There are few holidays that are not centered around chocolate and/or desserts, and Easter is no exception.
Mars M&Ms has grasped this reality and flung it into a new mobile marketing advertising campaign to drive sales for the coming holiday.
The M&M mobile ads capture attention with phrases such as, “Make every basket complete. M&M chocolates for Easter,” according to Mobile Marketer. Once they tap on the ad, users are educated on how to incorporate the candies into their Easter dessert recipes. It drives the consumer to a mobile microsite where they are greeted by the infamous M&M characters and step-by-step recipes.
The brilliance of the mobile marketing is its capability to drive on impulse. People who receive the ad when they are already out and about have it fresh in their mind that they should not only buy the candy, but they should do so because they have a recipe that they need it for; making the purchase a necessity, not just a desire.
Next to Valentines Day, Easter is the biggest chocolate buying holiday, and these ‘virtual end caps’ are a bright idea for the spring season.
What recipe will you make with the pastel M&M candies? Give in, it’s Easter.
The average cost of a commercial for the Super Bowl is around $3.5 million this year, and NBC pretty much sold out its ad inventory by Labor Day. With the DVR changing how we watch TV and creating commercial skipping, television advertising seems like a dying media. So, why do advertisers mortgage the farm to get an ad for the Super Bowl?
Fewer events are more hyped, create as much fanfare, attract more interest from celebrities, politicians and average Americans than the Super Bowl. And live is still how viewers like to watch sports with the NFL leading the sports pack in fan base size. Last year’s Super Bowl had an astonishing 110 million viewers – definitely worth mortgaging the farm.
Therefore, we wanted to preview some of the spots that we think will be real highlights this year.
Volkswagen
One of the highlights last year came courtesy of Volkswagen as they unveiled their commercial, “The Force,” which featured a young Darth Vader and a new 2012 Passat.
Volkswagen may have replicated its 2011 success with a memorable ad for the Super Bowl XLVI. They have a teaser (yes – an ad of an ad) for this year’s Super Bowl commercial, which includes dogs barking the Star Wars theme and is named “The Bark Side.”
As a dog lover, and Vizsla owner (top row-center), I for one am excited to see this ad.
Sketchers Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, will be guest starring in Sketchers third-consecutive Super Bowl ad. With expectations lowered after last year Kim Kardashian commercial, Sketchers can only improve, right?
It turns out that this particular ad features racing greyhounds that lose to a tiny dog wearing Sketchers.
Doritos In my opinion, Doritos has been throwing multiple game winning touch downs with its “Crash the Super Bowl Contest” for the last couple of years, and this year looks to be no different. Here are some of the top contenders.
Sling Baby What do you get when you mix a baby in a swing, a mean grandmother and a bratty kid taunting them both? A great commercial.
Man’s Best Friend Dog-themed entries always grab my attention. This entry features a dog trying to cover its tracks and a human that can apparently be bought off for just a sack of Doritos.
The Voice A promo for “The Voice” that will be aired during the Super Bowl, for a series that premieres directly after the Super Bowl, will at least create some conversation at the water cooler on Monday. The spot is titled “Vokal Kombat,” so I can only assume that it features Christina Aguilera ripping Adam Levine’s head off, vocally that is.
So, we are interested to know, what commercials are you most excited to see and , more importantly, do stellar commercials make up for a Super Bowl that is heavy on defense or one-sided? Let us know here on The Side Note, or on Facebook (Facebook.com/WeiseCommunications) or on Twitter (@Weise_Ideas).
On Sept. 8, Google announced the improved search feature, Google Instant. Users on Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari or Internet Explorer 8 will begin to see results displayed as soon as they type in queries.
At first glance, this simply seems like a time-saver, Google estimates 2 – 5 seconds saved per search. Really only enough time to sip your coffee. However, there is real value to the consumer, and marketers will need to step up vigilance on search term optimization especially for pay per click (PPC) campaigns.
For the consumer, Google Instant is better than the Google suggestions at the bottom of the first page of results. By seeing results as you type, you are better able to refine your search on the fly. Google Instant makes interactive suggestions based on where others have been before.
For example, I typed in ‘ex’ and as you can see Google Instant delivers Expedia as my first option.
BEWARE! Marketers need to be concerned with the rest of the Google changes. In preparation for the launch of Google Instant, Google quietly updated their keyword tool. This generated numerous reports of huge drops in search traffic numbers.
According to Gary Adam Shannon of searchenginewatch.com, the (exact) phrase [golf clubs] used to report an estimate of 165,000 monthly searches two weeks ago:
As of right now, the (exact) phrase [golf clubs] reports 33,100 monthly searches.
If you are currently running a PPC campaign, you must re-evaluate your search terms based on the changes Google has implemented. This will impact website planning, SEO efforts and embedding keywords in websites.
Additionally, a faster, more streamlined search means less opportunity for long tail searches. This will drive up the PPC cost for popular search terms. Online marketers are going to have to go back to the basics as it relates to managing the search engine.
Let us know what you think of Google Instant and if you have seen a drop in your search traffic. Follow Weise Communications on Twitter for more updates.
Election Day is November 2nd and in the next two months, traditional advertising vehicles will be bombarded with political advertising. Expect to see more TV, radio, outdoor and print advertising advocating a specific candidate, issue or initiative. Even though this is a mid-term election, there are so many congressional (both senate and house) and governor elections, traditional advertising channels will be inundated with political advertising.
