Responding to the statement, "Resolved: In the new point-and-click world, branding will become increasingly difficult," a panel of brand marketing experts debated the challenges of branding in cyberspace in front of a standing-room-only crowd at OMMA Hollywood yesterday. Following an in-depth presentation on Doritos' "Crash the Super Bowl" user-generated commercial campaign, Jason McDonell, director of marketing, Doritos Brand, Frito-Lay, Inc., spoke of his beliefs in the difference between advertising and branding campaigns, and how that difference will play into Doritos' marketing plans for the next year. "An ad campaign is timely, whereas a brand campaign is timeless," McDonell said. "A brand campaign takes the core of the brand and celebrates it three-dimensionally, and that can last long term." "'Crash the Super Bowl' was an ad campaign, but what we do next is a brand campaign," McDonell said--explaining that Doritos will build upon the relationship it develops with consumers during that campaign, to continue to court consumer opinion regarding product names and flavors going forward. Currently, visitors to the brand's snackstrong.com Web site can participate in the "Fight the Flavor" contest in which they vote on which of two flavors they want to see remain available. In doing so, they have the chance to win prizes, as well as participate in an online match of ultimate fighting between the competing flavors. McDonell also mentioned a product that will debut in June that currently lacks a name, saying "we want consumers to tell us if they'll buy it." At the opposite end of the product and price spectrum, Ajay Kaul, who handles global Web marketing for Lenovo, talked about the power of consumer opinion in the blogosphere and the damage blogger Jeff Jarvis did to Dell on his BuzzMachine site with discussions of his experiences in "Dell Hell." "A brand campaign needs to establish recall among consumers," Kaul said, discussing his challenges in branding Lenovo since its acquisition of IBM's personal computer business. "Everyone knows ThinkPad, not Lenovo. We need to build brand quickly and with scalability, and we rely totally on the online channel to do so. You can't risk losing trust in the blogosphere." Kaul also responded to a comment by Rex Briggs, CEO of Marketing Evolutions, about price being the only differentiator--saying that brand leaders in his industry have benefited by moving away from a price-conscious model. "HP and Apple both stepped away from the price game and succeeded, while Dell played the price game and stumbled." Chris Miller, vice president of marketing strategies at Yum! Brands Inc., worked on Taco Bell's famous Chihuahua campaign--and remarked that while it was wildly successful in terms of driving brand recognition, it was only mildly successful in terms of driving sales. By comparison, he highlighted Best Buy, whose brand is fully integrated on and offline. "From the blue background on the BestBuy.com Web site to the color of the shirts their employees wear, you're getting a totally integrated brand experience" Miller said. The authority that conveys is invaluable, panelists agreed. With so much information available to the consumer today, there is a unique opportunity for the brand to define itself as an authoritative voice in the consumer experience. "From brand sites to third-party sites to community sites, at some point people are going to return to an authoritative source before they buy, and that's a great opportunity for brand marketers," said Todd Riley, vice president/digital director, GM Planworks.
Add MassMutual Financial Group to the growing cacophony of insurance companies trying to spur inert Baby Boomers into taking action on financial planning for retirement. Individuals, business owners and brokers are the targets of a $20-million online, print and broadcast ad campaign tagged "Front of the Mind" that breaks this week. The positioning is intended to move financial planning to the forefront of the consumer mindset--and more so, have that consumer contact a MassMutual advisor. MassMutual estimates the market to be some 30 million strong. "This is intended to be a broad campaign," says MassMutual senior vice president Trish Robinson, "and, to the extent that we concentrate our media, it is to reach the affluent in the marketplace." Media spending will be concentrated in spring and fall to coincide with tax season and year-end financial planning--the two times of year when consumers are most likely to be thinking about money management, says Robinson. MassMutual intends to spend an estimated $15 million on broadcast ads; $6 million for print and $1.5 million for online ads. This is the first time that MassMutual has advertised online. MassMutual's previous positioning, "You can't predict. You can prepare," laid some of the groundwork for the current crop of ads which "ratchet up" that message, Robinson says. The new positioning was informed by consumer research conducted by Landor Associates and interpreted in ads by Mullen, the Interpublic-owned agency that was tapped by the Springfield, Mass.-based insurer in June to evolve its marketing message. Consumers will find no scare tactics or images of luxurious retirement destinations in new ads breaking this week. Instead, they will experience in four playful, intentionally empathetic, 30-second TV spots what it's like to be inside the mind of an average consumer as thoughts compete to be top of mind. Each spot closes with the new tagline, "We'll help you get there." TV spots are scheduled to run during high-profile network and cable sports events, and prime time and early morning dayparts, as well as online. "These ads do not try to scare people into action or entice them with visions of yachts, vineyards and vintage sports cars. Most consumers actually resent scare tactics, and they simply don't believe the fantasies," says Mullen creative chief Edward Boches. "This campaign is based on the simple fact that people generally know they need to financially prepare for their future, and MassMutual can help them realize the difference between thinking about it and doing something about it." The campaign's six consumer print ads will run in magazines and newspapers, including The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Money, Newsweek, Cookie, Martha Stewart Living, Working Mother and National Geographic--built on the same theme as the television ads by featuring illustrations of people representing retirement and life insurance priorities overcoming barriers to move to front of mind. Online ads will run on each of the publication's Web sites plus on portals such as Yahoo. Print ads encourage consumers to visit microsites such as www.MassMutual.com/GetThere for information tailored to their particular needs or goals.
