Heineken, give yourself a good name

By Kate Hellman

While participating in a panel at the Albert Lasker event hosted by Medill last October, Susan Credle, creative director at Leo Burnett USA, made a comment that really stuck with me. She said that a product or brand is not the only thing we serve when we advertise: “I think we have to serve the community…the world…[and] the people. Which is that we are inviting them to public spaces not unlike architecture.”

It’s true that great ads enhance public space. They make you stop, think, and look, like good art. Other ads seem to have mindboggling disregard for the notion of advertising as a public space.

That is why the Heineken TV ad “The Tiger” leaves me feeling violated in my own living room. The ad shows a man at a wedding reception. He spots an attractive woman, and we assume he will go straight for her. Instead, he charms her by asking an elderly woman sitting next to her to dance (after leaving her with a Heineken, of course). Now, if this ad had been muted, I too would have been charmed off my feet. After all, what woman doesn’t appreciate an attractive gentleman? But then, the ad turns itself on its head. The voiceover says, “There are two types of tigers. One that goes straight for the prey and one that makes the prey surrender to him.”



I hope I speak for women and men alike in that calling a woman “prey” is not just demeaning; it’s sick. As a noun prey means "an animal taken by a predator as food" and conjures the image of a helpless animal being attacked and mauled to death. In a world where women are brutally raped and killed every single day, making a woman analogous to prey is beyond appalling.

The last shot of the ad displays the campaign’s theme, “Give Yourself a Good Name.” Well, Heineken, here is my suggestion to you: Take a cue from the classy man in your ad and give your own brand a good name. Simply substituting the word “lady” for “prey” would accomplish this nicely by bringing women back to human status.

Your ad is shown in public space, where women exist as 50 percent of the population and also happen to be some of your most loyal customers. I would really love to be able to drink a frosty Heineken tall boy without envisioning myself dead in a forest with flies buzzing around me.

Note: Very recently, Heineken changed the word “prey” to “prize.” While not quite as tasteless as referring to her as prey, it still leaves her as a possession to be conquered.

Kate Hellman is a student in the Masters in Integrated Marketing Communications program at Northwestern University’s Medill School and can be reached at katehellman2011@u.northwestern.edu.

Can Starbucks' "Siren" hold her own?

By Hillary Grey

In March, the Starbucks mermaid, or Siren, will get a new look. To mark its 40-year anniversary, Starbucks will update its logo by removing the words “Starbucks Coffee” and featuring the all-green Siren.

In light of the recent fallout from the Gap logo fiasco, tweaking the current logo is a better choice than a complete redesign, especially considering Starbucks’ incredible following. But the real questions are: can Starbucks sustain its brand image without any mention of coffee in the logo and is the Siren as well known as McDonald’s golden arches or Nike’s swoosh?

My thoughts: yes and yes. Starbucks is a global phenomenon with more than 16,700 stores in 50 different countries. Loyal customers will continue their morning, afternoon or evening ritual of a Starbucks fix regardless of what the cup says, and new customers will quickly catch on when they see their peers holding cups branded with the updated logo.

The logo change signifies that the company is updating aspects of its business model. By removing the words “Starbucks Coffee” from its logo, Starbucks will have more freedom to feature new food groups. To that end, in the social media world, rumors are starting about the possibility of offering a full breakfast or serving alcohol at night in select locations.

Come March, Starbucks management will see if customers like the change, but I’d bet that double caramel non-fat tall lattes are here to stay.

Hillary Grey is a student in the Masters in Integrated Marketing Communications program at Northwestern University’s Medill School and can be reached at hillarygrey@u.northwestern.edu.

Brand haiku

By Kaylene Riemen

A few weeks ago, I came across Aaron Strout’s blog post encouraging fellow marketing bloggers to write odes in haiku form to commemorate recent brand experiences. Although I’m a little late to the game, I decided to try my hand, and couldn’t stop at just one!

