Archive for the ‘Connection’ Category

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T-Mobile, McDonald’s Make Memories

Wednesday, May 13th, 2009

I am happy to report that two of the biggest traditional interruptive advertisers are finally getting it. This week I discovered incredible examples of how T-Mobile and McDonald’s are launching marketing that creates meaningful experiences for their target consumers. Both examples happen to take place in London; here’s hoping that their model spreads both geographically and habitually.

Over on our Marketing with Meaning community space on LinkedIn (where 367 people and counting have joined despite little promotion), Jonathan Levy shared a video of T-Mobile’s recent event in Trafalgar Square. The brand distributed 2,000 microphones, and more than 13,000 people joined to sing The Beatles’ ballad, “Hey Jude,” together. Here’s what it looked like:

This event is part of a campaign from T-Mobile called “Life’s for Sharing,” which brand representative Lysa Hardy calls, “…something that’s unexpected, wonderful, and exciting that you want to share with your friends and family.” The surprise sing-along was aired for the first time on the TV show Britain’s Got Talent last Sunday. This campaign execution follows a few months after the brand filmed a commercial in which dozens of improv dancers spontaneously appeared and performed at a Tube station in London.

After enjoying a special moment in Trafalgar Square, locals and tourists might have ventured over to Piccadilly Circus to take a picture with an entertaining digital sign from McDonald’s. No, it wasn’t another high-tech tool for ordering a Big Mac from your cell phone. Video describes it better than words:


Find more videos like this on AdGabber

Both the T-Mobile and McDonald’s examples are clearly examples of Marketing with Meaning. More specifically, they fall under what I refer to in my upcoming book as Branded Experiences. What I love about both of these campaigns is that they deliver on what the brands hope to stand for in their target consumers’ hearts and minds. T-Mobile recognizes that mobile phones are used in a very emotional way by people who want to enjoy and share life together. The McDonald’s vision statement is to make every customer smile. Instead of continuing to show us commercials that tell a story of some other people (actors) enjoying life and smiling, the brands finally understand that they have the ability to make special moments happen for consumers—through the marketing itself.

One similar example that I share in my book is that of De Beers and its “When Forever Began” event in New York City in December 2008. The brand created a romantic stage in Madison Square Park and offered kissing couples the chance to be photographed with a 360-degree camera. Instead of more staged actors and TV ad copy, this time De Beers enabled couples to experience and remember a very special moment together. The brand created real moments—through the marketing itself.

There are some downsides to both of these branded experiences. First, there were a few comments on the T-Mobile sing-along that suggested the enjoyment of the event was weakened by the fact that it was organized by and for a brand. This cheapened a special human experience for some people.

Another complaint could be that both programs are difficult to scale up to replace the millions of eyeballs that are lost when TV or print dollars are shifted to expensive events. After all, how many people were in London on April 30? How many Big Mac buyers will get to Piccadilly Circus this summer? There’s no easy answer to this complaint, but I believe such events can be very effective. First, they generate a significant amount of sharing through photos on personal networks—in effect breaking through the clutter with a trusted endorsement. The YouTube video above already has more than 200,000 views, and imagine the PR coverage that comes from taking over a global city like this. Second, I believe it can succeed by winning lifetime loyalty from a core group of consumers, rather than spreading interruption across millions of eyeballs and hoping some tiny percentage actually buys your brand (only because they were unconsciously seeded).

So here’s something to think about over the weekend: How is your marketing creating special, personal moments for your target consumers? Needless to say, 30 seconds of a canned message times a few million pairs of eyeballs won’t cut it.

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Posted in Connection, Experience, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Shopping: The Next Killer Social Media App

Friday, May 1st, 2009

If your brand or your client sells anything using the Internet, you need to put down the BlackBerry and start working on a recommendation to build social media tools into the purchase process. I can’t overwhelm you with case studies and ROI models yet, but the forces of e-commerce and human habits are combining to make digital/social shopping a killer app. Act now before your competitor steals the spotlight and market shares.

Let me break down why this gets me excited enough to push a recommendation at you: First, people love to shop together. Many female friends, couples, and even a few bromances get together regularly to hit the stores to find deals and get second opinions together in the physical world. Second, more and more shopping is done online, but people lose the chance to have fun and get help from friends in this way. But digital social media tools are bringing friends together virtually, and people are using them to keep in touch with more people more often. Digital + Social Shopping (needing a better buzz word, btw) puts it all together. And when marketers get into the act of encouraging these meaningful connections, they have a high chance of closing the sale.

