Don't call Xbox 360 a video game console, but rather the brains for the entertainment center in your home. That's the message behind Microsoft's latest advertising and marketing campaign aimed at changing the hardware's image. Microsoft executives have been talking up the box's expanded movie and TV download and storage capabilities for more than a year. With the "single largest investment" in the pocket of its marketers, the company aims to tout the "entertainment center" message to consumers loud and clear. "Our customers will always be hardcore gamers, but this is an opportunity to move beyond to serve casual gamers and consumers who want other types of entertainment, which extends into the family," says Charlotte Stuyvenberg, GM of marketing and communications services for Xbox at Microsoft. "This campaign is bigger than the one we did for 'Halo 3,' because the strategy and the message won't change any time soon. This campaign will evolve into the new fiscal year, which begins after June 2009." Broadening Microsoft's message could capture more market share. Colin Sebastian, senior research analyst at Lazard Capital Markets, says Microsoft clearly wants consumers to view the Xbox 360 as the platform that connects them to the Internet from their living room. "Trends are moving toward providing consumers more digital content in their homes through a variety of Internet-connected platforms," he says. "PS3 connects to the Internet, but Sony has long delayed a connected virtual world called Home where you can download content." Home, Sony's 3D networked community that analysts expect to emerge from beta this fall, remains one of a countless number of collaborative, content and storage platforms to emerge from numerous rivals. Sebastian says Microsoft will do well if it can convince consumers that Xbox 360 offers connected services. T.A.G. / McCann SF, McCann Erickson London, Universal McCann SF / NY, Wunderman Seattle, and Edelman Seattle were responsible for creating the TV spots that are scheduled to hit the UK in October. They began rolling out in the other European nations and in the U.S. Five TV ads showcase the diverse experiences available on Xbox 360. The spots highlight some of the platform's most popular games such as "Rock Band 2," "Guitar Hero World Tour," and "Lego Batman." It also features the movies "I Am Legend" and "Sex and the City" on Xbox Live Marketplace, an HD VOD service. Each thought-provoking scenario attempts to convey a sense that the experience cannot exist without the Xbox. The first half of each spot focuses on the human face and the emotional experience in an attempt to create an intimate connection with the viewer. The music begins slowly, drawing in the viewer with acoustic instruments and simple human responses like whistling and clapping. The camera pans around the person's head. Both the music and the look on the person's face intensify. Fireworks, balloons, and shooting stars appear. The camera reveals a tighter shot of the back of the head. The viewer doesn't see the back, the hair and the neck, but rather the magical thoughts the person thinks. The payoff: "Live Your Moment" in the Xbox experience. T.A.G. created the "Xbox experience" by building the "inside the head" sets as miniatures rather than using computer-generated art. The "Live Your Moment" spots--a collaboration between T.A.G. and Radical Media director Daniel Askill--also extend into print, out of home, POS and digital marketing. Stuyvenberg says to look for Microsoft to tap into emerging technologies like mobile marketing, RFID, near field communications, and 2D barcodes to expand the campaign.
