Marcom this week: From A to zinc – 3/4/11 edition

Although Charlie Sheen’s rants made more than enough headlines this week, marketers managed to squeeze in a few of their own. From the announcement of Apple’s iPad 2 to the latest research on what consumers want from brands online, here is a look at what happened this week in the integrated marketing communications industry.

iPad 2 raises the bar for marketers
In case you missed it, Apple announced its next-generation iPad on Wednesday. The lighter, thinner, faster tablet arrives March 11 with a price tag of $499 for the 18GB Wi-Fi version. More important than its new software and front- and rear-facing cameras is the fact that the iPad 2 is driving the post-PC conversation forward at full speed. Just a day after Apple’s announcement, Gartner lowered its growth forecast for worldwide PC shipments in 2011. Looks like the iPad is well on its way to bridging the gap between laptops and tablets, which means it’s time for marketers – who haven’t done much to test the tablet waters – to take notice. Faster browsing means a host of new apps are probably already in development. However, if PC alternatives are the future, then how do marketers get on board in a meaningful way?

For brands, it’s all about being "liked"
Take note marketers: consumers want to hear from you when online – if you’re offering discounts. This is the latest finding of a new Ad Age/Ipsos Observer survey of digital-media habits. Facebook was a clear winner, with 41 percent of respondents preferring to receive communication from marketers via this platform. The runner up was Twitter, which received 18 percent of the vote. Coupons are the most sought-after item, with 65 percent of respondents hunting for online discounts. In fact, for most respondents, this was the reason why they “liked” a brand on Facebook. Not surprisingly, only 22 percent of respondents cared about customer news, a reminder that pushing self-promoting content won’t win a brand many friends.

Taco Bell: Where’s the beef?
This week, Taco Bell debuted a series of commercials in response to a lawsuit claiming its beef isn’t beefy enough. According to the ads, Taco Bell’s beef is comprised of 88 percent premium ground beef and 12 percent signature recipe. Viewers are encouraged to visit the fast-food chain’s website to view the entire ingredients list. Overall, the ads aren’t very interesting. We probably would’ve dismissed them with a shrug had it not been for the commercial’s inopportune airing on Sunday evening during a repeat of Fox’s new animated series, "Bob’s Burgers." Titled “Human Flesh,” the episode is about a misunderstanding surrounding the beef content of Bob’s Burgers signature hamburgers. (Sound familiar?) The first ad to air during the commercial break? Taco Bell, of course. Bad timing for the brand, and a big “oops” for Fox.



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.

Marcom this week: From A to zinc – 12/17/10 Edition

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.

Twitter: Web’s Next Golden Child?
Twitter is flush with cash after receiving $200 million in funding this week, valuing it at $3.7 billion. With 175 million registered users, the platform appears to be following in the footsteps of Facebook in its pursuit of World Wide Web domination. However, these big numbers aren’t adding up quite yet. This is because Twitter is still figuring out how to turn itself into a profitable business. It’s expected the web start-up will end the year with nearly $50 million in revenues – approximately $.29 per user. This is a far cry from rivals Facebook and Google, which generate around $2-$3 per user and $25 per user, respectively. However, with only eight months of ad service under its belt and former DoubleClick CEO David Rosenblatt joining Twitter’s board of directors, the company’s future appears promising.

“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.



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 last week's “Marcom This Week."

Content marketing: A win-win for customers and businesses

By Daniel Hindin

If a major tenet of integrated marketing communications is customer-centricity, a great way that marketers today are plying their trade is through content marketing.

Content marketing is all about sharing valuable information with potential and existing customers and clients. The information is usually shared for free, and many people take that knowledge and apply it to their lives or businesses without ever engaging in a transaction with the company offering the information.

What better way to form a bond with the public and put the customer first than giving away free, no-strings-attached information?

I’m spending my summer quarter away from Medill working at a communications agency in Chicago called Arment Dietrich, where I manage the globally respected blog Spin Sucks.

What I love about my work there is the unbelievable volume of positive interactions I have with our readers. A large portion of my job consists of procuring valuable content that I think our audience will enjoy and having fun with our readers in the comment section of our blog, through my personal Twitter account, on the company’s Facebook page and wherever else we might find each other.

