Last night after work I went to the 39th Annual Twin Cities Auto Show -- by choice. I love going to the auto show and looking at all the cars. My love for cars comes to a surprise to most people that know me, except for those who experienced my Hot Wheels years. When I was younger my father and I would play a game where we had to name each car that went by and boy, did that make road trips to Ohio seem a lot faster. To car lovers like me the car show is a candy store (only much more expensive)!
Being surrounded by $15,000,000 worth of vehicles was so fun. Every car was new, shining, clean, and had that wonderful new car scent. Spokespeople for each dealership were dressed to the nines; women in dresses and heals and men in business attire. All-in-all it was a classy event.
With good comes bad, however, and one dealership's marketing was not fitting for the auto show. Kia Motors had "Kia Karaoke" going on the entire time I was at the show. In Kia's section there was a stage set up in which visitors were called onto stage, dressed in obnoxious outfits, and singing loudly. It came to the point where I and others had to walk to the other side of the convention in order to escape the off-key voices.
I am not saying karaoke can't be good marketing, but there is a time and a place. This year's auto show was neither of these. At a high-energy event this would have fit in perfectly. However, the auto show draws families and couples seriously shopping, car junkies drooling over the engines displayed, and others just there to look and dream. No one is there to be loud and party. The key to a good campaign is to think of your audience. A great idea can go to the pits if not presented at the right time or place. Similar to what my fellow employee, Shelly, explained in yesterday's blog, lots of thought needs to go into a campaign as to who your target audience is, what their preferences are, and the way you want them to respond.
Of course the misfit karaoke didn't ruin people's nights. With so many cars to explore that would be extremely difficult. My personal highlights from the night are:
Seeing the Fisker Karma, which was admired by all at the event
Sitting in a Range Rover
Seeing old classic cars
Sitting in my dream Audi convertible (shown below).
We've all been there. The pieces of what will eventually become a very practical and European looking bookshelf are laying on your living room floor. There is a bag of bolts or screws or whatever-you-call-'ems (washers?) somewhere in the box and a crumpled instruction sheet in your right hand. Just a few simple steps and you'll be rearranging your book collection before lunch, right? Wrong.
Despite our best intentions, sometimes IKEA's "assembly required" is synonymous with "just give up." Well the giant home products retailer has taken a new direction to help us with the assembly process. IKEA USA has started a new YouTube playlist called "How To Build." It is a welcome relief to the common complaint of confusing manuals and construction. The playlist includes a video with step-by-step instructions about putting together a piece of furniture from their store. It's short and sweet and a great visual representation of how to assemble an IKEA product. For now there is only one video in the playlist, but as such a great resource there is sure to be more.
Why is this such a smart marketing move? IKEA has gone where their customers are. With more people using smartphones and tablets, online video use is at an all-time high. Not only does this "How To Build" playlist provide visual instruction for frustrated viewers, it targets them in their element. This is important for any marketer to understand and keep track of. Where do your consumers hang out online? What sites do they turn to for help? How can your brand reach out to your customer and make life simpler for them? IKEA did a good job of listening to their customers and providing them with a relevant and helpful service.
Here is their video on how to build a "MALM" bed frame:
Every analyst and blogger on the planet knows that Research in Motion, and its Blackberry brand, is in trouble.
The degree of those troubles run the gamut from RIM simply being in need of a marketing change to the company circling the drain. Hiring a new CEO didn't help matters, after his claim that RIM "doesn't need drastic change."
And while I don't believe RIM is on the verge of extinction, given their immense popularity overseas and in the corporate sector, I do agree that they need to reevaluate the direction they're headed. But change for the sake of change isn't the answer either.
Just minutes after RIM posted an infographic featuring these superheroes on its blog, the insults and criticism began to rain down on Blackberry's ill-fated cartoon design.
Before you begin questioning why a company whose strength lies in the business sector is going with a campaign aimed at a demographic that is most likely too young to even own a smartphone, I'll point out that RIM announced the following day that this cartoon superhero design isn't part of the official campaign.