Haiku 1: Eddie Bauer
Before the onset of my first winter in Chicago, I told my grad school friends that I was going to search out the biggest, puffiest, warmest down coat to help me withstand the ungodly cold and wind. And I recently found it at eddiebauer.com--the Yukon Classic Down Duffle Coat, which has been tested to minus 30 degrees Fahrenheit! The fact that it makes me look like the Michelin Man quickly became a nonissue:

Made for the Artic.
Warmest Ed Bauer goose down--
Vanity forgot.

Haiku 2: Don Ayres Honda
Don Ayres Honda in Fort Wayne, Ind. worked on my dented car last week (my fault--I was driving distracted, i.e., talking on my mobile phone when I rear-ended another car). Not only was my car ready two days ahead of the promised time, it looks brand new!

Pronto service at
Don Ayres Honda. My fender
bender is erased.

Haiku 3: Target
I know I’m not the only one with this problem! (Confession: Before becoming a debt-laden grad student, I found it hard to spend less than $100 at Target.)

Wants and needs converge
within Target’s aisles. Can’t spend
less than 50 bucks!

Get in on the fun and share your own brand haiku in the comments! Remember, haiku consists of three lines: five syllables, seven syllables and five syllables respectively.

Facebook introduces Groupon-esque application– but will consumers hit the ‘like’ button?

By Ashley Graves

When I moved to the Chicago area a little less than a year ago, one of my most useful finds was the website Groupon.com.

In case you’re unfamiliar, Groupon is a group discount website. It provides coupons on activities, restaurants and services—as long as enough people purchase the deal. Groupon enabled me to try new things in an unfamiliar city, with a cool discounted price.

Over the past year, couponing websites like Groupon have exploded. And for good reason — consumers still want to have fun experiences in the cities they live in despite a less-than-booming economy.

Last week, a new application for Facebook called Group Deals was introduced. Group Deals lets companies provide fans with a deal-a-day coupon for their products or services on their Facebook fan pages.

This new application (the first of what I bet will be many) has excellent potential for brands to provide concrete value for their Facebook fans and reinforce consumers’ liking or loyalty to a product or service.

As an added bonus, because friends frequently view a Facebook user’s activity, the ability for these deals to spread would greatly increase.

Word-of-mouth, the much sought after and hard to create integrated marketing tool, has huge potential here. Facebook’s public news feed will display purchase decisions made by a user to their close friends and family, people who care about their opinions and influence their decisions.

The only potential drawback is for items that someone might not want their Facebook friends to see they have purchased. Do you really want your mom to see that you’ve bought five bar coupons in a week? Or for that cute guy you met last weekend to know you’re planning to attend a six-week diet bootcamp?

By connecting the purchase of a deal directly to a Facebook application, brands will be better able to track the value of their Facebook fan page (an issue still hotly up for debate). The potential to calculate a rough return on investment from social media might have some doubters in the marketing world singing a different tune.

Will Group Deals on Facebook be a win-win for consumers and brands alike?

***

Ashley Graves is the Editorial Director at Vitamin IMC and a student in the Masters in Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern University’s Medill School. She is hoping that her favorite clothing retailers will decide to use Group Deals. She can be reached at AshleyGraves2010@u.northwestern.edu.

KitKat goes 'glocal'

By Lavanya Ashokkumar

Think global, act local. The “glocal” approach to marketing is an effective way for brands to stay focused on the consumer in worldwide markets.

KitKat, one of the world’s best-selling chocolate brands, launched several varieties of its famous crème-filled wafer bars in Japan, providing an excellent example of the glocal approach. Among them are KitKat Soybean, Wasabi and Iced Tea. KitKat launched 19 other flavors to connect with its Japanese audience. The company has also collaborated with the Japanese mail system to create packages of the chocolates that can be sent as postcards for special occasions. This caters to Japan’s gift-giving culture, called “Omiage,” where people are expected to bring back something unique for their friends and family when they travel.

How did KitKat effectively use the IMC approach to become a successful brand in the Japanese market?

