Coming together in crisis Millions of people watched in disbelief this morning as footage of the devastation from the Japanese earthquake and tsunami aired. In the aftermath, the Internet served as an invaluable resource to provide victims and concerned parties with warnings and real-time updates. Google quickly responded by launching a Crisis Response page. The page serves as a one-stop resource for live updates on the situation, emergency phone numbers, advisories, and blackouts. Google is also connecting victims with their families using its People Finder tool. Millions of first-hand accounts of the destruction have been posted on Twitter (#japan, #tsunami, #prayforjapan), YouTube and Flickr, making the Japanese earthquake and tsunami one of the most documented natural disasters in history. You can also watch live updates of the destruction in Japan and updates as the Pacific-coast cities experience the tsunami.Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims, their families, and anyone else affected by the Japanese earthquake and tsunami.
Charlie Sheen, media mogul? The week’s new roundup would be amiss if we didn’t touch on Charlie Sheen’s media blitz. We all watched in awe as Sheen unraveled before our eyes (there has been no escape!). Although his mental state is far from 100%, Sheen is capitalizing on his own misfortune. This week he took the Internet, radio and television by storm. Sheen broke records when he opened a Twitter account, @charliesheen, which gained over one million followers in a day. SiriusXM Radio launched a dedicated channel, “Tiger Blood Radio,” to provide listeners with 24 hours of coverage surrounding the actor. Sheen even has his own UStream channel and each netcast totals over one million views. Now there are talks of a reality TV show, apparel sponsors, social media interns and a stand-up tour. In just two weeks Sheen transformed from a sitcom star to a media mogul, something that would take years (or even a lifetime) for other to accomplish. What’s next?
Starbucks New Look: 40 and fabulousIf you walked into your neighborhood Starbucks this week you probably noticed something a little different. Coinciding with its 40th anniversary, Starbucks rolled out the much-anticipated new logo—cups, sleeves and merchandise now all carry the new Siren. The campaign, seen in-store, online and on television, is aggressively focused on getting customers into the store. This week customers get a free petite treat with any coffee purchase. If you are into mobile, customers who check in at Starbucks on Foursquare between now and Saturday will randomly be awarded a $40 gift card. These promotions are enticing even to Starbucks haters!
Marcom This Week: From A to Zinc is compiled by the Vitamin IMC editorial team. They can be reached at vitaminimc@gmail.com. Miss your vitamins last week? Visit the “Marcom this Week” archive.
The Huffington Post: AOL’s big ad format will force a redesign The Huffington Post’s cluttered, ad-laden pages may soon change. Following months of negotiations, signs of AOL’s takeover of The Huffington Post are starting to show. This week the website giant began to roll out a new ad format called “Project Devil,” which is a larger ad format that demands high rates but guarantees fewer ads per page. The program may require The Huffington Post to redesign in order to accommodate the format. AOL’s CEO Tim Armstrong claims “Project Devil” is an effort to provide a better experience for users in the form of less ads. While fewer ads may be good for users, another reason for this big ad push is revenue. After another year of decreased revenue (down 25% from 2009 to $2.41 billion), this project seems to be another push by AOL to monetize its online businesses. The Super Bowl’s social long tail It is no secret that social media has changed the way consumers interact with advertisers. But in the case of Super Bowl advertisers, viewer engagement with brands is at an all-time high. Two weeks after The Big Game, advertisers continue to see returns on their investment. According to a study conducted by Visible Measures, Volkswagen’s “The Force” tops the list with 3.5 million views, followed by Chrysler’s “Imported from Detroit” with 11.7 million views. The study not only tracks YouTube views, but also how consumers are engaging with the brands, including sharing with friends, copying, reposting, commenting or rating it. This study shows that the brands are engaging consumers in conversation and interacting with them on an entirely new level. With its ads topping out at $3 million per 30-second spot, the Super Bowl may have found a new incentive to pull in advertisers.
Miracle Whip: Lovers or haters In a campaign developed by mcgarrybowen, Miracle Whip is embracing the polarizing debate between “lovers" and “haters” of its sandwich spread. It asks the questions: “We’re not for everyone. Are you Miracle Whip?” The YouTube campaign features an interesting lineup of everyday people and celebrities, including Pauly D from "Jersey Shore," political commentator James Carville and comedian Amy Sedaris. Each of them takes a stance on his or her favorite sandwich spread. In the battle of Miracle Whip versus mayonnaise, which do you choose?
Marcom This Week: From A to Zinc is compiled by the Vitamin IMC editorial team. They can be reached at vitaminimc@gmail.com. Miss your vitamins last week? Visit the “Marcom this Week” archive.
The battle between the online deal websites Groupon and LivingSocial was one of the most anticipated Super Bowl commercial match-ups this year. Both start-ups used controversial humor in pre-game and Super Bowl spots to get the word out about their daily deal sites. In the aftermath of eyebrow raises and social controversy, did the humor pay off?
