What's hard to find, desired by parents and could possibly save the world? It's not the keys to the minivan. It's the alternative fuel source called E85, and consumers have mixed notions of what it's all about. Only one-third of Americans has ever heard of E85, according to an exclusive Marketing Daily survey by Synovate eNation. This is despite frequent media attention about the corn-based fuel in particular and renewable resources in general, and despite a marketing blitz by General Motors Corp. for its E85 vehicles. In fact, most people haven't a clue that GM has anything to do with driving the E85 trend: 64% of respondents who are aware of E85 said they're not sure which automaker is best known for offering E85 vehicles; 13.4% said GM and 8% think it's Toyota. (It's GM.) "The credibility given Toyota is interesting because they don't even advertise an E85 vehicle," says Tim Englehart, account group manager for Synovate's Motoresearch division. "They're getting a halo effect from the Prius; people think they're way ahead of the curve." Toyota's Prius is a hybrid car, and many people may be getting hybrids confused with flex-fuel vehicles. Hybrids run on a combination of gasoline and electricity, whereas flex-fuel vehicles run on either gas or E85, a fuel that's 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline. According to the National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition (NEVC), ethanol is a high-octane fuel produced by the fermentation of plant sugars such as corn and other home-grown grains; it's renewable and cleaner-burning than gas; and it decreases America's dependency on foreign oil. What's not to love? About 8% of vehicles on U.S. highways are E85-compatible, says Michelle Kautz, deputy director of the NEVC. That's about five million cars, trucks, minivans and SUVs. But less than 1% of fueling stations carry E85 in the U.S. "Many more stations need to be accessible for these vehicles to be able to fuel easily," she says. According to the Marketing Daily/Synovate survey, 80% of respondents who are aware of E85 said they won't go more than 10 miles out of their way to purchase the fuel. Synovate conducted the online survey of a representative sample of 1,000 U.S. adults May 17-21. But lack of availability and confusion don't mean that people have totally tuned out E85's potential. Almost 47% of the respondents who are aware of E85 said they'll look for E85-compatibility next time they purchase a vehicle. The target market is higher among certain demographic subsets, such as parents, Baby Boomers, Generation Y and people living everywhere except the Northeast. Among those who are aware of E85:
The women's lingerie business isn't for the faint-hearted. Just as Kohl's announces three new lingerie lines, The Limited says its Victoria's Secret will cut back marketing spending for the remainder of the year, due to the first-quarter hammering it took in bras and panties. That follows Target Corp.'s news that undie sales were a first-quarter disappointment, and J.C. Penney's recent announcement that Ambrielle intimates, the chain's biggest private label launch to date, are selling briskly. Kohl's says it will launch Moments, its first private-brand intimate collection, next month in more than 200 stores and that it will be available chainwide within a year. It also unveiled two new, exclusive intimate-brand collections, daisy fuentes--available in June--and Simply Vera Vera Wang, available in September. Theoretically, there should be plenty of room for new lines and brands. After all, American women spent $10.8 billion on lingerie in the 12-month period between April 2006 and March 2007, according to NPD Group. That represents a 10.6% increase, with bra sales gaining 11.6% and panties up 4.9%. But market leader Limited Brands is struggling. It says it expects sales at its Victoria's Secret division to continue to struggle in the months ahead. Starting with a weak Valentine's Day holiday performance and mall traffic declining 6%, the company cut prices on its bras, panties in its PINK line for young women, and sleepwear. Still, "we missed sales expectations across all segments of the business, including, bras, panties, PINK and Beauty," company executives said in a conference call. "In hindsight, our bra launches lacked enough differentiation and newness." The company also said it "will reduce our marketing spend in the remainder of the year" and focus on "growing market share through critical bra launches" such as its new Very Sexy 100-way bra, a strapless convertible bra. "It's off to a good start," the company says, but added that it now expects May comparable-store sales to be "in the negative low single-digit range, versus previous guidance for positive low single-digit comps."
