mislead customers," Apple spokeswoman Kristin Huguet told Reuters.
One would expect that Amazon knew what it was doing when it named its online marketplace "Appstore." Drafting off of a commonly used concept moves the conversation of your brand farther along--an easier process than trying to create a new brand and having to explain to consumers what it does.
Other app store competitors such as Microsoft, Google, Nokia, Research in Motion (Blackberry), Sprint, Verizon chose not to use the term "App Store" when branding their online storefronts for mobile applications. For example, Microsoft uses the term "Marketplace" to refer to its service and uses the descriptor 'virtual store for apps.'"
Colt 45 Malt Liquor has been a controversial brand for decades. In the 1970's and 1980's they were critisized for marketing a cheap, alcohol-heavy beer in a jumbo can to urban Black youth. Remember the Billy Dee Williams campaign?
Now, they're introducing a 12% ABV malt liquor that comes in a jumbo, alcohol-heavy can with fruity flavors like strawberry lemonade, blueberry pomegranate, raspberry watermelon, and grape.
Colt 45 Blast is aimed at a broader group of drinkers, including women, with what is essentially an alcoholic soda.
And, they're using a celebrity spokesman who is essentially the 21st Century version of the suave Billy Dee Williams.
Snoop Dogg has signed-on as the spokesman for Blast. Snoop will promote the brand during live music, television and other appearances, and on Twitter.
By launching Blast Colt 45 joins Four Loko (renamed Four), Joose, Mike's Hard Lemonade, and Anheiser-Busch's Tilt in a category already ripe with controversy. Critics claim the makers are encouraging heavy drinking. One can of Blast, for example, contains about the same as the amount of alcohol as four regular 12-ounce beers. And, industry watchdogs say the fruit flavorings and colorful packaging make the products attractive to underage drinkers.
The makers of Colt 45 Blast (who also own Pabst Blue Ribbon) say Blast isn't intended for underage drinkers and that point-of-sale marketing and other efforts will encourage drinkers to put Blast on ice and mix it with ginger ale, juices and other beverages, diluting it, rather than drink the whole can in one sitting.
Dunkin' Donuts, the brand that's currently positioning itself as the stop for "everyday Joe's," has just announced its "Royal Wedding Donut" to salute the nuptials between Prince William and Kate Middelton.
It seems that Dunkin's CEO, Nigel Travis is British and especially excited for the big day.
Never mind that Dunkin's strategy of being "All-American" gets trashed in the process, and that Dunkin' doesn't have any shops in the U.K.--they've decided to promote royal matrimony with a heart-shaped donut filled with jelly and topped with vanilla icing and a chocolate drizzle.
As of today, The New York Times is launching "digital subscriptions," a euphemism for "paywall."
The newspaper claims the change will primarily affect those who are heavy consumers of online content on and readers on mobile applications.
The Gray Lady is rolling out digital subscriptions in Canada first as a test market. Then, on March 28, digital subscriptions will take affect in the U.S. and the rest of the world.
Home delivery subscribers to The New York Times and International Herald Tribune will continue to have full and free access to NYTimes.com.
For non-home delivery subscribers, free access is available up to a reading limit of 20 articles each month. On the Times' mobile apps, only the Top News section will remain free of charge. All other sections within the apps, readers will need to become a digital subscriber.
Readers who come to Times articles through links from search, blogs and social media like Facebook and Twitter will be able to read those articles, even if they have reached their monthly reading limit.
Prices for digital subscriptions are: $35/month for all digial access, $20 for Tablets and $15 for Smartphones.
Last month, an elite group of thinkers gathered in Southern California for the annual TED conference.
You may be familiar with TED, which brings together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design and brought Al Gore's inconvenient truth about climate change, and Jamie Oliver's food revolution to popular awareness.
As the popularity and clout of the TED conferences have grown, they have expanded the concept and created the TEDx program, which is designed to give communities, organizations and individuals the opportunity to stimulate dialogue through TED-like experiences at the local level.
Now, TEDx is coming to San Francisco with the TEDx Presidio conference--a one-day conference on April 2 at the affordable price of $100.
