And They’re Off….and on Oprah

This week was a pretty busy marketing week for Yum! Brands, the umbrella company of KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, Long John Silver’s and A&W All-American Foods.  Just with two very key media placements, the Kentucky Derby and The Oprah Winfrey Show, Yum! was seen by approximately 20+ million Americans* – and that’s just through live television!   

However, that figure doesn’t take into account millions of additional consumer touchpoints:  the thousands of spectators at Churchill Downs surrounded by Yum!’s red speak bubble logo on signage and the numbered blankets each horse was wearing, and the 2,000 coupons for Kentucky Grilled Chicken downloaded from Oprah.com each minute since the announcement.  Even Twitter lists the KFC promotion as the third most tweeted topic as of this past Wednesday. 

However, Yum!’s high profile sponsorship of the Kentucky Derby and its Kentucky Grilled Chicken promotion on Oprah may have some scratching their heads.  First, many consumers may not have been aware that Yum! owns KFC, and for those who did, they may be questioning Yum!’s strategy: Why sponsor “the two greatest minutes in sports”?  Why promote on Oprah?  What are they selling?  Who’s their target? 

Jonathan Blum, senior vice president and chief public affairs office for Yum! Brands, told vitaminIMC that both campaigns make sense and “the introduction [of Kentucky Grilled Chicken] wasn’t timed to coincide with the Derby – that was a coincidence.”   

Nowadays, any product featured on Oprah is going to get great traction.  As Blum said, “[the Kentucky Grilled Chicken promotion] was a homerun!”   Plus, Yum! has been sponsoring the Kentucky Derby since 2006 and uses the event to “reach high-net-worth individual investors” at a price that costs less than half the price of a 30-second Super Bowl commercial. Yum! also uses the Kentucky Derby as a corporate event to entertain franchisees, investors and hardworking general managers right in its own Louisville, KY backyard. 

But, while Yum!’s goal is to sell as many drumsticks, personal pan pizzas and chalupas as they can, this week should make large multinational and multidivisional corporations wonder if they could have done more with opportunities such as these.  Sure, Yum! couldn’t ask for anything more by getting Oprah to promote one of their products.  But, should a company like Yum! look into how they communicate across divisions and see if leveraging its assets can sell more product and strengthen the overall brand?   

--Lauren McCabe 

*Note: Total audience measurement compiled from Nielsen’s estimates of 14 million viewers of the live broadcast of the 2009 Kentucky Derby on NBC and the average 6 million viewer The Oprah Winfrey Show receives each week with Live + SD ratings measurement.

The Problem with Price

The current economic recession has caused both companies and consumers to watch their pennies and focus on financial budgeting.  In fact, it is pretty hard not to see a television commercial, print ad or e-newsletter highlighting a discount in prices or a product that can help save money.  But as IMC practitioners understand, businesses not only must keep in mind the current customer needs, but also remember that it needs to continue to reinforce its brand’s promise, not just its ability to offer lower prices. 

Home improvement superstore giants The Home Depot and Lowe’s are currently riding a potentially treacherous slippery slope with their latest round of television commercials.  The Home Depot uses their familiar, uplifting music to introduce its new slogan “More saving. More doing.” while Lowe’s cleverly places a “t” in the form of a letterman’s jacket and telephone pole after its name to highlight that they provide the “Lowe’st” prices.  Both are vey time relevant, but are the commercials brand distinctive and identifying?  No.  Other than the companies’ familiar logos and catchy tunes, one could easily mistake one store’s lumber aisle for the other. 

Of course saving money is a leading motivator for customer behavior during these times and The Home Depot and Lowe’s are trying to play into this consumer insight.  However, it is still imperative for companies to understand that the recession will not last forever.  By not continuing to emphasize their differentiating features such as breadth of products (The Home Depot) and professional expertise (Lowe’s), companies risk losing long-term brand distinction for a short-term solution. 

-- Lauren McCabe

C is for Cookie, Connectivity and Cash

Since 1917, thousands of Girl Scouts dressed in a signature green sash or vest have been pounding the pavement to sell cookies to their relatives, neighbors and parents’ coworkers. The annual Girl Scout cookie sale has provided millions of dollars in funding for local Girl Scout troops and councils, in addition to major brand recognition for the organization as a whole.

This year one eight-year-old scout, Wild Freeborn of Asheville, N.C., decided that knocking on doors would not get her to her goal of selling 12,000 boxes (the cost of sending her troop to summer camp). So, with the help of her web designer dad, she decided to post a video on YouTube and sell boxes online. Right away, Freeborn sold 700 boxes.

Obviously with the great realization of online orders, Freeborn was able to tap into an unmet consumer need – quick and convenient online shopping of Girl Scout cookies. Even at a young age, she was able to observe current buying behaviors and realize that if consumers would buy anything from shoes to groceries online, they would certainly do the same for Samoas, Tagalongs and Do-Si-Dos. No longer would the Girl Scout cookie market of Asheville need to wait with cash on hand for a knock on the door or the chance set-up on a busy sidewalk.

But, when the local Girl Scout officials got word of her new media selling tactics, they shut her down. According to Freeborn’s interview on NBC’s Today Show, the Girl Scouts of America have a policy against selling cookies online since it believes online retail takes away from its wholesome and traditional brand identity. But, with a recent USA Today article reporting a 19 percent decline in pre-order cookie sales during this year’s annual drive in January and February, one may wonder why the Girl Scouts of America would impede one young entrepreneur’s goal. At $3.50 a box, that’s a large chunk of change is lost Thin Mints.

