Connection – Marketing with Meaning

Archive for the ‘Connection’ Category

Teaming Up for Mutual Experiences

Wednesday, November 26th, 2008

As I was putting together material for our upcoming book, I came across several examples of two brands working together to create a mutual experience that benefits both equities, and especially their joint customers. One example I ran across while staying at my regular W Hotel in NYC (541 Lexington) is the above offer for a free ride in an Acura MDX. I didn’t have time to take a ride, but I saw another great example of Marketing with Meaning.

This is a clear example of a win-win-win for all three parties. W Hotels gets to offer another service under its umbrella brand of “Whatever/Whenever,” which itself is a great way to differentiate their hotels from the many choices business travelers have around the world. And this comes at zero cost to the hotel chain. Acura gets a chance to connect with W Hotel customers, likely the kind of young, higher-income crowd that is in the sweet spot for its vehicles. These people can be difficult to reach with traditional, interruptive ads. And a free ride is a great chance to let prospects sample the vehicle in a low-pressure way.

Of course, let’s not forget the benefit to the customer. He or she gets a free ride in a cozy car by a considerate driver who knows his way around town. The customer also feels appreciated, and may feel a little like a big shot or movie star. This is a meaningful experience for the customer that connects her closer to both the W Hotel and Acura brands.

I have run across a few other examples of diverse brands hooking up to build mutually valuable experiences. A while back I wrote about Honda and Mattel hooking up for a special-edition Hot Wheels collectible car. There’s the Nike/Apple join-up with the Nike+ system. I read recently about the story behind how Fox and 7-Eleven partnered to create a dozen branded Kwik-E-Marts to support last year’s The Simpsons Movie. And I also recently came across the story of how Victoria’s Secret put on a fashion show last year in the aisle of Virgin Airways. (Check out the photos below for a glimpse of these diverse experiences.)

These experiential tie-ins seem to work best when the brands share both a common target customer and brand equity elements. The Simpsons and 7-Eleven both target 18-34 Men, for example. But they also take corporate organizations that are willing to give up some control and ownership to the other side. It’s a great exercise to conduct for your own brand: Think about other relevant brands in your customer’s life and consider the synergies that lie around a partnership, and then pick up the BlackBerry and reach out. Chances are there will be another marketer out there similarly looking for ideas to something new and meaningful.

Tags: Connection, Experience, Partnership
Posted in Connection, Experience, Partnership | No Comments »

Liberty Mutual Takes a Bold Risk

Tuesday, November 11th, 2008

In the past couple of years, auto insurance has sprung into a position as one of the noisiest advertising categories in the world. Whether it’s the Geico cavemen or All State State Farm at the MLB All-Star Game, there’s apparently a lot of money to be made by getting in front of our eyeballs to talk insurance rates. But an underdog success story is forming around Liberty Mutual, which has moved its marketing approach to meaning and is starting to reap some powerful returns.

Thanks to David Hessekiel at the Cause Marketing Forum, I found the video interview below with Liberty Mutual’s Senior VP of Communications, Steven Sullivan. Sullivan tells an impressive story of Liberty Mutual’s strategy for increasing its share of the profitable auto insurance market, from a position as a smaller player with smaller budget.

What I found most fascinating was that Liberty Mutual and its new advertising agency, Hill-Holliday, started to build its strategy by looking within. They gravitated to the company’s mission statement, which ended with the line: “helping people live safer, more secure lives.” They then interviewed employees to understand what they felt was special about Liberty Mutual. This research led to a strong overall belief that, “at the end of the day, we do the right thing.”

Liberty Mutual saw a connection between its employees and the customers it most coveted. The connection was a shared belief in the importance of personal responsibility. However, the team realized that just another 30-second ad would not be enough….