The organizers plan the event to cover business trends like CSR, competition in a global marketplace, entrepreneurship, technological tools, survival in the digital age, and the changing set of internal and external values emerging from the C-Suite, employees, customers and partners. The conference theme is "Business 3.0 – Not Business as Usual."
Gilbert Gottfried, the voice of the Aflac duck, has been fired by the insurance company after the comedian made insensitive remarks on his Twitter account referring to the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
The comments should come as no surprise to anyone who has listened to Gottfried's act. Inappropriateness is his schtick. Surely, Aflac was aware that something like this would come up at some point.
Still, the insurer felt it need to act, to quell a consumer uprising by distancing it from Gottfried's comments.
Aflac is the #1 foreign insurance company in Japan.
“Gilbert’s recent comments about the crisis in Japan were lacking in humor and certainly do not represent the thoughts and feelings of anyone at Aflac,” Michael Zuna, the company’s chief marketing officer, said in a statement. “Aflac Japan – and, by extension, Japan itself – is part of the Aflac family, and there is no place for anything but compassion and concern during these difficult times.”
The New York Times' DealBook notes that "Several of the comments were sexual in nature, a common theme on Mr. Gottfried’s Twitter feed. The actor has previously used his account on the social media blogging site to post jokes, sometimes of questionable taste. The messages related to Japan have since been removed from Mr. Gottfried’s Twitter feed."
Aflac is reportedly looking for a new voice for the brand. It will be interesting to see if they choose this opportunity to evolve the character (maybe create a new one) or try to mimick Gottfried's well known vocals.
Logitech, and their ad agency Goodby, Silverstein & Partners have a hit on their hands with the creative concept for the Logitech Revue.
To make the most of the phenom, they're extending the campaign to a 3-minute+ extended-cut movie featuring a Kevin Bacon fanatic called Ivan Cobenk...played by Kevin Bacon.
The video is not only extended, it is interactive.
By scrolling over different items on the set of the video, you can link over to eBay, where you can bid on the character's possessions. There's also an eBay Store called "Kevin Wonders of the World" filled with Kevin Bacon's Ivan Cobenk's techotchkes.
What's next? My prediction: Kevin Bacon. On a horse. Smelling like a man should smell.
PepsiCo has just announced that it is returning to yesteryear, adding real sugar (instead of high-fructose corn syrup) and pouring its bubbly substances into retro-designed cans from the 1960's and 1980's for its Mountain Dew and Pepsi products.
"It's a return to a simpler world," says Shiv Singh, head of digital for PepsiCo. "There's a massive teen trend around simplicity and authenticity."
Pepsi has been testing the concept through its double entendre themed "Pepsi Throwback" promotional campaign, to make sure that Gen Y likes the concept of "retro is cool" and that its aging base likes to be reminded of times gone by.
The Mountain Dew can design hearkens back to the hillbilly themed designs of the 1960's. Pepsi chose to go back 30 years to the same red, white and blue cans it sold during its 1980 hey days (remember the Cindy Crawford campaign?)
The two rumors swirling are that 1). Quaker Oats is retiring the cereal icon and 2). the "leak" of the retirement was a publicity stunt generated by a social media "strategist."
"Reports of Cap'n Crunch's demise are greatly exaggerated," Quaker said in a statement to Ad Age. "In fact, we just launched an official Facebook page for Cap'n Crunch. Now that our Cap'n Crunch brand is in the social-media space, our adult consumers can stay up to date on all things Cap'n Crunch."
Well, true or not, rumors of the Cap'n Crunch retirement party have given the PepsiCo unit a platform to toot the Cap'n's horn.
Some say the story of the decommissioning of the Cap'n started in an article noting that he does not appear on Quaker's main website. Then, someone (A Fox News blog) took that story and suggested that First Lady Michelle Obama's anti-obesity campaign "may explain why the Cap'n is less visible than he was in years past."
