So we know its out there, the marketing community has invaded social media and is using it for terrible causes. Ok, that’s a bit over the top but you get the point; top blogs are corporate blogs, the largest profiles are companies, the biggest twitter followers are brands…. This is our world.
I was in a discussion with a co worker about how he felt young consumers tuned out ads in social media and that they were often expensive to create. I agreed but was quick to retort with young subscribers are also the first to adopt marketing if it suits their needs.
Widgets and FaceBook is a great example of people still willing to freely sign up and participate in marketing. I began by explaining how just putting your message out on social media was as valuable as just putting something on TV. Sure you could see some upswing in users but there was no real quantifiable numbers.
Consider creating and adgame or widget that people could actually use. You know have a way of tracking users and user time with a medium that can push your message to multiple targets in multiple locations. Imagine trying to buy a promo spot on multiple channels in multiple timeslots you can see how paying a developer might actually be cost effective.
When you look at cross channel marketing and the cost of productions in traditional media vs. new media the cost isn’t that much different. I think as marketers we need to do a better job explaining cost vs. cost for new media and traditional media when dealing with clients.
Have you fought this battle before? Have you tried justifying development cost in the guise of production cost? Let me know.
Last night was The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, which has become something to look forward as a mainstay of the winter season. But why all the fuss? A handful of gorgeous women flaunting what they have to offer in elaborate VS brand lingerie, that’s why. However, this big event can’t be meant to sell bras can it…so what is it all about? The answer would be selling “sexy.”
Just one simple yet entirely complex word. No one is going to buy a 5 million dollar diamond studded bra and 8 foot wings to wear around the house! But the point of this show isn’t really to focus on the outfits that the models are wearing. It is about the entertainment offered and the sexy models strutting the runway. They are selling a face and a body, not clothing. Would anyone wear a furry Santa outfit out in public? No. It is an eye-catching event that sells what most people really want, a glimpse of glitz and glamor. They are defining a brand as desirable and showing the world what it means to be SEXY.
Victoria Secret has found a way to grow far beyond their actual offering by selling an image of what is sexy and attaching their brand to that. When people think about fashion shows they usually think of skinny
models wearing crazy outfits from some couture line striding the catwalk in Milan. Victoria Secret has taken another approach and it has far surpassed any other fashion event, making the fashion show one of the premiere “go to” events for the trendiest and hottest players in the music, fashion and entertainment industries. When people think of Victoria’s Secret, they think sexy, they know sexy.
They are not selling bras through the fashion show, they are reminding the world of desire and style, of glamour and of SEXY.
Its 3 a.m. and you’re famished after a long night of bar hopping. You’re desperately searching for a place that you and your friends can go to get some late night grub. Where can you go to satisfy your cravings? Denny’s new Rock Star Menu was designed to do just that.
From 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. Denny’s is offering a late-night menu filled with items created by popular rock bands and musicians. These musicians come to Denny’s and dream up a menu item, like “The Hot N Cold Cherry Chocolate Cappuccino” by Katy Perry or the “Hooburrito” by Hoobastank. Whatever concoction they create is featured on the late-night menu.
The next morning, while you’re recovering from that nasty hangover, you can go to Dennysallnighter.com to post pictures of you at Denny’s, noshing on the Rock Star Menu items. Or, you can watch videos of the bands working in the Denny’s kitchen to create that delicious meal you ate last night. You can also vote for more bands to come and build the next Rock Star Menu.
The Rock Star Menu is a great way for Denny’s to reach ever elusive college students and young adults. Not only do they use social media creatively with their blog, videos, and pictures, but they are targeting young adults when they are most vulnerable: Drunk at 3 in the morning. Would a “Taking Back Bacon Burger and Fries” feed your after hours appetite?
Facebook is becoming more than a place to track down those people you do not really keep in touch with. Now Facebook wants to take word-of-mouth marketing to a whole new level. Their new approach is to pay for ads that have your profile picture attached to it. It is another way to market your brand preferences. By getting Facebook users to recommend products to friends, they are narrowing down their targeted audiences.
Not only does Facebook allow you to post your interests on your personal profile, but now whenever you make a purchase or a rental, it will ask you if you would like to attach your picture to the brand or type of product that you just ordered. They will basically try to partner with companies and keep up with the activity of Facebook users on those sites. Facebook is not giving the information to marketers and they are just letting it roll.
It is true that nothing means more than when it comes from a friend. This is the easiest, and smartest way to market a brand and to easily target those that will most likely be interested in the same things. By accompanying the ads with friends’ comments, this takes away a largely commercial feel from the Facebook site as well. This concept is social marketing at work.
However, is this really what we want our future to look like? I mean yeah, marketers will be getting a gain out of it and your friends will be able to see what you are interested in. But it could turn your face and comment into an advertisement. Like most social network dealings, you must be careful what information you have made available about yourself and who you offer it to. You could become a “brand ambassador.”
This sounds like an effective marketing idea, but will it really hold out this way without marketers eventually getting involved?
General Motors Corps. entered a power-partnership when they paid a large sum to have four of their vehicles placed in the blockbuster hit movie Transformers. Their new 2008 models were advertised in one of the summer’s top movies that targeted various demographics. The vehicles were targeted in such an awesome way, that people attached that brand to the movie characters and actually wanted to go out and try them in real life.
The movie offered a global platform for marketing GM products and building their brands. Having GM support, added advertising for the movie as well. The two go hand in hand. Going against the grain, and the traditional style of automotive marketing, this movie brought the GM brands to a whole new level. GM put in more than a million dollars’ worth of product that included hundreds of their new and old vehicles. After paying all of that money to have the vehicles displayed as major actors in the film, they looked so attractive to the targeted demographics that sales went up.
The movie not only appealed as an action thriller for little boys, but also to strong and independent women that saw themselves relating very well to the powerhouse female characters leading in the movie. By broadening their audience, they actually got more attention and eventually viewers and fans.
Was it smart for GM to invest so much in a summer movie?
