Archive for the ‘Marketing’ Category
Friday, August 8th, 2008
Going back and re-reading the comments from the Magnum post both here and the replies on Plurk, I’ve been thinking a little bit more about the Magnum ad.
1) Does aspirational advertising work?
We know what this is, they teach this in school. Subject A uses product X for benefit Y, so you can be like subject A too. Smart, sexy, whatever. Does it work? Reading through the comments it would seem that the association of Eva Longoria with being sexy and stuff works although at the same time it’s mentioned that surely we can’t believe that eating multiple Magnums gets you her figure. So what gives?
2) How much of it is celebrity endorsement?
This comes up because the comparisons between the Magnum ad, and Utt and the Brands ad came up. In a sense it’s a fair comparison. The Brands ad is everywhere and Utt is fairly popular, but does Eva have more “celebrity pull” than Utt does? Or maybe it’s just easier to reach out and buy a $2 ice cream? Or maybe again this has to do with textbook marketing: get someone “in line” with the brand so that it works.
3) Would non-traditional advertising have worked?
More specifically, would social media have worked? A plurk dialogue page? A blog? A platform for Magnum lovers to share their experiences? An “ideastorm” like page for people to suggest flavours? Or for a product like Magnum, was the best way to really throw themselves out there with traditional means?
I’m not actually trying to make a point here. Just further points that have hit me since posting and reading the great, great comments that have come in that have further inspired me to think about the issue further. Do you have more?
Tags: eva longoria, magnum advertising
Posted in Marketing, Uncategorized, mainstream media | 2 Comments »
Saturday, July 26th, 2008
I take the train to Dhoby Ghaut station most days to work, and there’s this huge (one level high) Magnum ad with Eva Longoria, as well as this large Magnum prop that’s easily two to three times my height.
One day I walked past and in my usual cynical manner with all things traditional, thought to myself “Does this actually work? Is someone going to see this and buy a Magnum from the 7-11 upstairs?”
Then a few days ago my boss purchased a Magnum and I asked “Did you buy that because of the ad at Dhoby Ghaut?” He said no, but then we proceeded to have a conversation after that about the ad and the huge Magnum and how my boss always likes to grab a Magnum.
So did the ad work? It didn’t lead directly to sales but I did remember the ad enough to recall it talk to someone about it, which is more than I can say for most ads. And I remembered it was Magnum and not a Cornetto or something else, compared to the ads for TVs that I can never tell apart. Thinking about why that is, I’ve got a couple of reasons:
1) I pass by the ad almost everyday. Maybe there’s something to be said for repetition after all?
2) The giant Magnum is huge and impossible to miss. On the verge of being remarkable?
If you’ve seen the ad or the huge Magnum, did it make any impact on you?
Tags: advertising, being remarkable, eva longoria magnum ad, outdoor advertising
Posted in Marketing | 12 Comments »
Monday, July 21st, 2008
A couple of weeks ago I was at Ad:Tech and besides meeting some companies who treated us like idiots and some that didn’t, there was a pretty decent talk by three creative directors with their own set of “Five golden rules” in advertising.
The first and the last creative directors gave typical rules like stay true to the brand etc. Very advertising in the ’90s or web1.0. Now one of them gave five points that were much, much more relevant to this day and age:
- Understand your consumer
- Own an issue, stand for something
- Spark & manage a conversation
- Involve your audience
- Aim for impact
Alright understand your consumer and aim for impact are normal, but while the other two were talking about transmitting one-way messages, at least he mentioned “conversation” and involving the audience.
If you’re paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to an agency to do your advertising, wouldn’t you rather it be an interactive, engaging effort instead of one of 2 million “impressions” that registered in their peripheral vision for all of two seconds? Because if you’re still engaged in the transmit model (i.e one way monologue) as opposed to conversation and two way dialogue, it seems like a waste of time. Especially if your demo is Gen Y.
Tags: ad:tech, advertising, advertising advice, conversation marketing, creative directors, engaging your audience, five golden rules, gen y demographic, one way monologue, reaching out to gen y, Singapore, transmitting messages, two way dialogue
Posted in Gen Y, Marketing, mainstream media | 4 Comments »
Tuesday, July 1st, 2008
So today Estee, Ian, Michael, Dorothy and I headed down to Sheraton Tower to speak to about 450 P&G Executives about Generation Y, the New Consumer and our purchase decisions as well as media consumption habits.
Michael, Dorothy and Ian getting ready.