Then, rumors of a "full digital-guerrilla style" social media campaign began swirling. It appears that a boutique social-media agency called Giant Steps pitched the idea of a "Where's the Cap'n?" campaign which included "missing" posters. That quickly evolved into a full-blown "Retirement of Cap'n Crunch is a publicity stunt."
As the saying goes: be careful who you assign to manage your reputation--because your reputation is everything.
This could be considered wise counsel to the folks at Chrysler who handed over their Twitter account to a social media agency called New Media Strategies.
It seems that the agency let an employee tweet for Chrysler (mistake #1).
The employee, for whatever reason, thought it wise to drop the F-bomb onto Chrysler's account yesterday (misstake #2).
In quick response, Chrysler promptly fired the agency today, by not renewing its contract with the agency (smart move #1).
Congratulations to Chrysler for taking back the keys to their brand reputation.
Here's the Tweet: "I find it ironic that Detroit is known as the #motorcity and yet no one here knows how to fucking drive."
NMS fired the employee, but not before they tarnished both the reputation of Chrysler and the agency itself.
The agency's CEO, Peter Snyder posted on his company's website: "New Media Strategies regrets this unfortunate incident. It certainly doesn't accurately reflect the overall high-quality work we have produced for Chrysler. We respect their decision and will work with them to ensure an effective transition of this business going forward."
The statement seems to not acknowledge what a social media agency should know: an "accurate reflection" can be an oxymoron in a world where perception is everything.
Clients and agencies need to watch who they hand-over the keys to their brand reputation. Many agencies work under financial models which require them to hire low-paid, inexperienced talent to handle front-line work for their clients, such as media relations, and social media. The failure of this model is realized when the client or agency discovers that by doing so, they've handed-over one of their most valuable assets--their reputation, to someone unqualified to know how easily they could destroy a company.
Remember, people listen to the words that a little bird can tweet in their ear.
Marketers are often asked to turn lemons into lemonade--i.e. take an also-ran, or even lesser-than-the-competition product, and find a market for sales.
An off-beat example of this comes from the North Carolia Zoo, which elected to adopt a mascot to promote clean rivers. The assignment seemed direct enough--use an endangered animal, "humanize" it as a mascot, and hold it up to explain to children and adults why clean rivers are important.
So where's the "lemon" in this scenario?
Well, you see the animal that was selected to represent North Carolina's rivers is the Slimy Snot Otter.
You heard me right.
The Slimy Snot Otter, also known as a "hellbender" is a giant, slimy salamander who lives under big rocks at the bottom of streams in the Ozark and Appalachian mountains. Snot otters have been declining in the wild, for reasons that scientists don't really understand.
They're nocturnal (scary), mud-colored (ugly), prehistoric amphibians (unrelatable) and look a bit like 2-foot long eels with stubby noses (gross). Fisherman often kill the creatures on sight--simply because of their appearance.
And the piece de resistance? They have toxic skin secretions (i.e. they're slimy). The good news is that as long as you don't eat them, you're fine.
The critter--which one could call a "spokescritter," is a marketing head-scratcher.
How does one market a giant salamander that oozes a slightly toxic slime on T-shirts, educational posters, sock puppets and Christmas ornaments?
You promote the novelty of the most unlikely mascot--ever.
Decades ago, the University of California at Irvine selected an anteeater as its mascot--it is the geekiest of concepts, but it works BECAUSE of its geekiness.
The marketing team at the North Carolina Zoo is embracing the snot otter going full-steam ahead to popularize its geeky/gross mascot.
It has developed a costumed character--Snotty, a big-tailed lizard look-alike with brown skin, beady eyes and stubby teeth.
"There was really just one kid that was kind of scared of me," says Ben Stanley, 20, a student at Randolph Community College here who helped create the Snotty costume and wore it at the festival. "Most of the kids were just running all around me; one actually tried to pull my finger off."
Unfortnately, Snotty's appearances at the zoo are limited to areas where real animals can't see him, so as not to "freak them out."
You see, it seems that kids love Snotty, but real animals, and some fisherman, get freaked out by his presence.
Marketers, like kids, are drawn to the snot otter. Apparently, students in an advertising and graphic design class have pitched the zoo on options for the snot otter branding campaign.