As early as my first day on the job, I felt an outpouring of warmth from our community. And when I say “community,” I’m talking about both paying customers as well as readers who have never spent a dollar with our company and quite possibly never will.

It doesn’t bother us that most of our readers won’t become customers. We’re committed to providing what amounts to a free media channel focusing on marketing, social media and entrepreneurism for small- to medium-sized businesses. And that commitment will basically cost us the same amount whether 100 people are reading or 100,000 people are reading.

In July, more than 15,000 people visited Spin Sucks. If 14,900 of them never do business with us, we still end up with far more clients on our hands than an agency of our size could handle.

But beyond that, these 15,000 visitors are coming to our site because they want to be there. We’re not buying ads anywhere. We’re not bombarding them with mismatched messages as they go about their day. Our readers are self-selecting themselves as potential clients by simply being attracted by the information we’re providing.

So it’s a win-win situation. Our readers win because they benefit from our knowledge and experience from the comfort of their own home or office. We win because more people every day are learning about us and the services we provide.

By putting the customer first and not putting on the hard sell, through Spin Sucks and content marketing, Arment Dietrich is enjoying more success every day.

***

Daniel Hindin is Managing Director of Vitamin IMC and a student in the Masters in Integrated Marketing Communications program at Northwestern University’s Medill School. He also works as Community Manager of Arment Dietrich’s blog Spin Sucks and can be found tweeting at all hours of the day at www.twitter.com/danielhindin.

Fashion marketing's new line: Customer engagement

By Megan O'Malley

The front row seats at New York Fashion Week this year weren’t filled with the usual suspects. A new generation of style bloggers and influential social media gurus are gaining access to the coveted front row as the world of fashion marketing is going digital.

Just ask Andrei Najjar, a Medill IMC graduate and founder of Atelier Collective, who spoke at Medill about how new media is transforming the fashion and luxury goods scene. According to Najjar, “fashion marketing is moving into new media marketing more aggressively than ever. Designers are realizing that tools like Facebook, Twitter, mobile apps and YouTube are increasing ways to dimensionalize their brands, dramatically increase their audiences, and communicate more directly with their fans.”

Fashion houses, retailers and designers are joining the social media phenomenon, which is reshaping consumer dialog and how apparel, accessories and beauty products are marketed and sold. The Internet provides a platform for a new generation of style arbiters to blog or tweet about new trends from their living rooms, and designers are joining the conversation.

Even the most elite designers are starting to model an approach all marketers should mimic—direct engagement with their customers. From Diane Von Furstenberg to Gucci, brands are using Twitter to directly converse with customers. Other labels such as Burberry are streaming their shows in live 3-D, bringing the runway straight to potential buyers.

With instant media tools consumers don’t have to wait for next month’s Vogue to know what’s hot. The fashion industry is learning how to engage with consumers on real-time global platforms, integrating their communications strategy in a way that will never go out of style.

***

Megan O'Malley is a blogger at Vitamin IMC and a graduate student in the Masters in Integrated Marketing Communications program at Northwestern University's Medill School. She thinks online shopping is more dangerous than living close to Michigan Avenue. She can be reached at meganomalley2010@u.northwestern.edu

Vicks' Tweak Marketing Move

When P&G advertises their brands, they leverage as much brand equity as possible. Take for example the new NyQuil commercials. There are two back to back spots. The first one shows a large man clearly knocked out in a deep sleep. The tagline reads: NyQuil: The nightime, sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, fever, Best Sleep You Ever Got With A Cold...Medicine. The next spot is a woman sleeping with an occasional light snore. The tagline reads: NyQuil Less Drowsy. Because everyone sleeps differently. This new product extension is clearly a result of a strong consumer insight. And it just might be the way to combat the rise of the private label.