That being said, a few days before this animated disaster, RIM launched a Twitter-based campaign under a #BeBold hashtag. Unfortunately for them, that hashtag was quickly hijacked and turned into a stream of anti-Blackberry jabs.
The lesson here is clear. If you don't want an unofficial design associated with an official campaign, then don't use the same verbage for both. Naturally, consumers (and critics) will make that mental link.
Furthermore, if your company is under a lot of scrutiny and in flux with its marketing, you can't have these half-hearted efforts to reach consumers.
Despite these blunders, I still think there is hope for RIM, but they need to take their own advice and be bold in 2012.
The launch of the iPhone 4s was destined to attract media attention. How did companies like Otterbox and Gazelle.com take advantage of the Apple iPhone 4s hype? Join Steve as he breaks down the "street-level" marketing companies used to promote their product.
The following is a post by Rob Beachy, Axiom's Market Research Expert. Research with Rob is a weekly series of posts about the role of social media and technology in market research.
Today’s smart phones can find the cheapest gas and direct you there, or provide a network of opinions and facts previously unavailable except at point of sale. The social media on the internet is a lifeline and treasure trove of consumer satisfaction and purchase decisions.
How does your company research these purchase decisions? A focus group? An online survey? And where in that process do I need to focus my marketing communications, advertising or education to increase awareness and sales?
David C. Edelman’s article Branding in the Digital Age rethinks the traditional “consumer decision journey” and provides good insight into the impact of the internet and social media on marketing.
Where should you be focusing your marketing dollars? At the point in the decision process where it is most effective and economical.
Finding that point is where research comes in. Automobiles are different from major appliances, or personal care products, or hand tools or housewares. Only through market research can you clearly identify the decision process paths to effectively place your message and promote your brand.
The most effective way is an ethnographic approach finding out, over an extended period, the nuance of the purchase decision paths by product type. A specialized yet simple to complete Ethnolytix™ questionnaire is emailed to each participant. It takes 2 or more (depending on the product of service) weeks to track their decision paths, document and verify their paths and all for a lot less than the cost of focus groups. The key issue and variable is “time,” to ensure completeness and factual feedback. Unlike a focus group or on line survey, we do not force the decision but allow the customer time to discover the decision paths they actually use. For more information call us at 612-861-6171.
A while back, I wrote a post regarding how monetization was an ambiguous area, and while ambiguity seems like a negative thing, it’s reaping handsome rewards as an unsaid associate term of social media.
What do I mean by that exactly? The term social media has yet to really be defined (Honestly, ask any person and each will give you a different answer as to what social media is), so a lot of PR/marketing type folks are charging an arm and a leg simply for comment moderation, hashtag set-ups on Twitter, and my personal favorite—editorial calendars for blogs. The selling point: brand engagement. Engagement. Ah-- music to a client’s ears that has been trying to integrate social media ever since BlendTec increased sales 700%.
While a need to develop social media 101 kits for internal communication purposes is certainly legitimate, I think these add-ons (such as the ones mentioned above) are really just a way to a guaranteed long-term retainer with the client. The advantage is knowing enough, because it’s impossible to know it all due to social media’s continuing evolution, and that's a good thing for cash flow.
Funny enough—people do claim to know it all. We call them social media “experts,” and in my opinion, they’re overrated and they overcharge. Social media isn’t black and white like ad equivalency rates; there is a multitude of ways to measure, to define measurement, and to put a price tag to it. Fortunately, clients waver on the higher side when integrated, and that’s a good thing for PR/marketing agency revenue.
Overcharging isn’t anything new to building investment estimates. It happens ALL the time, BUT I’d say that social media experts are indeed the biggest perpetrators of this.
What companies can do to avoid social media overcharge
Assign one person internally to social media comprehension, integration practices, and overall research.
Read social media blogs by leading interactive and emerging media contributors that offer up wisdom against social media experts, such as Amber Naslund, Jason Baer, or Sarah Evans.
Investigate the person who’s pitching you their understanding of social media. If you visit their self-titled Website and their Web bio says “expert”…. RUN.