How do you really make something like that tangible? How do you connect with people in a way that’s not just another claim from a big insurance company that people are going to disbelieve?” (Steven Sullivan, Senior VP of Communications, Liberty Mutual)

The marketing team’s solution was to use television and print ads to build awareness of the importance of personal responsibility, and then drive them to engage and discuss the issues with others. The hub of this deeper engagement has been a website called The Responsibility Project, which includes video stories of personal choices around responsibility. And Liberty Mutual poses engaging debate questions on popular news sites – for example, asking if government should be responsible for regulating trans fats in restaurants.

While many brands claim that their consumers wish to engage in a dialogue, Sullivan has proof. Within months of its campaign launch, the company received more than 3,000 requests thanking them for promoting this message and asking for copies of the commercials that they could share in schools and churches. One man who doesn’t drive even sent in a $20 donation to the “cause.”

This Liberty Mutual campaign hits on what we label as “achievement” in the realm of meaningful marketing. It is the highest form of meaning in that it has the potential to actually help people improve their lives, their family, and the world. The company is continuing its success and deepening its impact; for example, it has partnered with NBC to develop two made-for-TV movies that will promote the theme of personal responsibility.

And at the end of the day, this campaign seems to be a significant business builder. Liberty Mutual’s premium revenue in auto insurance is up 17.4% to $3.6 billion in the most recent six months, in part due to “strong customer retention and new business growth.” The added benefit is that by bonding with people who believe in personal responsibility, they are keeping and attracting the most profitable customers – the ones who take personal responsibility for not getting into auto accidents in the first place! Sure enough, the six-month numbers show that auto liability losses are down.

Our goal is to get people to say that Liberty Mutual shares my values and I’m going to get my insurance from them.” (Steven Sullivan, Senior VP of Communications, Liberty Mutual)

I also believe there is a strong long-term benefit to be seen in Marketing with Meaning and this specific example. While Geico might be remembered fondly for years for its cute cavemen and gecko, Liberty Mutual has a chance of deeply linking in our minds as a company that stands for something uniquely important to our lives and society overall.

Tags: insurance, service, values
Posted in Achievement, Connection | No Comments »

Proof of the Power of Personalization

Thursday, November 6th, 2008

Once in a while I bring up a topic that is such a no-brainer that it almost writes itself. This is one of those occasions. From the headline you likely got it right away: People absolutely love to personalize the products and services they buy. The overall concept hits on both sides of the brain. The rational, left side believes that there is a perfect package of features that will maximize the utility of a given purchase. Meanwhile, the right side loves to create something and show it off to others. More and more marketers have discovered the power of product personalization across one or both of these lines, and they are discovering that such meaningful marketing leads to great sales results.

Let’s start with M&Ms, a brand that has been in the personalization game for some time now, and was recently featured in a 3-minute Ad Age video. It’s a pretty simple concept: Let people go onto a website and create a personalized message to print onto their M&Ms candy. After starting in 2005 with simple messages of a few words, the company’s manufacturing process now allows faces, sports logos, and pretty much anything a customer can imagine. In other words, M&Ms helps people make more out of special occasions and personal passions. The result is a value-added experience that connects people deeply to the M&Ms brand. When people create a bowl of M&Ms with their wedding date on it, or buy a package of M&Ms with the Phillies 2008 World Series logo, they are creating a permanent bond with the brand that drives loyalty beyond reason.

People want to express themselves more and identify themselves more… and a brand like M&Ms can really enable that and evolve that.” (Ryan Bowling, PR Manager, Mars North America)

But the business benefits of personalization are just as powerful as the customer payoff. The candy itself returns a huge margin. One 7 oz. pack of Kyle Busch-themed candy sells for $12.99, which runs to $38.97 (plus shipping) in the three-bag minimum. Compare that to less than a dollar for regular M&Ms at the checkout lane. Personalized products also enjoy a strong word-of-mouth factor, as people often give these as gifts or can’t wait to show off their creations to friends and family. In the Ad Age video, Ryan Bowling, PR Manager for Mars North America, describes some of the other key marketing benefits of the program:

“Opened up new partnerships and allowed the company to reinvest in its manufacturing systems”
Led to a similar initiative with Dove bars called “My Dove“—which specializes in chocolate for weddings
Finally, he credits the program with: “Nothing less than revitalizing the brand.”