Without a doubt, it was the biggest crowd I’ve ever spoken to (not including emceeing) and I hope they found it useful. One big concern (as always) is how “safe” it is to put your brands in the hands of consumers. As one of the execs put it, how do we know a blog won’t serve as a “brand spoiler”?
Left side of the room
Right side of the room.
I think it’s simple. The point I tried to hammer home today is: If your content or brand or product or service doesn’t suck, it won’t happen. By suck I mean the whole world hates it. I don’t think it has to be a perfect product, but a flawed one open to feedback is fine. And if you’re P&G, the textbook example for great brands, why should you be afraid? Your products should speak for themselves!
The one question I always want to ask is this: If you have kids (say, above 15). Do you really believe that your current media buying habits are in sync with their media consumption habits? I tried asking this today, but less than 10 people in the audience had kids over 15. So it became a moot point.
To some extent I think that’s a very dangerous position for an organisation to be in. If your key decision makers are at the age where they’re not interacting with Gen Y and think they are “safe” in the knowledge that what has worked for the last 30-40 years of marketing will still work, that spells trouble.
The smart companies will pick the brains of their youngest employees. MTV did that when I was there. Almost every week they would ask me “What would your age group think of this?” or “Is this lame to you?” or questions like that. I remember one instance where somebody two levels above my immediate superior (meaning she’s VP level) came to me and asked my opinion on some new VJ audition tapes.
I’m not trying to be a diva, but it astounds me that there were 140 students at Ad:Tech last week, and almost none of us were approached by execs just to talk.
Let’s put it this way: Every six months new graduates enter the workforce and decide what to buy with their newfound spending power. If you haven’t been communicating to them earlier, what makes you think you can do it now?
ps: While we’re on the topic of Gen Y. I found it weird to receive this as a “thank you” gift from P&G:
I don’t want to seem ungrateful but… Boss for women? I don’t get it. In future, either get “thank you” gifts that can go to either sex, or label your “thank you” gifts appropriately.
Tags: brand spoiler, brands in the hands of consumers, communicate asia, dorothy poon, geek goddess, generation y, media consumption habits, p&G, proctor & gamble, purchase decisions, sheraton tower, the new consumer
Posted in Gen Y, Marketing | 9 Comments »
Wednesday, June 25th, 2008
More on the IDC Web2.0 Conference yesterday (attendees aside), there were some great insights that I’d love to talk about.
Prof. Michael brought up a point that I personally identify with. He says sometimes he has a guest in the class room and the guest is talking to the class, but the class is talking to each other via IM (or maybe Twitter), in other words, we’re having multiple levels of conversation.
I hope this is not new to marketers by now. Listen to Sarah from ReadWriteWeb or Ian from MTV. Generation Y is doing this. All the time.
Sarah will tell you they won’t even read this far down a blog post. Ian will tell you we have the computer on talking to 7 friends with MTV in the background and alternate-tabbing between games while stopping once in awhile to sms someone.
And that’s the truth.
Marketers are not going to get our full attention. And they certainly can’t demand it. They’re going to have to fight for it, not by interruption, but with darn compelling content. Does this mean we absorb less if we’re doing five things at the same time? Without empirical proof I’m going to say maybe. But I feel it also makes us aware of more. I can’t walk out of a movie these days without picking up at least one or two brands featured in the show, and more often than not the conversation becomes a “hey did you see that BMW insert?” after the movie.
Speaking as a Gen Y consumer myself, I love it when brands make the effort to connect, and seem like they’re genuine. (not some scammy thing). I’ll talk to you about Sony, about EA Games, about Bluehost and about HP because I know that they’re at least recognising the new presence of the new consumers and trying. They may not be fantastic at it, but it’s better than pretending we don’t exist or are a “fad”. (full disclosure: my office does PR work for HP)
Speaking of listening, I wanted to talk about this yesterday and am further prompted by this comment. Dear Yahoo!, I love that you sponsor stuff like the Web2.0 conference, but Jonathan is right. Does it make sense to sponsor it when people don’t get what you’re about? I love the “social” ymail and I love how it was presented in a non-intrusive way together with the goodie bags. But wouldn’t it be cooler to connect with say, 60 people who are in the space, in the know and can really appreciate what your product is about? Or give them a chance to try it and be bought over?
If you’re willing to listen to a proposition (not for me, but for the local Singaporean blogosphere), let’s start a conversation!