Set up a month-by-month project pay and base compensation on the results. After all, the focus is not engagement, but engagement that leads to click-throughs, positive commentary, and increased Web sales or those earthly cash register rings.
What do you think of social media ambiguity? What are some other ways companies can avoid pitfalls or ambiguity traps set by experts?
If you’re like most people on Twitter, you revel in awe over those tweeps who have 10,000+ followers; and if you’re a newby, you’re just in awe over a cool 200. Now that you’ve seen a whole slew of celebrities’ impact on Twitter, the jealousy comes in the form of gawking at 100,000 or more. Are you tired yet?
Honestly, I ask, what is the point of all this tweeting?! Celebrities don’t have to tweet; they just produce because of the viewer and envious masses. And when they do actually tweet, like @mrskutcher—look out world, a fail whale will now commence in the form of 10,000 or so @ replies. I do have to hand it to non-celebrities, though. How do you all do it? Is the label of ‘Twitter whore’ appropriate (where incessant tweeting gives you a guaranteed maximum of followers per day)? Or is it the fact that you build community over multiple platforms such as blogs, Facebook, Ning and you use Twitter as leverage? I’d say the latter. If you’re a smaller outfit like us, you’re just simply not big enough to keep up on all the shared links, gossip, and people to follow on Friday. So how does your organization manage tweeting?
Here are some methods that have worked for the @AxiomPR account:
Offering 5-10 good tweets a day. By good, I mean juicy stuff. The stuff that is a hot topic on Twitter, such as #SusanBoyle, #twoonday, and like one Twitterer mentioned—the iPhone. That is followers-guaranteed.
RT-ing tweets that have substance, and by that I mean the tweets that many have already RT-ed and you just have to get in on the action. Sometimes you’ll get a “thanks for the RT!” and when you’ve received that from a person who has 10,000 followers—you’re definitely in.
An entire eight-hour day devoted to tweeting. That’s right. We stop all of our work and devote our time to reaching the almighty 100,000 followers of influence, where DMs count up in mass numbers and there are so many @ replies, we start seeing the Ctrl 2 symbol appear on our foreheads…
Now if you haven’t figured it out already, this is all a big joke, BUT… so many PR and marketing agencies are coming up with strategies like these for small business clients and beyond. The problem with strategizing Twitter involvement is that it’s entirely built upon contrived interaction—a deadly way to conduct any social media venture, in fact.
While your followers may not see your strategy, you certainly do… and it stinks. If you really care about using Twitter appropriately, you’ll hold to this “Twisdom”: Do what comes naturally. And don’t worry about being a Twelebrity. If you’ve driven one consumer to your product Web site and it resulted in trial or purchase, that’s far better than having 100,000 fans of your jovial tweets, which is no way substantiate your reason for being on Twitter in the first place.
"Eat at Java Street Cafe and pay what you think is a fair price." This creates a story and experience that people will share with their friends. It's innovative, unique, simple, and has the marketing built right in.
It's spreadable.
What kind of story are you telling? Are you creating products and services with the marketing built in, or are you creating confusing or frustrating stories that never take off?
An unknown group of people has hit the streets, spray painting walls and surfaces with taglines from the comic strip and soon-to-be movie Watchman (opening tonight in theaters). It is unknown whether these rogue marketers were hired by the movie studio or are just big fans of the graphic novel, but one thing is clear - it is an effective strategy for promoting the movie.
Immersive marketing is marketing that doesn't simply shove a product in front of us with advertising, but rather invites us to be part of a story that becomes something we talk about and spread to others. By creating an experience that is unique and stimulating, this type of approach reaches to people in an unobtrusive way and invites them to interact naturally (LOST has done this very well). People want to share experiences and stories (and pictures of Watchman graffiti on social networks), so developing strategies around immersive marketing is a smart way to go.
First, Pepsi analyzed their past logos, deconstructing them into shapes and studying the reoccurring patterns. This part seemed pretty straightforward and made sense for deciding where to take the design next.
