Panasonic's Toughbook laptops have carved out a niche among people who use computers under the most trying circumstances -- think utility linemen, the military, construction workers -- but in this age of belt-tightening, marketing executives with the brand are thinking the brand's durability message may play to a wider audience. "We've captured that niche -- rugged computing market," Marca Armstrong, director of marketing for Panasonic Computer Services, tells Marketing Daily. "We now see an opportunity to expand that niche positioning to all people carrying a laptop in the field." As such, the brand has embarked on its first integrated marketing campaign, employing television, print, out-of-home and an extensive digital program with a more emotional (and less product specific) push to grab a wider audience. The new campaign, which carries the theme "Toughbooks for a tough world," is intended to acknowledge that everyone has challenges in their lives, but Toughbook computers can make them easier. "We understand your world is tough, no matter what you do or where you work," Armstrong says. "You need a reliable piece of hardware." The television commercial in the campaign depicts people from all walks of life -- a man exiting a building, a woman at a coffee shop avoiding a spill, a utility worker and a man in camouflage, among others -- working or carrying Toughbook laptops. "In your world, you're always on duty. In your world, the unpredictable is predictable. In your world, millions rely on you," says a voiceover. All the television, print and collateral materials refer consumers to a new microsite, www.foratoughworld.com, which will be dedicated to the Toughbook. Previously, Toughbook ads had referred people to a section of Panasonic's home site. The new microsite will provide consumers with updates on the products, provide experiences with how they are used and include a blog to help continue the conversation about why Toughbooks are a good product choice for consumers. The blog will be maintained by PR company Cohn & Wolfe, but will include postings from company executives on "relevant topics," Armstrong says. "The idea is it needs to be authentic," Armstrong says. "The important thing is that people are communicating something that's useful." To accommodate its broader target, Panasonic has more finely tuned its media strategy. While the company had previously run spot television ads in a wide variety of programming, it's now running ads on "CNN in the Morning," where it's more likely to encounter business travelers, Armstrong says. A similar strategy is being employed in out-of-home, where signage is appearing in airports that see a fair amount of business travelers, such as Chicago, Newark, and Atlanta, she says. "Before, it was a shotgun approach," Armstrong says. "Now, it's looking at where people are going for information."
The revelation that a company that enticed people to take a "Real Age" test sent emails based on their results on behalf of pharmaceutical companies sparked a range of reaction on Thursday. The New York Times reported that nine million people who have taken the Web-based health survey and agreed to free membership were getting the targeted emails. Social media and the blogosphere were ablaze with posts expressing mostly shock and outrage but also some with "knew it all along" smugness. Winklerella, a blog for "the later years,' exemplified the first category, with blogger Wrinkler posting a self-described "rant" which concluded, "This is wrong on so many levels." Jeff Sovern of Public Citizen's Consumer Law and Policy Blog called for a Federal Trade Commission review of RealAge.com, saying the site's current privacy policy does not go far enough in explaining "what the company is doing with the information, especially given the sensitivity of medical information." On the other hand BusinessWire VP Monika Maeckle tweeted, "Who's surprised?" While most outrage seemed aimed at Hearst-owned RealAge, Jossip, in a post headlined "Big Pfizer is Watching," took aim at the pharmaceutical companies themselves. "When people use surveys to sell your phone number to telemarketers it's illegal, but when they do it for your personal information and email address, well, that's just how big business works on the Web," wrote Jossip blogger Drew. "Big Brother is watching, and making sure that you stay healthy." Ironically, one place where nobody seemed to notice was a free afternoon Web cast, titled "New Adventures in ROI Measurement," that was sponsored by Medical Marketing & Media magazine in association with RealAge. In his presentation, Mike Wojeck, RealAge's vice president of strategic solutions, emphasized the importance of getting marketing analytics involved before online ad campaigns begin. But neither Wojeck, other panelists nor the moderator mentioned the day's big pharma marketing story. The Pharma Marketing Blog, meanwhile, disputed the Times' declaration that "While few people would fill out a detailed questionnaire about their health and hand it over to a drug company looking for suggestions for new medications, that is essentially what RealAge is doing." The blogger, John Mack, pointed to a recent Epsilon study which found, as reported in Marketing Daily www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=101364, that 38% of patients would prefer to learn about pharmaceutical products via e-mail from brands or pharmaceutical companies. Consumers are also learning about health topics on Facebook and other social media, noted Reggie Bradford, former CMO of WebMD and now CEO of social media marketing firm Vitrue, who noted that "pharmaceutical companies aren't part of the community. They need to develop meaningful pages to discuss topics." He added that with word-of-mouth and advice from friends and family so important in reaching medical decisions, that Facebook's "Newsfeed" feature has "real power." And, in light of RealAge's main method of gathering information, he pointed out that Facebook-based surveys are "hugely popular" marketing tools. Summing up, Bradford said pharmaceutical companies have plenty of ways to reach consumers "that are opt-in and give them a way to participate." The pharma companies, he said, are "missing a real opportunity to magnify" the viral power of social media. In addition to Pfizer, pharma companies implicated in the Times article included Novartis, GlaxoSmithKline and Hologic.