With Detroit automakers reintroducing modern takes on sports cars like Challenger (Dodge) and Camaro (Chevy), Ford is hoping to get the word out early about the 2010 Mustang, which goes on sale next spring. The new pony car is the first major redo since the 2005 model-year redesign. Ford won't show the car until the Los Angeles auto show this year, but has begun running promotional spots presaging the car. The shorts were not made by Ford's ad agency, but by members of a filmmakers' Web community called Filmaka.com. Filmaka's members were asked to submit a script about the car. The site says almost 400 scripts were submitted by filmmakers worldwide, with 22 semifinalists chosen to produce their films. JWT Team Detroit and Filmaka chose 10 winners. The first of the winning films--which are also on www.The2010Mustang.com--aired last week during the premiere of NBC's "Knight Rider," which happens to feature the Ford Shelby GT500KR as the talking car. The other winners' films will also run during broadcasts of the show as 30- and 60-second trailers, and will each get $5,000. The grand-prize winner gets to direct a promotional film for the 2010 Mustang launch. The full films are on the Web site, which houses specs of the new car and teaser videos. Wes Brown, auto industry consultant with Iceology, Los Angeles, says that the forthcoming Mustang probably will not look markedly different from the current one. "When the current Mustang came out, it made a strong enough statement to bring in a flood of loyalists, and broadened the buyer base," he says. "It stood out from other vehicles in the segment." But, he says, many of the changes were cosmetic, and the engine, suspension and technology were similar to the previous model. He says there will likely be renewed interest in the segment with Camaro (which launches in first quarter 2009), Challenger and the 2009 Nissan 370Z also due out next year. "There will be extra interest and buzz in the sporty car segment--and I think, therefore, for the 2010 Mustang to go beyond just getting Ford loyalists the [drive train and technology] will have to be significantly upgraded." Sales of the Mustang fell 29% last month to 8,197 vehicles, from 11,512 the year before. Sales year-to-date are off 25.7%
As part of a broader restructuring, Dr Pepper Snapple Group (DPS) has a new chief marketer. Jim Trebilcock, currently senior VP marketing and a 21-year DPS veteran, is assuming overall responsibility for the company's marketing efforts. He will report to DPS President/CEO Larry Young. Randy Gier, formerly executive VP, marketing and R&D, has "decided to pursue career opportunities outside the company," according to DPS. The just-announced organizational changes are designed to "provide greater clarity around roles and accountabilities, speed decision-making, drive simplification and enhance retail execution," said Young. "It's the logical next step in ensuring that our focus and resources are squarely aligned with our customers and channel partners and that we continue to respond nimbly to the evolving demands of the marketplace." In addition to the marketing power shift, DPS, which formally separated from parent Cadbury Schweppes in May, outlined the following responsibility structure:
Cheap generic drug prices are all the rage among pharmacies right now, and while they may do a good job of getting people in the door, it's old-fashioned customer service that keeps them there, according to J.D. Power and Associates' National Pharmacy Study. "You can win customers with $4 generics, but you don't see loyalty," Jim Dougherty, executive director of J.D. Power and Associates' health care practice, tells Marketing Daily. "People who shop on price are always shopping on price." The chains that scored the highest customer satisfaction marks on the company's second pharmacy study were the ones that took time to explain to the customer about the prescriptions, side-effects and other issues, Dougherty says. On a 1,000-point scale, chain pharmacy Medicine Shoppe had a customer-satisfaction score of 873--the highest of all national chains, including mass merchandisers such as Target and Walmart. While, on average, customers were more satisfied with pharmacies that offered cheap generics programs (826 versus 817 on the 1,000-point scale), Dougherty noted that Walmart--which started the $4 generic trend--had a customer satisfaction score of 779, well below the segment average of 802. "It's not that price doesn't matter. But it's not the be-all and end-all," Dougherty says. "Personal service trumps it. ... If the pharmacy technician takes time to talk to [the customer], satisfaction explodes." Target had the highest customer satisfaction ranking among mass merchandisers, with a score of 847. Kmart had a score of 842, and ShopKo had a score of 837. Among chain pharmacies behind Medicine Shoppe, HealthMart had a score of 840 and CVS had a score of 815. The company also rated mail-order pharmacies. Prescription Solutions ranked highest with a score of 864, followed by Express Scripts with 845 and Medco with 833. Even for mail-order companies, personal service affected customer satisfaction, Dougherty says. "As long as [a company] can appear service-oriented, that improves the satisfaction," he says. According to the survey, customers ages 65 and older account for 26 percent of mail-order prescriptions, compared with 18 percent of prescriptions filled at brick-and-mortar pharmacies. Seniors, on average, fill about five times more prescriptions than other age groups, Dougherty says. Another trend shaping the pharmacy sector will be the implementation of in-store health clinics, Dougherty says. Although only 6% of consumers polled in the J.D. Power survey had visited an in-store clinic, 24% said they were interested in the idea. "Stay tuned," Dougherty says. "It's still new enough that we don't have the data. But it's caught the attention of the pharmacy customers."