Next they overlapped the circle patterns to determine what a new logo should look like also taking into consideration the evolution of bottle shapes and how that affects design.
Section C is where thing started to really get interesting. Titled "Towards Innovation: Projecting Pepsi's Future, Applying Universal Laws to Establish a Blueprint for the Brand," this section dug into natural laws such as ratio, proportion, scale, and even gravitational pull of the earth to calculate factors that should be considered for the redesign.
Apparently by studying the Earth's "naturally occurring electric generator in fluid motion that sustains the Earth's magnetic field" the redesign team was able to determine the best way to align the new Pepsi logo curves of blue and red.
After looking through these diagrams, things really moved from scientific to ridiculous for me. Earth's magnetic fields and angles of the light from stars determining the logo for a sugar water beverage?
I believe the aim of this document was to get people talking and to cause people to write about the absurdity of it (looks like they succeeded in getting me to help them). I can't help but believe that at least a good chunk of this document was pure tongue-in-cheek and humor. I could be wrong. What do you think? Scientific or sham?
Season 5 of LOST starts tomorrow Wednesday, January 21 on ABC. I am excited. There are many reasons LOST has a cult-like following - brilliant writing, a diverse cast that so many people can relate to, a complex mythology, a bit of luck, and of course, cool marketing. The ABC team has done a great job to promote LOST and their work has paid off.
1. Listen to fans. LOST is known for its close interaction with its fan base. Have a question for the executive producers? Head on over to the ABC LOST message boards and ask. If its a good question they will probably talk about it on their weekly podcast. There have been a few times when a fan question actually lead the writers to better clarify something in the show. Every year, the LOST team also attends ComicCon, a multi-day fan convention in California to interact with their fan base.
Are you interacting with your fans? They have a lot they want to say and listening could make your product or company feel more like a community.
2. Use marketing to enhance the story. Instead of just putting a campaign together that tells when the show is on, every year the LOST marketers create new ways to enhance the story. One of the first marketing campaigns was a book that was "written" by a passenger of the plane that crashed on the show (you know that guy who got sucked into the jet engine in the pilot epsisode? Yeah, that guy). The book contains vague clues and reference to the world of LOST. The marketers also have launched several fake websites for the different companies in the show (Oceanic Airlines, Hanso Foundation, Dharma Initiative) and interactive experiences that were built to make the show bigger and more real. These campaigns add to the experience of the show, making it feel real and alive.
What kind of stories are you telling? Chris Brogan had a good post recently about using stories to spread ideas. Instead of simply throwing your product out there, give people a reason to want to share it. Experiences impact us far longer than all of the advertisements we have become so used to filtering all day. People share experiences with each other, not advertisements.
3. Reward fans for digging. Not everyone is going to spend hours on all the extras that come with the show LOST, but some will. Since the storyline LOST is so surrounded by mystery and questions, the writers and marketers know that the fans will search for answers. This past summer, fans of LOST were able to participate in the interactive online simulation called DharmaWantsYou.com (which kicked off at the ComicCon conference, shown above) in which a fictional scientific research company from the show recruited new members to help them out. While everyone knows the company does not actually exist, the experience was run as if it were. Each week a set of tests and games came out and if participants scored well enough, they would gain access to exclusive content from the show. LOST fans spend hours online digging into the game and discussing. Another cool project the LOST creators came up with were the LOST puzzles. Not only were the puzzles fun to put together (who doesn't like a puzzle?), but there was more. If you put all 4 puzzles together and flipped them over, there was a secret image only visible with a black light. For those willing to take it even a step further, the image also contained several sets of codes that could only be translated using a specific book that was referenced in the show. When translated the clues revealed more secret insight into the show. There are a lot of LOST fans are very devoted to solving the mysteries of the island and regularly discuss theories behind the show.
Are you giving your customers any reasons to invest more time in your product? People like to be rewarded when they invest more time into the product or brand that they love. If you can create a product with no end to the rewards gained from digging, you will hook people and create zealous brand evangelists.