I’ve heard this trend called “social commerce,” a blend of social media and e-commerce, but so far this phrase has been used mainly by companies such as Bazaarvoice that enable product reviews. What I’m talking about is deeper than just getting help from people; it’s specifically around enrolling your trusted friends in the live-ish shopping process itself.

Case studies: Of course, you need case studies to buy into this new world of buying. Check out these three:

Sears Prom Dresses + Facebook

I would argue that a very modest Facebook application for Sears last March was the best marketing use of this social networking service yet. The idea was pretty simple: Allow girls on Sears.com to share pictures of their favorite prom dresses out of 70 available on the site, and ask for feedback from their friends on Facebook. The beauty of this application is that it put the social network to work for the customer, creating a fun conversation and getting real help to a girl in need of a second, third, or 10th opinion. For Sears, this tool provided a meaningful way to attract customers to its stores, and it benefitted from the viral aspect of a girl virtually bringing several friends into the shopping process.

Vans Sneakers

Three Minds on Digital at Organic alerted me to a great example at Vans.com. The site is a custom shoe creation tool that includes a very simple option to email or SMS a photo of your proposed shoe with a short message to friends. For something “artsy” such as self-designed Vans shoes, a quick peek from a buddy can really help make sure your fashion statement doesn’t produce laughter.

Bob Gilbreath’s New Shoes

Yep, that’s me, your friendly blog writer, with a case study that’s actually an example how people will use these tools whether marketers are involved or not. Two weeks ago I was looking for some shoes to go with some new agency-wear summer shirts from Lucky Jeans that I bought online. In the office I was walking by three female friends in our Client Service organization who I know have good eyes for fashion. I was wearing one of my new shirts and stopped to ask for shoe advice. Within an hour Amanda emailed me four choices from Piperlime.com, with some comments. She cc’ed Andi and Tiffany, who added some comments on their preferences. That evening I took a look and clicked to buy a nice pair of brown Steve Madden shoes. Of course I had to upload a photo to my Facebook account (above) and share with my fashion outfitters, as well as the rest of my friend network. I’m now looking a little sharper, and everyone who was involved in the process had fun.

If fashion victims like me are going to use digital/social tools for shopping anyway, why isn’t your brand part of the solution? There is absolutely no reason for any e-commerce provider to ignore this opportunity to build social shopping and sharing into their existing e-stores. Tools such as ShareThis already make it easy, and if a customer is wavering, this could be an easy way to prevent shopping carts from being left idle. Meanwhile, the chance to essentially place a free ad in front of trusted friends is simply wonderful.

What’s next is that these digital social networks will come into the store, thanks to better smart phones and mobile access. Take a quick picture of yourself in the dressing-room mirror and upload it to a handful of trusted consultants or even millions of strangers. Smart stores will find ways to make this more fun and useful.

So, e-marketers, please embrace social media to aid the shopping process. We customers need the help, and you surely could use the extra sales.

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Posted in Connection, Social Networking, ecommerce | 3 Comments »

Social Media for Auto Sales

Monday, April 20th, 2009

Last week I drove the 90 miles from Cincinnati to Lexington, Kentucky, to present Marketing with Meaning to the local Ad Club. The lunch-and-learn session drew about 60 people in all.

During the Q&A session after my speech, one of the people in the audience asked me how her company, a local BMW dealer, might better use social media. I answered her on the fly but wanted to explore the question here as a way to show how to start strategically, rather than jumping on the bandwagon of what’s hot today.

For the exercise I’ll use a simplified version of the step-by-step model that comprises Part Two of my upcoming book. Let’s assume that the BMW dealer has a gut instinct and interest in social media but is looking to test the rationale and do it the right way. Also let me make it clear that I have never had a car dealership as a client and did not conduct extensive research solely for this blog post. So please take this as a guts-and-opinions strategy.

Step 1: Setting Business Objectives

A local BMW dealership could choose from many key business drivers across the purchase funnel, from Awareness to Consideration to Purchase to Repeat business. Let’s leave Awareness and Consideration out of the picture, as I believe most people who arrive at the dealership already have narrowed down their choices based on national marketing from BMW and word of mouth from friends. I also believe it’s difficult to focus on the point of purchase at the dealer level, as people increasingly come armed with facts and look at the dealer conversation as if they are entering a battle. I believe improving Repeat is probably the single biggest business opportunity for a BMW car dealership. People are increasingly drawn to lease deals, which means they are shopping for a new car in less than three years after purchase. For buyers, there is also a large opportunity to benefit from revenue through maintenance and aftermarket add-ons. Let’s classify all of this as Repeat revenue and focus our efforts here.