There are two major impacts for marketing professionals:
Inventory of available advertising space is extremely low
People will become numb to advertising due to the political ad messages
Studies have shown that negative advertising moves the polls for and against candidates more than ‘what I stand for’ advertising. The fact that people tend to retain negative information longer than positive information is another reason why negative political advertising is so effective. Since it is effective is shaping opinions, we know we will see negative ads. We always do.
Prior to Election Day, advertisers should consider alternate advertising vehicles. For example, focusing on a vertical market segment. If you are trying to reach men, focus on sports related media like Sports Illustrated or ESPN.com.
However, all is not doom and gloom as advertisers take for granted that the public’s dislike for political ads will spillover to product ads. It is our opinion that there is a contrast effect for product/service advertisers. Exposure to negative political ads impacts the consumer feelings about politics – product/service ads are unaffected by these feelings. In comparison with political ads, product ads appear even more attractive and credible.
Advertisers create entertaining, emotional and humorous ads positioning products/services in the most attractive light. Positivity is the face of product/service advertising. In contrast, political advertisers typically anger, disgust and repulse their audience.
Advertisers should prepare for November 3rd (the day after Election Day) with renewed effort. The inventory will be available and the public will be more receptive to your message.
An account coordinator in our office experienced a highly questionable encounter with an individual at a franchised barbershop. I am not going to mention the specific name of the company, I think it will be sufficient to say it’s a franchise. It’s a barbershop. There are locations in Denver. That only leaves four or five options. Any of them could be a culprit.
The issue at hand concerns an employee using social media to directly contact customers. Here is how the situation unfolded:
“Yesterday I went to [name deleted] to get a “fresh cut.” Upon entering the store I was asked for my first and last name. I gave it to the girl without objection, but wondered why she needed both. I understand needing a name to call you when they are ready and occasionally people have the same first name, but there were only three other people in the shop and I was the only one waiting. I got my haircut, said goodbye to the receptionist and walked out.
“Last night I received a Facebook message from the receptionist asking if this was the same person that was at the shop. She wanted to connect on Facebook and get to know me.”
Creepy. Stalker-like.
This incident raises a lot of questions about the ethics of employees using social media to connect with customers. How does a Franchisor dictate the appropriate social media behavior of employees in stores that are “individually owned and operated?” Even if social media guidelines are in place, are they available and known by all of the employees in all of the stores nationally and internationally? Are the rules enforceable and do they address this type of behavior?
These are issues for franchisors to consider when developing social media policies. Protection the brand is more than just making sure tweets are appropriate and the right logos are used. The BRAND is seen in every detail of employee interactions with customers. Allowing one employee to go rogue with the use of social media can create a huge issue for any company that could destroy even the most well-established brand.
What do you think? Was this behavior appropriate in a world of blurred social boundaries? What does your franchise system say about social media interactions with customers? Tell us here.
To find out more Weise Communications and how we handle social media, follow us on Twitter or check out our Facebook account.
To complete our social media tips and tricks series, we wanted to cover some of the advantages that blogs can bring to the table.
According to eMarketer, 94.1 million adults were reading blogs in 2008. And astonishingly, the average time spent on a blog is much higher than the average time spent on a website.
The fact is that people are searching for the latest news online. And it is just not practical to update your website on a daily basis, but blogs are made to update daily – or even more frequently if you can produce content quickly. A blog can be a window into your office culture, a glimpse of your sales team, a peek at your originality or a reflection of your company’s genuineness. It shows clients and consumers the human side of your business and can be a great business tool.
Some things to keep in mind:
Keep posts short and focused. People are more likely to read blogs that will only take them a minute or two.
Optimize blog content and titles so that it is more likely to show up in search engine results for specific topics.
Share blog posts thought RSS feeds and social bookmarking.
Enable commenting so readers can join in the conversation.
There are a lot of free blog services out there. If you’re still not sure if a blog is right for you or your company, why not start a personal blog and test it out. By testing the capabilities of a blog, you’ll be able to better determine if a blog is something for you.
Let us know if you have some other great tips and tricks to keep in mind in while blogging.
To continue our series on social media, we’ll talk about some ideas to increase your brand awareness on Facebook.
Fans bring value to your brand. In addition to the digital word-of-mouth marketing, studies show that Facebook fans are more likely to buy a brand’s products than non-fans. So Facebook can be a great way to find your brand’s consumers and market to them directly. Today, more than 45 percent of Facebook’s audience is over the age of 26, so it’s not just for brands trying to market to tweens.
Here are four tips beyond the standard tactics of creating a profile and updating it with content:
Paid advertisements on Facebook can help increase the reach and impact of exclusive offers and campaigns.
See past the number of fans you have and look at your brand’s level of engagement. A fan’s activity on your page will spread throughout their personal network and news feed. And engagement is much more important than simple fan numbers.
Facebook users like short polls and surveys. There are excellent tools that both B-2-B and B-2-C companies can use to encourage participation on the company’s fan page – and you many actually learn something about your fans too.
Let us know if you have any other great ideas to make Facebook work for you and your company, and check out Weise Communications on Facebook.
There are few holidays that are not centered around chocolate and/or desserts, and Easter is no exception.
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