The director of retail for the zoo's shops, was particularly taken by a T-shirt design that, against all odds, made the hellbender look like a superhero. She hopes to have the shirts in stock soon. And, the director of conservation education, picked a series of studet-designed posters with the slogan, "Ugly's Only Skin Deep." In one, a stylized hellbender poses with a panda mask perched on its head. Another features a snot otter wrapped in a pink baby blanket.
You see, marketers really know how to make lemonade from even the slimmiest, snottiest lemon.
Levi Strauss & Co.has a new global Chief Marketing Officer.
Rebecca Van Dyck was most recently with Apple, leading global marketing campaigns for the iPhone and iPad.
Before Apple, she spent a dozen years at ad agency Wieden + Kennedy where she worked on Nike's "Just Do It" advertising campaign.
As global CMO of the Levi's brand, Van Dyck will be responsible for the development and implementation of fully integrated marketing strategies across all of the Levi's brand's product categories and consumer communication channels.
"Becca is a world-class marketer whose deep understanding of consumer behavior and innovative approach to engaging with consumers will help take the Levi's brand to the next level," said Robert Hanson, president of the global Levi's brand. "Her proven success in creating and managing consistent and disciplined marketing experiences across diverse geographies and cultures will be a tremendous asset."
Bringing a little Apple-culture into Levi's sounds like a good plan. The iconic but somewhat tarnished brand sells products through a combination of chain retailers, department stores, online sites, and franchised and company-owned stores. If a little bit of of Apple's retail strategy, mixed with their dedication to customer-delivery could be brought to Levi's--that would be a good thing.
Hoping to continue gobbling up the growing Indie-business sector, Apple has just announced the launch of small business consulting services.
As more and more small and emerging businesses set-up shop with the cadre of Apple products--from the iPhone and iPad to the new MacBook Pro, Apple wants to service them the way they service individuals--with personal, in-person care.
The one-on-one, on-demand in-store service of the Genius Bar and Apple Care have helped Apple's retail strategy be a model of personal care, with a strong brand building halo effect.
The new business program is called "Joint Venture."
Teams pay a set-fee (concierge-style) for on-demand set-up/device configuration, training and info-tech support. Genius Bar support via in-person or phone is included.
Expanding their retail-strategy, Joint Venture the Apple Store network as a small-business's home base for help and training, although Apple is setting up a dedicated Joint Venture web environment for customers as well.
Seems like a smart plan to expand their retail strategy--the melding of online conveinience and high-touch in-store care.
Disney Parks continues their "Disney Dream Portrait" series with images from photographer Annie Leibovitz. The campaign was started four years ago, but this is the first new work since 2009 according to the Disney Parks blog. The headline in each of the ads reads: “Where magic speaks, even when you’re not the fairest of them all.”
The campaign features popular celebrities cast as famous Disney Characters.
From “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” Olivia Wilde is cast as the Evil Queen and Alec Baldwin as the spirit of the magic mirror. Penelope Cruz and Jeff Bridges appear as characters from “Beauty and the Beast,” and, Queen Latifah is Ursula from “The Little Mermaid.”
The campaign will be featured in a special insert in the April issues of O – The Oprah Magazine, People En Español, Real Simple, Essence, and InStyle as well as the March 28 issue of People.
We are moving quickly to a self-serve retail culture.
Grocery stores are adding more and more self-check-out lines. Vending machines now sell iPods, bathing suits, gold coins, sunglasses and razors. Flight attendants no longer ask for your drink order--you just press a touch-screen display to ask for a Coke. Online retail is growing and growing. And, of course, ATM's changed the way we do banking.
It is a seismic shift with an inevidable outcome.
If a job can be handled strictly as a "transaction" (i.e. product selection and delivery), automated retail is an effective and growingly accepted interaction for both retailer and customer.
However, if the translation needs a personal touch--solicited advice, a comforting voice that you're making the right buying decision, or customization of an order or return--live customer service may be required, and embraced by consumers.