While Best Buy's earnings fell 23% in its fourth quarter, the company came in above Wall Street's expectations, as consumer demand picked up in January and February, and shoppers went wild for mobile phones and accessories. For the fiscal fourth quarter, net income fell to $570 million from $737 million in the same period a year ago, while revenues gained 10% to $14.7 billion. (Excluding the effects of foreign currency and the impact of adding Best Buy Europe, total fiscal fourth-quarter revenue slipped 2%.) And while comparable-store sales fell 4.9% for the quarter, executives at the Minneapolis-based retailer say they were cheered that sales eased just 2.5% in the combined January and February period, compared to the 6.8% decline it saw for December. "We prepared for reduced consumer spending, and we were pleased when the quarter finished stronger than it began," the company says in its release of the results, adding that despite the tough environment, it boosted its market share 1.2 percentage points. (It helps that Circuit City, its main rival, filed for bankruptcy and liquidated during the quarter, as did Tweeter, a large regional competitor.) By segment, the company saw a high demand for its notebook computers, with sales increasing in the low double digits. As a result, the home office revenue category, about 30% of total fourth-quarter revenue, gained 8.1% on a comparable-store basis. "Mobile phones and accessories experienced a nearly triple-digit comparable-store sales gain, reflecting significant market-share gains," it says. And in its service category, including the Geek Squad, revenues also gained, with comparable store-sales climbing 2.2%. (That segment accounts for about 5% of fourth-quarter revenues.) In all other segments, however, results weakened. Consumer electronics -- the company's largest segment, accounting for about 40% of revenues -- saw a decline of 8.6% in comparable-store sales. While flat-panel TV sales increased, sales of digital cameras, MP3 players and GPS devices all fell in the low double-digit range. The entertainment and software sector -- which accounts for about 21% of fourth-quarter revenues -- dropped 11% on a same-store basis, including declines in its video game business. The steepest decline came in appliances, which account for 4% of total revenues: Comparable-store sales plunged 20.5%. In the year ahead, the company expects more lean times, and is predicting that sales will be anywhere from flat to down 5% in the coming fiscal year. "We expect consumer spending to remain challenging in fiscal 2010," the company says in its release, "and the complex mix of external factors that will influence their behavior makes forecasting the future increasingly difficult."