First, KitKat conducted extensive consumer research to come up with flavors that satisfied the palate of Japanese consumers. With this valuable data in place, KitKat was able to uncover the needs of Japanese consumers and build relationships with them.

Second, these chocolate flavors are marketed only in the Japanese market. By practicing the IMC concept of sub-segmentation, KitKat was able to create contacts that allowed for specific sub-segments to connect with the brand in a more individualistic and idiosyncratic way.

However, many of the varieties sell only for a limited time in specific seasons. For example, the flavor Cherry Blossom is available only in spring. While this is a good strategy of manufacturing chocolates unique to a particular season, will it be successful in the long term? Only time will tell.

***

Lavanya Ashokkumar is a blogger at Vitamin IMC and a student in the Masters in Integrated Marketing Communications program at Northwestern University's Medill school. She is interested in brand management and strategy. She can be reached at lavanyaashokkumar2010@u.northwestern.edu.

The science of marketing: What makes IMC different

By Daniel Hindin

What is IMC and how is it different than traditional marketing? We Medill IMCers get this question a lot.

Part of what sets our graduate program apart is the diversity of knowledge we develop. By the time I graduate this December, I expect to have taken courses in five subject areas: Branding & Advertising Strategy, Media Management, Direct & Interactive Marketing, Marketing Analytics and Corporate Communications & Public Relations.

Though marketing is both an art and a science, I find that most people only think of the art, the right-brained side, the creative message. Marketing agencies have long had the reputation as a place where you hole up a bunch of creatives until they come up with the magic message that will get your product flying off the shelf.

It turns out there’s a lot more to it than that. Sure branding and corporate communications are important tools for any well-rounded marketer. That’s where the message is ultimately formed. But making decisions within those areas should be far more than the gut instinct that determines the fate of too many marketing budgets.

The science, the left-brained part of marketing, is what should drive any smart marketer’s decisions. This is where hard data comes into play. Who’s spending? When? On what? Do the profits from each customer exceed their costs? Yes? Well, these are the people to target with your messages. No? Then they’re just costing you money.

Once you know who your ideal customer is, you can take the data a step further and figure out what types of messages spur them to action and in what form those messages can be delivered most effectively. Through analytic tools such as multiple regression, cluster analysis and factor analysis, you can figure out what is likely to work and why.

Now you’re on your way to understanding how to deploy your creative team. Marketing will always be part art. But when you start to use data to form the basis of your art, that’s where science comes in. That’s how you get results. And that’s how you speak the language of the CFO and other budget decision-makers.

***

Daniel Hindin is Managing Director of Vitamin IMC and a student in the Masters in Integrated Marketing Communication program at Northwestern University’s Medill School. He enjoys using as many different parts of his brain as possible. You can reach him at DanielHindin2010@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

Brown Delivers Through Social Media But Forgets to Ship Directions

Over the years, UPS transformed itself from a shipping service provider to a business solutions provider that offers shipping — adding value for customers. The transformation began with the “What can brown do for you?” commercials followed by the famous Whiteboard campaign. UPS continues to deliver value in its online engagement strategy—something many companies forget to do.

UPS’s strategy is to provide content that is relevant and useful to its B2B customers. At the center is a branded Popurls site. Here UPS is serving as a content curator for business news and tips. UPS also created a Populr Brown Edition YouTube channel. The channel features a series of short informational videos on business topics such as social networking and communication. Industry notables from Mashable, TechDirt, Small Business Trends, and VentureBeat provide the video lessons. Additionally, consumers can receive news stories by following @popurlsbrown on Twitter.

So, what’s the problem? Well, have you watched one of the videos, heard about the brown Popurl site, or followed @popurlsbrown? UPS is an international brand, yet the YouTube channel has just over 600 views and @popurlsbrown has 69 followers. While UPS is running banner ads on sites like VentureBeat, neither UPS.com nor the Whiteboard microsite have links to the popurl site, YouTube channel, or Twitter account. Additionally, the YouTube channel doesn’t link to the Twitter account or UPS.com. UPS is delivering value for its B2B customers by providing useful information in an accessible and easily digestible format. However, the full potential will not be realized unless UPS offers directions to and from these sites and does a better job integrating these elements into its overall marketing efforts.

