Halloween is tomorrow, and if you’re in Denver you may not be looking forward to a long night trudging through the snow. Cheer up! Weise has cooked up something special for you on the side. The video below focuses on the dangers of false advertising and what they can do to your brand – with a Halloween spin to it, of course.
As you have just learned, eventually a customer might punch you in the face. Keep it honest guys. Have a safe and enjoyable Halloween with your families.
Today’s blog post combines three of my favorite things: public relations (the fun, unpredictable kind), sugary treats (I’m addicted) and Gwyneth Paltrow (she’s just fabulous all around).
When GOOP, Gwyneth’s weekly newsletter and blog, arrived in my inbox this morning, I was happy to see that this week’s topic was about baking sweet, sugary goodies. But I was especially excited after reading about Treat Street, “the original, friendly, neighborhood, underground, roving, secret bakery,” which is in Los Angeles.
Three friends, who also happen to be artists, cooks and writers/editors, started Treat Street back in 2006. Every now and then – whenever the mood strikes them to bake lots and lots of goodies – they set up their cardboard “shop” in a driveway and sell their yummy treats. And, apparently, Treat Street is a big hit everywhere it goes.
I can’t get over what an amazing idea this is and how it’s taken off with little to no promotion. It’s not exactly guerrilla PR or marketing, it’s more like … guerrilla retailing. The fact that they pop up unannounced in a neighborhood and draw the attention (hey, Gwyneth Paltrow is blogging about them) and sales necessary to keep it up, shows that their business model is working – plus they offer a great product. Their PR and marketing program seems simple enough – be fun and unpredictable. I like that! Sometimes the best publicity efforts are the simplest ones.
What fun, simple or unpredictable PR or marketing program have you run across lately? Share your stories here.
Halloween is just two days away and I love Halloween. I also love Dunkin’ Donuts. So as Colorado continues to get blanketed with October snow, there is nothing I would like more than a cup of Dunkin’ coffee and a nice warm donut to enjoy as I plan my costume for this year’s festivities.
In that spirit, I found some Dunkin’ Halloween commercials that I wanted to share with our fans. If there is a Dunkin’ Donut franchise near you, run out and have a donut for me!
We recently studied several franchise groups and their social media programs. These organizations had national, regional and individual business Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn accounts. We picked up on one major problem that seems to be a spillover from traditional franchise advertising — not paying attention to or following brand guidelines. Different logos were used, different ID nomenclatures were implemented and different tactics were being employed. And all this “different” leads to an erosion of the brand.
It is possible, of course, that social media brand guidelines have not been established for the franchise systems we studied. But as previously mentioned on The Side Note, branding is in the details. There is no excuse for a system to have an absence of guidelines when individual franchise owners or regions are implementing social media campaigns independent of the national campaigns.
If you don’t have social media rules of engagement and branding guidelines, you need to get one established, now.
The following are suggestions for you to include in your guidelines.
1. Pick a version of your logo, or establish a new version of your logo, to be used on all social media sites. Make sure it is used consistently and appropriately.
2. Establish a basic nomenclature for on-line networking sites. Similar to how you have established your email addresses (last.first@xyzco.com), create a specific formula for Twitter IDs and Facebook fan/group pages.
Example: Twitter IDs for a hair salon or donut shop may be called: DenverGoodHair, AuroraGoodHair or VailDonutKing, StCldDonutKing
3. Don’t be afraid to get creative. Just like vanity URLs, consider a vanity online “handle” for your organization’s social media account. Instead of just referring to your company by name, describe it or use your tagline.
Example: Facebook fan pages for an automotive franchise may be called:
San Diego, You can’t get better car care anywhere else
Manassas, You can’t get better car care anywhere else
4. Take advantage of the Twitter background to make it creative, and include your business information. Make sure this background or elements of it are used consistently by all of the franchises.
5. Make sure the company reference is consistent throughout all media posts. For example, either use your acronym or your full company name – pick one reference and stick to it.
6. Make sure the language used to refer to your services is used consistently. Is it a “blow-out” or a “wash and style”?
Don’t forget, when it comes to maintaining the integrity of a brand, all the details matter. With the explosive growth in social media, it’s important that you develop not only rules of engagement for all franchisees to follow, but that specific branding guidelines are developed as well.
Does your franchise system have a social media branding guideline? What tips can you provide to others? Share them here.
BIA/Kelsey released a report containing the information provided in the picture below. Marketing Reports analyzed the results, including current business to business trends and predictions of social media adoption rates moving forward.