Step 2: Uncovering the Insight

Here we work to understand the question of why people do or do not return to their previous dealership when it is time to buy a new car. In theory, people should almost always go back to their last salesperson; after all, each car brand increasingly has a wide variety of models and prices, and many dealerships sell multiple car brands. I believe one of the reasons this is more rare than expected is that car buyers often suffer from buyer’s remorse. In such a large purchase, which is intense and stressful, they tend to feel like they didn’t get the best deal after the sale was done. High-pressure tactics by sales and finance people don’t help, of course.

Based on my personal experience, this could be solved if salespeople could develop personal relationships with their customers. Salespeople of big-ticket items such as luxury cars should treat each completed sale like the start of the next sale, and work to cultivate a personal connection that will last for years. There is nothing as powerful as relationships in life. They create trust, loyalty, and mutual benefit. In the agency business, we have a saying: “Clients don’t fire their friends.” What that means is that if you have a good relationship with your client, they will feel more comfortable giving you the feedback you need to improve when they are unhappy, rather than picking up the phone and ending the relationship. The same goes for cars, thus our key insight: Personal relationships with the salesperson are the key to Repeat.

Step 3: Developing Meaningful Ideas

It is certainly not a new approach for salespeople to try to build personal relationships with their customers. I remember a salesperson at Macy’s who used to call me when there was a sale on suits at her store, for example. But developing relationships can be difficult. They are long-term investments at a time when short-term sales pressure is always high. Writing letters and making phone calls to each individual contact also can be extremely time-consuming, and when done tend to be focused on making the next sale. Personal relationships need some space to talk weather, sports, and family.

But new technology is allowing people to build stronger relationships with more people. This is where Facebook can play a huge role. The tool helps people create, maintain, and strengthen personal relationships. We can log in at any time and see what our broad network of connections is doing, and with a few clicks and words we can “touch” them and strengthen the bonds. And in the business world, Facebook is helping people share a little bit about who they are and how they tick. By understanding who we are as people, versus just clients or sales guys, we become closer.

So my suggestion is for car dealerships to encourage their salespeople to become active on Facebook and use it to build personal relationships with their customers. At the close of each sale, the salesperson should ask the customer to connect on Facebook. The pitch should be that it is a great way to keep in contact and allow for follow-up service questions. Once connected, the salesperson should use the service to “touch” the customer every few weeks. This doesn’t mean continually pitching the weekly oil-change special, but rather even adding things such as a quick comment on an uploaded photo, or a line that reads, “Did you get to drive your 5 Series in the great weather this weekend?” Not every customer will be on the service yet, which is actually a good thing to allow for some time to become comfortable and efficient.

Step 4: Measuring Meaning and Business Results

I believe that marketing should be measured both for its impact on customers’ lives as well as the bottom line. In terms of measuring meaning, this idea would be successful if customers are accepting salespeople as Facebook friends and responding positively to the “touches” that are made. Any outreach from customer to salesperson is a big win, as are referrals from customers’ friends. These are all numbers that can be clearly observed, tracked, and compared across individuals.

Business impact is simple to measure because we focused on a single core score, Repeat revenue, and because individual customer names are known and tracked. The dealership owner can track the specific number of maintenance appointments, follow-up sale rates, number of cars per household, and the overall price of each car.

Conclusion

I believe social media is an incredible tool that marketers are just now barely understanding and applying. One of the biggest barriers is the pressure to “go do something on Facebook or Twitter.” My hope for this post and the upcoming book is that you see how a strong business objective and insight can help your brand understand the opportunities for social media, and the right way to execute ideas and measure results.

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Posted in Connection, Uncategorized, customer service, small business | 3 Comments »

The Marketing Power of a Red Cap

Monday, April 13th, 2009

Perhaps one of the best case studies in social networking and meaningful marketing comes from a brand that has been around at least since 1703. This brand creates incredible followers in a true community of shared passions. And it does it without blogs, Facebook, or Twitter. Welcome to the story of red caps from Mount Gay Rum.

More than two years ago in an offsite with the executives of Bridge Worldwide, I first introduced my draft thinking on this Marketing with Meaning concept. I had assigned our small group to bring in examples of marketing that had a personally positive impact on their lives. My idea was for this to help spark the conversation around marketing that people choose to engage with, marketing that itself improves people’s lives. I best remember the example brought by our Chief Operating Officer, Michael Graham. Michael brought in a red hat branded with Mount Gay Rum, and he couldn’t wait to tell me its story.