So it's surprising to see this Twitter promotion on the Vicks Web site. There is no connection to the brand here and it's not integrated into any of their other marketing efforts. What aspects of the brand are reinforced by this promotion? A free trip to cheer on Team USA is a great prize, but how does that connect to any of the other marketing for the Vicks brand? Are consumers supposed to associate Vicks as something truly American? The Vicks brand means "you're taken care of." P&G is missing an opportunity with this promotion to forge a deeper relationship between their consumers and the brand.
The Twitter execution could also be a lot stronger. The promotion (that's hidden on the website) has you sign up with your email address and then encourages you to tweet a generic message every day for a chance to win. It was a mistake to use a generic message that again has no connection with the brand. Instead, Vicks could encourage consumers to tweet reasons why they deserve to win, or their favorite Vicks product, or how Vicks makes them feel, or pictures of them using Vicks products. Any of these would be a win for both Vicks and the consumer. It would encourage brand affinity but also provide Vicks with valuable information to use for future marketing efforts. The takeaway here: brands should always seize opportunities to develop stronger relationships with consumers and reinforce the brand they know and love.

--Stacy Cohen

Whole Foods Dives Into the Social Media Deep End

While some companies are slowly dipping their toes into the social media waters, Whole Foods Market has dove in! Over the past eight months, Whole Foods’ social media presence has grown from corporate accounts to over 120 Twitter profiles and 97 Facebook pages.

Whole Foods is often cited as a social media success, but the details of its amazing tactics are what make them unique – taking a completely decentralized approach to their social media strategy. They have taken the close interaction between Whole Foods employees and consumers, along with team member empowerment and applied it to their social media strategy to create local relationships. This grassroots approach has fueled the explosion of their social media presence while supporting their corporate values system.

Their social media accounts range from umbrella corporate accounts to individual accounts for store locations. There are accounts that cover the many locations for metro-areas (think @WholeFoodsCHI) and topic-specific accounts discussing such topics as wine or cheese. They even created a social media presence around their participation at Bonnaroo.

Some may criticize such a fragmented approach to their social media, but Whole Foods learned from their experiences with their corporate social media accounts and expanded to fit their customer’s needs. They started to see that customers had very specific questions about local stores and quickly adapted, adding social media into the local marketing mix. Liz Bootz, the marketing team leader for Whole Foods Oakland, provides support to customers on Twitter. "One of the things I like best about being on Twitter is if a customer has a question, I can tweet the answer to them and provide that information to 200 other customers at the same time," she said.

Other companies should follow their lead and apply unique company culture traits to social media, taking a personal and on-brand approach to their online presence. Their responsive, customer-centric method has seemed to work judging by the numbers. Whole Foods Twitter accounts recently reached one million followers.

--Brandi Heinz

5 Costs of Social Media to Consider

Are you a marketer considering trying social media to connect with customers and stretch your marketing budget? Are you intrigued by the low entry and exit costs and the potential to become a viral sensation or social media darling? Before you take the social media plunge there are 5 costs you should be aware of:

Design Costs. From your blog to Facebook to Twitter, your social media presence should be consistent with your brand. You can save money by repurposing current assets. However, you’ll still need resources for reformatting and/or creating new artwork, uploading art, and programming and designing pages.

Paid Model. Just because something is free today doesn’t mean it will be tomorrow. In March of 2009, Twitter co-founders announced they will probably move to a paid model and just need to figure out when. So if you’ve gained a big following on a free service, what is your plan if the service moves to a paid model? Find some room in the budget and pay up? Dump your customers? Try to migrate them to another free service? If you’re investing in a tool, be sure to consider what you’d do if it moves to a pay model.

Maintenance Costs. So you’ve got your account set up, your page is looking fabulous, and you’ve added some content. Great! Now you need to continuously engage with customers by posting content, replying to comments and questions, and monitoring chatter about your brand. The setup costs for social media are relatively low compared to other forms of advertising, but the high commitment level is unique to the medium. Do you have a budget for the hours needed to maintain your social media presence? Do you have someone in your organization with the time and skills to handle this responsibility or do you need to hire someone? Will you monitor chatter yourself, or pay for a service such as Sysomos or Radian6.

Costs of Doing it Wrong. Diving into social media and then abandoning it is a waste of time and money. But even worse is making a social media blunder that could damage your brand.