More and more companies are getting the message that personalized products represent a model of meaningful marketing and strong business results. Per my left brain/right brain comment above, product personalization seems to work best in categories where people have specific tastes (food and otherwise) that they want to get just right and/or where they can show off their creativity to others. Here are some of my favorites:

NIKEiD—This maximizes both logic and emotion by offering up the chance to pick the perfect shoe fit and a range of colors and styles. Nike continues to evolve this business and marketing machine with experiments in mobile and even a Times Square billboard.

Jones Soda—Add your photo and choose your flavor, and for only $29.99 per 12-pack (plus shipping), you can have your personalized Jones concoction.

Pringles Pop Art—I’m proud to say that we just launched this tool a few weeks ago at Bridge Worldwide. The Pringles can is iconic and with this simple tool you can create a new label, print it, and tape it on. With barely any media support so far, we’ve had thousands of people create and share personal labels. I’m amazed that: (1) people are already creating holiday versions; and (2) one of the senior Pringles leaders has already created eight cans! You can check out and vote for mine here (a remembrance of Pringles inventor Fred Baur, who was buried in a Pringles can this year):

LEGO Factory—Use special software to design whatever you come up with, then upload the design, and order the LEGO kit needed to make it a reality. Happy kids and high profits.

Heinz—The new labels are funny, but you can come up with a better one on your own, right? My only ding on this program is that there is some pretty heavy editing for trademarks.

Scion—The Gen-Y brand from Toyota came to market built around the idea of personalization. Car lovers continually tune their cars after purchase, so why not allow personalization off the assembly line? They have built on this theme of personalization with Scion Speak, a tool that lets you create your own coat of arms.

Of course, personalization hasn’t worked for every brand. I recall Millstone coffee offering a personalized-blend product several years ago through Yahoo! stores. It did a great job of asking questions about your taste preferences, and then made a personalized blend of beans under the name of your choosing. The plug was pulled on Millstone, however, as owner P&G discovered that the high-maintenance packing process was not paying out. I do wonder if the company could have figured out a success model by staying in the game over time. This also might have given Millstone a stronger competitive position in the marketplace.

Despite a few challenge and brands that have no right to play here, product personalization offers huge prospects for meaningful marketing and business success. If you are not at least experimenting here, your brand—and its most loyal customers—are missing out.

Tags: Connection, heinz, jones, lego, m&ms, Nike, personalize, Pringles
Posted in Connection, Personalization | 9 Comments »

Lucky Charms to Sell Jeans

Monday, October 13th, 2008

Can a little thing like branded buttons sell jeans? The other day I received the propaganda above in an order of clothing from Lucky jeans. The buttons came loose in the shipping box, and I later found the fortune in the right front pocket of my new denim. It got me wondering about the strategy behind these little tokens. There has to be some reason the brand invests the money and time to produce and distribute them, right? I believe the answer is yes—and it’s another neat example of meaningful marketing.

One of the platforms of Marketing With Meaning is what we call Connections. A brand can make meaningful connections when it provides entertainment or an experience. Like the philosophy best described in the book The Experience Economy, the products and marketing are mere props that contribute to a personal experience. These experiences more deeply “connect” us to the brand and drive loyalty beyond reason.

Lucky is a brand in a category that has the best chance of winning by building meaningful connections. Let’s face it, jeans are jeans. Sure, some fit and look better or are made with higher quality materials, but there is no real intellectual property to protect style, color, or material (sorry, Levi’s). So jean makers have embraced branding to set themselves apart. Since around 1979 when Brooke Shields introduced the world to her Calvins, the brand of jeans we wear has come to stand for who we are; and while the physical products are basically the same, a wide variety of brands have risen in recent years, each fighting to connect with a niche of consumers.