Is business to business Social Media adoption approaching a tipping point?
This statistic is according to a recent research study conducted by Manhattan Research. It means that approximately 80 million consumers are reaching out to their social networks. Furthermore, these consumers are frequently internalizing, sharing and contributing health-related information via “health blogs, message boards, chat rooms, health social networks and health communities, and patient testimonials.”
Patient desire to consult their online network for medical advice creates an opportunity for healthcare communicators to join in on the conversation, and to encourage the spread of credible information. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has been using many well-known social media applications, including YouTube, to educate the nation about H1N1 (swine flu). As of today, the CDC has posted 19 videos discussing all things related to the H1N1 virus; with some videos reaching much more than 1 million views. But the CDC doesn’t stop there. They are offering advice and consultation on multiple medical conditions, including cancer, HIV/AIDS/STDs and disaster response and preparedness.
Overall, I think the CDC has done an adequate job using YouTube to educate the general public. However, I do have one criticism. The CDC has disabled the comment feature on the videos. *I was looking forward to reading what other users thought about their videos to get a better idea of the general public’s perception of the CDC’s videos.
The main takeaway today is this, whether medical professionals like it or not, consumers are increasingly turning to the Internet and social media to search and often self-diagnose their conditions. Providing easily accessible, relevant information to your audience will not only enable them to find accurate information; it will also improve the likellihood that your healthcare organization will be top of mind when they decide to seek professional care.
Do you know of other providers in the healthcare industry that are using social media as a means to educate their community? Please share them with us by posting a comment below.
Traveling around the world blogging about happiness sounds like a great gig to me. Where do I sign up?
While it may be too late for me to get in on the action, three lucky bloggers will be chosen for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Here are the details:
Coca-Cola is sending three bloggers around the world for a new social media promotion aimed at uncovering “what makes people happy.” The one-year, 206- country trip, titled “Expedition 206,” is part of the company’s “Open Happiness” marketing campaign. The three travelers will meet with locals, post stories to the expedition’s Web site and participate in area events, such as the Winter Olympics in Vancouver.”
“It’s not about having the Coca-Cola brand first and foremost, center of the screen,” said Adam Brown, director of Coca-Cola’s Office of Digital Communications and Social Media. “It’s about telling the story that involves Coca-Cola, that involves the attributes of what Coca-Cola is about, optimism and joy.”
Coca-Cola has chosen finalists, but the three winners will be selected via an online public vote starting Oct. 28, 2009. The trip begins Jan. 1, 2010 in Madrid, and ends Dec. 31, 2010 at the Cola-Cola headquarters in Atlanta.
This story caught my eye because it reminded me of a regional marketing campaign our agency helped promote earlier this year. I’ve noticed more and more “soft” campaigns like this, where companies aren’t directly promoting their organization or product. Instead, they’re taking this “storytelling” route and focusing more on the thoughts, feelings and emotions their brand evokes.
While many consumers may see through this marketing tactic, I feel it’s often more effective than traditional, in-your-face advertising. It helps consumers connect with the brand on a more intimate level. There is definitely something to be said for companies that try to look past “the sale” and instead look at their customers and what drives them. That’s really the way to make the connection and ultimately create lifelong customers.
COLLOQUY published a report earlier this year titled, “The Consumer Inside.” The report, made available on the American Marketing Association’s Web site, focuses on the importance of building brand loyalty among customers in the business-to-business market segment.
The author, Rick Ferguson, introduces the report by explaining the origins of the now infamous Rolodex. “This information allowed salespeople to fashion themselves as walking versions of the ultimate B2B value proposition: I both understand your critical business needs and know something about you as a person.”
He continues by declaring “it’s that latter part of the equation that’s still missing from most B2B marketing efforts. Particularly in the small-business market, loyalty-marketing efforts that focus solely on the hard-benefit side of the equation still predominate. What’s missing is the human element.”
So how do we as marketers develop CRM programs that focus on the latter? How do we help our customers prove that they know something about their customers?
Ferguson suggests that we start “by building a loyalty platform on a strong foundation of customer data—and leveraging that platform to identify, understand and influence the consumer behind the account number.”
Identify. Understand. Influence.
Identify:
Ferguson brings up a point we commonly experience in client strategy meetings. The importance of identifying key decision-makers, and how there is not an approach that will work the same for every business-to-business customer we are attempting to contact.
Ferguson offers three different techniques for identifying these decision-makers:
1. Give them some face time.
2. Launch a B2B loyalty program.
3. Use Web 2.0
Understand:
While it may seem commonsensical, business-to-business marketers must truly understand their audience before they can create messaging that appeals to their customer’s unmet desires in a vendor. According to Ferguson, “It’s the database, stupid.”
