Digital Banana
October 29, 2008 at 10:38 pm | In Uncategorized | Leave a CommentTags: digital media, IMC, Web site
Yes, it’s happened. The digital revolution is complete. Even bananas have gone digital! I was greeted this weekend by an unexpected sticker on my breakfast banana.
The sticker says: Pocket Size Fun at eatachiquita.com
It directed me to a Web site, and being the curious marketing communications minded person that I am, I went to it.
Who knew that the simple Chiquita banana’s sticker would lead to a plethora of IMC components? On the Web site, I found information about the history of Chiquita bananas, funny drawings and jokes, the opportunity to watch very viral videos or mash up my own, a forum for comments, and even an invitation to join the Chiquita bunch on Facebook! Easy to eat foods are great for the digital generations who need at least one hand free for texting, and what a way to apPEEL to them!
Okay, enough with the puns. I have the 1940s Chiquita song in my head now, anyway. No, I wasn’t born then, but I did get to hear it on the Web site (hint: click on the image of the mp3 player). Guess what rhymes with refrigerator?
A Happy Medium for Politics?
October 19, 2008 at 2:00 pm | In Uncategorized | Leave a CommentTags: 2008 campaign, Constitution Party, Green Party, Libertarian Party, new media, politics, presidential election
For those of you who have been visiting this blog as one of the last few places not talking about the U.S. presidential election, I thank you for visiting and gently announce that this entry will be discussing the campaigns’ media choices. Don’t worry – I promise not to embed any sound bites!
Think. Care. VOTE!
A recent BusinessWeek article quotes a campaign advisor from the 2004 race talking about the ways things were changing four years ago, when tracking the evening news “turned out to be a fundamentally wrong choice. What was happening underneath us was this enormous swell of the grassroots” that didn’t show up at all in those newscasts. In the four years since then, YouTube and Facebook have been born, and a variety of new media possibilities now complicate or enhance campaign possibilities, depending on a planner’s point of view.
Plenty has been written about the Republican and Democratic campaigns, so this post will highlight some of the less covered parties’ forays into the world of new media. The Constitution Party has a video and downloadable literature available on its Web site, although its blog seems to be inactive; the CP of Texas is more adventurous, even podcasting on Net Party. The Green Party is on MySpace and Facebook, has a channel on YouTube, and has formed a Yahoo Group. The Libertarian Party updates its blog several times a week and is on MySpace, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Perhaps the parties that can’t seem to capture the attention of the major television networks can reach out to people where they live in new, more personal media.
What medium do you think has been the most influential in this year’s election? See the poll in the sidebar and vote!
Hope, Promises, and Chocolate
October 18, 2008 at 2:30 pm | In Uncategorized | 1 CommentTags: breast cancer, cause marketing, Dove Chocolate, integrated marketing, October, Susan G. Komen, Yoplait
If you or someone you know is battling cancer, you know that hope is a powerful thing. October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and as many as 3000 Web sites have gone pink for October this year to bring attention to the cause.
With an estimated 142,540, cases diagnosed in 2007 – of which 2,030 were male – breast cancer affects people across lines of gender, race, and economic status. Companies looking for ways to make a difference have taken notice of this important issue in recent years, with Yoplait’s Save Lids to Save Lives campaign and Dove Chocolate’s Susan G. Komen Promises campaign.
The Dove campaign involves new and traditional media, from messages of hope printed inside the wrappers to e-Promises that can be sent through Dove’s Web site. You can even order chocolates with customized promise messages in the wrappers to send as an encouragement to a friend; however, this interactive aspect is not specifically linked to the breast cancer cause but is available year-round for weddings, anniversaries, birthdays, etc. The pink packages of Dove Chocolates now found in stores do contribute to the search for a cure, with Dove guaranteeing a minimum $250,000 donation to Susan G. Komen for the Cure.
Some may say that companies support causes just to get their brand names in the headlines, and that may be true in some cases. Even so, that doesn’t lessen the good that can be done with the donations and by calling attention to the importance of early detection. When a company such as Dove integrates a cause message into the various media included in its campaign, that demonstrates a level of commitment that can resonate with people affected by breast cancer.
If breast cancer has touched your life personally or through a loved one, celebrate October as a victory month. Hold on to hope, have faith, and promise to never give up!
The Fastest Growing Advertising Medium Ever
October 16, 2008 at 9:19 pm | In Uncategorized | Leave a CommentTags: Google, search, Yahoo, AltaVista, paid inclusion, paid placement, fastest growing medium, emerging media
Can you guess what the fastest growing advertising medium is? (Here’s a hint: read my last entry.) Advertisers like it for its ability to reach a highly targeted, actively interested audience. What is it? According to Rick Karr in a program on NPR, it is search engine advertising!