Tags: bluehost, ea games, Gen Y, generation y, hp, ianstewartmtv, IDC web2.0 conference, im, mtv, multi-tasking, multiple levels of conversation, readwriteweb, sarahintampa, social media insights, sony, sponsorship, twitter, yahoo, ymail
Posted in Blogs, Marketing, collaboration, community, social media | 4 Comments »
Thursday, June 19th, 2008
Haven’t done this in awhile, but I really wanted to direct you to two resources which I found to be extremely valuable just yesterday.
Word Of Mouth Manual II
Dave Balter who co-authored Grapevine (which I remember reading two years ago) has a new book out called the Word Of Mouth Manual Volume II. Since focusing more and more on social media, I had actually thought in recent weeks about re-visiting the book and seeing what is still relevant today. I first came across the link from Mitch Joel and I don’t want to copy and paste the URL here because it’s a unique URL (excellent for measurement), so head on there if you want to download the book for FREE! (otherwise it costs you $45 on Amazon).
Also, the way the news got out was great, targeting a few key influencers online like John Moore from Brand Autopsy, John Bell from the Digital Influence Mapping Project, Todd Defren at PR Squared and of course Seth Godin among others. Given that these posts appeared in my feeds alone, I’m sure spread out over the targeted blogs, many more people interested in communication and word of mouth would have come across it as well. And appearing numerous times in numerous blogs also sends a strong signal: These many people have found it worth their time, it’s probably worth yours too.
Feedly
As always, Louis Gray brings the best in all things feed-related. I’m not going to just scrape the details from his blog because his write-up is so thorough, there’s probably nothing more I can do but to help spread the word by directing you to his coverage. I’ve just installed Feedly and am finding it a lot to get used to, but I can see certain elements I like.
Tags: brand autopsy, bzzagent, dave balter, digital influence mapping project, feedly, grapevine, john bell, john moore, louis gray, mitch joel, pr squared, seth godin, todd defren, word of mouth manual
Posted in Blogs, Marketing, collaboration, social media | No Comments »
Saturday, June 14th, 2008
Passed by this yesterday, one of the many banners hanging on street lamps.
Two almost exactly identical banners hanging from every street lamp for a block.
So here’s where it doesn’t make sense.
1) Why two? If you really had to waste money putting a banner outdoors, wouldn’t one do the trick? Or does placing them on either side of a street lamp guarantee double the eyaballs?
2) Why every street lamp? Why not every alternate one? When I drive past by the time I see the first one and look up more closely, it’s the third street lamp anyway.
So essentially, they could’ve either done one banner on every alternate street lamp and spent a quarter of their budget, or done it over a larger area (ie four blocks) and spend the same amount of money.
Or they could’ve just contacted animal, dinosaur or bird enthusiasts online and invite them to come and spread the word. It’s not like putting up street lamp banners are any more measurable than doing a blogger outreach exercise.
I bet the ad company is laughing its way to the bank.
Tags: advertisements, advertising roi, dino trail, Singapore, street lamp banners, traditional advertising, traditional media, wasted advertising
Posted in Marketing, Photos, Singapore, mainstream media, social media | Comments Off
Tuesday, May 27th, 2008
This came up in a couple of conversations during Social Media Breakfast: Singapore 2. Who’s the hardest to persuade when trying to implement a social media initiative? I’m guessing there isn’t a singular person, but clumps of people:
1) The C Suite
I hear conflicting stories here. Some C Suite individuals are very keen to get into social media (whether they know what they’re doing is another matter). Others are firmly entrenched in the delusion that this is a fad and will go away, and that one-way messaging continues to work and that mass media is king.
2) The Marketing Department
This one I’m guessing. The social media budget has to come from somewhere, and the most likely avenue probably sounds like the in-house marketing/communications department. Money spent on social media = less money for them to by 30 second spots and billboard ads.
3) Customer Service
These are the low-laid, unmotivated staff that come into contact with customers every day. And these are the people who will be online joining the conversations. Speaking as someone whose job was to answer the phone and prepare medical records way back when, it’s really hard to persuade this class of people to care for the customer.
I’m sure I’m missing out some possibilities, so what do you think? Also, do you think the “culture” of embracing social media should come from the top (ie C Suite) down and enforced? Or bottom up? Is one way more effective? Or do different methods work for different companies?
Tags: 30 second spot, billboard ads, c suite, customer service, in-house marketing, marketing department, mass media is king, one-way messaging, persuading organisations to use social media, social media breakfast singapore, social media initiatives, social media is a fad
Posted in Marketing, social media | 3 Comments »
Monday, May 12th, 2008
I originally meant for this post to show some excerpts from Pat’s blog today, titled “The Holy Trinity Of Blogging“, until I realised she has it so spot on and so easily understood that there really is little else I could add by posting about it. (That said, do check out the link, relevant to individuals and companies alike.)