The consumer is becoming more in control of his/her brand interaction. And those retailers who embrace the concept of consumer advocacy, and return to the concept of "the customer is always right" may be the only one's left standing in the shopping mall.
Yes, that's right. I believe that retail shop clerks, bank tellers and even gas station attendants will need to be re-trained as customer service advocates in order to compete in the 21st century. Clerks jobs will no longer be to handle the transaction, but to handle the customer.
For decades, American retailers have slacked in hiring clerks as customer service agents. We have all been frustrated by the clerk who "didn't seem to give a darn" about who we were. My favorite response from a clerk when I say "thank you" after a transaction is "not a problem."
OF COURSE it's not a problem--it is your job.
Southwest Airlines is a shining example of training their flight attendants to be customer-service focused. They've reaped the rewards for decades. The fast food chain "In N Out Burger" is another example. Their employees are trained and encouraged to ensure customers are happy. I worked at Disneyland all through college. 15 minutes out of every hour on my shift was spent (as a requirement) to go around and answer guest questions, and give directions. Zappos built a Billion-dollar business around high-value customer service.
The retail sector employs nearly 1 in 10 Americans. With shipping and warehousing workers being replaced by robots that can process packages more efficiently than humans, and kiosks and self-service machines reducing the need for checkout clerks--it is time for American workers to re-train themselves as customer-service gurus, and American businesses to embrace this new function in their workforce.
Automation expert Martin Ford, who notes that low-skill retail jobs have become the employment of last resort for many Americans. Now it appears that even those positions could become less plentiful. "We have a service economy, and the service sector is starting to automate," Ford said. "We've seen that technology does destroy jobs in those sectors."
Helpful, knowledgeable, VALUABLE retail clerks may be the savior to stagnant unemployment if more and more companies believe that their brand's differentiator--and their ultimate survival, relies on well-trained customer service advocates (and agents) in their ranks.
The days of the "transactional" clerk is dead. Long-live the customer-advocate clerk.
MTV's controversial show "Skins" appears to be losing the battle with advertisers, and unless the audience speaks up, they may lose the war.
"Skins" which depicts teens dealing with sex and drugs, has been shedding advertisers. Clearasil and Red Bull were noticeably absent from this week's episode of "Skins" after having appeared in previous weeks.
Other advertisers including Taco Bell, L'Oreal, Schick, Subway, H&R Block, and General Motors abandoned the show following vocal commentary, a drop in ratings, and threats of boycotts from conservative "family" groups.
It seems that the only counter-offensive to save the show is a popular uprising. Meaning, if the show can demonstrate a large, vocal and loyal audience base, the program may come out a winner, and advertisers might return.
Another of MTV's controversial shows, Jersey Shore, won over the angry protestors due to its popularity. As soon as ratings soared, and the PR machine exploded, the cries of "Racist," "too much sex and drinking" and "Anti-Italian-American" faded off into the distance.
So far, MTV has not seen the same mass adoption for "Skins" that "Jersey Shore" has enjoyed. While the show launched with 3.3 million viewers, that number has dwindled to fewer than 1 million the last two weeks.
Skins has been labeled as "the most dangerous show" on television for children by the Parents Television Council. The PTC has also called for investigations into charges the show's young actors are involved in child pornography and exploitations.
Taco Bell is being sued over the contents of its taco beef filling. A California woman alleges that the tacos are made mostly of filler.
In response, Taco Bell will begin airing television commercials, radio spots and other ads using testimonials from franchisees and employees. In one ad, an employee says, "Our seasoned beef is 88% premium ground beef and 12% signature recipe. If you want to see that signature recipe, go to tacobell.com. It's right there."
Taco Bell is also offering customers a discount on their Crunchwrap Supreme--priced at 88 cents, down from its normal price of $2.39.
The paid media campaign is an extension of the effort started on YouTube and Facebook.
Taco Bell used social media to test its efforts, and are now ready to expand to paid media. "We're pleased that according to our research, the customers who saw these responses have reacted favorably. However, there are still many people who haven't heard our beef quality facts," David Ovens, Taco Bell's Chief Marketing Officer, said in a company announcement.
