Generation Y may not be savers yet, but they will be someday--out of necessity as much as desire--and the opportunity to reach them is now. "There's a niche opportunity there for those that want it," Susan Menke, senior financial services analyst at Mintel, tells Marketing Daily. "They don't have the asset accumulation now, but in 10 to 20 years, they'll be making as much as Baby Boomers are now." According to Mintel research, members of Generation Y--defined as people born between 1977 and 1994--make up only about 5% of financial advisors' client base. And though those twenty-somethings may not have copious amounts of disposable income, they do have financial goals they'd like to achieve, Menke says. "A lot of Gen Y kids are more responsible than people give them credit for," Menke says. "There's a segment that's responsible and ready for life-stage planning." Many Gen Y consumers have a picture of where they'd like to be financially by the time they're 35, Menke says. Often, that picture includes owning a house, having children and being free of student loan debt. ("They've been saddled with a lot more student debt than the generation before them," Menke says.) A savvy financial firm would look to approach such consumers with a way to meet those life-stage goals to develop a longer-term relationship that could include investment and retirement planning. "The key is to build your model so that you're targeting both short-term profit and long-term potential profit," she says. Doing so, however, might mean altering some marketing strategies. According to Mintel Comperemedia, which tracks direct marketing, adults under the age of 30 only received 2% of investment direct mail offers in 2007. (By contrast, adults over age 60 received 41% of the mailings.) Other strategies would include savvier Internet marketing (such as setting up a Gen Y-dedicated Web portal) and more targeted segmenting of Gen Y consumers, Menke says. Gen Y consumers are in need of financial advice, Menke says. They have been saddled with more student debt than previous generations, are continuing to rack up credit card debt, and are not putting money away for retirement or other savings. According to Mintel, less than a third of Gen Y workers who are able to participate in a tax-deferred retirement savings plan are doing so, even though they are the generation most in need of financial planning. "They're the ones that are going to have the worst of it," Menke says. "Most members of Gen Y are not going to get an inheritance. They're going to have to rely on themselves more than any other generation."
XM Satellite Radio introduced real-time traffic navigation in 2005 in Acura RL and Cadillac CTS cars. This year, the company rolls the NavTraffic feature into 40 2009 model-year vehicles. The Washington, D.C. company is launching an integrated ad campaign to promote the new feature to commuters. The effort, launching today, pitches NavTraffic--which is integrated with the car's navigation system--to help commuters "Get There Faster," as the tagline puts it. The media buy, which features 10-second TV ads plus radio and Internet, focuses on local TV morning-drive programming, XM radio's traffic channels and traffic-report Web sites. The NavTraffic service infuses accident reports, jams, and other traffic-halting data into vehicles' map-based nav systems. The TV ads, hitting local morning and evening TV news in 30 markets, continue the line-drawing theme. The TV spots show drivers in their cars listening to XM music channels, and using XM NavTraffic. Washington, D.C.-based Brand-Aid handled. Billboards will be on commuter arteries. Jeff Curry, XM's VP/automotive marketing, says the spots are brief by design because morning traffic report listeners don't have time for long ads. He says that the NavTraffic service can't be patched into current XM and navigation systems. As a built-in service, it can only be gotten with the purchase of GM, Honda/Acura, Nissan/Infiniti, Toyota cars so equipped, and also with the forthcoming Hyundai Genesis car. He says GM is including the feature in 22 new vehicles this year. Still, per Curry, the company will sell the feature packaged with certain aftermarket products like those made by portable nav-system company Garmin, or certain car-stereo products from Pioneer and Alpine. "But the primary market is the OEM space; that's where we see biggest volume opportunity," he says. Curry says Infiniti has begun touting the feature in marketing for its QX and Lexus for its LX SUV. "But we will do a lot of the heavy lifting," he says. "We are developing dealership materials and training programs; it has to work all the way down the funnel, all the way to the dealership level."