-- Marina Molenda

From Neanderthals to IMC

There's a tectonic shift happening in the marketing world. Next week, Forrester will release a report that recommends doing away with "brand manager" and changing the title to "brand advocate". This recommendation signifies a larger shift in acceptance of the changes the digital era has brought as we see more and more companies embracing the customer-centric IMC approach. This Ad Age article is a must read for any IMC thinker and has some great insights by Denuo CEO Rishad Tobaccowala, who shared similar remarks to us last week during the Medill Marketing Conference. Let us know your thoughts below. What will branding mean in the next few years? How do you see the digital era changing the marketing world?

--Stacy Cohen

'A hole' breaks through the clutter

“A Nasty Commercial” - The Huffington Post

"Juvenile" - BNET

"Fast-Food Smutfest" - Advertising Age

"Tasteless and stupid" - Brandfreak.com

These are just some of the reactions to Hardee’s “Name our holes” campaign launched over the summer. No stranger to controversy, Hardee’s has a reputation for provocative commercials. Hardee’s is trying to be a guy’s guy and appeal to young, hungry dudes. So low-brow humor seems to be a fit with the brand’s desired personality and appeal to the target market.

The Holes campaign was to promote Hardee’s biscuit holes with icing. The A-hole vs B-hole commercial turns the blind taste test on its head in an unexpected and funny way. It is so simple and obvious it’s surprising that no one had done it before. It goes beyond low-brow humor to actually being witty. The commercial leads the viewer toward the joke, but the naughtiness of A-hole vs B-hole happens in the mind of the consumer. The interactive nature of wit is a pleasurable pay-off for the viewer – and they get a good laugh.

The commercial is also successful because it breaks through the advertising clutter in a way that makes consumers receptive to the message. As Beryl McAlhone and David Stuart state in their book “A Smile in the Mind”:

What a witty approach does is to focus as much on receptiveness as on what is to be received. It creates a welcome for itself. This is like persuading the goalkeeper to stand aside before you shoot at the goal.

Clearly the critics of the Hardee’s commercial couldn’t see past the so called sophomoric humor to see the commercial for the witty and clever piece that it is. But that’s okay, because the 525,700+ people that viewed the YouTube video did.

--Marina Molenda

MISSING: Brand Identity. Reward If Found.

Can a brand declare victory once its name is used in everyday vocabulary? Not in today's world. With consumers more price conscious and private labels creeping in to grab market share, brands need to work extra hard to communicate value to consumers.

Kleenex is well aware of this and is running banner ads to help protect "brand identity theft". We're all guilty of this crime. Everyone uses facial tissues, but not necessarily of the Kleenex brand. Most people will still use the word Kleenex when referring to facial tissues when Kleenex itself is not benefiting at all. This is also true with Band-Aid, Q-Tip, Xerox and Jello to name a few.

Marketers cannot forget about the equity in a brand name and need to work hard to solidify the brand's positioning. This is a key linkage to building strong relationships with consumers and needs to represent what the brand stands for. Keeping the brand relevant for today's consumers is also important to keep in mind.

Balancing relevancy and equity is not always an easy task. Take Radio Shack for example. In trying to modernize a dwindling company, they re-branded themselves as "The Shack" and threw most of their equity out the window. Yes, the "radio" part of the name is not really relevant today, but that's how consumers know of the brand. "The Shack" immediately brings to mind cheap images and a basketball player -- nothing remotely related to electronics. Radio Shack should have capitalized on the equity built into the origins of its name: “The phrase originally referred to the cabins aboard ships where the Marconi wireless was kept, and it had a built-in nostalgia for millions of servicemen after World War II, who would have known field communications centers as "radio shacks".

