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It's no longer marketing as usual.

Posts Tagged ‘Advertising’

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Are you finished?

Wednesday, December 16th, 2009

Christmas shopping. Some people start their Christmas shopping on December 26 the year before. Others wait until Christmas Eve as the stores are closing. I fall somewhere in the middle – picking up some things during the year and then planning a big shopping spree for early- to mid-December.

I don’t know about you, but after Thanksgiving, I avoid the mall like the plague. Some people thrive on the action. There’s a woman in our office who picks a store and goes every day – I love her stories. But, it’s not me. I’ve become extremely dependent on online retailers to make my family and friends’ gift dreams come true, and that has altered the way I shop.

This year, in order to get packages delivered in time to wrap and gift, I need to place my order by December 17th, give or take. Retailers are a huge help – there are tons of free shipping offers. Just today, I received an update from Mashable about tomorrow’s “698 Online Retailers Unite for Free Shipping Day.”

Tonight I am going to scope out the sites and maybe tomorrow I’ll place a few orders to complete my gift lists. Last night I took advantage of Amazon’s free shipping and saved nearly $30 shipping on a $150 order. Not bad.

So, how has this changed the way retailers are marketing to consumers? With access to online shopping comparison sites (for both on-and off-line purchases) and because retailers are no longer dependant on geographic territories, I think the consumer makes out quite well with great prices and great selection. The noise of millions of messages is getting to me – looking forward to some quiet time in early January (before the Valentine’s Day promotions start!) In the meantime, retailers (and the creative folks working for them) need to remember that we are people with a need to fill – hit me with the right message at the right time (and throw in a good price and free shipping) and I will spend my money with you.

What recession?

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Video Print Ads

Monday, August 24th, 2009

It has been reported that the average American consumer is exposed to somewhere between 275 to 3,000 advertising or brand messages a day.  Whether the answer is closer to 275 or 3,000 does not matter; the point is that advertisers face intense competition when vying for consumer’s attention.  It seems like every day there is a new technology, medium, product, person, television show, videogame, book, magazine, etc. competing for our attention.  The challenge that all advertisers face is how to stand out in today’s increasingly cluttered environment.  Well, CBS and Pepsi are hoping to stand out in next month’s Entertainment Weekly with the placement of a video print advertisement.

 

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What is 230?

Monday, August 24th, 2009

Over the past couple weeks, a viral marketing campaign has been sweeping the country asking American consumers “what is 230?”.   The campaign ads, which feature a green background screen with the words “what is” above the numbers 2, 3 and 0 made from an electric outlet smiley face, have been splattered across a number of mediums.  At the end of the ad there are teaser messages saying find out on 8/11.  Yesterday, General Motors came forward during a press conference and said they were the ones behind the ads.  The campaign was to build hype around the new Chevy Volt, due out in late 2010, which is reported to get at least an estimated 230 miles per gallon. 

 

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Celebrities not important to ads

Wednesday, August 19th, 2009

In a world where consumers consistently stay glued to every celebrity’s move via TMZ, Access Hollywood, Extra, Entertainment TV, etc., a new poll suggest that advertisements featuring celebrities are unable to sway consumer’s purchase decisions. According to a report by AdweekMedia who asked LinkedIn respondents whether or not the presence of a celebrity had an impact on their purchasing decision, an overwhelming 78 percent said it did not affect them one way or the other. Well I am here to say that I don’t believe this study one single bit.

 

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Snickers Bar Hunger

Wednesday, July 29th, 2009

In an economic recession philanthropic dollars are hard to come by as a number of companies and brands must think of survival first and charity second, but one iconic candy maker recently launched a campaign to give back to America.  Snickers, a Mars snack food brand, is teaming up with Feeding America to help feed the hungry.  The campaign titled “Bar Hunger” is setup to help the one in eight Americans who are struggling with hunger on a daily basis.  Snickers tagline for years has been “satisfies hunger”, so for them to join Feeding America in order to raise donations to help the hungry fits perfectly with their brand image.  Plus the title of their campaign, bar hunger, helps with brand reinforcement.  The campaign is great for so many reasons beyond its primary purpose, as Snickers has thought up some pretty creative marketing ideas to bring awareness to their campaign.  