Straw Hat Pizza wants to know: "How does pizza fuel your sport?" The cooperative for the pizza chain launched a contest last week that ends July 1, asking consumers to create a 30-second video clip that answers the question. Posting the video on Google's YouTube provides the ticket to enter the contest. Consumers can find the rules and an application at strawhatpizza.com. Consumers can vote for their favorite video once daily through Aug. 1. Straw Hat will announce winners Aug. 15. A panel of judges will take the YouTube viewer ratings into account to select semifinalists and the winner, who receives the Deluxe Sports Package Grand Prize. The package includes pizza for a year, a hosted suite for 12 people at the Giants/Dodgers game Sept. 26, donated by Coca-Cola; an AWOL surfboard; Titan skateboard; and Straw Hat Pizza skateboard courtesy of Titan Skateboards. One or more of the top videos submitted in the YouTube contest could end up in an advertisement set to run on television and in select movie theaters. Slated for later this year, pre-show ads in movie theaters will run through National CineMedia, a digital in-theater advertising joint venture between AMC Entertainment, Cinemark, and Regal Entertainment Group. The pre-show cinema ads will likely hit theaters about the same time a campaign focused on family movies rolls out in Straw Hat restaurants. Jonathan Fornaci, president of The Straw Hat Pizza Cooperative, has been working to seal a deal either with Sony Pictures, Paramount or Fox Searchlight to offer pizza, soft drinks and DVD movies for $30. The movies, rated G to PG-13, could include "Open Season 2," "Spiderman" and "Perfect Holiday." Fornaci was brought in six months ago to remake the company. He says the goal to increase same-store sales and grow store cooperatives from 38 in January 2008 to more than 100 by 2010 relies heavily on marketing and promotions. All will have a family theme, since Straw Hat Pizza restaurants are geared toward family and local events such as football, soccer and baseball Little League teams supported by schools and communities. The cooperative manages promotions and marketing for the entire Straw Hat chain, giving guidance on rolling out store-specific campaigns. This year, consumers will see more billboards, television commercials, online ads and banners, and marketing and ads in movie theaters. Straw Hat has undergone a transformation in the past 49 years since its birth in 1959. About 100 franchise locations banded together to retain brand and trademarks in 1986 when Marriott sold eight branded chains to Saga. They formed the cooperative organization that Fornaci was hired to rebuild. The strategy taps traditional marketing, too. About 100,000 emails are sent to customers monthly through the company's loyalty and feedback programs. Billboards aim to create awareness. A "Guaranteed Fresh" stamp will soon appear on marketing material and pizza boxes alongside the California Real Cheese logo. Fornaci, who worked in high-tech for years in ventures tied to Stanford University and GE Capital, says the effort is similar to Intel's "Intel Inside" campaign to let consumers know they bought a computer with an Intel chip inside. "We'll start at the store and take the message out to blogs and online banners before going into more traditional advertising," he says. Straw Hat recently hired chief blogger Mary Beth Sammons to drum up a little buzz. The mom of three teens weaned on pizza provides creative insight intended to boost social media efforts and keep consumers informed of community news. Looking at the phenomena driving community, Sammons says many consumers in their 60s have interesting stories to tell after frequenting the restaurant for nearly 50 years. "Straw Hat is like the Starbucks of small towns," she says.
Like just about every marketer, The Hershey Company is increasingly looking to leverage social media, experiential marketing and other nontraditional means of generating brand word-of-mouth. The latest case in point: Hershey made themed house parties the centerpiece for its kickoff of its new Hershey's Bliss chocolate line, using marketing services company House Party. Irvington, N.Y.-based House Party charges companies between $100,000 and $250,000 (depending on the number of parties desired) to line up "consumer advocates" to host parties for their friends and relatives; supply the product samples and other party elements; encourage hosts and attendees to blog and post photos in dedicated areas on the House Party site; and monitor the results. Depending on the marketer's goals/needs, host candidates may come through the brand's own customer/prospect databases--in this case, opt-ins to Hershey's e-newsletters and Web sites--or the House Party site, where consumers can look through a list of upcoming parties and apply to host ones that appeal to them. (House Party vets applicants with questionnaires, choosing ones who fit the target demographics, are eager to blog/post and network around the event, have positive perceptions of or histories with the brand, etc.) They may also be recruited through on-air promos, in-store promos, bag stuffers at checkout, statement stuffers, direct mail, online, email, or even distributed leaflets. Hosts receive thank-you gifts, but are not paid. The "Taste of Bliss" parties mesh naturally with the brand's message and female target audience, says Hershey Director of Product Publicity Jody Cook. Rather than being touted as an end-of-day reward or escape, Bliss is positioned as a part of "celebrating and appreciating the everyday joys of life"--and for many women, time with family and friends is high up on the list of those joys, Cook points out. In addition to samples of the three Bliss varieties, hosts received goodie bags for attendees. Those interested in having a party where attendees created their own "Blissful Memories Scrapbooks" could access downloads of scrapbooking supplies. Other hosts chose to use a "Bliss or That" trivia game theme. The 10,000 Bliss parties held over the weekend of April 25, just as the chocolates were hitting store shelves, drew more than 129,000 attendees and resulted in postings of over 22,000 digital photos and 15,000 blog entries. Cook--who says Hershey was "very pleased with the coverage generated by the parties"--notes that the company also used House Party, on a smaller scale (1,000 parties), for its Cacao Reserve launch. In September, Hershey will follow up the Bliss parties with a contest on the brand's site that gives consumers a chance to win one of 10 different parties, Cook reports.