Michael told us about how Mount Gay Rum has a long history with sailors. The brand was first launched in Barbados when a trip to the island was challenging, and ship captains would bring back barrels of Mount Gay as proud proof that they had successfully landed at the island. Since then, Mount Gay has continued to be closely associated with sailing events. It is a sponsor of more than 100 regattas each year. What’s special is that at these regattas, Mount Gay distributes its iconic red hats with the specific regatta name sewn under the logo. Only regatta participants get the hats, so it is a modern-day proof of sailors’ skills. Instead of another piece of marketing swag, these hats are prized trophies from a very special event. And they become collectors’ items for the recipients.

Michael also described how these hats become a kind of social networking trigger as well. Fellow sailors use the hats as a way to broadcast their common interest in public places. Sailors who see someone wearing one at the airport, beach, or baseball game will just walk up and start a conversation.

What’s interesting is that every sailor knows and repeats the story of Mount Gay Rum, so not only does this core group of high-income, passionate people stay incredibly loyal to the brand, but they become walking, talking ambassadors to the general population, many of whom are attracted to the story. A quick Google search brought me to a blog (captured above) where an identical story is told. And when I shared this story with a marketing class at Miami University last week, one of the students talked about how a friend she went with on spring break wore her Mount Gay hat and ended up meeting a dozen fellow sailors on the trip.

I believe these are the keys to take from Mount Gay Rum’s success:

1. Embrace your brand’s history and backstory – or create a brand with a story at its core.

2. Focus on a very specific, core customer group that shares a common passion.

3. Go beyond focus; be selective and exclusive.

4. Do something to encourage social connections among your target customers.

5. Don’t just sponsor; add some unique value to the event itself.

My final takeaways from Mount Gay are that this kind of marketing doesn’t take a giant ad budget or rely on the spread of new digital technology. Instead, it comes from standing for something and creating meaning in people’s lives. And don’t you dare buy one of those hats on eBay!

UPDATE: I got a great email from one of our readers, John Irving, who shared the following story:

This weekend, our community had a picnic to celebrate the return of Captain Richard Phillips from his ordeal with the pirates off Somalia.  (He lives about 2 miles from me in Vermont).  When I went up to shake his hand and congratulate him, I was wearing my red Mt Gay hat from a race from Havana years ago.  He looked up with a big smile and said ‘Nice hat, that’s my rum’.”

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Posted in Achievement, Connection, Experience, Social Networking | 5 Comments »

Local Nature Center Enlists Kids’ Help

Monday, April 6th, 2009

One of the things I love to do is prove to people that Marketing with Meaning is not limited solely to big brands with million-dollar budgets. It can be something that helps small businesses and even not-for-profits succeed in driving customer engagement and loyalty. Recently I witnessed an example of a small not-for-profit that is doing something unique and meaningful, and if this organization can do it, surely the big brands can get onboard.

The letter above from the nearby Cincinnati Nature Center arrived in our mail. On one side was a note addressed to my 8-year-old daughter, Grace, inviting her to attend a meeting to give her ideas for a natural playscape that will be created in the year ahead. On the back was a letter to parents that describes the natural playscape initiative and the purpose of the children’s involvement. This is the kind of direct mail that stands out in a sea of junk.

Of course Grace was thrilled, and at the dinner table that night she started coming up with ideas. She’s quite the “nature child”—reading books about plants and animals continuously and never being afraid to pick up bugs. Last year when a bee stung her, Grace ignored the pain and carefully helped the bee remove the stinger from her hand, knowing that if the stinger comes off, a bee will soon die.

Overall, this is a brilliant example of meaningful marketing: By enrolling the target audience (here, both parents and kids) into the process of building the “product,” people feel a deep, personal connection to the Cincinnati Nature Center. Whatever comes out of this session, everyone who is involved will feel a sense of ownership that lasts a very long time. The result is more visits, more word of mouth, and more donations of money and time when the requests come.

So why isn’t your brand building customer feedback into the product development process? No, I don’t mean traditional closed-door research in focus groups and surveys. I mean enrolling brand fans and openly asking them for advice and ideas. To paraphrase a few people, “Research is the new marketing”—as a call for input in a direct, public way can help brands gain valuable input while winning customers for life. Examples in the “big brand” world include the My Starbucks Idea program and the beta test of the video game Call of Duty 4.

I actually do know why your brand isn’t openly asking for input in the development stage; you’re worried about whether or not you can change to what they ask, your R&D team thinks it knows better, you fear that the competition will see what you’re doing and adjust accordingly, and you don’t know how to set up such a system. All are rational arguments, but the time has come to start breaking some of these rules. Today’s consumer knows better than you, and she expects to be involved in the brands that she loves best.