It has worked for Carl's Jr., and now sister CKE chain Hardee's is going for the erotic angle to sell burgers. A new Hardee's TV commercial featuring "Top Chef" host Padma Lakshmi provocatively devouring a burger while flashing ample cleavage is highly reminiscent of the famous/infamous Carl's Jr. commercial featuring Paris Hilton soaping a car in clingy, barely-there attire. No mystery here. The Hardee's commercial was created by Carl's Jr.'s longtime ad agency, Mendelsohn|Zien, and directed by Chris Applebaum, who also directed the Hilton commercial. Actually, the new limited-time-offer Hardee's burger, called the Western Bacon Thickburger, is also something of a lift from Carl's -- it's a Hardee's version of Carl's signature Western Bacon Cheeseburger. Lakshmi is doing double duty for CKE: She will also be featured in a similar new commercial for Carl's Jr.'s own Western Bacon Six Dollar Burger. The Hardee's ad will begin airing Monday in Midwest and Southeast markets, while the Carl's Jr. ad will run for a limited time in that chain's West Coast markets starting Tuesday, according to QSRmagazine.com. But the ads are already firing up the two chains' "Young, Hungry Guy" target audiences, by having been posted on their respective Web sites and YouTube channels. How did Lakshmi -- a former vegetarian who is usually seen sampling considerably more sophisticated fare on her Bravo show -- become a fast-food burger endorser? According to the CKE folks, the match was inspired by the Top Chef's admission, in her last cookbook, that she began "wolfing down" Carl's Western Bacon Cheeseburgers in her school days. Indeed, given Lakshmi's written description of the burger's barbeque sauce being "greedily licked off as it dripped down my teenage fingers," the transference to commercial video would seem almost preordained for the CKE. "In many ways, she was the perfect choice ... because she's beautiful, she's a culinary expert, she's beautiful, she's very smart, and she's beautiful," Brad Haley, the chains' EVP, marketing, told QSR.
The National Basketball Association is jumping a lot of sharks this year as it crosses the Atlantic to play in Europe. A number of sponsors are going with. The NBA Europe Live 2009 tour, presented by EA Sports, launches with the Chicago Bulls playing the Utah Jazz at London's O2 Arena this fall. Since the NBA first played in Europe in 1993 -- at Wembley Arena -- London has hosted four games and seven teams. The NBA says basketball has grown in the U.K., and that club membership doubled over the last four years ahead of the 2012 Olympics. The NBA will also support the London Youth Games, which tips off in May. In addition to digital game maker EA Sports, which has been the presenting sponsor since the inaugural tour in 2006, others on board include Adidas, American Airlines, Champion and Coca-Cola. Spalding, the official basketball of the NBA, will serve as the tour's official supplier. The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority will serve as a marketing partner in London and will join all partners in conducting NBA-themed promotional activities to reach basketball fans around the game at The O2. Grassroots efforts for last year's tour included EA Sports-hosted skills challenges in London and Paris. Says David Pekush, EA Sports marketing manager: "The full scale of [our] involvement in this year's tour is not 100% determined yet, since we are at the start of the planning phase at the moment. "We are part of every external communication--in being named or with visuals. Additionally, we are part of the game experience--having our game, NBA Live, at the venue for the basketball fans to play. We are also present with visuals in the arena that will be seen on cameras." He adds that EA Sports has garnered a strong following in Europe. "Due to such especially successful games as the FIFA [soccer] franchise, EA Sports as a well-known sports and video gaming brand is already highly established in the European market." The NBA Europe Live Tour lets the game maker tell NBA fans in Europe that EA Sports has "an authentic NBA game coming up which features all the NBA teams plus European teams," says Pekush. "We can reach out directly to the fans in the stadium, being part of all external communication and events and activities during the lead up to the events themselves. The great thing about our game is that we extend that excitement for the NBA to 365 days a year." EA Sports popularity varies by country. "NBA Live is immensely popular in France and Spain, while Tiger Woods and Fight Night have an incredible following in the UK. FIFA is one of the most popular video games in the entire world, and that is primarily due to the amazing success it has in Europe."