Nintendo is hoping to transmogrify video games from a glassy-eyed pursuit for the physically inert to a kind of cardio-friendly virtual sports gym that exercises the fingers, arms and other appendages. The company will reach out to the body populace today with its biggest grassroots effort ever to tout the new Wii Fit full-body interactive game through an event in the country's best-known urban arcadia, New York City's Central Park. Nintendo, whose U.S. headquarters is based in Redmond, Wash., will host an all-day event at the park's Merchant's Gate near Fifth Avenue intended to coincide with National Fitness and Sports Month. The event to promote the home video game system will center on live demos of the Wii Fit and Wii Balance Board. The game maker will offer up some 40 different Wii Fit activities for consumers to try out; for every demo, the company will donate $5 up to $25,000 to the American Heart Association. On hand will be company brass and various luminaries from the American Heart Association. The company spent a reported $200 million to promote the Wii platform last year. The Wii Fit platform--literally a platform one stands on--retails for $90, without the console. The NPD Group, a Port Washington, N.Y. consultancy, reports that Wii was the top-selling console game last month. The company says it sold above 714,000 units in April, bringing total U.S. sales to 9.5 million. The company says sales were driven by "Mario Kart Wii" accounting for 1.1 million units. This month the company inked a deal with Westin Hotels allowing guests access to a version of the new Wii Fit console for the hotel. Westin will offer the console at 10 U.S. hotels as part of its WestinWorkout program.
In order to drive brand engagement, Jack Daniel's has created a mini-site called "Jack's Track," where it hopes consumers will spend hours with the brand's Nascar race car as it rotates in a garage, races around a track and makes a pit stop. Jack Daniel's expects that consumers will learn how the brand's values are "woven throughout the car" via the interactive, 360-degree experience, the company says. The site is composed of three primary scenes: the Garage, the Track, and the Pit. Within the Garage and Pit scenes, users are given the ability to fly around the car to various angles and learn about different components of the car or the racing process through interactive hotspots. On the Track, the hotspots appear as the car drives through the straightaway, into a turn, and on to the finish. The hotspot content is delivered either by text and imagery or through videos of Gil Martin, Jack Daniel's Racing's crew chief, driver Clint Bowyer or team owner Richard Childress. The site, created by Dallas agency Slingshot, is located within JackDanielsRacing.com and went live this month. Birmingham, Mich.-based Speedshape was a development partner in creating the 3D sequences and environments. Jack Daniel's is in its fourth year of Nascar Sprint Cup racing. The goals of "Jack's Track" are to drive brand engagement, measured through time spent on the site, and to build consumer/brand relationships though database registrations. With the 3D mini-site, Slingshot chose an interactive, 360-degree experience as a way to subtly communicate to consumers how Jack Daniel's brand values are woven throughout the car to make it what it is. The site closes with the ability for consumers to forward the site to friends as well as to sign up for the Jack Daniel's Racing newsletter.
Wal-Mart is picking up grocery shoppers with higher incomes. Among households who report an income greater than $50K, Wal-Mart's share of preference as a grocer increased from 12.3% in 2007 to 13.5% in 2008. Here's the Top 10: StoreApril '07April '08 Wal-Mart 12.3%13.5% Stop 'n Shop2.3%2.6% Publix4.3%4.4% Shoprite2.9%2.9% Giant Eagle1.9%1.9% Meijer2.5%2.5% Costco2.1%1.9% Kroger6.6%6.4% Safeway3.6%3.2% Albertsons2.7%2.1% Source: BIGresearch, Retail Ratings Report, Apr 08