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Posted in Cause Related, Connection, Uncategorized, small business | 3 Comments »

An Idea from the Daddy Daughter Dance

Friday, March 6th, 2009

Like many fellow marketing-geek friends, I have a hard time disconnecting my brain from my day job when I’m outside of work and just having fun. Recently there was just such an occasion, when Jay, Michael, and I from Bridge Worldwide took our girls to the annual Daddy Daughter Dance in the Cincinnati suburb of Anderson. We had a blast with our little princesses, but we also came up with a few ideas that could lead to meaningful marketing and business results in our local area.

This annual Daddy Daughter Dance is a pretty big deal here in Anderson Township, a fairly large and higher-than-average income area. The dance is so popular that it actually is held on both a Friday and Saturday night in February each year. Many fathers who I know in the area attended on the Saturday we went. There had to be at least 250 couples in attendance. It was the first time attending for Jay, Michael, and I, as our girls are just now able to attend a later-night event such as this without melting down.

We had a wonderful time. My wife bought the girls corsages, and we met for dinner at a fancy restaurant nearby before the dance. The price of the event included a free photo (above), and a red carnation for the ladies as we left. We danced and had a blast, but I just couldn’t help thinking that many opportunities for marketers were left untouched.

Let’s start with the opportunity at hand. First, there are several relevant selling occasions wrapped around this annual dance; it’s the kind of event where parents open up their purses and wallets to make the experience as special as possible. The local Macy’s in the center of Anderson could benefit from clothing sales to both little girls and their fathers; the flower shops could see sales from corsages; the restaurants could benefit from hundreds of pre-dance diners; and limo services even could pick up some extra business.

Imagine what these businesses could do to add value and reap greater sales. Macy’s could set up a fashion show for mothers and daughters a few weekends before the event, and have dress consultants on hand to help them pick out a new outfit for the dance. Local restaurants could set up a special prix fixe meal served especially to get dancers in and out on schedule. I’m sure that a small sponsorship would allow the businesses access to the database of ticket purchasers for direct marketing—the kind of marketing that people would find extremely helpful and relevant.

Aside from incremental sales linked to the event, there are other benefits of creating meaningful marketing around this event. Because it is an annual tradition, it becomes less complex to prepare and plans can be made well in advance. And imagine the long-term loyalty that could result from adding value to this meaningful event. Whem Mom brings her daughter into Macy’s for a special event, she feels a tighter bond to the store, leading her to consciously and unconsciously choose this chain more often throughout the year.

So what’s the holdup? Why aren’t Macy’s, Olive Garden, and FTD lining up to get into events such as this? I think the biggest reason is that this means a major change in how these companies look at marketing. They are all raised to think in terms of TV ads and Sunday circulars. Local tie-ins such as these also take more human labor to set up at a time when head-count reduction is rampant.

Perhaps the current economic pressures will lead traditional marketers to try something new. In fact, local, meaningful event marketing such as this plays right into the hands of a company such as Macy’s. Its large, central locations and range of merchandise allow it to beat e-tailers and small specialty chains with such an approach.

We’ll be back at the Daddy Daughter Dance in 2010—and we’ll see if any marketers seize the opportunity by then.

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Posted in Connection, Experience | No Comments »

A Recipe for Brand Experience

Friday, February 27th, 2009

When marketers think about a “brand experience,” we often jump straight to a big, bold example, such as branded stores in Times Square or something like the Virgin Airlines on-plane fashion shows with Victoria’s Secret models. Frankly, such examples scare the heck out of a lot of marketers. We wonder how our meager brands can afford the large budgets and commitments required to create an experience. But tiny investments on smaller brands can create experiences that are just as meaningful and maybe even more profitable. This weekend a simple recipe provided me with a great example.

About three years ago our President, Jay, rewarded me and the rest of his C-level team with a membership to the St. Supery wine club. This moderate-sized winery in Napa Valley has a great range of high-quality wines. Jay had recently joined the wine club and wanted us to share his experience of cooking the featured recipe that is paired perfectly with each wine. He has kept us on the club for three years now, and while I’ve enjoyed the wine thoroughly, I have never actually cooked a featured recipe—until this weekend.

The latest wine shipment of a 2006 Malbec came with a recipe for wild mushroom risotto that sounded amazing. Combined with the fact that my wife and I had a subpar Valentine’s Day due to mutual illnesses, I figured it would be a good idea for me to do some cooking. I’m not a frequent chef, but I do enjoy rolling up my sleeves in the kitchen every once in a while. Cooking this risotto dish was a lot more work than I imagined—I frankly had no idea how risotto was made, and my arms got quite a workout as I got the rice to absorb 5 cups of beef stock in nearly 40 minutes of constant stirring!