 

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The King of Pop

Friday, July 3rd, 2009

On Thursday, June 25, 2009 the world of pop culture received a jolt of massive proportions as its king, Michael Jackson, passed away.  Since then the entire world has been consumed with the sudden death of a mega superstar and everywhere you look people are discussing his immense impact on the world.  He was the most successful musician of all time and sold reportedly more than 750 million albums worldwide.  To put that in perspective, he sold one album to 11.82% of the world’s 6.7 billion person population.  It is simply amazing how he impacted the culture of our world and it was astonishing to watch his fall from superstar to superfreak.  Jackson is going to be remembered for many things from music, to almost dropping his child from a balcony, to his impact on the advertising industry. 

 

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The Future of TV Ad Effectiveness

Monday, April 13th, 2009

The effectiveness of television advertising has been placed under scrutiny lately as clients demand their agencies deliver more concrete results in order to help justify advertising budgets.  Over the years, the television viewing audience has become more fragmented; there are over 500 cable channels and more than 30 million households have DVRs with the ability to skip advertisements.  Clients want to make sure that the consumers they want to reach are actually watching the ads they paid to place.  This week, a number of cable companies joined together to announce plans to launch a new interactive television advertising platform.  The new platform, referred to as “addressable” advertising, allows advertisers new and exciting targeting opportunities while producing more measureable results. 

 

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YouTube Want Your Advertising

Tuesday, April 7th, 2009

Over the past couple of years, high-speed Internet conductivity has continued to grow.  According to a report by Nielsen, more than 67% of Internet households in the US have high-speed Internet access allowing them to access all of the internet’s capabilities.  As access grows, so do the number of people who watch videos online.  The popular video-sharing Web site, YouTube, receives over 100 million visitors per month quickly making it one of the most popular media outlets available.  As the site continues its rise in popularity, the company is making changes to its content structure in order to help drive more advertising revenue.  (more…)

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SMBs Rethink Digital

Thursday, March 26th, 2009

A number of factors are influencing how small-and-medium businesses (SMBs) are deciding to allocate their advertising dollars.  First, the economy is a major factor affecting SMB’s advertising budgets.  During the time of a recession, SMBs are typically hit hard forcing most to analyze where to cut spending.  The majority of SMBs find that advertising budgets are characteristically the first thing to be cut.  Second, the ways in which consumers are continually striving towards a more absolute digital lifestyle are demanding SMBs to react.  Each and every day consumers are more and more reliable on digital technologies in order to solve their information thirst.  SMBs, competing with larger corporations, are looking to digital marketing to help quench consumer’s informational needs while making their companies more relevant to the target audience. 

 

Traditionally, SMBs have been slow to allocate dollars toward the improvements of their digital presence but they can no longer rely on traditional techniques to deliver tangible results.  According to a forecast by Borrell Associate titled “Main Street Goes Interactive”, they predict spending by SMBs on “non-adverting” marketing to more than triple over the next five years to $1.63 billion.  As consumers demand instant answers in a digital fashion, SMBs are going to have to start to pour money into building out their Web sites in order to stay relevant to their audience’s lifestyle.  (MediaPost 3/17/09).  SMBs can no longer just have a simple web presence.  As the Internet ages and technologies grow consumers expect all companies to update their digital appearance.  (more…)

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Keeping it “Retro”

Monday, March 9th, 2009

What do you do when your brand is so large and recognizable that consumers are able to identify any logo ever produced by your company?  You start to recycle and go “retro”.  For years companies have reverted back to previous logos or package designs in order to tap into consumer’s sense of nostalgia.  Brands have always had to update their look, feel, tagline or color to refresh their image in consumer’s minds, but not every brand redesign is popular.  Just recently, Tropicana announced they were changing back to their previous logo after an online consumer backlash created an Internet uproar.  When it comes to changing your brand’s image, some companies are benefitting from remembering past designs.

 

General Mills, the king of cereal manufacturers, is launching a unique brand packing campaign that is attracting a substantial amount of consumer attention.  General Mills teamed up with Target to launch a month-long promotion granting the retailer the exclusive opportunity to display a number of popular General Mills cereals featuring retro box designs.  The promotion runs from February 15 until March 21 and includes the brands: Cheerios, Honey Nut Cheerios, Lucky Charms, Cocoa Puffs and Trix.  The old school box designs seen in Target are the exact same as they were years ago with the exception of updated product shots. 

 

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