Many are still afraid of social media. There are a lot of terms and ideas floating around that confuse people and can even make them panic. I want to start the new year off right by proposing an idea that sounds pretty simple:
The goal of social media marketing is the same as traditional media marketing - to spread ideas through word of mouth.
When working in the social media world (obviously not all social media should be used for marketing), the aim is to get people to talk about your product or brand. Facebook, Twitter, blogs, and other social media platforms allow people to share ideas quickly. People talk about their interests and hobbies, which often include brands and products. Using social media for marketing aims to tap into the rich veins of discussion that will produce buzz and excitement around a brand.
The tools may be different, but most of the goals are very much the same:
Make a great (good is not good) product that can stand on its own without spin that satisfies a consumer need.
Customers will get excited and tell their friends about the product.
Marketing can help, but real success comes through viral word of mouth a.k.a. the best and most desired form of marketing.
Yes, I am trying to simplify social media a bit for those still gripping to understand. Good ideas spread. Goal of social media marketing = word of mouth. Is this too simplified?
A new viral campaign for Saw 5 has prompted at least a few phone calls to police. The campaign lets you send a personalized voice message to anyone you want.
As long as it is used appropriately, I think this is a pretty smart marketing idea. The only problem they will run into is if people abuse it and end up harassing people.
From the article: "The Manchester rockers announced they would unveil a handful of tracks from their forthcoming album by having street musicians perform them. The songs will be from their highly anticipated album Dig Out Your Soul, which is released in America on 7 October."
Why MarketingProfs? Solely because it is the only marketing application in the app store. It carries with it some insightful articles as well as some articles with obvious advice.
MarketingProfs has articles broken up into 8 categories:
- Latest - Hottest - Inspiration - B2B Marketing - New Media - Email Marketing - Buyer Insight - Small Biz
It is definitely worth downloading if you are in the marketing field. It is a free app so you don't have much excuse not to...
The results of a large scale study were released today making a strong connection between musical tastes and personality traits. The study, conducted by Professor Adrian North of Heriot-Watt University, studied over 36,000 people from all over the world, looking at the details of what your music tastes reveal about your personality.
This study offers infinite data and ideas for marketers. What kinds of music fans would fit well with your product? Does your product cater better to hard workers, creative minds, or introverts? With the growing connections that can be made with people on the internet, companies now have the opportunity to go online and better analyze their demographics, reach out to new potential customers, and build a more loyal fan base for a product and service. This study could prove to be another tool for how marketers look at their advertising and outreach efforts - are you reaching the correct demographic?
AMC's show about an advertising agency set in the '60s, Mad Men, has been causing a commotion on Twitter. Three of the characters have accounts on Twitter and have been giving updates. The thing is, AMC didn't create those accounts and doesn't know who did.
AMC got worried that someone was representing characters on their show and was concerned about what they might published. AMC then filed a DMCA takedown notice of the Twitter accounts.
It is my belief that AMC definitely jumped the gun and panicked with the Twitter accounts. Why they took it down: they couldn't control the message. Why they should have never taken it down: free publicity. They eventually restored the Twitter accounts with some convincing from their marketing team. Interesting side note - by ordering the suspension of the Twitter accounts and then reinstating them, Mad Men has received a lot more publicity than if the Twitter accounts were left alone.
One of the blogs I read on a weekly basis changed its name today. It went from "The Origin of Brands Blog" to "Ries' Pieces." Why the change? Who cares about a blog name anyways? Laura Ries covers these questions in-depth here.
It is rare to see an industry professional admit a branding mistake, but she confesses that she picked the wrong blog name and stuck with it for four years. She gives a few good examples of how brand names matter and how change can be difficult, but often times for the better.
Most Tweeps (twitter users) already know this tool/site, but I thought I would comment on it for those who don't.
Summize is a great search tool for tracking conversations that are taking place on twitter. On the home page, it lists the most searched topics and lets you view the conversations taking place. This can be an incredibly valuable tool for marketers looking to engage in dialogue with the consumer.
Recently it is purchased by Google, so I'm assuming that can only help with accurate search results.