We put the girls to bed and enjoyed the dish with a lovely salad, a date movie (Love Actually), and the bottle of St. Supery Malbec. The meal, wine, and movie were all great together, and for a few hours we forgot about our laundry list of chores and stresses.

Thus, St. Supery brought me more than a great wine: Its simple recipe unlocked an experience of cooking and enjoying a lovely meal with my wife. And I cannot wait for the next wine and recipe shipment. The cost was merely that of a simple, folded newsletter tucked into the shipment box.

I plan to spend more time thinking about how other brands (especially my clients) can similarly do simple things to build experiences like this. It also would be interesting to test what kind of brand loyalty results. My hypothesis would be that St. Supery club members who cook the recipes are far more likely to stay in the club and buy more wine for themselves, while encouraging others to join, too.

What can your brand do to stage an experience? It might be simpler than you think.

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Posted in Connection, Experience, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

A ‘Meaningful’ Super Bowl Postmortem

Monday, February 16th, 2009


It is the sworn duty of every agency thought leader to play Monday morning quarterback with the annual orgy of advertising known as the Super Bowl. Yeah, I’m a little late to the conversation, mainly because the whole “building the business” thing has sucked my time away. (But, hey—we pulled out a couple of new business wins!) My tardiness actually works to my advantage, as it allows some time for the Super Bowl marketing efforts to actually start showing postgame results in the market.
So, I present the Inaugural Marketing with Meaning Super Bowl Winners and Losers!
Let me begin by laying out a bit of the criteria for selection. First, just making an ad doesn’t count. I will leave that type of ranking to an agency I recently discovered called a&g, which has been running what it calls a “most meaningful” ranking for six years. a&g has a nice idea and good ranking criteria, but its focus is only on the ad itself, rather than a complete marketing campaign. The second requirement is that the marketing campaigns must fit with our twin definitions of meaningful marketing: (1) the work is something people choose to engage with; and (2) the marketing itself adds value to people’s lives. Enough with the rules; let’s play ball:
Winners
1. Denny’s—When people heard this fading diner chain was making a play for the Super Bowl, most people figured it was quite a Hail Mary. (Sports metaphors are fun!) But we never expected that the company would use its precious time to unleash an offer of free Grand Slam breakfasts on Tuesday, February 3. A campaign that cost $5 million (including $3 million to the single commercial) led to 2 million takers in 1,500 restaurants. CEO Nelson Marchioli felt the time was right to reintroduce people to Denny’s—and instead of spending money on more interruptive, over-promising TV ads, he gave something back and reaped great rewards. The $5 million generated $50 million in PR already, and Marchioli claims that with sales of drinks and other items they probably broke even on the day. Aside from great strategy, the company was prepared for its giveaway with extra wait staff and cooks.
2. Hyundai—The brand had two ad slots, and while one was a forgettable farce around how other auto CEOs are cursing the brand, the award goes to Hyundai for the promotion of its Assurance guarantee. This clever and beneficial marketing approach provides a service for wary customers by agreeing to take back bought or leased cars in the event that the household has an unexpected financial issue: losing one’s job. I blogged about this a few weeks ago, and shared that Hyundai claims the results are strong. It’s not a funny ad and falls near the bottom of popularity polls, but by sharing truly original news of a meaningful marketing program, Hyundai has a good chance of winning market share and greater profits—while its buyers receive some extra security in these troubled times.
3. Doritos—It’s hard to believe that a brand could win both in most popular and place high in my meaningful ranking, but they really scored with this ad. The ad itself is just one leg of a now third annual consumer-generated marketing contest. For months, people have been engaged in creating and voting on videos, because the brand learned in 2005 that its young consumers love to create content and make brands their own. The output is a little juvenile, but people take it as lighthearted fun and marvel that it was created by a couple of guys with a handful of dollars.
Losers
1. Go Daddy—Everyone is having a field day hating on this brand, which continues to think that the Janet Jackson episode is still relevant humor. One might argue that the ad is meaningful to some small slice of guys, who ended up scooping up the most domain names. But the reality is that the game’s audience is much broader, and, as a&g remarks, “These days, men are as likely to be offended by ads that disrespect women.” As a father of two young daughters, I agree wholeheartedly. Enough. And Danica Patrick isn’t helping her image, either.
2. Gatorade—”What is G?” Most people really don’t care to research an advertising tagline. I wrote about this campaign a few weeks ago here. Some brands and agencies still believe that a new advertising campaign will create news and turn around share—especially if you toss in enough celebrities. But the only real news this is generating is speculation about what the heck the brand is thinking. The ad itself fell near the bottom of the popularity list. Meanwhile, Gatorade misses a huge opportunity to follow Nike’s lead and actually create events such as the Nike Women’s Marathon and Nike+ service, both of which are great examples of the brand helping people actually achieve something.
3. Any other brand that just ran an ad—It is remarkable to me that after countless case studies of brands who used an ad to start a conversation or service, so many still spend 99 percent of their time and budget on this single 30-second spot. Brands that might have won a smile or two amid so many distractions, yet failed to really capitalize, include: Budweiser, Castrol, Cheetos, CareerBuilder, Pepsi, Vizio, and H&R Block.
Special Note: Pedigree vs. Kellogg’s
A few posts ago I commented on Pedigree’s move to join the list of Super Bowl ad entries on behalf of its campaign to drive dog adoption. My point was that after amazingly meaningful marketing around this cause, Pedigree took a giant step back with a funny ad that fails to connect emotionally, and fails to do more than tell people at the end to “get a dog.” Some commenters said I was too tough on the brand and that the humor might have tugged people.
To those who think you cannot win with emotion on the Super Bowl around a cause, I direct you to Kellogg’s, which used the time to launch a campaign for rebuilding sports fields in communities around the country. The ad informs of the idea, while pulling the heartstrings of everyone who remembers those days of biking to the park and playing until our mothers called for us. But what’s really meaningful is that the ad directs viewers to get involved at frostedflakes.com. There, visitors actually can nominate and vote for a specific local park to be funded. The competition will spread over several weeks, and when you vote, Kellogg’s provides a downloadable $1-off coupon.
Congratulations to Kellogg’s, Denny’s, Doritos, and Hyundai for using the spotlight of our industry to show stellar examples of Marketing with Meaning!