Groupon From rainforest deforestation to mountainous Tibet, Groupon’s three 30-second spots seemed to have questionable (not to mention controversial) starts. Although the introductions seemed inappropriate, they stayed true to Groupon’s brand personality, known for its quirky lead-ins to deal descriptions. Groupon’s spots also gave non-users a good idea of how the daily deal service works. In the pre-game spot, Cuba Gooding Jr. says: “…since 100 of us bought on Groupon.com, we’re each getting an $86 whale-watching cruise for just $49.”
Groupon definitely flexed its new funding muscles—$377 million to be exact— and spent $3 million to produce and air its three Super Bowl spots. For its first offline advertising effort, the start-up partnered with big-name agency Crispin Porter & Bogusky. In addition to Gooding, the spots featured stars such as Elizabeth Hurley and Timothy Hutton.
Living Social From golf to go-karts to facials, LivingSocial’s pre-game spot depicted the wide range of deals that consumers can find on the website. In the campaign created by The Martin Agency, one man describes how his life has changed through his addiction to the online daily deals website. The man starts out macho and bearded, but through LivingSocial’s daily deals, ends up dressed as a woman. In the wake of social media backlash, it is obvious that LivingSocial made a big mistake in its choice of humor. Stuart Elliot, writer for The New York Time’s Media Decoder, said it best: “Yes, in 2011, advertisers still believe that transsexuals or cross-dressing is something to laugh at.”
The last time these two start-ups faced off, LivingSocial walked away victorious with the title of “Biggest Daily Deal” by selling over 13 million in the $10 Amazon.com flash deal. In fact, LivingSocial used some of the earning from this deal to fund their Super Bowl pre-game debut.
Who do you think won the offline match-up? Let us know in the comments!
From social networks' expanded ad offerings to celebrity endorsement ads for the Super Bowl, here is a look at what made headlines this week in the integrated marketing communications industry.
Social networks expand ad offerings Facebook made a move this week to provide more social context for advertisements through Sponsored Stories. The Sponsored Stories format ditches the days of stock promotional copy and serves ads based on user interactions with a brand. The ads leverage the power a personal network has on purchase decisions by pulling content from a user’s feed to display on their friend’s page. Research shows that contextually targeted ads are more relevant to users, which increases ad effectiveness. Sounds like it will be a win-win for Facebook’s advertisers and users.
LinkedIn also beefed up its display ad offering, announcing many new features, including expanded targeting that enables advertisers to serve ads based on age, location, job title, and seniority. The expanded features were launched in an effort to improve LinkedIn's ad effectiveness and increase its share of revenue from display advertising.
With rumors swirling around impending initial public offerings, both social networking giants are finding more and more ways to monetize their sites. What do you think will be next?
Edelman Trust Barometer®: Trust across all U.S. institutions declines According to the 2011 Edelman Trust Barometer survey, the U.S. is the only country to see trust in business and government decline. This statistic is not surprising following years of financial crisis and corporate scandal. To build trust, President and CEO Richard Edelman recommends corporations adopt a new trust architecture built on profits with a purpose, transparency in reporting, and multi-channel/multi-communicator engagement.
Super Bowl update: Celebrity endorsements all the rage The Super Bowl is synonymous with attention-getting, low-relevance advertisements. A couple of weeks ago Vitamin IMC reported that the 2010 Celebrity Advertisements study found that celebrity ads performed below (or on par) with other advertisements. Despite these findings, advertisers continue to sign on hot (and expensive) celebrity personalities to push their product during the big game. A few noteworthy pairings include Kim Kardashian for Sketchers and Justin Bieber for Best Buy. And don’t forget about the yet-to-be-revealed mystery celeb for GoDaddy.
If you missed Part One yesterday, be sure to check it out.
Biggest Flop – Gap Logo Change Gap unveiled a new logo that it called “a more contemporary, modern expression” of the brand. The change caused controversy unlike any other rebranding efforts in recent years. News of the re-brand quickly went viral, with universal negative feedback from Twitter, Facebook and bloggers. In response, Gap quickly changed course and reverted to the original design. With falling sales in the last couple of years, Gap was struggling to stay relevant. While the logo flopped at an epic proportion, the company reinforced consumer loyalty to its age-old blue-box logo. However, consumer loyalty to a logo does not increase sales. For Gap to resurrect its reputation, it will have to dig deeper to better understand why its loyal consumer base does not translate into sales.
Feel Good Campaign – Livestrong: Chalkbot The Chalkbot was an interactive campaign that chalked inspirational messages along the route of the Tour de France. The machine sprayed consumer-generated messages from SMS, Twitter, and WearYellow.com in yellow chalk for the world to see. Sponsored by Nike in support of Lance Armstrong and hisLivestrong Foundation’s fight against cancer, the Chalkbot campaign was truly the first of its kind to spread consumers' messages of hope and encouragement in real-time.
Shameless Product Placement – Lady Gaga: Telephone With less album sales revenue coming in to artists, many have turned to video product placements to make an extra buck. Lady Gaga’s nine-and-a-half-minute music video for “Telephone” is no exception. “Telephone” is the first of its kind for product placement in a video, featuring a laundry list of brands such as Virgin Mobile, HP, Monster, Diet Coke, Polaroid, Kraft Miracle Whip and Coors Light. It's rumored that the fee for the product placements covered the $500K price tag for the video. In true Lady Gaga fashion, the video’s shameless product placement pushes the envelope. It's become a viral sensation, nearing one billion hits on YouTube. But I have to ask the question, what did the brands get out of it?