The pizza and tax service chains have joined forces to offer consumers a $10.40 (1040, get it?) gift card if they file their taxes through H&R Block's Tax Cut Online program linked from Papa John's Web site. The promotion is supported on both companies' Web sites and will get an online push via e-mail blasts over the next several weeks until the April 17 deadline, a Papa John's spokesperson says, as well as local marketing efforts. A determination on national advertising will be made as the date draws near, she says. In the week leading up the Tax Deadline Day, from April 10 to April 17, Papa John's will offer customers who order online a $10.40 large cheese pizza with up to four toppings. Since being introduced in 2001, online orders at PapaJohns.com have grown by more than 50% per year, the company says. During the Super Bowl, Papa John's ran a similar promotion in which participants could win a large pie, redeemable online. Registrants also got a redemption code good for two Coca-Cola products with an online purchase of a large specialty pizza at regular price. Last year, the third-largest pizza chain organized a smaller effort around Tax Day, offering the $10.40 pizza just on the weekend before taxes were due. In 2006, according to Nielsen Monitor-Plus, Papa John's spent $101.1 million and H&R Block spent $121.6 million on advertising.
Both Honda and Nissan are launching viral/guerrilla efforts to reach younger, urban buyers. Honda has launched an effort, via African-American market agency Muse Communications, L.A., aimed at pitching its Civic car to urban consumers. The effort, "Swagger," features directors and black comedians Jackie Long and DeRay Davis in both commercial and Web-based content. The campaign, a kind of tutorial for cool, features a national cable spot TV ad and a series of Webisodes delving into topics like how to be cool in one's Civic, how to meet women in a parking lot after a night visiting clubs, and the proper way to lean against one's Civic, so one's stance evinces swaggering self-confidence and not foot problems. There will also be national radio and targeted print media. The Webisodes are available on BET.com/Honda beginning this week. Nissan is promoting its keyless entry and ignition on the 2007 Altima with a national grassroots initiative called "Lost Keys." Starting this week, street teams will place about 20,000 sets of mock keys in 50 nightclubs, bars and sports arenas in each of seven major markets including New York, Miami, L.A., and Chicago. The key chains have a holder that reads: "If found, please do not return. My Next Generation Nissan Altima has Intelligent key with Push Button Ignition, and I no longer need these." The effort, via Nissan's diversity and urban agency True, L.A., includes a tie-in with Vibe magazine: whoever finds the keys are asked to text MVibe or go to www.altimakeys.com, to get either a card for free gasoline or a six-month subscription to Vibe. Both Honda and Nissan have run similar efforts in the past. Honda launched Civic Nation four years ago to promote the car as an urban blank canvas for customizing, with posters, ads and events around tuning, or customizing import cars. True has done many campaigns for Nissan targeting urbanites. The agency recently created the "Hotness" campaign, which featured ads in which people who touched Nissan cars would have ecstatic visions of driving along streets. The agency has also done several guerrilla efforts, including one for the Nissan Armada, in which the vehicle showed up in cities encased in plastic boxes reminiscent of emergency fire boxes, and it just wrapped up a promotion for the Pathfinder SUV with designer Mark Ecko, called Shift__unltd. Nissan has also begun its second-year sponsorship of "El Retiro Final Nissan," a five-part reality show aimed at finding North America's ultimate champion, which launched last spring on Fox Sports en Español. Michelle Erwin, marketing communications manager for Nissan, says 16% of Nissan buyers are Latino and 10% are African-American. Seventy percent of Nissan vehicles bought by African-American consumers are Altimas. "We do very well with both groups," says Erwin, who adds that a TV ad for Altima, also via True, has been airing since January, as well as print and online advertising behind Altima. "We have been doing quite a bit in Latino and African American markets," she says. But she adds that the point is to run thematically consistent campaigns and creative that can work across all markets "because we know that people aren't just consuming the media targeted toward them. Even in the Latino market people who watch TV in Spanish still watch 'Desperate Housewives,'" she says. "So we know the message needs to have some consistency." For instance, she says, the clubs for the "Lost Key" campaign will target trendy areas, but they are not being targeted for patrons' ethnicity.