UPDATE: Here’s another very good post-mortem with consistent themes from Joseph Jaffe.

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Posted in Achievement, Cause Related, Connection, Contests, Marketing Without Meaning, Solution | 3 Comments »

Burger King Strikes Gold Again

Thursday, January 22nd, 2009

In our upcoming book version of Marketing with Meaning, one of the companies that I feature early is Burger King. Since its acquisition in 2002, Burger King has reinvented itself as an entertainment brand that appeals deeply to young men, while making many of the rest of us smile as well. From reinventing the King character to producing branded Xbox games and branded boxers (my 8-year-old daughter just looked over my shoulder and added that one) to playing the Whopper Freakout prank, Burger King continues to parade new ways for us to be entertained and to form meaningful connections with the brand.

The latest chapter in its story is the launch of the Whopper Sacrifice Facebook tool, in support of its limited-time Angry Whopper. The premise was pretty simple: “Unfriend” 10 people on your Facebook account, and Burger King promised to send you a coupon for a free Whopper (a $3.99 value). The application and offer launched on January 5, and news stories claimed that more than 200,000 people had been unfriended successfully within a week.

I discovered the application on January 8—and I’m a little embarrassed to say that I successfully did the deeds necessary to receive a free coupon. Little did I know that I would be one of the last to cash in on friendship. Facebook quickly stepped in and claimed that Burger King should disable the feature that showed others which friends had been sacrificed. Burger King decided to pull the plug but not before another big burst of media attention came to the promotion.

Overall, this had to be a huge win for Burger King: two bursts of media coverage, lots of social network activity, and traffic to stores from people eager to cash in their coupons. The cost had to be tiny: Facebook applications are fairly low cost (even for a nice one such as BK’s), and I would estimate about 20,000 coupons were sent, of which maybe 10,000 will be redeemed. That’s probably in the ballpark of $150,000 all-in, a fraction of what a large weekend TV media buy would be.

On a side note, I was extremely impressed that Burger King sent the coupon to my home exactly a week after I finished sacrificing. Most brands promise coupons in six to eight weeks, and don’t get me started on Dr Pepper’s goof-up.

But is it meaningful to consumers? Of course it is! Tens of thousands of people chose to engage in the tool, and they didn’t have to purchase anything to enjoy it. The coupon and opportunity to clean out some Facebook dead weight are extra benefits. There likely is some net negative karma around the friends who are dropped, but that’s life, and we have a handful of Facebook friends who don’t need to see what’s going on in our lives. This even might start a real conversation and some social norms about what kind of Facebook relationships are legitimate. Oh, and Burger King is capitalizing on its bad karma with the opportunity to send an “Angry Gram” to those who de-friended you.