And what about Gatorade's new name,G? Why change something that's not broken? Gatorade's popularity and widespread consumption has given it vocabulary elite status like Kleenex. The name is derived from its origins - a quenching beverage for University of Florida athletes (Gators). By shortening it to G, the brand loses all the equity it had built up over the years.

Marketers need to make sure to leverage the equity of their brands, or they may end up on a MISSING poster themselves.

-- Stacy Cohen

Doritos and Denny’s Take on Rock

Longtime munchies staple Doritos recently unveiled its new “Late Night” products that include the flavors Tacos at Midnight and Last Call Jalepeno Popper. The names, accompanied by a commercial, evoke a new, edgy vibe—a definite departure from Doritos’ picnic-friendly competitors. The transformation doesn’t stop there: the brand is teaming up with artists that include blink-182 and Big Boi, who are part of the line up for the Doritos Late Night virtual concert. To access the concert, fans must point a special symbol (located on the back of all Doritos Late Night bags) at their web cam. When approved, fans can personalize their experience by holding, moving and shaking the bag.

This isn’t the first time music has made an appearance in nighttime staples. Last year Denny’s, recognizing its role as a late-night hangout, created the “Rockstar Menu,” as part of the Denny’s Allnighter program. Menu selections are available from 10 pm to 5 am and are created by bands, including Joel and Benji Madden of Good Charlotte (“Band of Burritos”) and Rascal Flatts (“Unstoppable Breakfast”). The Allnighter program is topped off by Adopt-a-Band, which offers free meals to artists on the rise and invites bands to use Denny’s as a meet-and-greet location for artists and their fans post concert.

Both Doritos and Denny’s recognize the value of their younger, hipper audiences, but which one is doing it better? Doritos certainly has the advantage of technology, a powerful lure for Generation Y. Its virtual concert provides incentives for snackers to log on to Doritos’ web site, but the relative newness of the campaign—it was unveiled this past April—means that results are still pending. Doritos may have the upper hand on the web, but Denny’s has the advantage of being located on the physical plane. By providing young hipsters with a late night hang out s that features rock-themed dishes, Denny’s isn’t just creating a campaign; it’s creating a persona.

Denny’s understanding of their consumers is allowing them to forge a real connection, one that Doritos is trying to mimic. But will this virtual reality drive sales in the real world? Their technology may be cutting-edge (the US Postal Service is using it to show consumers what size box they’ll need), but will rock concerts be valuable enough to earn the loyalty of consumers? Or will this virtual reality provide only temporary gains in sales until the “hipness” factor recedes?

--Guest Contributor: Megan Baker, Medill Undergraduate Student

Can Break-Dancing Babies Refresh the Evian Brand?

This week, Evian is launching a global advertising campaign entitled "Live Young" aimed to counteract the effects of the recession. Because of its premium price, Evian sales have been hit hard and it only holds 0.6% of the bottled water market. The campaign centers around adorable break-dancing babies who demonstrate the benefits of Evian's minerals in a video that is on a path to become a viral hit.



Complimenting the video is an interactive website with interviews, music, wallpapers, and links to Facebook profiles created for a few of the babies. Although Evian is bound to make a splash with this cute and amusing video, the rest of the campaign may fall a little flat. What would better help Evian's effort is if they provided additional tips on how to "live young" on the website. Consumers may be initially drawn in based on the premise of the video, but interacting with babies is not going to forge a strong association of Evian with living young in consumers' minds. Evian should consider partnering with a healthy living organization to provide tips on other ways to keep your body healthy and feeling younger. This will help position Evian as a lifestyle brand, more than just the bottled water brand that has minerals.

And they should also consider expanding their social media strategy. Being friends with a cute baby isn't going to convert consumers to loyal advocates. What would be better is to create a fan page for the campaign that incorporates more information on ways to live young and encourages interaction and user engagement. Letting consumers share ways that they live young will keep the campaign around for a longer period of time.

So what do you think? Will you buy Evian now with your anti-aging creams? Or is this just another cute dancing baby video?