I personally discovered Lucky in San Francisco a little over two years ago. My wife and I were enjoying our 10-year anniversary there and took advantage of the time without kids and work to do some shopping. She mentioned to me that Lucky was known for having great experts in fitting—a key need for a 6’3″ guy like me. The first thing I noticed on the first pair I tried on was the catchphrase “Lucky You” sewn into the inside of the fly. It made me smile, and I later discovered that this was a very controversial decision by the cofounders in 1990. I had a great shopping experience and picked up a couple of pairs.

Since then I’ve been happy with the fit and wear of my Lucky jeans. But I have also come to feel that they are my brand. It is a brand that fits both my body and my personality. So it was a no-brainer to head to Lucky.com recently when it was time to update the wardrobe. I came for a pair of jeans, but ended up buying a few retro t-shirts at a ridiculously high price. I got the shirts because I felt like broadcasting my Lucky personality to the world. The little surprises in the form of these buttons and the pocket fortune further solidified my passion for the brand.

Lucky isn’t the only brand that invests in showing such a connection to fans. Perhaps the best player in this area is Apple. For years, Apple has included window stickers of its logo in new computers and iPods. And, sure enough, we have seen the sticker everywhere from cars to notebooks to bedrooms.

Years ago I tried to include some similar brand propaganda when I launched Mr. Clean AutoDry Car Wash. After studying guys and cars for years, I was convinced that we needed to invest in making Mr. Clean a cult brand for, well, car guys. We did several new-to-P&G things at the time to encourage this, like giving devices to online discussion group moderators and going to car shows. I really wanted to include a Mr. Clean sticker in each Starter Kit package. I knew that “Tuners” love to place stickers of their favorite brands on their cars, and I figured that by including a sticker we could encourage cult status. Alas, it was something I just couldn’t convince my organization to spring for. Our costs were already a little over budget, and it was hard to guarantee that a 1-cent sticker would pay out.

I couldn’t show the ROI on a Mr. Clean sticker, and I’m sure that the marketing departments of Lucky and Apple can’t either. As marketers we sometimes need to go with our guts and invest in little things that build connections between brands and the people who buy into them.

Tags: Apple, Connection, jeans, Lucky
Posted in Connection | 3 Comments »

YouTube Breaks Its Mold

Monday, September 29th, 2008

“Best page takeover ever!”

“This is an idea that I would have said, ‘It will never work!’”

“One of the most brilliant pieces of digital marketing I have ever seen.”

These are just a few of the quotes I heard from friends who forwarded me a link to YouTube’s viral video takeover in support of Nintendo’s new game, Wario Land. Check it out here and then return to this blog for further analysis….

Pretty cool, huh? Let’s delve into the Meaning and Marketing benefits.

In terms of Meaning, you have to start with the fact that Nintendo selected a media platform that is entirely dedicated to consumer engagement. People viewed nearly 5 billion videos on YouTube alone in July 2008. People choose to go to YouTube mainly for bite-sized entertainment during their day. They are looking for entertainment, and the medium is successful in part because it does not force viewers to sit through interruptive commercials. Thus, the only way for marketers to win in this channel is to create entertainment that people find valuable. And we can easily measure the consumer value – and to a certain extent the business impact – of YouTube creative by counting the number of views of brand videos. Dove’s Evolution video has more than 10 million views combined, but this controversial Snickers ad only has about 400,000 views. You can’t buy YouTube viewers – rather, you’ve got to create work that people find worth watching.

To date, YouTube has been mainly used by marketers to host viral videos and consumer generated video contests. But this Nintendo work breaks the mold and shows great promise for the marketing on this still-new channel. Many viewers likely come to the page initially because of an interest in video games, the Wii and the Mario series specifically. But all are rewarded with a surprising, fun concept that is executed flawlessly.