Costs of Not Doing it at All. You’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it twice, but in case you forgot: Your customers are out there talking about you already. They are in control and are increasingly expecting engagement and quick responses from companies they do business with. Consider some the consequences of not engaging with customers and listening to what they are saying: missed selling opportunities, lost consumer insights, angry or disengaged customers, misinformation spread about your brand, and fleeing customers. Recently Delta Airlines learned the hard way by not having a good strategy in place.

--Marina Molenda

Skittles: Bite-Sized Attempt at Social Media

One of many companies to recently jump on the social media bandwagon, Skittles developed a Web site redesign and coordinating social media campaign. On March 2nd, Skittles launched its new website as a social media hub, transforming its homepage into a Twitter ‘Skittles’ search stream. The Web site also showcased the Skittles Facebook fanpage and showed real-time search results on branded YouTube and Flickr pages. Taking advantage of the Web 2.0 technology and user generated content set off an instant buzz across social media platforms – and in the online marketing world. Supporters and critics weighed in on how they thought the campaign would fare, and watched as Skittles replaced its Twitter feed with its Facebook fan page on the main homepage the next day, most likely due to profane and inappropriate comments tagged with Skittles on Twitter, a space that is difficult to control.

Now, nearly two months later, the buzz has died down and most praise has been replaced with criticism. After seeing a 1332% spike in web visitors on March 3rd (as reported by Hitwise), the Web site’s traffic is still double what it was before the social media blitz (according to Alexa).

Skittles should serve as a case study for any marketer attempting to bring social media into its brand strategy. The main principals of social media include conversation and engagement. Creating buzz and promoting your brand to consumers through social media is one piece of the puzzle, but don’t forget response, rewards and engagement with both fans and critics. Keep in mind the ‘what’s in it for me’ for the consumer. Be sure to provide relevant information and rewards for your brand advocates, sparking an ongoing relationship that provides long-term results.

What do you think the next step for the Skittles campaign should be? How will they begin to engage their consumers through social media?

-- Brandi Heinz

The Art of Twisiness

It seems like everyone is on the Twitter band wagon, and businesses are scrambling to find a successful way of promoting themselves on this new social media platform. But as businesses enter the Twittersphere, they need to realize that customers don’t want to be bombarded with its messages. Businesses must use Twitter wisely and communicate with its customers in a way that addresses their needs—the art of Twisiness (a.k.a business-twittering to customers). 

Check out how the Albion Cafe in London has perfected this art. The bakery installed a system called BakerTweet to tell the world that something hot and fresh is out of the oven. With a simple turn of a dial and a button pressed, all of the bakery’s followers get a Twitter alert. 

Everyone knows that bread, rolls, muffins and cookies are better when they are hot, and customers want to know when they are out of the oven. Additionally, a bakery has a limited time span to notify its customers. Using Twitter is the perfect solution because it addresses the needs of its customers and is relevant to the bakery's business model. 

Do you have examples of other businesses using Twitter in interesting ways? Leave a comment below or send a tweet to @VitaminIMC!

-- Guest Contributor: Elizabeth J. Wortley, IMC Graduate Student

To Tweet or not to Tweet?

*image from http://misterseniorblogger.com

In a recent Ad Age digital newsletter article entitled, “Top Ten Reasons your Company Should Hold off on Twitter,” B.L. Ochman argued that Twitter isn’t for everyone.  Don’t let the negative headline mislead you – these are insightful tips on best practices for Twitter users.   

The IMC principles of listening and conversing with customers are emphasized in several of Ochman's points.  Social media applications are meant for conversations (pull), not one-way messages (push).  Using defunct marketing tactics in a modern space is like an old dude using corny pick-up lines at a bar full of young women.  You’re not going to get anyone’s number and you might get slapped in the face. 

 
Egocasters take note: The Golden Rule applies in Twitter as it does in real life.  Tweet with others as you would like others to tweet with you – if you expect people to listen to you ramble on but you don’t care to hear their response, they’ll stop listening.  Remain open to feedback and welcome commentary – and respond to others’ tweets as well! Also, see what people are saying about you to determine how your presence (or lack of presence) on Twitter could help build a relationship with your customers.  You’ll receive a warmer welcome if you’ve done your homework. 

