Despite Blizzard 2011 wreaking havoc on one in three Americans this week, the marketing industry managed to squeak in a few of its own headlines. Put aside the snow shovel and check out what you may have missed while digging out from the storm.
Print media on track to rise again? The week was chock full of big announcements from leading print publishers. Just when we thought print was a dying media, it appears some pubs may be on their way back to the top. Leading the pack was People.com, which reached 1 billion page views in January, according to Omniture. This is a first for People, and for all magazine websites.
Perhaps the most anticipated news came from News Corp., which announced its iPad-only newspaper, The Daily. As Rupert Murdoch, News Corp. chairman and CEO, said, “iPad demands that we rethink our craft.” Developed in partnership with Apple, the made-for-tablet pub will cost users $40 a year.
With advertising revenues decline, the Web is where publishers are hoping to cash in. However, billions of page views and highly followed Twitter handles don’t generate cash on their own. In addition, while The Daily may set the tone for the future of the news business model, we’re left wondering who its audience is. We applaud these media companies for their efforts, but hope their strategies are fully baked.
With Farbman, who is currently worldwide managing director for Ogilvy & Mather, at the helm, Gap hopes to set itself on a course to better performance in North America. Ogilvy also is stepping in as Gap’s worldwide agency of record, replacing Laird & Partners. While the retailer denies these changes are a result of the logo fiasco, we find this hard to believe. Here’s to hoping 2011 brings the brand better luck than last year.
Love doesn’t conquer all, but money does When offered a choice between great sex every week for five years and free chocolate every week for five years, U.S. women pick sex 73 percent of the time. Throw a one-lump sum of $1,000 into the mix, and the majority of women (91 percent) choose the cash over weekly chocolate. These findings from the latest Saatchi Wellness and Time Inc. annual tracking study shed light on a growing trend: the “Me-Covery.” That is, women increasing spending on beauty and health products and services.
This shift is evident in the growing percentage of women who are spending money on anti-aging products and salon services – both were up nearly 20 percent in 2010. It appears women are loosening their purse strings and putting aside recessionary spending habits, which should bode well for marketers of health and beauty products.
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 PR headaches to monetization strategies for social media start-ups, here’s a look at what made headlines this week in the integrated marketing communications industry.
‘Tis the Season for Damage Control As if its logo debacle earlier this year wasn’t bad publicity enough, this week Gap launched an anti-hunger FEED campaign that touted the “Made in USA” status of the FEED-branded bags it’s currently selling. Oh, did we mention the bags are actually made in China? Ouch. But, who are the bigger victims in this latest gaffe by Gap? Try presidential niece and FEED founder Lauren Bush and the American children she had hoped to feed through the sale of her products at Gap. A recent poll by the Huffington Post shows that 75 percent of respondents would opt not to buy the bags as a result of the mislabeling.
Also taking some heat this week was eyelash growth product Latisse. Rumor has it Latisse spokesperson Claire Danes is suffering from a known side effect of the product: skin discoloration. The starlet is keeping a video diary of her experience using the lash grower, and we can’t imagine this side effect will make for good material. At the same time, the online diary could serve as a useful tool in dispelling the rumor, if it is just that. We’re staying tuned to see how Latisse handles.
“Go down your gullet, just like a mullet” This week, our pick for ad of the week goes to Pepto Bismol. Or, rather, the star of its holiday campaign: Ken Jeong. Best known for his comedic roles in "Knocked Up," "The Hangover" and "Community," Jeong has set his sights on eradicating holiday party under-indulgence this season by introducing the power of Pepto to partygoers with sensitive stomachs. What the commercial lacks in taste and sophistication, it makes up for in awkward dance moves and strange lyrics. Go ahead, click replay a few times – it’s worth it. But, we’re not so sure we can say the same for Jeong’s career.
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