We cannot see the business impact for sure, but it looks promising so far. In terms of number of views, on Wednesday, 9/24, the site had 500,000 views, and a day later it was at 1.1 million. The ad unit iself is generating free press coverage. Game marketing is a lot like movie marketing – the initial buzz and opening sales are critical to long-term success. We’ll have to track how it performs, but this is a great head start.

My one negative comment on this example is that I don’t think it’s scalable. It works as a one-hit wonder for Nintendo, but will the next YouTube takeover be as surprising or fun? And imagine the work it takes the YouTube team to both dream up this idea and execute it on their system. When you have to make a cool creative idea every time (rather than just sell mass eyeballs), it becomes a lot harder for both YouTube to sell and clients to buy.

That said, I feel more bullish on YouTube as a digital marketing professional, and I feel that both the Nintendo AND YouTube brands have provided a special experience for me. Bring on the next one, guys.

Tags: Games, nintendo, video, youtube
Posted in Connection, Entertainment, Games | 1 Comment »

How Kotex Won in Israel

Wednesday, August 27th, 2008

The other day I had the opportunity to connect with an old friend who had just returned from a four-year ex-pat assignment in Israel. I was sharing what we’ve been doing with challenger brand clients here in the U.S., and he related a story about how the Kotex brand came into Israel with an all-digital program – and kicked butt. But not only was the Kotex approach all-digital; I found it to be all-meaningful as well.

The story of Kotex in Israel is nicely found on the Effie Award website, where the campaign won the Grand Effie in Israel in 2008. Let me summarize the story through the meaningful marketing lens:

Business Situation

The Israeli feminine care market has seen heavy competition over the years, and has been dominated by P&G’s Always brand with a 58% share and significant product innovations. Kotex entered the market with a fairly traditional marketing program and me-too product in 2004. Not surprisingly, it struggled to secure a 14.5% share after three years and heavy investment.

Marketing Objective

Eventually Kotex decided that it had to do something different. The brand chose to specifically hone in on teenage girls (ages 12 to 15). This is a wise choice, as these girls are coming into the category with a clean slate of brand awareness, but starting to make a lifetime of brand choices. Win their loyalty early, and there is a very long upside. In Israel this was also a relatively untapped approach, as the competition “focused on product innovation for older women.”

Meaningful Marketing

In approaching teens, Kotex first decided that digital is the most meaningful medium to use to touch this audience. This is a great example of how brands should make media choices not just based on what secures the most eyeballs, but rather based on where there is the biggest opportunity to drive true engagement. A few days ago I hit on this topic, using the story of how content that a brand creates can be much more important than getting the right context of advertising interruption.

Kotex’s second major decision was to build a digital creative platform around a virtual girl named Kita. The brand realized that teen girls still like to play and are using safe online environments to explore and grow socially. Kita was first introduced in an unbranded way through a blog, website, and original music. In further phases, girls could edit her music video, dress her, and communicate with her via IM. Other tactics continued to add meaning, for example, online request sampling and product information and advice.

Results

The Kotex brand enjoyed huge success from this program. In terms of consumer engagement (the key measure of meaning), the site has had 500,000 visitors since August 2007, and more than 65,000 girls signed up for the sample kit. Those are pretty big numbers considering that there are only 230,000 teen girls in Israel.

And the business results closely followed consumer engagement. Kotex market share grew by 34% overall. The specific Kotex Young line at the focus of this campaign saw 81% positive purchase intent, and it now represents 23% of Kotex total sales (versus the goal of 10%).

Finally, Kotex is using this approach in new market launches around the world. Kita is coming to Turkey, Russia, and South Africa, with others likely on the way.

A few weeks ago I wrote about how in new media like mobile, we are seeing “Leapfrog Marketing” – as advertising approaches in these new technologies skip the “interruption” phase and get right into “meaning” from the start. Similarly, Kimberly-Clark realized that it would have to leapfrog its established competitor by going straight into digital+meaning. It’s a lesson that makes sense for challenger brands everywhere – and a warning for market leaders that have still failed to adjust their approach.