Yes, even though as many as 61% of Internet users are unaware that advertisers can pay for inclusion or even specific placement in searches, this type of advertising is big business. Not all search engines offer the same advertising options; for example, Google offers paid placements under a “Sponsored Link” heading, but doesn’t offer paid inclusion. AltaVista takes a similar approach. Yahoo offers advertisers the choice of paid placement or paid inclusion; the former are marked by “Sponsored Results” headings, and the only disclosure in evidence is a marketer-directed “See your message here” link.
Is it a problem for Internet users that advertisers can pay to show up in searches? It could provide useful retail information for searchers seeking help to make a purchase decision. However, what if it’s not obvious which results are paid/sponsored and which are not? That’s one aspect that varies greatly from one search engine to the next. Consumer WebWatch and the FCC monitor search engine advertising practices and disclosure statements, and reports are available showing which engines are improving and which are not. With the medium growing so fast, you can be sure that many eyes will be watching for compliance with the latest regulations. How does your favorite search engine do?
Go Google Yourself.
October 14, 2008 at 9:56 pm | In Uncategorized | 2 CommentsTags: bad press, boycott, brand image, Google, search, Web
No, I’m not trying to be rude – I mean it literally. Go type your name or your brand name into Google and search it. What comes up? Do you see positive references, such as an announcement of an award, or a successful product launch? Or do you see negative links? If people search for your brand and the first page of results is filled with bad press, that will obviously affect their perception of your brand. Would you believe several Fortune 100 companies are suffering from this problem?
How can we put our best foot forward on the Web? First, we need to monitor search engine results. They can change overnight, as fast as an oil spill is sighted or a petition is signed or a blog entry is published. We can’t address an issue until we know about it, so we need to Google ourselves.
So what happens when we discover that result number four leads to a consumer site encouraging people to boycott our company? We can reach out to the consumers behind the site and try to resolve the problem. We can attempt to drown out their influence with an aggressive advertising campaign. On some search sites, we can even pay a fee for favorable placement of our own Web site. But more on that in my next entry.
In the meantime, have you Googled yourself lately?
The Push for Progress
October 13, 2008 at 7:00 pm | In Uncategorized | Leave a CommentTags: broadcast, digital, graceful degradation, internet access, progress, progressive enhancement, television, Web site
As television stations are constantly reminding us, as of February 17, 2009, all full-power stations in the U.S. will transition from analog to digital broadcast. (For more details, see the Federal Communications Commission site.) Many people have wondered why the government got involved and mandated this transition. What’s it to them if I like my rabbit ears? One reason is that this move will free up bands for use by emergency services, according to another government site. Others say that it’s simply a good idea to push forward with the newest and best technology so we don’t get left behind other countries. Regardless of the reasons, the result is that those who don’t currently have the set-up required to receive digital television broadcasts must take steps to prepare before February or find other ways to occupy their time. Hmm, maybe this is an opportunity for the American Council on Exercise!
Bye-bye, rabbit ears!
The push for progress affects most areas of our lives. For example, do you know someone who doesn’t have a cell phone? Or have you left your cell phone at home lately and then been quizzed by someone who tried to get in touch with you? Have you tried to sign up for something without giving an email address? Or how about the Internet – if you don’t have high-speed access, how many sites are more frustrating to load than they are worth?
Many Web site designers follow the “graceful degradation” rule, offering full capabilities to only those with the latest browsers, newest plug-ins, and fastest connections. This either pushes visitors to upgrade (if they can) or drives them away. A better approach is the progressive enhancement rule, discussed in an excellent article by Aaron Gustafson. (His analogies are great, but if you have a sweet tooth, they’re going to stir up your cravings. Have a bag of Peanut M&Ms ready.) The concept of progressive enhancement mandates full content availability to all comers, with an enhanced experience available to visitors who are equipped with all the latest technologies. Isn’t that a fresh perspective?
It shouldn’t seem so revolutionary to build a Web site that almost everybody can fully access, but if you’ve tried to surf the Web with Netscape lately, you’ll agree that progressive enhancement’s time has come.
Web Design: What Really Matters?
October 12, 2008 at 6:52 pm | In Uncategorized | Leave a CommentTags: AT&T, forms, mapping, perspective, Sprint, Verizon, web design
I’ve been reading this week about different opinions on Web site design. There is a sea of opinions out there, full of currents pulling in different directions. Some recommend simplicity and clarity as priorities, while others say you’ve got to have all the details to offer a complete experience. Some say you should absolutely use forms to gather information, while others say you should get rid of them, or at least minimize them.