--Guest Contributor: Kate Floyd, IMC Graduate Student

Conversation Starters

Great marketing communications is really pretty simple if you stop and think about it. Develop a conversation-starting piece of media that convinces someone to take action and wham … you're finished. Clock out and take the kids for a bike ride through the zoo. Repeat as necessary.

Problem is that there's no universal standard for creating stellar conversations today. We do know one thing for certain, word of mouth product, service or political perspective recommendations score higher than anything else in the marcom practitioner's tool bag. With a host of new social media options evolving on almost a daily basis, new conversation starters would seem to be a no-brainer. But that's not what I've found.

As director of programs for IABC Chicago, I opened a luncheon session the other day to 75 Fortune 150 communicators by asking how many were involved in emerging media - blogging, Twitter or podcasting - on some regular basis. Only a few hands went up. I should have been shocked, but I wasn't because I'd heard almost the same answer in the graduate IMC class I teach at Northwestern when I asked 23 new students the same question.

If conversations about products and services are so effective at changing behavior - and I believe they are - why do so many communicators still understand so very little about the value of social media?

One reason is that no one is quite sure where social media fits in the traditional corporate structure. Should the brand manager be Tweeting or is that the role of corporate communications or marketing? Or should they all be blogging too? And how do you control the conversations with a variety of departments chiming in?

The big guys upstairs are also afraid of social media simply because it is so well … social. They're afraid that dipping their toes in the social media stream means opening themselves up to critical feedback - it does - when all they want to really do is sell products. To them, the best solution is to do nothing right now.

Here's why I think that's rather short sighted. People chatting all over the place - as in all over the globe - about a product or service is much more likely to result in a positive conversation than a negative one. The most important element corporate communicators and marketing folks miss, however, is that these conversations don't need us to happen. They're taking place right now with no input from any of the company people.

Sure there's a good chance someone might rather buy a BMW than a Ford, but Ford on Twitter participating in the conversation anyway. They understand that taking part, as risky as that might seem to some traditional marketing folks, is a far better alternative than standing on the sidelines hoping conversations convince people to buy.

Finally, it's work to stay on top of the new media game.

You need to be open-minded about the possibility of new ideas and new methods of convincing people that your product or service should be the choice right now. That means reading, quite a bit in fact, to learn more and develop new strategies. It means subscribing to blogs and reading them to better understand where they might fit into your business. But you don't need to participate in blogs, Twitter or any of these in order to watch and listen.

There is much to distract a business from social networking right now. But the poor economy won't be a great excuse a year from now. The smart communicators are learning the skills and developing strategies now that will help pull their companies out of the slime as the recession ends.

So can you afford to ignore social networking as a marketer? Only at your peril.

--Guest Contributor: Robert Mark
Robert Mark is an adjunct lecturer at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism and CEO of Evanston-based CommAvia. He's is the past-president of the Chicago chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators and publisher of the Webbie-award winning aviation blog Jetwhine.com.

Twestival: Meet and Tweet For a Cause

Last night communities of Tweeters met in over 175 cities around the world to raise money and awareness for charity:water, an innovative non-profit dedicated to providing clean water to developing communities in desperate need. What started as a small gathering to benefit a local charity in London last year has evolved into a global fund raising event that is 100% volunteer organized. Early reports are predicting $1million was raised. Vitamin IMC attended the Chicago Twestival at Catalyst Ranch, a cool and funky converted loft that oozed creativity from every corner. 

Meeting other twitter users face to face was a great opportunity to network, share ideas and discuss the endless capabilities of Twitter. We'll explore these capabilities ourselves and how Twitter can be used as a marketing tool in an upcoming post. 

Referred to as the Live Aid of the tech world , Twestival's success highlights the power of social media. Not only does it allow you to share and connect with other users, but it can also be used to mobilize its users to effect social change. Social media is an important aspect of developing an IMC strategy, and as shown by Twestival, when used properly can yield great returns. We expect to see more events like Twestival in the future as the true value of social media is realized by more people.

So tell us, did you attend Twestival? What do you think about the power of social media?

--Stacy Cohen