--Lauren McCabe (Hudson County, NJ Troop #76 1987-1993)

Changing Media for Changing Audiences

This year’s MBA Media & Entertainment Conference held at Columbia University in New York focused on how new technology and emerging audience behaviors are changing the media industry at a historic pace. With a keynote discussion by NBC Universal president and chief executive officer Jeff Zucker, the conference gave attendees the opportunity to learn how media conglomerates such as NBC Universal are attempting to utilize these variables in order to advance their audiences’ experience and the company’s bottom line.

Zucker focused his discussion on the changing revenue streams impacting NBC Universal and how the corporation’s economic model will need to evolve in order to capitalize on the new digital environment. Because of the increasing popularity of online streaming video, NBC Universal teamed up with News Corp. in March 2007 to create Hulu.com. Zucker said that with this initiative and their other digital platforms, NBC Universal has been able to realize “a trade of analog dollars to, now, digital dimes.” While this means that there may not be the ability to pull in comparable advertising revenue in digital media than what traditional mass media has seen in the past, NBC Universal’s response to viewers’ growing desire for new media platforms may make the company better positioned in the future.

So, the multibillion-dollar question for Zucker and other media executives is: Will paying attention to consumer behavior lead to greater profit going forward? As long as media companies can effectively analyze the impact of their business decisions, IMC theory suggests so.

--Lauren McCabe

Want Word of Mouth? Bring the LUV

This weekend I flew to Washington, D.C. for a friend’s wedding. Since I hate missing out on any fun, especially with this group of gals, I booked the last Southwest Airlines flight leaving Dulles on Super Bowl Sunday. Despite the fun, I found myself getting to the airport earlier than expected. While Dulles is a pretty nice airport, the idea of watching the Arizona Cardinals take on the Pittsburgh Steelers from a barstool with my suitcase at my feet was not ideal.

So I walked to the ticket counter and asked if I could fly standby on an earlier flight. Like many airlines, Southwest charges a fee for this type of change on a full-restricted ticket*. (What can I say? I’m a poor grad school student.) Unfortunately the $112 change fee does not really work for my student loan budget. It was looking like I was on my way to watching the big game with fellow travelers at Harry’s Tap Room on Concourse B.

That is until the ticketing agent played around on the computer for a couple of minutes and proudly displayed what I would consider the equivalent of Willy Wonka’s Golden Ticket – a boarding pass for the next flight. According to this agent (whose name I didn’t get, but whose face I will always remember) the price for an earlier departure was not $112, but for me to tell all of my friends and family about Southwest Airlines. Fortunately for Southwest, look who’s a blogger!

For full disclosure, I’ve been a member of their frequent flyer program, Rapid Rewards, since 1999. So as a knowledgeable customer, I am honestly not surprised that Southwest would come through in this way. Heck, I get birthday cards from them every year! But as a student of integrated marketing communications I believe that Southwest really considers itself customer-centric not only because it structures its business and operating procedures on its core customers’ wants and needs, but also because it understands that when its customers receive good service they look forward to sharing it with others.

According to the Word of Mouth Marketing Association, word of mouth marketing is the act of consumers providing information to other consumers. The association says “good WOMM strategies involve finding ways to support satisfied customers and making it easier for them to talk to their friends.” In this age of social networking, blogs and free information widely dispersed on the internet, it is easy for customers to share information.

But, companies also need to remember that ANY touch point with the customer is a possible WOMM tool, not just Facebook applications and messages posted on Twitter. For Southwest it is also the personal relationships forged between the employee and customer that make up the integrated marketing communications mix. It’s the great customer service at the ticketing counter and the singing flight attendants that become part of the stories travelers tell their loved ones when describing their trips.

For me, Southwest will always be the first place I go to when booking a flight. All they need to do to get more of my business is to start flying in and out of Newark Liberty International Airport. It’s so much closer for my Jersey-based parents than LaGuardia or Islip.

--Lauren McCabe


*Author’s Note: Although Southwest’s advertising campaign touts its “No-Hidden Fees Zone” they clearly state on their materials that fees may be incurred on restricted tickets. (Just want to make sure I’m giving kudos on the full disclosure.)

Obama As a Brand – Has He Over Promised?

On January 20, the world not only saw Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) become the 44^th president of the United States, but it also realized the great buy-in of a promise. In addition to the 69.4 million registered voters who voted for President Obama in the general election, millions of global citizens braved the cold on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. or watched on their televisions, computers and mobile video players the inauguration of a man who made himself into a political brand.

This idea of image selling and moving people to consume, or in this case vote, is not an entirely new concept to the world of politics. However President Obama and his campaign took it one step further by not just selling policies, but the concepts of “hope” and “change” that transcend traditional campaign promises.

In a recent Newsweek poll (January 19, 2008), 66 percent of adults surveyed say they are optimistic that President Barack Obama can improve the direction of the country, including 36 percent of Republicans. But many, on both sides of the aisle, wonder if this brand image is nothing more than an overpromise. As students of Integrated Marketing Communications we are constantly reminded of the essential task of under promising in order to more successfully over deliver.

During the transition and even in these first few days of his administration, President Obama has been very decisive in reminding Americans that the issues at hand (including two wars and an economic recession) will take time to resolve. But at least three questions come to mind: how do Americans and the rest of the world define customer satisfaction with this new president, how much time will they allow for the products they purchased to be realized and will they continue to buy into a man who has personified “hope” and “change” if he doesn’t deliver in time for the next election in 2012?

-- Lauren McCabe