Most Controversial – e-Trade: Girlfriend The e-Trade babies have been a staple among Super Bowl ads for the last couple of years with amusing spots that are usually earn accolades. However, e-Trade got more than it bargained for this year with its 30-second Super Bowl spot “Girlfriend.” In March 2010, the online trading website was slapped with a $100 million lawsuit filed by Lindsay Lohan for its reference to “that milk-aholic Lindsay.” While the lawsuit was settled out of court for an “undisclosed amount,” the e-Trade brand appears to have survived untarnished with more than 6.5 million YouTube views of this commercial alone.
Best PSA – Sussex Safer Roads Partnership (SSPR): Embrace Life Most driver safety PSA’s use scare tactics that include frightening and sometimes gory imagery to deliver their message. However, consumers are becoming more and more desensitized to this type of message. “Embrace Life” took a refreshing approach to get viewers to take action. The 1:29 spot uses images of love and family to encourage viewers to buckle up. The PSA, created by Sussex Safer Roads Partnership, was only aired in the UK, but in the past 12 months has garnered over 12 million views on YouTube.
What integrated marketing campaigns made your top 10 in 2010? Please share in the comments section!
Carrie Griffith is a student in the Masters in Integrated Marketing Communications program at Northwestern University’s Medill School and is Vitamin IMC's director of online initiatives. She can be reached at carriehinkle2011@u.northwestern.edu.
From ground-breaking viral to deep consumer insights to epic failures, here is our look at the integrated marketing campaigns that made the top of our list in 2010. Check back tomorrow for the the second part of the list!
Most Buzz Worthy – Old Spice: Man You Could Smell Like To gain relevance and credibility with younger men, Wieden and Kennedy created the “Man You Could Smell Like” campaign for Old Spice. Old Spice tapped into a deep human insight—guys want to be manly—by using a humorous, hyper-masculine character to challenge a man’s most basic insecurities and help him “navigate the seas of manhood.” The Old Spice campaign infiltrated conversations both online and offline, with an 800% increase in Facebook interaction, 140 million YouTube views, and 120K Twitter followers. Did I forget to mention that sales of Old Spice actually increased in 2010?
Brand-Breaking Viral Campaign – Smirnoff: Bros Icing Bros “Bros Icing Bros” started as a website and launched into a viral drinking game that swept college campuses across the nation. The rules of the game encourage underage binge drinking, which seriously threatened Smirnoff’s brand image. Controversy continues to surround the campaign’s origin—was it a consumer-generated phenomenon? Or was it a calculated risk taken by Smirnoff to boost sales? In response to allegations of questionable guerilla marketing tactics, Smirnoff took down the website (which now states: “We had a good run Bros…”), but the game lives on.
Cause Marketing Campaign – Pepsi Refresh Project In lieu of a multi-million dollar Super Bowl campaign, Pepsi invested millions to engage consumers in an authentic and meaningful way. With the help of TBWA\CHIAT\DAY, Pepsi launched the Pepsi Refresh Project, which provided a consumer-driven forum for everyday people to post their “Do Good” ideas. To date, Pepsi has granted more than $1.3 million to individuals and organizations that posted ideas on the website. To learn more, check out Vitamin IMC’s conversation about the Pepsi Refresh Project with Medill IMC alum David Dreyer of TBWA\CHIAT\DAY.
Consumer-Centric Campaign – Domino's: Pizza Turnaround Domino’s Pizza tastes like cardboard and ketchup… and the company execs will be the first to tell you! In its Pizza Turnaround campaign, Domino’s took the side of the brand haters and publicly admitted that its 49-year-old pizza recipe was gross. With the help of Crispin Porter & Bogusky, Domino’s positioned its brand as a partner by listening to and involving consumers every step of the pizza reformulation process. Most marked the campaign strategy as brand suicide, but in a recessionary year Domino’s achieved double-digit same-store sales growth of 11.7% in the third quarter.
Stereotype Buster – Toyota: Swagger Wagon When you hear the word “minivan” what thoughts immediately come to mind? For most, negative associations arise that usually involve avoidance of owning/driving/riding in one. Among the 20-30 something audience, the minivan is the antithesis of cool. Toyota took a unique approach to combat the stigma that surrounds owning a minivan by turning the stereotype on its head. The Swagger Wagon campaign makes minivans cool by featuring a quirky couple rapping about their family, day-to-day life, and minivan. While the commercial does not position the minivan as a choice car, it encourages families to laugh and be proud to drive a minivan.
What integrated marketing campaigns made your top 10 in 2010? Please share in the comments! And be sure to look for Part 2 of our list tomorrow.
Carrie Griffith is a student in the Masters in Integrated Marketing Communications program at Northwestern University’s Medill School and is Vitamin IMC's director of online initiatives. She can be reached at carriehinkle2011@u.northwestern.edu.