The opinions that make the most sense to me are the ones that emphasize perspective. For example, Indi Young explains in her article, “Look at It Another Way,” the importance of seeing from someone else’s perspective. After all, we are not always our target audience, right? (Think of a twenty-two-year-old designing a site for Miracle-Ear, or a male copywriter waxing eloquent on the benefits of Tampax.) Like looking at an optical illusion, we have to adjust the way we view things to glimpse the way someone will approach and use our site. Aaron Rester, in “Mapping Memory,” writes that when we design a Web site, we are not so much architects as mappers, because our audience already has established ways of doing things. We need to perceive our audience’s habits and perspectives in order to design a site that will fit them like a glove. The alternative is a site that may showcase our company and our way of organizing things but leaves the visitor out in the cold, lost and unappreciated.
Do you see both the young lady and the old woman?
What do you think about Web design and what’s most important? Of these three sites, which do you think works best?
Marketing to Minorities: Investment or Obligation?
October 8, 2008 at 8:53 pm | In Uncategorized | Leave a CommentTags: Bank of America, Coca-Cola, disabilities, diversity, Hispanic, IBM, Latino, marketing, McDonald's, minorities, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Procter & Gamble, Verizon
“One size fits all” marketing messages are a thing of the past. Today companies identify a variety of audiences for their marketing communications plans, among them groups defined not just by age and income but also by native language, race, disability status, and other classifiers. Is this an attempt to earn an obligatory “diversity badge” or is it an effort to reach out and include previously ignored audiences? The answer will be different for every company and situation, but regardless of a company’s motives, creating special communications for minority audiences can be good for business.
There are 45 million Latino consumers in the U.S. market, with purchasing power that had already reached $798 billion in 2006, according to a report by Magazine Publishers of America. Coca-Cola is addressing this population segment with a strategy that is not so much language focused as perspective focused. Reinaldo Padua of Coca-Cola stated in an article for Diversity Inc. that “Coca-Cola is a very positive brand, and usually all the messages are talking about the positive side of life. The optimism talks in a very strong way to Hispanics because optimism is the main reason that brought all of us here to the U.S.”
Another market segment that companies should not ignore is people with disabilities. U.S. Census data identifies this as a $1 trillion market, in which 72% percent of people are likely to upgrade to a product’s latest model. IBM’s Web site includes an Accessibility Center that discusses the company’s recruiting policies as well as products that help the visually impaired access online content more easily. Perhaps those are a few of the reasons why IBM has been commended by the American Foundation for the Blind.
Certainly the choice to direct marketing communications toward a minority group must be carefully considered. Approaching any audience merely out of a sense of moral obligation or in a tone that talks down to the audience is unlikely to establish positive business relationships. It’s not an easy road, but several companies are leading the way in doing it well.
Diversity Inc.’s 2008 Top Five Companies for Diversity
And the winner is…
October 2, 2008 at 6:00 pm | In Uncategorized | Leave a CommentTags: Build-A-Bear, contest, giveaway, Hershey, HGTV, promotion, Shaw, sweepstakes, Teddy Grahams
You! Or it could be. What’s more exciting than the possibility of winning a million dollars, a new car, a new wardrobe, or on a slow news day, even a Chia Pet?
Brands that want to surround themselves with excitement have long relied on sweepstakes, contests, giveaways, and other promotions. Besides attracting consumer attention, benefits can include some media coverage, more store traffic, increased product trial rates, and even new consumer data in the form of names, addresses (both e and snail), and phone numbers provided on entry forms.
Have a look at a few current promotions on the Web:
Feeling like tackling a big renovation project this fall? HGTV has the promo for you! Enter to win $100,000 in the Great Fall Fix-up Sweepstakes.
If you don’t plan to rip out walls but you do want some new floors, try Shaw’s Falling for Floors with the chance to win up to $1000 in flooring. Just coax a leaf to fall into the basket and new carpet, hardwood, etc. is yours!
But maybe house-related promos aren’t your thing. If you’re ready for a sweet treat, you could win the party of your dreams from Hershey Bliss. Even if you don’t win the big chocofest, you might win a little taste. Hershey is giving away 1000 free bags of candy every day!
Continuing the party theme, in a beary fun partnership Teddy Grahams and Build-A-Bear Workshop are offering the “Win a Build-A-Party Celebearation.” Email and date-of-birth are required, but isn’t that a small price to pay for a room full of happy children?
Don’t forget to let me know if you win! Or maybe you’ve already won something this year. What contests and sweepstakes have you entered lately?
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