But as I sat down to start writing tonight, I realised there’s a bigger question here: Why, out of the many, many links sent to me and blog posts that I read a day, did I want to particularly highlight Pat’s? Someone who I have never talked to online or in person? Of course because it’s relevant and well-written, but there’s something else.
It started with a tweet:
This is the second direct message she sent me, the first was even more targeted, saying something like “for the social media junkie” followed by the URL.
Let’s go back to CRM, according to Wikipedia, it
helps companies understand, as well as anticipate, the needs of current and potential customers.
Isn’t that exactly what happened here? Unlike the mass tweets about a “new blog post” (which I don’t mind at all), this really makes me sit up and take notice, because I know it’s a careful, considered move to bring the level of interaction one step closer (from general tweets to a direct message). And the reason why that step would be taken is because she knows that that post would be particularly relevant to me.
“So what” you say? Well, what if you could do that for your customers? Companies are obsessed about CRM, about data, interactions, trends and the like. And here they are in front of you. What if you knew Person A particularly likes a biscuit flavour that you happen to be bringing in? A personal email with an invite to be the first to taste it? Or an ad in the newspaper in hopes the general population will pick up on it and drop by?
It’s a lot of work, no doubt about it. But hey, people pay money for CRM software and hotels notice how guests shift their furniture so that they can do it for them for future visits. Is this really too much? Especially in Singapore?
Tags: customer relationship management, holy trinity of blogging, pat law, social media = crm, social media and crm
Posted in Marketing, Search, Wikipedia, social media, twitter | 9 Comments »
Monday, April 28th, 2008
The Open Room was held today at Ogilvy with the tagline “where brands and bloggers connect”. I was one of the privileged bloggers to be invited, and I have to say I had a blast.
John Bell (who I had the honour of talking to for awhile) kicked it off with 12 points on the Code of Ethics for blogger outreach. Needless to say with my recent issues with journalist-blogger relations, this struck a chord with me and I have to say I think Ogilvy has got it spot on.
The Open Room was a great event for me as a blogger. I got to meet people I met previously from Social Media Breakfast: Singapore like Sheylara, Supriya, Jean, Ridz, Rinaz, Nicholas, Michael Netzley and Aaron, as well as some bloggers I know of online but never really met in person like the Tech 65 crew, Ian on the red dot, Sabrina, Plaktoz and Nadia, as well as a ton of people from Ogilvy. (I’m sure I’ve missed people out, let me know so I can add your link!)
The one thing that I felt was replicated from the IDC Conference was that the companies involved seemed a little unsure about what to do when meeting bloggers. We were identified clearly by our magenta tags (they had green), but yet the two groups never really mingled. I don’t think this is the “fault” of anyone in particular, just that this new social media space and community marketing concept are something corporations are just figuring out right now. I definitely hope this changes soon. I don’t want to be pitched by companies at events like these, but it would be nice to talk to them and find out more about them.
Y’know, start a conversation, have a relationship. Like real people.
For example, I was checking out the new Canon models (because my sister took my camera), but there wasn’t really anyone there I could talk to about it. In fact, most of the “green tags” were gone by 6:30pm. (Probably considered as overtime for them).
I think the issue here is simple: Bloggers have taken a step forward. Companies like Ogilvy have taken a very important step forward by organising something like The Open Room. Now the companies, the very people who the bloggers and agencies are trying to help and engage, need to take that step forward and be a part of the conversation, part of the community too.
After all, at the end of the day, for the bloggers it’s a blogger social event, but the companies should at least go back with something to show for it, be it a new blogger relation or a referral. Because otherwise, the time was wasted wasn’t it?
Edit: Forgot to insert the picture, but we got some swag from the event! Nice touch I must say. Anyone needs the PSP case? I don’t have one so feel free to ask for it. Don’t even think about the Nokia N-gage thumbdrive though!
Big thanks to Brian and Tania for inviting me, looking to future events!
Tags: aaron koh, code of ethics blogger outreach, john bell, journalist blogger relations, michael netzley, nadnut, ogilvy pr, plaktoz, pr blogger pitches, ridz84, rinaz, sheylara, simplyjean, tech 65, the open room
Posted in Blogs, Fun, Marketing, Media, Singapore, social media | 5 Comments »