Tags: Challenger, Kimberly-Clark, Kotex, leapfrog, teens
Posted in Challenger Brand, Connection | No Comments »

Serving Up Meaning in Bite Sizes

Wednesday, August 6th, 2008

In Monday’s post I mentioned that Marketing with Meaning can apply to any business, not just the large brands with multimillion-dollar marketing budgets. I shared an example of a book publisher that is uniquely connecting with its target readers. Today I wanted to share how even local restaurants can win by directing a targeted campaign using a single insight about its target market – at a very low cost.

To simplify a core part of our Marketing with Meaning model: Companies must begin by establishing a business objective they hope to reach. Once this specific business objective is set, the company then can put more focused thinking around how they can do something meaningful for customers that helps achieve the business objective. With these focused customer insights, they are then able to start crafting strategies and creative ideas around meaningful marketing.

In the restaurant business, a common business objective is to drive loyalty and visits from existing customers. Most of us know that in nearly every business, 80% of profits come from the 20% of loyal customers. My friends in the restaurant business tell me this holds for their industry as well. Their challenge is that there are many, many dining options for people to choose from, and any number of them can provide a similarly pleasing experience. So they must work hard to achieve a high “share of mind” with their customers. People also have a natural desire to “try something new,” so retaining loyal customers is a critical need.

Historically, most local advertising spending tends to consist of a stagnant group of traditional tactics. There are the Yellow Pages, Val-Pak direct mail coupons, and ads in the local city restaurant guides. Everybody in the business does these same things – which is another negative of such marketing. Part of the reason restaurants (and many, many other small local businesses) use these tools is that they don’t know what to do instead, and they worry that traffic will dry up when dollars are shifted. These businesses can’t afford to wait for a year for a new marketing approach to pay out. But, I’ve spotted two great examples in the past few months.

First up is Palomino , a “drop-in downtown restaurant” chain with about 10 locations across the country. At the end of each meal, Palomino provides a feedback card with an offer to join an email list for special events and offers. This is not too unusual. What is special is that Palomino asks a single question on the registration form: “What’s you birthday?”

With this information, Palomino sends an email to its customers once per year, about two weeks before this big day. Palomino knows that this is when people start to make plans to get a babysitter and hit the town. It includes a $20 voucher with the email to sweeten the offer, again, knowing that a birthday will result in extra revenue splurges such as dessert and bottle(s) of wine. For the customer, this email comes at the right time with a compelling discount. We customers feel inclined to repay the business that remembered our special day. The cost of putting together this offer is negligible, and the results can be tracked through email clicks and voucher redemptions.

The second example is from a local pizza chain called Donatos. It’s one of several large citywide chains and competes with the big guys such as Papa John’s and Domino’s. As I detailed on my Challenge Dividend blog a few months ago, I was pleasantly surprised one weekend to get a call from the manager of my neighborhood Donatos store. She saw that I placed an order during the past week, and called to ask for any feedback.

I was pretty blown away that a store manager would bother to make such a phone call. This small, focused, and personal effort makes a big difference in my mind when my wife asks me where we should order from on pizza night. I now know that someone appreciates my business and sees that I am important. Further, results of this effort can be tracked by simply looking at whether I order more often in the months ahead.

I love that both of these examples use specific insights to add value to consumers’ lives, they take very little time or money investment, and they are completely measurable back to the original business objective of driving loyalty. So if these guys can do it, what’s holding you back?