I cannot wait to see what comes next from Burger King. Odds are that it will break the rules, surprise us all, and be worth talking about at the watercooler each day. You can’t say the same thing for McDonald’s.

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Posted in Connection, Entertainment | 6 Comments »

Lining Airport Security with Meaning

Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008

(Today is the first of two guest posts by Ryan Kolbe, one of our star Client Service Managers who is helping cover for me over the holidays. In this first post, Ryan actually disagrees with something I wrote about Zappos airport security-bin ads a few months ago. But that’s OK; meaning can lie in the eye of the beholder, and I think we need some good, healthy debate about the Marketing with Meaning concept in order for it to succeed.)

 

 

I am one of the countless numbers of people who are annoyed with the current use of “traditional” marketing tactics. Traditional advertising is becoming less meaningful to consumers, and it’s more mental clutter than anything else. Marketing with Meaning is something that will be able to help reverse these tactics with time, but unfortunately, we’re not at rock bottom yet. All companies haven’t latched onto the idea of making advertising more meaningful so that people want to see and interact with it. Where else could it go?

Someday, toothpastes may have microchips in them so that after you brush, the advertising changes on digital posters you walk by throughout the day, congratulating you on brushing, and giving you a secret code to get buy one floss and get one free. How about paper towels that reveal hidden coupons for more paper towels after cleaning up the mess on the dinner table? What about lightbulbs that send off a “bat signal” message before they burn out, prompting you to buy more? Where will it end? Companies need to be trendsetters and reverse the downward spiral of traditional “push” marketing—enter Marketing with Meaning.

A great example of Marketing with Meaning presented itself to me on the way home from a quick trip to Denver. In the age of “current threat levels” and miniature toothpastes, the reality of traveling these days is much different than in the past. Gone are the days of getting to the airport an hour in advance, gallivanting around the terminal for coffee, and finally ending up going through the sleepy line of security to make it to your plane as they are beginning to call for boarding passes. People have come to understand that they will be waiting in lines and are planning accordingly more and more.

As is customary nowadays, the lines were horrendous. There were eight open lanes, each having about 20 people in them, and a thousand of my closest friends behind me. Without hesitation, based on prior airport visits, I started to de-security-risk myself. I took off my coat, hat, scarf, belt, watch, sunglasses, iPod, phone, and boots. By the time I was done with all of that, balancing everything precariously in between someone resembling my grandmother and a teenager with a skateboard, I was at the point where I could put my belongings into the plastic security bins to send them all through the X-ray machine, only to put them back on after passing through successfully.

I took out two bins: one for my shoes and the “extras,” and one for my coat, and I came to find some Marketing with Meaning waiting for me in the base of the bins. Two different ads from Zappos.com were lining the bins, directing me to “place shoes here” and “buy shoes here” with the website address, and in the other bin telling me that they “sell almost everything [I'll] put in this tray” with the Zappos.com link again.

At first I was annoyed, as my Pavlovian reaction to marketing where I’m not expecting it immediately took hold. But then I sat there for a minute and took in what they were accomplishing with these bin liners. As a traveler, I could have been in any kind of mood at that moment: I could have been happy because I was going home, annoyed that I was delayed again, tired because of lack of sleep, or whatever. Zappos.com realized that in their marketing, and played to the fact that the people who are waiting in line will not have their shoes on, and they will see the website.

At that point, people could see their shoes and think, “Wow, I could use a new pair; those have really seen better days,” or “Man, my feet are tired from all of this standing around,” or any number of other things, and then Zappos.com was on the mind. At the other side of security, that person could whip out a Web-enabled phone or laptop, browse Zappos.com’s selection, and maybe even purchase right there when waiting for a flight. Ahh, the relief of a new pair of shoes waiting at home after a trip—could it get any easier?

So what? The fact that I wasn’t expecting to see the ad in the base of the bin ended up grabbing my attention rather than deterring it. Coupling that with the fact that it didn’t interrupt my day made the marketing meaningful: I was in line already, I needed to put my shoes in the bin, and it added some color and thought into a monotonous, sometimes annoying task. If I didn’t already use Zappos.com, I would have remembered that ad and looked on the site the next time I needed new shoes or even to pass the time when I was waiting for my flight. Meaningful marketing doesn’t have to be interruptive, and it adds that much more when it flows with my day-to-day. Understanding that mindset will help companies learn to work with consumers, rather than pushing marketing onto those who aren’t as receptive.

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Posted in Buzz, Connection, Outdoor | 1 Comment »

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