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

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

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

Exciting News from Vitamin IMC

Hello Vitamin Fans,

Vitamin IMC recently celebrated 6 months of blogging and gaining over 500 followers on Twitter. Thanks to all of you for your support! Keep the comments and tweets coming -- we love hearing from you!

Also, we are excited to announce that Vitamin IMC is featured in the current issue of Medill Magazine. Check out the article to learn about the creation of Vitamin IMC.

And remember, don’t forget to take your vitamins!

-- Marina & Stacy and the Vitamin IMC team

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

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

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