JC Penney has signed a partnership with wedding-planning site, OurWeddingDay.com. As part of the arrangement, when a bride-to-be registers at JC Penney, she will receive a complimentary membership to OurWeddingDay.com. Membership offers access to "virtual wedding planner" tools such as "BrideLine," a live consultation via chat; an online task list for organizing wedding plans; an event-management tool; a personalized wedding Web site; financial planning tools, address lists and other organizing tools. According to a new report from Port Washington, N.Y.-based NPD Group, online planning sites and communities have gained in use among brides-to-be. The firm's new report finds that in selecting retailers for their registries, brides-to-be are more likely to consider ease of registration, ease of returning/exchanging gifts, and convenience as most important. In the firm's study, based on a survey fielded to 15,642 18- to-54-year-old women last November (971 of them were brides-to-be or newlyweds), 60% of brides/newlyweds who registered said their in-store experiences played a role in their decision-making about which retailer to use. In addition, nearly 90% of registrants said they were extremely/very satisfied with their registry experience. Those who registered at mass merchants/discounters or department stores were more satisfied with their registry experience, compared to those who registered at home specialty, national chain, or home improvement retailers. Also, 59% of registering brides-to-be said they were "greatly influenced" by their fiancés, far less so by family and friends, bridal magazines, or bridal consultants. However, the firm says external sources, including consultants, magazines, televisions and Web sites and online communities, have even less influence on decisions than friends and family. Three-quarters of registered brides-to-be/newlyweds said they would purchase some remaining items from their registry if left incomplete, spending an average of $459, with notable differences by channel of registration. A spokesperson says that JC Penney had a similar relationship with TheWeddingChannel.com. She says the new arrangement with OurWeddingDay.com is a three-way deal with David's Bridal -- a brand prominent in JC Penney's wedding portfolio. "David's Bridal partnered with them a year ago. We were blown away by what [the Web site] offered." She says the wedding registry business is recession proof -- people are going to get married no matter what. "The difference is more people are trying to look at their budgets; we are well-positioned for that because we are a department store -- we have lots of items at affordable prices. We might even get more customers who used to go to specialty stores." The company wants engaged couples to see the store as a one-stop shop with everything from engagement and wedding rings and gowns to photo studios, and luggage for the honeymoon. "It's a very key business for us in terms of home products, and this is the season -- we are seeing lots of pickup in business." The company advertises in the wedding vertical and online. She says over 30% of engagements happen over the holidays, and Valentine's Day is second place. The end game for the company is attracting younger customers. "It's about making customers for life."
Share your view with us by clicking here.
Last summer, Apple found itself in a pickle with the disability community. The state of Massachusetts was threatening to sue Apple for failing to make its iTunes media library accessible to blind students. Apple agreed to pay $250,000 and added audio to almost its entire iTunes library. It also decided to include audio in its latest iPod Shuffle, released this month, which it has marketed as an accessible iPod. Apple avoided a costly lawsuit, but other companies haven't been as fortunate. In the state of Washington, movie theater chains are being sued for failing to make closed-captioned movies available more frequently to the deaf and hard-of-hearing. This latest class-action suit has the potential to spill over into other areas of digital media, such as news streaming, TV show streaming, and movie downloads via the Internet. Time and time again, companies spend heavily on product development and marketing, but fail to consider people with disabilities who might use their products. This oversight seems irresponsible: In the U.S., 54 million adults -- or one in five Americans -- have a physical or mental disability. People with disabilities have a combined income of more than a trillion dollars -- and are willing to spend it on products and technologies that make their lives more productive. Brands that ignore the needs of this group relinquish an opportunity to reach this growing demographic. They also put their business at a higher risk for costly lawsuits, such as the $6 million in damages that Target paid in 2008 for failing to make some of its Web content accessible to blind people. One way for companies to approach accessibility is to consider the principles of universal design, which requires that a product be built for everyone, including those with disabilities. For example, GE recently designed a kitchen with appliances such as a motorized adjustable sink that can be used by both tall and short people, including those in a wheelchair or those with a stature disability. GE markets the kitchen as "Real Life Design." If universal design isn't an option, brands should consider partnering with an assistive technology provider to help configure their product to the needs of people with disabilities. Amazon, for example, recently partnered with Nuance Communications, a maker of speech-recognition technology, to add audio to its Kindle 2 electronic book reader. Companies that have an online presence should also check the latest accessibility guidelines from the World Wide Web Consortium, or W3C. At the very least, companies should begin to think about every single consumer who might use its products at some point -- including people with disabilities. Accessibility helps create more useful products, protects against lawsuits and opens doors to a new market that has been underserved for too long. Accessibility is a reality that companies can no longer afford to ignore.