Tags: customer service, donatos, email, restaurant
Posted in Connection | No Comments »

Painting the Coast Plaid

Wednesday, July 30th, 2008

Half the battle in our campaign to convert the world to meaningful marketing is for advertising agencies to get the religion and lead their clients to this promised land. As a first step, we agencies need to market our own services with meaning. For Bridge Worldwide, we practice what we preach by using this site to build and educate the marketplace of this concept – in a way we’re giving away our secret sauce for businesses (including our competitors) to use without payment.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about how the agency Red Direct has created a new sustainability site and business model to live and breathe this critical issue. Another great example comes from an agency called Plaid in Danbury, CT. I learned about Plaid from Giuli Lewis, a former Plaider who came to Bridge Worldwide when her husband was relocated (full disclosure: This post is a blatant thank-you for their recommendation of Giuli). In spring 2007, this branding agency decided to change its own brand, renaming itself from Visual Intelligence Agency (which sounds like a new secret DARPA project) to Plaid. After many brainstorms around how to get their new name out there, the team decided to drive around the country in a Plaid van.

Thus was born the first Plaid Nation tour. I got some really neat stories from Giuli:

We wanted to showcase our knowledge of social media, how it could be used, how it could really benefit a brand and help connect with customers/consumers/the public.

We spent three weeks visiting current clients (e.g., Sony, Ironhorse bikes), other agencies we admired (Martin, Digitas), and brands we thought were cool (Segway, Hanes, Alltel). Some knew we were coming and others we totally dropped in on.”

In other words, Plaid toured the country to promote themselves, but by creating meaningful moments and conversations with those they met along the way. It was a pretty big effort for a small agency, especially with no traditional benchmarks or success measures.

But it paid off in many ways. The biggest was the tour’s stop at Segway. The team decided one morning to head to Segway’s office “mainly because we hoped they’d let us ride a Segway.” They didn’t get to ride one, but “a nice guy from the marketing department” came down and spent time with the team. A week later he called and asked Plaid to build a social app for current Segway owners, and months later social.segway.com was born (itself great meaningful marketing and a future blog post).

Overall, the tour resulted in new business, clients, and partners who enjoyed the experience and knowledge, and lots of fun for the entire agency. Success is further proven by the fact that Plaid is in the middle of its next annual tour. You can check it out here and enjoy experiencing the event while seeing some really cool social applications in action. Kudos to Plaid for taking this risk and offering agencies a model for meaningful marketing.

Now, next year you guys need to come to Cincinnati….

(also check out Advergirl’s take)

Tags: agency, event, plaid
Posted in Agency Marketing, Connection | No Comments »

Honda and Mattel Connect with Kids

Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008

In reading this month’s Wired magazine I came across something that brought me back in time about 26 years. I discovered that Hot Wheels is celebrating its 40th anniversary, and invited automakers to create new models from scratch. Above you can see the Honda Racer, a concept car in 1/64 scale.

The Hot Wheels 40th Anniversary promotion offers several interesting lessons for meaningful marketing. First, I love that it gives kids a deep, authentic experience. By recruiting real car manufacturers and their real design teams, kids connect on a deeper level than most “toys” can reach. Mattel realizes that authenticity is a key driver of the imagination.

Second, Honda is able to connect with kids just as they are starting to form bonds with car brands that will likely stick with them for life. Instead of only seeing Honda as the brand of Mom’s Odyssey minivan or Dad’s Accord sedan, kids now appreciate Honda as a cool brand. That might help Honda sell more minivans and sedans later in life. And this is a very positive form of marketing to children at a time when marketers are under tough scrutiny – as it aids in their imagination and enjoyment. If I were a kid today I would be devouring Honda’s press release for details!

Finally, Honda’s investment pays off by recapturing the imagination of adults like me who grew up with a fascination for cars and spent hours playing with them. The reality is that Honda is not just making a 20-year investment in future drivers, but also making the hearts of today’s car buyers pump a little bit faster. The first sign is the fact that Wired finds a new toy worthy of unpaid editorial coverage in its magazine. Readers like me just love this stuff, and a full-page article on the new Honda concept car is worth about a million dollars in advertising value.

For bonus points, toss in the fact that a lot of dads keep their collection of Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars. When their first son is born they count the days until they can pull them out of the basement and pass on the tradition. Again, imagine the powerful bonding opportunities for marketers to play a role in.