Pharmacies are losing sales, but not to the competition. According to a report from Catalina Marketing Corporation, a behavioral marketing company, nearly half of customers who regularly fill prescriptions in a pharmacy don't buy anything else. The solution, says Ed Kuehnle, president of Catalina Marketing Services (CMS), is for pharmacies to take a hard look at how to boost in-store health and wellness marketing messages referring to specific conditions and the prescription medications used to treat them. The St. Petersburg, Fla.-based behavioral marketing and coupon strategies company, reportedly an acquisition target for shareholder ValueAct, says the key to adding value is by communicating within stores with patients who have chronic health conditions. If done correctly, stores can then market non-prescription products and information--like nutritional supplements and dietary changes--as adjuncts to prescription treatments. The company's data is based on purchase behavior, not surveys. "The broad issue is compliance of patients who are taking prescription drugs or should be coupling prescription drugs with over-the-counter (OTC) medications and treatments," says Kuehnle, who adds that 44% of prescription sales don't include front-of-store purchases. He says that even beyond the business aspects of non-compliance, "there are several studies that show that people are not buying OTC products that would make their lives better. We estimated 19 million trips per week to the pharmacy where nothing is purchased but medications." Kuehnle says the conditions that need to be targeted both for compliance issues and for the potential to sell OTC adjunct treatments are those that aren't obvious or acute. "With high cholesterol, you don't necessarily feel bad, so patients tend to stray off of Rx products. And for high cholesterol and for conditions like diabetes, there are a host of other products one should be taking, whether nutritional supplements or specific foods or non-sugar sweeteners--all or many of which are sold in the pharmacy." He says the key is connecting with consumers while they are in the store through signage, displays or via the pharmacist. CMS offers a product that provides targeted information about patients' conditions on printouts which are stapled to prescription bags. Kuehnle says the problem of communicating with patients is exacerbated by a general shortage of pharmacists, which limits the time they have to interact with patients. "Generally, they are well trained to interact with customers, but there aren't enough of them." A number of pharmacy chains like CVS/Pharmacy, Target, Wal-Mart and Walgreen are addressing such issues by creating in-store clinics staffed by nurse practitioners. Walgreen, the nation's largest pharmacy chain, opened clinics in 20 stores in Kansas City, Kan., and St. Louis, Mo., metros last year and then began rolling out in-store clinics in other markets. The company reportedly plans to have 250 clinics nationwide by September. CVS/Pharmacy began opening MinuteClinic centers in its stores in 2005. In addition to treating routine medical conditions, the clinics--which are next to the stores' pharmacy departments--offer diagnostic screenings and vaccinations. Says Kuehnle: "Our research showed in-store clinics showed higher rates of transactions."
Mercedes-Benz is launching a European marketing campaign to promote its C-Class sedan, which is the Mercedes entry model and volume brand. The effort, "C-for Yourself," starting March 31, includes TV ads, exclusive driving events, a C-Class Mobile Marketing campaign, a presence in Linden Labs' Second Life virtual world and interactive online films. The effort, via BBDO France, with Mercedes' new German agency, Jung von Matt, includes print ads in Europe starting April 2 in magazines and newspapers. A 30- to-40-second TV spot will be on public and commercial stations in Germany, and will feature Formula 1 driver Fernando Alonso, describing the handling of the car. The effort includes an online presentation at www.mercedes-benz.com/c-class, where the vehicle can be configured in 3-D through an interactive assistant. Interactive films feature people describing the vehicle as they take the car for a drive. The company is also launching for the first time a Mobile Special, featuring images of the car's interior and exterior, events and invitations, films, photos and engine sounds to mobile phones and devices. Mercedes is touting the mobile special on Vodafone live and other portals. Mercedes will also offer virtual C-Class test drives and sales in Second Life. Per a Mercedes spokesperson, the C-Class begins arriving in the U.S. in August, so the U.S. arm is still working on its campaign. However, "there will be elements of that campaign in ours, adapted to the U.S. market."