Seeking to leverage customer dissatisfaction with airline travel, Virgin Atlantic Airways has launched a new campaign called "Airphoria" that focuses on what it calls its "unique ability to deliver a truly exciting flying experience for the increasingly frustrated and disappointed business traveler." Developed with its AOR, McKinney of Durham, N.C., the campaign will be rolled out throughout the fall season in major national print publications, out of home, and online executions. Ads break this week in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune and Crain's Chicago Business. A year ago, Virgin was touting itself as "Love From Above"--but, as Jim Mezoff, VP/marketing, explains to Marketing Daily, the company decided the time was right to make an aggressive move. "As other airlines show pessimism or fall back on cutting costs, we want to show that we are the consumer's advocate," he says. "We're not offering promises, but concrete details on why we are the better choice in going from the U.S. to London." He describes the new ads as cheeky and irreverent. "Look, we recognized the opportunity we had out there, that our messaging is more relevant right now," he says. "We are one of the few--I would say the only--international carrier that flyers can get excited about. We deliver absolute excitement. We wanted to take that sense of euphoria and apply it to a creative campaign." Virgin Atlantic, which flies from 10 U.S. gateways directly to London and beyond, highlights in the new campaign its complimentary limos to and from the airport, Drive-Thru Check In, a private security channel, and the 8,000-square-foot Heathrow Clubhouse with complimentary Bumble & Bumble haircut, Cowshed spa pool and relaxation treatments, "uncompromising cuisine, onboard bar, and the longest fully flat bed in business class." Last week, Virgin and McKinney took top honors at the Interactive Advertising Bureau's MIXX Awards that celebrate the "mixx" of creativity and effectiveness in digital marketing. Virgin Atlantic's experiential launch, "Love from Above," won a Gold MIXX in the Mobile Platforms category for the company's first-ever WAP site.
One of the themes common to conferences around the city during Advertising Week was risk--marketers and advertisers agreed that they need to take more. And whether the panels and discussions on disparate stages around New York were on media, creative case studies or marketing challenges during the current financial meltdown, panelists frequently said this is not a time to play it safe with marketing strategies. A new study by Menlo Park, Calif.-based executive staffing firm Creative Group suggests that the sentiment is widespread. The survey is based on 250 telephone interviews--half of them with ad executives and half with marketing brass. Surprisingly, it was the marketing executives--whose products and services are at stake--and not the ad executives who said they needed to push for more risky marketing strategies. Sixty-five percent of survey respondents who are marketing executives and 45% of those who are advertising executives said their firms do not take enough creative risks with projects. When asked "how would you rate your firm/agency when it comes to creative risk-taking with projects?," only 1% of ad executives and 6% of marketers said too many risks are taken. Twenty-one percent of the former and 7% of the latter said they play it much too safe. Forty-four percent of marketers and 38% of ad executives said some, but not enough. Megan Slabinski, executive director of The Creative Group, said she was surprised. "I think what we normally see is that marketers are more risk-averse than ad executives because of the corporate environment; creative ideas can be diluted as they make their way through the management channels," she told Marketing Daily. "But the marketing teams are saying they want to take more risk. I think the surprise was it wasn't more evenly weighted. I think the idea of what's happening in financial markets begs the question of how much risk marketers are we willing to take, and is it good or bad."
Top 10 DMAs in which adults said they participated in outdoor gardening over the past 12 months 1 Burlington, Vt./ Plattsburgh, N.Y. 2 Portland/ Auburn, Maine 3 Traverse City/ Cadillac, Mich. 4 Utica, N.Y. 5 Bangor, Maine 6 Watertown, N.Y. 7 Elmira (Corning), N.Y. 8 Mankato, Minn. 9 Binghamton, N.Y. 10 Ottumwa, Iowa/ Kirksville, Mo. Source: MRI's Market-by-Market study, www.mediamark.com