General Motors' GMC division is breaking a series of new TV ads aimed at the African-American market that focus on the new 2007 Sierra Crew Cab and Sierra Denali pickup trucks. The national campaign, breaking next week, includes TV, out of home, interactive and a sweepstakes promotion. The effort, via Oakland, Calif.-based Carol H. Williams Advertising, aligns with GMC's long-standing "Professional Grade" brand identity but with a twist: pickup truck ads almost always show the vehicles doing blue-collar work, charging down rutted back roads, and hauling bales of hay or boats. The campaign from Carol H. Williams puts the trucks in an urban setting, with computer-generated video that pays homage to the spirit of parcour, an urban extreme sport that started in France and is sometimes called "free running." It uses urban fixtures as pommel horses and involves gymnastic leaps and jumps from building to building, wall to wall, from balcony to balcony, or down stairways. One of the two 30-second spots shows a black GMC Sierra Denali cruising city streets to hip-hop music. As onlookers turn to admire the vehicle, it suddenly veers off the road and climbs the vertical face of a skyscraper, leaping into the air at the top before shooting down the other side. Then it "leaps" from one building roof to another as voiceover touts the truck's 400 horses, 20mpg. "The way you move will never be the same again," says the VO. "Experience the freedom of professional grade." The Sierra Crew Cab spot shows the truck doing similar moves as it makes its way to an urban construction site. The ads were shot in Chicago. Background music is a song called "Gutterfly"* from a band called "Lifesavas*." The ads will run during NBA playoff series on ESPN and ABC, and on TV One. Outdoor ads will appear in Los Angeles, Houston, Atlanta and Dallas. There will also be regional executions. Kurt Herr, creative director at the agency, says parcour was an inspiration for the ads but that it's not meant to be a direct reference. Instead, it is "an embodiment of that spirit," he says. "We felt that free running is about doing things your own way, taking your own path. We felt our consumer was tired of being force-fed truck ads with mud and dirt. Our customer moves through an urban environment." Herr says there is strong upside potential for pickup truck sales among African-Americans because automakers rarely do dedicated pickup truck advertising to that demographic. "It's an under-served consumer market," he says. Consumers can also view the ads online, via a microsite within GMC's consumer site. The site also houses video segments on the making of the advertisements. It is also central to a sweepstakes, the Sierra Sweepstakes dangling the truck as grand prize. The campaign will include regional executions as well, per Herr. Carol H. Williams has focused on GMC, and most recently, created ads for the division that starred NFL commentator James Brown* for the Yukon Denali SUV. The agency is also doing work for Cadillac, Hummer and now for Chevrolet. * This story has been amended since publication to correct an error.
Everlast Worldwide, N.Y.-based manufacturer, marketer and licensor of athletic gear, is creating a unified global marketing program for the first time in its 97-year history. The company has been something of a Floyd Mayweather Jr. brand in boxing: pound-for-pound leader winning on points with at-venue signage, sponsorships and strategic print efforts in vertical pubs like The Ring (ads featuring fighters like David Tua, Arturo Gatti and Fres Oquendo). Now, it is finally going for the 11th-round knockout. The effort will include Everlast's first logo update in several years, as well as a new brand icon, corporate colors and tagline, "Greatness is within." The campaign includes print, out-of-home, packaging and Internet advertising campaigns. The new logo features the same concave all-caps lettering as before, but it's more modern, with a swerving "E" underneath in yellow. Brandon Emerson, creative director at Everlast, says the logo has gone through several variations in its history. "I've seen old photos of the logo on heavy bags where the top of the logo is flat and the bottom is arched," he said. "I've seen instances where the typeface used in the logo is a modern serif face as opposed to the current slab serif face. In the mid-seventies a border was added, initially as a guide for sewing labels, and evolved into a part of the logo, essentially making it a rectangle." Emerson says that in 2000, the classic ascending/descending logo shape was redrawn in-house. "Also, at that time a logo for professional equipment was designed to differentiate