My enterprise software sales experience taught me to appreciate the value of customer information. And that value goes far beyond knowing their mailing address and job title!
But, how do we create a database that has the “right” information for a particular business-to-business segment?
Below are three keys to creating a quality database:
1. Treat you database as an asset.
2. Thou shalt not live on transactional data alone.
3. Become a data conduit.
Influence:
Now that you have identified decision-makers and created/improved your customer database, it’s time to influence your audience. Ferguson suggests that “behavior change typically manifests itself in one of three ways: you encourage them to buy more often (frequency), buy more stuff (value) and stay longer (retention).
Ways to enhance your influence:
1. Implement the Gemini Effect.
2. Leverage the power of the network.
3. Seek strategically-aligned partners.
Ferguson and COLLOQUY put forth a tremendous effort creating this resource. It really rang true for me because we are constantly looking for ways to improve our clients’ relationships with their customers. My previous enterprise sales experience may have created a bias, but I believe most business-to-business companies will need to focus the majority of their efforts on identifying and understanding their audiences. Being influential in a prospect’s life should be a natural progression after a company masters the first two steps.
I highly recommend that you read the full version of the COLLOQUY report, and that you share this with your business-to-business colleagues.
In an effort to boost advertising revenues, many TV stations are creating programming specifically for the promotion of certain causes. NBC, short on ratings these days, has a new cause – health and wellness. Campbell Soup already jumped on the bandwagon sponsoring a health segment on the TODAY show. The segment will be introduced as sponsored by Campbell Soup (during their paid time period) and soup ads will run during that program time. I wonder if the health section will include cooking with Campbell Soup as well?
While pay-for-placement is standard advertising and product placement on shows seems rather ordinary these days, developing a programming for the purpose of ad revenue seems a bit over the edge.
In a Wall Street Journal article, NBC and Campbell Soup tout this as a method for deeper target audience penetration. And while, as a marketing professional, I agree with the sentiment of reaching your target audience as efficiently as possible, I am left wondering if we have crossed too many lines and blurred too many boundaries when “health and wellness” is sponsored by products.
The article states:
“Advertisers and media buyers say choosing programs with a unifying theme, and airing ads based on that theme, lets them better direct their advertising to consumers interested in a particular topic and helps get viewers to pay closer attention to ads. That frees an advertiser from depending solely on the standard demographics, such as age and household income, by which ad time is typically sold.”
This is true. And the TODAY show is not the first program to have a health sponsor nor is it the first time a sponsor has been “integrated” into a show. Ever watch a nano-second of “Biggest Loser” (also an NBC show)? It’s impossible to miss the ongoing plug for 24-Hour Fitness in that show. The difference is that the Biggest Loser is solely about entertainment.
Historically editorial and advertising staffs for news organizations were kept separate to maintain the integrity of information. While TODAY has had sponsors such as Smuckers for the birthday segment (wholly not news worthy), for me, having a sponsor for an information segment just goes too far.
Also according to the article:
“NBC has had to make compromises to woo advertisers, such as being more open to working marketer’s brands into its shows and putting its stars in their ads.”
My initial thought is they should relegate these compromises to primetime television, not TODAY. However, this morning I visited the TODAY Web site and the top story was about a huge pumpkin…… I guess their “news and information” just isn’t as important as their “entertainment.”
Has “regular” TV crossed too many lines? Have we blurred too many boundaries? In this agency we preach knowing and targeting your audience. I am thrilled my clients have opportunities for cause marketing. But the idea of developing programming for the purpose of raising ad revenues, especially when it is health related, and especially when it’s tied to a “semi-news” show, feels… icky. Campbell Soup sponsoring healthy cooking shows on the Food Network seems much more appropriate.
Can transforming a flight of stairs into an oversized piano keyboard decrease obesity rates in the U.S.? Probably not, but I’m sure they would add a few more smiles to the faces of commuters!
I was looking for a hip viral and found a Web site that ranks viral videos by popularity. The site, aptly named Viral Video Chart, has ranked one from Volkswagon No. 1 in the last 24 hours. The English version of the video is titled “Piano Stairs – The Fun Theory.” The creators of the staircase were successful in enticing people to take the stairs versus the escalator, increasing use of the stairs by 66 percent. Pretty good results in my book.
Great viral. I would like to see some executions like this in America centered around healthy lifestyle choices. Any ideas?
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