--Stacy Cohen

Sharpie Hits the Mark

Who hasn’t used a Sharpie marker? Whether labeling something in black permanent marker or decorating something special in a rainbow of colors, Sharpie is everything from super useful to wonderfully creative.

The consumer marketing strategy behind Sharpie’s new interactive website, www.SharpieUncapped.com, takes the use of Sharpie markers to a whole new level.

From showcasing creativity on office nameplates to Surfboards to even a BMW, consumer engagement is taken to the next level with a celebration of the product and brand. With links to content on Flickr and YouTube, a Facebook Fanpage, @SharpieSusan on Twitter, and a corporate Blog, there are plenty of ways for consumers to showcase their creations and be reminded just how awesome Sharpies are.

Have you seen the new Stainless Steel Permanent Marker? Authors have been using them at book signings and celebrities have been using them to sign autographs. Who knew you could show some bling with a Sharpie for the low price of 5.99?

Consumer-driven marketing is always going to win. Sharpie has taken a seemingly simple, unglamorous product and turned the perception around to create an innovative, creative product line. It’s a brand that people are not just talking about; Sharpie enthusiasts are now engaged in a community revolving around creativity, inspiration and innovation.

--Brandi Heinz

Branding Blunders: Is Pepsi Maxed Out?

The Pepsi family is striking out left and right with its marketing efforts this year. From the widely panned logo redesign and "Refresh Everything" campaign that doesn't make a whole lot of sense, comes a repositioning of the Diet Pepsi Max product. During the 2008 Superbowl, the product was introduced with a call to "Wake Up People!" During the 2009 Superbowl, the new repositioning that targets "manly men" ages 25-39 was introduced with the "I'm Good" commercial.

What makes the product different from Diet Pepsi is added ginseng and more caffeine. And according to the product description on Pepsi's website: It’s a crisp, refreshingly delicious zero-calorie cola that helps wake up your mind and body! And now, the product comes in black packaging that looks like a carbon copy of Coke Zero. The Pepsi Max team is popping up at summer festivals, nightclubs, and car shows with the "Fantasy World" trailer, hoping that vampy women dancing in a see through cage, free poker games, and free samples will increase sales.

*taken at Chicago Summerfest June 20, 2009

There is no online component to the campaign (which is surprising given the target consumers' active engagement with social media), and the link to www.dietpepsimax.com just takes you to the main Refresh Everything page that isn't even fully functioning!

This new effort is confusing and disjointed. What really doesn't make sense is why Pepsi decided to change its targeting a year later--why take women out of the equation? Can they not handle they extra oomph in Pepsi Max? Will they not respond to the black package? In this day and age, are men really that afraid of being caught drinking a "diet" drink?

--Stacy Cohen

Making the World an Awesome Place, 12 ounces at a Time

Sunkist launched a brand repositioning campaign this week geared toward trend savvy teens and young adults. Understanding that this target group needs to be engaged at multiple touchpoints, Sunkist built an interactive website with videos (created by both Sunkist and consumers), free downloads, webisodes and a fun forecast map. The "Awesome Team" is also traveling to country promoting the new positioning and spreading the awesomeness. 

How successful this campaign will be largely depends on the ability of Sunkist to completely own "awesome". Can an orange flavored can of carbonated sweetness really stack up to the definition? Is Sunkist really the only awesome soda out there? 

--Stacy Cohen

Coffee Wars Development: Battle of the Blitz

McDonald's launched a marketing blitz today aimed at taking market share away from Starbucks through its line of McCafe drinks. The multi-channel campaign features TV and print spots with online components of a microsite and Twitter feed.  

Starbucks prepared for this battle by rolling out full page ads in this past Sunday's New York Times. The ads aim to reinforce the premium quality of Starbucks coffee and move consumer perceptions away from coffee as a commodity.