According to Wired, only six out of “several automakers” accepted the challenge of developing new cars for the Hot Wheels anniversary. It isn’t surprising to me that only a handful made this investment; this takes time, money, legal reviews, contract negotiations, etc., etc. As a former Brand Manager I can tell you that when opportunities like this come in, it can feel like more trouble than it’s worth. Most marketers would wonder why developing a toy (likely with no significant payment from Mattel) would be worth the effort – especially when the economy is diving and people are worried about moving steel today.

But the choice of car is a very personal decision and a very large investment. Sowing the seeds of brand equity at an early age – and reigniting the passion for 36-year-old kids like me, can build powerful connections and reap much better results than a 30-second ad or a $1,000 rebate. Kudos to both Mattel and Honda for adding some more meaning to our lives.

Tags: honda, kid, mattel, toy
Posted in Connection | 1 Comment »

uPumpItUp: Social Motivation from Crystal Light

Monday, July 14th, 2008

One of my favorite topics to cover is anything that my loyal readers suggest. Last week, “doohan” sent me a link to uPumpItUp, a program from the Crystal Light brand. I would call uPumpItUp a “platform for social reinforcement of habit change” targeted at women. It is certainly meaningful marketing, and an interesting play for Crystal Light.

The site itself challenges women to “inspire each other to do more of the things that make us feel great, and help share that good feeling with others.” The program is “hosted” by Mandy Moore. It revolves around four categories and includes video hosts who are experts in each: Connect (share moments with the people you love), Express (upgrade your style), Inspire (“tune out distractions and tune into yourself”), and Explore (find new passions and be spontaneous).

Each category includes some short suggestions and ideas; but the focus is on member-generated challenges. And each challenge has multiple steps to ease members into the change. For example, on the Explore page, there are 152 members of the “Backyard Explorer: Become a Tourist in Your Hometown” challenge. Steps include: “Do Your Research” and “Explore a New Neighborhood.” Such challenges are another example of building meaningful connections in a social setting. People are often more motivated to change if others (even strangers) commit to joining them.

Overall, this feels like a meaningful marketing program. There are more than 50,000 consumers in the program, and I see a good amount of activity in the challenge membership and comment areas. These comments are very positive and I imagine that a good number of consumers who choose to engage with the program are making small steps to “pump up” their lives.

On the other hand, I see some room for improvement. First, the videos are a bit over-the-top and slow to load, and can be annoying for return visitors. There are other issues in how the information is presented and accessed. These issues really speak to the need of websites to prioritize User Experience over creative bells and whistles. In tools like this, people want easily accessible information. It’s why “ugly” sites such as Craigslist score so well with visitors. This is one of those areas of expertise that brand managers are just beginning to understand, and where many digital agencies are behind in building. (Yes, I’ve become a UX snob and we’ve got a great crew.)

The site is also missing critical aspects of Web 2.0 that make these tools more useful. I see no RSS feeds, downloadable content, or the ability to integrate with existing social networks such as Facebook. The hosts’ content is flat and unchanging. You can’t even search the site. I believe these are missed opportunities, and leave members wondering if this will go away in six months. The people who would participate in such groups have come to expect these features.

I think the jury is out on the business impact of uPumpItUp. The Crystal Light brand does not seem well integrated into the program. Branding is missing, aside from a logo at the bottom (below the fold) and a design element of colored liquid flowing across the page. I’m dying for Crystal Light to explain why it is hosting this program, and why it is a fit with the brand. On the positive side, it seems to have gotten a lot of press from leading magazines and online properties.

I think uPumpItUp is a good step into the world of meaningful marketing for Crystal Light. But I hope this is the first baby step toward real change, rather than a short-term promotion that will shut down when Mandy Moore’s contract expires.

Tags: Connection, habit, kraft, social network
Posted in Connection, Social Networking | 1 Comment »