it from our retail product." He says that last year the box surrounding the Everlast logotype was removed, reflecting more of the original design and accentuating the iconic ascending/descending shape. Adam Geisler, senior vice president/marketing, says the company is aiming to become a "premiere active-lifestyle brand, beyond only the boxing niche. From product extensions and communications, we now have a clear, concise, cohesive brand strategy-we will have worldwide messaging, with a very similar, thematic approach to communications" in each market. The company is using Philadelphia-based Kanter International. Geisler says the effort will continue to be print-heavy, but also with out-of-home and online, some lifestyle advertising and marketing within gyms. Though creative has not been developed, he says new marketing efforts won't efface Everlast's core equity in boxing. "Boxing is our authenticity, and it will be very important to the brand and ethos. It's something ownable by our brand." While Everlast is targeting Nike, Reebok and Adidas as competitive brands, the company will eschew a sports-vertical approach along with ads featuring star athletes, depending on the vertical. "Our goal is not to go after, say, basketball or football or endorsement deals," Geisler says. "Our goal is to go after consumers in gyms and focus on publications and media targeting those consumers."
MasterCard and Home Depot have partnered for another national cross-promotional effort called "$100,000 Backyard Retreat Sweepstakes." MasterCard cardholders in the U.S. are automatically entered when they use their cards at Home Depot between April 23 and June 23, and the winner will receive a $100,000 cash prize with no restrictions on how the money is spent. The companies are supporting the sweepstakes with a fully integrated media platform that includes print, online and radio. Print ads were designed by The Richards Group and appear in publications such as Better Homes & Garden, Real Simple, and Ladies Home Journal, Home Depot spokesperson Jean Niemi told Marketing Daily. Magazine inserts, which will run in Spanish and in English, feature an idyllic backyard setting with the heading "Make it a summer to remember. With a backyard retreat on us." Full-page ads feature different backyard scenes--one of a luxurious poolside furniture adorned with towels and ice-filled glasses beckoning for people to relax on it, the other an evening scene of chairs gathered to invite cozy conversation around a fire pit-and read, "Win a $100,000 Backyard Retreat." Home Depot also will promote the sweepstakes with point-of-sale materials in more than 2,000 retail stores nationwide. This is the third time the companies have partnered together under a strategic alliance designed to drive spending at Home Depot and on MasterCard products, Niemi explained. Previous sweepstakes promotions included "The Backyard Makeover" and "The Dream Kitchen Makeover," both of which also offered customers the opportunity to win $100,000 by using their MasterCard at any Home Depot store. Consumers automatically receive double sweepstakes entries when using The Home Depot Rewards MasterCard or The Home Depot Business Rewards MasterCard cards.
All that influence you've had all these years? Step aside--the Echo Boom is here, and marketers are turning their attention to the kids. Visa USA, which commissioned a survey of Echo Boomers (born 1979 to 1989) and Baby Boomers (born 1946 to 1964), reports at least one interesting irony: even though the older crowd generally has a negative attitude toward the younger demographic, the kids see having money as a way to give back to others, especially family members and charities. One thing the generations agree on is this: Both are concerned about saving for retirement. Echo Boomers are the nation's second-largest generation and, eight years hence, will account for approximately $2.45 trillion in annual spending. This generation appears to be misunderstood. Visa finds that Echos are more practical and mature in their spending habits and more generous to others--characteristics often not associated with them. "The Baby Boomer generation has had a profound influence on the U.S. economy over the past several decades," says Wayne Best, Visa USA's chief economist, in a news release. "However, as they enter the 'golden years' and their spending influence wanes, we must begin to focus on the even larger spending impact that Echo Boomers will have on our economy." The study reveals that Echo Boomers, who believe they are facing a difficult economic future, are demonstrating a more practical and mature approach to spending beyond their years.