Price is McDonald's weapon which will be hard for Starbucks to overcome. They can really only hope that haven't permanently damaged their brand by introducing Via instant coffee in weak attempt to get down to their competitors levels - earnings tumbled 77% in the fiscal second quarter. This move might have proven to be its Achilles heel - McDonald's is entering the battle just as its opponent is slightly wounded.

Do you think the McBlitz will work? Will McDonald's emerge as the winner of this battle? Is Starbucks' brand tainted too much to ever regain market dominance?

--Stacy Cohen

Ford “Pony Girl” Targets Tweens and Teens

Last week, Ford Motor Co. announced a move to target tween and teenage girls after research released by trend tracking firm The Zandl Group indicated that the Mustang is the “most desired car” among girls ages 8 to 16. “Pony Girl by Mustang,” according to the April 9 Brandweek article, is an “automotive-inspired, lifestyle-driven licensing program” designed to build brand affinity before its target demographic is old enough to take the wheels, in hopes that when the time does come to buy that first car, they will buy a Mustang.

With a colorful, “girly” style guide and a logo that features the Mustang brand’s iconic galloping horse, the program is intended to be aspirational—not promotional. According to John Nens, Ford’s director of global brand licensing, the program is really about “the essence of the brand” and forging brand relationships early on. The product categories being explored include apparel, accessories, jewelry, cosmetics, home décor and back-to-school partnerships.

It seems like a no-brainer: an underserved target market, dying to get a piece of the Mustang brand, a character from a wildly-popular movie franchise who drives a pink, monogrammed version of the car—and research that backs it all up. But, while the insight points to a great opportunity, the execution may be pointing toward disaster.

A simple web search of the term “pony girl” indicates that Ford and its licensing agency, the Beanstalk group, may have more work to do yet, in developing a strategy for execution that won’t have legions of mommy bloggers up in arms. Even among Mustang’s most passionate fans, the term “pony girl” has an entirely different meaning than the one likely intended for the tween consumer—just check out the photo galleries at any enthusiast website.

Could Ford be headed toward the same faux pas that forced Motrin to pull the baby-as-fashion ads that had Twitter ablaze with outraged mothers in November of last year?

--Guest Contributor: Alexandra Walford, IMC Graduate Student

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

OfficeMax Case Study: IMC done right

Ideas are the fuel that drive marketing ROI – great ideas can overcome a challenging market problem or a small budget. Great ideas are exactly why OfficeMax has built a brand that is seen as fun, innovative, and caring about its customers. Did you ever think an office supply store would be the one to create the single most successful viral marketing campaign in history? Do you know anyone that hasn’t Elfed themselves?

OfficeMax’s CMO, Bob Thacker, spoke to our Brand Communication Decisions class and discussed how OfficeMax’s recent campaigns show the power of creativity. By understanding the needs of their consumers and appealing to their hearts, OfficeMax saw great success in its Schooled, Elf Yourself, and Power to the Penny campaigns. Viral marketing can be a solution for small budgets. And if done right, you can benefit from the powers of social media – everyone else will do the marketing for you. Brands can see great returns from creating campaigns that really connect with their consumers. Even in this economy, OfficeMax is continuing to fund it’s a Day Made Better program which make surprise donations of supplies and gifts to teachers across the country. 

Thacker told us that advertising is a party crasher and “if you’re going to crash a party, you’d better bring a bottle of wine”. Advertising needs to be memorable and enrich the experience of consumers. It’s no longer about what marketers can sell to consumers – it’s now about how marketers can help consumers. 

OfficeMax clearly understands this. Recently the brand revamped its look, products and advertising because of research showing that women are the primary purchasers in the office. By infusing excitement and style into everything from the layout of the store to the website to its catalogs, OfficeMax has moved away from the common perceptions of work space as dull and boring and is off to a great start with its Life is Beautiful, Work can be too campaign.  

Thacker’s words are a lesson to all marketers. The recession poses a challenge to marketing and the only way to overcome it is with creativity and a little heart. A bouncing rubberband ball can’t hurt either.  

-- Stacy Cohen